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Contenuto fornito da Domenico Bettinelli and Archdiocese of Boston. Tutti i contenuti dei podcast, inclusi episodi, grafica e descrizioni dei podcast, vengono caricati e forniti direttamente da Domenico Bettinelli and Archdiocese of Boston o dal partner della piattaforma podcast. Se ritieni che qualcuno stia utilizzando la tua opera protetta da copyright senza la tua autorizzazione, puoi seguire la procedura descritta qui https://it.player.fm/legal.
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The Good Catholic Life
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Contenuto fornito da Domenico Bettinelli and Archdiocese of Boston. Tutti i contenuti dei podcast, inclusi episodi, grafica e descrizioni dei podcast, vengono caricati e forniti direttamente da Domenico Bettinelli and Archdiocese of Boston o dal partner della piattaforma podcast. Se ritieni che qualcuno stia utilizzando la tua opera protetta da copyright senza la tua autorizzazione, puoi seguire la procedura descritta qui https://it.player.fm/legal.
The Good Catholic Life is created and broadcast in Boston and hosted by folks who grew up in and know the Boston area. We’re all about living a good Catholic life in our hometown. Our regular host is Scot Landry and he is joined each day by a regular rotating series of co-hosts as well as guests to discuss a variety of topics of interest to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. The Good Catholic Life shares and discusses the initiatives and efforts of Cardinal Seán to renew the Church; provides formation to understand Church teaching to live a happy, holy, and good Catholic life; profiles the ministries, apostolates, and Catholic leaders within the Archdiocese and our region who are effectively bring the Gospel message to the city streets and our neighborhoods; and looks at the news of the day locally, nationally, and globally to explore what’s happening in the world around us from a distinctly Catholic perspective. Above all, The Good Catholic Life is honest, comprehensive, informative, formational, and fun, and shows that the good life is the Catholic life and the Catholic life should always be The Good Catholic Life.
…
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745 episodi
Segna tutti come (non) riprodotti ...
Manage series 13250
Contenuto fornito da Domenico Bettinelli and Archdiocese of Boston. Tutti i contenuti dei podcast, inclusi episodi, grafica e descrizioni dei podcast, vengono caricati e forniti direttamente da Domenico Bettinelli and Archdiocese of Boston o dal partner della piattaforma podcast. Se ritieni che qualcuno stia utilizzando la tua opera protetta da copyright senza la tua autorizzazione, puoi seguire la procedura descritta qui https://it.player.fm/legal.
The Good Catholic Life is created and broadcast in Boston and hosted by folks who grew up in and know the Boston area. We’re all about living a good Catholic life in our hometown. Our regular host is Scot Landry and he is joined each day by a regular rotating series of co-hosts as well as guests to discuss a variety of topics of interest to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. The Good Catholic Life shares and discusses the initiatives and efforts of Cardinal Seán to renew the Church; provides formation to understand Church teaching to live a happy, holy, and good Catholic life; profiles the ministries, apostolates, and Catholic leaders within the Archdiocese and our region who are effectively bring the Gospel message to the city streets and our neighborhoods; and looks at the news of the day locally, nationally, and globally to explore what’s happening in the world around us from a distinctly Catholic perspective. Above all, The Good Catholic Life is honest, comprehensive, informative, formational, and fun, and shows that the good life is the Catholic life and the Catholic life should always be The Good Catholic Life.
…
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745 episodi
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×Today’s topics: The Last Show Summary of today’s show: After more than 3 years and 750 shows, The Good Catholic Life has come to an end. Scot Landry and most of the team who have brought the show to our listeners each day come together to relive the best moments of the show, to talk about the impact of the show on them and on listeners, and on the future of Catholic radio in Boston, especially future local programming to pick up where The Good Catholic Life leaves off. Thank you to all our faithful listeners and supporters. May God bless you and may you have a Good Catholic Life. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Chip Hines, Michael Lavigne, and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Fr. Mark O’Connell, Stacia Morabito, Chris Kelley, and Rick Heil We’d also like to thank: Fr. Chris O’Connor, Fr. Matt Williams, George Martell, Anna Johnson, Karla Goncalves, Fr. Paul Soper, M.C. Sullivan, Gregory Tracy, Fr. Roger Landry, WQOM and The Station of the Cross, our listeners, and our colleagues and families who have been so supportive of our efforts.…
1 TGCL #0749: New Springfield Bishop; John Paul Relic Visits Boston; Hispanic Ministry; Corpus Christi 56:31
Today’s topics: New Springfield Bishop; John Paul Relic Visits Boston; Hispanic Ministry; Corpus Christi Summary of today’s show: Our Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Dom Bettinelli, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry consider the headlines of the week, including the appointment of a new bishop for Springfield; a major relic of Pope St. John Paul II visiting Boston; a special honor for Pilar LaTorre of a symposium on Hispanic ministry; and the 750th anniversary of the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: A Special Message from Scot Landry as posted on : On Friday June 20, The Good Catholic Life will air its 750th new episode. Those of us who have collaborated on this new evangelization outreach consider it a great milestone. We are so grateful that so many Catholics have tuned in to hear The Good Catholic Life over these past 39 months to hear us interview Catholic leaders, promote Catholic events, discuss Catholic news, and share experiences living our Catholic faith. This 750th program will also be its last. Because of a tight budget situation at iCatholic Media, and also at the Archdiocese of Boston and at WQOM, there is no longer the funding for a producer for The Good Catholic Life. From the initial launch of The Good Catholic Life on Ash Wednesday 2011, it has been a partnership: WQOM provided the airtime, the Archdiocese provided space for the studio, benefactors paid for the cost of the equipment and studio wiring, and iCatholic Media paid for the salary of the show producer. The producer has been the MVP of our team, because he selects topics, invites guests, prepares materials for the hosts to read, develops a show schedule (typically six weeks out), technically engineers each show, and then distributes the podcast and show notes through email and social media. We’ve been blessed to have had two superb producers for The Good Catholic Life - first, Rick Heil, and now Dom Bettinelli. We accept the situation of the budget constraints and express gratitude for the funding and the partnership that has allowed 750 shows to be broadcast. All 750 episodes and podcasts for The Good Catholic Life will continue to be available on TheGoodCatholicLife.com. In July, Dom will be joining the staff at the Walpole/Sharon collaborative led by Father Chip Hines, host of our Friday shows. Dom and Father Chip hope to continue to chart a course of innovation in the use of media communication tools in the new evangelization. Catholic radio programming changes lives, as the many testimonials WQOM has received attest. Local programs like The Good Catholic Life have added a strong component to Catholic radio programming. Leaders of WQOM care deeply about local programming. We hope that through increased contributions to WQOM that it eventually will be able to fund new local programs, perhaps even a relaunch of The Good Catholic Life. The Good Catholic Life would never have been able to make the 750 episode milestone were it not for the commitment of so many: Fr. Chris O’Connor, Fr. Matt Williams, Susan Abbott, Fr. Mark O’Connell, Fr. Chip Hines, Michael Lavigne, Fr. Roger Landry, Gregory Tracy, George Martell, Karla Goncalves, Anna Johnson, Stacia Morabito and Rick Heil. All are invited to tune in for the final broadcast on June 20. Thank you so much for listening. Scot…
Today’s topics: Deacon Chris and Jen Connelly Summary of today’s show: When a man becomes a permanent deacon, it’s a calling not just for him, but also for his whole family. Scot Landry is joined by Deacon Chris Connelly and his wife, Jennifer, to discuss the life of a permanent deacon, how it affects their family life, and their life together that led to the call to the diaconate. They also give their advice to couples who may be considering this path and are discerning whether this is their call. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Deacon Christopher Connelly and Jennifer Connelly Links from today’s show: A Special Message from Scot Landry as posted on : On Friday June 20, The Good Catholic Life will air its 750th new episode. Those of us who have collaborated on this new evangelization outreach consider it a great milestone. We are so grateful that so many Catholics have tuned in to hear The Good Catholic Life over these past 39 months to hear us interview Catholic leaders, promote Catholic events, discuss Catholic news, and share experiences living our Catholic faith. This 750th program will also be its last. Because of a tight budget situation at iCatholic Media, and also at the Archdiocese of Boston and at WQOM, there is no longer the funding for a producer for The Good Catholic Life. From the initial launch of The Good Catholic Life on Ash Wednesday 2011, it has been a partnership: WQOM provided the airtime, the Archdiocese provided space for the studio, benefactors paid for the cost of the equipment and studio wiring, and iCatholic Media paid for the salary of the show producer. The producer has been the MVP of our team, because he selects topics, invites guests, prepares materials for the hosts to read, develops a show schedule (typically six weeks out), technically engineers each show, and then distributes the podcast and show notes through email and social media. We’ve been blessed to have had two superb producers for The Good Catholic Life - first, Rick Heil, and now Dom Bettinelli. We accept the situation of the budget constraints and express gratitude for the funding and the partnership that has allowed 750 shows to be broadcast. All 750 episodes and podcasts for The Good Catholic Life will continue to be available on TheGoodCatholicLife.com. In July, Dom will be joining the staff at the Walpole/Sharon collaborative led by Father Chip Hines, host of our Friday shows. Dom and Father Chip hope to continue to chart a course of innovation in the use of media communication tools in the new evangelization. Catholic radio programming changes lives, as the many testimonials WQOM has received attest. Local programs like The Good Catholic Life have added a strong component to Catholic radio programming. Leaders of WQOM care deeply about local programming. We hope that through increased contributions to WQOM that it eventually will be able to fund new local programs, perhaps even a relaunch of The Good Catholic Life. The Good Catholic Life would never have been able to make the 750 episode milestone were it not for the commitment of so many: Fr. Chris O’Connor, Fr. Matt Williams, Susan Abbott, Fr. Mark O’Connell, Fr. Chip Hines, Michael Lavigne, Fr. Roger Landry, Gregory Tracy, George Martell, Karla Goncalves, Anna Johnson, Stacia Morabito and Rick Heil. All are invited to tune in for the final broadcast on June 20. Thank you so much for listening. Scot P.S. WQOM will begin airing Kresta in the Afternoons at 4pm on 6/23. We encourage you to continue to listening to Catholic radio during the 4pm hour.…
Today’s topics: Understanding Pope St. John Paul II Summary of today’s show: Pope St. John Paul II was one of the greatest minds of history, not just the 20th century, and was a great philosopher and theologian. Dr. Richard Spinello joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to discuss the saint’s teachings, especially his personalist philosophy from before he was elected pope, most clearly found in the book “Love and Responsibility”. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Dr. Richard Spinello Links from today’s show: A Special Message from Scot Landry as posted on : On Friday June 20, The Good Catholic Life will air its 750th new episode. Those of us who have collaborated on this new evangelization outreach consider it a great milestone. We are so grateful that so many Catholics have tuned in to hear The Good Catholic Life over these past 39 months to hear us interview Catholic leaders, promote Catholic events, discuss Catholic news, and share experiences living our Catholic faith. This 750th program will also be its last. Because of a tight budget situation at iCatholic Media, and also at the Archdiocese of Boston and at WQOM, there is no longer the funding for a producer for The Good Catholic Life. From the initial launch of The Good Catholic Life on Ash Wednesday 2011, it has been a partnership: WQOM provided the airtime, the Archdiocese provided space for the studio, benefactors paid for the cost of the equipment and studio wiring, and iCatholic Media paid for the salary of the show producer. The producer has been the MVP of our team, because he selects topics, invites guests, prepares materials for the hosts to read, develops a show schedule (typically six weeks out), technically engineers each show, and then distributes the podcast and show notes through email and social media. We’ve been blessed to have had two superb producers for The Good Catholic Life - first, Rick Heil, and now Dom Bettinelli. We accept the situation of the budget constraints and express gratitude for the funding and the partnership that has allowed 750 shows to be broadcast. All 750 episodes and podcasts for The Good Catholic Life will continue to be available on TheGoodCatholicLife.com. In July, Dom will be joining the staff at the Walpole/Sharon collaborative led by Father Chip Hines, host of our Friday shows. Dom and Father Chip hope to continue to chart a course of innovation in the use of media communication tools in the new evangelization. Catholic radio programming changes lives, as the many testimonials WQOM has received attest. Local programs like The Good Catholic Life have added a strong component to Catholic radio programming. Leaders of WQOM care deeply about local programming. We hope that through increased contributions to WQOM that it eventually will be able to fund new local programs, perhaps even a relaunch of The Good Catholic Life. The Good Catholic Life would never have been able to make the 750 episode milestone were it not for the commitment of so many: Fr. Chris O’Connor, Fr. Matt Williams, Susan Abbott, Fr. Mark O’Connell, Fr. Chip Hines, Michael Lavigne, Fr. Roger Landry, Gregory Tracy, George Martell, Karla Goncalves, Anna Johnson, Stacia Morabito and Rick Heil. All are invited to tune in for the final broadcast on June 20. Thank you so much for listening. Scot P.S. WQOM will begin airing Kresta in the Afternoons at 4pm on 6/23. We encourage you to continue to listening to Catholic radio during the 4pm hour.…
Today’s topics: The “Chosen” Confirmation Program Summary of today’s show: The Sacrament of Confirmation is the last of the sacraments of initiation, but it has also become a sort of “graduation” from Catholic faith formation for young people. Chris Stefanick discusses the reasons for that with Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne, as well as the new confirmation program he helped develop called “Chosen”, a comprehensive multimedia program consisting of video presentations by charismatic speakers followed by in-class materials and discussions. Chris says that more than just conveying facts, Chosen tries to make the case that a relationship with God leads to filling up the desire for fulfilment and happiness and that it tries to accommodate the declining attention spans so common at all ages now. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne Today’s guest(s): Chris Stefanick Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: A Catholic Chaplain at Harvard Becomes A Chaplain to Marines in Afghanistan Summary of today’s show: For the past three years Fr. Matt Westcott has been a full-time chaplain to the Catholic student association at Harvard University, providing spiritual guidance to some of the best and brightest intellectuals from around the world. Now he is turning to a very different mission field as he prepares to deply to Afghanistan as a US Navy chaplain serving with the US Marines in that country. Fr. Westcott joins Fr. Chip Hines and Dom Bettinelli to discuss his experience at Harvard, including the recent response to the planned Black Mass, and his decision to volunteer to go to Afghanistan as a chaplain. Also, a special message from Scot Landry regarding the future of The Good Catholic Life. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Fr. Chip Hines and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Fr. Matt Westcott Links from today’s show: A Special Message from Scot Landry as posted on : On Friday June 20, The Good Catholic Life will air its 750th new episode. Those of us who have collaborated on this new evangelization outreach consider it a great milestone. We are so grateful that so many Catholics have tuned in to hear The Good Catholic Life over these past 39 months to hear us interview Catholic leaders, promote Catholic events, discuss Catholic news, and share experiences living our Catholic faith. This 750th program will also be its last. Because of a tight budget situation at iCatholic Media, and also at the Archdiocese of Boston and at WQOM, there is no longer the funding for a producer for The Good Catholic Life. From the initial launch of The Good Catholic Life on Ash Wednesday 2011, it has been a partnership: WQOM provided the airtime, the Archdiocese provided space for the studio, benefactors paid for the cost of the equipment and studio wiring, and iCatholic Media paid for the salary of the show producer. The producer has been the MVP of our team, because he selects topics, invites guests, prepares materials for the hosts to read, develops a show schedule (typically six weeks out), technically engineers each show, and then distributes the podcast and show notes through email and social media. We’ve been blessed to have had two superb producers for The Good Catholic Life - first, Rick Heil, and now Dom Bettinelli. We accept the situation of the budget constraints and express gratitude for the funding and the partnership that has allowed 750 shows to be broadcast. All 750 episodes and podcasts for The Good Catholic Life will continue to be available on TheGoodCatholicLife.com. In July, Dom will be joining the staff at the Walpole/Sharon collaborative led by Father Chip Hines, host of our Friday shows. Dom and Father Chip hope to continue to chart a course of innovation in the use of media communication tools in the new evangelization. Catholic radio programming changes lives, as the many testimonials WQOM has received attest. Local programs like The Good Catholic Life have added a strong component to Catholic radio programming. Leaders of WQOM care deeply about local programming. We hope that through increased contributions to WQOM that it eventually will be able to fund new local programs, perhaps even a relaunch of The Good Catholic Life. The Good Catholic Life would never have been able to make the 750 episode milestone were it not for the commitment of so many: Fr. Chris O’Connor, Fr. Matt Williams, Susan Abbott, Fr. Mark O’Connell, Fr. Chip Hines, Michael Lavigne, Fr. Roger Landry, Gregory Tracy, George Martell, Karla Goncalves, Anna Johnson, Stacia Morabito and Rick Heil. All are invited to tune in for the final broadcast on June 20. Thank you so much for listening. Scot P.S. WQOM will begin airing Kresta in the Afternoons at 4pm on 6/23. We encourage you to continue to listening to Catholic radio during the 4pm hour.…
1 TGCL #0744: Mideast Peace Prayer; Singing Italian Sister; US Bishops Meet; Phoenix Priest Killed; Regina Cleri; Pentecost 56:30
Today’s topics: Mideast Peace Prayer; Singing Italian Sister; US Bishops Meet; Phoenix Priest Killed; Regina Cleri; Pentecost Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry consider the headlines of the week, including the gathering of Israeli and Palestinian presidents in the Vatican with Pope Francis to pray for peace; the elevation of Italian Sr. Cristina as the lead voice of the New Evangelization; the US bishops meeting in New Orleans to discuss family and freedom issues; the murder of a priest in Phoenix and critical injury to another; the Diocese of Cleveland waiving fees related to annulments and marriage dispensations; 50th anniversary celebration of Regina Cleri; and Cardinal Seán’s celebration of Pentecost with ecclesial movements. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: Preparing for the Permanent Diaconate Summary of today’s show: The preparation for the permanent diaconate is long process involving discernment of a vocation, years of education and formation in the Catholic faith, and a culmination in ordination to Holy Orders. Mike Curren, Fran Burke and Franklin Mejia are three of the men preparing to become deacons in September and they join Scot Landry to discuss their individual calls to ordination, their discernment along with their families, and the commitment they make to the Church on top of their commitments to family and careers. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Mike Curren, Fran Burke, and Franklin Mejia Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: New Prospects for Catholic-Orthodox Unity Summary of today’s show: When Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew met in Jerusalem in May, they were commemorating the 50th anniversary of a similar meeting between Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, which was itself a groundbreaking historic event. In anticipation of this latest meeting, Cardinal Seán and Metrpolitan Methodios of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis in Boston issued a joint letter to the faithful highlighting just how significant this meeting would be for the future re-unification of the Church in both East and West. Vito Nicastro of the Archdiocese of Boston’s Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs joins Scot Landry and Domenico Bettinelli to discuss these significant events, the declaration of the pope and patriarch, and the outcomes from this visit and gatherings. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Vito Nicastro Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Three Catholic Dads of Young Families Summary of today’s show: As Father’s Day approaches, Michael Lavigne and Domenico Bettinelli are joined by Eric Landers to talk about being Catholic dads of young families, the joys and challenges, involved in maintaining their relationships with Christ, with their wives, and with their children; maintaining a prayer life alone and with their wives and children; and how to provide for, protect, be present to, and prepare their children to be virtuous Christians and valuable contributing members of society. Plus strategies for late-night wakeups and the Brotherhood of the Vestibule. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Michael Lavigne and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Eric Landers…
Today’s topics: Br. Rex Anthony: The Hermit of the Little Portion Summary of today’s show: A hermit isn’t just a medieval figure of a nearly feral man living in a cave away from society. In fact, there are hermits in the Catholic Church today, including Br. Rex Anthony, a Franciscan hermit living in the Diocese of Portland, who joins Fr. Chip Hines and Michael Lavigne to discuss what exactly a hermit is, the difference between religious orders and hermits, and the story of how he went from being a non-practicing Protestant and firefighter to a Catholic hermit living a life of simplicity and joy in Christ. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Fr. Chip Hines and Michael Lavigne Today’s guest(s): Br. Rex Anthony Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0739: Childless Marriages; Charismatic Renewal; Fall River Ordination; Bishops Back Gun Bill; Pentecost 56:31
.Today’s topics: Childless Marriages; Charismatic Renewal; Fall River Ordination; Bishops Back Gun Bill; Pentecost Summary of today’s show: Out Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Dom Bettinelli consider the headlines of the week, including Pope Francis’ message to intentionally childless couples seeking a “culture of comfort”; his message to Catholics in the charismatic renewal to stay open to the Holy Spirit and to let Him lead; the ordination this weekend of a priest for the Fall River diocese; the endorsement of gun control legislation by the four Massachusetts bishops; and Cardinal Seán’s 2011 Pastoral Letter on Pentecost and evangelization. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Domenico Bettinelli Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: The Protestant’ Dilemma Summary of today’s show: Asa convert to the Catholic faith, Devin Rose knew what it was like to argue against Catholic beliefs from a Protestant perspective. To help others looking at the Catholic Church from that same perspective, Devin wrote the book “The Protestant’s Dilemma”, which takes objections to Catholic beliefs and tenets to their logical conclusion and shows why they fail to stack up against what Catholics believe. Devin joins Fr. Chip Hines and Dom Bettinelli to discuss how he moved first from agnosticism to Evangelical Christianity and then to the Catholic faith; began the apostolate of arguing for the Catholic faith online through his blog; self-published his first book encapsulating that work; and then re-published it through Catholic Answers. They also examine some of the common Protestant arguments and the Catholic answers to them about the papacy, Tradition, the Bible, and sacraments. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Fr. Chip Hines and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Devin S. Rose Links from today’s show: Buy the book:…
1 TGCL #0735: Pope Francis in the Holy Land; Ordination; TINE Graduation; New Priestly Assignments 56:30
Today’s topics: Pope Francis in the Holy Land; Ordination; TINE Graduation; New Priestly Assignments Summary of today’s show: Our Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbot, Gregory Tracy, and Dom Bettinelli considered the headlines of the week, including Pope Francis historic visit to the Holy Land where he worked toward Catholic-Orthodox unity, supported the Christian community, and called for prayer between Israelis and Palestinians; Pope Francis’ press conference on his flight to Rome in which he made news on several fronts; the ordination Mass at Holy Cross Cathedral for the biggest class of priests in many years; graduation at the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization; and the announcement of new assignments for more than 70 priests of the Archdiocese. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Domenico Bettinelli Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: The Pauline Family Summary of today’s show: At the advent of the 1st World War 100 years ago, Bl. James Alberione founded a religious congregation of priests and brothers that became the first foundation of the Pauline Family. Fr. Mike Harrington, Fr. Ed Riley, Sr. Margaret Obrovac, FSP, and Sr. Lucille Van Hoogemoed, PDDM, join Scot Landry to talk about how that first community grew into the ten branches of the Pauline Family today of five religious congregations, including Sr. Margaret’s Daughters of St. Paul and Sr. Lucille’s Sister Disciples of the Divine Master; four lay institutes, including Fr. Mike and Fr. Ed’s Institute of Jesus Priest; and association of lay cooperators. Fr. Mike and Fr. Ed are the first US diocesan priests to become members of the Institute of Jesus Priest. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Michael Harrington, Fr. Ed Riley, Sr. Margaret Joseph Obravac, FSP, and Sr. Lucille Van Hoogemoed, PDDM Links from today’s show: Five Religious Congregations: Four Lay Institutes: One Association of Lay Cooperators: Previous Episodes of The Good Catholic Life:…
Today’s topics: Bill Donaghy and the Theology of the Body Summary of today’s show: The Theology of the Body was the life work of PopeSt. Paul II, a way of summarizing the Church’s teachings for the modern age. Bill Donaghy of the Theology of the Body Institute joins Fr. Chip Hines and Dom Bettinelli to explain what the Theology of the Body is, how it describes how we are both body and soul and how both are vital to our path to holiness; how the theology came to be in the midst of a century in which the body has been denigrated; the importance of Humanae Vitae to St. John Paul’s theology; and how we can live out this teaching in practical ways in our own lives. They also discuss the upcoming Theology of the Body Congress in Philadelphia in July. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Fr. Chip Hines and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Bill Donaghy of the Theologyof the Body Institute Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0732: Presbyteral Ordinations; Choir School; Bishop McManus; the Pope in the Holy Land; Cardinal, Metropolitan Joint Letter 56:30
Today’s topics: Presbyteral Ordinations; Choir School; Bishop McManus; the Pope in the Holy Land; Cardinal, Metropolitan Joint Letter Summary of today’s show: Our panel of Scot Landry, Domenico Bettinelli, Gregory Tracy, and Fr Roger Landry consider the headlines of the week, including the upcoming presbyteral ordinations on Saturday; the new recording contract for St. Paul’s Choir School; the cancer diagnosis for Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester; Pope Francis’ upcoming trip to the Holy Land; and the joint statement by Cardinal Seán and Metropolitan Methodios. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: A Catechism for Business Summary of today’s show: There can be a lot of pressure on Catholics to separate their business life from their private life. Meanwhile the Catholic Church has had a lot to say about the world of business and economics, not just on the macro level, but even on the level of advertising and human resources. Dr. Andrew Abela and his collaborators worked for seven years to put together a comprehensive resource on the Church’s teachings in this area, and he joins Scot Landry to discuss the book and what the Church teaches that is relevant to human nature, human work and labor, and how our work can sanctify us and the whole world. They also discuss some of the 114 questions that form the basis of the book and address a number of ethical questions that come up for those in the business world. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Dr. Andrew Abela, Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: One Year of Disciples in Mission and Upcoming Ordinations Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor discuss the upcoming priestly ordination of nine men this Saturday at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. They then welcome Fr. Paul Soper, director of pastoral planning, and Fr. John Sheridan, pastor of the Cranberry Catholic Collaborative, a grouping of three parishes on the southern part of the Archdiocese of Boston, to talk about the first year of the implementation of Disciples in Mission, the pastoral plan of the archdiocese. Their discussion includes a look back at Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Paul Soper and Fr. John Sheridan Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: The Little Oratory: A Beginner’s Guide to Praying in the Home Summary of today’s show: How do you take your family’s prayer life beyond going to Sunday Mass? “The Little Oratory” by David Clayton and Leila Lawler provides a blueprint for making your home into a school of virtue for helping your children grow in the Catholic faith. They join Michael Lavigne and Domenico Bettinelli to discuss their book, the importance of fathers becoming leaders in their family’s faith life; how to arrange and decorate your home to lead your children in faith; what kinds of prayer lend themselves to family prayer; how to create a sacred prayer space; and what grandparents and singles can do to develop oratories of their own. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Michael Lavigne and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): David Clayton and Leila Lawler Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Mary’s Meals Feeding 900,000 Schoolchildren per Day Summary of today’s show: From an idea over pints in a pub 20 years ago to feeding 900,000 children in school per day around the world, Mary’s Meals is a Scottish-based organization inspired by the Blessed Mother’s care for the poor. Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, a 2010 CNN Hero award winner, joins Fr. Chip Hines and Domenico Bettinelli to discuss the charity he helped found, how they started by bringing aid to war-torn Bosnia in 1992, then began feeding poor children in school who otherwise would go hungry and without schooling, and now feed 20% of primary school-age children in Malawi and kids in every hemisphere. They also discuss the documentary film “Child 31” that profiles Mary’s Meals and the children they benefit. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Fr. Chip Hines and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow Links from today’s show: Call them at 800–385–4983…
1 TGCL #0727: Harvard Holy Hour; Cardinal Seán on Immigration Reform; OK to ‘Under God’; Canonizations Move Forward 56:30
Today’s topics: Harvard Holy Hour; Cardinal Seán on Immigration Reform; OK to ‘Under God’; Canonizations Move Forward Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry discuss the headlines of the week, including the Holy Hour in reparation for indignities committed against the Eucharist, including a planned Satanic black Mass at Harvard University, and the lessons we should learn from what happened and how we responded; Cardinal Seán’s remarks at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast on immigration reform; the Mass. Supreme Judicial Court’s okay to ‘under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance; the close of the diocesan phase for the cause of canonization of Fr. Joseph Muzquiz overseen by Cardinal Seán; and the upcoming beatifcation of Pope Paul VI. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
1 TGCL #0726: Assisted Suicide Update; Euthanizing Children; Popes and Palliative Care; Pope Francis on Human Trafficking 56:31
Today’s topics: Assisted Suicide Update; Euthanizing Children; Popes and Palliative Care; Pope Francis on Human Trafficking Summary of today’s show: Revisiting the topic of medical and bioethics, MC Sullivans joins Scot Landry to discuss the latest news concerning the continuing push for physician-assisted suicide in Massachusetts, New England, and beyond; the legalization of euthanasia of children in Belgium; attempts to label palliative care as “stealth euthanasia” although all recent popes have endorsed it; and Pope Francis’ remarks bringing a new visibility to the problem of human trafficking. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): M.C. Sullivan Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Msgr. James Moroney and St. John’s Seminary Summary of today’s show: Msgr. James Moroney is completing his second full year as rector of St. John’s Seminary and he joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to discuss a variety of topics, including the amazing new tabernacle in the seminary chapel; the history of the crucifix; the translation of the Roman Missal into various languages; his insights in Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium; and a conversation about what makes a good homily. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Msgr. James Moroney, rector of St. John’s Seminary Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: A Theology of Food with Fr. Leo, the Cooking Priest Summary of today’s show: The Grace Before Meals movement, founded by Fr. Leo Patalinghug, connects food, faith, and family with fun and in his new book, “Epic Food Fight”, he outlines how food is a theological gift where strangers become family. Food and eating are profoundly spiritual acts as much as biological and food is a participation in God’s love for us. Fr. Leo talks with Michael Lavigne and Dom Bettinelli about the necessity of grace before meals, of feasting and fasting, and of understanding how God wants to satisfy our hungers even as He hungers for us. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Michael Lavigne and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Fr. Leo Patalinghug Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Catholic Motherhood Summary of today’s show: With Mother’s Day just around the corner, Fr. Chip Hines and Dom Bettinelli welcome two Catholic moms, Danielle Bean and Pat Gohn, to discuss the joys and challenges of motherhood, whether for a big bunch of younger kids or watching them head off on their own. In addition to talking about the practical parts of being a mom, but also the spiritual foundations for growing in holiness through the vocation of motherhood. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Fr. Chip Hines and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Danielle Bean and Pat Gohn Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0722: Black Mass at Harvard; Public Prayers at Supreme Court; Vatican Abuse Commission 56:30
Today’s topics: Black Mass at Harvard; Public Prayers at Supreme Court; Vatican Abuse Commission Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry examine the headlines of the week including a student group at Harvard that plans to re-enact a Satanic black mass on campus; the Supreme Court rules that prayer before public town council meetings don’t violate the US Constitution; and Cardinal Seán on the Vatican’s new sexual abuse commission. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: Monastic Values for a Modern World Summary of today’s show: Judith Valente is a professional TV and radio journalist and one day she found herself in a monastery in Atchison, Kansas, where she had an spiritual encounter that made her realize that her busy life was missing moments of silence when she could rest in the Lord. Judith joins Scot Landry to talk about how we can all cultivate a monastic interior life, not one that harkens back to the past, but one that can be a window to a future that places enduring values ahead of today’s transient consumerist attitudes, to build our own personal monastery in our lives. They also discuss how the Rule of St. Benedict that has governed monasteries for more than a millennium provides a better template for organizations and institutions of all sizes and kinds, including corporations. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Judith Valente Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Fr. Romanus Cessario Summary of today’s show: As the lone Dominican on the faculty at St. John’s Seminary, Fr. Romanus Cessario may be more familiar to listeners as a contributor the daily prayer book “Magnificat.” Fr. Cessario joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to discuss the history and unique mission of the Dominican order as well as the basics of Catholic moral theology, his specialty at the seminary, and the origins and thought behind Magnificat. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Romanus Cessario, professor moral theology at St. John’s Seminary Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: New Evangelization and Becoming a Disciple with a Testimony Summary of today’s show: A key aspect of the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan is training parish staff and parishioners in how to evangelize, especially in light of St. John Paul II’s call for a new evangelization, which is new in ardor, new in methods, and new in expression. Michael Lavigne and Dom Bettinelli welcome Donald Smith and Amber Ezeani to discuss the efforts of the Office of Lifelong Faith Formation in training for the new evangelization, to evangelize particularly those who have drifted away from the practice of their faith. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Michael Lavigne and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Donald Smith and Amber Ezeani Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0178: Evangelical Attitude; Pope St. John Pilgrimage; Catholic Family Festival 1:00:03
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1:00:03Today’s topics: Evangelical Attitude; Pope St. John Pilgrimage; Catholic Family Festival Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Dom Bettinelli consider the headlines of the day, including Pope Francis’ address to the new Vatican Council for the Economy; the pilgrimage by people connected to Pope St. John XXIII Seminary to Rome for the canonization of their patron last week; and the successful Catholic Family Festival in Boston. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Chris Kelley, station manager of WQOM Links from today’s show: Please support Catholic radio in Boston with a donation to The Station of the Cross…
1 TGCL #0717: 30 Places to Visit in the Archdiocese of Boston 1:00:02
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1:00:02Today’s topics: 30 Places to Visit in the Archdiocese of Boston Summary of today’s show: There are a multitude wonderful churches, chapels, and places in the Archdiocese of Boston and Scot Landry and Domenico Bettinelli list 30 of them that they believe Catholics in the area shouldn’t miss, covering north, south, west of Boston and Boston itself. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Chris Kelley, Station Manager of WQOM Links from today’s show: Places for Catholics to visit in the Archdiocese of Boston Merrimack 1. Lawrence: Cor Unum Meal Center and St. Patrick Parish 2. North Andover: St. Michael’s 3. Newburyport: Immaculate Conception 4. Lowell: St. Joseph Shrine North and North Shore 5. North Shore: The drive along Route 127 from Salem to Gloucester which takes you by St. Mary star of the Sea Beverly; St. Margaret, Beverly Farms; Sacred Heart in Manchester by the Sea; Our Lady of Good Voyage and Holy Family in Gloucester [Also Marblehead/Swampscott right by the ocean] 6. Melrose: St. Mary’s 7. Salem: Immaculate Conception 8. Malden: Immaculate Conception and Sacred Hearts 9. Peabody/North Shore Mall: St. Theresa’s Chapel South and South Shore 10. Plymouth: St. Bonaventure 11. Weymouth Landing: Sacred Heart 12. Braintree: Archdiocesan Pastoral Center and Bethany Chapel 13. South Shore: Shore parishes in Hull, Marshfield 14. Hanover: Portiuncula Chapel 15. Hingham: Glastonbury Abbey West 16. Hopkinton: St. John’s 17. Holliston: Fatima Shrine 18. Wrentham: Mt. St. Mary’s Abbey and Gift Shop Boston 19. South End: Cathedral Crypt and Blessed Sacrament Chapel 20. Mission Hill: Basilica / OL Perpetual Help 21. South Boston: St. Augustine Chapel and Cemetery 22. South Boston: Gate of Heaven Church 23. West Roxbury: St. Theresa, Holy Name, Cemeteries 24. Cambridge: St. Paul’s in Harvard Square when Choir School is singing at 11am 25. Charlestown: St. Catherine of Siena Church 26. Somerville: St. Catherine of Genoa Upper Church 27. Brighton: Grounds of St. John’s Seminary and Seminary Chapel 28. Boston: Back Bay – St. Francis Chapel and the renovated St. Cecilia’s Church 29. Boston: Back Bay –St. Clement’s Eucharistic Shrine (24-hour adoration) 30. Boston: Financial District: St. Anthony Shrine…
Today’s topics: Council of Cardinals; Google Pulls Pro-Life Ads; Fortnight for Freedom Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Domenico Bettinelli discuss the headlines including the latest meetings of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinals consider changes to the Vatican curia; Google’s decision to pull advertising by crisis pregnancy centers labeled as deceptive by pro-abortion groups; and the US bishops’ announcement of the third Fortnight for Freedom with the theme of “Freedom to Serve”. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Chris Kelley, station manager of WQOM Links from today’s show: Please support Catholic radio in Boston with a donation to The Station of the Cross *…
1 TGCL #0715: Canonizations of Popes Saints John Paul II and John XXIII 1:00:01
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1:00:01Today’s topics: Canonization of Pope Saints John Paul II and John XXIII Summary of today’s show: After the amazing history-making canonization of two popes, St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II, in the presence of two living popes, Pope Francis and Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI, Scot Landry and Domenico Bettinelli are joined by Chris Kelley, station manager of WQOM 1060AM, to discuss Pope Francis’ homily from the Mass, Cardinal Seán’s interview with the Boston Globe’s John Allen over the weekend, and some interesting facts about the canonization ceremony. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Chris Kelley, Station Manager of WQOM Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Pope Saint John Paul II Summary of today’s show: As we prepare for the canonization of Pope St. John Paul II on Sunday, Fr. Stephen Donohoe and Fr. Matt Williams join Fr. Chip Hines and Dom Bettinelli to discuss the impact of the pope on their lives and vocations, in both his writings and the example of his life. Fr. Donohoe also recounts the near-miraculous circumstances that resulted not just in him being able to travel to Rome for the funeral of John Paul II, but to be able to sit up front in an area reserved for dignitaries. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Fr. Chip Hines and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Fr. Stephen Donohoe and Fr. Matt Williams Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Canonizations; Three Popes and Divine Mercy; Divorce and Communion Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy consider the headlines of the week, including Rome’s preparations for the canonization of John XXIII and John Paul II; Fr. Roger’s reflection on the connection of the three popes to Divine Mercy; the stature of the new saints in history; and reports of an Argentinian woman who says Pope Francis called her about her divorced husband and communion. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: Pope St. John XXIII Summary of today’s show: As we prepare for the canonization of two popes this weekend, Fr. Roger Landry and Scot Landry discuss the pope who died before most Catholics alive today were born, Pope St. John XXIII. Most people know that “Good Pope John” opened the Second Vatican Council, but what about the rest of his saintly life? We learn about his humble origins, his military service in World War I, his work in diplomatic service, his time as Patriarch of Venice, and ultimately his short time as Bishop of Rome. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: The Early Church Fathers and Church History Summary of today’s show: Following a fulfilling career as an engineer, including working on the Global Positioning Satellites system, Dr. Ann Orlando, launched into a second career as a professor of patristics and Church history, including earning a doctorate in the field and eventually ending up at St. John’s Seminary. Dr. Orlando joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to introduce them to the early Church fathers, who they were, what makes them Church fathers, and what makes their writings important. Then they move on to a survey of the rest of Church history through the Middle Ages and into modern times. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Dr. Ann Orlando, professor of patristics and Church history Links from today’s show: by Fr. John Vidmar, OP…
1 TGCL #0710: Chrism Mass Homilies from Cardinal Seán and Pope Francis and Favorite Triduum Memories 56:31
Today’s topics: Chrism Mass Homilies from Cardinal Seán and Pope Francis and Favorite Triduum Memories Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy considered the headlines of the week, including Cardinal Seán’s Chrism Mass homily and Pope Francis’ Chrism Mass homily;,as well our panels’ favorite moments in the Triduum. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: Holy Week Liturgies Discussed Summary of today’s show: As we enter into the heart of Holy Week, Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor discuss the Liturgies of Holy Week, starting at Palm Sunday, through the Chrism Mass on Tuesday and on to the Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil, and Easter Sunday. They consider the great prayers of the liturgies, the awesome building of excitement from Holy Thursday through Saturday evening, and the special devotions and practices of the faithful through these highest of holy days in the year. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Knights of Malta pilgrimage to Lourdes for the Sick Summary of today’s show: Each year, the Knights of Malta make a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, the site of an apparition of the Blessed Mother to St. Bernadette, bringing a group of malades–people afflicted with various ailments–and their caregivers for an experience of spiritual healing, and in some rare cases, even physical healings. Craig Gibson and Joseph Milano of the Knights of Malta in Boston, as well as Susan Kiely, a malade, and her husband Barry, join Fr. Chip Hines and Michael Lavigne to discuss the upcoming pilgrimage, how the grappling with disease and the idea of pilgrimage affect their faith; the logistics of the pilgrimage; and the results that they are seeking. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Fr. Chip Hines and Michael Lavigne Today’s guest(s): Craig Gibson, Joseph Milano, Barry & Susan Kiely Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0706: Co-Workers in the Vineyard; Way of the Cross; Collaboratives in Holy Week; Lay Chancellor in Fall River; New Saints; Divorce and Communion 56:31
Today’s topics: Co-Workers in the Vineyard; Way of the Cross; Collaboratives in Holy Week; Lay Chancellor in Fall River; New Saints; Divorce and Communion Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry consider the headlines of the week, including the Co-Workers in the Vineyard conference; the Annual Congress of Catechesis and Evangelization for Hispanic ministry; several planned Ways of the Cross sponsored by Catholic organizations; Holy Week as will be celebrated by the new parish collaboratives; the first lay Finance Officer/Chancellor; Three new saints from Pope Francis; Divorce, Remarriage, and Communion. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Way of the Cross sponsored by Communion and Liberation is on April 18, starting at 10am at Boston Common, next to the Park Street T stop and concluduing at 2pm at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.…
Today’s topics: Catholic Relief Service’s Lenten Rice Bowl Summary of today’s show: Catholic Relief Services is the international face of the Catholic Church in US in charity work throughout the world, while Catholic Charities Boston has a similar mission in the Archdiocese of Boston. Every Lent, CRS coordinates the Rice Bowl program that helps individuals and organizations practice prayer, fasting and almsgiving by making sacrifices and giving funds to help the needy throughout the world. Twenty-five percent of the money raised in the Archdiocese stays in the Archdiocese to fund programs that help the needy on a local level. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Debbie Rambo of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Boston and Shelagh O’Brien of Catholic Relief Services Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0704: The Station Churches of Rome and Canonizations of Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII 56:31
Today’s topics: The Station Churches of Rome and Canonizations of Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII Summary of today’s show: George Weigel is known as the official biographer of Pope John Paul II, but he recently completed a new project with his son, Steven, and Elizabeth Lev on the Station Churches of Rome. The station churches are a series of churches in the city of Rome that pilgrims visit each day of Lent and Holy Week, one for each day. They also discuss George’s expert view on the twin canonizations of Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII, why the two papacies are linked and what set them apart. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): George Weigel Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: The Corporal Works of Mercy in the City Summary of today’s show: Kerry Weber, a single young Catholic woman living in New York City, wanted to go beoyond the typical Lenten sacrifices in 2012 and so she came up with a plan to develop a mindset of mercy by performing the corporal works of mercy in a deliberate way over those 40 days. She chronicles that adventure in her new book, “Mercy in the City” and joins Michael Lavigne and Domenico Bettinelli to discuss what inspired her, how it went, the lessons she learned, and the surprises that she encountered. She also discusses her visit to Rwanda in 2013 under the auspices of Catholic Relief Services to understand the role of mercy in the remarkable reconciliation that has happened in the country over the past 20 years. Kerry said she draws inspiration from a quote from Pope Francis: “A little mercy makes the world less cold and more just.” Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Michael Lavigne and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Kerry Weber, author of the new book “Mercy in the City” Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Caring for Our Priests at the Easter Collection Summary of today’s show: The Clergy Health and Retirement Trust collections at Easter and Christmas are the means by which the people of the Archdiocese of Boston show love and concern for their priests who need healthcare or are retiring, providing dignity and a quality of life in their times of need. Craig Gibson and Fr. Dick Messina join Fr. Chip Hines and Domenico Bettinelli to talk about the Clergy Funds, but also about the important roles that priests play in our lives. Craig tells how over 21 years as his pastor, Fr. Dick, has been there for him in his darkest days and happiest days and how they have a true friendship as brothers in Christ. Also, Dom and Fr. Dick find that they have an amazing connection neither of them realized before the show. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Fr. Chip Hines and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Craig Gibson and Fr. Dick Messina Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Firefighter Funeral; First Communicants; Bishops’ Lifestyles Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry consider the headlines of the week, including Cardinal Seán’s remarks at the end of the funeral for Firefighter Lt. Ed Walsh; Fr. Roger’s advice to parents of children preparing for First Communion; Pope Francis’ providing a good example for confession; and bishops confronted by the example of Pope Francis’ austerity of lifestyle. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: Worcester Catholic Men’s Conference Summary of today’s show: The oldest Catholic men’s conference in the US takes place each year in Worcester and Bishop Dan Reilly and Angelo Guadagno join Scot Landry to discuss the 2014 conference coming up this weekend in the Worcester DCU Center. They discussed the speakers, who include Fr. Francis J. Hoffman, Kevin Reilly, Steve Ray, Gus Lloyd, and Christopher West, as well as the goals of a Catholic men’s conference and what happens at them. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Bishop Dan Reilly and Angelo Guadagno Links from today’s show: Call for tickets at 508–929–4345…
Today’s topics: Mass on the Border with Cardinal Seán in Nogales, Arizona Summary of today’s show: Cardinal Seán and 7 bishops traveled to Nogales, Arizona, on Tuesday, to the US-Mexico border to celebrate Mass for all the immigrants who have died coming to the US and to call attention to the need for immigration reform. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor discuss Cardinal Seán’s homily at the Mass and the way in which the cardinal is emulating Pope Francis’ similar journey to the island of Lampedusa, Italy. They also discuss the new movie “Noah”. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Links from today’s show: Text of Cardinal Seán’s homily in Nogales on April 1, 2014: For 20 years I worked in Washington D.C. with immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and from all over Latin America. The vast majority did not have the advantage of legal status. Many came to the States in great part fleeing the violence of the civil wars in Central America. I often share the story of my first days at the ‘Centro Católico’ when I was visited by a man form El Salvador who sat at my desk and bursts into tears as he handed me a letter from his wife back in El Salvador who remonstrated him for having abandoned her and their six children to penury and starvation. When the man was able to compose himself, he explained to me that he came to Washington, like so many, because with the war raging in his country it was impossible to sustain his family by farming. So a coyote brought him to Washington where he shared a room with several other men in similar circumstances. He washed dishes in two restaurants, one at lunchtime and one at dinnertime. He ate the leftover food on the dirty plates so as to save money. He walked to work so as not to spend any money on transportation, so that he could send all the money he earned back to his family. He said he sent money each week, but now after six months, his wife had not received a single letter from him and accused him of abandoning her and the children. I asked him if he sent check or money orders. He told me that he sent cash. He said: “Each week I put all the money I earn into an envelope with the amount of stamps that I was told and I put it in that blue mailbox on the corner.” I looked out the window and I could see the blue mailbox, the problem was it was not a mailbox at all, but a fancy trash bin. This incident helped me to glimpse the hardships and humiliations of so many immigrants who come to the States fleeing from poverty and oppression, seeking a better life for their children. Sadly enough many immigrants spend years without the opportunity to see their loved ones. How many rural areas are peopled by grandparents taking care of little grandchildren because the parents are off in the United States working to send money back home. Many of the priests and bishops with me have much more experience of the border. However I did bury one of my parishioners in the desert near Ciudad Juárez who was murdered there. We know that the border is lined with unmarked graves of thousands who die alone and nameless. Today’s Gospel begins with a certain lawyer who is trying to test Jesus. The lawyer is an expert in the laws, but he is hostile to Jesus; he seems to want to know how to attain eternal life, but his real intent is to best Jesus in a public debate. Jesus responds to the man’s question by asking “What stands written in the law?” The lawyer answers artfully with the great commandment: love of God above all else and love of neighbor as oneself. Jesus says “You answered correctly. Do this and you will live.” God’s love and love of neighbor is the key to a good life. The amazing thing about the Gospels is how love of God and love of neighbor are intimately connected. The lawyer is a little embarrassed so he asks another question to appear intelligent and perceptive. The question is so important: “Who is my neighbor?” This wonderful question affords Jesus the occasion to give us one of the great parables of the New Testament – the Parable of the “Good Samaritan”. In Jesus’ day the term “Good Samaritan” was never used by the chosen people. Indeed it would seem a contradiction of terms. How could someone be both a Samaritan and good? The Samaritans were the despised foreigners, heretics and outcasts. Yet Jesus shows us how that foreigner, that Samaritan, becomes the protagonist, the hero who saves one of the native sons who is rescued not by his fellow countryman and coreligionists but by a stranger, an alien, a Samaritan. Who is my neighbor? Jesus changed the question from one of legal obligation (who deserves my love) to one of gift giving (to whom can I show myself a neighbor), and of this the despised Samaritan is the moral exemplar. Jesus is showing us that people who belong to God’s covenant community, show love that is not limited by friendship and propinquity but a love that has a universal scope and does not look for recompense. The parables function either to instruct or to shock. This parable was to jolt peoples’ imagination, to provoke, to challenge. The usual criteria for evaluating a person’s worth are replaced by that of unselfish attention to human need wherever one encounters it. We come to the desert today because it is the road to Jericho; it is traveled by many trying to reach the metropolis of Jerusalem. We come here today to be a neighbor and to find a neighbor in each of the suffering people who risk their lives and at times lose their lives in the desert. Pope Francis encourages us to go to the periphery to seek our neighbor in places of pain and darkness. We are here to discover our own identity as God’s children so that we can discover who our neighbor is, who is our brother and sister. As a nation of immigrants we should feel a sense of identification with other immigrant groups seeking to enter our country. The United States is a nation of immigrants. Only the indigenous Native Americans are not from somewhere else. So the word of God reminds us today that our God wants justice for the orphan and the widow and our God loves the foreigners, the aliens and reminds us that we were aliens in Egypt. Because of the potato famine and political oppression, my people came from Ireland. Thousands upon thousands perished of starvation. On the coffin ships that brought the Irish immigrants, one third of the passengers starved. The sharks followed the ships waiting to devour the bodies of those “buried at sea”. I suspect that only the Africans brought on the slave ships had a worse passage. Frank McCourt of Angelas’ Ashes fame wrote a play called: “The Irish… how they got that way.” In one of the scenes the Irish immigrants are reminiscing saying: “We came to America because we thought the streets were paved in gold. And when we got here we discovered the streets were not paved in gold, in fact they were not paved at all, and we found out we had to pave them.” The hard work and sacrifices of so many immigrant peoples is the secret of the success of this country. Despite the xenophobic ranting of a segment of the population, our immigrant population contributes mightily to the economy and well being of the United States. Here in the desert of Arizona, we come to mourn the countless immigrants who risk their lives at the hands of the coyotes and the forces of nature to come to the United States. Every year four hundred bodies are found here at the border, bodies of men, women and children seeking to enter the United States. Those are only the bodies that are found. As the border crossings become more difficult, people take greater risks and more are perishing. Last year about 25,000 children, mostly from Central America arrived in the US, unaccompanied by an adult. Tens of thousands of families are separated in the midst of migration patterns. More than 10 million undocumented immigrants are exposed to exploitation and lack access to basic human services, and are living in constant fear. They contribute to our economy by their hard work, often by contributing billions of dollars each year to the social security fund and to Medicare programs that will never benefit them. The author of Hebrews urges us to practice hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels. He urges us to be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment. We have presently over 30,000 detainees, most of whom have no criminal connections. The cost of these detentions is about $2 billion a year. The system is broken and is causing untold suffering and a tenable waste of resources, human and material. We find in those prisoners, neighbors, fellow human beings who are separated from their families and communities. The sheer volume of the cases has led to many due process violations and arbitrary detentions. At Lampedusa Pope Francis warned of the globalization of indifference. Pope Francis, speaking at the borders of Europe, not a desert, but a sea, said: “We have lost a sense of responsibility for our brothers and sisters. We have fallen into the hypocrisy of the Priest and Levite whom Jesus described in the parable of the Good Samaritan: we see our brother half dead on the side of the road and perhaps we say to ourselves: ‘Poor soul’ and then go our way. It is not our responsibility, and with that we feel reassured, assuaged. The culture of comfort, which makes us think only of ourselves, makes us insensitive to the cries of other people living in a soap bubble, indifference to others.” (burbujas, pompas de jabón) Our country has been the beneficiary of so many immigrant groups that had the courage and the fortitude to come to America. They came fleeing horrific conditions and harboring a dream of a better life for the children. They were some of the most industrious, ambitious and enterprising citizens of their own countries and brought enormous energy and good will to their new homeland. Their hard work and sacrifices have made this country great. Often these immigrants have been met with suspicion and discrimination. The Irish were told “they need not apply”; our ethnicity and religion made us undesirable. But America at its best is not the bigotry and xenophobia of the no nothings, but the generous welcome of the New Colossus, that mighty woman with a Torah, the Statue of Liberty, the Mother of Exiles who proclaims to the world: “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp,” cries she with silent lips, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me; I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” (Emma Lazarus) We must be vigilant that that lamp continues to burn brightly. Who is the neighbor? The one that treated the man with compassion. He tells us to go and do likewise.…
Today’s topics: Books About Pope Francis for Children and Adults Summary of today’s show: Pope Francis has become an international sensation in among both Catholics and non-Catholics alike and Pauline Books and Media is serving the hunger to know more about him with books for children and adults. Michael Lavigne and Domenico Bettinelli are joined by Jaymie Stuart Wolfe and Sr. Marlyn Monge, FSP, authors of “Jorge from Argentina”, and Sr. Anne Flanagan, FSP, author of “Five Keys to Understanding Pope Francis” to discuss their books and the incredible interest in the Holy Father. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Michael Lavigne and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Sr. Marlyn Monge, FSP, Sr. Anne Flanagan, FSP, and Jaymie Stuart Wolfe Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Nothing Short of a Miracle: God’s Healing Power in Modern Saints Summary of today’s show: Miracles aren’t just something that happened centuries ago, but the Church relies on them even today. Patricia Treece joins Fr. Chip Hines and Domenico Bettinelli today to discuss her book “Nothing Short of a Miracle”, which presents the stories of saints and the miracles attributed to them in life and after death, especially those that have occurred in our lifetime. From the stringent criteria the Church applies to any miracle before approval to sanctity of even “surly” saints, they cover the whole story of the wonderful saints that intercede for us, including Bl. John Paul II, Fulton Sheen, Solanus Casey, and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Fr. Chip Hines and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Patricia Treece Links from today’s show: at Amazon…
1 TGCL #0696: Pope Meets Obama; Vatican Abuse Commission; Papal Warning to Mafiosi; Mass on the Border; Just Wage 56:31
Today’s topics: Pope Meets Obama; Vatican Abuse Commission; Papal Warning to Mafiosi; Mass on the Border; Just Wage Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry discussed the headlines of the week, including the meeting between Pope Francis and President Obama; the creation of a new commission at the Vatican to work on the protection of minors; the Pope’s plea to Mafiosis to convert or face hell; the upcoming Mass on the US-Mexican border by US bishops including Cardinal Seán; and the Massachusetts’ bishops call for a just wage. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. “Resurrection”, a musical cantata, is the inspirational story of Simon Peter and the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. The performance leads the audience on an unforgettable spiritual journey with St. Peter as he faces his martyrdom. Peter recalls his own experiences with Christ as well as those he shared with Mary Magdalene and the disciples as they followed Jesus. In moving song, Peter shows the anguish for his denial of Christ and the joy that comes with the Resurrection and His forgiveness. Schedule of Performances ~ 2014 Season Cathedral of the Holy Cross Boston, MA Saturday, March 29th 7:30 P.M. St. Thomas the Apostle Parish Peabody, MA Saturday, April 5th 7:30 P.M. St. Luke’s Parish Belmont, MA Sunday, April 6th 4:00 P.M. Holy Cross Parish So. Easton, MA Saturday, April 12th 7:30 P.M. St. Patrick Parish Watertown, MA Sunday, April 13th 7:00 P.M.…
Today’s topics: Catholic Children’s Book Authors and Their New Books Summary of today’s show: With the canonization of Pope John Paul II coming up, Scot Landry talks to two young authors of books for children that touch on the subject of the Pope and his teachings, Fabiola Garza, author and illustrator of “The Story of Saint John Paul II”, and Nicole Lataif, author of “Forever You: A Book about Your Body and Soul”. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Nicole Lataif, author of “Forever You”, and Fabiola Garza, author and illustrator of “The Story of Saint John Paul II” Links from today’s show: including free Pope Party guide…
Today’s topics: Life Issues Considered on the Feast of the Annunciation Summary of today’s show: The Feast of the Annunciation was the moment that Jesus took on human flesh, being conceived in Mary’s womb and what better time to talk about the important life issues facing us today. Marianne Luthin and Colleen Donohoe of the Archdiocese of Boston’s Pro-Life Office join Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to discuss the meaning of the Incarnation; a new Respect Life/Chastity Education curriculum being developed by their office; the increased emphasis on adoption as an alternative to abortion; and help provided to women in crisis pregnancy or who have undergone an abortion in the past. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Marianne Luthin, director of the Archdiocesan Pro-Life Office, and Colleen Donohoe, assistant director Links from today’s show: ; Boston phone number: 617–782–5151; Natick phone number: 508–651–0753; Send a text: 617–903–7690 ; Phone number: 508–651–3100 “Resurrection”, a musical cantata, is the inspirational story of Simon Peter and the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. The performance leads the audience on an unforgettable spiritual journey with St. Peter as he faces his martyrdom. Peter recalls his own experiences with Christ as well as those he shared with Mary Magdalene and the disciples as they followed Jesus. In moving song, Peter shows the anguish for his denial of Christ and the joy that comes with the Resurrection and His forgiveness. Schedule of Performances ~ 2014 Season Cathedral of the Holy Cross Boston, MA Saturday, March 29th 7:30 P.M. St. Thomas the Apostle Parish Peabody, MA Saturday, April 5th 7:30 P.M. St. Luke’s Parish Belmont, MA Sunday, April 6th 4:00 P.M. Holy Cross Parish So. Easton, MA Saturday, April 12th 7:30 P.M. St. Patrick Parish Watertown, MA Sunday, April 13th 7:00 P.M.…
Today’s topics: The Way of Beauty Summary of today’s show: Christians know that God is Love and God is Truth, but God is also Beauty. David Clayton, artist in residence at Thomas More College in New Hampshire, joins Michael Lavigne and Dom Bettinelli to discuss the “way of beauty”, its importance to the Christian faith, how it can transform society, the need for a modern rebirth of Christian art, and how art isn’t just something for the cocktail-party crowd, but is something that can be appreciated by everyone. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Michael Lavigne and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): David Clayton, artist in residence and lecturer in the liberal arts, at Thomas More College Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: The Dignity, Gifts, and Mission of Women Summary of today’s show: March is women’s history month in the US and Pat Gohn joins Fr. Chip Hines and Dom Bettinelli to talk about the unique contribution of Catholic women and how the Church’s teachings highlight the blessed dignity, beautiful gifts, and bodacious mission of women. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Fr. Chip Hines and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Pat Gohn Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0691: Pope’s Retreat; Congress Invitation; Pope Benedict on Interview; Papal Paperwork; St. Patrick’s Day; New Pilot Website 56:31
Today’s topics: Pope’s Retreat; Congress Invitation; Pope Benedict on Interview; Papal Paperwork; St. Patrick’s Day; New Pilot Website Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry consider the headlines of the week, including Pope Francis’ reflection on his just complete Lenten retreat; an invitation for the Holy Father to address a joint session of Congress; Pope-emeritus Benedict gave his commentary on an interview Pope Francis did; the Holy Father advised people to get a pocket Bible to read in spare moments; Cardinal Seán’s homily at his St. Patrick’s Day Mass; and a great new website for The Pilot. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: St. Paul’s Choir School in Harvard Square. The experience of students, parents and the Music Director Summary of today’s show: St. Paul’s Choir School in Harvard Square is the only boys choir school in the United States continuing a centuries-old tradition that began in Europe. The 50-year-old school’s choir has performed throughout the country and the world, including recently performing for Pope Francis in Rome. Scot Landry interviews John Robinson, the Music Director of St. Paul’s Choir School, as well as students and parents, including a family that moved from Virginia so their son could attend, and we hear the live musical performances. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Mr. John Robinson, Mark Flynn (7th Grade), Christian Landry (6th Grade), Thomas Potts (6th Grade), Colin Lapus (5th Grade), Mike Flynn (Mark’s father), Karen Donnellan (Thomas’ mother) and Maureen Lapus (Colin’s mother). Links from today’s show: About Saint Paul’s Choir School In its 50th year, Saint Paul’s Choir School has formed and educated boys in grades four through eight in the rich music tradition of the Roman Catholic Church. The Choir School seeks to embrace the great cathedral school tradition as it unites a rigorous musical and academic curriculum with our Catholic faith and moral tradition preparing each student to grow and flourish in a dynamic and changing world. About the Saint Paul’s Choir School Gala Dinner The 15th Annual Gala Dinner to benefit St. Paul’s Choir School in Harvard Square, Cambridge, takes place on Saturday, April 5 at the Cambridge Marriott. St. Paul’s has the only boys Catholic choir school in the United States. The school is fresh off a singing tour in Italy and recently performing with the Vienna Boys Choir. The entire boys’ choir will perform a selection of light songs from their repertoire. The Back Bay Brass Quintet will also perform. The school will also be recognizing the dedication and commitment of several individuals who have been instrumental to the success of the school during its first fifty years. A Grand Night for Singing! Date: Saturday, April 5, 2014, 6pm Location: Boston Marriott Cambridge, 2 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142 RSVP: 617–970–4333 or admin@choirschool.net…
Today’s topics: The Sacrament of Confession Summary of today’s show: The Sacrament of Confession is everyone’s favorite sacrament, or it should be, according to Fr. Chip Hines and Fr. Chris O’Connor, who discuss the sacrament and how it brings about healing of our relationship with God and with one another. They also talk about common fears and misconceptions related to penance, offer tips and guidance, and remind listeners that The Light Is On For You initiative makes Confession available at every parish or collaborative in the Archdiocese on Wednesdays in Lent from 6pm to 8:30pm. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Fr. Chip Hines and Fr. Chris O’Connor Links from today’s show: Open House on Tuesday, March 25, 7pm at the , 149 Washington Street, Brighton.…
Today’s topics: 10 Interesting Facts about the History of the Archdiocese of Boston Summary of today’s show: Celebrate St. Patrick, the patron of the Archdiocese of Boston, by joining Michael Lavigne and Domenico Bettinelli along with Robert Johnson Lally, archivist for the archdiocese, to discuss the work of the archivist as well as 10 interesting facts about the history of the archdiocese. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Michael Lavigne and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Robert Johnson Lally, Archivist for the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0687: Pope Francis' Top Tweets in His First Year 1:00:01
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1:00:01Today’s topics: Pope Francis’s Social Media Message in His First Year Summary of today’s show: In the year that Pope Francis has been in office, he’s sent out more than 280 messages on his various Twitter accounts in eight languages. Scot Landry, Domenico Bettinelli, and Chris Kelley discuss their favorite tweets and the 140-character messages encapsulating the Word of God and the Holy Father’s loving outreach through social media. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Chris Kelley, Station Manager of WQOM 1060AM Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0686: Habemus Papam Re-lived; Pope Francis’ Reform; Rite of Election; 40 Days for Life; Archbishop Sheen 59:55
Today’s topics: Habemus Papam Re-lived; Pope Francis’ Reform; Rite of Election; 40 Days for Life; Archbishop Sheen Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy consider the news headlines of the week including, today’s anniversary of the election of Pope Francis; Fr. Roger’s reflection on Pope Francis as the personification of the reform of the Church; the Rite of Election for those becoming Catholic at the Easter Vigil; honoring Mary McHale, co-founder of the state’s oldest women’s shelter; the 40 Days for Life campaign; and approval of a miracle attributed to Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: One-Year Anniversary of the Papal Conclave Summary of today’s show: One year ago today, the conclave that would eventually elect Pope Francis after just four ballots began. Scot Landry, Domenico Bettinelli, and Chris Kelley discuss the events that led to his election, including his address to the General Congregation of the College of Cardinals that outlined what would become his four-point plan for his papacy. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Chris Kelley, station manager for WQOM 1060AM Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: The Catholic Family Festival Summary of today’s show: The Catholic Family Festival gathers the wide variety of cultures in the Archdiocese of Boston–more than 30 of them–for a day of praying together and experiencing the many expressions of particular cultures, including food, music, dancing, and worship. Fr. Michael Harrington, director of the office of cultural diversity; Janet Benestad, secretary for the new evangelization; and Karm Syndia Agustin, a parishioner of St. Angela Parish in Mattapan of Haitian origin, join Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to discuss the festival and how it gathers families from all backgrounds to pray together as one. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Michael Harrington, director of the office of cultural diversity; Janet Benestad, secretary for the new evangelization; and Karm Syndia Agustin, a parishioner of St. Angela Parish in Mattapan of Haitian origin Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Pope Awesome and Other Stories Summary of today’s show: Cari Donaldson is a Catholic stay-at-home mother of six and author of the book “Pope Awesome and Other Stories”. She joins Michael Lavigne and Domenico Bettinelli to talk about her spiritual journey that took her from Presbyterian to the New Age to nearly every world religion until finally landing in the Catholic Church, much to her surprise; the role that Southern hospitality played in that journey; and how six kids can be a force for evngelization today. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Michael Lavigne and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Cari Donaldon, author of “Pope Awesome and Other Stories” Links from today’s show: Cari’s blog // //…
Today’s topics: The Catechism of Hockey Summary of today’s show: Sports is often compared to religion, especially in Boston, but Alyssa Bormes in her new book “The Catechism of Hockey” shows how much one sport and the Catholic Church have in common faith. She joins Fr. Chip Hines and Dom Bettinelli, along with Boston Bruins fanatic Colleen Donohoe, to talk about the book and the many connections such as major and minor penalties vs. venial and mortal sins; the confessional and the penalty box; the rules and referees and commissioner, and more. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Fr. Chip Hines and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Alyssa Bormes, author of the Catechism of Hockey, and Colleen Donohoe, assistant director of the Respect Life Education office of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: // //…
1 TGCL #0681: Pope Francis & Cardinal Seán give interviews; Mercy and forgiveness; New episcopal vicar 56:33
Today’s topics: Pope Francis & Cardinal Seán give interviews; Mercy and forgiveness; New episcopal vicar Summary of today’s show: Our Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Gregory Tracy, Fr. Roger Landry and Dom Bettinelli consider the news headlines of the week, including Pope Francis’ latest interview in an Italian newspaper; Cardinal Seán’s interview with the Pilot reflecting on Pope Francis’ first year; Pope Francis on God’s mercy and sinners vs. the corrupt; and appointment of a new episcopal vicar. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River. Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: Lent 101: Reviewing what we believe about Lent and Ash Wednesday Summary of today’s show: Why do we get ashes on our heads? What are fasting and almsgiving? Why is Lent 40 days? As we enter the season of Lent, Scot Landry and Fr. Paul Soper discuss the basics of Catholic belief and practice surrounding Ash Wednesday and Lent, including going to confession, giving things up for Lent (maybe social media?), prayer, and for fun, the 8 types of ashes you might receive on Ash Wednesday. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Paul Soper Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: The Pilgrim Lifestyle Summary of today’s show: The Vatican has an official organization, Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, for the support of pilgrims, not just to Rome but around the world, and Kairos Pilgrimages is the official distributor for OPR in the US and Canada. Patrizia Brown of Kairos and Fr. Leo LeBlanc of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Wnchendon join Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams to talk about the pilgrimages of OPR and Kairos as well as the pilgrim lifestyle that every Christian can follow, regardless of whether they leave their hometown. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Patrizia Brown of Kairos Pilgrimages and Fr. Leo LeBlanc Links from today’s show: To find out more about the pilgrimage to the Holy Land being led by Fr. LeBlanc this November, visit the page at the .…
Today’s topics: Franciscan Pilgrimage by Land to World Youth Day Rio and Back Summary of today’s show: The Franciscans of the Primitive Observance are a Boston-based religious order that abides strictly by St. Francis’ idea of embracing poverty as a spiritual exercise. So when Br. James Wartman and Fr. Michael Sheehan decided to go World Youth Day in Brazil, they weren’t going to hop on a plane and stay in a hotel. Instead the two friars began a pilgrimage by bus, train, automobile, boat, and foot from Boston to Rio de Janeiro and back again. They talk to Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne about the journey that began at the end of May and ended at the beginning of October and brought them there and back again through the mercy of God and the kindness of strangers–including begging for meals and places to sleep. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne Today’s guest(s): Fr. Michael Sheehan, FPO, and Br. James Wartman, FPO Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: The Joy of the Gospel and Pope Francis on Preaching Summary of today’s show: Homilies and preaching were a surprise component of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) last fall, but his practical words of advice and explanation occupy a substantial portion of the document. Fr. Michael Harrington joins Fr. Chip Hines to talk about the importance of homilies, how priests prepare for them, and how regular parishioners can take the same advice to help them get ready for Mass on Sunday and receive a lot more from what they hear and experience. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Fr. Chip Hines and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Fr. Michael Harrington, Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0676: Vatican Secretariat of the Economy; Consistory; Benedict's Resignation Anniversary; Papal Visit?; Episcopal Vicar 56:30
Today’s topics: Vatican Secretariat of the Economy; Consistory; Benedict’s Resignation Anniversary; Papal Visit?; Episcopal Vicar Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry consider the headlines of the week, including the historic change at the Vatican when Pope Francis created the new Secretariat of the Economy; the consistory at which 19 new cardinals were created; reflecting on the resignation of Pope-emeritus Benedict one year later; the possibility of a papal visit to Boston; and a new Episcopal Vicar for Boston. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: 2014 Catholic Appeal for the Archdiocese of Boston Summary of today’s show: The annual Catholic Appeal provides the primary means of support to the Central Ministries of the Archdiocese of Boston. Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne are joined by Mary Doorley of the archdiocese’s development office; Andrea Alberti, director of campus ministry at St. Mary High School in Lynn; and Becca Hart, a senior at St. Mary’s, to discuss how the appeal provides support and assistance to parishes and schools, changing lives and transforming the faith of people from cradle to grave. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne Today’s guest(s): Mary Doorley, VP of Development for the Archdiocese of Boston; Andrea Alberti, Director of Campus Ministry at St. Mary High School in Lynn; and Becca Hart, a senior at St. Mary’s Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Eleanor McCullen Summary of today’s show: Eleanor McCullen has become a household name because of her role in the US Supreme Court case McCullen v. Coakley, challenging the constitutionality of Massachusetts’ abortion clinic buffer zone law, but as she tells Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor, she has a compelling testimony to share, including her work bringing the love of Christ to women contemplating abortion and to men and women incarcerated in Massachusetts prisons. Eleanor also shares her powerful conversion story in which she was convicted that she is—and all of us are—the apple of God’s eye and she set out to live the Gospel. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Links from today’s show: , 617-782-5151 , 508-651-3100 Eleanor’s phone number: 617-733-2264…
Today’s topics: Making the Case for Life Summary of today’s show: Abortion is perhaps the most divisive issue in American life today and Trent Horn joins Fr. Chip Hines and Dom Bettinelli to discuss his new DVD “Making the Case for Life”, in which he shows how we can all talk about abortion, not just with pro-choice activists, but also with those in our families and communities who aren’t themselves pro-life. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Fr. Chip Hines and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Trent Horn Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Catholic Schools Week: Catholic Schools Foundation Summary of today’s show: We begin Catholic Schools Week by highlighting the work of the Catholic Schools Foundation in eastern Massachusetts. Michael Reardon, Lynne Sullivan, and Megan Adzima join Scot Landry to discuss the foundations work making Catholic education available to families in the Archdiocese of Boston, including funding scholarships and other financial assistance to students and their families, especially those who are risk of not being able to attend a Catholic school, and strengthening the network of Catholic schools throughout the Archdiocese. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Michael Reardon, Lynne Sullivan, Megan Adzima of the Catholic Schools Foundation Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Supreme Court Challenge to Abortion Clinic Buffer Zone Summary of today’s show: Fr. Eric Cadin and Philip Moran are a plaintiff and lawyer, respectively, in a lawsuit filed against Massachusetts’ law and now before the US Supreme Court that sets up a “buffer zone” around abortion clinics that silences pro-life speech. They join Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines today to discuss their pro-life work and the lawsuit that they hope will protect the ability to counsel men and women who approach clinics on the dangers of abortion and the reality of the child being aborted. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Fr. Eric Cadin, parochial vicar at St. Michael Parish in North Andover, and Philip Moran, co-founder of the Pro-Life Legal Defense Fund Links from today’s show: and from the March for Life 2014…
Today’s topics: March for Life, New York’s Cuomo, Transitional Deacons, Bishop Hennessey Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy consider the headlines of the week, including Wednesday’s March for Life; Cardinal Seán’s homily at the National Prayer Vigil for Life Mass; New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s remarks about pro-lifers and Bishop Richard Malone’s response; the Mass of ordination for transitional deacons; the move of Bishop Robert Hennessey to lead the Merrimack Region of the archdiocese; and Catholic Schools Week. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. George Martell’s and George Martell’s Gregory Tracy’s CatholicTV recorded broadcast of the…
Today’s topics: Tools for Rebuilding Summary of today’s show: When they published their first book, “Rebuilt”, last year, Fr. Michael White and Tom Corcoran caught the attention of parishes and dioceses who were curious about the model of successful evangelization in their parish in Maryland. Now, Scot Landry, Michael Lavigne and Fr. Paul Soper discuss the follow-up book, “Tools for Rebuilding”, in which White and Corcoran provide 75 practical and concrete ways that parishes can implement themselves, some of them very straightforward and others sure to be controversial. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne Today’s guest(s): Fr. Paul Soper Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Why Catholics Should Know Philosophy Summary of today’s show: Philosophy is the handmaiden of theology and Bl. Pope John Paul II was adamant that faith has nothing to fear from reason and reason nothing to fear from faith, thus emphasizing the importance of knowing and studying philosophy in a Catholic context. Prof. Paul Metilly joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor on location at St. John Seminary to discuss what philosophy is, why Catholics study it, his favorite philosophers, and teaching philosophy to seminarians. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Prof. Paul Metilly Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Ecumenical Prayer Service for all Christian Martyrs Summary of today’s show: When a photo of Cardinal Seán being assisted in remembering his baptism by a female Methodist minister took the Internet by storm, it brought to the forefront that we are in the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which began with that 50-year commemorative event in Sudbury and will end with an Ecumenical Prayer Service for all Christian Martyrs. Vito Nicastro of the office of ecumenical and interreligious affairs and Tibrine da Fonseca of the Sant’egidio Community join Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines to discuss the Sudbury event and the upcoming event at Mission Church, which will recall Christian martyrs of all Christian churches and ecclesial communities. The prayer, which was initiated by Pope John Paul II in Rome during the 90s, is meant to pray for peace in the world to end the persecutions of Christians that occur in great numbers today. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Dr. Vito Nicastro of the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and Tibrine da Fonseca of the Sant’egidio Community Links from today’s show: For those who wish to RSVP to the event next week at the Mission Church, please send an email to . All are invited. Icon of the New Martyrs…
1 TGCL #0650: New Cardinals; Disciples in Mission, March for Life, Vocation Reflections, Choir School 56:30
Today’s topics: New Cardinals; Disciples in Mission, March for Life, Vocation Reflections, Choir School Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry discussed the headlines of the week, including the appointment of 21 pastors for 44 new collaboratives under the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan; the naming of 19 new Cardinals; the March for Life coming up next week; a convocation for Diocese of Fall River priests; a special video about the Archdiocesan Boys’ Choir School; Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. and will have live photos and videos throughout the March for Life Like to get updates when live photos and live videos are happening Follow on Twitter and and watch the hashtag #bos4life for re-sharing of participants’ photos and status updates.…
Today’s topics: Pastor Profile: Fr. John Currie Summary of today’s show: Fr. John Currie is pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Holbrook in addition to being the pastor of our Wednesday co-host Fr. Matt Williams and our producer Domenico Bettinelli and he joins Scot Landry and Fr. Matt to talk about the parish, its school, his own vocational journey, and the upcoming March for Life in Washington, DC, next week. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Fr. John Currie, Pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Holbrook Links from today’s show: Like to get updates when live photos and live videos are happening Follow on Twitter and and watch the hashtag #bos4life…
Today’s topics: Hospital Chaplaincy and the Sacrament of the Sick Summary of today’s show: The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is a gift from the Lord not just for the end of life, but for whenever we are seriously sick. Craig Gibson joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor on location at St. John’s Seminary to discuss the sacrament, the ministry of hospital chaplaincy, and many of the issues surrounding preparing for death and illness. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Craig Gibson Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0647: Catholic Bioethics on Brain Death, Transplantation, Nutrition & Hydration, ACLU Lawsuits 56:31
Today’s topics: Catholic Bioethics on Brain Death, Transplantation, Nutrition & Hydration, ACLU Lawsuits Summary of today’s show: Our regular guest M.C. Sullivan returns to talk to Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne about medical and health issues in the headlines, including the Catholic response to cases of brain death; artificial nutrition and hydration; and legal pressure against Catholic healthcare by the ACLU and allies. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne Today’s guest(s): M.C. Sullivan, Director of Ethics at Covenant Health Systems Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Disciples in Mission, Phase 2 Update Summary of today’s show: The Disciples in Mission pastoral plan continues for the Archdiocese of Boston and this weekend 44 parishes that will become 21 collaboratives in June will find out who their new pastors will be. Fr. Paul Soper and Sr. Pat Boyle of the pastoral planning office join Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines to discuss the progress made in Phase One and the preparations for launching Phase Two so far. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Fr. Paul Soper and Sr. Pat Boyle of the Office of Pastoral Planning Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0645: Pope to name fewer monsignors; Veteran Catholic journalist joins Boston Globe; Papal trip to the Holy Land 56:30
Today’s topics: Pope to name fewer monsignors; Veteran Catholic journalist joins Boston Globe; Papal trip to the Holy Land Summary of today’s show: Our Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Gregory Tracy considered the news headlines of the week, including the decision by Pope Francis to change the rules by which the title of “monsignor” will be given out; the hiring of a legendary Vatican reporter by the Boston Globe; Pope Francis’ announcement of an historic visit to the Holy Land this year; an ecumenical gathering in Sudbury this weekend; and the airing of a documentary on the life Fr. Joseph Muzquiz, who has a cause for canonization in process. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: The Future of Catholicism Summary of today’s show: Being Catholic has always meant being counter-cultural, but never more so than now, according to our guest Michael Coren, who joins Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne to discuss his new book “The Future of Catholicism.” Michael said we face a future of persecution, especially surrounding marriage, family, and children, and in that context, there is no place for being a “pick-and-choose” Catholic because the faith is a seamless garment. Those expecting the Church to change are deluding themselves because Catholicism in the future will look as it does today on all the important matters, even if it’s a tougher row to hoe for Catholics. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne Today’s guest(s): Michael Coren, author of The Future of Catholicism Links from today’s show: by Michael Coren…
Today’s topics: Dr. Aldona Lingertat and the Master of Arts in Ministry program at the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization Summary of today’s show: Priests and religious perform the most visible pastoral work in the Church, but today there are many “co-workers in the vineyard”, lay people being trained with graduate degrees and pastoral experience to join them in ministries in parishes and dioceses. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor are joined on location at St. John Seminary by Dr. Aldona Lingertat, the director of the Master of Arts in Ministry program at the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization at the seminary, to discuss Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Dr. Aldona Lingertat Links from today’s show: Register for the 2014 Conference at the website…
Today’s topics: God’s Bucket List Summary of today’s show: A “bucket list” is a list of things we want to do before we die, but what if God had a bucket list for us to ensure we had a good life and prepared us to be with him in heaven. Scot Landry welcomes Teresa Tomeo, author of the new book “God’s Bucket List” that gives a series of rules for life drawn from Scripture and Tradition that help us understand God’s plan for our life. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Teresa Tomeo, author, Catholic talk radio host Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0671: Cardinals advise Pope; Pope renews Passport; Confession; Pope on Marriage; Bishop Deeley; Episcopal Vicar; Pilgrimages 56:31
Today’s topics: Cardinals advise Pope; Pope renews Passport; Confession; Pope on Marriage; Bishop Deeley; Episcopal Vicar; Pilgrimages Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry discussed the news headlines of the week, including recommendations from the Council of Cardinals to Pope Francis; the Pope renews his Argentine passport; Pope Francis talking about confession and addressing engaged couples; and the importance of pilgrimage. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: The Father of the Family Summary of today’s show: Becoming a good father isn’t just a trick of biology and it’s not just about biological fathers, according to Clayton Barbeau, author of the classic book “The Father of the Family”. He joins Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams to discuss how Christ calls men to be more than just bosses and breadwinners, but as loving husbands and gentle fathers, teachers, witnesses, and models of holiness. Fatherhood is about taking responsibility for another, a definition that includes spiritual fathers in the priesthood. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Clayton Barbeau, author of “The Father of the Family” Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Fr. Thomas Stegman, SJ Summary of today’s show: On location at St. John’s Seminary, Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor welcome Fr. Thomas Stegman, a Jesuit on the faculty of Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry, to discuss his background growing up in Nebraska, how he came to his vocation, the ministry of the Society of Jesus (i.e. the Jesuits), the School of Theology and Ministry (formerly the Weston School of Theology), and the first Jesuit pope. Fr. Stegman also talks about the importance of Scriptures and how the Bible springs up from the Church. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Thomas Stegman, SJ Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: 101 Tips for a Happier Marriage Summary of today’s show: On Valentine’s Day, it’s appropriate to look at the book “101 Tips for a Happier Marriage”, by Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse and Betsy Kerekes. They join Fr. Chip Hines and Dom Bettinelli to discuss the book’s tips that offer simple ways for couples to grow closer, including the favorites from both perspectives of the married man and the celibate. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Fr. Chip Hines and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse and Betsy Kerekes Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Catholic bioethics in the news Summary of today’s show: MC Sullivan returned for her regular visit to discuss with Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams bioethical and medical issues in the news from a Catholic perspective, including recent cases of pregnant women declared brain dead being kept on medical support equipment; palliative sedation to relieve extreme suffering by making patients unconscious and unaware; the Catholic ethical perspective on organ donation; and the issue of pediatric assent. But first, they discussed yesterday’s 1-year anniversary of the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and where they were when they heard the news. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): M.C. Sullivan, Director of Bioethics for Covenant Health Systems Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Fr. David Barnes Summary of today’s show: On location at St. John’s Seminary, Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor welcome Fr. David Barnes back to the show to talk about his first semester as Catholic chaplain at Boston University, which isn’t a Catholic university but has a very large population of Catholic students. Fr. Barnes described the difference between being a parish priest and being a campus chaplain; leading the students in spiritual formation; hanging out with them; and celebrating the sacraments. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. David Barnes Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: The Romance of Religion with Fr. Dwight Lonegenecker Summary of today’s show: Ordinary people can live the Christian life with an edge to it, with a radical dimension, says Fr. Dwight Longenecker in his new book “The Romance of Religion”. He talks with Michael Lavigne and Scot Landry about how Christians can live more boldly, transforming the doctrines and rules of religion into guideposts that guide the quest of life that we should turn into an adventure story. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne Today’s guest(s): Fr. Dwight Longenecker, author of the new book, The Romance of Religion Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: St. Peter’s Bones Summary of today’s show: For 2,000 years the bones of St. Peter were believed to be buried under the Vatican basilica that bears his name, but until the latter half of the 20th century no one really knew for sure. Author Thomas Craughwell explores this archeological and faith mystery in his new book “St. Peter’s Bones” and he joins Fr. Chip Hines and Dom Bettinelli to discuss what could be the plot of an Indiana Jones movie. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Fr. Chip Hines and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Thomas Craughwell, author and historian Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: New vicar general, Reorganization, Revere Casino, UN Report, Catholic identity at Notre Dame, NeoCatechumenal Way Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday pane of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry considered the headlines of the week, including the appointment of Bishop Peter Uglietto as the new vicar general for the archdiocese; the reorganization of evangelization and faith formation ministries in the archdiocese; faith leaders coming together against a casino in Revere; a UN report that presses the Vatican on child abuse and on Church teaching; the Pope’s call to the University of Notre Dame to make Catholic identity clear; and his words to the NeoCatechumenal Way on his gratitude for their generosity. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: Fr. William Palardy of Bl. John XXIiI Seminary Summary of today’s show: The Archdiocese of Boston has three seminaries and the second-oldest Bl. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston. The seminary forms men for the priesthood who are approaching this vocation later in life and are in training for many dioceses around the country. Fr. William Palardy, the rector of the seminary, joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to discuss the seminary, its 50th anniversary, the upcoming change in name when Bl. John XXIII is canonized, the elevation of former rector Bishop Peter Uglietto as vicar general for the archdiocese, and the epic softball battles between St. John Seminary and Bl. John Seminary. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. William Palardy, rector of Bl. John XXIII Seminary Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Pope Francis: Why He Leads the Way He Leads Summary of today’s show: Pope Francis has become enormously popular among Catholics and non-Catholics alike, even though his behavior and style is exactly the opposite of the world’s vision of leadership. Chris Lowney joins Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne from Rome to discuss his new book, “Pope Francis: Why He Leads the Way He Leads”, and the lessons in leadership we glean from the Pope and how his leadership style is affected by his background as a Jesuit and as a Latin American. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne Today’s guest(s): Chris Lowney, author of Pope Francis: Why He Leads the Way He Leads Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Catholic Schools Week: Catholic Schools Office Summary of today’s show: To finish Catholic Schools Week, Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines welcome Mary Moran, Chris Flieger, and Jim Walsh of the Catholic Schools Office of the Archdiocese to discuss the ministry of Catholic schools throughout the year and the opportunity to highlight that work this week every year. They discuss the mission of Catholic schools and how they differ from other schools in that they bring the Gospel to their classrooms, as well as the reason for the popularity of the Catholic school option even in towns with very good public schools. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0659: New church for Plymouth; Ecumenical Gathering; Catholic Schools; John Paul II’s notebooks 56:31
Today’s topics: New church for Plymouth; Ecumenical Gathering; Catholic Schools; John Paul II’s notebooks Summary of today’s show: Listen to the show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry look at the news headlines of the week, including the new church built for St. Bonaventure Parish in Plymouth; the biggest ecumenical gathering in Boston in many years; stewardship of Catholic schools; the publication of Bl. John Paul’s personal notebooks; and Super Bowl predictions. Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. of the Ecumenical Gathers for All Christian Martyrs Your browser does not support iframes.…
Today’s topics: Catholic Schools Week: Lowell Catholic High School Summary of today’s show: Lowell Catholic High School is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and during Catholic Schools Week, Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines are joined by Maryellen DeMarco, the principal; Nicole Sharpe, dean of advancement; and Adrian Lambert, a senior, to talk about the family atmosphere of the school, how it draws students from across the Merrimack region, their relationship with the Xaverian Brothers order, the accomplishments of their sports programs, and the special anniversary Mass with Cardinal Seán this week. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Maryellen DeMarco, Nicole Sharpe, and Adrian Lambert of Lowell Catholic High School Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Catholic Schools Week: St. John School in the North End of Boston Summary of today’s show: St. John’s School in the North End of Boston is one of the oldest Catholic schools in the area, at 120 years, but it’s also on the cutting edge of education as well. Karen McLaughlin, Margaret Betts, and Julia Daley join Scot Landry during Catholic Schools Week to talk about the school; its Catholic character; how the unique character of the North End affects education; how the school draws students from well outside the North End and has been growing dramatically; how the children take Italian language and culture classes; how the school works with the local Coast Guard station, the North Bennett Street School; and what makes it special for the staff and students alike. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Karen McLaughlin, Julia Daley, and Margaret Betts Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: The Sinner’s Guide to Natural Family Planning Summary of today’s show: Simcha Fisher has written a book for every Catholic couple who has struggled with living by the Church’s teachings on marital sexuality, specifically natural family. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell discuss such topics as the difficulty of openness to life in a contraceptive culture; discerning God’s will for when to have a child; dealing with the difficulty of self-discipline and self-sacrifice; figuring out how the Church’s teaching gets applied in your life and marriage; and more. Also, we celebrate Fr. Mark O’Connell’s last show as co-host with Scot on Fridays, saying farewell and thank you for all his great insights and contributions. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Simcha Fisher Links from today’s show: (Available in February) (Available now)…
1 TGCL #0640: Preaching in Evangelii Gaudium, New papal interview, Bishop Deeley to Portland, Dominican immigration 56:30
Today’s topics: Preaching in Evangelii Gaudium, New papal interview, Bishop Deeley to Portland, Dominican immigration Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy examine the news headlines of the week, including Fr. Roger’s latest column discussing Pope Francis’ words on Evangelii Gaudium having to do with preaching; Pope clarifies remarks in new interview; Bishop Deeley appointed to Portland, Maine; Cardinal Seán’s intervention into a Dominican immigration controversy; and changes at the Vatican’s bishops’ congregation. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: How to Share Your Faith with Anyone Summary of today’s show: Terry Barber is one of the founders of St. Joseph Communications and Lighthouse Catholic Media, which provides thousands of different recorded talks by the biggest Catholic voices for the work of evangelization. He has taken his decades of experience in proclaiming the faith and condensed it all into an easy-to-read, step-by-step book, “How to Share Your Faith with Anyone: A Practical Manual of Catholic Evangelization”. Terry joins Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams to discuss his own story, the book, and the ministries he’s involved with. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Terry Barber, author of the book “How to Share Your Faith with Anyone: A Practical Manual of Catholic Evangelization” Links from today’s show: from on .…
Today’s topics: Contraception and Catholicism Summary of today’s show: In her new book, Dr. Angela Franks talks about contraception and the Church’s teachings in plain language, addressing the common misunderstandings about both, including that the Church is anti-woman or wants families to have as many kids as we can, and drawing the logical conclusion that contraception itself treats fertility as a disease and places us at odds with our bodies. Angela sits down with Scot Landry to discuss the book and the caricatures of Church teaching that we often hear. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Dr. Angela Franks Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0637: Child Euthanasia; Ethical and Religious Directives; Vatican Stem Cells; Flu Vaccine Furor 56:30
Today’s topics: Child Euthanasia; Ethical and Religious Directives; Vatican Stem Cells; Flu Vaccine Furor Summary of today’s show: We return to the latest issues and news surrounding healthcare and medical ethics with our regular guest M.C. Sullivan, including a new law passed in Belgium to legalize euthanasia of children; the Vatican joint venture to help develop adult stem cells; and the legal challenge to the Ethical and Moral Directives for Catholic Health Care. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): M.C. Sullivan., Director of Ethics, Covenant Healthcare Systems Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Evangelii Gaudium on Parish-based Evangelization Summary of today’s show: Pope Francis has outlined a comprehensive vision for evangelization in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell are joined by Fr. Paul Soper and Dan Cellucci to discuss one portion of that vision that deals with evangelization within the context of a parish, including how a parish can evangelize as a community, but also how individuals within that parish can walk together with others who are also on the journey of life. Listen to the show: Dan Cellucci and Fr. Paul Soper Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Links from today’s show: Excerpted passages from Evangelii Gaudium: 28. The parish is not an outdated institution; precisely because it possesses great flexibility, it can assume quite different contours depending on the openness and missionary creativity of the pastor and the community. While certainly not the only institution which evangelizes, if the parish proves capable of self-renewal and constant adaptivity, it continues to be “the Church living in the midst of the homes of her sons and daughters”.[26] This presumes that it really is in contact with the homes and the lives of its people, and does not become a useless structure out of touch with people or a self-absorbed group made up of a chosen few. The parish is the presence of the Church in a given territory, an environment for hearing God’s word, for growth in the Christian life, for dialogue, proclamation, charitable outreach, worship and celebration.[27] In all its activities the parish encourages and trains its members to be evangelizers.[28] It is a community of communities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey, and a centre of constant missionary outreach. We must admit, though, that the call to review and renew our parishes has not yet sufficed to bring them nearer to people, to make them environments of living communion and participation, and to make them completely mission-oriented. 33. Pastoral ministry in a missionary key seeks to abandon the complacent attitude that says: “We have always done it this way”. I invite everyone to be bold and creative in this task of rethinking the goals, structures, style and methods of evangelization in their respective communities. A proposal of goals without an adequate communal search for the means of achieving them will inevitably prove illusory. I encourage everyone to apply the guidelines found in this document generously and courageously, without inhibitions or fear. The important thing is to not walk alone, but to rely on each other as brothers and sisters, and especially under the leadership of the bishops, in a wise and realistic pastoral discernment. 169. In a culture paradoxically suffering from anonymity and at the same time obsessed with the details of other people’s lives, shamelessly given over to morbid curiosity, the Church must look more closely and sympathetically at others whenever necessary. In our world, ordained ministers and other pastoral workers can make present the fragrance of Christ’s closeness and his personal gaze. The Church will have to initiate everyone – priests, religious and laity – into this “art of accompaniment” which teaches us to remove our sandals before the sacred ground of the other (cf. Ex 3:5). The pace of this accompaniment must be steady and reassuring, reflecting our closeness and our compassionate gaze which also heals, liberates and encourages growth in the Christian life. 170. Although it sounds obvious, spiritual accompaniment must lead others ever closer to God, in whom we attain true freedom. Some people think they are free if they can avoid God; they fail to see that they remain existentially orphaned, helpless, homeless. They cease being pilgrims and become drifters, flitting around themselves and never getting anywhere. To accompany them would be counterproductive if it became a sort of therapy supporting their self-absorption and ceased to be a pilgrimage with Christ to the Father. 171. Today more than ever we need men and women who, on the basis of their experience of accompanying others, are familiar with processes which call for prudence, understanding, patience and docility to the Spirit, so that they can protect the sheep from wolves who would scatter the flock. We need to practice the art of listening, which is more than simply hearing. Listening, in communication, is an openness of heart which makes possible that closeness without which genuine spiritual encounter cannot occur. Listening helps us to find the right gesture and word which shows that we are more than simply bystanders. Only through such respectful and compassionate listening can we enter on the paths of true growth and awaken a yearning for the Christian ideal: the desire to respond fully to God’s love and to bring to fruition what he has sown in our lives. But this always demands the patience of one who knows full well what Saint Thomas Aquinas tells us: that anyone can have grace and charity, and yet falter in the exercise of the virtues because of persistent “contrary inclinations”.[133] In other words, the organic unity of the virtues always and necessarily exists in habitu, even though forms of conditioning can hinder the operations of those virtuous habits. Hence the need for “a pedagogy which will introduce people step by step to the full appropriation of the mystery”.[134] Reaching a level of maturity where individuals can make truly free and responsible decisions calls for much time and patience. As Blessed Peter Faber used to say: “Time is God’s messenger”.…
1 TGCL #0635: Person of the Year, Joy of evangelizing, Catholic health care, Trappistine solar power 56:31
Today’s topics: Person of the Year, Joy of evangelizing, Catholic health care, Trappistine solar power Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry look at the headlines of the week, including Pope Francis being named Time magazine’s Person of the Year; Pope Francis’ dream of missionary transformation and the joy of evangelizing; a lawsuit by the ACLU against the US bishops for holding hospitals to Catholic ethical and moral standards; and a Trappistine abbey sets up a solar power farm to power the town of Franklin. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. via…
Today’s topics: Parish Director of Evangelization Summary of today’s show: Patrick Krisak may be the only parish evangelization director in the Archdiocese of Boston and he joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines to discuss his ministry in the collaborative parishes in Beverly; his background growing up in New Jersey and previous ministry in parishes in the Diocese of Arlington; and the challenges and opportunities of ministering in one of the first of the parish collaboratives being organized under the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Patrick Krisak, Director for Evangelization for the Catholic Parishes of Beverly Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Fr. Sean Maher Summary of today’s show: Fr. Sean Maher grew up in Ireland, but came to the US as an adult and entered St. John’s Seminary. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor welcome Fr. Maher to talk about growing up in Ireland, how he came to the US, why he decided to become a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston, and the international Emmanuel Community that he’s a part of. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Sean Maher Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: “Pope Francis: Our Brother, Our Friend” Summary of today’s show: When he was elected pope, Cardinal Jorge Maria Bergoglio of Buenos Aires became a subject of intense interest throughout the world as we all wondered who is this Jesuit who is now the first pope from the New World. Alejandro Bermudez joins Scot Landry to discuss his new book “Pope Francis: Our Brother, Our Friend” in which he gathered essays from Jesuit conferes and others of the Pope written shortly after his election, relating their reflections on the person of the Pope from their experiences ranging from his earliest days in the Society of Jesus to his time as Archbishop. The interviews provide a glimpse into the man, his family background, his personality, his simplicity, his authenticity, his preference for the poor, and his desire for the Church to go out into the streets. Alejandro Bermúdez, born in Lima, Perú, is the Director of the largest Catholic news Agency in Spanish, ACI-Prensa, and the Executive Director of the Catholic News Agency. He is the host of the show “Cara a Cara” on EWTN in Spanish, and has been a guest commentator on religious issues for the New York Times. He translated Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio’s book, On Heaven and Earth, into English. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Alejandro Bermudez Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: 2013 Cheverus Awards Summary of today’s show: Each year for the past six years, Cardinal Seán has recognized outstanding laypeople, religious and deacons from the Archdiocese of Boston through the Cheverus Awards, most of them nominated by their pastors. The recipients have served their parish well over an extended period of time and have done so in a quiet, unassuming and, perhaps, unrecognized fashion. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell welcome three representative recipients to discuss their experience receiving their awards and their pastors on why they were chosen and the life of service they have each given. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Judy Haglof, Nancy White, Fr. John Ronaghan, Eleanor McFarland, Fr. John Carmichael, Doris Thompson, and Fr. Paul Ring Links from today’s show: The Cheverus medal Bishop Jean-Louis Cheverus…
Today’s topics: Evangelii Gaudium, Vatican Commission on Sex Abuse Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry look at the headlines of the past couple of weeks, including Evangelii Gaudium and its reception and the formation of a Vatican commission on a pastoral response to sex abuse of children as proposed by the Council of Cardinals. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: Prison Ministry Summary of today’s show: The season of Advent is a time of hope and repentance and is a perfect time to discuss the ministry of prison chaplains, who live out Christ’s command to visit the imprisoned. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor welcome Ruth Raichle, who recently completed 35 years in prison ministry, and Gary Stewart, who was incarcerated for 22 years and was the beneficiary of that ministry. They described the breadth of the ministry including participating in the effort for the beatification of Fr. Jean Joseph Lataste, OP; the work of Bethany House which provides support to prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families by operating a thrift store, giving them jobs, and managing volunteer ministry programs in men’s and women’s prisons. Gary also describes his 22 years in prison and how the relentless invitation to attend a Cursillo retreat weekend changed his life and his outlook. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Ruth Raichle and Gary Stewart Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Sacred Scripture and Advent Summary of today’s show: As we begin the season of Advent, Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor are on location at St. John’s Seminary to talk with Fr. Joseph Briody to discuss Scripture and his doctorate in Sacred Scripture, his work on the Vox Clara commission, his study of the letters of St. Paul in Scripture, how to read the Bible, and how to approach Advent. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Joseph Briody Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Alvaro Vega, the Hip Hop Seminarian Summary of today’s show: Alvaro Vega is a second-year seminarian in the Archdiocese of Miami, but he’s also an aspiring hip-hop musician who believes that God is calling him both to the priesthood and use music in his ministry. Alvaro joins Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams to discuss how he came to discern his vocation to the priesthood and how music played a role in that, as well as his new song called iBelieve, which he composed in Spanish and translated to English. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Alvaro Vega, a seminarian of the Archdiocese of Miami Links from today’s show: I believe in God, the Lord, the Almighty Who embraces the leper of society Gives sight to the blind with clay that He’s spit in, And says, ‘Rise and walk, your sins are forgiven’ I believe our mission is to care for the homeless And bring the Good news to all of the hopeless It’s our responsibility, not merely sage advice In every poor person is the face of Christ I believe in the One who gave His life on the cross And redeemed humanity without counting the cost I believe in the Bible and every word that’s written And in the Magisterium and Catholic Tradition I believe in Jesus who frees us from all diseases, The One who came to teach us the love thy neighbor thesis, The One who came to frees us and redeem us from our sins, If you love Jesus put your hands up in the air and sing: CHORUS I believe that Jesus is the Way For a better tomorrow and today Throw your hands up in the air and lift your voice And say, ‘I believe in Jesus and rejoice’ 2nd Verse I believe in you and me and in all humanity I believe in G.O.D., maker of the galaxy I believe this human race can start to see better days If we only place our faith in the Lord and change our ways But, let me tell you what I don’t believe in I don’t believe in atheism as a valid reason I don’t believe in the redefinition of marriage I don’t believe in the right through with millions have perished Babies are killed before reaching the carriage Moral values nowadays are being disparaged I believe that only love could overcome hatred And bring us to respect human life which is sacred I believe we need to feed the poor and clothe the naked ‘cause a life lived without loving is wasted I believe that only Jesus could wipe away our sorrow And heal the world for a better tomorrow CHORUS 3rd Verse Man deciding for himself right and wrong is nonsense I believe in the law written in our conscience I believe in the return of Christ in glory and power Stay awake, ‘cause we know neither the day nor the hour Persevere in prayer and always be watchful And labor for the Gospel like an apostle I believe through Christ all things are possible We could conquer evil and every obstacle To make the world a better place for the human race Every nation giving God thanksgiving and praise Each man reflecting Christ in his face With an undying charity and love that is chaste Man is a pilgrim on the journey of life Who only finds his purpose in Christ May the good Lord shine on us with His smile And help us get to heaven with the heart of a child CHORUS (x3)…
Today’s topics: NewAdvent.org, one of the oldest Catholic websites Summary of today’s show: There are many great Catholic apostolates coming out of the Denver as a fruit of World Youth Day in 1993, and one of the oldest is the website NewAdvent.org. The site’s founder, Kevin Knight, joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to talk about launching the website in 1995 as one of the first Catholic sites, first offering the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, then the Catholic Encyclopedia, and now links to the best Catholic writing online each day. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Kevin Knight Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Fr. John Wykes, the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, and St. Francis Chapel Summary of today’s show: Nestled within one of Boston’s office and retail meccas downtown, visitors can find St. Francis Chapel, which is currently served by the Oblates of the Virgin Mary. The Chapel, which has been in place since the late 60s, recently celebrated 30 years under the stewardship of the Oblates with a special Mass celebrated by Cardinal Seán. The order also operates St. Clement Eucharistic Shrine in the Fenway, Our Lady of Grace Seminary for the order, and St. Joseph Retreat House in Milton. Fr. John Wykes, OMV, joins Scot Landry to discuss the Chapel and the work of the Order in Boston as well as his own background, how he discovered his vocation, and the ministry he’s done over the years, including his work in Catholic media. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. John Wykes, OMV Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Collection for Retired Religious Sister and Advent Fasting Retreat Summary of today’s show: In the first part of our show, Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell welcome Sr. Marian Batho and Sr. Pat Boyle to discuss this weekend’s second collection for retired religious sisters. They point out that in the past religious sisters did not have sufficient retirement funds and didn’t pay into Social Security until 1972. Even today, each active religious sister works to provide for the needs of four or more retired sisters, including housing and medical needs. More than 2,900 sisters who have provided a combined 54,000 years of service receive funds from the collection in the Archdiocese of Boston. In our second segment, Andy Lavallee from Live the Fast joins us to discuss his ministry and their upcoming Advent Fasting Retreat on November 30. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Sr. Marian Batho, Sr. Pat Boyle, Andy Lavallee Links from today’s show: , 617-746-6537…
Today’s topics: Headlines for the Week ending 11/21/13 Summary of today’s show: Our Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Domenico Bettinelli looked at the headlines of the week, including three interviews of Cardinal Seán on challenges facing the Church; Pope Francis’ upcoming first apostolic exhortation; and the end of the Year of Faith and year of two popes. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Domenico Bettinelli, producer for The Good Catholic Life Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: St. Kateri Tekakwitha Summary of today’s show: St. Kateri is one of the newest saints in the Church, canonized in 2012, and she was the first native North American saint. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams welcome Maureen Heil of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Boston and a parishioner of St. Kateri Parish in Plymouth and Emily Cavins, author of the new book “Lily of the Mohawks” to discuss the story of the saint, her great devotion, and the sufferings she endured for Christ. They also discuss the example that she provides as a role model for young people. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Emily Cavins, author of “Lily of the Mohawks: The Story of St. Kateri”, and Maureen Heil of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Boston Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Bl. John Henry Newman on Modernism Summary of today’s show: In 2000, Deacon Jack Sullivan of Marshfield received a miraculous healing through the intercession of Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman, a miracle that would lead to the beatification of Newman by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. Deacon Jack joins Scot Landry to share the story of his healing and to discuss Bl. Newman’s writings, especially as they apply to modernism and secularism today and the four pillars of secularism embraced by many in our culture. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Deacon Jack Sullivan Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Healthcare Proxies, Advance Care Directives, and End-of-Life Care Summary of today’s show: Healthcare and bioethics remains at the top of the news so M.C. Sullivan joins Scot Landry again to discuss the application Catholic moral teaching to health and medical issues, including the latest news on the Affordable Care Act; healthcare proxies and advance directives; the valid Catholic morality behind decisions on appropriate end-of-life care; and what is a MOLST and how does it relate to proxies and advance directives? Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): M.C. Sullivan, director of ethics at Covenant Healthcare Systems Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: The 20th annual Bishop James Augustine Healy Summary of today’s show: Each year, the Bishop Healy Dinner honors those who have served the Black Catholic community in the Archdiocese of Boston and celebrates the community. Scot Landry and guest co-host Fr. Michael Harrington welcome Lorna DesRoses of the Office for Black Catholics and this year’s honorees, Myrtle Cruz who will receive the Bishop Healy Award, and Fr. William Joy, who will receive the Robert Ruffin Award. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Michael Harrington Today’s guest(s): Lorna DesRoses, Myrtle Cruz, and Fr. William Joy Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0618: Cheverus Awards; US bishops meeting; American cardinals; HHS mandate; Philippines typhoon 56:31
Today’s topics: Cheverus Awards; US bishops meeting; American cardinals; HHS mandate; Philippines typhoon Summary of today’s show: Our Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Gregory Tracy look at the headlines of the week, including the announcement of awardees of the 2013 Cheverus Awards in the Archdiocese of Boston—among whom is our own Susan Abbott; the election of a new leader of the US bishops conference and decisions on a statement on pornography and on the HHS mandate; and the local Catholic response to the typhoon in the Philippines. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: 2013 Cheverus Award winners Susan Abbott, St. Theresa of Avila Parish, West Roxbury Laura Albaladejo, St. Patick Parish, Brockton Josephine and Charles Anastasia, St. John Chrysostom Parish, West Roxbury Ruth Andrews, St. Katherine Drexel Parish, Boston Mother Teresa Benedicta, OCD, North Region William Bibeau, St. John the Baptist Parish, Haverhill Madelyn Brown, The Catholic TV Network, Watertown (2012) Judy Burton, St. Mary/St. Catherine of Siena Parish, Charlestown Jacquelyn Butterfield, St. Anne Parish, Littleton James Buxton, Holy Trinity Parish, Lowell John Carter, Sacred Heart Parish, Waltham Everett Casey, Sacred Heart Parish, Middleborough John Cheboryot and Mercy Anampiu, St. Michael Parish, Lowell, Kenyan Apostolate Antonio Jr. and Gracita Chiefe, St. Mary Parish, Randolph, Filipino Apostolate Deacon Charles Clough, West Region William Corrigan, St. Anthony Parish, Allston Marileia Costa, St. Anthony Parish, Everett, Brazilian Apostolate Paul Daly, Sacred Heart Parish, Quincy Joan DeGuglielmo, St. Francis Parish, Cambridge Sister Thomasita Delaney, RMS, Merrimack Region Samuel E. DeMerit, St. Paul Parish, Cambridge Jose DePina, St. Peter Parish, Dorchester Barbara Devita, St. Thomas of Villanova Parish, Wilmington Linda Devoll, St. John the Evangelist Parish, Canton Rose DiMare, Immaculate Conception Parish, Revere Anne Doherty, St. Camillus Parish, Arlington M.J. Doherty, Archdiocese of Boston Kevin Dolan, Sts. Martha and Mary Parish, Lakeville Thomas Dwyer, Esq., Archdiocese of Boston Joanne Eagan, Sacred Heart Parish, Lynn Stephen Fair, St. Mary of the Assumption Parish, Brookline Walter Faria, St. Mary of the Nativity Parish, Scituate George and Linda Furtado, Immaculate Conception Parish, Everett Rosa Garcia, St. James Parish, Haverhill Deacon Alfred Geneus, St. John the Evangelist Parish, Cambridge, Haitian Apostolate Deacon Thomas Hanlon, South Region Anne Hanning, St. Charles Borromeo Parish, Waltham John Hennigan, St. Dennis Parish, Westwood Sister Magdalene Ikeda, PDDM, Regina Cleri, Boston, Japanese Apostolate George Jackson, St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Braintree Marie Jutkiewicz, St. Tarcisius Parish, Framingham Sonete Kammer, St. Tarcisus Parish, Framingham, Brazilian Apostolate Anne B. Kelly, St. Francis de Sales Parish, Charlestown Mary Kiesinger, St. Dorothy Parish, Wilmington Richard Kimball, St. Cecilia Parish, Boston J. Timothy Looney, St. Joseph Parish, Wakefield Dr. Aloysius Lugira, St. Mary Parish, Waltham, Ugandan Community (2012) Eleanor Mackin, St. Mary Parish, Lynn Judie Mahan, St. Gerard Majella Parish, Canton Constance Malloy, Our Lady of Sorrows Parish, Sharon Deacon Leo Martin, St. John the Baptist Parish, Peabody Jeanne Masterman, St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish, Westford Janice Mathias, St. Mary Parish, Billerica Robert Matson, St. Joseph Parish, Holbrook Elinor McFarland, St. Ann by the Sea Parish, Marshfield Darice McIntire, Sacred Heart Parish, Manchester Altagracia Mena, St. Patrick Parish, Lowell Helen Monteiro, St. Patrick Parish, Roxbury Deacon Pablo Morel, North Region Kevin Muldoon, Immaculate Conception Parish, Weymouth Sheila Murphy, St. Andrew Parish, North Billerica Sylvia Murphy, St. Helen Parish, Norwell Joseph R. Nolan, St. Francis Chapel, Boston (Prudential Center) Roberta Oles, St. Mary Parish, Wrentham John Olquist, Holy Family Parish, Dorchester Lawrence and Sally O’Maley, St. John the Baptist Parish, Essex Sister Mary O’Rourke, CSJ, West Region Eduardo Pascua, Holy Trinity Parish, Quincy Mary Peck, St. Margaret Parish, Burlington Michael Pietkiewicz, St. Stanislaus Parish, Chelsea Rita Pizzi, St. Blaise Parish, Bellingham Nancy Pouliot, Holy Family Parish, Amesbury Brother Thomas Puccio, C.F.X., North Region Lucille Ratte, Star of the Sea Parish, Salisbury Pat Riley, St. Michael Parish, North Andover Martha Roberts, St. Malchy Parish, Burlington Sister Florita Rodman, CDP, South Region Ellen Greene Romikitis, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta Parish, Dorchester John Scanlon, Sacred Heart Parish Margaret Scollins, Our Lady of the Assumption Parish, Green Harbor Patricia Shafto, St. Christine Parish, Marshfield Deacon Richard Siebert, Merrimack Region Joan Silta, St. Pius X Parish, Milton Stella Simione, St. John the Evangelist Parish, Winthrop Celia Sirois, Archdiocese of Boston Marguerite Small, St. Mary of the Annunciation Parish, Melrose Jean Soucy, St. Magdalen Parish, Tyngsborough Antonio and Delminda Sousa, Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Peabody Claudia Suarez, Madonna Queen Shrine, East Boston M. Doris Thompson, St. John the Evangelist Parish, East Bridgewater Joseph Tuan Thong, St. Bernadette Parish, Randolph, Vietnamese Apostolate Paule Verdet, Sacred Heart Parish, Newton Judy Vivien, St. Mary of the Assumption/St. Ann Parish, Hull Ann C. White, St. Ann Parish, Quincy Magda E. Zabala, Holy Family Parish, Dorchester…
Today’s topics: Ear of the Heart: From Hollywood Actress to Holy Vows Summary of today’s show: Mother Dolores Hart was a Hollywood actress whose career was on the rise 50 years ago, including starring opposite Elvis Presley. But she gave it all up to answer the Lord’s call to enter a Benedictine cloister. Now she has emerged from that cloister to tell her story, joining Scot Landry, Fr. Chip Hines, and Fr. Matt Williams to tell us how she got discovered, what it was like to be a movie star, and how God prompted her to her true vocation. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry, Fr. Matt Williams, and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Mother Dolores Hart Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Two of Boston Newest Priests: Fr. Chris Wallace and Fr. Eric Bennett Summary of today’s show: Fr. Chris Wallace, ordained this past May, and Fr. Eric Bennett, ordained last year but only just back from Rome, are both serving in the new pastoral collaboratives as part of the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan. Fr. Wallace and Fr. Bennett join Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to discuss their experiences as new priests and in the new paradigm for parish experience in the Archdiocese of Boston. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Chris Wallace and Fr. Eric Bennett Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: The Miracle of Fr. Kapaun Summary of today’s show: Fr. Emil Kapaun was a Korean War-era US Army chaplain who not only received the Medal of Honor for his bravery, but is also being considered for canonization by the Church. Roy Wenzl joins Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell on this Veterans Day weekend to tell the story of Fr. Kapaun and how he served the men under his care selflessly, especially after they all became prisoners of war and survived in the worst possible conditions. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Roy Wenzl, co-author of the book “The Miracle of Fr. Kapaun” Links from today’s show: Due to technical difficulties on our radio network, today’s show was shortened by about 13 minutes. We apologize for any inconvenience. The Network will air special programming on Monday, November 11, Veteran’s Day, including “The Miracle of Fr. Kapaun” at 9:30pm. Check your local listings or go to CatholicTV’s website for their channel on your satellite or cable provider. WATERTOWN, MA (November 8, 2013) – The CatholicTV Network will air special programming in honor of Veteran’s Day on Monday, November 11, 2013. The CatholicTV Network honors America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. On November 11, 2013 CatholicTV will air FocusTV’s Archbishop Hannan’s: A Solider of God at 8PM, For God and Country at 9PM, The Miracle of Father Kapaun at 9:30PM, and FocusTV’s Grunt Padre at 10:30PM ET. CatholicTV will also air a video presentation featuring Father Sean Connor, Chaplain of the Boston Police Department, Father Richard Uftring, Chaplain of the Airport and Seaport, and Father Arthur Calter, Retired Chaplain of the US Army. The ministry of these three honorable Boston priests serving as first responders in emergency and combat situations is showcased in this video presentation. The video presentation will air at 10:15AM and 11:30AM on Veteran’s Day. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has also approved a special collection in all parishes nationwide to support the Archdiocese for the Military Services. To donate to the collection visit .…
Today’s topics: Casino Defeated; Red Sox Redemption; Consistory in February; Request for Abortion Coverage Disclosure; Medjugorje; Marriage Survey for Synod; New Bishop for Rochester Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry look at the headlines of the week, including the electoral defeat of a casino in East Boston opposed by a coalition of religious leaders; the World Series’ champion Red Sox as a team of redemption; the date set for a consistory of cardinals in February; a request for disclosure of which Obamacare insurance plans cover abortion; Vatican bar on certain events including Medjugorje visionaries; survey of marriage and family life ahead of the bishops’ synod next year; and new bishop for Rochester, NY. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Boston’s Vietnamese Catholic community Summary of today’s show: Vietnam has a rich history of the Catholic faith and those who have emigrated to the United States have brought the depth and richness of their faith with them. The Archdiocese of Boston hosts many Vietnamese Catholics and Scot Landry and Fr. Michael Harrington welcomed Sr. Maria Kim Bui, Truong Tran, and Ang Le to discuss the history of the faith in Vietnam, including the many Vietnamese martyrs, their own experiences in coming to America, and how their community continues to celebrate their faith. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Michael Harrington Today’s guest(s): Sr. Maria Kim Bui, Truong Tran, Ang Le, Twan Nguyen Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Catholic Faith Essentials and the New Evangelization Summary of today’s show: What is the New Evangelization and how is it being carried out in the Church, the Archdiocese of Boston, our parishes and our homes? Bishop Arthur Kennedy and Michael Lavigne join Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to discuss the New Evangelization, its aim to address those who are already baptized Catholic and renew their faith to teach them the way of Christian life, and the tools that are offered, including the online course Catholic Faith Essentials. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Bishop Arthur Kennedy, Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization, and Michael Lavigne, Senior Associate in the Office of the Episcopal Vicar Links from today’s show: Just what is the New Evangelization? Come hear a presentation by the Office of the Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization on this topic, “What is the New Evangelization: Teaching the Art of Living,” at the following parishes: St. Thomas Aquinas, Jamaica Plain on November 5 Our Lady Help of Christians, Newton on November 7 Saint Maria Goretti, Lynnfield on November 13 Sacred Heart, Middleborough on November 21 Saint Monica, Methuen on November 21 All workshops will begin at 7:00 p.m. and should conclude at 8:30 p.m. To register for any of these workshops, please email Joan Lamar at joan_lamar@rcab.org or call at 617.746.5749. Plus, you can enter to win a free copy of Fr. Robert Barron’s new video, “Catholicism: The New Evangelization.”…
Today’s topics: Saints of 2012 and 2013 Summary of today’s show: As we celebrate All Saints Day, Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell welcome Thomas Craughwell— an expert on saints, especially those who are less well known—to discuss some of the most recent saints in the Church, including St. Marianne Cope, St. Kateri Tekakwitha, St. Hildegard of Bingen, St. Pedro Calungsod, St. María Guadalupe García Zavala, St. Angela of Foligno, and the 800 Martyrs of Otranto. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Thomas Craughwell Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Red Sox; Colleen Ritzer; New Hartford Archbishop; All Saints and All Souls Day Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry consider the headlines of the week, including the Red Sox winning the World Series; the funeral Mass for a slain beloved teacher; the new archbishop for Hartford; St. John’s Seminary alumni reunion; two priests who have died recently; All Saints and All Souls Days; and a young boy who captured the world’s imagination by upstaging Pope Francis Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: Walking with Mary: A Biblical Journey from Nazareth to the Cross Summary of today’s show: As we finish this month the Church devotes to Mary, Dr. Edward Sri joins Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams to discuss his new book “Walking with Mary”, that brings us in the footsteps of the Blessed Mother as she experiences her journey of faith from the Annunciation to the Crucifixion, finding new inspiration and encouragement Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Dr. Edward Sri of the Augustine Institute in Denver Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Two of Boston’s Newest Priests: Fr. John Cassani and Fr. Gerald Souza Summary of today’s show: Fr. John Cassani and Fr. Gerald Souza are two of the priests ordained for the Archdiocese this past June and they join Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to discuss what they found surprising about the priestly life, how they’ve adapted, what led to their vocations, and the challenges and joys they’ve encountered. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. John Cassani and Fr. Gerald Souza Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: These Beautiful Bones Summary of today’s show: The Theology of the Body as conceived by Bl. John Paul II is often misconstrued as a theology of human sexuality, but that’s only part of the story. Emily Stimpson’s new book, “These Beautiful Bones”, gives us a theology of the body for everyday life, in areas such as work and leisure, manners and modesty, food and exercise, prayer and sacrifice, and dealing with a world full of distractions. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Emily Stimpson Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Jerusalem IMAX Movie at the Museum of Science Summary of today’s show: Jerusalem is a small city that stands at the pivot of history and world affairs. A new IMAX movie now playing at the Museum of Science provides a unique perspective on the city and its history, its people, and its cultures. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell recently saw the movie—along with Dom Bettinelli and George Martell—at the Museum’s Mugar Omni Theatre and gathered with the theater’s director, Robin Doty, to discuss the film, its treatment of its subject, and the intricacies of its production in the Holy Land. Their conclusion was favorable and encouraging to all audiences to see this remarkable profile. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): George Martell of Pilot New Media and Robin Doty of the Museum of Science Links from today’s show: from on .…
1 TGCL #0605: Vatican new media; Teaching on divorced and remarried Catholics; Bishop “bling”; East Boston casino; 40 Days for Life 56:31
Today’s topics: Vatican new media; Teaching on divorced and remarried Catholics; Bishop “bling”; East Boston casino; 40 Days for Life Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry look at the news headlines of the week, including the talk given by the Vatican’s Msgr. Paul Tighe at the Catholic New Media Conference in Boston last weekend; the reaffirmation of the Church’s teaching on divorced, remarried Catholics by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; the leave of absence for a German bishop accused of extravagant spending on his residence; opposition by Catholics in East Boston against a proposed casino; and the 40 Days for Life against abortion. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. \…
Today’s topics: Local Pilgrimages near Boston Summary of today’s show: There are dozens of great shrines within a day’s drive, or a weekend’s travel at most, that families in the Boston area can visit. Making a pilgrimage is something every Catholic should do occasionally and you don’t have to travel to Europe or the Holy Land to do so. Kevin Nelson of CatholicTV’s Catholic Destinations joins Scot Landry, Fr. Chip Hines, and Domenico Bettinelli to discuss their favorite pilgrimages in New England, upstate New York, and Québec. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Kevin Nelson of CatholicTV Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: The Art of Catholic Memory and Memorizing the Faith Summary of today’s show: Dr. Kevin Vost in his new book teaches Catholics to restore the art of memorization to commit the essentials of the Catholic faith to instant recall. Memorization allows Catholics of all ages both to learn the faith and to share the faith at a moment’s notice. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Dr. Kevin Vost Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Daughters of St. Paul Webathon Summary of today’s show: The Daughters of St. Paul are a worldwide religious order of women working in all forms of media—books, TV, movies, radio, social media, music—to proclaim the Gospel message. In order to receive continuing support in an area where the technology can be very expensive, the Daughters are conducting an online webathon. Sr. Maria Kim, Sr. Marlyn, and Sr. Marie Paul join Scot Landry to tell them about their expansive work in all areas of the world, based out of their mother house here in the Boston area, in Jamaica Plain. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Sr. Maria Kim, Sr. Marlyn, and Sr. Marie Paul of the Daughters of St. Paul Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Catholic Social Media Summary of today’s show: The Vatican under Pope Francis is leading the way in the use of social media by Catholics. Msgr. Paul Tighe of the Vatican’s Council for Social Communications and Fr. Roderick Vonhögen of the Star Quest Production Network join Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines to talk about the Vatican’s media efforts, the creation of the papal Twitter account, Pope Francis’ communications style, the new dot-Catholic top-level domain, and the Catholic new media conference being held in Boston this weekend. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Msgr. Paul Tighe of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and Fr. Roderick Vonhögen of the Star Quest Production Network Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Headlines for Week Ending 8/17/13 Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry look at the news headlines of the week, including Pope Francis’ consecration of the world to Our Lady of Fatima; transition of the Vatican Secretary of State; Top 10 Tweets from Pope Francis; Catholics online; the hidden face of maternal love in miscarriages; and local news. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: It Is Well: Life in the Storm Summary of today’s show: When Chris Faddis’ wife, Angela, was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer on Easter Sunday, 2011, their young family of four entered a journey of faith and trust in Jesus Christ that didn’t end when Angela passed away in September 2012. Chris joins Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne to talk about the book he wrote about his experience and the lessons he learned from his late wife, It Is Well: Life in the Storm. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne Today’s guest(s): Chris Faddis, author of It Is Well: Life in the Storm Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: By What Authority Summary of today’s show: Mark Shea is a convert to Catholicism and his book “By What Authority” explores his discovery of the basis for why Catholics believe what they believe. He found that both Catholics and Evangelicals base their beliefs on both Scripture and Tradition. It’s just that Catholics acknowledge that it’s Tradition that tells us what books constitute the Bible; that tells us about the Trinity; that confirms that Christian marriage cannot include bigamy; and more. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Mark Shea, author of the book “By What Authority?” Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Parish-Based Evangelization Summary of today’s show: Parish-based evangelization works and we can train for it, but we need strong parishes in order to do so, says Fr. Paul Soper, director of Pastoral Planning for the Archdiocese of Boston. He sits down with Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines to discuss the latest news with the massive Disciples in Mission pastoral plan and to discuss how the Archdiocese is helping parishes with evangelizing the Catholics in their pews—and those that are missing from the pews. It begins with radical hospitality and includes prayer and radical conversion of the self. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Fr. Paul Soper Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0596: Council of Cardinals; Assisi; Marriage Synod; Cardinal to meet lawmakers; My Brother’s Keeper 56:30
Today’s topics: Council of Cardinals; Assisi; Marriage Synod; Cardinal to meet lawmakers; My Brother’s Keeper Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel looks at the news headlines of the week, including the first results of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinals; the remarkable visit of Pope Francis to Assisi; the announcement of an extraordinary synod of bishops to discuss marriage issues; Cardinal Seán’s invitation to lawmakers within the Archdiocese of Boston to an informal breakfast; and the expansion of the My Brother’s Keeper ministry to North Dartmouth. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: St. Mary’s After-School Program Summary of today’s show: The After-School program at St. Mary’s Parish in Waltham may be the first of its kind in the Archdiocese of Boston. Fr. Michael Nolan and Jennifer Acuna join Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne to talk about how the program came to be, the services it provides in homework assistance, faith formation, and physical activities, in addition to bilingual literacy programs. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne Today’s guest(s): Fr. Michael Nolan, pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Waltham, and Jennifer Acuna, co-director of St. Mary’s After-School Program Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0594: Cardinal George’s Lumen Gentium Talk at St. John’s Seminary’s new Presentation Hall 56:30
Today’s topics: Cardinal George’s Lumen Gentium Talk at St. John’s Seminary’s new Presentation Hall Summary of today’s show: Msgr. James Moroney of St. John’s Seminary joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to discuss the seminary’s new Presentation Hall and Library in the former Our Lady of the Presentation church in Brighton’s Oak Square, as part of a new strategy to expand the seminary’s presence in the community that also includes new social media tools and the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization. The first major event for the new Presentation Hall will be a talk by Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George on “Lumen Gentium and Episcopal Governance” as part of a Year of Faith series commemorating the 50th anniversary of Vatican II, and our panel discusses the significance of the document today, epecially as Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Msgr. James Moroney, rector of St. John’s Seminary Links from today’s show: Information on Cardinal George’s lecture: Saint John’s Seminary Forum for the YEAR OF FAITH and 50th Anniversary of Vatican II welcomes Francis Cardinal George, OMI who will present on “Lumen Gentium and Episcopal Governance” on Tuesday, 15 October 2013, 7pm, at Our Lady of the Presentation Lecture Hall, Oak Square, Brighton, MA 02135. Please call 617-746-5423 for Information There is no admission fee and no RSVP is required.…
1 TGCL #0593: Lino Rulli, author of the new book "Saint: Why I Should Be Canonized Right Away" 56:30
Today’s topics: Lino Rulli’s new book, “Saint: Why I Should Be Canonized Right Away” Summary of today’s show: Catholic media personality Lino Rulli followed up his first book of a few years ago, “Sinner”, with his new book, “Saint”. Lino explains to Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines that “Saint” is all about how we’re all called to saints and how accessible it truly is to all people. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Lino Rulli, author of the new book “Saint: Why I Should Be Canonized Right Away” Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: World Apostolate of Fatima in Boston and the month of the Holy Rosary Summary of today’s show: The Boston chapter of the World Apostolate of Fatima is 25 years old and in this annual month of the Rosary, Fr. Ed Riley joins Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell to talk about the message of Fatima, a Eucharistic holy hour for children, and Pope Francis’ plans to consecrate the world to Our Lady of Fatima next weekend. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr. Ed Riley, Dean of Men at St. John’s Seminary Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0591: Council of Cardinals; Pope Francis’ Latest Interview; Canonizations of Popes; Phase Two of Disciples in Mission 56:30
Today’s topics: Council of Cardinals; Pope Francis’ Latest Interview; Canonizations of Popes; Phase Two of Disciples in Mission Summary of today’s show: Our Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry discusses the news headlines of the week, including the meeting of Pope Francis’ new Council of Cardinals this week; his latest bombshell interview, this time with Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper; the date set for the canonization of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII; and the announcement of the Phase Two parish collaboratives in the Archdiocese of Boston’s Disciples in Mission pastoral plan. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: When Faith Feels Fragile Summary of today’s show: Fr. Scott Hurd, vicar general for the Anglican ordinariate in North America, talks to Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams about his background as an Episcopalian priest, husband, and father who converted to Catholicism and was ordained in the Church. Fr. Hurd also discussed his new book, “When Faith Feels Fragile: Help for the Wary, Weak and Wandering,” Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Fr. Scott Hurd Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Theological Institute Certificate Programs and Mass. Citizens for Life Summary of today’s show: The Certificate Programs of the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization provide a graduate-level education in the Catholic faith in a format designed for every Catholic in the pew. Dr. David Franks joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to discuss the new semester at TINE and the expanded opportunities to take the courses. They also discuss David’s volunteer role at Massachusetts Citizens for Life and its upcoming annual banquet at which they will honor noted pro-life activist Lila Rose. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Dr. David Franks of the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Secrets of Confession Summary of today’s show: Vinny Flynn shares with Scot Landry his top 7 secrets of Confession, including the fact that no confession is truly private (see what he means in the book of the same name); nothing we can do will turn away God’s love; confession is the way we “log on” to “download” God’s love that He’s already “emailed” to us; and the real goal of Confession. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Vinny Flynn, author of “& Secrets of Confession” Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0587: Celebration of the Priesthood; Jean Valjean and immigration reform; Sunday Readings 1:00:59
1:00:59
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1:00:59Today’s topics: Celebration of the Priesthood; Jean Valjean and immigration reform; Sunday Readings Summary of today’s show: During the Station of the Cross/WQOM fund drive, Scot Landry, Fr. Mark O’Connell and Chris Kelley took time to discuss the 5th annual Celebration of the Priesthood dinner on Thursday night to raise funds for the health and retirement needs of priests; an article by John Garvey, president of Catholic University of America, who compared Jean Valjean, the main character from the book/play/movie “Les Miserables”, to immigrants in the US today; and the Gospel reading for this upcoming Sunday. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Links from today’s show: Jean Valjean and immigration reform By John Garvey Les Miserables, the musical based on Victor Hugo’s novel, has been running in London since 1985. Last Christmas, it was released as a movie that won three Academy Awards. By the time of the DVD release, the film had grossed more than $440 million worldwide. The music and the all-star cast (including Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman) had a lot to do with the movie’s success, but the story is the real attraction. Jean Valjean, the protagonist, spends 19 years in prison for stealing bread to feed his sister and her seven children. Upon his release, he is issued a yellow feuille de route, a kind of domestic passport that identifies him as a former convict, making travel and employment difficult. Inevitably, he violates his parole. For this, Inspector Javert, the righteous embodiment of the law, pursues him throughout the novel. Living under an assumed name, Valjean becomes a successful entrepreneur and the mayor of his town. He adopts the orphaned child (Cosette) of one of his factory workers. But then Javert finds him again. The rest of the novel is an account of the effort to bring Valjean to justice. Hugo meant for the reader to sympathize with Valjean. His petty crime, committed out of desperate need and generosity rather than cruelty or selfishness, cost him 19 years of his life, plus other years on the run from Javert. In the meantime, Valjean lived an exemplary life, did much good for his town and his employees, and took in Cosette. In the end, (spoiler alert) even Javert is overcome by Valjean’s goodness. My mind returns to this story when the issue of illegal immigration arises. The main argument against providing some form of relief for undocumented immigrants -such as a path to citizenship -is the problem of “rewarding” people who broke the law by entering the U.S. without permission or who stayed without permission. I’m not enough of a romantic to believe that every undocumented immigrant has the soul of Jean Valjean, but the crime they have committed (crossing the border without going through customs) is often motivated by a desire to feed a family. I don’t mean to minimize or excuse breaking the law. It’s wrong to jump the immigration queue, especially when so many must wait years for U.S. residency. It’s also wrong for undocumented immigrants to presume on another nation’s hospitality. But we must be careful of adopting a resolute, unforgiving, uphold-the-law-at-all-costs approach, like the one taken by Javert. He spent his last days hell-bent on ruining a model citizen who posed a threat to no one and in fact made his world a better place. As long as we’re going strictly by the book, it’s worth mentioning that federal law treats the act of illegal entry into the U.S. as a mere “administrative offense,” less serious than theft. It makes perfect sense to say that those who sneaked in should have to get in line behind legal applicants. Make them pay a fine and back taxes for the period of their illegal stay. And just to make sure they are the kind of people we want to allow to reside here permanently, make them wait 10 years for permanent residency, then three more years before they can apply for citizenship -nearly as long as Javert spent pursuing Valjean. These are the terms proposed in the bill the Senate passed in June. I don’t think anyone could fairly accuse us of coddling criminals if we adopted that kind of settlement. At the end of the day, we have to stop hounding people for something they did long ago, often for generous reasons.…
1 TGCL #0586: Cardinal Seán and George Weigel on Pope Francis’ Interview; 12 Deacons Ordained; Group of 8 Cardinals Meeting 1:01:52
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1:01:52Today’s topics: Cardinal Seán and George Weigel on Pope Francis’ Interview; 12 Deacons Ordained; Group of 8 Cardinals Meeting Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel considers the headlines of the week, including the ordination of 12 men to the diaconate at Holy Cross Cathedral; Cardinal Seán’s recommendation of George Weigel’s analysis of Pope Francis’ latest interview with Jesuit magazines; and the upcoming meeting of 8 cardinals, including Cardinal Seán, to advise Pope Francis on curia reform. Meanwhile, the WQOM Fall Fund Drive continues by asking for the support of listeners to continue Catholic radio in Boston. Please pledge a gift of any size at http://www.wqom.org. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: Jesus in Boston; Pope Francis on His Vision for the Church Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams discussed the exciting changes to the Jesus in North End gatherings that his Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults put together on a monthly basis and then continued the discussion of Pope Francis’ groundbreaking interview with America magazine. Meanwhile, WQOM is holding its fall fund drive, asking for listeners’ support to keep Catholic radio in Boston. If you’d like to make a gift of any size, please visit the WQOM.org. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0584: Bioethics News: Latest on the HHS mandate; Palliative Care; Advanced Care Planning 49:26
Today’s topics: Bioethics News: Latest on the HHS mandate; Palliative Care; Advanced Care Planning Summary of today’s show: M.C. Sullivan returns to discuss the latest bioethics and healthcare news from a Catholic perspective, including the continuing fight to stop the HHS mandate as part of the Affordable Care Act; the efforts to strengthen palliative care at the end of life; and the need for people to think about planning for the medical care at the end of their lives or when they’re unable to speak for themselves. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): M.C. Sullivan Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: The Red Mass and Catholic Lawyers Guild Summary of today’s show: The Red Mass is an ancient tradition of gathering lawyers together annually to ask God’s help as they begin their judicial term and the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Boston has continued that tradition. Paul McNamara and Maura Doyle of the guild joined Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell to discuss the origins of the Red Mass overall and in Boston in particular; why the legal profession particularly needs such an occasion to unite their faith and professional lives; the contributions of the late Justice Nolan over many years; and what they anticipate hearing from Carl Anderson as the keynote speaker this year. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Paul McNamara and the Honorable Maura Doyle Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: The Literacy Connection for Immigrants Summary of today’s show: The Literacy Connection is a project of the Sisters of St. Joseph Boston that helps low-income immigrants acquire the language skills they need to not only to their citizenship exams, but also to succeed in employment and get by in their everyday lives. Sr. Patricia Andrews, CSJ, joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines to talk about the ways that the connection provides these services in the Allston/Brighton area and the unique perspective that it gives them on the immigration reform debates. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Sr. Patricia Andrews, CSJ Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Headlines: Pope Francis Interview; the Deacon Dozen; Presentation Hall Summary of today’s show: Our Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Gregory Tracy considered the news headlines of the week, including the interview with Pope Francis that garnered so much media attention, much of it out of context; the upcoming ordination of 12 permanent deacons for the Archdiocese of Boston; the opening of Our Lady of the Presentation Lecture Hall at St. John’s Seminary; a proposed law to give taxpayers choice on abortion funding. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: Missionary Childhood Association Summary of today’s show: The Missionary Childhood Association is one of the four Pontifical Mission Societies, particularly tasked with involving all children in the missionary activity of the Church. Fr. Pat Byrne and Maureen Heil join Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams to discuss the association and its work and history, as well as the upcoming Mission Education Day in the Archdiocese of Boston that will bring children from around the archdiocese together to pray and to learn more about the missions. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Fr. Pat Byrne, SVD, and Maureen Heil of the Missionary Childhood Association Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: The Clergy Funds for the Health and Retirement Needs of Our Priests Summary of today’s show: The second collection this weekend, September 21-22, will be dedicated to the Clergy Funds for the health and retirement needs of our priests in the Archdiocese of Boston. Fr. Ed Riley and his brother, John, joined Scot Landry to discuss the Clergy Funds and the ways that the Church—meaning, every Catholic—can show our esteem for and provide for the needs of our priests throughout their lives, and especially after they have provided many decades of services to the Church. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Ed Riley and John Riley Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Catholic Charismatic Renewal and Congress Summary of today’s show: We begin today remembering Peter Williams, CYO Athletic Director for the Archdiocese, who passed away on Friday. He joined us on the show on February 29, 2012. Then Alvaro Soares and Vincent Cerasuolo of the Office of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal joined Scot and Fr. Matt to talk about the CCR and the upcoming CRS Boston Charismatic Congress this weekend. We learn what the Charismatic renewal is about, receiving the Holy Spirit in a new way in order to be witnesses for Jesus Christ, preparing us to go forward and proclaim the Gospel. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Alvaro Soares, Director, and Vincent Cerasuolo, Associate Director of the Office of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Virtue-based Collaboration for Parishes Summary of today’s show: As the Archdiocese of Boston enters fully into the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan, Fr. Bob Connors of St. Patrick’s in Watertown joins Scot Landry, Fr. Mark O’Connell and Fr. Paul Soper to discuss the idea of virtue-based collaboration between parishes working together. The parishes work together to identify the virtues they need to live by such virtues as empathy, compromise, communication, cooperation, and being realistic. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr. Bob Connors, pastor of St. Patrick in Watertown, and Fr. Paul Soper, director of Pastoral Planning Links from today’s show: by Matthew Kelly by Fr. Michael White and Tom Corcoran by Sherry Weddell…
1 TGCL #0576: Peace Vigil in Brighton and Rome; Pope Francis writing letters to the editor, on the phone, and driving in the Vatican; New encyclical on poverty coming? 56:31
Today’s topics: Peace Vigil in Brighton and Rome; Pope Francis writing letters to the editor, on the phone, and driving in the Vatican; New encyclical on poverty coming? Summary of today’s show: Our panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Gregory Tracy consider the news headlines of the week, including the vigils for peace held at St. John’s Seminary and in Rome; Pope Francis’ remarkable style that includes a letter to the editor of a major newspaper, calling people on the phone, and driving a car around the Vatican; reports of an upcoming encyclical on poverty; the Diocesan Financial Managers Conference held in Boston; a new gymnasium for the Teen Center at St. Peter’s in Roxbury; the Knights of Columbus’ pro-life Silver Rose touring parishes; and followup on the Day of Evangelization at an Attleboro parish. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: Brazilian Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Boston Summary of today’s show: The community of Brazilians in the Boston area is the largest in the world outside of Brazil and the Brazilian Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Boston cares for the spiritual needs of this primarily Catholic community. Fr. Michael Harrington of the Office of Cultural Diversity; Fr. John Devin who serves the Apostolate; and Jennifer Prudencia, a young woman of Brazilian origin, join Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams to talk about this vibrant apostolate as well as the celebrations for the upcoming Feast of Our Lady of Aparecida, the patroness of Brazil. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Fr. Michael Harrington, Fr. John Devin, Jennifer Prudencia Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Improving communication in and support for Catholic parishes Summary of today’s show: Communicating the faith has taken many forms over the millennia and today effective Catholic parishes use every form of media available: print, broadcast, and online. Terry Poplava of Our Sunday Visitor joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to discuss how OSV helps parishes improve their communication through various media and parishioners to make their support of their parishes more convenient for them and the parish through online giving. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Terry Poplava from Our Sunday Visitor Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Choosing the Right College and Affording It, Too Summary of today’s show: College tuitions are higher than ever and students are graduating with more debt than ever, while prospects for careers are dimmer. John Zmirak, editor of “Choosing the Right College”, talks with Scot Landry about how Catholic parents should choose which colleges their children should attend, how to pay the tuition, and how to avoid the colleges that just aren’t worth it. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): John Zmirak Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Seminarian Profile: Jeffrey Archer Summary of today’s show: Jeffrey Archer was a leading a challenging and rewarding life in business consulting, managing elite teams and traveling widely, when he answered the Lord’s call to the vocation of the priesthood. A missionary trip to Haiti was the catalyst for his recognition that his heart was not satisfied and turned to God in prayer, eventually hearing His call to Blessed John XXIII National Seminary in Weston to study for the priesthood in Boston. Entering seminary, he gave up his powerful position in corporate America to turn himself over for formation and evaluation in a years-long process that, God-willing, will result in his ordination to priesthood next spring. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Jeffrey Archer, Seminarian at Blessed John XXIII Seminary Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Headlines of the Week: Immigration; Red Mass; Vatican Secretariat; Vigil for Peace Summary of today’s show: Our usual panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry consider the headlines of the week, including Cardinal Seán’s letter on immigration reform; the upcoming Red Mass of the Boston Catholic Lawyers Guild with Supreme Knight Carl Anderson; the pope’s appointment of a new Vatican Secretary of State; and his call for a global prayer and fasting vigil for peace. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: Transformed in Love Marriage Preparation Program Summary of today’s show: Under the leadership of Cardinal Seán, Stephen and Kari Colella, along with more than 40 other contributors, have developed a brand-new marriage preparation program for Catholic couples. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams discuss the program with the Colellas and how it is a groundbreaking new scientific and theologically sound way to prepare for lifelong marriage. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Stephen and Kari Colella Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Immigration and the American and Catholic Ideal Summary of today’s show: As Congress returns to Washington and takes up the political football of immigration reform, Cardinal Seán has written to parishioners in Boston asking them to get involved in the debate from a moral standpoint. In addition, Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles reminds us in a lecture of the history of an America that was Hispanic-Catholic before it was Anglo-Protestant. Scot Landry, Fr. Chris O’Connor, and Fr. Chip Hines consider the words of these bishops and discuss immigration from a Catholic moral and social justic viewpoint. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Chip Hines Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Catholic Apps for Your Smartphone and Tablet Summary of today’s show: Smartphones and tablet computers have become a large part of our lives and our faith life too. Scot Landry, Fr. Mark O’Connell, and Dom Bettinelli welcome Michael Lavigne and Allison Gingras to talk about which Catholic apps they use and how they help them to live their Catholic faith more fully. Then Allison talks about the Catholic app she’s developing, what goes into the whole process, and the unique way she’s funding its development. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Michael Lavigne, Allison Gingras Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0567: Headlines: Catholic Voices USA; Lemonade stand for the missions; Pope's supposed "mystical experience" 56:30
Today’s topics: Headlines for the Week of 8/29/13 Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy consider the headlines of the week, including Scot’s departure from the Archdiocese as Secretary for Catholic Media to head up Catholic Voices USA; a Catholic woman from Taunton who didn’t let a leg amputation prevent her from accomplishing her goals, including pilgrimage; Plymouth teens raise money for the missions with a lemonade stand; retirement of Fr. Dan Hickey; an award for the Archdiocese’s bioethicist; temporary administrator for Catholic schools; the defacing of the Try God billboards; and refutation of reports of Pope Benedict’s “mystical experience”. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: World Youth Day Rio Reflections Summary of today’s show: A month after World Youth Day in Rio gathered 3 million young people — including 170 from the Archdiocese of Boston — with Pope Francis, Scot Landry is joined by the team that organized the Boston pilgrimage — Fr. Matt Williams, Stephen Colella, Kathy Stebbins, Danielle Olsen, and George Martell — to reflect on their experience both for themselves and for the young people they led. They also discussed how this World Youth Day was different from those of Pope Benedict and of Pope John Paul II; how World Youth Day is an immersion course for the pilgrims in their faith; and how Cardinal Seán was received by all the pilgrims from around the world. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Stephen Colella, Kathy Stebbins, Danielle Olsen Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Pope Francis on Looking to the Present and Future through the Emmaus Story Summary of today’s show: When Pope Francis visited Rio de Janeiro during World youth Day, he gave many addresses and had so many appearances, that some of the most important could easily have been overlooked. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor discussed one of them: The Holy Father’s meeting with the bishops of Brazil on July 28. Pope Francis addresses the reality of people having abandoned the Church because they think she can no longer offer them anything of value and what they need the Church to aspire to be; how the Church safeguards truth and beauty and keeps the Gospel in order to pass them on to each new generation; and the Church’s right to freedom to proclaim the Gospel. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Iraqi Catholics in Boston Summary of today’s show: The Archdiocese of Boston is incredibly diverse with Catholics with origins all over the world. Scot Landry is joined by Sermed Ashkouri and his wife, Aseel Alber; and Feras Michael and his wife, Sema Ashkouri, to talk about their experience practicing their Catholic faith as members of the Syriac Catholic rite of the Church; the founding of Our Lady of Mesopotamia Syriac Catholic Mission in Newton, where they worship; the challenges of having Mass one Saturday per month with a priest who has to travel from Pennsylvania; the effort to rebuild lives in a new country and to maintain their customs and traditions of their cultures. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Sermed Ashkouri and his wife Aseel Alber; Feras Michael and his wife Sema Ashkouri; Christopher Kelley Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Celebration of the Priesthood Summary of today’s show: For the fifth year, the Celebration of the Priesthood dinner will be held on September 26 to allow the people they serve to honor the priests of the Archdiocese of Boston for their lifetime of sacrifice and to support the Clergy Funds that provide for the retirement and health care costs. Fr. Ed Condon, a senior priest of the archdiocese, and Michael and Janet Dailey, co-chairs of the committee organizing the celebration, join Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell to discuss the Clergy Funds and the needs that our priests, especially our senior priests—who are often still active enough to make “retired” an inaccurate label—and priests with health needs, are living with. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr. Ed Condon, Michael and Janet Dailey Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0562: News Headlines of the Week: Pastor gives kidney; Evangelization key to pastoral plan; Pope resigned after mystical experience? 56:31
Today’s topics: News Headlines of the Week: Pastor gives kidney; Evangelization key to pastoral plan; Pope resigned after mystical experience? Summary of today’s show: Our panel of Scot Landry, Gregory Tracy, and Susan Abbott review the big news headlines of the week, including a Virginia pastor who donated his kidney to a parishioner; focus on evangelization in Disciples in Mission pastoral plan; did Pope Benedict resign after having a “mystical experience”?; the Obama administration considering ending Vatican ambassadorship. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: Catholic Music for the New Evangelization Summary of today’s show: Matt Maher, Ike Ndolo, and Tori Harris are among the foremost and up-and-coming Catholic contemporary musicians today and they joined Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams to talk about the role of music in the lives of Christians and how music serves the New Evangelization. Matt also discussed how he came to be the lone musician at the altar with Pope Francis during adoration at World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro. Plus live music performances from all our guests in our studio! Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Matt Maher, Ike Ndolo, Tori Harris Links from today’s show: Songs Performed on the Show:…
Today’s topics: Evangelization Trainers Summary of today’s show: As part of the Archdiocese of Boston’s ambitious pastoral plan called “Disciples in Mission”, parishes will receive special training to become centers of the new evangelization. As our guests Michael Lavigne and the archdiocese’s new evangelization trainers, Donald Smith and Amber Loosbrock, explain, this is an unprecedented on a scale that has never been seen in other dioceses, helping parishes to learn how to be better at welcoming people, to become intentional disciples, to be willing to share the Good News of Jesus Christ both to strangers and to those we know who have left the practice of their faith. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Michael Lavigne, Donald Smith, and Amber Loosbrock Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0559: Latest Bioethics News: Three-Parent IVF; HHS Mandate Update; Transplant Denied Based on Character 56:30
Today’s topics: Latest Bioethics News: Three-Parent IVF; HHS Mandate Update; Transplant Denied Based on Character Summary of today’s show: M.C. Sullivan returns to discuss the latest issues in Catholic bioethics, including a controversial proposal in Britain to allow “three-parent” in vitro fertilization; differing responses by the Catholic Health Association and the US bishops to the latest US Health and Human Services mandate related to the Affordable Care Act; an attempt to change the public policy on who may make a blood donation, particularly with regard to homosexuals; and an initial denial of a heart transplant to a Georgia teen based on his character and behaviors. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): M.C. Sullivan Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Retrospective on Dr. Mary Grassa O’Neill’s tenure as Catholic Schools superintendent Summary of today’s show: As she ends her five-year tenure as the first lay superintendent of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Boston, Dr. Mary Grassa O’Neill and part of her leadership team join Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell to reflect on the changes that they have shepherded in Catholic schools, including transparency, financial strengthening, increased marketing, improved relationships with the local schools, and most importantly improved outcomes for all students in Catholic schools. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Dr. Mary Grassa O’Neill, Jim Walsh, Chris Flieger, Joseph Arangio from the Catholic Schools Office of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: News Headlines for the Week ending 8/15/13 Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry considered the headlines of the week, including a nautical Marian procession; a new abbot for Glastonbury Abbey; anniversaries for LaSallette Shrine and for the Festival of Three Saints; Youth Days in Lawrence; and a “mystery priest” identified. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: Sean Forrest: Music, Boats, and Haiti Summary of today’s show: Sean Forrest is a Catholic musician who performs in dozens of concerts, gives more than 100 confirmation retreats, and talks to many men’s groups each year, and if that’s not enough he’s also deeply involved in Haiti 180, a mission in that impoverished nation to not only care for the physical needs of orphans and the abandoned but also to provide for their Catholic faith as well. Sean will be in Boston on August 19 to perform and preach during the Intergenerational Harbor Cruise organized by the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults of the Archdiocese of Boston. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Sean Forrest Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: The New Evangelization and You Summary of today’s show: The New Evangelization is the hot new term in Catholic circles lately and Greg Willits’ new book, “The New Evangelization and You”, aims to simplify the theological and spiritual implications of the New Evangelization so the average Catholic can know the faith, live the faith, and share the faith, all of them, not just one or two of those. If they miss any of those, then they’re not embracing the fullness of the faith. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Greg Willits, Director of Evangelization and Family Life for the Archdiocese of Denver Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: “Man to Man, Dad to Dad: Catholic Faith and Fatherhood” Summary of today’s show: “Man to Man, Dad to Dad” by Brian Caulfield is a resource full of practical advice for Catholic men who are or will become fathers via 13 essays from well-known Catholic dads, encouraging men to holiness and heroism for their wives and children. Scot Landry welcomes Brian to our show to discuss the book and topics ranging from discipline to sports to sex to work to marriage. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Brian Caulfield Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Fr. Joseph Mozer Summary of today’s show: With the importance of the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan for the Archdiocese of Boston, Cardinal Seán is making all important resources available to the new pastoral collaborative, including Fr. Joe Mozer, who has been serving with the Metropolitan Tribunal as a canon lawyer. Fr. Mozer joins Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell to discuss his new assignment to the Belmont collaborative of St. Luke’s and St. Joseph’s, as well as a retrospective of his ministry with the Tribunal, including some of the important themes surrounding canon law regarding marriage as brought up by Pope Francis recently. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr. Joe Mozer Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: News Headlines of the Week ending 8/8/13 Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel examined the headlines of the week, including a recap of highlights from World Youth Day; Cardinal Seán’s address to the Knights of Columbus annual convention that garnered so much attention; national honors for two local women for their lifetime of pro-life work; the new Transformed in Love marriage preparation program; Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. *…
Today’s topics: Day of Evangelization Summary of today’s show: When Catholics in Attleboro heard about the successful Days of Evangelization that several Rhode Island parishes conducted in their towns, going door-to-door to introduce people to the parish and invite them to come visit (or to come back again), they resolved to bring it to their town. Fr. Richard Wilson and Kathy Harum of St. Vincent de Paul Parish join Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne to discuss the preparations and training for the day, the spiritual support provided by prayer teams both before and during the day, their experiences of similar evangelization experiences, and what they hope to be the outcome of their encounters with their neighbors on the streets of their hometown on August 24th. They also invited anyone—whether they’re from Attleboro or not—to come participate and make real Christ’s command to “go and make disciples of all nations.” Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne Today’s guest(s): Fr. Richard Wilson and Kathy Harum Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Pope Francis’ First Press Conference Summary of today’s show: On his flight back to Rome from Rio de Janeiro after World Youth Day, Pope Francis gave his first press conference to the media traveling with him on topics ranging from his carry-on luggage to the recent allegations of a “gay lobby” in the Vatican. His responses garnered worldwide headlines and analysis, much of it ignoring the context in which they were spoken. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor delve into the Holy Father’s answers to the journalists’ questions and provide the perspective of Catholics who are steeped in the Church’s teachings and familiar with the Pope’s consistent messages since the day he was elected in the conclave. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Seminarian Profiles: Tom Gignac and Patrick Fiorillo Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines talk to two of Boston’s current seminarians attending St. John’s Seminary, Tom Gignac and Patrick Fiorillo. Tom had a career as a consultant for IBM and later felt the call to the priesthood. Patrick grew up in one of the largest parishes in the archdiocese and heard the call while he was in college. Both Patrick and Tom are entering their third-year of seminary in the fall after a summer of pastoral work and special opportunities to study Latin for Patrick and to take a pilgrimage to Europe and study in Rome for Tom. Patrick has a degree in music and recording technology and his love for music has led to his current interest in Latin and liturgy. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Tom Gignac, Patrick Fiorillo, and Chris Kelley Links from today’s show: 877-888-6279: the line for feedback on the Try God billboards from WQOM…
Today’s topics: News Headlines of the Week Ending July 19, 2013 Summary of today’s show: Our panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Fr. Roger Landry — calling in from Rome — discussed the news headlines of the week, including Evangelization Day at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Attleboro; the ecumenical meeting between Cardinal Seán and Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Methodios; Nun Day at Fenway Park; Quo Vadis Days; a Boy Scout’s Rosary Walk project; and World Youth Day preparations. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: World Youth Day in Rio Summary of today’s show: Millions of youth from around the world will be gathering in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, next week for World Youth Day, including more than 160 who will be traveling from the Archdiocese of Boston. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams are joined by Chuck and Amber Kelley, a father and daughter from Townsend who will be traveling to their first World Youth Day, to discuss what they expect and to preview the events they will participate in and to explain the World Youth Day plenary indulgence. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Chuck and Amber Kelley Links from today’s show: Oh Father, You sent Your Eternal Son to save the world, and You chose men and women, so that through Him, with Him and in Him, they might proclaim the Good News of the Gospel to all nations. Grant us the necessary graces, so that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the joy of being the evangelists that the Church needs in the Third Millennium may shine in the faces of all young people. Oh Christ, Redeemer of humanity, the image of Your open arms on the top of Corcovado, welcomes all people. In Your paschal offering, You led us, by the Holy Spirit, to encounter the Father as His children. Young people, who are nourished by Eucharist, who hear You in Your Word and meet You as their brother, need your infinite mercy to walk along the paths of this world as disciples and missionaries of the New Evangelization. Oh Holy Spirit, Love of the Father and of the Son, with the splendor of Your Truth and the fire of Your Love, shed Your Light upon all young people so that, inspired by their experience at World Youth Day, they may bring faith, hope and charity to the four corners of the earth, becoming great builders of a culture of life and peace and catalysts of a new world. Amen !…
Today’s topics: Vocations and the Bl. John Paul II Society Summary of today’s show: Fr. Dan Hennessey returns to update our listeners on his work as vocations director for the Archdiocese of Boston and the men of all ages he’s working with in formation for the priesthood—more than 70 at last count! Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines then ask Fr. Dan about a new group for high school and college men who are discerning their vocation, called the Society of Bl. John Paul II. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Fr. Daniel Hennessey Links from today’s show: Call him at his office 617-746-5459 or on his mobile…
Today’s topics: An Inside Look at the Life of a US Air Force Catholic chaplain Summary of today’s show: Last year, we said goodbye to Fr. Tom Foley as he entered the US Air Force chaplaincy at the age of 50 and he’s come back to tell us what his first year was like, including commissioned officer training, chaplaincy training, and entering active duty in South Dakota, as well as counseling airmen, working with people of all faiths, preparing to be deployed overseas some day, and spending his free time in the great outdoors of the Badlands, including taking up ranching as a hobby. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Tom Foley, priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and active-duty US Air Force chaplain Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: An Inside Look at Parish Life across the US Summary of today’s show: What does parish life look like in the Catholic Church across the United States? The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate has done a series of studies to look at parishes, parish leadership, and the views of parishioners about their parishes. Fr. Paul Soper and Sr. Pat Boyle of the Archdiocese’s Pastoral Planning office join Scot Landry to discuss the results and compare them to the Archdiocese of Boston, especially as we enter into the multi-year and unprecedented Disciples in Mission pastoral plan. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Paul Soper and Sr. Pat Boyle of the Office of Pastoral Planning of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: News Headlines of the Week Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel examines the news headlines of the past week, including Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: Pope Francis’ encyclical Lumen fidei (Light of Faith) Summary of today’s show: Pope Francis issued his first encyclical, called Lumen fidei, last week, building on the work Pope Benedict had already completed in his encyclicals on charity and hope and in the first draft of this encyclical that he wrote before stepping down. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams discuss this new encyclical with Michael Lavigne and Donald Smith of the Office of the Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization of the Archdiocese of Boston. As we journey through this Year of Faith, this exposition of faith explains how the light of faith guides us through the journey of life, in both good times and times of suffering. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Michael Lavigne and Donald Smith Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Tom Peterson of Catholics Come Home Summary of today’s show: God has a custom-made plan to fulfill the deepest longings of your heart and Tom Peterson wants you to discover it. The founder of Catholics Come Home has a new book of the same name that lays out God’s extraordinary plan for your life and joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines to discuss his new book as well as the unique program he developed to allow dioceses to reach out to inactive Catholics through compelling television commercials. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Tom Peterson of Catholics Come Home Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Catholic bioethics Summary of today’s show: MC Sullivan is a trained nurse, attorney, and bioethicist who works for a Catholic healthcare system in Massachusetts. She joins Scot Landry to give an overview of bioethics, and specifically Catholic bioethics; how she became a Catholic bioethicists; what her typical workday is like and the issues she confronts; and the most topical issues confronting Catholic bioethics today. With science and technology advancing at a rapid pace every day, Catholic bioethicists help the Church keep up, applying natural law and God’s Law to the latest advances. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): MC Sullivan Links from today’s show:…
The Good Catholic Life is marking the Independence Day weekend with shows highlighting the service given to our nation by our priests and others who have served in the Armed Forces. Today we bring you an encore presentation of an interview with Fr. Darin Colarusso. Fr. Colarusso was an Air Force aviator serving in Korea when he heard God unexpectedly calling him to the priesthood. Now he sits down with Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines to talk about that call and what’s it been like to transition first to seminary life—at a time when the Church was undergoing great trials—and then into the priesthood and eventually his first pastorate. He says he has discovered the priesthood is the greatest excuse to love every person you meet. Fr. Darin also speaks about the future and his work with the archdiocesan pastoral planning commission and presbyteral council, advising Cardinal Seán on how the Church should organize herself for the next 50 years. Complete shownotes may be found on the…
The Good Catholic Life is marking the Independence Day weekend with shows highlighting the service given to our nation by our priests and others who have served in the Armed Forces. Today we bring you an encore presentation of a show that originally aired on Memorial Day, 2012. We hear from a number of different voices, including the words of Fr. Paul Hurley, serving with the 101st Airborne Division; Beirne Lovely, archdiocesan general counsel who was a young Marine lieutenant during the Vietnam War; and Fr. Stephen Rock, pastor of St. Agnes in Reading who was a Navy chaplain for 34 years. Scot also talks to Mary Doorley and Michelle Huntley about a video they helped produce highlighting the service of the priests sent by the Archdiocese of Boston to serve as US military chaplains over the years and how the annual Catholic Appeal supports that ministry to servicemembers all over the world. Complete shownotes may be found on the…
Today’s topics: Missionary Bishop from Boston in Honduras Summary of today’s show: Bishop Maurus Muldoon, OFM, the retired bishop of Juticalpa, Honduras, joins Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams to talk about growing up in Dorchester, becoming a Franciscan, and then being sent to Central America in 1966 where he served until retiring as bishop in 2012. Bishop Muldoon tells our listeners about traveling with Pope John Paul II on his first pastoral visit around Central America soon after the bishop’s episcopal ordination and thereafter always being known to the Pope as “the Franciscan bishop from Boston in Honduras”; the tense political and social conditions in Honduras and El Salvador that several times required he leave an assignment for his own safety; and the development of the Church in Juticalpa from near non-existence to relatively thriving with priests and seminarians, religious orders, a hospital, schools, and other institutions when he left. Along the way, we also hear some anecdotes about Christopher Columbus High School in Boston and Pope John Paul II’s pastoral opinion on a dispute over First Communions at St. Joseph Parish in Holbrook. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Bishop Maurus Muldoon OFM, retired bishop of Juticalpa, Honduras Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0538: Fr. Bryan Parrish on 25 years of ordinations, the Bruins, and Going to the Holy Land 56:31
Today’s topics: Fr. Bryan Parrish on 25 years of ordinations, the Bruins, and Going to the Holy Land Summary of today’s show: What’s it like for a priest to celebrate 25 years of ordination? Is it anything like the silver anniversary of marriage? Scot Landry catches up with Fr. Bryan Parrish, who serves as the Assistant Vicar for Administration of the Archdiocese of Boston, and they discuss Father’s celebration of his silver jubilee, as well as his beloved Boston Bruins and their recent Stanley Cup loss and his recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land with Cardinal Seán and more than 20 of his fellows priests of the archdiocese. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Bryan Parrish Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: The Influence of G.K. Chesterton Summary of today’s show: One of the most prolific and influential Christian writers and thinkerss in the first half of the 20th century, G.K. Chesterton, became virtually unknown in the second half, but has seen a surging revival of interest in his work. Dale Ahlquist, president of the American Chesterton Society, joins Scot Landry and Dom Bettinelli to reveal who Chesterton was; his impact upon fields as diverse as philosophy, theology, journalism, politics, economics, and literature; and how he came to be a Catholic convert from Anglicanism near the end of his life. Dale also discusses the Chesterton Academy, a Catholic high school in Minneapolis built around the integration that Chesterton showed in his writing to help students become complete thinkers, as well as the American Chesterton Society’s annual conference that is coming to Worcester the first weekend in August with a stellar list of speakers, including Dr. Peter Kreeft and Joseph Pearce. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Dale Ahlquist, president of the American Chesterton Society Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Ugandan Catholics in Boston and Uganda Summary of today’s show: The community of native Ugandans living in the Boston area is said to be the third largest after Uganda and London and most of them are living in and around Waltham. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell welcome Fr. Michael Nolan, Pastor of St. Mary Parish in Waltham and Bishop Charles Wamika of Jinja, Uganda, to talk about the Catholic faith in Uganda, which grew from the martyrdom of St. Charles Lwanga and companions; and the life of faith of Ugandans at St. Mary’s. Bishop Wamika came to Waltham to celebrate the feast of St. Charles Lwanga and companions with the community on June 3. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Bishop Charles Wamika of Jinja, Uganda, and Fr. Michael Nolan, pastor of St. Mary Parish, Waltham Links from today’s show: Gospel for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 30, 2013 (Luke 9:51-62): When the days for Jesus’ being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers ahead of him. On the way they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his reception there, but they would not welcome him because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village. As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” And to another he said, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” And another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home.” To him Jesus said, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.”…
Today’s topics: News headlines for Week of June 24 Summary of today’s show: Our Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Gregory Tracy, and Susan Abbott, minus Fr. Roger Landry who is leading a retreat for the Missionaries of Charity, considered the news headlines of the week, including the biggest news concerning the Supreme Court’s rulings on same-sex marriage and judicial activism in general; World Youth Day comes to Waltham for those who can’t make it to Rio next month; a new movie to spark women’s religious vocations needs your help; and Susan announces a few big changes for herself. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Religious Liberty and the Fortnight for Freedom Summary of today’s show: Cardinal Seán O’Malley marked the 2013 Fortnight for Freedom today with a special Mass at the Bethany Chapel of the Pastoral Center in Braintree. Scot Landry, Michael Lavigne, and Dom Bettinelli analyze and expand on the Cardinal’s homily in which he noted that there is a difference between religious freedom and “freedom of worship”, that Catholics need to be able to have their voices heard on matters that affect society; and the Church at times must be the prophetic voice of the child who points out that the Emperor has no clothes. Then Scot and Michael discuss today’s Supreme Court decisions that struck down key provisions of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and returned California’s Proposition 8 to lower courts, handing a defeat to those defending the traditional definition of marriage. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Michael Lavigne Links from today’s show: from on . Cardinal Seán’s homily Good afternoon, everyone. It’s wonderful to be with you today as we join with our brothers and sisters in the faith, Catholics throughout the country, who at this time are observing the Fortnight for Freedom, which was called for by the US Catholic Bishops Conference. Our rights, as President Kennedy said in his inaugural address, do not come to us from the government, but come to us “from the hand of God.” That is our very clear conviction. Last year, the Bishops Conference established this Fortnight for Freedom, a period that begins with the vigil of the feast of the martyrs St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More on June 21 and extends two weeks, to the 4th of July, which of course is the anniversary of our American Revolution and the birth of our country. Last year, we had many wonderful programs for the Fortnight, including the Forum on CatholicTV to discuss various aspects of religious freedom in our country. As Catholics, we love our country and see no conflict between being good Catholics and good citizens. The United States was founded on principles of religious freedom. The Pilgrims migrated to New England seeking freedom for their faith. Catholics went to Maryland. Quakers traveled to Pennsylvania. All came here because of religious persecution in Europe. The 1st Amendment protects this precious right of the freedom of religion. In today’s world, there are many threats against religious freedom. Thousands of Catholics in the last year have lost their lives, others have been displaced from their homeland, and still others have been imprisoned and tortured. We want to keep them present in our prayers and express solidarity with them throughout the world. Obviously, our challenges in the US are on a different scale but at the same time, these challenges can truly hinder our ability to practice our faith. In our secular climate, it is worrisome that there is tendency to try to reduce religious freedom to “freedom of worship.” Freedom of Religion means so much more than just the ability to keep our churches open. It means freedom to be able to live a way of life, to have religious institutions that allow us to be Catholic and to be a religious people. For those religious institutions to exist, they need a certain amount of space. In the past, there were strong conscience rights that most everyone took for granted. We are a pluralistic society. What allowed people of so many different faiths, or of no faith, to work well together was the very profound respect that our country has always had for conscience rights. It is something that has been eroded and is of great concern to us. The government wants to define what organizations are religious and which merit protections and exemptions. The Church has a problem with that, because we see Catholic institutions as not just churches, but also schools, hospitals, clinics, charities and so many other institutions that are there not just to serve Catholics but to serve anyone regardless of their religious background, even those with no religious affiliation at all. In the face of the challenges to religious freedom, Catholics need to make their voices heard. In the present controversy over the HHS Mandate for the new Affordable Care Act health care law, the Church is seeking relief from the particular regulations that we believe violate the tenets of religious freedom. The government, a few months ago, asked for comments from the public on the Mandate. It was very consoling that almost a half million people wrote in. The government has never had that kind of response to proposed regulations. We are hoping that those recommendations and the Church’s urging, and the urging of other Churches will receive a hearing from the government. We need Catholics and other people of faith to stand together so as to be able to defend our religious freedom. A very important part of advancing religious freedom is to know our own faith well. We are in this Year of Faith. From the beginning, I’ve said that there are two aspects of this Year of Faith. One of them is the need for Catholics to understand the teachings of the Church. Second, we want to be able to understand them in such a way that we can share how the different Catholic doctrines are very reasonable and they all are interrelated and part of a whole. I remember when Pope John Paul II, on his very first missionary trip as our Holy Father, went to Mexico. I was privileged to be at the Mass he celebrated at Puebla. There he challenged all of us in the Church to be teachers of the faith. He said we have to teach the faith about who Christ is, to teach the faith about what the Church is (as the Body of Christ), and to teach the faith about what the human person is. Historically, the Church’s teachings on the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the Eucharist, the sacredness of Holy Orders, the sacraments were what caused people to attack the Church. In today’s world, we are attacked less for those issues. Most of the attacks today are due to our teachings on the dignity of the human person, who has their origin and destiny in God, who is made in the image and likeness of God, and whose life is precious – all of our teachings of the Gospel of Life and the sacredness of Marriage. It’s very important for us to understand the Church’s teachings, which can often be parodied in the secular media sometimes and treated unsympathetically. We need to trust in God. Today’s 1st reading today is the story of Abraham, who is called our father in faith. God promised Abraham would be the father of a great nation and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. Abraham and his wife Sarah were very old and they had no children. Abraham obviously was wondering how this was going to happen. God challenged Abraham to have faith and Abraham had faith. Isaac, the son of the promise was born, and of course Abraham and Sarah were so pleased. God then tests Abraham’s faith some more, and tells him to go and sacrifice that son - the son of the promise, the one who was going to be the father of this nation. But Abraham trusted in God, and his faith was rewarded. Our faith must lead us to trust in the Lord, to have an understanding of what the Gospel demands of discipleship are, to embrace them in our lives, and then to be witnesses to them. Part of our task as Jesus’ followers is to make the Kingdom more present and to invite people to a life of discipleship. We do that, certainly, by the example of our life. Pope Francis has touched such a chord with so many people throughout the world by stressing the social gospel of the Church, and the Church’s devotion to the poor and our strong commitment to social justice. Those lived teachings are a very important part of our witness about the dignity of the human person. Those teachings on human dignity must be witnessed in the way we show our concern for the poor, for the sick, for the disenfranchised, and for the persecuted. Part of the Mission of the Church is to be prophetic and to announce the challenging truths of the Gospel. All of us know the wonderful story we heard as children about the King’s new clothes. The story is about a King who would go through his capital city annually and the people would praise him for his sartorial splendor and for his fantastic clothes. But one day, a wicked tailor went to the King and told him he would make for him a magical suit of clothes and that it would cost an enormous amount of money. The King was excited, so he put on this magical suit of clothes and begins to walk through the streets to receive the homage and veneration of his people. Everyone is shouting and applauding the beautiful garment that the King is wearing. However, one little child says “but, Mommy, the King has no clothes!” Sometimes, the Church’s role must be like that. Everyone else will be shouting that the King’s clothes are very beautiful but the Church needs to have that prophetic voice, which sometimes will cause people to become upset with us. We must believe that the Truth will make us free. Unfortunately, many people in today’s world see the Truth as somehow evil, something that imposes on us, so they deny that there can be any Truth. But Jesus says, “come.” He is the “Way, the Truth and the Life.” He teaches us that the Truth does make us free. As Catholics we must seek that Truth and search for ways to share it with all those in our lives, even those that disagree with us. Our attitude as Catholics is one of gratitude for the liberty and the freedom that we enjoy in America – at the same time we want to be vigilant in protecting religious freedom that allows us to lead lives of faithful discipleship.Also, let us work with others throughout the world to make this planet to be safer for believers, particularly in those places in the world where our brothers and sisters are suffering egregiously for their fidelity to the Gospel.…
Today’s topics: StrangeNotions.com and Dialogue with Atheists Summary of today’s show: Taking up the work of the New Evangelization, the new website StrangeNotions.com aims to be a place where Catholics and atheists can come together in charity to have a rational discussion about the great questions of life. Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines welcome Brandon Vogt, the founder of the website, to discuss where he got the idea for the project, how he gathered his all-star cast of contributors, and the phenomenal response they’ve received so far. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Brandon Vogt Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Knights of Malta and the annual Lourdes pilgrimage Summary of today’s show: Each year, the international order of the Knights of Malta make an annual pilgrimage to the Marian shrine of Lourdes, France, bringing with them thousands of people of all ages suffering from a variety of ailments, seeking spiritual and physical healing. Scot Landry welcomes Craig Gibson and Ed Delaney of the local chapter of the Knights as well as Susan O’Leary and her husband, Denny, who has suffered from Parkinson’s disease for the past 20 years to discuss the experience of the most recent pilgrimage this past May. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Susan and Denny O’Leary, Craig Gibson, Ed Delaney Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Beginning of Fortnight for Freedom Summary of today’s show: The 2nd Annual Fortnight for Freedom begins this evening and runs until Independence Day, July 4. During that time Catholics around the country will stand together in support of religious liberty, our first freedom. The Church hopes to draw attention to growing intrusions on religious liberty like the government mandate that forces Catholic organizations to violate deeply held beliefs or face stiff fines. The Bishops are asking everyone to pray for the protention of religious liberty, educate yourselves and family/friends, support national events like the Mass of Cardinal Sean on 6/26 at 12:05 at BostonCatholicLive.com, and encourage legislators to defend religious liberty. At the end of the show, Scot, Fr. Mark and Janet reflect on the upcoming Sunday readings. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Janet Benestad Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: News Headlines for Week of June 17 Summary of today’s show: Our regular Thursday panel including Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy, discuss the news headlines of the week, including the Fortnight for Freedom, the US Senate special election in Massachusetts, the Apostolic Nuncio’s remarks at the Redemptoris Mater seminary gala, and the new US ambassador to the Vatican who has roots in West Roxbury. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: Christian Appalachian Project for Boston-area Catholics Summary of today’s show: The Christian Appalachian Project was founded by Fr. Ralph Beiting, a priest of the Diocese of Lexington, KY. It has worked for decades to serve people in need in Appalachia by providing physical, spiritual and emotional support through a wide variety of programs and services. Fr. Ed Riley, currently the Dean of Men at St. John’s Seminary, served as part of this ministry for 3 years full-time and he leads service week trips there each year, including this upcoming office. Christine Dufresne, from New Bedford and now St. Mary’s Parish in Waltham, originally joined the mission trip in August of 2009 and then moved there to serve for 14 months as the aide to Msgr. Beiting. Both Fr. Ed and Christine share moving stories of their experiences on today’s show. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Chris Kelley Today’s guest(s): Fr. Ed Riley and Christine Dufresne Links from today’s show: from on .…
Today’s topics: Ecumenism as the Obligation of all Catholics Summary of today’s show: The work of ecumenism is the work of fulfilling Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper that all Christians would be unified, despite millennia of divisions among them. Dr. Vito Nicastro joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to talk about the divisions among Christians through history, the renewal of the work of ecumenism at Vatican II, and the work that goes on in Boston to rebuild the ties between Orthodox and Catholics, including an event on the evening of June 28, the Vigil of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, at St. Joseph Parish in Needham, where Cardinal Seán and Metropolitan Methodius of the Greek Orthodox Church will pray together. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Dr. Vito Nicastro, associate director of the Office for Ecumenims and Interreligious Affairs Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Entering religious life Summary of today’s show: Karla Goncalves, who has worked in the Catholic Media secretariat of the Archdiocese of Boston, including The Good Catholic Life, for two years is leaving to pursue a new vocation. In September, she will enter the postulancy at Mount St. Mary’s Abbey in Wrentham, a cloistered community of Cistercian nuns. Karla talks with Scot Landry and Dom Bettinelli about her journey from her childhood home in Brazil to Framingham with her family to college in Kentucky to the Archdiocese and finally to a calling to a religious vocation. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Karla Goncalves Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Milestones for Disciples in Mission Summary of today’s show: Phase one of the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan for the Archdiocese of Boston launched on June 4 with the official appointment of the new pastors of the new parish collaboratives. Fr. Paul Soper sat down with Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell to talk about the progress made so far and to emphasize that Disciples in Mission represents the archdiocese going “all in” for evangelization in parishes, to use a poker term. Fr. Soper said the aim is to make every parish an intentional center of the new evangelization, where every decision is made consciously with evangelization in mind. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr. Paul Soper, Director of Pastoral Planning for the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show:…
1 TGCL #0525: Headlines: Priest convocation; Phase 1; Remembering four deceased priests; Fortnight for Freedom; Pope Francis’ daily homilies and impromptu Q&A with kids; Addressing diplomats and Latin… 56:34
Today’s topics: Headlines: Priest convocation; Phase 1; Remembering four deceased priests; Fortnight for Freedom; Pope Francis’ daily homilies and impromptu Q&A with kids; Addressing diplomats and Latin American religious Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy considered the headlines of the week, including the annual priest convocation of the archdiocese at which Archbishop Rino Fisichella of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization spoke on the New Evangelization; the first phase of the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan begins with new pastors taking charge of their collaboratives; Remembering four priests in the Archdiocese who have died since our most recent news show in May, including Fr. Brian Smith, Fr. William Dunn, and Msgr. Robert Fischner; the 2nd Fortnight for Freedom begins Friday, June 21; Pope Francis’ daily reform of the Church through his daily Mass homilies; the Pope’s decision not to summer at Castel Gandolfo and an impromptu Q&A with some schoolkids; an address to Vatican diplomats that warned about careerism and one to Latin American religious that spoke of a gay lobby in the Vatican. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.…
Today’s topics: Secrets of a 50-year-long Marriage Summary of today’s show: Frank and Marguerite Barre recently celebrated 50 years of marriage during the annual Wedding Anniversary Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross with Cardinal Seán. Frank and Marguerite joined Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams, as well as Mary Finnigan from the Marriage Ministries office of the Archdiocese of Boston, to talk about how they met 50 years ago, what it was like to date, get married, and raise a family, and the secrets they’ve learned over five decades on how to have a happy, fulfilling, and Christ-centered marriage. Mary also shared how the Marriage Ministries office supports marriage from preparing engaged couples to marriage enrichment programs to assistance to couples who are struggling in their marriage. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Frank and Marguerite Barre and Mary Finnigan Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Fr. David Barnes Summary of today’s show: When he was appointed as pastor of St. Mary Star of Sea Parish in Beverly, Fr. David Barnes was the youngest pastor in the Archdiocese of Boston and for 12 years he has been well-loved by the people of Beverly and that love has been reciprocated. Now, Fr. Barnes is moving on to a new opportunity at Cardinal Seán’s request to become chaplain at the Boston University Catholic Center. Scot Landry sat down with Fr. Barnes to talk about his journey to the priesthood, the extremely supportive Catholic community in Beverly and the way they love all their priests from the youngest seminarians to the late Bishop John D’Arcy who served them 50 years ago, and about what it will be like to become a night owl ministering to the bright young students at BU who also hunger to live their faith. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. David Barnes, Catholic chaplain at Boston University Catholic Center Links from today’s show:…
Today’s topics: Redemptoris Mater Seminary to honor Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò Summary of today’s show: Redemptoris Mater Seminary, one of the Archdiocese of Boston’s three seminaries and the newest, will be holding its fourth annual gala dinner on June 16 and honoring Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, Apostolic Nuncio of Pope Francis to the United States. Scot Landry talks with Fr. Tony Medeiros, rector of the seminary, and Antonio Enrique about the dinner and the honor of having the apostolic nuncio, who is both the Pope’s ambassador to the United States, but also his representative to the Church in the US through whom all appointments of bishops flow, come to speak at the dinner. They also discuss the purpose of the dinner, to support the fast-growing seminary and its increasing numbers of seminarians that are causing it to outgrow its current facility. For more information about the seminary and the dinner, visit . The dinner will take place on June 16 at the Four Points Sheraton in Norwood. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Tony Medeiros, Antonio Enrique Links from today’s show:…
Hi, this is Dom Bettinelli of The Good Catholic Life, with a special announcement. As you may have heard in our latest new episode of the show on May 3, our longtime producer Rick Heil is moving on to new opportunities. While we get a new producer up to speed, we're taking a brief hiatus from new episodes of The Good Catholic Life until June 7. In the meantime, we'll be airing our favorites shows from the past two and a half years in our regular 4-5 pm time slot on WQOM 1060AM. As is our usual practice, we won't be putting "Best of" Shows in the podcast stream, but if you'd like to hear them again or see show notes as they air, please visit our website at The Good Catholic Life.com or sign up for our newsletter at the website to receive a daily email of the latest show. Thank you for being a loyal listener to The Good Catholic Life and we'll see you in June.…
Summary of today’s show: After 520 shows, The Good Catholic Life’s producer Rick Heil is moving on to new opportunities in life. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell are joined by Fr. Chip Hines and Rick’s mom, Maureen Heil, from the Pontifical Mission Societies, to talk about Rick’s work in helping create the show fresh out of college, his remarkable technical background — he’s built not one, but three radio studios —what he’s learned about his faith through the show, how he’s changed because of it, and then they reminisce about some of their favorite memories over the past two-plus years of The Good Catholic Life. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry, Fr. Chip Hines and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Maureen Heil Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Farewell to Rick Heil 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. He said today was a big day at St. John’s Seminary where the director of spiritual development, Fr. Michael Barber, S.J., has been named by Pope Francis to become bishop of Oakland, California. Fr. Mark O’Connell noted that it is unusual for a man to go from priest to bishop of a large diocese, without being an auxiliary bishop somewhere first. Fr. Chip Hines said it was so unexpected and he thinks we’re in for more surprising appointments. Scot said Fr. Barber’s mother was born in Oakland and his father was born in San Francisco. He entered the Society of Jesus and has held a variety of assignments, including chaplain in the Naval Reserve and since 2010 has served at St. John’s Seminary. He will ordained to the episcopacy on May 25, which is very quick. Fr. Chip noted that it leaves a hole at St. John’s for a very important job. Today is also momentous because our producer Rick Heil will be leaving us to become a full-time Genius at the local Apple Store. Scot noted that Rick has worked there part-time and they have pursued him for full-time for some time. Scot thanked him for helping to get Catholic radio in Boston off the ground and especially The Good Catholic Life. Rick talked about how difficult it is to leave a job you love. Scot said Rick was given free rein to shape today’s show and he asked his mom, Maureen Heil, to be on the show. Maureen talked about Rick’s radio equipment that fills her basement, more than some radio stations. She said he started as a young musical prodigy, reading music before he could read words. Rick’s dad is an engineer and so he’s always had an interest in building things and taking things apart. Maureen talked about how reading was important in their house and they would read a saint of the day every morning at breakfast. She remembered when Rick was in second grade at a class Mass at school. The priest said he was sure none of the kids would know who the day’s saint was, and Rick’s hand shot up and told him St. Scholastica. Maureen said Rick has always been a quick learner and absorbed things so well. Fr. Mark said Rick was always quick to share his talents. He said Rick helped with a tape that he wanted to play at his own father’s funeral. Scot said he’ll remember the homily Fr. Mark gave because he was able to play that audio of his father at the funeral Mass. Maureen said he isn’t always looking for the credit, but works behind the scenes. Scot talked about the kickoff Mass for Catholic radio in Boston on All Saints Day in 2010, where they did a half hour interview with Cardinal Seán and some radio folks. There Cardinal Seán told Scot that we needed some local programming as well. In talking with WQOM’s Jim Wright it became clear that he would do it if Scot was the host. Scot was worried about whether he would have time to do it. At the time, Rick, who had interned with us, came back and said he’s looking for a job and he gives him a resume that right in the middle says that Rick had built a radio studio in college. It became clear in conversation that Rick really knew what he was talking about. That led directly to The Good Catholic Life getting off the ground. Scot said Rick built the entire studio and while Scot doesn’t know the technical intricacies, Rick has been able to keep the show on the air every day. Rick talked about going to college and how in his senior year in high school was wondering what he wanted to do for life. He decided on music production and went to State University of New York at Oneonta. About three weeks into his freshman year, he walked into one of the buildings and heard music playing. He found the college radio station WONY. He volunteered there for his four years and has maintained ties to the station. It taught him how to be a self-starter. There were no academic credits, no one pushing him. That self-motivation helped him when he came to The Good Catholic Life. Maureen pointed out that Rick built a radio station and a cable TV station in his high school as an Eagle Scout project when he was in school there. Scot asked Rick’s highlights from his 521 shows of TGCL. Rick said some shows are memorable because he couldn’t stop laughing, like this past Tuesday where Fr. Chris O’Connor and Fr. Wayne Belschner talking about burning the rectory kitchen. The show about My Brother’s Keeper is one of his favorites in a different way. He loved the Friday shows where we profiled so many priests and he got to know so much about the Boston area. Some of the best shows, though, are those that came together at the last minute. Scot noted that Rick is both producer and engineer. Rick said the sheer volume of email he gets might surprise listeners. He gets about 150 emails per day. He’s also never read this many books, even in college. These books come in from publishers and publicists for potential interviews on air. Some authors are well-known and you know they would be great, but for new authors you want to read them and see if the listeners would grow in their faith by this story they have to tell. Scot said within Catholic radio we have a unique show because we go 56 minutes on one topic or one guest. He said some authors after the interview say that this is the most thorough interview they’ve had about their book. The word has gotten out and we get so many books and we ca n’t just do interviews with authors. About one in 5 books pass muster. Rick said there are many times that he’s listening to the show for technical matters and can’t listen for content, so having done the research for the topic and guest ahead of time has helped him. He said radio is about people and meeting the guests has been a lot of fun. Scot said he always knew Rick was smart technically, but it quickly became clear that Rick knew the faith and knew a lot about he Pontifical Mission SOcieties, because of Maureen’s work in the mission societies. Maureen said she’s raised her children to live their faith in a public way and missionaries are the finest example of that. She said it’s been a pleasure to see them take that on. They’ve all gone on mission trips. They’ve seen all kinds of missionaries came through their lives. They’ve seen Maureen have to stand up for the faith in the face of challenge. Maureen talked about the topics that haven’t been covered on The Good Catholic Life yet about the missions. She said people might want to hear how people are living the faith around the world. The Catholic Church is alive and flourishing in the world, where the rubber meets the road, and she wants to bring that Good News to all of us. She said a person will listen to a witness before they listen to a teacher and if they listen to the teacher it’s because they are witnesses. Fr. Chip talked about the loss of Rick not just for what he does, but because he’s also a good guy. You can hire people to do technical stuff, but Rick is good with people and that’s a good skill to have in life. He wishes Rick luck, but wishes he was staying. He said Rick has always been reaching to Fr. Chip to be involved. He said his favorite show was with Lino Rulli, The Catholic Guy, and he was very happy to be part of it. Scot asked Rick about his new job. Rick said his new job is repairing devices, but also repairing how you feel about your devices. When something that’s an important communication tool in their lives, it can be very unsettling and disappointing. Maureen said it’s about repairing relationships. It’s not about technology. Scot said Rick started working at Apple part-time a few years ago. What does he love about working there? Rick thought he had been applying as a part-time technician job on weekends. It turns out he was applying for a part-time retail job on weekdays. As he’s been there, he’s grown to know the team there. It’s a unique place to be where people challenge either to improve. You’re working with people who have been hired because they’re very smart. It’s easy to be the geek in the room, but it’s challenging to work with people who know this stuff more than he does. Every customer is a different challenge and he loves troubleshooting challenges. Scot said every day of the show has a different feel to it. He thinks our Friday show is the lightest, partly because of Fr. Mark’s personality and also partly because it seemed to be the most available for priests to come in. Fr. Mark said he remembers the show where he was paying too much attention to Rick trying to troubleshoot a problem instead of paying attention to Scot. They lost their guest who was on Skype and while Scot continued to talk, he asked Fr. Mark a question and Fr. Mark admitted that he wasn’t paying attention to him. Fr. Mark said priests now realize how much respect they receive on the show and those have been his favorites in letting people know them in a different way. Maureen said she will miss for Rick having be able to be in the room listening to the show. As his mom, she’s loved that he can hear all the guests and the great conversations. It’s been a blessing to see how it’s affected him. Scot said he’s surprised by how people have said to him that they listen to the show. He thinks regular listeners feel a sense of community with those of us on the show and they may be feeling a loss that Rick is leaving. Scot said he never expected Rick to be here forever just because there isn’t a career path here up the ladder, but that Rick is moving on to something new and bigger. Rick said today feels like the first time he stepped onto Bus 12 on his way to kindergarten. It’s a very big step and he’s not used to it. He said it’s going to be weird not be on air and make a million phone calls a day and read all those books. But Apple is a new opportunity and exciting. Scot mentioned that listeners may not realize that when they see Catholic Faith Essentials, or a Mass from Bethany Chapel in the Pastoral Center, that Rick is the guy who set up the video production. Rick said early on in the life of the show, he and Dom Bettinelli would brainstorm new opportunities to do things for the show. Dom came up with the idea to video stream the show and Rick took his previous experience and put it all together with video equipment. He said it’s been a real pleasure to have the opportunity to build a radio studio in six weeks and build a TV studio. Fr. Chip said Rick makes the show look and sound good. He’s now wondering who’s going to be giving his messages to Scot during the show with Rick gone. 2nd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Gospel Reading for Sunday, May 5, 2013, Sixth Sunday of Easter (John 14: 23-29) Jesus said to his disciples: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me. “I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe.” Scot said the disciples didn’t understand so much of this when Jesus was saying this to them. Fr. Chip asked how many times in our lives have we relied on the Holy Spirit to help us in a particular moment to give us courage and the right words. He said on Pentecost you can see a change in the Apostles from bumbling around to being very focused and knowing what they need to do, which shows how much the holy Spirit helps us. Maureen said it’s clear we need to sit back and listen to what is from the Holy Spirit instead of our internal doubts and questions. We need to let him lead us. We’re taught to pray, but we’re not often taught to listen. Scot said the best prayer sessions are when he asks the Holy Spirit to make him silent. Fr. Mark said Jesus talks of a two-way relationship, where the apostles love him in return and that will bring them peace. Rick said this part of John’s Gospel makes him smile because it proves how clueless the apostles were sometimes, like us. Jesus is telling them here that they should rejoice that he’s going to the Father and even if they don’t get the Holy Spirit will help them get it. Fr. Chip said celebrating a funeral Mass, he tries to explain that it’s a celebration. Yes, we’re sad, but we will see that person again hopefully. We will live our lives to try to get there. If it’s a young person or a sudden death, it can be hard and so you have to wait a while to say that. Maureen said when she goes to schools to talk about the missions, she teaches them a song that says that if you have Christ in your heart you live eternally. She talks to them how we can live here on earth so we can later live with him in eternity. Scot emphasized that many first communicants will be at Mass this weekend and so we should watch them as they receive reverently and give them good witness in how we receive. Scot said for the next five weeks or so, we will be airing the Best of our 521 episodes. These are very carefully chosen shows as the best examples. Rick said in the beginning he knew that 500 shows would be a big milestone. He said one thing he’s learned is how to be open about faith. In college, faith is often strangled out. But this job has taught him how to live faith through all the guests and hosts and the topics. He’s learned a lot and wouldn’t change a thing.…
1 TGCL #120: Headlines: Benedict returns; Theology of work; Sudden death of a bishop; Catechetical awards; Cardinal Rigali; God's grandchildren 56:33
Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy considered the headlines of the week, including Pope-emeritus Benedict’s return to the Vatican; Pope Francis’ theology of work; the sudden death of Bishop Joseph McFadden of Harrisburg; awards to deserving catechetical leaders; Cardinal Justin Rigali’s talk on Vatican II this week; and “God has no grandchildren”. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River, and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Headlines: Benedict returns; Theology of work; Sudden death of a bishop; Catechetical awards; Cardinal Rigali; God’s grandchildren 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Gregory Tracy back and Greg said last week he was in the Holy Land with his family on a retreat. Greg talked about a few of his favorite sights and sites. Scot said the big news in Rome today was the Pope-emeritus Benedict has moved back to the Vatican from Castelgandolfo. He will now live there, praying for the Church, and he’s likely to stay there until his death. Fr. Roger said it’s unprecedented to have two popes living inside the Vatican walls. Fr. Roger noted that Benedict’s 10,000-volume library that was in his apartment and then in the apostolic palace was moved to his new living quarters in the monastery. He talked about the extreme steps they took to ensure that his books would not be put there out of place. Fr. Roger recalled that he used to walk past this monastery when giving people tours of the Vatican gardens or when taking visitors to various offices of the Vatican. Scot considered how many 10,000 books is and the panelists compared their own libraries. He also said that Archbishop Ganswein will live in the same building along with several nuns who will care for Benedict. Greg said he didn’t think there would be any problem with having two popes within the walls even though there is some handwringing over the prospect. Fr. Roger said it is unlikely for Benedict to have any public Masses or events, but he wouldn’t be surprised if he was asked to lead the Curial retreat for Lent or Advent next year. Scot said a book that had previously been published in Spanish about Pope Francis is now in print in English. Fr. Roger wrote in his column for the Anchor this week about Pope Francis’ theology of work as described in the book. Fr. Roger said we live in a culture where we don’t want to work. There is a vocation to work. Pope Francis said when he turned 13, his father told him he needed to get a job along with school in order to learn about hard work. His father arranged a job for him at a client’s company, a hosiery factory. He worked there several summers and then in a chemistry lab in college. In the lab, his boss taught him a very valuable lesson about the importance of doing his work well, well for those who are served by that work, but also well because we are forming our own character. Work done well is crucial for our dignity. Scot said most people will think they’re doing great if you’re giving 95% effort. But if you think of the gifts of God you’ve been given, why not give 100%? What are you doing with the other 5? Susan talked about the prospect of retirement and said she described to a friend her ideal retirement. The friend noted it sounded like her work now. She said she’s blessed to do what she loves. If you’re giving 100%, everything you do that day is offered up for the glory and praise of God. Fr. Roger said we need to look at our work as the sacrifice of Abel. Work was one of the first commands of God, in addition to be fruitful and multiply and have dominion over creation. This type of work began before the Fall. He noted that Jesus often used images of work in his preaching, not to mention the 30 years of his life under the tutelage of St. Joseph and working as a carpenter in Nazareth. Scot recalled our interview with the pastor and pastoral associate of a parish in Baltimore who wrote the book “Rebuilt”, about the renewal of their parish. Once per year, Fr. Michael White gets up and challenges everyone that if they’re not willing to serve, they should get up and leave to make room for someone who will. He said this is spiritual advice, because getting involved causes personal spiritual growth. Greg said he’s heard the axiom that there is no work grater than someone else’s work, with few exceptions. All work serves the whole. Whatever you do, do it in a Christian way and a holy way. We are serving others, not serving ourselves. Mother Teresa said most of us will not do extraordinary things, but we can do ordinary things with extraordinary love. Scot said today we heard the news that Bishop Joseph McFadden of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, died suddenly today at age 65 while at meetings in Philadelphia. He said it reminds him not to take our bishops for granted. Fr. Roger talked about losing one of his seminary classmates in an accident. He said Bishop McFadden was beloved in Harrisburg and in Philadelphia and recounted meeting him. Fr. Roger said Cardinal Justin Rigali, former archbishop of Philadelphia, two days before he retired wrote an incredible mediation on death for his priests and how we should be ready at any moment. We should be ready to give ourselves freely to the Lord. He talked about those who gave their lives heroically. Those who live every day like it’s their last, live like those in the Twin Towers or the airplanes on 9/11 who took what time they had left to contact their loved ones and tell them they love them. Suck the marrow from life. 2nd segment: Scot said three catechetical leaders were honored with awards in a gathering in the cathedral on April 28 along with 75 other catechists. Susan said Bishop Deely led the service of Solemn Vespers at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross for the ceremony. She said it was the first time they’ve done the awards in that context. She thinks about 500 people were present. About 75% of the people had never been to the cathedral before and the responses they’ve got since Sunday have been overwhelming. The awardees were nominated by their pastors and have been teaching in some form at their parish for at least the last three years. Donna Lee Mcintosh of St. Linus Parish in Natick, and Maribelle Ortiz. Millan of St. Patrick Parish in Brockton, each received the Sister Marian O’Connor Award for Excellence in Catechetical Leadership as directors of religious education. Amy Chapman of St. Ignatius of Loyola Parish in Chestnut Hill was also honored with the Gaudium et Spes Service Recognition. The award recognizes outstanding service: to the archdiocese and the parish in the Year of Faith, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and the 25th anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Scot also said that Cardinal Justin Rigali was in the Archdiocese earlier this week for St. John’s Seminary’s Year of Faith and 50th anniversary of Vatican II speaker series. Cardinal Rigali spoke from his perspective as having worked in Rome at the Vatican during the Second Vatican Council and alongside Pope Paul VI. The cardinal related how the Pope had a very human and personal touch, whether with one person or bringing the light of Christ to the modern world. Scot talked about how we have maybe about 10 more years to hear personal reflections from the bishops who were at Vatican II. Fr. Roger said many have written memoirs about their experiences. Those who were there can continue to teach the Church about what the real hopes were and the real values were of those who there at the time. He talked about how one council father lamented at how some of the council documents were hijacked by the American media and liberal Catholics. Scot said one column that stood out to him this week in the Pilot was by Dale O’Leary, titled “God has no grandchildren.” She wrote that we can inherit practices and traditions, but we cannot inherit the faith. What makes evangelization of these ‘grandchildren’ hard is that they don’t know what they are missing. They think that what they have is all there is. Scot said it’s been shown that the younger you are in the Church, the less likely you are to be an active Catholic. People aren’t going to inherit the faith just because they receive the sacraments or come to church. They have to live the faith. Greg said it’s not enough to force children to go to Mass on Sunday, because as soon as they’re out from under your authority they won’t. Ultimately, their heart needs to be converted. We transmit faith through our own witness, through showing how they need God in their lives, through demonstration of the truths of the faith. There used to be a society that supported your faith and belief system, but that doesn’t exist anymore. So without an active evangelization of our own families, it’s very easy for young people to be drawn away and look to the world to satisfy them. Susan encouraged people to look at Msgr. James Moroney’s blog in which he encouraged people to give a good witness.…
Summary of today’s show: Four times as many people are leaving the Church as are entering and most of them are gone by the time they’re 23. Why are they leaving? Where are they going? How can we help them stay? Sherry Weddell joins Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams to talk about her new book about forming intentional disciples and show how parishes can help them cross the threshold to discipleship and learn that a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is not only possible, but intensely desirable. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Sherry Weddell Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Sherry Weddell and Forming Intentional Disciples 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and said today’s guest is Sherry Weddell and her new book Forming Intentional Disciples is one of the top 5 books he’s read in the past two years. But first, he welcomed Fr. Matt Williams to the show. They discussed the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults’s annual award dinner last night in which 75 youth, young adults, and parish leaders received awards. The photos are available at . Fr. Matt said he talked last night about the Scripture in which the Lord’s light has entered the world and the darkness has not overcome it. Yet the darkness is still there. He said the people there should be like stained glass windows, showing through Christ’s light into the world. Scot said Sherry Anne Weddell created the first charism discernment process specifically designed for Catholics in 1993. In 1997, she co-founded the Catherine of Siena Institute, an affiliated international ministry of the Western Dominican Province, and currently serves as Co-Director. Sherry has developed numerous unique formation resources that are used around the world and trained and helps lead an international team who have worked directly with over 85,000 ordained, religious, and lay Catholics in more than 100 dioceses on 5 continents. Scot said he’s heard a lot about Sherry’s book in the the last few months, particularly among those in the archdiocese working on the new pastoral planning process to help parishes with evangelization. He said there’s a lot of great wisdom in the book. He asked her to share a little of the information contained in her first chapters about the influx and outflow of the Catholic community. Sherry said most people think people are raised Catholic and stay Catholic. But in general about four times as many people are leaving the Church are entering. She said about 11 percent of people in church on Sunday are converts, but more are leaving, usually silently. Most leave and don’t practice religion or they become Protestant. People are looking for help in their spiritual growth but can’t find someone to help them in their parishes. Most people leave young, most before 18 and nearly all by 23. Religious change is a young adult thing, and this is true across religions. But our culture rewards faiths that evangelize intentionally and penalize faiths that rely on inherited religious identity. It’s become normal for young adults to decide for themselves as young adults. The difference in other faiths, like evangelical Protestants, is that they evangelize intentionally and have a lot more people entering. The Pew Forum reported that 10% of American adults are former Catholics. Scot said of those who left the faith to become Protestant, they said their spiritual needs weren’t being met. And they joined evangelical churches because they enjoyed the new faiths’ services and worship in a way that fed them spiritually. Our retention strategy for Catholics is 400 years old, based on our response to he Protestant Reformation. Sherry said in many ways the Church reinvented herself in response to the Reformation. The whole elementary school system was built to evangelize children, for instance. But the modern culture has changed so drastically. The old belief was that if you have a child until he is 7, you will make the man. Most of our practices presume all of our efforts go into children and the adults will just stay. But statistically at the moment all these practices don’t make much difference for where adults end up. She said less than half of Catholics told the Pew survey that you can have a personal relationship with God. Faith has to be personally meaningful. The encounter with Christ has always been at the center of the Christian faith. Fr. Matt said when we see that all these programs we’re doing aren’t working or aren’t making a difference, is this because the programs themselves are bad or that whatever happens in the next stage makes them lose whatever they gained? Sherry said there was a study in Canada last year that said four things happened for young adults who practice their faith: 1. They’d seen answered prayer, 2. They’d been able to ask their real questions within the Christian community, 3. They’d encountered the real Christian Gospel story, 4. They’d had other adults around them living this and modeling it for them. If these were ture, they were likely to be there and if they weren’t true, they were likely to be gone. The key is adult formation. So many of our children’s parents aren’t practicing. In New Zealand, 95% of parents of children in Catholic schools don’t practice. If adults are disciples, they will communicate it in a living way to their children. That which isn’t lived isn’t transmitted. Scot said we can’t outsource this from ourselves as parents to others. He said he’d never see someone say we’re on three spiritual journeys at the same time: A personal journey to be an intentional disciple; a journey of being initiated through the sacraments; a journey of active practice of the faith. Going through sacramental formation and attending church only fulfill the last two. Sherry said the first one is always treated as optional in Catholic circles and among Catholics there’s a spiral of silence about talking about your personal relationship with Christ. Sherry said people tell her that they feel like they’re betraying their Catholicism if they have a personal relationship with Christ and so they hide it from the rest of their parish. In the typical parish, when parish leaders are asked to estimate the percentage of intentional disciples, the answer comes back as 5%. What happens to this 5% is that they have pressure to conform. Our brains are wired to see standing out as being wrong. People respond by going underground or backtracking or leaving. She’s heard multiple stories of Catholics who had a spiritual awakening in their life and were thinking of leaving because they couldn’t find anyone to talk to about it. Sherry said when they talk to parishes, they tell them they have to break the silence so people know that it’s possible to talk about a personal relationship with God. We need to be talking with each other about the challenge of saying Yes or No to Jesus’ invitation to follow him. She said she challenges a parish based on their estimated percentage of intentional disciples to double it in five years. What would be the result in the parish, not because the numbers aren’t important but because each person is important. Scot said in the typical parish there are two tracks: the ordinary track and the saint track, which most people don’t feel worthy of. What we don’t have is the intentional disciple track where people are on a journey but aren’t saints yet. Sherry shared the story of someone she worked with who wanted to be on the intentional disciple track and people didn’t know what to do with him except say he should study for the priesthood. Sherry said we’re supposed to expect conversion and plan for it. We react as if we’re surprised by it. She said the young man in the story had a dramatic conversion, having been a meth addict and converting on Divine Mercy Sunday. He was on fire for Christ and the parish just didn’t know what to do with him. Disciples understand the journey of a disciple. You can’t only understand and facilitate someone else’s journey depending on how far you’ve journeyed. She said some of her collaborators are finding ways to let intentional disciples help form other disciples. This should be essential to post-RCIA, after retreats. Even after you become a disciple, so much of what the Church calls us to do is dependent on what we do developmentally, not on theological categories. It’s as much about our interior journey with God as it is with the sacraments we’ve checked out in order to release the graces in those sacraments. To go public with it requires a maturity as a disciple. Even the most basic witness is dependent on a level of growth. Fr. Matt said we can’t just assume that because people go to church that they’re disciples. Fr. Matt said that as a priest he has to remember there might be people in the pews who are on the verge of leaving or on the threshold of faith. He has begun thinking about he can help people move on to the next step toward intentional discipleship. Sherry said typically there is someone in our pews. About 2% of people in pews each Sunday are non-Catholics and 2% more are inactive Catholics. We need first to have a bridge of trust. That means that they have some positive association with the Church or Jesus or God or even just a particular Christian. Does a person have that trust in something? It doesn’t have to make sense. Some people trust the Virgin Mary, but not God or the Church, for example. If it doesn’t exist we have to build it. The second threshold is curiosity. For example, they can be interested in the possibility of having a personal relationship with God. We want to stir their curiosity about Jesus Christ. We want to avoid giving them factual answers to their questions. We want to rouse them to greater curiosity through new questions. The third threshold is openness. The person is acknowledging the possibility of a personal relationship. There is no commitment here. This can be very scary. We have to understand how scary the Church can be from the outside. The fourth threshold is seeking. This is serious wrestling. This isn’t casual anymore. They are considering a commitment to Jesus Christ and His Church. It can feel like a quest and there can be an urgency in it for the person who is seeking. They have moved from passive to active. The fifth threshold is intentional discipleship, making a commitment to follow Jesus Christ. This is just the beginning of the journey of discipleship. Scot asked Sherry what makes an intentional disciple. Sherry said when she was 21 living in New York City, what she said was “OK, Jesus” and what she meant was “I am saying Yes to following you now.” Because she didn’t know much about him, she set out to find out. So an intentional disciple should set out to get to know him. Start with a New Testament and read it. If she was seeking, she would pray to God with whatever faith she had now, without pretending, asking Him to show Himself to her. Offer yourself to him with the faith you have now and for what’s real and no substitutes. If he is a loving God and Jesus Christ is his son who lived among us and taught and healed and forgave and suffered on the Cross for us and was risen for us, if all that’s real, then say you want it and that you need God to lead you. Then find a Catholic parish and ask the possibility of taking part in RCIA, which isn’t a commitment but is designed for people who are seeking. But the first step is declaring your openness to God. Scot said the best part of the book is pages 207-217, which is about the great story of Jesus in nine acts. 2nd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Barbara Wojciechowski from Lynn She wins the book If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $50 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program.…
Summary of today’s show: Continuing their conversation from a few weeks, Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor discuss the next Sacrament of Initiation: First Communion: What is the Eucharist? How is it the source and summit of the Christian life? Why do we have so many names for it? What is transubstantiation? Why does the way we come to receive communion matters so much? But first, Scot, Fr. Chris, and Fr. Wayne Belschner discuss the very funny story of Fr. Chris’s disastrous dinner Saturday night that left the rectory kitchen a smoking ruin and called out six Boston Fire Department trucks. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s topics: The Sacraments of Initiation, Part II: Eucharist 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Chris O’Connor to the show and asked him about his weekend. Fr. Chris told Scot the story about cooking dinner at Sacred Heart Parish in East Boston for 15 seminarians. He and Fr. Scorzello from St. John Seminary were cooking pasta and prime rib. They had a little fire in the stove and they ignored it. Ten minutes later they had a blazing inferno in the stove. They opened the stove and it blazed like a dragon. They called the fire department which sent not one, but 6 fire engines. As the firefighters approached they saw the seminarians hanging out the third floor window and smoke billowing from the house so they started to run up the ladders. The prime rib was a loss, but Fr. Scorzello’s arrabiatta sauce was saved. Fr. Chris said he maintains it was the dirty oven, while Fr. Wayne Belschner, the pastor, says the aluminum pans had a hole in the pan. Scot said Fr. Wayne has a very different spin to the story, but Fr. Chris said a jury of his peers would never convict him. Fr. Chris said there was another event this past weekend. He said the Cheverus Cup, the softball trophy up for grabs between St. John Seminary and Blessed John XXIII seminary, has come back to St. John’s after two years. He said they play one game per year in April. St. John’s had a great victory over Blessed John seminarians, men who are older and have a second vocation, who call their team the Relics. Fr. Chris said his team is called Victory, singular like Miami Heat. He reveled in the huge hollow role in the trophy case over at Blessed John XXIII seminary today. He said his own role is to stand on the sidelines and make sarcastic comments. They play at the softball field at Regis College. He said what the Ring is to Gollum in the Lord of the Rings, the trophy is to Fr. Chris. Fr. Wayne joined on the phone to give his side of the story, speaking from the charred remains of his rectory kitchen. He said cooking a prime rib at 500 degrees has been said to be a bad idea and then doing that in a tin foil pan that has had a hole punched in it. Fr. Chris said you use 500 degrees to sear the meat. Fr. Wayne agreed that the meat is certainly seared now. Fr. Chris said the deacon’s wife gave him the recipe and Fr. Wayne said the last time she cooked meat for them she burned it so why would you follow her recipe. He then said he had video of Fr. Chris running for his life. Fr. Chris said Fr. Wayne keeps a dirty house and Fr. Wayne said he’s glad he said that on air for the housekeeper to hear it. He noted that when the housekeeper, who knew Fr. Chris from a previous rectory, heard Fr. Chris was cooking she said it was a bad idea. Fr. Chris then admitted that when he was 14 years old, he accidentally lit the kitchen at St. Margaret’s in Dorchester on fire. He burned all the hair off his head. Fr. Wayne added that Fr. Chris’s sister also won’t let him cook at her house. Fr. Wayne then related Fr. Chris’s previous cooking disasters. Fr. Chris kept returning to his defense that the oven was filthy. The moral of the story is Fr. Wayne has no oven or microwave and is left eating beans from a can. Happily there was no structural damage to the rectory. Fr. Chris said on Sunday the kitchen was covered in yellow caution tape and Fr. Wayne said he didn’t want to let him near the kitchen again. Nevertheless, they eventually sat down to a delicious dinner of pasta arrabiatta and chicken parm from a nearby restaurant. Fr. Wayne pointed out that the next day they discovered the bottle of wine and bottles of beer that had been put in the freezer to chill before the fire and had subsequently exploded. Fr. Wayne did say that the story entered into his homily on Sunday in which he gave thanks for Fr. Chris’s priesthood because he never would have made it as a chef. 2nd segment: Scot said today we’re continuing the conversation started a few weeks ago on the sacraments of initiation, moving on the sacrament of the Eucharist. Fr. Chris said in May typically we have many First Communions as part of the Easter season. Scot said the Catechism says it completes initiation even though it comes before confirmation. Fr. Chris said when an adult comes into the Church, they receive baptism, confirmation and then communion. He said it’s typically the age of reason, about 7 or 8, that the young person can recognize the beauty and dignity of what they’re receiving. Many adults have lost their imagination, but the children can accept so many images that show the reality. He said he starts with the multiplication of loaves and fishes. The image reminds us that at the Eucharist every single person is invited to come, believe in him, and be nourished. As he thinks about the need for wicker baskets to collect the extra, it’s a reminder of the overabundance of God’s love. As the Lamb of God, the sinless one becomes an offering for our sins and we can offer him our lives. Fr. Chris said as the Lamb of God, Christ was taking the place of the lambs sacrificed in the temple. Christ becomes atonement for our sins. No longer is the Eucharist is a bloody sacrifice for us. We recall the great sacrifice of the Crucifixion and it is made present for us. Scot asked why God required a sacrifice of animals. Fr. Chris said it is justice that something needs to be restored. When we sin, there has to be restoration. When someone commits a crime, there has to be restitution and punishment. Sin goes against divine justice. Christ became both the justice and mercy in order that we might be saved. Scot said we hear that the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. He asked what it means. Fr. Chris said we can talk about the source by referring to the Vietnamese cardinal Van Thuan who talked about his Communist guard who smuggled in bread and a drop of wine so he could celebrate Mass in the palm of his hand in his cell. He received the living God in that pice of bread and drop of wine. He said that lights run on electricity. Cars run on gasoline. The Christian runs on the Eucharist. In encountering the Eucharist, we encounter Jesus Christ. Mass comes from the word Missa, meaning “sent”. Having receive the Eucharist we are sent into the world. There isn’t dallying when we receive Communion in Mass. The Eucharist is the source of our life. Pope Benedict said the most important word coming out of Vatican II was Communion. We commune with God and we commune with our brothers and sisters. As a summit, we think of the mountain. The Eucharist is the apex of our prayer. It is God’s abiding presence in the world. Fr. Chris said after Communion, a priest he knows says, “We have received. We have been received.” God takes us into his life and into relationship. Scot asked about all the names we have for the sacrament. Fr. Chris said we have the names because of the mystery of the Eucharist and we can never fully describe it or comprehend it. The different names for the Eucharist mean there’s such a great mystery that we can’t capture fully what’s going on. Eucharist means thanksgiving and reminds us that when we come to Mass, it is important to take a moment to reflect on how God has blessed us and how we are thankful. When someone loves you, the only choice is to return that love and be thankful for it. When we come to the Mass, we see how great God’s love is for us. Scot said sometimes we forget to thank God for some of the biggest things God gives us to us: our life, our faith, our Church. Fr. Chris said if we are up and taking nourishment, thank God. God redeemed us and offers to us the gift of heaven. Scot asked how every Mass is the re-presentation of the Sacrifice of the Cross, the same event happening in front of us. Fr. Chris it is because Christ willed it to be so. Scot said those dealing with the greatest physical sufferings are often those who are most thankful when coming to church. He said one of the great mysteries is how a good and loving God can permit suffering. He said often suffering helps people to turn to God in prayer. Fr. Chris said when we see evil in the world we come to the recognition that we’re never fully complete on our own. At the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit comes down and transform bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Scot asked about the word transubstantiation. Fr. Chris said the substance changes. While it appears to be bread and wife, there is a change in substance or what it really is. This is why we do certain things, like look toward the tabernacle and the votive lamp to genuflect in reverence. When we receive the Eucharist, we give a bow to the Body and Blood. In the sacraments, all of them, it is God acting, even if he uses a minister. There is nothing magical about the sacraments. This is the gift of Christ himself sending the Holy Spirit, his Body, his Blood offered up for us. We need to have eyes of faith to see Jesus Christ, whether in the poor or in bread and wine. Scot said in Scripture, Jesus tells us we are to gnaw on his flesh to have eternal life. Through his mercy he gives us what appears to be bread and wine. The substance if God, but the accidents—what we see, hear, feel, smell—appears to be regular food. God uses what normal in our lives to show us something supernatural, holy, and divine. Bread and wine is in the poorest of homes throughout the world in both rich and poor homes. Something so basic, yet so profound. At the same time, God is transforming us into the Body of Christ as well. The priest is in persona Christi when celebrating the Eucharist. Scot asked what that means. Fr. Chris said it never gets boring. When you pray the prayers, wherever you are in your prayer life, something hits you as the priest. He said Missionaries of Charity have a sign in their chapel telling priests to celebrate as if it was their first Mass, their last Mass, their only Mass. Fr. Chris remembers one time praying the Eucharistic Prayer and one phrase so caught him and captured him that he needed to be prodded to continue. It was a profound moment of being reminded of what a great gift this is. Priesthood and Eucharist go hand in hand. You don’t have one without the other. when the priest speaks Christ’s words “this is my body” and “this is my blood” it’s also a reminder to the priest that he too needs to make an offering of himself to the Church. Speaking of First Communions, Scot said they are special moments, but every time we go to communion, we should come with the same fervor and passion. If it’s not there, then ask God to put it there. He said he also believes that the lack of understanding of the Eucharist among most Catholics comes from the way we go up to Communion. He often sees people going through the motions. One of his children once said to him that the people in the Communion line didn’t look like or act as if they were going to receive Jesus. How we receive Communion influences how others believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ. Fr. Chris said it’s a great reminder to us. When we give thanks, there should be joy. There is nothing greater than receiving the living God. We also receive him in the Word of God and we should prepare for that as well by reading the readings beforehand. Fr. Chris said it’s a joy to see the First Communion children come up with joy and pride, purity and innocence to receive Jesus Christ. We need to instill in them that this is not their only communion, but they should come every week. Scot said we should also instill in them the need to come forward in the right manner with the right posture and attitude to receive.…
Summary of today’s show: Boston’s elite college, Harvard, for the first time this year had four college-age missionaries from the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) on campus, which was already on 74 other college campuses around the country. Scot Landry talked to the four member team and campus minister Fr. Matt Westcott about the value that the missionaries add to campus life through the existing Catholic campus ministry and how they are forming genuine friendships and encouraging students to intentional discipleship in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr Matt Westcott, Michael Selenski, Tricia Lester, Elizabeth Hofer, Jennifer Stenzel, Daniel Paris Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: FOCUS missionaries at Harvard 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. On today’s broadcast, for the first year at Harvard there are five FOCUS missionaries working with Fr. Matt Westcott. Fr. Matt is in his second-year in campus ministry there. He said he is seeing a real difference in the students through this outreach in a new and unique way. Young people abotu the same age as missionaries can go places and say things a priest might not be able to. FOCUS is the Fellowship of Catholic University Students. Daniel Paris said being a missionary is a calling. They move across the country, they fundraise their own salaries. They go on a dating fast for a year. It’s not just a normal post-college job. Daniel said he went on a FOCUS conference a year after graduation. He felt a call at that time for further study so he went to grad school in Denver for two years. Scot asked him about the Augustine Institute where he studied. Daniel compared it to the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization in Boston. It’s vision is to form lay leaders for evangelization and many will end up working for the Church in various pastoral ministries. Daniel said his year has been a challenge and fruitful. The students keep him on his toes. Tricia Lester attended Mount St. Mary’s in Maryland and is from Philadelphia. She’s a second-year FOCUS missionary. She was at University of Connecticut last year. She has committed to a third year because she loves it so much. She said she is always asked why she does this and what difference it makes. She said it improves her relationship with Jesus grow because she’s asked to share it every day. Tricia said every missionary’s week is different, but she leads a couple of Bible studies each week, has mentorships with a few students who lead their own Bible studies, meets with students who are curious wherever they are. Tricia said she has about 15 students total in her Bible studies. She has three students in discipleship she’s praying with and then there’s 10 to 15 more students she’s meeting with regularly to see if they’re interested in getting involved. Daniel said discipleship is the next step after a Bible study. It’s an intentional friendship where they are striding side-by-side toward Christ and the missionary i a mentor. They help them cultivate sobriety, chastity, and excellence, the big three virtues. Scot asked Tricia what an intentional friendship is. She said all friendships should be intentional, oriented toward getting toward heaven. She went to a girl’s rugby game this past weekend to show her she supports her in all she’s doing. Those interactions help build trust so the girl can come to her when she has questions. Scot asked about the three virtues Daniel mentioned. He asked if they are the only group on campus preaching sobriety and excellence. Daniel said there’s a hug drinking culture on campuses across the US. They model responsible drinking by going out with students who are of age and having only a couple of drinks. Tricia said excellence is interesting at Harvard. It’s about where you want to have your success? It’s about using your God-given gifts to the fullest. Daniel talked about the fundraising aspects in which the missionaries get together with people one on one, tell them why they are doing this with their life, share the mission of FOCUS, and invite them to join the mission. Daniel said he got into a conversation with his dentist who was filling his cavity. She said she was a nominal Catholic and as she talked to him, she talked herself into going back to church and going to confession. Daniel felt called to get her the book “Rediscover Catholicism” by Matthew Kelly. She was so moved that she chose to help him. Daniel said it’s so cool being the first missionaries at Harvard. He had one student he met whose sister won a gold medal at the Olympics. And they also get to lay the ground work for all future missionaries at Harvard. Tricia compared being at UConn, where she inherited the work others had started, where at Harvard they were starting from scratch. Fr. Matt said the people of the Archdiocese should be glad not just that the missionaries are Harvard, BU, and MIT, but that the quality of the missionaries are so high. The students on these campuses are thirty for what they have to offer. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Michael Selenski, who leads the FOCUS team. He said he studied business entrepreneurship in college and this opportunity to start a new mission at Harvard is a great challenge. He is a third-year missionary and was at Drake in Iowa previously. He noted that there are 74 different campuses where FOCUS works and he was one of the team directors. He had expressed interest in going East and so he was sent to Harvard. Michael said he never expected there to be as many Catholics on campus as there are and he was shocked by the numbers of students at Mass on Sunday. He said the big challenge is to draw them into a deeper relationship with Christ. Michael said he renewed his commitment to FOCUS because he just can’t walk away, even though he’s thinking about grad school and misses his family in Minnesota. Every time he asks God where he wants him to be, he just can’t walk away. He feels like he’s become a new man over the past three years. Scot welcomed ELizabeth Hofer, who’s from South Dakota and is a graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville. She’s a first-year missionary. Scot asked her what the adjustment has been like for her. She said she was scared to go to Cambridge because she misses the Black Hills of South Dakota, but her heart was well prepared. When asked what she loved best about Harvard and she thought of how the students thirst for Christ, and felt put to shame by them. Scot asked her to explain what’s so great about the Black Hills. She said it’s so beautiful and it’s unique. It’s not majestic like the Rockies, but it’s home and welcoming. Mount Rushmore is within the Black Hills. ELizabeth said last year at this time she wouldn’t even consider being a FOCUS missionary. She thought they were great but it was the last thing she wanted to do. She was planning on going to law school. Then she went to a holy hour, she found she could say yes to applying to become a missionary. She never thought she’d be hired. Then she was terrified they would. Even after she was hired, she kind of hoped her spiritual director would say she shouldn’t. But the greatest joy for her was seeing how Christ cares for us and loves us. It’s been a difficult year, but there’s such a joy and a peace. She said, Be careful. If you give Christ your heart, he’ll take advantage of it. She said you’ll set the world on fire and you’ll know Christians by the terror in their eyes. Being transformed and sanctified is terrifying and amazing. Scot welcomed Jennifer Stenzel to the show. She joined the missionary team at mid-year. She’s a first-year missionary. She had some unique challenges in that everyone else had already established themselves and their ministries, but she also had four people to look up to see what they were doing. She said that at the end of her freshman year at George Mason University, she thought about being a missionary. She’d come to college very far from her faith, but the missionaries reached out to her and helped her faith grow. So by the end of her junior year she was sure because of the beautiful and genuine relationships. She talked about mentoring other girls and leading Bible studies while an undergraduate. Michael said the traditional or standard FOCUS team is four people and a handful of schools have a larger program. Scot said a parish evangelization best practice is forming small groups. He asked Michael what he’s learned about leading small groups and faith-sharing groups that says they’re a wonderful way to build faith. Michael said there’s a lack of genuine brotherhood among men, especially on college campuses. He said so many students have drinking buddies, video game buddies, sports buddies, but they don’t have people in their lives asking them how they’re praying, what they’re living for, how they’re becoming stronger men of God. In the context of a small-group Bible study exploring Scripture together is transformational. He said after two years at Drake many of the men would say that he was their best friend. It’s so easy to wear a mask and act like everything’s ok, but in a small group they open up and are genuine with each other. Michael said the ideal small group is anywhere from 6 to 8 for a small-group Bible study. Over ten people loses the sense of openness and trust and people can hide in the crowd. Six to eight helps long-lasting friendships grow. Scot asked Elizabeth about the structure of the Bible studies. She said FOCUS provides many resources that are available at . They also sell many Bible studies as well. But on other occasions, they just study the Scripture of the day like on Ash Wednesday, perhaps through the lectio divina method. Scot said he thinks most Catholics have never opened the Bible other than Mass readings. He asked how difficult is it to get Catholics to join the Bible study? Elizabeth said she once advertised her Bible study without saying it was a Bible study, but an opportunity to pray and talk about Christ in their lives and some who said they couldn’t make a Bible study said they wanted to come. Scot asked Jennifer about the training they receive. She said they have five weeks during the study. It’s one third boot camp, one third retreat, and one third grad school. From 8am to 10pm is structured every day with Mass and holy hours, and then classes in speaking, apologetics, fundraising and more. Plus opportunities for fellowship. They also have many resources online for continued study throughout the year. Michael said time and again he’s reminded of how important prayer is to their work. He said with the challenges of Harvard he’s often reminded of how important prayer is, not just by them, but from others supporting them in prayer. He added that they all fundraise their own salaries and need financial support to take students out for coffee or dinner, to throw parties, and even to go on missionary trips outside the country. If anyone is interested in learning more email…
1 TGCL #0516: Benedict moves back to Rome; Can't miss sights in the Holy Land; Pope Francis' first encyclical coming 59:51
Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell discussed some of the top news of the day, including reports that Pope-emeritus Benedict soon will be moving back to Rome from Castelgandolfo, taking up residence in a renovated monastery at the Vatican as planned and that Pope Francis is preparing his first encyclical which is said to incorporate the work already done by Benedict on the last encyclical he was writing on the topic of faith. Fr. Mark then told us of the three places in Holy Land that he said made the most impact on him and described how he’s been changed. Also, the Spring fund drive for WQOM has started this week. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with . Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s topics: Benedict moves back to Rome; Can’t miss sights in the Holy Land; Pope Francis’ first encyclical coming 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Mark O’Connell to the show and they noted that yesterday was the Feast of St. Mark. They discussed the Italian tradition of celebrating your name day. Scot said he celebrated the feast of St. Landry in June. He was a French bishop of Paris in the 600s. Scot said the news from Rome yesterday is that Pope-emeritus Benedict will be moving from Castelgandolfo back to the Vatican, where it was planned he would live in a former monastery. Fr. Mark said it’s a good idea because Castelgandolfo is a good retreat for the current Holy Father and he should have that available. Scot said Benedict moved to Castelgandolfo only for a short time while renovations were done at the monastery. Meanwhile Pope Francis continues to live at the Domus Santa Martae. Fr. Mark said even though we will have two popes living in the Vatican, we probably won’t see them together much. Benedict has said what aims to do is to pray for all those who needs prayers, and to take time to prepare at the end of his life in preparation to meet the Lord. Scot said some Catholics in Rome miss being able to look up to the windows of the apostolic palace in St. Peter’s Square and see the lights on and know the pope is there. Fr. Mark talked about being in the library of the apostolic palace once, having accompanied Cardinal Law on his ad limina visit to Pope John Paul II. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with . 2nd segment: Scot said for the rest of the time he will know Fr. Mark he will think of how joyous Fr. Mark was calling into the radio show from Jerusalem and how joyous he’s been. Fr. Mark said you don’t need to travel to the Holy Land with the archbishop of Boston, even though it helps. He said the Holy Spirit is still strong in the Holy Land. The trip with his 39 brother priests was a real spiritual retreat. Scot asked how Fr. Mark is different now as a priest and a judicial vicar. Fr. Mark said the Bible is now illustrated for him. There are images of the places to accompany what he has always heard and read in the Scriptures. He said unfortunately many of the readings since they’ve come back don’t take place where they went, but even now seeing the word “Jerusalem” in the Psalms makes it a different experience. Fr. Mark said in Galilee, people should go to Bethlehem. Go early or in the evening or you’re going to be stuck in big crowds. He had more peace in the Shepherds’ Fields, which is mountainous and places with caves and groves. He visualizes the shepherds hearing the angels there. The other place he will look at differently is Caesarea Phillipi. Jesus tells Peter that on this rock I will build my Church. And he said that in front of a huge rock, which was a temple to the pagan god Pan, from which the Jordan River springs. Right after that verse, Jesus heads toward Jerusalem. It’s literally at the peak of his journey and also geographically at its peak. Fr. Mark said they also had an extraordinary experience in the Upper Room, which was the place of the Last Supper, doubting Thomas, and Pentecost. To be in the room where all this happened, it’s the place of the Holy Spirit. He said Cardinal Seán talked about all those things and being faithful to them and feeling the Spirit. Fr. Mark said he was emotionally filled in that room. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with . 3rd segment: Scot said other news coming out of the Vatican today is that Pope Francis’ first encyclical will come out in the next few months on evangelization for the Year of Faith. Fr. Mark said the article said it’s probably the one begun by Pope Benedict and will be finished by Pope Francis. He said Deus Caritas Est was started by Pope John Paul II and was finished by Pope Benedict. Scot said Pope Benedict’s encyclicals were on love and then on hope and he was preparing one on faith for the Year of Faith. He said he had been disappointed that he wasn’t going to finish the encyclical and now it appears that Pope Francis will finish it with his own style, bridging the experience of Pope Benedict’s academic intellect with that of Pope Francis as pastor in the streets. He believes that we will be called to bring the Gospel out from our buildings and into the streets. Fr. Mark said he’s been reading Pope Francis’s homilies and really enjoys everything he keeps saying. He said the important line is that he wants the shepherds to have the smell of the sheep. It means the priest has to be very close to his people. Fr. Mark talked about how when he travels and wears his collar, so many people come up to him and approach him to talk. It’s a personal choice each day to put on the garb and to make himself available for evangelization. We all have that choice to go out and make ourselves available. In the Upper Room, the apostles had the Spirit in that room, but they left the room to spread the Spirit and they never returned. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with .…
1 TGCL #0515: Ordination of former Anglican priest; progress on canonizations; new principal for Lawrence Catholic school 59:19
Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Susan Abbott discussed the news headlines of the week, including the ordination of a former Anglican priest to the Catholic priesthood in Beverly; progress reported on the causes of canonization for Blessed John Paul II and Archbishop Oscar Romero; and the appointment of a new principal for Lawrence Catholic Academy. Also, the Spring fund drive for WQOM has started this week. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with . Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Ordination of former Anglican priest; progress on canonizations; new principal for Lawrence Catholic school 1st segment: Scot Landry Welcomed everyone to the show and noted that producer Rick Heil has a birthday today but we can’t celebrate with him with cake because he is in Buffalo for the Station of the Cross’s spring fund drive. They said the size of Rick’s cake will depend on how much people give to the fund drive this hour. Scot said in the Pilot this week is the story of a new priest in the Archdiocese of Boston, Fr. Jurgen Liias, who was an Anglican priest for 40 years and this past Saturday he was ordained by Cardinal Seán a Roman Catholic priest in the Anglican rite. Susan Abbott said in her own parish they have Fr. Richard Bradford who was an Episcopal priest who was ordained for the Church in the late 1970s, and served in her parish. Scot quoted Cardinal Seán at the seminary: “Jurgen, we thank God for your generous response to this second calling and commend you to the loving care of the Mother of the Divine Shepherd, so that your ministry as a Catholic priest will draw people closer to the Lord and to one another, as we strive for the unity that Christ prayed for at the Last Supper, and so that we will experience the fellowship of those first disciples who were of one mind and one heart,” he said. Scot quoted Fr. Jurgen and then Fr. Jurgen’s wife. She noted he retired for about five minutes from the Episcopal church and then felt God tell him that the time was right for his conversion. “He is a bundle of energy and vision. He is a wonderful preacher. He is a great pastor, and I am excited for him. He retired for about five minutes, from the Episcopal Church and thought he might garden, and travel, and hike, but then he thought that this is something he has been wanting to do. God told him the time was right,” she said. Scot said Fr. David Barnes and the people of the Catholic parishes in Beverly were eager to welcome Fr. Jurgen to the priesthood. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with . 2nd segment: Scot said two stories this week are about two causes for canonization, including Bl. John Paul II. Earlier this week, it was reported that some Vatican doctors concluded that a healing attributed to his intercession had no natural explanation, meaning it’s a miracle and if this report is true, it clears the way for him to be canonized as St. John Paul II. Susan talked about all the talk at the time of his funeral in 2005 of his sanctity. While the Church usually moves slowly in such causes, this process has moved rapidly. There is some hope to have the ceremony during the Year of Faith and in October, which is the 35th anniversary of his election to the papacy. Scot said he feels a little like the Year of Faith has lost a little attention because of all the other events, like the election of Pope Francis. He thinks a canonization would bring the attention back to it. Also, related to canonization, the cause for Archbishop Oscar Romero was “unblocked”. The Congregation for the Causes of the Saints had to determine if he was martyred or not, given that he was assassinated by a government death squad in the cathedral in El Salvador. Scot said in his opinion that the question is ridiculous. He also thinks that the fact that Pope Francis is from Latin America and is himself a fan of the archbishop might have had something to do with it. Susan recommended the movie “Romero” as an introduction to the archbishop. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with . 3rd segment: Scot said a big appointment was made this week. Jorge Hernandez, one of the assistant superintendents in the Catholic Schools Office, was hired as the new principal of Lawrence Catholic Academy. Susan said in the article in the Pilot, Fr. Paul O’Brien, pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish, said Jorge will be respected by the people in the area because he is one of them. Scot said he wishes he could clone Jorge because of his talents that will be missed in the Pastoral Center and will serve him well in Lawrence. Susan said Jorge was previously a dean of admissions at Merrimac College. Scot noted that the students at Lawrence Catholic Academy do very well in school compared to their public school counterparts and one of the reasons is that the Catholic schools can care for the whole person. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with .…
Summary of today’s show: The Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults is entering a busy time in the Archdiocese of Boston and Fr. Mat Williams and Scot Landry discuss their big initiatives, including this past weekend’s Eucharistic Congress that came at a particularly appropriate time after last week’s Marathon bombings; the upcoming World Youth in Rio in July that is shaping up to be a massive and inspirational event; and the annual Awards Banquet that honors those around the archdiocese, youth, young adults, and parish leaders, who witness to Christ in their lives through youth and young adult ministry experiences. Also, the Spring fund drive for WQOM has started this week. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with . Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s topics: The Work of the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Matt Williams to the show and they discussed last weekend’s Eucharistic Congress for Young Adults and College Students. He said it was a beautiful opportunity to gather in prayer following the marathon bombings last Monday. Scot noted that Friday night’s events didn’t go off as planned because of the city’s lockdown. He said Msgr. James Moroney had been scheduled to speak, but they had to cancel it. On Saturday, usually they’d be doing service projects from noon to four. One of the goals of the congress is to show the link between worship in the Mass and serving our neighbor, but because they weren’t able to use Friday to sign up attendees for the projects they had to forgo them. So they started at 5pm at St. Leonard’s with Cardinal Seán and the speaker on Saturday night was Susan Conroy, who we’ve had on the show recently talking about the life of Mother Teresa. Fr. Matt also talked about Cardinal Seán’s keynote, in which he reflected on his recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but also how he related it to the events of the past week in Boston. He also noted how during the Eucharistic procession through the North End’s streets was so impactful that people who were just passing by joined them in the walk. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with . 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Matt discussed the upcoming World Youth Day in Rio. Scot said a few months ago, there were two million expected to go, but that was before the first Latin American Pope was elected and it’s going to be much bigger. Fr. Matt said his office is organizing the archdiocesan trip and now more than 3 million young people are expected to descend upon World Youth Day this summer. Fr. Matt has been to five World Youth Days before and Scot said he went to World Youth Day in Denver in 1993. Fr. Matt said he keeps going back each time because it creates the perfect environment to inspire and evangelize young people to greatness in Christ. Many seminarians have a World Youth Day experience as part of their resume. He said there are many reason it inspires young people, but most of all they see others who are living it. These witnesses are seeking to become the people God created them to be and this is inspiring to the young people. They are priests and lay leaders in their own groups and from around the world. It’s also the Holy Father, in this case, Pope Francis, who young people respond to. These men speak truth and call them to greatness. Fr. Matt said they could squeeze a few more in for the trip in late July. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with . 3rd segment: Scot and Fr. Matt discussed the annual awards banquet for youth and youth leaders throughout the Archdiocese of Boston. Next Tuesday evening, they will be at Lombardo’s in Randolph. He believes it started as an annual CYO sports awards banquet many years ago and it has expanded greatly over the years. Scot said what really touches him is when he hears someone talk about how they wouldn’t even be practicing their faith if not for one of these people who are nominated for recognition. Fr. Matt said in many parishes there are people who seek to make a gift of themselves, and the faith wouldn’t be transmitted forward if not for them. He said they recently honored one man who had been a catechist for more than 50 years. Scot said we’re all the face of the Church when we’re giving back to God. For many people, we may be the only Catholic they know who goes to church and everyone time we make a gift of love, we are the positive face of the Church. Fr. Matt said today at Mass Fr. Mark O’Connell talked about how the apostles went from the Upper Room out to proclaim the Good News even into Gentile areas, which would have been unheard of among Jews of that period. He related the story of a man who was extremely involved in the life of the parish, yet at work the people know nothing about that. We should always be sharing the gift of our faith and asking people to join us. We may be the only Gospel that someone reads in their life. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with .…
Summary of today's show: Rebecca Hofmann made a decision to put her faith into action by becoming a missionary of chastity. As a member of Generation Life, Rebecca is one of a team of five that travels about the country talking to middle school and high school teens about the beauty of God's plan for love and sexuality, and for many of them it's the first time they've ever heard about chastity. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams talk to Rebecca about how she came to this ministry, some of the results she's seen in the kids she's talked to, how the missionaries depend completely on God's Providence to complete their work, and how she's come to this as her life's work. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today's guest(s): Rebecca Hofmann Links from today's show: Today's topics: Generation Life bringing God's plan for chastity to teens across the US 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. He said today's topic is on chastity education to prevent many of the ills related to the sexual revolution. He welcomed Fr. Matt Williams to the show who said Cardinal Seán has made it a priority to teach students even as young as middle school on chastity and respect for human life and dignity. Scot said God created us with a purpose to love each within the norms established by our loving God and many of us haven't had that presented to us in its fullness. He mentioned that some parents may want to use discretion when listening to the show when their children are present. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Rebecca Hofmann of Generation Life to the show. She grew up in Stow, Mass., as a nominal Catholic. She went to college and forgot about her faith. She came back to Boston with a teaching job and got into her faith through young adult ministry. She saw a joy, peace, and happiness in the young adults she met which was everything she'd been looking for and she really enjoyed hanging out with them. Scot noted that Rebecca was involved with the young adult ministry at St. Clement's Eucharistic Shrine in Boston. She checked out anything she was invited to, including bible studies, Theology on Tap, and Pure in Heart. Rebecca said the lack of a personal relationship with Christ and others who follow Christ laid the foundation for lack of religious practice in college. Fr. Matt said rules without relationship mean rebellion. Rebecca said the Jesus in the North End event was her first encounter with Adoration, but she was invited and went anyway. Scot said her first invitation came from her older sister. He said it's a wonderful gift for a family member to extend. Scot asked how she got involved in chastity education. She'd heard about a Pure in Heart meeting and started going. She'd never really heard about chastity and the opportunity so much about chastity and her sexuality. She started becoming a speaker for Pure in Heart on nights and weekends. Rebecca said the obvious meaning of chastity is saving sex for marriage, but it's much more than that. It's about pursuing authentic love and holding on to your self-respect and dignity. Scot said today we're bombarded with the exact opposite. He said it's much tougher to practice a chaste life as a teen today. Rebecca said she and her five members of her missionary team of Generation Life are witness to being able to live this lifestyle and be happy. Fr. Matt said it's important for teens to be told it's OK not to have sex because they have so much pressure otherwise. Fr. Matt said chastity is ordering your sexuality according to your state in life. How we express our love is going o be expressed uniquely according to our state in life. This isn't just about physical love. Even celibate priests need to be chaste. He said husbands are called to see their wives not as objects, but as a unique unrepeatable gift of God. It's not just about saying No, but about a profound Yes to life and love and the beautiful plan God has in store for all of us. Rebecca said the responses from youth are very positive because they're searching for truth. They are in awe and receptive. They get emails from the teens later expressing profound appreciation. Rebecca said in their presentations they talk about examples of love versus lust and even defining what love actually is, more than just warm feelings, but a total self-sacrifice for the greater good of someone else. They sometimes use examples of pop music with different messages. They give a media talk and help them discern the different messages. She said they separate the groups into boys and girls and adapt the talks to the audiences. Boys hear more about pornography for example while the girls hear more about dressing modestly in order to receive more respect from guys and to hear the effect it has on boys. 3rd segment: Rebecca said she had originally made a decision between NET and Generation Life. NET is more about general educating about God's love. She did that for a year but when she came back to Boston she realized she had it on her heart to continue as a missionary for chastity for another year. She said Generation Life missionaries fundraise their own salaries from friends, families, and others. She had been scared of fundraising but has been overwhelmed by the generosity of those who have given and their moral support because they believe in her mission. Rebecca said they were in Florida for the month of February and it was up to her to find housing for them. At first they stayed in hostels for a few days but then a retreat center came through with an offer to stay for three weeks. They were completely relying on Jesus to provide. She said she encourages people to get this message to young people as young as possible. Generation Life starts with 7th graders, but they have parent talks first before they give their first talk in a school. she said the message is often brand new to the parents they talk to as well. One of their messages is that it's never too late to start over. God's mercy is abundant and He's a God of forgiveness. They give the teens commitment cards to fill out as well. Once Generation Life leaves, they hope that parishes and schools will have ongoing support meetings. The missionaries also treat the beauty of life from the moment of conception until natural death, not just anti-abortion, but respect for all life at all ages and stages. They empower them with steps they can make to take action and be empowered. Rebecca discussed the common questions they receive, which with girls is usually about dating, but she said she hasn't been stumped or surprised by any. Fr. Matt asked Rebecca about what they do in June. The missionaries stay on the Jersey Shore and they go out on the boardwalk and engage strangers in talking about chastity. This is a big "spring break" for teens. For many of these high school teens, parents rented apartments for them and left them unsupervised. Rebecca said many missionaries come back for a second or third year after their first year commitment. They accept recent college grads and they're not asked to be experts on chastity, just a desire to be share the message. Rebecca said this year she started in Nebraska, all three dioceses; a few weeks off for Christmas; New York and DC for the March for Life; February in Florida, March on Long Island; and they're heading out soon to Kansas City.…
Summary of today’s show: In his new book “Jacob’s Ladder: Ten Steps to Truth,” Dr. Peter Kreeft sets forth a narrative with which most Americans can relate, talking to a young skeptic about truth, absolute truth, the meaning of life and where that ultimately leads: a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Scot Landry talks with Dr. Kreeft, walking quickly through many steps on the ladder from the need for a passion for the truth to why love is the meaning of life and how that truth leads to acknowledging the existence of God and to acknowledging that we accept that either Jesus is God or he is a madman, with no alternative possibility. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Dr. Peter Kreeft Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Dr. Peter Kreeft’s new book “Jacob’s Ladder: Ten Steps to Truth” 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and introduced today’s guest, Dr. Peter Kreeft, and his new book “Jacob’s Ladder: Ten Steps to the Truth.” He’s written more than 70 books. Dr. Kreeft is a professor of philosophy at Boston College and continues to teach there. Scot noted that Dr. Kreeft has written a wide variety of books, including books on surfing, theology, philosophy. Scot said Jacob’s Ladder is a book of philosophy written around a fictional narrative of two people from Nahant discussing the important questions of life. These questions are the ladder and going up the ladder gets more and more specific to higher and higher truths. Dr. Kreeft said the two characters are taken from his novel “An Ocean Full of Angels” which is situated in Nahant, one of his favorite places in the world. He said these characters have occurred in some of this other books as well. One of them is Mother Kirk, a large, benevolent, multi-racial women who is clever and has all the answers and represents Mother Church and the other is called Seeker. He said dialogue is the best way to learn philosophy as Plato discovered. Each of us talks to ourselves in our minds in dialogue. We can all identify in ourselves the believer and non-believer, optimist and pessimist and so on. Scot said the character of Libby is in her mid-20s, a college graduate who worked in social work, but recently left her job because she was disillusioned. He asked f Libby represents the kind of students he’s met a Boston College. Dr. Kreeft said Libby is a sympathetic character. She’s skeptical, but has reason to be skeptical. You need a skeptical character to keep things moving. The idea of ten logical steps isn’t original. One question comes before another logically. Scot said he never thought another entry point for the pursuit of the truth was to ask whether someone has a passion in pursuit of truth. He said plenty of guys he knows can have instant recall of the minute stats of their favorite athletes and can spend hours on fantasy sports leagues. Yet it’s rare to know someone who has a passion to know the most important things in life. Dr. Kreeft said he uses a long quote from Paschal who says if you don’t have a passion in knowing what happens after death, then you aren’t living, you’re a wet noodle. You need passion to understand anything. Passion comes from the heart and that drives the head. The main reason people don’t find the truth is because they don’t have much passion for it. He said he finds that less brilliant students to find the truth because they care more than the brilliant ones. Scot said you don’t have to be Christian to care about what happens after death. Dr. Kreeft said you have to overcome relativism to come to the understanding that there is an absolute truth. Dr. Kreeft said everyone wants to know life’s ultimate meaning. Science and the scientific method gives you provable answers and we want to do that with the big questions, but you can’t; not because the answers aren’t there, but because the method doesn’t work. Science starts with skepticism, but that doesn’t work with everything. On the perception of the heart, it can know things that can’t be proven, like the fact that love is better than hate. He said the meaning of life is an easy question to answer: It’s love. But when asked to prove it, you can’t do it very easily or well. So skeptics have to suppress that perception. Scot said the next part of the book shows that when you think deeply about, people can agree that love is the meaning of life, but not everyone would define love as willing the good of another person. Dr. Kreeft said that too we intuitively know. We know you can’t run your life on feelings. Love has to be a work, it has to do something. It has to change people. If you know that, does it follow that God exists? Most people argue from the other direction. arguing for the existence of God and then saying God is love. Dr. Kreeft argues that love is the ultimate meaning and if that is so, how far up the ladder does it go? Does it go all the way up to God? Scot noted that the book shows that philosophy as a science, just different from other sciences. Dr. Kreeft said art and science are different in that art is something we create. We create our own truth in art. In science, we discover the truth. The ancient meaning of science isn’t what moderns call it. Science is an ordered body of knowledge that seeks the truth by reason. He said it’s a natural result of the success of the hard sciences in understanding and conquering nature and controlling time and space. Compared to the soft sciences, we say the latter must be weaker. But just because you don’t come to agreement doesn’t mean there isn’t truth. Philosophy is the science of life. You don’t want to get A’s in all your subjects and flunk life. The final exam of life is how did we love and we don’t want to flunk the exam. Dr. Kreeft said when we understand the true nature of love, we are much less comfortable with our lives because we realize that it’s work, not just a feeling. Your fundamental attitude toward another human being if based on feelings is going to be unreliable and based on the whims of our feelings. It has to be based on something fundamental like a choice to value a person because they are fundamentally valuable. You use objects and you don’t worship objects. You have to adore God and nothing else. You use objects and nothing else. You love and don’t use people because they aren’t God and aren’t objects. Love says to another I love that you exist. The world is a beautiful place because you are in it. The world is a wonderful place because you are in it, which is a quote from an Elton John song. He asked how we come to the understanding that love is the purpose and meaning of our life. Dr. Kreeft said most things we know not from proof or philosophical experiment, but from experience. If we live a day without love, then everything falls apart. If you live a life of love for a day, you say you didn’t know how happy you could be before. Prove that love is the meaning of life by living it. He said you’d rather be poor and in love in Detroit, rather than wealthy and alone in Hawaii. Scot said the book also looks into how we know good laws from bad laws. We need good laws that allow love to flourish. Some of the reasons for conflict because there are bad laws that hurt the exchange of love. Dr. Kreeft said laws and love go together. People usually think love and laws are opposites. Without principles, then love can’t flourish. Laws are the skeleton of the body. Laws of human nature are always in favor of love, while manmade laws sometimes aren’t. Natural laws aren’t arbitrary. They’re based on human nature. Scot said many people think of the Church as a system of rules and they think of rules as cold and inhuman. Dr. Kreeft said rules don’t have to be cold. A skeleton is cold because it has no flesh around it. Scot said the Ten Commandments were written for love. You could read it by putting love in each one. “Love doesn’t bear false witness. Love doesn’t kill.” Dr. Kreeft said it’s impressive that the religions of the world pretty much agree on morality. They differ on theology, but not on morality. 2nd segment: Scot said the second half of the book begins by asking the question How can we know how God exists. Dr. Kreeft said we can ask from the outside: “How did the universe begin? Is there a mind behind the intelligence of the universe?” Or from the inside, our own experience: “How can I love? Why am I bind to my conscience?” If you’re open-minded, you can find the answers from the clues. But it’s not guaranteed that you can find them. You have to seek them. Once you understand how authoritative love is, you want it to go up to the ultimate reality. you don’t want love to die when the human race is dead and gone. God is a real presence in our lives. Not just like the moon, cold in the sky, but like the sun, which touches the earth and warms it. Libby says in the book that if I invite God in, I lose control and thus being scared of the unknown creeps in. How much does being scared of that prevent people from asking the key question because we’re not able to take the leap. Dr. Kreeft said the ultimate sin is pride, which means playing God, always wanting to be in control. That’s deadly. Handing over the reins to God takes trust and love. If you know God as true love, you want to trust him. Jesus is the definitive revelation of God. The Father isn’t different from Jesus. There is no more to reveal. If you know Jesus you know the Father. Before that point in the book, Mother Kirk leads Libby through the ladder of religions and talks to her about Judaism. Scot noted that he never knew that religion means relationship. He said Judaism is a different relationship with God than any religion that came before. Dr. Kreeft said Judaism is different because it’s historical. There is a universal search for God in the human heart, but in Judaism, God comes down in search of us. Most religion searches for God, like those airport paperbacks. Judaism on the other claims to be the one road down the mountain, unlike all the others that go up. You can learn good stuff on the roads up, but if God says this one road is the best way, you can’t ignore that. And Jesus was a Jew. That’s a historical fact. The character of Mother Kirk explains how Jesus came from that faith and how we can’t get to Christ without understanding God’s revelation. Dr. Kreeft said we can understand a lot why people resist converting to Christianity by looking at why people are anti-Semitic. The attitude toward the concrete, historical claim of the Jews is similar to the attitude toward the concrete, historical claim of Jesus. You can’t relativize him. You can’t just say Jesus is a good man. Either he is who he says he is or he’s one of the biggest liars of all time. Either Jesus is who he says he is or he is not. Christians believe Jesus is God. If Jesus isn’t God, he’s a blaspheming insane liar who wants you to trust him and put your life in his hands.…
Summary of today’s show: On a day with so much tension in the City of Boston and environs, Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell briefly discussed the state of emergency surrounding the Marathon bombing suspects on the loose, but then decided to offer listeners a respite from the news by returning to the Holy Land to discuss their incredible experiences in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, on the Mount of Olives, at the Western Wall, along the Via Dolorosa and in the Upper Room, but above all Fr. Mark riding a camel. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr. Paul Soper Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Fr. Mark’s reflections on the Holy Land 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone on a day that no one in the Boston area will ever forget. He said tonight’s events for the Eucharist Congress due to take place in the North End tonight have been cancelled. More information about Saturday’s event will be posted at their website at Scot said he learned about the events overnight in Cambridge and Watertown when woke up this morning. The area in Watertown of the shooting was along Scot’s regular commuter route when the chancery was located in Brighton a few years ago. Fr. Mark O’Connell said he was scheduled for the TV Mass at CatholicTV, but they’re in Watertown which is in lockdown and so they had to replay a previous Mass. Scot welcomed Fr. Paul Soper to the show. He said he hopes we never have another day like this. Fr. Paul said it’s been a horrible day for the people most closely affected, including the family of the MIT police officer who was killed. Fr. Paul said he had some visitors up from Baltimore today to talk about pastoral planning, but apart from that he’s had a hard time doing any work today. Scot said he had to decided whether to go into work or stay at home in Belmont which is under lockdown so he sent his family to spend the day with his parents in Lowell while he came in. He said he’s had tremendous respect today for the people in media who have to report live on air all day long, but he too has had a hard time concentrating probably like people all over the area. Fr. Mark said the two men were so young and led such a normal life and this young man on the run is kind of of every man and that’s creepy. Scot said he’s heard four or five of his friends interviewed who were very surprised by all of this. Several said their first thought on seeing the photos of the FBI not that it could be him but that he should be worried about mistaken identity because it just seemed so impossible. And seeing heavily armed police walking through your neighborhood for the people in Cambridge and Watertown must be worrisome for the people huddled in their houses. Fr. Paul said in Boston we’re accustomed to getting storms so bad that we shut down the roads or we’re asked to stay indoors, but even on 9/11 we did not shut down this much. Scot said if people are listening to us today, they’re not looking for live news updates, so we’re going to return to the Holy Land to talk once again with Fr. Mark and Fr. Paul about their experiences on pilgrimage there last week. 2nd segment: Scot told Fr. Mark that we got a lot of emails when he joined us from Jerusalem last week, but said he had so many more experiences after. He asked what else he did. Fr. Mark said he’s seen a lot of pictures of Jerusalem in his life, but he’d had not concept of Jerusalem before he went. It’s hard to take a picture of Jerusalem that does it justice. It’s a large bowl-shaped valley. There are two ridges that come together, and on one is the Temple and the other is the Mount of Olives. In between is the Pool of Siloam, which is where Jesus cured the blind man. It’s the reason for the placement of Jerusalem, because it makes Jerusalem a fertile place. It’s in the bottom of the valley and is next to Gehenna way down the bottom and is where Jesus’ body would have been thrown to the jackals if Joseph of Arimathea had no asked for his body. When the Bible says Jesus went down through the Kidron Valley and entered the gate of the city, that would be way down in the valley. It’s so steep that you have to walk sideways. Then up to the gate is the cemetery where people want to be buried, an ancient cemetery that dates back to before Jesus, through the Golden Gate or Messiah Gate, which is now blocked up. That’s the one Jesus came through on Palm Sunday. Fr. Paul had thought the Kidron Valley would be a low place that one would have to cross, and was associated with death, but had no idea of the topography. Fr. Mark said it’s not within the walled city, but the distances are very short. All the distances were shorter than expected. The distance between the place of the crucifixion and the tomb was about 30 yards. The Via Dolorosa, the way of the Cross, was about an hour, but because they had to stop. Some scholars say the route that is traditional is wrong because the place where they thought Jesus was crucified was wrong. However, the location of Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified, is well known and attested. It is inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is clearly the place where you would put someone so that the whole city could see him. It’s called the place of the skull, because it looked like a skull. On the level of the tomb, which is lower down, there’s a window into the bottom of the rock which shows evidence of an earthquake and St. Matthew recorded an earthquake at the moment of the death of Jesus. St. John said they placed Jesus in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb because it was close at hand. Fr. Mark said it’s inspiring because it’s where Jesus was crucified and buried. But it’s also dark and dirty and there’s lot of tensions among the maintainers of the building. Fr. Dan Hennessey and some of the others spent the night in the tomb in a vigil for vocations, but they got kicked out at a point by the Greek Orthodox. Similarly, they celebrated Mass in the tomb and then had to get out. There’s always a tussle over these places among people trying to get in. It’s because there’s tension among the different factions in the city between Catholics, Orthodox, Jews, and Muslims. There’s a standstill and status quo because no one can agree on changing anything. For example, there’s a tomb and an altar in the church that is falling apart, because no one can wants to upset the status quo. Scot said its sad that Jesus prayed that all would be one, but these sorts of divisions still take place in these holiest places. Fr. Mark said that contrast is very powerful there. The power of placing your hand on the place where the Resurrection occurred and where Jesus’ body was laid is something he’ll never forget. Fr. Paul said he loves the way all the tensions show that Jesus entirely healed everything in the world. The world was messy before and it’s messy afterward because that’s not what happened to human nature. The brokenness of the Church is reflected in what’s going on in the church at the foot of the Cross. We know on the Day of the Coming of the Lord all that brokenness will be healed. Scot asked about the Western Wall in Jerusalem and what it meant for them to pray there. Fr. Mark said the Western Wall is the closest the Jews can get to the Temple Mount, which is now the location of an Islamic mosque. Fr. Mark noted that its part of the original wall and is only the top part. The wall reaches down 50 feet below the current level of the ground and would have towered high in the air. The wall would have surrounded the the Temple courtyard. For the Jews, the Temple contained the holy of holies where the presence of God dwelt among the people and so they go to the wall to mourn the lack of the temple. He described the different groups of Jews, some of whom pray quietly and others who do a more energetic movement because it was a Friday at the beginning of the Sabbath. Fr. Mark prayed at this wall but wasn’t particularly moved by it. Fr. Paul said it was moving for him and he doesn’t know why. He only knows that when he leaned against the wall and prayed, he didn’t want to leave. He entered a place of prayer where there is peace and a sense of rightness. Usually for him prayer is a chore, but on rare occasions he is drawn into it. Three times while they were there he had to go back and touch the wall to pray. Away from the wall, he had set prayers he prayed, but at the wall he didn’t have any words of prayer. Fr. Mark said at the Sea of Galilee on the Mount of the Beatitudes, there is a 2,300-year-old tree and he had a time of prayer there that was very moving because the tree was there at the time of Jesus. Fr. Paul said the Via Dolorosa was also moving but Fr. Mark said it really hit him too. Scot asked whether there was a particular image or station that affected him. Fr. Mark said the Via Dolorosa is a business district and a regular street and the station is a plaque on the wall. So visually, the reflection is that people would have been doing business as Jesus carried his cross. It was the Sabbath so there would have been many sheep heading to the Temple to be slaughtered for the Passover and Jesus would have been ignored by many people. It was a similar atmosphere. Fr. Mark said it’s a fairly flat walk now with stairs, but Jerusalem is built on a mountain so there’s a lot of up and down. But he said their prayer experience in the Cenacle was the peak experience for their group. In the Upper Room, there was a point where they were signing an Alleluia and there wasn’t a single person who wasn’t belting out the song. How can you not have that in the place of the Last Supper and Pentecost? It was a beautiful experience. Fr. Paul said Cardinal Seán’s talk there was better there than any other homily he’s ever heard from him anywhere else. Scot said this was the end of a retreat experience for Cardinal Seán too and Scot hears his brother Fr. Roger say he loves leading retreats because it’s so uplifting. Fr. Mark said if he gave a homily or talk in that room, he’s sure it would be the best he’s ever given too because the Spirit moves in that room. But also on that day, the Cardinal started by celebrating Mass literally in the Lord’s tomb, got appointed to a special panel by the Pope, and then had this experience in the Upper Room on the same day. That appointment is a big deal. Fr. Paul said we can’t leave without asking about Fr. Mark and the camel. Scot said he’s not sure how he would rank Fr. Steven Zukas’ camel experience versus Fr. Mark’s. He said it’s the best $3 he’s ever spent. He was shocked by how the camel got up, with its back feet first so he was looking straight at the ground. Almost every person in the Pastoral Center has asked him about the camel and it’s neat everybody was following this trip. Fr. Paul thanked Scot for sending George Martell to come along to record the experience in a way that no one else could. Scot said a lot of people have told him that now they can’t wait to go. Fr. Mark said the best way to go is with the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston, the Franciscan papabile. Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. 1st Reading for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Acts 13:14, 43-52 Paul and Barnabas continued on from Perga and reached Antioch in Pisidia. On the sabbath they entered the synagogue and took their seats. Many Jews and worshipers who were converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to remain faithful to the grace of God. On the following sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and with violent abuse contradicted what Paul said. Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, but since you reject it and condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, I have made you a light to the Gentiles, that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth.” The Gentiles were delighted when they heard this and glorified the word of the Lord. All who were destined for eternal life came to believe, and the word of the Lord continued to spread through the whole region. The Jews, however, incited the women of prominence who were worshipers and the leading men of the city, stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their territory. So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them, and went to Iconium. The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, John 10:27-30 Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” Scot said Jesus is telling us a little about the Trinity. He gives a sense of consolation that Jesus is always with us. Fr. Paul said our love relationship with Jesus is as certain as His love relationship with the Father. Every other kind of love we can experience is tenuous in comparison. In the first reading, the Jewish Christians question whether the Gentiles can be Christ followers. Fr. Mark said the First Council of Jerusalem addressed this very question. He noted that all throughout the hills of Jerusalem are caves where the apostles would have met. At the Sea of Galilee, Jesus gave to Peter His sheep to protect us.…
Summary of today’s show: An interfaith prayer service for the City of Boston, especially those injured and killed in the bombings at the Boston Marathon was held in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross today and Scot Landry, Fr. Roger Landry, and Susan Abbott discussed the remarks by Cardinal Seán O’Malley, Gov. Deval Patrick, and President Barack Obama, all of which referenced the role of faith in recovering and responding to the violent acts we witnessed. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Interfaith Prayer Service for Boston 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and noted that Gregory Tracy is out today to attend the funeral of his grandmother and asked for prayers for him and his family. Scot noted that today an interfaith prayer service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross was attended by many faith leaders as well as Mayor Tom Menino, Gov. Deval Patrick, and President Obama. Susan said it was a beautifully done service without showboating or grandstanding. She said it’s a sign of hope. Fr. Roger Landry said it’s highly significant that we embraced the world in a cathedral dedicated to a cross we call holy. This holy week started with a day we’d call Good Monday, when so many suffered. But we remember the cross is not just a symbol of pain and suffering, but love that make suffering bearable. He thinks the president did a good job in trying to describe the resilience we talk about. He said it’s good that it was there. The motto of the Church could be “Here comes everybody.” To everyone who think the president shouldn’t be there should get over it. What’s important is that we at least pray together. To welcome them into our home was an opportunity for us to be together as we look to God how to carry this cross. Scot said we are a nation that is increasingly secular, but we all came together to pray as a society and that we are able to facilitate that prayer is an honor. We must also differentiate between the office of the President or mayor or governor and the politician who holds office and be able to stand behind that office. We must also welcome people. Some of the greatest saints are those who most persecuted Christians and we must be open to the working of the Holy Spirit. We now heard Cardinal Seán’s remarks at the service: My dear brothers, sisters and friends. On behalf of our Catholic community, I wish to welcome all of you here to the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. It is an honor to have our President, the Governor, and our Mayor here with us this morning. We are grateful to Governor Patrick for initiating this ecumenical and interfaith prayer service. We are delighted that Metropolitan Methodius and so many leaders from the various churches and faith communities could join us here today. Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has asked me to communicate to you his sentiments of love and support. The Holy Father invokes God’s peace upon our dead, consolation upon the suffering and God’s strength upon all those engaged in the continuing work of relief and response. The Holy Father prays that we will be united in the resolve not to be overcome by evil, but to combat evil with good, working together to build an ever more just, free and secure society for generations to come. This year’s Patriots’ Day celebrations were marred by an act of senseless violence that has caused all of us great shock and pain. It made us relive the horror of the September 11th terrorist attack and is a stark reminder of the darkness that can lurk in the human heart and produce such evil. And yet the same tragedy brought us together as a community like nothing else ever could. The generous and courageous response of so many assures us that there resides in people’s hearts a goodness that is incredibly selfless. We saw that when summoned by great events we can be remarkably committed to the well-being of others, even total strangers. We become a stronger people, a more courageous people, and a more noble people. The police, emergency workers and even bystanders and passers-by did not hesitate to put themselves in harm’s way to help the injured and the frightened. Our presence here is an act of solidarity with those who lost their lives or were injured in the explosions and an expression of our desire to support them and their families and loved ones. This Patriots’ Day shakes us out of our complacency and indifference and calls us to focus on the task of building a civilization that is based on love, justice, truth and service. We do not want to risk losing the legacy of those first patriots who were willing to lay down their lives for the common good. We must overcome the culture of death by promoting a culture of life, a profound respect for each and every human being made in the image and likeness of God, and we must cultivate a desire to give our lives in the service of others. Last week, I was in Galilee on the Mount of the Beatitudes with 30 priests from Boston. There we prayed together and listened to the very Gospel that was read for us here this morning. The Sermon on the Mount is a description of the life of the people gathered by and around the Lord. Often in the Gospels, we can see the contrast between the crowd and the community. The crowd is made up of self-absorbed individuals, each one focused on his or her own interests in competition with the conflicting projects of others. A community is where people come to value each other, and find their own identity in being part of something bigger than themselves, working together for the common good. The Sermon on the Mount, in many ways, is the Constitution of the people called to live a new life. Jesus gives us a new way to deal with offenses, by reconciliation. Jesus gives us a new way to deal with violence, by nonviolence. He gives us a new way to deal with money, by sharing and providing for those in need. Jesus gives us a new way to deal with leadership, by drawing upon the gift of every person, each one a child of God. In the face of the present tragedy, we must ask ourselves what kind of a community do we want to be, what are the ideals that we want to pass on to the next generation. It cannot be violence, hatred and fear. The Jewish people speak of Tikkun Olam, “repairing the world.” God has entrusted us with precisely that task, to repair our broken world. We cannot do it as a collection of individuals; we can only do it together, as a community, as a family. Like every tragedy, Monday’s events are a challenge and an opportunity for us to work together with a renewed spirit of determination and solidarity and with the firm conviction that love is stronger than death. May ours be the sentiments of St. Francis of Assisi, who prayed: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; To be understood, as to understand; To be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen. Scot asked Susan for her favorite part of Cardinal Seán’s remarks. Susan said seeing our Cardinal in his Franciscan robes ending with this prayer to St. Francis was powerful. On Patriots Day, she thought how she takes things for granted and how everything is gift. On the need for the community to repair the world, she was reminded of John Donne who said no man is an island unto himself. Sure, we have differences, but we have to find the common good in service of that. Scot said Cardinal Seán said we should respond to this event in love. We learn from it and repair what needs to be repaired in the world. Fr. Roger said it was a tremendous talk on a day in which we heard tremendous rhetoric. Cardinal Seán went beyond eloquent and went to the root causes of what happened on Monday. Then he described a program that we can continue the work that was begun after the bombs exploded. The root causes are in the human heart, what happened with Adam and Eve. The response, like the first patriots, we must overcome a culture of death by promoting a culture of life. In a culture where some people can choose which other people can die, whether through euthanasia, capital punishment or abortion, then we’re going to have people with homemade bombs killing the innocent. A profound respect for every human being created in the image and likeness of God is where we begin. Then he talked about a far more important constitution than the US Constitution, which was the Sermon on the Mount. 2nd segment: Scot noted he was at the cathedral about 6:45am and the church ended up being extremely packed. He said from about 7:15 to about 10:30 is like any gathering of people, talking among themselves. About 10:30, Fr. O’Leary, the rector, asked people to take their seats and then it was extremely quiet and reflective, which was striking to Scot. It was prayerful. Scot there was a blend of music from various church choirs along with the cathedral festival choir. Then Rev. Liz Walker, the former WBZ news anchor, welcomed everyone and one by the one the presenters came up. Scot said Mayor Tom Menino had told an aide that he was going to deliver his address standing even if it killed him. He is in a wheelchair after having broken his leg recently. Susan said it was quite an act of determination. Scot said Menino gave a very impassioned speech and this might be one of the best talks he’s ever given. He thinks in his 20 years as Boston mayor, today’s speech will be listed as one of his best. Scot thought Menino was going to break down as he said he’s never been prouder of the city of Boston. Susan noted that a lot has been happening in Menino’s life, including medical issues and announcing he won’t be running for re-election. Scot listed the other religious speakers and then said Gov. Deval Patrick spoke of all the things he is thankful for this week. Patrick also said Massachusetts invented America: Massachusetts invented America. And America is not organized the way countries are usually organized. We are not organized around a common language or religion or even culture. We are organized around a handful of civic ideals. And we have defined those ideals, through time and through struggle, as equality, opportunity, freedom and fair play. Scot and Susan discussed whether this was an overstatement. Fr. Roger thought it was hyperbole. He remarked on the opening of his talk in which he said Scripture tells us to give thanks and in every Mass we ask God to help us in all things to give thanks. In my faith tradition, scripture teaches: “In every thing give thanks.” (I Thessalonians 5:18) That isn’t always easy to do. On Monday afternoon, I wasn’t feeling it. What I felt, what so many of us felt then, was shock and confusion and anger. But the nature of faith, I think, is learning to return to the lessons even when they don’t make sense, when they defy logic. And as I returned to those lessons this week, I found a few things to be thankful for. Scot said even in this week there is so much to give God thanks for, the acts of heroism, bravery, and perseverance. Susan said that’s the tension and balance of marking something so sad, but realizing we are called to give thanks and there is a reason to give thanks, which is that Jesus Christ died for us and saved us from sin. She added that evangelization is hearing an elected official talk about he takes comfort in his faith. Then President Obama talked about the Scripture passage of running the race with endurance. Then he also said: I’m here today on behalf of the American people with a simple message: Every one of us has been touched by this attack on your beloved city. Every one of us stands with you. Because, after all, it’s our beloved city, too. Boston may be your hometown, but we claim it, too. It’s one of America’s iconic cities. It’s one of the world’s great cities. And one of the reasons the world knows Boston so well is that Boston opens its heart to the world. He talked about welcoming immigrants, students, talents in the arts and sciences and all the people who come to the Marathon each April. Scot said it meant a lot to him to hear the president saying that. Susan said author Dennis Lehane wrote this week that they picked the wrong city, which wasn’t pugnacious bluster, but a measure of our resilience. Obama continued: Like you, Michelle and I have walked these streets. Like you, we know these neighborhoods. And like you, in this moment of grief, we join you in saying — “Boston, you’re my home.” For millions of us, what happened on Monday is personal. It’s personal. Fr. Roger talked about how Bostonians can have a reputation for provincialism or for being smug about our sports teams, but at this time all that set is set aside. He said he’s heard on sports radio that The Standells’ “Dirty Water” which Obama referenced is classic because it takes a criticism of Boston and makes it something to be proud of. That’s why a bomb can’t beat us. That’s why we don’t hunker down. That’s why we don’t cower in fear. We carry on. We race. We strive. We build, and we work, and we love — and we raise our kids to do the same. And we come together to celebrate life, and to walk our cities, and to cheer for our teams. When the Sox and Celtics and Patriots or Bruins are champions again — to the chagrin of New York and Chicago fans — (laughter) — the crowds will gather and watch a parade go down Boylston Street. (Applause.) Scot said it resonated with him, even though he thinks of himself as mature than identifying so deeply with our sports teams. He thinks he connected with Bostonians on an emotional level. Susan said that image of a sports champion team going down Boylston Street in Duck Boats is an iconic image. Scripture teaches us, “God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” And that’s the spirit you’ve displayed in recent days. When doctors and nurses, police and firefighters and EMTs and Guardsmen run towards explosions to treat the wounded — that’s discipline. When exhausted runners, including our troops and veterans — who never expected to see such carnage on the streets back home — become first responders themselves, tending to the injured — that’s real power. When Bostonians carry victims in their arms, deliver water and blankets, line up to give blood, open their homes to total strangers, give them rides back to reunite with their families — that’s love. Scot said in four sentences Obama weaved four moving visual images together. Susan said it was beautifully balanced. Fr. Roger said the real beauty goes beyond the eloquence to the fact that it’s true. The greatest eloquence is bringing the beauty of what everyone has observed and putting it in words. That’s why we have poet laureates to highlight beauty. The most touching part for Scot was when Obama talked about Krystle Campbell. Today our prayers are with the Campbell family of Medford. They’re here today. Their daughter, Krystle, was always smiling. Those who knew her said that with her red hair and her freckles and her ever-eager willingness to speak her mind, she was beautiful, sometimes she could be a little noisy, and everybody loved her for it. She would have turned 30 next month. As her mother said through her tears, “This doesn’t make any sense.” Scot said that hearing the President of the United States eulogizing their daughter before the world must have meant a lot to her family. Susan said when a family goes through a loss, they look for comfort and these words can help a family find some solace. Scot said the president also spoke about the other two deceased victims as well. Fr. Roger said it was implicit in the remarks that every life is valuable. In this situation we’re able to realize that every life is valuable. The fact that the president eulogized these three in his remarks because of what it teaches us. Our Father in heaven also loves his children and offers each one something far greater than a presidential eulogy. And this time next year, on the third Monday in April, the world will return to this great American city to run harder than ever, and to cheer even louder, for the 118th Boston Marathon. (Applause.) Bet on it. (Applause.) Scot said this remark too connected with him both rationally and emotionally. It was important that this be said in this week, that we respond to terrorism by saying the next marathon will be the best ever. Fr. Roger said bigger than the marathon is the race we need to run with endurance. There is an urgency to the race of creating a culture of love, life and justice. That’s far greater than the most populous Boston Marathon in history. Scot said it was the largest interfaith prayer service he’s ever been part of, certainly with as many people from so many different faiths, which is encouraging in our increasingly secular culture. Fr. Roger said our first response should always be to pray and we have the tremendous example of president and governor. We were at our best today in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.…
Summary of today’s show: Cardinal Seán went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land with 29 priests from Boston, including Fr. Paul Soper, who talked with Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams about the places he visited that most moved him, places that we know with great reliability are the places mentioned in the Gospels, and how last Saturday was one of the three most amazing days in his life, taking him from the Tomb of Christ to the manger in Bethlehem and to the Upper Room where Christ instituted the Eucharist in the Last Supper and the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles on Pentecost, all in one day. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Fr. Paul Soper Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Returning from the Holy Land 1st segment: Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams discussed the interfaith service being held at the cathedral of the Holy Cross tomorrow at 11am. It’s not an event being run by the Archdiocese of Boston. We’ve opened our house, one of the largest house of prayer in New England, so we opened it to allow people to pray. We’re being hospitable and kind. It does not imply endorsement of points of view. Gov. Patrick asked the archdiocese to allow this use and to work with Rev. Liz Walker who he asked to coordinate this event. Fr. Matt discussed the monthly LIFT gathering for youth and young adults he had last night with many youth and young adults who came together to pray in this difficult time. Fr. Matt discussed the importance of having our archbishop back among us at this time. Scot said Fr. Matt said yesterday in his holy hour that this experience brings us back to Good Friday and the cross, but that we must move forward to Easter Sunday. Scot welcomed Fr. Paul Soper and said today he will be talking about his experience of going to the Holy Land with Cardinal Seán and 28 other priests from the Archdiocese on a pilgrimage to amazing holy places. Fr. Paul said it was amazing to be there, but amazing in a different to come back at this time with the people of Boston. Fr. Paul said it gives him all the more connection to our Cathedral of the Holy Cross and to the archdiocese, having been in those places. He noted that in tomorrow’s service, we bring everything we are as Catholics, including strength and light and forgiveness. Scot noted we may not agree with all that is said tomorrow, theologically or politically. How can we approach that as Catholics? Fr. Paul said we must be secure in what we believe and not let someone else’s beliefs rattle our own. Fr. Paul said in talking to the Franciscans working in the Holy Land and to the Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem, he learned how difficult it is for Muslims and Jews to talk to one another, but it’s not difficult for Catholics to speak to Muslims or to speak to Jews, so the Church becomes an important bridge despite being just 1 percent of the population because we are not afraid of that conversation. Fr. Matt said we have to be careful to become overreactive. We should focus on what unites us. People will not be using the podium to be divisive. The Catholic comes to this by referencing the elements of beauty and goodness and truth because that comes from God and then we want to pray that they come to the fullness of redemption found in Jesus Christ. Use this opportunity to pray for them, by taking the negative emotion as an opportunity for prayer. Scot said praying all together is a path to hope over and above a militant atheism that rejects that possibility. How can we respect our rights to pray together in the public square, not just on Sundays? We need to support each other, whatever our faith, in defending our right to pray where we can and will. 2nd segment: Scot said Fr. Paul worked closely with George Martell to bring us all on a virtual pilgrimage to the Holy Land through photos and videos and blog posts. He asked Fr. Paul what theme stands out from his time in the Holy Land? Fr. Paul said the theme is that there’s nothing vague about the Holy Land. There is a high degree of reliability in knowing where the actual events took place, but even when there is question, it is clear that Christianity is an historic religion in which particular things definitely happened in particular places. The pilgrims debated, for instance, about the location of the Ascension. It took place in either Jerusalem or Galilee. It definitely took place in one of those places. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, maybe not in this exact place here, but not 5 miles away. He was a particular individual in a particular place. When you visit the site of the Annunciation, there is a big sign that says, “Here the Word was made flesh.” Scot said the trip was broken into two part: Galilee and Jerusalem. He asked what was he most anxious to preach about. Fr. Paul said in Nazareth, there is a church built over the home where the Annunciation occurred. He said that from early times pilgrims visited this site, from the beginning of the second century. These would be the grandchildren of those who were there at the time and so this is personal family history, not generic history. He said when the Emperor Hadrian wanted to stamp out Judaism at the end of the 1st century, making no distinction between Christianity and Judaism, he torn down the buildings and built giant Roman temples over them, which permanently marked the locations until Christianity was legalized. Fr. Paul said he isn’t easily outwardly excited about spiritual places, but this place set him going. There was an extraordinary outpouring of the spirit in his heart that had nothing to do with his head. Another place was the location on the Sea of Galilee where Jesus was on the shore after the Resurrection and called to the apostles who were fishing and fed them a meal. He noted this was in the northwestern part of the sea of Galilee. There are seven springs that warm the normally cold sea, and this is where the large fish congregate. The seven springs are like the seven sacraments and they draw in the large fish and St. Peter draws the fish into the net (the Church), which isn’t broken. He drags them to shore and brings them to Jesus. There is a rock there on which Jesus laid out another Eucharistic meal and the fish. That rock is there in the church and the pilgrims bend down and kiss it. It’s called the site of the Primacy of Peter, the primacy of love where Peter tells Jesus he loves Him. Caesarea Philippi is the primacy of Peter in jurisdiction as foundation of the Church. This could also be the place of second chances. The forgiveness of Christ was counter to the theology of the world around them. Great labors were usually required to receive forgiveness, but all Peter did was ask for forgiveness and offer his love to Christ. Fr. Matt asked how they entered each site. Fr. Paul said each day was so packed, by the evening they were too tired to think about the next day, but as they arrived at each site, they would read the Gospel passage related to the site. They also heard from Fr. Francesco and Fabrizio, both Scripture scholars, who would give them background on the history and archeology and then a deep and personal account on the event in the Gospel for his life or the life of the Church. Either they would read the Gospel or sing it. They would take time to pray. After going to the site of the baptism of John in the Jordan River, they renewed their baptismal vows and Cardinal Seán and washed their heads in it. Scot said Fr. Paul wrote about God choosing to enter the world at a particular time. One of the big mysteries of Christ is God becoming man, taking on our flesh. The graces of being in that place where God chose to enter the world in that way of taking on our flesh would be awesome to ponder. Scot said it’s easy to say prayers over and over and not stop to think about what it really means. But to be in the place it happened would make you stop. Scot said some of his favorite pictures were of priest praying in these places. Fr. Paul recalled a great statement from G.K. Chesterton that what’s wrong with the world today is me. I am a broken man in a broken world. So what Christ took on was our broken humanity. 3rd segment: Fr. Matt asked about Caesarea Philippi. Fr. Paul said it took him most by surprise for what it looks like. First, the waters of the Jordan start there. Second, there was the site of the pagan temple of Pan, which was there for four or five hundred years before Christ. Third, there is a giant rock hill there. So when Jesus says to Peter that he will be the Rock and the gates of hell will not prevail, He is also talking about about the place they’re in. Christ says to Peter: I can pour into grace sufficient to change the world, but you have to give Me all of you. If you give Me everything you are, including your name, that gift will change the world and all the temples and the rest will fall into ruin. Fr. Matt and Fr. Paul point out the Jews did not worship here in the pagan sacrifices. Fr. Matt said you can imagine Christ pointing to the pagan temple as he says, “The gates of hell will not prevail.” On Jerusalem, having just experienced Holy Week and Easter and hearing the events that took place in Jerusalem, what were the highlights for him there? Fr. Paul said in one day the group celebrated Mass in the Tomb of Jesus inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 31 of them standing very close together. There is an outer tomb and inner tomb. The Liturgy of the Word was in the outer tomb and the altar for the Liturgy of the Eucharist was in the inner tomb. They sent the oldest and youngest priests on the pilgrimage in with Cardinal Seán. The inner tomb could hold maybe three people. Through the course of the Mass, each priest got to stand in the tomb for a moment. What can one say about the events that happened here? This is where the Resurrection happened. The place of the Crucifixion is within the same church and the place where Christ’s body was prepared for burial. The same day they went to Bethlehem where Christ was born to the Church of the Nativity. The crowds there were bigger than anywhere else on the trip. It took them almost three hours to get into the grotto marking where Christ was born. For Fr. Paul it was a moving experience. He recalled how Bethlehem was really crowded at the time of the census and Joseph and Mary couldn’t find a place either. When they went back up into the church from the grotto, Fr. Paul wept and wept. He’s not sure why and it’s unusual for him, but he’s at peace with that. Later that night they were able to have an extraordinary moment of prayer in the Upper Room. Within 24 hours they were at the site of Good Friday, Easter, Christmas, Holy Thursday and Pentecost. Scot noted that Jesus didn’t just have the Last Supper there. Fr. Paul said the Apostles were in the Upper Room on the evening of Easter Sunday, then a week later when Thomas was with them, then 50 days later on Pentecost. Those were the walls that shook when the great fire of theHoly Spirit descended. This was the room where the Eucharist was instituted, those were the walls that shook. They renewed the vows of their priesthood in that place with Cardinal Seán. He felt the Holy Spirit there more than at any other place. He said he doesn’t remember the day of his baptism. He remembers the day of his ordination. But this is the third great day of his life.…
Summary of today’s show: In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombings, Scot Landry and Fr. O’Connor were joined by Fr. Roger Landry to talk about evil and our response to evil; WQOM station manager Chris Kelley, who lost a cousin in the Pan Am Flight 103 terrorist bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988; and Joe D’Arrigo, an Archdiocese of Boston who was running the Marathon with his four daughters and was just down the street when the bombs exploded. There are no easy answers and many platitudes, but everyone on the show agreed that the best of human nature is exposed in the face of enormous evil; that the Lord grieves with us; and that our best response is to pray and to return love when shown hatred. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, Joe D’Arrigo, Chris Kelley Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Responding to the Boston Marathon Bombings 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and acknowledging the bombings at the Boston Marathon yesterday, we’ll be devoting today’s show to the events. Fr. Chris O’Connor read a prayer from the Mass in Times of War and Civil Disturbance. Scot said over the past 24 hours he’s seen how the entire country and entire world is praying with us. Fr. Chris said there’s a strong desire for justice, calling out to God for justice. Second, we should pray for everyone involved and ask for God’s consolation and peace. We have returned to Good Friday, but we know there will always be an Easter. We’re united in fighting this evil and figuring out who perpetrated it. Fr. Chris noted in today’s Mass readings that it records the stoning of St. Stephen and we are reminded that we haven’t progressed very far. God doesn’t cause this. We also realize that only bring about the healing and opportunity for new life. Suffering reminds us as human beings that we are never complete without Christ. Scot said Fr. Matt Williams led a holy hour at the Pastoral Center. He said this is a time when we turn first to God. He welcomed WQOM station manager Chris Kelley, who said he experienced the loss of his cousin in the terrorist attack on the Pan-Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, in the 1980s. He said there’s a lot of confusion, fear, and not knowing where to turn. You’re trying to come to grips what’s happening. At the same time, there are already people reaching out with prayers and support. We are united in prayer with the whole country, but this is the cross. It doesn’t get any more real than this. Scot said the image that stuck with him today was 8-year-old Martin Richard in his First Communion outfit in a picture that’s been going around and now the boy lost his life and his sister and mother are gravely injured. Fr. Roger Landry said there’s a certain powerlessness in human responses to this. There are no human words to adequately console. Our first Christian response is to fall to our knees. He said there was an outstanding contrast yesterday between good and evil, the response of goodness to evil. Fr. Roger said he thinks about how most of those injured or killed were spectators but in the marathon against evil there are no spectators. He thought back to the idea of Patriots Day which marks April 19, 1775 and the battle of Lexington Green. He recalled the poem which said it was the “shot heard round the world.” We have heard the bombs around the world and we all have to take up the weapons of prayer and work as hard as those who work in Homeland Security work to get at the root of all that. Today is the Feast of St. Bernadette, the patroness of Fr. Roger’s parish, and he said she exemplified courage in the face of adversity. Mary promised her that she wouldn’t necessarily be happy in this life but would be happy in the next. Scot recalled the column by Boston Globe sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy who noted that of all days in the calendar, Patriots Day is unique to Boston and we may never be the same day. Fr. Chris cautioned that we need to temper our desire for vengeance and turn it to a desire for justice. Fr. Chris said if we wonder what we can do, we can look at ourselves and see how we can become less angry and become a peacemaker. This isn’t pollyannaish because we still want justice. If there was ever a case to show us that Satan still exists, yesterday was it. Scot noted the other of the 3 deceased victims was Krystle Campbell, 29, of Arlington, this afternoon. Scot said one of our colleagues, Joe D’Arrigo ran the Marathon with his four daughters. 2nd segment: Scot said Joe is executive director of the Clergy Funds and said he was following his times running the Marathon. Joe was running the Marathon because he recently turned 70 and he decided he wanted to run the Marathon. For the last 37 years, his family has attended and at least one member of the family has run for the past 20 years. So he said for his birthday he wanted to run the Marathon with all his girls. Joe said at 25.9 miles, a police officer stopped them from running, around Mass. Ave. They heard sirens and police radios were crackling. A police officer told them that there were two incidents at the finish line. It was total confusion and they knew it was bad. Joe said his girls’ thoughts turned to their friends who were ahead of them and there was crying and anxiety. Cell service was down and they couldn’t call anyone, but they were able to find out their friends were okay through social media and text messages. From that point, they tried to figure out how to get home. They started walking toward a friend’s house over by Commonwealth Avenue. On the way, they saw the true humanity of people. They walked down Marlboro Street and were freezing. A woman walking with a baby took a blanket off a carriage and gave it one of her daughters. People were coming out of houses with big trash bags so runners could cover themselves. They rerouted to the Boston Common and BAA volunteers were running down the street to hand out emergency blankets to runners. there were about 10,000 people all streaming to the Common. All the streets were shut down, the hotels were shut down. He said it was chaotic because so many people were from out of town and didn’t know where to go. First responders and the volunteers of the BAA did a wonderful job, he said. Joe said Mary Hanlon, the nurse who takes care of our senior priests, was present at the finish line yesterday and witnessed the horrific pain in that area. She’s taking some time off. Joe will spend this afternoon with his daughters. 3rd segment: Scot said Joe expressed the kindness and love of the people of Boston. Fr. Roger said when we see terrible evil we are jarred back to where we should be. We should be that way all the time, but we get distracted. Scot said Joe and his daughters runs in memory of his wife who died from cancer. Fr. Chris said he believes she was watching over them yesterday. He added that the bombs will not define Boston, but the response will where we saw literally the corporal works of mercy. Chris said people will experience a lot of guilt for having just missed being involved. Why them and not me? But by definition you can’t make sense of this senseless act. You just have to give gratitude for what you have. You take account and you begin to appreciate it even more. He encouraged anyone listening who is struggling to seek out someone to talk to. He said those who’ve been through previous attacks are often ready to reach out to those who are suffering now. Fr. Chris asked how Scot is talking to the kids about this. He said he hasn’t been letting his kids see the news and they’ve been hearing Scot and his wife talking so they asked what is going on. He explained that an evil person did something bad in Boston and they should pray for those who were hurt by him. You can discuss it without detail and let them know that they’re safe and they’re not going to be in danger. 4th segment: Scot said some people will ask how God can allow something like yesterday happen. Fr. Roger said God never wants evil to happen in the world. When a modern Cain kills his brother, God grieves. We can’t imagine what it’s like to lose one child like three families did yesterday. God lost three children. The only way to stop what happened yesterday was for God to eliminate human freedom. The risk of allowing love is that we can use free will to hate. Jesus changed even our suffering into opportunities for goodness. He noted that God’s direct will is that every single one of us become a saint in heaven, but he permits things as a result of our freedom in order to prevent a greater evil. This is God’s permissive will. God will bring good out of this evil. Fr. Chris said the most important thing we can do is pray for peace, in our world and in our city. Pray for the families too and unite whatever suffering we’re going through to that of Christ’s. And do little acts of penance and offer them up for these victims. Scot asked Chris when his family lost his cousin to a terrorist attack what did people do that helped the most. Chris said prayer was the key and that prayer has affected him throughout his life. Beyond that, people can cook meals and other things, but the bet thing to do is to love better. Also pray to the Blessed Mother, who knows what it’s like to go through the agony of the cross. Fr. Roger said our best response is to pray, especially the Mass. As a society we need to form hearts to be good through prayer at home, especially the rosary. Scot read the message that Pope Francis asked to be sent to Cardinal Seán through Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone: Deeply grieved by news of the loss of life and grave injuries caused by the act of violence perpetrated last evening in Boston, His Holiness Pope Francis wishes me to assure you of his sympathy and closeness in prayer. In the aftermath of this senseless tragedy, His Holiness invokes God’s peace upon the dead, his consolation upon the suffering and his strength upon all those engaged in the continuing work of relief and response. At this time of mourning the Holy Father prays that all Bostonians will be united in a resolve not to be overcome by evil, but to combat evil with good (cf. Rom 12:21), working together to build an ever more just, free and secure society for generations yet to come. Scot, Fr. Roger, Fr. Chris, and Chris gave their final thoughts. Fr. Roger said there are no easy answers. Scot said he’s convinced there are people listening today who are listening for the first time, maybe because they’re tried of watching the rest of the media. If they are angry with God, he encouraged them to cry out to God and demand He answer them.…
1 TGCL #0507: Fr. Mark from the Holy Land; Fr. John Sheridan on beginnings and endings in parish collaboratives 56:33
Summary of today’s show: Live from Jerusalem! Fr. Mark O’Connell joined the show by phone from the Holy Land where he’s on pilgrimage with Cardinal Seán and brother priests to give a taste of the amazing experience, including renewing baptismal vows in the Jordan and celebrating Mass in the Lord’s Empty Tomb as well as riding a camel. Then Fr. John Sheridan joined Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines to talk about his experience as a pastor of a parish that’s joining one of the new Disciples in Mission collaborative even as he takes a new assignment as pastor of another of the collaboratives. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Fr. John Sheridan, Pastor of St. James Parish in Salem Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Fr. Mark from the Holy Land; Fr. John Sheridan on beginnings and endings in parish collaboratives 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show, including Fr. Chip Hines and Fr. John Sheridan. Also joining us is Fr. Mark O’Connell calling in from Jerusalem. He talked about the photos of him from yesterday of him riding a camel. Scot asked Fr. Mark about his highlights of visiting the Holy Land. Fr. Mark said it far exceeds his expectations to be on this trip with 29 priests and Cardinal Seán. It’s a holy trip. He put his feet in the Sea of Galilee and they prayed at the Wailing Wall for the beginning of the Sabbath. Tomorrow, they’re going to the Holy Sepulchre early tomorrow morning. They discussed the the experience of riding the windy, choppy seas on the Sea of Galilee, but he was told that it’s usually even more choppy and so he imagined what it must have been like for Jesus to walk across the water. He added that the guide pointed out so many areas all around, little things like the hill which was the reference to a “light on the hill”. Fr. Mark said that celebrating the Mass of the Annunciation in the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, right where the Angel Gabriel came, was the first “oh my goodness” moment of the trip, but those come every hour. Tomorrow, he expects to be the peak as they go to Bethlehem after the Holy Sepulchre and then later to the Upper Room. He said that even the men who have been to the Holy Land before recognize this is a special trip. They didn’t have their cardinal renew their baptismal vows in the Jordan River or celebrate Mass literally in the Tomb of Jesus tomorrow. Scot asked Fr. Mark what is it about the trip that is exceeding his expectations. Fr. Mark said what he’s read in the Bible clicks into place when you’ve been there. Reading the Bible passage while you’re looking at it, all the little things click into place. Walking up from the Kidron Valley, through the gate of the city, and to the Holy of Holies like Jesus makes it so real. Scot then asked Fr. Mark about the photo of Fr. Mark, Fr. Paul Soper and Cardinal Seán wearing headgear in the desert. Fr. Mark said they got out on an overlook to Jerusalem and some men were selling some Bedouin headdresses. He ignored them at first, but then he saw the cardinal wearing one and they didn’t want the cardinal to be all alone. Truth be told, they got snookered. Fr. Paul negotiated them down from $20 to $15, but they found out later that the Cardinal paid only $5. He said Fr. Stephen Zukas not only rode the camel but also a donkey and as he’s 6-foot-5, that was quite a sight. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chip discussed the tangible joy in Fr. Mark’s voice even though it’s after 11pm in Jerusalem. Fr. John said this has lit the fire under him to go sometime. Scot asked Fr. Chip how it’s been going at St. Joseph in Medford. Fr. Chip talked about going through the Triduum for the first time with the new parish, how exciting it is each time. He’s settling into a good rhythm and they’re working in collaboration with St. Francis in Medford. Scot also noted that Fr. Chip is on the cover of CatholicTV’s monthly magazine advertising the movie review show Spotlight. Fr. Chip said they’ve recorded 114 shows so far. He encouraged people to send ideas for the show to Scot now welcomes Fr. John Sheridan, currently pastor in Salem, but soon to be pastor in Middleboro, Lakeville, and Rochester. Fr. John said he’s looking forward to Fr. Chip’s review of “42”, about the legendary Jackie Robinson. Scot said the Salem collaborative under the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan will be the only four-parish collaborative. He will be moving to the extreme southern end of the Archdiocese. Fr. John said there couldn’t be a better pick to become pastor in Salem than Fr. Dan Riley. He said they’ve been working for two years in Salem to bring together the lay leadership and see how the parishes can work together. Scot noted Fr. Riley helped Sacred Heart in Weymouth a few years ago to bring the community together to rebuild the church after it burned down and now the parish is thriving. He said it was no small accomplishment by the leadership in Salem to get four parishes to agree to be part of Phase 1 of the Disciples in Mission. Fr. John talked about the now-closed St. Joseph Parish, which was his first assignment, and how the people of Salem have grown after that parish closed. Fr. Chip asked about the diverse community in Salem. Fr. John said there’s a Polish community and a Hispanic community and there’s even a Ukrainian Catholic church, which isn’t part of the archdiocese, but they wanted to work with. They determined to work on what everyone has to bring to the table and what they all have in common. Each parish has it’s unique skills and gifts and they build on what’s there. Fr. John was at St. Joseph’s from 1990 to 1996 and then came back to St. James in 2004 and has been pastor there since, about 14 years total. Scot asked him about his discernment in offering his resignation to go where the cardinal determines he would best serve the archdiocese. Fr. John said he’s walked through a lot of emotions. When he announced there would be a new pastor in Salem, there were gasps. He’s been there long enough to have seen children grow from baptism to communion. Fr. John said the Willows in Salem has a store called Hobbs that sells the best popcorn anywhere. They have a hundred-year-old corn popper there that makes amazing popcorn. But he said as much as he’ll miss Salem, he’s spent his last Holy Week and Easter focusing on the Resurrection. The chaos of the last few weeks is a jumble of excitement, loss, and a sense the Lord is calling him to do this. He got into this knowing he serves at the pleasure of the Archbishop. On holy Thursday, he used Pope Francis’ Chrism Mass homily as the basis of his homily and he’s felt that over the last 8 years he’s given himself in that way to the parish. All the good work they’ve done never ends. Fr. Chip said it’s testimony to Fr. John that he was asked to be a pastor in a Phase 1 collaborative to continue this work. Fr. John said Fr. Aveni, who is the current pastor, has done a great job. Fr. John said it’s three towns, three churches, two parishes, and one pastor. He said it’s perfect in happening between Easter and Pentecost, in the middle of the now and not yet. He said he’s been down to the parishes to visit and he said it’s a lively community with lots going on. Scot noted He’s going from city life in Salem to some of the most rural parishes in the Archdiocese. Fr. John said he’s always served in cities, but he’s the son of a farmer and the first time visiting St. Rose of Lima he looked out over dairy farms and took in a deep breath. Scot noted that that these two parishes might be the largest in combined land area. Fr. John said the people there have a great sense of humor about being on the fringe. He said Middleboro is the second biggest town in the Archdiocese in land area, second only to Plymouth. He noted that the churches are in three different environments, in town, by a lake, and out by farms. In Middleboro, they have five buildings including a large hall which he thought would be great for youth ministry. In Salem, he stressed that the archdiocese wants to work with the parishes and provide everything they need to do what they have to do. Fr. John said his motto for this 2013 on New Year’s Day was “Behold I make all things news” and this was before he knew what was going to happen. Scot asked him about his custom of taking a motto from Scripture for the year. Scot said the parishes will be surrounded on three side by the Diocese of Fall River. He said most dioceses in the US fall along county lines, but because they didn’t want to have Cape Cod separated from Fall River/New Bedford went they created the diocese, Fall River was given five communities in southern Plymouth County. Fr. John he tells people that he’ll be out by Edaville Railroad and they say, “Oh yeah!” Scot asked what aspects about the Disciples in Mission training that Fr. John is looking forward to. Fr. John said he has been told that people will be trained to build the youth ministry with him, to figure out what is needed by the people in the mission. He said he has been in some of the most difficult situations before and now he’s got a new blank slate with a lot of potential. Scot asked Fr. Chip as a member of the archdiocesan clergy personnel board about what it takes to assign priests under the new pastoral plan. Fr. Chip said they know that they are affecting people’s lives in very big ways and the board has reached out to priests who are being affected by this heavily. Some are upset and others are joyful. But the internal process he can speak about has always been about who is the best person for the job. There’s a lot of information to take in regarding the collaboratives and they use it to find the best person. Since only 12 pastors are chosen for the 28 parishes, there’s a lot of displaced priests and they’re working to transition them. It’s been challenging, fun, and even heartbreaking as people are leaving places they like. Scot said anger happens when people’s expectations get violated. We’re in a new chapter in our archdiocese in how we staff our parishes. He noted that at one time it was said every pastor would move, but now the policy is to look at each situation and find the best guy whether the current pastor or a new one. But that opens it up subjectivity where people say, “Who could be better for the job than the priest we’ve had so long?” Part of the process is to clarify expectations. Fr. John talked about how he plans to spend his last couple of months before June 4 when he shows up at this new assignment. It will be tough to leave the rectory where he lives with some senior priests in residence. Scot and Fr. John discussed how people don’t travel from North to South through the archdiocese and how they treat the other side of the archdiocese as a distant country.…
1 TGCL #0506: Holy Land pilgrimage; Vocations at MIT; Final Phase 1 Pastors; Hot dog ministry; Time capsule; Abortion pills 56:32
Summary of today’s show: Our Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Gregory Tracy discussed the news headlines of the week, including the pilgrimage by Cardinal Seán and 29 Boston priests to the Holy Land; a burst in vocations from MIT; final appointment of pastors for Phase 1 parishes in the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan; Congress for Catechesis and Evangelization for Hispanic Catholics; unique hot dog street ministry by St. Clement’s Shrine on Red Sox opening day; opening of a time capsule from the former St. Joseph church in Salem; and a judge’s decision to allow abortifacient pills for any girl without prescription. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Holy Land pilgrimage; Vocations at MIT; Final Phase 1 Pastors; Hot dog ministry; Time capsule; Abortion pills 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Susan Abbott to the show and he said things are getting back to normal after the conclave and Easter, but Susan said she’s still very busy with so much still going on, including the Co-Workers in the Vineyard gathering for pastoral associates tomorrow at Our Lady Help of Christians Parish in Newton. Susan talked about the various speakers and the title which comes from a USCCB document about the role of the lay ecclesial ministers in the life of the Church. Scot welcomed Gregory Tracy and noted that the Pilot is working shorthanded this week with editor Antonio Enrique traveling in the Holy Land this week. Greg said while he doesn’t have someone to bounce ideas of off, that makes things go faster because you don’t have anyone to consult with. He also said that he’s been experimenting with multimedia journalism for the Pilot like many of the other newspapers are doing with video to accompany printed stories. Speaking of the Holy Land, George Martell is there with Cardinal Seán taking photos and video and reporting back. Scot has a couple of favorite photos from today, including Fr. Mark O’Connell and Fr. Stephen Zukas riding camels and a photo of a George with Cardinal Seán wearing a headwrap. 2nd segment: Scot said in the Pilot this week is a story about the growth in vocations coming from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, some of them for Boston and others for their home dioceses. Greg said they were able to do many more local stories this week now that the conclave and Easter are in the past. He said the campus chaplain, Fr. Richard Clancy, said in the story that the type of student who attends MIT tends to be intense and the more they study something the closer to it they get. A photo with the story shows Deacon Joseph Laracy who is now studying in Rome and is preparing for ordination next month. Christopher Bae is a native of Korea who graduated from MIT and is now at St. John’s Seminary. Susan said she touched by his insight that his studies led him to ask what it is that he lives for. “It was a question of what do I ultimately live for? Do I live for money? Do I live for honor? Do I live for some kind of material success? Because that would determine how I chose my next step,” he said. Scot said Fr. Kwang Lee is parochial vicar at Sacred Heart in Weymouth and graduated from MIT. He said had he known he was becoming a priest he would have studied boiler repair, which would have been more applicable than his degree in naval engineering. Greg said having men coming from such varied backgrounds is helpful because it shows that they are like everyone else and that many of them started out wanting to do something and then they discerned God’s plan for their lives. Also in local news, there was a Congress for Catechesis and Evangelization for Hispanic Catholics in the Archdiocese. Susan said they have a catechetical congress each year and they usually have it at least bilingual. This year, they decided rather than having the people come to Congress, the office went out to regional gatherings for English-speaking people, but for the Spanish-speaking community, they held an archdiocesan-wide event for 350 people. Susan said the joy cold not be contained in the room. For the official news this week, Cardinal Seán appointed the final three pastors in the Phase 1 parishes under the Disciples in Mission plan. Fr. Joseph M. Rossi will lead Immaculate Conception and St. Jerome Parishes in Weymouth, Fr. John Sassani will become Pastor of Sacred Heart in Newton and remain Pastor of Our Lady Help of Christians, and Fr. Brian Clary will remain Pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption in Brookline. Scot asked for prayer for the priests who are still living in those parishes and awaiting their next assignment, and the members of those parishes. The panel discussed how parishes and priests are dealing with the changes, where priests who have been in parishes a little while stay, and longstanding pastors move. Scot said a timely story came from St. Clement Eucharistic Shrine in the Back Bay, was to provide a hot dog and a drink to people who are walking by on their way to the Red Sox home opener at Fenway Park on Monday. Greg said it’s a great story about the seminarians coming up with the idea last year on seeing the crowds. Many people stopped to have a hot dog and chat and even get a tour of the shrine. By giving out something to eat rather than just a flyer, people are more likely to engage and they got a sense that many people didn’t know anything about this building they walked by each day. Greg had mentioned that Pope Francis when he was archbishop in Buenos Aires encouraged his pastors to go out from the churches to where the people are and engage them in the streets and he thinks this will become more common. Susan said the Church has a long tradition of feeding people, right back to the multiplication of loves and fishes. In Salem, a time capsule was opened at the former St. Joseph’s church that was demolished. It was given to St. James Parish in Salem. Fr. Lawrence Rondeau, the last pastor at St. Joseph’s opened it. The capsule was put in place in 1949 when the church was built. There wasn’t anything deeply profound but there were newspapers from the day, including a French-language newspaper that served the French-Canadian population in Salem. The opening of the time capsule provides a bit of closure for those for whom the closing and demolition of the church was painful. The panel discussed time capsules and how there should have been a time capsule when Central Ministries moved from Brighton to Braintree during the 200th anniversary year. Also in the Pilot is a disturbing story about a federal judge requiring over-the-counter distribution of abortifacient drugs to girls of any age without prescription. Scot asked what kind of country do we live in where the kids have to get a doctor’s note to receive an aspirin in school, but they can get this? Greg said the background is that previously it was only available without prescription for women over 18 and with prescription under. He said the larger concern, in addition to the abortion issue, is also that we’re also talking about sex by young women, at an age when it is technically illegal and so the question of coercion comes up. He added that it completely removes the right and authority of parents over their children. Scot and Susan agreed that it shows disrespect for the role of parents. Scot said another disturbing aspect is that such a decision was made by one judge, not by legislators in open debate and accountable to voters. What can you do when one judge with certain opinions legislates from the bench?…
Summary of today’s show: Susan Conroy flew to India as a 21-year-old Dartmouth college student with the idea of serving beside Mother Teresa. That trip to the slums of Calcutta changed the course of Susan’s life and she joined Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams to talk about her experiences with Mother Teresa and the secrets to holiness and a life of faithfulness found in her work and witness. Susan will be a keynote speaker at the 6th annual Eucharistic Congress for Youth and Young Adults in Boston April 19 and 20. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Susan Conroy Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Susan Conroy: Mother Teresa’s Word’s and Witness for a Life of Holiness 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Matt Williams to the show and they discussed Cardinal Seán’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land with a group of 29 priests and today’s events on the Sea of Galilee and Capernaum. Next weekend is the 6th annual Eucharistic Congress for Youth and Young Adults and one of the speakers is today’s guest, Susan Conroy. Fr. Matt said the theme this year is “…In memory of Me.” Msgr. Jim Moroney will be speaking on how the liturgy shapes and forms our spirituality to have missionary hearts. Susan will talk about her experiences with Mother Teresa and what it means to shape our hearts in missionary service to our neighbor. 2nd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Kenneth and Janet Conroy from Bridgewater They win the audio book “St. Bernadette of Lords” and the CD “Ecce Fiat: The Annunciation Gregorian Chant”. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $50 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 3rd segment: Scot and Fr. Matt welcomed Susan to the show. He asked her how she first came to know Mother Teresa. She said she was 20 years old when she first started learning about Mother Teresa when she was a student at Dartmouth in New Hampshire. Her own mother had sent her a poster with some words of Mother Teresa that so impressed her. When she came home, she found three books by Mother Teresa purchased by her mother and this started her dream to work beside Mother Teresa. Fr. Matt asked about the words on the poster. Susan said: “Joy is prayer. Joy is strength. Joy is Love. We give the most when we give joy.” Then as a young women who always longed for heaven, Mother Teresa’s other words that we don’t have to wait for heaven floored her. She said her mother had no idea what she was igniting in her daughter’s heart. Her mother has 10 children and only wanted to give her children uplifting and inspiring books. The first person she mentioned her dream about helping Mother Teresa in Calcutta was her mother who said it would be her worst nightmare. Her natural response was to not want her 21-year-old daughter to fly around the world to be exposed to death, danger, and disease. She remembers her first trip away, watching her mother crying in the airport as she left, knowing she couldn’t assure her mom that she would be home alive and well. Fr. Matt said some people would say they went to Calcutta to feel good about helping people, while Susan went to experience heaven on earth. Susan said helping the poor and dying was happy and fulfilling, but it was grueling and some days were very difficult. Someone once asked Mother Teresa how she kept doing it without going into depression or getting burned out. She said: “I pray”. It’s through her relationship with God that she had this endless source of love and grace. Susan added that every very early morning in Calcutta started with Mass and only after receiving Jesus in the Eucharist could they go out and serve. Then every evening they would come back to the Mother House to have adoration. Mother Teresa also wanted to make sure people didn’t think what she was doing was social work. Instead she was serving Christ. It is Christ who is the sick person or lonely or in need. As she reached out to person, she remembered that as she touched each person, she was touching Jesus himself. Scot asked how Mother Teresa’s sanctity was expressed in her daily life. Susan said she was captivated by the idea of a living saint. She had only thought of saints as long gone. As a young person, she thought she could do anything and had very expectations of what a saint might be like and Mother Teresa surpassed them. Her first impression of Mother Teresa was talking to her face to face after Mass in the Motherhouse. Susan was struck by her humility. As a young college girl she knew she was about to meet a celebrity and had never put humility together with celebrity. Another of her qualities was her kindness and her motherliness. Finding out that Susan’s mom had been struggling with cancer, she gave her two Miraculous Medals for herself and her mother which she kissed first. Her mother lived another 20 years. Susan said Mother Teresa also treated every single human being she encountered the same way, whether a man in a gutter, a Russian dignitary, or an American college girl. She treated every person like gold. It was as if they were the only person in the world to her. Scot asked Susan how this encounter affected the trajectory of her life. Susan said Dartmouth graduates are among the most successful in the country and she was definitely on that track, but this changed it completely. She recalls Mother Teresa saying once that it’s not a sin to be rich; it’s a blessing. Susan found it remarkable coming from someone who lives among the poorest of the poor. But although it’s not a sin, it brings a responsibility to the poor. Mother Teresa also said at the end of our lives we won’t be judged based on the money we made, the cars we drive, etc. but on how we love. Fr. Matt asked what Mother Teresa’s life, witness, and words teach us about the New Evangelization. Susan said the most powerful evangelizers in her life are not those who spoke much, but those who loved much and served much. Mother Teresa didn’t talk about faith so much as showed others. She invited people to come and see for themselves, to serve in the homes for the dying. She preached the faith by her witness. Susan said God tells us that we are to be holy as he is holy. We’re all called to be holy. So how do we become holy? Susan has hosted a series on EWTN called “Speaking of Saints” and so she was able to study the question. Humility is at the heart of holiness. Jesus told St. Faustina that only the humble of soul can receive His divine grace. A saint is full of the goodness of God. A saint is a friend of God. A saint is led by God through prayer and the spiritual life. Love is also at the heart of holiness. St. Paul said faith without love is nothing. Mother Teresa would say it didn’t matter how many people you help; it’s how you do it. It’s the love you put into the deed that can save souls. They talked about daily Eucharistic adoration and its importance. Once Mother Teresa started daily adoration the Missionaries of Charity order flourished. Fr. Matt said Mother Teresa once said, “We’re not called to be successful. We’re called to be faithful.” He asked Susan to explain what that means. Susan said the context of that statement was a group of businessmen visiting the home for the dying in Calcutta. They were there as tourists. Susan said the house was a place where the dying were treated as royalty, lifted from the gutter. This was not a hospital, but a place where the dying who were in the streets were given a place to die with dignity. These professionals thought they should be kept in modern hospitals, not in the simple home for the dying. Mother Teresa was being faithful to what Jesus called her to do, to serve the poorest of the poor. Jesus had told Mother Teresa that poor didn’t love Him because they didn’t know Him and so she was to go among them and bring Him to them. Our duty isn’t success. That’s up to God. Our duty is to do God’s will, exactly like the Blessed Mother did. St. Therese of Lisieuex equated faithfulness with holiness. Scot asked Susan what it was like in 1996 to receive permission from Mother Teresa to write her book. Susan had been giving presentations to businesspeople in packed audiences. She was told to keep sharing it. So she wrote to Mother Teresa and asked for her permission and she was stunned how quickly, even miraculously, the letter came back. Mother told her to do it for the glory of God and for the good of souls. Wouldn’t it be great if we did all things every day like that.…
Summary of today’s show: With Cardinal Seán and 29 priests of Boston on pilgrimage in the Holy Land, Scot Landry and Rick Heil encouraged listeners to follow along on a virtual pilgrimage at TheGoodCatholicLife.com where there will be regular updates. Also, Scot and Fr. Chris O’Connor discussed the Sacraments of Initiation, especially baptism and confirmation, two sacraments that are particularly timely during the Easter season. Why do we have confirmation names? What is confirmation? Can we switch godparents later? These questions and more are answered in the show. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Feast of the Annunciation; The Sacraments of Initiation 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. He said the big news this week is that based on the coverage of the papal conclave in Rome, providing a pilgrimage experience to people back home, some of Cardinal Seán’s cabinet members said that the cardinal and 29 priests were going on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and George Martell should go. Scot said he couldn’t go at the last minute, but George was. More importantly, Susan Martell allowed George to go even though he will miss Susan’s birthday. Scot said George was a photographer at the Boston Herald for about 20 years and so he was used to being able to go on assignment at the last minute. Cardinal Seán and the pilgrims arrived Monday evening and today was their first full day in the Holy Land, visiting Galilee, the Basilica of the Annunciation, and Mount Carmel. There are many great photos at . Scot said it’s already a tremendous virtual pilgrimage. Every day, we’ll have photos and video and blog posts at . Rick Heil said we have a TV in the Catholic Media office area showing an unending slideshow of George’s most recent photos as they get posted online. He said his favorite photo right now is from the excavation of Joseph and Mary’s home in Nazareth. It sets your faith on fire to know that this is the place. Scot said his favorite so far is seeing three of our priests kneeling before the altar in the lower church. Scot said our faith is rich because you learn something new every day. He was shocked to learn that yesterday was the Feast of the Annunciation because when March 25 falls during Holy Week, it is moved to the first Monday after the Octave of Easter or two weeks later. The Feast of the Annunciation is when the angel Gabriel appeared before Mary and tells her that she will be the Mother of God and she gives her fiat, an attitude of faith seeking understanding. Fr. Chris O’Connor arrived in the studio, having been stuck in traffic. He said he was horrified to see in the New York Times that they actually published on Easter that it was the day that Jesus ascended into heaven. They then discussed the significance of the Annunciation and how it would normally fall exactly nine months before Christmas. Fr. Chris said the Annunciation reminds us to give ourselves over to Christ. He said it’s an important day in the seminary because it’s the day Mary received her vocation for all eternity. Scot read from the Gospel of Luke 1:25-38: The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. He said Mary said, “Let it be done to me according to your Word.” Scot said he thinks that’s what someone like the pilgrim priests must be praying on their pilgrimage and he asked listeners to pray for Cardinal Seán and those priests in the next chapter of their lives. 2nd segment: Fr. Chris and Scot bring up the topic of the Sacraments of Initiation. Fr. Chris said it’s most appropriate to talk about them now because after Easter the Lord’s grace is flowing abundantly at this time and at Easter Vigil and in the weeks following people are receiving these graces. He said at the parish where he lives the kids are preparing for confirmation and first communion. Some parishes suspend baptism during Lent and hold them all during the season of Easter. He said on the cross, when the soldier pierced the side of Christ, water and blood flowed from his side. The water represented baptism and the blood the Eucharist. Scot said on the Easter Vigil, the catechumens receive the three sacraments of initiation: baptism, confirmation, and first communion. Meanwhile the rest of the congregation renews their baptismal vows. Fr. Chris said on Easter Sunday everyone renews their vows because baptism is connected to the feast of Easter, newness of life. Baptism is descending into the tomb of the water and rising again with new life. Fr. Chris said we use water to drink and to clean. Similarly, in baptism God is actively involved in offering us the washing away of original sin, membership in the Body of Christ, and the pledge of eternal life. “I was made for heaven and heaven was made for me.” Fr. Chris said the Church doesn’t have a preference between full immersion versus pouring water in baptism. He said the formula of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit reminds us of the three days spent in the tomb waiting to burst back into life. Scot asked what the Catechism means in 1280 that it imprints on the soul an indelible character. Fr. Chris said it’s a sign that goes with us to heaven and the eternal Father will recognize it on our souls. There are two other sacraments where this indelible mark takes place: Confirmation and Holy Orders. Once a priest, always a priest. That’s why, even in cases of priests who have left active ministry, in an emergency the priest could hear a confession or administer anointing of the sick. He said he someone ask to have a godparent changed and he had to say no because those relationships are indelible and unchangeable. Thus those decisions are so important. Scot asked about people at the Easter Vigil who are called “candidates for full communion with the Catholic Church.” These are people who were already baptized in any Christian church with water and using the formula: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirt. Amen.” Scot said with his kids he never wanted to wait to baptize them and chose to do it as soon as possible. He asked why in the Church we do it for infants before they reach the age of reason at which they can choose this faith. Fr. Chris said the children are baptized into the faith of the Church, of the community. That’s why it’s essential moms and dads and godparents are living the faith. what’s most important is that God is doing the activity. With the sacraments comes the promise of God’s power. The sacraments aren’t magic. In baptism, even before we were aware, God was already present to us, acting in our lives, and claiming us as his own. Scot noted that any Catholic in an emergency could baptize someone using the correct formula. Fr. Chris recalled an episode of All in the Family where Edith Bunker baptized her grandchild in the kitchen sink. Fr. Chris then talked about the signs of baptism that are found at funerals, including the paschal candle and the white pall on the casket that reminds us of the white baptismal garment. Scot said a lot of priests try to find out the date of baptism of the deceased in order to preach about the connection between the funeral rite and the baptismal rite. He said many godparents take the date of baptism so seriously that they observe that date over the birthday. 3rd segment: Scot asked why baptism and confirmation are usually tied together and in some places in the Church celebrated at the same time. Fr. Chris said we look at confirmation as an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on those who are confirmed in which they are asked to be witnesses to Christ. He said the bishop puts the sign of oil on the forehead as a sign that when we come face to face with others, we bring the face of Christ to others. Fr. Chris read from the Catechism 1319 which says the candidate has to be the age of reason, which in some dioceses is the same age at which they receive first communion. A candidate for Confirmation who has attained the age of reason must profess the faith, be in the state of grace, have the intention of receiving the sacrament, and be prepared to assume the role of disciple and witness to Christ, both within the ecclesial community and in temporal affairs. He said the key why most dioceses wait is that they must be prepared to assume the role of disciple and witness which assumes some maturity. On the question of whether a confirmation sponsor should be one of the godparents, Fr. Chris said they don’t have to be the same. He said the candidate should carefully choose the person they seek to emulate in the Christian life. On the formulation of being sealed in the Holy Spirit, Fr. Chris said slaves used to be sealed, or branded, to show ownership, and so when the bishop seals the person, he is claiming him for Christ, affirming in them the fact they are called to be disciples and witnesses. Fr. Chris said confirmation is not graduation, but just the opposite. They are called to more deeply live the life of Christ. On the oil, Fr. Chris said in ancient times oil was seen as a healing remedy. When someone is given holy oil, they are given some healing, some grace. Also oil has always been used to set people apart. Priests, prophets and kings were anointed with oil in the Old Testament. Messiah means “the anointed one.” When we are anointed, we are set apart. there are three oils: chrism, oil of catechumens, and oil of anointing of the sick. Chrism is used for baptism, confirmation, and holy orders. He said there is a great smell to chrism and this saintly odor reaches to the heavens. Scot asked the significance of selecting a confirmation name. Fr. Chris said it’s similar to the old days when someone went into the religious life, they take a new name, like Patrick O’Malley became Friar Seán O’Malley. It shows that the old person has fallen away and a new person steps forward. Scot’s confirmation name is Theophilus, which was picked for him by Fr. Lenny O’Malley after he lost a bet.…
Summary of today’s show: When the Goudreau family of Rhode Island got the opportunity to live in Rome for a semester while dad Paul taught theology for Providence College’s Rome program, they saw it as an opportunity for their five children, including eight-year-old Dominic who has cerebral palsy. But on Easter Sunday, Dominic had a heart-stopping and emotional embrace with Pope Francis that was captured and broadcast around the world. Dr. Paul Goudreau joined Michael Lavigne and Scot Landry on today’s show to share how the moment came about and why he believes this was miraculous moment brought about by God to teach the world that Dominic and others like him have a special vocation to teach us how to love and through that love to rebuild His Church. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Dr. Paul Goudreau and Michael Lavigne Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Remarkable Encounter between Dominic Goudreau and Pope Francis 1st segment: Scot Landry said today is Red Sox Opening Day, but don’t go away because we have a very special guest, Dr. Paul Goudreau, a professor at Providence College, who is in Rome for a semester with his family and his son, Dominic, who has cerebral palsy. On Easter Sunday, Dominic received a wonderful gesture of love from Pope Francis that was captured by media from around the world. Michael said he’s friends with Paul and he said it was a beautiful moment. Scot welcomed Paul to the show. He is a professor of theology at Providence. Paul said Providence began a Rome program two years ago and they have a theological orientation. Each semester, a member of the theology department volunteers to go and teach a course in Theology in the Eternal City. He and his wife decided it was a great opportunity for their family. In fact, they decided that six months was about the limit for how long Dominic could be away from the services he gets, including various therapies. While they found some services in Rome, it’s not the same, but they figured they could handle it for a semester. With five kids, they thought it would be great for them. They decided to take as full advantage of going to St. Peter’s as possible since they got an apartment nearby. It was only a month later that Pope Benedict made the unforeseen announcement of his resignation and they decided to capitalize on the historic days as much as they could. They’ve been in the Square for most of the big events of the end of Benedict’s pontificate and the beginning of Pope Francis’s. They were there at his final audience and final Angelus and when he left the Vatican for the last time. He said the mood in the Square was strange, not exactly joyful and not sad. He compared it to Holy Saturday. When Pope Francis was elected they were at home and they decided to run down to the Square for the announcement. He said the crowd rushing from the metro and the energy in the air was electrifying. He said the Italians saw Dominic in his wheelchair and ushered the family right through the crowd. Later they were present for Pope Francis’ first Sunday Angelus and his first Sunday Mass. They were able to participate as a family in all the historic events. Beginning with Palm Sunday, they’d already got tickets for the various events long in advance. He went to the Easter Vigil the night before with his two oldest and because Rome switched over to Daylight Savings so they were tired and got out of the apartment a little late and thus arrived too late to get into the seating area. They were there an hour and 15 minutes early, but the Square was filling quickly and the moment with the Pope almost didn’t happen. They almost decided not to try to get into the seating area, but the older kids kept asking to try so he went off to check it out. In fact, they were able to get in and the Swiss Guard there is supposed to let one person accompany a disabled person into a special area. Paul decided that since he got to go to the Easter Vigil the night before, he would let his wife go to the prime location. He related how difficult it can be to receive Communion at papal Masses and so since he’d received the night before, he let his wife and Dominic go and he stayed in the back by the obelisk with the other kids. Scot asked where the special seating area is. Paul said the area is a fairly decent view and access to the barricades to see the Pope. During the Mass, Dominic wasn’t situated with his wife along the route the Pope would take. What happened is that an usher took a notice of Dominic and was drawn to him. This happens to Dominic all the time that people are drawn to him. So the usher got it in his mind that Dominic would meet the Pope. Dominic was rather agitated during the Mass. When a boy with cerebral palsy isn’t feeling well, or tired or too warm, it expresses itself in bodily tone and agitation. His wife, Christiana, took him out of the chair to hold him and stand with him. At the end of the Mass, he asked her to take him out of the chair and follow him to where he could see the Pope. The Pope starts touring the Square in his popemobile. Paul noted that Pope Francis is a people person, who goes around and around the Square to see and greet as many as possible. Pope Benedict was much more introverted and reserved and while he was pleasant and happy to see people, Francis is much more extroverted. Pope Francis did a first pass by Dominic without seeing him, looking the other way. Agostino, the usher, had said when the Pope comes, lift Dominic up. When the Pope missed him, Agostino was apologetic, but Christiana was elated by being so close to the Pope. The Pope comes again and this time other ushers join in and they signaled the Popemobile to stop. The ushers and Christiana lifted Dominic up and the two of them embraced. Paul said you almost can’t believe it in the moment. His wife was weepy and teary-eyed and overcome with emotion. Paul said when it first happened he wasn’t looking at the big monitors and didn’t know it. So his son Lucas said, “It’s Dominic”. And then “The Pope is holding Dominic!” From there, the feelings of a father seeing his son embraced by the Pope is an emotional moment. Seeing that charming smile of Dominic and putting his arm around the Pope, that he did that with the whole world watching is part of the miracle of the event. Paul said Dominic is cognitively completely normal and understands everything. He knows who the Pope is and that’s why he smiled and put his arm around him. Then it passed and they had to wait about a half hour before they could join up with his wife. They had to wait for the pope to give the Urbi et Orbi message at noon before they could connect. Scot said one thing that amazed him was the number of people involved in letting Dominic have that moment. He’s reminded of the men who lowered the paralytic through the roof to be healed by Jesus. Paul said if they had tried to orchestrate this, they would have botched it completely. Looking back to see all the hands involved in making this iconic moment happen, it bespeaks the beauty and mystery of the Church. He and his wife are humbled and in awe how God willed this to take on a life of its own. This world deems children like Dominic to be useless and denying his personhood, but God sometimes seems to have had enough and accomplishes a wonder that leaves no doubt that God has willed it to happen. God uses us as his instruments to share in the glory that’s proper to Him. The reality of the Church is a participation in the mystery of Christ and the Cross of Christ. Michael asked about the impact of this moment on Dominic’s siblings. Paul said that Christ does not permit us a cross without the grace to bear with it. He also doesn’t permit it unless he draws good out of it. Just today, he got an email from a mother of one his students here who they ran into in Assisi on Tuesday of Holy Week. The student and her mother were in the town. The mother expressed how moved she was by having spent time with Dominic and getting to know him. In the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, the mom saw Paul’s daughter Julia give a gentle caress and kiss to Dominic and there was a look of contentment on his face. She had just been praying for God to repair His Church, like Francis did. The Church is repaired by small acts of love like that and by receiving love, the Church is built up by love toward each other and receiving acts of love. Paul said he and his wife had been wondering recently what God’s vocation for Dominic is. After the meeting with the Pope, a women shouted to Christiana, “Your son is here to show us how to love.” This was a confirmation of what Christiana had been thinking that Dominic has shown his family how to love and other virtues. It’s like the Father in heaven at Jesus’ baptism saying “This is my beloved Son.” The Father raised up Dominic to show us how to love. The highest end in life is to love. How more useful to society can Dominic be than that? Scot said Pope Francis has had so many gestures and like his namesake has been planning the restoration of the Church. Now if you ask worldwide what one thing Pope Francis has done that people would remember, it would be this act of love for Dominic and for another disabled man a couple of weeks ago. Paul finds it deeply humbling. God chooses who He wills to accomplish His wonders. This is the folly of the Cross of which Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 1 and 2. Paul tells us to consider how we aren’t powerful in the eyes of the world, yet chosen by God. Consider Dominic in that light. Paul said it’s easy to look at how much Paul must give Dominic, but in this event he realizes how much more Dominic gives back to him. It’s awe-inspiring to see it. He’s still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that it happened on Easter Sunday. The Resurrection was an unforeseen, unexpected wonder, and here He is still accomplishing the unforeseen wonders on Easter Sunday. He’s humbled by thinking it’s got nothing to do with him or Dominic and it’s got everything to do with Christ. By stressing our devotion to the poor, Pope Francis is not limiting himself to political or economic terms. He means the despised, the suffering, the alone, and the Church is constituted by acts of love to these especially. Scot said he reflects on Pope Benedict’s resignation and how he left so quickly perhaps so his successor could be in place for Holy Week and so Pope Francis was there for this event. Secondly, that there were witnesses at this event willing to go anywhere to tell anyone this story in Paul and Christiana giving every possible interview in every venue, seeing hard-eyed journalists get teary in the moment. He asked why Paul and Christiana have taken on this mission. Paul said last week was so crazy and the six-hour time difference left them doing interviews after midnight some nights. But if you’ve been chosen to play a role in spreading the Gospel, then you have to take your role, like Jonah. You have to play your part and embrace it. Paul said in some of the interviews he was expecting with some of the journalists that he would be baited or invited to criticize the Church or Pope Benedict. But in not one interview was there even a hint of an attempt to turn the conversation in that direction. Paul said Dominic himself is a sign of contradiction. In a world that rejects Christ, Dominic and this moment make no sense outside of the Cross of Christ. Christ is a sign of contradiction. Certainly there’s a human element that bespeaks that despite the corruption of society, the natural law is still active in us and people are still sensitive to caring for those in need. And when a boy responds to the leader of 1 billion Catholics embraces and is embraced by a boy who smiles so joyfully, you can’t help but respond to that. Scot said Pope Francis’ expression of love for Dominic has helped our own love for Pope Francis has grown. He noted Paul has prepared his whole life to be the right man for this moment as a witness and Dominic has prepared his whole life as well. Paul noted that it’s like a perfect storm of moments, such as this occurring on Easter Sunday when the whole world was watching Pope Francis. Michael said he’s noticed how people have shared and commented on this moment on social media, including Facebook, especially for people who aren’t practicing their faith. Paul said he was aware and trying to be careful to preach the Gospel without sounding preachy. In this interview today, he’s let it all out. But he still marvels how even the Huffington Post reprinted his post from CatholicMoralTheology.com which unreservedly it proclaims the pro-life truth and the truth of the Gospel. It’s an opportunity to evangelize people who are usually not open to the Gospel. He’d been surprised that it took so long to get interviews with Catholic outlets, but those did come. His favorite interview was with Megyn Kelly at Fox News who understood the moment and didn’t shy away from the moral element in all of it. As Catholic parents, they try to teach their children to be obedient to God in all things and they try to live it by example, even as they fail sometimes. Paul recalled being in the Diocese of Portland before their marriage referendum recently and his 12-year-old son, Lucas, was there and saw how Paul was attacked and cursed at. He thought it was a testament for his son to see his dad be a cultural warrior. But this is evangelizing in a different way and gives a different perspective to his son. You play the role that God gives to you in the moment. Scot asked about Providence’s Rome program. He said students are required to take a theology class, the New Testament in the Eternal City. They use the city of Rome as a classroom so half the class is formal lecture and half is site visits. They stand in these amazing locations and learn their faith.…
Summary of today’s show: Sister Patricia Boyle has been a Sister of St. Joseph for nearly 50 years and Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell talk with Sr. Pat about how she became a religious sister, and served in a number of positions including parochial school teacher for many years, a pastoral associate at St. Ann’s in Quincy, and now as associate director of pastoral planning for the Archdiocese. Sr. Pat was instrumental in helping professionalize the ministry of pastoral associate and now is working in the vital ministry of pastoral planning for the future of the Archdiocese through the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Sister Patricia Boyle, CSJ Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Profile: Sr. Pat Boyle 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show on this end of the workweek and Friday of Easter week. Scot noted that Fr. Mark O’Connell will be leaving this weekend for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with Cardinal Seán and a group of priests from the Archdiocese of Boston. They will stay in Galilee and Jerusalem. He’s looking forward to being in all these places connected to the life of Christ. He said he’s been to two other Holy Lands: Rome and Ireland, but this is his first trip to the real Holy Land. Cardinal Seán will be preaching this trip like a retreat for the priests. Fr. Mark also noted that today would have been his father’s birthday and his father died this past January. Scot said today’s guest is Sr. Pat Boyle, who has worked in the Pastoral Center for the past few months, but has worked in the Archdiocese of Boston for years as a pastoral associate at St. Ann’s in Quincy. Fr. Mark said Sr. Pat now works with Fr. Paul Soper in the Pastoral Planning office. Sr. Pat said she’s worked on the pastoral associate advisory board for as long as she’s been a pastoral associate. The board provides an encouraging presence to the pastoral associates. Sr. Pat grew up in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. She’s one of five children. Her father died when she was young and so was raised by her mother. In elementary school, she had the Sisters of St. Joseph and then later at high school. She knew from a young age that she wanted to be one of them. It was their way of life, their joy, and their outreach that drew her in. They had an impact on her as a child and she wanted to be like them. Sr. Pat said her sponsor, Sr. Ann Marie Mazzone, stood out as the happiest. She was the cook in the rectory. She said was a real dynamo and everybody loved her. Scot noted that the Sisters of St. Joseph are a diocesan order so they generally stay local and many of the sisters grew up in Boston. Sr. Pat has been able to be in religious life with Sisters that she had as teachers and later lived in community with them. They also connect to the wider Federation of Sisters of St. Joseph throughout the world. Fr. Mark asked about the charism of the Sisters of St. Joseph. They describe themselves as a congregation with an emphasis on unity and reconciliation. They try to live the prayer that “they all may be one.” They work to bring people together in places that need unity. They have teachers, retreat leaders, those working with immigrants, working in technology, social services, and more. Sister started as an elementary school teacher in St. John the Evangelist in Canton, after five years in formation. She described the habits they wore at the time and then the modified habit. They discussed the changes that came about after Vatican II and how they had gone back into their founding documents to rediscover their purpose. They found that they were to dress like a woman of the day, but even so today people can pick her out of a crowd as a religious sister. After three years in Canton, sister moved to St. Raphael’s in Medford for 7 years then three years in St. Catherine’s in Charlestown. After that she became vocation director, where she had the privilege of helping people explore their potential and desire for religious life. From there she did graduate studies at Boston College and then came to work at the Office of Spiritual Development for 11 years. Then she went to St. Ann’s in Quincy as a pastoral associate and from there to her current position. Scot asked Sr. Pat what a pastoral associate does. She said they work in connection with the priest or priests in the parish. Their responsibilities vary. Some may have responsibility for faith formation. Others work with liturgical ministers. Some visit with sick and homebound or grieving. Some work with baptism teams and work with new parents. It’s determined by the pastoral associates conversation with the hiring pastor. Cardinal Seán has promulgated a new certification process for pastoral associates to ensure they’re competent for the work in the parish. Fr. Mark said the Tribunal is relying on certified pastoral associates. The Tribunal certifies them separately to do marriage work, especially with declarations of nullity. These are pastoral associates in the parish who have been trained in the processes and paperwork. Sr. Pat said she loved being in the weekend liturgies at St. Ann’s because she loved getting the flavor of the whole parish and connecting with all the people. She especially loved the children’s liturgy program. She said St. Ann’s has a strong sense of family. People enjoy being together. They are a very faith-filled people of diverse ages. Scot noted that while she was at St. Ann’s, Sr. Pat was named a member of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission and then was later asked to come and be part of the Pastoral Planning Office. Sr. Pat said it was difficult to leave St. Ann’s. She still feels like a woman without a country. She wants to be a part of a parish. Once you leave a parish it’s hard to go back. When she goes to Mass she no longer feels the same tie. Fr. Mark said Sr. Pat was loved by Quincy and she loved them back. He said that the charism of the Sisters of St. Joseph is perfectly matched to the new job where so much disharmony will be involved in the new pastoral collaborative process. Sr. Pat said she feels called since being in her new job to be more intentional about her faith life. If we can help the people in the pews to be more intentional about living their faith, they will be the evangelizers who bring the message out to other people. She said she prays every day, but is more intentional about it. She tells herself that she is going to be listening to what God has to say to her today about how to live her life. There is a more conscious awareness about it. She’s also trying to reach into her activities and attitudes during her day, especially while driving. She’s trying to be more aware of her words and behaviors as a witness to Christ. Scot has related how putting a WQOM bumper sticker on his car has made him more aware of his witness while he drives. He’s also been more intentional about what he listens to on the radio and on his iPhone, whether spiritual books or Christian music, especially during Lent. Sister said one her sisters prays the rosary while she drives and calms her down and makes her less aggressive. Scot asked about the implementation of Phase 1 of the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan. They’re waiting for the last pastors to be named and that should happen in next week’s Pilot. They’re preparing the eight-day training session for the eight new pastors. Then those pastors will move into the new parishes on June 4 and the new collaboratives will begin July 1. At the end of October the new pastors will be forming new pastoral teams and new parish councils. Sister said people should check out the DisciplesinMission.com or read the Pilot. If they have questions, they can call Sr. Pat at 617-746-5689. Sister said she and Fr. Paul are willing to go anywhere to talk to anyone about this process. They have re-instituted parish consultations for when a new pastor is going to be assigned so that they can elicit what qualities parishes would like to move them from where they are now to where they hope to be. Sr. Pat said much of the feedback in the parish consultations has been positive rather than negative because people welcome the ability to be able to share. Sister said in her 49-1/2 years of religious life, she hasn’t seen the engagement of people at all levels willing to share their wisdom. This is the movement of the Holy Spirit within the Archdiocese. People have been educated in their faith, have had good experiences in their parishes,and all of that has touched people in their faith life to help them to see they have something to say. Sister said the time when just priests and sisters did the work has passed. There are many more laity who are willing to offer their expertise to help the work of the Church. Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. First Reading for the Second Sunday of Easter, Acts 5:12-16 Many signs and wonders were done among the people at the hands of the apostles. They were all together in Solomon’s portico. None of the others dared to join them, but the people esteemed them. Yet more than ever, believers in the Lord, great numbers of men and women, were added to them. Thus they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them. A large number of people from the towns in the vicinity of Jerusalem also gathered, bringing the sick and those disturbed by unclean spirits, and they were all cured. Gospel for the Second Sunday of Easter, April 7, 2013, John 20:19-31 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name. Scot said Fr. Mark will be in the upper room from the Gospel in about a week. Fr. Mark said he’s hoping it’s a moment for a revelation for him as well. Scot said we all have doubts sometimes. Sr. Pat said it’s part of being human. She said she remembers learning as a child that we should praise at the moment of the elevation of the Eucharist at the consecration we should pray, “My Lord and my God.” It comes out of those moments of doubt where we need to remember my Lord and my God. Scot said his wife and son went to the Holy Land last year and there isn’t one of these Gospels that don’t remind them of those tangible moments there. He said Fr. Mark and his brother priests will help us to look at it in a new way.…
Summary of today’s show: For our regular Thursday review of the week’s news, Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy looked at this week’s headlines, including the upcoming Divine Mercy Sunday and how the topic of mercy is emerging as a defining theme of Pope Francis’ papacy; a brief summary of the Diviner Mercy devotion; and how Pope Francis’ pick for Vatican Secretary of State will launch the much-expected reform of the Vatican Curia. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Divine Mercy; Vatican Secretary of State and reform of the Vatican 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry to the show. Fr. Roger said this week he was conducting a priests’ retreat with priests from around the country, as they recuperated from the work of Holy Week and Easter. Susan said her Triduum was of course wonderful as it should be. Greg said his whole family was together on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, and he and his wife were at the cathedral at the Easter Vigil without the kids, but with the Neocatechumenal Way. Fr. Roger said the first time celebrating Holy Week in his new parish in Fall River was a little more work so he could work together with everyone who has been doing the things the same way for years. He said Good Friday is the toughest day because priests are fasting, but are going all day long with various services. On Holy Saturday he tried to rest. He then told a story of his Easter Vigil in which the fire for the liturgy went out but then spontaneously erupted. Scot said in his column this week in the Anchor, Fr. Roger wrote that Pope Francis wants the fruit of Easter to go beyond our heads to extend to our hearts. Fr. Roger said Pope Francis talked on Easter that love is triumphant. The truth of God’s mercy has to be in our heart, so our heart believes what our head grasps. We have to internalize it. The column was an introduction to Pope Francis’ teachings on mercy. He said in the book-length Spanish-language biography of Pope Francis, “The Jesuit”, he had talked about Jesus as the One who had saved us, yet so many of us are distant from the experience of gratitude for what Christ did for us. He noted that 74% of Catholics in the US never go to receive the Sacrament of Confession. Never. We’re so supposed to go at least once per year and even more if possible. He said Christ appeared to St. Faustina in Poland in the 1930s as the Divine Mercy to ensure that His mercy isn’t forgotten and that we should be open to it as much as possible. Scot asked Susan as a religious education professional how we can help people go from head-knowledge about Christ to knowing him in our hearts. She said that Pope John Paul II said catechesis is first about formation, secondly about information. It can’t just be facts we know in our head. The Hebrew word for “know” means to be “seated in the heart.” We need to know dogma and doctrine, but we also have to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. When she works with adults in formation, they save the lesson on sacramental reconciliation for the second half of the process. She said the people from her parish who were baptized at the Easter vigil had sins fully forgiven and so on Tuesday she emphasized with them that going forward they need to know that reconciliation is a great gift and an obligation. Scot said Cardinal Dolan said to the bishops last year that the sacrament of the new evangelization is the sacrament of confession and in recent weeks Pope Francis has talked often of the need for Christ’s mercy and how He reaches out to us. He said it’s going to be a frequent message in his papacy that we need to accept Jesus as our savior, which changes the nature of our relationship with God. Greg talked about people who say Catholics are too hung up on sin, but the reality is that if we don’t recognize our sins and what Christ has saved us from, then we have even more reason to be glad and to see what He has done for us. Fr. Roger said Pope Francis’ motto clearly points to the fact that mercy will be a center point of his papacy. His motto “Miserando Atque Eligendo” comes Bl. Venerable Bede and shows that his vocation was born in an experience of God’s mercy, when as a 16-year-old boy he went to confession on the Feast of St. Matthew. Pope Francis told us in his first homily that God will tire in offering his forgiveness, but that we often tire of asking for forgiveness. Scot asked Fr. Roger to give a brief summary of the Divine Mercy devotion and why the second Sunday of Easter is now Divine Mercy Sunday. Fr. Roger said when Jesus appeared to St. Faustina he specifically asked this Sunday to be set aside for Divine Mercy. The Gospel reading for that Sunday deals with Jesus giving the power to bind and loose sins to the apostles and thus the ability to hear confessions. Jesus revealed five practices to St. Faustina five practices to help us grow in the knowledge of Divine Mercy: acknowledging the three o’clock hour each day; praying the Divine Mercy chaplet; venerate the image of Divine Mercy; pray a novena of Divine Mercy leading up to Divine Mercy Sunday; and mark Divine Mercy Sunday with special devotion. Scot noted that the national Shrine for Divine Mercy is just a few hours away in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Greg said it’s run by the Marians of the Immaculate Conception and he’s gone a few times. 2nd segment: Scot said even before the conclave, in addition to the question of who would be the next pope, there was also the question of who the next pope would pick as Secretary of State to begin the reform of the Vatican Curia that so many people say is needed. Catholic News Service has published this article dealing with the question of who Pope Francis will pick. Greg said the Secretary of State is not like the US Secretary of State, but he’s more like a vicar general of the archdiocese or the prime minister in a parliament who does the daily function of governance, while the head of state is a president or monarch. Greg said there’s a lot of talk of the position going to an Italian as a consolation prize that an Italian didn’t become pope. It could also be invaluable because of the close relations with Italy, but also because so much of the curia is an Italian. There’s also a lot of talk of choosing an outsider from outside the curia. Three different Italians being talked about are Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of the commission governing Vatican City State; Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, who served under Cardinal Bertone for four years as the “substitute” in charge of the church’s internal affairs; Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy; and Cardinal Maria Vigano, formerly the second-highest official in Vatican City State and now the pope’s nuncio in Washington, DC. Fr. Roger said after this conclave with its unexpected results, the speculation in the media needs to be tempered in light of that so the fact that these names are mentioned doesn’t mean that’s who Pope Francis is thinking about. The new secretary needs to be able to work closely with Pope Francis and there needs to be a complementary. He needs to be a sign of contradiction, willing to make some people mad in the course of reform. He needs to be very well organized, capable of bringing about a culture that’s organized and efficient. The corruption of the curia isn’t moral, but mainly a corruption of inefficiency. There’s also a corruption of nepotism, where connections and personal trust are more important than a lower bid. The new secretary, as chief foreign minister, must also be capable of working in diplomatic circles. The current secretary, Cardinal Bertone only speaks Spanish or Italian. Scot asked Susan why she thinks this is such a high-profile position where in the recent past most Catholics would have no clue such a position even existed. Susan said there’s an awareness now that people want to know what’s going on. Greg said this decision will be seen as an indicator of the trajectory of Pope Francis’ papacy, especially since there was such emphasis on the need for reform in the run up to the conclave. He said it’s akin to the attention paid to a new US president’s first picks for his cabinet. Fr. Roger said he’s not surprised that the appointment hasn’t come yet. You wouldn’t do that during Holy Week to avoid taking the focus off what’s more important. It’s also a sign he didn’t know exactly who he wanted and wanted time to think about it. Fr. Roger noted that Cardinal Filoni and Cardinal Harvey were on the Pope’s schedule today. He would be surprised if the appointment doesn’t come within a month. Scot said he was surprised to learn that the Pope has never used a computer or even sent an email himself. He said he also admitted that he’s tone-deaf,which is why he doesn’t sing or chant during Mass or prayers. He gets all his news through printed newspapers, which Greg said we all should do.…
Summary of today’s show: Easter is celebrated for a whole Octave (8 days) and we’re continuing to celebrate by looking at Cardinal Seán’s Easter Vigil homily in which he reminds us that the Resurrection is an event that should continue to change our lives. He notes that in the 40 days between Easter and the Ascension, Jesus readies the Apostles for the new reality they are experiencing, and so should we be readied because the tomb is empty, the tabernacle is full, and our hearts are full of laughter. Also, Domenico Bettinelli relates to Scot Landry the hilarious story of his near-disastrous experience of the Easter Vigil at his parish with his family of five children, six and under. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Domenico Bettinelli Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Cardinal Seán’s Easter Vigil homily 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Dom Bettinelli to the show. They started by recalling the Easter Vigil and Dom told the story of the near-disaster of attending Easter Vigil Mass at his home parish with his five kids. The complete story can be found at his blog: * 2nd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Joseph Marinna from Brighton He wins the booklet Divine Mercy Explained by Fr. Michael Gaitley and an audio CD of the Divine Mercy Chaplet from the Congregation of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception in Stockbridge, MA. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $50 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 3rd segment: Scot and Dom then offered commentary on Cardinal Seán’s Easter Vigil homily at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston as summarized below: He started by talking about the medieval custom that a bishop’s homily on Easter should start with a witticism because on Easter we are supposed to laugh at death. Cardinal Seán then read some of his favorite witticisms found on tombstones. Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake Stepped on the gas Instead of the brake. Under the sod and under the trees Lies the body of Jonathan Pease. He is not here, there’s only the pod: Pease shelled out and went to God. But Jesus’ tomb has no epitaph because there is no body in the tomb. The borrowed tomb is empty. And the last thing Magdalene expected was to see the risen Lord. The disciples were hard to convince that Jesus rose from the dead, far from foisting a story on others. The question we need to answer: Why do you seek the living among the dead? So many still look for Jesus among the dead. Some regard him as one of the greatest people of history, but that is not enough. Jesus is not some distant historical figure, merely a hero of the past or a story to be studied. We study Easter to day and each sunday because Jesus is alive. Our redeemer lives, calling us to conversion, discipleship and mission. Like the disciples we too are on a quest to discover meaning in our lives and path that will lead us to God and salvation. When they struck the shepherd the sheep were scattered on Good Friday. Jesus was crucified and the followers dispersed into hiding. On Easter, the Good Shepherd returns to gather the flock. The Gospel of the 40 Days: Jesus impresses on the disciples the new modality in which he will be present to them everywhere in the world and for all time. One of the ways is in the sacraments. On Easter, the Risen Lord breathes on the apostles and gives them the Holy Spirit for the sacrament of penance. He tells them to go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And they recognize Jesus in the Eucharistic gesture in the breaking of the bread at Emmaus. Jesus disappears but the Eucharist remains. The empty tomb was but the first hint that the resurrection took place. Far more important were the apparitions that took place during the 40 days of easter in which they were able to eat with Jesus and hear his instructions. Only now do the disciples begin to understand their mission and vocation and it is Pentecost when the Church is born. Faith in the resurrection was connected to the work of the Holy Spirit that inspired them to write down the Gospels and the New Testament. 150,000 adults throughout the US were baptized at the Easter vigil. The extended readings that recall the great events of salvation history, the blessing of fire and water, all focus us on the most important event in history, the Resurrection. Today the Church calls on all of us to renew our baptismal promises, recommitting ourselves to our membership in Christ’s family, the Church. No other event in history has marked us a deeply or as permanently. It is because Jesus is risen that we are who we are. the commercialization of our culture has confused people to be confused about their identity and their worth. Eating disorders tell women they can never be thin enough. Millions of images challenge us that we aren’t good enough. Advertising tell us that we have an inadequate or poor image and we need to be made over for a price. Our mission is to be beautiful and feel good, not to be holy and remake the world. The cartoonist Jules Feiffer made a cartoon featuring a boy named Danny who said he’d never wanted to be himself but like another boy named Billie, so he imitated him, but he was imitating someone else, and so on and so on. Archbishop Tutu once said he always preaches to his people that God loves them, because the entire culture tells them that they are unloveable. Each one is a child of God. Baptism is a basic, irreversible identity that bestows on us the dignity of being God’s child. It resists redefining by culture. It is our truest and lasting identity as children of God and disciples of Jesus Christ. At Jesus baptism in the Jordan, the voice of the Father was heard: “This is my beloved Son.” Our baptism was the same. We have been defined forever as God’s children. No one can take that from us. We have been given the mission of baptism, to do the works of Christ, to continue his mission to build a civilization of love, to manifest the merciful faith of the Father, to serve the poor and needy, to invite other to a life of community and discipleship. We should be reminded of our responsibility to welcome and invite people into the Church. We stand before the empty tomb and rejoice that the Holy Sepulchre is empty, the tabernacle is full and we can still laugh at death.…
Summary of today’s show: Today, April 2, marks the anniversary of the death of Blessed Pope John Paul II in 2005 and Scot Landry, Michael Lavigne, and Domenico Bettinelli discuss the legacy of the late Holy Father for the “John Paul generation,” including some of their personal memories of the pope they knew for their whole lives. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Michael Lavigne and Domenico Bettinelli Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Reflections on Blessed John Paul II 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and noted that today is the anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II and we’ll talk about the impact of this Pope on what’s called the John Paul Generation. Scot welcomed Michael Lavigne and Domenico Bettinelli to the show. He said in the past couple months we’ve talked about Pope Benedict and Pope Francis a lot but there hasn’t been a lot of mention of John Paul and we’ll talk about him today. Scot, Michael, and Dom first related the times they first became aware of or encountered Pope John Paul II. Michael did through the book “Crossing the Threshold of Hope”; Dom remembered the visit of Pope John Paul II to Boston in 1979; and Scot remembered when Pope John Paul II was elected and how joyous his Polish neighbors in Lowell were at the election. They talked about his encounter with more than 1 billion people during his pontificate and the millions of who came to see him in Rome. Scot, Dom, and Michael all talked about the saints that Blessed John Paul named, including Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. 2nd segment: Scot discussed his three personal encounters with John Paul II as did Michael. Dom then talked about the story of his brother John and his family meeting the Holy Father, especially his two-year-old nephew. They discussed John Paul as the youth minister par excellence and how he preached to all as if they were themselves youth with profound hope. Scot and Michael and Dom discussed their favorite works by John Paul II: , , , and . The latter was on the proper formation of priests.…
Summary of today’s show: On this Easter Monday, Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor look at Pope Francis’ two major Easter messages for us, his Easter vigil homily and his Urbi et Orbi Easter Sunday message. Pope Francis calls us to seek out the meaning of the Easter event for ourselves, to remember that Christ died and rose for us, to be grateful for the newness of life and grace we have been given, and to seek out, work for, and pray for peace in the world, especially for those suffering the slavery of human trafficking. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Pope Francis’ Easter message of Peace, Gratitude, and Remembrance 1st segment: Scot Landry wished everyone a Happy Easter. Today, Scot and Fr. Chris O’Connor will discuss Pope Francis’ message over Easter. Fr. Chris said Easter sunday was great and even the weather cooperated. Besides St. John’s Seminary, Fr. Chris celebrated Good Friday at St. John’s in Winthrop and on Sunday in Winthrop, East Boston, and Lincoln. They discussed the big crowds and how we should pray for all those who came this weekend who may not be attending Mass weekly that they come back. Fr. Chris said the tradition on Easter Monday in Poland is that people dump water on each other, and he said it has nothing to do with April Fools Day. He added that on Spy Wednesday, last Wednesday, Polish Catholics throw a dummy from the church steeple, representing Judas, and the youth kick the dummy around the town and finally dump it in the closest body of water. Scot said his focus today is thinking about how his life is different today after going through Lent and the Triduum. He should be different than he was before the beginning of Lent. Fr. Chris said we hear the expression that we are an Easter people, a people filled with Christ’s love and joy. We still carry all the same crosses and concerns we did a week ago, but we remind ourselves that Christ conquered all crosses. He said we need to remember that St. Mary Magdalene found the tomb empty. Reflecting on the fact of Christ’s resurrection, how can we not be an Easter people? Scot said there were a lot of changed spiritual and mental habits over Lent and there’s no reason he can’t continue them. He said it might be a good habit on each hour to remember and say, “Christ is truly risen, Alleluia” as a way to have this Easter joy. Scot said as Easter people we reflect on the grace and joy of Easter. Fr. Chris said when we say Alleluia, we are saying Praise the Lord. Saying that over and over changes us and focuses us. 2nd segment: Scot said today we are considering Pope Francis’ Easter Vigil homily and Urbi et Orbi message. First the homily: Dear Brothers and Sisters, In the Gospel of this radiant night of the Easter Vigil, we first meet the women who go the tomb of Jesus with spices to anoint his body (cf. Lk 24:1-3). They go to perform an act of compassion, a traditional act of affection and love for a dear departed person, just as we would. They had followed Jesus, they had listened to his words, they had felt understood by him in their dignity and they had accompanied him to the very end, to Calvary and to the moment when he was taken down from the cross. We can imagine their feelings as they make their way to the tomb: a certain sadness, sorrow that Jesus had left them, he had died, his life had come to an end. Life would now go on as before. Yet the women continued to feel love, the love for Jesus which now led them to his tomb. But at this point, something completely new and unexpected happens, something which upsets their hearts and their plans, something which will upset their whole life: they see the stone removed from before the tomb, they draw near and they do not find the Lord’s body. It is an event which leaves them perplexed, hesitant, full of questions: “What happened?”, “What is the meaning of all this?” (cf. Lk 24:4). Doesn’t the same thing also happen to us when something completely new occurs in our everyday life? We stop short, we don’t understand, we don’t know what to do. Newness often makes us fearful, including the newness which God brings us, the newness which God asks of us. We are like the Apostles in the Gospel: often we would prefer to hold on to our own security, to stand in front of a tomb, to think about someone who has died, someone who ultimately lives on only as a memory, like the great historical figures from the past. We are afraid of God’s surprises; we are afraid of God’s surprises! He always surprises us! Dear brothers and sisters, let us not be closed to the newness that God wants to bring into our lives! Are we often weary, disheartened and sad? Do we feel weighed down by our sins? Do we think that we won’t be able to cope? Let us not close our hearts, let us not lose confidence, let us never give up: there are no situations which God cannot change, there is no sin which he cannot forgive if only we open ourselves to him. Scot said it’s a beautiful beginning to the homily, connecting the Gospel to our own experiences of God surprising us. Fr. Chris compared it to losing a loved one, being dazed and confused, and yet life continues to unfold around us. Here’s he’s saying God has a new plan for us. He said Easter grace challenges us to live in a new way. Scot said the Holy Father asks us a question that we can pray on: What is the meaning of all this? How many times in our lives might we be called to step back and pray over that. Maybe we had a wonderful weekend with family or maybe we had the opposite. Maybe we were alone, maybe we’ve lost someone since last Easter, maybe family gatherings are fraught with uncomfortable moments. We can pray to have understanding and peace in order to do what God calls us to do. Fr. Chris said the pope points out that God is working on us through the Holy Spirit. He says let us not lose confidence, never give up. There are no sins that cannot be forgiven if we turn it over to him. Perseverance is the most important word for us here. But let us return to the Gospel, to the women, and take one step further. They find the tomb empty, the body of Jesus is not there, something new has happened, but all this still doesn’t tell them anything certain: it raises questions; it leaves them confused, without offering an answer. And suddenly there are two men in dazzling clothes who say: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; but has risen” (Lk 24:5-6). What was a simple act, done surely out of love – going to the tomb – has now turned into an event, a truly life-changing event. Nothing remains as it was before, not only in the lives of those women, but also in our own lives and in the history of mankind. Jesus is not dead, he has risen, he is alive! He does not simply return to life; rather, he is life itself, because he is the Son of God, the living God (cf. Num 14:21-28; Deut 5:26; Josh 3:10). Jesus no longer belongs to the past, but lives in the present and is projected towards the future; he is the everlasting “today” of God. This is how the newness of God appears to the women, the disciples and all of us: as victory over sin, evil and death, over everything that crushes life and makes it seem less human. And this is a message meant for me and for you, dear sister, dear brother. How often does Love have to tell us: Why do you look for the living among the dead? Our daily problems and worries can wrap us up in ourselves, in sadness and bitterness… and that is where death is. That is not the place to look for the One who is alive! Let the risen Jesus enter your life, welcome him as a friend, with trust: he is life! If up till now you have kept him at a distance, step forward. He will receive you with open arms. If you have been indifferent, take a risk: you won’t be disappointed. If following him seems difficult, don’t be afraid, trust him, be confident that he is close to you, he is with you and he will give you the peace you are looking for and the strength to live as he would have you do. Scot said he likes the statements, the calls at the end: If to now you have kept Him at a distance, step forward, and He will receive you with open arms. It’s like children running to their parents. So many of us have kept God at a distance, thinking of him not as a Father, Brother, and personal Savior. Fr. Chris thinks of the Divine Mercy image with Christ coming before us with the rays extending from Him and the words, “Jesus, I Trust in you.” Jesus is alive and He desires our good. To let Him in close, He will make demands of us, like changing parts of our life that are comfortable, but shouldn’t be. Another call was to take a risk because you won’t be disappointed. Scot recalled the Carrie Underwood song, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”. So many of us want to remain in control of our own lives, but we need to let go a little bit and let him guide and push us forward. We actually put our trust into practice and ask Christ to lead us where we need to be for the rest of our lives. Fr. Chris said, “If God is distant, guess who moved.” God is always there calling to us and even if we don’t feel it, that doesn’t mean that Christ isn’t present. Scot asked us to reflect if we’re keeping Jesus at a distance and whether we’re willing to take a risk. There is one last little element that I would like to emphasize in the Gospel for this Easter Vigil. The women encounter the newness of God. Jesus has risen, he is alive! But faced with empty tomb and the two men in brilliant clothes, their first reaction is one of fear: “they were terrified and bowed their faced to the ground”, Saint Luke tells us – they didn’t even have courage to look. But when they hear the message of the Resurrection, they accept it in faith. And the two men in dazzling clothes tell them something of crucial importance: “Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee… And they remembered his words” (Lk 24:6,8). They are asked to remember their encounter with Jesus, to remember his words, his actions, his life; and it is precisely this loving remembrance of their experience with the Master that enables the women to master their fear and to bring the message of the Resurrection to the Apostles and all the others (cf. Lk 24:9). To remember what God has done and continues to do for me, for us, to remember the road we have travelled; this is what opens our hearts to hope for the future. May we learn to remember everything that God has done in our lives. On this radiant night, let us invoke the intercession of the Virgin Mary, who treasured all these events in her heart (cf. Lk 2:19,51) and ask the Lord to give us a share in his Resurrection. May he open us to the newness that transforms. May he make us men and women capable of remembering all that he has done in our own lives and in the history of our world. May he help us to feel his presence as the one who is alive and at work in our midst. And may he teach us each day not to look among the dead for the Living One. Amen. Scot said he thinks about the headline that could be on this homily and “Remember” could be the one-word headline. We need to remember actual grace and actual facts in how God transforms us. Fr. Chris said his word would be “Gratitude”. He thinks both go together and we can’t be Christians without being grateful to God for the fact God walked among us, was like us in all things but sin, suffered, died, and rose again to open the gates of heaven to us that had been closed. We should be grateful to his willingness to interject Himself into our lives. We give thanks to God every day. The word “Eucharist” itself means thanksgiving. Scot said Christ is fully alive today and if we step forward today and are willing to take the next step, Christ is waiting to give us a spiritual “hug”. Fr. Chris thought about the “newness that transforms” and thinks of the sacraments and how God meets us in these all the time. There is newness for First Communicants, newness for Confirmandi, newness for those coming into the Church this past weekend, the newness for a married couple. The newness transforms us from dead people into an Easter people. 3rd segment: Scot said now we’ll discuss Pope Francis’ Urbi et Orbi message, “to the City and the World” given in Rome on Easter sunday at noon. This is a traditional message each Easter. Dear brothers and sisters in Rome and throughout the world, Happy Easter! What a joy it is for me to announce this message: Christ is risen! I would like it to go out to every house and every family, especially where the suffering is greatest, in hospitals, in prisons … Most of all, I would like it to enter every heart, for it is there that God wants to sow this Good News: Jesus is risen, there is hope for you, you are no longer in the power of sin, of evil! Love has triumphed, mercy has been victorious! We too, like the women who were Jesus’ disciples, who went to the tomb and found it empty, may wonder what this event means (cf. Lk 24:4). What does it mean that Jesus is risen? It means that the love of God is stronger than evil and death itself; it means that the love of God can transform our lives and let those desert places in our hearts bloom. Scot said the great Christian writers have talked about the spiritual desert where God calls us to the living water that is Jesus Christ.; Fr. Chris said St. John of the Cross talked about the dark night of the soul and that Mother Teresa talked about how she experienced God’s love only once in her life, but it was enough to move her and motivate her for her whole life. Fr. Chris said if we don’t feel the emotion, we just need to look at the cross and remind ourselves that He did that for me. He noted that the Pope said he wants to go to every home, hospital, prison to bring the Easter joy. Most of all he would like to enter every human heart. But Jesus is only going to enter our hearts if we invite him in. Fr, Chris recalled the Pope’s visit to the juvenile prison on Holy Thursday where he told a young man that he came because he felt it on his heart. The Holy Father loves the poor, but most of all he loves Christ. Scot said we should pray for the Lord to enter our heart and transform it. This same love for which the Son of God became man and followed the way of humility and self-giving to the very end, down to hell - to the abyss of separation from God - this same merciful love has flooded with light the dead body of Jesus and transfigured it, has made it pass into eternal life. Jesus did not return to his former life, to earthly life, but entered into the glorious life of God and he entered there with our humanity, opening us to a future of hope. This is what Easter is: it is the exodus, the passage of human beings from slavery to sin and evil to the freedom of love and goodness. Because God is life, life alone, and his glory is the living man (cf. Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, 4,20,5-7). Dear brothers and sisters, Christ died and rose once for all, and for everyone, but the power of the Resurrection, this passover from slavery to evil to the freedom of goodness, must be accomplished in every age, in our concrete existence, in our everyday lives. How many deserts, even today, do human beings need to cross! Above all, the desert within, when we have no love for God or neighbour, when we fail to realize that we are guardians of all that the Creator has given us and continues to give us. God’s mercy can make even the driest land become a garden, can restore life to dry bones (cf. Ez 37:1-14). Scot said the Pope is talking about the Exodus reading in which God delivered the Jewish people from slavery through the Red Sea and the wilderness to the promised land. Fr. Chris said in Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol we see a radical change in Scrooge when he realizes his love for neighbor. It is through charity for neighbor that we express our love for God and experience a radical newness. Scot said to transform the world, we need to transform ourselves. So this is the invitation which I address to everyone: Let us accept the grace of Christ’s Resurrection! Let us be renewed by God’s mercy, let us be loved by Jesus, let us enable the power of his love to transform our lives too; and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish. And so we ask the risen Jesus, who turns death into life, to change hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, war into peace. Yes, Christ is our peace, and through him we implore peace for all the world. Peace for the Middle East, and particularly between Israelis and Palestinians, who struggle to find the road of agreement, that they may willingly and courageously resume negotiations to end a conflict that has lasted all too long. Peace in Iraq, that every act of violence may end, and above all for dear Syria, for its people torn by conflict and for the many refugees who await help and comfort. How much blood has been shed! And how much suffering must there still be before a political solution to the crisis will be found? Peace for Africa, still the scene of violent conflicts. In Mali, may unity and stability be restored; in Nigeria, where attacks sadly continue, gravely threatening the lives of many innocent people, and where great numbers of persons, including children, are held hostage by terrorist groups. Peace in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in the Central African Republic, where many have been forced to leave their homes and continue to live in fear. Peace in Asia, above all on the Korean peninsula: may disagreements be overcome and a renewed spirit of reconciliation grow. Peace in the whole world, still divided by greed looking for easy gain, wounded by the selfishness which threatens human life and the family, selfishness that continues in human trafficking, the most extensive form of slavery in this twenty-first century. Peace to the whole world, torn apart by violence linked to drug trafficking and by the iniquitous exploitation of natural resources! Peace to this our Earth! Made the risen Jesus bring comfort to the victims of natural disasters and make us responsible guardians of creation. Dear brothers and sisters, to all of you who are listening to me, from Rome and from all over of the world, I address the invitation of the Psalm: “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; for his steadfast love endures for ever. Let Israel say: ‘His steadfast love endures for ever’” (Ps 117:1-2). Dear brothers and sisters, who have come from all over the world to this Square, the heart of Christianity, and all of you joining us via communications media, I renew my wishes for a Happy Easter! Bring to your families and your nations the message of joy of hope and peace that each year is powerfully renewed on this day. May the Risen Lord, who defeated sin and death, support us all especially the weakest and those most in need. Thank you for your presence and the witness of your faith. A thought and a particular thanks for the gift of these beautiful flowers from the Netherlands. I affectionately repeat to all of you: May the Risen Christ guide you and all humanity on the paths of justice, love and peace! Scot noted that Pope Francis repeated that human trafficking is the most extensive form of slavery in the twenty-first century and like Pope John Paul’s desire to end the Cold War, this may be Pope Francis’ priority of justice. Fr. Chris noted the emphasis on the Middle East and Africa as especially needing peace. He’s calling the entire world, not just Catholics, to pay attention and pray and work to end these conflicts. Scot said he has gratitude to God that we live in a country that has been blessed with peace more so than many other countries.…
1 TGCL #0497: Pope Francis meets Benedict; Stays in his simple quarters; His pre-conclave remarks to the cardinals; Holy Thursday and Good Friday 55:32
Due to some production technical difficulty, the first 1.5 minutes of the show were not recorded today. We apologize for the inconvenience. Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Gregory Tracy review the headlines of the week, including Pope Francis’ historic meeting with his predecessor Benedict XVI; his decision not to move into the Apostolic Palace, but to stay in the simple quarters of the Domus Sancta Martae; his pre-conclave address to the General Congregation of cardinals; the annual recognition of two Boston priests; and reflections on Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Pope Francis meets Benedict; Stays in his simple quarters; His pre-conclave remarks to the cardinals; Holy Thursday and Good Friday 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show as we begin the Sacred Triduum with Holy Thursday. Scot welcomed Gregory Tracy to the show and noted that as an adult convert he came into the Church at the Easter Vigil. Scot said the only Mass on Holy Thursday in this diocese is in the evening at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Susan Abbott spoke about her preparations for the Sacred Triduum as well. Scot said the world’s attention is still focused on Pope Francis. He said last Saturday Pope Francis traveled to Castel Gandolfo to meet with Benedict XVI and he commented how frail Benedict looked. He said they prayed together in the chapel and had a private meeting. Greg said no other pope has had a predecessor to turn to ever like this. He said in essence, it’s like when a bishop or archbishop has a living predecessor around so it’s not completely unusual. Yet, it’s good to have someone to talk to about a unique circumstance of being pope and the reports say they have talked several times on the phone. Greg said that Benedict looks so frail that he wonders if he was keeping up a brave front, keeping private how frail he was. He also noted how when they prayed, Pope Francis didn’t take his place of primacy in the chapel, but said that as brothers they would kneel next to each other. He said without the secular papal monarchy of the past, it lets him leave behind many of the trappings of monarchy. Scot said another conspicuous element of the meeting in the photos was a big box of papers sitting between them that hasn’t been explained. Some reports have said that it was a 300-page memo that Benedict wrote to Pope Francis, like a transition memo. Susan Abbott repeated that it was startling to see the frailty of Benedict and that it was a special moment between the two men when they knelt together. Scot said Pope Francis didn’t have much time to jump into Holy Week after being elected even as it is the busiest week of the year. It’s also been announced that Pope Francis has chosen not to move into the Apostolic Palace, where popes have lived since 1903, but to stay in the Domus Sancta Martae. Scot said he was surprised he was going to live in the Domus. Susan said he had said he wanted to live in community and that many parish priests say themselves that living along is very lonely and it must be even more so for the pope. She said a friend has stayed there and reported that it is comfortable but simple. Scot noted that Pope Francis has celebrated Mass there with Vatican gardeners and cleaners and wants to continue to say public Masses. Greg Tracy reported that Antonio Enrique, the editor of the Pilot, once stayed in Room 201 of the Domus, the suite where the Pope is now living. Greg said Antonio was traveling with Cardinal Seán and the other rooms were all filled up and this was the only room left even though it wasn’t supposed to be given out. Greg said there’s a small receiving room with a desk and chair, about the size of a medium-sized office. Right off that is a bedroom and bathroom and that’s it. Very sparse and simple. Scot said we also have to have Fr. Jonathan Gaspar on the show to talk about how he ran into Pope Francis in the Domus and had one of the first private audiences with the Holy Father. Greg said it fits with the personality of the Pope that we’ve learned about, which is that he doesn’t want to be cut off from the common man. He said his concern is perhaps for the Pope’s security. Scot said when Pope Francis was given the tour of the Apostolic Palace he was heard to remark that 300 people could live there. Greg did point out that the Pope will continue to work in the Apostolic Palace each day and give the Angelus address each Sunday from its window. Scot predicted that Pope Francis will be living in the Apostolic Palace within two years for security reasons and for the sake of his successors who will live there one day. In the next story, before the conclave, Cardinal Bergoglio gave a talk to the General Congregations like the other cardinals. Afterward, the cardinal from Havana received the notes he spoke from and after the conclave asked Pope Francis to publish them and received permission. In it, he made four points about evangelization. Evangelizing implies apostolic zeal. Evangelizing presupposes in the Church the “parresia” of coming out from itself. The Church is called to come out from itself and to go to the peripheries, not only geographical, but also existential: those of the mystery of sin, of suffering, of injustice, those of ignorance and of the absence of faith, those of thought, those of every form of misery. When the Church does not come out from itself to evangelize it becomes self-referential and gets sick (one thinks of the woman hunched over upon herself in the Gospel). The evils that, in the passing of time, afflict the ecclesiastical institutions have a root in self-referentiality, in a sort of theological narcissism. In Revelation, Jesus says that he is standing at the threshold and calling. Evidently the text refers to the fact that he stands outside the door and knocks to enter… But at times I think that Jesus may be knocking from the inside, that we may let him out. The self-referential Church presumes to keep Jesus Christ within itself and not let him out. The Church, when it is self-referential, without realizing it thinks that it has its own light; it stops being the “mysterium lunae” and gives rise to that evil which is so grave, that of spiritual worldliness (according to De Lubac, the worst evil into which the Church can fall): that of living to give glory to one another. To simplify, there are two images of the Church: the evangelizing Church that goes out from itself; that of the “Dei Verbum religiose audiens et fidenter proclamans” [the Church that devoutly listens to and faithfully proclaims the Word of God - editor’s note], or the worldly Church that lives in itself, of itself, for itself. This should illuminate the possible changes and reforms to be realized for the salvation of souls. Thinking of the next Pope: a man who, through the contemplation of Jesus Christ and the adoration of Jesus Christ, may help the Church to go out from itself toward the existential peripheries, that may help it to be the fecund mother who lives “by the sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing.” Scot said it can be seen to criticize the Church today of looking inward to much rather than outward to where people live, in their minds and physically. This must have influenced some of the cardinals in electing him. Greg said he didn’t see it as a criticism. Yes, the Church always has human flaws and frailty, but when there have been problems with the Church we have tended to look to our own interests and our own well-being, rather than to turn outward to go out to the whole world. Scot said Christianity is a movement of coming to Christ and going out into the world, never to be stagnant. Susan said she loves the repetition by the then-Cardinal about “sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing” in the opening and closing of the address. Susan said she was talking to Fr. Paul Soper recently who reflected that the apostles were cowering in fear in the upper room, but when the Holy Spirit came they went out with apostolic zeal and never returned. Scot reflected that many cardinals who weren’t in the 2005 conclave didn’t know Cardinal Bergoglio and so perhaps what he said in the General Congregations made the cardinals think he was the right man for the papacy at this time. Pope Francis said in his Chrism Mass homily to Rome’s priests is that he wants them to go out to where the people are, not just to stay in their churches and rectories. In Buenos Aires, he had encouraged priests to say Mass in places where the people are if they found it difficult to get to the church. The Church needs to go out and find the lost sheep rather than wait for them to come back to the parish. 2nd segment: Scot said earlier this week, Cardinal Seán celebrated Palm Sunday Mass at the cathedral and on Tuesday, the Chrism Mass, along with hundreds of priests and many Catholic school students. Scot said after the Chrism Mass, there is typically the announcement of honors for two priests. Fr. Arnold Colletti, who has served 51 years, is pastor in Lexington, and Fr. John Sheridan, pastor of St. James, Salem, who will be moving to Middleboro-Lakeville-Rochester as part of Phase 1 of Disciples in Mission. Scot read the words of Cardinal Seán: “We honor a couple as a way of saying thanks to all of you for your generous service of God’s people, fur the selfless ministry that makes the Good Shepherd’s love: and pastoral care present and visible among us.” “I thank you for all of your support, fur your prayers. I am so proud co be your bishop and so lucky to be your bishop, and hope that all of you will have a glorious Holy Week. Know that each day during Holy Week, and every day of the year, I lift all of you up in prayer. God bless all of you. Thank you for being Catholic priests,” Cardinal O’Malley said Greg noted that the honors are not for particular acts, but that they have lived the priesthood faithfully and that the honor could go to many more priests. Scot said the priests who win the awards are always holy, happy, and healthy in terms of their relationships with their parishes. Greg noted that Fr. Colletti joked that the award he really wanted was to be the next Archbishop of Boston. Scot said tonight will be the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. On this night, Jesus instituted the priesthood and the Eucharist. He taught us all what it means to be a disciple, not in places of honor, but in places of service. He noted that the liturgy doesn’t end, but that the Eucharist is processed for silent adoration in a place of recession. Greg said growing up he had neither priesthood nor Eucharist and so he has come to understand what a great gift these are. He was given a gift that had always been there but he had never known. Scot said tomorrow is Good Friday, which we call Good because we recognize that through the cross we have received eternal joy. We can venerate that cross ourselves on Good Friday. Susan said we can’t take a shortcut to the empty tomb, nor should we stay fixed on Good Friday. Tomorrow’s The Good Catholic Life will be pre-empted by EWTN’s coverage of Good Friday at the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.…
Summary of today’s show: The climactic moment of not just Holy Week but of the whole liturgical year comes at the Easter Vigil, a liturgy filled with all the richest signs, symbols, and mysteries of the Christian faith. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams talk with Fr. Paul Soper about the four distinct parts of the Vigil Mass: the Liturgy of Light, the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgy of Baptism, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. If you’ve never been to the Easter vigil, you owe it to yourself to experience the fullness of the liturgical life of the Catholic faith. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Fr. Paul Soper Today’s topics: Exploring the Mysteries of the Easter Vigil 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and noted that today marks the last day of Lent. Fr. Matt said he thinks of it as Spy Wednesday because the readings focus on Judas’ betrayal. Scot said today’s show will focus on Easter Vigil which he considers the high point of the Church year. This Mass is truly special and we will discuss it with the hope that people who haven’t been or haven’t been in a long time will attend. Fr. Matt said this Mass is our Super Bowl. If you ever wanted to know what it means to be fully Catholic, this liturgy is the one. Scot and Fr. Matt welcomed Fr. Paul Soper to the show. Scot asked him what he loves about the Easter vigil. He said he loves the richness of the symbolism, like a giant bonfire or lots of flowing water for baptisms, the Easter candle, the Exsultet. The readings of Easter night are the best of the whole year. The Easter Vigil has four liturgies. Fr. Paul said it begins with the Liturgy of Light, lighting the fire, blessing the flame, lighting the candles. The liturgy of the Word is seven readings and psalms, the Gloria, a New Testament reading, the Gospel and the homily. Then the Liturgy of Baptism, whether for new people entering the Church or people renewing their baptismal vows. Finally, the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Scot said his kids always sit in the back pew for the Liturgy of Light to get the candles lit first and pass it on to others. Fr. Paul said he loves the big bonfire to represent the love of God bursting into the world, like the stone covering the entrance to Christ’s tomb being blasted off at the Resurrection. Our spreading of the Gospel bursts into a world enshrouded in darkness. Scot talked of the new Paschal Candle that is blessed at the Easter Vigil and how at every funeral over the next year, the casket will be placed next to it. Fr. Paul said death is the fulfillment of the promises of baptism and so all the symbols of baptism are present, like the candle, baptismal water, the white shroud. At the end of the procession with the Paschal Candle, the Deacon or priest chants the Exsultet. Fr. Matt said he’s chanted the Exsultet once as a deacon and then once as a parochial vicar. He talked about practicing it over and over again before his first time so he could sing and pray it from his heart. Scot said the Exsultet is something to think and pray about during the Triduum. Fr. Paul said it is a prayer calling all of heaven and earth to exult in the beautiful events of this night and then focuses on the Easter Candle itself. They then played the Exsultet as sung by Fr. Jonathan Gaspar, Director of the Office of Worship. Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven, exult, let Angel ministers of God exult, let the trumpet of salvation sound aloud our mighty King’s triumph! Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with light from her eternal King, let all comers of the earth be glad, knowing an end to gloom and darkness. Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice, arrayed with the lightning of his glory, let this holy building shake with joy, filled with the mighty voices of the peoples (Therefore, dearest friends, standing in the awesome glory of this holy light, invoke with me, I ask you, the mercy of God almighty, that he, who has been pleased to number me, though unworthy, among the Levites, may pour into me his light unshadowed, that I may sing this candle’s perfect praises). (V. The Lord be with you. R. And with your spirit.) V. Lift up your hearts. R. We lift them up to the Lord. V. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. R. It is right and just. It is truly right and just, with ardent love of mind and heart and with devoted service of our voice, to acclaim our God invisible, the almighty Father, and Jesus Christ, our Lord, his Son, his Only Begotten. Who for our sake paid Adam’s debt to the eternal Father, and, pouring out his own dear Blood, wiped clean the record of our ancient sinfulness. These, then, are the feasts of Passover, in which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb, whose Blood anoints the doorposts of believers. This is the night, when once you led our forebears, Israel’s children, from slavery in Egypt and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea. This is the night that with a pillar of fire banished the darkness of sin. This is the night that even now, throughout the world, sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices and from the gloom of sin, leading them to grace and joining them to his holy ones. This is the night, when Christ broke the prison-bars of death and rose victorious from the underworld. Our birth would have been no gain, had we not been redeemed. O wonder of your humble care for us! O love, O charity beyond all telling, to ransom a slave you gave away your Son! O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ! O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer! Scot interrupted this first part. He said the last two couplets are his favorite part. Fr. Paul said it’s a starkly honest theology in the midst of this beautiful poetry. We’ve done deadly things and are living under a sentence of condemnation and so what we need is someone to die for us. We’re not afraid to put our history and metaphysics in the same package. Scot added that he loves the repetition of “this is the night”, which reminds us that this was one night that changed the world. This isn’t a myth or fable. It’s a real night from 2,000 years ago. Fr. Matt recalls attending an Easter vigil as an altar server, yet not understanding the Easter joy. It wasn’t until his early 20s that the experience of this holy night was radically changed forever for him. As we come to the point of the darkness of Good Friday and emptiness of Holy Saturday, the light burst forth in the Vigil and changes everything. He said the holy building shakes with joy because it is filled with mighty voices of the people. Fr. Paul said one doesn’t become that by possessing an idea. The early Church were witnesses to an event that changed the world. Fr. Paul said he has a particular fondness for the description of the Easter candle as the work of bees. All of creation has worked together to strive so that God can be glorified. But if I don’t go, then their work is somehow in vain. If I go, it fulfills not just me, but them and what they were created to be. O truly blessed night, worthy alone to know the time and hour when Christ rose from the underworld! This is the night of which it is written: The night shall be as bright as day, dazzling is the night for me, and full of gladness. The sanctifying power of this night dispels wickedness, washes faults away, restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners, drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty. On this, your night of grace, O holy Father, accept this candle, a solemn offering, the work of bees and of your servants’ hands, an evening sacrifice of praise, this gift from your most holy Church. But now we know the praises of this pillar, which glowing fire ignites for God’s honor, a fire into many flames divided, yet never dimmed by sharing of its light, for it is fed by melting wax, drawn out by mother bees to build a torch so precious. O truly blessed night, when things of heaven are wed to those of earth, and divine to the human. Therefore, O Lord, we pray you that this candle, hallowed to the honor of your name, may persevere undimmed, to overcome the darkness of this night. Receive it as a pleasing fragrance, and let it mingle with the lights of heaven. May this flame be found still burning by the Morning Star: the one Morning Star who never sets, Christ your Son, who, coming back from death’s domain, has shed his peaceful light on humanity, and lives and reigns for ever and ever. R. Amen. Fr. Matt said his favorite part was that our birth would have been no gain if we weren’t redeemed. Jesus was born to die so we could have eternal life. And then: O wonder of your humble care for us! O love, O charity beyond all telling, to ransom a slave you gave away your Son! For a biological dad to give away your son in order that everyone could have life would speak to a profound love. That is the love of Jesus Christ and the image of the unseen God. Scot said after the Exsultet is seven Old Testament readings, although parishes can have 3 if they choose. Scot said these 7 readings are the essential readings of Salvation History. Fr. Paul said the readings are from Genesis, Exodus, Baruch, Ezekiel, Isaiah. We start by hearing that God created the world and it was good, which is not always obvious to people. The created world is not evil. The next is the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham showing his faithfulness to God. God stops the sacrifice and will give His own Son for the sacrifice. The third reading is the passage through the Red Sea, which is filled with drama. This evokes the sacrament of baptism. When you go under water it’s like you died and are entombed and then you come up it’s like being alive again. The passage of Israel through the Red Sea is a rebirth. It’s directly connected to the cross. He noted that the Easter vigil is the normative time for baptism. Now we have two passages from Isaiah which have promises made to the people of Israel in exile. There is no temple, no sacrifice, no priesthood anymore. Isaiah tells the people that God hasn’t forgotten them. Then the second Isaiah passage asks why people are running after things that can’t satisfy. The reading from Baruch speaks of the fountain of wisdom and then Ezekiel speaks of a new heart and a new spirit. Scot said at this point we hear the Gloria, which is after the Old Testament readings, but before the New Testament readings. This is unlike other Masses. Fr. Paul said this liturgy reminds us that this moment of the Resurrection is the pivot point of all human history. This is the moment when the church’s lights come on, the flowers are brought out, trumpets are played. The liturgy is the foretaste and promise of heaven. Before it was dark and we were listening in hope and now it is after and we are experiencing the glory. The Epistle to the Romans talks of baptism and the Gospel talks of the discovery of the empty tomb. This is followed by the baptismal liturgy. Fr. Paul said the first experience of the Christian community of the Resurrection was the empty tomb. The Resurrection was not just a spiritual phenomenon, but it was much more. Jesus was dead and now He’s alive. It’s clear that the burial clothes were thrown aside, unlike Lazarus who had been wrapped in burial clothes. Lazarus will die again, but Jesus will never die again. Death has been vanquished. Sin and death are the same reality and the vanquishing of one is the vanquishing of the other. The final power of sin over us has been broken. Scot said as a cradle Catholic, he didn’t choose baptism, first communion, or confirmation, so he loves to see adults who have themselves come to understand the truths of the Catholic faith and choosing to become Catholic. It makes him ask if how he’s choosing to live his own faith. Scot said we renew many of the baptismal promises and things of our profession of faith which is especially significant this year during this Year of Faith. Following all this, we have the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Fr. Paul said the Eucharist derives its meaning from the Easter mysteries. St. John shows this in the scene when the soldier pierces Christ’s side and blood and water is poured out for us. Fr. Matt thought about this as the coming together as the family of God, fed at the table of the Lord, and sent forth to bring that our other brothers and sister so they can take part next year.…
Summary of today’s show: The Chrism Mass on Tuesday of Holy Week each year is one of the biggest single gatherings of the priests of the Archdiocese of Boston each year and in it Cardinal Seán often gives a very strong homily to encourage his priests. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor were joined today by Fr. Bill Kelly and Fr. Joe Scorzello to talk about the importance of the Mass to the priests and Cardinal Seán’s reflections on the conclave and comparing it to the openness required of priests who give themselves over to the Holy Spirit. Also, Scot talks to the boys from the Archdiocesan Choir School about their experience singing at the Mass. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Bill Kelly and Fr. Joe Scorzello Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Chrism Mass, the Choir School, and Cardinal Seán’s homily 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross where Cardinal Seán celebrated the annual Chrism Mass with the priests of the Archdiocese. the Cardinal gives a significant homily to the priests and consecrates new holy oils for all the parishes. Scot said this year many Catholic schools were invited to attend the Mass, including The Archdiocesan Choir School. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed the boys from the choir school and music director John Robinson. He asked John where the boys have been singing in this their 50th anniversary year. He said they sing a range of events, including Christmas concerts in Salem, Norwell, Newport, Rhode Island, and even Carnegie Hall. Today the choir school was to sing the Gloria, an Ave Verum Corpus and another, alongside the Cathedral Festival Choir. Christian Landry, Scot’s son who is part of the choir, said it was a great honor to sing for the cardinal’s Mass. He said singing for all the priests of the archdiocese is a little bit of a nerve=wracking experience but will prepare them to sing for large audiences later in life. Christian said he loves the teachers and students. Another student, Thomas Potts, said the teachers push them to succeed and learn. Scot asked John about what it’s like to be the only Catholic choir school in the country. John said it’s an amazing responsibility because they’re training the future tenors and cantors and even boys who will become priests. It’s a model that Europe has shown to work over many centuries. They’re showing it works by the way the boys sing and are being educated. Scot said the school’s annual gala will be June 1. John said it’s a very important evening financially for the school, but it’s great fun as well because the boys are singing in a light jazzy style as well. John said having come into the Church with his wife as an adult, the Chrism Mass is very special for him and especially this year with the Cardinal having come back to us in Boston. 3rd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chris O’Connor to the show. Fr. Chris said it was a beautiful Mass that showed the unity of priests, bishops and laity. Scot welcomed Fr. Joe Scorzello who said it’s one of the largest Chrism Masses he can remember with many older and younger priests gathered together in a sign of unity and a boost for morale. Fr. Bill Kelly, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Dedham, was welcomed by Scot. Fr. Bill said the Cardinal was at the front door greeting each priest as they came in and it was moving for many of them who haven’t been able to see him since the conclave. Fr. Bill said this year the anointing of the oil of the sick was moving for him this year as he recalled all the sick he goes to in hospital and nursing homes, including his own father recently. He said they probably use the anointings more than 100 times per year, including more and more recently to people’s homes. Fr. Chris said in this Mass all of the oils used for all of the sacraments throughout the Archdiocese this year were consecrated today. The men to be ordained in May carried the oils up to Cardinal Seán. All of the catechumens to be welcomed into the Church on Saturday and all the babies to be baptized will have those oils used to anoint them. Another moving moment was when Bishop Robert Deeley read the names of all the priests who died this year, reminding that the bonds of the priesthood never die. The unity among them exists not just among the priests, but among the parishes too. This is a Mass about unity between all and their bishop. All of the priests also renew their vows and stay committed to their promise to remain faithful to the Lord and faithful to the bishop. Fr. Scorzello said the lists of names take even greater meaning as he gets older. He’s known many of them for years and some he was even an altar server for. He said the Mass is usually celebrated on Holy Thursday and by exception on another day and is focused on the presbyterate as Holy Thursday is as well. Scot said outside of ordinations, it’s the largest gathering of priests. Fr. Bill said the Mass and the renewal of vows recalls for him his original vows at his ordination. Like any promise, you don’t know how living those promises will be lived out and so saying it again makes him reflect. He said the closing hymn, “Oh Good Beyond All Praising” talks of all the joys and challenges we have as Christians and has the great line, “yet strive to follow still.” He said he finds it consoling knowing that he will die and is being asked to live his life serving as a priest. Scot said having all the Catholic school kids there made it much like the whole church from young to old and he thought of all the young boys who may one day be priests and one of them may one day be reading the name of Fr. Bill or Fr. Chris or Fr. Joe. Fr. Chris said he was struck by the young woman who did an incredible job proclaiming the Second Reading at Mass. Fr. Bill said the faces on the kids reflected all the hundreds of priests and how they realized that the Catholic Church is so much bigger than they imagined. Fr. Chris said as he saw all the priests and all the young people gathered, he was struck by the Psalm “Forever I will sing of the goodness of the Lord”, particularly for priests to be reminded to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and to tell people even in their darkest hour of the goodness of God. Scot said Cardinal Seán might work on this homily as much as he does on any homily all year. He said Cardinal Seán started with some humor reflecting on the conclave: The whole pre-Conclave atmosphere where I was leading in the Italian polls was quite surrealistic. I thought of St. Patrick who was of a Roman family living in Britain. Patrick was an Irish wanabee, he was actually an Italian kidnapped by Irish pirates. I was worried that the Italians were trying to get even. Actually, I was very touched by the Italian people’s enthusiasm for your Archbishop. Needless to say, I am very happy and relieved to be back home in Boston. The whole experience of the Conclave was extraordinary. I felt very close to all of you. I knew that we were united in prayer, praying that the Holy Spirit guide our Church in this important decision. Like the first Christians praying intensely before choosing St. Matthias to be an apostle, to fill the vacancy and to pass on the office of Apostle. Scot said it’s Cardinal Seán’s first mention of the enthusiasm for him in Italy. He said his own experience in Rome was that the regular folk were all for him. Scot noted that Cardinal Seán told reporters he was most looking forward to going home to celebrate the Chrism Mass. Fr. Scorzello said the theme of the Cardinal’s homily was one of continuity, whether it was the continuity of the papacy or the continuity of the Church in Boston. He also spoke of the continuity of the formation and growth of the priest throughout his life. He said Metropolitan Methodius’ words at the end of Mass was the fulfillment of that continuity. Scot said the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan expressed his hope for unity between West and East. Here in Boston, we must see ourselves as the continuation of the Church of the Acts of the Apostles, with so many dramatic challenges, we must cultivate a deep trust in the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit to guide and unite us. As we work to implement the Pastoral Plan, it cannot be just about strategy or techniques, but about our own deep awareness of God’s loving presence in our Church. All of our discussions and planning, like the work of the pre-Conclave Congregations and the Conclave itself, needs to take place in that atmosphere of prayer and trust in God’s love for us. Scot said as he was hearing that, he thought that he wants the awareness of the palpable presence of the Holy Spirit to be part of everything we do in the Archdiocese of Boston. Fr. Bill said when you’re coming to the work of the Gospel from a sense of poverty, you’re depending wholly on the Holy Spirit. It’s easy to get caught up in the mechanics of pastoral planning, but this homily brings us back to the sense of hope and trust and if we do commit ourselves to where the Holy Spirit leads, these other things will get worked out. There’s a deeper power to what the Church has to do. Scot said Cardinal Seán reflected on the uncertainty facing priests with the pastoral plan compared to the uncertainty of the cardinals entering the conclave. As my brother Cardinals and I entered the Conclave, we did not know what the outcome would be or what the future would hold. We were called to make ourselves available for the mission of the Church. Our pastors in the first phase of pastoral planning have likewise been called to make themselves available for mission, without knowing what the outcome would be as once again they responded, “adsum”. The Archdiocese is greatly blessed by their dedication, commitment and example of selfless service as we embark on the journey of rebuilding our parishes and welcoming the faithful back to active participation in the life of our Church. We want our Pastoral Planning, like the Conclave in Rome, to be a Pentecost moment in this Year of Faith. Scot said we like to know that our leader knows what it’s like to walk in our shoes and the cardinal knows that uncertainty. Fr. Chris said the Chrism Mass is usually on Holy Thursday because it’s the day that Christ instituted not only the Eucharist but also the priesthood. When the man to be ordained to the priesthood lies prostrate on the cathedral floor, he is giving himself completely to whatever the Church needs of him, whether parish priest or pope. Scot said it’s tough sometimes for priests to focus on what they know they need to do, but have difficulty finding time to do. Fr. Joe said it’s easy to get busy in the parish, but there has to be time set aside each day for prayer, reflection of Sacred Scripture and study of the sacred sciences. That’s continuing formation that makes them receptive to the Holy Spirit and receptive to receive the will of God as spoken through the Church’s needs. A thing is received according to the ability of the recipient to receive them. Fr. Bill assisted Cardinal Seán in ongoing formation of priests before becoming pastor of St. Mary’s. Scot asked what parishioners can do to help priests work on their ongoing formation. Fr. Bill said encouragement is key. The parishioners who work closest with the pastor who recognize the need of the priest to step back. People need to be understanding of the need of the pastor not to be responsive at every moment. He said he knows a priest who every year those closest to him tell him that he needs to go on retreat. Working in a parish can give you tunnel vision and you need someone to help you see what you need to make time for. Scot said he’ll remember the analogy made by Cardinal Seán between a husband kissing his wife each day with a priest kissing the altar each day, as in celebrating the Mass. Fr. Chris said it brings home to the layman the commitment of the priest to the Church. He liked as well that he referenced the fact that not only is kissing the altar is a public reality, but it’s also a very private reality. The Eucharist should be the fire, zeal, energy for the priest to go out and do his ministry. Once a priest, you’re always a priest. The most important thing a priest can do is reverence the altar and begin the celebration of the Mass. Scot said Cardinal Seán also talked about the priest being a model of the Church’s preferential option for the poor. Fr. Joe said concern for the poor is an Evangelical virtue. It comes out of the celebration of the Eucharist and what it means, the giving over of oneself for everyone. Looking back on the election of Pope Francis and the Italians’ love of St. Francis, what was Francis’ focus but the love of the poor and God’s love of the poor. Francis reminded us of the poverty that Christ accepted when he accepted human nature. We can poor both materially and spiritually. Christ came to save the human person, body and soul. We have to be attentive to all aspects of the person, body and soul. Cardinal ended by imploring all the priests to be unified, not to mention the call for unity with Metropolitan Methodius. We need to continually state the need for unity. Fr. Bill said the Gospel of John reminds us of Jesus’ prayer that we all may be one. That’s not just for ecumenical work, but also within the Church. The idea of the priestly life flowing from the altar holds everything together. Love is unitive. Scot asked what else happens after the Chrism Mass. Fr. Chris said there’s the reality of seeing all their brother priests, working in all places, in all sizes, shapes, colors, and ages, but all called with their unique gifts to serve Christ as priests. Fr. Scorzello spoke of this mother who is 93 years old and he carries the oils of anointing with him all the time because he never knows when she might need him to anoint her. There’s a unity in the sacraments of the Church through these oils. Fr. Bill said he’s a choir school graduate and the song they sang after Communion was the song he was singing when he received his call to the priesthood, “Greater Love” by John Ireland. Fr. Chris said Holy Week is the best week every year.…
Summary of today’s show: Cardinal Seán O’Malley started Holy Week with Palm Sunday Mass in which he declared we are all “Ashes and Palms Catholics”. Scot Landry, Fr. Mark O’Connell, and Michael Lavigne reflect on Cardinal Seán’s homily and what it means to live the ashes of sacrifice and the palms of victory from Ash Wednesday to Easter and beyond. Cardinal Seán also reflects on the 30th anniversary of the murder of his friend, Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador and the significance of his sacrifice for today. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Michael Lavigne Today’s topics: Palm Sunday reflection on Cardinal Seán’s homily 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show and noted that today begins Holy Week, which is the biggest week of the year. He said to imagine you have one week to live and how would you prepare and live that week? Today we will begin with hearing what Cardinal Seán at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross for Palm Sunday Mass. First, he welcomed Fr. Mark O’Connell to the show, who noted that he celebrated Mass with the cloistered Carmelite sisters in West Roxbury for a nearly two hour Mass. Fr. Mark said he preached two homilies in the Mass, the first on Christ riding into Jerusalem on a colt and the second on the image of Benedict and Francis praying before an icon that evokes John Paul II. He said that he said that John Paul showed us how to die, Benedict showed us how to let go and Francis shows us how to live. He also welcomed Michael Lavigne to the show and asked him what tonight’s Catholic Faith Essentials at will be about at 7pm and Michael said it will be about the Easter Vigil and its place in our life of faith. Scot introduced Cardinal Seán’s Palm Sunday homily. He started by referencing “A&P Catholics”, i.e. Ashes and Palm Catholics. He encouraged people to become frequent flyers at Sunday Mass because the rewards are out of this world. He noted the importance of the signs of ashes and palms to be signs of conversion and our mortality. He said that St. Luke organizes his whole gospel around a journey, of Jesus to Jerusalem. Scot stopped and spoke to any “A&P Catholics” who are listening to invite them to come home, no matter how long it’s been. Fr. Mark said this is an opportunity for those who do go to Mass to practice our faith by evangelizing our neighbor. If we see someone in the church we haven’t seen in a while, then say hello. Greet them. How much more likely are they to come back to Mass if they are treated with a smile. Scot compared it to a family reuniting over Easter dinner for the first time in many years. We shouldn’t be like the jealous brother of the Prodigal Son if someone takes “our” seat in the pew on Sunday. Michael said people are going to looking for seats on Sunday. The churches will be jam-packed with people who haven’t come for a while. He noted how difficult it is for people to find a seat. He encouraged people to slide in their pews, let people know there are seats available and welcome them in. Scot said Cardinal Seán talks of stones in the next section: He talks about the phrase: “The stones would cry out” Hosanna if the disciples did not. This occurred near the Mount of Olives where many Jews are buried and it is Jewish custom to place stones on a grave when visiting them. He talked about stones in the Scripture, like the stones used to kill St. Stephen. The stones might cry out for Jesus or be used to attack. Likewise, the people who were crying Hosanna on Palm Sunday would later either abandon Jesus or themselves be crying out for his death. Scot said as a church of living stones, where called to cry out Hosanna to Jesus as a witness to the world. Fr. Mark said the road of the Christian life is full of joy, but the cross is always at the end of it. He said so many like the triumphal entrance, but a lot of living the life of a Catholic is sacrificial and living the cross that leads to the ultimate joy of heaven. Michael said Pope Francis yesterday offered the three words of joy, the cross, and youth. We need to be people of joy who embrace the cross in our lives and thus we can be a source of hope for people struggling to pick up the cross in their lives. The New Evangelization is one person at a time or one little stone at a time. Scot noted that Cardinal Seán spoke of fair-weather friends of Jesus and we are often fair weather friends, especially when we have other things we’d rather do than be with Christ. Fr. Mark said we’ve been impressed by the faith and humility of Pope Francis and we have learned that he has not had an easy life in Argentina: politics, struggles within the Church, economics, and more. God calls us to be tested and the reward is peace. The next section of Cardinal Seán’s homily concerns St. Peter and his denial of Christ. He said one of the principal tasks of the Petrine ministry is to unite us in faith. Jesus chooses Peter, a simple man, to lead his Church. He chronicles all of Peter’s failings and then how he redeemed himself later in life. Scot said if we think we’re unworthy or should be unwelcome in the church, all we have to do is think of St. Peter. If Jesus can build the Church on Peter, then there is so much than Jesus can do with us. Fr. Mark recalls Peter walking on water to Christ and how he began to sink when he took his eyes off of Jesus. We start on our faith life full of joy and hope, but then we realize that the life of faith is difficult and a struggle and that’s when we could take our eyes off of Jesus. Michael said our faith is a real faith and gritty. God gets in the middle of the muddiness of the world. We often start Lent with great plans, but we can fall off of that plan. The beauty of Lent is getting back up and trying again. Fr. Mark took the opportunity to plug the Scavi tour in Rome. If you visit Rome, make a reservation ahead of time for a tour of the excavations under St. Peter’s Basilica, which is an ancient cemetery in which St. Peter was buried. Scot said to go on the on the North American College’s website and look for information there. Cardinal Seán then continued in talking about the election of Pope Francis. He talked about St. Francis of Assisi as a man of peace and a man who loved the poor. Scot said Cardinal Seán is moved by the choice of the name of Francis and how he has focused on calling us to serve the poor and live as brothers and sisters in Christ. Scot has been thinking more about how he should be doing more to serve the poor. Fr. Mark talked about Pope Francis celebrating Mass for the cleaners and gardeners in the Vatican in the other day and one of them said, “We are invisible, but he saw us.” We are called to seek out the invisible. Michael said we have to stop every once in a while, turn everything else, allow God to transform and convert us, in order to see the invisible around us. Scot said Cardinal Seán reflects on how the Spanish-speaking New World is giving the world its new pope. Scot noted that more than 50 percent of Catholics under the age of 25 in the US comes from a Spanish-speaking household or from a Spanish-speaking country. That indicates that God has a plan related to this fact. Cardinal Seán continued by speaking of ashes and palms. Ashes of repentance and palms of victory. Martyrs are depicted as carrying palms. Martyrs are witnesses to Jesus. He noted that yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador, El Salvador, for opposing violence. His funeral was celebrated on Palm Sunday in the largest gathering ever in that country’s history. The army opened fire on the crowd and people ran and all that was left behind in the plaza were shoes, sandals, and palm branches. Cardinal Seán also noted that today’s palms will be burned for next year’s ashes. We are on a journey always returning to the beginning. We can always start again. We relive the sacrifice of Calvary and we relive the joy of Easter, Jesus’ victory over death. Scot talked about Cardinal Seán’s emotion over the death of his friend, Romero. Fr. Mark said the movie “Romero” is incredibly powerful and especially at this time of year. Scot said Cardinal Seán tied that into Holy Week as we read of betrayal and faithfulness and as we come forward to venerate the cross. We call it Good Friday because, despite the death of Christ, Jesus proved how much He loves us and saved us. We may not be called to “red” martyrdom of death, but always to the “white” martyrdom of ridicule and rejection. Michael said he has distinct memories from childhood of the house on Good Friday to be completely silent. They would be called to reflect upon the gift of Christ on the cross out of love for all of us. Scot reflected on the many Christians around the world who today suffer red martyrdom for their faith. Fr. Mark said in his office there is a picture of a woman holding a palm branch and while he doesn’t know her name, he knows she’s a martyr because of that symbol. He added that Peter denied Christ, but that was before Pentecost, while after Pentecost, he did not deny Christ. We are all Pentecost Catholics. Scot noted Cardinal Seán said we should be recommitted to knowing our faith so we can be witnesses and evangelizers joyfully sharing our faith with those who do not know it. It’s up to all of us to be the inviters, evangelizers, witnesses, those who joyfully welcome our brothers and sisters back to the Sunday liturgy. Michael said we must bring the Good News joyfully to others and preach truth with charity. He thinks of those in our lives who don’t engage Holy Week at all, to pray for them to take advantage of that grace and to reach out to them. For many people it will be difficult to attend all the Holy Week services, so he went through the services of the week. On Tuesday, Cardinal Seán will celebrate the Chrism Mass. He said it’s always one of Cardinal Seán’s three best homilies of the year. It will be 11am at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Thursday night will be the Mass of the Lord’s Supper which is where Christ instituted the Eucharist and He taught us to serve one another through the washing of the feet. Afterward, the Blessed Sacrament is reserved in a separate chapel where people can spend time in prayer and adoration. On Friday is the Passion of the Lord in which we venerate the Christ and then have prayers for all of creation by name. Fr. Mark talked about the starkness of the church on that day which shows the profundity of the tomb. We enter with an emptiness and a craving for Jesus. Many parishes have services at 3pm and 7pm. Then on Saturday night is the Easter vigil with the liturgy of light in the beginning, the chanting of the Exsultet, readings, baptisms, and all the other joys of Easter. Michael said the Easter vigil is a pilgrimage through our faith in one Mass. Scot said it is his favorite liturgy of the year. They all encouraged everyone to get to that Mass if you can.…
Summary of today’s show: The Regina Cleri residence in Boston is a home for 53 of our 268 senior priests to live in community when their parish ministry is done. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell welcome Stephen Gust, executive director; Laurine Kohler, nurse; and Fr. Joseph Fagan, a resident priest, to the show to discuss the medical and spiritual care provided to the priests who might not have anywhere else to go after a life dedicated in service to the Church. Regina Cleri is supported by the Clergy Funds and the Easter collection at all parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Stephen Gust, Fr. Joseph Fagan, Laurine Kohler Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Regina Cleri Residence for Senior Priests 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Mark O’Connell to show and they discussed that Fr. Mark’s assistant, Jessica McMaster, had their first baby yesterday, Samuel Joseph. Also this week, Fr. Mark preached a parish mission for the three parishes in Braintree for the Year of Faith. Fr. Mark said canon lawyers aren’t often at the top of people’s lists to preach parish missions. Today’s show is about Regina Cleri, the residence for elderly priests when their years of service in the priesthood are done. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Joe D’Arrigo, Stephen Gust, Fr. Joseph Fagan, and Laurine Kohler to the show. Steve is executive director of Regina Cleri. It was founded in 1964 by Cardinal Cushing where senior priests could continue their vocation. It’s in the West End of Boston. They have 52 permanent residents and several respite rooms and they are always full. It is one of the places where senior priests can stay. They have about 47 employees and 2 Sister Disciples of the Divine Master who live on site and are there 24 hours per day. The average of the priests is 84 years old with four men in their 90s. Steve has been at Regina Cleri for 19 years. Fr. Fagan has lived there for 5 years. He retired as spiritual director at Blessed John XXIII Seminary in 2008, but for years he oversaw seminarians doing pastoral service there. He talked about how he still sees people who come to him for spiritual direction, about 15 people. Fr. Fagan talked about how he ended up at Regina Cleri and their other places he’s served. He mentioned the parishes he continues to help at and the retreats and days of recollections he gives. He said he’s known as a commuter who moves back and forth to various places. Stephen said a priest doesn’t retire and 17 men are still in active ministry. they have daily Mass and the rosary and retreats. A big part of Regina Cleri is the involvement in active ministry, whether at St. Joseph’s parish next door or at any of the parishes they have served at in the past. They have a day of recollection every month. Fr. Mark said he did a day of recollection at Regina Cleri when he was 26 and at one point all the men took a nap, leaving him to wait. Laurine said her goal is to provide treatment and care that allows them to continue in ministry. She said new employees get to know the priests and hear their stories of serving the Church in parishes and throughout the world and come to love them and respect them. Scot said this reinforces that the care is done in love. He said they must learn a tremendous amount as they care for them. Laurine said the nurses and aides say they learn as much from them as the care they give. The aides are possessive of the priests as their own. Scot noted many senior priests live on their own or in parishes. He asked Fr. Fagan why it was important for Fr. Fagan to live in Regina Cleri. Fr. Fagan said he’s not shy and loves the diversity of the men. He grew up around nuns and priests and they were very familiar to him. The priests when he was ordained were always taken care of by the people in the parishes. The brothers he lives with are very open and close to him and he is close to them. He loves to hear the stories of the priests from a different era of the archdiocese. Scot said one of out five senior priests live at Regina Cleri, 55 out of 268. Stephen said they have 14 men who have applied to Regina Cleri to llive there. When talking about supporting priests, Regina Cleri is a small part of that, providing support for those most in need. Fr. Mark said there have been positive changes at Regina Cleri, including the purchase of a bus to carry the priests to different parts of the archdiocese. Stephen said these men age in place and one of the hardest things for any elderly person to give up is a car because once they give it up they can become a prisoner of the place they live. The bus gives the men the opportunity to go out and see the younger priests and to feel a part of the brotherhood. They go to Red Sox games, parish functions, and other activities. Sometimes it’s a restaurant, sports games, or even funerals. Fr. Fagan talked about having to be in a wheelchair and being able to get about in a handicapped-accessible van. Stephen said Regina Cleri isn’t just for senior priests, but also for those who are disabled. Scot said priests who have been in the hospital can go to Regina Cleri for recovery. Laurine said it’s called respite services and they have two rooms dedicated to them. It can be anywhere from two days to three months. Some of the priests live in rectories with stairs and after a knee or hip surgery they stay in Regina Cleri until they can navigate the stairs. Recently they had priests in after cataract surgery and surgery on a foot. Stephen said on the second floor of Regina Cleri they have 13 beds for priests who need more nursing care. Their hope is that when priests come in to live there that won’t have to come directly to the second floor. The hope is that they can remain active when they first move there. Fr. Mark asked about Cardinal Seán’s commitment to Regina Cleri and rumors that it should be shut down. Fr. Fagan said with the start of the annual Celebration of the Priesthood dinner, Cardinal Seán has made it clear of the support for the continuation of Regina Cleri. The dinners are a great event for people to express their appreciation for priests directly. Stephen said they host Cardinal Seán twice a year and he has come to know the history of Regina Cleri and to see the unique opportunity it provides for the care of the diocese’s priests, which not all dioceses have. Scot noted that Regina Cleri is about a football field away from Mass. General Hospital. Fr. Fagan said the priests loving in the heart of Boston. He said he goes to a gym nearby— the priests are free members— and a man who had heard of Regina Cleri told Fr. Fagan he’s a lapsed Catholic asked him if he could come talk to someone. Stephen said being in the heart of Boston allows the priests who have given up their licenses to be able to go stores and restaurants. Scot said during the recent blizzard he heard how the staff of Regina Cleri essentially moved in for a couple of days to ensure the priests were taken care of. Laurine said on the first day of the storm people brought clothes and sleeping bags and told family they weren’t sure when they would be home. It was a commitment from all levels, nursing, janitorial, food service. She told how they received an emergency call in the middle of the night at the height of the storm. Their plowing contractor had been coming every hour to clear the driveway so that the ambulance could come right in and they were able to get him to Mass. General within 15 minutes. Meanwhile, the maintenance staff got the sisters and the chaplain over to the hospital to be with the priest. Stephen said it was a testament to the staff’s ability to remain calm in the midst of emergency. He talked about the difficulties presented to the staff in getting into work and dealing with the problems encountered. Stephen said many of us are married and so our children will be there for us when we’re old. But for these priests, the staff and the sisters are there for them in those scary moments. Fr. Fagan told a story of how he needed a procedure and how he was inundated with people coming around to see him. Stephen talked about a typical day, where most people rise by 5am, following by breakfast and Mass. Many go out for ministry, then lunch and naps in the afternoon, followed by Rosary and dinner. They have movie nights on some nights, cocktail hour on Wednesday nights, at least one or two functions out each week. He said most of the funding comes from the Clergy Funds and the Easter collection partially supports Regina Cleri. The Easter collection goes for the needs of all priests, whereas Regina Cleri is taking care of 17% of senior priests. Fr. Mark said every penny in every church in the Archdiocese on Easter goes to the sick and retired priests, as on Christmas. Scot noted that a large part of the Clergy Funds go to care for senior priests, especially those at Regina Cleri. It wouldn’t exist without the generous support of the people of the Archdiocese of Boston on Easter, Christmas, and the June collection. Laurine said she’s been at Regina Cleri for three years and she can’t say enough about how important it is for there to be a Regina Cleri. Where would the priests go without it? They don’t have children or a wife. It allows them to pray together and continue to their ministry at some level with a safety net for their medical care. Stephen talked about the good management practice in place. They have a relationship with Covenant House to ensure they are using best practices in the industry and they are working to maximize the funds they receive. To make a donation to the Clergy Funds, visit the Clergy Funds website listed above.…
1 TGCL #0492: Pope Francis' humility; choosing his name; new pastors for pastoral collaboratives 56:21
Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy consider the news headlines of the week, including the latest examples of humility and simplicity from Pope Francis; how he chose his papal name; his decision to celebrate Holy Thursday in a juvenile prison; the appointment of five more pastors for pastoral collaboratives as part of the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan; the obituaries of two senior priests; and remarkable pro-life essays from grade school contest winners. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Pope Francis’ humility; choosing his name; new pastors for pastoral collaboratives 1st segment: Scot Landry caught up with Susan Abbott after not being together on the show for three weeks. Scot asked Susan how she watched the events here at the Pastoral Center. Susan said the days all blur together because every day there’s a new story about Pope Francis that captures our attention. She said it was a busy time for everyone in the building on Disciples in Mission and Lent, but when the white smoke came out, there were yells in the halls and everyone stood around a computer watching a webcam of St. Peter’s Square. Everyone gathered in the lobby of the Pastoral Center to watch it on TV. Scot said there’s been a lot to cover since the election a week ago last Wednesday. The Pilot this week has a lot in a special issue this week. Gregory Tracy said they had a 16-page special edition in the center of the Pilot, which makes it almost two papers this week. The focus of the special edition is giving a perspective on Pope Francis and re-capping his first days. Greg said he learned a lot about Pope Francis because Cardinal Bergoglio wasn’t among the most talked-about names. His impression is of his humility and that he is a bit of a free spirit. Scot welcomed Fr. Roger Landry and said his column in the Anchor this week gives his first impressions. Fr. Roger said he’s a pastor more than a professor. He’s obviously intelligent, but brings his experience of being archbishop of Buenos Aires for so many years. One thing that touched Fr. Roger was seeing a boy in the Vatican choir school singing the responsory psalm during the inauguration Mass, which shows how young the Church is. He also notes how serious Pope Francis is in begging for our prayers. At the end of every talk, he asks for our prayers. He shows us what type of reform he’s planning for the Church. When you hear all the talk of reform in the Vatican, people meant administrative and finance and governance issues, but Pope Francis is launching a reform at the root of who he is as a disciple and apostle. He’s set an example of the reform of the priesthood to go out and meet the people where they’re at. He’s going to challenge us by his actions even more than John Paul and Benedict. Scot said he recalled yesterday’s show about the book “Rebuilt” about a parish that went looking for the lost sheep. It’s been clear to Scot that Pope Francis thinks about going out seeking the lost. Scot said it’s clear to him that many people are taking a new look at the Church because of Pope Francis and he’s reaching a much broader audience. Greg said it’s obvious Pope Francis is one who feels the need to reach out and be with the people. He recalled a story in Argentina where he told his parish priests to go out and find those who weren’t coming to church, maybe even opening storefront chapels. His priority is finding souls, not necessarily following all the ways that things have been done. He’s much more concerned with practicality. We had this flow from John Paul, with a great media presence, to Benedict, a great theologian, to Francis who isn’t as great with media or as great a theologian, but is good with both and with bringing those things to the people. Scot said Pope Francis is about making a Church that prays for one another. Susan said that first moment when the Pope came on the balcony and just stood there. But once he got started, he captivated the entire square of 100,000 people and they fell silent. He reminds us to whom we pray and for whom we pray. Scot asked Fr. Roger what he’s learned reading about Pope Francis in Spanish materials. Fr. Roger said he sees how intelligent he is, able to talk about many different issues with deeply Catholic vision. He also struggled with his celibacy in the seminary, falling in love with a girl and deciding to that he loved God more. It’s a beautiful and sincere admission and it allows him to relate to a lot of young people. In another interview, he gives a very strong statement on dealing with priests who abuse children, saying that such priests should be removed because they can’t be reformed and you can’t take chances. As for failures with men or women or alcohol, he is very firm that you can’t serve two masters. His embrace of poverty shows how committed he is personally to this vision even when it was inconvenient. He not only wanted to relate to the poor in material poverty, but also show it’s not an obstacle to following the Lord. While many are focusing on Pope Francis’ tenderness to the overlooked of society, it is a fruit of a lifetime of love for the least, but at the same time he is able to teach with great clarity and firmness. Scot noted in Dwight Duncan’s column in the Pilot in which he related that when Cardinal Bergoglio was named a cardinal, he didn’t want to pay the usual $6,000 for the complete set of vestments, so he bought cheap cloth and asked a religious sister to sew them. Greg said at the conclave he had been telling other cardinals about how much of a deal he got on his airfare and then told Argentinians not to come to his inauguration, but instead to the give the money to the poor. It’s his legitimate way of being, not putting on airs of false humility. People like this, that he’s not so attached to the material things of the world. It’s not a media strategy, but it has a great effect on people. So much of the western world measures us by what we can buy and what we can consume. We trade our dignity for our consumer goods. But this is a sign that you can be the Supreme Pontiff and yet you can be simple. Scot said he’s proven himself to be a pope of gestures. Today it was announced that on Holy Thursday, rather than in St. Peter’s, the Mass of the Lord’s Supper will be held at a youth prison where he will wash the feet of inmates. It was Cardinal Bergoglio’s custom to celebrate Holy Thursday in hospitals and prisons. Susan said she celebrated with Deacon Jim Greer, head of hospital and chaplain ministries, at the symbolism of this act. She said Pope Francis has also called the owner of the newsstand in Buenos Aires where he used to get his daily paper to thank him for his prayers and tell him he won’t be coming. But Susan said what disturbs her is when this is used to compare him to what came before. This is not either-or, but both-and. Fr. Roger said yesterday it was said announced he had given out 3,000 tickets for the poor of Rome to come to the Holy Thursday Chrism Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica earlier in the day and then going to the prison later. Pope Francis is shining a laser beam on this subset of people of whom Jesus said “I was in prison and you visited me.” There are millions across the globe who will not have Mass on Holy Thursday and this is an extraordinary gesture to them. Scot said on Saturday in the meeting with journalists, Pope Francis revealed how he picked the name Francis. Scot said he had assumed most cardinals went into the conclave with a name in the back of their minds. He was surprised that Pope Francis only picked the name at the last minute. Greg said he had asked Cardinal Seán that very question, comparing it to young couples who marry thinking about names for their children. Cardinal Seán said he’s never given it any thought. Greg finds it reassuring that they didn’t go with a name picked. Scot said before there was a lot of buzz about Cardinal Seán, he joked with Cardinal Seán that there was a pool about whether he would pick Pope Patrick or Pope Francis. He thinks it unfathomable that it wouldn’t come up at all somewhere in the back of your mind. This is a name that will define him for eternity and he picked a momentous one. Susan claims that she had predicted the next pope would be Pope Francis, although she had a different cardinal in mind. Scot said a number of cardinals have talked about their awareness of the Holy Spirit’s presence with them as they voted. Fr. Roger said Cardinal O’Brien was on EWTN with him the day after and admitted he’d never really known Cardinal Bergoglio before the conclave and what was remarkable how everyone in the conclave came to know that this was the pope for the Church at this time. Many cardinals said it’s very much like a retreat and they’re not kibbitzing between votes. 2nd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Patricia Noone from Stow, MA She wins the booklet “Way of the Cross at the National Shrine of Divine Mercy” and the audio CD “The Seven Pillars of Catholic Spirituality” by Matthew Kelly. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 3rd segment: Scot said locally in the archdiocese, five appointments are announced in today’s Pilot of priests being appointed pastors of new pastoral collaboratives as part of Disciples in Mission Phase one. Fr. Paul E. Ritt has been appointed Pastor of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish and St. Maria Goretti Parish in Lynnfield, effective June 4. He was Pastor of St. John the Evangelist, Chelmsford. Fr. Thomas A. Mahoney has been appointed Pastor of St. Joseph Parish and St. Luke Parish in Belmont, effective June 4. He was Pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Belmont. Fr. Daniel L. Riley has been appointed as Pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish, St. Anne Parish, St. James Parish, and St. John the Baptist Parish, all in Salem, effective June 4. He was Pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Weymouth. Fr. John E. Sheridan has been appointed Pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Middleboro-Rochester and Pastor of Sts. Martha and Mary Parish in Lakeville, effective June 4. He was Pastor of St. James Parish in Salem. Fr. Brian L. Flynn has been appointed Pastor of Sacred Heart Parish and St. Mary Parish in Lynn, effective June 4. He was previously Pastor of St. Mary in Lynn. Three more appointments related to Phase 1 are still to be made. Greg said we’re in the initial stages and this is exactly what the archdiocese said would happen: In some cases the pastors would come from within the collaborative and others from outside. Scot said one of the patterns is that a priest who’s been in the parish only a couple years, they will stay, whereas pastors who’ve been there a long time will be moved to new assignments. Susan said everyone in the Pastoral Center are working daily to support the new pastors and their collaboratives. Greg said when you’re connecting parishes that are near each other, people in recent years have tended to gravitate to the parish they prefer based on how they like the pastor or the music or religious education. When you have someone who’s been in the parish for many years, people become used to him and his style. Meanwhile someone who is new to the area is able to adjust himself to the needs of the area and how they do things. Scot said it can be difficult on a human level to say goodbye to parishioners when you don’t know what your next assignment will be. Fr. Roger said every priest is supposed to be a missionary at heart. At the same time, canon law gives pastors rights in that they don’t have to move except in extreme circumstances, so it shows great obedience and openness to the needs of the Church in offering their resignations. Fr. Roger noted that people wanted to keep Jesus for themselves, but he told them that he needed to go out and preach to others as well. Also in the Pilot are the obituaries of two 90-year-old priests, Fr. Joseph Lukas and Fr. William B. O’Connor. In the Anchor this week were the 2013 Pro-Life Essay Content winners, themed “Faith opens our eyes to human life in all its grandeur and beauty”. The contest is open to all students enrolled in diocesan schools and religious education programs. There are winners in the high school and junior high school categories and they are read aloud at the annual diocesan Pro-Life Mass and printed in the Anchor. Susan said the high school is extraordinary. Scot said a week from today it won’t be Lent and so Scot asked everyone how they did on their Lenten resolutions.…
Summary of today’s show: Church of the Nativity in Maryland has undergone a remarkable renaissance in the past decade and Fr. Michael White and Tom Corcoran share the story of this turnaround in their new book “Rebuilt”. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams talk to Fr. White and Tom about changing the consumer culture to one of discipleship; simplifying their mission statement to six words encapsulating the Great Commission; the lessons learned from evangelical mega-churches; developing a profile of the “lost sheep” they were seeking; and how the experience of Sunday Mass has been changed to appeal to the unchurched and to give the sense that the parish is waiting to welcome them home. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Fr. Michael White and Tom Corcoran Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Rebuilt: Awakening the Faithful, Reaching the Lost, and Making Church Matter 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and he said he’s looking forward to talking about this new book “Rebuilt” and he thinks this book has the opportunity to change the way we experience parish life. He thinks about 100 of these books are floating around the Pastoral Center. Fr. Matt said it’s a great read. They welcomed Fr. Michael White and Tom Corcoran to the show. Scot said when they first arrived at Church of the Nativity in North Baltimore, they probably experienced what we would all recognize in our parishes. Fr. White said it was a consumer culture where parishioners were like customers and the church was a retailer. He said they think the basic problem in parishes today is culture and it’s a parish problem. It needs to be fixed at the parish level. Churches all across the country share in this problem. Scot said that culture grew over many decades and those who work for the Church feed that culture. Tom said in their parish they failed in perpetuating the culture. The classic moment from the book were the Family Friendly Fridays where it ended up with people complaining about the free food being served them. Scot said they admit in the book that their eye came off the mission of Jesus, seeking those who were lost. Fr. White said they began a period of examining fruitful parishes across the country, parishes growing intentionally, not just in communities that were growing. That necessitated looking at Evangelical churches, which have cornered the market on this growth. At a weeklong conference at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in California, he was struck by the change he needed personally and the parish needed collectively. Fr. White said they kind of fell into the process. They began implementing items that worked as opposed to formulating a grand strategy. They took the Family Friendly Fridays that felt purposeless and adapted it with the new purpose. They went from 500 people to about 200 people because they made it clear that the intent was to make it about evangelization and volunteering and small groups. When they began to make changes, conflict ensued. Scot note that there was a lot of resistance, especially from parishioners who were being challenged. He said in the Archdiocese of Boston, five out of six Catholics don’t come to church and many parishes don’t do a lot to show they care for that five out of six. Fr. White said it’s hard to stay focused on who’s not there. Plus resources are tight, people are busy, church people tend to be friends who are church people, and it’s uncomfortable and intimidating to look at the prospect of going out to share your faith and inviting people to church. A lot of Catholics don’t even see why there’s a need to do it. When you go down that road, you’re inviting conflict with people in the pews. Scot said he appreciated the mission statement of the Church of the Nativity. Tom said no one at the parish knew their original mission statement, including himself. They kind of pushed against mission statements because Jesus gave us one. So that’s what they used: Love God. Love others. Make disciples. One of the lessons they had learned from others was that the Great Commission in the Gospel of Matthew was the mission statement. Fr. Matt asked for some background of the parish before and after. Fr. White said the parish is in an affluent community north of Baltimore. It was built in the late 60s with a beautiful campus and facility. It was generally considered innovative for its time in the late 60s and early 70s, but that innovation came to an end and they were stuck in place and aging in place. By the late 90s when they arrived it had become a community devoted to the maintenance of the status quo. Resources were strained and the staff was small and dysfunctional. Most remarkable was that the parish was dying. Over the past 20 years, 30 to 50 per year were leaving the parish and it was shrinking. At its high point, weekly attendance was about 2,000, but had dwindled to 1,300. Today, they have growth in every measurable area. Weekend attendance is about 4,000, with about 4,500 during Lent and Easter. Even more they see people giving and serving and getting involved in small group life. On a single Sunday recently, 1,100 people volunteered to get involved in a ministry. Scot said the purpose of the parish is to help the lost become disciples and help the disciples grow. Tom said a disciple loves God, loves others, and makes other disciples. They want people to develop a personal relationship with God with a person prayer life. They want people to look at all of their life as coming from God, which includes their financial giving, not just to the church, but to the least of our brothers and sisters. They love their families and people around them. And if they love people, they want to invite them into relationship with God. Scot noted Fr. White’s video of his homily inviting people to get up out of the pews and get involved. He said that Fr. White wanted them to get involved because in serving others we grow in our faith. Why is it important not just to come and hear the homily, but to get involved? Fr. White said just coming to Church and consuming is not growing as a disciple. If a child just ate but didn’t exercise, they wouldn’t grow in a healthy way. The only people who don’t serve in a family are babies, so “baby Christians” are okay to sit in the pew and consume, but at some point they’re going to have get up and serve beyond the parish boundaries. Fr. Matt asked how they seek to evangelize their people. Fr. White said based in the Eucharist and the Word of God, the people can go out into the community and do evangelization. That word can mean so much, so they reduce it to the simple strategy of “Invest and Invite”. He’s not sure how many in their community are unchurched Catholics, but everyone in the parish knows them so they ask them to make an investment in those people in their encounters at the PTA or kids’ sports games or the like. Then they ask them to invite others to visit the parish in person or for the events available online. Scot asked where you start to turn a parish around. The book lists three general steps: Define the mission field, describe the lost in the mission field, and devise a simple invitation for the lost. Scot said on that second step, they described the lost in a lot of detail. Tom said they described a man they called “Timonium Tim” and described him as very specific to north Baltimore: Went to Catholic school, went to confirmation classes, and then stopped going when his mom stopped making him. On Sundays he watches football and doesn’t go to church because he says it’s boring and his idea of the Church came from the Da Vinci Code. Painting that picture, everyone in the pews could think of someone they knew who was like that. People now come up to them and say that was them. The parish makes sure to tell them that in general and individually that the parish is glad for them to be there. Scot asked what they changed about weekend Masses to make “Tim” more welcome and want to come back. Fr. White said “Tim” grew up Catholic so he knows the Mass, but doesn’t appreciate it. To get him where he needs to be, they need to focus on those elements besides the Eucharistic Prayer which are going to have traction with him. That comes in three parts: Music, message, and ministers. Music is important for lifting hearts and giving a sense of worship, but they specifically selected music with “Tim” in mind. The weekend experience is a kind of journey on which they’re trying to take people, an emotional and spiritual journey to the realm of higher things. Music is like the water on which that experience sails. It’s incredibly important to someone just back to church for the first time. The weekend message or homily is based in the Scripture readings which is relevant on Sunday mornings for what’s going to happen in their lives on Monday morning. A great compliment is to hear people say they were talking about the message on the way home or later that week. The ministers are the parishioners who serve their fellow parishioners, guests, and newcomers, meeting them at the door and showing they’re happy they’re there. They even have parking ministers greeting people. Scot asked Tom how long it took to get the parishioners used to singing. He said it took a couple of years and it’s still an ongoing challenge. they still have people who walk out church during the closing song. But over two or three years they increased the singing, modeling the behavior or preaching about it. Scot noted that they decided not to have different music at each Mass. He noted that they have several different types of music, whether contemporary Christian music or Gregorian chant. Tom said with contemporary worship music, they started it at their youth Mass and found that all ages were attracted to it. Over time it became obvious that in order to reach the people far from Christ, the music they would want is music that was most like what they would hear on the radio. That was the music that would appeal to “Timonium Tim”. He said it moved to their other Masses. When it comes to chant, he said Fr. White has a great sense of the movement of the Mass. They’ve come to believe that there is a desire for mystery, especially in the emerging generation. There is something mysterious about chant and it makes the Eucharistic prayer stand out from the rest of the Mass. It became part of the Mass organically. Between those two, it represents who they want to be as a parish, dynamically orthodox. Scot said the book indicates three decisions related to how Fr. White would preach. He would preach longer, at least 20 minutes. He would multi-week themes for his messages. He wanted every parishioner to get the same message at every Mass so he preaches at every one. Fr. White said they discovered the idea of message series from Protestant churches, which develop a theme over four to six weeks. As they implemented it, in a liturgical church with seasons and a lectionary cycle, they discovered it makes even more sense because those seasons and themes are already there in Lent, Easter, and even Ordinary time. It’s a great way to keep people coming back and interested. It’s a great to keep everyone on the same page over time. It makes sermon preparation easier as well. He does preach 20 minutes every week.They found that the length of message has the critical mass needed to get a clear strong and relevant message across, giving them time to explore the Scripture in a serious way and make a life application for it. Fr. White said it can be problematic to have multiple homilists over a weekend because people can hear different messages. Sometimes people hear conflicting messages. Recognizing the gift of being pastor and having a pulpit to speak from, he had to renew his gratitude and understanding of that gift. There can be logistical problems in preaching at every Mass when there’s a parochial vicar. In some parishes, they switch off weekends. In others they coordinate a consistent message. Scot said Church of the Nativity has groups of ministers: parking team, ops team, hosting team, welcoming team, cafe team, and more. He said some of the terminology is foreign to many Catholics. Tom said they often hear from people who they felt so welcomed when they came to the church. That’s not rocket science. It’s all very simple and all very hard to implement. The parking ministers don’t just show people where to park, but set the tone that this is a church that’s prepared for an event. These ministries communicate that we expect guests, people who haven’t been here before. The greeters welcome people. The hosting ministers help seat people or direct them to the restrooms and the like. It shows that this place has its act together. He said children’s programs for nursery and kindergarten provide for the people who are coming back to church at this stage. They’re not babysitting, but provide a worship experience for them and then allow parents to have an hour to listen to what God is saying to them without worrying about the children. Fr. Matt asked how the parish cares for a young couple having their first child up through adulthood. Fr. White said they make baptism preparation as more than a class but a celebration of their baby. They connect them to an enthusiasm for faith. When they are successful in getting them to bring the child to the nursery, there are ministers there who introduce the child into a worship experience where they learn, play, and worship together. The kids bring the parents back week after week. Later on, they get the kids in church at Mass and try to have an interactive children’s liturgy of the Word during the 20 minute homily from Fr. White to the adults. They also have student programs starting at middle school, giving them an experience every week of worship, fellowship, and small-group interaction to learn about discipleship. Scot asked about the importance of small groups. Tom said they talk about friends and faith. We need relationships in order to grow in our discipleship to Christ. This is the biggest challenge and toughest hurdle. People understand volunteering for ministries and going to church, but people are still leery of small groups. But it’s absolutely essential so the larger church can become small and intimate and people can share their struggles. Scot recommends listeners to watch one of the Masses on Sunday at 10:30am or 5pm to experience what it’s like.…
Summary of today’s show: The Feast of St. Joseph this year was marked by the inauguration of the Petrine ministry of Pope Francis. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor discussed the Holy Father’s newly unveiled coat of arms, which are very familiar, and then talked in detail about his homily for today’s Mass in which he invoked the example of St. Joseph as a protector who acts with tenderness to encourage all of us to protect one another and all of creation. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Pope Francis’ Homily for the Mass Inaugurating His Petrine Ministry 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Chris O’Connor to the show and they discussed the treacherous weather and how there’s often a bad snow storm at this time of year. Scot said today our focus will be on the Mass of Inauguration of Pope Francis this morning. Scot said we’ll also discuss the Pope’s coat of arms and papal motto. Fr. Chris said the star represents the Blessed Mother and the plant, nard, represents St. Joseph. The star and IHS is a common representation of the Jesuits, which Pope Francis has been. He noted that the crest is bright blue, which represents both the Blessed Mother, but also particularly the icon of Mary that all Argentinians revere. Scot said both the crest and motto of bishops represent much of who the bishop wants to be. Scot said the motto comes from the Gospel of St. Matthew, when Matthew was called by Jesus: “Miserando atque eligendo”. It refers to Jesus calling Matthew in mercy. When he was 17, Pope Francis heard this reading at Mass, and feeling unworthy himself felt called by God and that was his vocational call. Pope Francis seems to be telling others that even if they feel unworthy, God is calling them to bring His love and mercy to others. Fr. Chris said Caravaggio shows this in a beautiful image with darkness and light. Matthew is shown surrounded by his ill-gotten tax collector gains and then the hand of Christ coming in and calling St. Matthew. Caravaggio modeled the hand of Christ on the hand of God in the Sistine Chapel, thus saying that a new creation begins in the call of Christ. Scot said the only people who might not like what Pope Francis is doing is the security people because the Holy Father so often goes off script and out into the crowds. It’s notable that this morning he was riding in the open-air popemobile. At one point he got out of the car to give a kiss to a disabled man he saw in the crowd. Fr. Chris said he was struck by the news that Pope Francis called his former cathedral in Argentina before the Mass today and had a message relayed to the crowds gathered outside to watch the Mass. He said one of Pope Francis’ first acts was to ask for prayer and he’s reminding us of the efficacy of prayer and that even the pope needs prayers. Scot said it reminds him of the need to ask others to pray for him in the normal course of his day. He should also be assuring others of his own prayers and doing it. Fr. Chris said one of the important parts of Good Friday is praying for the world by name, atheists and agnostics, Jews, Muslims, and everyone. The Holy Father is showing us the importance of praying for our needs, our daily bread. 2nd segment: Scot said St. Joseph’s Day is special especially for fathers and grandfathers. Fr. Chris also wished a happy feast day to the Sisters of St. Joseph. Scot started reading Pope Francis’ homily: Dear Brothers and Sisters, I thank the Lord that I can celebrate this Holy Mass for the inauguration of my Petrine ministry on the solemnity of Saint Joseph, the spouse of the Virgin Mary and the patron of the universal Church. It is a significant coincidence, and it is also the name-day of my venerable predecessor: we are close to him with our prayers, full of affection and gratitude. Scot said the name day, the ‘onomastico’, is very important in Italy. In fact, many Italians celebrate the name day instead of their birthday. Fr. Chris said Pope Francis mentions Pope Benedict by name once again. He’s scheduled to meet Benedict on Saturday and Fr. Chris said it shows Pope Francis’ humility in going to see the former pope. In the Gospel we heard that “Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife” (Mt 1:24). These words already point to the mission which God entrusts to Joseph: he is to be the custos, the protector. The protector of whom? Of Mary and Jesus; but this protection is then extended to the Church, as Blessed John Paul II pointed out: “Just as Saint Joseph took loving care of Mary and gladly dedicated himself to Jesus Christ’s upbringing, he likewise watches over and protects Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church, of which the Virgin Mary is the exemplar and model” (Redemptoris Custos, 1). Scot said St. Joseph is the Patron and Protector of the Universal Church. Fr. Chris said it’s a reminder of intercessory prayer. He said he’s known as the silent saint because no words of his are recorded in Scripture. We see the care, love, and dedication he gave to Mary and the Child Jesus. How does Joseph exercise his role as protector? Discreetly, humbly and silently, but with an unfailing presence and utter fidelity, even when he finds it hard to understand. From the time of his betrothal to Mary until the finding of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, he is there at every moment with loving care. As the spouse of Mary, he is at her side in good times and bad, on the journey to Bethlehem for the census and in the anxious and joyful hours when she gave birth; amid the drama of the flight into Egypt and during the frantic search for their child in the Temple; and later in the day-to-day life of the home of Nazareth, in the workshop where he taught his trade to Jesus. Scot said Joseph is a man of action, a man of formation. It shows what a faithful holy man should be about. Fr. Chris said the reasons he’s such a great patron for dads is that his holiness doesn’t come from anything flashy or extravagant, but the day to day work of being a father. Scot recalled a talk he heard once encouraging men to raise their own children in the model of St. Joseph. It is a sacred work to be a dad. Fr. Chris said he sees the choice of this day is Pope Francis giving over his ministry to St. Joseph. How does Joseph respond to his calling to be the protector of Mary, Jesus and the Church? By being constantly attentive to God, open to the signs of God’s presence and receptive to God’s plans, and not simply to his own. This is what God asked of David, as we heard in the first reading. God does not want a house built by men, but faithfulness to his word, to his plan. It is God himself who builds the house, but from living stones sealed by his Spirit. Joseph is a “protector” because he is able to hear God’s voice and be guided by his will; and for this reason he is all the more sensitive to the persons entrusted to his safekeeping. He can look at things realistically, he is in touch with his surroundings, he can make truly wise decisions. In him, dear friends, we learn how to respond to God’s call, readily and willingly, but we also see the core of the Christian vocation, which is Christ! Let us protect Christ in our lives, so that we can protect others, so that we can protect creation! Fr. Chris likes the image begin developed that in order to live out our vocation, we have to follow the example of St. Joseph who protected Christ. It’s a reminder to protect what’s most important, our relationship with Christ, and to keep away from sin and anything that would violate that relationship. We protect time to pray to Christ. How am I protecting Christ in my life? Scot said it brings him back to the Martha and Mary story, where Martha was busy doing, while Mary was at the feet of Jesus. The vocation of being a “protector”, however, is not just something involving us Christians alone; it also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us. It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live. It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about. It means caring for one another in our families: husbands and wives first protect one another, and then, as parents, they care for their children, and children themselves, in time, protect their parents. It means building sincere friendships in which we protect one another in trust, respect, and goodness. In the end, everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it. Be protectors of God’s gifts! Scot said in 20 years when people come back to this homily, they will come to this paragraph. Fr. Chris said anyone who comes to Assisi understands the beautiful images and vistas and the wonder of creation that St. Francis loved. Pope Francis is reminding us that all of creation is something sacred and bestowed on us by God, entrusting us with it. Scot said Cardinal Seán speculated that Pope Francis chose this name to emphasize that we are brothers and sisters in Christ, which comes with the responsibility to love and care for one another. Fr. Chris said he thinks it’s no coincidence that he mentions husbands and wives here, their first duty to one another and being the instrument of their sanctification. Scot said in this age of social media it’s much easier to add new “friends” but sincere friendships require deeper trust and protecting them with trust, respect, and goodness. Fr. Chris asked us to imagine a world marked by such friendships. Whenever human beings fail to live up to this responsibility, whenever we fail to care for creation and for our brothers and sisters, the way is opened to destruction and hearts are hardened. Tragically, in every period of history there are “Herods” who plot death, wreak havoc, and mar the countenance of men and women. Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be “protectors” of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment. Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world! But to be “protectors”, we also have to keep watch over ourselves! Let us not forget that hatred, envy and pride defile our lives! Being protectors, then, also means keeping watch over our emotions, over our hearts, because they are the seat of good and evil intentions: intentions that build up and tear down! We must not be afraid of goodness or even tenderness! Scot said we’ve certainly seen “Herods” in our lifetime. Scot noted that there were many people there who are not Christian and who watch who aren’t and he was telling all of us to protect each other and nature. Fr. Chris said we have to watch our hearts and emotions because so often that’s where the protection breaks down. Forgiveness is a choice. We choose to forgive. We can acknowledge our emotions and still choose to forgive. We need to integrate the heart and mind, but have the mind and intellect which elevate us above creation, rule over the emotions. Here I would add one more thing: caring, protecting, demands goodness, it calls for a certain tenderness. In the Gospels, Saint Joseph appears as a strong and courageous man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love. We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness! Scot said so many men he’s known have thought the way to love, particularly kids, was with tough love and discipline. Scot said tenderness and toughness are often put at opposite ends of a continuum. Pope Francis said one way to be a good protector and provider is to show a tender form of love too. He protected Jesus in a tender way. Somewhere along the way we came to believe that the way to be a man is to show tough love and the Holy Father is saying the opposite. Fr. Chris said he was also tender with the Blessed Mother, like when he decided to spare Mary by setting her aside quietly. And then you continue to see the tenderness along with great obedience and strength in responding to God’s will. Today, together with the feast of Saint Joseph, we are celebrating the beginning of the ministry of the new Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter, which also involves a certain power. Certainly, Jesus Christ conferred power upon Peter, but what sort of power was it? Jesus’ three questions to Peter about love are followed by three commands: feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Let us never forget that authentic power is service, and that the Pope too, when exercising power, must enter ever more fully into that service which has its radiant culmination on the Cross. He must be inspired by the lowly, concrete and faithful service which marked Saint Joseph and, like him, he must open his arms to protect all of God’s people and embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Only those who serve with love are able to protect! Scot said this might be the second-most quoted. He’s describing authentic Christian leadership through service. Fr. Chris said Pope Francis tells us why the Church exists because of the holiness and sanctification of all its members. The what of the Church is the Pope, bishops, priests, and deacons and their reason for existence is to serve. If we lose sight of the call to service, that is not of Christ. Christ is found with the poorest of the poor, the sick and lame. Fr. Chris said Bishop Libasci of Manchester, NH, gave a homily at St. John’s Seminary yesterday in which he described a fire-and-brimstone seminarian who was taken aside and told that before you can save the world, you have to love it. We’re reminded of this on Holy Thursday when the priest washes the feet of others in service. Scot said we need to be willing to lay down our lives so we can serve others in tangible, concrete, faith-filled ways. Fr. Chris said only those who serve with love are able to protect. That’s the Pope’s job: the protect the unity of the Church, to protect the holiness of the Church, to protect the catholic nature of the Church spread across the globe and making manifest the fullness of the teachings, to protect the apostolic faith passed down by the apostles and guided by the Holy Spirit. In the second reading, Saint Paul speaks of Abraham, who, “hoping against hope, believed” (Rom 4:18). Hoping against hope! Today too, amid so much darkness, we need to see the light of hope and to be men and women who bring hope to others. To protect creation, to protect every man and every woman, to look upon them with tenderness and love, is to open up a horizon of hope; it is to let a shaft of light break through the heavy clouds; it is to bring the warmth of hope! For believers, for us Christians, like Abraham, like Saint Joseph, the hope that we bring is set against the horizon of God, which has opened up before us in Christ. It is a hope built on the rock which is God. Scot said he can’t not think of how much hope Pope Francis has brought to the Church. He’s heard from people who tell him that Pope Francis makes them want to return to church. Fr. Chris said of the light of hope that in a dark room, one little match is stronger than the darkness and cannot be swallowed by that. Just a little hope in our lives gives us the grace to carry on even in dark and difficult experiences. To protect Jesus with Mary, to protect the whole of creation, to protect each person, especially the poorest, to protect ourselves: this is a service that the Bishop of Rome is called to carry out, yet one to which all of us are called, so that the star of hope will shine brightly. Let us protect with love all that God has given us! I implore the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saints Peter and Paul, and Saint Francis, that the Holy Spirit may accompany my ministry, and I ask all of you to pray for me! Amen. Scot said he will remember about this homily, like he remembers about the balcony of St. Peter’s last Wednesday, is that he ends by asking us to pray for him. Fr. Chris said he’s reminding us that we are on flock and that the shepherd relies on prayers just like the sheep. He talks of protecting all the gifts in our life, but also the gift we have been given in Pope Francis. Scot noted that in the Congregation meetings, Cardinal Bergoglio gave an impassioned talk that we need to reform and purify the Church. Scot said that won’t be easy, especially with the reform of Roman Curia. Scot said harder than starting a business is a reforming a business even while it continues to do its work and that’s similar to what Pope Francis is doing. Fr. Chris said Cardinal Seán in his own inaugural address in Boston in 2003 recalled the San Damiano Cross where Christ called Francis to rebuild the Church. He said he believes Pope Francis has a clear idea of what needs to be done. Scot noted that tomorrow is Fr. Chris’ birthday. He said tomorrow is their annual St. Patrick’s dinner and that’s where they’ll celebrate. He noted the celebrate on Wednesday instead of Sunday because so many of the deacons and faculty are out in parishes on Sunday. The one thing that Fr. Chris has loved so far from Pope Francis is the emphasis on the protector. Scot said he’s loved that he preaches from the pulpit like a pastor and not so much like an academic.…
Summary of today’s show: Wrapping up two weeks in Rome covering the end of Pope Benedict’s pontificate and the beginning of Pope Francis’, Scot Landry, Fr. Roger Landry and George Martell reflect on their experiences and on the moments and images that will endure with them. They also reflected on their participation in Pope Francis’ meeting with members of the media on Saturday and on his Sunday Angelus message in St. Peter’s Square. Scot also talked with Michael Severance of the Action Institute about his encounter with then-Archbishop Bergoglio at the University of Dallas’ Rome campus in 2001 and how it gives a glimpse to the character of Pope Francis. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, George Martell, Michael Severance Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: LIVE from Rome: Reflecting on the experience and on Pope Francis 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the final program from Rome which has been coming to everyone from there for the past couple of weeks. He welcomed George Martell and Fr. Roger Landry to the show. George has taken more than 3,000 photos over the past week and published about 1,000 in the past couple of weeks. He asked George what he’s seen. George said his photos can all be seen at BostonCatholicPhotos.com. The most important moment was the Habemus papam. They’d had no idea it would be white smoke that night and were so surprised. They were wondering if it would be Cardinal Seán because so much attention had been given to him. The night was very rainy and they waited and waited and suddenly it was white smoke and people were celebrating and he will remember that moment most clearly. On Cardinal Seán, George had seen in the cardinal’s face that he could sense the weight that he was experiencing. George has been photographing the cardinal for six years and knew him very well. George said when he heard “Francesco” he thought at first it would be him, but when he realized it, he was very happy for him. On the most enjoyable shot was when he was able to get fairly close during the meeting with the media and was able to get several shots of the Pope’s face. cot asked George’s first impression of Pope Francis, having taken so many photos of famous figures over the years. George said he’s very humble and there’s a sense that he knows what he wants to do. He laughs a lot and smiles a lot. Scot asked Fr. Roger over the last two weeks and in anticipation of the Mass of inauguration tomorrow, what will stand out. Fr. Roger will remember when he came out on the balcony and asked us to pray to God to bless him and bowed over very humbly. Before that there were two other moments of silence—when his name was announced and then another moment was when he came out on the balcony and just stared at everyone. Fr. Roger said said the cardinals on the balcony didn’t know what was going on in the silence of the prayer and even the national media thought they lost audio when the 100,000-strong crowd was hushed. Fr. Roger added that another memory was seeing how comfortable Pope Francis is and giving an example of how the reform of the Church will occur. What we saw with St. Francis of Assisi is that the reform of the Church began with individual men and women. Pope Francis is starting the reform in his own heart. He went to St. Mary Major to pray to Our Lady and emphasized the Church as more Marian than Petrine. Fr. Roger said the theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar said the Church is more following Mary than Peter. The Church is virginal in her love for the Lord, loving God above everyone else. The Church is welcoming, like a mother welcoming all her children. The Church says Yes to God (“Fiat”). The Church leads to the New Evangelization, brings Jesus to others. The most important hierarchy in the Church is not the hierarchy of holy orders, but the hierarchy of holiness at the top of which is a woman, Mary. Petrine means Jesus founded a Church with a particular structure, but to have an effective papacy, we need holy popes, who have learned holiness from Mary. The Church’s reform is not just changing the heads of some offices, but begins by following Mary by being a faithful recipient of what is given and then giving that to the world. Scot said Pope Francis ends each prayer by invoking Our Lady. He noted that Latin Americans have a special devotion to Our Lady. He asked if there is something particular about this devotion compared to the devotion of Pope John Paul II. Fr. Roger said the truths he just articulated are put into action by devotion. Marian devotion from one country to another has certain differences, devotions based on particular images or titles, but what matters is the person behind the image or title. He said for so many our relationship with Mary was affected by Pope John Paul’s deep Marian devotion. Our new Holy Father has grown in his Marian devotion through the example of John Paul. If you don’t have a great Marian devotion now, you can learn it from our present Holy Father as he learned it from our previous Holy Father. He said Pope Francis rises at 4:30am each day and prays all 20 decades of the rosary. His Marian devotion is also scripturally based and now recognizes more than at any time in his life how much he needs her. Pope Francis isn’t trying to fit into a particular idea of the papacy, but is being himself and living the papacy as himself. Scot asked other enjoyable moments Fr. Roger has had on this trip. Fr. Roger said he was moved by being able to celebrate Mass at St. Peter’s every morning. The first time he was celebrating Mass there because he felt spiritually orphaned because Pope Benedict had retired. But during Mass, he noted that he was surrounded by the great popes of the Church, 148 of them buried there. It was a comfort for him to realize he wasn’t spiritually orphaned. Then once Pope Francis was elected, to be able to go into the place where one day he will almost certainly be buried, to celebrate Mass for him through the intercession of his predecessors created a spiritual connection with him. Scot said what stood out for him was being in shock on Wednesday night when the white smoke came. He’d thought it would be an awful night for white smoke because of the pouring rain and how difficult it would be for everyone. But then the rain stopped. Then the pope came out and no one really knew who Pope Francis was. On the following day when Cardinal Seán had a press conference with the media, in speaking with the cardinal briefly beforehand, Scot heard clearly how thrilled Cardinal Seán was at the election of Pope Francis. Then seeing Pope Francis be really comfortable with his sense of humor in the meeting with the media. It reminds him of how Cardinal Seán’s sense of humor endears him to so many. Scot said he loves what he’s already heard from Pope Francis who has a simple message. We’ve had brilliant theologians over past decades, and Pope Francis is also brilliant, but he’s been a pastor for so long, he connects with people as a pastor. Scot said he’s realized how much he loves being a conduit for so many prayer requests from a number of countries and from around the United States. Many were for people who were ill or elderly or for family members or for the cardinals or for unique needs. He realized how many millions of requests the Blessed Mother gets asked to intercede for every day and gave him a new appreciation for intercessory prayer. He’s also realized how effective blogging is as a communications tool and as he reflects on the past two weeks of writing on TheGoodCatholicLife.com and posting George’s photos, he sees how they have been successful in letting people know what it was like to be over there at this time. Scot noted that there have been two significant events on the papal schedule since our last broadcast. The first was a meeting with the media. Scot and George and Fr. Roger attended. He asked George how important it was to have a smaller gathering of about 3,000 people. George said the intimacy was a plus. It was great to be able to see without having to look through a long lens. Looking at this face, you get a sense of what kind of person he is. He was able to see how humble he is. Fr. Roger shared some of the off-the-cuff remarks of Pope Francis. He said Popes in this kind of meeting normally would thank the journalists for all their hard work. The pope would also give them some news, some information that was otherwise unknown to make their time worthwhile. This time he told them the story of how he got his name of Francis. He told them that when he reached the necessary 77 votes, his friend Cardinal Claudio Hummes came to him and said, “Don’t forget the poor.” He was saying that he could be the pope who helps the Church become more poor in spirit, like in the beatitudes, but also help the poor. That made him think of St. Francis, who was a man of peace and who was so close to poor. He also noted that Francis is the patron of Italy and it provides him a close to connection his diocese as well. He added that others told him he should have taken other names, like Hadrian VII, after Hadrian VI who was a reformer, or Clement XV, after Clement XIV who suppressed the Society of Jesus in the early 1800s, as a come back from Pope Francis who is a Jesuit himself. He is very funny, even though many people have said in profiles of him that he doesn’t smile. Fr. Roger noted that he was hugging many people at the end of the meeting. Pope Francis also talked about the vocation of the journalist and said that covering the journey is different from covering other beats. You have to approach the Church through the lens of faith in order to understand. Journalists and the Church seek truth, beauty and goodness. The Church finds all those in Jesus Christ. On Sunday, Pope Francis had his first Angelus as Pope. Popes typically have two public events per week, the Wednesday General Audience and the Sunday Angelus. George was able to be perched high on the colonnade above St. Peter’s Square. George said he was able to show the crowd through his photos. He said was able to capture the anticipation on the faces of the people for seeing the Pope. Scot said his sense is that about one-third of the crowd was seeing the Pope for the first time. Fr. Roger said Pope Francis’ message was gratitude for his warm welcome and then deeper meaning of Sunday’s Gospel in that God is rich in mercy. He said God never tires of forgiving us, but we tire of asking God for forgiveness. So we should pray to never tire of asking. He also told a story of helping out with confessions and talking to an old black woman who wasn’t very well educated and embarrassed to be talking to the archbishop. But she told him how the world wouldn’t exist without God’s mercy and he replied to her that she must have been educated at the Gregorian University because of the holy wisdom she showed. It shows how God has revealed the important things of the world to the little ones, not to the “wise” of the world. George ended by saying how much of a pleasure and honor it was to be there and communicate it all through his pictures. Fr. Roger said it’s been a real joy to be there to witness it firsthand and to communicate it back home. He said the good Catholic life is a life our new Holy Father is calling us to live and he expects to hear more about it tomorrow in his inauguration Mass. He’s very happy that our new Holy Father has started to walk us on that journey, asking us to follow him. 2nd segment: Scot was outside St. Peter’s Square and welcomed Michael Severance of the Action Institute to the show. Scot asked him to relate a story of then-Cardinal Bergoglio visiting the Rome campus of the University of Dallas. Michael said at the time he was director of the the university’s Rome program and they had a monthly speaker and dinner program. In February 2001, the guest was the then-archbishop who was two days from being made a cardinal. Michael’s job was to be his liaison and he arranged his travel for his visit, but he said the cardinal insisted on taking a train, which was very inexpensive. When they met, he insisted he call him Father Jorge instead of Your Excellency. And because he’d missed his original train, he’d missed the dinner but he gave his talk anyway. His English was quite good, but it sounded like he worked hard to memorize it. He finished the topic of the talk on the economic crisis in Argentina at the time. His theme was that if people believed in Christ, they would have 100% of what they need and would not have felt the losses as keenly. Afterward, Michael offered to take him out to dinner because he’d missed it earlier. Michael said at the time he’d been used to so much formality in Rome and how important it was to use the correct title for someone, but if this was what the archbishop wanted, then that’s what he would do. He understood him immediately to be a person of the people and of great humility. His refusal to take a car or a taxi, but instead to take the cheaper train showed he understood the pain of the people in Buenos Aires who had so little money. And then as for dinner, he said let’s go to dinner. But Michael said the cafeteria was closed and offered to take him to Castel Gandolfo for dinner. He said there was no need to take him out for an expensive dinner and asked what they had in the refrigerator. Michael checked his kitchen and found some cheese, sausages, pasta and good Roman bread so he offered a nice typical spaghetti amatriciana and they had a nice family meal with the children and Michael’s boss’s family. In interacting with the students, whenever asked a question by the students, he would look at this feet and rub his forehead vigorously. Michael at first thought he was having trouble understanding the students’ Texas accent. But when he answered it was clear he understood everything and had been recording everything in his mind. He said he has great listening capacity. He chooses his words wisely. His conversational English he rated at upper intermediate. Michael said his reaction upon hearing the name, at first he thought it was Cardinal Pell until others corrected him. He and his wife had talked previously about the possibility of the man they’d had in their home for dinner would be pope. Michael said in just a few days of his papacy we have seen him smiling and happy and speaking from his heart. He has the “teddy bear” factor in his favor. Scot asked what qualities the world will come to love the most. Michael said he’s a person not afraid to break with tradition, when they are seen in a negative way, some forms of opulence as we’ve already seen in some of his choices so far. He will be true to himself and sincere in his austerity. Michael said he heads up the Acton Institute’s Rome office. They are an ecumenical think tank that investigate the intersection of faith and economics. 3rd segment: Scot thanked everyone who has listened to the show over the past two weeks over the whole Station of the Cross network. The experience has brought him closer to God and he prayed the same is true for the listeners. Just a week ago, Cardinal Bergoglio was just a name and now he is our Pope. He is different in many ways. He is a man of the poor and wants to help those who are materially and spiritually poor. Scot summarized the work they’ve accomplished in Rome over the weeks they’ve been there. He said a chronicle of all the coverage is available on the website. On tomorrow’s show, Scot and Fr. Chris O’Connor will discuss Pope Francis’ homily at his inauguration Mass and on Wednesday, Scot and Fr. Matt Williams will discuss “Rebuilt”, a book about the change in a parish in Maryland. The Thursday show will return to a discussion of the news.…
Summary of today’s show: After emerging from the silence of the conclave that elected Pope Francis, Cardinal Seán O’Malley of Boston met with reporters from Boston and beyond to discuss voting in the conclave, his impressions of the new Holy Father, and what he takes away from the experience. Also, Scot Landry provides his perspective on the events as a pilgrim in St. Peter’s Square. Finally, we look at the upcoming Sunday Mass readings. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Cardinal Seán O’Malley Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: LIVE From Rome: Cardinal Seán’s first press conference after the conclave 1st segment: Thank you Rick. Welcome everyone, those listening in Boston and in these weeks of papal transition, those listening to the Station of the Cross from upstate New York and on iCatholic Radio. The world is learning so much more about our New Holy Father, Pope Francis. We are hearing reactions from Cardinals who participated in the Conclave to his election. We are also learning from his actions and from his first homily to the Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel a little bit more about his priorities as Pope. We will hear Cardinal Sean’s reactions in the first half of the show and then reflect on Pope Francis’ first homily as our Holy Father in the second half of the show. But first, have you ever wondered what it would be like to be standing in Saint Peter’s Square to see the white smoke, to hear “Habemus Papam” and the new Pope’s former name, and then to receive the Apostolic blessing. Until Wednesday night in Rome, I wondered about that too. But I had such a privileged opportunity to be there for the surprise of an earlier election than most anticipated and then to see, hear and experience what it was like. At around 7pm, when the smoke appeared, it was raining heavily in Piazza San Pietro. So you needed to move around the umbrellas to see the sightlines. Here is how I reacted: Then after a period of waiting, here is what it sounded like in St. Peter’s Square when they announced who the next Holy Father would be. [audio src=http://media.thegoodcatholiclife.com/2013-03-14-Habemus-Papam-Announcement.mp3] Then about 10 minutes later, we heard the first words from Pope Francis. [audio src=”http://media.thegoodcatholiclife.com/2013-03-14-Pope-Francis-Remarks.mp3”] Then our New Holy Father gave us his first Apostolic Blessing. The whole experience was tremendously moving. For a complete description of what it was like, please visit TheGoodCatholicLife.com and see . We’ll be back after this and we’ll listen to Cardinal Sean’s press conference yesterday with the Boston Media. You are listening to The Good Catholic Life. 2nd segment: Welcome back to the Good Catholic Life on our 2nd full day of the papacy of Pope Francis. Yesterday at the Pontifical North America College, Cardinal Seán greeted the press from Boston. It was a packed room just of Boston journalists. There asking questions were Lisa Zoll from the Associated Press, Joe Mathieu from WBZ radio, Lisa Hughes from WBZ-TV, Kim Khazei from WHDH, Heather Unruh from WCVB, Patricia Thomas from Associated Press TV, Lisa Wangness and David Filipov from the Globe, plus their camera operators and producers. In my brief conversations with Cardinal Seán before and after the media events, it was very apparent that he rejoiced in the election of Pope Francis and that he was extremely happy he would be returning to Boston to celebrate the liturgies of Holy Week. We’ll begin with his opening statement and then you’ll hear questions from the journalists around the room. Cardinal Seán: Well obviously, for everyone in the Church, that decision of Pope Benedict to resign was a shock, and in some ways, a crisis for us. To be without a Pope is being [spiritually] orphaned. So, the Conclave has given us a new Holy Father, a new representative for the Church, and a new Vicar of Christ. So it’s obviously a moment of great joy for the whole Catholic world. Being a part of it was a very humbling and moving experience. The Conclave is a very prayerful experience. It’s almost like a retreat. I know that when you read the Italian papers, it seems like it a political campaign, or like the primaries or something. [Laughter] It really is a spiritual and prayerful experience of discernment. When you walk up with a ballot in your hand and stand before the image of the Last Judgment and say, “with Christ as my witness, I am voting for the one whom I feel is the one God wants to do this [Petrine Ministry]. This is a great responsibility. Obviously, we’re delighted that the Holy Spirit moved us to elect Pope Francis. I certainly approve of the name! [Laughter] It is a great thing for us to have a Pope from the New World. I won’t say he’s the first non-European [Pope], because early on there were African Popes in the Church. He’s the first one from our hemisphere and obviously that’s a part of the world where half of the Catholics live. Also, almost half the Catholics in the United States are also Hispanic. The Pope is everyone’s Holy Father, but it’s a wonderful connection for him to have that cultural and linguistic tie with so many of the faithful. We’re also happy to see the interest of the press. [Laughter.] So many have been credentialed to cover this event. Last night, from the loggia looking down at the multitude in the Square, listening to the roar of enthusiasm, seeing all the flashes going off, hearing the papal anthem being played, and listening to the Holy Father’s words, and asking the people to pray with him and praying the very simple prayers that all Catholics know: The Our Father, The Hail Mary, The Glory Be. It was very moving. Rachel Zoll from the Associated Press: Could you talk a little bit about how you got to know Pope Francis? How long have you known him? Cardinal Seán: Well, I first met him in different meetings over the years. A couple years ago I was his guest in Argentina. I have always known of him and been an admirer of his. He’s very close to a number of the Capuchins in Argentina, who are the members of my order. [Followup] Rachel Zoll from the Associated Press: Would it be fair to say you know him very well? Cardinal Seán: Yes. Joe Mathieu from WBZ radio. Good morning and thank you for spending time with us. We appreciate you for being so generous. Your name has been thrown around in the Boston press, Italian press, International press for some many days with so much speculation. I am wondering if you feel a sense of relief this morning that you have the same job? Cardinal Seán: As I told someone this morning, if the only prerequisite for being Pope was not wanting the job, I would have been the most qualified Cardinal in the Conclave. [Laughter.] So, of course, I was gratified by the warmth of the Italians in their enthusiasm for me. But that’s because they love St. Francis. They got a Pope Francis anyway, so I hope they’re satisfied. [Laughter.] Lisa Hughes from WBZ-TV. When we were here last night, Your Eminence, Cardinal Dolan described the moment when Pope Francis said “accepto.” He said that there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Can you describe that moment when former Cardinal Bergoglio accepted this honor? Cardinal Seán: Well, obviously, we were all hoping that he wouldn’t decline. [Laughter.] It was a very moving moment. Afterwards, each one of us went up and kissed his ring, hugged him, and congratulated him. It was a very moving experience, truly. Kim Khazei from WHDH. I wanted to just ask that about the popularity. Even though you said you bought a round trip ticket, a lot of people thought that you would be a great fit for the job. Your humility. What else is there about you that you might have been able to bring to the table? You also spoke about Pope Francis, particularly you talked about reforming the Church being a priority. Do you expect to see more the same or change in the Catholic Church? Cardinal Seán: Pope Francis is coming out of Latin America where there is such a contrast of rich and poor, and so many very grave social problems. He is a man who is very much impassioned by the desire to make the Church present to people in their suffering, relieve the suffering of the poor, and make them feel that it is their Church. I think that is going to have repercussions in this pontificate. [Followup] Kim Khazei from WHDH. With some of the pain people have felt back home in Massachusetts and in the United States, with the scandal, do you think there will be healing there? Cardinal Seán: I’m confident that there will be. This is a man who has a great sense of mission. He values transparency. I have great confidence that he will further the process of healing in our Church. Heather Unruh from WCVB - It’s great to see you. Thanks for having us today. Can you tell me your reaction when you realized that this was would be the first Jesuit Pope? What does he significantly and uniquely bring to the Papacy? Cardinal Seán: The Jesuit order is one of the most important orders in the Church. I make a lot of jokes about Franciscans and Jesuits [laughter]. Their educational ministry and their presence in our missions is so great. They are known for their discernment. We need a wise and discerning leader in the Church at this time. I’m sure that he will help to re-energize the Catholic identity of Jesuit education and be a great source of encouragement to the Jesuit order throughout the world. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a religious as Pope. I think having somebody in the consecrated life as Pope is also a way of lifting up this vocation in the Church, of men and women religious, who so often around the frontlines throughout the world. We’re very, very pleased that we have a Jesuit Pope. Patricia Thomas from Associated Press TV - A Jesuit priest said to me this morning that Pope Francis came out without the mozetto on top of his vestments. This is a Pope who’s not going to fit in with the ‘silk and fur atmosphere’ of the papal court? Do you agree with that? Also, Thursday he is supposed to go to Castel Gandolfo. How do you think his relationship with the Pope Emeritus is going to work? Cardinal Seán: I’m sure that he will have a very great relationship with Pope Benedict. In fact, I was touched that one of the first things he did [last night] was to ask people to pray for Pope Benedict, and he expressed gratitude for his ministry. Obviously, as a Latin American, he doesn’t have the same weight of European history that people from this continent have. So I think he’s probably to be a little freer to perhaps jettison some of the traditional things. Those traditions are important to our people too, so there has to be a balance between what is appropriate in the 21st-century and what is a holdover from the past. Scot Landry from TheGoodCatholicLife.com and The Pilot- Cardinal Seán you mentioned you like the name Francis that he took. St. Francis had a mandate to rebuild the Church, primarily spiritually. Do you think that’s the significance of him choosing the name Francis, that he thinks he has a mandate to rebuild the Church? Cardinal Seán: I think that there are three themes in St. Francis that he’s identifying with. I haven’t spoken with him about this, so I’m sort of reading his mind. Certainly , he rebuilding the Church, the reforms of government in the Church and so forth [is one]. Also, certainly Francis as a universal brother. Francis wanted to be a brother to everyone. We have the famous “Brother Sun, Sister Moon.” Yesterday he spoke about the brotherhood, the fraternity, that he wants to reign in the Church and in the world. That people look at themselves as brothers and sisters. That’s a very Franciscan theme. Also, St. Francis’s love for the poor. For St. Francis the poor person was the Sacrament of Christ. Christ emptied himself, took on the form of a slave, and embraced the cross for love of us. For Francis, the poor person was a sacrament of Christ. That’s the vision that Pope Francis has and that’s why he chose that name. He was very clear right from the beginning. He said this is in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, not Francis Xavier who was the Jesuit. [Laughter]. Rachel Zoll from the Associated Press: Can you talk a little bit about the stability and some the challenges ahead for this Pope? There was some surprise about age. There were expectations and built up that perhaps somebody younger would be chosen as Pope, so that the Pontificate would be a little bit longer. Can you talk about that a little bit? Was that assumption wrong? Cardinal Seán: Obviously the assumption was wrong. [Laughter.] I think age was a consideration, but there were other considerations that weighed more heavily I think on the discernment process. Whether the Pope’s reign is long or short is not particularly important. Pope John XXIII was older when he was elected and so was Pope Benedict. I think the experience that he has and the gifts that he brings to the ministry are so precious and wonderful. Joe Mathieu from WBZ Radio - Cardinal Seán, it’s been reported many times over the past 12 to 24 hours that Cardinal Bergoglio rejected many of the luxuries that are enjoyed by many Cardinals across the world: no limousines; no mansions; he lived in a small apartment; cooked his own meals they say; took the bus to work. I’m wondering to what extent you relate with that lifestyle and whether this is going to be a change in lifestyle for all Cardinals around the world. Cardinal Seán: I’m not sure what the impact will be. Certainly, the simplicity with which he has lived [is a example for all]. I think he’s been very faithful and has tried to live his religious life even as a Bishop and as a cardinal. That’s a good example that we hope will have an impact. Lisa Hughes from WBZ-TV. Your Eminence, what do you want to people in Boston to know about Pope Francis today? Cardinal Seán: Well, just that is a very good man, and that he’s going to be a good leader for the Church. His experience of coming out of Latin America is also very important to us in the New World, and particularly, in the growing immigrant populations in Boston. I think there will be a great sense of joy and identification with the Holy Father. I’m curious to see what will happen this Summer at World Youth Day. They were already talking about 2 to 3 million young people in Rio. But that was before they counted on all of Argentina coming, [laughter] and the rest of Latin America. It will be quite a wonderful event. [Followup] Lisa Hughes from WBZ-TV. Will you go? Cardinal Seán: Yes. Kim Khazei from WHDH: Cardinal Seán, when you first walked into the room and made your opening remarks, you said you were moved when Pope Francis asked people to pray. It brought you close to tears. What specifically where you were reflecting on that made you so emotional? Cardinal Seán: They were simple prayers that all Catholics know. From children to old people, to those who have university education, and those who are illiterate. Those prayers unite us all in the same family of faith. It was beautiful to see how he was able to hush hundreds of thousands of people who were cheering and so enthusiastic. He was able to bring them to the moment of prayer, to be in God’s presence. [Followup] Kim Khazei from WHDH: Did this whole experience end up being one of the most important moments of your life? Cardinal Seán: I never imagined as a child that someday I would be a part of the Conclave. Some of you may be old enough to remember there was a movie out – “The Cardinal” - many years ago. Although the storyline was not the most edifying, they were famous for the way they replicated the scene in the Sistine Chapel. I never imagined that someday I would be in that Chapel, taking that oath before Christ the Judge of the world, and being part of choosing a new successor to Saint Peter. Heather Unruh from WCVB: I know you’ve made it clear, Cardinal Seán, that you looked forward to that round-trip ticket home. What are you most looking forward to? I know that if you had been as Pope, you would give up the entire life that you’ve known so far. So now that you know if you’re returning to Boston, and the things you love, what are you most looking forward to? Cardinal Seán: During Holy Week, we have the Chrism Mass, which to me is one of the most important moments of the year. I gather with all the priests, we renew our vows to serve God’s people, we bless the oils that are used as our tools for baptisms, confirmations, and anointing of the sick. That’s always a very important moment for priests. I look forward to sharing that moment with my priests each year. [Followup] Heather Unruh from WCVB: Are you also looking forward to some of the smaller things in life, the things that you like to do? Maybe you could elaborate on if you have a favorite street you walk on. Cardinal Seán: Well I think just being able to go out and walk. [Laughter]. People talk about the palace that the Pope has and everything. He’s a prisoner in a museum. [Laughter]. It’s not a wonderful life. In fact, I read Cardinal Dziwisz’s book about his experience being Pope John Paul II’s secretary for so many years. In that book, he reveals that John Paul II used to sneak out [of the Vatican] to go skiing. Nobody knew about that. I was so happy, [laughter] because the Italian government, The Gendarmes, the Army and everyone else would have had a fit. But they used to put him in the backseat of the car and go out and go skiing. I hope Francis will be able to sneak out occasionally, to go to a tango show or something. [Laughter.] Patricia Thomas from Associated Press TV - Last night I was standing at the obelisk just like I was when Cardinal Ratzinger came out in 2005. It was taking longer. I was standing with a lot of Italian photographers who were joking around saying, “it’s taking so long, he must be panicking back there because he doesn’t want to do it.” Why was it taking so long? Was he doing the tango? [Laughter.] What was going on back there? Cardinal Seán: Well, there was such a crowd of people. Just getting him through took a long time because everybody wanted to congratulate him. A lot of the workers came in at that time. Also I think that they also wait to give people the time to get to the Piazza. I think he could have gone out earlier. The Sistine Chapel is right near the loggia. From the Sistine Chapel, we first prayed the Te Deum, a hymn of Thanksgiving. Then we greeted the Holy Father individually. Then we started walking over toward the big window. Then there was a big crowd out there [in the loggia] that kind of slowed things down. [Overall] I think the plan is always to give enough time for people to get to the Piazza once the word gets out that there is white smoke. Scot Landry from TheGoodCatholicLife.com and The Pilot- Cardinal Seán, you’ve just gone through a week of General Congregation meetings and a couple of days in the Conclave. You’ve been a priest for more than 40 years, a Bishop for more than 25, and a Cardinal for 7 years. What have you learned new, over the last week or so, that has helped you appreciate the beauty of the Catholic Faith more, that you look forward to sharing with Catholics in the Archdiocese of Boston? Cardinal Seán: The catholicity of the Church. Being with the Cardinals from all over the world and listening to them talk about the experience of the faith and their people in Asia and Africa and South America and North America and Europe. The mission that we share as Catholics. Our fraternity in the Church, as brothers and sisters in the Lord, through our baptism. It’s a very moving experience. Lisa Wangsness from the Boston Globe. Could you talk about the kind of relationship you expect to have as Cardinal Archbishop of Boston with the new Pope. Do you expect to invite him to Boston? Do you think because you share a love for Latin America and the Spanish language, that you’ll have any particular mission or projects that you’ll be working on? Cardinal Seán: It’s a little early to forecast. Certainly, as Cardinals, we are at the disposition of the Holy Father and are his advisors. I told him that whatever we can do to help, we stand ready. We would look forward to inviting him someday to Boston. It would be good. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a Pope there. John Paul II was there in 1979. So we’re due. [Laughter.] David Filopov from the Boston Globe. We have heard snippets of things that the Pope has said that portray a humility and a sense of humor. Where you there at the toast, for example, when he said “may God forgive you all” [for electing me]. How does he come across as a person? Is he really the soft-spoken, self-deprecating man that was seen glimpses of? Cardinal Seán: He is. He’s very disarming. I had lunch with him yesterday before the vote [laughing]. At that point, he seemed very weighed down by what was happening. Last night, I think that was at peace in his heart that God’s will has been accomplished in his life. He’s very approachable. He’s very friendly. He has a good sense of humor. He’s very quick and a joy to be with. [Followup] David Filopov from the Boston Globe. Father Lombardi told us that he didn’t use the papal car but rather he rode back on the bus with the other Cardinals. How was the atmosphere? Were you surprised that he rode back on the bus? Did you expect that? Cardinal Seán: That’s what I would’ve expected. Lisa Wangsness from the Boston Globe. Can you talk a little bit about the time you spend with him in Buenos Aires in 2010? Cardinal Seán: I was there on business for the USCCB, the Bishops conference, and I was his guest. We did have the time to visit and talk a lot about this situation of the Church in Latin America. We spoke a lot about our some of our mutual friends. He gave me a great CD that I enjoy very much. It is the Misa Criolla, which is Argentine music for a Mass arrangement. It was a very pleasant and very informal visit, because my business for the USCCB was not precisely with him. With him, it was more of a social visit. [Followup] Lisa Wangsness from the Boston Globe. Were you at his house? Cardinal Seán: Yes. [Followup] Lisa Wangsness from the Boston Globe. Did you visit his apartment? If so, can you describe it? Cardinal Seán: He lives in the part of the Chancery, which is a church office building. There’s an apartment in there and perhaps his secretaries. I’m not really sure who is in the other apartments. Those are Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s remarks at the press conference yesterday with Boston media. I’d like to highlight 7 points from his remarks that stood out to me. Cardinal described the Conclave as a very prayerful experience. It’s almost like a retreat. It really is a spiritual experience of discernment. When you walk up with a ballot in your hand and stand before the image of the Last Judgment and say, “with Christ as my witness, I am voting for the one whom I feel is the one God wants to do this [Petrine Ministry]. This is a great responsibility. He also mentioned it was so easy to pray looking at the ceiling and the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. Cardinal Sean was thrilled that he took the name Francis and he made sure to emphasize that Pope Francis took the name to emulate St. Francis of Assisi. He speculated that he did it for 3 reasons – Because of St. Francis’ mission to rebuild the Church. Because of St. Francis’ emphasis that we all are brothers and sisters in the Lord. And because of St. Francis’ love of the poor. Cardinal Seán expressed his happiness at coming home to Boston soon and clarified that he didn’t want the job with his typical humor: “As I told someone this morning, if the only prerequisite for being Pope was not wanting the job, I would have been the most qualified Cardinal in the Conclave. [Laughter.] So, of course, I was gratified by the warmth of the Italians in their enthusiasm for me. But that’s because they love St. Francis. They got a Pope Francis anyway, so I hope they’re satisfied.” [Laughter.] Cardinal Sean became emotional when he described the experience looking at the crowd in Piazza San Pietro and Francis calling them to prayer. He said “Last night, from the loggia looking down at the multitude in the Square, listening to the roar of enthusiasm, seeing all the flashes going off, hearing the papal anthem being played, and listening to the Holy Father’s words, and asking the people to pray with him and praying the very simple prayers that all Catholics know: The Our Father, The Hail Mary, The Glory Be. It was very moving. They were simple prayers that all Catholics know. From children to old people, to those who have university education, and those who are illiterate. Those prayers unite us all in the same family of faith. It was beautiful to see how he was able to hush hundreds of thousands of people who were cheering and so enthusiastic. He was able to bring them to the moment of prayer, to be in God’s presence. Cardinal Sean said that age was a consideration, but there were other considerations that weighed more heavily I think on the discernment process. He commented that whether the Pope’s reign is long or short is not particularly important. Pope John XXIII was older when he was elected and so was Pope Benedict. I think the experience that he has and the gifts that he brings to the ministry are so precious and wonderful. Cardinal Sean said that he’s most looking to returning to Boston for Holy Week. He said “During Holy Week, we have the Chrism Mass, which to me is one of the most important moments of the year. I gather with all the priests, we renew our vows to serve God’s people, we bless the oils that are used as our tools for baptisms, confirmations, and anointing of the sick. That’s always a very important moment for priests. I look forward to sharing that moment with my priests each year. In describing Pope Francis personally, Cardinal Sean said that he knew him well and mentioned that Pope Francis is very approachable, very friendly, has a good sense of humor, he’s very quick thinking and a joy to be with. Next on the Good Catholic Life, we’ll discuss Pope Francis’ first homily to the Cardinals and to the world. Please stay tuned. 3rd segment: Yesterday, Pope Francis met with the Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel at 5pm for the Celebration of Mass. He preached without written remarks and he did it from the pulpit instead of sitting in a chair. It was very different from what we’ve seen over the last couple of decades. It was impressive to me, given all he’s been through over the past few days, to hear him deliver such an eloquent homily off the cuff. Here is a translated version of what he preached, courtesy of There is something that I see that these three readings have in common: movement. In the first reading it is the movement of a journey; in the second reading it is the movement in building the Church; in the third, the Gospel, it is the movement of confession. Journeying, building, confessing. First, Journeying. “House of Jacob, come, let us walk together in the light of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:5). This is the first thing that God said to Abraham: Walk in my presence and you will be blameless. Journey: our life is a journey and when we stop it does not go on. Journey always in the presence of the Lord, in the light of the Lord, seeking to live with that blamelessness that God asked of Abraham in his promise. Second, Building. Building the Church. Stones are spoken of: the stones have a consistency, but they are the living stones, stones anointed by the Spirit. Building the Church, the Bride of Christ, upon that cornerstone that is the Lord himself. Building is another form of movement in our life. Third, confessing. We can journey as much as we want, we can build many things, but if we do not confess Jesus Christ, the thing does not work. We will become a welfare NGO but not the Church, the Bride of Christ. When we do not journey, we stop. When we do not build upon the stones, what happens? Everything collapses, loses its consistency, like the sandcastles that children build on the beach. When we do not confess Jesus Christ, I am reminded of the words of Léon Bloy: “Whoever does not pray to the Lord, prays to the devil.” When we do not confess Jesus Christ, we confess the worldliness of the devil, the worldliness of the demon. Journeying, building-constructing, confessing. But it is not that easy, because in journeying, in constructing, in confessing, there are problems, there are movements antithetical to the journey: they are movements that take us backward. This Gospel continues with an important moment. The same Peter who had confessed Jesus Christ said to him: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. I will follow you, but let’s not talk about the cross. This is not a part of it. I will follow you in other directions, but not to the cross. When we journey without the cross, when we build without the cross and when we confess a Christ without the cross, we are not disciples of the Lord: we are worldly, we are bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, but not disciples of the Lord. I would like for us all, after these days of grace, to have courage, precisely the courage, to walk in the Lord’s presence, with the cross of the Lord; to build the Church upon the blood of the Lord, which was poured out on the cross; and to confess the only glory there is: Christ crucified. And in this way the Church will go forward. It is my wish for all of us that the Holy Spirit – through the prayer of Our Lady, our Mother – bestow upon us the grace of journeying, building, confessing Jesus Christ crucified. Amen. Those are the words from the first homily of Pope Francis yesterday in the Sistine Chapel. A few things struck me. He’s a talented preacher to do this off the cuff. We are in for some great homilies during his pontificate. He used down to earth analogies, such as sandcastles on the beach that get washed away. He used powerful, striking language. He said if we don’t confess Christ and put him at the center of our mission, we become a welfare NGO. He said we need to confess Christ with the Cross. And to his brother bishops – and through them to us – he challenged us by saying “without confessing the cross, we are not disciples of the Lord: we are worldly, we are bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, but not disciples of the Lord. That’s tough. I loved how he described that we are always moving. We are either moving forward in the spiritual life or if we’re just trying to stay in place we’ll regress. He implored the bishops and the entire Church to walk with courage proclaiming the Cross of Christ. The last thing was that he ended his homily calling on the Blessed Mother. I believe Pope Francis will be known someday for his Marian Devotion just like Blessed John Paul II was. I can’t wait until his next homily at his installation Mass on Tuesday morning. We’ll take a look forward at this Sunday’s Mass readings next. You are listening to the Good Catholic Life. 4th segment: Welcome back to The Good Catholic Life here from Rome. For our new listeners, we often try to end our week by turning toward the Sunday readings. Hearing them on Friday gives us the chance to reflect on them before we join our Brothers and Sisters at Mass on Sunday. Thus says the LORD, who opens a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters, who leads out chariots and horsemen, a powerful army, till they lie prostrate together, never to rise, snuffed out and quenched like a wick. Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers. Wild beasts honor me, jackals and ostriches, for I put water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland for my chosen people to drink, the people whom I formed for myself, that they might announce my praise. Gospel for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, March 17, 2013 (John 8:1-11) Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” Now some reflections (courtesy of ): Last week, Jesus preached to us the parable of the Prodigal Son, which stressed the Father’s undying love for his wayward child, the meaning of genuine repentance and the sadness of the older brother who couldn’t share his father’s joy. In today’s Gospel, that STORY (parable) about God’s forgiveness becomes REALITY, in the encounter of Jesus with the woman caught in adultery and with all the “older brothers” who were trying to get her killed rather than trying to bring her to mercy. Just as Jesus wanted us last week to see ourselves as the prodigal son, who acted as if his father were dead and squandered the inheritance of love, so he wants us to see ourselves in the woman caught red-handed. Moreover, just as the Lord wants us to recognize that often we can behave like the older brother in the parable who resents mercy given to sinful siblings, so, too, the Lord wishes us to drop whatever stones are in our hands and use even other’s sins as a reminder of our own. The Church gives us this reading on the fifth Sunday of Lent to remind us, first, of the horror and the just consequences of sin; second, of the incredible gift of God’s mercy; and third, of what we need to do to receive that mercy. The first big lesson in today’s Gospel that the Church wants us to grasp this Lent. Each of us is like that woman caught in adultery, whether or not we’ve been captured by others in the act of committing such a sin. In the revelation God gave us in the Old Testament, He revealed that every sin is really adultery, because it is being unfaithful to the covenant of love we have entered into with God. He referred to Israel as his adulterous bride, and, in some ways, each of us are part of that adulterous bride. Each of us merits to be stoned. But, as we see in St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Christ laid down his life to make his bride holy and spotless. He, the only one who fully merits to be able to cast a stone, took the stones, the bullet, intended for us and died out of love so that his bride wouldn’t have to. Such great love is supposed to lead to three reactions on our part: The first is to have a just horror for our sins and to recognize how deadly they are The second thing is to come to receive his mercy The third reaction is to stop judging others and begin to extend God’s merciful forgiveness to them That will conclude today’s episode of The Good Catholic Life. For recordings of today’s show and all our previous shows, please visit our website, TheGoodCatholicLife.com. We encourage you also to follow our daily blog from Rome which is also available at TheGoodCatholicLife.com and to view George Martell’s photos on BostonCatholicPhotos.com. For our production team of Rick Heil, Dom Bettinelli, George Martell and Karla Goncalves, this is Scot Landry saying so long from Rome, God Bless You and Have a wonderful weekend!…
1 TGCL #0486A: LIVE from Rome: Catholic Voices USA, Our Sunday Visitor, and a Boston Catholic in the Vatican Museums 56:31
Summary of today’s show: Due to the successful vote of the conclave and the announcement of the election of Pope Francis, this pre-recorded show from Wednesday, March 13, did not air. Rather than let these great interviews with Scot of Kim Daniels of Catholic Voices USA, Greg Erlandson of Our Sunday Visitor, and James Stella of the Vatican Museums go to waste, we’re bringing them to you now in this podcast form. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Kim Daniels of Catholic Voices USA, Greg Erlandson of Our Sunday Visitor, and James Stella Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: LIVE from Rome: Catholic Voices USA, Our Sunday Visitor, and a Boston Catholic in the Vatican Museums 1st segment: As we taped this show, the cardinals were making their afternoon votes on Wednesday. Scot related what it was like in St. Peter’s Square during the vigils of the smoke from the Sistine Chapel. Scot Landry welcomed Kim Daniels of Catholic Voices USA to the show and noted that she participated in the Town Hall forum of the Fortnight for Freedom last June. They also talked about Catholic Voices and what they’re doing in Rome. Kim said she’s been writing and doing interviews, talking to people from all over the world covering this event that’s the biggest thing in the world right now. Scot said back home everybody’s talking about the conclave. What should we as Catholics be communicating about our faith when people ask us about what’s going on. Kim said it’s an important moment for us to talk about our faith. We’re excited they’re talking about Americans as serious contenders for the papacy. Scot said it wasn’t long ago most people would have said an American wouldn’t be a pope in our lifetime. Now that’s not true, mainly because so many Italians were praying for Cardinal Seán to be made pope and others including Cardinal Dolan among those seriously considered. Kim said when Pope Benedict resigned it didn’t cross her mind that there could be an American pope until today. People see the need for a holy man as Pope and Cardinal Seán is an example of that. Scot said American cardinals have a reputation of being good administrators. So many have been known for massive construction of church infrastructure. But today, they’re known as communicators and holy men as well as good organizers Kim said people in the US are involved in parishes more so than even in Europe. The American cardinals are known for being able to get things done, for finding efficiency, for working with the New Evangelization. Kim and Scot agreed that the media doesn’t get things wrong due to having an axe to grind, but because they haven’t been informed. She said the press conferences with the cardinals were great for the amount of evangelization they did. Kim said the most surprising part of her trip was how excited all the Romans are about it. As soon as word comes out that there is white smoke, the people come running from all over the city. Kim said seeing the black smoke coming from the Sistine Chapel chimney the first time was exciting. She said the whole crowd was happy and excited despite the bad weather. There is optimism from the crowd. Kim predicted the white smoke would come Thursday night because there wasn’t a clear frontrunner this time. Scot thinks after the 15th vote, there would be 5 to 10 cardinals who had received double digit numbers of votes, showing that the Church has many possible leaders. Scot said Cardinals Dolan and Seán will come home following all the buzz and momentum. Kim said her own cardinal, Cardinal Wuerl of Washington, DC, is also much loved and they’re also excited he’s being talked about, but also that he’s participating in the conclave. 2nd segment: Scot is now in St. Peter’s Square, where the black smoke flew again, and welcomed Greg Erlandson, president of Our Sunday Visitor, to the show. They noted the smoke came earlier by about 20 minutes than expected. They had two votes by 11:45 rather than noon. They agreed that the second and third votes would be most telling. The first vote could have double digits in names, but by the second and third, the numbers would be whittled down. They discussed the cardinals’ dinners at Casa Santa Martae where Greg had stayed on a visit to the Vatican. He said it’s like a well-appointed retreat center. It’s austere, but comfortable. Greg tweeted out a photo of the room. Greg predicted the conclave would last three days, until the 10th or 11th ballot, because the cardinals are focused. He said it’s clear that there isn’t a frontrunner. Greg talked about all that Our Sunday Visitor does as a diverse non-profit organization serving the Church. They just celebrated their hundredth anniversary. Scot asked Greg to talk about OSV’s founder, Fr. John Noll, who later became Archbishop John Noll. He was a priest of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend who started a newspaper to help Catholics defend the Church against attack. They said secular media provides good spot coverage of big events with amazing images, but for depth, rely on Catholic media. Greg and Scot discussed how quickly new technology allows media organizations to provide resources in response to breaking events today. OSV can move quickly and get the second-day story after the daily newspapers get the breaking news. That’s where they provide a service both online and in print. Scot said Greg is also president of the Catholic Press Association. He said all newspapers are seeing declining numbers of subscribers, because people are reading them more and more online. How do they get people to support the ministry of Catholic newspapers in an online world? Greg said they’re still adapting to an online business model to replace advertising and other income streams. People want their information when they want, where they want it, how they want it. The challenge is how to the do it while maintaining the infrastructure and staff for both editions. One of his concerns is that some of these conflicts in society, the bishops need a voice even as they are losing their voice in these newspapers. People still need to get that newspaper delivered to them. However, we’re able to do things we’d never been able to do before in terms of new and social media. Scot said it’s his experience with the Pilot is that the most engaged Catholics in the Archdiocese are the ones reading the Pilot. They need to find a way to get people to support the Pilot to cover the salary and benefits of the people providing the stories that inspire and educate them. Greg said we have a culture of stewardship in the American Catholic Church and we need to import that into our consumption of Catholic media. Greg talked about some of the beautiful moments he experiences in Rome, like a group of young nuns praying together or another woman standing by herself praying the rosary or people who bring their nations’ flags. He also heard about a mother who wrote a note for her son that said if there was white smoke her son should be excused from class. In Rome, they are inherently Catholic. It’s in their blood and that comes out during these kinds of events. Scot noted that during Cardinal Seán’s Mass at Santa Maria dell Vittoria all the Italian cameramen and reporters all participated in Mass and even went up for Communion. He said you don’t see that in the US because American reporters consider themselves to be working, not participating. Greg had the same reaction at the Masses he saw. Rome is a city of contrasts. Sometimes there’s an anti-Church thread in Rome because otherwise they would drown in it all, yet they still celebrate their faith and the feasts and the like. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Gladys Dyer She wins the booklet The Way of the Cross at the National Shrine of Divine Mercy and the audio CD The Seven Pillars of Catholic Spirituality by Matthew Kelly. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot welcomed James Stella to the show. He’s originally from North Andover and now works for the Vatican. He had left his full-time job at Genzyme in Cambridge started as a volunteer at Caritas Internationalis in 2011 and eventually became a paid consultant. James said he’d never felt his old job in pharmaceutical sales to be all that rewarding. As his faith grew, he wanted to do more that was in line with it. Now he has a new job in the Vatican, working in the Vatican Museums with the Patrons of the Arts office, which does fundraising in the US and Europe for the preservation and restoration of the arts in the Vatican Museums. Ticket sales only cover operating expenses. Right now he’s working on a project for the Holy Stairs, brought back by St. Helen in the 400s. He’s also working on a project restoring artwork in the Vatican Gardens. Scot asked where the Vatican Museums fits in the world’s art museums. He said it’s the frontrunner in terms of Christian art collections and may be the greatest art collection overall, when you consider works like Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. Scot was struck by the TV images of the procession of the cardinals into the Sistine Chapel because it was well lit and how rich and vibrant it is. And those are just two rooms. James said the most rewarding for him is seeing how it inspires visitors, bringing them closer to the faith. James said it’s hard to pick a favorite, but Michelangelo’s fresco in the Pauline chapel of St. Paul on the road to Damascus. St. Paul appears as an old man in that image. He said observing St. Paul’s conversion reminds James of how all Christians need to be converted and to come closer to our faith, if not that dramatically. He feels he’s come closer to the faith and had a conversion over the past 15-20 years. Scot asked what the past couple of weeks have been like. He said it’s been incredible and an honor and a humbling experience. He’d never imagined he could be living in Rome at this time. He enjoys the people and culture and the food of Rome. Scot asked about Cardinal Seán, who the Italians love and call the cappuccino Cardinal. James said he was in Tuscany a few weeks ago and a man asked him about Cardinal Seán, which surprised him. He’s surprised at how Italians have adopted him. James said he’s been to Naples and the Abruzzo region, as well as Tuscany. He plans to visit Assisi and travel further afield, including Sicily and Sardinia. Scot asked James when he thinks the white smoke will come. He said he guessed it would be Friday morning. Scot asked about growing up at St. Michael’s in Andover, which is the largest parish in the Archdiocese now. James said his family attended Mass every Sunday. At first for him it was a requirement, but over the years, especially with the opening of the new church, he became more involved with the parish as well as St. Leonard’s in the North End, where he moved in 2006. Speaking of Rome, James said Catholics should try to come and see it firsthand once in their life as the center of the Church. You can see it on TV or read about it, but there’s no way to replace being there in person. He said the best time to come in September. October is the start of the rainy season. People who are interested in getting involved can visit their website and find out about their local chapter, contact them and get involved with the events of the chapters. 5th segment: Scot reminded listeners that the show was recorded about 4pm Rome time and that the smoke was expected to go up about 5pm. As it turned out, the white smoke went up, our new Pope Francis was introduced and the airing of this episode of The Good Catholic Life was pre-empted by live programming on the Station of the Cross network. We hope you enjoyed this special episode.…
Summary of today’s show: Who is Pope Francis? Scot Landry and Fr. Roger Landry talk about the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, who he is, how he was elected, what he was like as a Jesuit priest and archbishop in Argentina, and what we can expect from him in the future. Plus, how to address all the supposed controversies that will be dragged up to try to throw doubt on him. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: LIVE from Rome: Who is Pope Francis? 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show. Last night we heard the announcement of Pope Francis and he said it was a great honor to be in the crowd. He thinks the Church is going to love Pope Francis. He has lived a simple life as archbishop of Buenos Aires. HE thinks he will be a pope of signs and gestures. He welcomed Fr. Roger to the show. Fr. Roger said he was on live with Fox News and while Megyn Kelly was hesitant to say it was white smoke, he said it was clearly white compared to the previous black smoke. As soon as he was done, he ran down the stairs to the street and ran the blocks to the St. Peter’s Square so he could do a live video on his iPhone so his parishioners back home could experience it. Fr. Roger said he’d originally thought after five ballots, the odds were high it was Cardinal Scola or maybe it was Cardinal Dolan. He said when Cardinal Tauran came out and said “Georgium”, he quickly ran through the handful of Georges among the cardinals and then was stunned to hear “Bergoglio”. Scot said he and George Martell were up front among young people and young sisters. They couldn’t hear clearly and so when he heard Franciscum, he thought maybe he’d misheard earlier and it might be Cardinal Seán. There was a long wait for the Holy Father to come out and they saw the new Pope Francis. Scot said he was very quiet and he paused for a long time looking out on St. Peter’s Square. He might have been reflecting on his awesome new responsibility. Fr. Roger said he has a beautiful smile but his reputation is that he doesn’t let it erupt very often. Fr. Roger said his Italian is beautiful because his parents were Italian immigrants to Argentina. His first words were simple and humble. He addressed everyone as brothers and sisters. He immediately said, “Rome has her bishop.” He was making a connection to one of his principal duties. Today, he went over to St. Mary Major to pray before an image of Our Lady. There was a fire in the 6th century that would have destroyed a major part of the city and Pope St. George carried the image in procession through the fire and extinguished it. It was made famous again in 1940 when Pope Pius XII processed with the image all night to pray that Rome would be spared from Nazi carpetbombing. Huge cloud cover came over and instead the bombs dropped on a huge cemetery outside the city. Scot said two things stood out to him. The first was that he kept calling himself Bishop of Rome, not Supreme Pontiff or Pope. Something else that stood out to him was that he asked everyone to pray over him before he blessed the crowd. Fr. Roger said it shows that he’s first a man of prayer. He suffered in the Church in Argentina as the Jesuit order there had been taken over by those who believed in a Marxist Gospel. He was or less banished to be a simple chaplain, but he ended up becoming a great confessor and spiritual director. So his first act as pope was to lead everyone in prayer for Benedict XVI. Fr. Roger made the distinction that he asked us to pray for God to bless him. What moved Fr. Roger was how profoundly he bowed during the prayer to receive the strength to do what he’s been asked to do. Fr. Roger gave him his priestly blessing just like newly ordained priests give their bishop a blessing during their ordination Mass. Scot asked the significance of the name Francis. He’s very popular in Italy and one of the two patron saints of Italy with St. Catherine of Siena. Fr. Roger said St. Francis was praying in the dilapidated church of San Damiano and heard Christ speak from the crucifix to rebuild his church. At first he thought it meant rebuild that chapel, but then the Lord made it clear to rebuild the church of men, women, and children, the living stones. When St. Francis came to Rome, on the eve of his appearance, Pope Innocent had a dream of a man in a burlap sack holding up the corner of St. John Lateran Church, the pope’s cathedral. The next day he saw this friar from his dream came in. He had been there to ask to start a religious order, which wasn’t being done any more because they thought there were too many already. Pope Francis knows that the reform begins with each of us living our faith, living stone by living stone, this is how Christ’s whole Church will proclaim that is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Scot asked the significance of a Jesuit taking the name of St. Francis. Fr. Roger said he shares St. Francis’ love for the poor and his personal simplicity. He thinks it’s a unifier in that St. Francis is the one human being, no matter what religion or no religion, consider the one saint. There is universal reverence for St. Francis of Assisi. Pope Francis, if he lives up to the standard, will unite the Church in prayer and simple, humble service. Scot said he’s likely to be a pope of symbols. As archbishop, he gave up his mansion and moved into an apartment, gave up his limo and rode public transportation, and gave up his cook to make his own meals. Even last night, he eschewed the papal limo and took the cardinals’ bus back to the Casa S. Martae. He preached that he didn’t need any of the fancy things of his office. Fr. Roger said there’s a distinction between symbols and signs. Symbols are arbitrary, like a stop sign. Smoke is a sign of a fire which points naturally to what it’s related. So his actions are signs pointing to a real connection. It was far more symbolic, but signs of who he is and who we as Christians ought to be. When he invited the ailing emeritus archbishop to live with him in that apartment and cooked meals for both of them, he invited in a very poor community to use the episcopal residence. He’s trying to live as Jesus would live. You can’t preach the Gospel to the poor arriving in a Mercedes-Benz. In the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI, information came out that Cardinal Bergoglio was runner up and had 40 votes in the second to last ballot. It’s also reported he stood and asked his supporters to vote for Ratzinger. It shows he’s had strong support from his brother cardinals and he wasn’t gunning for the job. Fr. Roger said for all the cardinals all who participated in 2005, about half of those still in this years’ conclave, Pope Francis wouldn’t have lost any of those qualities. He is a teacher who teaches by his lips and life; he’s a reformer who reformed the Jesuits in Argentina and the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires. That means he’s a man who could clean up the Roman Curia. Scot said he’s the first pope from the Americas, first Francis, and first Jesuit. Scot said Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia said Pope Francis comes from the new heartland of the Catholic Church. Forty-two percent of Catholics come from Latin America. Fr. Roger said he’s thrilled to have the first American pope. We’ve been formed by the European missionaries and now Europe needs to be re-evangelized. Italians noted how well Pope Francis spoke Italian, a native son who brought back real gifts from abroad. Scot said in the US we call ourselves Americans, but everyone in North, South and Central America are Americans. In the eyes of the Church, America includes all three. He said if you measure from the tip of Alaska to the tip of Chile, Mexico City where our Lady of Guadalupe appeared is dead center. We should be proud of him as a native son. Scot said he’s pleased to see that Pope Francis asked someone to send out a tweet at the @Pontifex Twitter handle with the simple Habemus Papam Franciscum. Fr. Roger thinks he will continue to use media. Pope Francis knows the importance of using every pulpit possible to reach the people where they are. We’ll see the continuation of this path in new media as a priority. Scot noted the Holy Father’s sense of humor in toasting the cardinals and saying, “May God forgive you” for electing him. Fr. Roger talked about the Holy Father’s emphasis in his ministry on God’s forgiveness and merciful love. They noted his episcopal motto translates as “Needing mercy and being chosen”. Scot and Fr. Roger discussed the controversies the media will latch onto. First, there is the claim of complicity with the military junta in Argentina. Second, supporting the Church’s teaching on contraception, and Third, supporting the church’s teaching on the family. On the first, two of his Jesuit priests wanted to advocate violence to overturn the military junta. When they were arrested, they asked him, as provincial minister, to lie to protect them and he refused. Later he also stood up for them and put his life on the line to ask for them to be released. But he didn’t lie. On the teaching on contraception and condoms, it’s said he advocated the use of condoms for the prevention of disease. Most Catholics don’t know the Church’s teaching with regard to contraception. Pope Paul VI said it’s immoral for a married couple to use it to prevent conception. But in regards to acts of violence, like marital rape by a husband with AIDS, that’s different. Scot said some of the media have talked about how the new Holy Father could change the doctrine of the Church, which isn’t possible. On the third element, he taught what the Church has always taught about the family and the rights of children to be raised in the context of mother and father. Fr. Roger said Pope Francis defies categorization as a moderate, conservative or liberal. Catholics are to be 100% faithful to the Good News and 100% faithful to the Lord’s command to love one another. He’s 100% orthodox and 100% charitable. He has said that same-sex activity is sinful, but those with those attractions are to be loved and afforded all their human rights, which don’t include the right to marry another of the same sex or to adopt children along with someone of the same sex. Pope Francis said children have a right to be raised by a mother and father, and children raised by two men or two women often report as adults that they have suffered as a result. It’s child abuse when we say a child doesn’t need both a mother and father, which is different from saying that if circumstances require they can be raised by one or another of their parents. It’s about saying a child doesn’t need a mother and a father. Fr. Roger said the evil of sexual abuse of minors is horrible and disgusting. When Jesus was talking about the worst imaginable sin, he said one who hears what I says and teaches other to fail to live it is fit to be tied to a millstone and thrown in the sea. As evil as sexual abuse of minors is, this type of poison of false teaching that leads people away from heaven is even worse, if we can imagine it. Our culture can’t pretend that there isn’t real truth or that all paths lead to heaven. Pope Francis has fought that and the Church has fought it. We need to understand the importance of communicating the Good News even when we are signs of contradiction. Scot said we look forward to Pope Francis’ first few days. He’s going to meet with Benedict XVI, meet with journalists, and on Sunday give a blessing at the Angelus, and on Tuesday morning there will be the Mass of inauguration and installation. Fr. Roger talked of what he thinks we’ll see from Pope Francis soon. He believes the Roman Curia reform will begin soon through his preaching and actions. He will lay the foundations over the next few days.…
Summary of today’s show: Events in Rome reached their penultimate phase as the cardinals celebrated the Mass for the Election of a New Pope and then entered the Sistine Chapel for their first vote. Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Roger Landry, Terry Donilon, and Jay Fadden to discuss the events of the day, including their experience of the beauty and universality of the Church during the Mass and the obvious gravity and focus with which the cardinal-electors are taking their duty. Terry also talked about Cardinal Seán and all the intense media focus on him in these day. George Martell then joined Scot to discuss some of his photos which have been gathering national interest. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, Terry Donilon, Jay Fadden, George Martell Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: LIVE from Rome: Mass for Election of a New Pope and the Conclave begins! 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Roger Landry to the show and they discussed the procession of the cardinal-electors to the Sistine Chapel. Fr. Roger said many of the cardinals know that this is one of the most significant acts of their lives. The show was recorded about an hour and a half prior to the procession into the chapel. Fr. Roger said the cardinals will be led in a meditation by an older cardinal on their responsibility. Today’s vote is important to show after all the conversations behind the scenes who the first and best choice is. He predicts that the decision for most cardinals will be between best and better candidates. He said a lot of times the cardinal who comes out with the most votes first isn’t the eventual winner and so they turn to their second choices on their lists. They discussed the selection of Cardinal Prosper Grech of Malta as the one to lead them in the meditation. The means by which he’s chosen for this task isn’t in law, just that there would be someone to lead them in this meditation. It’s the second of two homilies they receive. Earlier this week, they heard from Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa. If there’s no result after 14 votes they will hear from the senior member of the cardinal-deacons. After 7 more, from the senior cardinal-priest and 7 more from the senior cardinal-bishop. Scot said the cardinals swear an oath as they place their ballot in the receptacle and that process takes at least an hour. Fr. Roger said a cardinal told him that the rest of the cardinals pray their rosaries or pray the Divine Office. In 1978, during the election of John Paul I, Cardinal Wojtyla would be writing the first part of his Theology of the Body. However, today the rule is that all papers on the cardinals’ desks must be burned as well. Scot said after the voting, three cardinal-scrutineers count the ballots to make sure there are 115. Then they read each one aloud. He asked Fr. Roger what it’s like to hear their name announced, given the heaviness of the what they’re called to. Fr. Roger said Pope Benedict said hearing his name called was like a guillotine falling on his neck. To hear your name mentioned would feel like a compliment. All the other votes would be overwhelming especially as the momentum tends to build. Most people are in elections to win it, but in an election like this, it would be the opposite. Relief would come from hearing someone else’s name being announced. Scot said after the voting, the cardinals go back to the Domus Sancta Marta. What happens? Do they talk about it? Fr. Roger said some cardinals have said in 2005, they went to the chapel to pray and there are reports of finding cardinals in the chapel in the middle of the night. There’s talk over dinner while others go back to their rooms to read and avoid the conversations. He thinks some will sleep better than normal and some who won’t sleep at all. Fr. Roger said EWTN’s coverage of the day’s event will be repeated at 9pm and streamed online. 2nd segment: Scot said he is reporting from the top of the Augustinianem overlooking St. Peter’s Square. He said the cardinals were gathering in the Pauline Chapel to prepare to process into the Sistine Chapel. Terry Donilon, Secretary for Communications for the Archdiocese of Boston, joins him now. Scot said they gathered for a sendoff of the American Cardinals at the North American College at 7am. He said some people think the next pope might have been on that bus. Terry said if we believe what’s been in the Italian press, there’s been a vigorous mention of Cardinal Seán. He said the cardinal was his natural quiet reserved self and Cardinal Dolan was his natural boisterous self. Scot said all of these cardinals have led their large archdioceses and they all say this is the most significant decision they’ve made. Thinking of all his biggest life decisions, it’s amazing what the cardinals must be going through. Terry said their previous biggest decision was answering the call to become a priest. He said Cardinal Seán has consistently answered the call for difficult assignments throughout his life. Terry has been busy in Rome in recent days as international news organization want to know more about Cardinal Seán. Terry said it’s rewarding to be able to explain this cardinal who is real. He is the same in private as he is in front of the camera. He said he’s pleased there’s so much attention of the media back home on this. It’s nice to see the secular media showing the Church is relevant and important to the people. Scot noted that at 9:45 this morning, they started praying a rosary in many languages in St. Peter’s Basilica for the cardinals. Terry noticed during the rosary that the Swiss Guard was praying during the rosary too. He said he also noticed the media following the cardinal at his titular church the other going to Mass as well, which he wasn’t used to in the US. Scot said Cardinal Dolan was in a good mood and gestured to him while other cardinals looked very solemn. Scot said the congregation was the most diverse crowd he’s ever been in and it represented the universal Church. Terry said the cardinals likewise represent the diversity of the Church. He said that’s one of the reasons Cardinal Seán stands out, because of his Irish background but close association with Portuguese and Spanish-speaking people. Scot said during the Mass he gave thanks to God for being lucky enough to be in the room and praying for the prayer requests people are sending to . Terry said what stood out for him was the music and the Latin chant. He said it added a lot of energy that we’re on the threshold of something important that is out of the ordinary experience. He loves music and loves the music of the Church. Every time he walks in the basilica he gives thanks for the those he loves and it’s a spiritual experience. But to be there in person is remarkable. Scot said he and George Martell were sitting very tightly packed and they discussed how they would receive Communion. But even in that jungle to receive Communion, as disorganized as it was, it really worked. It was moving to him to see people of all ages and all origins to be patient and helpful to one another. Terry was struck by the great number of people who were just milling about in the sides and people were very respectful. \ Scot said the cardinals are in the silent period. Cardinal Seán left his iPhone with his cardinal secretary at the North American College. He asked what people will see in the local media. Terry said they will be reporting on all the various angles. The Church is a complicated story. Terry thinks Cardinal Seán is being celebrated at home for all his pastoral achievements. Everyone he’s talked to on the national scene has said what a wonderful priest he is. He thinks they will also report on the rumor mills and unfortunately treat it a little bit like a political campaign. He hopes it shows that the Church is relevant with 1.2 billion Catholics and 1.8 million in Boston. Scot said many of the local Boston media are reporting that Cardinal Seán is thought to be a frontrunner, but it’s not the Italian people doing the voting. He asked how do people who love and admire Cardinal Seán deal with it if he’s not the one who comes out on the balcony later this week. Terry said selfishly we want him to come home. Nobody really wants the job of pope, but Cardinal Seán will do what’s asked of him. He thinks perhaps now we’ve turned a corner of people getting to know him and that will help with his commitment to the New Evangelization back home. Scot said when the smoke comes from the chimney he’s either going to be in the square waiting to see if it’s black or white or he’s going to be nearby and listen for the bells that signal white smoke. Terry said he’s too stressed to wait and will be in the square. Terry said he thinks the final vote will be Thursday. Scot said he found out at lunch that Friday is the Ides of March and if the vote is that day, there will be a lot of headlines. Scot thinks it will be Thursday evening and then it’s likely the Mass of Inauguration will be on the Feast of St. Joseph, Tuesday, March 19. He’s the Patron of the Universal Church and it’s a national holiday. Terry said he just hopes the sun shines on that day. 3rd segment: Scot welcomed Jay Fadden of CatholicTV and they noted they just heard Cardinal Seán take his oath in the conclave. Scot said the pageantry of the procession of the Litany of Saints and the praying of the Veni, Sancte Spiritus was beautiful. Jay said there was a change today at the moment of the procession. The weight of the decision these men will make was on them and they have become very focused. A man started to clap for the cardinals and one of them motioned for him to stop. He said in the Square, hundreds of people are standing in the pouring rain and watching the events on the giant monitors set up there. Scot said they show the universality of the Church. Scot said the Mass in the morning was beautiful. Jay said what stood out for him was the people in the basilica. There were so many young people, especially young nuns. He noted that during Communion people knelt on the stone floor until the cardinals had all received Communion. Scot said it’s now pouring in the Square but people don’t want to leave because it’s an historic moment and the next time we see the cardinals, we will have a new pope. Jay said it’s amazing to watch. One of those men will be the new leader of the Catholic Church. Scot said in the morning Jay was with them at the North American College to see the American cardinals boarding their bus for the conclave. He said they are supporting each other and preparing for this momentous decision together. Jay said the seminarians lined the street and clapped and cheered the cardinals as they left because they were recognizing the difficulty of this decision because of the enormity of what they will do. They’re not electing a CEO, but a spiritual leader. Jay said CatholicTV in Rome is doing blogs and live Skype shots back to Boston. They’re also filming many segments for other programs and interviewing people as well to make the trip worthwhile. Jay said he keeps bumping into people he knows. He bumped into Msgr. Connie McRae and other people from Boston, including those who have moved to Rome. He said they’re friends because they’re all part of this universal Church. Scot said the first ballot will be in an hour and then another hour for the smoke. He asked how long Jay thought how long the conclave will take. He guessed three days because it’s been a long time since it’s gone more than three days. The cardinals have the advantage of having been there eight to ten days talking to one another and thinking about it for at least a month. Scot repeated that he’s been predicting Friday all week until he realized that Friday is the Ides of March and no cardinal wants to come out on the Ides of March, so he thinks it’s Thursday. Jay said he hopes it’s Thursday because he wants a new Holy Father. Scot asked Jay how people could watch CatholicTV. He said people can use SkyAngel, CatholicTV.com, Roku, or iPhone and Android apps. He is also blogging at . They both said they’re blogging for the first time. 4th segment: Scot welcomed George Martell to the show. They discussed how bad the weather has been in Rome, unusually bad. George said it makes taking photos more difficult, to capture those faces and the emotion. Scot said other media are able to use George’s photos in their publications. One of George’s photos from yesterday, of the cardinals on the bus, has gotten very wide distribution. He had gone to the North American College to use their Internet. He noticed the bus outside and went out to a lobby where some of the cardinals were gathering. He acted like a fly on the wall and then chatted a bit with Cardinal Seán. Suddenly they all got on the bus, so George followed them on even though he wasn’t sure. He asked Cardinal Seán if he thought it would be okay and he said sure. It turned out to be a great photo. Scot said it looked to him that Cardinal Dolan was joking in the back of the bus. Today, Scot said they had a group photo and George was able to take a photo of them before the very serious moments in the Sistine Chapel. George said Cardinal Dolan was very jovial and he thinks another man there was the cardinal’s brother. Scot said the back story is that this man is wearing jeans because the cardinal’s brother’s luggage had been lost. Meanwhile Cardinal Seán was, if not serious, deeply in the moment because he understands the import of what he’s doing. Scot described him as intense. It’s an important day and a heavy vote. It will be a long day too. Scot said he also liked another photo of a man holding a homemade sign calling for Pope Francis I. He also captured photos of a Swiss Guard being playful with some kids. They talked about the beauty of the art and architecture and the beauty of the faith of the people praying in those buildings. It makes it easy to capture the intensity they’re feeling in that moment.…
1 TGCL #0485: LIVE from Rome: Kathryn Lopez of National Review and Catholic Voices USA; Pilgrims from Buffalo 56:31
Summary of today’s show: Continuing our live coverage from Rome, Scot Landry talks with a group of pilgrims from Buffalo, New York, who happened to be in the city at this time and asks them about being on pilgrimage in the Eternal City and maybe getting to be there for the announcement of a new pope. Scot is also joined by Kathryn Lopez of National Review and Catholic Voices USA to discuss how the press is covering the event and how Catholics can use the occasion to talk to others about their Catholic faith. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Kathryn Lopez, Fr. Jim Fugle, Deacon Mike McKeating, Patty Hughes, Caroline Weber, Edward Siudak, Pat Jaramillo, Pauline Turski, Lorraine Ulrich, Sue Denz, Mark Vilardo, Meredith Vilardo Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: LIVE from Rome: Kathryn Lopez of National Review and Catholic Voices USA; Pilgrims from Buffalo 1st segment: SCot welcomed everyone to the show. He said it’s likely we’ll have a new pope by the end of this week. The cardinals had their last general congregation and will be packing to move into Domus Santa Martae. Tomorrow they will have a Mass and then process into the Sistine Chapel where they will swear their oaths. They will hear a meditation and then take a vote. Scot said tonight he will be presenting Catholic Faith Essentials at and . He said George Martell has some great photos today. (See the link above.) Scot’s blog today asks the question “Who is Cardinal Seán?” Scot said most of our guests today are pilgrims from the Buffalo area. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Kathryn Lopez of National Review. She said she just arrived in Rome and noticed a lot of difference from the last time she was there in December. Scot asked Kathryn what she makes of all the hoopla over the American papabile. She said a month ago that there was an unwritten rule that an American couldn’t be elected. She said she’s from New York, so there’s a Yankees-Red Sox rivalry over Cardinals Dolan and O’Malley. She said what she hears about Cardinal Seán is how visibly and dramatically countercultural he is in his simple Franciscan habit as well as the turnaround in Boston. Scot said he loved the line from Cardinal Dolan who said he had a better chance of taking A Rod’s place at third base than becoming pope. Scot said George Martell got a wonderful photo of all the cardinals on the bus. Kathryn said she’s writing daily for the National Review. She said George Weigel’s book, had great timing and it was like a blueprint for how to handle this whole process. The press conference by the American cardinals last week brought the Church in her truth to the media that was hungry to report all things Catholic. Scot said it’s a general good way to engage fallen-away Catholics as well as practicing Catholics. He said a lot of the secular media in town are interviewing people of faith who happen to be in Rome. Kathryn said the American cardinals have a lot of experience with institutional reform, which has been a big topic. Scot asked Kathryn what principles she would encourage everyone to know when talking about this conclave from her perspective as a part of Catholic Voices USA. She said CV is about having conversations in the public square in a Catholic way. She said many people are confronted by others who question them about their faith now that it’s in all the news. She said if you’re not sure where to start when talking about your faith, pick up this book and pick up the Catechism. Scot said in 3 to 4 days someone will stand on the balcony and we’ll know who the next pope will be. This is not a hopeless period, just a popeless period. They predicted how long the conclave will last. Scot predicted that it will be about 4 days. 3rd segment: Scot Landry said he’s talking to a large pilgrimage from the Buffalo area right outside St. Peter’s Square. He welcomed Fr. Jim Fugle and Deacon Mike Keating. Fr. Jim talked about the stops that the pilgrims had made and then said the journey began last June when he was asked to lead the group. He said it’s very humbling, especially during this time of the papal transition. Scot said millions of priests have walked the streets of Rome. He asked what they’re taking away so far that he knows he’ll preach about back home. He said each place they’ve visited has touched him in a different way. The Scavi tour was exceptionally moving to him as was climbing the Holy Steps on his knees, seeing the relics of the crucifixion, being at the tombs of Peter and Paul on the same day. Scot said the Scavi is the excavations of the necropolis or cemetery underneath St. Peter’s where St. Peter is buried. Fr. Jim said that as soon as he saw the grave of St. Peter his heart leaped. It was the same in the San Clemente chapel. They ended up just feet away from the bones of the Apostle Peter. Deacon Mike said it gives him a sense of being part of the universal Church. He said the crowd has grown each day since last Monday and you literally see people from every country in the world, and their cardinals and bishops. He said the length of time it took to choose the date for the conclave was partly because of how long it took all 115 cardinals to get to Rome. Scot said Buffalo has a long Catholic history, but nothing compared to Rome where churches have been around for 1,800 years in some cases. Deacon Mike said an old church in the US is about 150 years old. He said the oldest church in Buffalo would be a new church in Rome. He said the current church of San Clemente was built in the 300s and there are older churches underneath it. Santa Maria in Trastevere is the oldest church, built in the 1st century. He said one of the reasons for the declaration of the Immaculate Conception was it’s depiction from antiquity on the murals of Santa Maria. Fr. Jim said he hopes the pilgrims will draw closer to Chris and draw others to Christ by living everything that they’ve absorbed in this pilgrimage. He said he will take away the conviction that no matter what happens, Jesus remains with us as our friend. In response to Scot’s question, Deacon Mike said he’s not leaving Rome until he sees the announcement of the new pope. 4th segment: Scot welcomed Patty Hughes and Carolyn Weber. Patty said being in St. Peter’s was overwhelming and realized that this is the Catholic Church. St. Peter is buried there and this church was built on top of him. This really brought home her Catholic faith to her. Carolyn said St. John Lateran stood out to her, especially the relics. Scot said St. John Lateran is the pope’s own cathedral and it’s one of his favorite churches. Carolyn said an English-speaking priest there gave them a tour of the church. Scot asked them what people should know about the Scavi tour. Patty said she was surprised how paganism and Christianity were mixed together in early Rome. Carolyn said the frescoes in the tombs were ancient and were incredible. Patty said on her pilgrimage she’d like to visit Assisi, but being in Rome now means they could be there for the pope’s selection and that would be the best thing. 5th segment: Scot welcomed Edward Siudak and Pat Jaramillo. Edward said he’s been to Rome before but there’s always something new to see when you visit. He loves to visit the churches. His favorite is St. Paul Outside-the-Walls. He said two churches in the Buffalo diocese are copies of the basilica. Pat said she last come to Rome in 2000 for the Jubilee Year. She walked to the top of the dome of St. Peter’s this time which was great. She on this trip she’s just soaking in all the details she missed before. Her favorite part of St. Peter’s is the Eucharistic adoration. She goes to adoration back at Christ the King parish in Buffalo and this one is so beautiful and quiet and prayerful. 6th segment: Scot now welcomes Pauline Turski who’s in Rome for the first time. She said she’s been preparing for six months with daily prayer. Scot asked her what makes her so emotional about being in Rome. She said she’s named after St. Paul and he was a wonderful evangelist. She said St. Paul Outside-the-Walls is her favorite church. Scot asked her about the sacrifices to make to get on a pilgrimage to Rome. Pauline said the Holy Spirit made everything come together so she could be there. 7th segment: Scot welcomed Lorraine Uhrich and Sue Denz. Lorraine said her favorite part of the pilgrimage is being there with that group of people. Scot asked what it’s like to be there with 20 people she may or may not know. Lorraine said she’s been to Rome by herself and this time with a group of family and both were great. She said there’s nothing wrong with going with strangers because you get to know them. Sue said her husband is the one who organized the tour because he wanted to go to Rome. Scot said they’ve packed the itinerary and seen much of Rome already. Sue said they’ve switched a few things around to stay close to St. Peter’s for the conclave. They’re supposed to be going to Assisi and Florence and other side trips. They stil have to see St. Cecilia and St. Mary Major in Rome. Sue said her two favorite parts of the trip so far are seeing the bones of St. Peter and realizing how large the Latin inscriptions inside St. Peter’s are. Lorraine said she loved seeing St. Peter’s bones, but also the cloister at St. Paul Outside-the-Walls with an amazing collection of relics, including the arm of St. Anne, the grandmother of Jesus. Sue said it’s unbelievable that they’re in Rome at this time by chance. They started planning a year ago. Lorraine said the timing was so special. 8th segment: Scot welcomed Mark and Meredith Villardo. He said Meredith’s mom works at the Station of the Cross network and she said it sounds like a great place to work. Scot asked Mark how it is to be in Rome in their first year of marriage. He said it’s like a second honeymoon. He said they are expecting their first child in July. Meredith said her favorite part of being in Rome is being with her husband this time (she’s been once before). Scot asked what their favorite place is so far. Mark said he studied in Rome as an undergraduate and used to walk through St. Peter’s Square every day to class and he has an appreciation for its beauty. He said the colonnade is like the embracing arms of the Church. Meredith said the loved St. Paul’s especially all the pictures of the popes around the interior church. Mark said they’re excited by the conclave. He said they saw a bunch of the cardinals as they went to the Scavi tour. He said it’s been an exciting time and they’ve been praying for the cardinals and for the new pope. Meredith said this Lent she’s been letting God’s will reign in her life and she’s peaceful about what’s going to happen even down to whether they’ll be in Rome for the announcement.…
1 TGCL #0484: LIVE from Rome: Conclave date set; In the Footsteps of John Paul II; Liturgy as Catechism; Two-Year Anniversary 56:31
Summary of today’s show: Continuing our live coverage from Rome, Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Roger Landry to discuss how the cardinals will be discerning who they will choose to be the next pope; Fr. Chris O’Connor and Mary Jo Kriz to reflect on being pilgrims in Rome at this time and on their pilgrimage in honor of Blessed John Paul II; Fr. Dennis Gill on Pope Benedict’s legacy through his emphasis on the liturgy as a catechism of our faith; and Lisa Hughes of WBZ-TV on how the Boston news station plans to cover the conclave. Also, a series of reflections from those involved in The Good Catholic Life on it’s two-year anniversary. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Dennis Gill, Mary Jo Kriz, Fr. Chris O’Connor, Fr. Roger Landry, Lisa Hughes Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: LIVE from Rome: Conclave date set; In the Footsteps of John Paul II; Liturgy as Catechism; Two-Year Anniversary 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show coming from Rome. It’s our two-year anniversary show. He welcomed Fr. Roger Landry to the show. Scot said the Vatican press office had announced earlier today that the date for the conclave would be set today. Fr. Roger said that focuses the attention of the cardinals on their immediate preparations to whittle down their lists for who they will vote for on the first ballot. It helps us to expedite our own prayers to help them in their discernment. Every Catholic has a role to play in asking the Holy Spirit to guide them Scot said Cardinal Seán had said he’d hoped the cardinals would choose to spend as much time as they needed in the general congregations to discern who they would vote for. Fr. Roger said he thinks the cardinals will pray for a way to discern out of 115 potential candidates the one choice. They have to get beyond the acquaintance stage to really get to know one another so they are comfortable entrusting the future of the Catholic Church to one man. They’re looking for someone to teach, to sanctify, and to govern. Fr. Roger has been in Rome for four days now. Scot asked him what he’s been up to. Fr. Roger said for EWTN he was filming a lot of small segments connecting Church history with the present conclave. Much of the churches of Rome provide the context for the papacy. He shows the meaning of the things that we all see, like the obelisk in St. Peter’s Square, the façade, the statue of Christ, the inscriptions regarding St. Peter in the building. He said the Altar of the Chair has an inscription that “You the Shepherd of the Sheep, Shepherd the Sheep of God,” which is actually directed to Jesus as the True Shepherd by the Pope. Fr. Roger asks listeners to pray that the Holy Spirit to give the cardinals the light whom they should choose and then to give them patience. The process is long and stressful with two votes in morning and then afternoon. We should also pray that whomever is elected that we can embrace as Peter’s successor and Christ’s Vicar, even if we don’t really know him yet. Trust in God’s work through the cardinals and follow him. Scot said a lot has been made in the media about the clash of cultures between the American cardinals sharing in the media versus the curial cardinals who didn’t like it. Does that signal a long conclave? Fr. Roger thinks it will be a conclave. After the first few days of voting, they will pause for a day of meditation. He thinks no cardinal will get more than a handful of votes in the first few ballots and it will take time to whittle them down. But we can be assured that there will be a pope eventually on that balcony. Scot asked Fr. Roger what he would say about the importance of Catholic radio. Fr. Roger said Catholic radio helps us to live the good Catholic life. It’s not enough just to know the truth, but how to live it. Each Thursday, when he’s on the show, we look at the news headlines through Catholic lenses. Sometimes it’s bad news, sometimes it’s great news. Regardless when we look at the news with the eyes of faith, there’s always hope. The Lord is always trying to bring good out of evil. It’s been a great joy for him to examine current events through Catholic lenses on this show. 2nd segment: Scot welcomes Fr. Chris O’Connor back to the show. He said Fr. Chris celebrated a Mass at the tomb of Bl. John Paul II. He said he is half-Polish and he is full of joy to see the good that this native son of Poland has done for the world. To be at the tomb of this holy man is to be inspired. It makes you want to deepen your prayer life. Scot said more than half of the popes are buried in St. Peter’s but John Paul’s tomb is special to us. Fr. Chris said he called us to a greater sense of holiness and a greater respect for human life. He recalled an anecdote in which Mikhail Gorbachev called John Paul II the moral authority in the world today. Fr. Chris said he was stubborn in the best sense of the word and bulldozed through any obstacles placed in the way of freedom for his homeland. He had great confidence in Christ giving him the strength to overcome the scourge of communism. Scot noted that when John Paul was shot in St. Peter’s Square, he turned to the Blessed Mother. He asked Fr. Chris what he saw in Poland that exemplified that devotion. He said the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa is a sign of the country’s identity and devotion. The Poles are extremely devoted to her and every August millions of them walk dozens or hundreds of miles in pilgrimage to her shrine. In a period waiting for the conclave, Scot asked Fr. Chris about wanting to have the next pope be of such quality that he is called “The Great” immediately after he goes home to God someday, just like with John Paul in 2005. Fr. Chris said as they’ve walked around Rome the last few days, people have engaged in the guessing game, but his sense is that whoever walks out on the balcony we’re all going to embrace and love. Scot asked Fr. Chris about his favorite moments participating in the show the past two years. He said he’s impressed by the number of people who tell him they listen to the program and find it rewarding. He said he admires and respects the work Scot is doing to get the Catholic message out. Fr. Chris said it’s like we’re holding conferences every day with incredible topics. He said you’re always hearing people share their faith and how it’s impacted their lives. Scot said one of the moving moments for him was Fr. Chris sharing how he visits Norfolk state prison and hears how many men there listen to the show. Scot said he heard from a firefighter who plays the show in the firehouse and turns it up to help evangelize his brother and sister firefighters. Fr. Chris said of the men in Norfolk that many of them are saints. He hears from them that this is another resource for their faith. Christ said “when I was in prison, you visited me” and “when I was sick you visited with me” and Catholic media is a way of doing that. Scot asked Fr. Chris’ hope for the Church with this opportunity to share with others in this media scrutiny. Fr. Chris said the Church has a long tradition and people will see that in the coming days, the grandiosity and beauty of Rome. In the midst of the chaos of the Church, we can witness that we are one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Jesus governs the Church through its visible head, the Pope. The Church can be seen to pray together in Masses. She is apostolic through the many trips of the pope throughout the world. We are catholic by the diversity of cardinals coming to Rome and the pilgrims see in the city. The media will focus on the power of the papacy, but we focus on the service of the papacy, which serves us in every way. Scot said we can see the disagreements in the Church and the different cultures, with an example in the different approaches to the media by the different groups of cardinals. Christ called us to love one another and we do see that love ultimately despite the differences. Fr. Chris said it’s a blessing to be in Rome to see it all play out. The Church is like any human family, with strengths and weaknesses. He has the conviction that whomever walks out on that balcony, we will embrace him with great joy. We trust the decision is made by the cardinals with the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit. 3rd segment: Scot welcomed Mary Jo Kriz, who’s been part of the St. John Seminary Master of Arts in Ministry pilgrimage in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II. Mary Jo said it’s been an amazing time. She said today they had a beautiful Mass at the altar of Bl. John Paul II with Fr. Chris O’Connor, Fr. Jonathan Gaspar and Fr. Eric Bennett. The message was to “be not afraid” in this time of transition. Scot said it was clear in Fr. Chris’ homily how close he was to John Paul and many of us feel the same. Mary Jo said praying by the tomb made her feel like he was there. She met him in 1995 in Rome and she had the same feeling again. Scot said more than half of all the popes are buried in St. Peter’s and that makes it awesome to pray in that place. John Paul leaves a great legacy for the Church. For those who haven’t been to Rome, he asked her to sum up what it means to be in Rome. She said they had the opportunity to pray Vespers in Assisi and before that with the cardinals in St. Peter’s. No matter where we go in the world, it’s the same prayers and the same Mass. The Lord affirmed her faith. If you can get to Rome, you will feel at home. Scot asked Mary Jo about a story of a family member who was stunned to hear her voice on the radio yesterday. She’s originally from Buffalo and a family member from the area sent her an email saying she turned on the Catholic radio station there and heard her voice. That’s the power of Catholic radio. Scot said when people tell him they hear the show, he asks them how often they listen. Some heard it while surfing the dial and others don’t miss it. He asked Mary Jo if she’s disappointed that the election of the pope didn’t occur while she was there and she agreed she was, but Providence provides. 4th segment: Scot welcomes Fr. Dennis Gill, a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and a former professor at the North American College. He said he is a professor of liturgy but is also an expert in the conclave. He said he has no idea when it will start, but it appears the cardinals are taking the preparation time very seriously. Scot asked if he thought it would be a short conclave. Fr. Gill said he thinks it will go quickly because the cardinals have had this lengthy preparation time and they will know early on the man they think should be the Vicar of Christ. Scot asked his hopes for the focus on liturgy. Fr. Gill said it will take years for us to assess the affect that Pope Benedict had on the liturgy. He has a profound understanding of the liturgy as a divine event. He brought new light to a reading of Sacrosanctum concilium and his writing has helped clarify and reorient the Sacred Liturgy and that will endure. He thinks the next Holy Father will have to continue what Pope Benedict has done, which is an ongoing presentation of what the Vatican Council did. He said much of what Pope Benedict said and did was not fully accepted worldwide and so he hopes the next Holy Father will be even more proactive. Scot said the liturgy teaches us so much about our faith. Fr. Gill said the liturgy is the principal catechism of the Church, in the way it’s celebrated as well as its content in the prayers and Biblical content. It’s important to highlight the liturgy in this Year of Faith. 5th segment: Scot welcomed Lisa Hughes of WBZ-TV to the show. He asked her how she got this assignment. She said she got very lucky. She was there when Cardinal Seán was made a cardinal. Scot asked what it’s like to cover a story in Rome versus a story in Boston. She said the Internet connection isn’t as good, the streets are a bit more mysterious to them, but there’s something so exciting in being there, hearing the languages and the excitement. The Vatican is the epicenter of it all. Scot said it’s like a journalist convention with more than 5,000 credentialed. Lisa said they see cameras everywhere they go. She said they went to , which is the tailor that makes the pope’s vestments, and there were already many cameras there, and she’s sure there will be many more wherever they go. It is such a big city that they’re not on top of each other yet. Lisa said their reports will start airing Sunday night during the 6:30 broadcast, and when the conclave starts they will be on live on the 5 and 6pm shows Monday through Friday and live whenever the announcement comes. Scot said as we close the show that he is happy to relay the news that the date for the conclave has been set by the cardinals to begin on Tuesday, March 12. He asked everyone to redouble their prayers for them as a group and to pray for the man who is elected who is taking on a significant ministry of service. Scot reflected on being host of the show for the past two years.…
1 TGCL #0483: LIVE from Rome: Station Church of Ss. Cosmas and Damian; Seminarian and Priest; Cardinal Seán's spokesman; Pilgrims from Boston 56:31
Summary of today’s show: On a day without much news from the College of Cardinals, Scot Landry took the opportunity to take part of the Station Church tradition and visit the Basilica of Ss. Cosmas and Damian for Mass and then to interview Worcester seminarian Donato Infante, Fr. Norman Tanner, SJ, and Br. Mark McBride, TOR, in which he learned about the twin doctors to whom the church is dedicated and the fact that Masses have been celebrated there every day since 525AD. Then Scot spoke to Terry Donilon, Cardinal Seán’s spokesman, about how the media is covering the interregnum and especially letting the world get to know Cardinal Seán. And finally, he talks to a group of pilgrims from St. John’s Seminary’s Master of Arts in Ministry program who are following in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II from Poland to Italy. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Donato Infante, Fr. Norman Tanner, Br. Mark McBride, Terry Donilon, Fr. Chris O’Connor, Mary Jo Kriz, Aldona Lingertat, Beth Joyce Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: LIVE from Rome: Station Church of Ss. Cosmas and Damian; Seminarian and Priest; Cardinal Seán’s spokesman; Pilgrims from Boston 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. It’s been a slow news day thus far in Rome as the cardinals are in a silent period. So instead Scot participated in the ancient Roman tradition during Lent of visiting the station churches. This practice dates to the fourth century and involves visiting 40 different churches in Rome during the 40 days of Lent. Each morning priests and seminarians from the North American College lead English-speaking pilgrims in Rome to the station church for Mass at 7am. George and Scot met with a group of about 50 seminarians at 6:15am at the bottom on the Janiculum hill and made the 35 minute walk to the basilica of Sts. Cosmas and Damian. It’s next the Roman Forum. The journey along the streets is silent by rule of the seminary. It’s moving to walk through the quiet streets of Rome at that hour and see most of the seminarians praying the Rosary. Today, there were about 40 concelebrating priests, 60 seminarians and 60 others in this small, but beautiful basilica, which was consecrated a church in the year 535. There has been a Mass there everyday since. Then played of the sounds of chant from the Mass. 2nd segment: Scot was joined by seminarian from the Diocese of Worcester, Donato Infante. Donato said the tradition of the station churches began in the early centuries of Christianity where the Bishop of Rome visited each of the churches of his diocese during Lent. Sometime in history the tradition stopped in the 1970s, the North American College revived tradition and other colleges in the city started doing the same. Scot noted that nobody spoke while walking from the NAC. Donato said the faculty explicitly encourages them to take the walk as a time to pray to make it a pilgrimage to the churches. Scot asked him what he likes about the station churches. Donato said many of the churches are beautiful and have the tombs of many of the saints in the Roman Canon of the Mass. To go to their tombs is a wonderful pilgrimage and a great way to celebrate Lent. Others who attend are priests on sabbatical at the Casa Santa Mariae and faculty and students at universities in Rome. Scot asked if he has a favorite church. Donato said San Clemente is his favorite because of the mosaic in the apse that is very old. He said a quarter of the seminarians go more than a couple of times per week, most go occasionally and they all go on Ash Wednesday to Santa Sabina as that’s the required community Mass. More music and prayer from the Mass is now played. 3rd segment: Scot now welcomed Fr. Norman Tanner, a professor at the Gregorian University from Great Britain. Scot asked about the number of churches in Rome and their significance. Fr. Tanner said it’s a very ancient custom and Rome has 40 ancient churches which are station churches. Fr. Tanner said the 7am Mass is a perfect time to get in before their first 8:30am Mass. Scot asked about Saints Cosmas and Damian. He said they were martyrs of the early church and are mentioned in the 1st Eucharistic Prayer. They were both medical doctors and surgeons. Scot asked about the Gregorian. Fr. Tanner said many of the NAC seminarians and newly ordained study there. It was founded in 1554, two years before the death of St. Ignatius and it’s been a work of the Society of Jesus. There are about 2,500 students from almost all countries of the world. Fr. Tanner said as a church historian it’s a unique privilege to be in Rome. The history of the Church helps in the study for the priesthood to understand the Christians of the past, like Cosmas and Damian. More prayer from the Mass. 4th segment: Scot welcomes Br. Mark McBride, who works at St. Cosmas and Damian Basilica. He asked him how today compared to the Sunday liturgies. Brother said it’s not a parish church and so serve tourists and those with devotion to Cosmas and Damian. This day in Lent is special for the church. It has special Masses, including a special Mass in the evening with their titular cardinal. They have had English, German, and French groups come in for Mass and then their principal Mass would be in the evening at which the relics of the saints would be exposed for veneration. Scot said many people might not know much about those saints. Br. McBride said they were doctors in Syria and martyred in 313 AD. People who admired them had great devotion to them and built two major basilicas for them, one in Rome and one in Constantinople. When Constantinople fell, so did the church. So the one in Rome is the remaining sanctuary. The two were twin brothers and they received no money for their services. When questioned by the Romans why they didn’t charge for their services, they said they did it for the Lord and so were martyred. In later centuries, people came to the basilica to pray for cures from their ailments. People from the East still come, many from Russia, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and celebrate the Divine Liturgy in the crypt. The church was a part of a former Roman library built in 77 AD. It was used that way until 525 when the library was given to Pope Felix who converted it to a church. Pope Gregory the Great in the 600s had a major devotion to the saints there and to the Madonna della Salute, Our Lady of Good Health, which is also in the church. Mass has been said in the church every day since 525. Only a few other churches can boast such longevity. Scot said the relics of Ss. Cosmas and Damian are in the lower church. Br. McBride noted that the lower church or Crypt Church was not the lower level at first, but was ground level in the 6th century. In the 1600s, the basilica was cut horizontally which made it two churches. The lower church contained the relics of the saints as brought back to Rome by Pope Gregory. Scot said Br. McBride is originally from the San Francisco area. He asked him what led him to become a Franciscan and how did he come to Rome. Br. McBride said as a child he had a great devotion to the Franciscans, especially after studying the life of St. Francis. The pastor of his parish spoke of the TOR, Third Order Regular, Franciscans and he sought them out. He is not a priest, but a consecrated religious. From there he worked in their high school in the Philadelphia archdiocese for 20 years, then worked as provincial treasurer in the United States. From there he became general treasurer of the whole order which is headquartered at Ss. Cosmas and Damian. Since coming to Rome, he has been made superior of the friary which has friars from around the world. He said many Americans will know the TORs because they sponsor Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio and St. Francis College in Loreto, Pennsylvania. They also have parishes in Florida and Texas. Living in Rome is at times it’s an incredible feeling to the point it’s not even believable. To live at the church where St. Francis must have once prayed is incredible. The feeling of being in a room where millions of prayers have been offered is sometimes hard to even believe. You almost sense in the air that this is ancient. This is hard for Americans to grasp. The doorknobs of the church were made in 1400, centuries before America was founded. The choir stalls are from the 1600s. But because it looks so nice, it’s hard to imagine they’re so old. It makes him feel Catholic, a religion that knows no nationality, no single background. Scot asked how being situated right by the Colosseum and Forum impact the number of visitors who come to the church or the experience of praying there. Fr. McBride said they are in the Ancient District of Rome, at the feet of the Palatine Hill. That’s where Rome was founded and became the center of the world for hundreds of years. Because it’s ancient and you can see the development of peoples from all the oldest periods of Rome, all blending together. To be there at the church, you are at the point of convergence of all those periods of time. In the church it’s the same, kneeling and praying in a place that goes back to a time before Christianity. When it was a library, it was a place dedicated to medicine and there is a sense of continuity, a sense of ever-old, ever-young. Today, they’re looking at making the basilica a center for bioethics to continue that idea. Scot asked Br. McBride’s perspective on the papal transition today. He said the ancient basilica reminds us that this isn’t the first conclave. He describes this moment as a time of grace. Christ has promised us a Church. We believe what the cardinals are doing is no accident. We believe whoever the cardinals choose will be the successor of Peter. The Church isn’t a museum. It lives and renews itself, renews itself with a new leader. Br. McBride said they don’t have favorites in the conclave, but they would of course love to see a Franciscan pope. They’re waiting to see how the Holy Spirit works through the choice that is made. The new Pope is elected for a reason. He compared the interregnum to Lent and awaiting Easter. More prayer from the Mass. 5th segment: Scot Landry, reporting now from the Borgo Pio near the Vatican, welcomes Terry Donilon, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Boston, to the show. Scot asked Terry what Rome is like now in this anticipation. Terry said it feels like a celebration waiting to happen. There have been long lines waiting to get into St. Peter’s, people milling about in the Square, attending the Holy Hour last night with the cardinals. He gets a sense that people are in an anticipatory state. Scot noted Cardinal Seán did a lot of media interviews earlier this week and the American cardinals gained praise from around the world for their transparency. But as of yesterday there won’t be further press conferences as the cardinals decided not to speak. He asked Terry what the cardinal’s key themes were. Terry said the cardinal felt it would be good to take the time in the Congregations to assess the other cardinals so when conclave began he knew who he would vote for. The cardinal was very aware of the immense decision he and the other cardinals would be about to make. The cardinal is in a deep prayerful state right now to prepare for that. Scot said more than 5,000 journalists have already been credentialed, including most from Boston. Why are they coming? Terry said Boston is a heavily Catholic community and the local news recognizes that this is important to the 1.8 million Catholics in the archdiocese. It’s an opportunity to see this rare transition in the Church. All the major networks and affiliates and newspapers are present and have invaded Rome. Scot said many in the media were complimenting the American cardinals on how they were more open about process and other items they could talk about. That seems to be different from the culture of the Church in the rest of the world. Terry said the US Church believes in transparency. The cardinal finds an opportunity to talk to the people back in Boston. The rest of the world is slow to pick up on that. He also noted that the rest of the Church in the world hasn’t reached the same level of the use of digital media and technology. There isn’t a diocese in the world that brought the same level of expertise and assets to communicate back to the people in the archdiocese. The cardinal said before he left Boston that there is a responsibility to report back to the people what can be reported. It’s unfortunate that the level of communication has changed but there were reports in the Italian press that made a lot of people take pause, although it wasn’t anything that came from the American cardinals. Scot asked Terry his impression of the city, things you might not see elsewhere. Scot noted that the city rises late in the morning. He added that a lot of people come to visit St. Peter’s and it’s one of the best people-watching spots in the world. Terry said you see lots of priests and religious in great numbers walking the streets, seeing religious photos and items on display everywhere and clear signs that people are proud of their Catholic faith. He notes that many people speak English and he feels that more people speak English now than when he was in Rome in the late 90s. Terry said the story is building toward the conclave. The media is analyzing the top contenders for pope, although the college of cardinals has a way of surprising us. He said he’s working to bring a Boston flair and focus top the coverage back home. It’s a major story and recognition of the pope’s influence on world affairs. Scot said the three main questions he gets from people when they know he’s from Boston are: When’s the conclave going to start? Who does he think the next pope will be? Does Cardinal Seán have a chance? What other questions are Terry getting? Terry said people want to know who Cardinal Seán really is. He’s given the world a glimpse of who he really is. In Boston, he’s well known, but the outside world is getting a glimpse of him and of the Archdiocese of Boston. Terry thinks the world is getting a chance to celebrate the hard work that has been done in Boston by the priests, religious, and laity of the archdiocese. People think Cardinal Seán is interesting because he stands out from the other cardinals and has had an influence through his work in the sexual abuse crisis but also his emphasis on the New Evangelization. Terry said no one realistically thinks Cardinal Seán will be elected despite his qualifications and when he returns home after being celebrated so much, it will be a little surreal. At the worst, it opens the eyes of the world that the cardinals and bishops in America are doing good work on behalf of the Church and may open the door for a future American cardinal being elected pope. 6th segment: Scot, reporting from outside St. Peter’s Square, welcomed a pilgrimage group from the Master of Arts in Ministry program at St. John’s Seminary, including Fr. Chris O’Connor, Mary Jo Kriz, and Beth Joyce. He asked Mary Jo about the first part of their trip in Poland and what people should see on a pilgrimage there. She said Our Lady of Czestochowa was great but everything there, especially the people whose faith shines through in their daily life. The Divine Mercy chapel was perhaps the best. Scot noted they are tracing the footsteps of Pope John Paul II. He asked Fr. Chris where else they have visited. Fr. Chris said they went to Auschwitz, where even there they saw a glimmer of hope in the tomb of St. Maximilian Kolbe. You feel John Paul’s presence in the city of Krakow, where he was born. He said there are more than 6,000 public statues of John Paul throughout Poland. You can feel his presence in that country. Scot asked Beth about the great faith of the people of Poland under oppression. He asked her about these salt mines in which the people had carved cavernous churches underground complete with altars and statues. Beth said the common people went down deep in to the earth to carve these beautiful reminders of our Lord. She said it shows the faith that permeates Poland. Scot asked Aldona Lingertat about their itinerary in Rome for the days that they are there. She said today they were going on a walking tour of Rome, including Mass in St. Peter’s. They walked throughout the basilica and in the afternoon for the Scavi tour. The next day they were to go to Assisi, ending with Vespers in the chapel of San Damiano. On Friday, they were to visit the basilicas and more of the city, plus Mass at the tomb of Pope John Paul II. She’s been to Rome three times. Her favorite part is being steeped in the faith all around her in Rome. Scot noted that it’s Beth’s third trip to Rome, but the first time since her son started studying at the North American College. He asked her how it’s different this time. She said came at Christmas to see her son and it’s a great blessing that he’s studying in Rome for the priesthood. Scot said Cardinal Seán says that vocations are everyone’s business. He asked Beth what she did in her household that helped plant the seed for her son Kevin. When she realized her faith is a gift, she wanted to share it and wanted to communicate it to her child. She said the lives of the saints are great to share with them from a very early age because they were real people and they made it look possible to follow Jesus. Scot noted that originally the pilgrimage was to be at the General Audience, so he asked Aldona what it was like to be in Rome during the sede vacante. Aldona said the Vatican Post Office issues a special stamp during the sede vacante and she bought some for herself. These will be very rare. She was interviewed by Italian TV when she bought them. It’s a unique moment in time and the Holy Spirit is at work. She said her hope is that the new pope will be holy, prayerful and humble like our two previous popes. Also someone who is strong and courageous. Scot asked Fr. Chris what he hopes people take away from these pilgrimages to Rome. He said the long tradition and history of preaching the Gospel and proclaiming Christ Jesus. There is a hopefulness in the sede vacante with the knowledge of the continuity of the Church.…
1 TGCL #0482: Latest Developments LIVE from Rome; Celebrating Mass in St. Peter's; Criteria for the Next Pope; Assumption College in Rome 56:31
Summary of today’s show: Continuing our coverage from Rome, Scot Landry talks with Fr. Roger Landry about celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in the early morning, the latest developments as the College of Cardinals continue their daily meetings, and what criteria he thinks the cardinals are using to discern who they will vote for to become the next pope. Then Scot is joined by Francesco Cesareo, president of Assumption College in Worcester, who just opened a Rome campus and who gave his impressions of where the Church is heading in this time of transition. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, Francesco Cesareo, George Martell Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Latest Developments LIVE from Rome; Celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s; Criteria for the Next Pope; Assumption College in Rome 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Roger Landry to the show. Fr. Roger is in Rome to provide expert commentary for EWTN and others. Scot said he and Fr. Roger rose early this morning to go to St. Peter’s where Fr. Roger celebrate Mass. Fr. Roger said he spent his first year as a priest in Rome and was a guide in St. Peter’s Basilica and his tomb, so anytime he has a chance to celebrate Mass in St. Peter’s is a great thrill for him. It brings him back to his one, holy, catholic, and apostolic faith. Scot asked how it works for a Mass to celebrate Mass in St. Peter’s. Fr. Roger said usually a priest has to show a document that shows he’s in good standing to celebrate Mass in another diocese, but at St. Peter’s if the priest speaks Italian and appears to know what he’s doing, he’s given the benefit of the doubt. But any priest can walk into the sacristy and ask to say Mass. They have many altars and the appropriate books in many other languages. They are brought out to one of the available altars and today they were brought to the altar of the Sacred Heart. Scot said this altar is to the left of the main altar. Fr. Roger said you can always request a particular altar if it’s free, but today he just let them choose it for him. He said his preferred altar is that of Pope St. Leo the Great to whom Fr. Roger has a special devotion. Scot said he loves when traveling to Rome is get in St. Peter’s by 6:45am so he can be there before it becomes what he calls a “holy museum”. At 7am it is used for what it was mainly built for, which is to be a house of prayer. Fr. Roger said Jesus said His Father’s house must be a house of prayer and so that time between 7 and 9 in the morning when only Mass is allowed is what it is. Tours and tourists aren’t allowed in that time. Fr. Roger said in 2000, whenever Pope John Paul II was having an event in St. Peter’s Square, the church was empty and so Fr. Roger would come in by a back door and many times he was the only priest in the basilica. Every time he returns to the basilica those sentiments from the beginning of his priesthood come flooding back. Scot asked how someone who happens to be in Rome might be able to find a Mass at St. Peter’s at 7am. Fr. Roger said many people wait outside the entrance to the sacristy and wait to see priests come out and ask, “Mass in English?” Or they could go into the outer sacristy and ask the sacristan at the desk if there was a Mass in English. Fr. Roger is a pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River, but he was asked by Raymond Arroyo of EWTN to come and be one of his three color commentators for all the events. They began their broadcasting earlier today with a prayer service with the cardinals at the basilica and every day until the first Mass of the new Holy Father. He’s also doing a lot of writing while in Rome for the Diocese of Fall River’s newspaper, The Anchor, as well as a daily column for the . He’s been asked to be on TV on some of the local Boston stations as well as some of the national networks for some ad hoc interviews so that people back home can understand what’s happening and so someone at home can be connected through him to the events in Rome. Scot said three events happened today. First, the cardinals met in their General Congregation this morning. They decided at that meeting that cardinals will not speak to the media or through their Twitter accounts or blogs until the end of the conclave. And then there was a prayer service at 5pm Rome time. Fr. Roger said the cardinals themselves are praying individually and as a body are praying. What they will be doing in the Sistine Chapel is primarily an act of discernment to determine who it is that God wants to be Benedict XVI’s successor. First they pray to the Holy Spirit for discernment, but also every Catholic has a similar responsibility to pray for the Holy Spirit to illumine the cardinals. The cardinals explicitly asked for our help. He said Pope Benedict in his weekly teachings this past year talked about the Church being in prayer together. The Church in every continent should be united in prayer asking for God to give us the successor to St. Peter. Scot said many of the Boston media will be arriving later this week, but with the lack of cardinals’ availability they will be looking for stories now. Scot asked Fr. Roger why he thinks there’s so much interest from secular media from around the world. Fr. Roger said he thinks most media organizations, whether conscious of it or not, recognize that the new pope isn’t just important to Catholics, but is enormously important to the whole world. He is the recognized moral leader of the world. In the midst of so much injustice and poverty, a holy pope makes a big difference in bringing justice, peace, and material and spiritual well-being to the world. Many commentators mentioned that it was Blessed John Paul II’s influence that led to the fall of Communism. He asked Fr. Roger what he thought Benedict’s non-religious contribution to the world was. Fr. Roger said he gave four tremendous addresses on the proper role of politics and religion in helping political deliberations guided by the light of the truth of the human person. Those were given in London, Berlin, and Washington, DC. It clarified for many statesmen what their vocation is. The second thing he will be credited for is his tremendous concern for the natural environment. He focused the lenses of the world on that issue and motivated many in the Church to take it seriously because previously many Catholics were turned off by the pantheistic tendencies in the Green movement. Scot said the work of the General Congregations continues. He asked what is happening as the cardinals prepare for the conclave. Fr. Roger said in these daily meetings, the cardinals have certain business of running the Church, then some speeches that are supposed to be five minutes and they share their thoughts about the real issues facing the Church. It’s also a time for certain figures to shine and others to fade a bit as cardinals whittle down the number of candidates to a few. Fr. Roger said the custom is that they will first listen to the elder cardinals, but any cardinal could speak even more than once. Anyone who wants to share his thoughts is permitted. It’s one of the reasons they are sworn to secrecy so they can pour out their hearts. This all continues until the date they set for the conclave to begin. The American cardinals said this week that one of the general topics is the issue of governance of the Vatican. Scot asked what other issues they’ll discuss. Fr. Roger said it will be the spreading of the Gospel in the context of secularism or official atheism or religious suppression; the explosive growth of the faith in developing nations; and how the Church will be most effective in caring out the mission Christ entrusted to us. All other issues are derivative of this issue. Scot asked how the list of papabile has evolved, both the public list and what the cardinals themselves might be thinking. Fr. Roger said in 2005 the list put together by pundits varied greatly from the list of those the cardinals themselves were talking about. This time, the pundits have most of the names that are being considered because the criteria this time are pretty clear in terms of who is needed. First, he has to a devout disciple and ardent apostle; affable and amiable; enthusiastic about proclaiming the Gospel; someone people could look to as a model of holiness. Fr. Roger said in any organization there are those who fully live it and those who fall short. He said he doesn’t think it will be a very shy person. They want someone who can explain the faith in ways most Catholics can grasp. Someone who has temper or anger issues probably wouldn’t be considered. It is the character of the man in his virtues and strengths to be looked at first. This is more important than his race or national origin. Second, he has to have many languages. Fr. Roger thinks he has to have Italian, English, Spanish, French. Scot asked how many speak those languages and Fr. Roger said about 40, most of them Europeans or biblical scholars. Among those 40, some would not have the other criteria. The third criterion is that he be physically vigorous, probably someone under 72. After John Paul’s illness and Benedict’s retirement and the brutal daily schedule, the next pope needs to be more vigorous. The fourth criterion is someone who is capable administratively of governing the Vatican and capable of creating a model for the Church and so someone who’s worked in a diocese someplace and demonstrated an effectiveness in those area. This follows on the various administrative scandals in the Vatican and so they want someone talented enough that he could choose the right collaborators and effectively carry out his governing duties so it wouldn’t suck up all of his time. Scot said these are fairly knowable characteristics, apart from the first one. So how many of the 115 cardinals based on these are serious candidates. Fr. Roger thinks there are 15 candidates who are likely to be chosen. Fr. Roger said it’s okay to root for someone you know who would be good provided it’s not excessive. We want to be able to cheer and be grateful for whomever the cardinals select. He noted that no one was rooting for Pope John Paul II and never even believed he could be chosen. He said there might be someone even better than the one we are rooting for. Fr. Roger will be live on EWTN starting at 2pm Eastern and re-aired each night at 9pm. 2nd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Jeanne Clancy from Methuen She wins If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 3rd segment: Scot welcomed Francesco Cesareo, president of Assumption College, as they stood outside St. Peter’s Square. Francesco said the college just opened a new campus in Rome as a study abroad program. he said all students regardless of major will be able to come study there. They will be steeped in the history of the Church a few steps away from St. Peter’s. He said their hope is that the students will come home with a greater appreciation for their faith. Francesco gave a brief history of the college and a summary of the breadth of education and how they emphasize the formation of the whole human person. Scot noted that there are 11 colleges in Worcester. Francesco said the city has about 35,000 college students and offers many cultural, work, and educational opportunities for students. He said he’s been president for six years and talked about his priorities of re-focusing education on the liberal arts and to integrate into the Catholic intellectual tradition so students learn how to live out their faith in all aspects of their lives. Scot asked his sense of what it’s like to be in Rome this week. He said it’s a time for Catholics to come together and pray for the cardinals. What strikes him is the continuity of the life of the Church and how the Church has always gone through transitions. In those transitions the Church has focused on what is needed by the Church in this particular moment and the Holy Spirit gives to the Church the right man for the right time. The Church has gone through trials and always comes through stronger and formed in a way that makes the Church a true light in the world. Scot asked how the resignation of Benedict XVI changes things for the next Pope. Francesco said the open question is how one leads the Church when his predecessor is still living. Will it affect his decision-making when he decides to move in a way that is perceived as moving away from the emphasis of his predecessor. He said there hasn’t been a real papal resignation since Pope St. Celestine in 1294. It’s too early to tell what this resignation means. What it does is place an emphasis on the institution itself. It shows the work of the institution is greater than any one man. Francesco said he hopes that the next pope continues the emphasis on the New Evangelization in order to reverse the decline especially in the West. He hopes he will continue the liturgical reforms of Benedict because our liturgical life needs to be done with a sense of mystery and beauty. He hopes he will bring the message of the Gospel to all the ends of the earth, someone who’s visible and who excites the young people who are the life of the Church in a particular way. Francesco said the secular press looks at the Church from the lens they understand, which is secular governments, and so they focus a great deal of attention on governance of the Vatican, but the Holy Father’s principal duty is to be a teacher and shepherd of the flock. Francesco said he doesn’t think any American truly has a chance because the moral authority of the Holy Father could be compromised if he came from the United States. While there are some wonderful US cardinals, but the USA’s prominent position in the economic and political life of the world, it could compromise his ability to speak as he must. 4th segment: Scot welcomed George Martell to the show. George said it was awesome to return to St. Peter’s. He had been there with his wife a few years ago. Before Mass he was able to walk around and reminisce and take some special pictures from angles you can’t usually get and without any people in them. Many of the photos are available on Scot reminded listeners in Boston that The Light Is On For You is tonight where every church and chapel will be open for confessions from 6 to 8:30pm. Check out:…
Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry is coming to you LIVE from Rome today and in addition to an exclusive interview with Cardinal Seán O’Malley, he’s joined by Gregory Tracy, Fr. Jonathan Gaspar, and George Martell to discuss the latest news of the College of Cardinals and preparations for the upcoming papal conclave, including the reports from that cardinals that they’re spending their time getting to know one another so that when they enter the conclave, they’ll know who they want to vote for to become the next Pope. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot newspaper, Fr. Jonathan Gaspar, priest-secretary to Cardinal Seán, and George Martell of Pilot New Media Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: LIVE from Rome 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and noted they arrived at 7:30am getting almost no sleep on their flight overnight from Boston to Rome. Greg Tracy noted how little sleep he’s gotten over the past week in Rome. Scot said today the College of Cardinals met this morning in their general congregation and they’re still waiting for a few more cardinals to arrive before they set a date for the conclave. Scot was able to talk to Cardinal Seán in the afternoon after a press conference at the Pontifical North American College. Cardinal Seán talked about being able to say goodbye to Pope Benedict and then taking part in the General Congregations to hear from cardinals around the world on the needs of the Church and the task at hand. Cardinal Seán talked about how he’s preparing for his vote by researching other cardinals. The talks this week are a good opportunity to meet with them and get to know them, especially those he doesn’t know personally. He does have firsthand knowledge of many of them. Scot asked Cardinal Seán how he deals with the buzz about him as a possible Pope. He said he thinks part of it is the great affection the Italians have for the Capuchin order. HE also asked the whole Church to be united in prayer for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to identify who God wants. He noted that past 150 years we’ve been blessed with wise, holy popes to serve the Church. Cardinal Seán said he’s been sticking to his Lenten diet and said it’s hard to get a bad meal in Rome. Back to the in-studio panel, Greg Tracy talked about how the Cardinal is using Google to do research on the other cardinals and how important it is to know every man in the conclave because any of them could be elected. Fr. Jonathan Gaspar said these days of the General Congregation are so important for this reason. Despite the eagerness to begin the conclave, there must be this time of discernment, a word which has come up very often lately. He said the Cardinal takes all his responsibilities seriously, but in the last few weeks, he has been even more serious about this responsibility. It’s the most important thing a cardinal does in the life of the Church. Greg noted how the cardinals have talked about the importance of the coffee hours in the General Congregations where they have a moment to mingle amongst themselves and chat informally. Scot said it’s daunting to believe that the cardinals will be making a vote because of a conversation over coffee. George Martell talked about the Cardinal’s status as a dark horse, but how much he would be a great pope. 2nd segment: Scot said Fr. Federico Lombardi, spokesman for the Vatican, announced today that five more cardinal-electors arrived in Rome today and took their oaths of secrecy and they’re waiting for three more. The cardinals are giving speeches representing all the different regions of the world, and various other topics of concern. They discussed the motu proprio for setting the date of the conclave, but did not set one. They also sent a telegram to Benedict XVI thanking him for his service. Tomorrow night, the cardinals will gather in St. Peter’s Basilica for a special public prayer service. Fr. Gaspar said it’s a great opportunity for Catholics throughout the world to join in prayer and be reminded that this is a time of spiritual renewal of the Church. The cardinals are telling us that they need our prayers. Greg said it is surprising that these other cardinals are not in Rome and that’s been a common question from the media. Cardinal DiNardo speculated that they had unbreakable commitments in their diocese. Others say it’s not so easy coming from some of these countries. Still others say they may be trying to delay the conclave to the traditional 15-day waiting period. It could also be that it had been unclear until very recently even when the General Congregations would begin. Scot said we’re all anxious to know who the next Holy Father is going to be, but Cardinal Seán says that it’s wonderful to have these times of the General Congregations so when the conclave begins they will be able to make their votes right away and it won’t take very long. Fr. Gaspar said Rome wasn’t built in a day. They’re not just selecting a Prefect of the Papal Household. They’re electing a pope, which is an awesome experience. He said as Americans we’re very impatient, but this process has taken place for centuries and we should be slow in deliberations and quick in decision-making.Greg said they don’t want to go into the conclave ill-prepared or the conclave could drag on. Scot said the consequence of that might be the appearance of a very divided Church. Scot said the questions he’s been asked all day is when the conclave will start, who does he think will get elected, and does Cardinal Seán have a shot? Next, Scot played Cardinal Seán’s opening statement from a press conference this afternoon at the Pontifical North American College. Cardinal Seán recounted the events of Monday in the General Congregations and described how they heard from the cardinals who won’t be entering the conclave. Then he described their activities today. Scot said he counted 22 TV cameras and more than 100 media personnel in the press conference. Fr. Gaspar said it’s fascinating that what the cardinals are saying hasn’t changed all that much and yet there’s all these people waiting to hear what two cardinals sworn to secrecy had to say about a meeting they can’t say anything about. For those who say the Church has nothing to say to the modern world, it seems that people are interested in what the Church has to say. Fr. Gaspar said he’s heard from a number of non-American journalists how refreshing it is to hear directly from American cardinals, which no other bishops’ conference around the world is doing. Greg said it is true that the entire world’s attention is focused on Rome and you don’t see this with any other religion. Whether or not you entirely follow your faith or even if you’re not Catholic, somehow the Church provides a moral compass and the world is looking for this compass. It doesn’t mean they will follow it, but they could be comforted knowing that there is someone with moral certitude and moral courage. The first question in the press conference came from Ann Rodgers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She asked what form the conversations of the General Congregations took. Cardinal Seán said today it took the form of some interventions from various cardinals. The next question came from the Associated Press who asked about some back and forth between the cardinals and members of the curia and what they thought on the reported dysfunction in the curia. Cardinal Seán said they are interested in the functioning of the bureaucracy of the Holy See. He said he’s not sure who important all that is for the working of the conclave. Scot asked Fr. Gaspar how the cardinals will prioritize among the three principal duties of the Pope: the teaching, the sanctifying, or the governing mission. He said it’s widely held that the Vatican needs stronger guidance. Fr. Gaspar said he doesn’t think that will be highest priority as that responsibility is often handed over to those who assist the Pope. He said the cardinals are probably talking about this issue among themselves and we probably can expect changes in the hierarchy in the future. Benedict XVI was a wonderful teacher and he thinks that the cardinals will want to continue emphasizing that teaching. Scot said he hopes the cardinals continue to prioritize as they did in the last two conclaves: Someone who can communicate Christ’s teaching and all the improvements we want to make personally and collectively as a Church. Greg said in the press conferences they are asked over and over whether they want to see the report produced on the dysfunction in the curia. The cardinals keep responding that they will learn everything they need to know in the General Congregations. The report itself will be presented to the new Holy Father. The next question comes from Jason Horowitz of the Washington Post, who asked if the timing will affect who gets elected. Cardinal Seán responded that the big concern is that the cardinal-electors want to have a good idea of who they want to vote for going into the conclave and so they want to have the preparation done beforehand. Fr. Jonathan said if the cardinals rush this, they will lose the opportunity to discern how the Holy Spirit is leading the Church today. The next question is from Associated Press’s Anne Thomas. She wondered if Pope Benedict’s presence will have an indirect influence on the conclave and whether Cardinal Seán would wear brown robes if elected pope. Cardinal Seán said he presumes he will wear his robes until the day he dies because he doesn’t expect to be elected. Scot said the whole world knows Cardinal Seán is a contender for the papacy. He said they went for a coffee with the cardinal after the news conference and they had a number of people who came up to him and recognized him and the proprietor of the shop gave them the local’s rate for their coffee, as opposed to the tourist rate. Scot said a lot of people recognize Cardinal Seán as distinctive among the cardinals for his clothes. Greg said the people of Boston were also taken aback by the cardinal when he arrived there for eschewing the formal dress. Other Capuchin bishops don’t continue to wear the robes, but for Cardinal Seán he wants to stay close to his roots. Scot said he refers to the cardinal’s robes as his second skin. 3rd segment: Scot looked forward to the rest of the week in which he will be interviewing locals from across the Station of the Cross’ network. George Martell added that he is taking photos during their days and uploading them automatically to . They will also be posting videos up . Greg Tracy will be writing a blog post on The Good Catholic Life website and another on . He said the big upcoming event will be that prayer service with the cardinals in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Scot said it was reported today that more than 5,000 journalists have been accredited already. Fr. Jonathan said he doesn’t know what the schedule holds for him in assisting the cardinal. He said there’s been lots of gathering throughout the city outside the General Congregations in language groups and other groups to continue informally the conversations they have during the day. Scot said anyone who wants their prayer requests brought before the bones of St. Peter can send them to . He recounted some of his plans to interview other pilgrims tomorrow and he will be taking over the blogging mantle from Greg.…
Summary of today’s show: As The Good Catholic Life is traveling to Rome to provide you with live coverage of the election of the new pope, we bring you Cardinal Seán O’Malley’s press conference on the resignation of Pope Benedict on February 13 and his homily for the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter on February 22, which highlight the cardinal’s reflections on the legacy of Benedict XVI and what he will be looking for among his brother cardinals in the conclave to elect a new pope. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Cardinal Seán on the papacy of Benedict XVI and our next pope 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. Today we’re sharing some materials to help us get ready for the conclave in Rome. Scot and George Martell are flying to Rome today in order to begin our live coverage on Tuesday. Today, we’ll share the remarks of Cardinal Seán O’Malley and Msgr. James Moroney from the news conference that was held at the Pastoral Center on February 13 and then Cardinal Seán’s moving homily on the ministry of St. Peter and his reflections on the legacy of Pope Benedict XVI from the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, February 22. Also tonight, Catholic Faith Essentials starts a new season of study on the topic of this transition in the papacy. Tonight, Bishop Arthur Kennedy will reflect on the teachings and legacy of Pope Benedict XVI and how it has moved the Church to a much deeper understanding of Jesus Christ. That’s 7pm at . For more information, go to . Scot also reminded listeners of the many ways that iCatholic Media, of which The Good Catholic Life is a part, is covering this papal transition. First, we are continuing our blog posts on The Good Catholic Life website. Greg Tracy has already been sending dispatches from Rome over the past week and we will have daily updates from Scot. You can receive the blog posts via email by signing up on our website, follow us on Twitter at @GoodCathLife, or Like us on Facebook. Now we heard the statements and press conference from February 13. Then Cardinal Seán’s homily from the Mass of the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter. Be sure to join us on Tuesday’s show, LIVE from Rome! And keep up with all our updates at TheGoodCatholicLife.com…
Summary of today’s show: The Catholic Appeal is to the Archdiocese as the weekly offertory is to the parish and this weekend is the launch of the annual Appeal. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell talk with Fr. John Mulvehill and Chris Kierce of St. Anthony Parish, Cohassett, and Susan Abbott of the Office of Religiou Education about the importance of the Appeal to the more than 50 diocesan ministries that would not be able to function with it and the parish ministries that wouldn’t be effective without those diocesan ministries. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr. John Mulvehill, Chris Kierce, Susan Abbott Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Catholic Appeal 2013 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. He said today is important because of the launch of the Catholic Appeal but also because of the events going on in Rome. Fr. Mark said he was watching the coverage on the news yesterday about how all the pageantry, but then taking a bleak outlook on the Church. Fr. Mark said we’re not hopeless, were popeless! Scot noted that the work of the College of Cardinals in setting the date for the Conclave won’t happen until Monday so today is a breather in Rome from all the busyness. Scot and Fr. Mark discussed the importance of the Appeal toward supporting all the ministries housed in the Pastoral Center, including The Good Catholic Life radio program. Scot said first we would hear the audio from the Catholic Appeal video, linked above, that will be played in parishes this weekend first. Scot said they present on 5 of the more than 50 ministries supported by the Appeal. Fr. Mark said it was moving and what moved him most was that he had a tiny part in some of that. Joining the show, Fr. John Mulvehill and Chris Kierce from St. Anthony’s in Cohasset. Fr. Mulvehill said the video indicates the vast extent of the Appeal. They have a large religious education program and their people receive a lot of training. He was once head of religious ed for the archdiocese and knows how important the appeal is. Chris said it shows the diversity of the Archdiocese. Susan Abbott said she loved the cultural diversity office part of the video as well as Deacon Nieves. Fr. Mulvehill talked about the advice and support of the Facilities office as St. Anthony’s built a new parish center. Chris said he tells other parishioners about their youth ministry and their permanent deacon and how they all receive support from archdiocesan central ministries. Chris then talked about why he gives his spare time to help coordinate and promote the Catholic Appeal in his parish and beyond. Scot said he frequently heard from people who thought the Appeal only paid for things that happen at the Pastoral Center. Susan said any successful parish ministries often receive support from central ministries. She said when she lead a parish religious education ministry, they won a diocesan award, but she knows they won only because of the help from archdiocesan religious education office. Their work is to support, advise, and offer guidelines. As a director of religious ed, she has been able to some of the people who have donated to support the work they do. Scot said the deaf apostolate ministry would never be possible in just one parish because you wouldn’t have a critical mass of people in one place. But the archdiocesan ministry can put the resources together. Fr. Mark said many dioceses don’t have a deaf ministry because they can’t afford it. He said Cardinal Seán and Cardinal Law before him put many resources into forming the deaf apostolate. The Archdiocese was able to send Fr. Shawn Carey, the director of that office who is himself deaf, to seminary in California where they had a program to educate deaf seminarians. That could only happen through the generosity of the Appeal. Scot said the goal is to sustain and grow the Appeal each year. He asked Fr. Mulvehill why it’s important to be generous to the Appeal. Fr/. Mulvehill said it’s important to have someone like Chris explain from their perspective. Chris said he changes his talk to parishioners each year based on the theme, but the most important parts don’t change. What he says comes from the heart and that’s what’s most important. He’s been able to pick out areas in the ministries that relate to their parish and at the end of each Mass, he seeks out people who might have questions, then mingles at the post-Mass coffee time. Scot said the Appeal message this is “There is a Good Samaritan in each of us.” The Appeal categorizes the ministries in four basic categories: Strengthening families, advancing Church leadership, inspiring future generations, enriching parish life. Scot asked Susan to reflect on inspiring future generations. She noted that religious education spans both inspiring future generations and strengthening families because they do adult faith formation as well. She noted her office does catechist formation and certification; they do online learning with online accredited universities; they provide regional and parish services; and more. She said they start with the adults because faith formation is a lifelong process. Chris said the parish guide provided by the development office makes a good resource and is a good step-by-step plan for a successful appeal. Fr. Mark said some priests hate to ask for money and parishioners can stand up for him and do it for him. Chris said every pastor should have a lay co-chair for the Catholic Appeal to take the pressure and legwork out of the Appeal. The lay co-chair could one of the top five or six donors to the Appeal or someone who has a sales background. Fr. Mulvehill said the Appeal is the diocese what the weekly offertory is to the parish. He said the pastor gets up a dozen times per year to announce a second collection, so the Appeal should be set apart and thus a lay co-chair can say it more forcefully than the pastor can. Scot said in parishes that can’t play the video, they will hear an audio homily from Cardinal Seán which we will hear now. He said Cardinal Seán tells us that the Appeal calls us all to be Good Samaritans through love of God and love of neighbor, helping us grow as Catholic disciples.…
Summary of today’s show: On a day for unprecedented news happenings, Scot Landry, Susan Abbott and Fr. Roger Landry are joined by Gregory Tracy, calling in from Rome, to report his experiences so far traveling with Cardinal Sean on Benedict XVI’s last days as pope. From the last meeting with the cardinals to Benedict’s departure from the Vatican, including Cardinal Seán’s press conference with the world’s media, we got an insider’s view of all the events and what it was like to be in the Eternal City. Also, back in Boston, the first four pastors of Phase 1 pastoral collaboratives were named as part of the Disciples in Mission plan. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Benedict’s Last Day; Cardinals’ presser; Phase 1 Pastors 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and welcomed Gregopry Tracy calling in from Rome and Fr. Roger Landry, who is traveling today. Greg related what it is like to be in Rome in these days. Scot read from Benedict’s farewell discourse to the cardinals and the final words to all of us at Castel Gandolfo. Susan Abbott reflected on her admiration for the Holy Father and her sadness that we will likely never see him again. Greg related how he went to St. Peter’s Square at 8pm and how very moving it was to see everyone there. The bells tolled and the hundreds gathered stood silently before St. Peter’s, some holding candles, others praying in groups. After a moment of silence after the bells stopped ringing and then spontaneously the people applauded. Scot noted that most of the churches across the country rang their bells from 1:52 to 2pm, eight minutes for the eight years of Benedict’s pontificate. Susan said Cardinal Dolan talked on TV this morning about how the people is our father and we are stunned that he is no longer there for us. Scot said he is know know as Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI. He will wear white cassock, but not the white cape that is a sign of office. He will also trade in the red shoes, for plain brown loafers. /en1-669045) 2nd segment: Scot said to Fr. Roger that Benedict packed in so much in the last few days that we will be unpacking for years to come. Fr. Roger said first of all in importance is that Christ is the Supreme Pastor of the Church, not the pope. Another important message from him is the importance of the Mass and the way we pray must be centered on the Lord, rather than ourselves. Fr. Roger is boarding a flight, but Scot noted that Fr. Roger will be part of EWTN’s coverage of the papal conclave starting next week. He will also be hosting a new series on EWTN on living with Alzheimer’s disease. Scot said earlier today that Cardinal Seán, Cardinal DiNardo from Houston, and Cardinal George of Chicago had a press conference held at the Pontifical North American College. Greg set the sense of what the press conference like and how many were there. He said all the major international news networks were present and the major US media as well, plus others from South America and elsewhere. Greg said you see around the city, for the media much of what’s going on in Rome isn’t very public or to fill airtime so the media is voracious for anything they can find to fill the news cycle. Greg said some of the questions were predictable, asking about the change in the Church. A few were good because the cardinals didn’t have a rote answer for them. The press conference started with each of the cardinals relating what each of them said to the Holy Father. They were asked the effect of the precedent of the pope resigning. Cardinal George said the Holy Father is a father and a father can’t resign, but now a father has resigned. Even though it’s been in canon law, it’s been so rare that practically speaking the pope was pope for life. Cardinal Sean said maybe someone who is older might be more possible now because if it became overwhelming for him he could resign. Scot said Cardinal Seán was asked what qualities Americans would like in a new pope. Cardinal Seán responded that certainly holiness given that we’ve had such holy popes for the last century. Also, someone who loves the youth. Asked how he’s preparing for the conclave, he’s been praying a lot and trying to read up on the other cardinals, spending a lot of time on the Internet. He joked with the reporter John Allen, who prior to the last conclave wrote a book called “Conclave” which described how it worked and who some of the leading candidates were, and said that Allen hadn’t written “Conclave II”. Scot said everyone watching could see Cardinal Seán’s sense of humor. Susan said Cardinal Seán is so in tune with the popular culture. She noted that every time someone lists the qualities of a potential pope, she sees Cardinal Seán. She asked Greg if he will be able to update his blog. He said his sense is that there will be a blog post this week and each week that he isn’t in the conclave. Greg said each of the moments today were very moving, with the cardinals saying goodbye for the last time, the seminarians waving goodbye as the helicopter flew away, the people in the square crying at his leaving, or being with the people applauding for him after he was long gone. Greg also noted that Benedict pledged obedience to the future pope who was present in the audience with the cardinals this morning. Scot also noted Greg’s blog posts on The Good Catholic Life and how they have brought us along with him with an insider’s view. Susan said the Holy Father’s discourse to the cardinals was also a beautiful reflection, modeling for us what we’re called to do to work together in harmony. Parish staffs and ministries could meditate on this together. Scot and Susan also talked about yesterday’s remarks at the Wednesday General audience, which was very personal. Scot said during the individual greetings of cardinals with Benedict, Cardinal Tagle of Manila whispered something to the Holy Father that caused them to laugh together. Scot wrote in the Pilot this week about the type of coverage we’ll be offering on the Pilot, the Good Catholic Life, and online. Scot said anyone who sends a prayer request to , he will bring them to the tomb of St. Peter in the Vatican to bring all our listeners to a deeper appreciation and sense of discipleship. in local news, the Disciples in Mission pastoral planning initiative has significant news. The first four pastors of Phase 1 collaboratives have been named. They become effective on June 4. Father Mark Mahoney, to be the Pastor in Beverly (Saint Margaret, Saint Mary Star of the Sea, and Saint John). Father Mahoney will be leaving his current position as Pastor of Saint Rose of Lima Parish in Topsfield to take this new assignment. Monsignor William Fay, to be the Pastor of the Collaborative in Methuen (Saint Lucy and Saint Monica). Monsignor Fay will be leaving his current position as Pastor of Saint Columbkille in Brighton to take this new assignment. He was co-chair of the Pastoral Planning Commission and is a former secretary-general of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Father Shawn Allen, to be the Pastor of the Billerica Collaborative (Saint Theresa, Saint Mary, and Saint Andrew). Father Allen is currently the Pastor of Saint Theresa in Billerica. Father Carlos Flor, to be the Pastor of Saint Mary of the Angels in Roxbury and Saint Thomas Aquinas and Our Lady of Lourdes in Jamaica Plain. Father Flor is currently the Pastor of those three Parishes. Scot expects that many more pastors of the new collaboratives will be named over the next four to six weeks. Susan said she was surprised by the appointments and knows that the review process was very thorough. Scot noted that this transition affects the current pastors, pastoral staff, and parishioners and asked for prayers for them as they go through this change.…
Summary of today’s show: In his last public appearance before a large crowd, Pope Benedict XVI shared some heartfelt, moving, and deeply personal words in his Wednesday general audience with 200,000 in attendance. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams read the Holy Father’s words and contemplate his message of trust in the Lord, discernment, and staying rooted in hope and joy. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Pope Benedict XVI’s last general audience 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and said that today is the last full day of the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI. Today we will share the parting message of Pope Benedict to the faithful in his last Wednesday general audience. Scot said tomorrow that the Holy Father will leave Rome and at 8pm Rome time he will be at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo. Fr. Matt noted that the Swiss Guard, at the stroke of 8pm, will leave their posts at his side because their sole responsibility is the protection of the Supreme Pontiff. His security will be taken up by the Vatican Gendarmerie. Scot said more than 200,000 people came out in what was not great weather in Rome for this audience. He read from the text: Thank you for coming in such large numbers to this last General Audience of my pontificate. Like the Apostle Paul in the biblical text that we have heard, I feel in my heart the paramount duty to thank God, who guides the Church and makes her grow: who sows His Word and thus nourishes the faith in His people. At this moment my spirit reaches out to embrace the whole Church throughout the world, and I thank God for the “news” that in these years of Petrine ministry I have been able to receive regarding the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity that circulates in the body of the Church – charity that makes the Church to live in love – and of the hope that opens for us the way towards the fullness of life, and directs us towards the heavenly homeland. I feel I [ought to] carry everyone in prayer, in a present that is God’s, where I recall every meeting, every voyage, every pastoral visit. I gather everyone and every thing in prayerful recollection, in order to entrust them to the Lord: in order that we might have full knowledge of His will, with every wisdom and spiritual understanding, and in order that we might comport ourselves in a manner that is worthy of Him, of His, bearing fruit in every good work (cf. Col 1:9-10). Scot recalled the times he saw Pope Benedict, during the papal Mass at Yankee Stadium. Fr. Matt also saw the Holy Father at World Youth Days in Cologne and Madrid. He noted the humility and sincerity in how much he cares for and loves. He literally commends us to the Lord and teaches us the importance of intercessory prayer. Scot said the Pope prayed for a specific thing in that part of the text: that we might have full knowledge of the Lord’s will, and that’s precisely what he discerned last week. Fr. Matt said we should pray, “Lord, what is the plan that you have for me?” At this time, I have within myself a great trust [in God], because I know – all of us know – that the Gospel’s word of truth is the strength of the Church: it is her life. The Gospel purifies and renews: it bears fruit wherever the community of believers hears and welcomes the grace of God in truth and lives in charity. This is my faith, this is my joy. Scot said the Holy Father is saying our trust and joy should be there as well as we say goodbye and prepare for the next Holy Father. Fr. Matt said the Word the Holy Father speaks of is Christ Himself. When, almost eight years ago, on April 19th, [2005], I agreed to take on the Petrine ministry, I held steadfast in this certainty, which has always accompanied me. In that moment, as I have already stated several times, the words that resounded in my heart were: “Lord, what do you ask of me? It a great weight that You place on my shoulders, but, if You ask me, at your word I will throw out the nets, sure that you will guide me” – and the Lord really has guided me. He has been close to me: daily could I feel His presence. [These years] have been a stretch of the Church’s pilgrim way, which has seen moments joy and light, but also difficult moments. I have felt like St. Peter with the Apostles in the boat on the Sea ofGalilee: the Lord has given us many days of sunshine and gentle breeze, days in which the catch has been abundant; [then] there have been times when the seas were rough and the wind against us, as in the whole history of the Church it has ever been - and the Lord seemed to sleep. Nevertheless, I always knew that the Lord is in the barque, that the barque of the Church is not mine, not ours, but His - and He shall not let her sink. It is He, who steers her: to be sure, he does so also through men of His choosing, for He desired that it be so. This was and is a certainty that nothing can tarnish. It is for this reason, that today my heart is filled with gratitude to God, for never did He leave me or the Church without His consolation, His light, His love. Fr. Matt said Pope Benedict shares with us this beautiful reflection on what it was like to be elected pope. He had turned to the Lord to ask Him why He was asking it of him and what was being asked. It is a burden to shepherd the people of God because we are sheep that go astray, not to mention the shepherds who go astray. The Holy Father knew he wasn’t doing it all by himself. The Lord who entrusts us with much equips us with much to make us equal to the task. Scot said it would be great for any of us to say we felt the Lord’s presence every day because we asked Him each day, “What do you want me to do today?” Scot said the Holy Father was honest about having easier days than others and described it as the Lord giving him days of sunshine and gentle breeze and other days when the waters were rough and it seemed the Lord was asleep. The Lord doesn’t respond on our timetable. We are in the Year of Faith, which I desired in order to strengthen our own faith in God in a context that seems to push faith more and more toward the margins of life. I would like to invite everyone to renew firm trust in the Lord. I would like that we all, entrust ourselves as children to the arms of God, and rest assured that those arms support us and us to walk every day, even in times of struggle. I would like everyone to feel loved by the God who gave His Son for us and showed us His boundless love. I want everyone to feel the joy of being Christian. In a beautiful prayer to be recited daily in the morning says, “I adore you, my God, I love you with all my heart. I thank You for having created me, for having made me a Christian.” Yes, we are happy for the gift of faith: it is the most precious good, that no one can take from us! Let us thank God for this every day, with prayer and with a coherent Christian life. God loves us, but He also expects that we love Him! He wanted us to trust in God like young children trust in their parents. Fr. Matt talks about young children who trust implicitly in you that you won’t drop them. Scot talked about the holy Father as having been one of the world’s leading theologians but he is very down to earth in how he addresses us and teaches in very simple, heartfelt terms. The prayer he offers is so accessible that even children can pray it. Fr. Matt said a priest-friend studied in Rome and he attended a conference with then-Cardinal Ratzinger. During the question period, he asked for all the questions first, then on-the-fly arranged them and answered them in a seamless and articulate way. He is one of the most brilliant men to be the Holy Father. But he also demonstrates that theology is something to be done on our knees. He doesn’t just speak about God, but you know he’s knows God in prayer. 2nd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Marion LeBlanc from Lynn. He wins by Curtis and Michaelann Martin. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 3rd segment: At this time, however, it is not only God, whom I desire to thank. A Pope is not alone in guiding St. Peter’s barque, even if it is his first responsibility – and I have not ever felt myself alone in bearing either the joys or the weight of the Petrine ministry. The Lord has placed next to me many people, who, with generosity and love for God and the Church, have helped me and been close to me. First of all you, dear Brother Cardinals: your wisdom, your counsels, your friendship, were all precious to me. My collaborators, starting with my Secretary of State, who accompanied me faithfully over the years, the Secretariat of State and the whole Roman Curia, as well as all those who, in various areas, give their service to the Holy See: the many faces which never emerge, but remain in the background, in silence, in their daily commitment, with a spirit of faith and humility. They have been for me a sure and reliable support. A special thought [goes] to the Church of Rome, my diocese! I can not forget the Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood, the consecrated persons and the entire People of God: in pastoral visits, in public encounters, at Audiences, in traveling, I have always received great care and deep affection; I also loved each and every one, without exception, with that pastoral charity which is the heart of every shepherd, especially the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of the Apostle Peter. Every day I carried each of you in my prayers, with the father’s heart. I wish my greetings and my thanks to reach everyone: the heart of a Pope expands to [embrace] the whole world. I would like to express my gratitude to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, which makes present the great family of nations. Here I also think of all those who work for good communication, whom I thank for their important service. At this point I would like to offer heartfelt thanks to all the many people throughout the whole world, who, in recent weeks have sent me moving tokens of concern, friendship and prayer. Yes, the Pope is never alone: now I experience this [truth] again in a way so great as to touch my very heart. The Pope belongs to everyone, and so many people feel very close to him. It’s true that I receive letters from the world’s greatest figures - from the Heads of State, religious leaders, representatives of the world of culture and so on. I also receive many letters from ordinary people who write to me simply from their heart and let me feel their affection, which is born of our being together in Christ Jesus, in the Church. These people do not write me as one might write, for example, to a prince or a great figure one does not know. They write as brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, with the sense of very affectionate family ties. Here, one can touch what the Church is – not an organization, not an association for religious or humanitarian purposes, but a living body, a community of brothers and sisters in the Body of Jesus Christ, who unites us all. To experience the Church in this way and almost be able to touch with one’s hands the power of His truth and His love, is a source of joy, in a time in which many speak of its decline. In recent months, I felt that my strength had decreased, and I asked God with insistence in prayer to enlighten me with His light to make me take the right decision – not for my sake, but for the good of the Church. I have taken this step in full awareness of its severity and also its novelty, but with a deep peace of mind. Loving the Church also means having the courage to make difficult, trying choices, having ever before oneself the good of the Church and not one’s own. Fr. Matt emphasized the point that the Church is a community of brothers and sisters united in Christ. In the Mass, we pray that we confess to our brothers and sisters that we have sinned and ask their prayers before God for us. While we may not know each other that well, our prayer for one another is real and we can see each other in a new light. Scot said that paragraph was profound. The Holy Father said he was persistent in prayer. Benedict got a different answer from God than John Paul. For John Paul, he received the answer that he was to stay until the end. Benedict heard from God that he would step down for the good of the Church. Here allow me to return once again to April 19, 2005. The gravity of the decision was precisely in the fact that from that moment on I was committed always and forever by the Lord. Always – he, who assumes the Petrine ministry no longer has any privacy. He belongs always and totally to everyone, to the whole Church. His life is, so to speak, totally deprived of the private sphere. I have felt, and I feel even in this very moment, that one receives one’s life precisely when he offers it as a gift. I said before that many people who love the Lord also love the Successor of Saint Peter and are fond of him, that the Pope has truly brothers and sisters, sons and daughters all over the world, and that he feels safe in the embrace of their communion, because he no longer belongs to himself, but he belongs to all and all are truly his own. The “always” is also a “forever” - there is no returning to private life. My decision to forgo the exercise of active ministry, does not revoke this. I do not return to private life, to a life of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences and so on. I do not abandon the cross, but remain in a new way near to the Crucified Lord. I no longer wield the power of the office for the government of the Church, but in the service of prayer I remain, so to speak, within St. Peter’s bounds. St. Benedict, whose name I bear as Pope, shall be a great example in this for me. He showed us the way to a life which, active or passive, belongs wholly to the work of God. Scot said the Pope was an introvert who cherished his privacy who from April 19 has had no privacy. He belongs totally to everyone and even after tomorrow, he doesn’t expect to have a return to the privacy he used to have. It’s very open and heartfelt. Fr. Matt said it’s the idea that when you give your life to the Lord as a priest, your life is not your own and as you rise in responsibilities within the Church, there is further stripping of the self. But we never have to do this alone. God never asks us to do what he himself won’t do with us. Scot said St. Benedict was the founder of Western monasticism. Scot said Benedict will be working hard at the work of prayer. Fr. Matt said he is teaching us to pray. I thank each and every one of you for the respect and understanding with which you have welcomed this important decision. I continue to accompany the Church on her way through prayer and reflection, with the dedication to the Lord and to His Bride, which I have hitherto tried to live daily and that I would live forever. I ask you to remember me before God, and above all to pray for the Cardinals, who are called to so important a task, and for the new Successor of Peter, that the Lord might accompany him with the light and the power of His Spirit. Let us invoke the maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of God and of the Church, that she might accompany each of us and the whole ecclesial community: to her we entrust ourselves, with deep trust. Dear friends! God guides His Church, maintains her always, and especially in difficult times. Let us never lose this vision of faith, which is the only true vision of the way of the Church and the world. In our heart, in the heart of each of you, let there be always the joyous certainty that the Lord is near, that He does not abandon us, that He is near to us and that He surrounds us with His love. Thank you!” Scot said he asked specifically for prayers for the cardinals and his successor. Scot thinks that one of his biggest prayers after tomorrow is for that intention. He understands what his successor will feel that moment that in the Sistine Chapel that he is elected. Fr. Matt said the Holy Father shows us how God is the Supreme Pastor of the Church and that our prayers do matter. To the English-speaking pilgrims, the Holy Father added: The decision I have made, after much prayer, is the fruit of a serene trust in God’s will and a deep love of Christ’s Church. I will continue to accompany the Church with my prayers, and I ask each of you to pray for me and for the new Pope. In union with Mary and all the saints, let us entrust ourselves in faith and hope to God, who continues to watch over our lives and to guide the journey of the Church and our world along the paths of history. I commend all of you, with great affection, to his loving care, asking him to strengthen you in the hope which opens our hearts to the fullness of life that he alone can give. To you and your families, I impart my blessing. Thank you! Scot noted that the words “joy” and “hope” were repeated throughout this address and despite the cross he bore over these eight years, he had hope and joy throughout. Fr. Matt said joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit and the reality is that he freely said yes and united himself to the Word of God. The Holy Father ended the audience by leading the crowd in a sung version of the Holy Father in Latin. We listened along. Scot said the Holy Father imparted his last apostolic blessing. He said he was very moved hearing this. Scot asked everyone to pray for the cardinals whose task it is now to choose Pope Benedict’s successor. Tomorrow night, Bishop Robert Deeley will celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving for the ministry of Pope Benedict at 7:30pm at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and all are invited.…
Summary of today’s show: Vocations are everyone’s business and Fr. Dan Hennessey joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to talk about vocations to the priesthood, including the many opportunities coming up for men to discern their call and for the people of God to pray for more vocations. Plus three steps every parish can take to increase the number of vocations from their community. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Dan Hennessey, Vocations Director for the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Vocations to the Priesthood 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and noted that there are less than two full days left of Pope Benedict’s papacy. Fr. Chris O’Connor said it’s an amazing time and he’s waiting to see what’s going to happen, like the rest of the world. Whoever is chosen tells us what the cardinals think the Church needs in the days and weeks ahead. Both Scot and Fr. Chris will be in Rome during this time. Fr. Chris is going with a pilgrimage from St. John Seminary and the Theological Institute to go to Krakow, Poland, and Rome. He noted that during the conclave, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums will be closed, but being in Rome for a conclave is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. They also discussed how Pope Benedict changed the rules for how the conclave will work, including letting the cardinals choose to begin earlier. Scot said he thinks that the conclave will start on March 8 or 9, but it could be as early as March 6 and as late as March 11. Fr. Chris said he was intrigued by the pope’s choice of 8pm to end his papacy and it turns out that it’s when the Holy Father goes to supper at the end of the day. He’s very humble. We also found out that the Holy Father will retain the title of pope, as pope emeritus and he will continue to wear the white cassock. Scot said The Good Catholic Life will provide coverage. Beginning on Thursday, Greg Tracy will be posting blogs on our website with video and audio interviews of pilgrims. It will be different from what you might get from TV networks giving the bigger picture, while TGCL will give a faith-based perspective from a Bostonian point of view. Fr. Chris reminded everyone to pray for the Holy Spirit to enlighten the hearts and minds of the cardinals and to pray for whoever the next pope will be because his life will change forever. He said right off from the Sistine Chapel is the Room of Tears, where the new pope vests, referring to the weight of the world that will descend on him. Scot asked today’s guest, Fr. Dan Hennessey, to reflect on this transition and on the effects of Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul as the supreme vocations directors in the Church. He said that he remembered hearing about the pope resigning and how long it took to sink in. It’s an exciting time and a grace-filled time, but also a sad time in losing the Holy Father. Scot asked the impact of the massive focus of the world on Rome during the papal transition. Fr. Dan said it does lead to more men entering the process of entering seminary because it brings the events to the forefront of the mind. In 2005, many men were caused to reflect on his love, his witness to the priesthood, and his love for the youth. Many priests and seminarians called themselves of the John Paul II Generation. Fr. Chris said in Pastores Dabo Vobis, Pope John Paul II set out the vision of how the Church identifies seminarians and the identity of the priest. He added that World youth Days have had a profound effect on men when they’re in their teens. Scot compared the long papacy of John Paul II and how he was pope for the entire life of some seminarians to the eight-year papacy of Pope Benedict. Fr. Dan said Pope Benedict has had many beautiful nuggets of reflection directed right at seminarians and priests about the priesthood. Fr. Chris spoke of the apostolic visitation of all American seminaries under the pontificate of Benedict XVI, which was a big reform. Scot said another contribution will be his emphasis on the reform of the liturgy. Also, his nonstop reminder of how secular our culture has become in the dictatorship of relativism, and the need for our priests to be formed in good thinking with good philosophy. Fr. Chris said in John Paul’s papacy there was a lot of talk of what is right and what is wrong, especially with the culture of life. We needed to hear that. With Pope Benedict, the emphasis has been on the beauty of the Church and the personal encounter with Christ. 2nd segment: Scot noted that in the middle of the events going on in Rome, Fr. Dan is going to have a big vocations retreat, which had already been postponed from the recent blizzard. Fr. Dan said he trusted in God’s providence when he had to re-schedule and now it might occur in the midst of the conclave or right after. It will be on March 15, 16, 17. They had to request all priests to send in the names of men who had been invited to the old date so they can be re-invited. They had 65 men signed up for the last retreat, but now they had over 80 invited to this new one. The retreats follow two tracks based on age of the men. Men 18-40 are going to be on the retreat at the Betania II Retreat House in Medway. Transportation from St. John Seminary will be provided. It goes from Friday evening to Sunday morning when they drive back to St. John’s for the Sunday morning Mass. For men 40 and older they go on retreat at Blessed John XXIII National Seminary in Weston from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon where they enter into the life of the seminarians. The talks in Medway will be done by Msgr. Jim Moroney, rector of St. John’s. On Saturday afternoon, they will have a seminarian panel of 4 to 8 men to talk about their lives. They will also learn about how to apply to the seminary, how to discern a vocation, and the four pillars of formation. There will also be a time for recreation. They also will have more time this year for individual time with the vocation directors. Fr. Dan said the cardinal is planning, if he isn’t in conclave, to Skype/FaceTime in to the retreat. Scot related how Cardinal Sean was the first person to FaceTime him on his new iPhone and how he told him that it was way better than Skype. He said it will be very exciting to hear from Cardinal Seán when there’s a new pope. Fr. Chris said the best advertising for St. John’s Seminary are the seminarians they already have. Scot said on March 19, the Feast of St. Joseph, will be another St. Andrew’s Dinner, which is for high school boys who come with their priests or campus ministers to St. John’s Seminary to join the seminarians for Vespers and then dinner in which they mingle with seminarians. They then pack them into classrooms for vocations witness talks. They are focusing this time on Catholic schools. He said also in March the Pope John Paul II Vocations Monstrance will be in Boston and over 9 days there will be Eucharistic Adoration with it in 9 different schools, religious communities and parishes, each of those each day. Fr. Chris said prayer works and these parishes will produce vocations. He said the most productive parishes for vocations have Eucharistic adoration. Fr. Chris also talked about a program at St. Andrew’s in Billerica in which they have a vocations cross that passes from family to family, which they then pray with. The parish even has a vocations committee. Fr. Dan talks about how just the existence of the committee raises awareness and elicits a response from young men. Fr. Dan said there are a number of different ways a parish can focus on vocations: Praying for vocations from that parish at the Sunday Mass in the Prayers of the Faithful; Eucharistic adoration; Holy Hours for vocations; praying Cardinal Seán’s prayer for vocations at the end of each daily Mass. He said the reason why we pray so much about it, is because the prayer changes us and our attitude toward vocations. Scot asked Fr. Dan how people should invite young men to consider the priesthood. He said the priests above all should be first to invite young men to consider the life he is already living. But everybody has a role in inviting. Scot said he was in the seminary for two years. The reason he was there was that after having just moved to Norwalk, Connecticut, a local DRE saw him in church and asked him to teach religious education. Over the next couple of months, five people he didn’t know asked him if he’d thought about the priesthood. It was after the fifth invitation that he began the discernment process. Fr. Chris talked about a similar experience. Fr. Chris said about 75% of men who enter the seminary today make it to ordination. They tend to be a little older and are leaving lucrative careers so they’ve done the gut check already. Discernment is done by the person, the Church, and God. The Church isn’t just the seminary or the bishop but all the people of God who they’ve encountered in their formation who assent to their ordination. Fr. Dan said anyone interested in being part of a vocation team should ask their pastor first if there is one or to contact Fr. Dan to help them establish one. He noted that there has been an increase in interest among younger men for the priesthood. So on Sat. March 23, at the cathedral, they will gather together with interested high school boys and continue to meet after.…
Summary of today’s show: Fasting is one of the three pillars of Lent and of the whole Christian life, including prayer and almsgiving. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell talk with Andy LaVallee of LiveTheFast.com and Msgr. Charles Murphy, author of the book “The Spirituality of Fasting”, to talk about rediscovering the practice, the spiritual fruits it provides, the practical aspects of fasting, and a one-day retreat this weekend open to all. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Msgr. Charles Murphy, Andy LaVallee Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Rediscovering spirituality of fasting 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Mark O’Connell to the show. He said it was a big day at the Pastoral Center where Cardinal Seán celebrated the Mass for the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter to reflect on the ministry of Pope Benedict and of all popes and to reflect on his own ministry. The homily from the Mass will be posted on tonight after 9pm. Cardinal Seán said we’ll be learning from Pope Benedict’s speeches and writings for lifetimes to come. Fr. Mark said he knows that the attention placed on Cardinal Seán weighs on him and embarrasses him. Scot noted that every Boston media outlet was present for the Mass today. Scot said there will be 116 cardinal-electors in the conclave, where one Indonesian cardinal is too ill to travel to Rome to participate. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Andy LaVallee and Msgr. Charles Murphy, from the Diocese of Portland, Maine, to the show. Msgr. Murphy had formerly been rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome. They talked about how Pope John Paul II visited the college on this date many years ago after he was first elected pope. Msgr. Murphy talked about how the pope stayed for dinner and he was instructed to serve on bread and soup for Lent. He talked about their conversation over dinner. Among other things they discussed why fasting and abstinence has gone away. Since that time, Msgr. Murphy has written a book on the topic . The short answer to the change was that before Vatican II, fasting came under canon law and moral law and was connected to the idea missing the fast as a sin. Pope Paul VI tried to make it more positive and connected it to charity, but that ended up losing the sense of its importance. On the types of fast, Msgr. Murphy said there is total fast and partial fast. We used to fast from all food and drink from midnight before Sunday Mass to totally empty ourselves to prepare to receive the Lord. Jews fast like this for Yom Kippur. Partial fasting is abstaining from some food and drinks for a more extended period. This has to do with having our sins forgiven in confession, but having the effects remaining in us. Fasting counteracts the selfishness and other effects of sin in us. Andy didn’t appreciate the power of spiritual fasting until a few years ago and since then he founded LiveTheFast.com to promote fasting. He said fasting is the remedy we want for our society, whether it be addictions or abortion or what’s happening to our family. The website promotes the prayer of fasting together through nutritional breads and a spirit of community. Fasting is something that happens in all faiths, but in the Catholic Church fasting has become a lost art. On the website they promote books about fasting and send out emails every Wednesday and Friday to help people. They now send books and bread to 28 different states. Scot talked about the decline in Catholic identity and culture which correlates with the decline in fasting. Msgr. Murphy has been asking how do we bring this back in the Church. Pope Benedict has been strong on fasting and integrating body, mind, and experience as all parts of our existence. Families need to make a decision to do this together or a parish or even a whole diocese can call people to practice fasting. He doesn’t think it will happen in the whole Church through canon law. Andy said people are telling him that for the first time ever they can fast without feeling ill because of the nutritional fasting bread. They even had one man who ran the Boston Marathon while fasting on bread and water on Wednesdays and Fridays. Scot said he’s heard fasting described as praying intensely with your whole body. Andy said you should always start in prayer and then always have an intention you’re praying for. He also said one should drink plenty of water while on a fast. He said you can’t drink enough water. And it’s always easier to do this when being done with others. Msgr. Murphy said in his book’s sixth chapter he uses the Eastern Church’s model of fasting. Two Sundays before Lent, they give up meat for all of Lent and the Sunday before they add dairy. Wednesday is a fasting day because it’s the day that Judas betrayed the Lord and Friday because it’s the day of the crucifixion. Andy said there aren’t enough modern teachings on fasting and the Church’s need for it. He often hears questions from people who are looking for recipes or who have questions related to health issues, like diabetes. He recommends people talk to their doctor and spiritual director. Msgr. Murphy said the biggest obstacle is that people’s lives are in disorder. People aren’t sharing meals together like they used to, so he asks people to eat a family meal together at least one night per week. Eating has to become a thoughtful exercise. Andy said when one eats fasting bread it’s important to chew for 60 seconds or more to get the fullest effect of the nutrition in the bread. Andy said a fast day starts with prayer, a roll in the morning, plenty of water, go to Mass. He has two or three more rolls or 6 to 8 ounces of bread total in a 24 hour fast. Msgr. Murphy said families can fast together by designating Wednesday and Friday as days to fast together. They can do it together as a mutual commitment. He thinks fasting has to be a whole regime of putting order in life. Fr. Mark asked what age should one start fasting. Andy said one can fast from other things like giving up TV or something else until they’re old enough to fast from food. They talked about kids fasting from things they really enjoy and offer it up to God. Andy said fasting is all about sacrifice and controlling our desires. Msgr. Murphy said prayer, fasting, and charity are three pillars of our faith that comes to us from Judaism and talked about by Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount. He thinks it leads to a mystical experience of God. Andy said through his fasting he became a daily Mass communicant, started praying the rosary and was able to have what he calls a maximum re-conversion. Tomorrow, they are having a retreat called Equip for the Wilderness at St. Mary Parish in Waltham. Andy said they ran a similar retreat in Advent. It’s about bringing back awareness of prayer and fasting through four speakers. The speakers are Msgr. Murphy, Fr. Michael Sevigny, and Mother Olga Yaqob. Find a link to the retreat at the top of this page. Andy said you won’t be forced to fast. LaVallee’s Bakery is providing cookies and special croissants among other things. He talked about how the first retreat had only a few people had fasted before, but at the end of the retreat they signed up 60 people with fasting kits. Msgr. Murphy related how he met some Buddhist monks who were trying to encourage the Japanese people to bring their faith into their homes. They started a skip-a-meal program in which they pick a day to skip a meal, to spend the time praying, and to give the money saved to charity. Andy said you get so much joy from fasting that you start to look forward to the next fast day. Scot asked Msgr. Murphy about his many encounters with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in his work on the Catechism of the Catholic Church before he was elected pope and asked him about his thoughts on the recent news. He recalled seeing the Holy Father a few years ago and told him how proud he was to have worked with the Holy Father on the project. the Holy Father became very animated and said he was proud of that work too. Scot asked what he will be remembered most for. Msgr. Murphy said it will be his first encyclical, God is Love (Deus Caritas Est). Its message was that our faith is a positive message, not condemnatory. Andy said the Pope’s 2009 Lenten message is an incredible message on fasting in which he said fasting is a great aid in avoiding sin. Andy said the second encyclical “Charity in Truth” is also great for Catholic businessman especially. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. First Reading for the Second Sunday of Lent (Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18) The Lord God took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so,” he added, “shall your descendants be.” Abram put his faith in the LORD, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness. He then said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession.” “O Lord GOD,” he asked, “how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He answered him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Abram brought him all these, split them in two, and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut up. Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram stayed with them. As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him. When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces. It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.” Gospel for the Second Sunday of Lent (Luke 9:28b-36) Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” But he did not know what he was saying. While he was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over them, and they became frightened when they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.” After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They fell silent and did not at that time tell anyone what they had seen. Scot said the moment of the transfiguration was important for the Apostles to experience even if they didn’t understand it at the time so they would know who Jesus was. Msgr. Murphy talked about being at Mount Tabor on a pilgrimage, sleeping on the mountaintop and experiencing a cloud that covered the mountain like in the Gospel. The goal of the Christian life is to be transformed. In eastern spirituality, it’s divinization in which we take on God’s divinity. That’s the goal of prayer, fasting, and charity. That transformation of Christ is something that should happen in our lives as well. While Jesus predicts the Passion, he also reassures them by showing them what will happen on the other side of the Passion. Scot said you can sum up Christian discipleship by repeating, “Listen to Him.” Andy said we need to put down the phones, get in silence, and listen to Him. He recalled the Wedding Feast at Cana where our Lady says, Do as He tells you. Fr. Mark said the readings have journeys that aren’t easy that lead to a powerful experience of God, which goes well with the discussion on fasting.…
Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry looked at the news headlines of the week, which were again dominated by Pope Benedict’s resignation, including the schedule of the pope’s final week; his biographer’s assessment of the pope’s health and state of mind; appraisal of his legacy; and the buzz surrounding Cardinal Seán. Also the Rite of Election at the cathedral and making a retreat for Lent. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Latest news on Pope Benedict’s resignation and the upcoming conclave Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Susan Abbott and Fr. Roger Landry to the show. They discussed how much they would love to go to Rome for the conclave. They also discussed how we still do not know when the conclave will begin. Susan said the excitement and emotions have been high over the past week as we prepare to say goodbye to Pope Benedict and consider the possibilities for the next pope. Scot said that on Friday at noon on WQOM and at , Cardinal Sean will celebrate a Mass for the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, commemorating the prayers for Pope Benedict and recalling that as the anniversary of the date in 2006 when Pope Benedict named Cardinal Seán as a cardinal. Fr. Roger recalled being in the papal audience on that day with a group from Fall River and hearing Cardinal Seán’s name called. Scot gave the latest news on the final activities planned for Pope Benedict from Vatican press office. The pope’s Lenten retreat ends this week. On Sunday will be his last Angelus in St. Peter’s Square. On Wednesday will be his final general audience in St. Peter’s Square. They expect a very large crowd to be present. On Feb. 28, he will greet all the cardinals present in Rome, including those coming to Rome from outside. At 5pm, he will greet the Cardinal Secretary of State, go to the Vatican heliport, bid farewell to Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the dean of the College of Cardinals, and fly to Castel Gandolfo where he will be greeted by dignitaries. He will appear on the balcony of the apostolic palace to greet faithful there. They added that the College of Cardinals will set the date of the conclave, independent of any further law promulgated by the Pope before then. Fr. Roger talked about his surprise that a date for the conclave hasn’t been set because he will be providing commentary for EWTN in Rome and can’t make his plans yet. He said the according to the current rules, the date of the conclave would occur between March 15 and March 20 as determined by the College of Cardinals. But the pope could by a motu proprio give the cardinals a chance to change the starting date. Scot said originally the 15 day period was to give time for all cardinals to travel to Rome after the death of the pope, but if they’re all there already when he steps down, then perhaps he will allow them to set the time to begin earlier. Susan said the Church moves slowly, isn’t rushed and is deliberate. But there’s an efficiency here as well for cardinals to return to their dioceses well before Holy Week. In other news this week, the pope’s biographer Peter Seewald said when he met with the Holy Father last summer and among other things he said the Holy Father seemed drained of energy and seemed greatly disheartened at the time. He said at the time that he’s an old man and he’s done enough. He’d said that his most recently published book would be his last. He also said the pope is blind in one eye and his hearing is greatly diminished. Greg added that Seewald also puts to rest ideas that there’s some hidden secret scandal. Fr. Roger said Seewald has an excellent reputation as a journalist and has done three book-length interviews with the pope from when he was Cardinal Ratzinger. He’s known as a tough interviewer. Scot noted George Weigel’s syndicated column this week on the “Legacy of Pope Benedict XVI” in which he noted his accomplishments in his papacy: Secured the authoritative interpretation of Vatican II Helped close the door on the Counter-Reformation Church Accelerated the reform of the liturgical reform Provided an astute analysis of contemporary democracy’s discontents and the 21st century issues between Islam and the rest Was a master catechist and teacher He also noted that the Pope wanted to rid the church of the filth of sexual abuse, but the work of reconstruction remains to be completed. He said the next pope must be more severe than his predecessor in dealing with bishops complicit in abuse cover-up. He said he also had not completed the wholesale reform of the Roman Curia that is necessary. And in Europe, the task of its re-evangelization remains an urgent task. Susan and Scot talked about these priorities. Fr. Roger said on the curial reform that he thinks Weigel was referring to the corruption that involves problems not getting fixed and that this affects almost all institutions in Italy. As opposed to seeking efficiency, the classic Italian bureaucracy values loyalty and “family”. He gave several examples of nepotism and favoritism. Scot said this week there was growing buzz internationally speculating that Cardinal Seán could become the next pope. He asked Greg what he makes of this. Nearly every media outlet in Boston has had multiple stories on this topic and so Greg included a story in the Pilot on this. He said John Allen’s piece was a good summation of what people are talking about. Greg himself has said that Cardinal Seán would make a great pope. He is a little surprised at the furor of the media coverage. They discussed the qualities that had been bandied about regarding Cardinal Seán. Greg wondered if all this speculation would sway any cardinal in the conclave. Susan said she had thought Cardinal Seán had the qualities to be a great pope, but was hidden in plain sight and hidden no longer. Scot asked Fr. Roger where the assumption that an American could never be elected pope comes from. Fr. Roger said the first American cardinal was in the late 1800s for one thing. But some of the assumptions include the fact that most Americans couldn’t speak the minimum of four languages necessary: Italian, English, Spanish, French, while Latin is assumed. He talked about how he and Cardinal Seán wrote letters to each in Latin when the cardinal was bishop of Fall River. The second assumption was the most American cardinals until recently had the reputation of being businessmen running massive corporations of hospitals, schools, and parishes, but not having the theological gravitas. However, Cardinal Seán has that gravitas. Scot said he asks all listeners to pray specifically for Cardinal Seán in the media spotlight, especially since he doesn’t love that part of being a leader in the Church. Scot said he knows that Cardinal only wants to do the Lord’s will, and he speculates that Pope Benedict on his election prayed that this burden not be placed on him, but the Lord’s will be done. Scot said another story in the Pilot this week covered the Rite of Election at the cathedral last weekend, in which 540 people braved the snowstorm for this event. Greg said the Rite of Election and the Call for Continuing Conversion is for those who are not Christian, but preparing for baptism at Easter, as well as those who are baptized and not catechized. Each of the catechumens sign their name in the Book of the Elect. They literally sign their name to the proposition that they are willing to follow Christ. They talked about what it is like for the people to come to the cathedral, to meet the bishop, to see the diversity of people coming into the Church. Also in the news, was the death of Fr. James Degnan at 83 years old. And the story in the Pilot on the launch of the 2013 Catholic Appeal. Scot ran down more of the stories in the Pilot and in the Anchor. Fr. Roger wrote in his column about how Lent is a great time to go on retreat. You can go away to a retreat center, participate in a parish mission, or even some new virtual online retreats.…
Summary of today’s show: When Fr. Michael White was assigned to Church of the Nativity parish in Maryland, he nearly burned out trying to serve all the demands on him, until he realized that they were doing it all wrong. Scot Landry, Fr. Matt Williams, and Dom Bettinelli discuss the new book “Rebuilt” written by Fr. White and his associate, including the ten assumptions about parish life that everyone believes and is almost universally wrong. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Domenico Bettinelli Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: “Rebuilt”: A new book about transforming a parish 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Matt Williams to the show. They discussed the new Jesus in Harvard Square program they’ll be doing at St. Paul’s in Cambridge, which is just like the Jesus in the North End program they’ve been doing for the past several years. Young adults and college students will come for Mass, adoration, and fellowship, including evangelistic outreach in the streets of Harvard Square. Scot added that on Friday at noon, Cardinal Seán will celebrate a Mass for the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter for Pope Benedict and his eventual successor. It will be broadcast on WQOM and at http://www.bostoncatholiclive.com. He noted that this Friday will also be the 7th anniversary of Cardinal Seán being named a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI. He also noted that tonight starts The Light Is On For You initiative from 6:30 to 8pm in every parish and chapel in the archdiocese. To find churches in the archdiocese, see http://www.pilotparishfinder.com. More confession resources are at http://www.thelightisonforyou.org Today’s topic is a new book called “Rebuilt”, the story of the Church of the Nativity, a parish in the Archdiocese of Baltimore that excels at the use of new media and also is very strong in evangelization. Scot said he’s learned a lot more about this parish in recent weeks and is fascinated about how strategic they have been about addressing the problems that many priests in our archdiocese have said they face in their parishes. Scot said he’s watched the webcast of their Mass the past two Sundays. He said over the past couple of weeks, the pastor Fr. White has given a background on this book. We’re going to hear some of that to give a flavor of the background that led to the transformation of this parish. It gives an idea of what parishes may do wrong, thinking they’re doing what is right for their parish. The first clip addresses a key problem in the Church today where parishioners think of themselves as consumers. 2nd segment: Scot said the pastor talks of how he arrived at the parish and had one staff member and tried to better and more service to the parishioners who were coming. And the more they provided, the more demanding they became. They were so preoccupied with those who were coming, they forgot they were supposed to be reaching out to those who weren’t coming to church. They concluded it was a waste of time in terms of people growing in holiness. Fr. Matt said he was interested how the parishioners went from being consumers to becoming superconsumers. Rather than becoming intentional disciples, they just wanted to receive more and more. Scot said historically immigrants needed help in many ways and the Church served them. As they became settled, they became quiet consumers. After Vatican II, they became demanding consumers or cafeteria Catholics. Dom talked about the societal context of the consumer mentality and passive entertainment. Scot reflected on his own consumer mentality when it came to Catholic schools. He used to think about Catholic schools as the responsibility of just those sending their children to Catholics schools. Scot said he was moved by Cardinal Dolan’s message that Catholic education is at the core of the mission of the Church to evangelize. Now another clip where the pastor, Fr. White, talks of his experience as a one pastor who gives his all. It ends with him saying that understanding Why we are doing something matters. Dom talked about the fact that it sounds like a codependent girlfriend or boyfriend. Scot recalled former Celtic coach Rick Pitino saying that the carping of fans was just incessant complaining and whining. Many people don’t step back and consider how hard people are working parishes and how difficult it is. Fr. Matt said if we only inhaled or only exhaled we’d die. We need both. But in the consumer mentality, it’s only inhale with no invitation to exhale. What makes for a vibrant faith community is people breathing fully, not only coming to be blessed but also to give. he recalled this parochial mentality, where God forbid someone sits in our pew or the Mass goes on more than 45 minutes. Scot said at parishes like that, nobody is thoroughly satisfied from the pastor on down, but we accept it because the path to change it isn’t always clear. Chapter one of the book “Rebuilt” is entitled “Church is not easy”. They analyzed some of their assumptions and why they didn’t work. They assumed if they did more and did it better, people would grow in their maturity and commitment. They thought they did more and did it better, people would give more financially. If they did more and did it better, they took it for granted people would automatically get involved and help out. They looked to their stalwart church-goers (mostly senior citizens) as their natural allies going forward and they were wrong. They were surprised at their anger at younger generations. They didn’t appreciate how detached the second- and third-generation of demanding consumers had grown. Even for those who were coming, they didn’t understand how marginalized the whole enterprise of faith and religion had become in the lives of parishioners. They weren’t reaching student populations They didn’t understand how profoundly uninterested the non-church-going population had grown, how distrustful of any outreach efforts they made, and how cynical they could be about all organized religion They were not turned toward God. They were not relying on his leadership. And they were not looking to go where he was blessing. They thought it would be easy. So they spent a lot of time asking why this parish exists. What is the parish’s why? Another clip from Fr. Michael White’s homily. He defines disciples of Christ as students. They’ve defined their mission as “Love God. Love others. Make disciples.” The Church exists to make disciples. He challenges the experience of his own parish, which is to make disciples not to provide comfort and care for themselves. Where to start: Define your mission field Describe the “lost” in your mission field Design a simple, specific invitation strategy 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Colleen Sears from Sudbury She wins by Lizzie Velazquez If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program.…
Summary of today’s show: The media rumors are swirling about who’s in the running for the papacy and the speculation this past weekend swirled around Cardinal Seán in journalistic chatter around Rome. Scot Landry and Fr. Michael Harrington discuss the talk and the qualities that might make Cardinal Seán a consideration in the conclave. Then on the day before The Light Is On For You begins again for Lent, they discuss the Sacrament of Reconciliation and God’s mercy and love extended for the forgiveness of those who seek Him. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Michael Harrington Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Buzz about Cardinal Seán as papabile and the Sacrament of Confession 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. He talked about a story over the weekend from John Allen, who covers the Vatican for the National Catholic Reporter newspaper and is considered one of the leading Vaticanists in the US. Allen wrote that the “buzz grows in Rome” for Cardinal Seán. First, Scot played a clip from Cardinal Seán at a press conference last week on what he’s looking for in the next pope as he looks at the other cardinals to choose from in the upcoming conclave. He listed the things the new pope should have, which ends up being essentially a list that would make a superpastor: A leader with deep faith energy Passion organizational skills cultural experience who inspires the young facility with languages Scot and Fr. Michael Harrington both agreed that Cardinal Seán himself has many of these same qualities. Fr. Mike said he is also not afraid to introduce new programs and to be an evangelizer in new ways to introduce the faith. Scot said he’s happy and willing to try new things. Some have worked out well, others less so. Fr. Mike said he’s often the first to try new initiatives, like setting up the first blog by a cardinal, the first to set up a catholic media secretariat in his diocese, the first to take on a pastoral plan the size of Disciples in Mission, focused on evangelization. Scot said he received many emails from friends today telling him about Allen’s story. Here’s what Allen wrote: For a long time, conventional wisdom held that an American could not be elected to the Throne of Peter because you can’t have a “superpower pope.” Not only do the Americans already have too much power, or so the theory went, but a shadow would hang over the papacy as part of the world would suspect its decisions were being secretly crafted by the CIA. In the early 21st century, however, some of the air has gone out of that bias, because the United States is no longer the world’s lone superpower. As a result, for the first time an American seems thinkable. While the U.S. media has focused on Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York as the most plausible, if still remote, American prospect, another name has generated a surprising degree of buzz in the Italian press: Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, partly on the strength of his profile as a reformer on the church’s sexual abuse scandals, and partly because of his Capuchin simplicity as a perceived antidote to the Vatican’s reputation for intrigue and power games. Here’s a sampling of what’s been in the Italian papers over the last few days vis-à-vis the 68-year-old Capuchin cardinal of Boston. Marco Politi One of Italy’s most-cited Vatican writers, Marco Politi gave an interview on Feb. 14 to the Suddeutsche Zeitung, the main daily in Munich, in which he was asked who the favorites are heading into the conclave. He replied: “There are no favorites. It’s not like 2005, when there was a clear candidate in Ratzinger and a strong contrast in Martini. The situation is very fragmented, and there are many papabili. There’s Cardinal Scola of Milan, and Cardinal Ouellet who heads the Congregation for Bishops. There are candidates from South America, as well as outsiders such as Cardinal O’Malley of Boston and Cardinal Erdo of Budapest. There’s not yet any aggregation of votes.” AGI The “Italian Journalistic Agency,” or AGI, ran a piece three days ago on the church’s “champions” in the fight against clerical abuse, lauding O’Malley for “restoring credibility to the church after the ‘escape’ to Rome of his predecessor, Bernard Law, pursued by legal causes seeking compensation (to compensate the victims, O’Malley sold the archbishop’s residence and moved to live in a small room at the seminary).” Arena Published in Verona, Arena had a run-down today of probable candidates for the papacy from outside Italy. “In the United States, the most likely figures are Timothy Dolan, the exuberant archbishop of New York, and Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston,” it said. Il Giornale Last Tuesday, the day after Benedict’s surprise announcement, Il Giornale published a run-down of possible popes. “There are diverse names of non-Europeans,” it said. “Among them, the name of the Capuchin archbishop of Boston, Sean O’Malley, is prominent, who resolved a situation rendered fairly dramatic not only by sexual abuses committed by priests but also by the cover-ups by his predecessor, Bernard Law. In recent weeks, among other things, Benedict XVI called to Rome as Promoter of Justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with responsibility for these cases, the ‘right hand’ of O’Malley, Father Robert Oliver.” La Stampa Writing yesterday, Vatican-watcher Giacomo Galeazzi said that the candidate “indicated from the American bishops seems to be the courageous Capuchin friar O’Malley, the only cardinal, with the Archbishop of Vienna Christoph Schönborn, to publicly defend the victims of pedophilia (like Pope Benedict, who gave priority to efforts to render justice to those injured both in the soul and the body, and to relieve their suffering as much as possible) when the dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano, defined the scandal as “petty gossip” in an embarrassing salute to the pope in 2010.” Paolo Rodari The well-regarded Vatican writer Paolo Rodari treated O’Malley at greatest length in a blog post last Saturday. “There are many who ask themselves if the next pope will be a Capuchin,” Rodari wrote. “On paper, the Capuchins have the numbers for giving the papacy a turning point. They’re close to the people, they don’t have a ‘clerical’ mentality, they emphasize collaboration with the laity, and they have an attractively simple model of life. Those are three characteristics cut out for a church that’s paid a high price for its scandals. … O’Malley is a humble prelate, which is no bad thing in a Roman Curia that’s suffering not just a few financial difficulties. It’s no accident that he’s a Prince of the Church who prefers his simple brown Capuchin habit to the sartorial splendor to which his office entitles him. He’s a cardinal who loves to dialogue with his faithful through Twitter, and uses his personal blog as an important instrument not only of communication but for meeting everybody, the faithful and even non-believers.” Scot said these are strong endorsements and credible articles by six leading publications in Italy. Fr. Mike said it shows anything is possible. He said when the cardinals sit down, they will discuss what are the emerging issues at this time for the Church and what does the Church need now. Scot said this all brings it out of the realm that a Pope Sean is a non-starter. He said there’s a greater than zero chance of an American pope this time for various reasons. John Allen continues: I can confirm the O’Malley buzz from personal experience. Right now, it’s tough for an American journalist to walk into the Vatican Press Office without fielding questions from colleagues about him. At the moment, this is basically journalistic chatter. The real action will begin next week, when most of the cardinals will be in town for Benedict XVI’s big farewell on Feb. 28. We’ll see then if O’Malley has serious traction as a candidate. As the cardinals from other parts of the world start to take a serious look, they’re likely to see both promising qualities in O’Malley and question marks. On the plus side, many cardinals have said they’d like a pope with a global vision, sensitive to the church outside the West where two-thirds of Catholics today live. O’Malley has a Ph.D. in Spanish and Portuguese literature, and has long experience of ministering to both Hispanics and Haitians. He worked in Chile as a priest, and served as the Bishop of St. Thomas in the Caribbean. He’s deeply attached to many of the devotions popular at the Catholic grassroots across the developing world. O’Malley has at least a basic command of Italian, seen by most as a prerequisite for serving as the Bishop of Rome. O’Malley’s simplicity isn’t just a matter of wearing his brown habit, or insisting on being called “Cardinal Sean.” By reputation he’s not given to building empires or playing political games, and on the back of the Vatileaks mess, ongoing questions about the Vatican Bank, and other perceived Vatican imbroglios, that profile could strike some cardinals as just what the doctor ordered. Despite his overall image as a moderate, O’Malley is by-the-book when it comes to matters of Catholic orthodoxy and is especially committed to the pro-life cause, making him attractive to cardinals concerned that the church hold the line on its positions in the culture wars. O’Malley is also passionate about the “New Evangelization,” expressed not only in his use of Twitter and blogs, but in his general approach to the role of a bishop. Certainly O’Malley’s image as a house-cleaner on the sex abuse crisis doesn’t hurt. Ironically, the best spokesperson for the O’Malley campaign at the moment may be his fellow American, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, who, fairly or not, has become the latest symbol of the church’s failures. Controversy over his presence at the conclave has spread across the Atlantic; this week the widely read Italian magazine Famiglia Cristiana has a cover package on “The Mahony Case,” including an on-line poll for readers to vote as to whether Mahony ought to participate in the election of the next pope. In that context, many cardinals may feel special pressure to pick a pope seen as having “clean hands” on the sex abuse crisis. Those positives, however, come intertwined with some features of O’Malley’s biography that may give cardinals pause. For one thing, O’Malley has zero experience in the Vatican. While that means he’s not identified with its recent meltdowns, it may also mean some cardinals will wonder if he’d be out of his depth trying to get the place under control, perhaps overly dependent on veteran insiders to get things done. For another, O’Malley is a sensitive soul who occasionally has seemed to struggle under the burden of office. In 2004, facing not only sex abuse litigation but also a painful round of parish closings, he put out an anguished letter to Boston Catholics in which he wrote: “At times I ask God to call me home and let someone else finish this job, but I keep waking up in the morning to face another day of reconfiguration.” On the heels of a pope who just resigned because he felt he no longer had the strength to do the job, some cardinals may wonder if O’Malley possesses the steel to withstand the burdens of the papacy. It’s worth noting that O’Malley’s record on the abuse crisis has not played to universal praise. The victims’ group SNAP faulted him for delaying release of the names of accused priests in Boston, asserting that O’Malley “belatedly and begrudgingly posted a very partial list with minimal information, using hair-splitting excuses for not being more prompt or thorough.” Finally, while 34 previous popes have come from religious orders, there hasn’t been one since the 19th century, and there’s never been a Capuchin. In some circles, there’s a belief that under ordinary circumstances popes ought to come out of diocesan structures rather than religious orders, on the grounds that the diocese represents the ordinary pastoral setting most people experience. In addition, the Capuchins themselves have usually held that they really shouldn’t become bishops at all except in mission territories. Among the keenest devotees of tradition in the College of Cardinals, there might be some reluctance along these lines. Scot recapped that Allen talks about Cardinal Seán’s strengths, including his connection to other cultures. He said Cardinal Seán comes alive when he speaks with and greets people from other countries and new immigrants. Fr. Mike said Cardinal Seán has the heart of an evangelist and loves working with young people. On the other hand, he said Allen notes that this is all journalistic chatter and in the conclave, it will be the Holy Spirit who cuts through politics and chatter to select the right pope. Scot said he confesses to being partial to Cardinal Seán, to respect his style of leadership, and how he dealt with the sexual abuse crisis, especially in being pastoral toward victims. One of the best ways to make disciples of all nations is to go out and love them and Cardinal Seán exemplifies that. Scot said there were three things he didn’t like about the column. First, it is the use of a political word to describe Cardinal Seán as a moderate. He is completely orthodox, not trying to be ideological in anyway. Second, on the criticism of SNAP against Cardinal Seán, Scot has never heard them say a positive word about a bishop. Third, that as a religious Cardinal Seán doesn’t have diocesan experience, given that he’s been a diocesan bishop for almost 30 years. Fr. Mike confirmed that Cardinal Seán has a keen sense of how to be a diocesan priest with a pastor’s heart. Scot asked listeners to pray for Pope Benedict and all the cardinals, but also to pray specifically for Cardinal Seán now as this article places a spotlight on him that he doesn’t want, which unleashes both cheerleading and criticism from all sides. 2nd segment: Scot said starting tomorrow and for all the following Wednesday of Lent, all parishes and chapels of the archdiocese will be open for confession from 6:30pm to 8pm as part of the Light Is On For You initiative. Come back to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Bishop Robert Hennessey, an auxiliary bishop of Boston, leads this effort. Scot emphasized that the website TheLightIsOnForYou.org is a resource for much information on Penance. He noted some of the great lines that Bishop Hennessey gives in the video. He noted that confession is liking hitting the reset button. He said the story of the Prodigal Son is really the story of the Loving Father, who sprints out to his son who has been away, willing to forgive the ways he has hurt him. Fr. Mike said confession is one of God’s greatest gifts to His Children. The bishop mentioned the excuses people give about being away so long or being embarrassed or thinking God can’t forgive them, and Fr. Mike has heard them all. The Church across the country is embracing this initiative to tell people that they’re wrong about this. Fr. Mike said if you’re hearing those voices in your heart, that is not the voice of the Holy Spirit, but of the devil. He says every listener should go take advantage of the great gift of Reconciliation. The priest is waiting to receive and give you the loving mercy of God. Scot said if you don’t know the prayers or what to do the priest is there to help you. Fr. Mike related a story of going to a juvenile delinquent institution. He heard the confessions of teens who had done some very bad things. As he tried to offer forgiveness, each would deny that God could forgive them and he wondered how he could break through to convince them that God would forgive them. Eventually, he started to ask if they were greater than God. When they would say No, he told them that no matter what their mountain of sins, God is greater than any sin they could commit. Scot said God is always reaching out to us to call us home to the confessional, no matter how long we have been away from him. Now, Scot shared CatholicTV’s Fr. Robert Reed’s message about confession: Scot said we can’t be the person God has created us to be if we’re burdened by all the sins we’ve accumulated since our last confession. Fr. Mike said so many are coming back to confession and so many young people. Whenever he’s at a youth event, there are long lines of young people waiting to go to the sacrament of confession. Scot added that there are many humorous videos on TheLightIsOnForYou.org as well, including one from Matt Weber, who has been a guest on TGCL. Scot said a wonderful line: “I don’t like going to confession, but I love coming from confession.” Scot talked about going to St. Anthony’s Shrine on a regular basis and doesn’t think he’s had the same priest twice in more than a year. Fr. Mike said it’s better to go to a regular confessor, like a spiritual director, who can help someone get through their spiritual barriers, but if that’s the obstacle then just go. Fr. Mike emphasized that there will be a priest in every church and chapel on every Wednesday from 6:30pm to 8pm waiting for you to bring to you the loving mercy of God. Scot encouraged everyone to be an apostle of confession, going to confession and sharing the testimony of how it felt to be cleansed.…
Summary of today’s show: American canon lawyers, unlike civil lawyers, are somewhat rare, and that’s why our co-host Fr. Mark O’Connell had to find the new judge for the Archdiocese’s Metropolitan Tribunal in Turin, Italy. Fr. Mark and Scot Landry introduce Andrea Ponzone to our listeners and find out from him why there are so many more canon lawyers in Italy, why northern Italians don’t eat much pasta, his opinions on the various Italians being considered for election as pope, and what they love about Lent. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Andrea Ponzone Today’s topics: Andrea Ponzone 1st segment: Scot Landry said today’s guest is Andrea Ponzone, who is from Italy and newly hired to work in the Metropolitan Tribunal. But first Scot and Fr. Mark O’Connell talked about the Disciples in Mission training going on in the Pastoral Center this week. Fr. Mark said he liked that everyone in the building is going through the same training together and they’re going through it just before people in parishes go through it. Scot said it involves some self-examination of dispositions and profiles, and then communication and time management techniques, all aligned with the mission of the Archdiocese, which is to bring the saving message of Jesus Christ to all. Fr. Mark said the DISC profile type describes people’s predilections, but isn’t meant to judge anyone. The profile divides people into one of 16 categories and Fr. Mark said he ended up being listed as not being in any one of them. Scot said a key aim is to find out how those who work in central ministries can change and adjust to better serve parishes, especially the new collaboratives under the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan, with new tools and techniques and a new attitude. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Andrea Ponzone to the show. He said he is a native of Turin, Italy, and they talked about the various saints and pilgrimage sites in the city. It is the home of St. John Bosco and the Shroud of Turin. It was also the site of the 2006 Winter Olympics. Scot said Andrea is both a civil lawyer and a canon lawyer. Andrea said in Italy, canon lawyers either start as civil attorneys, usually laypeople, or they come from theological studies, if they are priests. Andrea said after high school he wanted to become a lawyer and only while he was studying for his law degree did he discover canon law. He talked to the chancellor of this diocese and then enrolled in a pontifical university to receive a canon law degree. Fr. Mark said the Boston Tribunal got an Italian canon lawyer because there are so few American canon lawyers because it’s difficult to get a canon law degree in the United States. The previous canon lawyer was Sr. Peggy Sullivan who had to leave because she was elected into a leadership position in her religious order. Scot asked how many lay canon lawyers there are in the United States. Fr. Mark said most who study canon law in the US are studying for a diocese or a religious order and are being sponsored by them. Few people get a degree on their on without having a job waiting. But in Italy there are people who have an interest first in canon law, who get sponsored by a diocese but don’t go to school with a job waiting. Andrea said about 30 percent of his practice in Italy was canon law and he served as the Defender of the Bond, which is the person who defends the presumption that the marriage is valid in annulment cases. Scot said there seems there would be overlap between family civil law practice and canon law practice. Scot asked Andrea what made him want to come to Boston. Andrea said he wanted to work as a full canon lawyer because he sees it as a ministry in the Church first of all. That wasn’t possible in Italy for various reasons. When he saw the job listed, he decided to apply and when he came for his job interview, he really enjoyed Boston as a vibrant city. Being from northern Italy, he’s used to a cold winter. Fr. Mark said they used Skype to do the first interview and Andrea was coming to New York City to represent the Church in an ecumenical meeting for young people, so that’s how they got him to Boston for another interview. But there was still a lot of work to do to overcome the immigration issues and get a work visa. Andrea said he’s living in Braintree now, but he’s going to be visiting the North End and see how he likes it. He said he can read Spanish, but not speak it, but he’s the Latin expert in the office. Fr. Mark said that’s very important because much of the correspondence that comes from Rome is in Latin. Andrea said he’s studied 11 years of Latin in both lower grades at at the university. Scot noted that an important part of the job is to understand the culture in the US, including how people date and get married. Andrea said he’s beginning to learn more, but much of it is universal. The work of the Tribunal helps people to understand the Church’s teaching on marriage and it’s important to be pastoral. Andrea said he hasn’t had a chance to get to know Boston very much first because he doesn’t have a car and with the blizzard last weekend, but he’s hoping to spend some time visiting the city soon. He said his parents are happy for him, but also sad he’s so far away. 3rd segment: Scot and Andrea talked about the food of northern Italy. He pointed out that they eat mainly rice as starch, instead of pasta. He pointed out that his father had never had pizza before the 1970s, because it was something from southern Italy. They talked about other foods native to northern Italy too. Scot asked him what his first three weeks of work in the Tribunal have been like. He said he’s in training. Even though canon law is the same throughout the Church, the way the procedures can be applied in particular places can be slightly different in implementation. Fr. Mark pointed out that he has to learn the computer system for tracking the Tribunal’s case, for instance. They then discussed the upcoming papal conclave and the cardinals who are eligible to vote. Fr. Mark asked about Cardinal Angelo Scola, who appears on many people’s lists of the potential popes. Andrea said Scola is Archbishop of Milan and he’s very popular in that archdiocese. They also discussed Cardinal Bagnasco from Genoa who is head of the Italian bishops’ conference. Cardinal Ravasi is prefect of the Pontifical Congregation for Culture, who is known for his ability to speak to a secularized culture. He will be leading the papal Lenten retreat next week which all the curial cardinals will be participating in, which could raise his profile as papabile. Andrea said he’s not particularly invested in the next pope being Italian, just that the Holy Spirit chooses the best candidate. Andrea talked about Rome as the center of the Church, and the Vatican as a people watching place. They also talked about their favorite churches in Rome. 4th segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Gospel for the First Sunday of Lent, February 17, 2013 (Luke 4:1-13) Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, One does not live on bread alone.” Then he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant. The devil said to him, “I shall give to you all this power and glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish. All this will be yours, if you worship me.” Jesus said to him in reply, “It is written: You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve.” Then he led him to Jerusalem, made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you, and: With their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus said to him in reply, “It also says, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.” When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time. Scot said we all pray in the Our Father to be lead away from temptation. Here Jesus shows us how the Devil tempts him. We are tempted too, by bodily needs, by ambition, and to test God. We try to put conditions on our relationship with God. We all will battle with these in our lives. Fr. Mark said they parallel the temptations of the Israelites in the desert. He pointed out the temptations put to Jesus are the temptations put to Israel in the desert and Jesus succeeds where they failed. Scot said Jesus is in the desert for 40 days. He did that to prepare himself to better serve the mission the Father had for him. That’s the purpose of Lent to give us a fresh beginning in life, to be able to respond in new and better ways to God. Andrea said Lent is a good time to prepare for Christ’s Resurrection and our own resurrection one day. Fr. Mark said his favorite part of Lent is that he challenges himself, that he fails and tries again. Andrea said for him it is Ash Wednesday, when we are just starting. Scot said his favorite part is the fasting and the discipline, but by the time he gets four weeks in, he can’t wait for Easter.…
Summary of today’s show: The big news of the week continues to the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI from the See of St. Peter and our Thursday news panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy examines the latest headlines and stories from the Vatican, around the world, and here at home to discuss what it means for the Church, why Pope Benedict may have taken this step, how the election of a new pope will take place, and who the cardinals are who will select the next leader of the Catholic Church. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Papal Resignation 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and noted that longtime listeners know we discuss the Catholic news on Thursday and this may be the biggest news we’ve ever had. Susan Abbott said she was in total disbelief when she heard it and compared to hearing when Pope John Paul I died. Gregory Tracy said he was the only one awake in his coffee, getting coffee, and checking his phone for any news alerts. His first thought was that it would be a very busy week. Scot gave a compliment to the Pilot staff for the coverage in this week’s newspaper. Greg said it was important to counter all the speculation in the secular press, especially what they got wrong. He gave credit to Catholic News Service for being a great resource for Catholic newspapers. Scot said the Vatican spokesmen have been clearing up questions. We’ve been hearing the details of the monastery Benedict will move into, that his bishop-secretary, Archbishop Ganswein will move in with Benedict but will continue his work as Prefect of the Papal Household. The Conclave will also start sometime in mid-March. Fr. Roger Landry said the Apostolic constitution said there’s needs to be 15 to 20 days before the Conclave can begin, but that’s because of the need for nine days of mourning and they’re apparently going to enforce that rule. Some presume that the Conclave will go fast and the first Mass of the new pope will be Palm Sunday, but Fr. Roger thinks it will go slow. Unlike the last conclave where so many cardinals came in willing to vote for Ratzinger, now there will be a much wider field. Fr. Roger said we’ve also learned how much the whole Catholic world loves Pope Benedict and we’ve also learned how much the media still looks at the Church as just another political institution instead of looking at her on her own terms. He said this a time for people to stay close to authentic Catholic media sources. Scot said there will be two additional Wednesday audiences, with the last on February 27. He will also meet with all the cardinals on February 28. He wondered if all the cardinals will be able to go on February 28, given their responsibilities at home, the need to be in Rome for the conclave later in March, and then Holy Week following right after. Greg’s guess is that Cardinal Seán will make every effort to go because of his great affection for the Holy Father. Scot said he considered that here is an 85-year-old with this massive job. Fr. Roger wrote about that this week in his column in The Anchor. While many of us have been more than satisfied at the level with which he was continuing to serve the whole Church at 85, it’s clear that he believes that the ministry of the successor of St. Peter requires more and better than he thinks he is physically capable of giving. Out of love for the Church, he humbly became the first pope in 598 years to step down. On a physical level, his conclusion is understandable. Very few octogenarians would have the stamina to fulfill the Pope’s daily schedule of continuous high-level meetings and speeches, not to mention grueling international travel and a liturgical schedule awaiting him during Holy Week that has been known to wipe out priests half his age in settings far smaller. If most pastors would be physically challenged to administer a busy parish in their mid-80s, how much more grueling must it be to preside over a church of one billion people. And, in Pope Benedict, we’re talking about a priest who’s had two strokes, a pacemaker for 20 years, prostate problems and some form of degenerative joint disease. All the same, even at obviously reduced physical capacity, Pope Benedict was still capable of leading the Church with incredible wisdom because of his unbelievably brilliant and totally undiminished mind. In one of several interviews I gave on Monday, the journalist asked what people would say his legacy would be in ten years. I responded that it’s more fitting to ask what his legacy will be in 500 years, because having him on the cathedra of Peter was like having another St. Leo the Great, someone whom future generations will likely deem a doctor the Church. Susan said she didn’t know about the pope’s pacemaker until she read this week that he’d recently had its battery replaced. Scot said part of the big shock is that we’ve always assumed popes serve until they die. Nevertheless, Pope Benedict had said in the past that popes could and sometimes should resign for the good of the Church. Greg said we had no more clear example of service until death than Pope John Paul II, who was under great pressure to resign for years. He said it wasn’t until this modern era that a person living on and on while physically debilitated became possible. He thinks Pope Benedict wanted to set a precedent and make it possible for his successors to take this option. Scot asked Fr. Roger why Pope’s don’t have a retirement age when bishops and pastors do. He said historically even bishops and pastors didn’t have mandatory retirement ages, but in 1983 with the Code of Canon Law that was implemented after cases of bishops and pastors staying in office well after they could no longer carry out the duties of the office. For the Holy Father we kept the old system. There can’t be a mandatory retirement age for the Holy Father because he is the Supreme Legislator and there is no one to enforce a retirement. There are procedures in place in the case of a pope who is non compos mentis to have the election of a new pope. Scot said he’s always wondered what it’s really like in the Sistine Chapel when the conclave happens. Cardinal Seán was asked some of the questions about it earlier this week during a news conference. His answers were consistent with most cardinals who have been asked in that he doesn’t believe himself to be the man who should be selected. Susan related a story with the lesson that none of us are worthy and so we all are equally valid choices in some ways to serve the Lord. She noted that the Cardinal said he had bought a round-trip ticket for Rome and expects to come home. She notes that the room in which the new pope vests for the first time is called the Room of Tears because of the way the men selected react very often. Scot said his sense is that Cardinal Seán knows about 50 of the cardinals, but still needs to do a lot of research to understand the backgrounds and gifts of the other possible candidates can offer. Only then can he stand up and say that “this” is what the Church needs most in the coming decades. Fr. Roger said he expects the cardinals have started praying for guidance of the Holy Spirit and personally calling for God’s help. They’re starting to seek help and learning more about the other cardinals. They’re probably expressing their shock with each other. They’re probably talking the qualities of the next Holy Father vis a vis the challenges facing the Church. He said the 2005 conclave will have been easier than this one and this conclave will be more like 1978. Scot said we will probably end up with 116 voting cardinals. He asked how the balloting works. Fr. Roger talked about the mechanics of the voting, how each one submits a ballot. They need a two thirds majority of ballots. We will not know the results of any balloting until the pope is elected. We will never know who the other candidates were. Scot asked what we should be doing as Catholics as we think about who the next pope will be. Susan said we should all be praying every day for our new pope, especially the Veni Creator Spiritus. Susan and Scot agreed that the criteria listed by Cardinal Seán as the necessary qualities for the next Pope are held by Cardinal Seán himself and many of the other American Cardinals. On the question of whether we should speculate or have favorites, Greg said we can’t help but do that. Especially since Pope Benedict has not died, so there’s no sense that it’s all morbid and too soon. He said our hopes for who the next Pope should be or what he is to be need to be tempered so we can be open to who the Holy Spirit selects. Fr. Roger said we should have as intelligent a conversation at our level as the cardinals will be doing. They will not engage in tokenism, asking for someone who fits some broad description. Instead they will choose the man. Scot said Fr. Roger in his column that there were three things particularly striking to him: The first is that it seems that it was not his decision, but the Lord’s. He began his shocking statement to the Cardinals by declaring, “After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrina ministry.” Pope Benedict has long called conscience an “organ of sensitivity” to the voice of God indicating to us what to do or avoid. While the judgments of conscience can always be erroneous, Pope Benedict has been tuning his “organ” for so long and fighting against false ideas of conscience that it is highly unlikely that he would be hearing the Lord say “go” when the Lord was in fact stressing “continue on.” So his decision to resign does not seem to be the “no” of someone who wants to quit the burdens of the papacy but one more “yes” in a lifetime of faithful fiats to what the Lord has asked of him. Next, by his decision Pope Benedict gave us perhaps his most powerful lesson about the importance of prayer. He finished his statement mentioning that he would “devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer,” carried out in a monastery on Vatican grounds. Throughout his papacy in his catecheses on prayer over the last two years as well as in many talks to priests, seminarians, religious and faithful, he has repeatedly stated that the most important thing we do as Christians for God and others is to pray. By resigning the papacy in order to continue to serve the Church devotedly through prayer is to declare that he believes the work of prayer is even more important than the ministry of the papacy. And if prayer is even more important than the work of the successor of St. Peter, then it’s hard to argue that any other ministry in the Church - or any other human work - is more important than prayer either. There’s probably been no greater illustration of the lesson Jesus taught Martha and Mary in Bethany than this. It was said that perhaps John Paul ll’s greatest teaching of all was his proclamation of the Gospel of redemptive suffering over the last years of his life. I anticipate that the primacy of prayer - which means the primacy of God’s action in us - may become the lasting lesson of the final years God grants Pope Benedict. The last item about his statement that stuck out to me was his reminder to all of us that the “Supreme Pastor” of the Church is Christ, not his earthly vicar. While Popes may come and go, the Good Shepherd will never have an interregnum. For Pope Benedict, in his preaching, in his celebration of the sacraments, and in his bearing, he was always focused on Jesus, not on himself. At World Youth Days, for example, he intentionally took the focus off of the Pope and had millions of young people drop to their knees with him in humble adoration of the Lord in the Eucharist. Scot asked Greg how they will cover the Conclave. He said it’s completely uncharted territory and they don’t know yet. They also don’t know how they will cover and deal with Pope Benedict’s continuing life after the papacy. It’s all uncharted territory.…
Summary of today’s show: Ash Wednesday this year is marked with a special significance as Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his last public Mass as Supreme Pontiff. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams plumb the depths of the Holy Father’s homily and then turn to Fr. Matt’s own homily for today that connects the Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving with love, romance, and St. Valentine’s Day. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s topics: Ash Wednesday and Lent 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Matt Williams to the show and he noted that The Good Catholic Life started on an Ash Wednesday two years ago. Scot said he totally forgot about the anniversary because he’s been so preoccupied with the huge cross of ashes on his forehead. He had made a plea yesterday to all priests everywhere not to take advantage of the wide canvas provided by the folliclely challenged. Scot told the story of getting his ashes this morning. Scot said today they’ll be discussing Pope Benedict’s homily for Ash Wednesday, which has been announced as his public Mass as Pope. Fr. Matt said when he heard he realized that this is the closure. With a funeral, you have a time to say goodbye, but with this Mass it is done. 2nd segment: Scot said the Holy Father’s Ash Wednesday Mass is usually at a smaller station church in Rome, Santa Sabina, but very wisely they moved it to St. Peter’s Basilica for the expected larger crowds. Scot recalled the Holy Father’s comments to the General Audience before his catechesis: As soon as the Holy Father emerged onto the stage from the side door the crowds erupted in greeting. “Dear brothers and sisters, as you know I decided”, he began only to be interrupted with prolonged applause. “Thank you for your kindness” he responded and began again. “I decided to resign from the ministry that the Lord had entrusted me on April 19, 2005. I did this in full freedom” the Pope added forcefully, “for the good of the Church after having prayed at length and examined my conscience before God, well aware of the gravity of this act”. But continued Pope Benedict, “I was also well aware that I was no longer able to fulfil the Petrine Ministry with that strength that it demands. What sustains and illuminates me is the certainty that the Church belongs to Christ whose care and guidance will never be lacking. I thank you all for the love and prayer with which you have accompanied me”. Again the Pope was interrupted by lengthy applause, and visibly moved he continued: “I have felt, almost physically, your prayers in these days which are not easy for me, the strength which the love of the Church and your prayers brings to me. Continue to pray for me and for the future Pope, the Lord will guide us!”. Fr. Matt said it’s evident of the great love the Holy Father has for his people and the great love that’s returned. He was created from the beginning of time to be Supreme Pontiff and in humility he has set that aside, allowing another to take his place. Scot talked about how he has left things before and what it feels like to do significant things for the last thing. This Mass has to have been especially moving and he’s probably been reflecting the rest of today what that means to him. Fr. Matt said it crystallizes his humility and that it was never about him, but about his bride the Church. Scot read from the beginning of the Holy Father’s catechesis from the Wednesday general audience: Today, Ash Wednesday, we begin the liturgical time of Lent, forty days that prepare us for the celebration of Holy Easter, it is a time of particular commitment in our spiritual journey. The number forty occurs several times in the Bible. In particular, it recalls the forty years that the Israelites wandered in the wilderness: a long period of formation to become the people of God, but also a long period in which the temptation to be unfaithful to the covenant with the Lord was always present. Forty were also the days of the Prophet Elijah’s journey to reach the Mount of God, Horeb; as well as the time that Jesus spent in the desert before beginning his public life and where he was tempted by the devil. In this Catechesis I would like to dwell on this moment of earthly life of the Son of God, which we will read of in the Gospel this Sunday. First of all, the desert, where Jesus withdrew to, is the place of silence, of poverty, where man is deprived of material support and is placed in front of the fundamental questions of life, where he is pushed to towards the essentials in life and for this very reason it becomes easier for him to find God. But the desert is also a place of death, because where there is no water there is no life, and it is a place of solitude where man feels temptation more intensely. Jesus goes into the desert, and there is tempted to leave the path indicated by God the Father to follow other easier and worldly paths (cf. Lk 4:1-13). So he takes on our temptations and carries our misery, to conquer evil and open up the path to God, the path of conversion. Scot now switched to the homily for the Ash Wednesday Mass: Today, Ash Wednesday, we begin a new Lenten journey, a journey that extends over forty days and leads us towards the joy of Easter, to victory of Life over death. Following the ancient Roman tradition of Lenten stations, we are gathered for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. The tradition says that the first statio took place in the Basilica of Saint Sabina on the Aventine Hill. Circumstances suggested we gather in St. Peter’s Basilica. Tonight there are many of us gathered around the tomb of the Apostle Peter, to also ask him to pray for the path of the Church going forward at this particular moment in time, to renew our faith in the Supreme Pastor, Christ the Lord. For me it is also a good opportunity to thank everyone, especially the faithful of the Diocese of Rome, as I prepare to conclude the Petrine ministry, and I ask you for a special remembrance in your prayer. Scot notes that the Holy Father specifies that Christ is the Supreme Pastor. The readings that have just been proclaimed offer us ideas which, by the grace of God, we are called to transform into a concrete attitude and behaviour during Lent. First of all the Church proposes the powerful appeal which the prophet Joel addresses to the people of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning” (2.12). Please note the phrase “with all your heart,” which means from the very core of our thoughts and feelings, from the roots of our decisions, choices and actions, with a gesture of total and radical freedom. But is this return to God possible? Yes, because there is a force that does not reside in our hearts, but that emanates from the heart of God and the power of His mercy. The prophet says: “return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting in punishment” (v. 13). It is possible to return to the Lord, it is a ‘grace’, because it is the work of God and the fruit of faith that we entrust to His mercy. But this return to God becomes a reality in our lives only when the grace of God penetrates and moves our innermost core, gifting us the power that “rends the heart”. Once again the prophet proclaims these words from God: “Rend your hearts and not your garments” (v. 13). Today, in fact, many are ready to “rend their garments” over scandals and injustices – which are of course caused by others - but few seem willing to act according to their own “heart”, their own conscience and their own intentions, by allowing the Lord transform, renew and convert them. Scot noted that it’s implied we should ask God for grace through all the participation in liturgies and devotions and practices of Lent so that this can be the Lent in which we grow the closest to God. Fr. Matt said he’s also helping us understand that the work of repentance and conversion is a work of grace. We turn from sin and toward the Lord in faith. No one does that on their own. We have to operate of our own free will as moved by the Lord upon examining our conscience. God invites us to conversion, but we have to respond and if we say Yes, then grace is there again to help us follow through on that. This “return to me with all your heart,” then, is a reminder that not only involves the individual but the entire community. Again we heard in the first reading: “Blow the horn in Zion! Proclaim a fast, call an assembly! Gather the people, sanctify the congregation; Assemble the elderly; gather the children, even infants nursing at the breast; Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her bridal tent (vv.15-16). The community dimension is an essential element in faith and Christian life. Christ came “to gather the children of God who are scattered into one” (Jn 11:52). The “we” of the Church is the community in which Jesus brings us together (cf. Jn 12:32), faith is necessarily ecclesial. And it is important to remember and to live this during Lent: each person must be aware that the penitential journey cannot be faced alone, but together with many brothers and sisters in the Church. Fr. Matt said we believe as a community and we repent as a community. We acknowledge Christ came for all of us, the sick and the healthy, to save us. The Holy Father is saying we need not only an individual relationship with God, but we need a communal relationship with God, because we are social beings. So when we sin, we hurt not just our relationship with God, but also our relationship with the whole Church. Finally, the prophet focuses on the prayers of priests, who, with tears in their eyes, turn to God, saying: ” Between the porch and the altar let the priests weep, let the ministers of the LORD weep and say: “Spare your people, Lord! Do not let your heritage become a disgrace, a byword among the nations! Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”(V.17). This prayer leads us to reflect on the importance of witnessing to faith and Christian life, for each of us and our community, so that we can reveal the face of the Church and how this face is, at times, disfigured. I am thinking in particular of the sins against the unity of the Church, of the divisions in the body of the Church. Living Lent in a more intense and evident ecclesial communion, overcoming individualism and rivalry is a humble and precious sign for those who have distanced themselves from the faith or who are indifferent. Fr. Matt said what gives these things authenticity is that they flow from deep friendship with the Lord, not out of pride. Scot said the externals are important as a witness, but the internals are even more important as we ask whether we’re growing our relationship with God in this Lent. “Well, now is the favourable time, this is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2). The words of the Apostle Paul to the Christians of Corinth resonate for us with an urgency that does not permit absences or inertia. The term “now” is repeated and can not be missed, it is offered to us as a unique opportunity. And the Apostle’s gaze focuses on sharing with which Christ chose to characterize his life, taking on everything human to the point of taking on all of man’s sins. The words of St. Paul are very strong: “God made him sin for our sake.” Jesus, the innocent, the Holy One, “He who knew no sin” (2 Cor 5:21), bears the burden of sin sharing the outcome of death, and death of the Cross with humanity. The reconciliation we are offered came at a very high price, that of the Cross raised on Golgotha, on which the Son of God made man was hung. In this, in God’s immersion in human suffering and the abyss of evil, is the root of our justification. The “return to God with all your heart” in our Lenten journey passes through the Cross, in following Christ on the road to Calvary, to the total gift of self. It is a journey on which each and every day we learn to leave behind our selfishness and our being closed in on ourselves, to make room for God who opens and transforms our hearts. And as St. Paul reminds us, the proclamation of the Cross resonates within us thanks to the preaching of the Word, of which the Apostle himself is an ambassador. It is a call to us so that this Lenten journey be characterized by a more careful and assiduous listening to the Word of God, the light that illuminates our steps. In the Gospel passage according of Matthew, to whom belongs to the so-called Sermon on the Mount, Jesus refers to three fundamental practices required by the Mosaic Law: almsgiving, prayer and fasting. These are also traditional indications on the Lenten journey to respond to the invitation to «return to God with all your heart.” But he points out that both the quality and the truth of our relationship with God is what qualifies the authenticity of every religious act. For this reason he denounces religious hypocrisy, a behaviour that seeks applause and approval. The true disciple does not serve himself or the “public”, but his Lord, in simplicity and generosity: “And your Father who sees everything in secret will reward you” (Mt 6,4.6.18). Our fitness will always be more effective the less we seek our own glory and the more we are aware that the reward of the righteous is God Himself, to be united to Him, here, on a journey of faith, and at the end of life, in the peace light of coming face to face with Him forever (cf. 1 Cor 13:12). Dear brothers and sisters, we begin our Lenten journey with trust and joy. May the invitation to conversion , to “return to God with all our heart”, resonate strongly in us, accepting His grace that makes us new men and women, with the surprising news that is participating in the very life of Jesus. May none of us, therefore, be deaf to this appeal, also addressed in the austere rite, so simple and yet so beautiful, of the imposition of ashes, which we will shortly carry out. May the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church and model of every true disciple of the Lord accompany us in this time. Amen! Scot said God’s grace makes us new men and women, not just improved. Lent is a time of second chances. Part of living Lent well is to become a new man or woman. Fr. Matt said it takes courage, grace, and humility. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Nicholas Boncoddo from Braintree He wins the CD “Marian Grace” available from [http://mysteriumonline.com/](http://mysteriumonline.com/) If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot said Fr. Matt’s homily today for Ash Wednesday used the timeliness of St. Valentine’s Day to talk about Lenten disciples of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Fr. Matt said for the 40 days of Lent he’ll be doing a daily YouTube reflection and as he thought about it he connected it to romance and dating. He said prayer is communicating with God. In a dating relationship, when you first meet them, you get to know them more through communication. That communication gets deeper and deeper and flash forward 50 years, it’s as deep as can be. At the beginning of the relationship, there’s lots and lots of vocal communication. But after 50 years of marriage, they walk hand in hand silently, but communicate even more. We have to open our minds to all that communication can be and all that prayer can be. It’s not just rote prayer and lots of words, but it can also just being together in love. The second Lenten discipline is fasting. Fr. Matt said there was a time when young people dated, they would date casually and then as you got serious with one, you would begin to say no to others to prioritize this person. You would also say to no to other things in life. Fasting is a way of prioritizing our lives with God as the center. Somethings we give up because they’re not virtuous, but others are goods we give up in order to focus on the Lord. When you fall in love you begin to order your life to the beloved. Scot said he always thought of fasting as from food, but it didn’t help him grow in faith. Instead he finds fasting from TV, from technology, and from activities he enjoys to be more helpful. He’s decided to give up listening to secular radio and instead listen to Catholic radio, Catholic podcasts, or Christian music. Scot recalls how he likes the interviews on sports radio with baseball players returning to spring training and how difficult it is to give that up. But he knows he’s grown already in the past three days. He finds himself in a better mood lately. The third practice is almsgiving. Fr. Matt said when you fall in love, the things that are important to the beloved become important to you. They may not be your preference, but you do it out of love. Almsgiving is traditionally about giving not just from surplus, but giving from our want to the needy. It’s taking care of God’s own. If we’re trying to grow in relationship with God, then what He cares about should be what I care about. The things that are important to God naturally become more important to me as well. In addition to giving money to poor, it’s really about being attentive to the spiritual and temporal needs of those marginalized in our society. Scot used to think that almsgiving was saving up money and giving it to the Church, which is still a good thing that we should do, but it’s also about giving yourself to others. One way to practice almsgiving is to make one phone call per day to someone you need to touch base with. Fr. Matt said it could be a note or letter each day. Scot asked Fr. Matt his Lenten resolutions. He said his theme is order within gives way to order without. He’s going to work on not hitting the snooze button in the morning and get up each day at a consistent time. When he does that he feels like he’s starting his day at the top of the mountain. He will spend more time in meditation. Scot said his kids don’t let him sleep late, but he wants to set an alarm. He wants to only watch TV if he’s watching it with his kids or his wife. He’s giving up eating between meals. He wants to replace criticism of others with acts of encouragement. He wants to get to Mass more frequently and spend 15 minutes more day listening to the Lord. He’s going to spend more time with family and to reach out to friends. Fr. Matt said he’s getting his fasting bread from LaVallee Breads to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. The breads are available to everyone through their website:…
Summary of today’s show: This year, Lent takes on a new significance for Catholics. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor sit down with Msgr. James Moroney, rector of St. John’s Seminary, to reflect on Pope Benedict’s resignation and Cardinal Seán’s remarks to the media in reaction. They also discuss Lent and Msgr. Moroney’s pastoral letter to the seminarians on observing the season of Lent. Also, Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Jim Wright, president of the Station of the Cross network, to discuss the success of WQOM and their newest radio station in Pennsylvania. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Msgr. James Moroney, Jim Wright, and Chris Kelley Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Papal resignation, Lent, and Catholic radio 1st segment: Scot said today we heard Cardinal Seán’s reactions to the resignation of Pope Benedict and to the upcoming conclave during a midday press conference. Fr. Chris O’Connor said he prefers not to say the pope renounced the papacy, but more simply he resigned. He quoted George Weigel who said John Paul taught us how to die and Benedict taught us to age gracefully. They discussed where they were when they first heard the news. Scot got a text from George Martell at about 6:20am and checked with others in leadership of the Archdiocese who hadn’t yet heard either. Fr. Chris said he was on the way back from celebrating Mass with the Missionaries of Charity and his jaw dropped. He recalled Benedict’s election and remembers the uproar throughout the seminary in excitement when he was announced. Scot welcomed Msgr. James Moroney, rector of St. John’s Seminary, to the show and asked his reaction. He woke up at 6:10 to a phone call from NBC News asking him if he wanted to do the color commentary in Rome for the papal conclave. He’d done that work in 2005 when John Paul died. Msgr. Moroney said he was amazed at the humility of Benedict. He recalled those who compare this to political life, but he noted that this isn’t about power. You see in the Holy Father’s actions the maxim of the first shall be last and the last shall be first. He lets go of the office for the good of the Church. On why only two weeks, Msgr. Moroney said the Holy Father doesn’t want the goodbyes to drag out for months. He’s very humble. And he has profound respect for every person he meets. He said he’s known the Holy Father since he was Cardinal Ratzinger at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and when he saw him recently, he noticed he looked rather tired. Msgr. Moroney said the Holy Father asked him how St. John’s Seminary is doing and he said it was full. The Holy Father grabbed his hand, and said, “Filled! Tell them all that I am praying for them.” Msgr. Moroney is sure the Holy Father prayed for each of those seminarians individually because that’s the kind of pastor he is. Fr. Chris recalled World Youth Day in Rome in 2000 and how his youth group was stopped by Cardinal Ratzinger who wanted to know how they were doing and how they were enjoying the World Youth Day. He wanted to know about their faith and their experience and how World Youth Day was shaping them. Msgr. Moroney said he was a real man of the people. He said people came to see John Paul II and people came to listen to Benedict. He was like a grandfather teaching with deep humility and a grand work ethic. Scot asked what they thought will occur between now and February 28, especially since so many big projects that he’s expressed passion for aren’t completed. Msgr. Moroney said he has a humility to know he doesn’t have to finish everything. It’s not the work of Joseph Ratzinger. It’s the work of Jesus Christ. The Vatican announced this morning that the new encyclical won’t be finished in time. Scot asked how this conclave might be different from the previous ones. Msgr. Moroney said the cardinals will have more time to think and talk before the conclave begins. Normally when the pope dies there is a time of mourning for nine days first. This time there is at least three weeks for them to pray and consult so they can make an even more considered decision. The Vatican said the last major speech the Holy Father will give will be to the Roman clergy, his own priests. His last major liturgical event will be Ash Wednesday. Scot said Cardinal Sean responded to a question about his feelings going into the conclave by saying he’s bought a round-trip ticket. And he’s going to walk in there —and assumes the others will too—praying that the Holy Spirit is going to choose somebody else because of the awesome responsibility. Scot asked Msgr. Moroney if there any rules of thumb for what the cardinals will look for. He said they will look for a man of prayer, a man of organizational skills, theological and intellectual acumen, ability to communicate faith with joy, ability with languages. The spiritual is the most important. Scot said some of the biggest speculation is whether the Holy Spirit will choose a non-European. Msgr. Moroney said most of the Church lives in the southern hemisphere, while most of our people have lived in the north. The most cardinals come from Europe, but the proportion of non-Europeans has grown in recent years. Fr. Chris said an Italian maxim is that the man who enters the conclave as Pope leaves a cardinal, meaning that conventional wisdom is often wrong. He said it is tradition that the Bishop of Rome is elected by the clergy of Rome and that’s why the College of Cardinals are all made pastors of Roman parishes. 2nd segment: Scot said a few days ago, Msgr. Moroney published a Pastoral Letter on Lent for his seminarians and Scot found it a great preparation for him for Lent as well. He said the idea wasn’t his originally. He said his letter to the seminarians followed the classic methods, speaking of Lectio divina, stations of the cross, the sacrament of penance, abstinence, fasting, and almsgiving. It’s how we try to carve our lives more clearly into the image of the Cross and Christ Jesus. Scot asked what advice he has for those considering giving up something for Lent. He said we have to go to the deeper question of why we give things up. Christ on the cross let go of everything, every pleasure, every ambition, and offered his body on the cross in a sign of perfect love. We have to let go to have perfect love. When we let go of what we might cling onto, we are practicing for those bigger things in our lives. Fr. Chris said Scot has a perfect head for ashes on Ash Wednesday. He added that the readings at Mass tell us to pray in private, but then we get ashes on our forehead to show everyone our faith. Meanwhile in Italy they sprinkle the ashes on a forehead. Msgr. Moroney said the difference is cultural. He said in Ancient Rome, when you owned a slave you branded them on the forehead with the sign of their slavery. So Christians began making the sign of the cross on their forehead. Today we make the sign of the cross bigger, but we retain the tradition on Ash Wednesday. We tell the world this our Lent, this is our faith. Msgr. Moroney said during Lent we fast from the Alleluia and the Gloria. We fast from the singing of music with big accompaniment of the organ. We fast from flowers on the altar and in the church. We fast so that on Easter morning when we sing the Gloria and Alleluia with glorious trumpets and all the flowers, so that we might feast on it at Easter. He said in the new Roman Missal is the restoration of the prayers over the people at the end of the daily Mass. They speak specifically of asking God for the grace of growing closer to him and the cross. Fr. Chris asked why we give alms. Msgr. Moroney said giving to the poor isn’t just about feeling generous, but is about the same thing as fasting, about letting go of what others may need. Msgr. Moroney said his favorite stations are the ones where Christ falls. Real men fall. Everyone falls, but Christians are different because they turn themselves over to Christ in confession. Msgr. Moroney said Cardinal Francis George of Chicago will be speaking on Lumen Gentium on the relation to episcopal governance. It’s in two weeks and will be timely given the conclave. Cardinal Pell is due to speak on March 11, but won’t be able to make it because of the conclave, but has promised to stop in Boston on his way back to Australia. In a few months, Cardinal Justin Rigali will also speak. All of those will be a St. Columbkille’s parish in Brighton. To keep up to date, follow the Rector’s blog at . 3rd segment: Scot welcomed Jim Wright, president of the Station of the Cross network, of which WQOM is part. Jim just launched their sixth station in the network in Oil City, Pennsylvania, 88.1 FM. It’s very close to Erie and about 250,000 people receive their signal. Jim talked about how they go the license and signal for the station. Jim told the story of how the network started. He’d been visiting EWTN in Alabama and Mother Angelica asked him and his wife to start a radio station even though he had no background in broadcasting. He talked about running a dental lab during the day and learning about radio in his free time. They filed for their first frequency back in 1996. Scot asked Jim what it’s like to make Catholic radio available to everyone listening today. Jim said his lack of experience allowed him to stay out of it and let God get the job done. Jim said it takes time to build and audience, more than two years. He said they’re doing great, but they can always use word of mouth because that’s the number one way to get the word out. For Lent, it would be great to start listening to Catholic radio if you’re not as a spiritual practice. Fr. Chris said the men at Norfolk prison are particularly grateful to have Catholic radio. They talked about the fundraising telethon coming in the next few months.…
Summary of today’s show: Pope Benedict XVI shocked the world with his announcement that he would resign the See of St. Peter later this month. Scot Landry talks with a panel of guests—Fr. Roger Landry, Domenico Bettinelli, Chris Kelley of WQOM, and Rocco Palmo of Whispers in the Loggia— about the implications of this unprecedented action, what it means for the near-term future of the Church, and the legacy that the Holy Father leaves behind. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Rocco Palmo, Fr. Roger Landry, Chris Kelley, Domenico Bettinelli Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation 1st segment: Scot welcomed Rocco Palmo to the show. Rocco talked about how he first heard about the news of Pope Benedict’s resignation, being woken this morning by his mother to the surprise news. He noted that there’s a lot of talk about names today, but the cardinals he’s talked to today have been too stunned to even process this event. Scot asked Fr. Roger Landry for his reaction. He said Pope Benedict XVI talked about he’d prayed about this very much. This isn’t an abdication of his responsibilities, but another Yes in a lifetime of Yeses by Joseph Ratzinger. The Pope is trying to say that with the amount of time has left in the morning is that he’s prioritizing prayer even more than the responsibilities of the papacy. It’s a lesson about just how important prayer really is for all of us. Scot said today is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, the World Day of the Sick, and anniversary of the signing of the Lateran Accords. Rocco said all three have significance today. The Lateran Treaty was signed in 1929 with Italy that made the Vatican a sovereign and neutral entity and guaranteed the pope temporal freedom. He said over the last several months the Pope has been noted as becoming ever more frail. He thinks the Pope was keen not to put the Church in a state of suspended animation again. The last years of John Paul were very moving, but Benedict saw himself as a transitional pope and to do things in a quiet way. The modern papacy outlives the demands the papacy puts on the officeholder’s body. He doesn’t believe that John Paul could have done this, but Benedict will be entering a cloistered monastery behind the Vatican walls. Before his election in 2005 he had wanted to retire to his home in Germany and write books. Scot asked Fr. Roger what to make of the comparison between John Paul at the end of his life and Benedict at the end of his. Fr. Roger said they were both saying yes to what was being asked of them by the Lord at the time. Benedict isn’t running away from the cross at all. He’s embracing it. There is a lesson of what the pope is capable of doing by his own presence. Think of an 85-year-old doing 12-14 hours per day, not to mention the grueling work of Holy Week and Easter in seven weeks or the international travel to World Youth Day. Rocco said it is a fact that the cardinals didn’t know. The pope had a little noticed meeting on Friday with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the retired Secretary of State, and the Dean of the College of Cardinals, who leads the Church until a new pope is elected. He won’t participate in the conclave because he’s over 80 years old. Rocco has talked with a bishop who was in the room at the Vatican when the Pope made the announcement in Latin and how stunned everyone was. Rocco said this is unprecedented and so much of what happens when a pope dies isn’t going to happen. We don’t know what his title will be nor what his prerogatives. He noted that this shows his humility in not calling a press conference, for instance. He wants to be remembered through his recent books for helping to bring simple people to faith, not writing deep theological treatises. He noted that Benedict is older than John Paul was when he died by two years. 2nd segment: Scot read Pope Benedict’s statement: Dear Brothers, I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is. Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer. From the Vatican, 10 February 2013 BENEDICTUS PP XVI Scot said it’s a moving and personal message to the cardinals gathered there and to the worldwide Church. Fr. Roger what stands out for him about consulting the Lord in his conscience repeatedly. He thinks the phrase “to govern the barque of St. Peter and proclaim the Gospel” is significant because how much work it takes to do all that including, proclaiming the Gospel throughout the world. We all feel a bit of a kick to the gut. But we need to remember that it is Christ’s Church and that we have a King and High Priest who never leaves us. Scot talked about the practice of bishops who resign and retire from the dioceses, while in Rome, the Pope doesn’t generally retire. Fr. Roger said it used to be that once you were a bishop, you never resigned, but with the advance of medicine you had the phenomenon of men living well into old age where they could not serve effectively. That’s why the Code of Canon Law implemented mandatory resignations at 75, the pope exempted. It was always foreseen that the Pope could resign. Scot welcomed Chris Kelley to the show. Scot said this is a humble act by the Holy Father. Chris said the humility of this pope, we’ve seen from the beginning of his pontificate and even before. We see it in his first encyclical, for example, Deus Caritas Est, God is Love. He has a great way of breaking down theological concepts into every day speech. Chris noted that it was in his preaching that Benedict seemed most alive and youngest. Scot said he was most shocked today, not about the resignation, but that he resigned with two weeks notice, having just launched a major Twitter initiative, in the middle of the Year of Faith, and with his next great encyclical on Faith unpublished. Some speculate that there is some health crisis that precipitated such a short period between his announcement and resignation. Fr. Roger said the Pope knows a long lame duck session would make things worse. He likely saw the grueling Lent and Holy Week coming up as well as World Youth Day and saw that he could not fulfill them. He talked about the eyewitness of people in the room when the Pope made the announcement and they felt Cardinal Sodano had been prepared for the announcement. Dom talked about the ability to go to the Catholic media versus the secular media which is often cynical and ill informed and looking for scandal and conflict in their coverage. Fr. Roger said on our part we can live our faith more fully and when we do, we don’t approach this as a massive crisis for which there is no answer. He said whoever is elected will have big shoes to fill and will need all the prayers of the Church. The world needs most from the Church is that we’re not looking at it in terms of political ideologies or that the next pope will be chosen based on nationalities, but instead we’re basing our talk on what really matters. We need to assure others to have faith in Christ. Scot said the Archdiocese of Boston released two statements, the first from Bishop Deeley: “We have received the Holy Father’s announcement that, having prayerfully discerned that due to physical limitations he is no longer able to fulfill the responsibilities of his office, he will resign effective February 28th. At this time we give thanks to God for the gift of Pope Benedict XVI’s faithful leadership of the Roman Catholic Church during the past 8 years of his papacy. We assure the Holy Father of our prayers and fidelity during these final weeks of his service as the Vicar of Christ. In particular I offer my personal gratitude to the Holy Father for the experience of working closely with him during my time in Rome with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. I know of his deep and abiding love for the Church and for fulfilling the saving ministry of Jesus.” Cardinal Seán’s statement said: “The Catholic community and the world today learned that Pope Benedict XVI, following deep prayer and reflection, announced that he will resign the papacy at the end of this month. We join the universal Church in offering prayerful gratitude for the Holy Father’s faith, courage and his leadership as the successor of Peter. At this time it is appropriate for the Church and all people of good faith to reflect on Pope Benedict’s legacy and achievements. He brought unique capabilities to the papacy as a highly qualified scholar and teacher, and as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in service to Blessed John Paul II. His fidelity to maintaining the truth and clarity of the Catholic faith, to cultivating ecumenical and interfaith dialogue and in reaching out to inspire the next generation of Catholics have been great gifts to us all. It was a great privilege for me to be present as Pope Benedict met with survivors of clergy sexual abuse during his visit to the United States in April 2008. At that meeting the Holy Father’s pastoral care for the survivors was clearly evident, as was his commitment and determination to heal the wounds of all persons impacted by the abuse crisis and to insure that the Church continues to do all that is possible to provide for the protection of children. During the coming weeks we will continue to pray for Pope Benedict XVI and will call upon the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit as the Church moves forward to choose the next successor to Saint Peter.” Chris talked about the legacy he’ll remember from Pope Benedict in the future. He said the Year of Faith is a time to learn more about the Petrine ministry. Dom talked about the Pope’s legacy as the “new media” Pope. Fr. Roger described how the conclave works and why we trust that the Holy Spirit works in the election of the Pope. All the cardinals under 80 will gather in the conclave. Those over 80 can come to Rome and participate in consistories before the conclave. Those meetings will discuss the challenges facing the Church in the world today, led by Cardinal Sodano. He will lead a Mass to begin the conclave in which they will be locked in the Sistine Chapel and begin a process of two votes per day. They will pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as they make their selection from among their number. He said it took courage to elect Benedict with the unfair reputation of the German Rottweiler and to elect John Paul, an unknown from Poland. The Holy Spirit gives the gift of courage. Scot said the Pope won’t vote in the conclave and there’s question as to what he will be called. Fr. Roger said the Vatican said today that he will be called Bishop-emeritus of Rome. The successor will have big shoes to fill and will clearly consult him. Pope Benedict is clearly saying that in order to be Pope and you need to be physically vigorous. We need someone of profound faith, someone who speaks English, Italian, Spanish, and French at least, and someone who’s physically healthy. He encourages everyone to pray for Pope Benedict, for the cardinals, and for his successor.…
Summary of today’s show: The Knights of Columbus provide millions of man-hours of service and millions of dollars in charity to the Church and the needy every year and Massachusetts’ 41,000 Knights are a big part of that work. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams talk with Peter Healy and Richard Guerriero of the Massachusetts State Council Knights of Columbus about the the mission and work of the order and their desire to provide every Catholic parish with a council of men willing to step up and serve. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Richard Guerriero and Peter Healy Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Massachusetts State Council of the Knights of Columbus 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. He talked with Fr. Matt Williams about the snow today and how he almost crashed while entering the parking lot at the Pastoral Center. He missed sliding into two parked cars by just an inch on either side. Scot asked Fr. Matt about his preparations for next week’s pilgrimage to the March for Life in Washington, DC. Fr. Matt said this is a pastoral priority for Cardinal Sean, who’s been to all 40 Marches for Life. The Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults has gathered young people for the pilgrimage every year at Cardinal Seán’s request. They have over 500 people going this year in three tracks: middle school, high school, and young adults. Scot said there will be much more coverage of the March next week. Today’s guests for the 450th episode are Knights of Columbus talking about the work of the order throughout the world. Scot said there are 41,000 Knights in Massachusetts and 1.8 million worldwide. He welcomed Dick Guerriero and Peter Healy to the show. Scot asked Peter how he became involved and is now the State Deputy. Peter said it began when his wife’s brother was killed in a traffic accident. He was impressed how his brother-in-law’s fellow Knights cared for the family, including the insurance policy that he had. You don’t have to have insurance to be a Knight, and that’s was one of the original ministries of the Knights, providing insurance for widows and orphans. Scot asked Dick about joining the Knights and rising to become State Deputy. Dick said he is a 40 year member. His wife was active at their parish in South Weymouth and he joined the K of C golf league and she challenged him to join as a member. He noted that wives, especially those of the board members, are an integral part of the Knights of Columbus. Dick said his council did a lot of work for the Cardinal Cushing Training Center in Braintree and Hanover. That was a very moving experience and it drew him as he became more involved. He was a district representative, then got involved in membership and program areas, and then ran for state office. Running for state office brought him throughout the entire state. Fr. Matt asked about the roles in the Knights of Columbus. Peter said there are 270 councils in Massachusetts. Each has a slate of officers: the Grand Knight is in charge after wokring himself. Others are Inside Guard, Outside Gaurd, Warden, Deputy Knight, Financial Secretary collects dues. Members pay $25 to $40 per year to support the costs of the council. The Treasurer pays the bills. At the state level, they have district deputies. It takes 5 to 7 years for a man to work his way up through the chairs at his local council. Then guys who want to step out further in leadership abilities, including going through some training. The district deputies are responsible for five to six councils and they also are responsible for starting new councils. He suggested priests who want new councils to reach out to the state deputies. The district deputies help the councils with their programs, the two primary ones being the Tootsie Roll drive, that raises up to $450,000 per year, that results in grants for needy kids. They provide wheelchair lifts and ramps; hoists in the kids’ houses; special muscle-tone bicycles; and some other things like specialized software. The deputies become committeemen, then chairs, then directors. From that point, they can look toward statewide office, each level requiring more and more commitment. Scot asked Dick about organization at the highest level, nationally. What is the mission of the organization now? Dick said the four princuiples are charity, unity, fraternity, and patriotism. In 1882, Fr. Michael McGivney, a parish priest in Hartford, Connecticut, formed the Knights of Columbus to provide aid to the widows and orphans of the parish. Massachusetts is the third-oldest jurisdiction in the Knights after Connecticut and Rhode Island. Among other things, they provide a military chaplaincy scholarship for seminarians to ensure that there are enough chaplains for our servicemembers. They do a food for families program for Catholic Charities for needy families. They get involved in Special Olympics. Coats for Kids collects coats for needy kids, even buying new ones as well. They also try to provide wheelchairs for veterans. They also go to the VA hospitals to help bring the men and women down to the chapel on Sunday for Mass. Wreaths Across America is the first Saturday of November, providing wreaths for the graves of deceased for veterans across the country. Scot said the Knights of Columbus headquarters reports on the number of service hours provided by year and last year it was more than 70 million hours. Peter said the Mass. Knights also conduct the Basketball Free Throw program. Kids ages 10 to 14 compete at the local, regional, and state levels. They can aspire to international competition. Peter often hears people saying they don’t have time to volunteer, but he points out that families often do many of the programs together and it can be a way for families to be doing something together. And there is such diversity of opportunities to get involved that you can find something that interests you. Fr. Matt asked about the free throw contest’s purpose. Peter said it’s not a fundraiser. It’s a youth program. Dick said they also have a soccer program as well. Scot guessed that many men are giving more than an hour per week and where would the Church be without men making such a commitment. He said his brother, Fr. Roger Landry, have talked often about how important the Knights of Columbus have been to his parish. Dick said the vision is that one parish with one council and the ultimate goal is for every parish to have one. They are there to help the pastor and the parish. Dick pointed out that Fr. Roger has started two councils in his parishes. He said that they also go into the seminaries to talk to the seminarians about how the Knights of Columbus are there to help them once they are in parishes. Dick said on the physician-assisted suicide campaign last year the Knights of Columbus got their members out there to work the polls and spreading the word locally across the state. Scot noted that the margin of the vote was 34,000 votes and the 41,000 Knights made the difference. He said the Knights are always ready to serve when called upon. Fr. Matt asked if there is a junior Knights program. Peter said they have a Squires program in Methuen and Sutton. There used to be dozens of Squires circles. There are also college councils. They also recently started new councils recently at Harvard, Tufts, and Boston University. Holy Cross in Worcester is also very active. Dick said they also have on at Stonehill and they are trying to get more college councils. He said they often have difficulty with colleges refusing single-sex organizations, but they have begun partnering Knights with the Daughters of Isabella group. On the Squires, Dick said 14 to 18-year-old boys are often very busy today. Fr. Matt said a mission-oriented goal would be attractive to young men who are often looking for ways to give of themselves. Peter said men join for all kinds of reason, like softball or golf, but then they get involved in ways they didn’t expect like service or even getting more involved in their faith. It often becomes the stepping stone to become more involved. 2nd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Alicia Mann from Hampton, NH She wins the book ; an audio CD of the Rosary with meditations on the priesthood; and an audio CD of the Stations of the Cross and Divine Mercy chaplet with meditations on the priesthood. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 3rd segment: Scot noted that Peter and Dick were at St. John’s Seminary inducting 11 seminarians in as new members to the Knights of Columbus. Peter said this introduces them to the Knights of Columbus in a positive light. The Knights also try to get each seminarian adopted by a local council which provides a small stipend and then brings them in for the council’s functions. This lets them meet the Knights and the Knights get to meet their future priests and form a bond that continues throughout their lifetimes. The priests now realize what the Knights are capable of and are doing. Some councils provides groundskeeping or buy and install Stations of the Cross or Monuments to the Unborn. Scot asked Dick about how the Knights have embraced veterans re-entering civilian society. Dick said the Knights have been active with veterans since World War I. they have the organization to help servicemen. The USO was always funded by the Knights of Columbus. they also did education and re-training programs and blood drives for veterans. They provide awards and recognition to members of the Knights who are in the service as well as military chaplains. Men interested in finding out more about the Knights of Columbus can go to their or contact their office in Norwood at 781-551-0628. Priests interested in forming new councils or reactivating inactive councils in their parish can contact the state offices. To men who wonder if they should commit to joining the Knights. Peter said every time he’s done something with the Knights, he may be tired, he also stands back and is amazed at what they have accomplished for others. It’s great to feel that you’ve given a part of yourself to someone else, someone you may never meet or may never meet again. In the same vein, they’ve helped you as well. Peter also introduced the names of their state board, including Bishop Robert Hennessey, the state chaplain; Fr. Robert Bruso, associate state chaplain; Russell Steinbach, state secretary; Paul O’Sullivan, state treasurer; Robert Morrison, state advocate; Paul Flanagan, state warden; and Michael Baldner, immediate past state deputy.…
Summary of today’s show: For the Year of Faith called by Pope Benedict, the Archdiocese of Boston is offering Catholic Faith Essentials, an innovative new course for adults which is provided primarily through live webcasting to parishes and homes through the archdiocese and anywhere in the world. Scot Landry talks with Bishop Arthur Kennedy and Michael Lavigne about the Year of Faith, Catholic Faith Essentials, and the topics and speakers over 30 sessions for next one year plus. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Bishop Arthur Kennedy, Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization, and Michael Lavigne Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Catholic Faith Essentials Show notes: Catholic Faith Essentials uses new technology to help people connect with their faith through a series of reflections and topics related to faith. They will have pre- and post-reading that will help attendees reflect on what they will hear. Participants can participate individually and in groups as they can and if they cannot participate live on Mondays, they will be able to watch the recordings of the speakers later on the Year of Faith, Boston website or at BostonCatholicLive.com. They will also be able to submit questions before and during the talks and some will be answered live or others after the event. It’s a unique offering that is innovative and unlike any offering from other dioceses. Bishop Kennedy said we can take our faith for granted, which leaves us not seeing that action of God in our lives that is a gift. Faith is a response to the inner desire which exists in our heart by virtue of having been created been God. We can sometimes become inattentive to that desire in our hearts. There are two aspects to faith: The content of the faith itself and the act of wanting a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. The Year of Faith is about an intimate relationship with Christ himself. For it to be a true relationship, there has to be a selfless giving of each person to the other. The act of faith is to surrender self completely to God. Faith is trust too. And when we are away from those we genuinely love and trust, we miss them. When we are not with God, we have something missing in our lives, which is the purpose and meaning that only God can give to us.…
Summary of today’s show: When the topic of priestly celibacy and married priests comes up, the same set of questions is always trotted out: Isn’t it unnatural? Didn’t priests used to marry? Don’t they get lonely? Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ, joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to discuss a new book from Ignatius Press, “Married Priests? 30 Crucial Questions about Celibacy,” that answers the common objections with clear, concise, and convincing language. Listen to the show: [powerpress] Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ Links from today’s show: by Dom Arturo Cattaneo Today’s topics: Crucial questions about priestly celibacy 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed listeners to the show. Today’s topic is priestly celibacy and he noted some of the current objections to celibacy today. The discussion will center around a new book from Ignatius Press called “Married Priests?: 30 Crucial Questions about Celibacy”. Fr. Chris O’Connor had asked Scot before Christmas for a show on priestly celibacy and then this book came in. Fr. Chris said this book has all the most common questions and gives great answers you can give back to people. Scot compared it to the YouCat, the youth catechism that asks questions that everyday people ask and gives plain-language answers, and this book does the same. Scot welcomed Fr. Fessio to the show. Fr. Fessio said two crucial questions are whether the Patriots will meet the 49ers in the Super Bowl and which team will win. Scot asked how this book came about. Fr. Fessio said when he was in Rome last year, Cardinal Raymond Burke had recommended this book to him. Cardinal Burke often reads books written in other languages that Ignatius Press should publish in English. He had said this book would be a real service to the Church. One of the misconceptions some Catholics have about celibacy, Scot said, is confusion with chastity and continence. Fr. Fessio said celibacy is technically priests not getting married. Continence is married people refraining from sex. Chastity is the proper regulation of one’s sexual life, whether single, married, or priests. Chastity depends on the state in life. He added that permanent deacons are members of the clerical state and he said all clerics are bound by continence. And even in the early church, married priests would promise to refrain some sexual relations. Scot said his sense of things is this hasn’t been part of the permanent diaconate. Fr. Chris O’Connor clarified that once ordained priests and deacons cannot marry or if already married can never remarry. This is true in the Orthodox Church, too. Also married clergy are not eligible for the episcopacy. Scot said Catholics hear that married priests are allowed in the Orthodox Church and wonder if that wouldn’t be better in the Roman Catholic Church. Fr. Fessio said we go back to the beginning. Jesus is the Priest. When priests celebrate Mass they are in the person of Christ. Christ is the one who voluntarily did not marry because the Church was his bride and he’s anticipating heaven where there is no marriage. The Eastern Church does it differently. They are a separated Church and they made some mistake in history, particularly in 692. The question of married priests came up at a council in the Eastern Church, the Council of Tertullus. There was a forged document at the council that resulted in the doctrine being changed. Scot asked Fr. Chris the difference between discipline and dogma. Fr. Chris said dogma is something absolutely defined by the Church and can’t be changed. Discipline could be changed, but as far as the gift of celibacy it will not be changed. This is not a whim of the Church. The Church in the West has kept the discipline of celibacy and kept these high standards. Scot said we are called to give our all in our vocations. A married man gives his all to his wife and a priest gives his all to the Church in the same way. Fr. Fessio said it’s not just a practical question, but it also demeans marriage. Marriage is a primary vocation on an equal level with priesthood. Marriage is not a career. We’ve lost the sense of a man as husband and father and not just a wage-earner and career man. On dogma and discipline, Fr. Fessio said we are inheritors of the Enlightenment, which always wants clear distinctions. But there isn’t always a definitive line. How does one say where a bay ends and the ocean begins? It’s similar with dogma and discipline. Celibacy is not “only” a discipline. It is the teaching and practice of the Church for 2,000 years. He said after the Council, a lot of people said if we keep the essentials, we can changed the accidentals. Think of a spaghetti dinner. We have tablecloth, candles, nice dinnerware. What if we take away the tablecloth, the candles, dinnerware? It’s still a spaghetti dinner, but the difference between a nice dinner and sitting on the floor eating with your hands is vast. He asked why people don’t believe in the Eucharist like they used to. People don’t act like there’s anything special there. Fr. Chris said this Saturday, four or five of the seminarians will be ordained to the transitional diaconate and they will make their promise of celibacy to the cardinal and the entire Church. Scot read from the foreword to the book by Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy: Over the centuries—and this dynamic has been evident in recent decades as well—there have been plenty of attacks on ecclesiastical celibacy. It is necessary to recognize that not infrequently they come from contexts and mindsets that are completely foreign to the faith, understood both as doctrine and practice, and, unfortunately, are often orchestrated by interest groups that do not even disguise the fact that their goal is the gradual weakening of one of the elements that makes witness to Christ more effective: virginity for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Celibacy is no more foreign to contemporary culture than marital fidelity or premarital continence might seem to be. We must recognize that we are faced with one of the greatest educational challenges of the modern era; ever since the 1968 revolution, which promised the liberation of man but in reality made him a slave to his own instincts, it is urgently necessary to reeducate the whole emotional sphere, acknowledging its greatness and dignity but at the same time placing it within the framework of objective limitations that theology calls original sin, with the consequences that result from it. The underlying logic of priestly celibacy is the same one we may encounter in Christian matrimony: the total gift of everything forever in love. Behind the dynamic of self-giving on the part of the priest is the primacy of God and, consequently, also the primacy of his will, which freely calls those whom he wants. Scot said he liked the comparison between attacks on celibacy and attacks on marital fidelity and single chastity. Which parent would want their married child to promiscuous? So why do we not want priests to be faithful? Fr. Fessio said we each have a witness to give. Scot witnesses to marital fidelity and FR. Fessio and Fr. Chris witness to apostolic fidelity to Christ. One is not more holy, but they are distinct. Scot said Question 12 in this book asks: “Is not celibacy unnatural and therefore not the cause of existential angst on the part of some priests?” Question 18 asks whether it is the cause of sexual abuse. Fr. Fessio said the answer in both cases is No. The largest number of sexual abuse cases occur in families where the abusers are not celibate or continent. As to whether it is unnatural, Jesus seemed to do quite well with celibacy. Look at all the great saints and other priests through history who weren’t going through existential crises. It’s true that there are sacrifices you make, like not having your own children. It’s also a sacrifice to be alone. But there are crises in everyone’s lives. Priests are going to suffer. Married people suffer too. Suck it up. More questions ask how one discerns a call to celibate life and how celibacy as a charismatic gift can be imposed by Church law. Fr. Chris said when he interviews future seminarians, he asks them if celibacy is a sacrifice or a gift. The answer is both, just like marriage is a sacrifice and a gift, committing oneself to one another and giving oneself totally. Celibacy is a gift of oneself totally to God and through him to the Church. Fr. Chris said celibacy is unnatural in a certain sense, but it is supernatural. God does not want a man to be alone so he gives them the grace to live the life they are called to. Scot said you hear that if we allowed married priests, we would have more priests. Fr. Fessio said once again all the empirical data is against it. It’s not just Catholics who have a decline in vocations. Episcopalians and other Protestants have similar declines. Making it easy doesn’t attract people. Why do the Marines attract men and women. Because it’s a noble and difficult calling. The calling has to be attractive. Why does a man sacrifice all the other woman in the world to marry one? Because this one is The One and all the others aren’t attractive anymore. When you find The One, Jesus, then you sacrifice all others for Him. It is a joy when you are called to follow in the footsteps of the Master. You want priests who are willing to sacrifice all for the vocation, not to settle for easy life. Fr. Fessio said he knows many good priests he would like to be just like. They are solid, human, happy, manly. He said the most well-known Father int he world is the Holy Father. John Paul II’s fatherhood was radiant. Celibacy becomes attractive in the lives of priests whose beautiful vocation is lived out with joy and radiance. He told the story of Sr. Dolores Hart who was a Hollywood starlet in movies alongside Elvis who gave it up for the life of the convent and in pictures you see her absolute joy. Fr. Chris said he remembers a particular priest who has drawn several men to the seminary. they asked the seminarians what it was that attracted them. They said he ate with them, prayed with them, and listened to them. Young men are looking for priests who articulate the Church’s teaching on the priesthood. Scot recalled the story of Joe D’Arrigo on the show before Christmas who told the story of the priest who made himself totally available to Joe’s wife when she was gravely ill. He was available because of the sacrifice of his life. Fr. Fessio told the story of a reporter he’d known, a Catholic reporter who he says was hostile to the teachings of the Church. They had become friends despite their differences. One day, Fr. Fessio received a call that the reporter was dying and wanted to have Fr. Fessio hear his confession. Who did he call when he was dying? He called the old-fashioned, traditional, conservative priest. It’s not because of Fr. Fessio’s personality, but because he wants to be a priest in the tradition of the Church. Fr. Chris said he hears similar stories every time he talks to priests. Another question asks about whether celibacy leads to loneliness. Fr. Chris said he sometimes longs for a day of loneliness. A priest’s life is filled with people. Particularly diocesan priests, they are with people at all the key moments of their lives, being invited into those grace-filled moments. They teach seminarians how to be comfortable with themselves in moments of solitude and how necessary they are, just like Christ who needed time away from the crowds. Fr. Fessio said Jesus promised a hundredfold to those who sacrifice family for him. He said he doesn’t do social media, but recently read an article about a professor who gives students an assignment to be alone for one hour, no phone, no iPod and then write about it. They couldn’t do it. People don’t know what silence and solitude are. We are bombarded by sound and images constantly. One of the blessings of the priesthood is on the one hand, tremendous experiences of families, while on the other hand, having time for prayer. Most parents would love to have just a few minutes of quiet. Time for quiet is necessary not just for sanctity, but for sanity. Spend time on social media as long as you spend as much time on praying. Scot said the next question is most annoying: “Since most laypeople are married, would not a priest understand them better if he is married?” Scot said he’s been married 11 years. He’s probably counseled or given advice to 5 men on marriage. His brother as a priest for 12 years has counseled more than 1,000. Who would have more experience. It’s much better that someone objective, who won’t bring a bias from his own experience. Fr. Fessio said even in marriage, especially when there are difficulties, there are things a spouse won’t tell their husband or wife that they will tell the priest in confession. Fr. Chris said the question is as if priests dropped out of the sky, instead of coming from families themselves. Also, it’s like saying you need a cardiologist who has the same illness in order to treat you. Scot asked Fr. Fessio about what else Ignatius Press has available. He said there’s a YouCat prayer book coming out in a month and while it’s meant for young people, it’s great for everyone. It introduces prayer with traditional prayers, a simplified liturgy of the hours and more. Scot said they also have the new book by James Hitchcock called “History of the Catholic Church”. Fr. Fessio said it’s a thick book but not that long. It’s got a great layout to let you make notes and more. Scot mentioned “The Seven Big Myths about the Catholic Church” by Dr. Christopher Kaczor, who we’ve had on the show. It’s been very successful. Fr. Fessio said every day Ignatius Press ships out a stack of books that is higher than the Hancock Building in Boston. It’s encouraging to see that people are still reading books. He added that industrywide 25% of sales are electronic, but only about 4-5% of sales are ebooks. He thinks it’s because they have older people who read their books, but also there are certain books you want to have on your shelf as reference. Fr. Chris said this book from today’s show is one of those books. Scot ended by reminding everyone about last night’s lecture by George Weigel on Vatican II and the Birth of Evangelical Catholicism. People can watch the lecture at…
Summary of today’s show: Fr. Daniel Moloney was ordained in 2010 for the Archdiocese of Boston, after what was already an impressive intellectual career spanning Yale, Notre Dame, Princeton, and Rome. Scot Landry sits down with Fr. Moloney at his parish in Brighton to see how he came to be a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston as well as the history of St. Columbkille Parish and the remarkable talk to be given later in the evening at the parish by noted Catholic intellectual and author George Weigel. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Daniel P. Moloney, parochial vicar, St. Columbkille Parish, Brighton Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Fr. Daniel Moloney 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show, broadcasting live form St. Columbkille in Brighton. He said we are doing our first webcast live on location at St. Columbkille which was established in 1871. It’s a landmark in Brighton and today joining us is Fr. Fr. Daniel Moloney, parochial vicar at the parish. He was ordained in 2010 and has been in the parish since then. In June he will be re-assigned in the normal course of priestly assignments. Scot said he learned today that St. Columbkille had originally purchased land for a cemetery in town, but Bishop Williams told the pastor at the time that he wanted a seminary instead, which became St. John’s Seminary. Fr. Dan said he came to Boston to become a priest. He was born in South Bend, Indiana, when his father was a professor at Notre Dame. He went to college at Yale, studying computers, but after reading Cardinal Newman, he decided to switch majors to religious philosophy. After graduation, he entered the doctoral program at Notre Dame. Scot asked Fr. Dan what in Newman made him change his major. Fr. Dan said one day in the dining hall, a guy he knew from back home came up to Fr. Dan and his friends and told them they should be doing community service. Another guy, a philosophy major, said the community he was serving was Western Civilization. He began to think about the idea of approaching the big problems of the day. Meanwhile, he was reading Newman, who had been writing to both intellectuals and regular people about how to avoid the problems that society was facing. Fr. Dan decided it was much more fun than staying up lately debugging computer programs. Fr. Dan said what grabbed him was Newman’s , (An Apology for My Life), which was Newman’s autobiography. He said many people were grabbed by Newman’s homilies, particularly those about faith and reason. Fr. Dan said he had had in the back of his mind since his early days at Yale about becoming a priest. He felt Notre Dame would be a better place to explore that idea, whether he was called to the priesthood or becoming a Catholic intellectual, it would be the place to be. Scot said he’s been to Notre Dame once and was very moved to see how many students made it a point during their day to stop for prayer. Fr. Dan said in his time at Notre Dame there was a renaissance in the practice of the faith among students, which was just after Pope John Paul’s visit to the US for World Youth Day. Fr. Dan said one of his professors described Notre Dame as a state school in a Catholic neighborhood. The students are very pious but there’s disagreement often in how to balance Catholicism and student academic life. About 1998, Fr. Dan and some friends got the university to allow perpetual adoration in a chapel and that continues to today. Fr. Dan studied Medieval philosophy. He was particularly interested in St. Anselm of Canterbury, one of the first Scholastics, who died 1109. He was a Benedictine monk who was interested in the interiority of the faith. He developed the common term that theology is faith seeking understanding. A true person of faith uses his intellect as well. Fr. Dan was first interested in Anselm while he was at Yale, and when he got to Notre Dame, he decided to study him for his dissertation. He could have studied Aquinas as the more well-known Medieval philosopher, but he felt that was too common. When he got to Notre Dame, he and others founded a newspaper called Right Reason, which was about calling the university back to its Catholic roots. After about one-and-a-half-years of that, he got an opportunity to go to work at First Things as the associate editor (about 1998). He worked there for about 3-1/2 years under Fr. Richard John Neuhaus. In June 2001, he returned to his doctoral studies at Notre Dame. At age 26, he realized he didn’t think he could be editor of First Things itself, he decided to go back. He thought he might be happy as a university intellectual. He graduated in 2004. He dissertation changed focus a little in the meantime. He’d gotten interested in applications of theology and politics and started contrasting the notion of mercy in St. Anselm and the notion of tolerance in John Rolfe, a contemporary philosopher at Harvard. He was the one of the big architects of the idea that politics must be secular and that religion should be private. Liberal philosophers didn’t contrasts mercy and justice, but instead formulated it as tolerance and justice. Fr. Dan said after graduating, he was able to go teach on a post-doctoral fellowship at Princeton and at the nearby . He was teaching and doing research. Living at Princeton and being a Catholic intellectual reminded him that academia is often not hospitable to Catholic people of faith. A study he read showed that 80 to 90 percent of the top philosophy professors in the country are themselves atheist. So he had an opportunity to study theology in Rome where he could get a doctorate in theology. He decided that he didn’t like being a student in Rome, with the difficulty with his classes in the Italian language and not having the comforts of home. Plus they didn’t accept his theology credits from the US so he had to get another bachelor’s in theology over two years. So he cut his losses and came home, settling in DC. He got a job at the . They work to develop position papers on legislation on Capitol Hill. His two big areas of focus were AIDS legislation, in which pro-choice advocates were trying to attach abortion funding to AIDS funding for Africa, and healthcare. At the time, no one in the pro-life side were paying attention to the nitty gritty details about how the federal government was funding contraception and he ended up writing position papers to alert pro-lifers to religious liberty issues related to healthcare reform and contraception. Scot asked Fr. Dan if he was still surprised by the contraception mandate from the Obama administration last year. Fr. Dan said he wasn’t surprised because those talking points had been in place since the early 70s. That they tried to impose it on everybody was a change. Scot asked if he meant that the mandate would exist but that there would be a generous exemption. Scot asked what led him from DC to Boston. He said many priests without natural homebases tend to look where they could serve the Church the best. Fr. Dan said in Rome he was around a lot of guys studying for the diocesan priesthood and heard how excited they were to serve in parishes. Because of his intellectual background, Fr. Dan had always thought about priesthood in a religious order, but this made him think differently about it. Coming back from Rome, he asked God to give him a great job so that if he decided to become a priest, it wouldn’t be settling, but an upgrade. His job at Heritage was great, including meetings at the White House and a bright career future, but the idea of priesthood didn’t go away. He had once met Cardinal Sean when was bishop of Fall River and was impressed by his holiness. Fr. Dan hadn’t lived in Columbus since 1990, where his family lived, so he didn’t feel attached there. He also realized he didn’t have many opportunities to pick his own boss. He wanted to go someplace that needed priests. And because Boston had many universities, he felt like God was calling him to Boston. 2nd segment: Scot asked Fr. Dan about St. Columbkille Parish. He said this has seemed to be one of the more historic parishes, among the first. It was first a mission of St. Mary in Brookline or in Waltham. He thinks it was first a mission of Waltham and then of Brookline. Fr. Dan said there was a significant number if Irish living in Brighton and the first Mass was celebrated in someone’s home. They began to gather money to build this beautiful church. It’s a huge church and could have been a cathedral and some people had wanted it to be the cathedral when the chancery moved out here. All the stained glass windows are based on the Book of Kells. The parish has had few pastors. One was here for 40 years. They built a school and has had many, many alumni. The church now has a shrine to San Donato, an Italian bishop, when Italians began to move here and later one of the first Spanish communities in Boston was Cuban immigrants, who built a shrine to Our Lady of El Cobre. The lower church is as big as the upper church, seating 1,100 people and even has its own pipe organ. Through much of the 20th century, they had packed Masses upstairs and downstairs every Sunday, along with the other two parishes in Brighton. It gave the property that became St. John Seminary and the property for Mt St. Joseph’s School. Brighton has been significant in the history of the Archdiocese. Scot said the church cost $80,000 back when it was built. That would be $1,454,000 today. He noted that the patron saint is St. Columba and Columbkille means Columba of the Churches. Fr. Dan said Columba is a Latin word that means “the dove”. It was probably a religious name and he was one of the three patron saints of Ireland, including St. Patrick and St. Brigid. Fr. Dan said St. Columbkille was responsible for the death of 1,000 soldiers. He copied an illuminated manuscript and the abbott took it from him when he was done and St. Columbkille said it was his own property. His clan fought the abbott’s clan. After the battle, he realizes he was an idiot. He was exiled from Ireland and vowed to convert as many pagans as had died in the battle. So he went to the island of Iona in Scotland to form a monastery. From there, the monks spread out into Europe and converted the continent. Scot said George Weigel is speaking here tonight. He asked Fr. Dan what makes Weigel a great Catholic intellectual. Fr. Dan said Weigel is a wonderful writer. His first biography of Pope John Paul II, Witness to Hope, is one of the great books of the 20th century. It’s almost a history of everything in the last half of the 20th century, but as long as it is it never runs out of steam. Weigel has also written extensively on just war theory and politics. He also has a very engaging speaking style. Scot said his columns in the Pilot are always very engaging. He defends the Church as strongly as any layman in the Church. Fr. Dan said he also strongly believes the Catholic faith is true and not just for Catholics. The Church has something to offer everyone and not just Catholics. Scot said Weigel has a new book coming out in February that connects to tonight’s topic on . Fr. Dan said Weigel has been developing this theme for a long time, especially from the writings of John Paul II. At the beginning of John Paul’s pontificate people had begun to sour on Vatican II, but JP II has given a new look at Vatican II to bring to the fore the idea that all Catholics are to bring the Gospel to the world in a new and vigorous way. Scot read from the beginning of Weigel’s new book. Weigel says the Catholicism of the 21st century will be a culture-forming counterculture. Fr. Dan said Weigel wrote in First Things in the 1990s on John Paul II and the evangelization of culture. He wrote that you can evangelize people by staying in the Catholic shell. You have to show people that you can be a full-fledged Catholic and be part of the culture. You can talk about what people read and watch on TV and the like, speaking to those things from a Catholic perspective. If the culture doesn’t create inspiring works, then you have to create a counterculture. If it becomes big enough it becomes the culture. You present an attractive way of living your life that isn’t just going to church on Sunday.…
Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell discussed the life and death of Thomas O’Connell, Fr. Mark’s father, this past week, and the elder O’Connell’s contributions as a university librarian, but also as a support to Fr. Mark’s vocation. Later, they discussed some of the headlines of the week, including Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s letter to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on efforts to expand abortion access; the upcoming 40th anniversary March for Life; Project Rachel retreats; the 10th anniversary of the implementation of Ex Corde Ecclessiae; and this Sunday’s Mass readings. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Remembering the Life of Thomas O’Connell and Pro-Life News 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. He also welcomed Fr. Mark O’Connell and noted that Fr. Mark’s father died a week okay yesterday and his funeral Mass was this past Wednesday. Fr. Mark said it was quite an experience to celebrate the funeral and have so many priests and religious and laypeople come out for the wake and funeral. He said it’s an amazing brotherhood of the priesthood and you experience it when you go through something like that. Fr. Mark’s father was 91 years old and had suffered from Alzheimer’s. Scot said Fr. Mark had described his father as a man who loved his faith and loved learning. He was a university librarian in his career, working at Harvard, York University in Toronto, and Boston College. He retired in 1986 and remained an educator, but pretty much concentrated on his children. He was constantly feeding them articles, poems, and literature, especially to Fr. Mark to use in homilies. So to write a homily for his father was in some ways an extraordinary task, but it was also easy because of the box of clippings he had saved from his father. Fr. Mark said there’s a weird blessing with Alzheimer’s which is that it’s a long goodbye. So much of his father faded away, but love remained. He also talked about how his father was very supportive of his call to the priesthood. He related how they didn’t want him to feel pressured when he first started thinking about it and how he was extremely supportive throughout his priesthood. Fr. Mark related a story of his childhood attending church. They would all site in the same pew, in the same row. It was his job to put the money in the offertory basket. Eventually, he realized that his father gave different amounts each week and his father said he gave more for good homilies. He gave more if the homily was shorter or if the priest had a good story or smiled. He was Fr. Mark’s first professor of homiletics. Scot said it seems Mr. O’Connell wanted priests to be warm and genial and a good storyteller. He related that children see God in the same way they perceive their own father: as a tough, hard-love guy or a tender, loving dad. So it’s important that priests reflect the love, the kindness, and the warmth of God the Father. Fr. Mark said his father throughout his priesthood always asked him if he’d smiled. Scot said Fr. Mark said in his homily that he had always had his Catholic magazines and periodicals to his parents’ house, where his father would read them first, highlight the articles, and tell Fr. Mark what in them he should read. Mr. O’Connell was also a lifelong reader of the New York Times and he was always cutting out articles and sending them to Fr. Mark. He had very eclectic tastes. Scot said Bishop Walter Edyvean said the Archdiocese is tremendously indebted to Thomas O’Connell for building world-class Catholic libraries in Boston for generations who will benefit from his work. 2nd segment: Scot said they will now be discussing the rest of the news of the week after yesterday’s discussion of Disciples in Mission. He said much of the news focuses on the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. As chair of the US bishops’ pro-life activities committee, Cardinal Seán will be prominent in most of the events. Also, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York wrote an open letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo regarding a new bill that would expand abortion access. Dear Governor Cuomo: Congratulations on your third State of the State message earlier today. There is much to cheer in your report, and my brother bishops and I look forward to working with you to advance much of this agenda. In particular, we share your absolute horror at the many incidents of gun violence that have had such a terrible impact on our society, none more so than the unspeakable massacre of 26 innocent children and women at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. We commit ourselves to working with you to address this urgent problem as you look toward meaningful reforms of our gun laws, improvements in care for the mentally ill, and safer schools. Allow me also to single out for praise your continued interest in reforming and improving our state’s health care system, as well as your support for a long-overdue increase in the state’s minimum wage. I am hopeful that real progress can be made in these and other areas that enhance the lives of those who are living below or near the poverty level in our state. Yes, there is much to praise. However, I would be remiss if I did not renew my great disappointment regarding your continued support for the radical Reproductive Health Act. I know that you appreciate the fact that millions of New Yorkers of all faiths, or none at all, share a deep respect for all human life from conception to natural death. I also know that you are aware that New York State’s abortion rate is, incredibly, double the national average. Sadly, nearly 4 in 10 pregnancies statewide end in abortion. In some parts of New York City, the rate is higher than 60 percent, mostly in the impoverished Black and Latino communities. As we have discussed in the past, we obviously disagree on the question of the legality of abortion, but surely we are in equally strong agreement that the abortion rate in New York is tragically high. There was a time when abortion supporters claimed they wanted to make abortion “safe, legal, and rare.” Yet this measure is specifically designed to expand access to abortion, and therefore to increase the abortion rate. I am hard pressed to think of a piece of legislation that is less needed or more harmful than this one. I do hope you will reconsider this position. I stand ready and eager to discuss this or any other matter with you at any time. My brother bishops and I would very much like to work closely with you to reduce New York’s scandalous abortion rate and to provide an environment for all women and girls in which they are not made to feel as though their only alternative is to abort, something which goes against all human instinct, and which all too often leads to lifelong feelings of regret, guilt and pain for them, and for the baby’s father as well. I look forward to discussing all of these issues with you further when I visit Albany on March 19 and 20 for the New York State Catholic Conference’s Catholics at the Capitol event. Wishing you and your family every blessing in the New Year, may I remain Faithfully yours, Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan Scot said we face similar issues in other states and nationally as well. The rhetoric is that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare, but they’re always trying to expand access to abortion. Fr. Mark said it’s a critical time for legislation on abortion. He added that Cardinal Seán has said that the tide is turning on abortion among young people, who are increasingly pro-life. It would be tragic to allow greater access to abortion when clearly there are too many abortions as it is. A recent major poll finds that 83% of Americans support restrictions on abortion and a large percentage want all abortions banned. Fr. Mark said we have 40 years of abad law that is open-ended and doesn’t make distinctions. It’s time for the end. Scot encouraged listeners to consider attending the March for Life on Friday, January 25, if at all possible for this historic anniversary. Hundreds of thousands and up to one million people march from the Capitol to the Supreme Court each year. Fr. Mark said Cardinal Seán loves that the March is like-minded people who aren’t afraid to speak up to this issue. Scot said he’s been to the March once about 15 years ago. Fr. Mark noted that there are similar marches elsewhere in the country including the West Coast Walk for Life on the same weekend. Scot added that Project Rachel retreat opportunities are coming up this spring. Project Rachel is a confidential Catholic outreach ministry offering hope and healing to women and men hurting from past abortions. The dates are Saturday, February 2, 2013; Saturday, March 16, 2013; Saturday, April 6, 2013; 9:00AM – 5:00 PM. ; or call 508-651-3100 Fr. Mark said he is a trained Project Rachel confessor. He said both men and women can receive tremendous healing from this wound in their life. Also in the news, we are approaching the ten year anniversary of Ex Corde Ecclessiae. Fr. Mark O’Connell explained that the Vatican document addressed the relationship of Catholic universities and theologians with their local bishop and diocese. The 1983 Code of Canon Law said Catholic theology professors need to get a mandate from their local bishops in order to teach the faith. Ex corde Ecclessiae in 1993 put that mandate into effect. It also addressed the importance of universities in general. Ten years, the US bishops implemented that document. It was a tense situation where theologians didn’t want to lose their academic freedom and bishops wanted to ensure the integrity of the teaching of the faith. Now ten years later, the bishops are looking back at how the implementation has gone. Scot said his sense is that things got kind of crazy in the 1970s, where some professors teaching at Catholic universities got tenure and were teaching clearly heretical things. Fr. Mark said theologians don’t have the right to publish their opinions as if it were valid Catholic teaching. They can be on the cutting edge of theology, but they have to remain respectful of the Church’s teaching. Fr. Mark said there’s a special responsibility when using the word “Catholic” that you are handing on what is authentically Catholic 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. 1st Reading for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Sunday, January 13, 2013 (Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7) Thus says the LORD: Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations, not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street. a bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench, until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching. I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness. Gospel for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Sunday, January 13, 2013 (Luke 3:15-16, 21-22) The people were filled with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John might be the Christ. John answered them all, saying, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Scot said many people wonder why Jesus had to be baptized. When we are baptized, we have Original Sin washed away and we become part of God’s family. Fr. Mark said it’s not the same baptism we go through. Jesus was baptized in the water by John and the blood of his crucifixion. Jesus was baptized symbolically to mark the beginning of his ministry. Scot said how much it should mean to all of us to hear from God to say to us at the end of our lives, “You are my beloved Son with you I am well pleased.” Fr. Mark said what he takes from this every year is how we can all use a bit more fire in our life, to burn with the Holy Spirit. Scot said this Sunday marks the end of the Christmas season.…
Summary of today’s show: The Archdiocese of Boston unveiled Phase 1 of the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan, including 12 collaboratives of 28 parishes that will be the first to band together in a new arrangement in order to pool resources and work together to bring about the New Evangelization. Scot Landry and Susan Abbott were joined by Fr. Paul Soper, director of Pastoral Planning for the Archdiocese, to discuss the reasons for the initiative, the names and groupings of the first phase, the expected timeline from this point, and makeup of some of these newly announced collaboratives. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Paul Soper, Director of Pastoral Planning for the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Phase 1 of Disciples in Mission 1st segment: Scot Landry said it’s an exciting day in the Archdiocese of Boston, following up an exciting week with the ordination of Bishop Deeley last Friday and the launch of Catholic Faith Essentials. Today, Phase 1 of the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan was launched and it is so significant that we are focusing on that topic instead of our usual news headlines for Thursday. Scot and Susan discussed how long this has been in process. Scot welcomed Fr. Soper to the show. He said Fr. Soper has been busy today being interviewed by the media and then meeting with the Presbyteral Council. A group of people including two pastors from the collaboratives, parishioners, and members of the archdiocesan pastoral planning commission were interviewed by National Public Radio and the Salem News and other news outlets. Fr. Soper said today we announced the list of the Phase 1 collaboratives. He said the first phase is a learning phase. They took 10 percent of the total parishes and took the opportunity to learn from it. There will be 135 collaboratives when they’re done, so they have 12 collaboratives including 28 parishes. Saint Luke and Saint Joseph, Belmont Saint Mary, Saint Margaret, Saint John, Beverly Saint Mary, Saint Theresa, Saint Andrew, Billerica Saint Mary, Brookline (a one-parish collaborative) Saint Mary of the Angels, Roxbury and Saint Thomas and Our Lady of Lourdes, Jamaica Plain Saint Mary and Sacred Heart, Lynn Our Lady of the Assumption and Saint Maria Goretti, Lynnfield Saint Lucy and Saint Monica, Methuen Sacred Heart, Middleboro and Saints Martha and Mary, Lakeville Sacred Heart and Our Lady Help of Christians, Newton Saint James, Saint John, Immaculate Conception, and Sainte Anne, Salem Saint Jerome and Immaculate Conception, Weymouth Fr. Paul said they needed a good sample of parishes to represent the whole archdiocese. In these 12, there are 2 in each region of the archdiocese with 4 in the north region. There’s one single-parish collaborative, one-four parish collaborative, one urban, one rural, six with schools, six without, and of those who do, one has two schools. Several collaboratives are bilingual and two are trilingual. Scot said it’s a diverse mix of big, small, urban, rural, suburban and so on. Fr. Paul said they also didn’t have to reach into the pot of parishes not ready for this mix. They had a significant number of parishes volunteer for phase one. Fr. Paul said he’s pleased with the list because they are places that can embrace the mission of evangelization and because they can embrace the challenges they will face. He doesn’t think they will all have it easy, but he hopes to glean lessons from the future from the challenges they face and he’s confident they will all be successful. Scot said a lot of things need to happen now. He said the current pastors know that being part of Phase 1 is that they will all submit their resignations so Cardinal Seán can select the best pastor for each collaborative. The current pastors can re-apply. Fr. Paul said it’s very hard for the 23 pastors to submit their resignations, even though all of them knew the process. They love the parishes they serve and aren’t eager to leave. At the same time, they put themselves at the service of the Lord. He said the resignations are important because Cardinal Seán needs the freedom to look at each collaborative to decide the priest best fitted to that collaborative to advance the mission of evangelization. Fr. Paul said the priests of the Archdiocese are shining through this process. He hasn’t met a single case of hostility or resentment as he called each of the pastors this past weekend. Scot said the number 12 is significant for Catholics as it is the number of apostles and tribes of Israel. Fr. Paul said they chose 12 intentionally. He said when Jesus called the 12 apostles, he was reconstituting Israel and re-establishing the ancient order of grace. Twelve is putting the people back together. That’s what Disciples in Mission is about. Scot asked when the collaboratives become official. Fr. Paul said they will be formally inaugurated on July 1. Before that they hope the pastors will be assigned by early April. Until then, his office will go out and talk to pastors, parish staffs, parish councils, and the like to begin discussions. The new pastors will be trained in May and June in leadership and evangelization and administrative matters. Catholic Leadership institute will be providing the leadership training. Fr. Paul said most pastors will take their formal duties on June 4, which is called the Spring transfer date. This is usually 10 days after ordination and it’s when most priest re-assignments take place anyway. Susan asked if the parish council dissolves when the pastor resigns. Fr. Paul said the pastors’ resignation becomes effective when the Cardinal accepts the resignation, which could be in June when the new pastor starts. Shortly after June, when the collaborative is formally inaugurated, the responsibility of the pastoral council and finance council will be restructured to be a single council of each type for the whole collaborative. They then discussed where the people on those councils will come from, whether from existing councils or people who are not yet involved. Fr. Paul said the new councils will have to have members from all the parishes in the collaboratives. Scot asked about the parish staff in the new collaboratives. Fr. Paul said nobody is going to go in and just start firing people. There will be hard decisions to make. In most cases, where someone’s job is redundant, there might be space for horizontal movement. So if they only want one religious education director, one of them could become a youth minister or adult faith formation director or something like that. Scot said most pastors don’t have as much staff as they need, but the phase 1 collaboratives have adequate offertory to properly staff the needs of all the parishes, especially where there are economies of scale. Scot said his sense is that we will need more people working in our parishes in the future, especially with lay ecclesial ministers and pastoral associates and directors of religious education. Fr. Paul said in some cases we have been more modularized and maybe the model is to become more generalized in their functions, which is what many are already doing in practice. Susan said she’s heard from parish secretaries and business managers that they’re concerned about their positions. She asked what happens after July 1? Fr. Paul said for most pastors, from the day they’re appointed they will being the process of gathering the staff and the councils. Susan clarified that current staff keep their positions indefinitely until and unless the pastor re-allocates the roles in a pastoral team. Fr. Paul said when Phase 1 is done, they want it to be a case study for the collaboratives in later phases. He said they plan to give the pastors the best support they can. He plans to have a team of people who can go out and provide support. For example, there will be an IT person who can help a pastor bring together all their computer systems or phone systems in the various parishes, providing recommendations for the pastor. If the pastor is okay with the recommendation, then the IT person will take care of everything. Another support person is a human resources person. The offices of the Central Ministries will be providing similar support to the parishes. Scot asked what Fr. Paul says to someone worried about closing parishes. Fr. Paul said Disciples in Mission is about establishing parishes as advancing the goals of evangelization. Closing parishes would be counter-productive as you want a place for people to come to. That said, no one can say no parish will ever close again. If a collaborative determines in its pastoral plan that it does advance evangelization, then that would be considered. It could be that the local collaborative would be the one to say that they think a parish should close in order to use those resources otherwise. Fr. Paul said it would only happen after every other possibility had been tried. 2nd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Arlene Motta from Lynnfield She wins the book by Diane L. Allen. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 3rd segment: Scot said what stands out from the list of collaboratives are the one-parish and the four-parishes. Fr. Paul said they have about a dozen single-parish collaboratives on their list, either because the parish is really large, is alone in a town and standalone, or a has a distinct mission, like St. Ignatius in Chestnut Hill. In some cases, because they’re on the geographic borders of the archdiocese and their neighboring parishes are in other collaboratives. But they will still undergo all the training, form their local pastoral plan, and show how they will re-tool themselves for the mission of the New Evangelization. On the four parish collaborative, Scot said the complexity seems a tougher challenge. Fr. Paul said it emerged from their local experience. He said the parishes had already been meeting collaboratively for several years. About a month ago, the collaborative was struggling with whether to be in Phase 1. At the request of the pastors, Fr. Paul attended an open meeting attended by about 150 people. They talked at length and depth and grappled with the questions. At the end, they took a straw poll and two-thirds said they wanted to be in Phase 1. Scot said there’s a lot of data that the archdiocese captures now and much of that is shared on the Disciples in Mission website. Looking at the data for the Salem collaborative, it looks like it will be busy. They have 14 Masses at the four parishes, five priests assigned, with 2,200 plus attending Mass. They have 460 students in religious education. On the website, there’s also a map of the territories, plus financial information, listing of the buildings, and statistical data. They have 23 years of sacramental data. Fr. Paul said the historical data shows us what growth can look like in these places. It should be possible to get back to the levels we had in 1989. Fr. Paul said these statistics are supportive of the broader national statistics. He said it’s pointed out very well in the book by Sherry Weddell, Forming Intentional Disciples, that it’s adult religious experiences that form religious adults and so it’s adult faith formation that we should be focusing on. Scot and Fr. Paul discussed the listing of buildings in the collaborative and how the collaborative could use those buildings for ministry or to use them for rental income. Fr. Paul said the empty buildings could have great potential to effect the New Evangelization. Fr. Paul encouraged people to go to DisciplesinMission.com to look at the data and remember that we are doing this because Parish Evangelization works, but to do so we need strong parishes. Scot encouraged people to read Fr. Paul’s blog on the website which updates nearly every day.…
Summary of today’s show:The Fellowship of Catholic University Students sends post-college volunteer missionaries out to college campuses around the country to meet young people where they’re at, to make friends and form relationships, and to lead them in discipleship for a lifelong mature faith in Christ. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams are joined by Levi Rash and Emily Cook to talk about their ministry at Boston University, their journeys from their midwestern homes to Boston, and the extensive training they receive from FOCUS to become missionaries of the New Evangelization. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Levi Rash, Emily Cook Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and welcomed Fr. Matt Williams to the show. Fr. Matt talked about his Christmas and New Year. On New Year’s Eve they were at St. Leonard’s in the North End for Adoration and Mass with Cardinal Seán. On this past Sunday night, he was at St. John’s in Canton for a gathering with Confirmation students. Scot noted that earlier today Fr. Mark O’Connell celebrated a funeral Mass for his father who died last week. He said Mr. Thomas O’Connell was a university librarian and was a wonderful Catholic family man. Scot added that funeral liturgies are among the most beautiful liturgies, especially when the congregation prays for the deceased. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Matt welcome Levi Rash and Emily Cook. Levi grew up in Missouri. He went to St. Shelbina in northeast Missouri. Shelbina is a very small farming community of about 1,700. He attended University of Missouri in Kansas City and he faced some of the biggest decisions and challenges in his life. He was fortunate to have FOCUS on campus there. Mass was important to him, but he didn’t know why. And so when he got to campus, one of the FOCUS missionaries spotted him and connected him to the group. In his freshman year he got an invitation to a Bible study and that was the one thing he could do and that was all it took. He later attended a FOCUS conference in Orlando and was challenged to go deeper as a disciple of Christ. Scot explained that FOCUS is an abbreviation for Fellowship of Catholic University Students. Emily grew up in Nebraska and when she got to college, she was looking forward to all that freedom. Luckily, she was immediately surrounded by a Catholic community. For the first few years she attended Mass and lived a surface-level faith, but in her junior year she began to question what she wanted after college. She had been pre-med, but she found it felt empty and so she devoted time to think about why God created her. After that, she met a new FOCUS missionary on campus and that brought her deeper in discipleship. LEvi and Emily talked about creating friendships with FOCUS missionaries who were near them in age. Fr. Matt asked if the strategy of FOCUS is to create relationships with everyone. How do they maintain that many relationships? Levi said they strive to meet students where they are at. They know they can’t stretch themselves thin, despite being available. They follow the plan of working in large group settings and small group settings, but also try to find a handful of four to five young men and women in an intentional discipleship relationship, which is the model of Christ and his apostles. Emily said everyone knows who they are as FOCUS missionaries, but at the same time they are low-key in their approach. It’s about having a relationship, not selling a product to them. Scot said he’s been moved by how much emphasis that FOCUS puts on relationship skill-building. He noted that not only is it the job of missionaries to do that difficult task of evangelizing one-on-one, they have to do their own fundraising to pay their way. Levi said as well as being one of the most challenging things he’s done, it’s also been the most rewarding. By the having conversations with so many people in his life asking for their support, he’s built the relationships he’s had throughout his life into a deeper and greater relationship. Emily talked about the people who were difficult to approach to ask for their support. She had approached a Lutheran family she knew and they grilled her on the Catholic faith. Then a couple days later they called back and told her they would support her in her mission. They told her that they’d never met a Catholic alive in their faith like her. 3rd segment: Scot said he wishes every Catholic could go through the training FOCUS missionaries receive on how to share their faith and answer common objections. Emily said they spent five weeks this past summer at the University of Illinois in Champaign. First and second year missionaries attend and their 3rd and 4th year missionaries come to visit. Emily said she enjoyed Jeff Cavins’ course on the Bible, which basically taught them them Bible in a week. It helped them to synthesize the same stories they heard growing up. Levi said he took a class with Dr. Edward Sri on Scripture and it was quite phenomenal. Scot and Fr. Matt recommended his books very highly. Fr. Matt asked about the importance of Scripture in their work as FOCUS missionaries. Levi said reading Scripture every day is what will bring about the new springtime of faith. To recognize our role in salvation history, we have to recognize it. Emily said anytime we approach the Bible we want to know what God wants to say to me, so they share with college students how to pray with the Bible and to hear God through the Scripture. Scot said there are good videos on FOCUS’s website at . He asked what they experience as missionaries that help them deal with rejection. Levi said you have to turn to God first and allow yourself to be humbled. They learn it a lot at summer training. The teams also come up with particular strategies for their campus. Praying for and with students becomes very individual as well. Emily said the idea is to continue to build relationships with someone, continue to make your faith attractive, and be available for their questions. When the person is won over to Christ, you’ve extended the message of Christ and they accepted it, then you build it with them in their life. Levi said they look for students who are faithful, available, contagious, and teachable. They are people who can be influencers. Of course, you can’t rule out anyone that the Holy Spirit might call. FOCUS discipleship is a committed relationship. It’s not just hanging out, but diving into the resources of the faith so they can start making changes in their lives. Emily said one of the challenges is finding the balance between being stretched to reach students and keeping themselves grounded, developing themselves and friendships outside of FOCUS. Emily said FOCUS works best in a relational standpoint, so they put themselves in students’ lives by joining clubs, intramural teams, craft nights, book clubs, so that you are human and you are enjoying what they are enjoying and win them over slowly. For others who don’t have their training, he recommends people look at the relationships around them now and ask how to go deeper. Look at your family and your co-workers. Look at your parish. FOCUS is starting to see the effects of missionaries and disciples in their parishes. Emily said the BU Catholic Center is a warm and welcoming place to invite students to and to invite them to be part of a community. She said FOCUS often has a connection to Catholic centers on the campuses they serve at. Levi talked about the difference between his year last year at MIT and this year BU and how they have to be adaptable. Emily said as a missionary they have some input on where they go, it’s mainly up to the FOCUS organization and they leave it all in God’s hands. Levi said they just came back from Orlando, Florida, where they spent the past week with 6,000 students from all over the US at a conference. Emily added that if there aren’t FOCUS missionaries on your campus, they have just launched the , which allows students to be led as disciples remotely. 4th segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Arlene Motta from Lynnfield She wins the book by Diane L. Allen. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program.…
Summary of today’s show: The Church needs faithful lay Catholic voices to present the Catholic viewpoint in the media. Catholic Voices USA trains lay Catholics, who are not official spokesmen for the Church, to be media friendly, studio friendly, and ego-free interview subjects and guests on television and radio and in print for journalists covering the neuralgic issues that involve the Church. Whether you aim to stand up for your faith on your local news or at the neighborhood cookout, Catholic Voices USA will be coming to Braintree in March for a weekend of training and Scot Landry talks to Kim Daniels of Catholic Voices USA about the group an its approach. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Kim Daniels Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Catholic Voices USA 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. He asked listeners if they feel called to defend the Church in secular media, at the neighborhood cookout, or even around the dinner table. Catholic Voices USA provides training to Catholics in all walks of life to publicly give witness to the faith. Catholic Voices will be providing training in New England on March 8-10. Kim Daniels is a director of Catholic Voices joining us from Washington DC. She has previously joined us on The Good Catholic Life and was part of the Town Hall for Religious Freedom back in June on WQOM and CatholicTV. Kim said this is an important time for more laity to stand up for the Church. The group began in London ahead of Pope Benedict’s visit to the UK. There had been great hostility to the visit in the media so a group of lay Catholics organized other laity with media training to make a difference in changing popular opinion through interviews on radio, TV, and print. They have taken that model to other countries and they have been in the US since May. Scot said he knows there was some presence in Mexico by CV last spring as well. Scot said CV trains people to be media friendly, studio friendly and ego-free. Kim said first they do not approach journalists as they enemy. Media friendly means to know what will happen in an interview and how to work in a studio. Ego free means that they are flexible and willing to adapt to to the journalists’ needs of the moment. Kim said they see controversy as an opportunity to present the faith. The worse problem is indifference to the Church. Controversy is an opportunity to reframe issues and explain the truth and reality of millions of Catholics who live their faith every day. Scot said many people think the secular media is opposed to the Church more often than not, but it’s usually not the journalist who anti-Church, but that they buy a very secular frame about the Church. It’s our job to understand that secular frame and help change it. Kim said for example the existing secular frame regarding women in the Church and Catholic Voices re-frames the issue that the Church is concerned about women’s equality as well. Another common frame in the area is the vigils in closed parishes and local reporters find it a compelling story to tell the story of the heroic little guy standing up to the Church closing their parish. Scot said he learned that the better way to re-frame is to find the stories of other individuals who bravely and strongly saw the need for what happened and moved to set roots down in a new parish and in a new community. Kim said it’s good to put a human face on the story and in this case to tell the stories of people who have moved on. Scot said to effectively defend the Church you need good tools and techniques, especially with neuralgic issues, i.e. the ones most painful to talk about. Kim said some of the tools are basic debate skills, like thinking in triangles, having three basic issues you keep coming back to. But it’s more important to talk about how you make people feel. Don’t just try to win on the debating points, but capture people’s feelings. 2nd segment: Scot noted that people trained by Catholic Voices don’t speak for the Church, but for their faith. He said sometimes the reason the Church gets bad media coverage is that the Catholics willing to come on are often those with their own agenda they’re trying to push. Kim said CV is a group of Catholics who know and love their faith and stand with the Holy Father and the bishops. She added that they are non-partisan. They’re trying to put their faith in ground-level terms accessible to everyone. Media coverage of issues today often take place in the form of debates, often looking for a heated discussion. Scot said it’s often not the best place for a bishop or priest or religious to be put in that position, but a layperson might be a very effective advocate in that sort of media forum. Kim said it’s about witnessing, not winning. Turn the confrontation into something positive. Answer each point, but remain positive. Scot said he learned from CV that if you want to witness well, find the positive intention the person on the other side has. It can be a tough discipline to go through that process, but if you can relate to the good the other person thinks they’re trying to do, you can begin a conversation that might lead them to understanding what the Church is saying. Kim said they just finished a training in New York City for people who’ve been involved in pro-life work. Abortion is a neuralgic issue. They found that when you look for the positive intentions you find that people are concerned with women in difficult situations and that women have as many choices as men do. Of course, we know that the unborn life is paramount. So when you talk about abortion, you always talk about the mother and baby and the support provide for the mom. That shifts the conversation to women and their needs and the real choices they face and the options they can get from the Church that they don’t get from an abortion clinic. 3rd segment: This is the third time, CV will be offering training. They offered it in DC and NYC last year. Kim said they teach the Catholic Voiced approach and go through practice sessions for radio and television. It’s also wonderful to come together with people who love their faith. They start on a Friday night with an opening prayer time and an opportunity to meet everyone. They start with an emphasis that this is about our faith. On Saturday, they talk about the CV approach and the art of the radio interview and TV interview and how to get your point across in three minutes. They include time for prayer and for fellowship. On Sunday, they give substance on the primary issues, moving people from general knowledge to specifics. Scot asked what newly trained Catholic Voices do to articulate the Church’s teaching. Kim said last May the HHS mandate was very big in the news and it was a big focus of their training. It’s a complicated issue so they equipped them to talk about it. After, CV trainees spoke at rallies around the country, wrote in newspapers and on blogs, and were interviewed on TV and radio. Scot said those who are trained in March will be available to talk about national issues or local issues. If the training occurred last year, the trainees could have been vital in the physician-assisted suicide debate. Kim said they become a resource for Catholic groups looking for people to talk about these issues. CV can also help people get connected with media organizations looking for Catholic voices. Scot said there are 16 open spots in March. He asked what characteristics they’re looking for. Kim said they get many, many applications. They look for someone on fire for their faith who’s looking for a little bit of help to make that last step. There’s often a tendency that they have to look like a Fox News anchor, but she said it’s about being authentic. The single most important factor for being an effective communicator was their authenticity. They do hope that people will have a certain level of understanding of their faith, but not to be subject matter experts. Scot said the participants don’t have to have had any media experience before, and in fact some of the most persuasive in the practice interviews were people who had never done this. Scot said the application deadline is January 31, but they have rolling applications so it’s helpful to get it in early. The applications are on their website, along with their blog in which they write about issues in the media every day. 4th segment: Scot said now they will go through one issue to illustrate the Catholic Voices approach. He asked her the most common secular frame to the Affordable Care Act/HHS mandate issue. She said the secular frame is that the government is trying to increase women’s access to contraception, which is sen as good, by having employers pay for it and anyone opposed is against women. They say the Church is trying to impose its views on the American public. But the case is that the government is trying to impose its voices on the Church. The government is trying to violate Catholics’ most deeply held religious beliefs. Scot said if this is a pro-woman law, and we counter this frame, then the Church is saying it’s bigger than being pro-woman, but is about the issue of the Church being able to define what is religious activity and what it means to live our faith. We have to avoid getting pulled into the debate whether we’re pro- or anti-woman. Kim said women are some of the most valuable voices for the Church. They also frame this as hurting the poor because they will be the ones hurt by the lost jobs and wages from business being forced to pay these increased costs. The positive intention of the other side is that they want to help women in need. That’s why we respond that we want to help those in need because this mandate hurts the poor and those who serve them the most. We also point to how this mandate affects conscientious objection and religious belief. Scot said CV also emphasizes the need to limit yourself to the top three points of rebuttal. The first is hurting the poor. The second is that this isn’t a political issue. The third is that the government is imposing its views on people of faith. Scot said the group most persuasive at shifting opinion have been laypeople like Kim who are easy to relate to. Catholic Voices has a set of principles they work by. Look for the positive intention behind the criticism. Shed light, not heat. People won’t remember what you said as much as how you made them feel. Show, don’t tell. Think in triangles. Be positive. Be compassionate. Check your facts, but avoid robotics. It’s not about you. Witnessing, not winning. The second is to shed more light than heat. Don’t come in like an invasion, but to provide a convincing and attractive alternative to the secular frame. The third is that people will longer remember how you feel than what you said. The fourth is to show, don’t tell. For example, to give solid examples of how crisis pregnancy centers work with compassion compared to the cold abortion clinics. The sixth is being positive. We have to be talk about what the Church is for, not just what she is against. The seventh is being compassionate; by engaging people in a loving way even in a vociferous debate. Kim said you have to recognize when talking with people that what’s most important is being a good listener. The ninth is that it’s not about you. Kim said anytime we are out of our comfort zone, we need to remember that people are not focused on us, but on the message that we’re bringing and so to be prepared. The final is witnessing, not winning. Kim said this is the one that is most important. We need to remember that it’s about showing people what it is to be a faithful Catholic, remembering we’re talking to another person.…
1 Program #0442 for Friday, January 4 2013: Ordination of Bishop Robert Deeley 3:23:43
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3:23:43This past Friday brought a special and joyous occasion to the Archdiocese of Boston - the ordination of a new auxiliary bishop, Bishop Robert Deeley. The Good Catholic Life provided live coverage of the ordination and hosted the show live from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Below is the full audio of the ordination, as well as links to more information about Bishop Deeley and a full video stream provided by our friends at CatholicTV. We all thank God for the blessing of Bishop Deeley to our Archdiocese! Watch the Ordination via CatholicTV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Dqmyt2fx4 More information on Bishop Deeley: Bishop Deeley's Remarks at the Ordination Forty years ago, on the day I was ordained to the priesthood, July 14, 1973, it was a very hot day, about 95˚. At the end of the ceremony, done in my home parish, Sacred Heart in Watertown, and, of course, without air conditioning, Cardinal Medeiros, our kindly and saintly Archbishop at the time, told me that he had never done a ceremony in such heat. I guess I get the extremes! We go from one ordination on a hot July day to a wintry blast of air on a cold January day. My heart is full today. There is so much to take in. I have tried as I was told to listen and to participate in the ceremony. And now, in these brief words, I want to offer a word of thanks. I offer thanks to Almighty God, who has blessed me in life with abundant gifts and called me, by faith, to baptism, and to the sacred priesthood, an honor and grace I have treasured for these forty years. Today I am grateful for this call to the episcopate, to the fullness of the sacrament of priesthood, and to greater service to God’s people. I am grateful that I have been able to live out my priesthood within the Church, our Mother and Guide in teaching and a way of life. I thank you, Archbishop Vigano, for your presence here today. You represent for us our holy and dedicated servant, Pope Benedict XVI, the principal of unity who gathers us in the Lord as Church, and shepherds us with a heart which proclaims the love of Jesus Christ with great joy. I thank as well all the bishops who have come to share this day with us. Cardinal William Levada, I am honored you have come to be with us. You and all the bishops represent something valuable which we know well. The communion of the Church begins with the communion of the bishops in support of one another in fidelity to the Holy Father. I thank you all for your presence. Archbishop John Nienstedt and Bishop Robert Evans have been my co-consecrators with Cardinal Seán. We journeyed to priesthood together in seminary and have celebrated with our other classmates the beginning of this 40th year anniversary. I might single out one other, Bishop Charles Scicluna, Auxiliary of Malta. He is the newest ordained, November 24, 2012, and has come the farthest. Thank you all for your presence. It is in this great Archdiocese of Boston that I have been privileged to serve as a priest. I thank you, Cardinal Seán, certainly for ordaining me today, and for the meaningful words of your homily, but also for the leadership you give us, as we move forward in the beautiful work of evangelization. I am grateful for the priests of Boston who join us today, and to all our priests who daily bring the person of Jesus to the people they serve. I am grateful for the presence of all the other priests, my classmates and friends from different places and different ministries. It is a great ministry we are privileged to share. Please God, there will be young men among us who will come and join us in this joyful work of the Lord. Our readings today were proclaimed by two religious women, Sr. Zita Fleming, one of my teachers “a few years ago”. She is of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, whose sisters and schools educated me for life, and Sr. Ella Christian of the Grey Nuns of Montreal, where I was chaplain for 11 wonderful years. Thank you for what you have done for me, for your participation, and the participation of all the religious here today. Your witness of life is a constant reminder to us of our common call to holiness. Throughout my life my family has been, for me, a tremendous gift and a valued source of companionship. With my beloved parents, who are present with us in spirit, my brothers and I were blessed with a faith-filled home. Though Fr. Kevin and I rejoice in the gift we share as brother priests, our family has expanded with the marriages of my other brothers, and the birth of my niece and nephews, and now a whole new generation of grand nieces and nephews. I am grateful as well today for the extended family which joins us today, cousins from Ireland, California, and many places in between. It would be hard to imagine my life without my family. It continues to be a source of great mutual blessing for all of us. Thank you for your support and your presence. Thank you to all today who are here, my friends and co-workers, parishioners from the places where I have ministered, and people with whom I have served on committees, boards and organizations, too numerous to mention. Thank you to all who have organized these events, and guided me through this beautiful ceremony. Fr. Jonathan Gaspar has chaired the Committee which did all the work, and Fr. Kevin O’Leary and the Staff of the Cathedral have arranged a beautiful Church for us to celebrate in. Leo Abbot has gathered a beautiful choir to lead us in song. I am grateful to all for the tremendous work that was involved in doing all this in a short time. Thank you! A few days ago I found on my desk a package of letters from some school children at one of our schools, South Boston Catholic Academy. They were sent to wish me a Merry Christmas and congratulate me on my new job. A number of those letters contained a similar message to that of Maxwell who wrote, “We are praying for you. Please pray for us.” I think that sums it up. That is what we are called to do for one another as Church. Pray for each other. Another unsigned note stated “Working for Jesus must be a plesher”. Well, truth to tell, it is. What you and I must do, in addition to praying for each other is share that pleasure, which we see as the joy we find in Jesus Christ. Pray, then for me, as I do for you, that we might be counted among those “living the truth in love”, helping others, through our lives to come to know Jesus, whose coming among us as a sign of God’s love we celebrate in these days of Christmas. God bless you all. And thank you.…
1 Program #0440 for Thursday, January 3 2012: Boston priest promotions, Bishop-Elect Deeley's Ordination 56:25
Our show notes today are briefer than usual because our usual transcriptionist, Dom Bettinelli, and his wife Melanie were blessed with a newborn baby girl, Lucia Rose this afternoon! We all thank God for this beautiful new addition to our radio family. May He bless her with His grace and with good health for years to come. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, Fr Roger Landry 1st segment: Fr Robert Oliver was appointed by the Holy Father at the end of last month to a new post as the Promoter of Justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This new post is similar to a prosecuting attorney in a civil court, and oversees monitoring and investigating cases of priests accused of sex abuse among other cases. Fr Oliver is a member of the and succeeds Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna of Malta. Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley announced Dec. 28 that Pope Benedict XVI has conferred the Title of Prelate of Honor on the Very Reverend Arthur M. Coyle, V. E. This honor, the second of three ranks of monsignor within the Church, recognizes Monsignor Coyle's achievements during the course of thirty-five years of ordained ministry. 2nd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is John Perna from Waltham. He wins selected and edited by Diane Allen. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 3rd segment: Scot, Susan, Greg and Fr Roger discussed the upcoming ordination to the Episcopate of Bishop-Elect Robert Deeley. The ordination will take place tomorrow, January 4th, at 2pm at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Tune in to or for live broadcasts of the ordination.…
Summary of today’s show: The study and contemplation of Scripture among Catholics has made steady progress in recent decades, but Prof. Stephen Fahrig tells Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor, recording on location at St. John’s Seminary, that Catholics can learn to appreciate the Bible even more. They discuss the five facts every Catholic should know about the Bible; what it means for it to be divinely inspired; how to pray using the Scriptures; and what resources Catholics can use in their study of the Bible. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Prof. Stephen Fahrig, professor of Sacred Scripture Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Catholics and Scripture 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Chris O’Connor to the show, recording on location at St. John Seminary in Brighton. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Steve Fahrig to the show. They discussed Steve’s advanced study in the Scriptures at Boston College and Scot asked him where his love for the Scriptures blossomed that encouraged him to study it at a high level. He said it began when he was in college when his own faith began to grow. He read the Bible from front to back over the course of three months, even though he doesn’t really recommend doing that to others. Instead he recommends people to start reading the Gospels, then the Acts of the Apostles. The Psalms are excellent for daily prayer. Then they can go back and sample the narrative parts of the Old Testament, including Genesis and the first half of Exodus, some of the historical books and the prophets, especially Isaiah. Fr. Chris asked him what his favorite Gospel is. He said if he had to choose it would be Luke, because he writes with great sensitivity and because some stories appear there that aren’t in the others, like the infancy narratives, the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan. John stands alone and apart from the other Gospels. The Gospel presents a much more divine Jesus. In others, we get more of Jesus’ humanity, whereas John retrojects the Risen Christ back into Christ’s ministry. When Jesus performs a miracle and then spends time explaining the miracle. In the other Gospels, we get short pithy sayings, whereas Jesus is much more voluble. They also note that there’s no infancy narrative, but the Christmas Day Masses include John’s beginning of the Gospel. Fr. Chris asked the five facts every Catholic should know about the Bible. Steve said he just wished every Catholic knew the Bible. They should know the overarching narrative. That said, Catholic should know that we as believing Catholics don’t read it from a fundamentalist perspective; as if every word is literally true. There’s a difference between truth and historicity. There are many forms of writing in the Bible, many types of literary genres, including parables and other stories, which are true, but not historical. Scot asked about the other genres. Steve said that’s point number two: there are many literary genres in the Bible. There is historical writing, letters, prophecy which includes poetic oracles and is not primarily about predicting the future but speaking the word of God about current issues. Apocalyptic genre, like Revelation and Daniel, are often misunderstood. It was a common genre at Jesus time. It was a way of speaking in symbol about present reality, especially persecution, encouraging people to remain faithful to God and have hope in him. He said there’s a theory that it was written in code so that if it fell into the hands of the persecutors, they wouldn’t be able to understand it. Another example is poetry, like the Psalms, which were meant to be sung in liturgy. The third point is that there’s an intrinsic relationship between the Bible and liturgy. He said much of the Bible was written to be read aloud when the community came together to pray. Paul’s Letters were written to communities he founded and he asked that they be read out loud when they assemble for worship. This isn’t unlike when Cardinal Seán asks a video to be played in all parishes. The Gospels were shaped for liturgical proclamation. Scot noted that so many of the prayers besides the readings come directly from Scripture. Steve said there’s a story from Scott Hahn in which he said the first time he attended Mass he was amazed at how much of the Mass came from the Bible he knew. With the new translation of the Roman Missal that has become even clearer. Point four is that the Bible is a collection of 73 different writings composed over a period of 1,000 years for people in very different circumstances. Thus point five, we have to keep in mind the big picture. Looking at the whole, we see the story of God’s plan to bring about the salvation of the human race. Creation is like a six-act play: creation, fall of Adam and Eve, God choosing Israel, the coming of the Savior and his death and resurrection, the life of the Church, and finally the return of Christ. Steve said our ultimate destiny according to the Scripture is that God will remake this universe he has created so that heaven and earth are united. Fr. Chris asked about divine inspiration. Steve referred to Rembrandt’s Inspiration of St. Matthew and said it communicates both a great truth and a falsehood. The truth is that God chose particular authors and worked through them to put things into writing that are necessary for our salvation. At the same time, God made full use of the human authors and their own voice comes through clearly. St. Paul once refers to the stupid Galatians, for instance. Divine inspiration communicates divine truth. Scot asked if the Old Testament and the New Testament are equally divinely inspired. Steve said the Church doesn’t make a distinction. All parts of Scripture are both inspired and canonical. The Church does state that certain elements in the Old Testament are temporary and incomplete. For example, the Mosaic Law’s dietary restrictions. Steve also noted that for much of their history, the Israelites did not believe in life after death, which is why you can just wrench Biblical verses out of context. Scot asked what percentage of the Bible would we hear from going to Mass every day and is the Church saying those are the essential texts we need to know. Steve said he guesses that the person would be exposed to about 60% of the Scriptures. If you add the Liturgy of the Hours, that would grow to 80 to 85%. He encourages a lectionary spirituality, prayer life based on daily readings. He said it’s always to go back from the lectionary to the same text in the Bible to read those verses that might not have been included. Fr. Chris asked how people can pray using the Scriptures. Steve said there are several approaches, but he does recommend the lectionary approach. The daily Mass readings are a good way to start. Another approach would be to start with one book. For instance during Advent, to read the infancy narratives in the Gospels and look at how each one offers a part of the Nativity story. One could also pray with the Psalms, which one of his professors call Hallmark cards to God: readymade prayers to which you can add some words. There’s a whole range of Psalms for all different needs. He said one could also pray a scriptural rosary. Before each decade you read the Scripture connected to the mystery being contemplated in that decade. Scot asked when you receive Scripture by yourself, what resources would he recommend to help answer questions and guide the reading. Steve said some aspects of the Bible are easily accessible, but other books can very confusing. He said it’s good to have a study Bible. He recommends the Little Rock Catholic Study Bible. He said the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible has a very good New Testament. For the Old Testament, the Navarre Bible is very good, combining good historical information along with reflections from the saints, church fathers, and popes. Fr. Chris asked for a demonstration of the way of praying with the lectionary. He said you have to prepared to not just to get through everything. One way of doing this is lectio divina, divine reading. You take a passage and read through it a few times, identifying words or phrases that jump out to you and then going to prayer and asking God what it has to say for you. He used the Sunday reading from the Book of Jeremiah as an example. Another possibility is Ignatian contemplation where one imagines oneself inside the Biblical story. Imagine what you would be like as different people in each scene. But once you hit upon something in which God is speaking to you, there’s no need to go on as if you need to complete a set amount of reading. Fr. Chris asked about St. Paul. Steve said Paul began as a Pharisee, who went from being a persecutor of the Church to being an advocate of Christ. He resists the idea that Paul was an evil person, because he was himself a devout Jew. It was only when the revelation of Jesus broke through that he was able to see the truth. Steve said in many ways St. Paul was the founder of the Christian church beyond the confines of Palestine. If someone wanted to start with St. Paul, he recommends 1st Corinthians, in which he deals with moral and ethical issues. His favorite is the shortest, the Letter to Philemon, where he’s urging Philemon to set his slave free and liberate. Romans is Paul’s theological masterpiece and that’s one of those where you’d need a guide to understand some of the more complex theological ideas. As to his favorite Scripture passage if Isaiah 43:1-7 in terms of realizing that he’s a person created and loved by God. God says that there “you are precious in my eyes and honored and I love you.” Just as God said it to the people of Israel, he says it to us today. Steve said his particular interest in Scripture is the relation between the Bible and liturgy. He said he believes that Hebrews contains veiled references to the Eucharist, which is a minority belief among scholars. When he wrote his thesis for the Licentiate in Sacred Theology, one of his readers disagreed with his interpretation of Hebrews so he decided that would be a good topic for his dissertation. Many people think Hebrews was written by St. Paul, but that’s almost universally rejected by Scripture scholars. There are several clues that Paul didn’t write, like the style of Greek and his reference to others being apostles. But they just don’t know who wrote it.…
Summary of today’s show: On our last show before Christmas, Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell count down the top 10 Christmas hymns, according to Scot. Some on the list are expected, others are unexpected, and some cause a little good-humored arguments over the relative ranking of particular favorites. Also we hear the world premiere of Cardinal Seán’s Christmas message that will be played worldwide on Vatican Radio on Christmas Day. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM Cap, Archbishop of Boston Today’s topics: Countdown of the Top 10 Christmas Hymns 1st segment: Scot Landry said this our last live show from the studio this calendar year and our last show before Christmas. Fr. Mark O’Connell said he is especially glad that the world didn’t end today. Scot said Cardinal Sean recorded a Christmas message that will be played worldwide on Vatican Radio. We hear the first broadcast today. Cardinal Seán referred to the starry night and the angels bringing the message of God to the shepherds. The shepherds went in haste to Jesus, Mary and Joseph and went forth giving praise and glory to God. He asked what if the people didn’t believe and didn’t share the news? But they did believe and we celebrate that the Word of God became Man among us. In too many ways the darkness threatens to overshadow us. The Light of Christ shines through the darkness and sustains us in our most difficult moment. We must share our faith with those around us. We must work to dispel the darkness and help one another live lives called to holiness. Fr. Mark said the message from Cardinal Seán is to share the faith especially in this Year of Faith. Scot said when we receive the Good News, our call is to take that Good News and share it with everybody. God allows us to participate in His plan for salvation. To whom much is given, much is expected. If we’ve been blessed with good Catholic formation, we are obligated to pass it on to others. On today’s show, we’re going to countdown the top 10 Christmas hymns as determined by Scot. 10. Angels We Have Heard on High Come to Bethlehem and see Him whose birth the angels sing; Come, adore on bended knee Christ, the Lord, the newborn King. Gloria in excelsis Deo, in excelsis Deo Scot said other than the Gloria, there isn’t anything tremendously memorable about this song. Rick Heil said this is the song that separate the men from the boys in the choir because of the need for good breath control. Scot said Number 9 wasn’t one he’d heard as a child growing up in Lowell. He said it’s popular at the Archdiocesan Boy’s Choir School and among others and it’s recently become one of his favorites. 9. Once in Royal David’s City He came down to earth from heaven, Who is God and Lord of all, And His shelter was a stable, And His cradle was a stall; With the poor, and mean, and lowly, Lived on earth our Saviour holy. Scot said it’s a beautiful poem set to a beautiful melody. Fr. Mark said it’s a song he’d forgotten about but he does love it. Number 8 is a classic Scot has heard most of his life. 8. What Child Is This? Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, The Cross be borne for me, for you; Hail, hail, the Word made flesh, The Babe, the Son of Mary. Scot loves the part in which they say “this, this is Christ the King.” Fr. Mark said it makes him recall the carolers coming to his house as he was growing up. Rick said when he was in a choir, it usually came later in the program because it was so contemplative. Scot thinks number 7 will be controversial because most will think it should be number 1. 7. Silent Night Silent night! Holy night! Son of God, love’s pure light Radiant beams from thy holy face, With the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus, Lord, at thy birth Scot said the only reason this is number 7 for him is because it always made him sleepy on Christmas Eve. Fr. Mark said it might have been played too much. He said he’s heard a nice version by Christina Aguilera when she was 11 years old. Rick said he used to sing it in German. He said it’s one of the first Christmas songs you learn, but learning to sing it in German gave him a newfound respect for it. And because it’s slower, he loves it. Fr. Mark says it should be higher on the list and the next song doesn’t beat it. Scot said that’s makes this fun. Scot thinks Number 6 could be some people’s number 1. He thinks every Catholic parish sings this next one on Christmas Day. 6. Joy to the World Joy to the world! the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare him room, And heav’n and nature sing, Joy to the earth! the Saviour reigns; Let men their songs employ, While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat the sounding joy. Fr. Mark said it’s often sung at the end of Mass. People are joyful, all dressed up and greeting one another. It’s a great way to celebrate Christmas. Rick said it’s one of the songs that the congregation knows by heart and sings heartily. Scot said Number 5 wouldn’t have made his top 10 in the past week, but since then 4 people he respects have said this is their favorite Christmas hymn and it made him reconsider it. 5. Lo, How a Rose E’Er Blooming To show God’s love aright She bore to men a Saviour, When half spent was the night. This flower, whose fragrance tender With sweetness fills the air, Dispels with glorious splendor The darkness everywhere. True man, yet very God, From sin and death He saves us And lightens every load. Scot said it’s one of the most beautiful harmonies he’s heard in church. Fr. Mark said it’s a beautiful song for a choir and so fun for them to sing. Rick said he agrees with Scot’s placement of the song on his list. Scot said there’s a lot of spiritual richness in the lyrics that are concrete and it all comes together in a way you may not expect. Fr. Mark said this was Number 3 on his list. Number 4 is one of Scot’s favorites to sing in church. This was his favorite performed by the Archdiocesan Boys Choir School, where his son goes. 4. Hark, the Herald Angels Sing Veiled in flesh the God head see! Hail, th’ incarnate Deity! Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel. Scot said there’s no doubt this could be Number 1. Fr. Mark said people could take this as a Christmas prayer and there’s so many profound thoughts in all of these songs. Scot said one of the things he loves about this is that people sing it loud. It’s something to participate in the Christmas Mass by amping up your volume to 10. Rick said this is another one of those congregation songs, that everyone sings, and it’s a good classic. He enjoyed it as a closing hymn. Scot said ranking the top 3 was tough for him. The next one was number 1 for a while. 3. O Come All Ye Faithful ‘Glory to God In the highest’; Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, Born this happy morning; Jesus, to Thee be glory given; Scot said this has been the opening hymn for 33 of the past 35 years of Christmas he remembers. Fr. Mark said this is the first of this list that he sang to himself here because it’s so familiar. Scot said it’s an appropriate song for the entire year. We come to Mass every week to worship God and adore Him at that altar. Fr. Mark said because Mass is so full at Christmas, hearing this song at full volume tells you that this is Christmas. Now cutting to Fr. Mark’s Top 4. His Number 4 is different. It’s personal and it’s favorite because of the story connected to it. Fr. Mark’s Number 4: Elvis Presley’s “Blue Christmas” Fr. Mark said it’s number 4 because when he was a young teenager and his father was very sick in the hospital and there was a huge snowstorm at Christmas, they couldn’t have a tree. But the storm was so violent it knocked the top off their blue spruce tree which they brought into their house. The song symbolizes how Christ brings hope to those who are sad at Christmas. Fr. Mark’s Number 3: In the Bleak Midwinter Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain; heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign. In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed the Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ. What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; if I were a Wise Man, I would do my part; yet what I can I give him: give my heart. Scot said he’d never heard the song before. It would be wonderful as a Communion meditation. Fr. Mark said his number one matches Scot’s and Scot said Cardinal Seán agreed. He said his Number 2 is probably not in most people’s top 10. It’s also one of his favorite hymns of all time. 2. Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand; ponder nothing earthly-minded, for with blessing in his hand, Christ our God to earth descendeth, our full homage to demand. Scot said he loves the lyrics and he said it rocks on the organ, the bigger the pipes the better. Fr. Mark said he would rank this one a lot lower on his list. Rick said it’s not a difficult song to sing, but it’s a very good reflective song. You can sing it to yourself and meditate on it. Scot said the theme of knowing God was taking on flesh that we should approach that mystery in silence with awe. And now Scot’s, Fr. Mark’s, Cardinal Seán’s favorite Christmas hymn. This version is the one recorded by Josh Groban. 1. O Holy Night Long lay the world, in sin and error pining, Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth; Fall on your knees, O hear the angels voices! O night divine, O night when Christ was born!…
1 TGCL #0438: Newtown, CT; Catholic Faith Essentials; Missionary Childhood Association; Catholic Voices USA; Preparing for Christmas 56:31
Summary of today’s show: Our usual thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry consider the news headlines of the week, including the Catholic response to the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut; the beginning of a new online faith formation course for the Year of Faith called Catholic Faith Essentials; local children winning a national artwork competition for the Missionary Childhood Association; Catholic Voices USA training in Boston for media evangelization; Women Affirming Life Advent breakfast; an award for My Brother’s Keeper; restoring a 100-year-old organ; and preparing for Christmas. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Newtown, CT; Catholic Faith Essentials; Missionary Childhood Association; Catholic Voices USA; Preparing for Christmas 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and announced that next week we’ll be running “best of” shows next week while the staff takes some time off. This afternoon, Cardinal Seán is celebrating a Mass for the staff of the Pastoral Center. The Pilot is taking a hiatus next week as well, but also preparing for the ordination of Bishop Deeley as they come back with a 50-page special edition. The ordination Mass is Friday, January 4 at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Fr. Roger Landry said there’s a new venerable in the Church that many will know. Pope Paul VI has been declared venerable, meaning that after a lengthy study of his entire life, he has been declared to have lived Christian virtues to a high degree. Pope Paul led the Church through a very difficult time in society and in the life of the Church with all the upheaval of the Sixties and Seventies. In 500 or 1,000 years, what Paul VI wrote in Humanae Vitae will continue to be revered as preaching an important truth that was proclaimed heroically out of season. Scot said his primary memory of Pope Paul VI was hearing of his death from his parents. Susan said she has more memories of the Pope, of traveling to Rome during a Holy Year and going to an audience with the Pope. As the Pope came in, her son was lifted up to the Pope who blessed and kissed the child. Her son later wrote about the sense of importance attached to that moment for the rest of his life. After the audience, people crowded around to kiss the boy’s head. Scot said if miracles are attributed to the intercessory prayers to Paul VI he could be then beatified and canonized. One miracle is already being evaluated for his beatification. Fr. Roger encouraged listeners to ask the Lord specifically through the intercession of Venerable Paul VI for any needs they might have. Scot said the big news across the country is the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, last Friday. The coverage in Catholic news is slightly different, with focus on the Church’s response. Scot said this could have been any community near us. It was not at all unusual. Cardinal Seán preached about this at all of his Masses last weekend. Greg said it reminded him a little of 9/11 in how it shocked and shook people. Like 9/11 people are turning to their faith for answers to this senseless violence. The story in the Pilot was about the Mass at 11:30 that was scheduled for the Rite of Blessing of the Child in the Womb. He tied together the horror people felt, calling for a ban on assault weapons, calling for improved mental health care. He recalled the Feast of the Holy Innocents and how in this time of joy of Christmas there was also a great sadness of the loss of the innocents in Bethlehem. Scot said in the face of this madness, everyone wants to do something. One of our young Catholics in this Archdiocese, a young woman who was just confirmed in Needham, organized one of the largest candlelight vigils in the area. Jackie Arrondo, 16, of St. Joseph Parish wanted to do something. She rallied support from everywhere in town and 70 people came despite the cold rain that evening. Susan also said she heard from a friend who sent out emails to her friends, asking everyone to pray daily for one of the victims and their family. Scot said one of the faces of the Church’s response has been Msgr. Bob Weiss, pastor of St. Rose of Lima parish in Newtown. Fr. Roger said you could see the graces of his priestly ordination working through him. No one is ever trained for this as a priest. He had been clear that there are no magic words in a time like this. Just being present to someone, they show that God is with those in pain. Only God can give the definitive answer. The second thing way he proclaimed was by his tears. He broke down on national television and its important for everyone to see that we Christians grieve, but we grieve differently. We don’t grieve as if there is no hope. We had tremendous confidence in the salvation of these first-graders. Many of the parents have also given witness to their Christian faith. Fr. Roger said he changed his own homilies this past weekend to confront this reality because it’s on everyone’s mind. He tried to say that the one who mourns most is the One who lost 28 children that day, but that’s not where God the Father stops. He had sent His own Son into a world that was even worse than ours, even more violent. A man could kill his own family or his slaves for any reason. Herod could slaughter all the children legally. But Jesus came into that world and redeemed and over the course of time, we have built a culture on the Prince of Peace, a culture that respects other human beings. the most important thing we need to recognize that our culture needs God and that’s the biggest thing we need to change. Fr. Roger said he was happy at the interfaith prayer service that President Obama spoke at that no one was ashamed to turn to God. Scot said most of the opinion pieces in the Pilot deal with this and Scot said John Garvey’s is one of the best. Greg said Garvey says that we’ve devalued human life and in the end we’re reaping what we’ve sown. He writes about what all these recent mass murderers have in common including a lack of love and hope. Jesus gives us love and hope. It’s not inconsequential then when people tell us to keep our faith out of the public square. I think we won’t make real headway with the problem unless we change the culture, and that is a job for us, not for the government or the psychiatric profession. The culture that young men grow up in is one where violence is not just present but glamorized. At the national and corporate levels we see unjust wars and the arms trade. At the state level, capital punishment. At the individual level we give constitutional protection to abortion, to video games that simulate assault and murder, and in some places to assisted suicide. We teach our children that they are autonomous moral actors, responsible for defining their values. This produces a culture where the strong decide the fate of the weak. Then when something like this happens we want the government to protect us from the natural consequences of our own folly. When Cain killed Abel, he tried to deflect the Lord’s inquiry by suggesting that we are each in charge of our own affairs: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” We have to relearn Cain’s lesson. Yes, I am my brother’s keeper. All life is sacred. We must teach our children habits of virtue, not leave them to chart their own course through the moral life. 2nd segment: In the Pilot this week, we learn that the Archdiocese of Boston is beginning an online faith formation course starting on January 7 and continuing for 30 Monday nights in total. People can participate in their own homes or as groups in parishes. They will be webcast live at 7pm on Mondays or viewers can watch the recordings at their convenience. r. Roger said online learning is becoming more popular and he’s thrilled that the Archdiocese of Boston is piloting a program like this. Especially in this year of Faith when we’re all called to live our faith better. Fr. Roger hopes to encourage his own parishioners to participate. It’s not just for Catholics in the Archdiocese or Massachusetts or even the US. We could have people throughout the English-speaking parts of the world because there aren’t similar offerings. Scot said this is free and he hopes that people from everywhere will participate. Also in the Pilot, the Women Affirming Life Advent breakfast took place on December 15. Susan said it was right after the Newtown shooting and it affected all those there. More than 300 people attended. She said it was good for them to be together for Mass and breakfast, especially in the busy-ness of Advent. The Cardinal spoke about it in his homily and also spoke about a woman in the Midwest who’d had quintuplets in the early 1960s and gained some fame for her openness to life who recently died. She said Msgr. James Moroney also addressed the group and offered a gentle wit and great insight and comforting words. Another story in the Pilot is a story about two local grade-school students who won a national artwork contest for Christmas. They do this contest every year and the winners go to Washington, DC, for a Mass in the Basilica. There are 24 winners nationwide and having two from Boston is a big deal. Dominic Udoakang, grade 4, from Cathedral Elementary School in Boston and Jacinta Jaranja, grade 4, from St. Patrick School in Lowell, were the winners. Also in the Pilot, Catholic Voices USA will hold training for laypeople in the Pastoral Center at the beginning of March. Fr. Roger said it prepares bright, young Catholics to be defenders of the Church and her teachings in the media in particular. The group has already had an impact during the HHS mandate debates. Young people throughout New England will be trained to become good evangelizers. It’s not just goodwill and knowledge, but technique is also important for being effective. The training isn’t just for TV and radio appearances, but also for people engaging family members, friends, and local newspapers. They will learn how to frame issues and help people according to their own categories to come to the truth. Scot said they’ve already done trainings in Washington, DC, and New York. They’ve had hundreds of applications for the limited number of spots so Scot encouraged people to apply early. Also in the Pilot are two groups advancing toward ordination as Permanent Deacons. Greg said Cardinal Seán has been supportive of the ministry of permanent deacons in the Archdiocese. In recent years, ordinations have increased from every two years to annual. He said the Pilot is working with the Office of Permanent Deacons to give more visibility to the ministry of deacons. The 11 men who became acolytes are John D. Barry; John H. Beagan. Jr.; John J. Burkly; Paul G. Coletti; Richard J. Cussen; Timothy F. Donohue; Joseph R. Flocco; Joseph P. Harrington; William M. Jackson: Kevin P. Martin, Jr.; and William R. Proulx. The 10 men entering formation, and their home parishes, are: Timothy Booker, St. Bridget Parish (Abington); Paul Carroll, St. Theresa of Lisieux Parish (Sherborn); Joseph Dorlus, St. Angela Parish (Mattapan); James Kearney, St. Mary Parish (Wrentham); Kelley McCormick, St. Mary of the Assumption Parish (Dedham); Jonathan Mosely. St. Bernadette Parish (Randolph); Charles Rossignol, Immaculate Conception Parish (Marlborough); Jose Torres, St. Benedict Parish (Somerville); Roger Vierra, St. Helen Parish (Norwell): and Thomas Walsh, St. William Parish (Tewksbury). Scot said our friends from My Brother’s Keeper, Jim and Terry Orcutt, have won a national award from Holy Cross Family Ministries. Also in the Anchor is a great story from St. Anthony in New Bedford about efforts to raise funds for their 100-year-old organ. Fr. Roger said some of the greatest organists in the country have given concerts there on this organ which is a masterpiece. Restoring an organ means all the wooden and leather parts which corrode over time need to be replaced. He said we can’t depend only on the poor people who live in inner-city New Bedford to pick up the whole cost. Also in both newspapers is a lot of information about preparing for the last week of Advent and Christmas. Scot asked Susan about her preparations for Christmas. She said she tells herself that Jesus will come whether we are ready or not. Susan said she was in a store recently and was appalled at what is being sold for Christmas cards. She wishes we could all remember the reason for the season. She couldn’t find a single box of Christmas cards with a religious theme. Scot said he’s noticed a lot of his Catholic friends have started sending cards that said Season’s Greetings or Happy Holidays, but this year almost all of the cards he’s received from Catholics have said Merry Christmas. Fr. Roger wrote in his column this week that the great scandal of Christmas is that there was no room at the inn and that we have to get right what the innkeepers got wrong. Too often we make those who come to Mass only on Christmas and Easter unwelcome. The New Evangelization is about making people welcome to come back again and again. We have to make these people feel welcome by our actions, by helping them feel comfortable being there and showing our love to them. Scot said the Pilot has a section each week called Faith Alive, which is a response to Cardinal Seán’s desire to have more faith formation material. The last few weeks it has focused on Advent and this week on Christmas.…
Summary of today’s show: With less than a week to go before Christmas, Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams discuss with Michael Lavigne and Stephen Colella the Advent and Christmas traditions they grew up with and those they have acquired that help them and their families prepare for the beautiful celebration of the Birth of Christ. The panel also discusses why midnight Mass on Christmas Eve might be a new habit some will want to acquire and Our Sunday Visitor’s list of 30 ways to get the most out of Advent and Christmas. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Michael Lavigne, Stephen Colella Today’s topics: Celebrating Advent and Christmas as a family 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomes everyone to the show and notes that we are less than one week from Christmas, and we are preparing to commemorate the Nativity. He welcomed Fr. Matt Williams back to the show and asked if he’s recovered from the five nights of the God of This City Tour last week. Fr. Matt said it was so worth it. He said many members of the team worked all day then spent their evenings with the tour and didn’t get home until after midnight. It was the fourth tour since they started. Fr. Matt said what will remain with him will be the evening at the cathedral because it’s the mother church and the cardinal was there along with 700 young people. Also the company that did the sound and lighting for them this year brought in so much more for the money that they were paid or that Lift could afford. The visual images alone added to the praising the Lord will remain. Mother Olga did a great job on Friday in her reflections. But it will also be remembered on a sad note because the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, occurred that morning. They wondered how they could incorporate pray for that event during the evening. The cardinal was the one to address the matter and prayed for the families. The very next song called “Jesus Messiah” was perfect for the moment because it is an Advent song and it speaks of Jesus as our only hope. In the midst of tragedy and loss to whom else do we turn by Jesus? Today we’ll be talking about family traditions for Advent that make the season more meaningful. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Matt welcome back Michael Lavigne and Stephen Colella to the show. As we move through Advent, we want to make the Christmas experience as rich as we can for our friends and family. Stephen said he works with families and youth ministers and he helps come up with tools to help them form their young people. They speak of the ACES of learning acronym. They want Active learning, rather than passive. Keep the activity in the faith active. For example, if you’re reading the Christmas story, let the children read it themselves or take certain pieces of it. C stands for Communal. There is value in communal learning. For example, when lighting the Advent candle with the whole family, it becomes communal. We learn differently as a team than we do one on one. E is for Experiential. This means it’s hands-on. There are traditions like making certain kinds of food. Making a traditional food together and sharing stories of the family’s heritage. S is for Senses and we use all our senses. There are the colors of Advent and if we decorate the house in purple, for example, it sets a tone. When you can tie all four together it goes a long way. For example, a family puts the nativity set out all together. After dinner every night, they reflect on how they have welcomed Christ for others into the world and for each act they put a piece of straw into the manger. Stephen said in his own family, he recalls all the cooking that went on leading into Christmas day. They never went out, but people were invited over and it was a buffet all day long for friends, family, and those who had no place else to go. Scot asked Michael about some of his favorite memories. He said his wife is Greek and Italian and food is important to her too. Michael said at the beginning of Advent they went to a parish family Advent wreath-making. His instinct as a dad to jump in and do everything himself. But his wife jumps in and lets each child take part and explains to them what everything means. Then they use the Advent wreath during the season. Every night, they do bedtime prayers in the living room with the Advent wreath, lighting the candle, and singing a verse of O Come O Come Emmanuel. Each night a different child gets to blow out the candle. He said they’re very intentional during Advent. They spread out the preparations throughout Advent. Last week, they put up the tree and decorated it and did the blessing in the tree. They incorporate prayer into everything they do. Fr. Matt said for him growing up, they always had the fake Christmas tree. Scot outed himself as a fake tree person. Fr. Matt said having grown up with it, he appreciates it too. Stephen said he gets a real tree and it smells great. He loves having to water and nurture it. Michael lived in Maine for four years and he cut his own tree down. He would go to a tree farm, not just going into the forest on his own. Fr. Matt said his family would put the tree together and put up the nativity. The Christmas tree was always connected with the nativity set. It was an heirloom from his maternal grandmother. He remembers they never put the baby Jesus in the manger until Christmas and the three kings were kept away from the creche. Later, the family rosary became part of the ritual and they would pray and add straw to the manger. Later in his high school years, they prayed the St. Andrew’s Christmas novena that began on November 30 until Christmas Day. Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen. It became a pious tradition seeking an intercessory prayer but also calling to mind that beautiful moment of the Lord’s birth. It is prayed 15 times each day. Fr. Matt said in his family, his dad would lead them in the prayer 15 times after the family rosary. When he was at St. Mary’s in Dedham, Fr. Matt said they did a live nativity play. The middle school kids were the active participants and they rented live animals. After the 9:30am Mass, everyone was invited to the parking lot and the kids dramatized the Christmas story and sang Christmas carols. Afterward, they would have hot chocolate in the rectory. Stephen said his family would go to midnight Mass. Scot noted that tradition was more popular in the past than it is today. Stephen said it became a family tradition and his mother wanted to welcome Jesus first before they welcomed Santa. Michael said they went to midnight Mass too and then the family would open Christmas presents, going to bed after that. Fr. Matt said they didn’t go to the midnight Mass, but to the vigil Mass, and go out to Chinese food afterward. Later as their faith took a more active role in their family’s life, then it was the midnight Mass as well. Even the readings reflect that it’s the midnight celebration that is most significant. The readings at the Masses before are still anticipatory. It is the Mass when so many of the faithful, those who are the core of the parish are together and all stops are pulled out. Scot said he’s never been to a midnight Mass, although he’s watched the midnight Mass from St. Peter’s. But now his brother, Fr. Roger Landry, has been writing about the midnight Mass in his new parish’s bulletin about the importance of the midnight Mass and Scot read at length from Fr. Roger’s bulletin. I am sure many of you are making plans for how you’re going to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I wanted to give you the Mass schedule. We’ll have a vigil Mass at 4 pm, the Midnight Mass at Midnight, and we’ll have a 10:30 Mass on Christmas Day. Please note that there will be no 8:30 am or 5 pm Mass on Christmas, as there normally is on Sunday. I would urge all of you who can to make the extra effort to come to the Mass at Midnight. I wrote in the bulletin a few weeks ago that there is something beautifully symbolic about the tradition of Midnight Mass. People who ordinarily never go out late at night and are often at that hour dressed in pajamas and sleeping soundly adjust their sleep schedules to get up, put on their best clothes and head out alert to their parish churches. The Christmas midnight Mass is the antithesis of the growing tendency to try to make the practice of the faith convenient and easy. It’s a bulwark against the propensity to fit the celebration of Christmas and the worship of God into our crowded life; it is, rather, an annual reminder that we are called to make our lives revolve around the mysteries of faith and that those mysterious realities are worth changing sleep patterns and inconveniencing ourselves. The annual tradition of Midnight Mass reinforces is an outward sign that we are awake and alert for the coming of the Lord and so excited for his arrival that we are willing to sacrifice everything else to greet him with joy and love as soon as he arrives. It is a public and personal reminder that we prioritize Christ over sleep, convenience, presents, family members, and everything else. In short, it manifests that God is God in our lives, that he is our highest priority, and that we would rather postpone everything else in life than delay giving him the response of loving adoration he deserves. Even for those who may struggle to live with this type of Christian receptivity and response throughout the year, it is at least an annual occasion to put things back in their proper order and restore God and our relationship with him to their proper places. The real meaning of Christmas, Pope Benedict said a few years ago, is that “God has set out towards us. Left to ourselves we could not reach him. The path is too much for our strength. But God has come down. He comes towards us. He has traveled the longer part of the journey. Now he invites us: ‘Come and see how much I love you. Come and see that I am here.” That is an invitation worth staying up for, worth receiving, wholeheartedly, worth journeying whatever distances with haste to correspond, and worth placing before all other things. So I’d ask you, even if you haven’t come to Midnight Mass for many years, to get up or stay up for God, to be as anxious to celebrate with Him as any child would want to get up in the middle of the night to see what Santa Claus may have left. It’s also a beautiful practice for Catholics to attend more than one Mass on Christmas, just like they will often attend more than one Christmas party. Scot said it’s making him re-think whether they should find a midnight Mass this year. It calls him not to do the minimum, but to find out what the maximum we can do in our faith. Stephen recalled attending midnight Mass at St. Peter’s in Rome one year and the sense of peace he experienced leaving the basilica this year. He admitted this column gets him to rethink his plans as well. Michael said growing up there wasn’t a vigil Mass, but they put emphasis on the midnight Mass. The pastor put votives around the church property. Michael said it’s tough to wake up your kids and go to midnight Mass, so for now they go Christmas morning, but they look forward to doing it again in the future. Scot said his parish, St. Agnes in Arlington, has 10 Masses scheduled for Christmas, 6 for the vigil and 4 on Christmas Day, including a 5pm on Christmas Day. Scot said he’s always gone to Mass on Christmas Day even if he’s gone the night before, but he’s sure that two-thirds of everyone in his parish is going to the Christmas Eve Masses as a convenience. What does it say that we opt for convenience. He said the introduction of the Saturday vigil Mass 50 years ago was intended to aid those who have to go then, but now it’s one of the biggest Masses so people don’t have to get up Sunday morning. Stephen recalled how many people around the world are grateful just to be able to go to Mass at all, whenever it’s available. We should also be grateful for our priests who do so much work on these days. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Carlos Torres of Melrose He wins by Diane Allen. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Our Sunday Visitor Weekly has created a list of 30 ways to get the most out of Advent and Christmas: Go to Mass Adjust your attitude and expectations Stop comparing yourself to others Put everything in perspective Find goodness in each day Light an Advent wreath Cut back Curb excessive gift giving Stick to a budget Communicate. Talk with family members about what traditions to keep and simplify others. Celebrate the feasts of Advent Find ways to help others Eat slowly Keep moving. Exercise. Breathe Reflect on Advent as a time of waiting Read the Christmas story Step back in time Do something nice every day Forgive someone Receive the Sacrament of reconciliation Pray for patience Offer up something painful or difficult in your life Listen to Christmas music Take a prayer nap. Imagine you’re resting in the arms of the Lord. Meditate on the nativity scene Laugh Pray Start an Advent journal Thank God for all the good things Stephen said it is a season of prayer and penitence so that’s how they adjust the attitude. They also send care packages for Advent to nieces and nephews that include activity books, charity boxes for tithing, candy, Christian pictures, and the like. Michael said the idea of not comparing self to others is important. It’s easy to get caught up in that rather than be appreciative of who we are and what we have, especially modeling it for children. Fr. Matt said curbing excessive gift giving makes him think of a time when he was 21 and had done some missionary work in Bosnia. Coming back after seeing these people who had been ravaged by civil war and blessed just to be together, he had Christmas gifts up to his ears and he knew he didn’t need it. In his family, they’ve reduced the gift giving to a secret Santa. They now make a family donation to My Brother’s Keeper. That ties to #12. Stephen said you can give a gift on the Feast of St. Nicholas or give only three gifts or open one gift per day of the 12 days of Christmas. They also gave the things that they need. Michael said last Saturday they took the kids to see the lights at the LaSalette shrine and then went to the sacrament of reconciliation. He said Advent is also a time to slow down. All these things on the list make you more patient, more prepared to celebrate Christ’s birthday. Fr. Matt said he loves the idea of meditating on the nativity scene. An hour before celebrating the midnight Mass, he prays before the nativity he keeps in his room. There’s also something beautiful about going to daily Mass and praying the Liturgy of the Hours. As you pray within the Church’s calendar, the prayers o beautifully communicate the season we’re in. they help us to slow down and do many of the things we saw on this list. Stephen said they get together with a family on Christmas Eve Eve to read the Christmas story, which makes sure they are done with preparations 48 hours before.…
Summary of today’s show: When a man is ordained a priest in the Archdiocese of Boston, he is made a promise that his medical, retirement, and other needs will be provided for now and in his elder years. The Christmas collection for the Clergy Funds is part of that promise keeping where the parishioners of the Archdiocese show their love and honor for the priests in their lives. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor talk to Fr. Michael Medas and Joe D’Arrigo about the Christmas collection and Clergy Funds, about the priests who’ve affected their lives, and the meaning of the priesthood as a vocation of spiritual fatherhood. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Joe D’Arrigo, Executive Director of the Clergy Funds, and Fr. Michael Medas, Director of Clergy Personnel Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Christmas Collection for Our Priests 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Chris O’Connor to the show. They noted that the seminarians from St. John’s Seminary are taking their final exams and heading home for the holiday. Fr. Chris said he’ll be celebrating Mass for Christmas in three or four locations, including for the men at Norfolk State Prison. Scot said he just went to a going-away party for our colleague Anna Johnson who is taking a new job in Seward, Alaska. He said she’s one of the friendliest people in the Pastoral Center and has added a lot to our team. Anna and Karla take care of many of the behind-the-scenes aspects of the show. Scot said today we’ll talk to Joe D’Arrigo and Fr. Michael Medas about the Christmas day collection for the care of our retired and ailing priests. Fr. Chris said all the priests are grateful for the generous contributions people make for the care of their priests. 2nd segment: Scot said the theme of the show is “promises kept” because the Clergy Funds is in the business of keeping the promises made to our priests. Joe D’Arrigo said when a man becomes a priest he’s told that his medical needs, his housing needs, his retirement needs are taken care of. The Clergy Funds are responsible for the health and medical benefits for active and retired priests, stipends for retired priests, and Regina Cleri where 55 of our priests live with assisted care today. Joe said when a young man becomes a priests, he’s like other young men, not thinking about retirement or other factors later in life. Most men don’t start thinking about retirement until they hit about 60. Many of our priests are still active in their 70s and they start thinking about a transition to a life where they’re still active in the sacraments but they can slow down a bit. Clergy Funds makes sure they are taken care of. Many priests live on their own and Clergy Funds has a nurse who goes out to visit them. There are about 150 living on their own today, electing not to live at Regina Cleri. Fr. Michael Medas said about 303 priests are assigned to parish ministries. Beyond that there are priests in other ministries, like hospitals or the seminary. That makes up about 350. Another 350 are in retirement. However priests enter a life of service, so they don’t retire from ministry, but continue their service to the people of God. He can continue to live that life of service with the aid of the Clergy Funds. Generosity to the Clergy Funds directly impacts the lives of the people whose lives are touched by that priest. Every contribution allows ministry to continue to touch people’s lives. Scot said as we move forward in the Archdiocese, those senior priests will continue to be counted on as the number of active priests decline. Joe said the number of senior priests in ministry will exceed the number of active priests in a few years. The senior priests often allow the active priests to be able to take time off or to go to hospitals or prisons, allowing parishes to have coverage for Masses and other sacraments. Scot said they are senior priests because priesthood isn’t a job, like parenthood, it’s a vocation. Parents don’t retire from parenthood. Joe said he goes to Regina Cleri about once per week and every morning all the men are in the chapel at 8:30am celebrating Mass. It’s great to visit with them after they come out and you hear lots of great stories. Scot said every man in the pews is vested as a priest for Mass. Joe said there 2,800 years of priesthood at Regina Cleri. At the moment of consecration, you see the hands of every man move, even those who aren’t always coherent. It never leaves them. Those men are the history of the Archdiocese. Joe said Fr. Skip Jennings spent 46 years at St. Joseph in Somerville. He retired and went directly to Regina Cleri. He didn’t want to retire, but had a fall and needed to go for respite. He went to Regina Cleri and loved it and stayed. He was loved by his parish and the people love their priests. Joe said they hope for $4 million from the Christmas collection. They spent $6 million in medical benefits this year and $4 million in stipends this year. Scot said the Clergy Funds has tried to focus on the individual priests in our lives, to personalize the collection so that we can each honor the priests in our lives. Most of us had multiple priests who have impacted our lives. Joe said they often don’t know they’re having an impact on us. Joe talked about the priests that have affected him. He said his wife became ill about 20 years ago and they needed the last rites for her. They called a particular priest who came in about 15 minutes in the middle of the night. There was no question that he would come. Priests touch your heart on a daily basis for many of us. Even for those who don’t go to Mass on a regular basis, when they need someone, they are there. Joe said after the events of last Friday, people have turned to their priests. Scot said his own pastor said how proud he was of the pastor in Newtown, Connecticut, Msgr. Bob Weiss, who rose to the occasion. The loving representation of God in the person of the priest shows how priests can affect our lives on the toughest days of our lives. Joe said that could be any one of our priests in this Archdiocese on any given day. Fr. Chris said as he watched the footage and on that first night he wondered where was the Church, and it came out that Msgr. Weiss was with those parents receiving the terrible news. Fr. Chris said in the Boston Globe this week was a front-page story about Fr. Doc Conway in Dorchester, walking the streets, bringing Christ to the people of his neighborhood, both parishioners and not. Fr. Michael said he was inspired by Fr. Henry Ronan. You could see his love for God, as his face reflected his love for Christ. He was so unassuming, yet so faithful to God. He was full of joy and you could see he loved being a priest, because he was rooted in service. Fr. Michael said he is very much aware that it is the people of the archdiocese who value the service and sacrifice of their priests. Fr. Chris said Fr. Dan Dunn at St. Mary’s in Dorchester as a senior priest affected him. He was a gentle, humble soul. He remembers Fr. Haley in Holliston who had dinners for all the priests of the area to foster camaraderie. He remembers that Fr. Haley had battles with the people of the parish but yet at his parish they all expressed their love for him and Fr. Chris realized that it was just like a father and his children who sometimes disagree but that there was still love. Scot said growing up he worked in the rectory of St. Michael’s in Lowell for six years. Fr. Paul Bailey was like a second father to him. Fr. Paul Sullivan spent time with Scot and his brother on the tennis courts. Fr. Lenny O’Malley worked with a lot of the teens while they were there and gave him great advice. Fr. John Mendicoa taught him how to love to eat. The native of Spain cooked a feast every Tuesday for the Bingo crew. Fr. Charlie Higgins who is now in Newton was a deacon there and gave Scot and his brother Roger invaluable advice as they prepared to go to college. 3rd segment: Scot said to promote this Christmas collection, the Clergy Funds team put together a video about the life of Fr. Skip Jennings. Joe said his reflection on his life as an active priest, what it meant for him, and his astonishment upon his retirement how his parishioners related to him were compelling. Our priests don’t realize how much they are loved. At the annual Celebration of the Priesthood dinner brings out 1,400 people. One thousand people write personal notes to their priests. When he has shown the video to priests, every priest takes the story to heart as their own story. Fr. Michael said he heard from Fr. Skip’s story how he had become family to the parish, not in some abstract way, but in a concrete way. Because he is a priest, they invite him in where outsiders aren’t usually welcome. Priests are blessed and honored to be brought int o the family circle. Every priest wants to become a good spiritual father. Fr. Chris said he’s been living at Sacred Heart in East Boston and St. John’s in Winthrop for up to eight years and he knows them and they know him. Christ is the common denominator, using His priests to communicate His love. It hit him profoundly when Fr. Jennings said there was no other life possible for him because it was the Lord’s calling for him. Scot said Fr. Jennings was blessed to serve 46 years in one place, but how difficult it must be for other priests to receive that call that they are to leave the people they know and love to minister to a new parish. He’s heard from priests how difficult it is to be sent somewhere else, but it’s part of being a priest. They are always being sent and they serve the people of God wherever the bishop wants them to go. Fr. Michael said the life of a priest is not to be a member of one family, but to serve all. They are called to bring that life of grace through service to many places. Joe said Clergy Funds today has expenses today of about $15 million for health, dental, stipends, disability, housing and more. $4 million is about one quarter of what they need to remain stable and the Funds are stable. Scot pointed out that the numbers of priests in need at advanced ages are increasing. It takes all of us to be even more generous than we’ve been just five years ago. Joe said it’s an increasing challenge. Joe said a 4 percent increase each year in the collection will allow them to remain stable. They have three collections per year plus the Celebration of the Priesthood dinner to provide support for our priests. Fr. Michael talked about how hard it is for priests to ask for people to be generous to themselves. But it is easier to ask them to provide for those priests who are retired now. Scot said it’s been since 1972 that the Christmas collection has gone to the Clergy Funds as a matter of equity. Previously the Christmas collection stayed in the parish for those priests, but those in wealthier parishes did better than those in poorer parishes. Joe said the driving principle in the Clergy Funds is to treat all the priests on an equal basis. Scot said people often give the same amount to each special collection that comes up, but now people may want to be a little more generous to this collection. Fr. Chris said the priests do rely on people’s generosity and costs for care are increasing. Fr. Michael said Christmas is about the gift of Christ to us. If you need more peace in your life or know someone who does, come to Christmas Mass to receive peace and joy. The envelopes will be in churches this weekend to be brought back on Christmas. People can also . He said people should bring the envelope home and think about what priests have meant in their lives.…
Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry considered the news headlines of the week, including the blizzard about to hit New England; the Catholic Appeal reaching its goal; vandalism of churches; news of priests, including the legacy of Bishop John D’Arcy; the beauty of Chartres Cathedral; and preparing for Lent. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry of St. Bernadette Parish, Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Blizzard; Catholic Appeal; Vandalism; Bishop John D’Arcy; Chartres; Lent 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and he said all the news coverage of the big storm tomorrow drives him crazy. It used to be that we were tougher. Susan said now we don’t want to be inconvenienced by anything. On the other hand, she’s very excited by the storm. Scot noted that we’re celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Blizzard of ‘78, which was a devastating storm. He remembered being out of school almost for the entire month of February. Greg said he too remembers the storm as a child growing up in Walpole and seeing people having to cross-country ski into the center of town to make a supply run. Scot said the 2012 Catholic Appeal wrapped up its year and announced that it has beat its goal by raising $14.2 million. They also had about 2,500 more new donors this year. Scot read the highlights from the story in the Pilot. Three churches, including two Catholic churches, were vandalized by someone with the message that religion is brainwashing. The pastor asked for prayers for the vandals. Greg said in April the churches in Wilmington are planning a rally to say the town welcomes people of faith. Also in the news, Fr. Dennis Deaver, who has been pastor at St. Clement in Somerville/Medford, has now entered retirement status. He, too, grew up in St. Charles Borromeo in Woburn, like many other priests of the archdiocese. He spent years working with the St. James Society in Ecuador as well as parishes in the Archdiocese, including since 1985 at St. Clements. Fr. Edward L. King also died at 89 years old. He was recruited for professional baseball but decided to enter the priesthood. On Tuesday, we profiled and gave thanks for the life of Bishop John D’Arcy, a native of Boston and bishop emeritus of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana. Susan said she got to know the bishop over the past three years after his retirement. He spoke to students and faculty of the Master of Arts in Ministry program at St. John Seminary on the spousal relationship between bishop and diocese. He talked about going through a grieving process over the loss of his spouse. He also said we should never study theology, except on our knees. Fr. Roger Landry joined the show by phone and discussed the legacy of Bishop D’Arcy, who will be remembered as a bishop who loved his diocese and how he is universally admired in his diocese. People will come to recognize that he was the type of priest and bishop everyone across the Church deserves. Also in the Pilot, on March 12, a presentation will be hosted on Chartres Cathedral in France. Greg talked about going to visit Chartres and being so impressed by its beauty. Professor Paul Crossley will explain the story of the Gothic Cathedral. 800 years ago these buildings were the biggest structures that most people ever saw. Scot said the stained glass windows are among, if not the, most beautiful in the world. Fr. Roger talked about a pilgrimage he’s leading to France later this year, including a stop in Chartres. 2nd segment: Scot noted that Lent begins with Ash Wednesday next Wednesday and we typically talk about Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving. In his column this week, Fr. Roger encourages us to live Lent with audacity. We should live our Lent as Christ did. We need to ask ourselves how to grow as persons who pray all day. When we fast, don’t do it as weight loss, but as mastery over our lower instincts that sometimes dominate us so we can give ourselves wholly to the Lord. Almsgiving isn’t just change in the Rice Bowl box, but also giving of ourselves completely to others. He said when he hears confessions before Lent, he asks about Lenten penances and most people don’t remember what they did last year. He encourages penances and practices that will really make us saints. We need to increase the quality and quantity of our prayer, to live our fast, and to be seriously becoming other Christs in the way we sacrifice for others. He said an example of fasting is to give up condiments: butter, salt, pepper, ketchup, etc. He forsakes sweets and snacks between meals. They help us have self-discipline and to appreciate what we have. He also encourages drinking nothing but water for Lent. He also suggests fasting from television during Lent. Scot and Greg talked about how we are in charge of our own Lenten program. Fr. Roger said a resolution and a wish are two different things. A wish would be I want to lose weight, while a resolution would be I won’t eat between meals. Most people make wishes in the spiritual life. He said many of us have become spiritual sissies. Susan said all these steps are doable, they’re not all that difficult. Scot said he loves Ash Wednesday because it’s not a holy day of obligation but everybody goes. He said he loves that we’re willing to mark ourselves with our faith for everyone to see. Fr. Roger said if people can’t go to daily Mass in Lent, they can watch it on CatholicTV.com or with an app on their phone. They can make a real sacrifice of their time by giving at least a half hour of their day to someone who needs them. That’s almsgiving of time. Scot added that we should do it all joyfully.…
Summary of today’s show: Catholic early education centers are the latest trend in Catholic schools, serving children from 33 months old right up to Kindergarten. Scot Landry sits down with Nicolette Clifford and Pat Lombard from Good Shepherd School in Charlestown, which got its start in 2009 at St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena Parish. They discuss Handwriting Without Tears program, TURKS math, and how they incorporate faith formation and serve the various families of the community. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Nicolette Clifford, Pat Lombard Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Good Shepherd School in Charlestown 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and mentioned that a trend in Catholic education is the growth of Catholic preschool programs. Today, we’re profiling The Good Shepherd School (GSS) is located in the newly renovated ground floor of St. Mary-St. Catherine of Siena in Charlestown. GSS is an independent Catholic school committed to comprehensive, developmentally appropriate programs that strengthen the school-family partnership and enrich the lives and learning experiences of children. Good Shepherd School students are given the opportunity to work collaboratively and explore friendships but also be nurtured within their individual interests in a structured yet multisensory learning environment. Enrichment activities include Spanish, gym, religious education and music classes. Scot welcomed Nicolette Clifford and Pat Lombard to the show. He said the school was started in 2009. Nicolette said Fr. Ronan said he saw interest in the school in the community and formed the school with a board from the community. They have four classrooms with 70 children now. Scot said a freestanding pre-school is unusual. Nicolette said 95% of their families live in Charlestown, with a few in the North End and one in Cambridge. She said these are the most formative years for children to have a positive experience in school. She said it’s a preschool, not a daycare. They have a handwriting program which even the youngest children use. They help children learn in all different ways, not just by sitting at a table practicing letters. You don’t get academic experiences in daycare. Scot asked what the goal is when they start at 3 and end by the time they enter kindergarten. Nicolette said they first want them to have a positive experience of school and forming friendships, then start academic experience. At four or five, they want them to be forming words and writing. They discussed their activities within Charlestown where the children interact with seniors and veterans. Pat said she’s a native of Charlestown. Scot discussed how Charlestown has a mix of people from all the different communities within the community. Pat said she taught in public schools and retired from there before coming back to Good Shepherd. She said it’s a joy to see all the children when she’s out and about town. Pat used to teach 2nd and 3rd grades in public school and now she’s teaching 3 and 4 year olds and they discussed the differences, such as trying to keep their attention and helping them to be good listeners. Nicolette talked about the scheduled, which has three different day lengths ending at noon, 3pm, and 5:30pm, but most get picked up at one of the two earlier times. She said was always interested in education from when she was a small child. She majored in education in college and got a Master’s in early childhood education. They discussed that the school after four years now has a waiting list for students to enter the school. Nicolette said it’s a good kind of stress to have to find spaces. She said there are some early childhood settings within the Boston Public Schools as well as daycares like Bright Horizons. 2nd segment: Scot said it’s a beautiful school in the basement of one of the most beautiful churches in the Archdiocese. Nicolette said people are amazed that being in the basement doesn’t mean it’s gloomy, but they have beautiful stained glass windows. They have religious education on Wednesdays by Sr. Nancy, who rotates through each classroom through the day. On Fridays, the whole school comes together in the chapel for prayer. Outside of those times, there’s a lot of talking to the school about respect for others and helping others, breaking it down to their level. Scot asked about the TURK math program. Pat said the program is setup for K through 8, but they are adapting the material for the young age level, which gives the kids a head start when they reach kindergarten. Her class is concentrating right now on sorting skills. Scot asked if it’s difficult teaching handwriting and dexterity with your hands. Nicolette said they have had nothing but positive experiences with Handwriting Without Tears. She has heard from parents about children wanting to write at home. The children learn in various ways, whether air writing or using various tools. The kids learn from the very beginning, like how to hold a pencil and where to start writing on a page. They hope that at the end the children understand the letters and their goal is for them to be able to write their names by the time they leave. But if they can’t, it’s not a big deal. They’ll eventually learn. They have a Spanish enrichment program, that exposes children to language at this early age. It’s so much easier to learn language at very early ages. They learn colors, letters, numbers, animals. They talked about Miss Miranda, who comes in once per week, for gym, getting them active with the Play Ball! program. Happy Feet is a new program that teaches literacy while playing soccer. Pat noted that they have a big indoor space where the kids can play even in bad weather. Sr. Kathleen is their music teacher on Thursdays. They also do a Christmas pageant and spring graduation program. Pat hopes that the most popular part of the day is reading. At this age, you can’t read to them enough. You hope that they go home to talk about the stories they read and she hopes that the parents are reinforcing that with reading. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Paula Barbosa from Medway She wins the book by Michaelann Martin If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Nicolette said their hope is to expand someday to add a kindergarten and a first and second grade. They just don’t have the space right now. Scot said he’s hearing all the time about new Catholic early education centers becoming available. Nicolette said the majority of families are sending children to school earlier and earlier. There’s more pressure on children to make sure they can do X, Y, Z by the time they’re in kindergarten. Pat doesn’t think it’s a matter of putting too much pressure on kids, but more and more parents are working and they’re wanting to get them to start socializing by the time they’re 3. Nicolette talked about scholarships for families that can’t afford the full tuition and wanting to provide the same opportunity for all children. They now have a fundraising committee of parents and every spring they have a fundraiser for the school. They discussed many of the schools that kids go to after leaving Good Shepherd. There was also discussion in how Fr. Ronan provides formation to parents and children. Nicolette said they open houses in the spring and fall, including during the day so people can get a real sense of how the school works. Part of the enrollment process is a visit including a half hour in the prospective class and seeing whether it’s a good fit for the student.…
Summary of today’s show: Bishop John D’Arcy, the retired bishop of the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese and a native son of Boston, died on Sunday after a brief bout with cancer. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor discuss the legacy of Bishop D’Arcy, how he lived his life to the full and as a true priest and father, and how he preached his finest homily in how he approached death and the joy he felt in preparing to stand before the Lord. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Remembering Bishop John D’Arcy 1st segment: Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor said today that they will remember and honor Bishop Jophn D’Arcy who died Sunday morning. He was ordained in the Archdiocese of Boston and was an auxiliary bishop here before becoming bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana. Fr. Chris said Bishop D’Arcy was one of the giants among the priests of the archdiocese. Scot said Bishop D’Arcy helped him when he was just starting out in the development office in the archdiocese. He was also one of our first guests on The Good Catholic Life. Fr. Chris said he’d met him once before seeing him again and the bishop remembered his name. He gave some sage advice at St. John’s Seminary: Five good priests will attract 100 seminarians while five bad priests won’t attract anyone. Scot said we’re also keeping in prayer the father of Msgr. James Moroney, Mr. James Moroney, who also died this past weekend, and his family. They discussed how one of the seminarians in his role as deacon had a nearly disastrous accident with the Precious Blood at the funeral Mass, but managed to save the Cup from being spilled. Scot said there was a 30-minute TV special on one of the major TV stations in Fort Wayne last night and we played clips from that show. 2nd segment: Scot said it was only about one month ago around Christmas that Bishop D’Arcy had two new forms of cancer, after having beaten cancer once before. He was 80 years old. He died on February 3, the day after the anniversary of his ordination 56 years ago and on the anniversary of his first Mass. Fr. Chris said the bishop sent a letter to his people in December asking for their prayers that he could meet his end with grace and conviction. Scot said the bishop was ordained in 1957 at 25 years old, which was a young age. He was ordained a bishop at the young age of 42 years old. Scot noted that it shows how well regarded he was by his peers in the archdiocese but also in Rome. Fr. Chris said the bishop was known as a strong spiritual director at the seminary. He spent his first years as a priest at St. Mary’s in Beverly. While he was there for only a short time, the people there still talk about his ministry there. He celebrated his 50th anniversary of his priesthood there and throngs turned out to see him. During the celebration he disappeared for an hour and it turned out he was in the chapel praying before the Blessed Sacrament. At the age of 52, he was named to be bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend in 1985, helping to grow the diocese and being a dedicated pastor to the people of Indiana. Now another clip from Melissa Long from Channel 21 came to Boston just after Christmas to interview the bishop and his sister, Sr. Anne D’Arcy, his last televised interview. He talked about preparing his parents to die and many of his fellow priests have come to help him die. He said this is one of the great privileges of the priesthood. Scot said what stood out for him was his mention of his love of Christ and that he was looking forward to seeing him soon. Fr. Chris said you hear the faith, conviction, and humility of the man. They noted that the D’Arcy family produced a priest and also a sister, Sr. Anne D’Arcy. Scot said it was clear that one of the reasons that Bishop D’Arcy loved to come back to his childhood home here was to be with his family and to be in his home because he loved them so much. Fr. Chris said Bishop D’Arcy was all about love. It all comes down to love. Now they played another clip from the Melissa Long interview. They noted that he built schools, renovated the cathedral and improved the priesthood. He said he loved the diocese and retirement wasn’t easy. He retired in 2010, giving him time to pray and reflect and return to his ministry as a priest. He had some final words for his diocese. Scot recalled after the death of Pope John Paul II that people said his best homily was teaching us how to die. Bishop D’Arcy’s best homily was his final homily. Fr. Chris said St. Paul wrote that to live is Christ and Bishop D’Arcy illustrated that truth. In the next clip, Bishop D’Arcy spoke about the renovation of the cathedral and how faithful it was to the mission of the cathedral as a place of prayer. Scot noted how much the bishop enjoyed celebrating the Mass in the renovated cathedral dedicated to Our Lady. He was particularly proud that it was a church that everybody liked. Fr. Chris said you can hear the emotion in his voice as he talks because he’s saying goodbye to those he loves. The next clip, he talked about going into retirement, how difficult it was, but how he had time to pray more, to hear confessions, to preach more. Scot said it was clear he loved his priesthood. Many of the listeners were probably confirmed by the bishop. In the next clip, he was asked what message he would like to leave the people of South Bend. He said you have to have joy. You have to pray. You have to forgive. He urged the people of the diocese to be strong in their faith, to be kind to everyone, to focus on the truth. To raise their families in the faith and teach them the beauty of what God has given us in man and woman and family. Fr. Chris noted his call to be joyful and to trust that God loves you. How can you not be joyful if you trust that God loves you? Scot said he became a bigger fan of Bishop D’Arcy a few years ago when the University of Notre Dame decided to invite the most pro-abortion President in US history and he had to implement the US bishops’ decree that Catholic institutions should not give honors to those who are pro-abortion. He decided to explain to the people of South Bend why he couldn’t attend that commencement at Notre Dame. Next we played a clip of Melissa Long’s interview with Bishop D’Arcy in 2009. Scot noted from the interview that Bishop D’Arcy received many letters of support from throughout the country for his decision. On the other hand, the response from his fellow bishops was decidedly mixed. But a month later he sat down for the interview to explain for TV the Church’s position on life issues and to explain why his attendance would have sent all the wrong messages. Fr. Chris said while the graduation was going on, many of the students protested and Bishop D’Arcy went with them to pray with them and commend them for standing up for life. Scot then played a clip from Bishop D’Arcy’s appearance on The Good Catholic Life back in 2011 ahead of a Lenten retreat he was going to give at St. Mary’s in Beverly: Scot welcomes Bishop John D’Arcy to The Good Catholic Life. Bishop D’Arcy has been a priest for 54 years and next Monday he will return to his first assignment as a priest at St. Mary Star of the Sea in Beverly for a parish mission. He spent 8-1/2 years and it’s where the people taught him what it means to be a priest. It was an extraordinary experience. When he moved onto his next assignment in Rome, he left with a deep appreciation of what it means to be a parish priest. A parish mission and Lenten retreat is a good practice for Lent. Why should Catholics seek to attend the mission at their own parish or, if your parish isn’t having one, at a nearby parish like St. Mary’s in Beverly? Bishop D’Arcy said that the missions are about faith, prayer, sacrament of penance, but the real strength of them is strengthening the faith of the devout, and also reaching out to those whose faith has become weak. The key is the work of the laity in the parish to prepare for the mission, to reach out to everyone in the parish, to provide services like babysitting or transportation for the elderly. Parish missions should also tie themselves into Catholics Come Home. These large group gatherings in parishes help people to approach church in anonymity because it might make them feel more comfortable than making an appointment with a priest or even coming to Sunday Mass, at first. Likewise, if they don’t go to confession that week, then maybe they will be inspired to go sometime later and return to the practice. What is the central message of this mission, which is entitled “Christ, Yesterday, Today and Forever”? During the mission, the bishop will speak of the challenges of modern life to a life of prayer; the call to repentance and penance; Eucharistic spirituality, bringing Christ to others; and what the parish will do after the mission, where the parish needs to do more work. In February, Bishop D’Arcy was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and he said he is doing fine. He made sure with the doctors that he would not have any radiation treatments before the mission so that he would be strong for the people of Beverly. His outlook is good and he’s more than halfway through treatment. He has received many, many letters promising prayer, both from people in Boston and those in Fort Wayne. A week on the North Shore near the ocean will be just the thing for him. His retirement has kept him busy, giving quite a few retreats for priests, bishops, and religious in various places. After the St. Mary mission on Tuesday night, he will give three talks at Blessed John Seminary on Wednesday and then return to Beverly. Then on St. Patrick’s Day, he must celebrate a Mass while in Boston. The rest of the week’s schedule is also full. He does miss shepherding the diocese, because you hold the diocese in your heart, but now there’s more time for prayer and reading. He is adjusting very well. Scot said Bishop D’Arcy’s funeral rites will begin tomorrow. The Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese has two cathedrals, one in Fort Wayne and one in South Bend. Wednesday Feb 6: Reception of the body and Morning Prayer at St. Matthew Cathedral, South Bend, will begin at 10 a.m. Visitation will be held throughout the day. Rosary will begin at 5 p.m. A Mass of Transferral celebrated by Bishop Kevin Rhoades will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday Feb 7: Reception of the body and Morning Prayer at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Fort Wayne, will begin at 10 am, with visitation throughout the day. Rosary will begin at 5 p.m. Evening Prayer is scheduled for 7 pm Friday Feb 8: Visitation of the body will take place from 9 am to 11:30 am in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Fort Wayne The Funeral Mass will be celebrated at noon at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Fort Wayne. A reception for all will immediately follow at the Grand Wayne Center. The Rite of Committal will be conducted privately with the family in the crypt of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Scot said his episcopal motto is “His steadfast love endures forever”, referring to Christ. That exemplifies his many years of episcopal and priestly ministry. Fr. Chris said we pray that Bishop D’Arcy now sees that love face to face and joys that love for all eternity. Scot said he hopes when Bishop D’Arcy met the Lord, he heard those words: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”…
Summary of today’s show: As the oldest seminarian studying at St. John’s Seminary, Chris Micale brings a lot of life experience to the community of men and Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor talk with him about his background, including his life in his home diocese of Burlington, Vermont, and working for Dartmouth College’s football program before entering the seminary. Chris is preparing for diaconal ordination next June 1. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Chris Micale Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Seminarian profile: Chris Micale 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Chris O’Connor to the show. They’re on location at St. John’s Seminary today. Scot noted that St. John’s is full of seminarians. Today’s guest is Chris Micale, who is here studying for the Diocese of Burlington, Vermont. Fr. Chris noted that the seminary includes men from around the United States and even from abroad. Scot said most people think of Blessed John XXIII seminary as the seminary for older guys, but St. John’s also has men who have heard the call to the priesthood later in life. Fr. Chris said most of the men around in their mid-20s, but there are some older men. He said they have a two-year pre-theology program. Chris is in that program. Chris is now in his fifth year and will soon be a deacon in Burlington. Fr. Chris said the other men look at Chris like a member junior member of the faculty in how they confide in him and turn to him. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Chris, third-year theologate and will be ordained to the diaconate in June 2013. Chris said he will be 53 years old in January. He grew up in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and moved after college to Vermont, he had family there. He then worked in home health care and occupational therapy. He said he chose Vermont because it has a whole different feel than the other New England states. He loved his work with people who needed a lot of different kinds of help. It wasn’t always just physical therapy, but also a counseling component. He believes that translates well to the priesthood, in looking at the whole person. After about 10 years, Chris decided on a whim—after visiting one of his patients who was a devout Catholic woman who gave him a college course catalog—he returned to school for a master’s degree in clinical psychology. But his aim toward clinical psychology didn’t work out, so he ended up working at Dartmouth College with the football program and the football coaches as an administrator, managing the recruiting process. He described what it was like to work with the coaches, who often were motivated separately from his overall aims. He said the challenge of learning to manage that office with all those strong personalities will help him as a priest. Chris said he worked with the admissions office, financial aid, and parents. In the Ivy League, there are academic standards that the individuals and the teams have to abide by, which was part of the challenge. Chris said working in that program gave him a different perspective and it was a world of its own. He said one part was the diversity of young men involved in the program from all kinds of backgrounds, which is a way in which it is similar to St. John’s. Fr. Chris said that’s what makes it like a college campus in some ways. Chris added that he came to the seminary from Dartmouth. Scot asked if that’s where he heard the call to the priesthood. Chris said he did hear the call during that period at Dartmouth. He said he’d been feeling a kind of dissatisfaction. It’s not that he wasn’t well fitted for his jobs, but that it was never enough. He was always attracted to the interpersonal aspects of his jobs. But there was a deep longing as well. He’d left the Church for a few years, while not leaving the notion of God, and it was a long process back. The last community he was with outside the Church he felt a nagging that he missed the Eucharist and the liturgy. When he came back to Our Lady of the Snows in Woodstock for the first time, it was a feeling of being home and at peace. That was the process with the call to the priesthood. It felt like coming home, which isn’t to say that there aren’t moments of doubt or frustration. Scot asked Chris how his time away from the Church formed him to love studying for the priesthood much more. Chris said it comes back to the Eucharist. He said the fellowships he was with were always kind, but they always lacked the depth the Eucharist provides. He said he was devout as a child, but during adolescence, he wandered away. Having gone away, there’s a new depth now and he appreciates it in a way he didn’t before. Chris said when he was in other Christian fellowships, he started several times to pursue becoming a minister, so he thinks that call was always there. They discussed how his friends reacted to hearing of his entering the seminary, especially his non-Catholic friends. Chris said some were quite shocked. He said you grow into expecting that people will be shocked, especially as you realize that the Gospel itself is shocking. Fr. Chris asked Chris what his favorite course at St. John’s has been so far. Chris said it would be one of his theology courses. After thinking a moment, he said moral theology. He said it cuts at the root of our society right now and the issues we’re dealing with, especially ethics and how Christians deal with the world we have. He said it’s important for a priest to have an understanding of how we negotiate the landscape out there. It’s both theoretical and practical. Those courses in general attract him. 3rd segment: Scot asked Chris what it’s like being significantly older than his classmates, going through this seminary experience. Chris said the perspective of his life can add to the community. What it has helped him to do first of all is realize that only God can get you through any situation. He explains to people that it’s not a graduate program. It has many levels of formation all at once. Scot said for many guys the academic part is the easy part, while the internal parts or work with spiritual director or formation director is difficult. Being older, you store up a lot of those issues in your life. He said there is some advantage in having less life experience. But the older man can also synthesize easier, can pick through things, because of their experience. He gave the example of talking with the other seminarians about the first electronic gadgets they remember. When he said color TV, one of the men said he’s their link to the past and then he realized that’s his role for them. Scot said Chris is the face of the new St. John’s Seminary as a regional seminary, and not just for Boston. Chris said it’s very important for him to be close to his home. He said his father died right before Chris entered the seminary and to be able to be a couple of hours from home if his mother needed him was to be important. But also being a New Englander, there’s something about being able to study, especially for the priesthood, in your own part of the country. It’s quite a transition from your previous life, the benefits of being in your own local area include having something that doesn’t change. You don’t have to learn a whole new place and a new culture. Chris said during the summers he serves in parishes in his home diocese, but he believes during his diaconate he will serve a parish in the Archdiocese of Boston. But the ability to be in the New England area is much preferred to being in another part of the country. Chris said he’s already worked in the . It was started by Franciscans many years ago during the Influenza epidemic. The home was set up as a place for orphans of mainly Italian immigrants. It now helps children with various problems that require them to be away from home for a period of time. The seminarians go in and provide a stable presence for children in a tough place. He’s also served at Sacred Heart in East Boston, doing communion calls and working with the youth group. He’s currently helping at St. Patrick’s in Natick. Chris discussed his Sicilian heritage. He said both grandfathers came from Sicily, one before the First World War and one right after. He learned a lot from his grandfathers and they were very close. Chris said there an Italian community in Vermont, mainly stoneworkers in marble and granite. He said there are large communities in Rutland and Barre. Most of the stonemasons and sculptors came from northern Italy. Chris said he served Christ the King Parish in Rutland last year. Fr. Chris asked what Chris would tell us about the Burlington diocese. He said it’s a smaller diocese, which is an advantage, because provides an opportunity to make a connection and provide for the Catholic faith on a personal level. He said Vermont is basically all villages and towns without metropolitan areas. It’s a different approach to the Catholic faith. It’s manageable. Chris said in his current moment at the seminary in his fifth year, he’s starting to shift his focus outward, to apply what he’s learning now to what he will be doing after ordination. He’s thinking about how he will apply it and how it will affect the people he will serve. He said they’re focusing a little more on homiletics and speaking this year. Chris said his favorite saint is St. Anthony of Padua. That’s his confirmation name. St. Anthony was pretty no-nonsense in his speaking and Chris hopes that he will be the same in love and charity. He’s also very close to St. Joseph. He’s the quintessential example of a priest from the father’s perspective. St. Joseph doesn’t say much but he’s a crucial figure. He also reminds him of his own father who was not verbose. He knew what he needed to do in life and did it and that’s a great role model for the priest of today as a strong presence in the family. Chris said the day scheduled for his diaconal ordination is June 1, which was his father’s birthday. Chris said he believes it’s part of God’s compassion and encouragement for him.…
Summary of today’s show: For his annual message on communications, Pope Benedict took up the topic of social networks as “spaces for evangelization.” Domenico Bettinelli joins Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell to discuss the Holy Father’s message as well as the potential pitfalls and promise of social media for Christians. Fr. Mark in particular acknowledges the challenge the Holy Father is offering but worries that the world of social media is a giant time-sink, so Scot and Dom try to address his concerns. Listen and see if they end up convincing him to dip a toe into the world of social networks. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Domenico Bettinelli of Pilot New Media Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Pope Benedict XVI on social networks 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed listeners to the show and introduced his co-host, Fr. Mark O’Connell. They discussed the new canon lawyer who has started in Fr. Mark’s office, the Metropolitan Tribunal. He comes from Italy. Today’s discussion centered around the Holy Father’s World Day of Communications message for this this year entitled “Social Networks: portals of truth and faith; new spaces for evangelization.” As our usual transcriptionist, Dom Bettinelli, was a guest on today’s show, we don’t have the complete Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Jesus began speaking in the synagogue, saying: “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb, ‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’” And he said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.…
Summary of today’s show: Our panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Gregory Tracy consider the news headlines of the week, including Cardinal Seán’s well-received homily at the Vigil Mass before the March for Life; Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s message to the “ultrasound generation”; the appointment of a new director of pastoral outreach and support for the Archdiocese; and Pope Benedict’s assurance that a biblical view of God will help a crisis of fatherhood. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: March for Life wrap-up; New Boston appointment; God as Father 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. He said he’s coming to us from sunny Florida today. He and Susan discussed the windstorm last night and then Susan’s catechist convocation in Tewksbury yesterday, one of a series of regional meetings. Susan said she met Scot’s mother there and got lots of stories about Scot from her. Scot said he’s in Florida for the funeral of Cardinal Seán’s stepmother, Claire, who was 90 years old. She died a few weeks ago, but because of Cardinal Seán’s commitments to the March for Life, they had to postpone the funeral. In addition to Scot, there was a good turnout from Boston, including three of our auxiliary bishops and a number of pastors. Scot welcomed Gregory Tracy to the show and asked him about his experience traveling with Cardinal Seán to the March for Life. This year Cardinal Seán was the principal celebrant of the Vigil for Life Mass and his homily won rave reviews from far and wide. The Cardinal also celebrated Mass for a gathering of pro-life leaders earlier in the day. Greg was also on the main stage at the Rally before the March for Life and Scot asked him what his sense was of the numbers. Greg said he’s heard this was the biggest March ever. He said the crowd went back further along the Mall than he’s ever seen before. Scot noted that Cardinal Seán read from the main stage a tweet from the Holy Father that had just come out a few minutes before in which the Pope said he was in unity with those who were marching for life that day. Greg said there was a great response from the crowd. I join all those marching for life from afar, and pray that political leaders will protect the unborn and promote a culture of life. — Benedict XVI (@Pontifex) 2nd segment: Scot said the kickoff of the March for Life is at the vigil Mass at the basilica is considered the state of the pro-life movement each year. Forty years ago when the Supreme Court handed down a second Dred Scott decision that renders unborn children, like people of African-American descent in the days of slavery, unprotected by the Constitution of the United States. Since 1973 there have been 55 million abortions – that is how many people there are in Italy, the United Kingdom or France. Scot said that number was a stark reminder and shocking. Greg said that’s what’s insidious about abortion. It starts as individual decisions, but it adds up over the years to this astonishing number. It’s hard to think of it as just as a personal choice when you consider a population the size of a nation has been put to death. We have been wandering in the desert for 40 years but we are getting closer to the Promised Land. Austen Ivereigh has put it very well: “The direction of Western cultural history indelibly marked by Christianity is toward the eventual revelation of the humanity of the victim. Just as the voices of the slave, the ostracized foreigner, the battered housewife, the disabled, and the child abuse victim, have all eventually been heard, so will eventually the voice of the literally voiceless – the unborn child.” … Too many Americans see abortion as a necessary evil. We need to educate the public on the damage done to women by abortion and show that abortion is not a necessary evil, but is simply evil. Susan said she loved that quote from Austen Ivereigh. She one hopes and prays for the moment when the voice of the voiceless is heard. The cardinal in his homily gave some frightening statistics about the choices a woman has before her and that abortion is presented as the most humane of the three choices before her: abortion, birth, and adoption. Scot said the cardinal said that there are 86 abortions for each adoption in this country and there are so many families looking for a child to adopt. The cardinal quoted from a study by the Vitae Caring Foundation with the intriguing name “The Least of Three Evils – Understanding the Psychological Dynamics of How Women Feel about Abortion.” The report shows that unplanned motherhood is seen as a greater evil than abortion. An unwanted pregnancy is perceived as equivalent to a “death of self,” a loss of control over one’s present and future. Given this perspective, the choice of abortion becomes a lesser evil, a choice of self preservation, a much more defensible position both to the woman and to those supporting her decision to abort.” Tragically, adoption is seen as the most evil of the three options, as it is perceived as a kind of double death. First, the death of self by carrying the baby to term. The second death perceived by the woman is the death of the child thru “abandonment.” A woman worries about her child being mistreated, abused, and neglected. She would perceive herself as a bad mother, one who gave her own child away to strangers. Basically the woman desperately wants a sense of resolution to her crisis, and in her mind adoption leaves the situation the most unresolved, with uncertainty and guilt for as far as she can see. As much as we might like to see the slogan “Adoption, not Abortion” embraced by woman facing an unwanted pregnancy, studies suggest that in pitting adoption against abortion, adoption will be the hands-down loser. In fact while abortion itself is seen as something evil, the woman who is making that choice is seen as courageous, making a difficult but necessary decision. The study goes on to show that abortion is considered the least of the three evils because it is perceived as offering the greatest hope to a woman to preserve her sense of self. This is why so many women deeply resent our pro-life movement which they perceive as uncaring and judgmental. We have consistently focused on the safety of the unborn child while the pro choice, pro abortion activists focus on the woman in crisis. With almost 100 abortions for every adoption, we have so much more work to do. The cardinal goes on to say how we have to change hearts and show that abortion is the greatest of three evils. Susan said she always thought that we were concerned with the woman and caring for her, that it wasn’t one or the other. It’s both-and. So this startled her. The Vitae Foundation has had amazing results with their television advertising that has increased pro-life sentiments among the general population in the areas where they appeared. We must never lose sight of the fact that we must work to change the laws, to overturn the Roe vs. Wade decision, but we must work even harder to change people’s hearts, to help Americans understand that abortion is evil and unnecessary. Spielberg’s film, Lincoln, shows the monumental struggle against slavery and Lincoln’s resolve to pass the Thirteenth Amendment, but the law was only part of the struggle. The evil of racism perdured for over a century and the civil rights legislation and sacrifices of so many are contemporary realities in an ongoing struggle to live the ideals of our country. Changing hearts is always the hardest part. The laws will change. Hearts are harder to change. We must never tire of clarifying misunderstanding and shedding light where there is myth and confusion, demonstrating empathy and compassion and a deeper vision. That is the method being presented by Catholic Voices. It is not just about the lucidity of our arguments; it is about the effect that our words have on others. Our task is to present the truth with civility, empathy and clarity. Being champions of the Gospel of Life is about building a civilization of love. Scot said the cardinal is motivating everyone, informing about the results of the study, and then challenging us as we carry out the work of the pro-life movement. Scot said too often the pro-life message is presented with the least charitable, least empathetic arguments. Greg said he does see that there is a huge spectrum of pro-lifers who run the gamut. In any kind of dialogue, those kind of extremes stick and that’s what people notice. There are obviously people on both sides who are very committed. But there are a lot of people in the middle who don’t think about it every day and in those circumstances what cuts through the background noise of life are the extremes. Cardinal Seán’s point is true: pro-abortion groups come across as pro-woman. Susan said the cardinal made it clear that the majority of people, when presented with rational facts and statistics, people respond in a pro-life way. Not when confronted with extreme language and graphic images. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Lucia Prunier from Wayland, MA She wins an Audio Book CD “St. Bernadette of Lourdes”. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot said Cardinal Timothy Dolan has written one of the most provocative pieces on the future of the pro-life movement, Popular culture calls you the “Millennial Generation” because you came of age at the dawn of the Millennium. But I think of you as the “Ultrasound Generation.” You are different than any generation that came before you in that your very first baby pictures were taken not with you in your mother’s arms, but you alive in her womb. Your generation is defined by technology. You have come to expect almost annual revolutionary technological breakthroughs that change the way we live and work. You have seen staggering medical advances that have given doctors wonderful new tools in fighting disease and injury. And you have grown up with ultrasound technology that has opened a window into the womb, allowing us to glimpse preborn babies from the earliest weeks of gestation. You have seen your little brothers and sisters before they were born in these grainy videos and photographs pinned to the fridge. Your mom or your dad has shown you those first images of yourself. Some of you have even seen your own children for the first time with newer, clearer 3- and 4-dimensional ultrasound technology. You have gasped with wonder at the sight of little arms flailing and legs kicking, heads bobbing and hearts beating, mouths sucking thumbs. You have seen, and you believe. Let’s face it, you figured out a long time ago that your parents’ generation isn’t always right. So many have tried to convince you (as they have allowed themselves to be convinced) that an unborn baby is nothing more than a “clump of cells.” College professors, politicians, Hollywood glitterati, and media talking heads have hammered you with the message that the decision to abort has no more moral significance than having a wisdom tooth extracted. To be an enlightened adult, you will be told, you must support the “right to choose.” (They won’t tell you what, or who is being chosen.) You are rightly skeptical. They may believe what they say, but in this matter they are wrong. Think of your first baby picture, the one on the flimsy paper with the dark background and the unmistakable image of you. You know better. You have seen, and you believe. Scot said he hasn’t seen it written like this before, but he does know that the Knights of Columbus underwrite ultrasounds for crisis pregnancy centers to show mothers in crisis that their baby is a baby in their womb and to activate that maternal instinct to protect the children. Susan said the cardinal ended the column: “My faith in you is high. For I have seen, and I believe – in you.” She said she has been in so many homes where the ultrasound picture is on the refrigerator door, proclaiming the new member of the family. She said in decades past the science textbooks had beautiful imagery of unborn children in the womb and those images have disappeared. Cardinal Dolan said this generation doesn’t have enough to just see and believe, but to go out and do something. But here’s the tough part: It is not enough that you believe. It is not enough that you are sympathetic to the cause. Don’t get me wrong, I am thrilled to know that so many of you in the “Ultrasound Generation” are pro-life. But this can’t be a secret anymore. You need to proclaim it. It can’t come from me or from people my age; our time is rapidly passing. Now is your time. Sometimes, it falls to one generation to clean up another generation’s mess. And I’m afraid we have left you quite a mess. I am asking you, the “Ultrasound Generation,” to set the course right, to change hearts and minds, to change the law so that your children’s generation is given the legal protection that your generation so tragically was not. Ultimately, I am counting on you to change our culture. Scot asked Greg about his own teens hearing this and whether they are moved to take action. Greg said the cardinal made a clarion call to a new generation. An old way is passing and you, the next generation, are the new way. He said his kids have always been introduced to their new sibling through ultrasound. Greg said he became pro-life after seeing the ultrasound of his first child. He’d converted to Catholicism shortly before marriage and he’d been a secular person who didn’t give much thought to these matters. But at the moment he saw the first ultrasound, it clicked with him that this is a baby. Also in the Pilot this week is the appointment of Vivian Soper of the director of the Office of Pastoral Support and Outreach for the Archdiocese of Boston, who is succeeding Barbara Thorp. She is a resident of Weymouth and sister of Fr. Paul Soper, director of Pastoral Planning for the Archdiocese. Vivian formerly worked for Catholic Charities of Greater Boston. Scot said in Vatican news, the Holy Father is explaining different parts of the Nicene Creed throughout the Year of Faith. He recently addressed the term “Almighty Father”. “For those who have had the experience of an overly authoritarian and inflexible father, or an indifferent, uncaring, or even absent one, it is not easy to calmly think of God as a father or to confidently surrender themselves to him,” he told the crowd. Pope Benedict pointed out that “it isn’t always easy today to speak about fatherhood and, not having adequate role models, it even becomes problematic to imagine God as a father.” “But a Biblical revelation helps us to overcome these difficulties by telling us about a God who shows us what it truly means to be a father,” the pontiff said. According to the Pope, “it is the Gospel above all that reveals to us this face of God as a father who loves us even to the point of giving us the gift of His Son for the salvation of humanity.” “Jesus reveals God as a merciful father who never abandons his children and whose loving concern for us embraces even the cross,” he said. Scot said we talk about the words of the Holy Father because people may not hear them elsewhere and it’s his hope that someone listening can hear these words and find hope and healing. Susan recounted a story of a first grade religious education class in which a boy who heard the God is Father said that his father hits him and this puts the Pope’s words in perspective. Greg said he too knows people who have trouble embracing the Fatherhood of God because of their experience of their own fathers. He said in marriage preparation classes, he often talks to men about how they treat their future children will affect how they relate to God the Father.…
Summary of today’s show: Continuing Catholic Schools Week, Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams welcome Sr. Mary Murphy, Fred Gilfeather and Nicholas Fernari from Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School in Lawrence to talk about the unique Cristo Rey model and their success in Massachusetts’ poorest city. The students at the school spend four days per week in class and the fifth day at good jobs in corporate environments, earning money for tuition but also gaining valuable workplace experience well ahead of their peers. The model works as evidenced by a college retention rate that’s twice the national average. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Sr. Mary Murphy, Fred Gilfeather, Nicholas Fernari Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Catholic Schools Week: Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School, Lawrence 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. He noted that this week is Catholic Schools Week. Today’s profile will be Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School in Lawrence which follows the Cristo Rey educational model. But first he welcomed Fr. Matt back to the show after he went to the March for Life last week. He said this March was the best they’ve ever done with over 500 middle schoolers, high schoolers, and young adults. Fr. Matt said he is a product of Catholic schools his entire life. He said his vocation is partly attributed to his Catholic schooling, especially the powerful witness of the priests and sisters he’s know along the way. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Sr. Mary Murphy, the president of the school; Fred Gilfeather, director of corporate development; and Nicholas Fernari, a junior. Sr. Mary said the school is in Lawrence to serve the people of Lawrence and the model is that students work one day per week to earn tuition and at the same time to gain corporate work experience. It is keyed in on serving people with limited income. It originated in 1996 in Chicago. The Sisters of Notre Dame were invited to be part of the network in 2003. Since then the high school has graduated more than 190. While the majority of students come from Lawrence, they come from surrounding towns. They have 293 students and will cap population to 400. Nicholas said he chose Notre Dame because both his parents value education and grew up a Catholic. He said he many choices for high school, but he chose Notre Dame for the corporate work-study program. This was completely different from what other Catholic high schools offered. He said there’s something you can get from the workplace that you can’t get in the classroom and those skills are useful in the classroom. His freshman year he worked in a small consulting agency with engineers and scientists. He spent most of his time doing filing and other smaller tasks. For the past two years he’s been working at a paralegal firm. Nicholas said he’s leaning toward education. He knows he doesn’t want to be a lawyer after having experienced the profession. Fred said Nick is representative of the student population. He said he’s trying to get a well-rounded basis of what the students are passionate about so he can match them with the right corporate experience. They have medical technology, manufacturing, and the whole gamut of industries. His biggest challenge is to find every student the perfect job. When he knows what they’re passionate, he can try to put them in a job at which they’ll be successful. Scot asked what’s in it for the corporations? Fred said he often connects with someone in the company who believes in what they’re doing and they run it up the ladder. The companies get a good, reliable worker, while the school gets a funding source. The companies also get the satisfaction of helping low-income students from the city of Lawrence, not through a handout but through an opportunity. Scot asked about job-sharing. Sr. Mary said when they talk to companies, they ask them where their needs are. In most cases, it’s not job-sharing, but they do specific jobs. Nick said he’s learned how to be a team member and to realize that if you create a problem, you have to be part of the solution. That’s improved his ability to be part of the school. He’s also learned organizational skills, how to file, how to navigate a workplace. Scot asked Sr. Mary how they prepare the students for the professional poise and work habits. She said they have a training session in the summer for incoming freshman, to educate them about what a supervisor is, what is a performance review; how to respond to others. The students are always afraid on their first day, but universally they are accepted and treated as equals. The school monitors their performance in the workplace each day. Nick said his classmates are generally four years ahead of their peers in knowing what it’s like to be in the business world, which is very different from working in the fast food restaurant or supermarket. Fred said the biggest misconception to overcome is doubts about what a 14-year-old can do for their commpany and he will relate the list of big-name companies hiring these kids, which helps to convince. When the companies meet the kids and how focused they are because these kids know they need to do a good job to stay in school, they understand. The kids are not doing make-work jobs. They’re doing real important work. Fred talked about one company that saw such a return on their investment with students providing translation services that they’re adding even more translators from among students next year. Fr. Matt asked about the witness. Sr. Mary said they talk about the core values and try to live it. The students also evangelize their peers. Employers universally talk about how the students exemplify the best values. Sr. Mary said they’re not just trying to get the students into college. They follow them for six years to make sure they finish college. It’s education for life. their hope is that when times are tough, that the faith life they support becomes more important. She said Notre Dame Cristo Rey is making a difference in Lawrence and families often tell her that the school is their hope to get out of poverty. Sr. Mary said the Cristo Rey Network has partnered with colleges, helping students who can’t afford tuition. Most of their students tend to stay locally. Scot asked Nicholas how he would differentiate a Cristo Rey student from students at other schools. Nicholas said they all have a good sense of the language of business which contributes to their professionalism. Sr. Mary said the lives of students outside school can be chaotic, and the school offers them something to hold onto, something stable, something that helps with their resiliency. 3rd segment: Scot asked Fred what are the coolest jobs. Fred said he thinks the coolest is at New England BioLabs in Ipswich. the company has a rain forest inside the building that they use to purify all the water that the building uses. Another is NuPath which provides day services and residential options for adults in need. She said some students even go on their own time to volunteer. They also discussed the distances the students will have to travel for their jobs. Fred said they transport all their students to their jobs, which contributes to a very high attendance rate. Even for those who miss a day, they have to make it up during vacation or another day. Fr. Matt asked Nick about how they make up for the one day per week they spend at their jobs. He said their school day is longer and so is their school year. The school day is 8am to 3:30pm. He said they are in school from the end of August to the middle of June. Sr. Mary said the school has sports, but they’re not intent on being in the top tiers. They have basketball and cross-country and have had softball and baseball teams. But practice and game schedules have to be adapted to class and work schedules. She said the school is sponsored by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and so they ensure the Sisters’ charism is carried through. They have a staff person who deals with the Catholic identity of the school, not just in religion classes, but throughout everything the school does. They have a strong religion program that is tied into the directives from the Cristo Rey Network. They have school Masses with the Augustinian friars serving the local parish, St. Mary of the Assumption. They have retreats through campus ministry. Seventy-three percent of students are Catholic and the parish is one of the largest Hispanic Catholic communities in the Archdiocese. For companies or organizations in the Merrimack Valley interested in partnering with Notre Dame Cristo Rey, Fred said he wants them to know that these students are very focused. If you need one student or four or 26, they can help with that. He tells them that the companies change people’s lives from day one. He encouraged companies to call him and come by for a tour. Fred said the national average retention rate through sophomore year for Latino students in college is 43 percentage. Notre Dame has an 86 percent retention rate.…
Summary of today’s show: Continuing Catholic Schools Week, Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor talk with Martha McCook, principal of Immaculate Conception School in Marlborough, about their remarkable success as a small pre-school through eighth grade school, including dominating the rankings of a national mathematics scholarship program; using advanced technology in the curriculum; providing faith formation that helps students grow spiritually; being a light in the parish and community and an extended family for students and their families; and a place where children of diverse backgrounds and economic circumstances come together. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Martha McCook Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Catholic Schools Week: Immaculate Conception School, Marlborough 1st segment: Scot Landry said it’s the second day of Catholic Schools Week. He welcomed Fr. Chris O’Connor to the show. He said he will be at Cheverus School in Malden on Friday to celebrate Mass with them and said he has an appreciation for Catholic education as a product of Catholic schools. Scot said we’ll be profiling specific schools this week, including Immaculate Conception School in Marlborough. Scot asked Fr. Chris about the seminarians who traveled to Washington, DC, last for the March for Life via the train. He said they told him it was a wonderful profound experience. He said the seminarians were able to serve at the Vigil Mass at the Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception because Cardinal Seán was the principal celebrant. He said the procession at the Mass alone takes a good 30 minutes. He said seminarians come from all over the country. Scot said it’s one of the biggest gatherings of the US Catholic Church each year. It shows how important and central the abortion issue is as the central moral issue today. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcomed Martha McCook of Immaculate Conception School in Marlborough to the show. Martha is the principal of the school. She’s been there for 26 years. She said the school has 225 students from diverse backgrounds. The school is in three separate buildings: The convent school is an early childhood center for pre-school through Grade 1; the lower school is for 2 through 5; and the middle school is grades 6 through 8. Each building is designed to address the unique needs of each group of learners. Many parents like that all their children can be in the same schedule and timeframe but in schools adapted for them. The schools are located on the same street in town. Martha said they live their faith everyday and they try to instill in their students that the kindness God instills in us needs to be extended to each and every person that they meet. And that we don’t need to be afraid to show out Catholic faith and what a gift that faith is. Scot asked how the school has changed over the years. She said the needs of the students have changed. Some of the three-year-olds are proficient with iPads for instance and so they have to adapt their teaching styles and technology. Every classroom has a and state-of-the-art computers. Many parents want the school to keep up with technology. Nevertheless it’s their Catholic identity that remains the purpose for the school. Fr. Chris asked how the school is celebrating Catholic Schools Week. She said parents have come into their children’s classrooms with special presentations from their kids. On Wednesday, the middle school is having an academic bowl encompassing all subjects. She said they teach the children Spanish starting with the three-year-olds. Scot asked how the school was able to afford the technology. Martha said they set high standards and expect more because their calling is to get each to their potential. The middle school math program has been competing in Raytheon’s Math Moves curriculum which encourages students to prepare for careers in science, technology, engineering, and math. Their students win amazing awards, including $1,000 scholarships which come with a matching grant for the school and so far they’ve received $54,000 in scholarships. One student also has won a $20,000 college scholarship. Scot said he’s amazed to see how a small school in Marlborough is cleaning up nationally on all these math awards. He asked Martha to what she attributes their success. She said in addition to the Math excellence, they have a “writing across the curriculum” program that starts in pre-K. Communication is an essential skill, including the ability to write in many genre. They need to be able to write in non-fiction and fiction, correspondence and business plans. Scot noted that the Math Moves program includes an essay component. Martha said the students have written about how they like the different math-related challenges, including robotics, as well as science programs. They learn that they’re not just learning each subject in different silos, but see how they integrate with each other and into their lives. She said one thing they do is to teach children how to deal with cash and money because parents today generally tend to pay everything with debit cards. So they teach practical life skills related to math, like handling money or calculating home improvements and the like. Fr. Chris said the way we teach and educate are changing, but are the kids changing? Martha said the children haven’t changed in that they come eager to learn. But how you reach them and how you keep their attention has changed. You get to know the families and the sense of family and sense of community is a source of strength for Immaculate Conception School. She noted that after the Newtown shootings a little girl said to her on the first day back to school that she knew Fr. Michael would talk to the Marlborough students, they’d have Mass, and then everything would be okay. Scot said the academic bar is set so high at IC Marlborough, how do they benchmark themselves against? He can’t imagine there are many schools who are the level they are. Martha said it comes from faith. The staff feel they have been called by God to bring out all the gifts and talents of the children. They want to ensure that when the kids move on to secondary schools, they keep touch to see how they’re continuing to do so that the school can make adjustments to its programs. Martha talked about her decision to come to the school 26 years ago. They moved from Connecticut to Marlborough when husband moved from academia to business. She volunteered at the school where her children were attending. The school had no language program and no real library and because she had advanced degrees and experience in those areas, the pastor asked her come and establish a library and a foreign language program. She did that in the first year including teaching French in Grades 7 and 8. The next year, she became principal. Fr. Chris asked her to describe her staff and why they choose to teach there. Martha said many of them are drawn to the fact they can teach and don’t have to leave Jesus at the door and can impart their faith to the students. They like the community and family atmosphere. They like the high standards and realize they’re going to keep up with what’s going on in education. Seventy-percent have advanced degrees and those who do not are required to take a graduate course every other year in order to qualify for salary increases. They have to keep their credentials up to keep abreast of what’s new. But they all have callings and know they are called to nurture the faith of the students and develop them as whole children of God. Scot asked what they do to develop faith in the school outside of the regular academic classes. Martha said they have religion classes and prayer several times a day. They also have service outside the school. They learn very early on not only to count their blessings but then to share those blessings with the less fortunate. They have coat drives for children and food drives. They encourage parents to help the children earn money for their donations. They do things on both the large scale and small scale. All the fifth grade students have a first grade reading buddy. All the middle school students have Mass partners, so they are responsible during all-school Masses to help children from the lower grades with getting from their classrooms to Mass and staying with them. Martha said they have a middle school Mass every week in addition to the monthly all-school Mass. She said the parish priests celebrate a Mass geared toward middle school kids, who are in a critical phase of development. It gives them tools for dealing with the issues that come up in their lives and the kids come to love the Mass. They are asked to write journals at the end of the year and they often reflect on specific Gospels they hear and how they’ve relied on them to make the right choices. 3rd segment: Fr. Chris related a story of one parochial school and the parish priest who one girl called God. He said he’s not God, but he’s called to be God-like, especially in working with children, exhibiting God’s love and compassion. Martha said because the school is so faith-based, it’s natural for the students to gather in prayer. They learn to turn to God and they learn that prayer works. It also draws the families in. They have four sets of parents and three middle school students who are in RCIA in the parish this year. Martha said Marlborough is in the Metrowest at the intersection of Mass Pike and 495. It’s been a high-tech and banking region. It’s also home to diverse Spanish and Brazilian communities. They have worked hard to have the school represent the parish and community so they have asked Catholic Schools Foundation and others to provide scholarships for lower-income students. She said during Advent each classroom adopts families from a list provided by the social service agencies and the children provide clothing and gifts and Christmas dinners for adopted families. The children get to see the effect of their assistance. They see students who give away their birthday money or give their birthday presents to children who are less fortunate. They also have lots of socialization, such as school dances, movie nights, outdoor activities, field day, sports teams. At the end of Catholic Schools Week they have an adult trivia night for faculty, staff, parents, and priests. It’s a way for the parents to relax and enjoy. Scot said the school becomes an anchor in the parish and community’s life. Scot asked if there are many non-Catholic families. Martha said 12 percent are not Catholic, whether Protestant or having no religion. She said all the children go home wanting to pray and the parents say they are so impressed by the children’s spirituality that they want to be part of it. Scot asked about all the students learning Spanish. Martha said she speaks to the Spanish-language Masses in the parish a few times a year and they find that the students have come to recognize that some of their classmates speak another language and want to do so as well. Martha said the goal is both conversational Spanish, but also to help them place into advanced Spanish levels in high school. Martha talked about the financial health of the school. The archdiocese provides a metric for all schools and Immaculate Conception gets a perfect school. They’re always looking to expand opportunity for scholarships without raising tuition. they have zero-based budgeting and they don’t take any money from the parish. The school is sound and solid. Martha noted that most elementary schools now have advancement directors. They have found that you need to look beyond current families, but need to look to alumni, businesses, grandparents of students and others who might want to support the school and help them remain fiscally strong. Scot asked if it’s difficult to get financial help from alumni given all the demands on them. How do you get them from being a grateful alumni to one who helps to underwrite expenses. Martha said they reach out to them with a school magazine and show the school as active in the community. Fr. Chris noted that the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph used to be actively involved in the school and there are some sisters still connected to the school. There is a retirement convent for Sisters of St. Chretienne and some of them come in and provide tutoring help. Martha said these are the only religious sisters that some of the students will ever come in contact with. 4th segment: Scot said Immaculate Conception school was founded in 1910. He noted that Martha had said that the priests of the parish were key to the life of the school. Martha said they are blessed with the pastor, who is involved in he school, does the liturgies, comes to parent meetings, and is involved in all aspects of school life. They also have had a succession of parochial vicars, almost right out of seminary. Scot asked Martha if the school has a wishlist. Martha said they would love to look into funding for a foreign-language immersion program, which she doesn’t think any Catholic school in the region has. Fr. Chris asked about sacramental preparation. Martha talked about First Reconciliation and First Communion in the second grade as a wonderful focus. She sees the gift develop in the students of how important the Eucharist is for them. Martha talked about how people can contact the school through their website and how many families come from outside Marlborough.…
Summary of today’s show: Catholic Schools Week begins today with Jorge Hernandez and Jim Walsh of the Catholic Schools Office sitting down with Scot Landry to talk about the state of Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Boston, the principles of excellence that encourage in schools, as well as some of the amazing success stories among local Catholic schools that have seen growth in enrollment and academic achievement. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Jorge Hernandez, Jim Walsh of Catholic Schools Office Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Catholic Schools Week 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show. He said it’s Catholic Schools Week and he said the theme this year is “Catholic schools raise the standards.” He said across the Archdiocese of Boston, everyone in Catholic schools have been working hard to raise the standards of Catholic education. Today, we’ll look at Catholic education in Boston at a macro level and the rest of the week in specific schools. He welcomed Jorge Hernandez and Jim Walsh, area superintendents for the Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese. Jim said Catholic schools educate 2 million students across the US, 1.4 million in elementary schools. In the archdiocese, 41,000 in 121 Catholic schools, both run by parishes and independent and run by religious orders. Scot said 41,000 is at least as big as any public school district in the state. Jorge said in terms of the number of schools it is certainly one of the largest. Scot said Jorge is responsible for the North and Merrimac regions. He asked him what made him leave Merrimack College to come work as an area superintendent for the Archdiocese. He said it’s a wonderful team in the Catholic Schools Office. He’s been able to see another aspect of Catholic school education, having gone to Catholic schools from K through college, on both the West Coast and East Coast. His parents were Mexican immigrants to the US and they treasured Catholic education. He said Catholic schools are unique. They offer an opportunity to be engaged in faith and to be top academic leaders. Scot said Jim has worked for the Archdiocese of many years. Jim said he grew up at St. Gregory’s in Dorchester and his family had faith as a very important. He attended Catholic high school and college and his kids have gone to Catholic schools. He said Catholic schools educate the whole person, including faith in terms of who we are. Bringing faith to the heart of every child is a gift of life. Teachers are partners with parents in forming the children. Scot said Catholic education forms the heart and teaches them how to love. He said education and classroom work alone isn’t enough to form a good person. Jim said St. Catherine’s in Norwood has a simple motto of “See Christ in others. Be Christ to others.” The school uses that every day in morning prayer with the children. It helps the children to understand we are individually called to serve Christ and His Church. Jorge said Catholic Schools Week calls attention to all the different ways that Catholic schools benefit the students and community. Activities are individual to the school, such as Masses or open houses or alumni reunions. Jim said a lot of students from referrals from family, neighbors, and others who are in Catholic schools. Having a parish Mass dedicated to the school and then an open house allows them to show what the school stands for, the commitment to values, the teachers’ values. Jim said the Archdiocese formed a partnership with Boston College a few years ago to run St. Columbkille School, which has almost 400 students now. At a recent gathering, BC president Fr. Leahy talked about how the school has nurtured the faith of students over the years. Scot asked why St. Columbkille has grown so much in recent years. Jim said they were able to bring a bunch of resources, not just financial, but also pastorally, infrastructure, administration and in other ways. They’ve brought reassurance to the neighborhood that the school will be stable, after Presentation School closed nearby, so that people feel confident sending their children there. Stable enrollment allows the school to invest in curriculum, teacher ongoing formation, etc. Scot said when enrollment declines, it’s tougher for a school to invest in growth. But turning the tide also creates an upward spiral too, as people have confidence in a consistent level of instruction. Jorge said Notre Dame Cristo Rey in Lawrence is another wonderful school. It has a model of education where students also work part-time in jobs at local businesses that provide both work experience and an income that defrays tuition costs, in addition to the rigorous academics. They have almost 300 students, growing from 100 students in the past five years. Another great story is the formation of Lawrence Catholic Academy, which serves 500 students from pre-K to eighth grade. He said there are tremendous high schools throughout the archdiocese. Scot noted that the Xaverians Brothers have helped revitalize Lowell Catholic High School in recent years. Jim said it’s another unique partnership opportunity with the Xavierian Brothers and in 3 years have brought enrollment nearly to capacity. 2nd segment: Scot read from essays by Catholic school students submitted to an essay contest in the Diocese of Fall River’s The Anchor newspaper on what they love about Catholic school. Jim talked about how principals and teachers are wonderful role model and leaders. The three principles of excellence including: Actionable ways of living a vision of leadership Academic excellence with high standards and expectations of higher education Managerial excellence including strong financial management. The Schools Office offers workshops for principals, teachers, staff, and pastors on leadership and governance, fiscal sustainability, the need for boards, the role of the administration as a hub for information. As they work on challenging decisions, they realize the importance of involving laity in terms of boards. This puts a strain on the administration in terms of providing information. The goal is to start looking into the future for planning. Jorge said behind every successful Catholic schools is a successful Catholic school leader in spiritual, academic, and managerial leadership, whether pastor or principal. They discussed how tuitions have risen to provide greater resources for the higher excellence. Jorge said this is why the support of the community is so vital. Scot quoted Cardinal Timothy Dolan from an America magazine piece on the decline of Catholic education: The reasons for the decline are familiar: the steady drop in vocations to the religious teaching orders who were the greatest single work force in the church’s modern period; the drastic shift in demographics of the late-20th century that saw a dramatic drop-off in Catholic immigration from Europe; the rising cost of living since the late 1970s that forced nearly every American parent to become a wage-earner and put Catholic education beyond their budget; and the crumbling of an intact neighborhood-based Catholic culture that depended upon the parochial school as its foundation. The most crippling reason, however, may rest in an enormous shift in the thinking of many American Catholics, namely, that the responsibility for Catholic schools belongs only to the parents of the students who attend them, not to the entire church. Nowadays, Catholics often see a Catholic education as a consumer product, reserved to those who can afford it. The result is predictable: Catholics as a whole in the United States have for some time disowned their school system, excusing themselves as individuals, parishes or dioceses from any further involvement with a Catholic school simply because their own children are not enrolled there, or their parish does not have its own school. Scot said he used to think like that. He thought back to a previous era, when every Catholic sent their children to a Catholic school because the Church was persecuted. But later, at least in places where there were more Catholics, even in public schools there were so many Catholics that it was almost like a Catholic school. That has changed. Jim noted that up to the early 70s most schools were supported by parish offertory where they didn’t charge tuition. He said the Archdiocese needs to to take action so that the whole approach of evangelization to make Catholic schools an integral part of strengthening parish collaboratives. Scot said there could come a day in Massachusetts when the way to stand up to support Catholic schools will be to call legislators in support of legislation that would allow a tax break or school choice for parents who want Catholic education. Scot said he often hears from Catholic school alumni about their gratitude for their teachers. He said teachers today are very dedicated, especially when public school teachers have much better pay and benefits. Catholic school teachers have made a commitment to the Catholic school setting. Jorge said he points to the various religious orders who were responsible for his Catholic education. He thinks many Catholic school teachers in the archdiocese were themselves similarly inspired and touched by their own Catholic school teachers, especially in the religious orders that laid the foundation for Catholic education in Boston. They are often very passionate about the mission of the Catholic school, integrating faith, life, academics, social justice. They work everyday in the common mission of the betterment of society and that’s why the Catholic educators don’t see it as a job, but as a vocation. Jim said last year, there were 16 new principals or school presidents and about 40% came from public education. He said the CSO has also encouraged among educators some professional development so they can themselves step into those roles some day. He said there are two kinds of governance. The legally independent schools have independent boards, and parish schools have advisory boards. They are always looking for people with backgrounds in various disciples like human resources, finance, technology, marketing, facilities, and more. Everyone can be a part of the education. Jorge noted that there’s been an increase in enrollment in early education programs for ages 3 and 4. He said families want more than just day care, but to ensure that they’re receiving instruction in a values-based educational environment.…
Summary of today’s show: Today is the 40th March for Life in Washington, DC, and Scot Landry in our Braintree studios connects with Fr. Matt Williams in DC and a series of guests from among the 500 pilgrims who have traveled there to give witness to life. From teens on their first march to veterans of decades, from students to priests, our guests talk about why they go to the March, what their witness provides, and how it will change their lives. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Jane Richards, Jackie Nader, Larisa Bogolomov, Fr. Jason Worthley, Fr. Michael Sheehan FPO, Fr. John Currie, Fr. Michael Harrington, Tanya Skypeck, Victoria Spayda Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The 40th annual March for Life 1st segment: Scot Landry is joined remotely by his co-host, Fr. Matt Williams, who is at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Washington, DC, ahead of the March for Life for this pre-recorded episode of the The Good Catholic Life. To see photos from the March, go to and for live video from within the March go to . Scot said one of the signature events of the March for Life is the Vigil Mass at the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, and this year Cardinal Seán was the principal celebrant and homilist. He delivered a wonderful homily, perhaps one of his best that Scot has heard. We played some clips from the homily. This year we are saddened that Nellie Gray is not with us, as she has been for 40 years. I call her the Joan of Arc of the Gospel of Life. As a young priest working here at the Spanish Catholic Center in Washington, I heard about Nellie, who had left her career as a lawyer, like the Apostles leaving their boats and nets, to embrace a special vocation to work on behalf of pre-born children. It was my privilege to help her organize those first marches, and I have come to every march since the beginning. Nellie Gray has been an inspiration to me and countless others. Surely she continues to pray for us from her place in eternity. … The Gospel of Life is an imperative for Christ’s disciples. Christ through His Church is urging us to be defenders of life in the midst of the culture of death. The term culture of death, coined by John Paul II, is an accurate description of the drift of Western culture. Just last week, January 16, 2013, the newspapers reported a case of euthanasia in Belgium. Twin brothers Marc and Eddie Verbessem, who were born deaf, were recently diagnosed with glaucoma which could eventually lead to blindness. Judging their future to be too burdensome, they presented themselves at the University Hospital of Bruxelles and the forty-five year old brothers were both given a lethal injection. We recently managed to defeat a ballot initiative in Massachusetts that would have legalized physician assisted suicide. The initial polls had us losing 70% to 30%, but thanks to much prayer, hard work and alliances with a broad collation of hospice, health care workers, faith groups, disabilities people, Catholic colleges, and the hard work of our Knights of Columbus councils and our priests and parishioners, along with aggressive advertising, we actually won. … There is no doubt however that the next major assault on the Gospel of Life will come from those pushing physician assisted suicide and euthanasia. A society that allows parents to kill their children will allow children to kill their parents. During the past forty years, pro-life Americans have felt the frustration of being disenfranchised by an activist Supreme Court which has denied us the right to vote about abortion policy. Nevertheless, pro-life activists have not ceased to wage a campaign of moral suasion on campuses, workplaces and neighborhoods. It is amazing to think of the tens of thousands of volunteers working in the some 3,000 pregnancy help centers that provide over 2.3 million women in difficult pregnancies with invaluable help; medical, material and spiritual. Forty years ago when the Supreme Court handed down a second Dred Scott decision that renders unborn children, like people of African-American descent in the days of slavery, unprotected by the Constitution of the United States. Since 1973 there have been 55 million abortions – that is how many people there are in Italy, the United Kingdom or France. That translates into abortions for a quarter of all pregnancies. However, a study in New York City from last year shows that the abortion rate in New York City is actually over 40% and over 60% of black children are aborted. The same study showed a solid consensus that voters were shocked by the number of abortions, opposed tax payers funding of abortion and favored parental consent laws, waiting periods and accurate information about the abortion procedure and options. The same poll also indicated that 70% of the New Yorkers favored conscience rights for health care workers. I believe that this poll reflects the pulse of the majority of Americans. Sadly, the government is not listening to the people. … [T]o change the public attitudes of support for “abortion as a necessary evil” will require educating Americans about abortion’s impact on women and changing attitudes toward adoption. Too many Americans see abortion as a necessary evil. We need to educate the public on the damage done to women by abortion and show that abortion is not a necessary evil, but is simply evil. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed to the show from Washington, DC, Jane Richard of Presentation of Mary Academy, Larisa Bogolomov, and Jackie Nader from Ursuline Academy. Fr. Matt said he took them away from a rally, but he hopes that they can provide a flavor of the pilgrimage. He asked Jackie why she wanted to come. She said she’s wanted to come since she was in seventh grade. She wanted to do something so much bigger than her and to come see the hope and to see how inspiring it all is. She’s been the basilica before, but not as full and maybe no one has ever seen it as full as it was yesterday. She said you could feel the Holy Spirit in the thousands of people united for a purpose. Larisa is a freshman at St. Mary in Lynn. She said she first started hearing about the March during the first week of classes and people have been talking about it ever since. As she learned more, she knew it was an issue she cared about and wanted to come and do something about it. Fr. Matt noted that Larisa also took part in a special event regarding physician-assisted suicide. He asked her about her impressions of the basilica. She said she’s never seen a church so full in her life, especially full of young people. Fr. Matt asked Larisa what she has found challenging about the pilgrimage. She said it’s been challenging to wake up so early each day and riding buses for so long. But they were prepared to offer it all up. Fr. Matt asked Jane about her Marches and she said it’s her fourth March. He asked what inspires her to come year after year. Jane said she’s always wanted to do this as a mom and she loves that it’s her job description. She loves to see the change in the students, how their faith goes from their heads to their hearts. Scot asked Jackie why the March brings her so much hope. She said seeing people from all over the US in one place is so inspiring, t hat they’re all here to pray for life, to bring dignity and respect to women and children. Scot asked Larisa how she would respond to people who say pro-woman is pro-abortion. Larisa said in the March, she’s making a small difference for women. Fr. Matt said Cardinal Seán said we’re called to change hearts, starting with ourselves. We need to help people come to know Jesus, which then helps them to see the dignity of human life. Jackie said she’s learned in school that to know someone you have to love them. By knowing and loving other people you realize the good in other people and you’re able to do good for others. Scot asked Jackie about the experience of the long bus ride. He said his trip to the March was almost 20 years ago and what stands out for him was how fun it was to take the long bus ride. Jackie said she was happy to share this experience with friends and it didn’t seem like eight hours. They also did icebreaker activities with girls from other Catholic schools. They also watched videos that helped them understand what they were doing. Scot said this is the first time that the founder of the March, Nellie Gray, isn’t there. Scot asked Jane how it’s different from others for her. She remembered being in high school when abortion became legal. Jane said to be here now is to see a whole generational turnaround. She’s amazed to see that so many students don’t even know what Roe v. Wade and don’t know anything about abortion beyond the termination of a pregnancy. It’s significant for her to be able pass on the truth. She also noted how the Cardinal is expanding the message to marriage, the gift of fertility. Fr. Matt asked them to give practical tips for how to encourage kids to get involved in the pro-life movement. Jackie said the girls on the bus got pins that show the babies’ feet at eleven weeks and they were amazed. She encouraged others to use the concrete visual reminders. Larisa said in her school they’ve watched videos and had speakers come in and the students even started to have conversations on their own at lunchtime. Scot said with Catholic Schools Week next week and the girls representing Catholic education so well, he asked what they would say to those who wonder if Catholic high school is worth the investment. Jackie said it’s definitely worth it. There’s so much love and joy among them and they can practice their faith freely. She said it helps you find your faith in an open environment where people share the faith with you. Jane said as a parent it’s well worth the sacrifice. she said Catholic school faculty go above and beyond in their teaching with an integrated approach of heart, mind and soul. Fr. Matt said these guests inspired him and the Holy Spirit must have led them to the show. 3rd segment: Scot now welcomed to the show Fr. Jason Worthley serving three parishes in Somerville, Fr. Michael Sheehan of the Franciscans of the Primitive Observance, and Fr. John Currie of St. Joseph, Holbrook. Scot said he was able to watch Fr. Currie praying the rosary with the pilgrims on the bus during on of the live video broadcasts. He asked Fr. John how many Marches for Life he’s been on. Fr. John said it’s his third in DC and he’s been to a number in Boston. He said being with the kids was awesome. The joy and hope of the 13 and 14 year older is contagious. They’re so open and their hearts and minds are receptive. The conversations lead them to deeply cherish the moments they have to be on pilgrimage. Scot asked Fr. Jason how often he has come on the March. He said it’s his first March and he felt a need to come and witness to life. It’s been a great source of joy and inspiration. Scot asked what he will bring back to Somerville. Fr. Jason said it will be the tremendous gift of the unity he’s seen. All those who’ve come have endured great sacrifice to be there. Fr. Matt said Fr. Jason was telling him how awesome the experience was to be at the Mass. Fr. Michael said this is his ninth or tenth March, but his first as a priest. He said it was a joy to concelebrate the Mass with Cardinal Seán especially to see how the crowd reacted to what Cardinal Seán said. As a priest, he finds himself even more pastorally sensitive to the pilgrims. Some of them don’t even know at first what abortion is, and then to guide them after they have decided to want to help people in this area. Scot asked what they have heard from the pilgrims last night being in an overwhelming crowd and hearing Cardinal Seán’s awesome homily. Fr. Jason said there are many inconveniences in a pilgrimage but among all the pilgrims he talked to none of the inconveniences bothered them. They have joy at serving a cause beyond themselves. Fr. Matt said on his bus he focused with his pilgrims that the Mass last night would involve sacrifice with the heat, crowds, and long lines. There must have been 20,000 people present. They teach them that when they offer up a sacrifice that they’re sharing in what Jesus did on the Cross and God can never be outdone in generosity. One pilgrim told him that she felt a sense of peace as she offered up her sacrifice. Scot said Fr. John said on his bus that a pilgrimage can change you. Fr. John said a vacationer uses a place, a city or town to benefit their own interests: hotel room, amusement park rides, etc. A pilgrim goes to be transformed by a place, the people, the history, and the prayer. He encouraged the kids to know they were being transformed by the pro-life movement and in their own way would leave a mark on our society and they would do it with sincerity. Fr. John said a number of kids asked him later to explain it once again. He said our world doesn’t understand that the face of the March for Life has changed over the years and how it has become so young. Young people are standing up for life. Scot asked Fr. Jason what he wants listeners to know and see for themselves. Fr. Jason said most of those there at the March were born after Roe v. Wade and they realize that at one point our government said they did not have a right to exist and to have life. It’s a matter of justice. Scot asked the same question of Fr. Michael. He said an 18-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy going to confession, having come on the March thinking it was going to be a vacation, but later realizing that this movement won’t just take my time, but will take my conversion. He hoped that everyone who hasn’t gone to the March yet will see that same need. Fr. Matt said it’s wonderful that the pro-life movement has become so young. He can’t help but think of the mutual giving of gifts between the young people and the priests. The priests give a gift of a witness to radical self-giving to a greater cause and he can’t imagine how many have a vocation to religious life born out of this. 4th segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Mike Harrington from the Office of Cultural Diversity, Tanya Skypeck from St. Clements Young Adult Ministry, and Victoria Spayda from Norwood, now attending St. Joseph College in Maine. Fr. Matt said they have three tracks on the pilgrimage: Middle School, High School, and Young Adults. Tanya and Victoria represent that young adult track. Tanya said it’s her second March. She does it because of the witness in the world in the cultural of death. It’s moving to her to explain to her co-workers about why she’s going for these two days. By being here and explaining to people why she’s going, she’s participating in a battle for souls. Fr. Matt said her witness here in DC is an open door to witness back home at work. Fr. Matt said Victoria is a freshman and went on her first March with Fontbonne Academy last year. She is the sole representative from St. Joseph and is missing two days of school. She said last year was a incredible experience to hear the witness talks from the women who regret their abortions and to be with thousands of people. Fr. Mike said he’s been coming for 20 years. Fr. Matt asked how he’s seen it change. Fr. Mike said the March has grown significantly and there are more and more young people. Every year there’s another rally and another vigil because so many are filling up.He said it’s like being at a World Youth Day with so many young people everywhere. Fr. Matt said the fact that Boston has its own rally now is because so many other rallies have been sold out in past years. Now the Shrine of the Sacred Heart seats 700 people and was standing room only and so their rally is filling up too. Scot asked Tanya what led her to say last year that she has to go back this year. She said last year it was a fun pilgrimage with great people and she enjoyed most the Boston rally and to be together with them, people from home in a completely different city. She wanted to be here also because of the significance of the 40th anniversary and as a young woman to say publicly that abortion is harmful to women. Scot said the schedule of the pilgrimage is pretty busy. He asked Victoria what’s the most moving aspect. She said most moving for her was hearing all the people at the Mass last night singing together and praying together. Scot asked Fr. Mike why it’s so important in his own witness, not just as a priest, but as a Catholic to be there every year. Fr. Mike said the issues they are walking for touch us all personally. He’s noticed on his bus that the prayer has been beautiful. The issues they’re talking about has affected everyone personally, that everyone knows someone who had to face tough decisions and struggles in life. The prayer intentions have been so personal and meaningful. He added that he’s proud of Cardinal Seán, watching him lead the celebration with power and witness and emotion. He was very moved by seeing him there. Scot said Tanya said something she enjoys is sharing her experience with her co-workers. He asks how she shares with people who might be hostile to her for it. Tanya said she forms herself through reading the Church’s teachings, going to Mass and being particularly attentive, and doing anything she can to engage her brain. She’s been taking classes at the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization, which have helped her to be able to respond to the mindless rhetoric people spout at her. Study helps her prepare ahead of time to recognize those things when she hears them and to know how to respond. It’s also been a gradual process to become more and more bold and be able to speak up. Fr. Matt asked Victoria how she’s kept her faith alive. Victoria said before she got to school she applied to work with campus ministry and that’s kept her very active there. The community she had in high school has built her up to prepare her faith to be strong as she ventures out. Scot asked Victoria what she hopes for her witness to fellow classmates that might lead them to come next year. She’s going to push hard to get a group to go. She’s going to work with the campus minister to get him enthusiastic about it.…
1 TGCL #0455: Cardinal Sean's and Archbishop Aquila's prolife reflections; diaconate ordination; new Canon of St. Peter's; the Pope App; Seal of the Confessional 56:33
Summary of today’s show: Our Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Fr. Roger Landry consider the news headlines of the week, including an interview with Cardinal Seán reflecting on his pro-life efforts; Archbishop Samuel Aquila’s remembrance of his firsthand encounter with the result of abortion; the ordination of Boston seminarians to the transitional diaconate; the passing of three Boston priests; a local priest receiving a Vatican honor; the Pope’s new iPhone app; and the sanctity of the seal of the confessional. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Cardinal Sean’s and Archbishop Aquila’s prolife reflections; diaconate ordination; new Canon of St. Peter’s; the Pope App; Seal of the Confessional 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Susan Abbot and Fr. Roger Landry to the show. Our other usual Thursday guest, Gregory Tracy, is traveling today to the March for Life alongside Cardinal Seán. Scot asked Fr. Roger what he’s been up to in the weeks since he’s been with us. Fr. Roger said he’s been getting an Alpha Program started in his parish. They also talked about Catholic Faith Essentials as another way to deepen understanding of our Catholic faith. Speaking of online video, our own George Martell is going with pilgrims from the Archdiocese of Boston to the March for Life and broadcasting live video from various events, including in the midst of the March. People can follow along at and . Scot said speaking of the March for Life, Cardinal Sean is much more involved in leadership of the event this year as chairman of the US bishops’ pro-life activities committee. Before Christmas, he gave a fascinating interview to Joan Frawley Desmond in the National Catholic Register. She asked him how he first heard about Roe v. Wade. I was a young priest working with Hispanic immigrants in Washington, D.C. Later on, after the ruling, I heard that Nellie Gray wanted to start the March for Life, and I contacted her and worked with her. She was a real prophet: The Church was stunned, and people didn’t know how to react. But she knew immediately that we needed to mobilize and use the anniversary of that terrible decision as a way to rally people. I was determined to get people from my Hispanic parish to the first march [in 1974) and gave impassioned sermons on the pro-life issue, reminding them that the anniversary was coming soon, and they promised to come. The morning of the march, there was a line of rented buses at the church, but no people. In my naive youthfulness, I did not realize that “Si, padre” did not mean “Yes.” The following week, I told the people how disappointed I was. After Mass, they told me, “You know we are undocumented. And in our own countries, whenever there is a demonstration, the army comes out and arrests and shoots people. We are here to send money home to our families who live in Nicaragua and El Salvador, where civil wars are raging. We cannot afford to do this.” I told them that the army would not shoot at them and that the march would be a peaceful demonstration. That is what we do in a democracy where we need to witness to certain values. Susan was also at the first March for Life and talked about how she first heard about the Roe v. Wade decision. Desmond also asked Cardinal Seán about partisan attacks on pro-lifers. He said: Intimidation of pro-life efforts still happens. However, I am encouraged by what the Catholic Voices initiative is doing to help train Catholics to explain the Church’s thinking on difficult issues and break through the political correctness that often prevents productive conservations on life issues or the marriage debate. Intimidation works when people don’t have the tools to have a rational conversation. You object to “gay marriage” - and you are demonized as homophobic and intent on persecuting [people with same-sex attraction]. Catholic Voices is trying to prepare ordinary people to be spokespersons around these issues and to do it in such a way that you draw an audience. Fr. Roger said we need to note that these attacks do occur. Fr. Roger said in addition to being equipped to respond, but we also have to have the spine to stand up and acknowledge that certain people cannot be convinced and will hate us no matter what. When were are bullied, we need to take the conversation to the vast majority of people who are rational. Cardinal Seán also talked about his four goals for the Committee on Pro-Life Activities in 2013: The conscience issues that involve pro-life values are very important. There is so much religious illiteracy. We need to help people understand Church teaching and the difference between defending human life and imposing our religion on the rest of the country. Many Americans say that the Church must stay out of politics. We need to help our people to distinguish between our theological position and natural law (precepts] that redound to the common good and apply to everyone, regardless of whether they are religious or not. That is the educational challenge before us. We continue to look for opportunities to advance restrictions on abortion. Very few states ban gender selection as a reason for abortion. We need to work on that: Just as partial-birth abortion invites people to deal with the full reality of abortion, raising concerns about gender-selection abortions can help break through public denial. Susan said the whole abortion question has been such a bill of goods that some bright women have bought into. She said she keeps going back to a workshop she heard last spring in which they said in abortion, in addition to the baby, it’s the woman who is hurt by abortion. She said we have an obligation to be informed as Catholics. When people are being bullies, you don’t act in kind. You have the facts and the more people that can speak the truth in love, the better off we’ll be. Scot said on religious illiteracy, Cardinal Sean sees that we’re not strong enough in our pro-life advocacy because we’re not formed enough to do it well. Fr. Roger said in the past 50 years, as we’ve been battered by the mantra of the separation of church and state, has intimidated us to be ashamed of our faith and to avoid learning it. We’ve been subjected to a false civics that indoctrinate people to believe that faith and religion is to be kept out of the public square. Scot said Denver archbishop Samuel Aquila also wrote a pastoral letter recently, in which he talked about his encounter with the results of abortion as a college student working in a hospital. The event made him pro-life and eventually brought him back to his faith. After starting college in 1968, he also worked as a hospital orderly, and during a couple of work shifts, he “witnessed the results of two abortions and the memory haunts me,” he said. “I witnessed the death of two small people who never had the chance to take a breath. I can never forget that,” Archbishop Aquila wrote in a pastoral letter released Jan. 22, the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions legalizing abortion virtually on demand in the United States. “I have never been the same. My faith was weak at the time,” he said in the pastoral, noting that he wasn’t “even aware” some states “had approved abortion laws. But I knew by reason, and by what I saw, that a human life was destroyed,” he continued. “My conscience awakened to the truth of the dignity of the human being from the moment of conception. I became pro-life and eventually returned to my faith.” Susan said images have a power to affect us. A European photographer decades ago took groundbreaking photos of children developing in the womb. Life magazine published them, they were included on the Voyager 1 spacecraft, and were in every high school textbook. Today, they are not shown at all. Fr. Roger said he knows Archbishop Aquila and didn’t know the archbishop had studied pre-med in college. He said scientists among the episcopate are relatively rare. He wasn’t surprised that the archbishop wrote about life issues as the subject of his first pastoral letter. 2nd segment: Scot said last Saturday three seminarians became transitional deacons for the Archdiocese of Boston. John Casani, Gerald Souza, and Christopher Wallace were ordained to the diaconate, joining two other classmates who were already ordained. The are planning to be ordained to the priesthood, most likely in May. Cardinal Seán said in his homily: “The first seven deacons were chosen so that the apostles would have some help, and therefore have more time for prayer and to preach. The deacon also needs to have time for prayer and for reaching the faith. Your ministry - a ministry of charity and service to the poor, the widowed, and the orphans - your call to be bridge builders between people to forget God and a “spiritual anorexia” that serves the Church. “You men are being ordained to be an antidote and a cure for these modern maladies, for you are called to feed God’s people with the Word of God and the bread of life, needing them how much he really loves them,” he said. Scot noted that Deacon Wallace turned 30 on the day of his ordination. Scot asked Fr. Roger why the Church ordains men to the diaconate first. Fr. Roger said the training to be the servant, as deacons are, is setting the standard for the priesthood as one of service. He said once a deacon, you’re always a deacon. Fr. Roger said the norm is to be a deacon for at least six months because that service is the best preparation for the priesthood, service of God in the liturgy and service of God in the charitable work of the Church. Boston is one of the few that ordain them in less than six months. Most dioceses ordain them at the end of their third theology year. Boston is being cautious in wanting another semester to evaluate their call. Scot said we also lost three priests, Fr. Paul Cloughtery, Fr. Laurence Kelley, and Fr. Alexander Keenan, who all died in the past week. Also in the news, Msgr. Francis Kelly, who was rector of Blessed John XXIII National Seminary in Weston for 13 years and has been rector of the Casa Santa Maria in Rome, has been named a canon of St. Peter’s Basilica. Fr. Roger said there’ve been only three Americans who’ve held the post in the past century. It’s a rare honor and their principal duty is to pray the Liturgy of the Hours in St. Peter’s and help out in small ways. In European cathedrals, there have always been chapters of canons whose job was to be in charge when there wasn’t a bishop in office at the time and in many cases they chose the next bishop to be proposed to the Pope. Nowadays, the most prominent pastors in a diocese are members of the chapter. In the US, we have the college of consultors who do the same duty. The canons of St. Peter’s have the specific duty to pray for the intentions of the Holy Father and they do that several times per day. Fr. Roger remembered studying in Rome and participating with them in prayer. Cardinal Angelo Comastri is the dean of the chapter and leads them in prayer. Msgr. Kelly is being honored for the work he has done and being rewarded in his last official assignment. Msgr. Kelly will bring an American sensibility to the chapter and letting the Italians and others in the curia be exposed to an American approach to our faith. The Vatican also released a new smartphone app yesterday sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications called The Pope App. It lets people follow live broadcasts of papal events, see one of six Vatican live webcams, and more. In this week’s Anchor, Fr. Roger wrote about the attacks on the seal of the confessional. Fr. Roger said there is an effort in Australia to require priests to break the seal if they learn of sexual abuse during a confession. These efforts have also been pursued in Great Britain and in three US states. Fr. Roger wanted to let people know that this is going on. He said in Australia the seal was called “medieval” but someone who regularly goes to confession knows that the sacraments aren’t medieval. There are two purposes for the seal: First, so we will have no fear that what we saw cannot come back and hurt us. Priests need to be willing to suffer even death to protect even what a first penitent says in confession about how often they disobey their parents. Any time you see a priest, recognize he’s willing to suffer death to protect confession. He hopes Catholics will be alert to these efforts and that people will recognize that one of the glories of the priesthood is the willingness to die to protect the sanctity of the confessional. Scot said he’s not sure most Catholics are aware of the lengths priests will be willing to go to protect the confessional. Susan said it’s tragic that there is not as great an understanding or appreciation of the sacrament as there ought to be. She asked Fr. Roger to write some of his columns as we lead into Lent about confession. Fr. Roger said he’d like to one-up Susan and say that he will write a book for Our Sunday Visitor on Confession.…
Summary of today’s show: As we observe the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and the 40th annual March for Life this week, Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams sit down with Dr. David Franks and Jaymie Stuart Wolfe to talk about Massachusetts Citizens for Life’s annual Assembly for Life in Boston this Saturday, which will see former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson talk about her conversion from pro-choice to pro-life. They also talked with Marianne Luthin of the ProLife Office about the important work of bringing healing to post-abortion women through Project Rachel and the Holy Hours for Life organized in 150-plus parishes with the help of the Office for Deacons. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Jaymie Stuart Wolfe, Dr. David Franks, Marianne Luthin Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Assembly for Life, Project Rachel, and Holy Hours for Life 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. Fr. Matt Williams and Scot talked about the upcoming March for Life and pilgrimage including live photoblogging from George Martell at and a live recording of The Good Catholic Life from Washington, DC. There’s also a plan to provide live video from the March itself at . Fr. Matt said they have over 500 people going and each year the Catholic Media Secretariat has been able to provide more and more ways for those who stay behind to participate with the pilgrims. They discussed the logistics of bringing all the pilgrims to DC. Scot welcomed Dr. David Franks, who is the chairman of the Mass. Citizens for Life, and Jaymie Stuart Wolfe, who will be the emcee on Saturday for the Assembly for Life. Jaymie said she has laryngitis and will be struggling to talk. David said he is also taking three of his children along with the seminarians from St. John Seminary on Amtrak to Washington, DC. David said the seminary sends the seminarians as a crucial witness for life and to provide them with the exposure to the amazing experience. David said his young children, pre-teen and younger, are excited to be part of this massive witness to the most basic of freedoms. They have traveled to the March in the past as well. He said the children love the youthful energy from all the hundreds of thousands, especially where they don’t see it in their everyday life for such a countercultural cause. Scot asked David when and how he has the conversation about abortion with his children and why we need to have a witness for the protection of human life. David said it is pervasive throughout his household and the way they raise their kids. The witness is always there in how they live their lives. He said the children go to Mass and see the crucifix and the bleeding Corpus of Our Lord and Savior. Life is filled with death and sacrifice and the greatest act of love is intertwined with death and sacrifice. They are exposed to the terms and when they are at the development stage where they ask questions, then they give them the answers appropriate for their developmental stage. Jaymie talked about talking to her eight kids about abortion. She said she and her and husband have grown in their appreciation and understanding of the Church’s teachings on life and the children have grown with them in that. She explained how she phrased it in terms that the children can understand without being too graphic. Scot asked Fr. Matt what work is done to prepare the middle schoolers and high schoolers who go on the pilgrimage to understand abortion. Fr. Matt said they all know why they are going down to DC. They know that abortion was legalized 40 years ago and that we have a duty to be a witness for those who have no voice. He said they have three distinct tracks for middle school, high school, and young adults to help them process all that they will see and hear. They will hear multiple speakers and then experience the walk and they will flood their mind and senses. They will begin to process what it means to them. On Friday night, before the Blessed Sacrament, they will integrate everything for themselves. Scot asked about the 40th annual Assembly for Life at Fanueil Hall at 2pm on Sunday. David said that it’s important for pro-lifers to be organized. MCFL is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in the Commonwealth. He admitted that since the early 1990s there has been a massive drop-off in membership in all kinds of civic organizations. They’re not sure why that is, but think it maybe connected to a rise in consumerism and more online connectedness. He said we need to be actively engaged in civi life if we’re going to transform our culture. The Assembly is always held around January 22 at Fanueil Hall, which has been a cradle for freedom. We have a proud history in Massachusetts of civic ideals and principles of human rights and dignity. Jaymie said the event will be reflective because of the 40th anniversary. They will toll bells for deceased pro-lifers, say the Pledge of Allegiance, and then hear the story of Abby Johnson, a former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic who left are seeing the reality of what she was doing. She will tell her story, which shows how God reaches even into the pit of hell to save us. There will also be some musical performances. Dvid said Abby is a prayerful and thoughtful speaker with an insider’s view to the culture of death. That is powerful because conversion is powerful to see. When we see conversion, we see how Christ has saved us. Jaymie said it’s important to speak from the perspective of our eternal life. We’re created for something greater. Sin and death lead away from Christ and it’s important to hear the witness of someone who has turned away from the road and back toward Christ. She said Abby’s been spending her life since her conversion helping rescue people who are trying to leave the abortion business. They often feel trapped by their choices and unable to leave. David said they hope that Abby’s presence will draw in people who haven’t heard of the Assembly before. A speaker of this calibre doesn’t come along very often. He thinks she recognizes that if we can change Massachusetts, we can change America. With the defeat of Question 2, we have seen what the Holy Spirit can do. He encouraged listeners to join MCFL and come see what they can do to effect change. David said he focuses in his talk with people in favor of legalized abortion on the basic principles of human rights. The basic principle is I should be as free as I can be right to where I cause harm to another. In fact, abortion causes harm to the most powerless of human beings. Last week, Jaymie’s column in the Pilot compared her laryngitis to the voicelessness of the unborn. When we deny personhood to anyone in any state or at any stage, we deny humanity. A human person is the end. We do not dispose of human beings for another end. There’s something wrong with a law that degrades womanhood and turns a mother into a death chamber for her children. It’s dehumanizing to women to cast them aside as sexually available and with pregnancy easily solved with cash or credit. David said the goal of MCFL is to restore the right to life of those who are powerless under the law. They seek to speak for the voiceless. They do this in various ways, but the basic work is to foment a dialogue in the culture: Why is it we say social justice, solidarity, and preferential option for the poor and think it’s compatible with the slaughter of the most innocent human beings. 2nd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Kevin and Allison Gingras from Raynham They win the book by Neil Combs. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 3rd segment: Scot welcomed Marianne Luthin of the ProLife Office of the Archdiocese of Boston to the show. He said the archdiocese provides both education on the issues, but also direct help to men and women who have been affected by abortion. Marianne said Project Rachel is an outreach to men and women who have had past abortions. She said as the anniversary rolls around, women who’ve had abortions often are confronted by their choice, up to 40 years ago. Marianne said so many people don’t know about Project Rachel and many of the women who reach out to them hear about it for the first time in the parish bulletin. She said the bulletin is their number one referral source. Even a pamphlet is hard to promote because they are afraid someone might see them take one. Marianne said they hold retreats throughout the year. Many of the women who go on the retreat say they’ve confessed their abortions, but find they can’t forgive themselves. On the retreats they hear the stories of other women who’ve gone through the same thing. Marianne said everything about the retreats is confidential, including the location of the retreats. She said the upcoming retreats are Feb 2, March 16, April 6. To contact them, their phone number is 508-651-3100. Or email them at . She said the retreats are specifically for women who’ve undergone abortions themselves. She added that one of the reasons some men and women have left the Church has been due to participation in an abortion, and this is a way to bring people back to the Church, especially in this Year of Faith. Scot encouraged listeners to mention to their pastor that they’d like to see the bulletin announcement in their parish bulletin and that it should run as often as possible. Marianne said women have said women have told they needed to see it more than once to act on it. Scot said the ProLife Office is also working with the Office for Permanent Deacons to organize Holy Hours for Life in parishes. Marianne said they started five years ago. Part of the mission of deacons is to preach and this is a natural extension of that mission. The Holy Hours will take place in 150 parishes this year and has become a tradition throughout the archdiocese. Marianne commented on the 40th anniversary of the March for Life and how it has grown and become much younger in the age of participants. It has truly become a witness for life. Young people today are even more pro-life than their parents today. Marianne pointed out that technology has changed how we see abortion. When Roe v. Wade came down, they didn’t even have ultrasounds. Scot noted that many parishes are having baby showers for life. Marianne said over 100 parishes are participating. It started with one woman who couldn’t go to the March. Parishes collect goods for the use of women in crisis pregnancies.…
Summary of today’s show: The short, beautiful and inspirational life and priesthood of Fr. Dan Kennedy ended suddenly on January 28, 2008, just 247 days after he was ordained to the priesthood. As we approach the fifth anniversary of his death, Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor talk to Dan Kennedy, Sr., and Fr. Bill Lohan about Fr. Dan’s journey to the priesthood and the legacy he leaves behind of working passionately to help others discern their own calls from God. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Dan Kennedy, Sr. and Fr. Bill Lohan Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Remembering Fr. Dan Kennedy 1st segment: Scot Landry said today is a significant anniversary in the life of our country, marking the 49th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion legal throughout the country. Later this week will be the 40th anniversary of the March for Life. But today we will be remembering a priest who served for 247 days in the Archdiocese of Boston, Fr. Dan Kennedy who died on January 27, 2008, less than a year after being ordained. Fr. Chris O’Connor said we will be reflecting on the gift of the priesthood, no matter how long they serve. Scot recalled Fr. Dan’s funeral and Cardinal Seán’s reflection at the end of the funeral Mass that his last words with Fr. Dan were Fr. Dan saying, “I love being a priest.” Fr. Chris said he helps out at Fr. Kennedy’s parish in Winthrop and remembered Fr. Dan’s last words to the parish, that priests come and go, but Christ remains constant. To this day, many young people still wear the black and white bracelets in remembrance of Fr. Dan. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Dan Kennedy to the show. He said his son’s main ambition in life was to promote vocations to the priesthood. He talked about his continues that mission as his son had told him that this is our job, to identify and encourage young men for the vocation of the priesthood. Scot said Cardinal Seán appreciates Dan Sr.’s help with vocations because Cardinal Seán says vocations are everyone’s business. Scot welcomed Fr. Bill Lohan to the show and asked him how he met Fr. Dan. Fr. Bill said he was at a bar with some buddies in early 2002 while he was discerning the priesthood. At the other end of the bar was Dan Kennedy and they got together and talked about the discernment. They all ended up in St. John’s Seminary together where he met many men of all kinds who were called. Scot said Fr. Dan was born in 1964 and grew up in Needham. He was ordained to the diaconate on January 27, 2007 and to the priesthood May 26, 2007. Dan said Fr. Dan was the first boy after three sisters. He also had a younger brother, who was close in age and they were very competitive and fought constantly. In high school at Catholic Memorial, Dan became the school mascot and then did the same when he attended Providence College. Dan said his son loved the limelight and was always a leader who wanted to get involved in all kinds of activities. Dan said his son became the Silver Knight mascot for Catholic Memorial even though he was an athlete playing hockey and soccer because he didn’t play football. Dan told a story about Dan Jr.’s antics with their rivals the BC High Eagles. Scot said he’d heard many stories of Fr. Dan’s pranks and storytelling. Fr. Bill said he had a gift of humor but also of intensity. He said in 2002-03, the seminarians were a little older, but were participating in intramural softball against Boston College students. He said Fr. Dan was intense about playing those games. He was also intense about celebrating the Liturgy. He was a natural leader and the men in the seminary responded to that. Dan said Dan Jr. from an early age had signs of being headed to the priesthood. At various points in his life, different people suggested he was headed to a vocation despite Dan Jr’s best efforts to ignore them. So when he announced to his parents, they weren’t surprised, but his mother wondered if he would survive the seminary with his hot temper. They worried he wouldn’t make it through. But in his first three years at the seminary he was happy to be there. But in his fourth year he started to have misgivings about where God was calling him and stepped back for a leave of absence. Fr. Chris said it’s not uncommon for men to take a step back. Sometimes you have to leave to return. It’s a way to discover the beauty of what God is calling you to and to recognize that the priesthood is what God calling you to and you won’t be satisfied with anything else. Fr. Bill said when Fr. Dan left, it was difficult for his friends to see him go. His friends related to him in a way that they couldn’t relate to men outside the seminary, but they were open to God’s willing. Fr. Dan came back after six months, but even then he stayed involved. Fr. Dan was often asked by parishes and pastors to come and speak to young people about the priesthood. Fr. Bill said Fr. Dan had a great zeal and that may have been why. He truly believed and that made him so passionate and intense. Scot noted that Fr. Dan was ordained to the priesthood and assigned to St. John Parish in Winthrop. He was then re-assigned to South Boston and preached his last Mass at St. John’s on January 27 and went to Connecticut for a friend’s child’s baptism. On his way back on January 28, he died of a heart attack. Dan said in both Fr. Dan’s first homily on Jan 27, 2007 and his last homily on Jan 27, 2008, he spoke about the relevance of Christ in their lives. Dan said on that day, he’d gone to visit his granddaughter on the Cape. As he was driving home, he got a call from his daughter that she got in an accident that totaled her car and she almost died. Then later that night at 10pm, they got the call about Fr. Dan having a heart attack. As they were driving down, they got another call from their other son who was with Fr. Dan to tell them that he passed away. Dan said he and his wife on their hearts considered the time of his son’s death to be a blessing. They accepted that God had chosen him to be the first priest among all those ordained in 2008 to be with Him. Fr. Dan had just come back from two weeks as a US Navy chaplain on the USS Nimitz and had spoken of the amazing stars at sea. As Dan and his wife sat in a rest stop on the Mass. Pike, they looked up at the stars. He envisioned Fr. Dan walking across those stars to join the Father and the Son in heaven. He said no matter how much he misses Fr. Dan, he feels that his son is with the Lord and that brings them true happiness. Fr. Chris said it’s clear Fr. Dan got his faith from his parents. Dan said his faith comes from Christ and he was blessed to be born into the Catholic faith. He said his speaking at his son’s funeral was the work of the Holy Spirit. He would normally cry at the drop of the hat, but he was on a mission at his son’s funeral to tell people how his son had fully lived and was fully in love of the world and thus didn’t shed a tear during that Mass. In his eulogy, Dan asked people to pray every day for more vocations to the priesthood. Scot said he was present that day and was surprised how this man who had just lost his son and was focusing on the priesthood. Dan said that statement was directly from the Holy Spirit. Dan wanted people to know how important vocations were for his son. Dan shared a prayer composed by Cardinal Seán that was particularly apt. Holy Mother of the Good Shepherd, turn your motherly care to our Diocese. Intercede for us to the Lord of the Harvest to send more laborers to the harvest. Inspire vocations in our time. Let the word of your Son be made flesh anew in the lives of persons anxious to proclaim the Good News of everlasting life. Draw them near to the heart of your Son so that they can understand the beauty and the joy that awaits them to be His witnesses. Amen. Fr. Bill said for his class, which was the one just after Fr. Dan’s, was ordained the day after Fr. Dan’s funeral. He recalled that Bishop Arthur Kennedy, who was rector of the seminary, got all the men together to talk and pray. For them it was a reminder of the one priesthood of Christ, with no beginning and no end. They remember that their work is just part of God’s Work. Fr. Bill has no doubt that some of the young men who worked with Fr. Dan in his parishes will one day knock on the door of the seminary. In our human accounting it doesn’t make sense to take the finest among us away, but God’s accounting is not ours. Fr. Chris said the funeral was extraordinary. Priests are so different and diverse, yet priests who knew Fr. Dan and those who didn’t all felt the need to be there. It’s like the death of a firefighter or police officer, and the whole presbyterate felt the need to be there together that day. Scot said a priest affects a parish like no one else and while Fr. Dan was only at St. John’s in Winthrop for about six months, he had a strong impact. Fr. Chris said that impact is still felt. He said there’s a memorial bench on the parish grounds near a statue of Our Lady, which is appropriate. Scot said he’s heard several times that Fr. Dan would have made a great vocations director for the Archdiocese. Since his death, Dan Sr. has been going out and speaking for vocations all over, including for the Serra Club. Dan said at the end of the Mass each day, he thanks Christ for sending his son and calling home and to please send more vocations to the priesthood and religious life. He related a story of Fr. Dan visiting Paris one day before he entered seminary and during a Mass at Notre Dame where the cardinal-archbishop stopped during the recessional, leaned over to Dan, and told him when he got home to go see the rector of the seminary.…
Summary of today’s show: The YouCat was a new specifically formulated for young people from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and first produced for World Youth Day Madrid in 2011, but it’s such an accessible and contemporary expression of the faith that all ages can use and appreciate it. Scot Landry, Fr. Mark O’Connell and Dom Bettinelli dip into the YouCat’s questions and answers on prayer to approach some basic understandings of how and why we pray and what the various phrases of a prayer like the Our Father really mean. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Domenico Bettinelli Today’s topics:The YouCat on Prayer Notes: Our usual transcriptionist, Dom Bettinelli, was a guest on today’s show and thus we don’t have our usual show notes. Please find below a link to the purchase the YouCat through our Amazon.com affiliate store, which provides a small percentage back to support the ministry of The Good Catholic Life. We also have the text of this Sunday’s Mass readings, which were discussed today as well.* First Reading for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 20, 2013 (Isaiah 62:1-5) For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch. Nations shall behold your vindication, and all the kings your glory; you shall be called by a new name pronounced by the mouth of the LORD. You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the LORD, a royal diadem held by your God. No more shall people call you “Forsaken, “ or your land “Desolate, “ but you shall be called “My Delight, “ and your land “Espoused.” For the LORD delights in you and makes your land his spouse. As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you. Second Reading for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 20, 2013 (1 Corinthians 12:4-11) Brothers and sisters: There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another, the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another, faith by the same Spirit; to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another, mighty deeds; to another, prophecy; to another, discernment of spirits; to another, varieties of tongues; to another, interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes. Gospel for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 20, 2013 (John 2:1-11) There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told the them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from — although the servers who had drawn the water knew —, the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.…
1 TGCL #0451: Disciples in Mission, George Weigel; Pilot Catholic Directory; Annual Report; March for Life 56:31
Summary of today’s show: Our Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Gregory Tracy look at the news headlines of the week, including reaction to the launch of Phase 1 of the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan; George Weigel’s lecture this week on Evangelical Catholicism; the new and improved Pilot Catholic Directory; the new annual report for the Archdiocese; and the March for Life and Roe v. Wade anniversary Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Disciples in Mission, George Weigel; Pilot Catholic Directory; Annual Report; March for Life 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and ask Susan Abbott about a gathering her office is organizing tonight. She said for the Year of Faith they’re going out into parishes for a series of events that attract catechists for inspiration and information. They have a talk on the Year of Faith and then break into groups to work on skills and methods for lower grades and high school grades. Scot welcomed back Greg Tracy who was away last week on vacation with his wife. He comes back very tanned. A top story in this week’s Pilot is some reaction to the announcement of the Phase 1 parishes for the Disciples in Mission pastoral plan. The story interviewed Fr. John Sheridan at St. James in Salem, where four parishes are in one collaborative. Greg Tracy said Fr. Sheridan said he’s looking forward to the pastoral planning process and is confident the parishes will work together well because they are already working closely together on some initiatives. He was happy that there is now a plan, which Greg said is not untypical of priests in the Archdiocese. Before the pastoral plan, the problem of allocating priests and resources was handled on an ad hoc basis. Scot noted that like all the pastor of the Phase 1 parishes, Fr. Sheridan had to submit his resignation. Pastors and parishes in Phase 1 chose a path of uncertainty for the good of the Church. Susan said Fr. Sheridan says it’s not a question of demotion, but that as a priest he has given his life for the good of the Church. Fr. Sheridan also speaks of parish identity. Susan said people here have a very deep sense of identity with the parish. Yet in the pastoral planning, Fr. Sheridan believes one parish identity will not dominate. He also spoke of the diversity of population and he said that music is a way to express that diversity. Scot said next week the show will cover in more depth the kickoff of Phase 1 training at the Pastoral Center, which will give the same training to Central Ministries’ staff that parishes will receive to help them understand and appreciate what they’ll go through. The employees are going through the training in two groups. Fr. Paul Soper, Director of Pastoral Planning, wrote on about the first day: We started the day with Mass. Then the Chancellor, John Straub, gave us a witness talk. Drs. Angela and David Franks, from TINE and Saint John’s Seminary, followed that with a talk called “The Founding of the Church and the Beginning of Evangelization.” Bishop Kennedy came next, with “The History of Evangelization.” Then the Franks again, with “Holy Scripture: Testimony to Faith and Human Reason.” Then, after a lunch break, Michael Lavigne spoke on “Keeping Christ at the Center.” Finally, Mary Ann McLaughlin spoke on “Prayer, Sacraments, and Grace.” Scot encouraged listeners to follow this blog as it documents this very important process. they noted that 120 people is the workable capacity for a training like this at the Pastoral Center. Also in the Pilot is a summary of George Weigel’s address at a lecture at St. Columbkille Parish in Brighton, sponsored by St. John’s Seminary and the Year of Faith office. Susan said it’s an interesting talk and she was thrilled to see that the Pilot article summarized the talk for readers. Scot said he first thought that Evangelical Catholicism was going to be about a Protestant-Catholic connection, but instead the book and the talk were about the Church’s mission and how Vatican II outlined the reform of the Church so she could be more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ than she’s been. The Church has always been reforming herself to be more faithful and effective to the mission of evangelization. Susan said evangelical is a connection to the New Evangelization. One of Weigel’s points was a call to constant conversion and Susan said that echoes what Bishop Arthur Kennedy said in the first session of the Catholic Faith Essentials course on the continuum of conversion. Also in the Pilot this week is a story about the 2013 edition of the Pilot Catholic Directory and how it has reduced the number of pages while keeping the same amount of information. Greg also noted that they’ve managed to get the directory out earlier than usual. Sometimes it doesn’t get out until March. Scot said that’s partly because of the number of organizations that have to report and they’ve managed to streamline the reporting, replacing paper forms with online reporting. Greg added that Antonio Enrique, editor of the Pilot and the Directory, did an immense of work automating the collection and collating of data. Scot noted that the reduction in size came from changes in layout and examination of the best practices in such reporting across the country. The panel discussed the efficiency of using a printed directory over a website or searching Google. Greg said if you’re looking for a retreat center, you could Google “retreat center Boston” and get dozens of dubious results or you can look in the directory to get a listing for which you can be confident. Susan said the sacramental index for all parishes is enormously interesting to her. But she also uses it to look up quick information. Scot said there are all kinds of interesting Catholic data like dates for Easter and how to address a letter to various members of the Church’s hierarchy. To get your own copy, see your parish orcall Stephanie Rodricks at 617-779-3792. 2nd segment: Scot said an official notice was in this week’s Pilot announcing Fr. Dennis Dever of St. Clement Parish in Somerville is resigning and will take Senior Priest/Retirement status, effective February 2. He has served the parish for over 20 years. Also there is a notice in the Pilot this week that the Archdiocese is releasing it’s Fiscal Year 2012 annual financial report. This release has been part of Cardinal Seán’s initiative for transparency and accountability. Scot said the archdiocese releases more data than any other diocese in the country. Greg noted that while some of the data is esoteric and understandable mainly for experts, it’s still comforting that it’s there and available and open for anyone to examine. Scot noted that the report is being published many months earlier than it has in the past. In some years it was almost one year after the fiscal year closed, because they had to get all the data in from all the parishes, schools, and associated organizations. Now they are able to release it just about six months later, which is line with other large organizations. Scot noted that the financial reports of the individual parishes and organizations are on the website as well. Scot said also in this week’s Pilot is an obituary for Fr. Eugene P. Curtin, ordained in 1956. He was 81. The big story in the Church over the next week will be the 40th anniversary of the March for Life and the Roe v. Wade decision making abortion legal nationwide. Susan said she went to the first March for Life in Washington. She was the mother of three small children at the time. She left the kids with her husband and rode a bus contracted by Mass. Citizens for Life. They traveled overnight and marched during the day and then returned to Boston about 5 am. She hasn’t been able to go back since then. She noted that the March has grown amazingly, especially with young people. Greg said he’s been to six or seven marches over the years. Chris Pineo from the Pilot will travel with kids from the Archdiocese and Greg will travel with Cardinal Seán, who as chairman of the US bishops pro-life committee, will lead many of their events and gatherings, such as being the main celebrant at the Vigil Mass at the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. He will also speak from the podium during the March on the National Mall. ALso in the Pilot is a column by Jaymie Stuart Wolfe who will be the emcee for the Assembly for Life at Fanueil Hall on Sunday, January 27. The main speaker at the event will be Abby Johnson, the former director of a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic who left that job and had a conversion to both Catholicism and pro-life. Johnson now works to help abortion clinic workers to leave the profession. Greg said once you get past all the euphemisms and see the consequences for real people in real life, that changes hearts and minds. Greg noted that the news media used to refer to fetus when speaking of abortion and unborn baby for all other pregnancies, but when the inconsistency was highlighted, they all switched to referring only to fetuses. Susan said Johnson’s work is about helping clinic workers with the economic efforts of leaving their jobs and getting training and new jobs as well as the spiritual counseling and healing they will need. Scot mentioned that also locally most of the parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston will have Holy Hours for Life, cosponsored by the Office of Permanent Deacons and the Pro-Life Office. A list of local times is on the website of the . January 19 through 27, the US Bishops are asking for marking the 40th anniversary of the March for Life and Roe v. Wade. Scot noted that this week is the National Vocation Awareness Week and he encouraged all listeners to seek out and encourage men and women who may have a religious vocation.…
Summary of today’s show: The season of Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of Christ and the best way to prepare is to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation to confess our sins and to receive the graces to live holier lives. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor are on location at St. John Seminary where they talk with Vince Lynch, who gives his view from the pew as a Catholic who loves this sacrament and as a licensed social worker with insight into the human need for reconciliation and forgiveness. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Vince Lynch, Director of Continuing Education at Boston College’s School of Social Work Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Sacrament of Reconciliation 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Chris O’Connor, his co-host, to the show, recording on location at St. John Seminary in Brighton. It’s the season of Advent, preparing for Christ’s coming in three ways, in the Incarnation of Christmas, at the end of time and the Last Judgment, and at our own individual judgment. Fr. Chris said we celebrate Advent where we prepare for that great day of Christmas. As the days grow darker and the nights grow longer, we long for the light of Christ to come. Scot said one of the good steps to take to prepare for Christmas is embracing the Sacrament of Reconciliation sometime during the season of Advent. Fr. Chris said Isaiah talks of preparing the way of the Lord and making straight his paths, in language that refers to the destruction of sin, and preparing our hearts to be ready for the Christmas season. We can hear Christ himself speak to us through the priest that our sins are forgiven and we are to go and do better. Scot recalled Msgr. James Moroney’s admonition during an episode of TGCL earlier in Lent that as St. Joseph prepared the manger for the arrival of the Christ Child, we should clean out hearts as well. We clean out the garbage and sin and bad habits. We then receive an infusion of sacramental grace to enable us to live holier lives. Fr. Chris compared it to the energy and excitement of spring cleaning. We feel the urgency and expectation as we prepare to receive our newborn Savior. Advent calls us to begin anew and fresh and with a greater zeal. Fr. Chris advised that people to go to the Sacrament of Confession sooner rather than later and don’t wait until the last minute to go or you’ll be standing in lines. Fr. Chris said that people tell him that they don’t want to go to their parish priest for fear of embarrassment, so he tells them to find another parish nearby. They can look up parishes online at , which will show them the nearby parishes. He said people can also go to the many shrines and chapels throughout the archdiocese as well. We forget in this sacrament that our sins are forgiven and then God’s graces are showered upon us to do better in our lives. Scot said some people say they’d go, but they forget how. He said there are tremendous resources for adults and children at . But even if you can’t go to the website, go to the confessional and tell the priest that you don’t know what to do. He will be thrilled that you’re there and will be happy to help you out. Fr. Chris said all the Lord is looking from us is for us to say we’re sorry, and if we don’t know the formal Act of Contrition, we should express our sorrow in our own words. Scot said Vince Lynch will be joining them to talk about his experience and insight with the sacrament of reconciliation, both as a practicing Catholic and as a licensed social worker. Fr. Chris said Vince is a friend of the seminary, works with the seminarians and is a man of great faith himself. He’s here to give a view from the pew. The two phrases we need in all our relationships is “I’m sorry” and “I forgive you.” 2nd segment: Scot Landry welcomed Vince Lynch to the show. Vince said 15 years ago he made a decision to become more serious about his faith and during Holy Week he felt a strong desire to go to confession. He went to St. Anthony’s Shrine and was apprehensive and wasn’t sure where to begin. He met with a friar for face to face confession and told his sins to the priest. The priest welcomed him back and told him to thank God for the grace of this good confession, a phrase he’s heard time and again. He then heard the loveliest words this side of paradise: I absolve you of your sins. He said confession is a major treasure of the Church. Scot asked Vince how long it had been since his last confession. He said it had been a number of years where he had been lukewarm in his faith. For a number of years he had been gently led by the Lord to come back. He had been teaching near Worcester at Annamaria College and would attend the Liturgy of the Hours each day and was gradually drawn closer to the Lord again. Fr. Chris added that he can’t tell how many times he’s heard from people that it’s been decades and that they don’t know why they’re there now. But he knows why: The Lord has been calling to the person, to prompt them, to urge them to think in a new about this sacrament and how important God’s forgiveness is to them. Scot said many people don’t love going into the confessional and thinking about telling someone else about their sins. But people love the feeling after leaving the confessional. Vince said he felt like he was entering a new chapter of his life as he left the confessional that day. He said it felt powerful and didn’t want it to be a one-time experience. It’s now become almost second nature for him. He’s found in recent years that he enjoys experiencing confession with different priests in different circumstances and experiencing it differently each time. He’s come to see confession as a friend with spiritual and psychological benefits and no longer fears it. Scot thinks back to a conversation with a friend in marketing about how to describe confession in a way that connects with people. He told him that it’s hitting the reset button in your relationship with God and the Church. Once you’ve hit that reset button, for instance, confessing mortal sin you can go back to communion. Vince said one of the things that’s been powerful for him in going to frequent confession. In all that time, he’s never experienced a harsh word, a criticism or a belittling. It’s truly been a healing experience. Scot asked how frequent confession helped him in the spiritual life. Vince said as he become comfortable with his status as a sinner, someone who’s human and wounded like everyone, he can bring that woundedness to confession who brings healing. In talking to the priest, he’s talking to Jesus Christ who is present in the sacrament. Fr. Chris asked the difference between confession and a counseling session. He said it’s that confession is a sacrament, a gift instituted by God to give grace. It’s unique in that way. What he does as a counseling involves helping people look at areas of their life, and maybe even sin, which are stumbling blocks in their life and look at strategies to help them resolve. Confession provides relief for those symptoms, but is fundamentally about reconciling our relationships with the Lord. Scot said the act of verbalizing sins to God through the priest is taking ownership of those actions has a lot of human benefits. Vince said as we become aware of that woundedness, there’s a growing sense of humility with God and the people in our lives that allow us to relate in more comfortable ways. Scot asked what advice Vince would give to someone who thinks their sins would scandalize the priest or embarrass themselves. Vince said in his own experience with his confession with the friar is that people should pray for the desire to return to confession. The person needs to know that the priest is not judging you in some sense, he’s not going to grade you. Frequent use of confession enables that to grow. The sacrament becomes more and more a part of you. Fr. Chris added that the best confessors are themselves regular users of the sacrament and understand their own woundedness and need for the sacrament. Fr. Chris said we often carry around huge boulders and put the pebbles down. When we go to confession, get out the big sins first and the rest comes easily. Fr. Chris said the only thing that scandalizes him is that people don’t come to the sacrament enough. He said never remembers individual confessions. The priest isn’t concerned about the sin; he’s concerned about the soul. Scot said the Devil often distracts us by making us focus on our sins and not on God’s desire to forgive us. Vince said the Lord wants us to approach with a contrite heart and the rest will begin to flow. Fr. Chris said of Adam and Eve, they run from the Lord when they sin, but in the story of the Prodigal Son, we see the Father who runs to the Son. The Truth and sunlight are the greatest disinfectants, as Oliver Wendell Holmes said. 3rd segment: Scot said the topic of today’s show was inspired by the remarks of Cardinal Timothy Dolan at the fall meeting of the US Bishops Conference where he spoke powerfully about confession: But, the Sacrament of Reconciliation evangelizes the evangelizers, as it brings us sacramentally into contact with Jesus, who calls us to conversion of heart, and allows us to answer his invitation to repentance — a repentance from within that can then transform the world without. What an irony that despite the call of the Second Vatican Council for a renewal of the Sacrament of Penance, what we got instead was its near disappearance. We became very good in the years following the Council in calling for the reform of structures, systems, institutions, and people other than ourselves.That, too, is important; it can transform our society and world. But did we fail along the way to realize that in no way can the New Evangelization be reduced to a program, a process, or a call to structural reform; that it is first and foremost a deeply personal conversion within? “The Kingdom of God is within,” as Jesus taught. The premier answer to the question “What’s wrong with the world?” “what’s wrong with the church?” is not politics, the economy, secularism, sectarianism, globalization or global warming …none of these, as significant as they are. As Chesterton wrote, “The answer to the question ‘What’s wrong with the world?’ is just two words:’I am,’” Vince said one of the troubling things about our culture today is the loss of the awareness of sin. An awareness of sin can translate into greater empathy, greater love of God and our neighbor. Fr. Chris said we live in a world in which everything is okay, there’s no sin. Vince said in counseling they have an idea called evidence-based practice. They may see in their work with clients that they minimize their problems in life as no big deal and don’t affect their life. As a therapist, they bring to the attention of the client the evidence of how those things really impact others. Scot said he likes how the cardinal says the sacrament evangelizes the evangelizers. Reflecting on the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son, you can truly appreciate how you are loved by God. When we are aware of that, it becomes easier to love others and ourselves and to carry out what we know we should do. Vince said fear of the Lord is not based on punishment, but that we love the Lord so much we fear falling short. Scot said the words “I’m sorry” and “I forgive” are very freeing. Vince said after hearing those words, the anger and upset begins to melt away. I am! Admitting that leads to conversion of heart and repentance, the marrow of the Gospel-invitation. I remember the insightful words of a holy priest well known to many of us from his long apostolate to priests and seminarians in Rome, Monsignor Charles Elmer, wondering aloud from time to time if, following the close of the Council, we had sadly become a Church that forgot how to kneel. If we want the New Evangelization to work, it starts on our knees. Remember a few years back, when Cardinal Cahal Daly led us in our June retreat? Speaking somberly of the Church in his home country, he observed, “The Church in Ireland is in the dirt on her knees.” Then he paused, and concluded, “Maybe that’s where the Church is at her best.” We kneel in the Sacrament of Penance because we are profoundly sorry for our faults and our sins, serious obstacles to the New Evangelization. But then we stand forgiven, resolute to return to the work entrusted to us – as evangelizers of the Gospel of Mercy. Vince said it speaks to the humility mentioned earlier. If one can embrace this call and humble oneself to acknowledge one’s shortcomings. But to experience that and do it in a way that you can feel forgiven and then rise and carry on with our efforts to evangelize. Fr. Chris said of the story of the woman caught in adultery, you see in that public scene where Christ writes in the sand and the crowd drifts away. The woman is on the ground and Christ is right there with her to lift her up. Christ does that in confession, lifting us up from all that mires us down. Scot said Christ came into the world to reconcile all of us to the Father. This was the purpose of His Incarnation, his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. But we need to participate in this, we need to respond. Vince said God loves us so much He sent His Son. As I began my talk this morning, my brothers, so I would like to end it, with Blessed John XXIII. It was the Sunday angelus of October 28, 1962.The message the Holy Father delivered on that bright Roman afternoon never even mentions the phrase New Evangelization.But it strikes right at the heart of the mission entrusted to each of us as shepherds. “I feel something touching my spirit that leads to serenity,” Good Pope John remarked. “The word of the Gospel is not silent.It resonates from one end of the world to the other, and finds the way of the heart. Dangers and sorrows, human prudence and wisdom, everything needs to dissolve into a song of love, into a renewed invitation, pleading all to desire and wish for the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ. A kingdom of truth and life; a kingdom of holiness and grace; a kingdom of justice, love and peace.” How could we not see it alive in those holy men and women of every time and place, the heroic evangelizers of our faith, including most recently St. Kateri Tekakwitha and St. Marianne Cope? We have beheld it in the Church’s unrelenting corporal and spiritual works of mercy, in the heroic witness of persecuted Christians, in the Church’s defense of unborn human life, the care of our elders and the terminally ill, advocacy for the unemployed, those in poverty, our immigrant brothers and sisters, victims of terror and violence throughout our world, of all faiths and creeds, and in our defense of religious freedom, marriage and family. And, I have suggested today, that as we “come and go” in response to the invitation of Jesus, we begin with the Sacrament of Penance.This is the sacrament of the New Evangelization, for as Pope Benedict reminds us, “We cannot speak about the new evangelization without a sincere desire to conversion.” (Homily for the Opening of the XIII Ordinary General Synod of Bishops). With this as my presidential address, I know I risk the criticism. I can hear it now: “With all the controversies and urgent matters for the Church, Dolan spoke of conversion of heart through the Sacrament of Penance. Can you believe it?” To which I reply, “You better believe it!” First things first! Vince said the words touched him deeply because he reflects on how perhaps he hasn’t been doing such a good job of bringing the Good News out to others about his experience of the Sacrament of Penance. Scot said the New Evangelization begins with conversion of ourselves first so we can be effective witnesses. Fr. Chris said the Church understands who we are. We receive most of the sacraments only once, but the Church understands that there’s sin, repentance, conversion, repeat. Greater than the fall into sin is the Cross of Christ.…
Summary of today’s show: Canon law trivia is back! Scot Landry and Dom Bettinelli were posed some head-scratchers on ordination, confirmation, anointing of the sick, confession, and baptism by Fr. Mark O’Connell, who is in addition to the co-host also the Judicial Vicar for the Archdiocese of Boston. Who won this round of trivia? You’ll have to listen to find out. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Dom Bettinelli Today’s topics: Canon Law Trivia Quiz II Because of Dom’s participation in the show, we don’t have our usual transcript which he usually types up. We revisited the canon law trivia that was so popular in a previous broadcast and dealt with questions related to ordination, anointing of the sick, confirmation, and baptism. Scot Landry started the show discussing the tragedy today in Newton, Connecticut, asking for prayers from our listeners for all those affected by these events. The show ended with a discussion of the readings from this Sunday’s Mass, which is Gaudete Sunday.…
1 TGCL #0433: Papal tweets; Ecclesia in America; Supreme Court consider same-sex marriage; charitable deductions; Christmas gift giving 56:32
Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry consider the headlines of the week, including Pope Benedict’s first tweets on Twitter; the Roman symposium marking the 15th anniversary of the Ecclesia in America synod; the Supreme Court taking up two cases on same-sex marriage; concerns over a possible elimination of the charitable tax deduction; and Christmas gift giving that makes a real impact. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Papal tweets; Ecclesia in America; Supreme Court consider same-sex marriage; charitable deductions; Christmas gift giving 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show and talked with Susan Abbott about the visit of her children and grandchildren over the week, including a massive family portrait. Scot said he was able to go to part of the God of This City tour in Wakefield last night. The photos are available at . Tonight, they will be continuing at Immaculate Conception Parish in Stoughton, 7-9pm, and at Cathedral of the Holy Cross tomorrow, 7-10pm. 2nd segment: Scot and Susan welcomed Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry back to the show. Scot said this week Pope Benedict launched his new Twitter feed and as opf this morning he has 1.6 million followers already. Fr. Roger said the questions the pope responded to where about what Fr. Roger expected. He’s not surprised that Pope Benedict is so good at being profound in 140 characters because this was already his nature. He hopes that this doesn’t become so routine that we take these tweets for granted. Scot read one of the questions and response: “How can faith in Jesus be lived in a world without hope?” “We can be certain that a believer is never alone. God is the solid rock upon which we build our lives and his love is always faithful” Susan said she isn’t surprised either and there’s a lot to meditate on. Another pair was: “Any suggestions on how to be more prayerful when we are so busy with the demands of work, families and the world?” “Offer everything you do to the Lord, ask his help in all the circumstances of daily life and remember that he is always beside you” Greg said this is another great pearl of wisdom and he often finds himself struggling to work in some prayer time. He admits he didn’t think Twitter would be a great medium for the Pope. He used to be able to find 150 words in the speeches of Pope John Paul II that is one coherent thought, but it was difficult to find that in Pope Benedict’s writings. Scot said he was interviewed by Ira Kantor of the Boston Herald yesterday and he was asked why the Holy Father isn’t following back the people following him. Scot said it’s too difficult to follow everyone and the hashtag #askpontifex is the answer to the dialogue. Scot said the reporter also asked if Cardinal Seán would be communicating directly with the Pope on Twitter. Scot said the Church has developed lines of communications over the centuries and this type of communication isn’t necessary. Fr. Roger said the launch of the initiative on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is significant, that invoking Mary who brought to the world, Pope Benedict wanted to do the same thing. And because she is patroness of the Americas and the Americas is where Twitter was born and is especially active. Scot pointed out that you don’t have to have a Twitter account to read the Pope’s tweets. Just go to the webpage linked above. Also going on in Rome this week was a symposium to discuss the 15th anniversary of the post-synodal exhortation Ecclesia in America. Scot said Cardinal Sean gave a speech in Spanish that has been reviewed as being fabulous. Greg said the synod was an effort to bring unity of effort in the Churches throughout the Western Hemisphere, which are dealing with many similar issues. Scot said the eyes of the Church worldwide often look to where we are as the Church in the Americas. He said he was astounded to learn that the apparition of Guadalupe occurred at exactly the center of the Americas on Tepeyac Hill outside Mexico City. Susan said the Holy Father’s comments were insightful as he started with an encounter with the living Christ and formation with fidelity to the truths of the Church. She notices in document after document is the emphasis on love. When you take a step back, you see such hateful dialogue and conflict and the Pope is calling us back to love. Fr. Roger described his front-row seat as a seminarian in Rome for the Synod for the Americas that this was the anniversary of. He said that Pope John Paul II insisted that Our Lady of Guadalupe is patroness of America, not the Americas, to emphasize that unity. He said the recommendations of the synod and document have been virtually unimplemented and so this symposium is an attempt to look at them again to revisit them. Fr. Roger said he hopes that Cardinal Seán’s speech is posted on his blog in both Spanish and English to show Cardinal Seán’s facility with the language and the passion with with he preaches and speaks in Spanish. Scot said Cardinal Seán says that he never said a Mass in English until he was made a bishop. Greg said the speech was 45 minutes long so it might be difficult to get into the blog. He noted that the language in which you’re speaking affects the way you say it and the passion with which you preach. Scot said Cardinal Seán is so good with Spanish that the keyboard on his own computer is a Spanish keyboard. 3rd segment: Scot said the Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases related to same-sex marriage. One case challenges the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act. The other case is a challenge to Proposition 8 in California. Both cases allege that the laws have unconstitutional bans on marriage between of the same sex. Greg recounted the history of the Defense of Marriage Act and how it was a response to concerns about the full faith and credit clause of the constitution. He noted it only concerns federal law in relation to marriage, not state law. The Obama administration recently said it won’t defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court. He said the Supreme Court may decided to rule on the full constitutionality of same-sex marriage, which is an all or nothing situation, which is a bit unnerving. Scot said this decision could be as big as the Obamacare decision last June. Fr. Roger said the two cases cover both state and federal levels and he said he can’t believe that the Court would agree with the Obama administration that bans are unconstitutional discrimination against gay and lesbians, but he also doesn’t think they will say that same-sex marriage itself is unconstitutional. Instead they will leave it to the states to pass laws through referendum or the legislative process to define marriage. He thinks the decision will be tight. Greg agreed with Fr. Roger’s assessment. The current Court has generally been ruling in terms of strict constructionism. Scot said many charitable organizations are making their case in Washington DC this month as we face the fiscal cliff that their futures are in peril if it results in the loss of charitable deductions. Many charities are struggling today, especially smaller church organizations that rely on small donations. There are also two articles in the Pilot this week about some of the year-end appeals that occur in the Archdiocese. Joe D’Arrigo talked about the Christmas collection as the primary source for the care of our retired priests. Scot focused on Christmas gifts that make an impact. We often spend money on things we end up not even liking. He talked about how much he dislikes the tradition of Yankee Swap in his family and how a gift to anonymous homeless man from his parish’s giving tree prompted him to consider the true gift of giving gifts that make an impact. He also included an appeal for the Pilot, for people to support the newspaper because subscriptions and advertising no longer support the cost of running the newspaper. Susan said the column shows we sometimes sell kids short, that they are not necessarily consumed with getting more things, but that they can be motivated on their own to want to sacrifice for another. Scot said Fr. Roger wrote this week that we should “give the Giver” meaning Jesus. Fr. Roger said in this Year of Faith, that should affect the gifts we give at Christmas. Especially for kids, we often give them gifts that foment their idolatries instead of getting them gifts that emphasize Christ in their life. He made specific suggestions in the column on the gifts that would be appropriate. Scot read a list of the ten prayers for the Year of Faith offered by Bishop Ricken of Green Bay. The Nicene Creed. The Lord’s Prayer. The Hail Mary. The Glory Be. The Magnificat. The Canticle of Zechariah. The Memorare. The Acts of Contrition, Faith, Hope and Love. The Angel prayers. Prayer for the New Evangelization. Fr. Roger would have added the rosary and substituted the Athanasian creed instead of the Nicene creed. Scot asked for listeners to submit their own top 10 lists of prayers with the reason why to LIVE@thegoodcatholiclife.com for consideration in a later show.…
Summary of today’s show: Fr. Rick Martignetti grew up in the North End of Boston before becoming a Franciscan priest of the Order of Friars Minor. The Lord has returned him to his old neighborhood where he serves at St. Leonard’s Parish among the people he grew up with. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams talk with Fr. Rick, who was at St. Joseph’s in Wakefield where he was preparing to speak on the third night of the 2012 God of This City Tour. They discussed how to discern God’s call in our lives and how we can best respond in love and faithfulness. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Fr. Rick Martignetti, OFM Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Fr. Rick Martignetti, OFM 1st segment: Scot Landry wished everyone a happy feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Scot welcomed Fr. Matt from St. Joseph Parish in Wakefield where they’re preparing for the third night of the God of This City Tour. He said they will be having Mass at St. Joseph’s for the feast tonight. For him, Our Lady reminds him of the dignity and humanity of the unborn. He noted that in that miraculous image, Our Lady is pregnant with Jesus. He said Our Lady has been the protagonist for his priestly ministry. Scot noted that Cardinal Sean published a rare non-Friday message on his blog today about this feast and also gave a major address in Spanish in Rome today at a conference on the Church in the Americas. 12-12-12 is an interesting date, as it represents the last time in this century that the month, day and year will all match. But December 12 for Catholics, during this Year of Faith, is also a very important day. First, the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI (@pontifex), begins his tweeting ministry, symbolizing in a new way the Church’s embrace of technology and tools of communication as a way to share the eternal and saving Truth of the Good News of Jesus Christ. The other reason for the day’s importance, and one of the factors in Pope Benedict’s choosing of this day to launch his newest communication initiative, is that it is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who we revere as the Mother of the New Evangelization and the Patroness of all the Americas (North, South and Central). After Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to St. Juan Diego 481 years ago, one of the most rapid periods of evangelization in the history of the Church began. During this Year of Faith, I ask all Catholics to study the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe to St. Juan Diego. Our Catholic brothers and sisters from Mexico and in Central and South American countries are devoted to her motherly care, but many Catholics raised in the United States are not as aware of what happened in December of 1531 as I hope they soon will be. Now is a great time for this connection with Our Lady of Guadalupe to be established, renewed or deepened. We can begin by attending Mass and praying a family Rosary on December 12. Scot asked Fr. Matt how the first two nights of the tour have gone. Fr. Matt said the first two nights were in Framingham and Marshfield. The focus of the first night was the meaning of the word “revelation”, which literally means lifting the veil. He used as an example a scene from the movie Elf where the main character meets a fake Santa and is able to tell the difference between the real Santa and the fake because he knows him. The second night featured Jason Deramo speaking on being called. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Rick to the show. He posed to him and Fr. Matt the questions that Pope Benedict have answered on his twitter account today. First was How we can celebrate the Year of Faith better in our daily lives. Fr. Rick said anything that moves us closer to Jesus is good. For some it might be going to Mass more than Sundays. It’s a way to say the Lord that I’m here not just for obligation, but because I love you. Scot posed this one to Fr. Matt: “How can faith in Jesus be lived in a world without hope?” Fr. Matt quoted the Holy Father’s response: “We can be certain that a believer is never alone. God is the solid rock upon which we build our lives and his love is always faithful.” The third question was “Any suggestions on how to be more prayerful when we are so busy with the demands of work, families and the world?” Fr. Rick said we’re all so busy, but we don’t have to run 24/7. Sometimes we need to push back for 5 or 10 minutes at a time. Slowing down is an art which takes practice. Scot’s sense that the questions the Holy Father will answer from the hashtag #askpontifex will be the bigger questions of life. Scot asked Fr. Rick about his background. Fr. Rick said he’s from Boston originally and it’s been 16 years since he’s lived here. For the last four years he was at Franciscan University of Steubenville, which has about 2,500 students all on fire for their faith. He said he grew up knowing the friars at his home parish of St. Leonard’s Parish and Christopher COlumbus high School in the North End. He got away from the faith in college and a pilgrimage got him back into his faith and the friars were there for him at 23 years old when he was asking the big questions of life. It was an experience of coming home in coming back to the friars. Fr. Rick said he is with the Order of Friars Minor and he is in the Immaculate Conception Province. St. Leonard’s is their formation house for young men discerning whether they are called to the order. From there, they could become novices with the order. Fr. Rick was struck by the friars as men of prayer, who made Our Lady part of their lives and spent time in daily prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. Daily prayer has become more important than food or oxygen. The Holy Spirit does the real work. All we have to do is lead people to Christ and set up a structure for them to hear him daily. In time, Jesus will reveal to the young men and young women where they are called to be. Fr. Matt asked how he responds to the question, How do I know? Fr. Rick said young people often want to know everything immediately. He encourages them to go slowly and begin a life of discernment, not just a program of discernment. We start to take steps based on hunches. He was drawn to the Franciscans and spent time with them and the Lord confirmed this as the months went by as he felt more and more at home with these men. He was surprised and excited to be back in Boston at this time. He loves what Fr. Matt and Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults are doing. He thinks the faith is taking root in Boston again among young people looking for Christ. This wasn’t going on when he left 16 years ago. Scot said it’s uncommon for a priest, religious or diocesan, to be given the task of pastoral care of the community that nurtured him. He said it’s been fun coming back to his roots. He could have ended up anywhere but it’s a beautiful gift to be called back to Boston and the Italian community in the North End with the festivals. He grew up doing that. Scot said the Church looks to Franciscan University for the way it conducts ministry for young people. He asked what Fr. Rick has learned. He said the summer conferences get the most attention. They are based on the belief that young people can meet Jesus, have fun, and receive fulfilment. They have wonderful speakers, great music, and the sacraments. They lead them to Jesus and let Him do the rest. To speak to young people today, you have to be into modern technology and music. Fr. Matt agreed that music plays a huge role. We were created to worship God and that includes singing. It’s how God has wired us. It’s important for people to learn the Church’s music, from chant to modern hymns and even Christian music in popular genres. He’s also learned that large event gatherings—like conferences, World Youth Day, the March for Life—they learn they are not alone and they see the Church on the national or international level. In those gatherings you see priests in habits and collars and religious in their habits. All of this is meant to help young people come to a personal encounter with Jesus in his Church. Franciscan University packages these dynamic practices together and offer them in a weekend format. Scot asked about people who don’t see how Christian rap or heavy metal can lead young people to God. Fr. Rick said the Lord transcends culture and taste. The Lord is everywhere; how do we express our love for him best. The trouble comes from trying to put Jesus in a box. Jesus is for everyone an he came to set us free. When we take our need to worship and bring it to Jesus, we discover our purpose. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Denise Sherman from Lakeville She wins two CD’s from Michael John Poirier: “The Voice of A Child: Advent” and “The Voice of a Child: Christmas”. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot asked why Fr. Rick is speaking on the third night of the tour. He noted that it’s Prince Spaghetti Day (a reference for older folks who remember the old TV commercials). He said he will talk to tonight about how God equips those he calls. They will look at the story of Jonah who finds himself in the belly of a fish, realizing he needs to rethink his life. He is a model for going in the right direction and having the courage to be a voice for God. Fr. Rick said St. Francis has a beautiful story with some key turning points. One is when he encounters a man suffering from leprosy. He’d avoided people like that his whole life, but he feels the movement of God in his life so much he embraces and holds the man. He later said that’s when everything in his life changed. The Lord led him to the people with leprosy and everything changed. What he’d been avoiding his whole life was actually the means of salvation. From then on, he lived among them. Fr. Rick said his experience is that ministry is called out of him; other people sometimes call you to something. He feels more comfortable that something is of God when others ask him to do it. He used to be terrified of public speaking and being called to the priesthood, he tried it and met God there. When Fr. Rick thought of teaching he was terrified, but when he thought of it as faith sharing that became do-able. Before he preaches he looks for the personal message in the Scripture and then share it with others, inviting them to a space where they can hear something. Once the focus shifted from him to Jesus, it got a lot easier. Scot said beyond the music and speaker, at God of This City, people take concerns on their minds and bring them to the Lord. Fr. Rick said where the Church is alive and being renewed you find Eucharistic adoration. People don’t know the power of just being in the presence of Jesus. Scot asked him why Eucharistic adoration is so important to him. Fr. Rick said the vows he takes of poverty, chastity and obedience only make sense when he meets Jesus in the Eucharist. Jesus offered his body on the cross, but it makes offering of the body for celibacy seems a natural response. Scot said another aspect of tonight will be confessions. When people pray in an intense way before the Eucharist, they feel the call to the sacrament of confession. Fr. Rick said he was away from the sacraments in college and when he finally back after 7 years. He found receiving Christ through his priest felt welcoming and an experience of coming home. He said the Lord stands with his arms wide open waiting to embrace you. Of St. Anthony Shrine, he said it’s a beautiful ministry and it’s beautiful to see people stop in all day long to hear confessions. He talked about taking people on pilgrimages to Assisi and how permeated by the spirit of St. Francis it is. Fr. Rick said they try to keep St. Leonard’s open all night long for the sake of the people visiting the North End. He said about once per month the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults also does Jesus in the North End for college students and young adults. He said it’s a haven for those in a busy neighborhood needing a place to be quiet for a few moments, which is just as important as finding a good cannoli. Scot said you can see the amazing photos from the God of This City events at or at the Archdiocese of Boston’s Facebook page at .…
Summary of today’s show: The celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a holiday that brings all of Mexico to its collective knees in prayer and devotion, but as Fr. Paco Anzoategui tells Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor, this apparition of Our Lady is not just for Mexicans, but for all of the Americas. Our Lady of Guadalupe is Patroness of all the Americas, North, Central and South; of the unborn; and of the New Evangelization as her appearance in Mexico in 1531 initiated an explosion of the faith, unprecedented for its speed and breadth. Fr. Paco calls all Catholics, wherever they’re from, to get to know and love Our Lady under this title in a special way and understand her message for us today. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Paco Anzoategui Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Our Lady of Guadalupe 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. He said today’s topic is one of the biggest gatherings in the life of the Catholic Church in the Americas, the gatherings connected to the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In Chicago, more than 200,000 people gather to celebrate. Fr. Chris said he knows the basic story, but he’s excited to get into the details and why she’s patroness of the unborn and the New Evangelization. Fr. Chris noted that in Rome they’ve been having a Congress on the Church in the Americas. He noted that it includes North, Central, and South America and half of the Church are in the Americas. Scot noted that this past weekend at St. John’s Seminary was the Festival of Lessons and Carols. Fr. Chris said it was a beautiful celebration of music from the Americas, in which all the hymns and carols were chosen from those that originated in the Americas. 2nd segment: Scot said God has often called unlikely people to great missions. It was true with St. Peter, many of the saints, and for St. Juan Diego. This is a great lesson for all of us as we are all called to do our part in the New Evangelization. When the Blessed Mother appeared to Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill, he was a simple, humble, 57-year-old widower known for walking with his head down and shuffling his feet. He was an Aztec Indian who had been baptized only seven years before by the Franciscan missionaries. Every Saturday and Sunday he would walk 15 miles each way to Mass. As he was journeying one cold Saturday morning, he heard a voice calling from the top of a hill, “Juanito,” “Dieguito,” “Come here!” He scaled the rocky slope, where at the top he saw the Blessed Virgin Mary arrayed in splendor. Our Lady announced she was on a mission of mercy and wanted him to be her messenger to the bishop of Mexico City to ask him to build a church on Tepeyac Hill. Obeying simply and immediately, Juan Diego headed in his simple peasant’s outfit to the bishop’s residence, where he was forced to wait for hours in an outdoor courtyard. Eventually the bishop received him, treated him with kindness, but was skeptical regarding the message. Juan Diego left feeling like a complete failure. Returning to Our Lady on Tepeyac Hill, he said that he had struck out. “I beg you, Noble Lady,” he implored, “to entrust this message to someone of importance, someone well-known and respected, so that your wish will be accomplished. For I am only a lowly peasant and you, my Lady, have sent me to a place where I have no standing. Forgive me if I have disappointed you for having failed in my mission.” The Virgin smiled tenderly on him and said, “Listen to me, my dearest son, and understand that I have many servants and messengers whom I could charge with the delivery of my message. But it is altogether necessary that you should be the one to undertake this mission and that it be through your mediation and assistance that my wish should be accomplished. I urge you to go to the Bishop again tomorrow. Tell him in my name and make him fully understand my disposition, that he should undertake the erection of the teocalli (temple) for which I ask. And repeat to him that it is I in person, the ever Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, who send you.” With trepidation, Juan Diego went again. The bishop’s overprotective staff greeted him with exasperation. He was told the bishop was busy with more important matters. He told them he was willing to wait — and did, for several hours in the frigid outdoor courtyard. When he finally met the bishop again, he repeated, with fervor and tears, the message of Our Lady entrusted to him. The bishop asked some questions. Though moved by Juan Diego’s sincerity, he wasn’t going to build a church in a desolate spot on the basis of one native’s unsubstantiated word. To test the message, the bishop asked him for a special secret sign from Our Lady. Juan Diego left at once to ask for the sign. Arriving back at Tepeyac, the Virgin told him to return the following day to receive the sign to bring the bishop. That sign turned out to be Castillian roses, which had not yet been introduced to Mexico, growing on the top of a stony hill in frigid December temperatures. Juan Diego was instructed to bring them back to the bishop in his tilma (a tilma is a cloak or apron). When he returned to the bishop, as he opened up his tilma, the bishop saw the roses from his native Castille, the sign he was seeking. He and everyone else also saw something even more miraculous: some of the roses had melted into the tilma and produced the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe: our Lady, dressed like a pregnant Aztec princess, was giving witness that she was ready to give birth to Christ among the Mexican people and on our continent. The bishop immediately fell to his knees, and came to believe in Juan Diego’s message. A church was built on the spot of the apparition, as Mary had requested. Until that moment, there had been relatively few conversions among the Mexican people, who associated Christianity more with the conquistadors than the Franciscans. But in the decade after the appearance of the Blessed Mother as one of them, over ten million Mexicans were baptized. Juan Diego’s tilma has been the subject of much research. The tilma, woven out of coarse cactus and vegetable fibers, should have disintegrated after 20 years, but although nearly 500 years have passed the tilma is still in great condition. The pupils of Mary in the picture reflect the Indians and clergy present at the time of the first revelation of the image. No paint was used, and chemical analysis has not been able to identify the color imprint. Additionally, studies have revealed that the stars on Mary’s mantle match exactly what a Mexican would have seen in the sky in December of 1531. Juan Diego thought there were others who would have been more fitting ambassadors to bring such an important message from so important a person, but the Blessed Mother chose him and she helped him fulfill the mission. She will also help each of us fulfill our part in her Son’s plan of salvation. Scot now welcomed Fr. Paco back to the show. He said he loves to talk about this topic, Our Lady of Guadalupe and her work in the New Evangelization. He said he wouldn’t be here without her. Scot noted that Fr. Paco grew up with a devotion to Guadalupe, while Scot grew up with a more general devotion to Our Lady. Fr. Paco said in Mexico this apparition marks the beginning of Mexico and the feast is a general holiday. In his own life, at eight years old, Fr. Paco suffered medical problems in his legs, unable to walk without falling and feeling excruciating pain. His parents took him to hospitals in Mexico and while there they went to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe where he prayed for healing. Little by little the pain went away until eventually he had no pain. He attributes this as a miracle of Our Lady. Later in high school, in his gratitude he responded to the call to the priesthood, kneeling before the image of Our Lady in his parish and consecrating himself to her care. Fr. Paco said at the time of the appearance in 1531, there was no Mexico, no United States, or any other countries. And Tepeyac Hill where she appeared outside Mexico City is the exact center of the Americas. Thus she came not just for Mexico, but for all of the Americas. She said she wanted to be mother of everyone in the New World. Fr. Paco noted the difficulty of conversions to Christianity before she came because of the native peoples’ experience of the conquistadores as foreign invaders, but Our Lady came to them in their own clothes, wearing their clothes, and speaking their language and they could relate to her and accept her message. Jesus came as one of us so we could relate to Him and so Our Lady came to us like her Son did. Fr. Paco said the conversion of 10 million Mexicans in one year was due to this understanding of her message. Scot noted that 10 million people at the time would be virtually the entire population of Mexico. Scot said she literally gave birth to the evangelization effort in the Americas. In her apparition she appeared pregnant. Fr. Paco said she brought Christ to this New World. He noted that in the image she appears to be bowing her head, as if she were bowing to Christ in her womb. The black sash around her waist shows she is pregnant and she appears not for herself but to bring Christ to the New World. Fr. Paco said Pope John Paul II’s first apostolic trip was to Mexico and upon landing he went right to the Basilica. He said the work of evangelization in the Americas began on that spot. He also noted the role of Juan Diego who dedicated himself to telling the story again and again and becoming a role model for all the catechists who taught the people. Fr. Chris noted John Paul’s devotion to Our Lady, and how he turned to her at the time he was shot in St. Peter’s Square. Scot said John Paul went to Mexico five times and Mexicans call him the first Mexican Pope. He loved the Mexican people and that was reciprocated. Fr. Paco recalled the Holy Father’s first visit and how he was glued to the TV with his whole family and the whole country was electrified by it. There was a connection between the Pope and the people who revered him. Pope John Paul canonized Juan Diego and the Mexican martyrs because he valued the faithfulness and devotion of the many Mexicans who had never been acknowledged in the calendar of saints. Speaking of the story of Juan Diego, Fr. Paco noted that roses do not grow in December. He said of the tilma that it was made of cactus fiber that would have disintegrated after a couple decades at most. It was clothing for poor people. This one has last for 600 years. There have also been studies of the image she left on the tilma. Many scientists have concluded that the image is not printed or painted, but is almost floating over the tilma. When they look at the tilma from behind, the colors do not go through. And they haven’t been able to match the colors even after trying all kinds of materials to duplicate them. Our Lady of Guadalupe is like the eucharist, a gift from heaven. She isn’t painted on there, but will remain for us until the end of time. Fr. Paco said at the time of apparition, Juan Diego was torn because his last remaining relative was dying and had asked for a priest. So he didn’t want to have the Lady ask him to do something else so he tried to go another way to avoid the apparition. She appeared to him of course and so she told him not to worry, that she would take care of his relative. He believed Mary and all his worries disappeared. The uncle was restored to health and he became a messenger too. Fr. Chris asked Scot about his visits to the Shrine. Scot said the area has become very built up over the centuries. his first impression was how many people were praying in forms of self-mortification, praying the rosary while walking on their knees. He also noted the many signs of thanksgiving for miracles received, like thousands of crutches or notes of thanks. He also remembers the comparison in size between the old and new basilicas. The old basilica was smaller than he thought and looks like many older churches. The new basilica is huge like a 40-year-old Catholic version of a sports stadium, trying to seat as many people who want to come to the basilica. Fr. Paco said the beautiful thing about the basilica is that no matter what door you enter through, you see the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe right in the center. It’s the most visited basilica in the world after St. Peter’s. Fr. Paco said the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe now goes well beyond Mexico throughout the Americas. Fr. Chris asked about cultural elements of the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Fr. Paco said it is a holiday and that’s significant because many years ago the Mexican government was very anti-Catholic, yet on this feast they couldn’t stop people from celebrating this day. He said the tradition is to dress the children as Juan Diego and Our Lady then go to a local church. He recommends that anyone who wants to go to Mexico for the feast not to go to the basilica, but to go a local parish. Instead go to the basilica after the feast. In the new basilica you can get very close to the tilma and see the front and back. Scot said at other times, the crowds are so much smaller you can spend time there. Scot said you can’t help wonder at God leaving us this sign and wonderful image in which Our Lady looked like one of us. She took on the culture of the people at that time. God descends and His Blessed Mother descended to be like one of us to demonstrate she understands our problems and will take them to Her Son. Fr. Paco said when Our Lady appears she also teaches the native people that their old ways of worshipping their old gods through human sacrifice should end. She is seen as standing on the moon and in front of the sun, which were their gods. This is why the bishops have declared her as the Patroness of the Unborn, because she ended the human sacrifice, in which people were not treated in their full human dignity. She’s also standing on the snake, which was also one of the Aztec gods. The natives began to understand you don’t have to sacrifice people to appease God because God sacrificed himself for us. the Bishops in the United States went to Mexico City and received an authentic replica of the tilma and that image travels throughout the US promoting respect for life. Fr. Chris asked for a preview of Fr. Paco’s homily tomorrow. Fr. Paco said he notes the wave of violence in Mexico and how the Mexican bishops are going to ask the people to embrace Our Lady’s message for the end of violence. He noted that musicians gather the night before the feast in various places for what’s called mañanitas, songs and prayers. This will occur in the archdiocese at Holy Cross Cathedral tonight. He said during the Advent season we have two significant Marian celebrations, including Immaculate Conception. God is telling us that Mary is a true role model for us as a true disciple of Jesus. Mary helps us to prepare for Christ by listening more attentively to the Word of God and reflect on it, not being distracted by the commercialism. Fr. Paco said all the apparitions of Our Lady are important, but for us who live in the Americas, we should understand that Guadalupe came to us at the beginnings of our country and knowing her we will come to know how we are called to be united in this land and become a continent of hope for the entire Church. Scot said Pope John Paul had a greatdevotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe and if a Pole could have that devotion, then he as someone from this continent should have greater devotion to her.…
Summary of today’s show: Fr. Stephen Linehan served for 37 years as a chaplain in the US Navy, 23 years on active duty. When he retired in 2010, he had the opportunity for a sabbatical, and decided to walk the thousand-year-old pilgrimage route called the “Camino” from southern France to Santiago de Compestela in northwestern Spain. The journey left Fr. Linehan with some lessons he shares with Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell, including that we are a pilgrim people and the less we carry, both literally and figuratively, the further we’ll go, both on the Way and in life. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr. Stephen Linehan Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Fr. Stephen Linehan and the Camino de Santiago 1st segment: Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell talked about the Cardinal’s cabinet meeting today. They reflected on the assisted suicide referendum as well as the latest from the Catholic schools office. Scot said tomorrow is a holy day of obligation and he noted that parishes have Masses tonight and tomorrow. They discussed that people should go to Mass tomorrow and Sunday as well. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcomed Fr. Stephen Linehan. Scot noted that Fr. Linehan has a great voice for radio. Fr. Stephen started by saying hi to his mom. He said he was baptized at St. Paul’s in Cambridge and had first communion at St. Peter’s and they moved later to Sacred Heart in Watertown. He has two brothers and two sisters with nine nieces and nephews. His mom worked as a cook and his dad was a police officer. Fr. Stephen said he remembered thinking about the priesthood when he was in fifth grade, but the idea went away until he was preparing for college. He said he always had a gift of talking to people. He studied at St. John Seminary and ordained in 1975. He then entered the US Navy chaplaincy. During the seminary he spent one summer checking out Navy chaplaincy. That was in 1973. Ultimately, he became a Reserve officer in 1977 and in 1987 went on active duty. He’s served all over the world, starting out in Guam. He was supposed to be sent to Twenty Nine Palms in California to serve with the Marines, but got changed at the last minute. From Guam he served all over the world and retired from Spain in 2010. His favorite assignment was in Long Beach, California, which is the seaport of Los Angeles. He said Los Angeles has everything and he met some great people there. Fr. Stephen was a chaplain on the USS Forrestal, the first of the big aircraft carriers. That was on his second tour of active duty. The ship had 3,000 people and the air wing had another 2,000 people. Deployments were generally about 6 months, but they also visited ports and so they would be at sea for three to four weeks at a time. He would typically be the only Catholic chaplain. The ship would have three chaplains and the air wing might have another one. Part of their duty was to be flown from the carrier to the smaller ships in the task force to celebrate the sacraments. Sometimes they would be lowered from the helicopter on a rig. He was in the Navy for a total of 37 years with 23 years on active duty. Fr. Stephen’s first assignment was St. Mary’s in Franklin and then to St. Margaret Mary in Westwood and then to St. Francis of Assisi in Medford before going to the Navy. And then his first assignment back in the Archdiocese was at St. Margaret Mary. He said there were a number of people who remembered him in the parish.He said the major difference between the parish then and now would be the size and growth of the town, but he said the main distinguishing feature is the overall stability. He said a major part of the town’s focus is on young people. He did note that the town has aged as well, with many more older retired people living in communities within the town. Scot noted that Fr. Stephen’s predecessor was named a bishop. Bishop Christopher Coyne is now an auxiliary in Indianapolis. Fr. Stephen said Bishop-elect Deeley has also been coming to the parish which worries him that there must be something in the water. Scot asked about the difference in ministry between Navy chaplain and pastor in Westwood. Fr. Stephen said part of the ministry of priesthood is healing and reconciliation and visiting the homebound and sick and elderly has been new for him. In the Navy the community is generally younger. Today, he works with many people who are estranged and wanting reconciliation. Fr. Mark noted Fr. Stephen was in the Navy during the abuse crisis. Fr. Stephen said the effects will stay with us, but healing and reconciliation are desperately needed. Scot asked how Fr. Stephen would commemorate the events of December 7, 1941 in the Navy. He said he served in Hawaii for three years and he said there are always ceremonies, including wreath-laying events at the USS Arizona Memorial. He was working with the Marines at the time and at the Kaneohe air base, they would also have a ceremony, noting that the Japanese planes flew over that base first. 3rd segment: Scot said in an earlier show when they discussed the Martin Sheen movie The Way, he and Fr. Mark talked about people who had gone on the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compestela. Scot said it is the longest active pilgrimage in the Church, because for many years people couldn’t go to the Holy Land. Santiago means St. James and the pilgrims go to the tomb of St. James in northwest Spain. Fr. Stephen said the pilgrimage began in the 800s. He said the great pilgrimage sites include Jerusalem, Rome, and Tours for St. Martin of Tours. Fr. Stephen had heard of the Camino while he was serving in Rota, Spain, and when he retired he decided to try it out. He heard from people who’d gone how moving it was. He noted that Rota was the most popular duty station in the Navy. He said they took people to Fatima and to Lourdes, but he began to look into this pilgrimage. It was while he was sitting in a cafe in Seville that he decided to do it. He said there’s a minimum pilgrimage distance of 100 kilometers or 62 miles, but the traditional pilgrimage starts in a small town in France on the other side of the Pyrenees. Fr. Stephen hiked over the mountains over two days. He said there are many starting points all over Europe, and the tradition is you start at your front door and walk. The route he chose was 800 km or 500 miles. For some younger walkers, it talks 30 days. For Fr. Stephen they took 46 days, but walked only 36 days and rested the other ten. They did have to stop for medical care for their injuries and the hospitals gave them free care because it’s traditional not to charge pilgrims. Fr. Stephen said it’s not bad to walk. Ninety percent of pilgrims don’t train, but he likes to train and didn’t find it taxing. He said people often carry too much stuff in their backpacks. The average person can do it with a pair of shoes broken in and a light pack. He said you can go with friends or do it in a group, but you do it alone. He said it’s a great opportunity for prayer. At times, you don’t want to walk with others at time and just want to be alone. Fr. Stephen said it was wonderful. He had only purchased a one-way plane ticket and they didn’t set themselves a schedule without trying to rush it. The Camino is a paradigm of life, you have to take your time. Don’t rush it. The first day, climbing out of St. Jean Pied is tough. At one point you feel yourself walking fast, but he had to remind himself to walk at a relaxed manner. It takes a week or so to slow down and take it easy. He said people walk at their own pace, but you often reconnected with other pilgrims in the towns and at hostels and in cafes. There’s also a sense of anonymity because you may never see these people again. There is a fellowship and camaraderie. In some hostels, they have kitchens and people buy food and cook it together. He said there also pilgrim meals, say 10 euros for three courses. He noted that you burn a lot of calories every day. Fr. Stephen said he’s a history buff and loved the idea of traveling the same roads that Charlesmagne would have traveled and other famous people. The theology of the communion of the saints is very real in the pilgrimage. He said the Camino has the whole range of people. He admitted that there were times when he just wanted to throw in the towel, just like in life, but you keep on going. Keep pointing one foot in front of the next at a slow pace. Fr. Stephen said many of the cities along the way are big cities with lots of tourists, but he didn’t find it distracting. Part of the journey was to learn how to tell better stories, to become a better preacher, and to learn about himself. He talked about the spiritual symbolism of the pilgrimage. Reaching Santiago was emotional. The cathedral was jam-packed with pilgrims, many of them who have traveled by bus. The saw the famous thurifer, which is immense. It’s about four or five feet, and they swing it from one side of the cathedral to the other. Fr. Stephen talked about a pillar in the church that has been worn down by pilgrims touching it at the end of their journey. He said he feels like the pilgrimage transformed him. He said the transition from active duty Navy to parochial ministry is a transition that takes a while, so he does it while walking slow in a relaxed manner, trusting the God has a plan. It was a chance to move along, but also to meditate and to pray. Fr. Stephen said most people go during the summer, but it’s very hot. He chose to go during the fall and it was gorgeous. He’d love to go in the spring. It would look and smell different although it might be rainier. The winter is more dangerous. He left in early September. If someone wants to do it, buy open-ended air tickets and outfit themselves with the proper gear and clothes and boots. You could stay in inexpensive hostels or expensive hotels. They could spend $500 each way for airfare and spend about $30 to $40 per day. You don’t have to di it all at once. He saw guys who were doing it two weeks at a time each year for 10 years. The highest point on the Camino is called the , the Iron Cross. It’s a huge pile of stones that was built by people carrying a rock with them to lay down there. He suggested people read up about it and all the customs and traditions. He said it would be great for all priests and seminarians to do the pilgrimage. If you carry less, you’ll go further. Think about all the stuff you drag around in life. Keep it simple. Because we are a pilgrim people. Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Gospel for the Second Sunday of Advent (Luke 3:1-6) In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert. John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” Scot said St. John the Baptist is one of the key figures of Lent and Advent and is a symbol of preparation. We’re called to prepare the way for Jesus, especially the way to our hearts. Fr. Mark said in Advent we come to God and God comes to us in a new way. That’s what John is screaming about. Fr. Stephen said the imagery of make straight his paths in the first reading is all imagery from the camino. How do we straighten out the crooked paths? The camino is a meditation on all that. How do we straighten them? With God at our side.…
1 TGCL #0429: Catholic identity for Catholic charities; Pope on Twitter; Parish radio ads for Year of Faith; New book: My Sisters the Saints 56:32
Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Fr. Roger Landry consider the news headlines of the week, including Pope Benedict joining Twitter as @Pontifex; the Holy Father’s new instructions for Catholic charities to remain authentically Catholic; a new smartphone app dedicated to the Pope’s words and appearances; CatholicTV moving to basic cable; a parish producing radio ads for the Year of Faith; and a new book that highlights how six saints helped one woman in the most difficult moments of her life. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Catholic identity for Catholic charities; Pope on Twitter; Parish radio ads for Year of Faith; New book: My Sisters the Saints 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show and asked Susan Abbott how things were going for her. She said she was on retreat earlier this week at the 2nd annual Collaborators in the New Evangelization retreat. It brings together people from Boston, Providence, Washington, New Jersey, Maine. She said Monday’s topic was communications and speakers included our own Domenico Bettinelli and Bonnie Rodgers of CatholicTV. On Wednesday, she had an enrichment day with catechetical leaders of the Archdiocese. Bishop Arthur Kennedy spoke to the group and hit it out of the park. Michael Lavigne also spoke to the group about resources available for the Year of Faith. Scot said one of the big stories that broke this past Saturday was a motu proprio from Pope Benedict on the Catholic identity of Catholic social service agencies. He said this document came out of the blue. Gregory Tracy said the Holy Father’s letter set up new rules for Catholic charitable organizations and how they must conform to the faith. It’s part of a larger effort to re-instill Catholic identity to Catholic institutions. As Catholic institutions have grown they have sometimes lost their unique identity, making them indistinguishable from secular organizations. Scot said he didn’t find anything surprising in the document except that the Holy Father felt he needed to say it. Fr. Roger explained what a motu proprio is. He said they can be confusing because the words literally means “by the Pope’s own action.” It can be something like this that gives new legislation. It’s more than an executive order, but more like new legislation from one ruler. The Pope noted that in canon law that there’s a lot in canon law for the bishop’s role as governor of Catholic institutions, but not for governing charitable organizations that call themselves Catholic. This document lays out the bishop’s role in ensuring the Catholicity of those groups. He wrote that the Church’s charity is not just social work; we’re supposed to be doing explicit work of Christian love. We hope the recipients will see that love and investigate the source of love further. The Pope also noted that parishes also are supposed to be involved in charitable work. He said St. Vincent de Paul Societies isn’t the same thing. The Holy Father is calling for something with a greater dependence on the actual leadership of the parish. Many St. Vincent de Paul conferences defer to the pastor, but technically they don’t have to. He said the largest point is that Pope Benedict wants to ensure that any Catholic institution is serving others, that they’re doing so in Christ’s name, and the bishop is making sure everyone involved in the work is respecting Catholic teaching. Fr. Roger said there’s two ways the Pope could have done this, the motu proprio or apostolic constitution, which sets down new law. The latter is much more formal and would involve a lot more consultation. An example was Ordinatio Sacerdotalis from 1994 when Pope John Paul wanted to remove doubt about the Church ordaining only men to the priesthood. Susan said she sees it as good news/bad news. It’s sad that things that seem so perfectly obvious and sensible need to be put down in writing. She also noted the number of times the Pope referred to the faithful. These works of charity weren’t referred to as the “Church’s” responsibility in the abstract, but as the responsibility of the faithful. Scot asked Greg how strongly the Church should be defining the line for Catholic practice. Greg said Americans seem to be obsessed with the ability to self-define themselves and to define what it means to be Catholic. He thinks it’s important for the Church to give clear instructions. Greg said there are some people who seem to want the Church to be like the Salvation Army, whose Christian identity can be obscured for those who see their work. He said many people want to do good to be nice, but Catholics do this work to be Christ to others, to project Christ into the world. Fr. Roger said the story wasn’t picked up by the mainstream media because the way it was written the significance would be lost on many and because the news of the document wasn’t leaked ahead of time. Fr. Roger said the definition of the organizations addressed here go beyond Catholic Charities, but includes hospitals and schools and others. 2nd segment: Scot said earlier this week, the Holy Father announced that he was launching eight new Twitter handles, the English one being @Pontifex. This was announced on December 3. Already this week, without the benefit of one Tweet, he has 525,000 followers. He will begin tweeting on December 12. His Spanish account has another 100,000. By next Wednesday, he will have more than 1 million followers. Greg said it’s a great testimony of the hunger in the world to hear what the Pope has to say. He added that this is not going to be an interactive account in general, although it’s been promised the Holy Father will answer a few questions. Scot said it seems the Pope is trying to embrace this mechanism to evangelize and share our faith. By his presence he’s authenticating the Twitterverse as a place for Catholic to share and embrace their faith among others. Fr. Roger said the Pope has emphasized in his recent World Day of Communications message that the Internet is a the new Aeropagus, where we share our faith. The vast majority of people who have signed up in great numbers to follow may never have listened to the Holy Father closely in the past. When the Pope launches next Wednesday, he will respond to a few questions that have been submitted via the hashtag #AskPontifex and this will be a regular opportunity. Scot wondered if @pontifex will be on t-shirts at the next World Youth Day. Susan said it will be a teachable moment as people learn that the word means “bridge-builder”. Scot said he’s not a big fan of the use of Latin when the Church could use English because he wants the Church to seem more accessible. On the other hand, in this case, it could cause people to go and find out what it means. Greg said one of the considerations in choosing the handle was that a lot of the handles were taken. He said that by choosing Latin, the Pope didn’t show favor to any particular language group because Latin is the common denominator of our faith. Fr. Roger said Pontifex is the technical title of the Holy Father. He is the Bridgebuilder between God and Man. To call the Pope Pontifex Maximus means we walk all over him to get to Jesus. Greg pointed out that the Holy Father said he would personally review everything that goes out and this is why the tweets will not be as frequent. Scot said Cardinal Sean is @CardinalSean, Scot Landry is @scotlandry, the Good Catholic Life is @GoodCathLife, and the Pilot is @BostonPilot. Scot said the Vatican is also releasing a new smartphone app that will include the Pope’s speeches and a webcam of his public appearances. It will be available on iPhones and iPads on December 10 and later on Android. It’s called The Pope App. Greg said he was particularly interested in this story, especially because of the live video feeds. He thinks virtually every public address of the Pope is recorded by someone, but not all of them can be viewed by everyone. But there are certain moments when you want to patch in. This app will even give you a reminder when a preferred event is starting. Everything will be archived as well. Scot said he’s become a big fan of web streams, including those from CatholicTV. Susan said she was able to watch the press conference of Bishop-elect Deeley on her iPhone that day. Susan noted that the company behind the app is also publishing an ebook for the Year of Faith, pulling information from dioceses around the world. Fr. Roger said it seems the Vatican is partnering with private companies. He noted that the Vatican’s aphorism is “We’ll use yesterday’s technology tomorrow.” He said people are often champing at the bit to use their technical gifts at the service of the Church. For a lot of these companies you can’t get a better promo than getting the Pope to tweet. Twitter has received an incredible amount of free publicity from the Pope. At every level, this is a win-win for the Church in the world. Scot also noted the good news that Comcast has moved CatholicTV to their basic package from the premium package it was on previously. They hope the other TV providers would also make CatholicTV part of their basic packages so more people can see their programming. The folks at CatholicTV have been pushing this several years. Greg said in his own home they finally have CatholicTV available on their TVs that have analog-to-digital converters. He noted that the digital TV conversion had pushed the channel to a place that many people couldn’t get it. Greg said that by adding it to the basic service, Comcast has made CatholicTV available to every customer in New England. Scot said it shows the importance of going to to sign a petition for other cable providers to follow suit. Scot said that a parish in the Diocese of Fall River has decided to air 12 30-second radio commercials on stations on Cape Cod for the Year of Faith. It’s a version of the Catholics Come Home campaign but it was done just by the parish. It’s the brainchild of the pastor, Fr. George Harrison. Fr. Roger said Corpus Christi has a track record of using advertising to promote coming back to the practice of the faith in their parish. Fr. Harrison wanted to expand beyond the narrow message of Christmas to the whole year of faith. He also likes the method of getting 12 parishioners of all kinds in a studio and asking them questions without scripts about why they love their faith. The Cape lends itself to this type of radio evangelization. He hopes that other Catholic parishes will follow suit. To listen to the ads, go to the website above and click on the Year of Faith logo. Also in the Anchor, Fr. Roger’s column gives a testimonial/book review of a new book by Colleen Carroll Campbell. Fr. Roger said he’d read the book the same afternoon he’d read Pope Benedict’s book. Ten minutes in he came to the conclusion that Campbell’s book, “My Sisters, the Saints” was the better of the two books. She profiles four different crises in her life and how six different saints helped her through those difficulties.…
Summary of today’s show: For the past four years, Lift Ministries has taken a week in Advent for the God of This City Tour, traveling to five different churches in five towns to bring contemporary and original praise music, powerful speakers, and Eucharistic adoration to the five regions of the Archdiocese, each year ending in our mother church, the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Next week, they do it again with their 2012 edition. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams are joined in studio by Jon Niven, Heather Flynn, and Brett St. Gelais to discuss the history of the event, its powerful effect on those of all ages who attend, and what people can expect to experience if they come to one or more nights next week. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Jon Niven, Heather Flynn, Brett St. Gelais Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: God of This City Tour 2012 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. He noted that one year ago today was a priests’ convocation that kicked off the big pastoral planning initiative. Scot said the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults is now publicizing registration for the Pilgrimage for Life in January. Fr. Matt said this year Cardinal Seán will be celebrating the Mass in Washington, DC, ahead of the March for Life. He added that the cardinal has never missed a March for Life and has always made it a priority to invite young people to go with him. There will be three distinct tracks for the pilgrimage for Middle School, High School, and Young Adults. Scot said this is something every Catholic should do once in their lifetime and this year will be the fortieth anniversary. The pilgrimage is January 24-26. For more information go to . Fr. Matt talked about empowerment in the Holy Spirit. He said he has often preached to youth about the importance of praying to the Holy Spirit. This past weekend, they had a special night on empowerment in the Holy Spirit at Immaculate Conception Parish in Salem. They concelebrated Mass and then prayed with the young people, laying hands on them, asking God’s power to come upon them. He’s still hearing stories from the kids about how they experienced the power of God’s Spirit. He said he just found out there was a young woman who was there who has suffered from scoliosis for years and has worn a back brace 24/7 the whole time. She had a doctor’s appointment today, they took the brace off, and it appears she has been healed. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Jon Niven and Heather Flynn back to the show. He said this year if the fourth God of this City tour. It’s five nights in five parts of the Archdiocese. Jon said they started Lift six years ago and for the majority of the time have been located at Fontbonne Academy in Milton, so they wanted to make it more accessible. They also wanted to connect the five regions of the archdiocese. He said it’s almost a revival of sorts. The culmination of these five nights is at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, the whole archdiocese praying together. On Monday, December 10, at St. George, Framingham, with Fr. Matt as speaker; Tuesday, St. Ann, Marshfield, with Jason Deramo; Wednesday, St. Joseph, Wakefield with Fr. Rick Martignetti; Thursday, Immaculate Conception, Stoughton with Fr. Paul Houlis; and Friday, Cathedral of the Holy Cross with Mother Olga Yaqob. Friday night ends an hour later than the others at 10pm. Heather said the night begins at 7 with about 1/2 hour of music, a speaker for 25 minutes or so, 45 minutes of Eucharistic adoration and then closing with more music and then announcements. The adoration is punctuated by silence, music, and prayer reflection by Fr. Matt. Jon is the music leader. Scot asked Jon what people should expect from the music. He said part of the goal is for people to have an encounter with Christ, that they would be a vehicle, that they would connect with someone in the church on a deeper level. Heather said this event was originally targeted at young adults, although they never said it explicitly, and it has become something that everyone of all ages comes to. She said the music and staging are geared toward a younger audience, they get everyone coming. Scot asked Fr. Matt if there’s a connection to Advent in the timing. Fr. Matt recounted the thinking of the original idea in getting the Lift events out to a greater audience. He said they wanted to tie it to a liturgical season. Lent is difficult because there’s already so much going on in parishes and they’re so busy. So they looked at Advent as an opportunity to bring some more of the focus that is made on Lent to Advent. Fr. Matt said the locations are chosen through an application process. They ask parishes to apply because they want to know that the parish really wants it and will really work for it and advocate for it so it’s as good as it can be. Heather said they have a questionnaire they ask parishes to submit and they ensure that all the regions are represented. Heather said there’s definitely a handful of people who come to all five nights. There are more who go on another night and then go to the cathedral on Friday. Scot asked how much variety there is each night. Jon said each night’s music is different. The band has added 8 to 10 new songs they’ve never done before, which is a lot. They also have their staples. If you come on Monday and on Friday, you won’t hear all the same music. Each night has a different speaker too with a different theme. On Monday, Fr. Matt will speaking about God revealing himself. Tuesday is God calling us for life. Wednesday is God stretching us. Thursday is God accomplishing great things. Friday is us responding to His call (cf. Isaiah 61). Jason Deramo is speaking on Tuesday. He was a youth minister in St. Mary in Dedham at the same time Fr. Matt was a parochial vicar there. Jason now teaches at Cardinal Spellman in Brockton. Fr. Rick Martignetti is a Franciscan who lives at St. Leonard’s in the North End. He is a frequent speaker at Steubenville conferences. Fr. Paul Houlis is from Newark and was ordained in 2011. Heather said they met him at a SoulFest concert in New Hampshire. Scot noted that Fr. Paul’s biography says: When Fr. Paul graduated from high school, he immediately started acting and doing stand-up comedy in New York City. He thought fame was coming his way and that’s all he wanted. However, after the attacks on our nation on September 11th, 2001, Fr. Paul’s life, like thousands others, was changed forever. Scot said it’s unusual to hear of a priest who was a stand-up comic. On Friday, Mother Olga is speaking and she’s spoken every year in the Tour. Fr. Matt said Cardinal Seán will also be joining them for a short time on Friday evening to welcome the people and offer some words of encouragement and give a blessing. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Tomas Lichauco from Belmont, MA He wins the prayer book “Oratio: Rhythms of Prayer from the Heart of Christendom,” available at If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Heather told a story about a night they had in Franklin two years ago about a man who came to the night, who was struggling with family issues. He came to the night and decided to return to his family and try to make it work out. Jon said over the course of four years in 20 parishes, they’ve set off fire alarms half a dozen times. Most of the time it was due to incense. They end up having to rush out of the church during adoration. He said it’s amazing how when people come back, their demeanor often changes. They come back more determined to adore even more. Fr. Matt said it tends to happen in newer churches which have sensitive smoke detectors while the older churches have heat detectors. Heather said one time Jon brought his guitar with him and played outside until they could return. Fr. Matt said what makes him blessed and humble each year is the dedication of the team and their servant hearts. They’re all volunteers with their own full-time jobs and they make great sacrifices all week. By Thursday they’re exhausted and they persevere. Second, the priests who come out in the midst of busy schedules to hear confessions. Confession is very important during these nights because the attendees are often moved to the point of wanting confession. He’s also heard some very powerful confessions during the tour as people are drawn by God’s mercy and called. Scot said he’s often struck at Catholic events, that they’re so fruitful to the point of encouraging people to go back to confession after a long time away. Fr. Matt said they invite people throughout the night to come. At the cathedral last year, they could have used twice the number of confessors because the lines were so long. Brett St. Gelais just joined the show. He said one of his favorite moments was in Franklin when he was a speaker. Other years, he produces the technical aspects of the tour. He loves the moment of people not sure what to expect from lights and speakers and electric guitars in a church and then to experience the power of adoration. He said those who have been going to Lift, they know what the expect. But first-timers see who the Holy Spirit guides them. The team allows the Spirit to guide them and they often don’t know exactly how everything will go. And all these elements provide an experience that people have never seen. Scot said he always hears people at events say they weren’t planning to come, but the Spirit led them there. But Scot always ask why they were thinking of not coming. Jon said it’s the same for the tour. A lot of times people have misconceptions about what it will be like. Sometimes people associate a guitar with something that can’t be worshipful. Jon said their goal isn’t to put on a show, but to reflect the light of Christ. Heather said to people who are worried about coming solo that it’s not a clique and they are always very welcoming. Every month at Lift they have new people coming. For many people it’s become a monthly meeting place where they don’t see each other at other times. Brett said if people aren’t sure they’re going to be comfortable, that’s good. We should step out of our comfort zones to experience God in new ways. Scot said part of allowing God to stretch us is to say God I trust iun you. Fr. Matt said this past Sunday marked the one year anniversary of the new translation of the Roman Missal. Ever since he’s been struck by the new line that God has chosen us worthy to stand in his presence and minister to Him. It’s a work of service and a gift of self to the Lord. As we minister to Him, He in turn showers down the gift upon us, He sanctifies His people. Lift is not the Mass, but it is para-litugical. It is based in the biblical imagery of the Psalms. Heather said that Jon and the Lift Ministry band put out an album called Glory Road, which is available on iTunes.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr Chris O'Connor Today’s guest(s): Msgr. James Moroney Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Advent and preparing for Jesus' coming at Christmas 1st segment: Scot welcomed the listeners to the show, recorded at St John Seminary instead of our usual location in the Pastoral Center in Braintree. Today's show will focus on the season of Advent, Scot said, which sometimes gets overlooked due to secular pressure and traditions. Msgr. Moroney agreed that Advent at the Seminary is a special thing, where men wait for the coming of Christ not only at Christmas but into their lives as well. Scot asked Msgr. Moroney what news there has been at the Seminary since he was last on over the summer. Msgr. Moroney commented that the Seminary opened this year completely full with no open rooms, a very positive sign for the future of the Archdiocese. He also said the Seminary has purchased Our Lady of Presentation church in Brighton just down the street from the Seminary to be used as an educational facility and lecture hall. Fr Chris also commented on the success of the visit of fifth graders from all over the Archdiocese in the month of October, and how touching it was for both the youth groups and the seminarians to visit, and how events like that truly enhance vocations in the Archdiocese. 2nd segment: Scot asked Msgr Moroney, who has been a liturgist for many years, how the season of Advent is intended to prepare us for the coming of Jesus. Msgr Moroney said there is a phrase that we use every day in Mass - "waiting in joyful hope." This waiting is something we do every day, but should be doing more intensely during the Advent season. We think of the preparation for Christmas as a preparation for Christ's birth in the manger, gatherings with family and friends, and cookies - but since the early Church, Catholics have held three comings of Jesus. The first was Jesus born in the manger in Bethlehem. The second is the one we look forward to when He comes at the end of time to judge the living and dead. The third coming is the coming of Christ into our hearts. When Christ is born into our hearts, Msgr Moroney concluded, we can understand the significance of the Incarnation and the purpose of Jesus' coming again. Throughout the Advent liturgies, we shouldn't focus on a cute baby in the manager, as much as that is an important entry into the mystery - we should not forget our longing for the Messiah to come and lead us home. Advent is building a manger in our hearts preparing for Jesus. Scot mentioned Isaiah as a prominent figure in the Old Testament who we hear from constantly during Advent. Msgr Moroney agreed, noting that Isaiah is read every Sunday of Advent during every Cycle of readings. Isaiah was waiting to be saved from the Diaspora, when the Babylonians exiled everyone from Jerusalem, to be led back home to Jerusalem. When we talk about waiting for Christ to come in glory, Monsignor said, we can relate to the longing of Israel to return to Jerusalem. Fr Chris mentioned that other figures who feature prominently are John the Baptist, Mary, and St Joseph, and asked Monsignor how those figures tie into the Advent season. He replied that an ancient painting in catacombs shows how tied to Mary the early Christians were - the prophet Balaam is shown pointing towards Mary, holding the infant Jesus in her arms. Monsignor also added that in most early depictions of the nativity, St Joseph is always falling asleep. This points to Joseph's penchant for hearing God's will through dreams. John the Baptist, Monsignor continued, figures heavily into Advent as the herald of the coming of the Christ - the one who prepares the way. We should join John the Baptist in preparing the way for Jesus in our hearts and all aspects of our lives. Scot noted there is a definite rhythm to liturgy, how Masses build one on the other during seasons. Scot asked how readings have a crescendo towards Christmas. Msgr Moroney said that the month starts with Christ the King, echoing the previous Sunday during the First Sunday of Advent. The season ends with a "little Christmas" - the fourth Sunday of Advent - is a reflection of the feast to come. The middle Sundays are an "ethical imperative," like John the Baptist telling us to prepare our hearts. Msgr Moroney quoted a collect from the First Sunday of Advent: "Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming, so that, gathered at his right hand, they may be worthy to possess the heavenly kingdom". Monsignor Moroney told a story about having a gold star on a composition when he was younger, and the pride he had when he showed his mother and father his work. This is what we are experiencing when Jesus comes - we have the opportunity to show our good works to Him. This prayer says, Monsignor concluded, that we should all work to be ready to pick up in our arms every good thing, sacrifice, and prayer to run out in confidence to Jesus when he comes again. Scot asked Msgr Moroney what the "joyful hope" of Advent means. Msgr Moroney said that our joyful hope should be different than the emotional hope we feel, like when we get a scratch off a ticket and hope all the way to that last number being uncovered. Rather, our hope should be "sure and certain," the promise that Christ has given us that if we die with Him, we will rise with Him. The joyful hope that Advent and our whole lives are about is that Jesus has saved us. Fr Chris asked what the liturgical cues we should see at Mass are for Advent. Msgr Moroney replied that a very obvious one is the Advent wreath - some evergreens with a candle to be lit for each Sunday. The symbolism of the evergreen is important, he continued, that the branches stay green even after all the other trees have lost all their leaves, as Christ is the one promise of life even during the worst winters of our spiritual life. Another cue is the different vestment colors, to purple and rose. Purple was chosen as a penitential reminder, but also (according to St Ambrose) for the color on the horizon that appears just before sunrise - a preparatory purple that disappears once the light has appeared. In the same way, we are preparing with purple until the light of Christ comes on Christmas. Scot mentioned that the third Sunday of Advent is different - rose, not pink! Msgr Moroney said it is an intensification of the purple color, showing our approaching readiness. Fr Chris asked why we abstain from singing the Gloria during Advent. Monsignor Moroney said we "fast" from the Gloria so we appreciate it more when we go back to it on Christmas. 3rd segment: Scot asked Msgr Moroney about some of the hymns that we sing during Advent, and the lessons they can teach. Msgr Moroney said there is one hymn that almost every Church sings, O Come, O Come Emmanuel. The word "Emmanuel" is a scriptural term meaning "the God who is with us." One of the biggest problems people have with faith and Church today, Monsignor continued, is appreciating that God is indeed with us. Too many of us get stuck in a routine or a rut without God until a crisis happens in life, and then we go looking for God - most of the time, we take the presence of God in our lives so much for granted that we assume He will always be there with us. Fr Chris said we hear many action words about Advent, including "wait" and "prepare." Msgr Moroney said the words he needs to hear are "wake up!" We are lulled into a false sense of satisfaction because we got a good deal on Good Friday, or found the right Christmas card list long before the 25th. We get so caught up on those secular things that we forget to take care of our spiritual life. Waking up and remembering it is about Christ is something we could all do this Advent. Scot mentioned that his favorite Advent prayer is "Come, Lord Jesus," which can be prayed at any time of the day and in any place to avoid distraction. Scot mentioned that some people may not feel comfortable praying - Msgr Moroney suggested that sitting in quiet and just telling God that you don't know how to pray is a good start! The sacrifice people are called to offer to God is their heart and life. Formal prayers are important, but conversation plays an important role too. One thing Scot mentioned his family enjoys is singing Advent carols as a way to prepare for Christmas, and that if you forget words, ask your local Church for last year's missalette. The internet can get plenty of Advent hymns too, Monsignor added. Fr Chris said that we often plan times for shopping, getting haircuts, and more - Advent is the perfect season to plan family time to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Monsignor Moroney closed with the collect from mid-morning prayer on the 24th of December, one that is urgent and desires the coming of Jesus: Come quickly, we pray, Lord Jesus, and do not delay, that those who trust in your compassion may find solace and relief in your coming. Who live and reign with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.…
1 Program #0426 for Monday, December 3, 2012: Three Persons, One God: Growing in Relationship with Father, Son and Holy Spirit 56:29
Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Allison Gingras Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show and wished everyone a happy beginning of Advent, even though it will certainly seem like a short season again this year. Allison Gingras joined Scot for the second time, noting that last time she was on the show it was our Producer, Rick Heil's birthday and the studio looked much more festive. Scot noted it was photographer George Martell's 6 year anniversary of working with the Archdiocese on Saturday, and that will do for today's celebration! Scot explained that Allison's book is titled Three Persons, One God: Growing in Relationship with Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and said he was surprised that she wrote her first book on the Trinity - many theologians won't even tackle the subject until their later works. Allison said that she prayed and let God lead her to the book, and it came about as she found out who God really was through a Bible study with Fr Mitch Pacwa. Scot said that Allison took a Scriptural approach to the topic to offer group discussion opportunities for the book. Allison agreed, and said she attended some Protestant Bible studies several years ago, which grew her love for the Bible but made her miss the Catechism very much to give the fullness of truth. Scot noted that the book has six chapters, one each on the persons of the Trinity, and three on our relationship with God, totaling a short but manageable sixty pages. Allison talked about the Biblical image of "fertile soil" and how we need to be ready to accept and hold on to the seed of God into our life. Scot asked what advice she would give to people who have had spiritual "highs" and then come down into normal life. Allison replied that having a small group to hold her to the practice of the faith was very helpful for her. Scot added that asking God for "fertile soil" and to deepen your faith can help too. 2nd segment: Scot asked Allison why she was so happy that the book was being published now, in the Year of Faith. Allison said the book has been a five year long project - even though it is only 60 pages, Allison said that she had the first real copy in her hand two days after the Year of Faith started. Part of Pope Benedict's message, Allison said, was to discover the Trinity more through the Word of God, something that she has tried to do with the book. Many people think the Year of Faith and the New Evangelization is all about getting fallen away Catholics first, Scot added, but Pope Benedict also stresses that we must enhance our relationship with God before we go give testimony and witness to those who have fallen away. Scot noted that Allison's book emphasizes that our impression of God the Father comes strongly from our relationship with our father in our life. Scot said he was blessed to have a loving father in his life - Allison said that not everyone is blessed to have that experience, and that in talking to people about the book it was interesting to see how differently everyone perceives the Father. Some people, Scot and Allison discussed, are afraid that God is only a harsh judge, and viewing yourself as loved is a difficult thing when you consider all your human faults. Allison said her favorite image of God the Father is from John's Gospel as "God is love." Scot added that his favorite image is that of the father of the prodigal son. Allison continued and said that sometimes we can be the son who stayed with his father in that parable - grumbling that we were never lost and don't get a big party from God, even though we have been loyal and have our own inheritance. Scot asked Allison what portion of Jesus' life she likes the most - Allison said His humanity was an aspect that she has come to appreciate more and more. Scot agreed, and said it was important for him to see Jesus experience human emotions and problems throughout his life as as model of what a human Christian looks like. Scot noted that one part of Allison's book discusses the struggle between "my will" and "thy will." Allison said she struggles sometimes to pray those extra words seriously without trying to negotiate with God and trust His will, which is always best for us even if we don't realize it at the time. Scot noted the book asks readers to do some reflection on what they've just read, and to do a scripture search. Allison explained that she always gives the citation of chapter and verse instead of copying the passage - sometimes, God wants us to read something before or after. Opening the Bible and seeing it isn't intimidating as we think is a good thing, she said - with the help of the Holy Spirit we can discern what Scripture is telling us. 3rd segment: Allison opened by saying that the Holy Spirit is like the forgotten stepchild of the Trinity. We have good images for God the Father and the Son, but the Spirit is very ephemeral and hard to touch. Scot noted that the chapter on the Holy Spirit talks about the gifts and fruits of the Spirit, which are an essential guide and resource to know the other two persons of the Trinity. Allison agreed, and said that she sometimes thinks about the Apostles on the first Pentecost cowering in the room, afraid, and not knowing what to do next. But after getting the gifts of the Spirit, they were able to step out and evangelize the world, an example we should all learn from. 4th segment: Scot said that the 4th, 5th, and 6th chapters of Allison's book focus on the topics that God is Loving, that He is a Trusting God and we should trust ourselves to him, and that God is a Forgiving God. From knowing that God is loving and wants us to love Him through our free will to trusting that God's will is best, the second half of the book focuses more on our relationship with God than who God is. Allison said she sees how it can be easy to accept God's plan when it involves things like her and her husband adopting a child from China, but how it can be difficult when the plan includes difficult problems like sickness or death. It really takes knowing God's loving character to understand that His plan is best for us to get us through those situations.…
1 TGCL #0424: Four Last Things; Pope Benedict's new book; Advent fasting; Blessing unborn children; Vigils in closed parishes 56:32
Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Fr. Roger Landry return after the Thanksgiving hiatus to consider the news headlines of the week, including Fr. Roger’s column in the Anchor this week on the Four Last Things: heaven, hell, death, and judgment; Pope Benedict’s newest book on Jesus and the Infancy Narratives of the Gospels; Advent as a time of preparation and how fasting can play a role in that; Cardinal Seán’s upcoming Mass that will include a Rite of Blessing of a Child in the Womb; and a recent three-part story in the Boston Herald on those still holding vigils in closed parishes. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Four Last Things; Pope Benedict’s new book; Advent fasting; Blessing unborn children; Vigils in closed parishes 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and noted to Susan Abbott that it’s tough to miss a Thursday news show because of Thanksgiving. They caught up on their Thanksgiving holidays. Scot welcomed Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy to the show. Scot said at the end of November we begin to think about Advent and he said in this week’s Anchor, Fr. Roger wrote a column on the Last Things. He asked Fr. Roger for a brief overview. He addressed the question quite frankly that our culture believes that all nice people end up in heaven. Fr. Roger said the Church calls the last things: Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. How we approach those things says a lot about us. He said there’s a lot less frequent meditation on these things because a lot of Catholics behave as if judgment and hell are irrelevant because they think no one will be judged and no one will go to hell. They believe that everyone who dies gets an A+ in life no matter how they lived their life. One of the great temptations of the devil is that life doesn’t really matter. But Jesus talked clearly that if you take a snapshot now of people going to heaven versus those on the road to hell, there are far more on the road to hell. One of the reasons he died on the cross was to get us off that highway to hell and onto the path to heaven. Jesus talked about as much about hell as about heaven, not to scare us, but to teach us that hell is radical possibility for human freedom and we should use every choice to choose heaven and to choose God. Scot said it seems that society has become accustomed that any good person will go to heaven because how could a good and loving God not show that mercy to us. Susan said it’s not what Jesus said. He said if you love him you will follow his commandments. She’s reminded of the presentation in RCIA on morality and how her pastor says our fidelity to God, our thanks for the gift of his love, is to abide by his morality. Reading from Fr. Roger’s column: And if it’s the case that only those with post-doctoral degrees in Satanic wickedness are candidates for the eternal hall of shame, then, at a practical level, we can all just calm down. because very little now matters to our or others’ eternal destiny. It doesn’t matter if we spread the faith, because everyone gets to Heaven whether or not they know Jesus Christ. The Sacraments don’t matter. The Word of God doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if we pray or play, if we keep or break promises, if we steal or sacrifice, if we come to Mass or sleep in, if we’re faithful to our spouse or cheat, if we provide for or neglect our family. if we forgive or settle scores, if we love or abuse the poor, or if we welcome or abort the littlest of Jesus’ brethren. None of this matters - or at least none of it matters much. Since almost everyone in the class is going to make the eternal honor roll no matter what they do, while we may still admire those who study hard , the really wise ones are those who eat, drink and he merry and still get their easy A. Greg said he sees this not only in the Church but also in general society. There’s a lot of rush to say everyone’s good, and everyone’s fine and everyone gets a trophy just for showing up. People get confused between the idea that God loves and God loves everything that they do, which isn’t the case. Scot said Fr. Roger asks two provocative questions: How is hell consistent with God’s love for us? And if we’re to forgive seven times seventy, then doesn’t hell suggest that there’s a limit to His mercy? Fr. Roger said this one of the reasons people think there just couldn’t be a hell. They can’t imagine a loving Father sending them to a place where they will be tortured for eternity. His response is not part of God’s original plan because everything God created was good. He gave us freedom which can be misused. Sin, suffering, death and hell are the creation of everyone who excludes God and his love. Jesus came into the world, not to condemn it, but to save it, yet the one who rejects him has a judge. Those who reject Jesus’ word become their own judges. He quotes C.S. Lewis: “‘There are only two kinds of people in the end. Those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done. All that are in hell choose it.” The Catechism defines hell as definitive self-exclusion. We who in our life say we don’t want to have anything to do with him send ourselves away from him. Susan said one of the most vivid examples from literature is Dante’s Inferno which depicts people living out their choices from life for eternity in hell. Scot said no one likes to talk about hell, but the Church gives us these topics at the end of the liturgical year to keep these important facts in mind, that we are accountable for our actions at the end of our lives. Susan said it’s not enough just to know about God, but we must know God Himself, and we do that through the sacramental life of the Church. And when we know God, we follow him. As we move in Advent, a season of joyful preparation and home, and recall the first coming of Christ, we also are reminded of the second coming at the end of time and we should pray to transform our hearts into mangers to receive him. Scot noted that the Holy Father is helping us prepare through his new book just published on the infancy narratives of Christmas. And the secular media has gotten much of what the Holy Father said wrong. What the Holy Father says that got the most attention is not consequential, like the Scripture never tells us whether there were animals present or if Jesus was born in 1 A.D. or on December 25. First of all, the important fact is that Jesus was born at all. The little details of the scene, what order they appeared in, whether shepherds were present in the stable, help us to imagine the scene, but don’t change the fundamental reality. Scot said the reports are missing the most important aspects of the story for the little details. Susan noted that there a lot of things people believe the Bible says that it doesn’t actually say. Fr. Roger said every Catholic should read it and anyone with a high school education will get something out of it. The Pope is not writing a theological treatise, but something for everyone. The Holy Father did a particularly good job on the genealogies from the beginning of the narratives, making them really intelligible. For anybody who prays the rosary, this is great meditation material for the joyful mysteries. Fr. Roger said he was shocked when Pope Benedict talked about Mary asking Gabriel how she would conceive a child and gave a different approach to the situation than one usually hears to explain it. Scot said that brings up a helpful thins about this book. It’s unusual for the Pope to write a book in his personal capacity. This book does not come with the guarantee of papal infallibility of an official teaching of the Church. Greg said there’s a lot of confusion surrounding the doctrine of infallibility, even among Catholics. There are very specific instances in which papal infallibility apply. Susan said that even so, even before he was Pope, the Holy Father was one of the most highly respected theologians. Scot said it’s great that the Pope wants to continue to teach in this way and that he’s willing to take the same risks as any other teacher or professor in writing about the faith and speculating on what these ideas mean. Also in the Pilot is a story about a day of preparation for Advent about fasting as a way of preparing. Greg said it was a retreat called Prepare the Way for the King and was connected to Andy Lavallee, a local baker who was developed a special kind of fasting bread (see the previous show on The Good Catholic Life.) Advent is not a time we traditionally think of as time of fasting. He said Advent is a penitential time. In previous eras, Advent was six-weeks long and involved fasting and abstinence. Scot said the busy-ness of December for most people today makes it tough to prepare for Christmas unless you intentionally decide to slow down and prepare. Susan said when we fast from food, we don’t just think about our next meal, but we spend it in productive contemplation. Scot said in another story Cardinal Seán on December 16 will conduct at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross a rite for the Blessing of the Child in the Womb at 11:30am. Scot said that is Gaudete Sunday. Fr. Roger said the US bishops had written a special blessing that they submitted to the Vatican for their approval. Priests had blessing for almost everything but not this and they wanted to cover that gap especially in this culture where abortion is so prevalent. It also gives us an opportunity to show how we should be praying for those children in their womb and their mothers and fathers. The whole Church can rejoice with these women. Fr. Roger said when he sees an obviously pregnant woman he will offer to bless the baby. On a few occasions, he’s felt the child kicking as he used his thumb to trace the sign of the cross on the mother’s stomach. On occasions when it’s a difficult pregnancy, those blessings have meant a lot to him and the couple. Now he’s grateful he doesn’t have to wing it. for more information on this Mass and the Blessing, contact the Pro-Life Office through BostonCatholic.org. 2nd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Francis Goodwin from Melrose He wins an audiobook about St. Kateri Tekakwitha. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 3rd segment: In this segment, we’ll be talking about three cover stories on the front-page of the Boston Herald this week about three churches where people remain in vigil after 3,000 days after the parishes were closed. Scot said he wanted to talk about this because they get some aspects of Catholic teaching wrong and that some critics claim that the new pastoral plan, Disciples in Mission, is just more reconfiguration and closing of parishes. Scot said it’s just not true. This plan is about providing more resources and support for evangelization and no parishes are slated for closure. In Monday’s story, they covered St. Frances in Scituate and the vigilers claim that this is their church built by their ancestors and that the archdiocese has no right to take this church from them. Scot said it’s not a Catholic worldview. It’s a congregational view. The Church is not a club. The Church is one worldwide Church and the bishop is a steward of the Church’s resources and is tasked with ensuring there’s enough resources for everyone to have the sacraments. Greg said this mentality is a kind of Americanism and it’s an idea that we can each define what it means to be Catholic for ourselves. He said he understands their visceral reaction. He recalls how something he had given to his parish had been given away to someone else, but he realized that when he gave something, he had given a gift freely. Scot said he offered it without condition. Greg said many of these people speak about those who built the churches and he wonders what some of those forebears would say today about those who are acting in defiance of their bishop. Scot said what’s missing from these stories is that about 70 parishes closed and of them the people of 61 of them moved on immediately. And in the remaining parishes, 90 percent of the people have moved on to a welcoming parish. But there’s a very small group that remains and while their sense of community and commitment is laudable, their congregational impulse is wrong. Susan said the reality for the faithful Catholics of these three parishes is that these parishes were their spiritual homes and of course there’s a mourning when that home is gone. To not move on, though, to not realize that God is present and waiting for them in the next parish is a tragedy. It seems that the amount of time, energy, and anger that this has taken up is regrettable and it’s not going to change the situation. Scot said one of the arguments often made in these stories is that the Church only closed these parishes was for money, not for pastoral reasons. Scot said the leaders of the vigil in Scituate, who live right next door to the parish, claim that the archdiocese closed the parish to claim the 30 acres of seaside real estate, when some will point out that perhaps they are the ones who don’t want new developments built next to them. Fr. Roger said the Church is about the economy of salvation rather than the financial economy. He said in the early Church, the Christians sold all their property and laid them at the foot of the apostles with a real trust. Fr. Roger said Jesus didn’t us to love the building we worship in, but to love God. The building has become an idol. It’s sacred; Jesus was there; but now we’re called to follow Jesus, trusting in the apostles. He said the root of the word “parish” means “hostel” as in a temporary lodging on the journey, in this case to heaven.…
Summary of today’s show: Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Parish has a long history, from its beginning as the mother parish for Needham and Newton to being days away from closing in 2005 to its present vibrant life today as a parish that attracts Catholics willing to travel an hour for Mass on Sundays. Scot Landry and the TGCL team travel on location to Newton to talk with Fr. Charles Higgins and a panel of parishioners about the unique life of this parish in which reverence for liturgy is their top priority and where fellowship grows from that commitment. The people of Mary Immaculate of Lourdes celebrate both the Extraordinary Form and the Ordinary Form, the Latin and the English, with equal joy, love, and beauty, and you can hear their love for the Mass and their parish in how they talk about it on today’s program. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Charles Higgins John DeMatteo Ron Goguen Manny Goguen Jeanette Pappin David Allen Tina McCormick Jean Johnson Rose Delgrosso Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Parish Profile: Mary Immaculate of Lourdes, Newton 1st segment: Broadcasting live on location today from Mary Immaculate of Lourdes parish in Newton, Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. They serve parishioners throughout the general region of the Archdiocese. The plan for the show is to show how parishes are coming up with new ideas for welcoming people back to the Church but also to help people grow in their faith. The pastor is Fr. Charles J. Higgins, who is celebrating his 25th anniversary of ordination. They were both at St. Michael’s in Lowell, when Scot was a young man and and Fr. Higgins was a deacon preparing for ordination. Fr. Higgins said Mary Immaculate of Lourdes is the mother church of Newton and Needham, starting in 1870 as St. Mary’s Parish. In 1909 the cornerstone was laid for the “new” church, which is the present church. It was built on a hill and meant to be seen from far and wide. It has the style of an Italian hill town church with a soaring 135-foot bell tower. When it was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day in 1910, the new archbishop of Boston, William O’Connell, decided that St. Mary’s was too plain a name so he chose Mary Immaculate of Lourdes. Fr. Higgins remembers it from growing up at St. Joseph in Needham and his family often attended Mass at Mary Immaculate on Sundays. He remembers his own fascination with the beauty of the church as a child. As time went on, the demographic trend worked against the territorial parish and in 2004, there was thought that the parish should be closed. Many felt there were many reasons to keep it open and so from 2004 to 2006 the final situation of the parish was uncertain and it was 5 days away from being closed. Vendors were cancelled and the end-of-life parish party had already happened. But then Cardinal Seán revisited the decision and at the end of 2006 a solution was found. Since Holy Trinity Church in Boston, where the Latin Mass community had worshipped for a decade, was slated to be closed too, they decided to merge the communities and give the parish a second life. The canonical status of the parish was changed from territorial to a mission parish. Since 2007, they’ve started a second life. Scot welcomed Jean Johnson, director of religious education, and Ron Goguen, superintendent of the parish cemetery. He asked Jean about the parish praying for a new life in those days. Jean said she was appointed religious education director for 3 months until the parish closed and now she’s still here. Scot asked her about activities in the parish in those months they thought it was closing. She said there were many prayer meetings as well. There’s a lot more life to the parish after having experienced that and people are hopeful for the future. Scot said Ron is a father of 10. He asked what attracted him to this parish. Ron said he didn’t even know about the parish until after the non-closure. He’d known Fr. Higgins and brought his family when Fr. Higgins was assigned. It’s worth the travel for them. It’s very reverent and it’s just Catholic. He doesn’t have to worry about correcting a priest on the way home to Mass. He and his family travel 33 miles to the parish. His eldest son, who is 26, was the one on the drive home from Mass at their old parish one Sunday who suggested they just start going to Mary Immaculate of Lourdes every Sunday. Ron said it was the reverent liturgies and preaching that attracted them. Scot said places with very high expectations on the most important things seem to attract people. He asked Fr. Higgins how he fosters the universal call to holiness among the people. He said encourages them in their journey of faith and continuing conversion. We see the fracturing of morality and knowledge in society. Young people who have never known the old Church, have grown up in this current chaos under what Pope Benedict calls the dictatorship of relativism. When they find this treasure. it’s like a ray of light for them. Scot said Pope Benedict says that Vatican II has been misunderstood as a rupture with the traditions of the past, but we should see it as a continuity. Scot says many of what has been re-introduced at Mary Immaculate of Lourdes is what Pope Benedict is trying to reintroduce worldwide. Fr. Higgins said the Pope is trying to bring us back to the core of our faith. 2nd segment: Now joining the show are David Allen, a cantor, and Jeannette Pappin of the Ladies’ Sodality Prefect. David said he and his wife love both the Extraordinary Form Latin Mass and the Ordinary Form. He said the great musical tradition of the Church is enjoyed in its fullness at this parish. He said there’s a great continuity. For example, the propers of the Mass are an important part of the Extraordinary Form and that tradition is kept in the Ordinary Form, just in English. they sing many English-language hymns as well. Scot said growing up in Lowell, two different parishes, one the men never sang and in the other the men out sang the others. David said the choir at Mary Immaculate for the Extraordinary Form is wonderful and they have about 15 members singing very difficult works. The faithful appreciate their ministry. Jeannette said she’s one of those who came from Holy Trinity in Boston. She had worked in Waltham and needed a place for daily Mass and at the time Fr. Higgins had just arrived. She started attending in February 2007 for the daily Novus Ordo Mass and then a few months the Extraordinary Form came on Sundays. She also said at Mary Immaculate there was finally a pastor instead of rotating priests, so there was a parish life that could flourish. She said what she experiences is the fullness of what is supposed to be. she said the Mass there is sublime and you taste heaven and earth. She thinks of how her ancestors worshipped in the same way. This is how the Church changes with time and yet remains timeless. It’s what it means to be Catholic. She notes how people remark on the numbers of children at the parish. On Sundays there will be 16 altar boys serving the Mass. Jeannette also noted how they just had a young man enter seminary and another preparing to enter. She said they also have a priest who teaches truth from the pulpit in a kind, loving, and firm way, not regaling them with stories of his childhood or talking about the Red Sox. Scot said Cardinal Dolan has talked about living the Year of Faith by returning to the basics. The fundamental way we live our faith is to draw people around us to the altar of the liturgy. This is one of the things that makes Mary Immaculate. Fr. Higgins said the Mass is everything and we allow it to be the act of worship, we’re just taking what has been handed down and respecting it as worship given to God, first and foremost. Scot asked David and Jeannette what they love about the Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms of the Mass. Jeannette said that the way you pray is the way you believe and the way you live and when you look at the liturgy at this particular parish, you have much of that. In the Ordinary Form, there is still the reverence and still feel as though heaven is on earth. At the Extraordinary Form, it touches every sense and your heart wants to explode and your soul longs for heaven even more. Some will say it’s outdated, but it’s who we are as Catholics. We are a 2,000-year-old Church. She said she prefers the Extraordinary Form. David said what sticks out for him in this parish is the eastward orientation of the altar. This ancient practice opens up so much of the dimension of the transcendent and mysterious as a pilgrim people greeting Christ as the rising Sun. We move forward together with the priest toward Christ. Scot said the priest leads in prayer, not looking at us, but looking forward. David said we are an open circle facing the Lord. He said there is also a sense of silence and serenity that bleeds into the way the Ordinary Form is celebrated. Jeannette said the Ladies Sodality began in the late 1800s and became dormant and was resurrected in the 1950s and then became dormant again. A few years ago, the Ladies Sodality began again. They have 33 professed members and many postulants. The sodality is not just a ladies group. It was originally established as a way for the faithful to seek a lifestyle to form their lives to be children of Mary. They have young ladies from age 12 up to 70 or so. They meet once per month and pray the Vespers of Our Lady, hear a reading from Fr. Higgins on virtues to live by. 3rd segment: Scot now welcomes Ron’s son, Manny, who is 21 years old and the parish sacristan. Manny said Fr. Higgins had asked him to help out on the weekends at the parish and when other sacristans left he took on more responsibility. As a sacristan, Manny keeps the church neat and clean; prepares for the Masses, funerals, baptisms; keeps track of candles and altar breads and ensures that everything will run smoothly when it’s time for Mass. Scot asked Manny about the youth of the parish. Manny said the main reason he and those age come is because is you get a real sense of heaven and there are fewer distractions at Mass. At other places, everyone has the same goal of being reverent in their prayer, which makes it easier for him to focus on God. Manny said when he comes to Mass, it’s nice to be where it’s all about God for at least an hour or so. Ron said he and his wife try to focus everything on Christ even as society tries to take their focus away. He said it seems that everyone in the parish is focused on that. His family travels a lot and they go to many different Masses and it’s very different. Something has been lost somewhere for many of the priests and parishes they see. He notes they don’t even go to the Latin Mass generally, because they have little kids for whom its quite long, and the Novus Ordo is really reverent and holy and the music is the same from the Latin Mass. The music is very helpful in keeping things reverent and holy. The music is the biggest difference they notice in different parishes. Scot said music that is well done can help you focus more on the Mass and when it’s not good it can become a distraction. Scot said the Holy Name Society for men has also been revitalized. He asked Fr. Higgins how the sodality and Holy Name Society have helped reinvigorate the parish. Fr. Higgins said the groups extend the experience of worship into a deeper fellowship. People get know each other and bond. These kinds of religious/social experiences are necessary to create a human connection. In the sodality, he sees how these women are becoming closer friends. when there is trouble in their families, they are there for one another and it’s the same way in the Holy Name Society. Many Catholics complain that you go to church and at the end of Mass people rush out the doors and there’s no sense of fellowship. It’s also a way to experience ongoing faith formation. There’s prayer with one another. They are accountable to one another. It strengthens them in their promise of their confirmation to be public witnesses for Christ. 4th segment: Now joining Scot are John DeMatteo and Tina McCormick. Scot asked Tina what attracted her and her family to Mary Immaculate of Lourdes parish. Tina said it was the focus on the Eucharist. Her family attends the Ordinary Form of the Mass, which still incorporates the many beautiful elements of the Latin Mass. Even with her five children, they found that the focus on the Eucharist is important. The children have come to appreciate and enjoy that, realizing that the Eucharist is the center of our faith. Scot said John told him how the parish has three communities: the territorial parish, the Latin Mass community that comes for the Extraordinary Form, and the large community that comes from outside the parish area for the reverential celebration of the Novus Ordo, the Ordinary Form. John said this is why he and his family come here. He and his wife had read back in 2007 that the Latin Mass community was coming and they decided to see what it was like. The Mass lasted two hours and their 7 kids weren’t happy about the length of time, but Fr. Higgins in his homily welcomed everyone and encouraged them to come to any Mass that fits for them. They’d never heard a similar welcome like that, one that integrates the whole life of the parish. They never went back to their old parish. He feels like a new community started at that first Ordinary Form Mass. Tina said that after the Easter Masses, especially after Good Friday, you find a whole group of people outside the church after the services standing around and saying to one another how amazing it was. They were stunned. She’d never experienced anything like that. People often stand around after Mass, talking about how wonderful it was. It was something they took with them the whole week. John said the example of seeing a group of people that take a project seriously is inspiring in any situation, but when it’s something like your faith that a person or group of people clearly have devoted their whole life to, it’s inspiring and encourages others to be with them and do more of the same. It encourages other to come and stand with them in this Mass in this place. You can tell it’s a group of people who take it all seriously. That’s what has inspired his own family. The fact the parish is there and doing that is what has lead and will lead to evangelization, because spiritual seekers do just show up for whatever reason. Some internalize what they see here and come back. One of the best tools for evangelization is the church’s beauty, not just art, but also how we pray. Fr. Higgins welcomed any listener to come and stop and by. This parish is one of the heritage parishes of the archdiocese and the country. It’s one of the last of what is called decorated churches. The whole interior of the church was the artist’s palette. The church and its stained glass windows are a catechism in stone.…
Summary of today’s show: There’s more for a Catholic in Boston to see than Holy Cross Cathedral and St. John Seminary. Dr. Phil Crotty takes Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor on a virtual tour of Boston, the same one he gives to the new seminarians, taking them to sights with both obvious and not obvious connections to their Catholic faith, but also to Boston’s and America’s history. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Dr. Philip Crotty, Professor of Latin at St. John Seminary Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: A Catholic Pilgrim’s Tour of Boston 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Chris O’Connor to the show and said they were recording on location at St. John Seminary. They’ve been recording episodes of the show with some of the great people at the seminary. They discussed their Thanksgiving celebrations. Scot said his family acquired a church organ with an eye toward teaching his children to play so that perhaps someday they might play in church. They then talked about the playing of music in families and how music lifts our spirits. Today’s guest is Prof. Philip Crotty, who will talk about the places in Boston that everyone should visit. Fr. Chris said Phil is a man of faith who loves to show off Boston to the new seminarians who arrive at St. John’s. He’s also a man of great faith. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Phil Crotty to the show. He said Phil’s resume is extremely long and distinguished. He asked why at this stage in his life he decided to teach Latin in the seminary. He said because it’s a return to his boyhood experiences of Latin. Scot said all of his four Latin teachers he’s had all loved Latin. Phil said part of the reason is the historical context. It’s not just language, but it comes alive with significance and history. Phil said Pope Benedict has started a new Pontifical Latin Academy in Rome. An American has been appointed to head it and another American, Fr. Reginald Foster, has long been the dean of Latin scholars in Rome. Phil said he often said that it’s strange for priests of the Latin Church not to know Latin. Scot said he took it in high school because he thought it would help on the SATs and vocabulary, but he thinks it also helped with math because it taught logic. Phil said he never really understood English as a subject until he studied Latin. Many of his students tell him that they are learning as much English as Latin. Phil said before coming to St. John’s, he worked at Northeastern University for 30 years, rising as high as Senior Vice President of Administration. They then discussed a story of how Phil helped a hardworking undergraduate student 30 years ago who has now just made a $30 million gift to the university and credits Phil for helping all those years ago. Fr. Chris asked Phil about his faith. He said when he was 18 he remembers being at Mass on a Sunday and he made a decision that he will always give the Church the benefit of the doubt and not her enemies. He attended Catholic schools, including Holy Cross College. The Jesuits there wanted to prepare you for your profession and make you a Catholic gentleman. He remembers learning apologetics during his freshman year. He internalized his faith in those courses and that stayed with him ever after. He talked about his experiences in the Army, which challenged his moral uprightness, and in industry and then academia afterward, where he didn’t find challenges to his faith. In those days, they were still quite friendly to faith. He started on the faculty of the business school in the mid-1960s. At the time the university had about 40,000 students total. 3rd segment: Fr. Chris asked Phil what he loves him about his Catholic Church after all these years. He said the Church is so big, with so much history, culture and music with something in it for everybody. Scot said his favorite saying is “Here comes everybody.” Phil said he’s a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, which was founded in 1099 to provide an honor guard to Christ’s tomb. The Knights of Malta were founded at the same time to provide aid to pilgrims. They remain essentially true to those missions even today, in different ways. Of places that everyone should see, there are some obvious ones like the cathedral and St. John Seminary. But there are others that aren’t obvious. Phil said he starts with , a beautifully maintained and enormous church. Scot noted it’s one of only about 70 basilicas in the US. Fr. Chris said a basilica is a church designated by a pope as a church of particular honor. Tradition is that when a pope visits a city with a basilica, he will make that particular basilica. Fr. Chris said there are many crutches hanging in Mission Church from people who have been healed from illnesses. He also said Ted Kennedy was buried from that church. It is maintained by the Redemptorists. Scot said because it’s in the Mission Hill area, many people won’t see it unless they’re going there specifically. From there he takes the tour to , the second oldest medical school in the country after U Penn and Columbia. That complex was built in 1907. It’s at the head of Avenue Louis Pasteur. He said Pasteur was from a French peasant family. He related an anecdote of Pasteur’s Catholic faith. Phil said he brings the seminarians there as a way to tell this story of faith. Then they go to , the oldest school in the country, founded in 1635. This is Phil’s alma mater. It has always been a public school, which has graduated many famous personages in history. Scot asked when Catholics started to go there in large numbers. Phil said the first Catholic headmaster was Patrick Campbell and later became first Catholic superintendent of public schools in Boston in the 30s. So Catholics began going in the early part of the 20th century. They were drawing largely from the city of Boston. Phil said Bishop John Fitzpatrick attended Boston Latin. This was one of the reasons Protestants were so supportive of the building of Holy Cross Cathedral. Next is the . Gardner was eccentric and an art collector and the terms of her will was that nothing in her home-turned-museum should ever be changed. Fr. Chris said her connection to Catholicism was her friendship with Cardinal William Henry O’Connell. After that is the . Phil said it’s nice but not really grand as you might think. Then there’s the , built in 1907. The Boston wealthy didn’t have great wealth but they did much of it. After that is . This is where he usually takes a break on the tour. He points out Horticultural Hall, which is now used for offices. There’s also Symphony Hall, built in 1903. Henry Lee Higginson was the major donor for the Hall and the . Then through the Christian Science Center, where he usually tells some stories about the founder Mary Baker Eddy. The building itself is neo-Baroque with a Romanesque building and a cloister, all of which architectural styles come from Catholicism. Next they go to the for a panoramic view of the city. Then to the B. Phil told a story of an Italian pushcart peddler who went to Haymarket every day but spent all his free time in the reading room of the library. When he died, he left $1.5 million to the Boston Public Library, saying all the pleasure he ever had in life, he had in the reading room. Then they look at the . They visit , which is where Massachusetts ratified the Constitution of the United States. then Old Granary Burying Ground and then . This was the first Anglican Church in Boston and then later became the first Unitarian Church in Boston. To this day it’s high church Unitarian and they use the Book of Common Prayer. the first Catholic Mass in Boston was celebrated in the basement of King’s Chapel, which was a funeral for a French sailor. They go to , whose lower floor is always to be a market by the will of its first owner. Over to the to and then ), which was formerly a Unitarian church that the Catholic Church bought. Cardinal Cushing spent $1 million to restore it to its original historical form from its Protestant days. Then the tour goes to the Old North Church, which is Episcopalian. Phil said perhaps his favorite stop on the tour is Top of the Hub at the top of the Prudential Building for the panoramic view of Boston.…
Summary of today’s show: Liturgical Publications has been serving Catholic parishes’ communications needs for 40 years and Scot Landry talks with Joe Luedtke and Tim Potrikus about how they are preparing parishes to communicate online through websites and social media and online stewardship while helping their bulletins evolve to continue its role as the most popular communications tool for Catholics. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Joe Luedtke and Tim Potrikus of Liturgical Publications Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Liturgical Publications and it variety of solutions for parishes 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. Scot said we like to profile from time to time the leading firms that serve our Church. Today, we profile one of the firms serving not just the Archdiocese of Boston, Liturgical Publications. He welcomed Joe Luedtke and Tim Potrikus. Scot asked Joe how LPI started to serve the Church in 1972. He said they started in Milwaukee, a father and son printing bulletins just for a few churches. They now cover most of the central, northeast, and some of the western United States and have 4,100 parish customers for their church bulletins. About 4 years ago, they saw how the Internet is starting to affect how people consume information and they knew the Church will be changing how people consume information and started a few new technology initiatives. Scot said there are 18,000 parishes in the US and LPi serves about 150 parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston. They’ve been here over the past 30 years. Tim said when he began in 1992, his job was to go to churches and have them sign agreements for bulletin services. They were taking parishes from typewriters and glue sticks and exacto knives to Word 5.1 for DOS. They realized that the work the secretary did for the bulletin was just a side job, so they brought their skills to answering those needs and responding to their questions as quickly and comprehensively as possible. Scot asked how many in the average parish get their information from the different media. Joe said for the average Catholic, he bulletin remains the standard way of parishes communicating to the parishes. Even on the parish websites, the bulletin is the most frequently accessed piece of content. It also says something about the state of Church communications online. In many cases, the parish website is not the best form of communication as parishes struggle to keep them updated and fresh. In the long run, as parishes adopt better websites, that will change. Parishioners’ behavior is changing online. LPi hosts about 350 parish websites online and they see about 21% of all requests to these websites are coming from smartphones and another 10% from iPads and other tablets. Scot said his sense was when he was young that people used bulletins or the telephone to get information about the parish and that’s moving increasingly to the web. In 10 or 15 years, Scot thinks the bulletin will still be around, even if it’s used differently, without including every announcement and all the contact information. Joe said 5 or 10 years from now, the bulletin isn’t going away. It will remain a staple of church communication. LPi has called it connecting your community and they view it as happening both in print and online. Email communication will be more important with email newsletters going out to every parishioner, not just those who made it to Mass this weekend. Joe can’t predict more than 10 years out. He’s planning for print to be around 10 or 20 years from now, but we can’t discount the presence of print, even if we can’t predict technology. Tim said they’re now advocating as bulletins not having a cover, but a page one, like a newspaper with the headline news and current events on the front page. the first thing that people see is most important. that type of information on the front-page makes a difference in readership and the use of content. 2nd segment: Tim said his mom is a typical daily Mass Catholic and he and his whole family was brought up Catholic. She still reads the bulletin and diocesan newspaper. For Tim and his wife, they still get the bulletin too. As his kids grew up, he signed them up to receive the parish bulletin via email. He’s also downloaded a video from Fr. Dave Dwyer of Busted Halo on Advent in 2 minutes that he emailed to his kids. His daughter asked why the priest never said it like that when they were growing up. Scot said Pope Benedict has made his World Day of Communications message about reaching people with one foot in the Church and one foot in the new media in a way that reaches them. Joe said these messages gives us credence that we are headed down the right path. It is difficult o see sometimes where the world is going and there is both good and bad on the Internet. There are often concerns raised about data privacy and defamatory content on social media. But hearing the Pope push use to that digital continent, the Internet, encourages us down that path. Joe said LPi views the Internet as twofold. Every parish needs a website as the marketing face of the church on the Internet for the general public, parishioners, and occasional parishioners. The most common search is still the basic information, like Mass times. The number one thing they push is making the content as easy to maintain as possible. Churches don’t have staff to hire developers and content managers. So if someone knows how to use Microsoft Word, they will know how to use their website product, WeConnect. They also believe in engagement through social media. This is different than marketing. They believe that Facebook and Twitter are marketing to the world, while their product WeGather is for just the parish social network. It’s a closed website just for parishioners that encourage them to communicate and coordinate. It helps the church engage their parishioners online. The average American spends two to four hours per day online and starting to surpass TV. They hope this will help parishes connect with parishioners online. They now also have WeShare, an online giving product. It came from WeGather, as parishes asked for ways to organize events and receive payments for them. They first added payment functionality into WeGather and then they built into an online donation product within WeGather and that grew beyond WeGather. Joe noted that for many people the only checks they write is to their parish and school. Scot said he views the parish website as the parish’s virtual front door and asks people to imagine driving down the street and seeing graffiti and a poorly maintained yard in front of the church. This would deter many people from coming in. The same with websites. People wonder if any of the information is accurate when the whole website looks like no one has been maintaining it. Tim agreed that it doesn’t give people the sense of how lively and active the parish is. Scot talked about the different types of information sought by the different audiences, general public, regular parishioners, and newcomers. He asked Joe who he thinks the parish website editor focuses on the most when building the website. Joe said it is a marketing tool. Churches do make the mistake of designing for not just the average parishioner, but the committed parishioners. On some sites, the most promoted content on the site is the history of the church. For most people, they won’t be interested in that level of detail. We need to design websites for the typical parishioner and non-parishioner. Once you have some content on your parish homepage, ask your neighbor—especially if they’re not Catholic—what that website says to them. 3rd segment: Scot asked Joe about WeGather and what feedback they get from parishioners on what they like most about it. Joe said once it starts to take off, it typically starts with one or two groups using it to communicate agendas and meeting minutes. Then they see parishioners communicating directly with parishioners, talking about both faith topics, but also the general community. They connect with each other. For example, a group of moms use it to plan playdates. They have replaced phone calls and email and it brings it to the attention to the rest of the community what else is going on. Joe said you can do some of the same things on Facebook and Google+, but those can be too open. Many parishes when starting are worried about negative postings. They don’t censor proactively, although an administrator can delete later. However, on WeGather people are talking to fellow parishioners on an account approved by the parish and using their real name. It’s not anonymous, which is one of the reasons why there’s so much negativity online. How difficult is it to convince parishioners to sign up and use WeGather? How does LPi help the parish create a critical mass. Joe said the hardest part is getting started. You need some content to bring the site to life. They start with one volunteer group within the parishes that’s active, especially one that’s struggling to communicate. Some churches have a large home and school group or a men’s group or women’s group with a couple hundred. That gets unwieldy to manage through email. WeGather eliminates it immediately. As a member of WeGather, you can either log on to access the site or elect to receive a daily or weekly summary of what’s happening in your groups. This gives the parishioners flexibility. Email is still the number one form of communication online. Tim added that there’s a widget that also allows you to automatically put information from WeGather right on the church website automatically. Scot said he’s found it takes a while for parishes to adopt new ideas and many want to see that the product is mature and the bugs have been worked out by others. Joe said they have about 500 parishes signed up to use WeGather. It’s free to sign up. Of the 500, probably about half have had good success. The other half have seen struggles engaging parishioners. These are just tools. Engagement has to come from the parish. They almost need a technical evangelist within the church to help bring the community to life. For anything to become part of the culture of a group, it needs to be talked about frequently, not just by the leaders, but also by someone who uses it as a member of a ministry. Moving onto WeShare, which helps with stewardship. Scot said stewardship has bad connotation of asking for money without asking. But it’s really a rich aspect of Catholic theology of understanding our gifts from God through prayerfully considering how we should give back to God in the Church and how much. Tim said it’s not enough to put the Visa sign up. People want to give to people and they need to tell the story of the good work being done by the parish. They are bringing the tools together to tell the story of what the parish is about. Scot said online giving is growing quickly in terms of the amount of money given, but slowly based on the percentage of total parishioners, especially compared to percentage of those people paying bills online. Joe said the first reason is mistake that he’s seen parishes make. When parishes think of online giving they think of their own bank. They often create an EFT program with a paper form to be filled out by parishioners. Only one to two percent of parishioners will respond to that. The reality is that most want to manage their finances. They worry about data privacy and worry about putting their data on a form. People want to be able to make changes without having to go into the parish office to make the change. Scot said five or six years ago there were not a lot of Catholic solutions to online giving. In the last couple of years, Catholic organizations like Our Sunday Visitor and LPi have come out with solutions. They’ve worked with parish business managers for many years and understand what parishioners are looking for and know what they want from them. It’s easy for pastors to say they trust LPi. Tim said LPi also has the technical resource, where parishes can still call the same people they always have. And parish secretaries have the ability to create new offerings on the fly with information on how the donations will be used. Scot said all the products from LPi are approved by the Archdiocese of Boston for use by its parishes. He asked Joe how much money comes through online giving in parishes that have WeShare. Joe said their initial goal in parishes in 20% adoption rise and expect to see it rise 10-20% each year after that. Tim said individuals are increasing 10 to 25% their own donations. Part of this is just helping people give every single week, including when they’re not at their own parish on a particular weekend.…
Summary of today’s show: Each year, Cardinal Seán O’Malley recognizes the contributions of dozens of laypeople, religious, and deacons in the Archdiocese of Boston with the awarding of the Cheverus medals. These individuals and couples are recommended by their pastors (or in the case of religious and deacons, their regional bishop) for their decades of selfless service to the Church, work that has often gone unrecognized to most others before now and performed in hidden ways. Recording live on location at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Sunday, November 18, 2012, Scot Landry interviews a handful of the 122 recipients of the 2012 Cheverus Awards, giving us a glimpse at the vast diversity of those honored, all united in their love of their Church. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): George and Joan Bishop; Deacon Robert Breen; Lawrence Destefano; John DiMasi; Fr. Shawn Allen; John Dwyer; Patricia Gavin; Dr. Robert Sperber; Mary Grassa O’Neill; Sr. Mary Jude Waters, OP Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: 2012 Cheverus Awards 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed all to the 2012 Cheverus Awards at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. We’ll hear from many of those who’ve received an award this year. But first, . 2nd segment: Scot and Rick Heil read the names of the first 30 Cheverus Award recipients: Mrs. Anna Abbruzzese, Cohasset Mrs. Deborah Albano, Tewksbury Deacon John Alexander, Merritt Island Ms. Mary Beth Ammann, Somerville Dr. Angelica Avcikurt, Chestnut Hill Ms. Judith Bell, Dorchester Mrs. Cecile Benotti, Weston Sister Kathleen Bettencourt, OCarm/P, Peabody Mrs. Donna Biggins, Sudbury Mr. George & Mrs. Joan Bishop, Somerville Mr. James Bocelli, Malden Mr. Charles Braid, Revere Sister Mary Braley, S.C.N., Newburyport Deacon Robert Breen, Medford Mrs. Madelyn Brown, Medford Mr. Timothy Buckley, Waltham Ms. Kathleen Callagy, Lawrence Mr. Stephen Cavanaugh, Brockton Mr. Peter & Mrs. Laura Chan, Stoneham Mrs. Mary Frances Chisholm, Tyngsboro Dr. Henry (Hang Rok) Cho, Canton Sister Maureen Clark, CSJ, Watertown Mr. John Collier, Braintree Ms. Margaret Costa, Boston Ms. Olga de los Santos, Lynn Mr. Lawrence Destefano, Lexington Mr. David & Mrs. Anne DeVoe, Salem Ms. Shirley Di Iorio, Jamaica Plain Mrs. Felicia DiFeo, East Boston Mr. John DiMasi, Billerica Scot welcomes John Dimasi from St. Theresa’s in Billerica and his pastor Fr. Shawn Allen. He asked Fr. Shawn what makes John such a wonderful parishioner. Fr. Shawn said he’s been in the parish only about a year, but he sees all that John does so quietly in the parish, serving at daily Masses and funerals and singing in the choir. Scot asked John how long he’s been a parishioner at St. Theresa’s. John said since 1961. Fr. Shawn said it’s the year he was born. Scot asked John about his volunteering. He said it started with his wife. He taught CCD for 18 years after the nun in charge of the program had said she had 2,200 children and needed 300 teachers. John felt his wife jab him in the side and told him he could do that. He taught eighth grade for 18 years. They agreed it’s the toughest year to teach. John said he moved to the parish all those years ago because he fell in love with St. Theresa’s. He moved from Arlington to Billerica after attending Mass there for a month first. Fr. Shawn said the women’s club in the parish contracted a bus and they had 30 people who came to celebrate with John. He said it’s a tribute to John to have so many people come at what was the last moment and to fill a bus to be there with him. John said he can’t fully believe it because he works so quietly. So many people make him feel so honored. 3rd segment: Scot and Rick read the next group of Cheverus Award recipients: Ms. Patricia Dineen, Belmont Ms. Marijane Dosdall, Wellesley Ms. Joyce Durst, Mattapan Mr. John Dwyer, Duxbury Mr. John Ellis, Jr., Brighton Mrs. Mary Fagan, South Boston Ms. Anne Farmer, Danvers Ms. Madeline Feldmann, Braintree Ms. Herondina Ferreira, Watertown Ms. Elizabeth Folloni, Bridgewater Mrs. Iwona Gajczak, Quincy Mr. Joseph Galluzzo, Andover Mrs. Elaine Garcia, Marlborough Ms. Kathleen Garon, North Andover Ms. Ann Garvey, Natick Mrs. Anna Gaudet, Newton Mrs. Patricia Gavin, Norwood Mr. Craig Gibson, Winchester Mr. James Gregory, Stoneham Mr. Meynardo Gutierrez, Medford Mrs. Loretta Haley, Newburyport Ms. Katherine Harless, Malden Mr. John Harrington, Reading Mrs. Lois Harrington, Stoneham Mr. Michael Hatch, Sr., Avon Mr. Walter Hunt, Boston Mrs. Mary Hurley, Hingham Mrs. Justine Hyppolite, Waltham Miss Clare Joyce, Milton Ms. Margaret Keefe, Lowell Now joining Scot is John Dwyer from Holy Family Parish in Duxbury and a member of the Catholic Appeal lay leadership team. He asked John about his role in helping supply some guidance for the Catholic Appeal team. He’d been helping with the appeal in his own parish when the pastor asked him if he’d assist on the archdiocesan level. So he attended regular meetings at the Pastoral Center to provide some of his experience in business. He’d previously assisted in the Diocese of Hartford, where he’d previously lived for thirty years. Scot noted how Catholic business leaders can help the development office make the Catholic Appeal materials better for donors and parishioners. Scot said being someone who asks other to give to the Church financially is one of the more difficult tasks. John said if we don’t support the Church, then we won’t have a Church. If the people don’t support their parishes today, then they won’t have a parish. John said he was taken aback to be selected for this honor. It’s convinced him to try harder to be worthy of the award. The next guest is Deacon Bob Breen of St. Francis of Medford and master of ceremonies for Bishop Emilio Allue when he does confirmations across the archdiocese. Deacon Bob has been ordained about 4-1/2 years now. He said he was initially at St. Joseph in Medford for a year. He’s a native of Medford. Bob said as Bishop Allue was getting closer to retirement, he had asked for someone to assist him. Bob said that while Bishop Allue is a native Spanish speaker, most of his confirmations are in English. Scot said going around the archdiocese for confirmations shows him the potential in the young people there. Bob said he loves to see all the different parishes and the different ways they approach the sacrament of confirmation. It’s also great to see so much activity within the archdiocese and he recognizes many of the faces at rthe Cheverus Awards from his confirmations. Deacon Bob said being a deacon in the archdiocese is wonderful because it’s not just the ability to help out with faith formation, but also to be available to assist the archbishop in other ways he may need assistance. Scot asked how Bob heard the call to the diaconate. Bob said he and his wife were first approached about the idea about 22 years ago and they didn’t think it made sense for them at the time. About 15 years later, they were approached again and he figured those who were asking him knew something he didn’t know. It turned out to be a great experience for him and his family. Bob said receiving the award today gives him mixed feelings. At his ordination, he didn’t do that so he could get a medal, although the medal is cool. It’s a recognition that so many people are doing so many different things in the archdiocese. It gives people visibility into the different ways to fulfill our baptismal call to live the Gospel. 4th segment: The next group of Cheverus Award recipients: Mr. Francis Kelley, Boston Ms. Jean Kelley, Boston Mr. Donald Kelly, Halifax Mrs. Theresa Kiernan, Dorchester Mr. Fred Klingmeyer, Wellesley Deacon William Koffel, Framingham Mrs. Paulette Lacoursiere, Hingham Ms. Mary Laverdure, Groveland Deacon Roland Leduc, Lowell Mrs. Janice Leonard, North Reading Ms. Eveline Lima, Marlboro Brother James Lucas, O.M.I., Tewksbury Dr. Aloysius Lugira, Woburn Attorney Henry Luthin, Brighton Mrs. Raye Mahoney, Peabody Mr. Charles Mangine, Needham Mrs. Carmella McCourt, Brockton Mr. Gerard McGrath, Quincy Mr. John McNeice, Canton Mr. Charles J. Murphy, Sudbury Ms. Joan Nelson, Boston Mr. Peter Thong Nguyen, Saugus Deacon John Nicholson, Marlborough Ms. Bernadette Obas, Mattapan Mr. William O’Halloran, Watham Mr. Richard Paquette, Haverhill Ms. Carol Parillo, Dedham Mrs. Edith Pedro, Cambridge Mr. Phong Pham, Lawrence Dr. Wilfrid Pilette, Framingham Joining Scot is a couple receiving the award jointly, George and Joan Bishop from St. Ann in Somerville. Scot asked George if it’s Joan’s work that they’re getting the Cheverus Award this year. George agreed. Joan said she volunteered at St. Ann’s for about 45 years. George said way back in 1972 he was asked to get involved in the finances of St. Polycarp parish in Somerville. He was chairman of the finance committee from 1972 to 1995. St. Polycarp has transitioned into St. Ann’s since then. Scot said it can be difficult to make such a transition. George said it was difficult because their hearts with St. Polycarp and didn’t know anyone at St. Ann’s but the priests and people were great and soon they felt at home. It was difficult, but only for a short time. Scot asked Joan she’s worked with over those 45 years. She thought maybe 20 to 25. He asked her what she thought when she found out she would receive an award this year. George said you don’t think of it in terms of being rewarded. You do it because it needs to be done. He happened to be Director of Accounting at Harvard University and this was his expertise and there was a need so he filled it. They discussed the differences between the balance sheets of a parish versus Harvard. Scot said being chair of finance council is a tremendous help to pastors. Most pastors don’t have a background in finances. George said each pastor was very appreciative and grateful. Scot asked Joan her favorite part of her work. She said it was greeting people and helping with St. Vincent de Paul. There are many families who would come to the parish office for help. Scot said in many ways she was the face of the Catholic Church for them. George said they were floored to be notified of the award. Joan couldn’t figure out why they should be rewarded for doing what they ought to do as Christians. Scot asked them how long they were married. George said 56 years, but Joan corrected him to 53. George joked that it feels like 56. Scot asked what it means for them to receive this as a couple. George said he was greatly pleased because Joan is one who works in the background and doesn’t receive the accolades he sometimes receives. Scot now welcomes Patricia Gavin from St. Catherine’s in Norwood. Scot said he’s worked with her sons in the past. She’s worked at St. Catherine’s for 46 years. It’s been a part of their family life ever since they moved into the area. Right now, Patricia is active in St. Vincent de Paul and has become her passion. They serve a number of those in need in Norwood, but she feels she is served as well. She also ministers to those in nursing homes and has been doing it for 20 years in the same nursing home. They do a communion service every Sunday and bring Eucharist to those who can’t attend. She helps run coffee hours on Sundays too and is an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist. Scot noted that her son is a priest in the Society of Jesus. She thanks St. Catherine’s for that and believes his vocation was nurtured in the parish. Her other sons are now also fathers and husbands as well. 5th segment: The final group of Cheverus Award recipients: Ms. Judith Pinard, Ayer Mrs. Angiolina Pizzicannella, East Boston Ms. Janet Platt, West Newton Mrs. Mary Plourde, Brockton Ms. Jacqueline Proctor, Beverly Ms. Charlotte Quealey, Lowell Mrs. Maureen Rodino, Wellesley Ms. Mary Romano, Boston Mr. Mario Rosa, Cambridge Mr. Francis Russell, Readville Ms. Jan Sandberg, Lowell Ms. Frances Shawcross, Winchester Mr. Walter Shea, Kingston Mrs. Josephine Silva, Somerville Mr. Alvaro Soares, Nashua Dr. Robert Sperber, Brookline Mr. Ernest St. Laurent, Foxborough Deacon Daniel Sullivan, Milton Mrs. Barbara Suojanen, Medfield Mrs. Janet Swenson, Braintree Ms. Jennie Swenson, Hanover Mr. Charles Tautkus, Abington Mrs. Malida Thelusme, Brockton Mrs. Susan Tocci, Townsend Mrs. Donna Vaira, Ayer Mr. Raoul Vincent, Newton Mr. Thomas Walsh, Beverly Sister Mary K. Walsh, CSJ, Milton Sister Mary Jude Waters, OP, Watertown Ms. Virginia Williams, Duxbury Mr. Lee & Mrs. Eleanor Wright, Medford Sister Peggy Youngclaus, SND, Boston Scot welcomes Dr. Robert Sperber to the show and congratulated him on his award. Also joining the show is Dr. Mary Grassa O’Neill, superintendent of archdiocesan schools. Scot asked her why Dr. Sperber is a phenomenal recipient of this award. She said he’s an extraordinary volunteer who has given hours and hours in helping with educational leadership and decision-making. He’s a former superintendent of Brookline public schools and a longtime educator. Dr. Sperber said he got involved, after knowing Mary for many years, and he also got involved because he shares deeply the social justice ministry of the Church. He’s long been committed to helping kids who wouldn’t otherwise benefit from a good education. Scot asked Dr. Sperber what Catholics should know about Catholic schools in the archdiocese. Dr. Sperber said that they are safe, that the academic level of performance is higher than that of charter and public schools, and we now have a strategic plan being unveiled to all the schools that give benchmarks to measure progress and make Catholic education in the archdiocese unparalleled throughout the country. Scot asked what being a Cheverus recipient means to him. Dr. Sperber said it means a great deal. Volunteers don’t often get recognized for the work and to be singled out by the cardinal means a great deal to him. He’s very grateful also for the opportunity to working under Mary’s leadership. Scot said the volunteers in our Catholic schools make the difference because there’s so much more to be done than the paid staff can do alone. He asked Mary about all the other volunteers like Dr. Sperber. Mary said all the volunteers deserve God’s blessing and her sincere gratitude. She said Bob provides guidance and mentorship and provides the services of a consultant and is an integral part of their team. Now joining Scot is Lawrence Destefano from St. Patrick Parish in Watertown. Lawrence said his family moved to the parish when he was 11 years old and he’s been there ever since and he’s now 85 years old. He loves St. Patrick’s and loves being Catholic. He said they have three of the most wonderful priests. They are very caring and show they care. Lawrence said the words of his first catechism always stuck with him that God made him and that makes him special. Scot asked Lawrence about how he has helped at the church. He reluctantly told some stories of how he helped. He noted how he had three elderly friends who were sisters who when they died they left more than $100,000 to the parish to install air conditioning in the church. He eventually brought the parish a check for over $500,000. Scot noted that it’s a beautiful church. Lawrence said the priests have made the church even nice since they’ve been there. They brought Lawrence to the Cheverus Awards. Scot asked Lawrence what it was like to hear that he was getting an award. He said he couldn’t figure out what he had done to deserve it. Lawrence noted he was also very friendly with CatholicTV, which is right next door to the parish and then said he will be at St. Patrick’s until they carry him out the door after his funeral one day. Our next guest is Sr. Mary Jude Waters, OP. Scot said he’s known her through email as she’s been serving at Blessed John XXIII Seminary helping the rectors. Sr. Mary said he’s been there for eight years. She’s the administrative assistant for Fr. William Palardy, the rector. Before that she’s had a number of ministries in the archdiocese. Her first was teaching at North Cambridge Catholic High School. From there she went into the Catholic schools office and worked there for close to 20 years. She taught math and science and she favored math, maybe because it was easiest to teach. Scot asked her what led her to the Dominicans. Sr. Mary said she is from Kentucky and she joined the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine and their motherhouse was just a few miles down the road and had been a student at the academy and college. Scot asked her about the most lifegiving and fulfilling parts of religious life. She said the congregation she joined was a teaching ministry and she knew that’s what she would be doing. She enjoyed working with the young people. Also the prayer life of the order appealed to her and she found it fulfilling. Now she’s at Blessed John XXIII, which is a national seminary for delayed vocations to the priesthood. She feels like she fits in with the older men who are there. They come in with life experience and work experience and they are to be commended at beginning this whole new ministry at this time in their life. They discussed the challenge presented to the men in going to seminary at this stage of their lives. Scot said many of the people in the Pastoral Center remember Sr. Mary Jude and said that it was fitting she should receive this award. Sr. Mary said this is a privilege as well as an honor for herself and her congregation. She receives it in the name of a lot of different religious in this area.…
Summary of today’s show: Everyone has a favorite hymn from church and a reason why it moves them, whether from a cherished childhood memory or how it moves the spirit to contemplate God, and so on today’s show Scot Landry, Fr. Chris O’Connor, and Rick Heil share with listeners their lists of their top three favorite hymns and count them down like Kasey Kasem. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s topics: Our Favorite Church Hymns 1st segment: Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor greeted all listeners. Scot noted that Fr. Chris has just been inducted into the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre. They discussed that the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre have the right to ride a horse into any church in the world, although they don’t know where it came from. Fr. Chris said it started in the Crusades to protect the tomb of Christ and they continue that work today, providing funding and assistance to protect the religious site there, but also to bring Muslims and Christians together in the Holy Land for peace. Fr. Chris said about 70 men and women from around New England were inducted into the order in a special ceremony. Fr. Chris also said that they had the seminary Thanksgiving dinner this week before the seminarians return home to their families. They reflect on God’s goodness and the many ways he blesses their vocations. Scot noted that tomorrow will see the broadcast of interviews with Cheverus Award winners from this past Sunday. He also noted that Cardinal Seán published his second pastoral letter of 2011 one year ago today on the Sunday Mass participation. Today, Scot said they’re counting down their favorite church hymns. He said the idea came from a discussion with his 10-year-old son this past weekend about how he’s preparing for Advent at the Archdiocesan Boys Choir School. Scot encouraged listeners to make their own list of their favorite hymns and email them to us at Live@thegoodcatholiclife.com or post them in the comments on our website or on our Facebook page. Scot’s favorite church hymn of all time begins. Rick played a clip: . He first heard this at the Pontifical North American College and later it was the recessional at his wedding. Fr. Chris said that Msgr. James Moroney, the rector of St. John Seminary, said this is his favorite hymn as well. Fr .Chris said one of the Eucharistic Prefaces reminds us that God doesn’t need anything so all we can offer Him is our praise. O God beyond all praising, we worship you today and sing the love amazing that songs cannot repay; for we can only wonder at every gift you send, at blessings without number and mercies without end: we lift our hearts before you and wait upon your word, we honor and adore you, our great and mighty Lord. Then hear, O gracious Savior, accept the love we bring, that we who know your favor may serve you as our king; and whether our tomorrows be filled with good or ill, we’II triumph through our sorrows and rise to bless you still: to marvel at your beauty and glory in your ways, and make a joyful duty our sacrifice of praise. Fr. Chris said it reminds us to open ourselves to the Lord in both our Easter Sundays and Good Fridays. Now to one of his favorites: . “Lord, have mercy. God our Father in heaven, God the Son, our redeemer, God the Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, One God Holy Mary Mother of God, Saint Joseph, Spouse of Mary, Saints Peter, Paul and Holy apostles, Saint Isaac Jogues and Holy Martyrs, Saint Patrick, Bishops and Priests, Saints Dominic and Catherine, Saints Francis and Claire, Saint Theresa of Jesus, Saint Peter Claver, Saint Juan Diego, Saint Rose of Lima, Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys, Saint Thérèse of Lesieux, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Saint John Neumann, Saint Teresa Benedicta, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Blessed Edmund Rice, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, Lord, show us your kindness Draw young people to serve you, in priesthood, and religious life. Inspire the people of our world with respect for human life that there may be an end to the culture of death. Guide and protect the dioceses of Baltimore, Boston, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia and all your Church. Keep our Holy Father, our Bishops and all clergy, in faithful service to your Church.” Fr. Chris said it reminds us that the Church is not just the Church we see and touch, but also the spiritual reality of the holy and blessed ones who intercede for us. Scot said when this is prayed during ordination, the men are prostrate before the altar as the people pray for them. Fr. Chris noted that most of the saints in this specific litany are saints from the Americas. He said the litany often changes the names of the saints prayed for to include, perhaps the patron saints of the men preparing for ordination or the patron saints of a religious order of the like. Scot said the various litanies have basically the same lyrics. Fr. Chris said he picked this one for the peaceful music. Rick makes his first choice: . This version was chanted by Fr. Jonathan Gaspar of the Office of Divine Worship for the Archdiocese. Rick said he chose it because Fr. Jonathan sang it on the show a couple of years ago and it stuck with him for 3 months afterward. Scot said when music moves you, it’s usually a five sense experience. The first time he heard it at the Easter vigil, seeing the church in darkness except candlelight, smelling the incense and lilies. Taking it all in, the sense of darkness and joy that Christ has conquered death. Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven, exult, let Angel ministers of God exult, let the trumpet of salvation sound aloud our mighty King’s triumph! Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with light from her eternal King, let all comers of the earth be glad, knowing an end to gloom and darkness. Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice, arrayed with the lightning of his glory, let this holy building shake with joy, filled with the mighty voices of the peoples. (Therefore, dearest friends, standing in the awesome glory of this holy light, invoke with me, I ask you, the mercy of God almighty, that he, who has been pleased to number me, though unworthy, among the Levites, may pour into me his light unshadowed, that I may sing this candle’s perfect praises). (V. The Lord be with you. R. And with your spirit.) V. Lift up your hearts. R. We lift them up to the Lord. V. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. R. It is right and just. It is truly right and just, with ardent love of mind and heart and with devoted service of our voice, to acclaim our God invisible, the almighty Father, and Jesus Christ, our Lord, his Son, his Only Begotten. Who for our sake paid Adam’s debt to the eternal Father, and, pouring out his own dear Blood, wiped clean the record of our ancient sinfulness. These, then, are the feasts of Passover, in which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb, whose Blood anoints the doorposts of believers. This is the first section of the Exsultet They then discussed the difference between hymns and other music. Fr. Chris said hymns are usually music that everyone sings and this is music sung only by the deacon or priest or cantor and it’s a very difficult piece of music. The next song from Scot is . Let all mortal flesh keep silence, And with fear and trembling stand; Ponder nothing earthly minded, For with blessing in His hand, Christ our God to earth descendeth, Our full homage to demand. King of kings, yet born of Mary, As of old on earth He stood, Lord of lords, in human vesture, In the body and the blood; He will give to all the faithful His own self for heavenly food. Rank on rank the host of heaven Spreads its vanguard on the way, As the Light of light descendeth From the realms of endless day, That the powers of hell may vanish As the darkness clears away. At His feet the six wingèd seraph, Cherubim with sleepless eye, Veil their faces to the presence, As with ceaseless voice they cry: Alleluia, Alleluia Alleluia, Lord Most High! Scot said the first time he heard this experienced well he was in the choir of the Pontifical North American College during the Liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica for the ordination of deacons. He talked about how the song built up from silence to a triumphal Alleluia. Rick said he also chose this hymn because he loved a Gustav Holst arrangement of this hymn. Next for Fr. Chris is the Taize chant . He said it almost sounds like breathing in the rhythm. It translates as “Come Holy Spirit.” Fr. Chris said the chant is sung in successive different languages and it symbolizes Pentecost and how the Apostles were enabled to speak in many tongues. It also reminds us of the universality of the Catholic faith. Scot said it’s a simple hymn to sing along to and to pray for a long time as it’s sung. You don’t need a hymnal, singing experience, or a singing voice. Everyone can participate in it. Fr. Chris talked about how the Holy Spirit is sometimes spoken of as the breath of God and how the hymn invokes the sense of breathing. Rick’s second hymn is . He said it’s one verse that’s repeated over and over with slight changes. Sing to the Lord a new song: sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord and bless his name: proclaim his salvation every day without end. Tell his glory among the nations: in every land tell his marvelous deeds. Cantate Domino canticum novum: cantate Domino omnis terra, Cantate Domino et benedicite nomini ejus: annuntiate de die in diem salutare ejus. Annuntiate inter gentes gloriam ejus: in omnibus populis mirabilia ejus. Rick said he tends to like happy music, that have a lot of harmonic movement. It’s joyous praising. The words aren’t ambiguous and there’s not a lot of hidden meaning. He said as he was learning Latin in high school after having learned this, he began to appreciate it more. He encouraged others to learn the meaning of the Latin words. Fr. Chris said they do a fair bit of Latin at the seminary. He has a strong belief we should know what we’re singing, saying, and praying and is always grateful to see the English translation. The Latin helps us to transcend the here and now. Scot said there’s something about the use of language to bring our minds to God and to bring heaven to earth. Scot’s third hymn is All People That on Earth Do Dwell, also sometimes called the Old One Hundredth. . All people that on earth do dwell, Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice. Him serve with fear, His praise forth tell; Come ye before Him and rejoice. The Lord, ye know, is God indeed; Without our aid He did us make; We are His folk, He doth us feed, And for His sheep He doth us take. O enter then His gates with praise; Approach with joy His courts unto; Praise, laud, and bless His Name always, For it is seemly so to do. For why? the Lord our God is good; His mercy is for ever sure; His truth at all times firmly stood, And shall from age to age endure. To Father, Son and Holy Ghost, The God Whom Heaven and earth adore, From men and from the angel host Be praise and glory evermore. Scot said he loves big organ hymns, but loves all types of music too. But no other instrument cranks as hard as the organ on this song and you can sing as hard as you’d like. He said the interlude before the last verse makes him joyful. Fr. Chris said it’s based on Psalm 100. Rick said the first time he’d heard this song on a big organ was it was played on the giant organ at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. Fr. Chris said the next is a Christmas hymn and it will be jumping the gun a bit to hear it now: . O holy night! The stars are brightly shining, It is the night of our dear Saviour’s birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining, ‘Til He appear’d and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices! O night divine, O night when Christ was born; O night divine, O night, O night Divine. Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming, With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand. So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming, Here come the wise men from Orient land. The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger; In all our trials born to be our friend. He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger, Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend! Behold your King, Before Him lowly bend! Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother; And in His name all oppression shall cease. Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, Let all within us praise His holy name. Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever, His power and glory evermore proclaim. His power and glory evermore proclaim. Scot said it’s his favorite Christmas hymn as well. He and Fr. Chris said they broke the rules by playing it before Thanksgiving. Fr. Chris said it was a French poem written by a layman at the request of this priest. Scot said it’s the kind of hymn that can be sung by both men and women equally. Fr. Chris said his Christmas Eve tradition when he leaves his sister’s home as he drives through Brighton is to play this song very loudly. Scot repeated his request for listeners to send their list of three to Live@thegoodcatholiclife.com…
Summary of today’s show: The new pastoral plan for the Archdiocese of Boston, Disciples in Mission, is one of the biggest commitments in this or any American diocese to a New Evangelization, and Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell talk with the man whose job will be its implementation, Fr. Paul Soper. The ambitious plan unveiled yesterday depends on a belief in the following statement in Fr. Soper’s words: “Parish-based evangelization works and we can train for it, but we need strong parishes in order to do that.” Our panel goes into depth on just what that means including the millions of dollars and thousands of hours committed to training of thousands of Catholics for that New Evangelization to leave a stronger Church for our children and grandchildren in the decades to come. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr. Paul Soper Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Disciples in Mission, A Pastoral Plan for the Archdiocese of Boston 1st segment: Scot Landry said it’s the last full work week in November and he’s looking forward to Thanksgiving next week. Yesterday we had big news at the press conference in which Cardinal Sean announced the new pastoral plan for the archdiocese. Fr. Mark O’Connell said he’s very proud of his best friend, Fr. Paul Soper, who was appointed director of pastoral planning. Scot said there were hundreds watching via live video stream, and thousands listening during a simulcast on WQOM. Scot noted that the Cheverus Awards will be this Sunday at 3pm at Holy Cross Cathedral and will be broadcast live on CatholicTV. It recognizes people who have faithfully served their parishes with little recognition. People are welcome to attend or watch if they can’t be there. Another note is that this weekend is the second collection for the retired religious sisters at all Masses. He noted that religious sisters have made a tremendous impact on all of us on our whole archdiocese and all of us individually. Scot also welcomed into the studio today Gina Zanicky, who is the general manager of the Station of the Cross network based out of Buffalo. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Paul Soper back to the show. He said it’s been quite a week and he’s humbled by the Cardinal’s trust in him asking him to spearhead the office of pastoral planning. Scot said there was a very big national search for the director but they settled on Fr. Soper because of the way he handled the office in the interim period and a very challenging period. Scot noted that Fr. Paul’s current assignment at St. Albert in Weymouth is going to end because of the demands on his time from this new job. Fr. Soper said he finds it difficult to leave parish life and particularly St. Albert’s which has been very kind to him, especially since when he arrived he was recovering from illness. Fr. Mark said the people at St. Albert’s did a great job nursing him back to health and perhaps to good a job because he’s now healthy enough to lead this huge new effort. Scot asked Fr. Paul what it is that made him place such an importance on being involved in the pastoral planning consultation process. Fr. Paul said he was impressed by the effort to bring so many people together and he liked the idea of getting so many people involved in setting the future direction of the Archdiocese. He’s also someone who loves to work with data and computer systems as someone who is trained as an astrophysicist. Fr. Mark noted that Fr. Paul continues to publish scientific papers as a scientist and has a great brain for computer systems and statistics. Scot said in his background as a marketer he learned that any change must be first preceded by collection of data and analysis. Fr. Paul said a large part of his job will ongoing evaluations of the implementation of the pastoral plan in collaboratives and that means a lot of data will need to be collected and designing the tools to collect that data will be important. One of the parts of the plan that changed based on the collection of data from the consultations was the assignment of pastors. Originally every pastor was going to change so there wouldn’t be winners and losers in the collaboratives, but the people said they trusted their pastors to be fair even if he was previously pastor of one of the other parishes in the collaborative. Another element that emerged from consultation was the emphasis on the collaboratives developing pastoral plans based on the local situation. Scot said most of the headlines in the news got yesterday’s press conference wrong, referring to the pastoral plan as reshuffling, reorganization, restructuring, revitalization. Scot wouldn’t have picked any of those verbs. Fr. Paul said he would have picked revitalization. He said Cardinal Sean used very strong words to commit to this pastoral plan. The commitment to Disciples in Mission is a commitment to evangelization. Scot said to him it’s a reallocation of resources to serve the existing parish structures we have, mainly human resources. He emphasized that this is not church closings. Fr. Paul said it’s not principally about reorganization. His short explanation is this: Parish-based evangelization works and we can train for it, but we need strong parishes in order to do that. the radical things in this plan include the training. What diocese has committed millions of dollars to training pastors and lay leadership to do the work of evangelization. Parishes will be evaluating themselves going forward in a commitment to their pastoral plans. Scot said the reporters got the content of their articles correct, but one of the challenges is that the trends on Mass attendance aren’t going well across the country. Yet, the plan has built in the hope that the plan will work and in decades we’ll look back at the decision not to close parishes as a smart one because we won’t have to re-build new churches. The hardest phase starts now. The consultation phase was fruitful, but implementation is even harder. What happens next? Fr. Paul said Phase 1 is only 10 percent of the collaboratives. It’s a sandbox or a beta test. Fr. Paul admitted that he and Fr. Mark have played the World of Warcraft video game and he talked about how the developer asked 10 percent of players to try out a new expansion pack before releasing it to all players. They would rewrite the program as they got feedback and by the time it was released to everyone it was in much better shape. Scot noted that a world-class piece of software is iterated along the way. Phase 1 provides some learning before we implement in the whole archdiocese. Fr. Paul said we know what 70% of the 130 pastoral collaboratives will be already. Next week, parishes will receive letters on what the collaboratives will be and they will be asked to confirm those groupings and to say whether they are willing to be part of Phase 1. In January they will list the names of the collaboratives in Phase 1. He said in some case, parishes have been working collaboratively for a while and are anxious for the training that will be made available. In other cases, they want to have an impact on the way that the plan is implemented overall. Fr. Mark asked if there are cases where parishes will be asked to be part of phase 1 even they say they’re don’t want to be. Fr. Paul said it could happen because Phase 1 has to be representative of the whole archdiocese: urban, rural, ethnically diverse parishes, parishes that are well-off, parishes that are struggling and at least one collaborative that will be a standalone parish. Phase 1 will surface as many of the issues as possible so they can develop responses to them. Fr. Mark said this is how they implemented the Improved Financial Relationship Model. Scot said pastors in that process had agreed that we needed to make the financial structures more sustainable for parishes for their evangelization efforts. Pastors now serving multiple parishes with multiple parish councils with multiple staffs say it isn’t sustainable. It’s not more effective to have three youth ministers, say, when you could have one of them doing adult faith formation and the third doing ministry to the very young, perhaps. Fr. Paul said some of the more eager phase 1 collaboratives are in that situation. Fr. Paul said on January 16, 2013, stage 1 training will begin for all employees of central ministries of the archdiocese. It will be eight days of training: four days in leadership management, 2 days in theology and practice of the new evangelization, and 2 days in practice of collaboration. Scot said the idea is to develop skills in change management, to learn what the new evangelization is, and how to foster a more collaborative working environment. All these changes require new skills we haven’t had before. Fr. Paul said it’s also an example of leading the way. The people of the parishes are going to be making an extraordinary commitment to training and the Pastoral Center should be leading the way on that. Pastors will have 50 days of training over 18 months. In May 2013, Stage 2 will be for the Phase 1 pastors for eight days spread out over 4 weeks on the same topics. Once the phase 1 collaboratives are announced, each of the parishes will be treated by the clergy personnel board will be treated as open. Current pastors can apply as well as other priests. The idea is to be totally fair and transparent. The pastors will be announced in early March 2013. Scot said each pastor named will almost certainly be someone who applied for that job. Scot said after the training ends in June 2013, the pastors hire pastoral staff. The collaboratives start July 2013 and over the summer the pastor pulls together the team and councils. In September, the pastoral councils, finance councils, and school boards will receive training. There will be one council of each kind per collaborative and each school will have on board. The pastoral team trainings will start in September. October has the most intensive portion of the training and last for four months. There will be 16 days of training in each collaborative in their own site. That is for the pastoral team. Some will be daytime, some nights and weekends. For the leadership and management portion of the training, they are engaging the Catholic Leadership Institute. The evangelization portion will be done by a team being formed by Bishop Arthur Kennedy. The mechanics of collaboration training will be done by Pastoral Center staff. In late January 2014, the pastor will have chosen a team of 6 to 8 people to write their local pastoral plan and that’s the final stage of training as they get eight days in training for this. They will have a year to write this plan. They expect it be consultative and they will ask phase 1 to be very transparent in the process because other collaboratives will benefit later on. Phase 2 will be much larger with about 50 collaboratives and they will take two years. This begins in July 2014. Phases 3 and 4 will follow on, with 50 in phase 3 and 20 or so in phase 4. From Phase 2 onward they will have case studies of other collaboratives. Scot said Cardinal Sean called the process organic and flexible. Fr. Paul said in forming the groups themselves, the list has changed a lot and is very different from the list from this past January. And going forward, because we’re not closing parishes and we have some flexibility, we could react to what happens by saying that maybe we need to shift the collaboratives or break some of them up. There could be demographic shifts and the needs of people could change over time. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Gospel for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 18, 2012 (Mark 13:24-32) Jesus said to his disciples: “In those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. “And then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in the clouds’ with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky. “Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the gates. Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. “But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Scot said we end the liturgical year next Sunday and at the end of the year we’re taken to the last things, the return of Christ. Many people fear that day. Fr. Paul said he fears that day, but it’s not the only feeling he has about it. Christ has told us what to do and when we’re standing there before him we’ll be confronted with whether we’ve done what he asked. But he also looks forward to seeing him. We can be joyful in anticipation of Christ. Scot said not knowing the hour can be a great spiritual help because it can encourage us to be ready and go to confession today or go to Mass more and pray more. Fr. Mark said Jesus is also saying we shouldn’t have an irrational fear because no one knows the day or hour. People try to scare others that the world is ending, but Jesus is saying we should relax and find comfort in knowing he will be in command. There’s a balance between comfort but also a sense of getting ready. Fr. Paul said St. Mark is writing for a community under awful persecution and the message in this Gospel is to hang in there because it’s going to be okay. Scot said he’s not sure we focus enough on these readings in all the rush of Thanksgiving and encouraged listeners to spend more time focusing on them.…
Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry, consider the news headlines of the week, including today’s press conference announcing the new pastoral plan for the Archdiocese of Boston called Disciples in Mission; the various decisions of the US bishops’ meeting this week on homilies, penance, abstinence, Dorothy Day’s cause for canonization, and the USCCB’s public affairs office; the appointment of Fr. Bob Blaney to a new diocesan role; and the new Pontifical Latin Academy. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Disciples in Mission; US Bishops’ meeting; Pontifical Latin Academy 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. He said there was a press conference at 2pm announcing the new pastoral plan. Susan Abbott said it was great to be there and there was a great energy in the room. Scot said it was also announced that Fr. Paul Soper would be the new permanent director of pastoral planning. Gregory Tracy said as an interim director Fr. Paul has done a great job. Greg said beyond the plan, he was struck by the Cardinal’s plan to reach out to those who are only occasionally connected to the Church. Susan said it came across clearly came across that evangelization is at the forefront of this plan. She discussed the Cardinal’s statement that a significant number of people come to Mass monthly, slightly more than those who come weekly. Fr. Roger said the national number is 40% who go once per month. They want to have that relationship with God, but that means something else has to be put in second-place and instead they have to either work or they want to take their children to sports or the like. Another situation is broken families where the kids go from one home to another and it affects the way the whole family attends Mass. Fr. Roger said the reaction isn’t where are you, but we’re really grateful when you come, how can we help you to address these issues? Scot said what came up is that Phase 1 will be an elaborate sandbox to try new things, to learn what works and what doesn’t work. He said parishes will try a bunch of things and assess what actually works so the bulk of the parishes later can implement what does work. Susan said there are already several parishes that are sharing religious education programs and their experience has worked out some of the kinks. She thinks that in the future they can look back at these parishes and how they have had a degree of success. To see the press conference go to or watch at 8pm tonight on CatholicTV. Scot also noted that Cardinal Sean will take part in a live chat at Boston.com tomorrow from 1 to 2pm. There’s also a short video produced of the reflections of the members of the Pastoral Planning commission. 2nd segment: Scot Landry said the US bishops met in Baltimore this week and they discussed a new document on more effective preaching of Sunday homilies. He said it was great to hear the bishops focus on making the Sunday liturgy a stronger tool of evangelization. Susan said the liturgy is not adult education, but public worship and praise of God. But within that the homily is a very effective means of adult formation. The bishops encourage the priests to make it ever more relevant to people’s lives. She thinks of the priests who are so busy and it’s difficult to devote time to preparing homilies. Scot said he hasn’t see the new document, but asked Fr. Roger what he’s heard of it. He said there’s a huge focus on Jesus’ preaching, how he revealed the Father, used parables, encouraged on one hand and castigated on the other. Much of the time when preaching is taught, they look at the general categories of oratory, but preaching is its own particular art form that is to reach the head and heart and motivate you to moral action. He said it’s noteworthy on the amount time spent on doctrinal preaching, the communication of the doctrines of our faith, because so many Catholics are not learning about their faith. Catechesis isn’t the focus of the homily, but it’s often the only opportunity people have for it. Scot asked Fr. Roger how preparing the Sunday homily fits in with his other duties. Fr. Roger said the Second Vatican Council says preaching the Word is his primary duty. He said administrative duties come third, after preaching and the sacraments and hopefully members of the parish will step up and let the pastor do the first two. Scot said the bishops also adopted a new plan for themselves for the next couple of years, the first part of which is the Year of Faith and embracing the sacrament of penance. They are encouraging every diocese to do what Boston has been doing in . Cardinal Dolan also implied the US might bring back Friday abstinence for every week, not just Lent, as an opportunity for weekly sacrifice and penitential reflection. Greg talked about how when he was converting to Catholicism the sacrament of penance was the stumbling block for him. He sees the value in having a structure or a plan and a framework like the Light Is On For You. Scot said when the entire diocese does something, the word of mouth gets amplified and he hopes it becomes part of the Catholic conversation in Lent next year. Susan said of extension of Friday abstinence is fine as is anything that turns our mind and hearts to God. It’s not a hardship or sacrifice for people anymore. She noted that non-meat meals are as common as meat dishes. It’s not as much of a sacrifice now as it was years ago. But even if it’s not a hardship, but a reminder that’s still good. Greg said it will need to be led into with a lot of catechesis so people understand. We’re dealing with much more secularized people and even those who go to Church don’t understand why. Fr. Roger said he thinks the primary objective is the restoration of an authentic Catholic identity. In the old days, it reinforced that we were all in something together. He notes that the Church didn’t change the rule, just relaxed it a bit. The Church still expected people to abstain from meat on Friday or find another penance. Historically, meat was considered precious and people rarely had it. In the Middle Ages, people were giving up meat and fasting on bread and water. The bishops also voted unanimously to open the cause of canonization of Dorothy Day. Scot thought it was an unusual move for the bishops to highlight one particular cause over the many others already opened in the US. Susan said she thought it was wonderful. Fr. Roger said the reason is because as Cardinal Dolan said it’s a conflict of interest for him and it’s something he’s been promoting. He thought it would be good for the whole bishops conference to vote on it. Normally, in a canonization case you get the opinion of other bishops, but not usually the entire conference. One reason is that Dorothy Day’s influence was national in scope. He thinks it would be great for any legitimate cause of canonization. Another vote reorganized the public affairs unit of the USCCB. Greg said he’s been impressed with the changes going on in the communications office of the USCCB since he came to the Pilot in 2001. They’ve been turning to lots of new media, but they continue to streamline the message. Often you don’t know which office to turn to for information you’re trying to get. Scot said Cardinal Dolan is a master communicator, but like much of the Church is that they’re good at sending out press releases, but he hopes they have a person not a bishop who can go on TV or radio to represent the Church, especially in areas of conflict. They could make sure the Church’s message is conveyed well, in a way that the person could get into the actual debate. Fr. Roger said the impetus for this change comes from the religious freedom debate because Cardinal Dolan became the only one competent to appear on these various news shows to explain the Catholic faith under fire. He said they want to get together a team of well-trained people who can explain the Good News with clarity and confidence. He hopes that this new spokesman will put together a program to train people to be able to do this, especially the bishops. Fr. Roger said another significant moment was Archbishop Cordileone’s address on the defense of marriage. In other local news, Fr. Bob Blaney, pastor of St. Jerome’s in Weymouth will become administrator of St. Joseph’s in Boston and special assistant to the Secretary of Parish Life and Leadership in January. Scot said his sense is that Fr. Sepe came to this job about six months ago and realized that this is a bigger job than one person can do. His predecessor, Fr. Foley, had Fr. Jim Flavin for much of his tenure, but Fr. Flavin has moved to another assignment. Scot said this Sunday at 3pm will see the Cheverus Awards at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and it will be live on CatholicTV. In the Anchor this week is a list of the names of those in the Diocese of Fall River will be receiving the Marian Medals this weekend too. The Marian medals were the inspiration for the Cheverus Awards and they recognize the lifetime of service and work of the many people who work heroically, often anonymously, to make them examples throughout the entire diocese. It’s a delight and an agony for a pastor to nominate someone, because you can only select one. He talked about the recipient in his parish this year. Also in the news, the Holy Father created a new Pontifical Latin Academy. Fr. Roger said in order for theological studies to occur we’re either going to have to translate lots of material that hasn’t been or we’re going to have to give people a way to read them. This will help many more people to have the Latin language became a real staple in the way they approach the Church’s tradition. Greg talked about the experience of international Catholic gatherings where there many languages spoken, but they prayed in Latin because it was a common bond.…
Summary of today’s show: November is Religious Education Month in the Catholic Church in the US and Scot Landry invites Susan Abbott, Susan Kay, and Pilar Latorre from the Archdiocese of Boston’s religious education office to reflect on their own years of service to the Church and how adults and children can really become engaged in learning more about their faith. Scot also asks Pilar about the contribution of Spanish-speaking catechists; Susan Kay about the importance of catechist formation; and Susan Abbott about how her office encourages recognition of the work of parish catechetical leaders. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Susan Kay, Pilar Latorre Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Religious Education Month 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. He said he thinks of everything that happens during November, including Thanksgiving, Election Day, andso much more, but only recently learned that November is Religious Education Month. He said he would have thought it would be September or May. Susan Abbott said November seemed like a good idea at the time. Scot said tomorrow at 2pm on WQOM or at Cardinal Sean will host a press conference on his decision regarding the pastoral plan for the Archdiocese of Boston. On Friday, Cardinal Seán, as part of the rollout, will be taking questions live on a chat on at 1pm. He hopes that very faithful Catholics will be part of the questions for Cardinal Seán and ask sincere, hard questions about how as a community can move forward while strengthening faith formation and all other aspects of our Catholic faith. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Susan Kay back to the show and Pilar Latorre for the first time. Susan, Susan, and Pilar all work in the religious education office. Scot asked them what they do in the office helping parishes. Susan Kay said they met with the leadership advisory board this morning, two catechetical leaders from each region of the archdiocese, to discuss how they can address issues in the parishes. They often answer many phone calls regarding parish certifications, answering questions about various practices. Scot clarified that they serve 288 parishes, 435 catechetical leaders, and 11,000 volunteers and their office serves them all. Susan Kay said she’s going an interreligious dialogue meeting and a cluster meeting. Each month they have meetings for catechetical leaders on various topics and on December 5, they will meet with Bishop Hennessey. Scot asked Pilar about her work in religious education for Hispanic ministry. Pilar said in 2000 they started a program on Saturdays that includes prayer and then different topics on theology, sacraments, and every kind of subject to help them serve parishes for a total of 40 hours of study. The program takes 2 years to complete. Pilar said she came to Boston from Colombia where she had been working in an elite school. But she came to Boston to teach at Emmanuel College 45 years ago. She had trouble finding a priest to go to confession to in Spanish so she met with a priest at the cathedral to talk about programs for Spanish-speaking people. When she experienced the need among the people, she decided to stay in Boston and has been here since 1972. Susan Abbott described how Pilar would manually translate materials on typewriters and mimeographs and then hand-deliver them as she drove around the archdiocese to parishes so they could teach the children for First Communion. Susan Kay said she’s been in the office since 2000. Previously she was an assistant to the regional bishop in the Merrimack Region. When the position in the office opened, she was asked if she’d be interested in applying. Before that she’d been a director of religious education at Immaculate Conception Church in Lowell. Susan said until recently Lowell was one of the most Catholic cities in the United States. She described the history of Lowell and the poor Catholics who came to work in the mills. She noted that at the time the Church was allowed to send religion teachers into the public schools to teach the Catholic children. Susan Abbott said she came to the office in 1999 and previously was director of religious education at her parish of St. Theresa’s in West Roxbury for 19 years. she’s still involved in her parish as a volunteer because it keeps her grounded. In 1999, she said there was a larger staff so as an assistant director she didn’t have a region she consulted with, but as the staff dwindled, they had to drop that specialization. In 2008, Susan Abbott became the first lay person to become director of that office. Susan Kay said they also have a new administrative assistant, Cathy Foley, who just started with them a few weeks ago. Susan Abbott said they are like the scene from Shakespeare: “We few, we happy few, we band of sisters.” Scot noted how each of them have experience in parish settings, which gives them the ability to understand the needs of parish leaders. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Mark Riopelle from Methuen He wins the book The Leadership of Jesus by Master Sargent Michael M. Cutone If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Susan Abbott talked about Religious Education month and how the work of her office is to lift up the yeoman work of parish leaders. Susan Kay said they send out ideas to parishes to celebrate religious education month, such as prayers of the faithful to gives thanks to God for the opportunity to gather to learn about him; or to list a brief history of religious education in the parish; or list those who have been DREs; or have someone get up at Mass to talk about why being a catechist means so much to them; or host a coffee in the religious education center; or to recognize catechists at Mass. Susan said she’s heard stories from parishes on how these ideas turned out. Many people tell the parish religious education leaders who they never knew how big the program is, what they do, or even where they work. Scot said religious education month helps people to understand what religious education. Pilar said for the Spanish-speaking communities, each year they have a big celebration on Catechetical Sunday in September. They invite all the communities to come. This year, they’ve had a day of reflection on the topic of the Year of Faith. She added that they also work on finding bilingual teachers who can speak to the parents in Spanish and teach the children in English. Scot asked what programs they encourage to help parents grow in their faith as they enroll their kids in religious education. Susan Abbott said the scariest words for some parents is that they are to be the primary educator of the child in the faith. She said in parish religious education programs, they gather the parents when they can—especially for mandatory meetings for sacraments—and those become opportunities for formation of the parents. What they should be getting at the meetings is an understanding of, say, the sacrament of penance as adults. She said there are also many programs that parishes can use, such as showing the Catholicism series by Fr. Robert Barron or the archdiocesan Why Catholic? Scot said his sense is that parishes put most of their resources, vast resources, into education of children and so many adults think that’s all there is. Scot highlighted BostonCatholic.org as having many resources to help people to learn their faith. He asked about parishes that successfully engage adults in faith formation. Susan Kay said Holy Family in Concord has a lot of opportunities to hear topics on current issues and let them discuss. She said they treat people as adults and let them form their questions as adults. Scot said a lot of people would like to be able to hear and talk out their understanding of issues. Susan Kay also named St. John in Chelmsford and Corpus Christi-St. Bernard in Newton. She added that the best adult formation is catechist formation. Scot asked Pilar what English speakers can learn from Spanish-speaking communities. Pilar said the faith of the Spanish families is so deep that all they need is someone to convince them that they have this potential and can transmit it to the children and to each other. She sees many communities that have meetings for parents while the children in their classes. They just need to have a leader to get things started, even if they just discuss the Mass readings for the day. She said she also recommends two or three sacramental preparation meeting and they ask both mother and father to come. Susan Abbott said she often hears from catechists at the end of programs that they have learned things they never knew before and that they wish the programs were longer. Susan Kay said formation of catechists is so important because she’s seen the change in the people who’ve taken advantage of the opportunities presented them. It feeds people’s hearts and mind and they are often surprised by the unexpected vocation of catechist. Speaking of preparation, Susan Abbott said they recommend an hour of preparation for each hour of teaching and that they treat their teacher’s manual as their best friend. Although it’s not mandatory that the catechists be certified, but the expectation is that they will.…
1 TGCL #0415: Cardinal Dolan calls his brother bishops to repentance for the New Evangelization 56:34
Summary of today’s show: Cardinal Timothy Dolan set the tone for the semi-annual US Bishops Conference meeting in Baltimore this week in his president’s address when he exhorted his brother bishops to greater personal conversion and reconciliation and maintained that the New Evangelization is dead in the water without personal conversion and a striving for holiness by all the people, led by our bishops. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor take Cardinal Dolan’s speech in-depth and discuss its implications, which include the newsworthy suggestion of the renewal of Friday abstinence throughout the year. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Cardinal Dolan calls his brother bishops to repentance for the New Evangelization 1st segment: Scot welcomed listeners to the show and thanked veterans for their service on the day after Veterans Day was observed. Fr. Chris O’Connor related his day yesterday, taking advantage of the beautiful weather. He said he will be at St. Julia in Weston tomorrow at 7pm talking about our faith and what it is we believe, based on the first part of the Catechism. Throughout the rest of the Year of Faith, there will be talks on the three other parts of the Catechism. They also discussed St. Julia’s and the beautiful renovations they’ve done there. Scot said every November all the bishops of the US gather to vote and discuss current issues in the Church and administrative issues. This general assembly has been moderately newsworthy. Earlier today the bishop unanimously agreed to advance the cause of canonization for Dorothy Day. Fr. Chris said she epitomizes the struggle for holiness and the difficulties. She opened soup kitchens throughout the United States and pioneered the social justice movement. He said she showed how the poor that we care for may not be pleasant to our eyes, ears, or nose, but still are Christ among us. The bishops also approved a document on better preaching in our Sunday homilies and a new special collection for the Archdiocese of the Military Services. Scot said many of our servicemen and women can go months without seeing a Catholic chaplain and these mainly young people need to be able to receive the sacraments more often as they are separated from everything they know and love and are often confronted with the great questions of life. Scot said Cardinal Seán briefed his brother bishops yesterday on the defeat of Question 2 and assisted suicide in Massachusetts. The bishops were moved by the fact that despite very long odds, we are able to turn back assisted suicide. On Sunday about 45 bishops and about 50 or so Catholic bloggers talked about how new media and social media have changed how people receive information about the Church. One of the leaders of the event was Bishop Christopher Coyne, who is originally from the archdiocese. Many of the bishops had questions for the bloggers on how to start and what they as bishops should be doing themselves. How can they use Twitter and stay within the propriety of the office of bishop. Fr. Chris said this is part of a larger conversation where our society recognizes that people aren’t watching TV or reading newspapers, but are getting information through new media. The message is the same—Jesus is Lord—but the way we spread it changes. The two most discussed addresses at the general assembly are those by the apostolic nuncio, the pope’s representative to the US, and that of the president of the USCCB, who is currently Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. Scot said he was surprised by the tone that Dolan took on the sacrament of penance as a wonderful tool for the New Evangelization. Fr. Chris said it’s a return to the basics and the essentials. Cardinal Dolan laments in the decline in the sacrament of the Second Vatican Council. Now Scot played the beginning of his address to his brother bishops: My brother bishops, Yes, we have “a lot on our plate” as we commence our meeting, urgent issues very worthy of our solicitude as pastors — the suffering in vast areas not far from here caused by the Hurricane of two weeks ago, the imperative to the New Evangelization, the invitation offered by the Year of Faith, and our continued dialogue, engagement, and prophetic challenge to our culture over urgent issues such as the protection of human life, the defense of marriage, the promotion of human dignity in the lives of the poor, the immigrant, those in danger from war and persecution throughout the world, and our continued efforts to defend our first and most cherished freedom — all issues calling for our renewed and enthusiastic commitment. But I stand before you this morning to say simply: first things first. We gather as disciples of, as friends of, as believers in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, “the Way, the Truth and the Life,” who exhorted us to “seek first the Kingdom of God.” We cannot engage culture unless we let Him first engage us; we cannot dialogue with others unless we first dialogue with Him; we cannot challenge unless we first let Him challenge us. Scot said that last line is one of the most quoted from this speech so far. Scot said this suggests that the first step of our ongoing conversion of the New Evangelization is to go deeper in our own relationship with Jesus Christ. Even the bishops. Fr. Chris said what’s most convincing is not what people say, but how they live their lives. We want to see lives rooted in Jesus Christ and given over to Him. Scot said as the entire Catholic Church in the United States we need to seek first the kingdom of God and we’re all called to be holy in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Fr. Chris said we are all on a journey as a Church moving toward the Lord. We’re all called to sanctity. The Venerable Servant of God, Fulton J. Sheen, once commented, “The first word of Jesus in the Gospel was ‘come’; the last word of Jesus was ‘go’.” Fifty years ago, on October 11, 1962, Blessed John XXIII courageously convened the Second Vatican Council “the greatest concern of which,” he insisted, “is that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine should be guarded and taught more efficaciously.” (Allocution on the occasion of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, Gaudet mater ecclesia). We gather for our plenary assembly in our nation’s premiere see, at the close of the XIII Ordinary General Synod of Bishops, still near the beginning of the Year of Faith. Both occasions have the same origin, the same goal expressed by Blessed John XXIII: the effective transmission of the faith for the transformation of the world. A year ago we began our visits ad limina Petri et Pauli. I know you join me in expressing deep gratitude for the extraordinary affection, warmth and fraternal care with which our Holy Father welcomed us. But Pope Benedict did not stop with his gracious hospitality. No. He also gave us plenty of fatherly advice — for our ministry as pastors of the Church and our personal role in the New Evangelization. Here’s an especially striking example from his first ad limina address: “Evangelization,” the Successor of St. Peter noted, “… appears not simply a task to be undertaken ad extra; we ourselves are the first to need re-evangelization. As with all spiritual crises, whether of individuals or communities, we know that the ultimate answer can only be born of a searching, critical and ongoing self-assessment and conversion in the light of Christ’s truth.” Scot said he was surprised by the emphasis to his brother bishops that the bishops are the first to need to re-evangelization. Fr. Chris said he’s making it clear that holiness is contagious but must start with the bishops. on the Fulton Sheen reference, Christ wants you to come to recognize the Lord and live like Him and then go and bring Christ to others. Scot said we can’t be sent until we know Jesus Christ. Fr. Chris said Cardinal Dolan is reminding the bishops that people need to know the faith and the bishops are the premier teachers of the faith. As we bishops at the just concluded Synod of Bishops confessed in our closing message: “We, however, should never think that the new evangelization does not concern us as Bishops personally. In these days voices among the Bishops were raised to recall that the Church must first of all heed the Word before she can evangelize the world. The invitation to evangelize becomes a call to conversion.” “We Bishops firmly believe that we must convert ourselves first to the power of Jesus Christ who alone can make all things new, above all our poor existence. With humility we must recognize that the poverty and weaknesses of Jesus’ disciples, especially us, his ministers, weigh on the credibility of the mission. We are certainly aware – we bishops first of all – that we can never really be equal to the Lord’s calling and mandate to proclaim His Gospel to the nations. We… do not hesitate to recognize our personal sins. We are, however, also convinced that the Lord’s Spirit is capable of renewing His Church and rendering her garment resplendent if we let Him mold us.” (Final Message of the Synod of Bishops to the People of God, October 28, 2012) The New Evangelization reminds us that the very agents of evangelization – you and me — will never achieve that abundant harvest Blessed John XXIII described unless we are willing and eager to first be evangelized themselves. Only those themselves first evangelized can then evangelize. As St. Bernard put it so well, “If you want to be a channel, you must first be a reservoir.” I would suggest this morning that this reservoir of our lives and ministry, when it comes especially to the New Evangelization, must first be filled with the spirit of interior conversion born of our own renewal. That’s the way we become channels of a truly effective transformation of the world, through our own witness of a penitential heart, and our own full embrace of the Sacrament of Penance. Scot said Cardinal Dolan was one of the six principal drafters of the final document of the synod. He says right up front that “we do not hesitate to recognize our personal sins.” The bishops are calling on each other to recognize their own sins and Scot called on all listeners to recognize in humility our weakness and sin to be better prepared for the New Evangelization. Fr. Chris said every saint has a past and every sinner a future. Our sins do not define us. What defines us is the call to holiness. The synod was about the transmission of the faith for the transformation of the world. Dolan said the way we do that is through our own witness of a penitential heart and our own full embrace of the sacrament of penance. Fr. Chris said confession should be a regular part of our Christian life to reconcile us and tell us we are not defined by our sins. “To believers also the Church must ever preach faith and penance,” declared the council fathers in the very first of the documents to appear, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. (SC, n. 9) To be sure, the sacraments of initiation - - Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist - - charge, challenge, and equip the agents of evangelization. Without those sacraments, we remain isolated, unredeemed, timid and unfed. But, the Sacrament of Reconciliation evangelizes the evangelizers, as it brings us sacramentally into contact with Jesus, who calls us to conversion of heart, and allows us to answer his invitation to repentance — a repentance from within that can then transform the world without. What an irony that despite the call of the Second Vatican Council for a renewal of the Sacrament of Penance, what we got instead was its near disappearance. We became very good in the years following the Council in calling for the reform of structures, systems, institutions, and people other than ourselves.That, too, is important; it can transform our society and world. But did we fail along the way to realize that in no way can the New Evangelization be reduced to a program, a process, or a call to structural reform; that it is first and foremost a deeply personal conversion within? “The Kingdom of God is within,” as Jesus taught. The premier answer to the question “What’s wrong with the world?” “what’s wrong with the church?” is not politics, the economy, secularism, sectarianism, globalization or global warming …none of these, as significant as they are. As Chesterton wrote, “The answer to the question ‘What’s wrong with the world?’ is just two words:’I am,’” Vatican II called for a renewal of the sacrament of penance and what we got is a near disappearance. Fr. Chris said it’s one of the most profound sacraments. Scot said after the Council we took our eye off the ball, losing sight of what’s really important. We failed to recognize that the New Evangelization is a deeply person conversion within. Fr. Chris recalled instances in Scripture when we hear God say, I am. It is to the great I am that we return for forgiveness of our sins. I am! Admitting that leads to conversion of heart and repentance, the marrow of the Gospel-invitation. I remember the insightful words of a holy priest well known to many of us from his long apostolate to priests and seminarians in Rome, Monsignor Charles Elmer, wondering aloud from time to time if, following the close of the Council, we had sadly become a Church that forgot how to kneel. If we want the New Evangelization to work, it starts on our knees. Remember a few years back, when Cardinal Cahal Daly led us in our June retreat? Speaking somberly of the Church in his home country, he observed, “The Church in Ireland is in the dirt on her knees.” Then he paused, and concluded, “Maybe that’s where the Church is at her best.” We kneel in the Sacrament of Penance because we are profoundly sorry for our faults and our sins, serious obstacles to the New Evangelization. But then we stand forgiven, resolute to return to the work entrusted to us - as evangelizers of the Gospel of Mercy. Scot said if we want the New Evangelization to work, it starts on our knees in utter humility before our God. Fr. Chris said Cardinal Sean when he came to Boston spoke of the life of St. Francis and how his ministry took off when he heard from his knees Christ call him to rebuild His Church. Scot said people tell him they love Cardinal Sean because he’s so humble and prayerful. Scot said the Church is at her worst when she’s arrogant and not acting out of love. The Church on her knees is at her best because she’s in prayer and most connected with Christ in humility and open to being his vessel to the world. Fr. Chris said we kneel when we approach royalty. How much more should we kneel before our Lord. He said a priest told him that whenever he enters the church he kneels and prays an act of contrition. I recall a conversation about a year ago with one of our brother bishops, newly ordained, attending his first plenary assembly. I asked his impressions of the meeting. “Well organized, informative, enjoyable,” he replied, but he went on to observe that it was one moment in particular that had the greatest impact on him. It was during our closing Holy Hour, as he entered the large room next to the chapel, to see dozens and dozens of bishops lined up to approach the Sacrament of Penance. This new Bishop told me that he felt that moment had more of an influence upon him than anything else at the meeting. Who can forget the prophetic words of repentance from Blessed John Paul II, during the Great Jubilee, as he expressed contrition – publicly and repeatedly - for the sins of the past? He mentioned the shame of the slave trade, the horrors of the holocaust, the death and destruction wrought by the crusades, the injustices of the conquest of the new world, and the violence of religious wars, to name only a few. I remember during the celebration of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Ireland last June, when Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the Papal Legate, expressed this so forcefully as he spoke on behalf of the Holy Father at the penitential shrine of St. Patrick’s Purgatory: “I come here with the specific intention of seeking forgiveness, from God and from the victims, for the grave sin of sexual abuse of children by clerics… In the name of the Church, I apologize once again to the victims, some of which I have met here in Lough Derg.” And so it turns to us, my brothers. How will we make the Year of Faith a time to renew the Sacrament of Penance, in our own loves and in the lives of our beloved people whom we serve? Once again, we will later this week approach the Sacrament of Penance. And we’ll have the opportunity during this meeting to approve a simple pastoral invitation to all our faithful to join us in renewing our appreciation for and use of the Sacrament. We will “Keep the Light On” during the upcoming Advent Season! The work of our Conference during the coming year includes reflections on re-embracing Friday as a particular day of penance, including the possible re-institution of abstinence on all Fridays of the year, not just during Lent. Our pastoral plan offers numerous resources for catechesis on the Sacrament of Penance, and the manifold graces that come to us from the frequent use of confession. Next June we will gather in a special assembly as brother bishops to pray and reflect on the mission entrusted to us by the Church, including our witness to personal conversion in Jesus Christ, and so to the New Evangelization. We work at giving our people good examples of humble, repentant pastors, aware of our own personal and corporate sins, constantly responding to the call of Jesus to interior conversion. Remember the Curé of Ars? When a concerned group of his worried supporters came to him with a stinging protest letter from a number of parishioners, demanding the bishop to remove John Vianney as their curé, claiming he was a sinner, ignorant, and awkward, St. John Vianney took the letter, read it carefully … and signed the petition! Scot noted that Dolan mentioned dioceses would embrace a program like The Light Is On For You in the Archdiocese of Boston. Fr. Chris said we can’t say to folks that confession is important and only offer it during 15 minutes on Saturday. That’s why he’s so grateful for places like St. Anthony Shrine in Boston for frequent confession. How great would it be to say that in every parish in the United States a priest is available on every Tuesday at the same time. One of the more newsworthy items has been the idea of re-instituting Friday abstinence every week of the year, not just Lent. When we lost this tradition, we lost a weekly reminder of our need for repentance. Fr. Chris said it also serves to make us one body, making a regular communal act of penance together. As I began my talk this morning, my brothers, so I would like to end it, with Blessed John XXIII. It was the Sunday angelus of October 28, 1962.The message the Holy Father delivered on that bright Roman afternoon never even mentions the phrase New Evangelization.But it strikes right at the heart of the mission entrusted to each of us as shepherds. “I feel something touching my spirit that leads to serenity,” Good Pope John remarked. “The word of the Gospel is not silent.It resonates from one end of the world to the other, and finds the way of the heart. Dangers and sorrows, human prudence and wisdom, everything needs to dissolve into a song of love, into a renewed invitation, pleading all to desire and wish for the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ. A kingdom of truth and life; a kingdom of holiness and grace; a kingdom of justice, love and peace.” How could we not see it alive in those holy men and women of every time and place, the heroic evangelizers of our faith, including most recently St. Kateri Tekakwitha and St. Marianne Cope? We have beheld it in the Church’s unrelenting corporal and spiritual works of mercy, in the heroic witness of persecuted Christians, in the Church’s defense of unborn human life, the care of our elders and the terminally ill, advocacy for the unemployed, those in poverty, our immigrant brothers and sisters, victims of terror and violence throughout our world, of all faiths and creeds, and in our defense of religious freedom, marriage and family. And, I have suggested today, that as we “come and go” in response to the invitation of Jesus, we begin with the Sacrament of Penance.This is the sacrament of the New Evangelization, for as Pope Benedict reminds us, “We cannot speak about the new evangelization without a sincere desire to conversion.” (Homily for the Opening of the XIII Ordinary General Synod of Bishops). With this as my presidential address, I know I risk the criticism. I can hear it now: “With all the controversies and urgent matters for the Church, Dolan spoke of conversion of heart through the Sacrament of Penance. Can you believe it?” To which I reply, “You better believe it!” First things first! Scot said it was classic Dolan. Despite the expected criticism, he knows the bishops and all Catholics need to hear it and to focus first on the spiritual, not temporal problems in the Church. Fr. Chris said people thronged to see Pope John Paul or Mother Teresa because people wanted to see and be near holiness. If we want to be evangelizers, then we need to seek holiness in ourselves first. Scot said he’s not surprised that so many of the bishops recognize the need for confession but that they would make the time in their meetings to prioritize this communal act of repentance. Just like at men’s or women’s conferences where the organizers have created an opportunity for people to act on the movement of the Holy Spirit to repentance and confession. Fr. Chris said it was said that Pope John Paul was the most frequent visitor to reconciliation. The more that the saints became holy, the more they recognize their need to confess their sins. Fr. Chris said Cardinal Dolan wanted to use the opportunity to get all the bishops of the US to think about this topic and how central it is to the New Evangelization. Without repentance, the New Evangelization is dead in the water.…
Summary of today’s show: A big day in the Archdiocese of Boston began with the appointment by Pope Benedict XVI of Msgr. Robert Deeley, vicar general and moderator of the curia, as an auxiliary bishop. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell discuss this morning’s press conference and the remarks from Cardinal Seán and Bishop-elect Deeley and then they went into detail about the process of the appointment of bishops, from the gathering of names to the Pope’s final approval and all the steps in between. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Appointment of Bishop-elect Robert Deeley and how bishops are appointed 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and wished everyone a good holiday weekend. He welcomed Fr. Mark O’Connell to the show. They discussed the amazing week, including the events of Tuesday including the re-election of President Obama and the defeat of Question 2. Fr. Mark said he was so pleased to see the results with Question 2, especially since a few months ago the Yes side was polling so high. Scot said it’s a credit to the 10,000 people who all contributed to the effort to stop assisted suicide. Scot noted how Cardinal Seán preached on assisted suicide at the Red Mass in 2011 and the next day in the Globe the coverage wasn’t favorable, yet 14 months later, the Globe editorialized Question 2. It’s a credit to the many people who passed on the facts to others. Fr. Mark said the Globe printed a letter angry at the newspaper for getting behind the No on 2 effort. In the end it came down to two percentage points. Then Scot heard about a press conference that could come up this morning. The details became public this morning. Msgr. Robert Deeley, vicar general and moderator of the curia, was appointed an auxiliary bishop of Boston. Scot asked Fr. Mark how it felt for his predecessor to get this honor. Fr. Mark said it’s great news. Deeley has had a lot of jobs: priest, pastor, judicial vicar, vicar general, curial official in Rome, president of Canon Law Society in America. He’s well qualified for his new role. Scot said Deeley is a straight shooter and you know where you stand with him. For him to keep a secret, a big secret, while continuing his work, particularly on the assisted suicide issue, while preparing his own remarks. Fr. Mark said no one really understands how wide the scope of the job of vicar general and moderator of the curia is, and he did that while writing a speech and coming up with a motto. Scot said the episcopal motto is “Living the Truth in Love” from Ephesians 4:15, which also happens to be part of the official prayer for the New Evangelization in the Archdiocese. Fr. Mark noted that we have three retired auxiliary bishops and five active ones, and now Bishop-elect Deeley joins a distinguished group. He has become the 36th auxiliary bishop of Boston. The three retired bishops are Frances Irwin, Emilio Allue, and John Boles. The active bishops are John Dooher, Walter Edyvean, Robert Hennessey, Arthur Kennedy, and Peter Uglietto. Scot recommended the website as a good source for this kind of information. They are listing the auxiliaries of Boston who became cardinals: Cushing, Spellman, O’Connell, Wright. Fr. Mark noted that Deeley’s remarks were not elaborate, but right to the point. He showed his great affection for Pope Benedict XVI. Scot said he shared the story of how he was informed by the apostolic nuncio last week. When the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Viganó called me last week I was thinking it was a routine call from Washington seeking information of some kind. Instead the Nuncio informed me that His Holiness, Benedict XVI, wished to appoint me an Auxiliary Bishop of Boston to assist Cardinal Seán in the work of this great Church in Boston. Archbishop Viganó wanted to know if I would accept. It seems to me that when the Holy Father makes a request a priest is going to answer “yes”. […] Since that phone call on November 1st, the Feast of all the Saints, there has been much to do. One of the things I needed to determine was what my Episcopal motto would be. I have chosen a passage from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians: “Veritatem facere in caritate”, “Living the truth in love”. In these words of Paul I find the heart of our challenge in the Church today. Scot said the last time we had auxiliary bishops appointed, in 2010, both Bishops Kennedy and Uglietto said they were thinking about their episcopal mottos. On the other hand, Deeley had his ready and Scot thinks he’s probably been living with this motto for much of his priesthood. He said it’s not just for bishops to have mottos, and even if we don’t put it on a coat of arms, we can have it as something we follow in life. He asked Fr. Mark if he had a Scriptural passage as a motto. Fr. Mark said he didn’t have one at hand, but he could come up with one quickly just by looking at his breviary and seeing what’s highlighted there. 2nd segment: Scot as we rejoice in one of our priests being named an auxiliary bishop of Boston, we will look at the process of appointing of bishops, to bring some clarity to it. A key item to remember is that bishops are successors to the apostles and right now there are about 3,000 bishops in the world and in the US about 300 bishops, active and retired. Most bishops lead diocese directly, others assist archbishops as auxiliaries, and others assist Pope Benedict in Rome. The bishop leading a diocese is called an ordinary. Auxiliaries are appointed to assist the ordinary. Another kind is a coadjutor bishop who has the right of succession, meaning that he automatically becomes the new bishop when the diocesan bishop retires or dies. Fr. Mark said there are apostolic administrators, for when there isn’t an ordinary in place, appointed by the Holy Father in the interim. In other cases, the diocesan administrator is elected by a group of priests, the College of Consultors, to lead the diocese during a period waiting for a new bishop. Fr. Mark said an apostolic administrator has the same powers as the bishop on paper, but isn’t to make major changes. Scot used the example of Bishop Chris Coyne, who was auxiliary bishop of Indianapolis and became apostolic administrator when the archbishop retired. Scot said the Congregation of Bishops in Rome have the task of presenting a name to the Holy Father for him to appoint as a bishop in a particular place. He can accept the suggestion or choose someone else. The Congregation gets the names from the apostolic nuncio, who in the US is in Washington, DC, part of whose job is to gather names of potential bishops. The bishops of a province meet occasionally to gather names to submit names to the nuncio who will send a list of three names, a terna, to the Congregation of Bishops when a vacancy needs to be filled. The nuncio does some research on the names before submitting. Fr. Mark said the terna is also how we pick pastors, with a terna. He added that the names are only surfaced for submission to the nuncio by the bishops of the province. At least twice in Fr. Mark’s priesthood, the priests of the archdiocese were surveyed for names of priests who would be good bishops. Twice a year the bishops of the province get together, discuss the names, and send a group—many names or even one—to the nuncio. They include the qualifications for them to be bishop. For auxiliary bishop, they have to justify to the nuncio the need for the auxiliary bishop. A diocesan bishop must justify to the apostolic nuncio his need for an auxiliary bishop. This is easier if he is requesting a replacement for a retired or deceased auxiliary. The diocesan bishop prepares the terna, or list of three candidates, for his requested auxiliary and forwards it to the apostolic nuncio. The nuncio then conducts his own investigation of the priests on the diocesan bishop’s terna, sending the names to Rome with a report and his own recommendations. On average, this part of the process may take two to six months. At the Congregation for Bishops: Once all the documentation from the nuncio is complete and in order, and the prefect approves, the process moves forward. If the appointment involves a bishop who is being promoted or transferred, the matter may be handled by the prefect and the staff. If, however, the appointment is of a priest to the episcopacy, the full congregation is ordinarily involved. Scot said the full congregation is all the cardinals who are members of the congregation. A cardinal relator is chosen to summarize the documentation and make a report to the full congregation, which generally meets twice a month on Thursdays. After hearing the cardinal relator’s report, the congregation discusses the appointment and then votes. The Congregation may follow the recommendation of the nuncio, chose another of the candidates on the terna, or even ask that another terna be prepared. Fr. Mark said once it goes to the nuncio, he does his investigation. He sends letters to a bunch of people, that are confidential. Fr. Mark gets the letter as judicial vicar and it has a whole series of questions about the candidate. It doesn’t say what they’re being considered for and many of those investigated never become bishops. Fr. Mark said the subject of the investigation normally doesn’t know about the investigation. He emphasized the secrecy that surrounds the process. The judicial vicar is bound to inform the nuncio about anything that should be known that suggest whether he would be a good or bad appointment. It also asks about their appearance, their friends, and more. The Church is looking for anything that would be negative. The last question is “Who else should we ask?” and Fr. Mark always puts the name of layperson. Fr. Mark said this is an important place where laypeople are involved in the appointment of bishops. At a private audience with the pope, usually on a Saturday, the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops presents the recommendations of the Congregation to the Holy Father. A few days later, the pope informs the Congregation of his decision. The Congregation then notifies the nuncio, who in turn contacts the candidate and asks if he will accept. If the answer is “yes,” the Vatican is notified and a date is set for the announcement. It often takes six to eight months—and sometimes longer—from the time a diocese becomes vacant until a new bishop is appointed. Scot said depending on the circumstances, the time is usually shorter if it’s an auxiliary replacing another who’s retired. He added that it’s his understanding that the archdiocese normally has 6 auxiliaries, one for each of the five regions plus the moderator of the curia. Scot said when an auxiliary gets well known for his leadership qualities, it’s more common than not for those auxiliaries get named to other dioceses. Like Bishop Malone who went from Boston to Portland, Maine, and now to Buffalo. Fr. Mark named a number of Boston bishops who’ve gone on to other dioceses. Scot speculated that Cardinal Seán suggested Bishop-elect Deeley himself, especially because he was well known for his experience and skill, and since he is so well known in the Church that the process went quickly. Fr. Mark suggested that when Deeley came back from Rome last year, the chances were good he was going to become an auxiliary bishop. Scot asked Fr. Mark what people often misunderstand about this process. Fr. Mark said people often asked why there isn’t an election by the laypeople or the priests. He said we aren’t a democracy. Scot said it wasn’t always this way, but evolved that way. He said he thinks that this is because it is part of the unity of the Church, connecting the local Churches and the local bishops with the Holy Father. Fr. Mark said Deeley talked this morning about how he worked with then-Cardinal Ratzinger for just eight months before the cardinal was elected Pope. He noted that he arrived just as the 2004 election was underway and he was very interested in what was happening and quizzed him about it. The Pope is very interested in the Church around the world. Fr. Mark said the Holy Father’s familiarity with Msgr. Deeley, at least over those eight months, didn’t hurt in having him becoming a bishop. Fr. Mark said Deeley went to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the first place because the CDF was drowning in sex-abuse cases and Msgr. Deeley was willing to go and help. Scot said a typical misunderstanding is that this is a political process with priests campaigning for bishop. Fr. Mark said his father would have been one who campaigned on his behalf, although Fr. Mark said he’s happy where he is. Scot said in his experience working in the Church is that the guys who would campaign or jockey for position would be the ones who don’t get elevated. Scot remembered in 2006 when Bishop Hennessey and Bishop Dooher were appointed, they were stunned at their appointment. Scot said he wasn’t shocked that Bishops Kennedy or Uglietto were not surprises because they were doing such great jobs as seminary rectors and Bishop-elect Deeley isn’t a surprise because of his position as vicar general. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. First Reading for the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 11, 2012 (1 Kings 17:10-16) In those days, Elijah the prophet went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the entrance of the city, a widow was gathering sticks there; he called out to her, “Please bring me a small cupful of water to drink.” She left to get it, and he called out after her, “Please bring along a bit of bread.” She answered, “As the LORD, your God, lives, I have nothing baked; there is only a handful of flour in my jar and a little oil in my jug. Just now I was collecting a couple of sticks, to go in and prepare something for myself and my son; when we have eaten it, we shall die.” Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid. Go and do as you propose. But first make me a little cake and bring it to me. Then you can prepare something for yourself and your son. For the LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the LORD sends rain upon the earth.’” She left and did as Elijah had said. She was able to eat for a year, and he and her son as well; the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, as the LORD had foretold through Elijah Gospel for the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 11, 2012 (Mark 12:38-44) In the course of his teaching Jesus said to the crowds, “Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets. They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.” He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.” Scot said his episcopal motto would be “But first make me a little cake”. But seriously, he considered how the message here is how we are called to give all we have, even when we think we have very little. God doesn’t just want what we have extra, but to give all because we will never outdo his generosity. Fr. Mark said both of these women exhibited enormous acts of trust. Fr. Mark said it’s interesting the widow gives two coins, while some might have given just one. She gave all she had with trust. Scot said Jesus contrasted her faith and generosity with the scribes. They will receive condemnation for keeping up appearances and not being generous in their heart. She’s immortalized throughout history for her generosity. Fr. Mark said God asks us to give a little more and then says, Thank you very much, now can you give me a little more?…
Summary of today’s show: On our usual Thursday news show, Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Greg Tracy reviewed the headlines of the week, including Tuesday’s election, discussing their personal recollections of the day and results; Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s gracious letter to President Obama congratulating him and praying he will work for the common good; the other social issues voted on across the country; 2012 Cheverus award winners; the Adopt-a-Priest program; and the passing of a priest of almost 60 years service. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Question 2; Dolan on Election; Cheverus awards; Serra Boston 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and said we’re returning to our usual Thursday topic, the news that affects us, and that will include just a bit of election news. Susan Abbott said it’s been a long week. She said she debuted as a photographer for the Pilot this week with a photo of Sr. Ignacio holding a “No on Question 2” sign outside the polls on Tuesday at 7:45am standing with her walker. Sister was at the polls for hours on Tuesday in the freezing cold. Scot said he was amazed at the number of people he saw tweeting and Facebooking photos of themselves with their No on 2 signs. Gregory Tracy said he went with Cardinal Seán to the cardinal’s polling place, which is conveniently across the street from the cathedral rectory. After he voted, the cardinal greeted the people standing outside with signs. Greg said if he saw a sign on a ballot question it was for No on Question 2. He never saw a Yes on Question 2 and none on any of the others. Scot said he is curious whether Cardinal Seán drew attention when he went to vote. Greg said there was a number of media there, but mainly because of the location in Boston, but while they noticed him they didn’t pay too much attention to him. Some regular people from the neighborhood came up to say hello, but no other ruckus. Susan said she’d never held a political sign before, but because it was for a life or death issue, not a candidate, she’s still processing the sights and sounds and people. She told the story of encountering some of the voters and the positive reaction she got. Then she talked about talking to a young man who asked why he should vote No. Scot said his sense is that there were more than 10,000 people who were part of the team to stop assisted suicide in Massachusetts. Greg talked about how the Pilot had to hedge its story about Question 2 because the final, final count was not in as of press time. Scot noted the quotes in the story, including that from Fr. Matt Williams: “I praise God for the results of today. I thank God for the leadership of Cardinal Seán, who has been nothing less than heroic in leading the fight to defeat Question 2. Our pastors need to be commended for the work they have done on the front lines in mobilizing their people and helping to get the word out, and also our young people who we have seen that when they are presented with the truth about life and love, they respond. They become tremendous advocates for life. They become protagonists for the New Evangelization,” Father Williams said. Scot said Fr. Matt has said in recent weeks that even though this is a difficult ballot campaign, the Catholic Church mobilized in Massachusetts for the first time in a massive way all for the same cause. Greg said pro-life, anti-abortion efforts is universally unifying in the Church, and this turned out to be another example. He said most people who were early supporters did so out of an ignorance of the reality. Susan said you could always tell when someone hadn’t read the bill. The educational effort was a vital part, as was the spiritual effort. The other big story on Tuesday was the re-election of President Obama and Cardinal Timothy Dolan wrote a letter to him congratulating him. Dear President Obama, In my capacity as President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, I write to express my congratulations on your re-election as President of the United States.The people of our country have again entrusted you with a great responsibility.The Catholic Bishops of the United States offer our prayers that God will give you strength and wisdom to meet the difficult challenges that face America. In particular, we pray that you will exercise your office to pursue the common good, especially in care of the most vulnerable among us, including the unborn, the poor, and the immigrant.We will continue to stand in defense of life, marriage, and our first, most cherished liberty, religious freedom.We pray, too, that you will help restore a sense of civility to the public order, so our public conversations may be imbued with respect and charity toward everyone. May God bless you and Vice President Biden as you prepare for your second term in service to our country and its citizens. Sincerely yours, Timothy Cardinal Dolan Archbishop of New York President United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Greg said Cardinal Dolan isn’t going to blast the president in this kind of letter. The cardinal recognizes that we’re all Americans and patriotic. We just want our rights to religious freedom and to life to be respected and he expresses that for us. He’s asking for the president to find common ground to end the divisiveness. A broad exemption is an easy accommodation, so do they want to compromise or continue to divide? Scot said Dolan wrote that Obama can restore a sense of civility and then demonstrated that with his letter. Susan said the cardinal isn’t strident, but also doesn’t mince words. He sets the tone for further conversation. Susan said she’s encouraged that Obama in his speech referred to the need for God’s grace. Scot talked about teaching his children to pray for the newly elected or re-elected even though he didn’t support them or vote for them. Even if we’re concerned about particular candidates, never underestimate the power of prayer to move someone’s heart. Scot said the Pilot has an article on the various social issues voted on coast to coast. He said he knows assisted suicide in Massachusetts was tracked nationally as well as some marriage votes. But there were others as well, including an attempt to repeal the death penalty in California. Scot explained that generally speaking the bishops oppose death penalty as not necessary in this day and age. The votes on marriage allowed same-sex marriage by close votes. In Florida, one initiative would have banned public funding for abortion, to allow public funds to go to religious agencies, to amend the Affordable Care Act. A referendum for parental notification of a minor getting an abortion did pass in Montana. Puerto Rico had a nonbinding referendum to request to become the 51st state. Greg talked about having gone to Guam a year ago and saying that it might be nice to bring in two new states, Atlantic and Pacific. The panel talked about regional loyalties, which is especially true of Texas, and his sense is that Puerto Rico would be the same. He thinks it would add to the health and character of the US. 2nd segment: Scot said on November 18 at 3pm at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Cardinal Seán will present 121 Cheverus Award medals to recognize people who have served our parishes over a number of years. Most are nominated by pastors, approved by regional bishops, and given to Cardinal Seán. The cardinal also selects a few personally. Scot said it’s like a lifetime achievement award, not just for someone who leads on thing. The celebration is a week earlier this year, not on Feast of Christ the King, because the Cardinal will be in Rome on that Sunday for the Consistory of the College of Cardinals. Susan said she loves to see these awards and there’s always people she knows. She named the people from the list that she knows. Scot and Greg also discussed the people they know on the list. This is the complete list: Mrs. Anna Abbruzzese, Cohasset Mrs. Deborah Albano, Tewksbury Deacon John Alexander, Merritt Island Ms. Mary Beth Ammann, Somerville Dr. Angelica Avcikurt, Chestnut Hill Ms. Judith Bell, Dorchester Mrs. Cecile Benotti, Weston Sister Kathleen Bettencourt, OCarm/P, Peabody Mrs. Donna Biggins, Sudbury Mr. George & Mrs. Joan Bishop, Somerville Mr. James Bocelli, Malden Mr. Charles Braid, Revere Sister Mary Braley, S.C.N., Newburyport Deacon Robert Breen, Medford Mrs. Madelyn Brown, Medford Mr. Timothy Buckley, Waltham Ms. Kathleen Callagy, Lawrence Mr. Stephen Cavanaugh, Brockton Mr. Peter & Mrs. Laura Chan, Stoneham Mrs. Mary Frances Chisholm, Tyngsboro Dr. Henry (Hang Rok) Cho, Canton Sister Maureen Clark, CSJ, Watertown Mr. John Collier, Braintree Ms. Margaret Costa, Boston Ms. Olga de los Santos, Lynn Mr. Lawrence Destefano, Lexington Mr. David & Mrs. Anne DeVoe, Salem Ms. Shirley Di Iorio, Jamaica Plain Mrs. Felicia DiFeo, East Boston Mr. John DiMasi, Billerica Ms. Patricia Dineen, Belmont Ms. Marijane Dosdall, Wellesley Ms. Joyce Durst, Mattapan Mr. John Dwyer, Duxbury Mr. John Ellis, Jr., Brighton Mrs. Mary Fagan, South Boston Ms. Anne Farmer, Danvers Ms. Madeline Feldmann, Braintree Ms. Herondina Ferreira, Watertown Ms. Elizabeth Folloni, Bridgewater Mrs. Iwona Gajczak, Quincy Mr. Joseph Galluzzo, Andover Mrs. Elaine Garcia, Marlborough Ms. Kathleen Garon, North Andover Ms. Ann Garvey, Natick Mrs. Anna Gaudet, Newton Mrs. Patricia Gavin, Norwood Mr. Craig Gibson, Winchester Mr. James Gregory, Stoneham Mr. Meynardo Gutierrez, Medford Mrs. Loretta Haley, Newburyport Ms. Katherine Harless, Malden Mr. John Harrington, Reading Mrs. Lois Harrington, Stoneham Mr. Michael Hatch, Sr., Avon Mr. Walter Hunt, Boston Mrs. Mary Hurley, Hingham Mrs. Justine Hyppolite, Waltham Miss Clare Joyce, Milton Ms. Margaret Keefe, Lowell Ms. Jean Kelley, Boston Mr. Donald Kelly, Halifax Mrs. Theresa Kiernan, Dorchester Mr. Fred Klingmeyer, Wellesley Deacon William Koffel, Framingham Mrs. Paulette Lacoursiere, Hingham Ms. Mary Laverdure, Groveland Deacon Roland Leduc, Lowell Mrs. Janice Leonard, North Reading Ms. Eveline Lima, Marlboro Brother James Lucas, O.M.I., Tewksbury Dr. Aloysius Lugira, Woburn Attorney Henry Luthin, Brighton Mrs. Raye Mahoney, Peabody Mr. Charles Mangine, Needham Mrs. Carmella McCourt, Brockton Mr. Gerard McGrath, Quincy Mr. John McNeice, Canton Mr. Charles J. Murphy, Sudbury Ms. Joan Nelson, Boston Mr. Peter Thong Nguyen, Saugus Deacon John Nicholson, Marlborough Ms. Bernadette Obas, Mattapan Mr. William O’Halloran, Watham Mr. Richard Paquette, Haverhill Ms. Carol Parillo, Dedham Mrs. Edith Pedro, Cambridge Mr. Phong Pham, Lawrence Dr. Wilfrid Pilette, Framingham Ms. Judith Pinard, Ayer Mrs. Angiolina Pizzicannella, East Boston Ms. Janet Platt, West Newton Mrs. Mary Plourde, Brockton Ms. Jacqueline Proctor, Beverly Ms. Charlotte Quealey, Lowell Mrs. Maureen Rodino, Wellesley Ms. Mary Romano, Boston Mr. Mario Rosa, Cambridge Mr. Francis Russell, Readville Ms. Jan Sandberg, Lowell Ms. Frances Shawcross, Winchester Mr. Walter Shea, Kingston Mrs. Josephine Silva, Somerville Mr. Alvaro Soares, Nashua Dr. Robert Sperber, Brookline Mr. Ernest St. Laurent, Foxborough Deacon Daniel Sullivan, Milton Mrs. Barbara Suojanen, Medfield Mrs. Janet Swenson, Braintree Ms. Jennie Swenson, Hanover Mr. Charles Tautkus, Abington Mrs. Malida Thelusme, Brockton Mrs. Susan Tocci, Townsend Mrs. Donna Vaira, Ayer Mr. Raoul Vincent, Newton Mr. Thomas Walsh, Beverly Sister Mary K. Walsh, CSJ, Milton Sister Mary Jude Waters, OP, Watertown Ms. Virginia Williams, Duxbury Mr. Lee & Mrs. Eleanor Wright, Medford Sister Peggy Youngclaus, SND, Boston Scot pointed out in particular that John McNeice would be a unanimous inductee in any Hall of Fame for benefactors to the Catholic Church in Boston, along with Tom Flatley and Jack Shaughnessy. Everyone is invited to the liturgy and CatholicTV will be broadcasting this Mass live as well. Also in the Pilot is the Dorchester-based St. Mary’s Center for Women and Children in the former St. Margaret’s hospital. They provide a number of programs for kids recovering from trauma, a radio broadcast program for young teen girls, a shelter for homeless families, a home for pregnant and parenting teens, a jobs program for women re-entering the workforce, and an education center for women earning their GED. Scot said there’s some moving testimonies in this story. Greg said he was stunned to find out about all these programs and the number of families they’re helping. He noted their history goes back to the late 1800s. It grew out of a ministry of the Daughters of Charity for abandoned children. Susan said there was lots of talk during the election about women’s issues, but this is really about women’s issues, training them to be self-sufficient and raising them up out of poverty. Scot said the Serra Apostolate is offering it’s fourth annual Adopt-A-Priest apostolate. Volunteers are sent a sealed envelope with the name of a priest for people to pray for daily. For more information, go to their website or call 978-462-1057. In other news, Fr. John P. Kelly passed away last week. He was 95 years old and ordained in 1945. He served in Boston, Cambridge, Braintree, and Somerville. At St. Joseph’s in Somerville he was part of the first team ministry in the Archdiocese. Greg said at the time it was a brand new idea. He served the parish for 35 years and more, living there after retirement. Scot encouraged listeners to visit the Archdiocese of Boston’s website.…
Summary of today’s show: After the final votes have been tallied, Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams analyze the results of Election Day, starting with the bright spot of the defeat of Question 2 and assisted suicide, including how the results broke down by city and town and the question of whether a particular pastor’s homily led to the biggest win for No on 2 in the state. They then turn their attention to national races and look at what it portends for the Catholic Church and culture of life over the next four years and even beyond. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry and Janet Benestad Today’s topics: Post-Election Wrap-up 1st segment: Scot Landry said today will be like the post-game show of the election where they will comment on what happened, what everyone saw, and all the results. Scot asked Fr. Matt Williams what time he went to bed. He said 3am. Scot went to bed at 1:30. Janet Benestad said she was up all night worrying about Question 2. Fr. Roger Landry went to bed at 3:15am. Scot said it was an amazing night with mixed emotions for him. It’s tough not to be pleased by the win for life against assisted suicide, which finally tallied as a win by 2%. Janet said she kept hitting the refresh on her computer all night as the counted precincts came close to 100%. She is grateful to Cardinal Seán for his leadership. She reminded everyone that No on 2 was down by 30 points on this question in the polls at one point. Every one at the Archdiocese and the other 3 dioceses in Massachusetts are grateful today. Scot said ESPN columnist Bill Simmons do a sports diary throughout a game. He asked Fr. Matt what he was thinking at different parts of the night about Question 2. Fr. Matt said he was at LIFT last night and praying before the Blessed Sacrament for the defeat of Question 2. At one point he was very concerned at being down, considering how everything else was going all night. Scot asked Fr. Roger about his day at the polls and what his night was like. Fr. Roger said he went out to hold signs at the polls yesterday to vote No on 2. For about 3 hours while they were freezing, they were getting many more honks of support than the typical derision you get when you stand up in public. He sensed the people were excited to see two priests holding signs for No on 2.He said about 12 other people were at that poll for the same issue. Sixty-three percent of Fall River voters voted No on 2. About 9pm last night he became aware of the Question 2 as he watched local television. He watched how the percent counted rose so slowly and even seemed to stall after midnight. He was exhilarated by the morning to have this ray of sunshine. Scot said by 7:05 he started to realize that all the polls that so many had said were improperly weighted seemed to be right and so it seemed the nation would go that way. So as he checked the Boston Globe’s site, he saw Question 2 was a 50-50 vote right off the bat and then both Plymouth and North Andover come in and were clearly wrong, saying those towns were about 96%. He said the North Andover count had to be off so as he reached midnight he thought the margin was much higher than being reported. Then the remaining towns would be a wash. As it runs out 51.1 percent of Mass. voters voted no on Question 2. Scot took all 351 cities and towns and four hadn’t reported data yet and of the remaining, the #1 community to vote No on 2 was Lawrence, Mass. He’s somewhat surprised because he had worried that the Spanish materials produced for the campaign hadn’t got through. But a good friend of his went to St. Patrick’s in Lawrence three weeks ago who said he had just heard the best homily of his life from Fr. Paul O’Brien on Question 2. 69.4% of voters in Lawrence voted no on 2. Janet said she’d heard from people who work in Spanish-speaking ministry that they’d been talking about it to every group they could. She said there was also an interview with the Univision SPanish-language network did an interview with Fernando Fernandez on Question 2. She said these votes counted, given how close the vote was. Scot said it’s clear base on this vote in Lawrence and others that Spanish-speaking immigrants in Massachusetts speak up for life. Scot gave the list of the top 30 towns in order of voting No on 2. Fr. Roger said he was somewhat surprised by some of the results. He congratulated his colleague at the only parish in Acushnet whose been out holding signs with parishioners for the past six weeks. He hadn’t realized that a parish could have such an impact. He was surprised at the results in cities as opposed to towns because the voting rates tend to be lower. But in Fall River he was able to motivate the seniors to recognize how vulnerable they are, and seniors vote in high numbers. Fr. Roger said he wasn’t surprised at the results in some cities and towns when he looked at who the pastors are in those places. Scot said in Holbrook which was a good turnout, 58% voted No, but in the next town of Avon, 74% voted Yes, surrounded by every single community voting majority No. He asked what they did in Holbrook to get such a strong response. Fr. Matt said he’s not familiar how St. Michael’s in Avon carried out their mission, but at St. Joseph’s ion Holbrook played the Cardinal’s homily and Fr. John Currie and Fr. Matt have preached on this over the months. They didn’t do anything remarkable. They just did what they were told to do and owned it and it worked. He also noted that Lynn was in the top 10 and thinks that a video project they did with students at St. Mary’s in Lynn on this subject might have had an effect. Scot noted that Waltham has six or seven border communities around, including Newton, Lexington, Concord, and Belmont, and while all the others voted Yes on 2, Waltham came out No on 2. He said all the parishes in Waltham did a good job, although Our Lady Comforter of the Afflicted organized all the politicians in town to research the issue and take a position. Every single one of them voted No on 2. A parishioner took out a full-page ad with the statement saying that all the politicians including the mayor were opposed to Question 2. Janet noted the parish also did a great cable access show and then promoted that on various stations. Cardinal Seán put out a statement today: “Tuesday’s vote demonstrates that the people of the Commonwealth recognize that the common good was best served in defeating Question 2. The Campaign Against Physician Assisted Suicide brought together a diverse coalition from medical, disability rights and interfaith communities, all dedicated to ensuring that our residents were well informed about this issue. Our society must continue to work with hospice organizations and other palliative care providers to improve the care provided to the terminally ill. Patients are best served when the medical professionals, families and loved ones provide support and care with dignity and respect. I am grateful to Rosanne Meade, chair of the Committee Against Physician Assisted Suicide, who led this effort in collaboration with Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications, Martilla Strategies and the four Catholic dioceses of Massachusetts. Also, the campaign was greatly strengthened by the work of Fr. Bryan Hehir, Janet Benestad, Scot Landry, Kathleen Driscoll and the Knights of Columbus, all of whom gave significant time and effort to this cause during recent months. I also want to thank every individual who shared information with their neighbors, colleagues and family members. It is my hope and prayer that the defeat of Question 2 will help all people to understand that for our brothers and sisters confronted with terminal illness we can do better than offering them the means to end their lives.” Scot said Cardinal Seán told him how he was moved by seeing how many Catholics took yard signs, shared information with neighbors and family and stood out at the polls. Scot thinks more than anything word-of-mouth won this campaign and Janet agreed. She said Cardinal Seán used every avenue available to him to make sure everyone in the Commonwealth knew about this. Scot asked Fr. Roger what he thinks people will think about the Church’s involvement in this campaign. He’s heard from priests around the country who were surprised to see the comeback on this issue. He sent back an email describing how the Church got her corporate act together to inform and educate. Fr. Roger said he takes some learning experiences from it. He wishes we hadn’t waited so long. He’s a little concerned with the whole messaging of it. If he were a supporter of assisted suicide he would find someone on Beacon Hill to craft a new bill in the Legislature. He hopes that they’ve discouraged the pro-assisted suicide people enough and encouraged people around the country that we can win on matters of life. The third lesson is focusing on the importance of palliative care and real compassion and renewed focus on human dignity. Fr. Matt said he thought yesterday about what if it actually passed, but he realized regardless of whether it passed, his job of living out the Year of Faith and his own call to holiness increases even more. That this was such a close margin of victory shows how alive the culture of death is and our work is cut out for us. It’s a moment of consolation. Scot said the only person who worked harder than Janet on this was Cardinal Seán. He asked her on a personal level, having lead this effort for the archdiocese, what’s it like for her now. She said it was hard and there were many days when it seemed bleak, but Cardinal Seán was undaunted. Nothing was going to deter him. The people in the other dioceses were ready to work from day one, especially in the pro-life offices. She said a major newspaper wondered how this was turned around and she said it will stand as an example of a major turnaround of a political campaign. In the end it really did come down to prayer. Scot said we couldn’t have won without the leadership from the Massachusetts medical community and the disability community, plus the various pro-life and pro-family groups. 2nd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Rosemary Clarkin from Providence, RI She wins the book “Pray, Hope and Don’t Worry: True Stories of Padre Pio Book II” by Diane Allen. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 3rd segment: Scot said about 7pm he’d started seeing that all the polls seemed to have been right all along. The Democrats did very well. What many people thought would be a moderate Republican mandate turned out to be a slight repudiation of that and a moderate Democrat mandate. We have the same general makeup of the House and Senate and of course the White House. Janet said the GOP took a beating it didn’t expect. Romney had emerged as a strong candidate in recent weeks, but in the end it wasn’t enough. She thinks about the McGovern coalition of 40 years ago coming into its own here. Latinos, African-Americans, Asians all came out for Obama. People were really turning out for the Democrat platform. The truism that the incumbent pays for economic trouble didn’t bear out. Scot said self-identified Catholics went as a majority for Obama and the Catholic bloc tends to go for the winner. Fr. Roger said the Church only forms a small percentage of Catholics on Sundays to form them in the traditional way. We have to try to form those Catholics who are least somewhat still associating with the Church. If we’re not able to help Catholics identify the culture of life, we’re not going to be able to evangelize the culture as a whole. In the exit polls, he saw the chasm between those who are married versus those who are not married. Most pundits don’t look at this sliver of population. Sixty percent of married men voted for Romney and 53% did, but large majorities of the unmarried voted for Obama, especially women. He noted that for the first time in America, the majority of adults are not married. He said once people are married and raising children, the whole openness to the culture of life issue becomes more important. The unmarried don’t think about it in the same way. Fr. Matt said it shows we’re ripe for a new evangelization. He noted that at his parish they got an irate call from a parishioner over the No on 2 sign on the church’s lawn. There is a misconception about the relationship between the Church and the state. We need to educate about our rights, what are our civil rights. People don’t understand what rights religious people have. What the right to live and die means. As a Church we need to address this on a broad scale, especially on how the Church is involved. Scot said his hope is that the Church will continue to help people overcome these misunderstandings, especially now that we’re not in an election season. Some people rejected what the Church was saying because they said it was partisan. We need to educate on even the basic foundational principles. Americans largely misunderstand what the Constitution says about the separation of church and state. He said the bishops have done better in the past 16 months than in the rest of his lifetime. Scot said there’s already debate on the future of the Republican Party and its relationship to life issues, immigration issues, and economic issues. He said it’s troubling to him that we will have two parties who may be moving left. Fr. Roger said his big takeaway is that Republicans won’t win another national election until they change immigration policy.…
Summary of today’s show: It’s finally Election Day and Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor welcome Michael Lavigne and David Harris—a former Senate staffer turned seminarian—discuss today’s election, their experiences at the polls, and their predictions for the presidential election, the Mass. Senate race, ballot question 2, and other public policy issues and political offices in play today. Will our panel of pundits’ predictions hold up to the actual polls? Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Michael Lavigne and David Harris Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Election Day Special 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to Election Day and he said he’s been looking forward to this day, especially given his work on the assisted suicide question. Fr. Chris O’Connor said he’s locking himself down by going to Norfolk State Prison to minister to the convicts. He voted this morning near his home in Winthrop. Scot said he’s heard many reports from the polls from people who saw people holding up No on 2 signs. It’s a moving testimony to people having got the message on assisted suicide. Scot said the Church hasn’t educated on a public policy issue in decades like she has on Question 2. Fr. Chris said he’s glad the Church has been such a strong articulate voice on this question. Fr. Chris related how he heard one Libertarian radio show host said he changed his mind on Question 2 after hearing the ads and other information about the issue. Scot said Cardinal Seán first spoke on assisted suicide 14 months ago and the Boston Globe blasted him for it, but now the Globe editorial board has come out on the same side as the Cardinal. Fr. Chris said his eight-year-old nephew Noah dressed as Mitt Romney for Halloween this year and gave his biggest endorsement to the former governor. He said some of the eight-year-old’s comments on all three debates have been at least as edifying as the comments heard from the pundits on MSNBC. 2nd segment: Scot said tomorrow’s show will reflect on what happened today. Scot welcomed our guests Michael Lavigne and David Harris, who’s a seminarian with experience in political campaigns. Michael said he’s voting tonight in his new home of Taunton. David said he’s a resident of New Hampshire and voted via absentee ballot. Scot said David worked in politics before entering the seminary. David credited his very liberal roommates at Providence College for his interest in politics and getting involved. He went to Washington and worked for Sen. John Sununu from New Hampshire. He also did some campaigning and then after worked in the private sector doing some issue political campaigning. Scot asked his sense of how the election might go in New Hampshire. David said he didn’t know a single person in New Hampshire who isn’t voting, and he thinks Romney has a shot. David said New Hampshire voters have been pragmatic and have wanted ideas that work and seeing the last four years they might see Mitt Romney as a problem solver. Scot said he was at his polling place in Belmont by 7am and was about 35th in line. He can’t remember it ever being that deep in his 11 years. His 6-year-old son Dominic accompanied him and was talking up the people in line about Question 2. Scot said there’s not a lot that usually happens in Belmont, but about 8:35am Mitt and Ann Romney came to vote in Belmont. His sense was the about 400 or 500 residents were there and nearly an equal number of media people. Unfortunately, there were no Vote No on 2 signs and he had given away his last one. Fr. Chris added that the Brown and Warren Senate race is also neck and neck and the national media are watching that. Scot said Michael has lived in Rhode Island and Maine, so what does think about the way Massachusetts does it. Michael said the big difference is that in this Senate race your vote matters, but in Rhode Island it’s mostly landslides for the Democrat. He said in Maine three years ago they had a ballot on same-sex marriage like we have on Question 2. He’s hoping that the experience in Maine is replicated where polling said same-sex marriage would win by 2 points but traditional marriage won by 7. Scot asked David about his opinion of the polls that show the dead heat in Question 2. David said when he was campaigning he worked on the ground and they mostly ignored them in order to not get distracted. But polling can matter, especially in the past few weeks as the polls showed some states coming into play for Romney. Good polling is valuable, but it’s not an exact science. There’s a reason we actually cast a vote and don’t let polls choose our leaders. Scot referred to a poll from a TV station in Western Massachusetts on Question 2 that broke down by religious background. Of those who are regular Mass attendees, more than 70% will vote No, while those who go to Mass once per month or less supported Question 2 at about 49%. There were similar numbers for Protestants.While those who are agnostic or atheist, 90% supported it. Fr. Chris said this is clear evidence that the Church speaks clearly on the value of life at all stages. He read a quote from a recent George Weigel column that said the inalienable right to life and the nature of marriage have to be upheld by Catholics at the polls. Scot said it’s been awkward for him in the election to see how the leaders of one party and its party platform have treated the Catholic leadership and Catholic belief in contempt. He said he’s not trying to be partisan. HE referred to Archbishop Chaput who said the Democratic Party platform has drifted from alignment with Catholic beliefs because Catholics haven’t fought for it in the platform. While Republicans aren’t guaranteed not to go the same way, it’s hard today as a Catholic not to be troubled by the Democratic Party platform. David said as a Christian you want try to be pastoral and loving, but at the same time you have to defend the truth and support what the Church teaches. He’s been learning to mercifully tell the truth to those who still support the Democratic Party. He said Cardinal Seán has outlined for everyone in this archdiocese how we need to vote if we want to be Catholic, what principles we have to live by and vote by. Fr. Chris said we don’t just vote the party. The characters of political parties change over time. We have a sacred duty in the voting booth that we’re not only voting for ourselves, but for the common good. We should never outsource this ability who’s going to lead out country. Scot said Archbishop Chaput also said it’s a sacred duty to be able to vote and we need to be a Catholic before we’re a Democrat or Republican or even American. Michael said he’s had friends try to pigeonhole him as Republican or Democrat, but he’s a Catholic who stands up and takes seriously his responsibility as a Catholic. To be Catholic is to not completely agree with either party’s platform, but there are some issues which stand above the others, which the bishops pointed out are defense of human life and traditional marriage. David pointed out a story on Drudge Report how Vice President Joe Biden said if he loses today, he’ll go back home to run for county commissioner. Scot said he finds Biden likable, while Fr. Chris said he found him to be rude in the vice presidential debate. But Scot said he liked how Biden is just himself, like in his first press conference when introduced as VP running mate when he took time to compliment his wife’s looks. Michael said he likes to remember that these are human beings running for office and their human dignity. Fr. Chris said he particularly liked the moment after one of the debates when Mitt Romney’s grandson went up to President Obama and shake his hand. 3rd segment: Scot said today is an historic day in the US where we either elect a new president or re-elect a president. Scot said it’s fun to predict what will happen. He asked Michael for his prediction. Michael said while no one really knows, he said writer Peggy Noonan has said there’s a palpable sense that things are going Romney’s way. He thinks that ROmney will win both electoral college and popular vote. Popular vote will be 52% for Romney he thinks and it will be decided at 12:30AM. He asked David his prediction. David said he agreed that Peggy Noonan was right. He agreed that Romney will win with 50% of the popular vote and will be decided by midnight. He agreed with Karl Rove’s estimate of 289 electoral college votes. He thinks the governorship and Congressional seats will go Democrat. Scot said he’s disappointed that Republican Ovid Lamontaigne isn’t likely to win because he’s a good Catholic. Fr. Chris predicts Romney will win with 305 electoral college votes and before he finishes his ricotta pie at 11:30pm. He thinks Ohio will be the decider. He’s really concerned with Ohio and it’s the bellwether. Romney hadn’t been getting the ground in Ohio in recent weeks, but finally there’s a sense of momentum behind Romney now. Scot asked what they make of Romney campaigning today in Ohio and Pennsylvania while Obama hangs out in Chicago. Some think it’s a good idea on Romney’s part while others think Romney is keeping campaign workers from getting out the vote. Fr. Chris said it’s a sign that Romney has brought Ohio and Pennsylvania back into play. He cited Rush Limbaugh who said he thinks there’s a momentum behind Romney. Scot said he thinks Romney will get 276 electoral college and only 49% of the vote to Obama’s 48%. He doesn’t think we’ll officially know until November 17. Tomorrow we’ll hear the projections, but four or five states will have an automatic recount with several weeks to sort it all out. Fr. Chris said he’ll need another ricotta pie. Turning to the Senate race, he asked Michael’s prediction. Michael said he thinks Brown will eke out a narrow victory against Warren. 50 to 48. David agrees it will be super-close and he thinks Brown will win because of the Catholics coming out to Vote No on 2. He predicted Brown 49 to 48 percent. They discussed whether there will be a recount and David predicted not. Fr. Chris said he’s nervous. He heard on the radio today that so many Democrats coming out for Obama will push it to Warren. Scot predicted she will win by 3 or 4 points. Scot said you have to measure the street signs and the enthusiasm, and he’s seen a lot of enthusiasm for Warren has been higher and he’s seen yard signs for Warren to Brown at a 20 to 1 ratio. He said he saw Elizabeth Warren banners on nearly every overpass on Route 128 coming down from Belmont to Braintree today. His sense is that the large statewide Democratic infrastructure is back in play in support of Warren. Fr. Chris said the 2010 election was not a general election, but a sort of surprise in January and it aided Brown in winning that race. He added he had a friend out on the Southeast Expressway with Romney and Brown signs getting a lot of positive response. On the issue of Question 2, Scot asked Michael his prediction. He said he compared it to the same-sex marriage question in Maine in 2009 and predicted the same outcome as 52-45. David said he thinks Question 2 will be defeated. Fr. Chris agreed. Scot made it unanimous as 52-46. Scot said the tide turned on Question 2 in recent weeks as most of the major newspapers endorsed a No on 2 position and there have been almost no visibility for Yes on 2 questions. He thinks the word-of-mouth and passion will carry the day. He said the hope is that people will walk into the ballot box knowing question 2 is the assisted suicide question and decided to vote No, but if not people will be deterred by the dense language on the ballot and vote No or abstain. On other issues, Fr. Chris said he wonders how New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie might have helped the president or hurt him after meeting with him after Hurricane Sandy. He said most polls show the Senate will stay with the Democrats and the Republicans will gain seats in the House. He thinks that’s not necessarily a bad thing. David said RealClearPolitics.com has an aggregate poll that shows the difference between four years ago and today, where Obama has so much less of an advantage. Michael said he’s looking at the referendums on marriage in four states where it’s so tight in all those states. Scot said he’ll be looking at how Catholics are voting, given his activity in education on Question 2. He hopes Catholic votes start to look different from everyone else’s because we’re called to be leaven in society and not just to go along.…
Summary of today’s show: On the eve of one of the most momentous elections in a generation, Scot Landry welcomes Fr. Roger Landry and Janet Benestad to discuss one last time about the life and death consequences of Massachusetts Question 2, which would legalized assisted suicide; how one might choose between two candidates who have declared themselves to be pro-choice as Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren have; and what a Catholic needs to remember when deciding whether to re-elect a candidate who has consistently curtailed his own religious freedom. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Church in Fall River; Janet Benestad, Secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization; Phil Lohnes Today’s topics: Election Eve Special Links from today’s show: 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and the election eve special. He welcomed Fr. Roger Landry and Janet Benestad to the show. Fr. Roger will be on the show tomorrow and Wednesday as well. Scot said Janet and her team has been sprinting over the past year to educate people about Question 2 on assisted suicide on tomorrow’s ballot. He asked her for her assessment. Janet said we’re in good shape and done everything we could possibly do. She emphasized that this isn’t a Catholic issue, but people of all faiths and no faith have supported a No vote on Question 2. The effort has been formidable and people are coming to understand this may be the most important vote they ever cast. Scot noted so many elections in Massachusetts are not this close. There was 25 point spread a few months ago, but now it’s within the margin of error. He’s heard people say they were happy they registered in Massachusetts to cast this vote. Fr. Roger agreed that this is literally a matter of life and death and we will all have to deal with this issue within our lives, whether for ourselves or a loved one or someone we know. We need to push in the direction of true compassionate care and not open the door to a Trojan horse that undervalues certain lives. This is the time for all Catholics to step up as real Catholics. Archbishop Chaput said last week that before we’re Democrat or Republican or even American, we’re Catholic first. Scot asked Janet if she still has concerns about people having misconceptions about Question 2 and being tricked by the euphemisms. Janet said they are concerned about the wording of the ballot which could confuse voters. The No side says it’s to not change the law in Massachusetts and people may not know what the law is. So they’re just simply saying to Vote No. Others may be convinced by those arguing for assisted suicide because it’s supposedly dignified, but she pointed out all the loopholes in the bill that doctors, ethicists, and public policy experts will say is a problem. Scot asked Fr. Roger if he hears from people who have such misconceptions. Fr. Roger said a lot of people are ignorant that it’s even on the ballot. He said Bishop George Coleman of Fall River had a message played in every parish in the diocese this past weekend on how people can fulfill their Christian duty through their civic duty and helping those who are most vulnerable. He said in a close election, we might be the ones who can persuade the two or five or ten who will decide this vote. Scot asked Janet what listeners should do between now and tomorrow. She suggested calling everyone, especially those who might be confused, and to make sure they go vote. And finally pray to be spared this dangerous bill. Fr. Roger asked his parishioners to go work the polls tomorrow, to hold Vote No on 2 signs and offer literature.Many of his parishioners have signed up to man any of the polling stations throughout the city so that there’s someone at each place. People are making calls and sending emails tonight. Scot suggested people send out a message on each of Twitter or Facebook tonight. He asked people to send a nice gentle respectful message to people in their address books who live in Massachusetts. Your email, tweet, or Facebook message may be what’s in someone’s mind as they go to vote tomorrow. Question 3 on the ballot is legalizing medical marijuana. He asked Fr. Roger if there’s a moral reason for a Catholic to vote yes. Fr. Roger said he can’t see one. There may be some medical help to be given through a drug like this, but there are larger social issues as seen in California with all the bogus prescriptions given out. Marijuana is infamously a gateway drug and creates patterns of escape from reality. Janet said marijuana is not the way to keep our communities clean and safe. Scot said you only have to ask police what they see as the result. Turning to the US Senate race, he asked how he would break down the life issues between Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren. Fr. Roger said there’s nothing he’s ever seen anything from Warren to show she thinks there’s an abortion in the US that shouldn’t be celebrated. While Brown has run ads showcasing his pro-choice positions, he’s voted with pro-lifers in some cases. He said Warren’s strategy seems to have been to focus on Brown’s Republican Party and hypothetical votes. But in an election in which Catholics are voting moral issues, the track records of the parties is important, especially considering Supreme Court nominations, Senate hearings, revision of Obamacare. So it’s how they might vote with their party in Washington. He said Republicans have been more consistent on the life issues along the lines of what the Catholic bishops have been outlining as the pro-life way. Janet said Catholics will find themselves most comfortable in the Republican platform. Warren has been so extreme and talking as if women are only concerned with reproductive rights issues. The Democratic party is so extreme with regard to those reproductive rights. Scot asked if the so-called War on Women has backfired. Janet said women resent the fact that they have been reduced to an ideological position on contraception and abortion. They care about the economy, healthcare, national defense and more. She related anecdotes about people beginning to resent the reduction of the political to a couple of hot-button ideological issues through negative advertising. Scot said in this case you have two candidates who talk as if they’re pro-choice although on a continuum. Fr. Roger said it’s unfortunate we don’t have a choice between two staunch pro-lifers. The teaching of the Church is that a Catholic must vote according to a well-informed conscience. One option is that if there are serious qualms about both candidates, then they can write in a candidate as a vote of none of the above. The second option is to look to see which would do the best and most amount of good or to prevent the worse the evil from the other candidate. Pope John Paul II was clear in 1995 that it is morally legitimate to accomplish as much as you can when there is no good choice. It’s morally possible to vote for a pro-choice candidate who wants to restrict abortion versus one who doesn’t want restrictions in order to bring about the greater good. Trying to weigh this with regard to war, poverty, and other matters is more difficult, but there are some non-negotiable issues like abortion and then there are other issues which are prudential. No candidate is pro-poverty, but they have different ideas for how best to solve the problem. When candidates are fundamentally wrong about the ends of government, however, that weighs more. 2nd segment: Scot said there is a lot of intellectual information to take int o the voting booth, but there are personal experiences we bring with us as well. Scot’s friend Phil Lohnes has had experiences in his own family about flawed terminal diagnoses. He welcomed Phil to the show. He said his aunt at 84 years old was given a six-month terminal diagnosis of cancer and she’s still here at 90. She believed it on the one hand and got her affairs in order, but also didn’t believe it too. It was a sword of Damocles over her head that even left her wondering what the point of living is, which is there had been assisted suicide she would have thrown away years of life. Phil said mostly people in his family don’t talk about what happened, but they begin to realize that more people need to know. He said his mother-in-law suffered a head trauma five or six years ago. She was rushed to a hospital in Boston and within a week or so, she had a saline drip adjusted not once, but twice, by a nurse that if left that way long enough would have killed her. the only reason it didn’t kill her was her medical doctor daughter caught it. Someone within that hospital decided her life wasn’t worth living. Now she’s lived to see her grandchildren through the next stages of life. Scot said Cardinal Seán had articulated this as one of his concerns as a slippery slope. People could end up afraid of their medical caregivers and worry that they have become executioners. After Phil ended the call, Scot said there are many stories like Phil’s about relatives who outlived terminal diagnoses or just had the time to live with loved ones. Janet said she is herself a cancer survivor and had she not received treatment nine years ago she would never have met her grandchildren. Lethal drugs is not a treatment for a disease. We should start with good end-of-life care. That’s where this conversation begins. One of the strongest arguments against Question 2 has been that terminal diagnoses are often wrong and the biggest champions have been leaders in the Massachusetts medical community. He said it’s stark to hear a case like Phil’s. Back to Fr. Roger, Scot said he recalled how many days back in 2000 to settle Bush v. Gore. Everything he hears now with so many battleground states, it may end up as close as 2000. Fr. Roger said there are issues in Ohio where we may end up waiting 10 days to find out the result if it comes down to provisional ballots. He said in 2000 the entire presidential election was decided by 537 cast out of six million in Florida. Fr. Roger said he was in Nashville recently and talked to a doctor who’d studied what had happened in Oregon after assisted suicide was legalized there. Hospice nurses would tell him that the main reason given for the approval of all the distribution of pills was a lack of autonomy, but almost all the individuals who got prescriptions for the pills in their last days spent their last days talking about the pills, rather than God or their families. They agonized over whether to take the pills instead of preparing themselves and their families. Fr. Roger also expressed his thanks for Victoria Kennedy who wrote in an op-ed last week about how she was able to spend the last 15 months with her husband Sen. Ted Kennedy. Scot said there’s a lot at stake in the presidential race. One of the issues we’ve been talking about is the relationship between our Catholic faith and how the government respects us. Scot said he’s felt like in the past both Democrats and Republics have respected our Catholic bishops. But when it comes to this Affordable Care Act, it was done without respecting the hierarchy within the Church, but instead the Obama administration spoke to dissident organizations. And then didn’t deal above board with bishops when the HHS mandate was put forward. Janet said there’s no question that we’re being called to violate our consciences in order to live up these expectations from this administration. Janet said she too has always thought our government respected our religious freedom, but now we’re in a difficult position in this election. Scot asked Fr. Roger if this is the top issue in the national election? He said he personally believes it’s the most consequential element of the election. On abortion and gay marriage, much of the change possible is complicated, takes time, and is out of the president’s hands, but on this issue this is something that can change on Day One. Fr. Roger asked his parishioners yesterday if a president is actively campaigning that abortion is American as apple pie, if he’s threatening existence of Catholic hospitals and schools, and if Catholics still vote for him, what will the conclusion be? Pope Benedict spoke earlier this year about the worrisome developments in America about the limitations on the practice of religious freedom. We’re either going to teach them a lesson or they’re going to draw lesson on how we accept what happens. It doesn’t mean a Catholic has to vote for Romney, but could vote third party. Fr. Roger said our votes always have consequences and if someone is taking us down a road we don’t want to go and we vote for them anyway, we will have to live with those consequences. Scot quoted Archbishop Chaput’s recent column called : “Catholic” is a word that has real meaning. We don’t control or invent that meaning as individuals. We inherit it from the Gospel and the experience of the Church over the centuries. If we choose to call ourselves Catholic, then that word has consequences for what we believe and how we act. We can’t truthfully call ourselves “Catholic” and then behave as if we’re not. Being a Catholic is a bit like being married. We have a relationship with the Church and with Jesus Christ that’s similar to being a spouse. If a man says he loves his wife, his wife will want to see the evidence in his fidelity. The same applies to our relationship with God. If we say we’re Catholic, we need to show that by our love for the Church and our fidelity to what she teaches and believes. Otherwise we’re just fooling ourselves. God certainly won’t be fooled. The Church is not a political organism. She has no interest in partisanship because getting power or running governments is not what she’s about, and the more closely she identifies herself with any single party, the fewer people she can effectively reach. […] In the end, the heart of truly faithful citizenship is this: We’re better citizens when we’re more faithful Catholics. The more authentically Catholic we are in our lives, choices, actions and convictions, the more truly we will contribute to the moral and political life of our nation. Janet said we have to have well-formed consciences, learning as much as we can about the issues and what our Church teaches about the issues. Fr. Roger said tomorrow is a big day and God is counting on us to be salt, light, and leaven.…
Summary of today’s show: The topic of canon law is rarely fun and lighthearted, but Scot Landry, Fr. Mark O’Connell and Chris Kelly make a go of it with a Jeopardy-style back-and-forth, answering questions on the sacraments that the Archdiocesan Tribunal frequently receives. From whether a parent can fire a godparent after the baptism to why you can’t have your wedding on a beach, our panel give informative answers to important questions many people encounter. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Chris Kelly Today’s topics: Canon Law Quiz Show 1st segment: Scot Landry said there’s a lot going on from All Saints’ Day to All Souls Day to Election Day next week. Scot and Fr. Mark agreed they’re looking forward to the political ads ending. They said a lot rides on the election and when we vote it’s a moral act on which we act on our deepest values. He welcomed Chris Kelly to the show. Scot noted yesterday was the second anniversary of WQOM, of which Chris is the general manager. Chris thanked everyone who donated to the recent fund drive and noted that they are still short of their goal. Donations can be made at . Scot said on today’s show they’re addressing the 20 or so most-frequently asked questions of the Tribunal and canon lawyers. Scot said they’re going to have a contest to see how well he and Chris Kelly guess the answer. Fr. Mark said his office has been keeping the list of frequently asked questions since 2003. Fr. Mark will ask questions of Scot and Chris. He started with questions on baptism. Fr. Mark asked Chris the first question: Who qualifies as a sponsor at baptism? Chris said a baptized Catholic. Scot added a baptized, confirmed Catholic in good standing. Fr. Mark clarified that a non-Catholic can stand-in as a Christian witness. He said you only need one Catholic to be a godparent and the other can be a Christian witness. The second question: Can a parent fire a godparent after the baptism? Scot said the answer is No. Chris said his answer is Yes. Fr. Mark said that Scot is right. He said you can add to record. You can’t change the record because it is history of that day. The next question is whether you can pick a godparent who is not a Catholic? Chris noted that while it was sort of answered, the answer is Yes. Fr. Mark said the person must be a Christian to a witness. Scot answered the question whether you can have two godparents who are of the same sex. Fr. Mark said godparent is not the technical word, but are listed as sponsors in canon law. However, the register has a space for one man and one woman. Scot got the question right. The next question is How does an Orthodox person become a Roman Catholic? Chris answered that since the Orthodox have all the same sacraments, they won’t need to be baptized or confirmed. Fr. Mark said they received baptism, confirmation and first communion at the same and because they are sacramentally valid they don’t have to go through RCIA. Instead, they first have to become an Eastern-rite Catholic by a profession of faith in front of the pastor. They become a Greek Catholic or Russian Catholic. To become a Roman Catholic, there has to be a series of letters between the Eastern-rite bishops and the Latin rite bishop. The Church discourages switching between Catholic rites. Fr. Mark asked Scot whether parent can be a confirmation sponsor. Scot said the answer is Yes. Fr. Mark said canon law says the sponsors are the same rule as baptism sponsors so no, since the parents can’t be baptism sponsors. The parent can stand in as a proxy and present them to the bishop if the sponsor can’t be present. The Church encourages the godparents to be the sponsor. Fr. Mark said the next question for Chris is “Can a child who is not of Confirmation age ask to receive Confirmation early?” Fr. Mark said in the Archdiocese of Boston it’s usually 13 or 14 years old. Chris said the answer is No. Scot said Yes. Fr. Mark said Yes, but pastors don’t often realize that. The child has a right to early confirmation if they are ready for it. Scot noted that in a few dioceses where the children receive confirmation in second grade at the same time as first communion and first reconciliation. Scot said the current score is 4 for Landry and 2 for Kelly. Next question is whether you need to be confirmed to be married in the Catholic Church. Fr. Mark said technically you don’t although it’s highly encouraged. He said children are often told they have to stay in religious education to confirmation if they ever want to be married. This is incorrect. This isn’t a canon law question, but Why do some Churches have the Confirmandi in robes and others do not? This one is for Chris. Chris said No and Scot said it’s because the church wants the kids to stand out from the west or to reflect a particular symbolic color. Fr. Mark said robes make it seem like a graduation and it can make it seem like they’re graduating from religion. But because confirmation is a beginning, not an ending, they discourage the practice. On the other hand, they use the robes to cover up kids who aren’t properly dressed. Onto Penance, Scot was asked Do they still do General Absolution and where can I go to do that instead of individual Confession? Scot said Ys, under certain circumstances, but it’s very rare. You could do it on a plane about to go down. Or otherwise when it is impossible for practical purposes for everyone who wants to receive the sacrament individually can’t. Still, those individuals are encouraged to go individually. Fr. MArk said it’s 100% perfect answer, even when you have to go to individual confession later. Scot said the Church has emphasized that it should be rare for general absolution. For Chris, Do I have to tell all my sins in Confession? Chris said Yes, however, if don’t remember them all inadvertently, all the sins are still forgiven. Fr. Mark said that was well done. cot asked the status of your relationship with God if you knowingly withhold the confession of a sin because you’re embarrassed. Fr. Mark said the actual effectiveness is up to God, not the priest. He said some people worry about looking bad in front of the priest, but he said the priest has heard everything before and wants to hear a full confession. To not give a full confession risks not receiving absolution. Fr. Mark noted that if you forget a mortal sin and remember it later, you still have to confess it. Chris asked whether a priest can ever reveal what’s said in confession. Fr. Mark said absolutely no. Scot added that the priest can’t even reveal to the individual that they remember the sin. Fr. Mark said every priest has had a weird conversation with someone who later brings something up from the confessional and he’s supposed to just not respond. Scot answered Do I have to go to Confession facing a priest? Scot said of course not. You can still use the confessional box or sitting side by side. Fr. Mark said a person can ask for an opportunity for anonymous confession because they have that right. For Chris, Can I receive Communion if I haven’t gone to Confession lately? He said that we’re required to go to confession once per year at least and if they are in a state of mortal sin, not to receive communion. They are still required to go to Mass. Onto the marriage topic, Scot is asked whether s non-Catholic marrying a Catholic have to promise to raise the children Catholic? Scot guessed No. Rick Heil disagreed with Scot that if you’re having a Catholic wedding, then you must. Chris agreed with Rick. Fr. Mark said the non-Catholic does not make any process, but the Catholic has to promise to remain a Catholic and to do in his power to raise the children as Catholic. It’s not an absolute promise. The non-Catholic has to witness the promise. Scot gets the point. Fr. Mark asked Chris: How come my Church won’t give me a real Baptism certificate? Chris said the baptism certificate has to stay in the church’s records. Fr. Mark said the long form of the certificate has to only be given from one priest to another. The long form establishes the freedom to marry and has never been married or has been annulled. These are the Church’s private records. The parish can give a short form. For Scot: Can a priest marry a couple that has no intention of having children? Scot said it’s a loaded question. People beyond the age of childbirth can be married can be married. On the other hand, if a couple said they absolutely aren’t open to life or open to having children then the answer is No. Fr. Mark said he’s right. They would ask the couple to re-consider. It also doesn’t mean that the couple can’t decide to delay children. He said you have to give the right to your spouse to have children in the union. For Chris: Why can’t I have my wedding on the beach? Chris said the sacraments aren’t personal or private. We don’t divide the sacrament from the Church. Having the sacrament in the Church unites it to the community. Fr. Mark said a baptized Catholic marrying a non-baptized person is a non-sacramental marriage, so what about those. They are natural and valid marriage, but not a sacrament. Scot guesses No. Fr. Mark said it’s up to the province of bishops to say what’s a suitable place and in our province even for non-sacramental marriages between a Catholic and non-Catholic they must be indoors in a public place and sacramental marriages must be in a church. They then discussed that you can get permission to have a Mass on the beach, but not a wedding. Fr. Mark said people often are angered by the rule. For Chris: Can I have two ceremonies for my Marriage; one Catholic and the other of my spouse’s faith? Chris said he’s stymied. Scot said in countries where Catholic marriages aren’t recognized by the government, they go to the courthouse to get civilly married first and then go to the church for a sacramental wedding. But if this was about different faiths, then he says No. Fr. Mark said this question is most often asked by people marrying Hindus. A Catholic gets married in one church and then in a Catholic church, did they really fully commit to the Catholic sacrament. The preferred solution is to have the other ceremony with a dispensation and not have one in the Catholic church. For Scot: Should a priest or deacon celebrate a Marriage if the woman is pregnant? Scot’s answer is Yes. Fr. Mark said a couple preparing for marriage, maybe in late twenties and go to Mass every week, and they move up the wedding, that’s okay. On the other hand, a young woman of 18 gets pregnant and thinks she needs to, he would say wait. That wouldn’t necessarily be full and free consent. Last question for Chris: How do I get my Marriage which was not in a Church “blessed” by the Church? Chris said they have to go through the parish priest. Fr. Mark said another good answer is to call the Tribunal. He said someone married outside the Church is not validly married and not able to go to Communion and the Church assumes you’re having sex outside marriage, which you can’t confess because you won’t have a firm commitment to avoid that again. So you would have to validate the marriage, by going through an actual wedding ceremony. He said he’s had people come in to have their marriage validated with five kids in tow and it was a wonderful celebration. Scot asked for a tiebreaker: Does an annulment of my marriage make my children illegitimate? Scot said the answer is NO!!!!!! Chris seconds that. The answer is No. Another tiebreaker: Why does my non-Catholic fiancé need a Catholic annulment? Chris said the Church has to ensure that the natural marriage did not exist in the first place. Fr. Mark said because a Catholic is participating and we recognize that all marriages can be valid. Fr. Mark said if two Jews are married by an Elvis impersonator in Las Vegas for two weeks and divorced 10 years later. If one of them wants to marry a Catholic, do they need an annulment? The answer is Yes. 2nd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Gospel for the Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 4, 2012 (Mark 12:28b-34) One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’ And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions. Scot said what jumps out to him was the firmness by which he answered the question. God wants us to love our neighbors intensely, but to love God first, putting him first. Chris said he was struck by the emphasis on “you” as in “you must”. There is a personal call to each one of us individually. Fr. Mark said some people don’t love and respect themselves enough and that’s the standard by which we’re supposed to love. He added that St. Therese tells a story about helping a grumpy elder sister every day and was loved by her because she gave her her nicest smile every day. Scot asked whether you can love God if you don’t love your neighbor and can you truly love your neighbor if you don’t love God. You love the neighbor truly when you love them as God does.…
1 TGCL #0408: Final days before election; 4 steps in 4 days to stop assisted suicide; fifth graders visit seminary; remembering deceased deacons 56:30
Summary of today’s show: Our Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbot, Fr. Roger Landry, and Domenico Bettinelli considered the news headlines of the week, including Cardinal Seán’s four steps to stop assisted suicide in the final four days before the election; making your vote count and Catholic citizenship; Synod recommendations for the new evangelization; fifth-graders visit St. John’s Seminary; remembering our deceased deacons; and the effects of Hurricane Sandy. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River, and Domenico Bettinelli, creative director at Pilot New Media Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Final days before election; 4 steps in 4 days to stop assisted suicide; fifth graders visit seminary; remembering deceased deacons 1st segment: (As our show transcriptionist was a guest on today’s show, we will not have the usual transcription. Some of the links to stories discussed are below and the remainder will be on the Pilot’s and Anchor’s websites on Friday and Saturday.) 2nd segment:…
Summary of today’s show: All Saints Day is tomorrow and Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams welcome the man who literally wrote the book on the saints, Fr. George Evans. His book, 101 Questions and Answers about the Saints, provides fodder for discussion about some of the more obvious and obscure questions we all have about saints, helping us to appreciate these role models and older brothers and sisters in the faith. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Fr. George Evans, pastor of St. Julia Parish in Weston Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Questions and Answers about the Saints 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and reminded listeners that today is the eve of a holy day of obligation, All Saints’ Day. He welcomed Fr. Matt Williams and they discussed a video they made today with about 100 students from St. Mary High School in Lynn, presenting them with the facts about Question 2 on physician-assisted suicide. Among the lessons they demonstrated was the natural inclination to defend and protect life and that suicide is not a natural inclination, but a thought that comes from brokenness. Scot reminded listeners that Cardinal Seán is tweeting everyday at . Many more resources on Question 2 are available at and . Father Matt said the aim of today’s video for high school teens was to make thi available so that every Catholic high school in Massachusetts can show it in schools this week and use it to start a conversation with family and friends. The video will be available online on Thursday evening at . Preparing for All Saints’ Day, our guest today is Fr. George Evans, who has written a book called 2nd segment: Fr. Evans has been pastor of St. Julia parish in Weston and Lincoln since 2003. He also serves on the current Pastoral Planning Commission for the Archdiocese. Scot asked him what prompted him to write the book and how did he find the time. Fr. Evans said he broke his ankle and was confined to bed for seven weeks in 2004 and so he started writing this book he’d wanted to write for some time. There were some glitches in the process, including crushing his computer accidentally under his assistive chair. He’s not sure the book would have seen the light of day without that broken ankle. Scot noted this is a part of a series by Paulist Press on 101 Questions and Answers on various topics. Fr. Evans said he was a conference and was browsing books and an editor from Paulist asked him if he had an interest in writing book. He said it took some time to hone the proposal because he needed to come up with 101 questions first. Fr. Evans said he remembers in his fifth grade class in Catholic school learning about the North American martyrs. He’d loved biographies as a child, especially of US presidents. That set him up to enjoy the saints. He got a book, “Heavenly Friends: A Saint for Each Day” which he still has. The stories were edifying and very much reminding us that we’re part of a long stream of holiness. As a student at Catholic University, he remembered reading a book called “On the Meaning of Saints,” and he thought this would be a help to get him to his doctoral dissertation. Some of his advisors, including then-Father Avery Dulles, had been looking for something to help them with their Lutheran-Catholic dialogue they were involved in. Dulles later told him that he’d wished he could have written the dissertation that Fr. Evans wrote. It included the views of Martin Luther and his contemporaries an the achievement of the Second Vatican Council in providing a harmonizing what was said in the dialogues in the 16th century. Scot explained the significance of Fr. Dulles, who was made a Cardinal by Pope John Paul II at the end of his life, one of the few who aren’t bishops. Fr. Evans said his favorite saints growing up were the missionaries, those connected to the United States, and the more famous saints that you’d learn about in school. Fr. Evans recalled a parish priest who gave a life of St. Francis Xavier during a novena, a bit each night of the novena. Fr. Matt asked if he thought there was more of a call to people to emulate saints more than before. Fr. Evans said the Second Vatican Council’s emphasis on the universal call to holiness is evidence of it. Everyone involved in the life of the Church is called to holiness. John Paul II was one of the important people at the council. Scot said Question 47 in the book asks how many saints were canonized by Pope John Paul and how he compares to the rest of history. The answer is that John Paul canonized more people than all the popes of the past four centuries combined. He did it in an attempt to let the Church’s call to holiness be sounded loudly and widely. He wanted holiness to be seen in the people he beatified and canonized around the world and in places that not many saints had come from before. Scot said there are many figures in the Old Testament who aren’t given the title of Saint. That’s another question in the book. Fr. Evans said the process of declaring saints was a Christian era phenomenon. The saints of the pre-Christian era are listed in the official list of saints in the Church, but not included in the liturgical celebrations of the Mass. ANother question in the book is number 14: Is Jesus a saint? Is the blessed Mother a saint? Fr. Evans said Jesus is the fullness of holiness and Mary is the pre-eminent disciple. At the same time, we differentiate Jesus from the saints because he is the one of whom the others are a reflection. His uniqueness as human and God puts him in another league, but saint means “holy” and he is holiness to the max. Mary is the queen of all saints, and we have many churches called St. Mary’s. Fr. Matt recalled a story of Pope Benedict at St. Patrick’s in New York talking about the saints like stained glass windows. In order for the windows to achieve their fullness, the light of Christ must shine through in all his greatness. Fr. Matt said God doesn’t want us to be another St. Francis, he wants us to be a saint in all our uniqueness. The many men and women John Paul canonized makes sainthood accessible to us right where we are. Scot asked about whether we can say our deceased loved ones are saints. Fr. Evans said we don’t force on God or the Church the certainty that someone is with God in the fullness of life in heaven. But we can have that as a hope and a personal sense. Only God knows all the saints. The Church recognizes a few as canonized saints. He said we have to be a little modest in talking a little too definitively as a saint and this is why the canonization process started, because people were being widely acclaimed as saints who weren’t suited and thus undermining all the rest. Fr. Matt asked if that’s what All Saints’ Day is. Fr. Evans said it’s inclusive of all the saints, but highlights all of those who have died and are in the presence of God, but we don’t know. The splendid nobodies, in the best sense. Those people shine in a way that makes their anonymity all the more splendid because they are indeed those who were dutiful and loving in ways that aren’t greatly celebrated. Scot asked the link between Halloween and All Saints Day, which is question 19. Fr. Evans said in the early centuries of the Church there were many martyrs. That shedding of blood led people to celebrate so-called white martyrs, those who died to sin and selfishness and lived wholeheartedly for Christ. The Church was looking for a way to celebrate all of them. The day chosen for this coincided with a pagan feast that celebrates the end of the harvest. The word Halloween means literally All Hallows Eve or Eve of the Feast of All the Holy. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Mary Cournoyer of Portsmouth, RI She wins “The Story of a Soul”, the autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux, audiobook on CD. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot said if you think of all the good questions people have had on the saints over the years and they will be in this book. He strongly recommends the book. Scot asked how patron saints get designated, for example for parishes. Fr. Evans said parishes can be named for saints who are favored by the founding pastor or bishop, although today there is usually a more consultative process. He notes that St. Julia’s is named after the founding pastor’s mother’s patron saint in 1919. St. Julia was an early church martyr with not much known about her. Scot recommended for more information about patron saints of various disciplines. He asked how a saint is determined to be patron saint of, say, astronomy. Fr. Evans said in some cases the devotion to the saint came from the grassroots, ordinary people praying perhaps based on some small fact. Other times, the Church has been asked to designate a patron for some cause. St. Clare is the patroness of television. There was a story that when she was ill and confined to her room ,she heard and saw the Mass being celebrated some distance from herself. Pope Pius XII thus declared her the patroness of TV at a time when TV was new. Scot said St. Anthony is patron of a lot of things, but most famously for lost items. St. Jude is patron of lost causes. Fr. Evans said back in the 1920s, an American Claretian priest found a holy card of St. Jude and developed his own devotion to St. Jude. As the Great Depression began, he and his Claretian community began public devotions to St. Jude in a church in Chicago. They started a newsletter and people sent in letters about how St. Jude’s intercession helped them in desperate circumstances. St. Anthony was very erudite and there’s so much that is imitable in his preaching and pastoral care. But there is a story about a book that was stolen and it was restored when he prayed for it. Another story tells about a man who cut off his own limb and St. Anthony restored it. Fr. Matt clarified that St. Jude is Jude Thaddeus, the Apostle. Simon and Jude have a combined feast day and are lesser known apostles. That quality of being lesser known may have made him more appealing to those who are themselves lesser known in tough times. Fr. Evans said there’s always been the tradition of naming saints after one or many saints, but it swung toward one patron of the parish in the old days. But he doesn’t think we ever did enough to explore the lives of our patrons. But there have also been All Saints Parishes. You see that more often know when parishes combine. Fr. Matt asked what is a saint. Fr. Evans said a saint is someone who is so full of the light of Christ, which is a metaphor for truth or for love. They become attractive or guiding of others. You could also speak about the journey toward heaven and the saints are like guideposts along the way. Saints are also friends. Scot asked why we pray through the intercession of the saints, instead of just to Jesus directly. The Church has encouraged us to this practice. Fr. Evans said some say that saints are obstacles to Christ. The truth is that in our experience we ask each other to pray for us and our needs. We’re praying in a way that doesn’t block Christ, but extends his prayer into the Body of Christ. Christ is still the one who prays par excellence, but that work of mediating is shared and we all do it because we care. We pray for what’s important to us and why not pray for people and pray with people. Fr. Evans said one of the sources of understanding is religious experience and the effectiveness of intercessory prayer. The way we think of the saints is not that they’re a go-between connecting us to Christ in a way we couldn’t otherwise. Instead they are in a circle with us around Christ. They are with us as companions. Scot recommended for those looking for a parish for an All Saints Day Mass tomorrow.…
1 TGCL #0406: Boston Magazine profiles Fr. Eric Cadin and the turnaround of St. John’s Seminary 56:33
Summary of today’s show: In its new issue that hits the stands today, Boston Magazine offers a profile of St. John’s Seminary, how it has turned around in the decade since the clergy sex-abuse scandal broke, and the story of Fr. Eric Cadin, whose own journey to the priesthood provides a glimpse of the sort of men who are being called to the priesthood today. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor look at the story by Patrick Doyle and expand on what was written with Fr. Chris providing his own perspective as vice-rector of the seminary. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Boston Magazine profiles Fr. Eric Cadin and the turnaround of St. John’s Seminary 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show. He said today he’s glad Fr. Chris O’Connor is the co-host because one of the main stories in Boston Magazine this month is about the turnaround of St. John’s Seminary and a profile of the kind of men becoming priests today, particularly Fr. Eric Cadin. Fr. Chris said he is quite pleased with the story and the writer captured the sense of the seminary. Scot said opening up the seminary and themselves to a reporter they don’t know well is a risk. He spoke to so many people over such a long time, he could have taken many approaches. Fr. Chris said there had been overtures over time from Boston Magazine to the Archdiocese. The writer, Patrick Boyle, contacted Fr. Chris after hearing him on The Good Catholic Life. Fr. Chris discussed it with Bishop Arthur Kennedy and some of the faculty. Fr. Chris said they know they have a good story and they are proud of their seminarians and if they know that why not let him come in and see where it’s going to go. If the story came out otherwise, they knew it wouldn’t be the truth. Fr. Chris said Patrick told Fr. Chris that he’s Catholic, attended Catholic college, and loves to write. All we hear about is the decline of priestly numbers and to hear that St. John’s is full to capacity and so he wanted to come to see what it’s all about. Scot asked Fr. Chris how difficult it was to identify a couple of guys to talk to at length. Fr. Chris said he left nothing to chance. They invited Patrick to dinner at the seminary and specified that this would be an off the record conversation to take the measure of each other. They assembled 12 to 15 seminarians, all men from Boston at Patrick’s request, for the dinner. Initially, the focus was on men just coming into the seminary. As Patrick unpacked the story, Fr. Cadin’s story became interesting because he left the seminary to come back later. He was there in the darkest days and then came back when the turnaround had begun, which became the frame for the turnaround of the seminary. Scot said FR. Eric’s story is a crazy story, including growing up in Weymouth, going to Roxbury Latin, attending Harvard, living on the beach in a few places as a surfer, going to seminary, leaving to start pre-med, coming back to seminary and eventually being ordained. OF all the men he does have a very interesting story. Fr. Chris said Fr. Eric is a very personable guy. Today happens to be Fr. Eric’s birthday. Fr. Chris said even the clergy sexual abuse scandal details are pretty straightforward and not inflammatory. He said he told Patrick that priests are like airplanes: we never hear about the ones who take off and land safely, only about the ones who crash. Here is a story about a young guy in love with the Lord, very normal and decent. Patrick’s approach is about what makes a successful young man give himself to the Lord. Fr. Chris said Patrick Doyle comes from Colorado and Fr. Chris saw a story he’d written on capital punishment and how the governor’s Catholic faith was involved as well as another story about a minister. Fr. Chris got the sense of a man who appreciated the role of the church in the world, while not giving the Church a pass. He was going to look at the Church objectively. Scot said the title of the story is “Resurrection”. It begins, “The clergy sex abuse scandal exploded onto front pages across the country in 2002. A painful decade later, the Archdiocese of Boston has begun to rebuild. But a stubborn question remains: What kind of man wants to become a priest?” 2nd segment: Scot said the idea of the story is what kind of man wants to become a priest when the world thinks the Church is in shambles from the abuse crisis. Scot asked Fr. Chris how the scandal affected the men who were in the seminary in 2002 and 2003. Fr. Chris said when he listens to admissions interviews, he starts to tear up sometimes when he hears them talk about why they want to be priests. Without question, they all get that they are signing up for a life of service to others. Even in the midst of crisis, the response to the crisis is, “If not me, them whom.” They know they aren’t the Messiah, but they feel called. After 9/11, people flocked to Ground Zero with the feeling that they needed to do something. The men coming forward toward have the sense of Boston as the epicenter with a real diesre on the part of these men to make a difference in the Church. Scot asked if most men think they are called to priesthood is because of the abuse scandal or in spite of it. Fr. Chris said he hears it less 11 years later, but in the early years it was a desire to give their lives to the Church in the time of her need. Scot said the story talks about the decrease in Mass attendance, in donations, in the number of seminarians, and in the number of priests ten years ago. Scot said St. John’s Seminary has been described as the heart of the Church and as the womb of the Church, giving birth to new priests. Fr. Chris said they were aware that they had a large task in front of them. One of Cardinal Seán’s mandates was that it needed to expand its mission beyond just being an archdiocesan seminary that welcomed seminarians from other dioceses to become a truly regional seminary. They needed to invite the input and interests of the bishops of the region and make it clear that it’s a regional seminary in which all the seminarians are equal. Scot asked what changed in the seminary to ensure we wouldn’t have a repeat of the abuse scandal. Fr. Chris said the seminary faculty is single-minded in their understanding of the priesthood and what’s important. It doesn’t mean there isn’t disagreement, but they’re on the same side on the issues and just looking at different ways of approaching them. Secondly, transparency has priority. The faculty talks frankly with seminarians about the blessings and struggles of their own priesthood. In the past, the faculty was somewhat removed as formators and educators, but today the faculty is also companions on the journey. Fr. Chris and another faculty member will take some seminarians out to dinner to talk to them about their concern and worries and answer questions. Anytime a priest falls, it’s a public thing and is sad for all of us. The Church mourns and grieves. The seminary takes those opportunities to sit down with the seminarians and look at what causes these things to happen. Fr. Chris said they’ve also revised the whole human formation program over the last year or two. Once per month, a faculty member gets together with a particular class on a set subject and those meetings build on themselves. Recently, he spoke on affective maturity. Another recent topic was being brutally honest with their spiritual director. Scot said in many cases, experts have determined that it was the screening process and human formation that failed to weed out or help men who later became abusers. He said many priests today will recall thinking a particular classmate was kind of odd and he turned out to be one of those abusive priests. Fr. Chris said human formation didn’t exist before Vatican II. At the time, there was only spiritual and academic formation. Pastoral formation and human formation only came after. Pope John Paul wrote about priesthood and seminary formation that the other three build on the human formation. the priest must be a bridge and not an obstacle to Christ. They are mediators for Christ. One of the interesting aspects of the article, Scot said, was when it details that when Fr. Eric decided to go into the seminary, he had a lot of people who weren’t encouraging and got a mixed reaction, which is common among seminarians. Fr. Chris said many people tell seminarians that it’s a perfect fit for them, but there’s often a mom or dad who is discouraging. Sometimes they don’t want their son to be lonely in a tough life. Another reason, like Aristotle said, is that it lessens the chance for grandchildren for their legacy and parents become nervous about that. Fr. Chris encourages potential seminarians to bring their parents to see that these are normal and good men and it alleviates their fears. Scot outlined the extensive application process that potential seminarians go through as outlined in the magazine story, including a full-day psychological exam. Fr. Chris said it’s a grueling process. There are several meetings with diocesan vocation directors. The man then fills out an autobiography and his understanding of the Church and priesthood. He goes to an all-day psychological test with several psychologists, including family background, mental health, sexual history, why they want to become a priest. There are tests of leadership ability and personality. They then need four or five letter of recommendation, three or four from priests, others from co-workers or parishioners. They sit before a board of faculty members, including the rector, vice-rector, academic dean, and directory of spiritual formation. Sometimes they ask what their family traditions are, which gives a sense of the family background, for example. The questions are geared around the four pillars. They need to assess their academic ability. Fr. Chris looks at the human formation, their strengths and weaknesses. They ask what sort of leadership roles he’s had and experiences working with men and women. They ask about their spiritual formation, their prayer life, their devotions, when they heard God calling. It’s an hourlong conversation and the faculty forget what a grueling experience it is. Scot said being interviewed by a psychologist is grueling and he related a story about the crazy questions he had to answer before he entered the seminary 20 years ago for a brief time. Being interviewed by five people at once can be similarly grueling. Fr. Chris told a story of taking the Rorshach test. Scot said in the story it tells of how Fr. Eric left the seminary for about 2 years. He asked Fr. Chris how often it happens that men take time off and how many leave altogether. Fr. Chris said when he was in seminary you saw men coming and going quite regularly, but you don’t see it as much anymore. Perhaps it’s because of the scandal. Men coming now have thought long and hard about this. They’re often older and leaving lucrative careers. There’s more going into the thought process now. Fr. Chris always tell men who tell him that they’re leaving, he asks them 25 times if they’re sure. If they say it 25 times, then he tells him he’ll help them move out because the last thing the Church needs is another unhappy priest. Scot said the formation he received in the seminary made him a better husband because he gave it a chance first. In the story, it tells of how Fr. Eric walked into the refectory wearing flip-flops and ran into then-seminarian Darin Colarusso, a former Air Force pilot, who told him he had to wear shoes. Almost all guys going to the seminary experience a bit of a culture shock. One of the big tasks of the faculty is to help them adjust. Fr. Chris said it’s a difficult task, especially coming from the culture where independence is celebrated. These men in their mid-twenties now have to ask permission to be excused from an Evening Prayer and a dinner. They do that because living in a parish, they will always be accountable to someone else, whether a pastor or the bishop. Getting in the habit of being accountable is essential. For many professions, you work Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, but a priest is a priest on vacation, out with friends, or at Mass. Being a priest is something that changes you in essentials. So the seminarians aren’t living in a college dorm, but are living in a seminary for formation. Fr. Chris said the story doesn’t mention that when Christ called the Twelve, he brought them together and formed them as a group. In Scripture, the Apostles jockeyed with one another. The faculty relies on seminarians forming other seminarians and helping them with positive and negative reinforcement. Scot said it’s like a typical family where the older siblings are expected to help form and guide their younger siblings. 3rd segment: Fr. Chris said he was happy that the writer helped put a human face on the priesthood. Most people only see their priests for an hour on Sunday. the article shows that priests come from families like ours, that they follow long twisty roads. He said the story also picked up on the instrumental moment of the death of Fr. Cadin’s mother and the presence of two priests with him in the hospital. This occurred during the period when he’d left the seminary. He recognized that God was present in that moment. Patrick Doyle also didn’t paint a rosy picture, talking statistics and the scandal. He caught the anger against the Church, but he also caught what the Church is trying to do to make it better, including normal, healthy priests. Scot said there’s a lot of good stuff that can’t make the final version of any printed article. He asked Fr. Chris what good things didn’t make the story. Fr. Chris joked that they didn’t publish his full-page photo. But seriously, he thinks each of the men who were interviewed have a unique powerful story about God calling them and each of them would have been just as compelling a story about Fr. Cadin’s. He thinks Patrick did an excellent job of pointing out the mistakes and how the Church is correcting those mistakes. Scot noted that Boston Magazine will reach a lot of folks who aren’t active Catholics. Fr. Chris said they will now know that St. John’s Seminary is here, not going anywhere, is alive and well, and the priests being formed are good, holy, and indispensable for the new evangelization. With the sale of some of the property to Boston College, there was a false sense that the seminary had closed. The story will reach a large audience of people to tell them that the seminary is here to stay. It also shows that there is a human side to the priests and could be a tool to call people back to the faith. Fr. Chris said Msgr. Moroney, the rector, found it to be a balanced article. He hasn’t had a chance to check with the seminarians. He thinks Patrick Doyle has done a great job. Scot said the story has three contexts: Fr. Eric Cadin; St. John’s Seminary’s turnaround; and the role of St. John’s Seminary in turning around the Archdiocese. He thinks that it does a good job of balancing all of these things. He said it gives us all hope and shows how things have changed in the past 10 years.…
Summary of today’s show: The Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization that coincided with the launch of the Year of Faith wrapped up its work last week and sent a summary of their deliberations to Pope Benedict XVI for him to use as he writes his Apostolic Exhortation over the next 18 months. Scot Landry and Janet Benestad take a look at the summary and how it will be the basis for what will become the landmark statement of the Holy Father’s papacy. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Janet Benestad Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Synod on the New Evangelization 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and noted that the weather has gotten pretty bad out there. He welcomed Janet Benestad to the show. There are only a few people in the whole Pastoral Center today. Today’s topic will be some summaries of the recently closed Synod of Bishops for the New Evangelization. Janet said it’s part of the Year of Faith we’re in, to rediscover our faith, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and express our faith to others. Scot said the document they’ll consider is being called the Synod’s last word. 2nd segment: Scot noted that yesterday Cardinal Seán’s homily delivered by video and audio to all parishes on assisted suicide is available for viewing at . This synod document was prepared by a ten-member group that included Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, DC. It’s considered to be a summary of everything that was discussed in the Synod and in 18 months Pope Benedict XVI will unveil an apostolic exhortation that some are saying will be the most significant document of his pontificate. The document starts by situating us in Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. There is no man or woman who, in one’s life, would not find oneself like the woman of Samaria beside a well with an empty bucket, with the hope of finding the fulfillment of the heart’s most profound desire, that which alone could give full meaning to existence. Today, many wells offer themselves to quench humanity’s thirst, but we must discern in order to avoid polluted waters. We must orient the search well, so as not to fall prey to disappointment, which can be disastrous. Like Jesus at the well of Sychar, the Church also feels obliged to sit beside today’s men and women. She wants to render the Lord present in their lives so that they could encounter him because he alone is the water that gives true and eternal life. Only Jesus can read the depths of our heart and reveal the truth about ourselves: “He told me everything I have done”, the woman confesses to her fellow citizens. This word of proclamation is united to the question that opens up to faith: “Could he possibly be the Messiah?” It shows that whoever receives new life from encountering Jesus cannot but proclaim truth and hope to others. The sinner who was converted becomes a messenger of salvation and leads the whole city to Jesus. The people pass from welcoming her testimony to personally experiencing the encounter: “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world”. Scot said it’s a good beginning because we, like the Samaritan, want the life that quenches our thirst. Janet said the woman would have been shocked because he knew everything about her. Janet said its strange that the woman went to tell everyone else, even though she was an outcast from the community. She becomes an instrument that no one else would have expected. Scot said we don’t know better than Jesus who should be his messenger and it’s our duty too, to reach out and share the Good News. Janet said this experience of the faith can inform us in a way that we can become the best proclaimers. Jesus calls all of us. A new evangelization Leading the men and women of our time to Jesus, to the encounter with him is a necessity that touches all the regions of the world, those of the old and those of the recent evangelization. Everywhere indeed we feel the need to revive a faith that risks eclipse in cultural contexts that hinders its taking root in persons and its presence in society, the clarity of its content and its coherent fruits. It is not about starting again, but entering into the long path of proclaiming the Gospel with the apostolic courage of Paul who would go so far as to say “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16). Throughout history, from the first centuries of the Christian era to the present, the Gospel has edified communities of believers in all parts of the world. Whether small or great, these are the fruit of the dedication of generations of witnesses to Jesus – missionaries and martyrs – whom we remember with gratitude. Changing societies and cultures call us to something new: to live our communitarian experience of faith in a renewed way and to proclaim it through an evangelization that is “new in its ardor, in its methods, in its expressions” (John Paul II, Discourse to the XIX Assembly of CELAM, Port-au-Prince, 9 March 1983, n. 3) as John Paul II said. Benedict XVI recalled that it is an evangelization that is directed “principally at those who, though baptized, have drifted away from the Church and live without reference to the Christian life… to help these people encounter the Lord, who alone fills our existence with deep meaning and peace; and to favor the rediscovery of the faith, that source of grace which brings joy and hope to personal, family and social life”(Benedict XVI, Homily for the Eucharistic celebration for the solemn inauguration of the XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Rome, 7 October 2012). Scot said we’re called to proclaim Jesus as the kernel of the Good News that is so central to our faith. We know about him because of the dedication of so many generations who have come before us, some who have risked death, and some who have risked ridicule. Janet said it’s all about Jesus, it’s about Christmas and Easter. It’s a phenomenal story we have to tell. Scot said God gives us the grace each day to live that faith, even if we have to bear the crosses of each day. The crosses are lighter if we know Jesus is with us. Janet said we live in a culture that often wants to separate us from our Christian faith, but this is calling us to a new ardor and a new way to express that faith. John Paul called us to express the faith with new zeal and new passion. We are called to use new means, like new media, and new expressions, contemporary language and ways of speaking. Janet said people who live in the modern context have experienced things that beg for a response in the expression of the faith. The synod addressed people from those who live in big fast-paced cities to people who have enormous poverty of culture. The personal encounter with Jesus Christ in the Church Before saying anything about the forms that this new evangelization must assume, we feel the need to tell you with profound conviction that the faith determines everything in the relationship that we build with the person of Jesus who takes the initiative to encounter us. The work of the new evangelization consists in presenting once more the beauty and perennial newness of the encounter with Christ to the often distracted and confused heart and mind of the men and women of our time, above all to ourselves. We invite you all to contemplate the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, to enter the mystery of his existence given for us on the cross, reconfirmed in his resurrection from the dead as the Father’s gift and imparted to us through the Spirit. In the person of Jesus, the mystery of God the Father’s love for the entire human family is revealed. He did not want us to remain in a false autonomy. Rather he reconciled us to himself in a renewed pact of love. The Church is the space offered by Christ in history where we can encounter him, because he entrusted to her his Word, the Baptism that makes us God’s children, his Body and his Blood, the grace of forgiveness of sins above all in the sacrament of Reconciliation, the experience of communion that reflects the very mystery of the Holy Trinity, the strength of the Spirit that generates charity towards all. We must form welcoming communities in which all outcasts find a home, concrete experiences of communion which attract the disenchanted glance of contemporary humanity with the ardent force of love – “See how they love one another!” (Tertullian, Apology, 39, 7). The beauty of faith must particularly shine in the actions of the sacred Liturgy, above all in the Sunday Eucharist. It is precisely in liturgical celebrations that the Church reveals herself as God’s work and renders the meaning of the Gospel visible in word and gesture. It is up to us today to render experiences of the Church concretely accessible, to multiply the wells where thirsting men and women are invited to encounter Jesus, to offer oases in the deserts of life. Christian communities and, in them, every disciple of the Lord are responsible for this: an irreplaceable testimony has been entrusted to each one, so that the Gospel can enter the lives of all. This requires of us holiness of life. Scot said this message is first of all for us and then for others. Janet said beauty is going to be a theme of the documents that come out of the synod. Sometimes our world is not so beautiful, because the beauty of God’s creation and the love of God for his children are pushed aside. There isn’t time for reflection. The synod calls us back to a reflection on that beautiful faith. Scot said Jesus is always taking the opportunity to encounter us. He said the Holy Father said in his World Communications Day message last year, the Holy Father encouraged us to have more silence in our lives so we can hear Jesus speak to us. Janet said God is always leading us to himself and calling us out of terrible conditions to himself. There is a lot of static that interferes with that message. Jesus is always calling us out of that to experience his love in a new and different way. Scot said sometimes the descriptions of the Church in Church documents can be confusing. This has a simple one: “The Church is the space offered by Christ in history where we can encounter him, because he entrusted to her his Word, the Baptism that makes us God’s children, his Body and his Blood, the grace of forgiveness of sins above all in the sacrament of Reconciliation, the experience of communion that reflects the very mystery of the Holy Trinity, the strength of the Spirit that generates charity towards all.” That is a beautiful description of what the Church is about. It’s a response to those who think the Church is a building. It’s where we encounter Christ and one another. If you read Scripture, Jesus formed the Church for us. The first leaders of that Church failed and betrayed him, but came back and did wonderful things. We are called to reconcile ourselves to himself through the Church so we can be the instruments through which he reaches others. Janet said he doesn’t want us to remain in a false autonomy. It’s a lonely world. Our sacramental life situates us in a family of believers who enjoy one another and forgives one another. Scot said we attract others because they see our love and joy and they decided they want to have that. He said all of our parishes need to work to reach that level. We need to be able to say to returning Christians, I’m glad you’re back. 3rd segment: Scot and Janet section 4 and discuss section 5. The occasions of encountering Jesus and listening to the Scriptures Someone will ask how to do all this. We need not invent new strategies as if the Gospel were a product to be placed in the market of religions. We need to rediscover the ways in which Jesus approached persons and called them, in order to put them into practice in today’s circumstances. We recall, for example, how Jesus engaged Peter, Andrew, James and John in the context of their work, how Zaccheus was able to pass from simple curiosity to the warmth of sharing a meal with the Master, how the Roman centurion asked him to heal a person dear to him, how the man born blind invoked him as liberator from his own marginalization, how Martha and Mary saw the hospitality of their house and of their heart rewarded by his presence. By going through the pages of the Gospels as well as the apostles’ missionary experiences in the early Church, we can discover the various ways and circumstances in which persons’ lives were opened to Christ’s presence. The frequent reading of the Sacred Scriptures – illuminated by the Tradition of the Church who hands them over to us and is their authentic interpreter – is not only necessary for knowing the very content of the Gospel, which is the person of Jesus in the context of salvation history. Reading the Scriptures also helps us to discover opportunities to encounter Jesus, truly evangelical approaches rooted in the fundamental dimensions of human life: the family, work, friendship, various forms of poverty and the trials of life, etc. Evangelizing ourselves and opening ourselves to conversion We, however, should never think that the new evangelization does not concern us personally. In these days voices among the Bishops were raised to recall that the Church must first of all heed the Word before she could evangelize the world. The invitation to evangelize becomes a call to conversion. We firmly believe that we must convert ourselves above all to the power of Christ who alone can make all things new, above all our poor existence. With humility we must recognize that the poverty and weaknesses of Jesus’ disciples, especially of his ministers, weigh on the credibility of the mission. We are certainly aware – we Bishops first of all – that we could never really be equal to the Lord’s calling and mandate to proclaim his Gospel to the nations. We know that we must humbly recognize our vulnerability to the wounds of history and we do not hesitate to recognize our personal sins. We are, however, also convinced that the Lord’s Spirit is capable of renewing his Church and rendering her garment resplendent if we let him mold us. This is demonstrated by the lives of the Saints, the remembrance and narration of which is a privileged means of the new evangelization. If this renewal were up to us, there would be serious reasons to doubt. But conversion in the Church, just like evangelization, does not come about primarily through us poor mortals, but rather through the Spirit of the Lord. Here we find our strength and our certainty that evil will never have the last word whether in the Church or in history: “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27), Jesus said to his disciples. The work of the new evangelization rests on this serene certainty. We are confident in the inspiration and strength of the Spirit, who will teach us what we are to say and what we are to do even in the most difficult moments. It is our duty, therefore, to conquer fear through faith, humiliation through hope, indifference through love. Scot said we’re told that if we want to be more effective in the new evangelization we have to convert ourselves first. Janet said it’s hard to invite others to something you don’t have enthusiasm for yourself. You begin to think in terms of how others you encounter can respond to the needs in their life. When you hear about someone’s concerns or problems, if you have a living faith life, then you can respond authentically with advice on turning to God in various ways. Scot said St. Peter’s repeated failures inspire him because he always responded with conversion and faith. He noted also the story of France which has gone through successive times of faith and lack of faith and how the Cure of Ars, St. John Vianney, who barely graduated seminary and was ordained, ended up re-converting all of France. Janet said the new evangelization rests on the serene certainty and confidence in the strength of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit can bring about changes that we would never expect could happen. Scot noted that it’s called the Year of Faith, not the Year of Catechesis. While catechesis is part of it, what’s important first is that we turn to Jesus. We need to trust that God loves us more than we can possibly love him. We need to trust in him. Janet said evil will never have the last word. That’s the essence of faith. It is through God’s time and initiative that we will do what we do. Seizing new opportunities for evangelization in the world today This serene courage also affects the way we look at the world today. We are not intimidated by the circumstances of the times in which we live. Our world is full of contradictions and challenges, but it remains God’s creation. The world is wounded by evil, but God loves it still. It is his field in which the sowing of the Word can be renewed so that it would bear fruit once more. There is no room for pessimism in the minds and hearts of those who know that their Lord has conquered death and that his Spirit works with might in history. We approach this world with humility, but also with determination. This comes from the certainty that the truth triumphs in the end. We choose to see in the world God’s invitation to witness to his Name. Our Church is alive and faces the challenges that history brings with the courage of faith and the testimony of her many daughters and sons. We know that we must face in this world a difficult struggle against the “principalities” and “powers”, “the evil spirits” (Ephesians 6:12). We do not ignore the problems that such challenges bring, but they do not frighten us. This is true above all for the phenomena of globalization which must be opportunities for us to expand the presence of the Gospel. Despite the intense sufferings for which we welcome migrants as brethren, migrations have been and continue to be occasions to spread the faith and build communion in its various forms. Secularization – as well as the crisis brought about the ascendancy of politics and of the State – requires the Church to rethink its presence in society without however renouncing it. The many and ever new forms of poverty open new opportunities for charitable service: the proclamation of the Gospel binds the Church to be with the poor and to take on their sufferings like Jesus. Even in the most bitter forms of atheism and agnosticism, we can recognize – although in contradictory forms – not a void but a longing, an expectation that awaits an adequate response. In the face of the questions that dominant cultures pose to faith and to the Church, we renew our trust in the Lord, certain that even in these contexts the Gospel is the bearer of light and capable of healing every human weakness. It is not we who are to conduct the work of evangelization, but God, as the Pope reminded us: “The first word, the true initiative, the true activity comes from God and only by inserting ourselves in to the divine initiative, only by begging this divine initiative, will we too be able to become – with him and in him – evangelizers”(Benedict XVI, Meditation during the first general Congregation of the XIII General Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Rome, 8 October 2012). Scot said we talk often about the family as the domestic church and the place where we’ve learned the faith, but in many ways the breakdown in the faith is that our families aren’t passing on the faith like they did fifty years ago. Janet said there’s no question the family is under attack. She said it’s interesting that both parties in this election are pitching their messages to women in particular ways. The Church recognizes that in terms of instruction of the young, women play a very specific role. This document recognizes the important role of the family in handing on the faith. This is about catechesis of the faith, not just of elements, but of faith that is lived, lived at the dining room table, at the bedside at night, and in all the parts of the days. Scot said we try to form our kids in a work ethic and other important life lessons. Do we form them in prayer through praying personally? He recounts how he now begins his prayer with kids by declaring his love for God. He said it’s the parents’ responsibility, morning, noon and night. It can’t be done in an hour at Mass and another hour in religious education. Then it’s amazing how kids can pass that faith on to other kids their age. Janet said that as a grandparent she’s intentional about how she introduces them to the world of prayer, the world of saints. Evangelization, the family and consecrated life Ever since the first evangelization, the transmission of the faith from one generation to the next found a natural home in the family where women play a very special role without diminishing the figure and responsibility of the father. In the context of the care that every family provides for the growth of its little ones, infants and children are introduced to the signs of faith, the communication of first truths, education in prayer, and the witness of the fruits of love. Despite the diversity of their geographical, cultural and social situations, all the Bishops of the Synod reconfirmed this essential role of the family in the transmission of the faith. A new evangelization is unthinkable without acknowledging a specific responsibility to proclaim the Gospel to families and to sustain them in their task of education. We do not ignore the fact that today the family, established in the marriage of a man and of a woman which makes them “one flesh” (Matthew 19:6) open to life, is assaulted by crises everywhere. It is surrounded by models of life that penalize it and neglected by the politics of society of which it is also the fundamental cell. It is not always respected in its rhythms and sustained in its tasks by ecclesial communities. It is precisely this, however, that impels us to say that we must particularly take care of the family and its mission in society and in the Church, developing specific paths of accompaniment before and after matrimony. We also want to express our gratitude to the many Christian couples and families who, through their witness, show the world an experience of communion and of service which is the seed of a more loving and peaceful society. Our thoughts also went to the many families and couples living together which do not reflect that image of unity and of lifelong love that the Lord entrusted to us. There are couples who live together without the sacramental bond of matrimony. More and more families in irregular situations are established after the failure of previous marriages. These are painful situations that negatively affect the education of sons and daughters in the faith. To all of them we want to say that God’s love does not abandon anyone, that the Church loves them, too, that the Church is a house that welcomes all, that they remain members of the Church even if they cannot receive sacramental absolution and the Eucharist. May our Catholic communities welcome all who live in such situations and support those who are in the path of conversion and reconciliation. Family life is the first place in which the Gospel encounters the ordinary life and demonstrates its capacity to transform the fundamental conditions of existence in the horizon of love. But not less important for the witness of the Church is to show how this temporal existence has a fulfillment that goes beyond human history and attains to eternal communion with God. Jesus does not introduce himself to the Samaritan woman simply as the one who gives life, but as the one who gives “eternal life” (John 4:14). God’s gift, which faith renders present, is not simply the promise of better conditions in this world. It is the proclamation that our life’s ultimate meaning is beyond this world, in that full communion with God that we await at the end of time. Of this supernatural horizon of the meaning of human existence, there are particular witnesses in the Church and in the world whom the Lord has called to consecrated life. Precisely because it is totally consecrated to him in the exercise of poverty, chastity and obedience, consecrated life is the sign of a future world that relativizes everything that is good in this world. May the gratitude of the Assembly of the Synod of Bishops reach these our brothers and sisters for their fidelity to the Lord’s calling and for the contribution that they have given and give to the Church’s mission. We exhort them to hope in situations that are difficult even for them in these times of change. We invite them to establish themselves as witnesses and promoters of new evangelization in the various fields to which the charism of each of their institutes assigns them. Scot said that his own kids are already curious about what God intends them to be when they’re grown up and where it all ends at the end of life. Janet said after 40 years she’s learned that her real role as parent and spouse is to get other people to heaven. In the new evangelization, as you do these things more intentionally, you reinforce in yourself the need to do these things more fervently. The life of the family reminds us of the natural rhythms and how they are all sacramental. Scot encouraged listeners to read the rest of the document. The ecclesial community and the many agents of evangelization No one person or group in the Church has exclusive right to the work of evangelization. It is the work of ecclesial communities as such, where one has access to all the means for encountering Jesus: the Word, the sacraments, fraternal communion, charitable service, mission. In this perspective, the role of the parish emerges above all as the presence of the Church where men and women live, “the village fountain”, as John XXIII loved to call it, from which all can drink, finding in it the freshness of the Gospel. It cannot be abandoned, even though changes can require of it to be made up of small Christian communities or to either the articulation into small communities or forge bonds of collaboration within larger pastoral contexts. We exhort our parishes to join the new forms of mission required by the new evangelization to the traditional pastoral care of God’s people. These must also permeate the various important expressions of popular piety. In the parish, the ministry of the priest – father and pastor of his people – remains crucial. To all priests, the Bishops of this Synodal Assembly express thanks and fraternal closeness for their difficult task. We invite them to strengthen the bonds of the diocesan presbyterium, to deepen their spiritual life, to an ongoing formation that enables them to face the changes. Alongside the priests, the presence of deacons is to be sustained, as well as the pastoral action of catechists and of many other ministers and animators in the fields of proclamation, catechesis, liturgical life, charitable service. The various forms of participation and co-responsibility of the faithful must also be promoted. We cannot thank enough our lay men and women for their dedication in our communities’ manifold services. We ask all of them, too, to place their presence and their service in the Church in the perspective of the new evangelization, taking care of their own human and Christian formation, their understanding of the faith and their sensitivity to contemporary cultural phenomena. With regard to the laity, a special word goes to the various forms of old and new associations, together with the ecclesial movements and the new communities: All are an expression of the richness of the gifts that the Spirit bestows on the Church. We also thank these forms of life and of commitment in the Church, exhorting them to be faithful to their proper charism and to earnest ecclesial communion especially in the concrete context of the particular Churches. Witnessing to the Gospel is not the privilege of one or of a few. We recognize with joy the presence of many men and women who with their lives become a sign of the Gospel in the midst of the world. We recognize them even in many of our Christian brothers and sisters with whom unity unfortunately is not yet full, but are nevertheless marked by the Lord’s Baptism and proclaim it. In these days it was a moving experience for us to listen to the voices of many authorities of Churches and ecclesial communities who gave witness to their thirst for Christ and their dedication to the proclamation of the Gospel. They, too, are convinced that the world needs a new evangelization. We are grateful to the Lord for this unity in the necessity of the mission. That the youth may encounter Christ The youth are particularly dear to us, because they, who are a significant part of humanity’s and the Church’s present, are also their future. With regard to them, the Bishops are far from being pessimistic. Concerned, yes; but not pessimistic. We are concerned because the most aggressive attacks of our times happen to converge precisely on them. We are not, however, pessimistic, above all because what moves in the depths of history is Christ’s love, but also because we sense in our youth deep aspirations for authenticity, truth, freedom, generosity, to which we are convinced that the adequate response is Christ. We want to support them in their search and we encourage our communities to listen to, dialogue with and respond boldly and without reservation to the difficult condition of the youth. We want our communities to harness, and not to suppress, the power of their enthusiasm; to struggle for them against the fallacies and selfish ventures of worldly powers which, to their own advantage, dissipate the energies and waste the passion of the young, taking from them every grateful memory of the past and every earnest vision of the future. The world of the young is a demanding but also particularly promising field of the New Evangelization. This is demonstrated by many experiences, from those that draw many of them like the World Youth Days, to the most hidden – but nonetheless powerful – like the different experiences of spirituality, service and mission. The youth’s active role in evangelizing first and foremost their world is to be recognized. The Gospel in dialogue with human culture and experience and with religions The New Evangelization is centered on Christ and on care for the human person in order to give life to a real encounter with him. However, its horizons are as wide as the world and beyond any human experience. This means that it carefully cultivates the dialogue with cultures, confident that it can find in each of them the “seeds of the Word” about which the ancient Fathers spoke. In particular, the new evangelization needs a renewed alliance between faith and reason. We are convinced that faith has the capacity to welcome every product of a sound mind open to transcendence and the strength to heal the limits and contradictions into which reason could fall. Faith does not close its eyes, not even before the excruciating questions arising from evil’s presence in life and in history, in order to draw the light of hope from Christ’s Paschal Mystery. The encounter between faith and reason nourishes also the Christian community’s commitment in the field of education and culture. The institutions of formation and of research – schools and universities – occupy a special place in this. Wherever human intelligence is developed and educated, the Church is pleased to bring her experience and contribution to the integral formation of the person. In this context particular care is to be reserved for catholic schools and for catholic universities, in which the openness to transcendence that belongs to every authentic cultural and educational course, must be fulfilled in paths of encounter with the event of Jesus Christ and of his Church. May the gratitude of the Bishops reach all who, in sometimes difficult conditions, are involved in this. Evangelization requires that we pay much attention to the world of social communication, especially the new media, in which many lives, questions and expectations converge. It is the place where consciences are often formed, where people spend their time and live their lives. It is a new opportunity for touching the human heart. A particular field of the encounter between faith and reason today is the dialogue with scientific knowledge. This is not at all far from faith, since it manifests the spiritual principle that God placed in his creatures. It allows us to see the rational structures on which creation is founded. When science and technology do not presume to imprison humanity and the world in a barren materialism, they become an invaluable ally in making life more humane. Our thanks also go to those who are involved in this sensitive field of knowledge. We also want to thank men and women involved in another expression of the human genius, art in its various forms, from the most ancient to the most recent. We recognize in works of art a particularly meaningful way of expressing spirituality inasmuch as they strive to embody humanity’s attraction to beauty. We are grateful when artists through their beautiful creations bring out the beauty of God’s face and that of his creatures. The way of beauty is a particularly effective path of the new evangelization. In addition to works of art, all of human activity draws our attention as an opportunity in which we cooperate in divine creation through work. We want to remind the world of economy and of labor of some reminders arising from the Gospel: to redeem work from the conditions that often make it an unbearable burden and an uncertain future threatened by youth unemployment, to place the human person at the center of economic development, to think of this development as an occasion for humanity to grow in justice and unity. Humanity transforms the world through work. Nevertheless he is called to safeguard the integrity of creation out of a sense of responsibility towards future generations. The Gospel also illuminates the suffering brought about by disease. Christians must help the sick feel that the Church is near to persons with illness or with disabilities. Christians are to thank all who take care of them professionally and humanely. A field in which the light of the Gospel can and must shine in order to illuminate humanity’s footsteps is politics. Politics requires a commitment of selfless and sincere care for the common good by fully respecting the dignity of the human person from conception to natural end, honoring the family founded by the marriage of a man and a woman and protecting academic freedom; by removing the causes of injustice, inequality, discrimination, violence, racism, hunger and war. Christians are asked to give a clear witness to the precept of charity in the exercise of politics. Finally, the Church considers the other religions are her natural partners in dialogue. One is evangelized because one is convinced of the truth of Christ, not because one is against another. The Gospel of Jesus is peace and joy, and his disciples are happy to recognize whatever is true and good that humanity’s religious spirit has been able to glimpse in the world created by God and that it has expressed in the various religions. The dialogue among religions intends to be a contribution to peace. It rejects every fundamentalism and denounces every violence that is brought upon believers as serious violations of human rights. The Churches of the whole world are united in prayer and in fraternity to the suffering brethren and ask those who are responsible for the destinies of peoples to safeguard everyone’s right to freely choose, profess and witness to one’s faith. Remembering the Second Vatican Council and referring to the Catechism of the Catholic Church in the Year of Faith In the path opened by the New Evangelization, we might also feel as if we were in a desert, in the midst of dangers and lacking points of reference. The Holy Father Benedict XVI, in his homily for the Mass opening the Year of Faith, spoke of a “spiritual ‘desertification’” that has advanced in the last decades. But he also encouraged us by affirming that “it is in starting from the experience of this desert, from this void, that we can again discover the joy of believing, its vital importance for us, men and women. In the desert we rediscover the value of what is essential for living” (Homily for the Eucharistic celebration for the opening of the Year of Faith, Rome, 11 October 2012). In the desert, like the Samaritan woman, we seek water and a well from which to drink: blessed is the one who encounters Christ there! We thank the Holy Father for the gift of the Year of Faith, an exquisite portal into the path of the new evangelization. We thank him also for having linked this Year to the grateful remembrance of the opening of the Second Vatican Council fifty years ago. Its fundamental magisterium for our time shines in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is proposed once more as a sure reference of faith twenty years after its publication. These are important anniversaries, which allow us to reaffirm our close adherence to the Council’s teaching and our firm commitment to carry on its implementation. Contemplating the mystery and being at the side of the poor In this perspective we wish to indicate to all the faithful two expressions of the life of faith which seem particularly important to us for witnessing to it in the New Evangelization. The first is constituted by the gift and experience of contemplation. A testimony that the world would consider credible can arise only from an adoring gaze at the mystery of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, only from the deep silence that receives the unique saving Word like a womb. Only this prayerful silence can prevent the word of salvation from being lost in the many noises that overrun the world. We now address a word of gratitude to all men and women who dedicate their lives in monasteries and hermitages to prayer and contemplation. Moments of contemplation must interweave with people’s ordinary lives: spaces in the soul, but also physical ones, that remind us of God; interior sanctuaries and temples of stone that, like crossroads, keep us from losing ourselves in a flood of experiences; opportunities in which all could feel accepted, even those who barely know what and whom to seek. The other symbol of authenticity of the new evangelization has the face of the poor. Placing ourselves side by side with those who are wounded by life is not only a social exercise, but above all a spiritual act because it is Christ’s face that shines in the face of the poor: “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). We must recognize the privileged place of the poor in our communities, a place that does not exclude anyone, but wants to reflect how Jesus bound himself to them. The presence of the poor in our communities is mysteriously powerful: it changes persons more than a discourse does, it teaches fidelity, it makes us understand the fragility of life, it asks for prayer: in short, it brings us to Christ. The gesture of charity, on the other hand, must also be accompanied by commitment to justice, with an appeal that concerns all, poor and rich. Hence, the social doctrine of the Church is integral to the pathways of the new evangelization, as well as the formation of Christians to dedicate themselves to serve the human community in social and political life. To the Churches in the various regions of the world The vision of the Bishops gathered in the synodal assembly embraces all the ecclesial communities spread throughout the world. Their vision seeks to be comprehensive, because the call to encounter Christ is one, while keeping diversity in mind. The Bishops gathered in the Synod gave special consideration, full of fraternal affection and gratitude, to you Christians of the Catholic Oriental Churches, those who are heirs of the first wave of evangelization – an experience preserved with love and faithfulness – and those present in Eastern Europe. Today the Gospel comes to you again in a new evangelization through liturgical life, catechesis, daily family prayer, fasting, solidarity among families, the participation of the laity in the life of communities and in dialogue with society. In many places your Churches are amidst trials and tribulation through which they witness to their participation in the sufferings of Christ. Some of the faithful are forced to emigrate. Keeping alive their oneness with their community of origin, they can contribute to the pastoral care and to the work of evangelization in the countries that have welcomed them. May the Lord continue to bless your faithfulness. May your future be marked by the serene confession and practice of your faith in peace and religious liberty. We look to you Christians, men and women, who live in the countries of Africa and we express our gratitude for your witness to the Gospel often in difficult circumstances. We exhort you to revive the evangelization that you received in recent times, to build the Church as the family of God, to strengthen the identity of the family, to sustain the commitment of priests and catechists especially in the small Christian communities. We affirm the need to develop the encounter between the Gospel and old and new cultures. Great expectation and a strong appeal is addressed to the world of politics and to the governments of the various countries of Africa, so that, in collaboration with all people of good will, basic human rights may be promoted and the continent freed from violence and conflicts which still afflict it. The Bishops of the synodal Assembly invite you, Christians of North America, to respond with joy to the call to a new evangelization, while they look with gratitude at how your young Christian communities have borne generous fruits of faith, charity and mission. You need to recognize the many expressions of the present culture in the countries of your world which are today far from the Gospel. Conversion is necessary, from which is born a commitment that does not bring you out of your cultures, but in their midst to offer to all the light of faith and the power of life. As you welcome in your generous lands new populations of immigrants and refugees, may you be willing to open the doors of your homes to the faith. Faithful to the commitments taken at the synodal Assembly for America, be united with Latin America in the ongoing evangelization of the continent you share. The synodal assembly addressed the same sentiment of gratitude to the Church in Latin America and the Caribbean. Particularly striking throughout the ages is the development in your countries of forms of popular piety still fixed in the hearts of many people, of charitable service and of dialogue with cultures. Now, in the face of many present challenges, first of all poverty and violence, the Church in Latin America and in the Caribbean is encouraged to live in an ongoing state of mission, announcing the Gospel with hope and joy, forming communities of true missionary disciples of Jesus Christ, showing in the commitment of its sons and daughters how the Gospel could be the source of a new, just and fraternal society. Religious pluralism also tests your Churches and requires a renewed proclamation of the Gospel. To you, Christians of Asia, we also offer a word of encouragement and of exhortation. As a small minority in the continent which houses almost two thirds of the world’s population, your presence is a fruitful seed entrusted to the power of the Spirit, which grows in dialogue with the diverse cultures, with the ancient religions and with the countless poor. Although often outcast by society and in many places also persecuted, the Church of Asia, with its firm faith, is a valuable presence of the Christ’s Gospel which proclaims justice, life and harmony. Christians of Asia, feel the fraternal closeness of Christians of other countries of the world which cannot forget that in your continent – in the Holy Land – Jesus was born, lived, died and rose from the dead. The Bishops address a word of gratitude and hope to the Churches of the European continent, in part marked today by a strong – sometimes even aggressive – secularization, and in part still wounded by many decades of regimes with ideologies hostile to God and to man. We look with gratitude towards the past, but also to the present, in which the Gospel has created in Europe singular theologies and experiences of faith – often overflowing with holiness – that have been decisive for the evangelization of the whole world: richness of theological thought, variety of charismatic expressions, varied forms of charitable service towards the poor, profound contemplative experiences, the creation of a humanistic culture which has contributed to defining the dignity of the person and shaping the common good. May the present difficulties not pull you down, dear Christians of Europe: may you consider them instead as a challenge to be overcome and an occasion for a more joyful and vivid proclamation of Christ and of his Gospel of life. Finally, the bishops of the synodal assembly greet the people of Oceania who live under the protection of the southern Cross, they thank them for their witness to the Gospel of Jesus. Our prayer for you is that you might feel a profound thirst for new life, like the Samaritan Woman at the well, and that you might be able to hear the word of Jesus which says: “If you knew the gift of God” (John 4:10). May you more strongly feel the commitment to preach the Gospel and to make Jesus known in the world of today. We exhort you to encounter him in your daily life, to listen to him and to discover, through prayer and meditation, the grace to be able to say: “We know that this is truly the Savior of the World” (John 4:42). The star of Mary illumines the desert Arriving at the end of this experience of communion among Bishops of the entire world and of collaboration with the ministry of the Successor of Peter, we hear echoing in us the actual command of Jesus to his disciples: “Go and make disciples of all nations […] and behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19,20). This time, the mission is not addressed to one geographic area only, but goes to the very hidden depths of the hearts of our contemporaries to draw them back to an encounter with Jesus, the Living One who makes himself present in our communities. This presence fills our hearts with joy. Grateful for the gifts received from him in these days, we raise to him the hymn of praise: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord […] The Mighty One has done great things for me” (Luke 1:46,49). We make Mary’s words our own: the Lord has indeed done great things for his Church throughout the ages in various parts of the world and we magnify him, certain that he will not fail to look on our poverty in order to show the strength of his arm in our days and to sustain us in the path of the new evangelization. The figure of Mary guides us on our way. Our work, as Pope Benedict XVI told us, can seem like a path across the desert; we know that we must journey, taking with us what is essential: the company of Jesus, the truth of his word, the eucharistic bread which nourishes us, the fellowship of ecclesial communion, the impetus of charity. It is the water of the well that makes the desert bloom. As stars shine more brightly at night in the desert, so the light of Mary, Star of the new evangelization, brightly shines in heaven on our way. To her we confidently entrust ourselves.…
Summary of today’s show: This Sunday, Cardinal Seán is taking the unusual step of asking every parish in the Archdiocese of Boston to play a video or audio of a special homily he’s written to talk about the attempt to legalize physician-assisted suicide in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on the November 6 ballot. Scot Landry, Fr. Mark O’Connell, Fr. Chip Hines and the listeners of The Good Catholic Life get an exclusive advance look at the homily and our panel discusses the Cardinal’s appeal to the moral law, the good of society, love of the most vulnerable, and our Christian duty to be a family of faith for those in need. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry, Fr. Mark O’Connell and Fr. Chip Hines Links from today’s show: from on . Today’s topics: Cardinal Seán’s homily on Assisted Suicide 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and welcomed Fr. Mark O’Connell and Fr. Chip Hines back to the show. Fr. Chip is back for the first time since becoming pastor of St. Joseph parish in Medford. Fr. Mark said he had a pretty normal week. Scot said the Pastoral Center is busy getting ready for the Social Justice Convocation tomorrow. He said the Daughters of St. Paul are setting up their bookstall in the lobby of the Pastoral Center right now. Scot said we’re starting this week with this Sunday’s Gospel and then hear Cardinal Seán’s homily that will be heard in all the parishes of the archdiocese this weekend. Gospel for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Mark 10:46-52) As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.” He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.” Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way. Scot said Cardinal Seán pronounces Bartimaeus differently, probably the way it’s pronounced in one of the other languages he speaks. They now played the beginning of Cardinal Seán’s homily. People often find beggars annoying. Some will cross the street to avoid them. A man who was raised during the depression told of how the hobos, the knights of the road, would constantly arrive at their kitchen door asking for a handout. His mom would prepare sandwiches, a piece of fruit and a cup of coffee. They wondered why their back door seemed to attract more beggars than the rest of the neighborhood. One day they discovered that there was a mark on the curb in front of their house that indicated that this family would give something. The little boy asked his mother if he should erase the markings. His mom told him to leave them alone. It was a lesson that the boy never forgot. Today’s Gospel is about a Beggar named, Bartimaeus, which means Tim’s son. Bartimaeus is a blind beggar who has placed himself on the side of the road where all the pilgrims will pass on the way from Jericho to Jerusalem for the celebration of the Passover. Everyone over 12 years of age who lived within 15 miles of Jerusalem was expected to go to Jerusalem for the feast. I cannot hear this Gospel without remembering a young man from South America by the name of Segundo who arrived at National Airport in Washington and was referred to the Travelers’ Aid Desk. Segundo did not speak English. He knew no one in Washington, he had no money and he was blind. Someone who worked for an airline had gotten him an airplane ticket and a visitor’s visa. Travelers’ Aid sent him to me at the Centro Católico Hispano. As politely as I could, I asked “What possessed you to come to Washington without knowing anyone, without a plan, with nothing?” He said: “Padre in my country there are no seeing eye dogs, no schools for the blind, and not much medical attention. Blind people in my town spend their whole life sitting on the steps of the Church begging from the people going to Mass.”” I said: “Segundo, welcome to Washington. Welcome to the Spanish Catholic Center.” In today’s Gospel, Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, is there hoping to get a handout from the Church goers. The Gospels often describe for us two categories of people; the crowd and the community. The crowd is a collection of individuals who are quite content to put their own personal interest first, and to mind their own business. This group is often portrayed as pushing people away from the Lord, like the crowd in today’s Gospel who keep telling the beggar to shut up. The community are those who share Jesus’ mission and are calling people to draw near, to be closer to the Lord, to be a part of their family of faith. The community are the ones in the Gospel who say: “Take courage, get up, Jesus is calling you.” We want to form not a crowd, but a community; a family of faith, a community that cares for the blind beggar, the helpless child, the sick and the dying. Scot said Cardinal Seán will tie in the Church’s care of the needy with the need to care for the dying. Of the story of Segundo, Scot said it reflects our welcoming of the immigrant. Fr. Chip said Cardinal Seán often speaks about Centro Catolico and you get the sense that was some of the best times of his priesthood. Scot said from the time of Cardinal Seán’s ordination to the priesthood until becoming a bishop in the Virgin Islands, nearly every single Mass he celebrated was in a language other than English. The Centro Catolico was formed to help care for the influx of immigrants to the United States in that area. Fr. Mark said the Centro is a safe haven. He said as a priest it’s easy to become overwhelmed by all the people that need help. He told a story of a man approaching him after Mass one day and how he pre-judged someone as wanting to ask for money when all they wanted was to tell him what a good homily he had given. Even priests can become wearied of the work. Scot noted that the beggars and hobos and Segundo and Bartimaeus were able to advocate for themselves. But Cardinal Seán will speak to those who are unable to speak for themselves, like the unborn or the terminally ill. The family of faith, the People of God, the Church needs to be their voice. He distinguishes between two categories of people in society and in the Church. Sometimes we’re the crowd and sometimes we’re the community of faith. We could sit back and be judgmental of many things and of people. Other times we can be a family of faith caring for the blind, the helpless child, the sick, and the dying. Over the next 11 days we need to ensure we’re going to be a family of faith. Fr. Chip said the people expect priests to be available and it’s part of who they are. There are times he’s in the middle of something, but he makes the time for the person. St. Francis loved beggars and became a beggar himself and wanted us his friars to be beggars because being a beggar reveals a lot about our human condition, our dependence upon God, and our interdependence among ourselves. At periods of our life, we are completely dependent on others for our basic needs; at the beginning and at the end of life. Somewhere in between, we get to be caregivers. The Elizabethan poet, John Donne, wrote that no man is an island, that we are diminished by each death because we are part of humanity. The poet bids us: “Inquire not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” We cannot ignore the impending legalization of Physician-Assisted-Suicide as if it did not affect us. It would bring spiritual death, a cheapening of human life, and a corrupting of the medical profession. PhysicianAssisted-Suicide means making the pharmacists, doctors, nurses, family members, friends and society itself, accomplices in a suicide. Our task is to help prevent suicide and provide the very best palliative and hospice care for our terminally ill loved ones. You will hear many emotional arguments in favor of Assisted-Suicide. We all get emotional when we talk about the death of those whom we love the most. Laws must not be born out of emotions. Laws need to reflect the moral law, the common good and the protection of the most vulnerable. Scot said what jumps out to him that in periods of our life we are completely dependent on others, but in the middle of our lives we often get to become caregivers. Being dependent is not a bad thing. When your children are dependent on you as a parent because it gives an opportunity to share love. At the end of life, even if in a diminished physical capacity, you can experience that love. Fr. Mark said before the show he was with his father, just holding his hand for 20 minutes and reflected on the doctors and nurses caring for him so well. That’s how our seniors should be treated; with love and a place to call home and freed from pain. On the fact that we can’t ignore assisted suicide as if it doesn’t affect us, the Cardinal is saying it impacts us because it affects others and affects society. Fr. Mark said the Church has a duty to speak up against immorality because we are part of society. The cardinal then outlines how it would affect society. Fr. Chip said at funeral Masses, the last caregivers are there. How would they deal with contributing to the death of the person? How would we be able to comfort them? The people who care for others at the end of life need to be cared for too. Scot said suicide by those we know affects us deeply even if we don’t think it will. This law would allow someone to kill themselves without even notifying their spouse or children. How would that leave them after death? Fr. Chip said he celebrated his own uncle’s funeral who took his own life and he remembers seeing his father and his siblings and his cousins and wondering how it will affect them all. Fr. Mark pointed out that it’s not going too far from the topic to talk about all suicide, not just assisted suicide. In Oregon, the overall suicide rate has gone way up and it’s because of the cheapening of human life. Scot said assisted suicide sends the message that suicide is sometimes a solution to our problems. Fr. Mark said there is a copycat effect. Scot said we’re hearing the Question 2 advocates are emotional arguments. Cardinal Seán is saying that laws must not be born out of emotions. Your heart goes out to some of the key spokesmen for Yes on 2, because they obviously went through difficulty with a loved one who wanted to take their life. But the emotion in those individual cases should not make laws for everyone. Laws should reflect the moral law and common good for the most vulnerable. Fr. Chip said the response to suffering is not death, it’s love. Jaymie Stuart Wolfe wrote that in her column in the Pilot this week. Our response should be love to those who are elderly, dying, going through a hard time. There are many citizens of this State who do not share our faith and for whom the clear Biblical teaching is not a convincing argument. To them, we make an appeal to reason: that this is bad legislation because it puts vulnerable people at risk and it promotes suicide. Some of the perilous flaws of this legislation that need careful reflection even by those persons who favor physician assisted suicide are: Doctors agree that terminal diagnoses of 6 months or less are often wrong. Many people with a terminal diagnosis live for years. Patients requesting suicide do not need to be examined by a psychiatrist before receiving a lethal prescription, despite that many of them are suffering from the depression. This prescription is for about 100 capsules of Seconal. Of course, people can’t ingest 100 capsules all at once. So they pour the contents into juice or applesauce to consume it. Poisoning is never a dignified way to die, especially with no doctor present. There is no requirement that the patient notify family members. Compassionate care at the end of life should involve the loving support of family members. We should be supporting improved hospice and palliative care statewide, not legalized suicide. It is also important that some people in Massachusetts oppose Question 2 because they believe that a ballot initiative process is not a good way to deal with a complex, ethical issue involving life and death. The legislature exists to be able to review proposals, hold public hearings and build consensus on complicated issues. Scot said that the Cardinal is saying we are a people of life. To defeat assisted suicide, we need people who may not be pro-life to be with us. We as mass-attending Catholics need to have the facts and arguments that would be persuasive to those who won’t hear this homily. It’s bad legislation because it puts vulnerable people at risk without safeguards. Scot said every newspaper in Massachusetts that’s taken up Question 2 in its editorials has said Vote No. One of the major arguments has been that such an important law should be taken up by the Legislature. If there’s going to be a real discussion, make it a real discussion. Fr. Chip said it’s not really physician-assisted suicide. You fill a prescription and go home alone. This law is so flawed with so many problems that even appealing to just logic and sense and the process will work. Scot points out that most doctors in Oregon want nothing to do with this and so doctors affiliated with the pro-suicide group Compassion in Dying write the prescriptions and they barely know the patients. In Massachusetts, the people go to the neighborhood pharmacy and get a lethal dose in between all the flu medication and asthma inhalers. Fr. Chip asks what happens if they change their mind halfway through. Fr. Mark points out that the law doesn’t prohibit someone with a financial or other interest in spooning the poison into the patients. He said in many cases people get the prescription to keep around in case they want it and so the pills are laying around with the possibility of someone else getting them. Scot pointed out that no one is saying most people would do this, but if it happens once, it’s too many times. We are asking our Catholic parishioners to help in this very challenging time. We feel confident that if the voters have a chance to hear about the flaws in this proposed legislation, they will vote No on Question 2. It all hinges on our ability to get the message out. Please take copies of the hand out cards, and distribute them to your family, friends and neighbors at the events you attend over the next week. You might ask people if they have heard about Question 2, and tell them you would like to read the card with some of the reasons that medical organizations, disability groups, and other community leaders are voting no. There are also sample texts on that you can use to e-mail folks, post on Facebook, Twitter or Google-Plus. I would not be asking this of you if it were not so critical. I would hope that each of us would try to reach at least 10 people with this message. This is not partisan politics, it is simply exercising our right to contribute to the exchange of ideas that the Constitution of the United States guarantees. The Churches perform an important service by weighing in on moral and ethical issues. Many people objected to Archbishop Romero advocating for the poor and objected to Reverend Martin Luther King’s work on behalf of social justice. They both gave their lives to make their countries better places where human dignity was respected. We are all called to work for a more just society where the weak and the vulnerable are nurtured and protected. Our faith demands that we not be guilty bystanders. That’s why I am asking you to join me and partner with so many medical and disability groups to stop assisted suicide by Voting No on Question 2 on Election Day. Scot added that if you’re on Twitter follow and retweet what he posts there. He said the Cardinal is specifically asking everyone who hears this to reach out to one person per day until the election that Question 2 would be a tragedy if passed. You don’t have to persuade or convince them. Just let them know, send them a link, and ask them to consider this. Fr. Mark said we need the Catholic vote, but we need more as well. Our neighbors need to hear about this. We can pass out the literature and even talk to those leaning in that direction. Fr. Chip said people can follow him on Twitter too . The beggar Bartimaeus was ignored by the maddening crowd. They tried to silence him, but Bartimaeus refused to be intimidated. It took courage to cry out: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” It was interpreted as a political statement by some, no doubt. It was rather a cry to escape from the world of darkness. Jesus heard Bartimaeus’ cry and called him over and asked what he wanted. Bartimaeus said: “Lord that I might see.” Jesus who spent his ministry trying to heal blindnesses of minds and hearts says to the beggar: “Go your way, your faith has saved you.” The Gospel said, he immediately received his sight and followed Jesus on the way. What a beautiful ending to this Gospel. Bartimaeus did not disappear when he received what he asked for. With faith and gratitude he became Jesus’ disciple and followed the Lord to Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified ten days later – and three days after that, rose from the dead. Let us beg the Lord to cure all our societal blindnesses and help us to follow Jesus with the faith and gratitude of Bartimaeus. Following Jesus is never easy, but it always leads to deeper love and joy. Just ask the beggar. Fr. Chip said he sometimes wonder if assisted suicide is more for the people around the sick person to relieve their burden. Scot said with the exception of the main signatories of the ballot question, he’s yet to see any doctor appear on TV or in print in favor of it. Doctors he talks to say that a massive majority of doctors are strongly opposed to this. Fr. Mark pointed out that there are great advances in palliative care in our day and we have compassionate ways to treat people with love.…
Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy on Thursday discussed the news headlines of the week, including the bevy of newspaper editorials opposing Question 2; the Pilot’s own editorial on the assisted suicide question; Scot’s column in the Pilot answering proponent’s claims in favor of Question 2; Fr. Roger’s column in the Anchor on how Catholics should vote; and the surprise announcement of six new cardinals for the Church. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Assisted suicide; How Catholics should vote; new cardinals 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and welcomed Susan Abbott back to the show. She said this past week there was a wonderful workshop on bereavement ministry and on her parish on Monday, she started the Catholicism series by Fr. Robert Barron. She’s also working on the revision of religious education guidelines for Catholic schools and parish religious education. Scot noted that Gregory Tracy will be on vacation next week. Fr. Roger Landry said it’s been a busy few weeks for him. They had over 100 people come to an event preparing for the launch of the Year of Faith. Next week, he has eight talks in six days in five states, not to mention All Saints Day and All Souls Day. He’ll be in Tennessee first, talking about a couple of colleges and the Nashville Dominicans religious community, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and then in Philadelphia the end of the week. It’s been a great time of graces so far in the Year of Faith, not necessarily doing new things, but doing what we’re doing with a far greater trust in God. Scot noted that we could be hit with a hurricane or tropical storm at the beginning of next week. Susan noted that last year there was a huge snowstorm that hit this area. Scot said in the stories this week, the Pilot wrote editorials asking people to vote non on Questions 2 and 3, outlining the rational arguments against the questions. Greg said the flaws are obvious to anyone who wants to look at these laws, they don’t have to be Catholic. Scot quickly outlined the the laws of the law in the editorial as well as all the other groups that oppose Question 2. Scot said proponents have cited very small, alternative medical groups in favor. Scot asked about the editorial opposing Question 3, legalizing marijuana. Greg said that it’s clear in certain cases some people are advocating it for medical purposes, but once you open the door it gets out of control. In California, the reality of legalization has been to have marijuana dispensaries selling more marijuana than the possible valid patients. Back to Question 2, Scot turned to some local newspaper editorials opposing the Question. He said the Salem News mentions the argument that the legislature and legislators should take this up. Susan said issues this serious shouldn’t be left up to a one-time vote. It begs to be discussed by the legislature with input from experts and constituents. With the graying of the population and advances in end-of-life care for all ages, Massachusetts needs to have a wide-ranging, intelligent and respectful debate about assisted suicide. Our legislators need to find the political courage to confront a raw, emotional issue and craft a law that recognizes our right to make our own decisions about our quality of life while offering safeguards against misuse or abuse. Question 2 is not that law, and we urge a No vote. Scot said they are more opposed to the law because of the way it is crafted rather than the morality of it. Two weeks ago, the New Bedford Standard Times came out with a similar editorial. Fr. Roger said the newspaper editors said they support a right to suicide, but that this particular law as proposed doesn’t protect the vulnerable. Scot referred to his op ed in the week’s Pilot as well, which counters the arguments in favor of the law by proponents. At least they recognized how bad this particular bill is. If both opponents and proponents of assisted suicide in principle agree that this is bad, then the odds it’s bad is 105% The Boston Herald also came out with an editorial against Question 2 this week. It is tempting to consider support for Question 2, the so-called “Death with Dignity” act, which seeks to ease the final days of terminally ill patients. None of us wants to see a loved one suffer; we do not want to endure such suffering ourselves. We can all imagine that moment when we might seek the ultimate escape from indescribable pain. But the ballot initiative is deeply flawed. The Herald recommends voting NO. The new law would allow willing physicians to prescribe a lethal dose of medication for patients who have been diagnosed with an incurable illness that will cause death within six months, and who ask for the prescription that they would self-administer. Of course, such an estimate of life expectancy could easily be wrong. The patient must be deemed mentally competent, but is not required to undergo any counseling to determine if the request may be motivated by, say, treatable depression. That is reason enough on its own to vote no. It’s conceivable that some patients would resort to the lethal prescription not to ease their own suffering but to unburden loved ones. And there is deep concern about Question 2 within the medical and disability communities. We are fortunate in this country — and in this commonwealth — to have a strong network of end-of-life services for the terminally ill. Hospice provides compassionate care. Access to palliative care could be improved, and that should be the focus of those who are committed to humane and dignified treatment of the dying. Scot said a flaw in the editorial is that it makes it seem that suffering at the end of life is inevitable, but palliative care experts disagree and say that there is very little pain that can’t be alleviated. Greg said he was happy to see a major Boston newspaper that came out against this Question. He said that he’s heard some claim that if it’s okay to that amount of morphine needed would end up causing death inadvertently, then this should be legalized. But as Cardinal Seán has said that this isn’t the case. Susan pointed out that the intention is to relieve the pain, it’s not to kill the person. Scot said every major newspaper in Massachusetts that’s taken a position on Question 2 has been opposed. Fr. Roger said he would be shocked if one paper didn’t take a position in favor simply because of political associations, but he’s edified that so many newspapers agree that this particular initiative would be bad law. Of course, the truth of the matter is not determined by how many editorials are opposed or in favor. He encouraged people to write letters to editorial boards to thank them for the stand or to take a stand against. He noted that the more emphatically this Question is defeated, the less likely it is to be successful before the Legislature. Greg noted that with ballot initiatives, the wording of the law is crafted by those who are extreme advocates. If you’re going to have a law, have it drafted by a neutral party like legislators. He noted that every definition and the wording is expansive. Also in the Pilot is a story about 17 religious leaders, including Cardinal Seán, signed an agreement opposing physician-assisted suicide, based on a set of four criteria: The 6-month prognosis, doesn’t require consultations, doesn’t require family notification, and that the lethal prescription is not a death with dignity. Scot encouraged listeners when discussing this Question refer to it as a bill legalizing assisted suicide, not the euphemisms proposed by those in favor of the ballot question. There was discussion of the prescribing of the lethal pills from the neighborhood pharmacy, not from the doctor’s office, nor is there any control over the drugs once they’re out in the public sphere. Scot said Cardinal Seán asked him to write in the Pilot with responses to the claims made by proponents of Question 2. Susan said it’s a valuable one-page look at the pros and cons. Scot said what he hoped to do in the column is to provide assistance to someone who knows he’s going to get in a debate with a proponent of Question 2. Also in the Pilot this week is the text of Cardinal Seán’s homily that will be heard in all archdiocesan parishes this weekend. Tomorrow’s show will be devoted to this homily. The video of the homily will be on on Friday night. Scot encouraged everyone to spread the homily through their social networks on Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere. Susan said she also liked the column by Jaymie Stuart Wolfe called “The final enemy” on this topic. Susan said Jaymie looks at those who have lived terribly tragic lives and are afraid of dying alone and reminds us that it is to ensure that they don’t die alone, but surrounded by love. 2nd segment: Scot said Fr. Roger’s column in this week’s Anchor is entitled “How does God want you to vote?”. Fr. Roger said it’s about the proper formation of conscience. He said people are often confused about how this occurs. He said it’s about asking the Lord the question in prayer, examine his values, and become salt and leaven. Voting is a moral action that makes us morally better or worse. In a choice between a candidate who recognizes that abortion is the massacre of innocent human beings and intends to work to reduce and eliminate it and one who celebrates abortion as a great civil “right” and even wants to force Catholic individuals and institutions to have to pay for it, is it complicated to figure out which candidate’s values God wants us to support? Similarly, would He want us to vote for or against candidates and legislation that would give doctors the ability to help patients commit suicide? God instituted marriage in the beginning as the union of one man and one woman, as a reflection of His own image. Would He want us to support candidates who see marriage as He does or those who believe that such an idea of marriage is bigoted, unconstitutional, and needs to be redefined to embrace husband-less or wife-less unions? God founded a Church, calls us to use our freedom to live our faith through acts of charity, and wants us to be people who conscientiously follow His voice. Would He want us to support candidates who defend freedom of conscience and religion or those who want to use their office to compel Catholic institutions, priests, nuns, families and businesses to pay for other people to have free chemical abortions, sterilizations, and contraception? The answers, for those of a well-formed conscience, aren’t complicated. He said God cares who our leaders are. That was true in the Old Testament and is still clearly true. Catholics are consecrated, which means we’re different, and so we should be transforming society rather than just reflecting it. Scot said people often say their conscience compels them to favor things the Church’s teaches are immoral. Fr. Roger said conscience is not personal preferences or gut instincts. Conscience is an organ of sensitivity given to us by God to hear his voice to do or avoid something or to see if something we did or failed to do accorded with what he wants us to do. We know we are hearing him correctly when we are in accord with his Revelation as safeguarded by the Church. He said we should prepare to vote by praying, by consulting the saints, and by becoming informed of Church teaching. He said many Catholics have not formed their consciences well and he said many priests have to express sorrow for having failed to be clear about what the conscience is and have failed to teach clearly the obligations of the Catholic faith. Scot said last week he was part of a panel at St. Mary parish in Dedham on current events, especially ahead of the election. He said people wanted guidance on how to vote. People asked why they don’t hear more about this in the Church. Scot said when secularists out there don’t like what they hear from us, they run to claim separation of church and state. Scot said the Church can’t endorse a candidate from the pulpit, but the Church can express the principles for how a Catholic should balance all the different moral questions. Before we got into the ballot box, we have to think about it as an action of faith. Susan said another resource is the US Conference of Catholic Bishops which puts out succinct one-page briefings on Catholic teachings related issues of the day. Scot noted that the Church teaches that there is a hierarchy of values, where not every issue has the same moral weight. Greg said that the right to life is the pre-eminent right. If you’re prevented from being born, then you don’t even have a chance to be poor or one of the other conditions some would place a greater weight on. Scot said Pope Benedict declared seven new saints in Rome last Sunday. He said also that there was a surprising announcement in which the Pope named six new cardinals. Two of them are significant, Archbishop Harvey, an American who’s been the head of the Papal Household. Also there are no other curial officials or Europeans. The other surprising pick is the 55-year-old Filipino archbishop Luis Tagle. Fr. Roger said he was surprised that Archbishop Gerhard Muller, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wasn’t picked to be a cardinal. Fr. Roger said he’s always been impressed by Tagle and said he’s been tipped as one of the leading contenders for the papacy from Asia.…
Summary of today’s show: The annual Bishop Healy Award dinner honors those in the Archdiocese of Boston who provide particular service to the Black Catholic community. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams are joined by Lorna DesRoses of the Office for Black Catholics to talk to Anthony Owens, clerk-magistrate in Dorchester District Court, parishioner at St. Mary of the Angels Parish, and the 2012 winner of the Bishop James Augustine Healy Award; and Beth Chambers, director of Catholic Charities South, parishioner at Holy Name Parish, and the 2012 Robert L. Ruffin Award winner, about what it means to them and how they serve their community in an exemplary manner. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Lorna DesRoses of the Office for Black Catholics; Anthony Owens, Healy Award winner; Beth Chambers, Ruffin Award winner Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: 2012 Bishop Healy Awards Dinner 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Matt Williams to the show and talked about his travels around the archdiocese this week. Fr. Matt said last Wednesday they celebrated the 50 years of service to the Archdiocese’s CYO program by Peter Williams. He also talked about a recent presentation to Confirmation candidates about how God has created them for greatness. He also spoke of the Black Catholic revival between St. Angela’s in Mattapan and St. Matthew in Dorchester, including a youth component on Saturday. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Lorna DesRoses, Anthony Owens and Beth Chambers from Catholic Charities South. Scot asked Lorna about the Bishop Healy Award. She said it is given in honor of Bishop James Augustine Healy, the first recognized black Catholic bishop in the US. He was the first chancellor of the Archdiocese of Boston and the second bishop of the Diocese of Portland, Maine. The award is given to a black Catholic who shows exemplary leadership and has given exemplary service to the community. Anthony Owens is a parishioner of St. Mary of Angels and has been very active in the parish and community. He has raised his son and been very involved in his education. This is the 19th year of the Healy Award. Anthony said he was honored to receive the award. He said he was speechless when Lorna called to tell him about it. He said he helped start the food pantry at St. Mary’s a number of years ago. He’s served the parish council, been involved in the celebrations committee. He worked with Boston Symphony Orchestra to bring classical music to his community. He helped with a 24-hour prayer revival. Scot asked about St. Mary of the Angels Parish. Anthony said he’s been in the parish for 26 year. It’s in the Eggleston Square section of Boston. There is a large Spanish-speaking population and a large African-American community. It is very diverse. They also have strong relationships with the parishes that surround them. Scot asked Lorna about the Ruffin Award. Lorna said Robert Ruffin was involved in the 19th century Black Catholic congress movement. The award is given to someone who serves the black Catholic community, is dedicated to the faith, shows the unity within the diversity of the Church, and shows great personal character. She said Beth Chambers is receiving the award for her work in Catholic Charities. Lorna said this is the sixth Ruffin award being given out. Scot asked Beth what it means to her. Beth has worked for Catholic Charities for 22 years. Beth said when she was first told she said there must be some mistake. She said her husband, Meyer, gets the awards. He is the founder of the archdiocesan Black Catholic choir. She also looked to the previous recipients who did so much. She said her husband is proud of her. She said her work in Catholic Charities started because of Meyer. Beth said when she was in Boston’s Catholic Charities, she helped with the basic needs programs in the area of the Cathedral in the South End. In August, she was appointed as director of Catholic Charities South. It’s a different role for her now. She talked about how people she works with are often at the very rock bottom of life. She also oversees Sunset Point Camp in Hull, for kids who couldn’t otherwise go to camp or have a vacation. It was closed for a year a couple of years, but they were able to re-open it with community support. Beth said the basic needs program has increased manyfold in recent years. The first 8 months of this year, the numbers at the food pantry in Dorchester have doubled. But the funding is not increasing and so they have to be more creative about getting food. They see that there aren’t other food pantries around them in Boston or Roxbury so they serve the people who come to them. Scot asked Anthony if his food pantry sees the same increasing needs. He said in his position as magistrate-clerk for the Dorchester District Court and he sees people with those same basic needs and he sends them to Catholic Charities. Scot asked Lorna what else happens at the dinner besides the awards. She said the Black Catholic choir provides music throughout the evening. They have a raffle. The dinner is on Saturday, Nov. 3. People come from various parishes to support the honorees. The guest speaker this year will be Prof. Maria Hilton from BU School of Law. She is a lifelong Catholic, mother of 7. The theme of the dinner is “Be Doers of the Word, Not Hearers Only”. Tickets and tables are still available. c 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Johanna Butler Tenenbaum from Boston She wins the Magnificat Year of Faith Companion and the audio CD Journey in Faith by Johnnette Benkovic. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Beth said she’s a parishioner at Holy Name Parish in West Roxbury. She said it’s a beautiful church with a wonderful community and pastor. Scot asked her about how working in Brockton has been different from Boston. She said they have parent aid programs, programs for children, and a huge food pantry. The pantry is set up with shopping carts letting people shop for their food as opposed to being given a bag of food. This is a total choice pantry. Fr. Matt asked Beth how the theme for the dinner resonates with her. She said it’s a quotes from the Letter to James that she just heard the other day. She said whether it’s paid workers or volunteers, it’s the truth. They couldn’t do what they do at Catholic Charities without volunteers. In Brockton, they have young people and elderly who come help out. They have four young Mormon men who volunteer also. Beth said she considers herself a Martha, someone who just works in the background. She loves the behind-the-scenes preparation work, letting others shine as it happens. Anthony said many hands, make for light work. Many people are less active, but could do more. He asked them to please come and get so much out of it. They’ll see people thank them for helping them to eat for the first time in days. They’ll help young people, directing them away to something that helps them, as opposed to hurts them. Fr. Matt asked Tony how his faith inspires him and lives out his work. Tony said everything he does, he brings his Catholic faith to it. They have people who come through Dorchester Court that he greets with respect and dignity, who haven’t experienced that elsewhere. He emphasizes that with his staff and even those who appear before him as clerk-magistrate. Fr. Matt asked Tony to share about what it means to be a Dad as a Catholic and as someone who sees so many young people appear before him coming from broken homes. Tony said before he became a dad, he was an uncle raising his two-year-old nephew. He turned to his parish for that support to help them grow in their faith. He prepares his children for a live when their father won’t be around. Give them a strong spiritual foundation. He them to know how to make good moral choices. A father has to be loving and patient and there all the time even if not physically always. Scot said a father’s job is to raise adults, not kids. He’s sure Tony has seen people in many different life stages and places, the best and worst of society. They talked about you’re never prepared for fatherhood. Tony said he saw as a probation officer how giving people the right resources can make a difference in their lives. Scot asked Lorna what she hopes to be the result of the award dinner for the community. She said in addition to inspiring us to be doers of the Word, she hopes it encourages us by seeing someone doing something wonderful and maybe acts as a catalyst for them to do more. Beth said she’ll be expected to give a 3-5 minute acceptance speech. She’s attended every single award dinner so receiving the Ruffin Award makes it even more special. Anthony said he’s also mapped out his acceptance speech. Scot said it’s a challenge to name everybody you need to thank. It’s an opportunity to reflect on the people who’ve set you on this path in life to serve the Church and the people served in the name of the Church. Tony said throughout his life he’s had many who’ve helped him, but his parents stand out. His mother ensured he would go to church. Fr. Charles Bryson was a teacher in school who told him he was capable of great things. He also would name many of the people at St. Mary’s. Beth said first and foremost she would name her husband. She grew up as a Catholic, but it wasn’t a Catholic household. So when she married her husband it was like a baptism by fire in her faith.…
Summary of today’s show: As we close in on Election Day, we celebrate our 400th episode by beginning in earnest our formation as Catholics in the public square. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor continue looking at the 1998 document from the US bishops called “Living the Gospel of Life”, which Archbishop Charles Chaput calls “the best tool anywhere for understanding the American Catholic political vocation”. Scot and Fr. Chris consider the second part of the document, which includes calls to specific groups of Catholics to recognize the hierarchy of rights that puts the right to life and the dignity of all human life first and foremost. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s topics: Living the Gospel of Life: Part 2 1st segment: Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor talked about their weekend. Fr. Chris said he was called out to perform an anointing for a man who was dying of cancer. He was struck by the fact that this was dying with dignity, to be surrounded by loved ones and cared for by medical professionals who also cared for the family. Fr. Chris said he preached on the subject of dying with dignity and Question 2. He said it’s a tough subject to talk about in the presence of so many children, but he though that the more culture turns in on itself and gets twisted. He doesn’t want to offend the sensibility of the little ones while edifying the adults. Many people said they hadn’t heard of the assisted suicide question or misunderstood it. He pointed out that it’s not physician-assisted suicide because the physician doesn’t provide any assistance except to write a prescription. Scot said the doctor is not present when the fatal prescription is ingested. In many ways, it’s dying alone. He said yesterday the Boston Herald, Worcester Telegram and Gazette joined The New Bedford Standard-Times in opposing Question 2. Fr. Chris said it makes sense to him why even doctors and nurses oppose this bill after seeing the doctors and nurses caring for the dying over the weekend. Today’s topic is the second part of a two-part series discussing the US bishops’ 1998 document “Living the Gospel of Life.” Scot reminded listeners he’d never heard of this document until reading Archbishop Chaput’s book “Render Unto Caesar” over the weekend. We start with Section 3, Paragraph 16. This does not make America sectarian. It does, however, underline the crucial role God’s sovereignty has played in the architecture of American politics. While the founders were a blend of Enlightenment rationalists and traditional Christians, generations of Jews, Muslims, other religious groups and non-believers have all found a home in the United States. This is so because the tolerance of our system is rooted in the Jewish-Christian principle that even those who differ from one another in culture, appearance and faith still share the same rights. We believe that this principle still possesses the power to enlighten our national will. The Second Vatican Council, in its Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes), praises those women and men who have a vocation to public office. It encourages active citizenship. It also reminds us that, “The political community … exists for the common good: This is its full justification and meaning, and the source of its specific and basic right to exist. The common good embraces all those conditions of social life which enable individuals, families and organizations to achieve complete and efficacious fulfillment” (74). In pursuing the common good, citizens should “cultivate a generous and loyal spirit of patriotism, but without narrow-mindedness … [they must also] be conscious of their specific and proper role in the political community: They should be a shining example by their sense of responsibility and their dedication to the common good …” (75). As to the role of the Church in this process: “… The political community and the Church are autonomous and independent of each other in their own fields. Nevertheless, both are devoted to the personal vocation of man, though under different titles … [yet] at all times and in all places, the Church should have the true freedom to teach the faith, to proclaim its teaching about society, to carry out its task among men without hindrance, and to pass moral judgment even in matters relating to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or the salvation of souls requires it” (76; emphasis added). Pope John Paul II elaborates on this responsibility in his 1988 apostolic exhortation, The Vocation and the Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World (Christifideles Laici): “The inviolability of the person, which is a reflection of the absolute inviolability of God, finds its primary and fundamental expression in the inviolability of human life. Above all, the common outcry, which is justly made on behalf of human rights — for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture — is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition of all other personal rights, is not defended with maximum determination … The human being is entitled to such rights in every phase of development, from conception until natural death, whether healthy or sick, whole or handicapped, rich or poor … [Moreover, if,] indeed, everyone has the mission and responsibility of acknowledging the personal dignity of every human being and of defending the right to life, some lay faithful are given particular title to this task: such as parents, teachers, healthworkers and the many who hold economic and political power” (38). We believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a “Gospel of life.” It invites all persons and societies to a new life lived abundantly in respect for human dignity. We believe that this Gospel is not only a complement to American political principles, but also the cure for the spiritual sickness now infecting our society. As Scripture says, no house can stand divided against itself (Lk 11:17). We cannot simultaneously commit ourselves to human rights and progress while eliminating or marginalizing the weakest among us. Nor can we practice the Gospel of life only as a private piety. American Catholics must live it vigorously and publicly, as a matter of national leadership and witness, or we will not live it at all. Scot said it is the role of the Church to speak up when the rights of man require it. The Church isn’t asking for theocracy, but we have a right to be heard and contribute to social discourse on various issues. If we make ourselves silent, then a huge voice for good is silenced. Fr. Chris said the Church is one of the only prophetic voices left in our society. The Church serves every man, women, and child and the common good. The Church has a right to speak and to invite men and women of good conscience who wants to join the cause. The Church teaches the truth and when people hear the truth, they are attracted to it. Scot said #19 is one of the best in the document. It talks about the call of everyone and that of particular people who have a particular task in proclaiming the right to life, especially anyone who leads other people. Fr. Chris said if you want to know the health of a culture, see how it takes care of its marginalized. There’s a hierarchy of rights that the right to life presumes the other rights. I have to have a right o life in order to be free, to pursue liberty and happiness. When we go into the voting booth we have to take that into consideration. Scot said in #20, we can’t live the Gospel of life privately. We can’t say our faith is only meant for our home or in church. We have to live it in the public square. Fr. Chris said this counters the formulation “I’m personally opposed but I can’t impose my beliefs on others.” Abortion is intrinsically evil and we are called to protect the unborn, the weak, the suicidal and sick when we enter the voting booth. “It is impossible to further the common good without acknowledging and defending the right to life, upon which all the other inalienable rights of individuals are founded and from which they develop.” Pope John Paul II, The Gospel of Life Bringing a respect for human dignity to practical politics can be a daunting task. There is such a wide spectrum of issues involving the protection of human life and the promotion of human dignity. Good people frequently disagree on which problems to address, which policies to adopt and how best to apply them. But for citizens and elected officials alike, the basic principle is simple: We must begin with a commitment never to intentionally kill, or collude in the killing, of any innocent human life, no matter how broken, unformed, disabled or desperate that life may seem. In other words, the choice of certain ways of acting is always and radically incompatible with the love of God and the dignity of the human person created in His image. Direct abortion is never a morally tolerable option. It is always a grave act of violence against a woman and her unborn child. This is so even when a woman does not see the truth because of the pressures she may be subjected to, often by the child’s father, her parents or friends. Similarly, euthanasia and assisted suicide are never acceptable acts of mercy. They always gravely exploit the suffering and desperate, extinguishing life in the name of the “quality of life” itself. This same teaching against direct killing of the innocent condemns all direct attacks on innocent civilians in time of war. Pope John Paul II has reminded us that we must respect every life, even that of criminals and unjust aggressors. It is increasingly clear in modern society that capital punishment is unnecessary to protect people’s safety and the public order, so that cases where it may be justified are “very rare, if not practically non-existent.” No matter how serious the crime, punishment that does not take life is “more in conformity with the dignity of the human person” (Evangelium Vitae, 56-7). Our witness to respect for life shines most brightly when we demand respect for each and every human life, including the lives of those who fail to show that respect for others. The antidote to violence is love, not more violence. As we stressed in our 1995 statement Political Responsibility: “The application of Gospel values to real situations is an essential work of the Christian community.” Adopting a consistent ethic of life, the Catholic Church promotes a broad spectrum of issues “seeking to protect human life and promote human dignity from the inception of life to its final moment.”9 Opposition to abortion and euthanasia does not excuse indifference to those who suffer from poverty, violence and injustice. Any politics of human life must work to resist the violence of war and the scandal of capital punishment. Any politics of human dignity must seriously address issues of racism, poverty, hunger, employment, education, housing, and health care. Therefore, Catholics should eagerly involve themselves as advocates for the weak and marginalized in all these areas. Catholic public officials are obliged to address each of these issues as they seek to build consistent policies which promote respect for the human person at all stages of life. But being ‘right’ in such matters can never excuse a wrong choice regarding direct attacks on innocent human life. Indeed, the failure to protect and defend life in its most vulnerable stages renders suspect any claims to the ‘rightness’ of positions in other matters affecting the poorest and least powerful of the human community. If we understand the human person as the “temple of the Holy Spirit” — the living house of God — then these latter issues fall logically into place as the crossbeams and walls of that house. All direct attacks on innocent human life, such as abortion and euthanasia, strike at the house’s foundation. These directly and immediately violate the human person’s most fundamental right — the right to life. Neglect of these issues is the equivalent of building our house on sand. Such attacks cannot help but lull the social conscience in ways ultimately destructive of other human rights. As Pope John Paul II reminds us, the command never to kill establishes a minimum which we must respect and from which we must start out “in order to say ‘yes’ over and over again, a ‘yes’ which will gradually embrace the entire horizon of the good” (Evangelium Vitae, 75). Since the entry of Catholics into the U.S. political mainstream, believers have struggled to balance their faith with the perceived demands of democratic pluralism. As a result, some Catholic elected officials have adopted the argument that, while they personally oppose evils like abortion, they cannot force their religious views onto the wider society. This is seriously mistaken on several key counts. First, regarding abortion, the point when human life begins is not a religious belief but a scientific fact — a fact on which there is clear agreement even among leading abortion advocates. Second, the sanctity of human life is not merely Catholic doctrine but part of humanity’s global ethical heritage, and our nation’s founding principle. Finally, democracy is not served by silence. Most Americans would recognize the contradiction in the statement, “While I am personally opposed to slavery or racism or sexism I cannot force my personal view on the rest of society.” Real pluralism depends on people of conviction struggling vigorously to advance their beliefs by every ethical and legal means at their disposal. Today, Catholics risk cooperating in a false pluralism. Secular society will allow believers to have whatever moral convictions they please — as long as they keep them on the private preserves of their consciences, in their homes and churches, and out of the public arena. Democracy is not a substitute for morality, nor a panacea for immorality. Its value stands — or falls — with the values which it embodies and promotes. Only tireless promotion of the truth about the human person can infuse democracy with the right values. This is what Jesus meant when He asked us to be leaven in society. American Catholics have long sought to assimilate into U.S. cultural life. But in assimilating, we have too often been digested. We have been changed by our culture too much, and we have changed it not enough. If we are leaven, we must bring to our culture the whole Gospel, which is a Gospel of life and joy. That is our vocation as believers. And there is no better place to start than promoting the beauty and sanctity of human life. Those who would claim to promote the cause of life through violence or the threat of violence contradict this Gospel at its core. Scripture calls us to “be doers of the word and not hearers only … [for] faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (Jas 1:22, 2:17). Jesus Himself directs us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations … teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you …” (Mt 28:19-20). Life in Christ is a life of active witness. It demands moral leadership. Each and every person baptized in the truth of the Catholic faith is a member of the “people of life” sent by God to evangelize the world. God is always ready to answer our prayers for help with the virtues we need to do His will. First and foremost we need the courage and the honesty to speak the truth about human life, no matter how high the cost to ourselves. The great lie of our age is that we are powerless in the face of the compromises, structures and temptations of mass culture. But we are not powerless. We can make a difference. We belong to the Lord, in Him is our strength, and through His grace, we can change the world. We also need the humility to listen well to both friend and opponent on the abortion issue, learning from each and forgetting ourselves. We need the perseverance to continue the struggle for the protection of human life, no matter what the setbacks, trusting in God and in the ultimate fruitfulness of the task He has called us to. We need the prudence to know when and how to act in the public arena — and also to recognize and dismiss that fear of acting which postures as prudence itself. And finally we need the great foundation of every apostolic life: faith, hope and charity. Faith not in moral or political abstractions, but in the personal presence of God; hope not in our own ingenuity, but in His goodness and mercy; and love for others, including those who oppose us, rooted in the love God showers down on us. These virtues, like the Gospel of Life which they help animate, have serious implications for every Christian involved in any way in the public life of the nation. Scot said in #23, as they listed various forms of standing up for life and violations of human rights, they said being in right in many areas can never excuse being wrong about direct attacks on human life. Advocating against direct attacks comes first if we want to advocate against indirect attacks. Fr. Chris said it’s the false premise of proportionalism. We can’t say that we will save 99 lives and let one die. Every life is so sacred and valuable that we can’t directly cause the taking of a life. The bishops say it’s seriously mistaken to say it’s not a human life and that the sanctity of human life is not just a Catholic idea. Also, democracy isn’t served by silence. We can’t mute ourselves on this. Scot said abortion continues in this country because too many of us have not stood up to defend life in the womb. Scot said people deserve to hear why we believe what we believe. Everybody needs to hear us in the public square, whether we are successful or not. If God moves their hearts, all the better; if not, we’re better for sharing our faith. Fr. Chris said our Constitution provides for us to speak about religiously defined beliefs in the public square. Scot said we only hear about separation of church and state, it’s only from people who disagree with us. When we talk about serving the poor, no one tries to shout us down. Fr. Chris said these discussions should not become vicious and brutal, but rather should be based on mutuality and respect for the other, in the hopes that truth will surface. In #25, the bishops discuss the long battle to be assimilated into American life, but that desire for assimilation has often resulted in Catholics being changed too much by the culture than vice versa. Fr. Chris said we are called to based our decisions on our faith and one science and reason. They discussed recent formulations of the opposing approaches by Catholic politicians. The bishops in #27 talk about the virtues we need. Scot and Fr. Chris skipped over #29 and #30 which address bishops, priests, religious, catechists, teachers, and theologians. As bishops, we have the responsibility to call Americans to conversion, including political leaders, and especially those publicly identified as Catholic. As the Holy Father reminds us in The Splendor of the Truth (Veritatis Splendor): “… [It] is part of our pastoral ministry to see to it that [the Church’s] moral teaching is faithfully handed down, and to have recourse to appropriate measures to ensure that the faithful are guarded from every doctrine and theory contrary to it” (116). As chief teachers in the Church, we must therefore explain, persuade, correct and admonish those in leadership positions who contradict the Gospel of life through their actions and policies. Catholic public officials who disregard Church teaching on the inviolability of the human person indirectly collude in the taking of innocent life. A private call to conversion should always be the first step in dealing with these leaders. Through prayer, through patiently speaking the truth in love, and by the witness of our lives, we must strive always to open their hearts to the God-given dignity of the unborn and of all vulnerable persons. So also we must remind these leaders of their duty to exercise genuine moral leadership in society. They do this not by unthinking adherence to public opinion polls or by repeating empty pro-choice slogans, but by educating and sensitizing themselves and their constituents to the humanity of the unborn child. At the same time we need to redouble our efforts to evangelize and catechize our people on the dignity of life and the wrongness of abortion. Nonetheless, some Catholic officials may exclude themselves from the truth by refusing to open their minds to the Church’s witness. In all cases, bishops have the duty and pastoral responsibility to continue to challenge those officials on the issue in question and persistently call them to a change of heart. As bishops we reflect particularly on the words of the Office of Readings: Let us be neither dogs that do not bark nor silent onlookers nor paid servants who run away before the wolf. Instead, let us be careful shepherds watching over Christ’s flock. Let us preach the whole of God’s plan to the powerful and the humble, to rich and to poor, to men of every rank and age, as far as God gives us the strength, in season and out of season, as St. Gregory writes in his book of Pastoral Instruction.10 Priests, religious, catechists, Catholic school teachers, family life ministers and theologians all share, each in their appropriate way, in the Church’s task of forming the Catholic faithful in a reverence for the sanctity of life. We call them to a renewed commitment to that task. In their words and example, they should witness loyally and joyfully to the truth that every human life, at every stage of development, is a gift from God. Physicians, nurses and healthcare workers can touch the lives of women and girls who may be considering abortion with practical assistance, counseling and adoption alternatives. Equally important, they should be conscious evangelizers of their own professions, witnessing by word and example that God is the Lord of life. Catholics who are privileged to serve in public leadership positions have an obligation to place their faith at the heart of their public service, particularly on issues regarding the sanctity and dignity of human life. Thomas More, the former chancellor of England who preferred to give his life rather than betray his Catholic convictions, went to his execution with the words, “I die the king’s good servant, but God’s first.” In the United States in the late 1990s, elected officials safely keep their heads. But some will face a political penalty for living their public office in accord with their pro-life convictions. To those who choose this path, we assure them that their course is just, they save lives through their witness, and God and history will not forget them. Moreover, the risk of witness should not be exaggerated, and the power of witness should not be underestimated. In an age of artifice, many voters are hungry for substance. They admire and support political figures who speak out sincerely for their moral convictions. For our part we commend Catholic and other public officials who, with courage and determination, use their positions of leadership to promote respect for all human life. We urge those Catholic officials who choose to depart from Church teaching on the inviolability of human life in their public life to consider the consequences for their own spiritual well being, as well as the scandal they risk by leading others into serious sin. We call on them to reflect on the grave contradiction of assuming public roles and presenting themselves as credible Catholics when their actions on fundamental issues of human life are not in agreement with Church teaching. No public official, especially one claiming to be a faithful and serious Catholic, can responsibly advocate for or actively support direct attacks on innocent human life. Certainly there are times when it may be impossible to overturn or prevent passage of a law which allows or promotes a moral evil — such as a law allowing the destruction of nascent human life. In such cases, an elected official, whose position in favor of life is known, could seek legitimately to limit the harm done by the law. However, no appeal to policy, procedure, majority will or pluralism ever excuses a public official from defending life to the greatest extent possible. As is true of leaders in all walks of life, no political leader can evade accountability for his or her exercise of power (Evangelium Vitae, 73-4). Those who justify their inaction on the grounds that abortion is the law of the land need to recognize that there is a higher law, the law of God. No human law can validly contradict the Commandment: “Thou shalt not kill.” The Gospel of Life must be proclaimed, and human life defended, in all places and all times. The arena for moral responsibility includes not only the halls of government, but the voting booth as well. Laws that permit abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are profoundly unjust, and we should work peacefully and tirelessly to oppose and change them. Because they are unjust they cannot bind citizens in conscience, be supported, acquiesced in, or recognized as valid. Our nation cannot countenance the continued existence in our society of such fundamental violations of human rights. We encourage all citizens, particularly Catholics, to embrace their citizenship not merely as a duty and privilege, but as an opportunity meaningfully to participate in building the culture of life. Every voice matters in the public forum. Every vote counts. Every act of responsible citizenship is an exercise of significant individual power. We must exercise that power in ways that defend human life, especially those of God’s children who are unborn, disabled or otherwise vulnerable. We get the public officials we deserve. Their virtue — or lack thereof — is a judgment not only on them, but on us. Because of this, we urge our fellow citizens to see beyond party politics, to analyze campaign rhetoric critically, and to choose their political leaders according to principle, not party affiliation or mere self-interest. We urge parents to recall the words of the Second Vatican Council and our Holy Father in On the Family (Familiaris Consortio), that the family is “the first and vital cell of society” (42).11 As the family goes, so goes our culture. Parents are the primary educators of their children, especially in the important areas of human sexuality and the transmission of human life. They shape society toward a respect for human life by first being open to new life themselves; then by forming their children — through personal example — with a reverence for the poor, the elderly and developing life in the womb. Families which live the Gospel of life are important agents of evangelization through their witness. But additionally, they should organize “to see that the laws and institutions of the state not only do not offend, but support and actively defend the rights and duties of the family,” for the purpose of transforming society and advancing the sanctity of life (44). Women have a unique role in the transmission and nurturing of human life. They can best understand the bitter trauma of abortion and the hollowness and sterility at the heart of the vocabulary of “choice.” Therefore, we ask women to assume a special role in promoting the Gospel of life with a new pro-life feminism. Women are uniquely qualified to counsel and support other women facing unexpected pregnancies, and they have been in the vanguard of establishing and staffing the more than 3000 pregnancy aid centers in the United States. They, in a way more fruitful than any others, can help elected officials to understand that any political agenda which hopes to uphold equal rights for all, must affirm the equal rights of every child, born and unborn. They can remind us that our nation’s declaration of God-given rights, coupled with the command “Thou shalt not kill,” are the starting points of true freedom. To choose any other path is to contradict our own identity as a nation dedicated to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Scot said sometimes Catholics in political life say if they vote their faith they won’t be re-elected and they won’t be able to do the good they want to do in Washington. But the bishops say the power of witness should not be underestimated. He said the bishops are telling them to first consider their eternal life. Fr. Chris said the bishops are calling politicians to grow a backbone and stand up for what’s right and true. Someday, the future will look at us today and call us a barbaric culture. We’re immune and not cognizant to how destructive this culture is. Scot noted that before the Civil War, many northerners didn’t think about the evil of slavery and only when they were confronted with its immorality did they stand up against it. Fr. Chris said when we think of the abolitionists or Martin Luther King standing up for religious rights, these were public leaders bringing their faith into the public square. Scot said the bishops tell us that we get the public officials we deserve if we don’t hold them to a standard of virtue and defense of life. When we do get them, we need to give them support. Scot says he reflects on how he has to send checks to those who he sees running for office and standing up for life.Our faith informs every part of our life, including financially helping some of these candidates. In #36, we see a special message to women. Scot said it seems that women in our culture today are considered the swing votes appealed to by candidates at every level. We have a society in which women can turn the tide against abortion if they speak up. Scot said some groups like NOW say that the only issue that women care about is abortion and access to free contraception and many women feel insulted that they are boiled down to these two issues, rather than jobs, a stable society, and many of the issues that motivate men. Fr. Chris said the abortion rate wreaks disastrous effects on women. In China we see where sex-selection abortion results in girls being aborted at a high rate. Similar effects are in place in the US. Scot noted that Planned Parenthood and NOW have been the biggest opponents of laws to criminalize sex-selection abortion. Scot and Fr. Chris said this is a great document for all Americans to hear or read ahead of the election. We commend all who proclaim and serve the Gospel of Life. By their peaceful activism, education and prayer, they witness to God’s truth and embody our Lord’s command to love one another as He loved us. By their service to women who have experienced abortion, they bring His peace and consolation. We urge them to persevere in this difficult work, and not to be discouraged. Like the Cross of our Lord, faithful dedication to the Gospel of Life is a “sign of contradiction” in our times. As Pope John Paul II has said: “It is a tribute to the Church and to the openness of American society that so many Catholics in the United States are involved in political life.” He reminds us that “democracy is … a moral adventure, a continuing test of a people’s capacity to govern themselves in ways that serve the common good and the good of individual citizens. The survival of a particular democracy depends not only on its institutions, but to an even greater extent on the spirit which inspires and permeates its procedures for legislating, administering and judging. The future of democracy in fact depends on a culture capable of forming men and women who are prepared to defend certain truths and values.”12 As we conclude the American century and approach a new era for our own nation and the world, we believe that the purpose of the United States remains hopeful and worthy. In the words of Robert Frost, our vocation is to take “the road less traveled,” the road of human freedom rooted in law; law which is rooted, in turn, in the truth about the sanctity of the human person. But the future of a nation is decided by every new generation. Freedom always implies the ability to choose between two roads: one which leads to life; the other, death (Dt 30:19). It is now our turn to choose. We appeal to all people of the United States, especially those in authority, and among them most especially Catholics, to understand this critical choice before us. We urge all persons of good will to work earnestly to bring about the cultural transformation we need, a true renewal in our public life and institutions based on the sanctity of all human life. And finally, as God entrusted His Son to Mary nearly 2,000 years ago for the redemption of the world, we close this letter today by entrusting to Mary all our people’s efforts to witness the Gospel of life effectively in the public square. Mary, patroness of America, renew in us a love for the beauty and sanctity of the human person from conception to natural death; and as your Son gave His life for us, help us to live our lives serving others. Mother of the Church, Mother of our Savior, open our hearts to the Gospel of life, protect our nation, and make us witnesses to the truth.…
Summary of today’s show: As we close in on Election Day, we celebrate our 400th episode by beginning in earnest our formation as Catholics in the public square. Scot Landry and Michael Lavigne start by tackling the 1998 document from the US bishops called “Living the Gospel of Life”, which Archbishop Charles Chaput calls “the best tool anywhere for understanding the American Catholic political vocation”. Scot and Michael look at the first half of the document today and Scot will continue on Tuesday with Fr. Chris O’Connor. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Michael Lavigne Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Living the Gospel of Life 1st segment: Scot Landry noted that today is the 400th episode of The Good Catholic Life and he congratulated and thanked everyone involved with the show, including the listeners. Today is also the official feast day of Blessed John Paul II and our studio is named in his honor. He read the prayer from Mass for this feast. The reason it’s his feast day is because it was the inauguration of his papacy in 1978. Scot said we also welcome two newspaper editorials today from the Boston Herald and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette opposing Question Two on assisted suicide. Scot said there was also a great StandUp for Religious Freedom rally in West Roxbury over the weekend. He said he also spoke at St. Mary’s in Dedham on a panel to discuss the topic of religious freedom and the intersection of faith and public life. On today’s show, we begin in earnest our formation as we prepare for the election on November 6. In preparing over the weekend, Scot said he was reading Archbishop Charles Chaput’s book , which recommended the US bishops’ document “Living the Gospel of Life” as a blueprint. Scot quoted from the introduction to the book: A very good guide to Catholic citizenship and public leadership already exists . The pastoral statement Living the Gospel of Life, issued in 1998 by the U.S. Catholic bishops—though it had to survive a great deal of internal friction and wrangling first—remains, in my view, the best tool anywhere for understanding the American Catholic political vocation. “Catholics already know that politics exists to serve the common good. But what is the common good? It’s a thorny question. Some problems are more complicated than others. Some issues have more gravity than others. Some methods to achieve a good end are wrong in themselves. We can never choose them without coarsening the society we inhabit. Public officials have a special responsibility in sorting these things out. This is why the health of our public life requires men and women of strong moral character in political service. No community understands this better than the Catholic Church, from centuries of both good and ugly experience. The genius of Pope John Paul II’s great 1995 encyclical, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), is not that it gives us a specific, sectarian blueprint for building a moral society. It doesn’t. Rather, it offers a common architecture for humane political thought and boundaries for government action that cannot be crossed without brutalizing human dignity. When the U.S. bishops issued Living the Gospel of Life, they applied the best of John Paul’s encyclical to the American experience. Not surprisingly, no other document ever issued by the American bishops on political responsibility has the clarity, coherence, and force of Living the Gospel of Life. The only sadness is that so few Catholics seem to know about it. In fact, if this book does nothing more than lead more people to read and act on Living the Gospel of Life, it will have partly served its purpose. Scot welcomed Michael Lavigne and they discussed how they were surprised by this document from the bishops that they’d never heard of before reading the Archbishop’s book. Today and tomorrow on TGCL they will discuss this document to help form us how to balance the things we hear from our faith and from the public square and prioritize what’s most important. Michael said part of our responsibility as Catholics is to be educated and informed and use whatever we can get our hands on to help us as we vote on Election Tuesday. 2nd segment: Scot moved right to the first part of the document: “Your country stands upon the world scene as a model of a democratic society at an advanced stage of development. Your power of example carries with it heavy responsibilities. Use it well, America!” Pope John Paul II, Newark, 1995 When Henry Luce published his appeal for an “American century” in 1941, he could not have known how the coming reality would dwarf his dream. Luce hoped that the “engineers, scientists, doctors … builders of roads [and] teachers” of the United States would spread across the globe to promote economic success and American ideals: “a love of freedom, a feeling for the quality of opportunity, a tradition of self-reliance and independence and also cooperation.”1 Exactly this, and much more, has happened in the decades since. U.S. economic success has reshaped the world. But the nobility of the American experiment flows from its founding principles, not from its commercial power. In this century alone, hundreds of thousands of Americans have died defending those principles. Hundreds of thousands more have lived lives of service to those principles — both at home and on other continents — teaching, advising and providing humanitarian assistance to people in need. As Pope John Paul has observed, “At the center of the moral vision of [the American] founding documents is the recognition of the rights of the human person …” The greatness of the United States lies “especially [in its] respect for the dignity and sanctity of human life in all conditions and at all stages of development.” This nobility of the American spirit endures today in those who struggle for social justice and equal opportunity for the disadvantaged. The United States has thrived because, at its best, it embodies a commitment to human freedom, human rights and human dignity. This is why the Holy Father tells us: “… [As] Americans, you are rightly proud of your country’s great achievements.”3 But success often bears the seeds of failure. U.S. economic and military power has sometimes led to grave injustices abroad. At home, it has fueled self-absorption, indifference and consumerist excess. Overconfidence in our power, made even more pronounced by advances in science and technology, has created the illusion of a life without natural boundaries and actions without consequences. The standards of the marketplace, instead of being guided by sound morality, threaten to displace it. We are now witnessing the gradual restructuring of American culture according to ideals of utility, productivity and cost-effectiveness. It is a culture where moral questions are submerged by a river of goods and services and where the misuse of marketing and public relations subverts public life. The losers in this ethical sea change will be those who are elderly, poor, disabled and politically marginalized. None of these pass the utility test; and yet, they at least have a presence. They at least have the possibility of organizing to be heard. Those who are unborn, infirm and terminally ill have no such advantage. They have no “utility,” and worse, they have no voice. As we tinker with the beginning, the end and even the intimate cell structure of life, we tinker with our own identity as a free nation dedicated to the dignity of the human person. When American political life becomes an experiment on people rather than for and by them, it will no longer be worth conducting. We are arguably moving closer to that day. Today, when the inviolable rights of the human person are proclaimed and the value of life publicly affirmed, the most basic human right, “the right to life, is being denied or trampled upon, especially at the more significant moments of existence: the moment of birth and the moment of death” (Pope John Paul II, The Gospel of Life [Evangelium Vitae], 18). Scot said the document refers to the book by Henry Luce on “The American century”. So much happened in the US after World War II, but not everything was good. The con was a growth of American cultural that was tied to utilitarianism and the decline of individual rights in the face of productivity and cost effectiveness. Scot said we are human beings, not human doings, and what we can do has no bearing on our value. We are loved by God just for being. Michael Lavigne said Aquinas said we love the good in the other. Scot said the document could not have been blunter about who are the losers in this ethical sea change. This group has no voice of their own and we have to be their voice, not just Catholics, but all Catholics of good will. Michael said he and his wife do that in a small way by giving a name to their unborn children to talk about them as living persons even before birth. How can we be the voice of all these people in whatever of life we are in at this time? Scot said we talk a lot about human rights in our society, but we have to include the right of the unborn and the right of those with terminal illness. Michael said no other rights matter if we don’t protect the right to life from conception to natural death. He said he used to use Evangelium Vitae when he taught high school students. It tells us that the world should be a place where the gift of life is defended at all moments. The nature and urgency of this threat should not be misunderstood. Respect for the dignity of the human person demands a commitment to human rights across a broad spectrum: “Both as Americans and as followers of Christ, American Catholics must be committed to the defense of life in all its stages and in every condition.”4 The culture of death extends beyond our shores: famine and starvation, denial of health care and development around the world, the deadly violence of armed conflict and the scandalous arms trade that spawns such conflict. Our nation is witness to domestic violence, the spread of drugs, sexual activity which poses a threat to lives, and a reckless tampering with the world’s ecological balance. Respect for human life calls us to defend life from these and other threats. It calls us as well to enhance the conditions for human living by helping to provide food, shelter and meaningful employment, beginning with those who are most in need. We live the Gospel of Life when we live in solidarity with the poor of the world, standing up for their lives and dignity. Yet abortion and euthanasia have become preeminent threats to human dignity because they directly attack life itself, the most fundamental human good and the condition for all others. They are committed against those who are weakest and most defenseless, those who are genuinely “the poorest of the poor.” They are endorsed increasingly without the veil of euphemism, as supporters of abortion and euthanasia freely concede these are killing even as they promote them. Sadly, they are practiced in those communities which ordinarily provide a safe haven for the weak — the family and the healing professions. Such direct attacks on human life, once crimes, are today legitimized by governments sworn to protect the weak and marginalized. It needn’t be so. God, the Father of all nations, has blessed the American people with a tremendous reservoir of goodness. He has also graced our founders with the wisdom to establish political structures enabling all citizens to participate in promoting the inalienable rights of all. As Americans, as Catholics and as pastors of our people, we write therefore today to call our fellow citizens back to our country’s founding principles, and most especially to renew our national respect for the rights of those who are unborn, weak, disabled and terminally ill. Real freedom rests on the inviolability of every person as a child of God. The inherent value of human life, at every stage and in every circumstance, is not a sectarian issue any more than the Declaration of Independence is a sectarian creed. Scot said in paragraph 5 the bishops outline the many ways that today we tamper with the inviolability of the dignity of human life, but they outline abortion and euthanasia as the worst because they go after the weakest of them all. He thinks the bishops are talking to self-proclaimed social justice Catholics who aren’t opposed to abortion or euthanasia. Michael said they outline all the areas of social teaching, but the queen of all of them is dignity of human life. The rest are meaningless if you don’t stand for life. Scot said the bishops aren’t asking us to choose between them, but to be for all of them. But there are Catholics over the past four decades who’ve said they are personally opposed to abortion but don’t want to stand for them in public life. Michael said they remind us that these actions which were once crimes and are now legal are opposed to the divine law. Scot said many Catholics say that it’s what the priests or religious in their parishes or schools told them. The document isn’t pointing fingers, but calling us to change and to find our way again. Michael said the bishops are acknowledging how bad formation has been in recent decades and calling us anew. In a special way, we call on U.S. Catholics, especially those in positions of leadership — whether cultural, economic or political — to recover their identity as followers of Jesus Christ and to be leaders in the renewal of American respect for the sanctity of life. “Citizenship” in the work of the Gospel is also a sure guarantee of responsible citizenship in American civic affairs. Every Catholic, without exception, should remember that he or she is called by our Lord to proclaim His message. Some proclaim it by word, some by action and all by example. But every believer shares responsibility for the Gospel. Every Catholic is a missionary of the Good News of human dignity redeemed through the cross. While our personal vocation may determine the form and style of our witness, Jesus calls each of us to be a leaven in society, and we will be judged by our actions. No one, least of all someone who exercises leadership in society, can rightfully claim to share fully and practically the Catholic faith and yet act publicly in a way contrary to that faith. Our attitude toward the sanctity of life in these closing years of the “American century” will say volumes about our true character as a nation. It will also shape the discourse about the sanctity of human life in the next century, because what happens here, in our nation, will have global consequences. It is primarily U.S. technology, U.S. microchips, U.S. fiber-optics, U.S. satellites, U.S. habits of thought and entertainment, which are building the neural network of the new global mentality. What America has indelibly imprinted on the emerging global culture is its spirit. And the ambiguity of that spirit is why the Pope appealed so passionately to the American people in 1995. “It is vital for the human family,” he said, “that in continuing to seek advancement in many different fields — science, business, education and art, and wherever else your creativity leads you — America keeps compassion, generosity and concern for others at the very heart of its efforts.”5 That will be no easy task. Scot said section 7 is one of his favorites. It states clearly that every Catholic is called by the Lord to proclaim his message, some by word, some by action, but all by example. We’re all, as Catholics, at times the spokesman for the Catholic Church as people ask us about the Church’s teachings. We’re called to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not our own beliefs. Michael related how he ran for school committee in his town at 23 years old and how he worked to make sure his Catholic faith added to his work as a school committeeman whatever the topic, whether on the subject of busing or the distribution of birth control to students. Scot said in section 8, we hear how the US influences the world. He said many pro-life groups point out how the US exports abortion around the world. He mentioned the example of the Philippines which is very Catholic and has very low levels of adultery, sexually transmitted disease, and unwed pregnancy, yet the US is trying to get into that country to bring birth control there. He said that in the US, 51% of the population is pro-life, and he argues it’s because of the increase of scientific data and efforts, like better ultrasounds. “In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.” George Orwell, Politics and the English Language Nations are not machines or equations. They are like ecosystems. A people’s habits, beliefs, values and institutions intertwine like a root system. Poisoning one part will eventually poison it all. As a result, bad laws and bad court decisions produce degraded political thought and behavior, and vice versa. So it is with the legacy of Roe vs. Wade. Roe effectively legalized abortion throughout pregnancy for virtually any reason, or none at all. It is responsible for the grief of millions of women and men, and the killing of millions of unborn children in the past quarter century. Yet the weaknesses of the Supreme Court’s 1973 reasoning are well known. They were acknowledged by the Supreme Court itself in the subsequent 1992 Casey decision, which could find no better reason to uphold Roe than the habits Roe itself created by surviving for 20 years.6 The feebleness and confusion of the Casey decision flow directly out of Roe’s own confusion. They are part of the same root system. Taking a distorted “right to privacy” to new heights, and developing a new moral calculus to justify it, Roe has spread through the American political ecology with toxic results. Roe effectively rendered the definition of human personhood flexible and negotiable. It also implicitly excluded unborn children from human status. In doing so, Roe helped create an environment in which infanticide — a predictable next step along the continuum of killing — is now open to serious examination. Thanks ultimately to Roe, some today speculate publicly and sympathetically why a number of young American women kill their newborn babies or leave them to die. Even the word “infanticide” is being replaced by new and less emotionally charged words like “neonaticide” (killing a newborn on the day of his or her birth) and “filicide” (killing the baby at some later point). Revising the name given to the killing reduces its perceived gravity. This is the ecology of law, moral reasoning and language in action. Bad law and defective moral reasoning produce the evasive language to justify evil. Nothing else can explain the verbal and ethical gymnastics required by elected officials to justify their support for partial-birth abortion, a procedure in which infants are brutally killed during the process of delivery. The same sanitized marketing is now deployed on behalf of physician-assisted suicide, fetal experimentation and human cloning. Each reduces the human person to a problem or an object. Each can trace its lineage in no small part to Roe. Obviously Roe is only one of several social watersheds which have shaped the America of the late 1990s. But it is a uniquely destructive one. In the 25 years since Roe, our society’s confusion about the relationship of law, moral reasoning and language has created more and more cynicism in the electorate. As words become unmoored from their meaning (as in “choice” or “terminating a pregnancy”), and as the ideas and ideals which bind us together erode, democratic participation inevitably declines. So too does a healthy and appropriate patriotism. At Baltimore’s Camden Yards, Pope John Paul spoke prophetically when he said: “Today the challenge facing America is to find freedom’s fulfillment in truth; the truth that is intrinsic to human life created in God’s image and likeness, the truth that is written on the human heart, the truth that can be known by reason and can therefore form the basis of a profound and universal dialogue among people about the direction they must give to their lives and their activities.”7 Scot said the idea o a nation as an ecosystem is new to him and that there’s a relationship between law, language, and moral reasoning that affects how the ecosystem works. That has a lot of upstream and downstream consequences. Roe v. Wade had a lot of effects on our ecosystem. Michael said it’s a very prophetic statement by the bishops in the late 90s that as we continued to erode the foundation of our country, then nothing else will matter. The destruction we see in families is an example. As we devalue life in the womb, we see child abuse, broken families, divorce, teen pregnancy and all that has gone up after we legalized abortion. Scot said he took a great class in college from a survivor of the Holocaust whose aim in life was to teach everyone he could the strategies the Nazis employed. What he took most from the class was the use of language by the Nazis to dehumanize the Jews, to scapegoat them for problems. They devalued a whole group of people by the use of language. Some of things we see in the abortion debate or in assisted suicide do the same. When we call it a fetus or a clump of cells rather than a baby, we dehumanize that baby. Proponents of assisted suicide don’t call it suicide, but death with dignity. As it was described on the ballot, it’s described with the euphemisms. Michael said when you use euphemisms you’re usually covering up for something that was morally wrong. “For the power of Man to make himself what he pleases means, as we have seen, the power of some men to make other men what they please.” C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man We believe that universal understandings of freedom and truth are “written on the human heart.” America’s founders also believed this to be true. In 1776 John Dickinson, one of the framers of our Constitution, affirmed: “Our liberties do not come from charters; for these are only the declaration of pre-existing rights. They do not depend on parchments or seals, but come from the king of kings and the Lord of all the earth.”8 The words of the Declaration of Independence speak of the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,” and proceed to make the historic assertion: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness …” Today, more than two centuries of the American experiment have passed. We tend to take these words for granted. But for the founders, writing on the brink of armed revolution, these phrases were invested not just with their philosophy but with their lives. This is why they closed with a “firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence.” The words of the Declaration of Independence illuminate the founding principles of the American Republic, principles explicitly grounded in unchanging truths about the human person. The principles of the Declaration were not fully reflected in the social or political structures of its own day. Then human slavery and other social injustices stood in tension to the high ideals the Founders articulated. Only after much time and effort have these contradictions been reduced. In a striking way, we see today a heightening of the tension between our nation’s founding principles and political reality. We see this in diminishing respect for the inalienable right to life and in the elimination of legal protections for those who are most vulnerable. There can be no genuine justice in our society until the truths on which our nation was founded are more perfectly realized in our culture and law. One of those truths is our own essential creatureliness. Virtual reality and genetic science may give us the illusion of power, but we are not gods. We are not our own, or anyone else’s, creator. Nor, for our own safety, should we ever seek to be. Even parents, entrusted with a special guardianship over new life, do not “own” their children any more than one adult can own another. And therein lies our only security. No one but the Creator is the sovereign of basic human rights — beginning with the right to life. We are daughters and sons of the one God who, outside and above us all, grants us the freedom, dignity and rights of personhood which no one else can take away. Only in this context, the context of a Creator who authors our human dignity, do words like “truths” and “self-evident” find their ultimate meaning. Without the assumption that a Creator exists who has ordained certain irrevocable truths about the human person, no rights are “unalienable,” and nothing about human dignity is axiomatic. This does not make America sectarian. It does, however, underline the crucial role God’s sovereignty has played in the architecture of American politics. While the founders were a blend of Enlightenment rationalists and traditional Christians, generations of Jews, Muslims, other religious groups and non-believers have all found a home in the United States. This is so because the tolerance of our system is rooted in the Jewish-Christian principle that even those who differ from one another in culture, appearance and faith still share the same rights. We believe that this principle still possesses the power to enlighten our national will. Scot said the Michael that learning the history of an organization forms the culture that helps you to work together without having the reinvent the wheel. These founding documents help us to fight for the principles on which our country was founded. Michael said the Declaration of Independence was based on nature’s law, what we can know with just our human brains, that is the value of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Scot noted that the HHS mandate violates our first freedom in the Bill of Rights, our right to live our religion in the public square in our social service agencies, our hospitals, and our ministries. The right to define what our religion requires of us comes from God, not the state. Michael noted that Blessed John Paul lived under the threat to religious freedom.…
Summary of today’s show: On the last day of the WQOM Fall fund drive, Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell discussed the Al Smith Foundation dinner in New York last night and Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s funny and pointed remarks before the Democrat and Republican candidates for President; the witness by TV and movie actor Kevin James to his Catholic faith; and this Sunday’s Gospel readings. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s topics: Al Smith dinner; Actor Kevin James; Sunday’s Gospel 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Mark O’Connell to the show. Fr. Mark said congratulations to Scot for 399 shows. Scot said it’s a milestone, but it doesn’t have the cachet of 100 or 500. Scot said one of the bigger Catholic events this week was the Al Smith Dinner in New York to support Catholic charitable work in New York. President Obama and Mitt Romney were both present and it’s one of those events where the speakers roast everyone. Cardinal Dolan gave his remarks. It traditionally falls to the host of this enjoyable evening, the Archbishop of New York, to “call it a night.” Thank you, everybody, for your gracious company this evening. What a unique honor and joy to welcome and thank our two candidates, and Mrs. Romney. Our two candidates claim that both your parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, are “big tents,” containing extraordinarily diverse, even contrary, opposite people and groups. Well, you don’t have a thing over the Catholic Church. We got both Biden and Ryan! Governor Romney, thank you for being up here sitting next to me; although I must confess I was secretly hoping the Republican candidate would be Governor Christie, because I sure would have looked good sitting next to him! Mr. President I trust you’ll be able to report to Mrs. Obama that I ate my vegetables and salad. If she had been “first lady” instead of Mamie Eisenhower when I was growing up in the 50’s, I wouldn’t be in this shape! As you may know, I just returned from Rome a couple of hours ago, where I’m participating in the Synod of Bishops. Thanks to Mr. Mort Zuckerman’s jet, I will be able to return to Rome right after the dinner. By the way, just before I left this morning, Pope Benedict XVI asked me to deliver a special personal message to both candidates. Mr. President, Governor Romney, do you know what the Holy Father asked me to tell you? … neither do I, because he said it in Latin. Both candidates expressed shock that Mayor Bloomberg had a 16 ounce cup in front of him. Not to worry, Your Honor — I explained to them that it was not a sugar-laden soft drink, but a martini. The mayor might want to challenge that remark, but, I’m sorry Mr. Mayor, Candy Crowley has already said she agrees with me. Only the Al Smith dinner could bring together two men, of the same calling, who disagree on almost everything, both of whom think they are the world’s experts on everything, who don’t like even being in the same room together: Roger Ailes and Chris Matthews. The Al Smith Dinner … in thanking all of you for your presence and support, might I suggest that this annual dinner actually shows America and the Church at their best? Here we are: in an atmosphere of civility and humor, hosted by a Church which claims that “joy is the infallible sign of God’s presence;” men and women; young and old; of every ethnic and racial background; Democrats, Republicans, and Independents; Catholics, Christians, Jews, Latter-Day Saints, people of no particular creed; people of wealth, yes, but some folks as well who barely get by; guests from Westchester and the Bronx; Dutchess County and Staten Island; Grateful to be people of faith and loyal Americans; Loving a country which considers religious liberty our first and most cherished freedom, convinced that faith is not just limited to an hour of Sabbath worship, but affects everything we do and dream; privileged to be in the company of two honorable men, both called to the noble vocation of public service, whose love for God and country is surpassed only by their love for their own wives and children, and who, as happy as I hope they are to be here with us tonight, would rather be home with Michelle, Ann, and their families. All of us reverently recalling a man of deep Catholic faith and ringing patriotism, who had a tear in his Irish eyes for what we would call, the “uns;” – the un-employed – the un-insured – the un-wanted – the un-wed mother, and her innocent, fragile un-born baby in her womb; – the un-documented – the un-housed – the un-healthy – the un-fed – the under-educated. Government, Al Smith believed, should be on the side of these “uns,” but a government partnering with family, Church, parish, neighborhood, organizations and community, never intruding or opposing, since, when all is said and done, it’s in God we trust, not, ultimately, in government or politics. Al Smith … the “happy warrior” on behalf of the “uns” who were so close to Jesus, or to the Native American Kateri Tekakwitha, and the “Angel to the Lepers of Hawaii,” Sister Mary Anne Cope, both women of New York whom this Sunday Pope Benedict will declare saints; so tenderly close to Bl. Mother Theresa of Calcutta who reminded us of the “five- finger gospel” — “As often as you do it for one of these, the least of my brethren, you do it for me!” God bless the memory of Al Smith! God Bless the “uns!” God bless the Al Smith Foundation in this Archdiocese of New York which continues his solicitude for the “uns!” God bless all of you for helping them this evening! God bless our two candidates! God bless America! Thank God for this grand evening! Amen. Goodnight! Scot said Dolan went from engaging people in laughter and joy and then made the Church’s pitch for religious freedom and for those who need help in society and how the Church serves them. Fr. Mark said both he and Scot experienced then-Msgr. Dolan when they were all in Rome and how he could come into a room and engage everyone. Scot said Cardinal Dolan took heatfor inviting Obama to the dinner for the administration’s lack of respect for life and for religious liberty. Dolan took on the religious liberty issue head-on in a civil but blunt way. Scot said Cardinal Dolan loves the apostolate of Catholic radio, with his own radio program in New York. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with . 2nd segment: Scot said he was surprised by a story in the Pilot this week about actor Kevin James, TV and movie star. It turns out he takes his Catholic faith seriously. He wants to glorify God in every way. He wants to have a positive message and be able to sit and watch movies with his children. Fr. Mark said James has always been relatable, but to find out he’s a cradle Catholic who takes his faith seriously is even more inspiring. Scot and Fr. Mark discussed what James said about struggling at times to live his faith and to pass it on to his children. Scot said to integrate your Catholic faith into your kids helps you live your values more. Fr. Mark said there’s a lot of people who walk down the aisle at confirmation as if it’s a graduation and come back later, regretful they wasted all those years and realize now that their faith is fulfilling. Part of growing in faith is realizing that all our blessings come from God. Kevin James got where he is on talent, but also as a blessing from God. Fr. Mark talked about the similarity between Kevin James and Cardinal Dolan in that they are filled with joy. Fr. Mark and Scot discussed the Catholic understanding of joy as being fulfilled in what you’re doing as what God wants us to be and do. While we’re not always happy in every moment, we are joyful. Scot said there is a connection between joy and holiness, especially with examples from Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II. One of the foundations of joy for Scot is that gratitude helps leads to joy. When you add up all the things with which God has blessed us, that’s when the sense of joy resonates. Fr. Mark tells a story about how joy brought conversion to a profoundly unhappy man being served by Mother Teresa’s sisters. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with . 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Gospel for the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 21, 2012 (Mark 10:35-45) James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” He replied, “What do you wish me to do for you?” They answered him, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” They said to him, “We can.” Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared.” When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John. Jesus summoned them and said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Scot said there are three parts to this Gospel. The first is a natural request to be close to JEsus. Jesus responds he can’t guarantee that. They don’t realize that to be closest to him, they will have to imitate him in his Passion. The second part is the others being indignant as the presumption of James and John. Jesus responds the model for the Church will be servant leadership, giving full attention to the least of our brothers and sisters. Scot recalled a story where he met Pope John Paul II and how focused he was in that moment on Scot who was before him. Fr. Mark said the apostles start with a very real request to do what they ask. They think Jesus is going to be heading into battle so they had their plan all ready. We can do that with God, presuming his plans for us. But God has other plans and they’re always so much better than ours. His plan was suffering for all in his love and humanity. Scot said we’ve all been in the different roles shown here, including leading in the right according to our faith or not leading in the right way. When we stumble and it’s too much about us, we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Fr. Mark said just wait for God’s plan for you. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with .…
1 TGCL #0398: Physician-assisted suicide; Pastor news; Centennial parish; Vatican II bishop; Sign of the Cross 59:12
Summary of today’s show: Our Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Gregory Tracy consider the news headlines of the week, including Cardinal Seán’s latest op-ed in the Pilot on the 10 reasons to vote against Question Two; an appointment of a new Pastor and the death of a long-serving Pastor; the 100th anniversary of a beautiful church in New Bedford; a bishop reflecting on attending the Second Vatican Council as a 35-year-old newly minted prelate; and Fr. Roger Landry’s inspiring exposition on the Sign of the Cross. Also, the second day of the WQOM Fall fund drive to support Catholic radio in Boston. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Physician-assisted suicide; Pastor news; Centennial parish; Vatican II bishop; Sign of the Cross 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and his co-host Susan Abbott and today’s guest Gregory Tracy. Today is the second day of the WQOM Fall fund drive. Scot said Cardinal Seán has a new op-ed in tomorrow’s Pilot that discusses ten reasons to oppose Question Two. Greg said the cardinal said in the op ed he’s heard more than 100 reasons to vote no, but he wanted to break it down and give the 10 most compelling and easiest to understand. Question 2 would legalize assisted suicide; suicide is always a tragedy and never a dignified way to die Suicide always impacts other beyond the individual that takes his or her life. Doctors strongly oppose assisted suicide and Question 2 Advocates for the disabled strongly oppose assisted suicide and Question 2. Terminal diagnoses are often wrong. Question 2 is shockingly flawed. Question 2 does not require a patient to consult with a psychiatrist or palliative care expert before receiving the lethal prescription. Question 2 does not require family notification. Assisted suicide would weaken efforts to expand and improve palliative care. Complex issues like assisted suicide should be decided in a legislative process rather than a ballot initiative. Scot said there’s something in this for everyone for whatever reason they need to oppose it. Susan said it’s the beauty of this summary, whether looking at this from a faith perspective or a secular perspective. She also recommended the TV ads found at . She said her favorite of the ten reasons are 8 and 2. On number 2, we are social beings and if we think there’s anything we do that doesn’t somehow affect others, we’re deluded. It’s not all about me. Greg said number 6 is his favorite because even if someone is a complete atheist they can read this law and see the pitfalls in it. He used the example that there is no mechanism to ensure that lethal doses that are prescribed are disposed of properly is they go unused. The law lacks safeguards and clear directions. Scot said it ties in with number 10. If this was done in the Legislature, they would have made sure that the loopholes and lack of controls would have been taken care of. This is an up or down vote. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with . 2nd segment: Scot said in the Pilot this week is a new appointment of a pastor. Fr. Dan O’Connell is moving from St. Joseph parish in Boston to Corpus Christi-St. Bernard parish in Newton. Many people know him from his long-running show on CatholicTV. Greg said congratulations to the people in Newton and said they are getting a very energetic pastor. Scot said he is one of those people who never seem to age. Scot said on other hand, Fr. David A. Doucet, who served in Stow since 2005, has passed away. He was pastor of St. Isidore parish. His funeral Mass was this week in Brighton at St. Columbkille. Greg noted that priests have lengthy lists of parishes they served, but Fr. Doucet served only a handful of parishes in his 40 years. From the Anchor this week, St. Anthony of Padua parish in New Bedford celebrates its 100th anniversary in the Diocese of Fall River. He said this church is one of the gems of New England. It seats about 2,200, the stations of the cross are the largest of any parish in the country and the statues and artwork are phenomenal. Susan said she’s seen pictures of it and it is lovely. She asked if it’s bigger than the cathedral in Fall River. The cathedral is the oldest church in the diocese and sits many fewer people. Scot related the story that when a diocese was going to be erected in the South Coast, there started a competition to build beautiful churches in the big towns by the various ethnic communities or to promote the big churches they already had. So when the diocese was formed, they went for the oldest church, instead of the largest, as the cathedral. Scot said it reminds him of how blessed New England is to have so many beautiful churches. He said in many places in the world, they would love to have even our least beautiful churches. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with . 3rd segment: In the Pilot and Anchor this week is a story of a bishop born in Boston who was a missionary bishop in Korea who attended the opening of the Second Vatican Council as a bishop. There are few of those left in the Church and only 15 of them made it back to Rome for the Year of Faith and the 50th anniversary. Greg said Bishop William J. McNaughton gives his assessment of how the Council’s documents were implemented and how he thinks much of it was taken too far or misinterpreted. Scot said one of the responses was about the idea of moving the tabernacle to a separate devotional chapel and that it was a mistake because people have the sense of the centrality of the Eucharist. Susan said the bishop said people took some of the ideas to an extreme. People need to re-read the council documents. He said so much has come from people who have not read the documents obviously. The council was not a radical break from the past as the footnotes prove to us. She said he has wonderful insights and he rejects the arguments that the Council was somehow to blame for the decline of Catholic observance. Susan noted that the bishop was only 35 at the time. Greg said people interpreted the documents in that time which was a time of tossing aside convention and tradition. People were looking for an opportunity to take it to the extreme. Susan said it was in some case an unbridled zeal. Scot said Cardinal Seán talks about learning faith like learning to speak a language, by practicing it and immersing yourself in it. The idea in this Year of Faith is to return to those documents and to finally have that authentic interpretation of the Second Vatican Council and live it. Susan said Fr. Roger wrote a column a few weeks ago about making the Sign of the Cross and it has made a difference for her. When I was in Lourdes earlier this month, I went early in the morning to pray at the Grotto where Mary appeared to St. Bernadette in 1858. I had with me a biography of St. Bernadette and was preparing to meditate once again on the content of the apparitions and try to appropriate the lessons. I was planning to ponder what I normally ponder on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes each February 11: the significance of Mary’s praying the Rosary with Bernadette; her having Bernadette wash her face in what seemed only to be mud, but turned out to be the miraculous healing spring; her insistence on the need for Penance; her request for a Church to be built; her self-revelation as the Immaculate Conception; and her promise to Bernadette to make her happy in the next life, not in this one. But when I began to re-read Bernadette’s account of the first apparition, I noticed something I had always passed over as an insignificant detail. Bernadette recounted, “I wanted to make the Sign of the Cross, but I couldn’t. My hand fell. Then I became afraid because I couldn’t do it. The Vision made the Sign of the Cross and I tried again to make it myself and then I could. And as soon as I had made it, I became calm.” Bernadette had been prevented from making the Sign of the Cross until she had seen the Blessed Mother make it. On subsequent appearances, Bernadette would make the Sign of the Cross together with Mary and tried to imitate precisely how Mary made it with profound reverence and recollection. After the apparitions, when Bernadette was subjected to the endless line of interviews from people seeking to get her to divulge all that Mary had revealed to her, she would often be reticent about many of the details. She would readily respond, however, when her interrogators asked her to show them how Our Lady demonstrated to make the Sign of the Cross. When she became a Sister of Charity of Nevers, Bernadette continued to make the Sign of the Cross as Mary had taught her. It often brought other Sisters, accustomed to making the Sign of the Cross routinely and without much thought, to conversion. “The way in which she made the Sign of the Cross indicated that she was full of the Spirit of faith,” Sister Vincent Garros said after Bernadette’s death. “She couldn’t stand to see others make it poorly. One day, when I had made it very negligently, she asked me if I had hurt my arm or was in a hurry.” A young novice, Sister Emilienne Dobuoué, recalled that Bernadette once politely indicated to her that she made the Sign of the Cross poorly. “You should pay attention to it,” Bernadette encouraged her, “for making the Cross well is important.” To another Sister who asked what she needed to do to go to Heaven, Bernadette without hesitation said, “Make the Sign of the Cross well. That in itself is already a great deal.” Bernadette sought to make the Sign of the Cross as she had witnessed the Blessed Mother make it: slowly, in a sweeping gesture, raising her right hand so that her fingers touched to the very top of her forehead, then lowering her hands to touch her waist, and then slowly touching the extreme of her left shoulder followed by her right. She did so entrusting herself to the Three Persons of the Trinity Whose name she would invoke, while opening herself up to the infinite graces Christ gained for us on the Cross and at the same time committing herself to embrace her daily Cross and follow Christ as a new Simon of Cyrene. Among the various things on my iPad that I had downloaded to pray at the grotto were the homilies given by the popes at Lourdes. When I began to read Pope Benedict’s 2008 homily for the 150th anniversary of the apparitions, I noticed that he spent most of his time focused on the same connection between Mary, Bernadette and the Sign of the Cross that the Holy Spirit had inspired in me earlier that morning. “At Lourdes, in the school of Mary,” Pope Benedict said, “pilgrims learn to consider the Cross in their own lives in the light of the glorious cross of Christ. In appearing to Bernadette, the first gesture of Mary was precisely the Sign of the Cross, in silence and without words. And Bernadette imitated her in making also the Sign of the Cross with a trembling hand. Thus, the Virgin gave a first initiation into the essence of Christianity: the Sign of the Cross is the summit of our faith, and in making it with an attentive heart, we enter into the fullness of the mystery of our salvation.” Most Catholics, I believe, treat the Sign of the Cross as a gesture to open and close a time of prayer, but Pope Benedict was stressing that we learn in Lourdes it’s much more than that: it itself is a prayer and one that has the capability to bring us into the fullness of our relationship with God if we pray it well. That insight triggered in me a memory of a great Vietnamese professor I had during my one year at the Angelicum in Rome, Father Joseph Phan Tan Thanh. In all the classes there, we would start class with a prayer, but normally we would either invoke the Holy Spirit, say a vocal prayer like the Our Father or Hail Mary, or the professor would offer a spontaneous prayer based on what we would be studying that day. We would, of course, begin and end the prayer with the Sign of the Cross. But the only prayer I really remember 17 years later is the one Father Phan Tan Thanh would make to start and end classes. He would close his eyes and very slowly make the Sign of the Cross in a broad gesture that must have been very similar to St. Bernadette. The first time he did it, my fellow students and I thought he “forgot” the prayer. Then we realized not only was the Sign of the Cross his prayer, but our whole class was likewise supposed to be a prayer. As we prepare for the Year of Faith, there will be lots of events, programs, educational materials, pilgrimages and more to help us live it well. All of these will be good and useful. But when Mary appeared in Massabielle to Bernadette to help her and through her others to grow in faith, this model of the Church’s faith started by helping Bernadette learn how to pray the Sign of the Cross well. For the rest of her life, Bernadette taught this lesson to others until she made her last devout Sign of the Cross just before she breathed her last. Making the Sign of the Cross with faith, love and reverence might be a great place for all of us to start the Year of Faith as well. Father Landry is Pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with .…
Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams discuss two of the speeches by bishops at the ongoing Synod for the New Evangelization in Rome, the first by Cardinal Timothy Dolan on the Sacrament of Reconciliation as the engine of the New Evangelization and the second by Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli on the importance of the new media in sharing the New Evangelization, especially with the young. Meanwhile, the Fall fund drive for WQOM has started this week. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with . Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s topics: Interventions of bishops at the Synod of the New Evangelization 1st segment: Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams welcome everyone to the show. Fr. Matt talked about their monthly gathering with young adults in the Archdiocese at St. Leonard’s in the North End of Boston, called Jesus in the North End. They stand in the street to invite people in to pray before the Blessed Sacrament and they also have confession available. This month, some of them handed out cards to people in the street on why Question Two for physician-assisted suicide is a bad law. They didn’t do it in front of the church in order not to make an inappropriate connection with the prayer service. Scot asked how many hadn’t heard about question two. Fr. Matt said most of those coming to the event regularly tend to be informed Catholics. Fr. Matt’s team still invited them to learn even more to be able to share with their friends. Scot asked Fr. Matt what it means to him to set the world ablaze with faith on fire, which is the theme of the Fall Fund drive for WQOM. He said when you fall in love, it affects, forms, and shapes everything you do. Being on fire with faith means to be in love with Jesus. You want to share that love, you want others to know that amazing love. Scot said today they will be reading some of the moving interventions going on at the Synod of the New Evangelization in Rome right now. He said the talks from each of the bishops attending tend to be short and powerful and on one topic. The first will be Cardinal Dolan talking about the Sacrament of Penance as being key to the success of the New Evangelization. But first, Scot asked Fr. Matt what he hears from young people about the importance of Catholic radio. He said young people are engaged in media on average 8 hours per day, sometimes multiple ones. He said when young people are invited, they become engaged. He said young people often mirror their parents’ habits and so parents can influence their children’s habits. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with . 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Matt will now talk about the intervention of Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York at the synod of bishops. The great American evangelist, The Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, commented, “The first word of Jesus in the Gospel was ‘come’; the last word of Jesus was ‘go’.” The New Evangelization reminds us that the very agents of evangelization must first be evangelized themselves. We must first come to Jesus ourselves before we can go out to others in His Holy Name. Saint Bernard said, “if you want to be a channel, you must first be a reservoir.” Thus I believe that the primary sacrament of the New Evangelization is the sacrament of penance, and thank Pope Benedict for reminding us of this. Yes, to be sure, the sacraments of initiation – - Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist – - charge, challenge, and equip the agents of evangelization. But, the sacrament of reconciliation evangelizes the evangelizers, as it brings us sacramentally into contact with Jesus, who calls us to conversion of heart, and inspires us to answer His invitation to repentance. As we learned in philosophy, nemo dat qoud non habet (“no one gives what he does not have”). The Second Vatican Council called for a renewal of the sacrament of penance, but what we got instead, sadly, in many places, was the disappearance of the sacrament. So we have busied ourselves calling for the reform of structures, systems, institutions, and people other than ourselves. Yes, this is good. But the answer to the question “What’s wrong with the world?” is not, in the first place, politics, the economy, secularism, pollution, global warming, or other people … no. As Chesterton, the eloquent British apologist, wrote, “The answer to the question ‘What’s wrong with the world?’ is two words: I am.” I am! Admitting that leads to conversion of heart and repentance, the core of the Gospel-invitation. That happens in the Sacrament of Penance. This is the sacrament of the New Evangelization. Scot loves how the intervention starts. Before we are sent to help others, Jesus calls us to come to him, to enter a close relationship with him, to let him work through us. Fr. Matt said in Mark’s Gospel when Jesus calls the Twelve, it says he called them to be with him and to be sent forth. We must be fed before we can feed others. For three years, he formed and taught them. Fr. Matt referred to an article by Dr. Peter Kreeft called “The Winning Strategy”. He said we are at war and we need to recognize the enemy. First, it is Satan and second it is sin, which is in all of us. Because we can cooperate with evil, we can become devils. But the winning strategy is that by cooperating with good, we can become saints. Scot said Dolan wrote that confession evangelizes the evangelizers. It brings us into contact with Jesus with conversion of heart. Extremely holy people go to confession at the time. You become a saint and become holy by going to confession. Fr. Matt said conversion is a daily reality. Jesus says we have to pick up our cross and follow him daily. Cardinal Dolan said in some places, the sacrament has fallen away in the practice of the church. Scot thinks of how often we’ve talked about the Sacrament of Reconciliation on this show and how many people may have returned to the practice of confession. Fr. Matt said when you talk to young people about the sacrament of reconciliation and how Christ calls us to be holy, suddenly the want that because they recognize that what they’ve been seeking in the world doesn’t satisfy the hungry heart. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with . 3rd segment: Scot said he and Fr. Matt are back to the discussion of the Synod for the New Evangelization. He said the reason for this topic was the Holy Father getting input from bishops who said there many Catholics who had received the sacraments of initiation and were no longer connected to the Church in a meaningful way. Fr. Matt said it’s not about a new program. The program is Jesus Christ. It’s recognizing that the audience has shifted. It’s geared toward those who have been baptized but for whom the faith has grown cold. He said in Massachusetts, it’s the most Catholic state where 44% are Catholic, but we’re also the most secular state. We’re also significantly losing the battle to protect all human life. Because we call ourselves Catholic, it doesn’t mean JEsus is an active part of our life. So we need new ardor and means of expression of the faith and we need to renew and convert ourselves to more effectively proclaim the Good News. Scot said many of the interventions deal with using media to proclaim the Good News. He quoted from Archbishop Claudio Celli’s intervention. The archbishop is head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. The new evangelization asks us to be attentive to the “newness” of the cultural context in which we are called upon to proclaim the Gospel, but also to the “newness” of the methods to be used. The New Media are radically changing the culture in which we live and offer new paths for sharing the message of the Gospel. The new technologies have not only changed the method of communicating, but have also transformed communication itself, creating a new cultural infrastructure that is influencing the environment of communication, and we cannot simply continue to do what we have always done, even with the new technologies. The digital area is not a “virtual” space, less important than the “real” world, and if the Gospel is not also proclaimed “digitally”, we run the risk of abandoning many people, for whom this is the world in which they “live”. The Church is already present in digital space, but the next challenge is to change our communicative style in order to render such a presence more effective, occupying ourselves above all with the question of language. In the digital forum discourse is spontaneous, interactive and participatory: in the Church, we are used to using written texts as our normal method of communication. I do not know if this form can speak to the young, who are accustomed to a language rooted in the convergence of words, sounds and images. We are called upon to communicate our testimony, sharing in personal relationships the hope that resides in us. We cannot dilute the content of our faith, but rather find new ways of expressing it in its fullness. We are obliged to express ourselves in a manner that involves others who, in turn, share our ideas with their friends and “followers”. We need to valorize the “voices” of many Catholics present in blogs, so that they might evangelize and present the teachings of the Church which is called upon to initiate a respectful dialogue with all, to give a reason to all for the hope we carry in our hearts. Scot said everything the archbishop said can be said of Catholic radio. Fr. Matt said St. Paul says that faith comes by hearing. The Holy Father says his hope is in that the human heart is ultimately longing for God; the truth of Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that Jesus invites everyone into a personal friendship with him and has promised to stay with us forever; and the Holy Father knows that a fast food of things of the world will never satisfy and this is the opportunity for the Church to proclaim those things which will satisfy. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings Catholic programming like The Good Catholic Life to the Boston area, please be as generous as your means permit with .…
Summary of today’s show: This Sunday is World Mission Sunday and Fr. Rodney Copp, director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Boston, joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to talk about the work of supporting the missions—especially Mass cards and stipends—and how it is the duty of every Catholic to be a missionary, even if you never leave home. One way to be a missionary is to engage the work of the New Evangelization and invite a friend or family member to go to Mass with you some week. Scot, Fr. Chris, and Fr. Copp also discuss Fr. Copp’s parishes he serves—St. Charles Borromeo in Waltham and St. Gerard Majella in Canton—as well as his work as the Promoter of Justice in the Archdiocese of Boston. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Rodney Copp Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Fr. Rodney Copp and World Mission Sunday 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Chris O’Connor to the show and he said that this week the political campaign season has picked up. He asked Fr. Chris how the debate-watching goes at the seminary. The faculty usually gather to watch together. He said that he typically is the one yelling at the TV. Scot said there’s lots of talk about what moderator Candy Crowley will be doing during the debate. She has said she will do what she wants. Fr. Chris said she’s a force to be reckoned with. Fr. Chris attended the St. James Society dinner this past Sunday. The seminary often takes seminarians to their missions in Peru to show how and why the diocesan priest can be involved in the life of the missions. He said Fr. Peter Quinn at St. Catherine in Westford was honored for his support of the society. He said we all must play some role in spreading the Gospel throughout the universal church. Scot said that the Pontifical Mission Society does that as well. He said this weekend is World Mission Sunday and the following Sunday, Cardinal Seán will speak to all Catholic parishioners on Question 2. Joining us next will be Fr. Rodney Copp, director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Boston. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris discussed an ad for the Committee Against Physician-Assisted Suicide that just aired. Scot welcomed Fr. Rodney Copp to the show. He’s the pastor of St. Gerard Majella in Canton and administrator of St. Charles Borromeo in Waltham. They discussed how he’s been moving from Waltham to Canton. He’s still attached to Waltham because the parish had just started an increased offertory program so he agreed to stay on for six more months. He said the staff in Canton have been helpful to him as well. He was in Waltham for 15 years. He said St. Gerard’s is a big parish with 1,000 kids in CCD. He said being pastor there would be a full-time job alone, but the great staff there has been a great gift. He said there were 7 pastors in 100 years in Waltham and 5 pastors in 50 years in Canton and he’s known all of the pastors in Canton. Scot asked how he balances the three jobs he has now. Fr. Copp said he’s also Promoter of Justice for the Archdiocese in the Tribunal. He said that most of what he does is in Braintree at the Pastoral Center. He’s in the parishes nights and weekend. Fr. Chris asked about the Tribunal work. Fr. Copp said he was a judge in the Tribunal for 10 years and worked a lot in marriages and then in the clergy sex abuse trials. He said most of what they deal with is very old cases. He said part of the job of Promoter of Justice is to participate in canonizations. He’s currently working on a case for an Opus Dei priest, Fr. Joseph Muzquiz. He said he was a holy man, humble and much concerned with others. He’s buried at St. Joseph Cemetery in West Roxbury. His job is to look at the evidence and find any objections there might to present a balanced brief when sending the case to the COngregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome. Fr. Copp has been at St. Gerard since the end of August. He said they’re heavily committed to the social justice teachings. Part of that was due to Fr. Bernard McLaughlin. He knew Fr. McLaughlin when he was newly ordained in 1959 and came to St. John’s in Peabody when Fr. Copp was in grade school. He later served in East Boston, where he gained his desire to work for the poor. St. Gerard also has high Mass attendance and its 1,000 kids in religious education puts among the top 15 parishes in the archdiocese. They’re getting the kids involved in the Missionary Childhood Association from the Pontifical Mission Societies. The mission societies’ primary focus is to bring the Gospel message to bear in places where people have never heard the name of Jesus. There are four mission societies: Society for the Propagation of the Faith; Society of St. Peter the Apostle (for seminaries and religious in missionary countries); Missionary Childhood (which used to be Holy Childhood); and the Missionary Union of Priests and Religious, which provides spiritual support. World Mission Sunday is this upcoming Sunday. It promotes all the mission societies. It started in 1926 by Pope Pius XI to renew the commitment to the spread of the Gospel. October is mission month to coincide with Columbus bringing the faith to the New World. It’s appropriate that the Year of Faith begins in October. Scot asks why it’s the third or fourth Sunday and Fr. Copp said it’s always the second-to-last Sunday in October just so that people would know when it is every year. The primary purpose is to educate about the missions and to take up a collection for the support of mission activities all over the world. Last year, World Mission Sunday in Boston produced $428,000 for the missions. They also brought in $650,000 in a missionary cooperative program that brings missionaries to parishes to speak throughout the year. He said Mass stipends have been decreasing, which support priests in many mission dioceses. They also send a great number of Mass stipends to the St. James Society. Fr. Copp said you can make an offering for Mass for someone who’s living, for someone who’s recently deceased or who passed a long time ago. He said many parishes support them this way, but people can also contact the Pontifical Mission Societies directly or talk to their pastor and see if he’s willing to do that. Fr. Copp said he’s been on the job two years and he has’t been able to go to the missions yet because of his work as a pastor. He said some give by going and some go by giving. You don’t actually have to go to the missions to be a missionary. Fr. Copp said they send a clergy guide out to pastors for Mission Sunday, with suggestions for prayers of the faithful, suggestions for including ethnic groups in music, readings, and more. Scot asked why Boston is such a big supporter of missions. Fr. Copp said Archbishop Walsh was founder of the Maryknoll Society and so it’s part of our long history. In many ways the Archdiocese of Boston has always been an immigrant church, with special welcome for each wave of immigrants. Cardinal Cushing put the missions on the map. He wanted to be a missionary priest and Cardinal O’Connell assigned him to the Pontifical Mission Societies. Fr. Chris related a story that Cardinal Cushing tendered his resignation to Pope John XXIII on the opening say of the Second Vatican Council in order to go to the mission and was denied by the Pope. Scot said a large number of people give a standard amount to every second collection. What would Fr. Copp say to encourage a little bit larger donation? Fr. Copp said it’s a varied ministry in the missions but the Gospel comes with many good things like clean water or more food. Fr. Chris told a story of St. James Society priests about how a MAryknoll priest confronted the president of Peru about the lack of water in a poor town and how the water was then brought to the village. The poor of these countries often rely on missionaries to speak for them. 3rd segment: Scot reminded listeners that the fall fund drive for WQOM and the Stations of the Cross will take place Wednesday through Friday. He asked listeners to support Catholic radio in the Archdiocese of Boston. Scot asked Fr. Copp to explain the difference between evangelization and the new evangelization. Fr. Copp said in the Second Vatican Council we find the means of expressing the truths of the faith by means that are better understood by people in the 21st century. New evangelization is about a renewed effort to reach out to those who may have stepped away from the practice of their faith, whether in Boston or in mission countries. In Boston only 17% of Catholics attend Mass on a regular basis. In some mission countries, people walk miles or even days to go to Mass once per month. Here was have a luxury of parishes. In Waltham there are five parishes, in Canton, two. He said Boston has numerous missionary communities within its border and they remind people of their missionary duty by virtue of their baptism. He said we pay little attention to sharing the faith because we presume we live in an archdiocese where the faith already exists. He challenged people in his parish to bring one person to Mass with them and double the number of people in their church. He also encourages people not to be afraid to talk about their faith. He remembers living at St. Patrick’s in Watertown and hearing from a parishioner how he mentioned going to Mass on a Sunday and how that affected a co-worker who didn’t realize he was Catholic. Scot has learned that so much of the work of the Pontifical Mission Societies is to ensure that people around the world know that Jesus loves them and wants to be with them forever. In Massachusetts, nearly everyone has heard the name of Jesus. So many who have been baptized just know Jesus like he’s a historical figure. They don’t have a relationship with him. The New Evangelization is a reintroduction of people to this Person who wants to change their life on a moment by moment basis. The New Evangelization it the conversion of ourselves. Fr. Chris said part of that is to have a tangible joy in ourselves because the Lord is present in our lives. People should see by the peace and joy that we know Christ and he is present to us. Scot said many of the people in the missions have next to nothing but yet respond with so much joy and generosity of spirit when brought to a relationship with Christ. Fr. Copp said no one comes to the Church from a vacuum, but almost always come in because someone invited them and shepherded them. Scot said the “each one reach one” allows us to take to prayer for a week or two the question of whom the Lord is calling me to invite to our parish. It’s one particular person, couple or family. You don’t have to teach them the Catechism. You just have to tell them that you get so much out of the Mass, invite them to come as your guest, and maybe go out for coffee afterward. Fr. Copp said he met a women last year who said she didn’t know the prayers, but he told her that the missal was changing and everyone would be in the same boat. Scot said you can control whether you’re willing to make an invitation. He tells the Holy Spirit that their response is up to him. When people say they don’t know the prayers or actions at Mass, he refers to the story of the Prodigal Son. When the son returns the loving father runs out to greet the son. That’s how the Church celebrates and no one is concerned with whether they know the responses. Fr. Copp said parishes do have to be willing to say hello and recognize that someone new is there. Scot noted that a lot of people say they don’t go to church anymore because someone was rude to them in Mass. On our best day, maybe we can be the reason for someone to give the Church a second chance. Fr. Chris and Fr. Copp both said to never let another human being get in the way of your relationship with Jesus Christ.…
Summary of today’s show: Carter Snead, a law professor at University of Notre Dame, joins Scot Landry to talk about the moral principles embodied in the passage of laws and why the arguments put forth by the proponents of Question Two to legalize physician-assisted suicide would provide no barrier to even more extreme forms of euthanasia, voluntary or involuntary, and would place the most vulnerable groups among us at risk. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Carter Snead, Caroline Cassidy, Bridget Rose Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: 1st segment: Today’s show is coming live from Montrose School in Medfield, Mass. The school is hosting sessions on assisted suicide for the young women at the school by Carter Snead, a professor at University of Notre Dame. Scot said we’re talking about assisted suicide still because polls show 50% of Mass. voters still don’t know about this issue. Scot said the Committee Against Physician Assisted Suicide is starting to air a new radio ad on Massachusetts radio stations. They aired the new ad. It talks about the six-month prognosis, the ingestion of 100 capsules is not in a medical setting and without any supervision, that the doctor doesn’t have to be present, and that family doesn’t have to be notified. The close of this is that proponents say it’s all about control, but because of lack of effective safeguards, this is a law that is out of control. Scot said television advertising will start soon, probably later this week. Carter Snead is director of the Center for Ethics and Culture and a professor of law. He specializes in the relationship between bioethics and the law. Scot said Carter has also spoken at St. Sebastian School and will speak tomorrow at the Boston Leadership Forum breakfast at 7:30am at the Union Club. He will speak tonight at the Montrose School at 7pm. Scot noted that Carter isn’t from Massachusetts but he wanted to help us on this issue. He said the stakes don’t get higher than assisted suicide and those outside of Massachusetts who care about the well-being of the most vulnerable populations want to help. We have seen in other places how these types of laws put them at risk. He noted that New York state took up this issue and agreed that the state shouldn’t legalize it, even though some agreed with the concept, because it placed the vulnerable at too much risk. Scot said many folks don’t know that this sort of legislation has come up in 25 states and in all but two states it’s been turned away. Carter said overwhelmingly in the US is that assisted suicide is frowned upon, criminalized, disavowed by the medical profession. There is an active and well-funded movement to legalize assisted suicide and then later euthanasia. Even those who are not Catholic or committed to the same Catholic moral principles can agree that the framework of this proposal is very bad. There is little evidence from Oregon’s legalization because there is no real reporting. In the Netherlands, what started as assisted suicide has led to voluntary and involuntary euthanasia. Scot asked if that progression is something likely to happen here if it passes in Massachusetts and whether the extra autonomy is worth that price. Proponents know euthanasia wouldn’t pass on its own. Carter agreed that it’s an incremental strategy to go from assisted suicide for a limited population to eventually involuntary euthanasia. That’s because that there’s no meaningful principle to say yes to assisted suicide and no to involuntary euthanasia. Scot said the primary argument from proponents is that dignity involved me having the right at the end of my life to control when I die. People have a right to self-determination in matters of their existence. Scot said we have to respond that suicide affects all of us. Carter said “dignity” in this context means autonomy. He said dignity is a kind of intrinsic, inalienable value recognized in every human being. They’re using dignity to refer only to their individual lives. As Americans we care about liberty. The argument for autonomy shows it doesn’t do what it’s proponents say it does. We don’t live as disembodied wills. We live situated in families and communities with chosen and unchosen relationships. We’re all interconnected and there is a principle of solidarity when it comes to our actions. Suicide impacts survivors and the community they live in. Scot said it particularly affects the people who say they wish they would have known in order to help. Carter said the Question doesn’t required any kind of mental health evaluation when we know that the vast majority of people who think of suicide are mentally ill. People are going to make this decision without autonomy. Suicidal desires are often alleviated with effective pain management. Given any real choice, suicide is a phony autonomy. Scot said anybody who’s lost someone they care about knows the impact affects everyone you know. He added that what’s even worse is that they will assist someone in taking their own life without informing family members. If we say it’s all about autonomy, then a lot of other things can appeal to the same autonomy argument. Carter said if we allow this as autonomy, how can we criminalize voluntary euthanasia? How can we stop suicide pacts? How can we limit this only to people who are terminally ill? How can we claim emotional suffering isn’t worse than physical suffering? How can we say cold, rational judgment isn’t better than the judgment of someone who is pain and near death? In the Netherlands right now, they are considering a proposal to allow non-terminal suicide for people who have decided they are done with life. 2nd segment: Scot said the second big argument by the proponents is “Who am I to impose my values on others” and citing separation of church and state. Carter said the response to the idea that the state has to be morally neutral misunderstands what the law is. Law is the imposition of values by definition. Law decides what is legal and illegal. It does impose on people. Every law is grounded in some normative framework and oriented toward a particular good to be pursued or some harm to be avoided. Even the speed limit balances many goods and many harms and evaluating the fit of the means of the law and the final end. The notion that the basic good of human life and state’s obligation to protect it—a fundamental reason for government—is unsurprising. And if we say that religious traditions’ value of human life is a violation of separation of church and state, then we have to undo all our homicide laws and more. If something is legalized, what other risks come along with that? Can they be regulated in a way that doesn’t endanger other people? Assisted suicide doesn’t work within that framework. If I’m a statesman I see there’s no breaks within this system. All of the aforementioned problems cited—including lack of legal definition of ingestion—lead to the inevitable lack of protection for the vulnerable. Scot said Carter said earlier today that sometimes the law shapes our values, instead of vice versa. Cardinal Sean has said that if the law sanctions suicide for one group of people, then how can the state’s efforts to minimize suicide across all age demographics, particularly the young, fail to shape some people to think that suicide is the solution for their suffering. Carter said law does shape people’s behavior. The government endorsement or tolerance has deep symbolic significance for citizens. There are a whole array of examples from the Netherlands to illustrate this point. It’s impossible to hold the line when the government says it’s okay to kill yourself for whatever reason. The costs are just too grave to allow such a law. How many cases of involuntary euthanasia are worth the autonomous suicide of a few? Scot said in the Netherlands some people who are very sick and near the end of life fear going to the doctor because they’re afraid of being euthanized. So they’re not getting the healthcare they need. Why would we make that possible here? Carter asked how the proponents could oppose what’s happening in the Netherlands within the framework of their own arguments? There’s no grounds for refusing those conditions. Think about health insurance. There are cases from Oregon of people receiving notification from the insurance carriers telling them that the companies will pay for the assisted suicide and not for expensive treatments. How many instances of coercion that lead to a person’s death is too many to justify this system of assisted suicide? Scot quoted Carter as saying that in principle societies make laws against self-annihilation. Carter said suicide has always been a crime in the law historically and was eventually de-criminalized. At the same, assisted suicide’s criminalization was expanded. And the law allows someone considering suicide to be detained. Assisted suicide is condemned in the law in all states but three: Oregon, Washington, and Montana. The Montana Supreme Court declared it is not illegal, but no legal either. What’s proposed here is quite radical. A systemwide availability of facilitated killing promotes an inegalitarian ethos against those living in diminished states. The state also has an interest in preserving the medical profession’s integrity and legitimacy. 3rd segment: Scot welcomed two seniors at Montrose School, Bridget Rose and Caroline Cassidy. Bridget is president of the pro-life club at the school. Scot asked her for her reactions to what Carter talked about today. Bridget said many high school students don’t know what this question is about. They will talk about autonomy, dignity and the arguments against assisted suicide. They’re energized to inform others. Scot asked Caroline what she heard today that would shock her. She said she was taken aback by the possibilities. Quality of life replaces life itself as an argument. Caroline is voting for the first time in November. Scot asked her about voting on an issue that is literally about life and death. She said it’s an amazing responsibility as a young person with strong beliefs. We have a responsibility to take up the value of our lives. Scot cited the arguments that values should not be imposed on others. He asked Bridget how she would respond to that. She said they discussed in her classes why can’t one person decide for themselves. She said they’ve now learned that it affects everyone and as members of communities our decisions and actions affect everyone. Scot asked Caroline what she thinks about the possibility that assisted suicide will make young people think suicide is more viable. She said there have been more stories lately in the news about kids contemplating suicide in their difficult lives. Scot noted that disability groups particularly are opposed to this question because of the pressures they fear will be brought against them. Scot said a lot of the advertising on this issue will be focused on older voters, but young people put a lot of weight in the tolerance and autonomy arguments. Carter said there’s superficial appeal to the idea, but students are smart enough that when they think about the interconnectedness of all people and the implications of these arguments, then it doesn’t carry the weight that proponents hope it does. The people most at risk through a system of legalized suicide are the weakest, the poorest, the marginalized. Carter said he hopes the voters will consider the consequences for all those who will be threatened in dramatic ways, as shown in the Netherlands. He said he was encouraged and buoyed by what he saw in the young men and women at St. Sebastian’s and Montrose School and how they are being formed.…
Summary of today’s show: There are many arguments and accusations leveled against the Catholic Church today, much of it based on prejudice and misinformation. Dr. Chistopher Kaczor has written a new book addressing The Seven Big Myths about the Catholic Church, especially those held by those who oppose the Church from a secular viewpoint. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connor engage with Dr. Kaczor on several of the myths, including those about science and faith, on same-sex marriage, on contraception, and on the primacy of conscience. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Dr. Christopher Kaczor Links from today’s show: by Dr. Christopher Kaczor Today’s topics: Dr. Christopher Kaczor, author of 7 Big Myths about the Catholic Church 1st segment: Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell talked about the launch of the Year of Faith and Scot said part of the Year of Faith is getting a handle on our faith and the new apologetics. Today’s guest is Dr. Chris Kaczor, author of a new book about the myths people have about the Catholic Church. Chris is a professor of philosophy at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He attended Boston College as an undergraduate and has a Ph.D from the University of Notre Dame. Scot welcomed Chris to the show and asked him why the number seven. Chris said he could have 35 big myths, but 7 had a better ring to it. Chris said he was inspired by the book by Michael Medved called . He thought there should be a book from a Catholic perspective and he wanted to approach the myths that are held by secular people, as opposed to those held by non-Catholic Christians. He wanted to fortify Catholics who wanted to share their faith. He garnered the list of myths from those held among his students and took the most challenging and the most widespread. The seven myths are Catholic irrationality, Catholic indifference to earthly welfare, misogyny, opposition between love and procreation, homophobia, that there is no rational basis for limiting marriage to one man and one woman, and priestly pedophilia. The book starts with a famous quote from Bishop Fulton Sheen: “There are not 100 people who truly hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they perceive is the Catholic Church.” Chris said the biggest obstacle to people appreciating the Church is the behavior of Catholics at times. We have many holy saints, but many of us fail to live out the message of Jesus. If all Catholics acted in the way Jesus treated others, that would change attitudes and would dispel myths. He quoted Chesterton who said the only argument against Christianity is Christians. But it is really misguided to base an attitude toward the whole Church based on the actions of some because in a big enough group, there will always be people who’ve behaved badly. Important goods, like education or healthcare, will have institutions that serve those goods, but the people in those institutions will not always be their best selves. It would be ridiculous to refuse to go to any doctor because of a bad experience with one doctor. Scot said Chris makes a reference to St. Peter, writing that we can make up for how we fail by repenting and returning to Christ. Chris said people sometimes misunderstand the Church’s teachings because many Catholics are not well-informed by their own faith. Even highly educated people are educated to a grade school level about their faith. Another problem is that people get their news and understanding about the Church from the media which is often ill-informed and even prejudiced against the Church. Gleaning faith from movies, TV, or even news will lead to a distorted picture of the Church. It’s important to help people deepen their faith and we need to make ourselves better informed and then we need to explain it in an atmosphere of friendship and charity. Fr. Mark asked about specifically reaching people in their 20s and 30s who can be the toughest audience. How do we get this book in their hands and address these issues with them. On the same-sex marriage issue, many people seem to have made up their minds, for example. So what he does is examine the reasons people give and then explain how the justifications don’t work. He points out that the same-sex marriage is not like interracial marriage. He points out that differences in race are not the same as differences in sex. We treat men and women differently all the time in many ways. We differentiate in athletics, in public accommodations like bathrooms. Chris said we would never have a 100-yard dash where men and women compete on the sam track or sports teams where the same standards apply. We don’t treat men and women as if there were no important differences. Fr. Mark said it comes down to natural law, which is foreign to a lot of people in that age group. Chris said you don’t need to invoke the natural law to explain law. Marriage is a comprehensive union. It’s only possible when you have beings that can become united. So their will has to be able to be united, so they both have to be human. There also has to be a unity of bodies and the most complete kind of union is the sexual union because it allows them to create a new human being. Only in a complementary one male-one female union can that occur. It precludes both same-sex and polygamous marriage. Scot said another of the myths is topical because of the Year of Faith. He said the myth is that faith and science are opposed, that the more one if a believer, the less rational they are. He asked Chris to explain underlying premises and the best response. Chris said if you look at the evidence, it’s very strong that the Church supports science. Many Catholic scientists have made important contributions to science, like Gregor Mendel, Nicholas Copernicus, George LeMaitre. Even the Church as an institution supports science through Catholic universities and even some cathedrals in 17th and 18th centuries were designed as world-class observatories. This comes from the belief that God is the author of both the book of revelation and the book of nature and he doesn’t contradict himself. The Church holds that faith and reason go together. There is no foundation for the supposition that faith and reason are opposed in the Church. Scot quoted Dr. Peter Kreeft in his endorsement: “All of this book is full of clarity and charity, but two chapters are masterpieces each worth ten times the price of the whole book. The chapter on contraception is the most simple, commonsensical, winsome, and persuasive I have ever seen. The chapter on same-sex marriage has the clearest and the completest logic I have ever read on the subject.” On the topic of contraception, Chris said romantic love is geared towards a union between the lovers who want to be together in a complete way for their whole lives. So we have to explain why procreation is important in a society which doesn’t value children. When you have a children with someone there is a unity with someone both physically, emotionally, and activity (working together for the baby’s well-being). The child unifies that couple. Contraception is a barrier to romantic love. It’s a desire for a disunity, a lack of unity. One of the reasons procreation is good is it allows people in love to have a bodily unity that they so deeply desire. Scot noted that the chapter asks some interesting questions. One is whether having children fosters marital friendship. Scot said he and his wife have found they have to be so much more of a team to care for their three kids. Then with the children and spouse, living it as a vocation so that loving your wife and your kids can help you get to heaven. Chris said this is one of the most important reasons procreation is good. He referenced the sheep and goats parable that Jesus told about the corporal works of mercy. He said he learned that every good parent literally does these things that Jesus is talking about. Every child comes into a family as a stranger and you welcome him. You feed your children. You clothe your children. Parents get into heaven by taking care of Jesus who they find in the least of these, their children. Fr. Mark said this must have been timed for the Year of Faith. He said one of the parts of the New Evangelization is informing our consciences so we can out and evangelize others. Chris said God desires everyone to be happy, but to be happy we have to love God and love others. When we do things that contradict love, we are undermining our own happiness. Our actions become disordered. A rightly formed consciences knows the truths about what actions serve love of God and serve love of neighbor and which ones undermine those. We have an obligation to know that truth and live that truth. A conscience is like a compass and a compass doesn’t create true north; it recognizes true north. A properly formed conscience doesn’t create truth for itself. Fr, Mark said young people often say that tolerance is a virtue. Chris said the Christian attitude is that we should love every single person and that includes those who are different and those who are the same as us. But when you love someone it doesn’t mean you agree with the things they do that are harmful to themselves or others. If I love my friend, I prevent him from driving drunk. Real love wants the well-being of a friend to flourish. All Christians are called to work for the real salvation of everyone. Real love doesn’t tolerate people working against their own or others true happiness. Chris said the reaction to the book has been positive since it came out on October 8. Most fair-minded people don’t come to a judgment until they’ve read the book or engaged the arguments. He encourages anyone who disagrees to read the book and if they still disagree to have a dialogue and civil conversation about it. 2nd segment: Scot said Cardinal Sean launched a new initiative, asking people to follow him on Twitter at , where he’ll be tweeting several times a day between now and the election. He also noted that Fr. Mark was in Chicago this past week for the Canon Law Society of America. Fr. Mark said he had been asked to preach at Mass about last week’s Sunday readings which included a major topic of canon law, marriage and divorce. He also gave a well-attended talk before a prestigious audience. Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Gospel for the Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 14, 2012 (Mark 10:17-30) As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.” He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.” Peter began to say to him, “We have given up everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.” Scot said it sounds like Jesus rebukes the questioner for calling him Good Teacher. Scot said he calls him good as a teacher, when he should be calling him good for his nature. Fr. Mark said it could be that the man was only approaching Jesus on an intellectual level. Jesus doesn’t want to just know things well and say things well, but to do things well. It shouldn’t just be wonderful words, but he should take the words to heart. Scot said when Jesus is said to love the young man, it recalls what Chris Kazcor said about truly loving others. He said the passage makes us question how attached we are to the things in our lives. Fr. Mark said many people in our society duplicate this story by going away sad from the Church to indulge in the things that will make them happy. Fr. Mark said he hopes this young man later came back, just as many people today come back to the faith. Scot noted how the disciples were amazed at Jesus’ words about wealth. Scot said it’s not just about how much money you have, but your attitude. Fr. Mark said wealth was seen as a blessing from God and sickness was seen as a curse from God and Jesus was turning that on its head. Whatever the camel going through the eye of the needle means, it clearly means it’s very difficult. The disciples are left wondering then who can be saved? Scot said that none of us can save ourselves. None of us merit eternal life on our own. Fr. Mark said the Scripture we should take into the Year of Faith is “Nothing is impossible for God.” Scot said imagine how confusing this whole episode must have been to the disciples. The riches and treasures from God aren’t just measured in man’s terms. Fr. Mark said there is some speculation that the rich, young man was St. Mark the Evangelist.…
Summary of today’s show: Our usual thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry discussed the headlines of the week, including the launch of the Year of Faith both in Rome and in Boston and Fall River; Pope Benedict’s homily for the opening Mass; indulgences for the Year of Faith; the Synod for the New Evangelization; Cardinal Seán starting to Tweet daily; religious leaders discussing physician-assisted suicide; and Cardinal Seán’s reflection on the assisted-suicide slippery slope. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Year of Faith, Tweeting Cardinal Sean, Physician-Assisted Suicide 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and to the Year of Faith. Cardinal Seán celebrated a Year of Faith opening Mass that was simulcast on WQOM and on BostonCatholicLive.com. Susan and Scot discussed the celebration of the Mass in Rome with the Holy Father and the very crowded Mass in the Pastoral Center with Cardinal Seán. Scot asked Gregory Tracy about his impressions. He said the homily was very engaging as always. He engages first with humors and anecdotes and then gets to the heart of the matter. After the Mass, they gathered in a conference room where Cardinal Seán sent out his first tweet for the Year of Faith in front of a group of journalists. Scot noted that the Cardinal had a tough time typing because his own personal computers are set up with Spanish-language keyboards. Fr. Roger talked about his own preparations and launch of the Year of Faith in his parish. He outlined his plans for his parish over the year. Scot said Cardinal Seán’s homily and the entire Mass are available online at . Moving to Pope Benedict’s homily at the Mass opening the Year of Faith this morning, Scot quoted: If today the Church proposes a new Year of Faith and a new evangelization, it is not to honour an anniversary, but because there is more need of it, even more than there was fifty years ago! And the reply to be given to this need is the one desired by the Popes, by the Council Fathers and contained in its documents. Even the initiative to create a Pontifical Council for the promotion of the new evangelization, which I thank for its special effort for the Year of Faith, is to be understood in this context. Recent decades have seen the advance of a spiritual “desertification”. In the Council’s time it was already possible from a few tragic pages of history to know what a life or a world without God looked like, but now we see it every day around us. This void has spread. But it is in starting from the experience of this desert, from this void, that we can again discover the joy of believing, its vital importance for us, men and women. In the desert we rediscover the value of what is essential for living; thus in today’s world there are innumerable signs, often expressed implicitly or negatively, of the thirst for God, for the ultimate meaning of life. And in the desert people of faith are needed who, with their own lives, point out the way to the Promised Land and keep hope alive. Living faith opens the heart to the grace of God which frees us from pessimism. Today, more than ever, evangelizing means witnessing to the new life, transformed by God, and thus showing the path. The first reading spoke to us of the wisdom of the wayfarer (cf. Sir 34:9-13): the journey is a metaphor for life, and the wise wayfarer is one who has learned the art of living, and can share it with his brethren – as happens to pilgrims along the Way of Saint James or similar routes which, not by chance, have again become popular in recent years. How come so many people today feel the need to make these journeys? Is it not because they find there, or at least intuit, the meaning of our existence in the world? This, then, is how we can picture the Year of Faith: a pilgrimage in the deserts of today’s world, taking with us only what is necessary: neither staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money, nor two tunics – as the Lord said to those he was sending out on mission (cf. Lk 9:3), but the Gospel and the faith of the Church, of which the Council documents are a luminous expression, as is the Catechism of the Catholic Church, published twenty years ago. Scot said the homily is stark about saying that many of the people we meet each day are in the desert, but it is from the starkness of the desert that we can rediscover the faith. Greg said already at the Second Vatican Council, society was making this transition to the secular desert and now 50 years on we are deep into the desert. Susan was reminded of Pope John Paul’s teaching that Christ leads us to the Father through the Holy Father. She also noted he quoted Pope John XXIII: ““What above all concerns the Ecumenical Council is this: that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine be safeguarded and taught more effectively […] Therefore, the principal purpose of this Council is not the discussion of this or that doctrinal theme.” She said we observe the signs of the times and determine how we authentically and faithfully present the faith. She also noted that he talks about going back to the documents and she always encourages people to read the texts. Fr. Roger said in this homily the Holy Father is bringing us back to the themes of his pontificate. He says the whole mission of the Church is to lead people out of the desert into friendship with Christ. He said many people haven’t read the documents of the Second Vatican Council and this is an opportunity to go back and re-read them. Fr. Roger noted that this isn’t a year of catechesis, but a year of living by faith. Scot noted that at the same time as the opening of the Year of Faith is a synod of bishops on the New Evangelization. Cardinal Donald Wuerl says that it’s like a tsunami of secularism has swept across Europe and beyond. He also talked about the cost of poor catechesis. The cardinal said a “tsunami of secularism” has washed across the world, leaving in its wake a tendency to deny God’s existence, or to deny that God’s existence is relevant to human thinking and action. Yet, without God “the very understanding of what it means to be human is altered,” he said. A key task of the new evangelization is to help people see that human dignity and human rights flow from the fact that human beings are created in God’s image, he said. Susan said she couldn’t agree more with the Cardinal that the Catechism has immensely improved catechesis. Susan would add the improvement in understanding of hiw we learn through the social sciences. Scot also noted that the plenary indulgences for the Year of Faith have been given. An indulgence is a remission of the temporal punishment a person is due for sins that have been forgiven. Fr. Roger explained that Purgatory repairs the damage to relationships caused by sin. Indulgences take away that temporal punishment for sin by the merits of Christ. they can be applied to the living or the dead. The indulgences are gained in this circumstance through some specific steps, including making pilgrimages to a local site designated by the bishop, attending parish missions or lectures on Vatican II or the catechism, attending a Mass or Liturgy of the Hours on days designated by the local bishop or renewing baptismal vows where we were baptized; or attending a Mass celebrated by a bishop on the Year of Faith’s last day. The other usual conditions for indulgences apply as well. Scot noted the last day of the Year of Christ will be the Feast of Christ the King on which we have the Cheverus Awards at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and that could be one of the biggest Masses ever at the cathedral. 2nd segment: Scot said it was announced today that Cardinal Seán will be tweeting at least daily until November 6 and encouraging everyone to follow him on Twitter. He’s hoping that people will retweet his messages on the Year of Faith and physician-assisted suicide. The cardinal says the biggest challenge of Question 2 is that not enough people know about it yet. Scot noted that yesterday his follower count was about 5,090 and today it’s up a few hundred more already. Greg explained what twitter is and how it works. He said Twitter is very ephemeral and it’s easy to miss one tweet so if the Cardinal writes consistently it will be more easily found. Scot said we don’t have to be confrontational in talking to people about this issue. There are plenty of low-impact ways of spreading the message. Fr. Roger said the cost of a failure to act is that someone might die and the benefit of acting might be to help people get the help they need instead of poison from their doctor. He noted some anecdotes from people in his parish who have talked to others about it, describing their own experiences with suicide or terminal illness. Another story in the Pilot this week was an invitation to Cardinal Sean from Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Methodius to gather with representatives from different religious groups—from Salvation Army to Islam— to talk about physician-assisted suicide. Greg was there and said there was a sense that this can’t be described as just a Catholic issue. One of the issues on their minds was how to make it clear to their congregations and others that this isn’t just a Catholic issue, even though the Catholic Church is on the forefront. Scot said in the Pilot is Cardinal Seán’s third reflection on assisted suicide: Slippery slope arguments involve small decisions that lead to undesirable outcomes that never would have been supported at the outset. Often, it is impossible to prove that one small step will have significant negative effects, but common sense allows reasonable people to judge the likelihood that a sequence of events that have happened in one place are likely to happen in another place in a similar way He then points out 7 potential problems downstream: It could lead to increased elder abuse; It could lead to adoption of “quality of life” standards; It could lead to lower quality of care; It could undermine doctor/patient relationship; It could lead to a general devaluing of human life; It could lead to an increase of suicide generally; and It could lead, eventually to euthanasia—like it has in the Netherlands. Scot said people say you can’t prove a slippery slope argument empirically. Susan said arguing the slippery slope can make you seem like an extremist. She noted that in the Netherlands they have mobile euthanasia units now. She also said both the American Medical Association and Massachusetts Medical Society oppose this ballot question. Scot said there are also good op-ed columns in the Pilot on this topic as well. Winding up the show, Scot noted the death of Fr. Lawrence Wetterholm at 88 and the appointment of Fr. Bill Schmidt to pastor of both St. Marym, Wrentham, and St. Martha, Plainville from St. Patrick in Stoneham, one of the biggest parishes in the Archdiocese.…
Summary of today’s show: Massachusetts’ impending vote on physician-assisted suicide has national implications and that’s what has brought Ryan Verret from Louisiana Right to Life to the Commonwealth. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams talk to Ryan about his background in healthcare and medical ethics; concerns about recent healthcare legislation; and the awful message that legalizing assisted suicide sends to those who are at their most vulnerable, scared, and depressed moment. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Ryan Verret of Louisiana Right to Life Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Ryan Verret on Assisted Suicide and End of Life Issues 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show. He said the new media team at the Archdiocese just completed a livestream of a workshop on physician-assisted suicide and then rushed to get all the equipment set up back in the studio. Fr. Matt then talked about a recent visit to St. Anthony’s in Lowell in which they had a prayer service like LIFT, which includes contemporary worship music and prayer. He said they do a “LIFT on the road” with the whole musical band and everyone involved several times per year. This event was a smaller experience with just Fr. Matt and one musician. Scot said also last Friday in St. Mary’s in Chelmsford, they prayed for the intention of Catholic media in Boston for the Year of Faith during their monthly all-night Eucharistic Adoration. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Matt welcomed Ryan Verret to the show. Ryan is in the area to give some talks and do some interviews. He was born in Louisiana and grew up there. Scot noted that Ryan attended seminary with Fr. Matt for a couple of years. Scot asked Ryan about the Catholic roots in Louisiana. Ryan said his family was Acadian, descended from those expelled from Nova Scotia by the British in the 1700s. They settled in Louisiana. He noted that Catholicism is strong in the region. He noted that his parish has had perpetual adoration around the clock since 1887. There is a high concentration of adoration chapels in the region. Ryan said coming to Massachusetts for seminary was a culture shock. Coming from a rural background into an urban area was very different. He discerned in the seminary that he wasn’t called to the priesthood. He went to Washington, DC, and attended the Institute for the Psychological Sciences. He did an internship with the Missionaries of Charity at an AIDS hospice. While he was there, he met his wife, Mary Rose, a graduate of Christendom College. They have two children, a 3-year-old girl and 1-year-old boy. As a couple they teach natural family planning to many other couples. Scot asked about their devotion to St. Therese’s parents, Louis and Zelie Martin. He said it started when Pope John Paul beatified them and set them on the path to eventually being the first canonized couple. Ryan said he and his wife felt called that their home should be a missionary outpost of their parish and they see Louis and Zelie as examples for creating that domestic church. Ryan said they had chosen the name Zelie for their daughter (it comes from the French Azelie, which is the name for azaleas.) A few weeks before the due date, his wife developed pre-eclampsia and she had an emergency c-section. Fr. Matt performed the baptism and brought with him holy cards from when he visited Lisieux. They found out that their daughters’ birthday on December 23 turned out to be Zelie Martin’s birthday. Their son is named for Brother Andre, St. Andre Bessette. Ryan said he’s always been devoted to St. Joseph and Brother Andre served in the Oratory of St. Joseph in Montreal and who had a similar strong connection to the saint. Scot said the 5-hour car ride to Montreal to visit the Oratory and other beautiful churches there is a wonderful family pilgrimage. Fr. Matt said St. Andre is buried there and you can pray before the relic of his heart. He noted that Brother Andre was the doorkeeper and every person who came through the doors was loved and welcomed by him. He received each person as a unique and unrepeatable gift. He often prayed with and applied holy oil to people with ailments who were healed through the intercession of St. Joseph. Ryan said many people in Louisiana keep “St. Joseph oil” in their homes because of their connection to Québec. 3rd segment: Scot asked Ryan how he came to work as director of the Center for Medical Ethics of Louisiana Right to Life. He said that when he first returned to Louisiana, he worked as director of a healthcare facility and he saw a lot of the strengths and challenges of modern healthcare, including the problems related to resources. He also became a member of an ethics board of a local hospital. Then he was approached by Louisiana Right to Life. The group has been in existence since 1970 and works for the dignity of life from conception to natural death. A few years ago they asked him to come on right about the time that the Affordable Care Act was being debated. Also he was asked to be proactive on issues like assisted suicide. He’s now worked with them full-time for about a year. The primary issues he addresses are euthanasia, assisted suicide, withdrawal of necessary or unnecessary treatment. He said there’s a lot of pressure to do less today, even ordinary care, not extraordinary. Another issue is medical discrimination, not just race, but also disabilities, whether physical or mental. One aspect is that 90% of children diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted in utero. It’s such a tragic loss, especially when anyone who knows someone with Down will say that they are often the most loving people. Another area is healthcare reform, including rationing of healthcare. He noted that the Affordable Care Act claims not to ration healthcare, but it does create an independent payment advisory board of 15 people appointed by the president whose goal is to create quality and efficiency standards. Their goal is to push down some medical costs through best practices that are handed down in the form of recommendations every two years to the Health Secretary. The secretary will send those standards to any health provider using any government-funded healthcare. Congress doesn’t have to approve these. Those standards become rules because the providers don’t want to lose reimbursement and so they will decrease the amount of care. The fifth area is helping Catholics understand end-of-life decision-making. They provide documents approved by the Secretary of State in Louisiana to help people make provisions for their end of life. Scot went back to the first issue. He said physician-assisted suicide is coming up more and more after being dormant for so long in just Oregon and Washington, DC. Ryan said proponents of assisted suicide are concerned about the growing numbers of elderly. They call it the Silver Tsunami of elderly with too many seeking care from a system being paid for by too few. Ryan noted that the reality is that we’re seeing the results of declining birth rates. Also we’re living in a time in which fewer people are living a faith which helps us to deal with pain and suffering and getting to the root. Scot said proponents talk about choice, control, and dignity as if taking 100 pills in a liquid after taking a numbing agent because of its bitterness. Many people think they should have a choice, not understanding that it releases other pressures later on that might force this “choice” on you later on. It’s a false autonomy. As for control, there are limited safeguards for those can’t speak up for themselves. Ryan said it’s making a choice based on inaccurate information. It’s almost to accurately diagnose how long someone is actually going to live, but the law says you can make the choice if diagnosed to live 6 months or less. Scot said doctors have told him that it’s an arbitrary number and it’s a lot of time, whether to set things right or to have new treatments. It’s also just a guess at a time. Scot said that someone who receives a terminal diagnosis of any length, the person will tend toward becoming depressed. Shouldn’t there be a safeguard to ensure that it’s not just the depression pushing them to suicide. Ryan noted that in Oregon only two percent of those requesting suicide pills accepted the recommendation of a doctor to seek mental health counseling. Of those that did, many were not even terminally ill, but just depressed. Scot said the proposed law would allow a husband to request the suicide pills without informing his wife. He said men are more likely to commit suicide than women. He could be thinking he’s preventing her from suffering when she’s made a commitment to walk with him at every moment to the end. We all know that it’s never just one individual affected by the decision to commit suicide. Ryan noted that the death certificate will list only the underlying disease, not suicide. This is the falsification of a legal document. We don’t need legalized assisted suicide to provide for the needs of the dying. There are so many amazing virtuous moments at the end of life as well as so many options for palliative care. Fr. Matt asked Ryan to expand on palliative care. Ryan said when he’s talked with a patient or family member who guides them through the process of thinking what the person needs when dying. If they’re Christian, he walks them through Christ’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane and to make known his will for his loved ones and to place his life in the hands of the Father. He said it’s so essential for all of us to have those opportunities for goodbye. Palliative care is extremely successful in managing pain, but it’s also a great opportunity for families to come together and it’s important for generations. 4th segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Marilyn Lalmond from Merrimack, NH She wins by Johann Christoph Arnold. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: Scot said each state battles to stop physician-assisted suicide in different ways. For people on all sides of many issues and political views agree that the flaws in this initiative are awful. Why would we put such an important issue on a ballot where people are informed by 30-second commercials, instead of the usual way in the Legislature where there are many open committee hearings and people from all sides are heard. Ballot initiatives are a crazy way to decide a life and death issue. Ryan said Louisiana doesn’t have the ballot initiative process but he has worked on this issue with committees in the state legislature and that was definitely the preferable means of dealing with it. Scot said he assumes Ryan is here from Louisiana because they understand how we vote in Massachusetts will affect the rest of the country. Ryan said that in the beginning of June he was in Minneapolis to discuss the issue with people from around the US and Canada and the people at the meeting were very concerned about this issue. The country would see that this issue breaks out of the Northwest, which as a reputation for being secular and liberal, into an area with a very large Catholic population, which could help it to spread. Scot said he’s heard Massachusetts is the most valuable state because we’re seen around the world as having the best medical care and if Massachusetts chooses this, then why shouldn’t everyone choose it? Ryan said the question is what we are communicating to people who are ill and scared? This option is so far below their dignity.…
Summary of today’s show: Even 16 months after ordination, Fr. Mark Murphy remains the youngest priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and he’s now serving in on of the busiest and largest parishes, St. Agatha’s in Milton/Quincy. Fr. Mark shares with Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor how his first year as a priest has gone, the unique and welcoming way his parish has received him, the challenges of serving a parish with as many people coming to daily Mass as some parishes get on Sunday, and how he’s managed to improve his already superior golf game. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Mark Murphy Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Fr. Mark Murphy 1st segment: Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor talked about Christopher Columbus Day. Fr. Chris said he was in Washington, DC, over the weekend, getting together with his priest-friends he made while he was in graduate school at Catholic University. He visited the National Zoo, the home of Elizabeth Ann Seton, and a Trappist monastery. Scot said it’s never too late to start praying the Rosary novena to stop assisted suicide. This week also kicks off the Year of Faith on Thursday. Fr. Chris said St. John Seminary is hosting an open-house for all fifth graders, boys and girls, and their families to see what the seminary is all about and to talk about vocations. He said studies show that young people start thinking about vocations at the fifth grade. This will be on October 21 and October 28 . Interested people should register through their school or parish. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcomed Fr. Mark Murphy to the show. They discussed Fr. Mark’s golf game yesterday, when he shot a 79. He said he’s been playing since he was 13 years old and his game has improved since ordination mainly because he never had time to play in seminary. Fr. Mark has been ordained about 16 months now. He’s been at St. Agatha Parish in Milton. Part of the reason for his wonderful experience is the life of the parish. They get 150 people or more at the several daily Masses. They’ve noticed the numbers increasing since mid-summer. They’re especially moved by the number of men coming as well as all the different ages coming. The daily Mass is held in a renovated chapel that is part of a large renovation of the lower church. He said they have six weekend Masses with about 2,400 people. The largest Mass is the Saturday vigil with about 500 attendees. Scot said that puts the parish in the top ten among parishes in the archdiocese in terms of attendance. Scot asked him how he tailors his homilies for such large crowds. Fr. Mark talked about the challenge of preaching at the family Mass when the children come up to hear a homily directed primarily at them. Fr. Mark said he takes his homily preparation to prayer at the beginning of the week, with the Masses he’ll be preaching that weekend in mind. Fr. Chris asked him what he preached on this past weekend, when it was about marriage. Fr. Mark said he talked about his priesthood lets him see marriages at all different stages, whether it’s weddings, baptisms, or funerals. He sees people living out their vocation to marriage so radiantly and lovingly together. He also discussed the difficulties and trials. He related a story of a conversation with an older parishioner who had been married for 50 years. Fr. Chris asked Fr. Mark what a typical day is like for him. Fr. Mark say they have about three funerals per week and he celebrates one or two of the Masses. He also celebrates one of the daily Masses. The school has 600 kids at pre-K through 8 levels and if he doesn’t have a funeral he visits the school in the morning, or in the afternoon if he does. He also has meeting with pastoral staff. He meets with couples preparing for marriage, goes to wakes, and so on. There are also the unexpected events, like someone coming to the door who wants to talk for an hour. He also tries to find time to exercise in the later afternoon and then get some prayer time in. Scot asked him how he has grown in his ministry with so many funerals. He said it is a moment of faith and evangelization, when people are thinking about the important themes of life and death. Fr. Chris talked about some of the challenges of funerals. He said it’s an essential moment to grieve and encounter the Lord, but also to commend that person to the Lord. He recalled a daily Mass communicant who opted not to have a funeral Mass so they wouldn’t have to go to church. Fr. Mark said we have to go back to the basics and explain why they are there, why do they use a pall, why is the paschal candle there. Scot noted that Fr. Mark is still the youngest priest in the Archdiocese at 27 years old. Fr. Mark said when he first got to St. Agatha’s a woman came up to him and said she didn’t realize they were ordaining 18-year-olds. He said it’s usually a positive and people are enthusiastic to see a younger priest. Fr. Chris asked what shocked him most about the priesthood. Fr. Mark said it’s the fact that it’s all-encompassing and time management is a challenge. Ordinary parts of time management are very important. He works hard at getting back to people who leave a message promptly. He’s also been surprised at how much fun it is, like school events or going to Canobie Lake Park with the altar servers. 3rd segment: Scot asked Fr. Murphy about the life that the school brings to the parish. Fr. Mark said he went to public school his whole life and it’s his first parochial school experience. Part of him regrets he didn’t get that chance. The teachers obviously love being there and teaching in that school. The kids are great and appreciate that he wants to learn their names. He often asks the classes what they’re learning in their religion classes and he finds that they are definitely learning their faith. On the question of the hardest question he’s received from a student, he said they had a teaching Mass, a simulated Mass, and at the end one of the kids asked why the priest smells the altar at the procession. They also want to know him as a person and often ask personal questions. Fr. Mark said there were four sixth graders last year who wanted to have lunch with him before the end of the school year. They had lunch in the principal’s office and it turned out that they had religious questions about God, their faith, their church. They wanted to know about the end of the world and what we believe about evil and the devil. They also had questions about his own call to the priesthood. It is a gift that the kids feel comfortable enough to sit down with him and ask him questions. Fr. Mark is also involved in many other sacramental obligations. He did twelve weddings last year. He’s also a chaplain in the National Guard which takes him away one weekend a month and 15 days per year. He said both the pastor and the Guard are flexible with his obligations. His ministry has helped him connect with veterans or with families who have someone deployed overseas. Fr. Chris asked how Fr. Casey has helped Fr. Mark in his first assignment. Fr. Mark said Fr. Casey has given him a great model in servant leadership. He’s a fantastic listener and Fr. Mark has had to grow in his listening skills. He also notices that Fr. Casey is prayerful and prayer is central in everything they do. Fr. Casey has been in the parish for 14 years and knows all the parishioners and has their respect. They see Christ in him in a powerful way. They see a strong faith in him. Fr. Mark said he didn’t know a lot about Milton when first arrived, but he found many people didn’t know his hometown in Burlington. They discussed how north and south of Boston are like two different worlds. Fr. Mark said they are technically a Milton and Quincy parish. He said the people have been very welcoming, inviting him into their homes and getting to know them. Fr. Chris asked what sets St. Agatha’s apart from other parishes he’s known. Fr. Mark said the high Mass attendance is remarkable as is the large parish school where 50% of the attendance is from inside the parish. Those are the strengths of the parish. He also noted the parish bereavement team that reaches out to families in those 150 funerals per year. Scot talked about the transition from the seminary and how he stays connected to his classmates from the seminary. Fr. Mark said once he was ordained he got a letter from the cardinal about an ongoing formation for priests ordained zero to 5 years. They come together once per month as a group for prayer, a speaker, or dinner with the cardinal. He said one of the benefits is to see the other newly ordained men. He said he and his classmates get together occasionally too and on their one-year anniversary they got together for dinner. Fr. Mark said the most beautiful part of being a priest was how much parishioners love their priests. As a seminarian you get used to people saying how happy you are to be studying for the priesthood, but as a priest you see how much larger that it is. HE thinks it’s because they know the priest and how he loves them and brings God’s grace to them. They love that the priest is the instrument of God’s grace to them and he embodies Christ and His Church for them. He said being a priest supersedes race and age. On the numbers of men coming to daily Mass at St. Agatha’s, Fr. Mark said there is a men’s collaborative group in Milton that meets monthly and many of those men come to daily Masses.…
Summary of today’s show: On Wednesday, October 3, Cardinal Sean O’Malley hosted a virtual town hall meeting on physician-assisted suicide that was simulcast on CatholicTV and WQOM. As a Columbus Day special, we’re re-broadcasting the town hall for our listeners in our regular time slot. In addition to Cardinal Seán, the other panelists were M.C. Sullivan of the Committee to Stop Physician-Assisted Suicide; Dr. John Howland, a family physician; Dr. Janet Benestad, Secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization for the Archdiocese of Boston; and Fr. Tad Pacholczyk of the National Catholic Bioethics Center. John Monahan was the moderator and several members of the studio audience submitted questions in addition to those received via Facebook, Twitter, and email. Listen to the show: Watch the show:…
Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell are joined by Domenico Bettinelli to discuss the Parable of the Life-saving Station and to consider whether our Church—our dioceses, our parishes, and our parishioners—have lost the sense of their true mission to evangelize the world and to render true worship to God as a community of faith. What is essential about the Church? Have we lost sight of the way? These considers and more are considered as well as this coming Sunday’s readings from Mass. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Domenico Bettinelli Today’s topics: The Church’s essential mission: The Parable of the Life-saving Station 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Dom Bettinelli to the show and noted that the computer network in our building is shutting down at 5:30 and Dom will have to race to get the shownotes posted by then. (The shownotes will be abbreviated today as Dom will be taking part in the discussion.) Fr. Mark O’Connell also noted that he’s been the master of ceremonies for Bishop Walter Edyvean’s confirmations for many years, but this past weekend he participated from the pews as the sponsor of his niece. Scot asked if he’s her favorite uncle. Fr. Mark said it’s the first time he’s ever been a confirmation sponsor. Fr. Mark said he didn’t see any flaws or need for improvement in Bishop Edyvean’s confirmation Masses observing from the pew this time as opposed to be at the altar. Scot and Fr. Mark also discussed the Red Mass, Cardinal Seán’s homily, and the talk by Rep. Chris Smith from New Jersey at the luncheon after. Fr. Mark said it was an amazing pro-life talk from Smith. Scot said today we’ll be talking about the Parable of the Life-saving Station. 2nd segment: Scot said he was pointed to this parable by a fundraising consultant, who said he used it with Christian churches to ask what they’re really about and what they want to be. Parable of the Life-Saving Station On a dangerous sea coast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little life-saving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves, went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Some of those who were saved and various others in the surrounding area wanted to become associated with the station and gave of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews trained. The little life-saving station grew. Some of the members of the life-saving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. They replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now the life-saving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it beautifully because they used it as a sort of club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on life-saving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The life-saving motif still prevailed in the club’s decorations, and there was a liturgical life-boat in the room where the club’s initiations were held. About this time a large ship wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boat loads of cold, wet and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick. The beautiful new club was in chaos. So the property committee immediately had a shower house build outside the club where victims of shipwrecks could be cleaned up before coming inside. At the next meeting, there was a split among the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s life-saving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted upon life-saving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a life-saving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save lives of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own life-saving station. So they did. As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another life-saving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that sea coast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown. Highlights from the discussion: It’s a part of human nature to want to turn inward to the ones we know and exclude those we don’t. How many of our parishes started as a few people gathering together in a mission? Do we outsource faith formation to others? Do we point to others as being responsible for faith formation and evangelization? The Church has been described today as a life-saving station, a club, a team, and a family, but it’s as a family that we have the truer identity. The primary mission of the Church is the salvation of souls and we do that in a variety of ways. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. First Reading for the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 7, 2012 (Genesis 2:18-24) The LORD God said: “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him.” So the LORD God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man. So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said: “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of ‘her man’ this one has been taken.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh. Second Reading for the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 7, 2012 (Hebrews 2:9-11) Brothers and sisters: He “for a little while” was made “lower than the angels,” that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the leader to their salvation perfect through suffering. He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated all have one origin. Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them ‘brothers.’ Gospel for the Twenty-seventh Sunda in Ordinary Time, October 7, 2012 (Mark 10:2-16) The Pharisees approached Jesus and asked, “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?” They were testing him. He said to them in reply, “What did Moses command you?” They replied, “Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her.” But Jesus told them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.” Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.…
Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry look at the news headlines of the week, including last night’s town hall forum on physician-assisted suicide with Cardinal Seán; the remarks by Congressman Chris Smith at the recent Red Mass luncheon; Cardinal Seán’s column in the Pilot this week on the flaws in Question 2; the appointment of John Straub as chancellor of the archdiocese; and preparing for the launch of the Year of Faith next week. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Physician-assisted suicide; new Chancellor; Year of Faith 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show and he talked with Susan Abbott about last night’s town hall forum on physician-assisted suicide. Scot said to Gregory Tracy that this week’s Pilot is the thickest edition he’s ever seen and Greg said it’s one of the thickest in recent memory. He said there is a special section called the Open House for Catholic schools. Scot said the town hall meeting will air 16 times on CatholicTV between now and November 6. The audio will air on Monday’s show of The Good Catholic Life. Also joining us from Alabama this week is Fr. Roger Landry, where he was leading a retreat for priests in the Diocese of Birmingham. He was at a Benedictine retreat house. They were preparing prayerfully for the Year of Faith which begins a week from today. Fr. Roger related his experience with a tornado detector in the house where he was staying. He also talked about seeing the effects of tornadoes in the region from the past couple of years. Scot said he knows Birmingham as the place where EWTN is located. Fr. Roger said it’s also the location of the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama, built by Mother Angelica. He also said there was a place called Ave Maria Grotto, which has exact miniatures of all of the major pilgrimage shrines throughout the world. Fr. Roger said he watched last night’s presidential debate with the priests of Birmingham. One of the major stories in the Pilot this week is the coverage of the Red Mass last week. It concentrates on the words of Rep. Chris Smith, who gave the keynote. Smith is a noted leader in Congress for the pro-life movement. Susan said some of the statistics Smith cited were disturbing as well as the whole issue of gender selection abortions. Scot clarified that most of the time when there is sex selection abortions, it’s the girls who are aborted, not boys. He also talked about his work on human rights in China. He said: “Today, there is a beguiling tendency in our society, especially in the political arena, to accept the euphemism - choice, death with dignity- over a difficult truth.” he said. … He called abortion a “serious, lethal violation of fundamental human rights” that requires immediate attention. “Abortion methods rip, tear and dismember, or chemically poison the fragile bodies of unborn children. There is nothing benign, compassionate or just about an act that utterly destroys the life of a baby and often physically, psychology or emotionally harms the woman,” he said. Greg said truth is the great disinfectant and using euphemisms help us to rationalize abortion and beat down our consciences. Scot said Smith’s point is accurate, but when you think about abortion or assisted suicide, we realize we’ve learned the lessons that we have to be clear and avoid the euphemisms. Fr. Roger said we have to tell the truth, without intentionally trying to offend people. Whether it be redefinition of marriage, the massacre of the unborn, or killing those at the end of life. Jesus talked about politically correct terminology in the eighth commandment when he told us not to life. These euphemisms are hiding a lie. When we recognize the realities, we act instinctively. Fr. Roger recalled meeting Chris Smith when he was working in Washington, DC, and then later welcomed him to Rome and had dinner with him there. He called Smith a prophet working in Congress. Scot said Cardinal Seán is doing what he can to educate form everyone on the consequences of this ballot question to legalize assisted suicide. He has another op-ed in the Pilot this week that calls Question 2 a flawed law and a false choice. Among the flaws are the ability for a spouse to get a suicide prescription without having to nothing their husband or wife. He talks about what doctors have said, including the American Medical Association and the Massachusetts Medical Society. The American Medical Association (AMA) has stated that “physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks. Instead of participating in assisted suicide, physicians must aggressively respond to the needs of patients at the end of life. Patients should not be abandoned once it is determined that cure is impossible. Multidisciplinary interventions should be sought including specialty consultation, hospice care, pastoral support, family counseling, and other modalities. Patients near the end of life must continue to receive emotional support, comfort care, adequate pain control, respect for patient autonomy, and good communication.” Locally, the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) voted overwhelmingly against assisted suicide and have said that “assisted suicide is not necessary to improve the quality of life at the end of life. Current law gives every patient the right to refuse lifesaving treatment, and to have adequate pain relief, including hospice and palliative sedation.” In describing their specific opposition to Question 2, the MMS stated further that “The proposed safeguards against abuse are insufficient. Enforcement provisions, investigation authority, oversight, or data verification are not included in the act. A witness to the patient’s signed request could also be an heir.” The Cardinal is saying that the Catholic faith has a strong opposition to assisted suicide, but doctors are opposed just as much on ethical grounds and medical principles. Greg said physicians deal with these issues every day. They will be on the front lines. They will be the ones writing these prescriptions. Doctors get into the profession in order to help people and these law turns that relationship inside out. Scot said Cardinal Seán asked last night for each person to talk to 10 people about this issue because so many don’t even know about the ballot question. Scot suggested picking up materials at your parish and just handing them to others. Susan said she’s surprised that so few have heard about this. Scot said there’s been almost no ads on the first two ballot questions. 2nd segment: Scot said yesterday the Archdiocese of Boston announced the appointment of a new chancellor, John Straub, who has been the interim chancellor since May and then worked in the Pastoral Center for about a year prior to that. Scot said John has been doing a good job. Scot said Straub worked in the George W. Bush administration at a senior level. Susan said she’s worked with John on a few occasions and has always had a good experience. She said John has his priorities set for continuing to move the Archdiocese forward. Greg said in the interview John said his hobbies are his children, he doesn’t have any other hobbies anymore. Greg and Scot discussed that the understanding when John was appointed interim chancellor, the understanding was that they expected he would become chancellor and start a five-year term, given that both some consultative bodies and Straub found it to be a good fit. Scot said the Diocese of Fall River also had a senior appointment. James Campbell has been named Development Director. He has a lot of experience in fundraising in various places. “I strongly believe in the mission of the Church and consider my principal responsibility to enthusiastically promote the many ways in which the Church teaches, heals, comforts and cares for everyone, both temporally and spiritually,” he said. Fr. Roger said it’s important for the diocese to build up endowments and to raise funds to sustain churches in inner cities and sustain schools. This is the next stage in long-term financial planning for the diocese. Scot said the next story is about the obituary of Fr. Richard Butler, at 76. He was ordained on the same day as this twin brother and Scot joked with Fr. Roger that this could have replicated in their lives. He served in many, many parishes as well as several diocesan, national, and international offices and in a couple of colleges. The Knight of Columbus in Massachusetts elected new state leaders. Installed as state officers were Stare: Deputy Peter Healy of Fitchburg, State Secretary Russell Steinbach of Dorchester, State Treasurer Paul O’Sullivan of Foxboro, Stare Advocate Robert Morrison of Milford, and State Warden Paul Flanagan of Stoughton. There was discussion of how the leaders are chosen and all the good work the Knights do. Susan said this weekend is Columbus Day Weekend, in which they will have their Tootsie Roll drive. Turning to the Year of Faith, Scot said Fr. Roger proposed a theme for the Year of Faith: “Lord, increase our faith.” (Luke 17:5). Fr. Roger said this year is an opportunity to grow in faith. In trusting Christ, we trust what He has taught us about the faith, about who we are, and the truth about what will really make us happy. He said it’s key for us to respond in these next 13 months to the grace God gives us to become more faithful. Scot said when we make that prayer about increasing our faith, we should prepare to have our faith tested. Susan said God provides grace and challenging opportunities to grow in virtue. Susan said this is such an opportunity this year and we shouldn’t let this pass. This should go beyond those of us in the choir to those in the pew and to those outside the doors of the church. Fr. Roger’s column also looked at what happened at the last Year of Faith in 1967. In 1967 the Pope called the Year of Faith and the Lord responded with those tests and trials and in many places, but many Catholic institutions failed. 1968 was a year of conflict, riots, war, and the sexual revolution. Four years later, Pope Paul VI said the smoke of Satan had entered the Church and doubt entered consciences through windows that should have been open to the light. So what will happen this time? We have to be ready for the tests that are coming and the Year of Faith will help us be ready. Scot said The Pilot is helping people prepare for the Year of Faith. Greg said this week the Pilot has an article marking the beginning of the Year of Faith as the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council. The article explains what all the different ecumenical councils of the Church were and gives the historical details. Susan said in her own parish, she’s leading the discussion of the Catholicism series by Fr. Robert Barron. Fr. Roger said he’s looking forward to the opportunity to focus on the great figures of faith. In Porta Fidei, Pope Benedict talks about the great heroes from Mary through the apostles to the saints to the martyrs to the countless people in our own histories who have passed on the faith to us. He is asking parishioners to submit written testimonies about those who passed on the faith to them. Scot said he’s looking forward to sharing more about the virtue of joy.…
Summary of today’s show: In anticipation of Cardinal Seán O’Malley’s live town hall meeting on physician-assisted suicide later in the evening, Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams took a look back at this past weekend’s Red Mass with the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Boston and the homily from Cardinal Seán in which he addressed the same topic, using examples from the Good Samaritan to Mother Teresa to proclaim that true compassion does not assist suicide but provides loving care and personal dignity to the dying. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Cardinal Seán addresses physician-assisted suicide at the Red Mass 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and said tonight on CatholicTV and WQOM will be the live town hall forum with Cardinal Seán, Janet BEnestad, Fr. Tad PAcholczyk, Dr. John Howland and Mary Ann . Scot asked Fr. Matt Williams about a birthday trip he took with his father to the Shrine of the North American Martyrs in Auriesville, New York. He said it was a wonderful, beautiful, peaceful shrine and place of pilgrimage. Scot said the martyrs at this particular location were three Jesuits, a priest, a brother, and a layman, martyred by native Americans: St. Isaac Jogues, St. Rene Goupil, and St. Jean de Lalande. St. Rene died on September 29, 1642, and Fr. Matt was there on the anniversary of that date. Scot said today’s show will be a look at Cardinal Seán’s homily from the Red Mass, the Mass at Holy Cross Cathedral with members of the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Boston last month. 2nd segment: Scot asked Rick to play the audio of Cardinal Seán’s homily from the Red Mass. Scot said he began by saying the sovereignty of God comes before sovereignty of the state; that our rights come from God, not from the state. The lawyers’ vocation is not just a job, but a calling to work for justice. He said our society values feeling over truth. Also he quotes de Tocqueville who said that individualism unrestrained would destroy our country. Laws are lifegiving and the laws of God give us eternal life. Cardinal Seán shared told a story about a pilot in World War II shot down over Germany who saw the face of love on those who found him and took him in and who would have seen him as an enemy. Fr. Matt said these lawyers the cardinal was addressing had the role—like all laity—to make holy the secular. They are called to a leaven of goodness, for the upbuilding of the kingdom of God. It should make every person ponder the meaning of our work and how that work is contributing to the building of the kingdom. Scot said sanctifying the world doesn’t mean we’re supposed to be praying aloud as we work, but to bring light to society through our work and uplift the dignity of the human person, make sure people are treated well. Fr. Matt recalled the example of Pope John Paul II in seeing every person as a unique gift. Scot and Fr. Matt then discussed the parable of the Good Samaritan as Cardinal Seán mentioned it in his homily. Forgiveness was brought up as was the idea that Jesus called the disciples to go beyond the minimum standard of not breaking the Commandments to doing everything one can to love. We are called to be compassionate to others, especially those who have hurt us. Now they listened to the second section of the Cardinal’s homily. At the conclusion of the homily, Scot summarized what we heard: A call to defend those who are vulnerable, especially if physician-assisted suicide passes in the Commonwealth. Fr. Matt sad he can’t recall that the cardinal has been more vocal about any other issue in his eight years here. Scot said the Cardinal said that Good Samaritan felt compassion for the victim of robbery, a person who was supposed to be his enemy. The Greek word used for compassion there is only used one other time in the Gospel: when Jesus had compassion on the crowds before the feeding of the five thousand. The sense of the word is that the need we see in others creates an obligation of love in us. Cardinal Seán talked about the witness of Mother Teresa, literally carrying the dying on her back to an abandoned former Hindu temple so they could die surrounded by the love of her sisters. The cardinal spoke about three close friends who are in the active dying process and said he speaks from firsthand experience. He said laws born out of emotion don’t make the best laws. They are overly reactive. A good law must protect the vulnerable and this proposed legislation, Question Two, provides much more protection for those who assist others in taking their own life than it provides for the vulnerable. It doesn’t require palliative care. It doesn’t require them to consult a psychiatrist to ensure that their requesting suicide isn’t born out of depression or other mental illness. It doesn’t require that a spouse should be informed about the request for suicide. Fr. Matt said to have the heart of Christ is to have a heart for every person. He talked about how in youth ministry they do an exercise called the Lifeboat where the youth end up debating who deserves to stay in the theoretical lifeboat and who doesn’t, rather than express that everyone deserves life. He then shared a conversation he had with a Buddhist about the value of every human being. Cardinal Seán finished his homily by talking about the epidemic of suicide in our culture. He said that the rate of suicide in the armed forces surpasses combat deaths. He said Oregon, where assisted suicide is legal, has a very high general suicide rate. How can a state that promotes suicide for one category of people and then say suicide is wrong for everyone else? the alternative is to build a civilization of love through palliative care and through hospice and other places where committed caregivers create love. Fr. Matt said as a priest it is a privilege to walk with families as the accompany a loved one on the journey at the end of life.…
Summary of today’s show: When most men would have been looking at retirement after 30 years as a priest, Fr. Raymond Van De Moortell was transferring from the Jesuits to become a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor talk with Fr. Van De Moortell about growing up surrounded by Jesuit missionaries and becoming a Jesuit; his team ministry at St. Adelaide Parish in Peabody; his work at St. John Seminary as a teacher, the academic dean, and the librarian; and why he thinks Latin is here to stay in the Catholic Church. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Raymond Van De Moortell Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Fr Raymond Van De Moortell 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed all the show and he discussed with Fr. Chris the recent turn of the weather. They also discussed the celebration of the feast days for St. Therese of Lisieux and of guardian angels. Fr. Chris also gave a shout out to Catholic students at Boston University he was with over the weekend. Fr. Chris also noted that the inmates at Norfolk State Prison have a new chaplain and he visited them for Mass recently. Today’s guest is Fr. Raymond Van De Moortell, who is academic dean at St. John’s Seminary as well as a parish priest at St. Adelaide in Peabody. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Fr. Raymond to the show. Fr. Raymond said he was incardinated as a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston on May 8, 2007. He was previously a Jesuit in California. He grew up in a Jesuit parish and went to Jesuit schools. He was surrounded by remarkable Jesuit men his whole life. Many of them were Europeans—mainly Italian—who had previously served in China and were expelled by the Communists. They were role models of justice, peace, and evangelical love for the Gospel and Jesus. At Holy Family Parish in San Jose, they served many Italian immigrants as well as many Spanish farm workers. As he was growing up, San Jose was only on the verge of becoming Silicon Valley. When he graduated high school in 1965, it was still a sleepy farm town known as the canned fruit capital of the world. Scot said people in Boston often think of Jesuits as academics, but many Jesuits serve in the missions in the most difficult circumstances. Fr. Raymond said they were remarkable men, bright, intelligent, multilingual with bright academic training. Fr. Raymond joined Jesuits to become a missionary and he kept asking to be assigned to the missions. Instead he went on to do doctoral work in sociology of knowledge as assigned by the provincial as opposed to Scripture and theology that he wanted to study. He said sociology of knowledge is looking at the techniques and ways that knowledge is acquired in the humanities in society. He later went back to school as a librarian and study of book curatorship. Fr. Chris asked Fr. Raymond about St. Ignatius. He said the saint was a man thoroughly in love with Jesus. Early in in life he was very worldly and seeking glory and prestige. At a military battle, he was wounded, potentially mortally. In his recovery he began to read devotional reading and was converted to do great things for the Lord like he’d read about. He went back to school to learn languages, including Latin, and was awarded a degree in theology at the University of Paris where he gathered a group of companions, who eventually bound themselves with vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and were the beginning of the Society of Jesus. Their emphasis was on working for the greater glory of God. Fr. Raymond said Ignatius was a mystic who had tremendous energy for education and pastoral work, but also had tremendous union with God in his understanding of the Father, Son and the holy Spirit. Scot noted that Fr. Raymond served three decades as a Jesuit and was then attracted to become a diocesan priest, especially in Boston. Fr. Raymond said he was attracted to people and their spiritual needs. It was an attraction to direct pastoral and sacramental ministry, to the liturgy, the proclamation of the word of God, to catechesis. He was first assigned to the diocese as a priest-candidate for incardination at St. John the Evangelist in Winthrop for four years. He said the people there were responsive, kind, accepting, and supportive. He returned to California briefly to care for his dying father. upon his return eight months later, Cardinal Seán incardinated him and a half hour later he was assigned as pastor of St. Adelaide’s in Peabody. He said it’s a very strong traditional parish. He was a pastor for a year and then was asked to go to the seminary to help in the training of seminarians. He was then assigned Fr. David Lewis, a relatively new priest, and they became a team ministry. He said Fr. David basically runs the parish. Fr. Chris asked him to expand on team ministry. Fr. Raymond said canon law provides for two or more priests in solidarity to take the pastoral responsibility of the parish together. They share responsibility and leadership in every respect. The whole gamut of priestly work is shared in common and that responsibility is located between the two of them. He said it’s been an enriching experience with them both on the same page theologically, liturgically and personally. They provide a solid kind of leadership for a parish that wants to grow in Christ. Scot said there’s probably ten parishes with a team ministry. He said it’s more common to have a pastor and a parochial vicar. How is team ministry different? Fr. Raymond said it’s the sharing of the pastoral responsibility to oversee the spiritual life and evangelization of the people of God. they have the same responsibility in everything. Scot said his experience is that the priests in team ministry are often friends beforehand and they’re the ones who petition the Cardinal to become a team. Fr. Raymond said this is the case and his experience with Fr. David is that he is a remarkable catechist and very good with people. He’s also a financial wizard with the dollars and cents. Fr. Chris noted that if one priest leaves, the team dissolves. A new team could be formed or a new pastor could be assigned. Fr. Raymond talked about St. Adelaide’s as a great community of people who formed in the suburban area in the 1940s when it was mainly apple farms. They moved from Revere and East Boston to build this community. The parish was built in 1962 and the foundation stone was laid on October 11, 1962, the day Vatican II started. He said Cardinal Seán will be coming to celebrate the close of their anniversary year at the end of the month. He said the parish has attracted a number of people who feel affinity for the Extraordinary Form of the Liturgy. Each Sunday they have the Extraordinary Form in Latin at 1pm and that group has grown over the years. It’s a parish of people who love the Lord and it’s a growing parish. Scot asked how many places that the Extraordinary Form is celebrated. Fr. Raymond said there are quite a few places, including St. Paul in Cambridge. He will be celebrating the Mass there on All Saints at 6pm. Also Mary immaculate of Lourdes in Newton and Holy Cross Cathedral have the Mass each week. Scot said his brother Fr. Roger Landry celebrates the Extraordinary Form for people who live on the South Coast and has elements he likes about each of the forms. Fr. Raymond said the New Mass is a beautiful and accessible expression of the faith. The emphasis on the sacrifice of the Mass is there with a rich exposure to sacred Scripture and prayer shared in common. In the Extraordinary Form, the vertical and transcendent aspects are upfront. Of course, it’s in Latin and very formulaic, structured and ritualized. It is profound, deep, and mysterious and points directly to the Divine. Scot said Pope Benedict XVI has written that both Forms of the liturgy can be informed by the other. Fr. Raymond said his celebration of the Ordinary Form has been enriched by the celebration of the Extraordinary Form. He said the reverence in the way one prays the prayers is emphatically made much more real and person to him in a deep and profound way as it is centered extraordinarily on God himself. 3rd segment: Scot asked Fr. Raymond about his work at St. John Seminary. He said he teaches two classes in Philosophy for the pre-theologate (first and second year). He teaches courses in Ancient Philosophy as well as other philosophy courses for the theology students (third and fourth year). Fr. Chris said Fr. Raymond gets excited by old books the same way he gets excited about a buffet table of desserts. Fr. Raymond is also the librarian and they have very old books. Fr. Raymond said they have books owned by the first bishop, Bishop Cheverus, as well as every bishop since then. They have many books in French because it was the French who brought Catholicism to Massachusetts. The seminary has had in its library holdings about 65,000 books from the very oldest manuscripts. He said they have two volumes of the works of St. Thomas Aquinas from 1542 and were printed in Lyons, France. Scot asked him for his favorite philosopher, noting that philosophy is a very big field. He said philosophy is the study of the big questions about life and the universe. Fr. Raymond said he is very drawn to Plato and the Platonic dialogues are a constant fascination. But Augustine is another high point in the history of knowledge. You can never become bored with Augustine. He is amazing on almost every level. In the modern world, he’s drawn to Habermas, who was a Marxist, but was still drawn to the big questions. Habermas wrote a book with Pope Benedict and they came to a common understanding about secularization. Fr. Raymond said there’s a great picture of Habermas and Pope Benedict speaking together on these great philosophical ideas. Scot asked how to bring philosophy down to earth for the average person in the pew. Fr. Raymond said philosophy is indeed not easy, but is important for exploring the important questions of life. He said the seminarians are in general wonderers and big thinkers and enter into conversation with these large thinkers with passion and make the connections in grappling not only with the historical content but also the insights and values of the individual thinkers they study. Scot noted that Fr. Raymond also teaches Latin in the seminary. He said has a class of second-year students who are studying Latin composition and he said it is a merciless class. It demands precision, but they do it with generosity and a great deal of fun because they are excited about it. They know that these are the building blocks of language and understanding. Scot asked why he teaches Latin. Fr. Raymond said to be liturgically sensitive to the Latin traditions of the Church, to be able to better read the Church documents which are written in Latin, to be able to read the great works of Catholic authors which were often written in Latin. Scot asked if he thought Latin will be the official language of the Church in the future. Fr. Raymond thinks Latin will persist and will always be there. The roots of modern Indo-European language is in Latin. Fr. Chris added that he thinks that tradition is part of the backbone of the Church and Latin is a serious part of our tradition. Scot noted that an African priest he knows said that when they train catechists they wait until there is an English translation instead of translating directly from Latin.…
Summary of today’s show: Kicking off a series of on-location profiles of parishes implementing the New Evangelization particularly well, Scot Landry and The Good Catholic Life travel to St. Albert the Great Parish in Weymouth to talk about the new vigor in the parish since it was almost closed in 2004 and how that led to a greater sense of community and a remarkable culture of hospitality. Fr. Paul Soper and members of the parish talk to Scot about the ways they make people feel especially welcome at Christmas and Easter and the unique 24-hour Ash Wednesday service that sees people come in day and night for ashes, confessions, and just someone to talk to. And be sure to check out the lemon scones at the coffee hospitality after Mass! Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Paul Soper, Patti Perkins, Betsy Clifford, Rita Garufi Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Parish Profile: St. Albert the Great, Weymouth 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone for joining us on the Feast of St. Therese the Little Flower, a patron of the evangelization and we’re at one of the parishes embracing the call for the New Evangelization in a special way, St. Albert the Great Parish in Weymouth, . He asked Fr. Paul Soper how long he’s been here. He came in February 2009. The pastor was Fr. Larry Borges, who was much loved, and now Fr. Paul was welcomed with great love. Patti Perkins is a member of the parish council and has been in the parish since 2002. Betsy Clifford has been part of the parish pastoral staff since July 2009 as a pastoral associate. Fr. Paul said St. Albert’s was founded in 1950 and was the fifth and most recent parish in 1950. However, it’s the oldest of the churches. It was closed in 2004 during the Reconfiguration in 2004 and re-opened in June 2005. Scot said St. Albert’s has gone through a lot in the past 10 years. It went from being closed to now being a model of the New Evangelization. Betsy said that experience gave them a sense of the value of the parish. During that time, many of the community came to support them and then stayed. That suffering gave them a cohesiveness. Scot asked how that prayers of that time contribute to the prayer life of the parish. Patti said they had two prayer services each day and there were people in the parish 24/7 praying for the parish to stay open. Fr. Paul has experience in four different parishes that experience effects related to closings. He said the strongest thing about this parish is development of strong patterns of lay leadership. The parish has continued to flourish in the last six months where he’s been working half time in the Office of Pastoral Planning, the parish has stepped forward to visit the sick, develop programs of outreach, to continue the liturgical life of the parish. Scot said he’s noticed that at daily Mass they have music and then after Mass they have hospitality in the parish hall including some wonderful lemon scones. Patti said she noticed the word hospitality the first time she came in 2002. She remembered trying to figure out which door of the church to enter and two people came to her, to welcome her and bring her to the pastor to meet him. She already felt welcomed. At the sign of peace during Mass, about 15 to 20 people came over to welcome her to the parish. She found it to be incredibly welcomed and she never returned to to her former parish. They have hospitality after every Mass and she thinks it’s a huge part of the community of the parish. Betsy said the parish is oriented toward welcoming people whose faces are new. She greets people who come to funerals to greet people who are clearly not parishioners. They invite people at every Mass and invite them to hospitality before and after every Mass. She noted that Fr. Paul’s Easter homily as a model of welcoming. He noted that the tomb was open wide and that people were welcomed to enter into the tomb even if they come only at Easter and Christmas. Fr. Paul said he told people that we are more complete when they are here and they feel joy when they are here. There shouldn’t be barriers for them to come, whether they have screaming children at Mass, if they’ve been in prison, if they’re immigrants, legal or illegal, if they have a state of life that people look down on. Pope Benedict says you can’t judge a stained glass window’s beauty by looking at it from outside; you can only understand the beauty from inside the Church. You can only understand the beauty of Jesus Christ and His Message from inside the Church. Scot referenced something Fr,. Paul said about the Road to Emmaus. Fr. Paul said the Resurrection was the pivotal moment in history and instead of spending that day with the Apostles or with his Mother or teaching Peter how to be Pope, but instead he spent most of that day walking along the way with two disciples who were discouraged. One of the most beautiful lines in the Scriptures, is when Jesus replies to the disciple, “What things.” Tell me what happened. He walks with them and listens. They tell him, we had hoped he had been the one. Only then does Jesus explain to them why they shouldn’t be discouraged because of the limited way they’d been looking at hope. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Rita to the show. She’s been secretary for 6 or 7 years, but she’s been connected to the parish for many years. She remembers taking her six sons to the grotto behind the parish as a place of peace. She had been a member of another parish but came back during the vigil. Rita said the grotto has a flowing brook next to it and it’s a lovely place to be. She notices many people stop by at the grotto to pray during the day. Some people don’t want to come into the church itself for whatever reasons, so it’s a nice place. Scot asked Betsy about what happens on Christmas Day. Betsy said it’s such a joy to see families coming to Mass on Christmas. A couple of years ago Fr. Paul and the parish council wrote a letter encouraging people to be with them and letting them know that on Ash Wednesday the church is open for 24 hours straight, offering ashes and confessions and giving a variety of things to do. They see families come for ashes, to write names for prayer by the parish to be placed on a banner that is in the parish during Lent. They encourage people to take a nail with them to carry it through Lent and return on Good Friday to nail it in the cross. Betsy said it’s a means of being with Christ through the Lenten season as a reminder of his infinite love for us. She thinks the origin is the “cross in my pocket” or finger rosary as inspiration. Betsy said on Good Friday that have a number of services. At the beginning of each service you hear the hammering of the nails as a profound reminder. Scot said his sense that this is the tangible connection to the suffering of Jesus. Fr. Paul said they also insert that into the 11th station of the Stations of the Cross, when Jesus is nailed to the cross. The resounding banging throughout the church is a very moving moment. Scot asked Rita if that has an immediate effect on getting people to want to become members of the parish. Rita said it was powerful the first time they did it, reminding people of the Vigil. They got a lot of calls when it was announced and people came from far and wide. She noticed a definite uptick in calls to the parish office and then the next year they got a lot of calls from people ahead of time to make sure they were still going to be doing it. Fr. Paul said they get a steady stream of people on Ash Wednesday from about 4pm until 9 or 10pm from people coming after work, but then people will be coming in around 11 or 12. He will hear 50 or 60 confessions that day. There is a team of people who will greet and minister to those who come. They meet with the team ahead of time to talk about how to listen, how to make people feel welcome whatever their own journeys to the parish. Scot asked Betsy how much preparation takes places for the people who help on Ash Wednesday, whether their on the listening team or distributing ashes or in the confession queue. Betsy said the parish council and liturgy committee are very involved insetting up the plans. They start recruiting people at Masses and particularly invite people from the Spanish community to help those for whom English is not their primary language. They have social workers and counselors available and always record the names of people who want to speak with Fr. Paul, since he’s usually in the confessional. She said the volunteers don’t have to be experts, they just have to listen and be welcoming. People drawn to this ministry are often drawn to it naturally. Rita said they have the bulletin up to date with schedules for Lent. They also keep in the back of the church pamphlets called Care Notes. They are very popular. They often provide ideas for observing Lent, whether prayer or encouraging charity in reaching out to others. They try to make it topical for the seasons. Hundreds and hundreds of those notes get distributed through the season. Fr. Paul said an important element is a commitment by the parish to keep the church building open during the day. Every day the church is open from early morning to late at night and it’s rare not to find someone in the church praying. An important step in being a welcoming parish and evangelizing is having the doors unlocked. Scot said very often people in parishes focus only on those who come regularly and don’t think about those who are coming back and are very fragile. Fr. Paul said the week before Christmas and Easter, they talk about it as a parish. He encourages people to say hello to people who are new, even if they’re sitting in their regular seat. He also tells them that there are many reasons for people to wander away from the faith. Some are scandalized. Well, we’re scandalized too and we can talk about why we’re still here. Sometimes they’re mad at God for bad things that have happened. That’s happened to us too and we can talk about why we still come. Maybe they’re busy or maybe there wasn’t a reason and now they’re trying to think about where to go from here. Because that’s the story of many people who are here, they can talk about it with those people. Betsy said they have a bereavement group that meets six times per year. Very often the people are there who are grieving and mad at God for their loss. It’s a beautiful thing to see the effect that the sacramental life of the Church can have on people who return to the practice of their faith. Rita said the people who answer the door or answer the phone in the church office are attuned to being welcoming to whomever will come by or call. She said whenever the phone or doorbells rings, she tries to turn off whatever task she was working on and concentrating on the needs of the person who is calling. 3rd segment: Scot reminded listeners that this Wednesday Cardinal Seán will be hosting virtual town hall meeting about Question Two on assisted suicide on this November’s ballot. It will be simulcast on CatholicTV and WQOM. Scot said the parish pastoral council focuses on a couple of discussion topics, one of which is pastoral planning and the second of which is outreach and evangelization. Patti that is because the role of the parish council is to hear the voices of those in the parish who have ideas. Every other month they have an open meeting for everyone in the parish to come and voice their opinions and ideas. The council then looks at whether they can do it and how to implement it. Scot said it’s a culture where people can feel free to voice their ideas, no matter what. Patti said the let people feel like every voice is important that they’re being heard. She said they started during the vigil and did it week. Now they will do it every other month and when necessary. They rotate the times, one time in the morning after Sunday Mass and the next time in the evening. Fr. Paul said it’s very important for the parish. He said he doesn’t know how a parish could proceed in the times we’re in without these open meetings. The archdiocese had encouraged parishes to hold open meetings to discuss the pastoral planning proposals. It’s the mission of the Church and the only way to be effective is to get everyone’s buy in and the only way to get that is for everyone to have a voice. He said it can take a long time for even small matters to come to consensus, but when there is consensus in a parish it is powerful. Scot said in many parishes it seems like there’s always a small group leading everything. He asked Rita if the level of participation is high. Rita said there’s always a core volunteer team that does a lot of the work around a parish. There’s also people who don’t like to join committees and don’t want to be in something more structured. There’s nothing wrong with people who just want to come to Mass, but they do have a high-level of participation. Scot asked Patti how they get people involved after the council hears it. She said that a lot of people are just waiting to be asked one on one. they ask the entire congregation, but they also approach individuals. They can ask someone to do a single task at an event, like handing out programs or pouring coffee, just to get them involved. Fr. Paul said when it comes to making announcements at Mass, he’s the one, but when it comes to setting other things up, it happens more broadly. Next week they’re going to have a 40-hour devotion to start the Year of Faith and that sprung up among the pastoral staff, who planned it and brought it to him as a complete plan. They then go and ask individuals to participate. In a parish with thick layers of leadership, it doesn’t all come from the pastor and it shouldn’t. Patti said people should know St. Albert the Great is always welcoming and people should come down and experience it.…
1 TGCL #0383: New seminary rector; New permanent deacons; Mother Teresa; Suicide is Always a Tragedy 56:33
Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy discussed the news headlines of the week, including the installation of the new rector for St. John Seminary; the ordination of 10 men as permanent deacons, including the first from the Brazilian community; insight from Mother Teresa’s close friend; Cardinal Seán’s op-ed on assisted suicide; and humor and joy in the New Evangelization. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: New seminary rector; New permanent deacons; Mother Teresa; Suicide is Always a Tragedy 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. He told Susan Abbott that today is the Feast of St. Vincent de Paul, who is one of his favorite saints. Scot welcomed Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy back to the show. Scot asked Fr. Roger about his pilgrimages to Spain and Lourdes, France. He said he started ith a visit to friends, then went to Fatima, Portugal, then to Spain for a priests’ retreat, then to Lourdes. He also visited several shrines of martyrs and saints and dedicated to Mary. His retreat helped him to prepare for the Year of Faith. He was with 28 Spanish priests on the retreat. Scot asked what is was like to now visit Lourdes as pastor of St. Bernadette Parish. He said that he prayed for a blessing on his new mission and his parishioners. Fr. Roger said he contemplated anew St. Bernadette’s example of praying the Sign of the Cross, not simply making the Sign of the Cross before beginning prayer. Turning to local news, Msgr. James Moroney was installed as the 20th rector of St. James Seminary. Scot noted that he was the first rector who is a diocesan priest not of the Archdiocese of Boston. He also has a worldwide reputation as an expert in the Liturgy. Greg noted that Msgr. Moroney was instrumental in the new translation of the Roman Missal. He noted that the monsignor began his work in July and only now have they had the installation after the academic year has begun and on the family day in which many of the seminarians’ families were present. Scot said Msgr. Moroney is a wonderful homilist. Susan noted that the Cardinal said he was impressed by the monsignor’s joy and love of the priesthood. Some of you began God’s holy work of forming priests … in other holy houses … where mothers and fathers taught sons how to make the sign of the cross … how to love as Jesus first loved them,“ he said. ”Some of you are their pastors and priests. You so moved them by the dedication of your lives that these men wanted to be just like you. You inspired them to become other Christs… Some of you are their bishops who have confided them to the care of this venerable seminary,“ he said. ”Here, men learn … to live as holy priests. They learn to preach, to administer the sacraments, and to set the world on fire with divine faith … to draw all people to Christ." Fr. Roger noted that the rector is a model and the master. It’s a significant appointment. He said when a rector isn’t very good, there are many men who leave the seminary and even those who are ordained will sometimes leave after a few years because they were badly formed. On the other hand, he noted Cardinal Hickey who formed many men who are bishops and cardinals today. Also in the Pilot are two stories on the ordination of 10 men to the Permanent Diaconate. The newly ordained deacons are Deacons Robert C. Balzarini, Vincent Gatto, James T. Hinkle, Michael C. Joens, Jonathan Jones, Brian K. Kean, Thomas O’Shea, Louis J. Piazza, William K. Reidy, and Paulo Torrens. Scot said Torrens is notable because he is the first permanent deacon ordained in the Archdiocese who is from the Brazilian community. Greg said he knows Cardinal Seán is very excited by this development. The Brazilian community is a very large group within the Archdiocese. Scot said the deacons will have a dual ministry in parishes and in offices of the Central Ministries. Scot asked Fr. Roger about the trend of immigrants becoming permanent deacons. Fr. Roger said in the Southwest US you see a lot of immigrant permanent deacons. In the Northeast it’s still relatively rare. Practically speaking, most deacon programs require an academic component and in many cases these men are hardworking blue-collar workers without a college degree. Deacon Torrens already has a Master’s degree in psychology, which helped a lot. He said having immigrant deacons is helpful because it makes it easier for someone from the culture to pass on the faith. Scot said last week a close collaborator with Mother Teresa spoke at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Msgr. Leo Maaburg wrote a book on her life from his perspective as a friend. Susan said he said that he had admired her wit and fiery nature. Greg also said Msgr. Maasburg talked about how Mother Teresa saw abortion as a threat to world peace. Fr. Roger said Mother Teresa also put love for others at the forefront of everything she does. Scot asked Greg about the appointment of his pastor at Our Lady of the Assumption in East Boston also as pastor of St. Benedict Parish in Somerville. He remains pastor of both parishes. Greg said he’s been pastor in East Boston for the past five years and has put a lot of time in on the physical restoration of the church. He’s also brought back a lot of life to the parish in terms of sacraments and programs. Also in the Pilot this week is a complete list of all religious sisters celebrating jubilees this year, from a recent Mass in their honor. Scot said 16 are celebrating 75 years, 16 celebrating 70 years, 12 celebrating 65 years, 65 celebrating 60 years, 35 celebrating 50 years, and 6 celebrating 25 years. Susan noted the sisters that she knew herself. She said she wish they had listed their religious names they had before the changes of Vatican II because she only knows many of them by those names. Fr. Roger said the numbers show us that most of the older sisters were born in the Great Depression and were teens in World War II, who saw the commitment of the Greatest Generation and saw how they could sacrifice for a greater cause. This was a generation not afraid to make commitments. It was also a time that the Church was very vigorous and there was a lot of work for religious sisters. He said it also shows that the lifestyle of religious sisters is a very healthy one, which helps them to be long-lived. He noted that even the Golden Jubilarians were also not Baby Boomers, being born in the 1940s. He said culture and the time we live has a huge influence on vocations. Greg nboted that this is an annual Mass that was always at the Cathedral until it was closed for renovations in 1997 and has since then been at St. Theresa’s in West Roxbury. 2nd segment: Scot said in this week’s Pilot, Cardinal Seán has another op-ed on assisted suicide. This one focuses on the idea that we would never endorse suicide in other aspects of life. Greg said the cardinal writes that when someone says they are depressed we don’t approve of them killing themselves. How can we say suicide is fine in some circumstances, but for a depressed teen, for example, it’s not. Susan notes that name of the op-ed is also the name of the website with many good resources. She said our society has so many resources to prevent suicide, but yet we’re saying it’s okay. Scot said Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick said this week that he leans toward approving of assisted suicide. He wouldn’t want it for himself but wouldn’t want to impose it on others. Fr. Roger said he would ask the governor if he’s in favor of providing nooses in public high schools to give the option to depressed students. Would he be in favor of the option for them? Of course, the governor would say no. The real question is whether suicide is a tragedy or not. Proponents try to claim that it is not a tragedy. It’s just someone accepting they’re already dying and trying to die less painfully. But we’re all dying from the moment we’re born. Fr. Roger added that the US government issued a report that the suicides have passed car accidents as the leading cause of death by injury. From 2002 to 2009, suicides grew by 15%. So what will the government’s response? Is it going to say that it’s a good and moral thing to do? He would ask Gov. Patrick if he’s ever been to the funeral of someone who committed suicide and recognized that it’s never a celebration. Scot said that even for those support the idea of physician-assisted suicide, this particular law is a bad law because it has too few safeguards like notifying spouses or having doctors involved. Scot responds to proponents that suicide has collateral damage; this type of suicide requires accomplices, including pharmacists who don’t have conscience exemptions as well as the person who has to help the patient take the 90 pills; and it is hypocritical about suicides for other people. Quoting Cardinal Seán’s op-ed: We have come to appreciate how dangerous depression can be. It is like quicksand that devours a person in the unstoppable urge to self-destruction. Sometimes we experience a rash of suicides in a community, as one depressed person — upon hearing of a friend, acquaintance or even a stranger, who takes his own life — repeats that action. The copycat syndrome is a very real danger. The suffering of a suicide reverberates in the psyche of friends, relatives and co-workers and also in people who have attempted or considered suicide in the past. Suicide always affects other people; it is never an act that only affects the individual involved. Family members, friends and neighbors often are filled with lingering sadness, guilt and confusion. Sometimes those who are closest to the deceased never completely recover, never forgive themselves and are haunted for the rest of their lives by the loss. There are dedicated suicide prevention organizations like the Samaritans that stand ready to help people in the throes of depression and suicidal thoughts. Many volunteers stand ready on their hotlines, always prepared to try to bring solace and help to those suffering from suicidal impulses. There are also heroic first responders who often risk their lives to help stop someone from taking one’s own life. All of us are called upon to be Good Samaritans and to work to prevent suicides in our community. Scot said this is a good response to the objection why it’s anyone else’s business. He then referred to another column in the Pilot written by Dwight Duncan. He wrote that we should avoid euphemisms: this isn’t medication. If it kills someone it’s poison. Susan said Duncan gets to the core of the issue: I’m against the death penalty in general, even for those found guilty of serious crimes beyond a reasonable doubt, so why should I be in favor of it being facilitated by private doctors on innocent, if suffering, individuals, even if they request it in a distraught state? Greg liked how Duncan approaches the topic in plain language. Scot notes that Fr. Roger’s column is entitled “Humor and joy in the New Evangelization.” Fr. Roger said Fr. James Martin had asked comedian Stephen Colbert to participate with Cardinal Timothy Dolan in a forum on the topic of humor and joy in the New Evangelization. More than 3,000 Fordham students waited overnight to get tickets. Fr. Roger said that the result is the idea that at end of our story we are living a comedy, not a tragdy. He encouraged listeners to seek out the remarks from the forum to read what was said there. Susan also encouraged listeners to go read Fr. Roger’s column from last week on the Sign of the Cross and Scot encouraged everyone to read Fr. Martin’s book on humor in the Christian life.…
Summary of today’s show: October is traditionally Respect Life Month and the first Sunday is Respect Life Sunday. That has a special meaning this year as Massachusetts voters prepare to go to the polls and vote on a ballot question that would legalize physician-assisted suicide. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams talk with Janet Benestad and Marianne Luthin about the activities planned for the month in the Archdiocese, including a Respect Life Mass on October 7, a virtual town hall with Cardinal Seán on October 3, and a Rosary novena to stop assisted suicide as requested by the Cardinal. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Janet Benestad and Marianne Luthin Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Respect Life Sunday and Month 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and noted that Fr. Matt Williams is decked out in his best garb for the Celebration of the Priesthood Dinner tonight at the Seaport Convention Center. Scot said it’s the fourth dinner of the type. Fr. Matt said he’s been a priest for nine years and he’s still meeting priests for the first time. Fr. Matt just returned from Michigan where he was working with Renewal Ministries. They’d been invited out to be on a TV show that Ralph Martin hosts and which airs on CatholicTV and EWTN. Scot noted that October is dedicated to Our Lady, but it’s also Respect Life Month. Fr. Matt said in October we focus on the devotion of the Rosary, which is a powerful weapon for life. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Marianne Luthin and Janet Benestad to the show. Marianne is head of the ProLife Office. She said in October, the 195 dioceses in the US hold local and diocesan events to promote the Church’s teaching on thedignity of human life. She said one of the big ones in Boston is the baby shower program, which supports the Crisis Pregnancy Help Office. More than 100 parishes now participate in supplying the practical items that assist mothers in need. Scot asked how one would organize a program in their parish. Marianne said people can call 508–651–1900 to get whatever assistance they need. Another activity is a Mass on October 7, the feast of the Holy Rosary. Respect Life Sunday is traditionally the first Sunday of October. She said the Mass will be at Holy Cross Cathedral at 11:30am. They’re asking everyone to come at 11am to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel to recite the rosary novena to defeat the physician-assisted suicide ballot question. Janet Benestad said this November we face the challenge of defeating Question Two in November, which would legalize assisted suicide. She said Cardinal Seán has initiatied a rosary novena starting October 3, the same date as a virtual town hall meeting that will air that night on CatholicTV. It will go to October 11. She said assisted suicide goes against everything we believe about the dignity of the human person and the preciousness of human life. Scot noted Cardinal Sean recorded videos for every day of the novena that will air five times per day with him praying the rosary with the Little Sisters of the Poor. It’s an opportunity to pray the rosary every day as a renewed habit. Fr. Matt said as we look at the culture of death, we recognize that physician-assisted suicide emerges because there has been a consistent devaluing of the human person. In the Dominican Republic in August, he preached about the spiritual poverty in the US and they explained to the people there about assisted suicide. The people there were horrified by the very idea. This is a call for us to become aints and there’s no better way to become a saint than to draw closer to Jesus through Mary in the rosary. Scot said Cardinal Seán composed a series of reflections for the recitation of the rosary in this novena. Marianne said October 7 will the opportunity for people from across the archdiocese to come together and pray and encourage one another o do everything possible to oppose it. She said there hasn’t been enough public attention paid to this ballot question and people don’t know about it. Scot said this is a life or death vote yet so few have heard about this. He said it’s a troubling way to propose and enact complicated legislation like this. Janet said it’s not hyperbole. Most people are unaware that terminal diagnoses with six months to live are usually inaccurate and doctors often don’t make such prognoses, yet this is the criteria for the law. Also, people don’t know that a person who applies under this law isn’t required to get a mental health evaluation, to see a palliative care specialist, or even to inform a spouse or parent. Scot noted that these aren’t Catholic or religious arguments against the law, but are common sense based on the common good. Scot said this is far from a death with dignity. Janet said a death with dignity includes proper care or being surrounded by family and loved ones. She added that this isn’t one pill, but about 90 very bitter pills that must be consumed all at once and they can have very nasty side effects. Scot said the Marianne that one concern is that by legalizing a state-sanctioned form of suicide, it would make other kinds of suicide seem more acceptable. She said many in the medical community are very concerned about this bill. She said the American Medical Association code of ethics says doctors should not participate in assisted suicide because it will interfere in their ability to provide proper care. She noted that so much has been done with palliative care to bring pain under control and prevent a death in agonizing suffering. She added that some of the worst kind of pain is emotional or spiritual pain and giving someone a bunch of pillsis not showing them love or care or devotion. Scot said one of the arguments advanced in favor of the bill concerns pain and suffering, but he notes that in Oregon where it’s legal only one in 100 who request assisted suicide cite the pain. Janet said most say they cite control over the time and manner of their own death. This is a question of autonomy and the pro side of the question are promoting a radical autonomy. The law would put the terminally ill in a separate category of persons as viewed by the state, where their right to life is not respected or protected. Marianne said every place she’s talked about this question, she hears from people who have had a loved one in these circumstances and many Catholics mistakenly believe we are called to suffer without pain relief or that we are to undertake any possible treatment to continue life even if we are dying. She said the Catechism of the Catholic Church in section 2278 explains this clearly. Marianne said every Catholic should have a healthcare proxy, a legal document recognized by the Commonwealth that makes sure our moral beliefs are respected at a time when we are no longer able to make medical decisions for ourselves. We need to make sure our loved ones know what to do in these circumstances. Scot said Cardinal Seán profiled three better ways to care for the dying in a column in the Pilot last week, including palliative care and hospice care. Janet said palliative care addresses chronic or terminal illness. Hospice care provides care for the terminally ill and their families in treating the whole patient and not just the disease. They are clearly better options than suicide. Fr. Matt said the proponents make an argument from compassion to help the suffering and dying. He said it’s compelling to many because the emotive arguments carry so much weight and strength over the reasoned arguments. Janet said true compassion never offers suicide, but treats the condition, offers the proper painkiller so they are not suffering unnecessarily. We don’t recognize the dignity of a human being by offering them lethal drugs. Scot said Cardinal Seán will write in this week’s Pilot about the collateral damage of suicide which affects family, friends, co-workers and even people who have contemplated suicide themselves. There is a phenomenon of copycat suicides. Scot said how can a state work to prevent suicide among young people while promoting it at theend of life? A decision to take your own life has societal consequences. That’s a tough argument to make against the personal experiences of individuals. But emotional situations don’t make a good basis for moral laws. We need to consider the wider implications for everyone and how it will affect everyone. Marianne said the ballot question defines self-administration of the drug as the person taking the medication, but it’s virtually impossible for someone to take these very bitter pills by themselves even if they’re healthy. The pro-suicide groups send around teams to help the ill to prepare the pills by putting them in food or drink and are directly involved in the death of the ill person. The group most often involved is called Compassion in Dying, but their previous name was the Hemlock Society. Janet said that while the bill allows for a conscience provision for the physician, but there’s no conscience provision for pharmacists. Also if a family member wanted to intervene, there is no formal means for them to ask that it be prevented. It’s almost too much for family to bear. It is never a recognition of dignity to acquiese to suicide. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Glenn Smith from Bedford, MA He wins the book by Johann Christoph Arnold. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Janet said people should make sure everyone knows that this will be on the ballot when they enter into the voting booth. Then explain to them in 30 seconds why this is a bad bill. Scot said it might be the only perspective a voter will hear and it could convince them. Janet said very often it’s the conviction of the person who opposes this bill that will sway others. Cardinal Seán is asking people to pray the rosary novena every night. Marianne added that Cardinal is asking us to cooperate with a broad swath of people, not just Catholics. She also said people must register to vote and encourages even absentee college students to vote. Voter registration forms must be sent in by October 17. Scot said there is no hard deadline on submitting an absentee ballot. Scot said at the end of October parishes will have all kinds of materials for people to take and share with others and he encouraged listeners to clean out their parishes of these materials and share them. Marianne said every month should be Respect Life Month and she notes that we are approaching the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. She noted that Project Rachel offers assistance to women who’ve been through abortion. They have numerous retreats throughout the year.…
Summary of today’s show: The Year of Faith will begin on October 11 and in declaring that time for a special consideration of the New Evangelization, Pope Benedict issued a special explanatory letter called “Porta Fidei” (The Door of Faith). Scot Landry, Fr. Chris O’Connor, and Michael Lavigne consider the Pope’s letter and examine just what he means by the New Evangelization, what Catholics are called to do for the Year of Faith, and how faith leads us to abandon ourselves to a love grows constantly because it has its origins in God. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Michael Lavigne Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Pope Benedict’s Letter for the Year of Faith “Porta Fidei” 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show in which we’ll discuss the upcoming Year of Faith. He said Fr. Chris O’Connor had a busy couple of days, including a concert on Saturday and on Sunday the official installation of Msgr. James Moroney as rector of St. John Seminary. There were many distinguished guests including several bishops and the families of seminarians. They also talked about the annual golf tournament for the seminary that was held recently. It was held at Woodlawn golf course and many of the golfers were pleased to be able to play there. Fr. Chris said the tournament directly impacts the live of seminarians. It funds a discretionary fund for seminarians who might otherwise not have the means to be in seminary. He noted that Fr. Chris Hickey of St. Mary’s in Hanover conducted the live auction and told participants that the fund allows seminarians to give their full-time attention to their studies and formation. Seminarians don’t get paid and don’t have time to have part-time jobs so the fund is their financial assistance throughout the year. Fr. Chris said he has recently spoken before the Women in God’s Spirit group at St. Mary, Holliston, about the Year of Faith. He said they are a group of 40-50 women who bring in speakers to learn more about their faith and the Church. 2nd segment: Scot suggested the listeners can now watch The Good Catholic Life live during the show at BostonCatholicLive.com. He welcomed Michael Lavigne to the show. Michael said the Year of Faith is Pope Benedict XVI asking to stop and consider the gift of our faith. We can have a tendency to think about our faith in terms of ourselves, rather than as a gift. We should spotlight on the basics of who we are as Catholics. Scot said the Year of Faith is 13 months beginning on October 11. That day marks the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and the 20th anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Fr. Chris said both are instrumental in our life. When the Holy Father put out his letter on the new evangelization, he highlighted the Catechism of the Catholic Church as one of the main instruments for teaching and growing in our faith. It is essential that we come to know Jesus Christ and through the Catechism we come to know that. The two great mysteries of life are the incarnation of Christ and the passion of Christ. Scot said in simple terms there is the turning of the heart toward Jesus, a decision to respond to His love, and then there’s what we know about our faith. The more you want to love Jesus, the more you want to know about the essentials of the faith he gave us. Michael said he grew up in the 80s and 90s and there was an absence of knowledge of our faith in his religious education. However, there were a lot of good programs to help him encounter Christ. But when he went to college, he hit a wall that challenged his faith and he didn’t have the knowledge of his faith to stand on. He turned his heart to Christ at about 19 years old when he read Pope John Paul’s “Crossing the Threshold of Hope.” Fr. Chris said the greatest of the virtues above faith and hope is love. When you love, you want to know more about the object of your love. The more we love Christ, the more we want to know more about him. Scot said we have to respond generously to Christ’s invitation to us. Scot said the Year of Faith is not a Year of the Church or a Year of Catechesis, although we need to know about the Church and we need catechesis. Scot said secularism is trying to de-evangelize us and and crowding out our faith from our life. Pope Benedict wants us to focus on the big questions in our lives. Michael said we are so distracted or afraid that we don’t want to answer them. We run to other temporary solutions. He said we need to stop and be aware of what is around us. We need more silence in our lives to reflect on God in our lives. Scot said the Year would not be successful if we didn’t first focus on our personal growth. Fr. Chris said faith isn’t a country club, where we sign up and we’re done. It requires very hard work. It’s what Pope Benedict means when he says we grow in our faith. We should take a few moments each day to consider what God wants for our lives. We need to chip away at everything in our lives that aren’t Christ. Scot quoted from the document: The “door of faith” (Acts 14:27) is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into his Church. It is possible to cross that threshold when the word of God is proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be shaped by transforming grace. To enter through that door is to set out on a journey that lasts a lifetime. It begins with baptism (cf. Rom 6:4), through which we can address God as Father, and it ends with the passage through death to eternal life, fruit of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, whose will it was, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, to draw those who believe in him into his own glory (cf. Jn 17:22). To profess faith in the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is to believe in one God who is Love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8): the Father, who in the fullness of time sent his Son for our salvation; Jesus Christ, who in the mystery of his death and resurrection redeemed the world; the Holy Spirit, who leads the Church across the centuries as we await the Lord’s glorious return. Scot said right off the bat the pope talks about faith in the trinity. He said one of the best activities we can engage in to make the sign of the cross with even more devotion. We can pray with awareness that God is present in our lives. Michael said too often we turn our back on that door of faith and walk in the other direction. He gave the context of the Scripture from which Pope Benedict took the term the “door of faith” in which the Holy Spirit opened the door of faith the Gentiles. The “door of faith” (Acts 14:27) is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into his Church. It is possible to cross that threshold when the word of God is proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be shaped by transforming grace. To enter through that door is to set out on a journey that lasts a lifetime. It begins with baptism (cf. Rom 6:4), through which we can address God as Father, and it ends with the passage through death to eternal life, fruit of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, whose will it was, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, to draw those who believe in him into his own glory (cf. Jn 17:22). To profess faith in the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is to believe in one God who is Love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8): the Father, who in the fullness of time sent his Son for our salvation; Jesus Christ, who in the mystery of his death and resurrection redeemed the world; the Holy Spirit, who leads the Church across the centuries as we await the Lord’s glorious return. Scot said membership in the Church by baptism can’t be taken for granted anymore. We can’t take the cultural context for granted either. Fr. Chris said we’re all called to share and acknowledge that Christ is Lord and Savior. This crisis of faith has been a primary subject of Pope Benedict’s ministry. Michael notes how easy to read Pope Benedict is. He says we have lost our way as human beings. Catholics used to be marinated in their faith, surrounded by everything Catholic, and that is no longer the case. We cannot accept that salt should become tasteless or the light be kept hidden (cf. Mt 5:13-16). The people of today can still experience the need to go to the well, like the Samaritan woman, in order to hear Jesus, who invites us to believe in him and to draw upon the source of living water welling up within him (cf. Jn 4:14). We must rediscover a taste for feeding ourselves on the word of God, faithfully handed down by the Church, and on the bread of life, offered as sustenance for his disciples (cf. Jn 6:51). Indeed, the teaching of Jesus still resounds in our day with the same power: “Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life” (Jn 6:27). The question posed by his listeners is the same that we ask today: “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” (Jn 6:28). We know Jesus’ reply: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (Jn 6:29). Belief in Jesus Christ, then, is the way to arrive definitively at salvation. Scot said this goes to our purpose in life. In contrast to being marinated in our faith, we have lost our flavor. Poe Benedict is calling us as Catholic Christians to be flavorful people, not bland. Fr. Chris said if we know Christ, even in our darkest moments we will have the spiritual gift of joy. He said Christians should go to bed exhausted every night from a life spent in service to their neighbor. Scot said if you feel like you’re not living your faith with enough joy, pray to ask for the Lord to increase your faith and your joy. Michael talked about the story of a Catholic couple in Arizona who showed joy even in spite of the wife’s diagnosis of Stage IV cancer. Fr. Chris said joy and thanksgiving go hand in hand. We need to count the ways God is blessing us in our children, in our spouse, in the beauty of the day. The word Eucharist means thanksgiving and so we come to Mass every week to give thanks to God for the ways God blesses us. Scot considered the question posed by Pope Benedict: “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” He answers that the work of God is that we believe in Jesus who has been sent. This is an active belief, not passive. We make a public profession of faith. We need to believe publicly in order to help others come to know Christ. Michael said later Pope Benedict says growing in knowledge means we grow in love and charity. We stand up for truth with love, joy, and charity and patience. We need to be careful about moralism because we need to be patient with those who don’t know Christ. Fr. Chris said an essential element is that object of faith is not a something, but a someone: Jesus Christ. We believe that there is a God capable of speech and human beings are able to receive what God has to say, which is Revelation. It comes to us through faith and revelation. Who better to tell us about God than God himself. We learn about God’s love for us and that he has a plan, Scot said we believe because we trust the messenger. Fr. Chris said God is either the author of truth or the author of deceit and if he is a deceiver he is no longer God. Prayer is us communicating to God but when we open Scriptures it is God speaking to us. 3rd segment: Scot said the next section is his favorite: “Caritas Christi urget nos” (2 Cor 5:14): it is the love of Christ that fills our hearts and impels us to evangelize. Today as in the past, he sends us through the highways of the world to proclaim his Gospel to all the peoples of the earth (cf. Mt 28:19). Through his love, Jesus Christ attracts to himself the people of every generation: in every age he convokes the Church, entrusting her with the proclamation of the Gospel by a mandate that is ever new. Today too, there is a need for stronger ecclesial commitment to new evangelization in order to rediscover the joy of believing and the enthusiasm for communicating the faith. In rediscovering his love day by day, the missionary commitment of believers attains force and vigour that can never fade away. Faith grows when it is lived as an experience of love received and when it is communicated as an experience of grace and joy. It makes us fruitful, because it expands our hearts in hope and enables us to bear life-giving witness: indeed, it opens the hearts and minds of those who listen to respond to the Lord’s invitation to adhere to his word and become his disciples. Believers, so Saint Augustine tells us, “strengthen themselves by believing”.[12] The saintly Bishop of Hippo had good reason to express himself in this way. As we know, his life was a continual search for the beauty of the faith until such time as his heart would find rest in God.[13] His extensive writings, in which he explains the importance of believing and the truth of the faith, continue even now to form a heritage of incomparable riches, and they still help many people in search of God to find the right path towards the “door of faith”. Only through believing, then, does faith grow and become stronger; there is no other possibility for possessing certitude with regard to one’s life apart from self-abandonment, in a continuous crescendo, into the hands of a love that seems to grow constantly because it has its origin in God. Scot said the language chosen here is powerful and beautiful. Michael said it is inspiring to read as a reminder of who we need to be based on the gift has given us. Fr. Chris said he loves the line that believers strengthen themselves by believing. He said many people see faith as a personal injury insurance and when something bad happens they lose their faith. Faith is an anchor or rock that we cling to in times of need, that we know Christ is with us in the midst of our suffering. Scot loves the image of the crescendo. What is the meaning of my life? there is another possibility for certitude unless we abandon ourselves in God. If we want to grow in love of God and others, we want to abandon ourselves to him who will grow love in us. Michael said a married couple’s love will grow if they daily abandon themselves and sacrifice themselves for the other. It’s that lifelong journey in which love grows. As they have more kids, their love grows exponentially, it isn’t divided. A lot of the Church’s work toward the New Evangelization isn’t about techniques. It’s about changing our hearts. Fr. Chris said Evangelization is about Good News. It’s inherent in us that we desire to spread good news with other people. We desire to share God’s infinite love because we know it, trust it, and believe it.…
Summary of Today's Show: Scot Landry and Father Mark examine lawyers, the role of Catholicism and civil law, and this weekend's Gospel and 1st reading with Michael Kerrigan and Paul McNamara of the Catholic Laywer's Guild. Watch a video of today's show: Links from today’s show: 1st Segment: Scot welcomed everyone and noted the topic of today’s show will be the Red Mass. Fr. Mark said that he loves the event and that he has the pleasure to be the chaplain for the Catholic Layers Guild and it’s highlight is the Red Mass. Fr. Mark noted that Cardinal Seán kicked off his campaign against the physician assisted suicide at the Red Mass last year. Scot said that Cardinal Sean’s homilies for the Red Mass are always one of his best homilies. Fr. Mark said that the Red Mass is not just for layers and that it is a regular parish Mass with parishioners, young and older layers, politicians and the media is also present which makes a great audience where the cardinal does put extra effort at to reach out to us. 2nd Segment: Scot welcomed Paul J. McNamara and Michael Kerrigan, Vice President and member of the Board of the Catholic Layers Guild and asked Paul what attracted him to the Guild. Paul said that his father was often invited to their events and he was also exposed to it while studing law at Boston College. Scot noted that both Paul and Michael are graduates from BC and congratulated them on BC’s 150th anniversary this year. Scot asked about Michael’s connection with the Catholic Lawyers Guild. Michael said that he became a member after Paul’s invitation and that he quickly learned that it is a group shares the same great values and that gives you inspiration in the work that you do. Scot asked what the priorities of the Catholic Lawyers Guild are. Paul said that it focuses on the social gathering opportunities to talk about current issues of today and how our Catholic background has an impact on these issues. Paul also said that the Guild organizes retreats, talks, day of recollection and the Red Mass. Scot asked how faith blends in to Michael’s workday. Michael said that everything can be guided by your values. Fr. Mark asked if there was a discernment process before he became a lawyer because of his faith values. Michael explained that there was a process of discernment where he attended retreats and also worked for the Massachusetts Catholic Conference as part of his discernment to see how faith interacts with public life and politics. Scot asked Paul about his preparation to become a lawyer at a catholic school. Paul said that gong to a Jesuit school helped to see that God is in all things. He said that faith is in our everyday lives and that BC helped to sharpen the idea that you should react like we are always at war and act with morals. Michael said that the ability to also participate in the society through public service was a message for him that its not "all about the Benjamins." He also noted that it is a good connection to have and to be able to say you come from it. Fr. Mark noted that connections are very important and that the Catholic Lawyers Guild serves that purpose. Paul said it is an essential part of the guild because you have someone you can trust to connect to when you need help with a certain legal issue or just want to discuss new ideas. Fr. Mark said that the group also helps you to learn about the issues outside of what you focus on for work. Scot asked about how many people usually attend the Red Mass. Paul said that they usually have 200-250 people at the Mass and reception. He noted that the Mass is the Mass of the Holy Spirit and is open for everyone and it is an opportunity for lawyers and everyone else to ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit and hopefully enrich our lives. Scot asked about the Young Lawyers chapter. Paul said that it is a really important part of the guild because it encourages and brings forth fresh ideas from the younger generation. He added that the guild has many aging members and that it is really wonderful to see the two generations interact. Scot asked if member can enroll before they pass the bar exam. Michael said that they can and they also give membership discounts for those who are not yet practicing. Paul said that the dues are only $50 and its mostly applied for the mailings and administrative work that needs to be done. Paul invited all listeners to the Red Mass September 30th at 11:30 at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and noted it will also feature the Cathedral’s choir. 3rd segment: 1st Reading and Gospel for the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Wisdom 2:12, 17-20 The wicked say: Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training. Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him. For if the just one be the son of God, God will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes. With revilement and torture let us put the just one to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience. Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him. Gospel - Mark 9:30-37 Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it. He was teaching his disciples and telling them, "The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise." But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him. They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, he began to ask them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they remained silent. They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all." Taking a child, he placed it in the their midst, and putting his arms around it, he said to them, "Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me."…
1 Program #0378 for Thursday, September 20, 2012: Diaconate ordination, better ways to care for the dying, BC celebrates 150 years, the Pope abroad 56:35
Summary of Today's Show: Scot Landry, Susan Abbott , and Gregory Tracy discuss local, national, and international Catholic news. Listen to the show: Watch a video of today's show: Links from today’s show: 1st segment: Scot said that on of the main stories on the pilot this week is about the 10 men to be ordained deacons this Saturday by Cardinal Sean at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Greg noted that having only 10 men this time allows the pilot to profile a little about each of the men. Greg also noted that something new to the diaconate program is that on top of a parish assignment the deacons are also being assigned to help with a ministry here at the pastoral center. Scot congratulated all men and ask everyone’s prayers. Scot said that the Pilot has several articles on the Physician Assisted Suicide issue and Cardinal Sean started a series of articles on the issue starting this week with the article on Better ways to care for the dying where he talks about Mother Theresa’s care for the dying and also talks about palliative care and the way of hospice. Greg noted that today we don’t want face that one day we will die and we are afraid of the unknown. Scot commented that in this article Cardinal Sean article highlights compassionate care and ways to deal with the fear of the unknown. Susan said that one of things the church does and should continue to do is to show the support that is available not only for the sick but also for their family. Scot highlighted the events and educational workshops on Physician Assisted Suicide around the Archdiocese which will be on the Pilot this week. Scot mentioned the article from the Pilot reporter Chris Pineo regarding the physician from Oregon, Dr. Kenneth Stevens, who spoke at the Pastoral Center about “the reality of physician assisted suicide in Oregon and what it means to Massachusetts.” Greg said that this presentation beings another perspective on this issue because it highlights that assisted suicide is based o an ideology and not science because killing is not care, it’s a shortcut. Scot said that there are many arguments against physician assisted suicide including faith, the medical community and that they are all listed on both the Archdiocesan education website and the Committee Against Assisted Suicide website. Scot noted that effective October 22nd, Fr. James Savage is returning to St. Eulalia’s Parish in Winchester after many years. Susan mentioned she met him once before because of his involvement with religious education. Scot mentioned that Boston College opened its 150th anniversary celebration with Mass at the Fenway on September 15th. Scot said that the Cardinal was overjoyed to see so many people together for Mass at Fenway. Greg said that he was there covering the story, and that it was a beautiful celebration and that the event brought together two great icons of Boston, Fenway Park and Boston College. Susan said she could not make to the Mass, but that herself, her husband and her daughter are graduates of BC and that she was able to watch it online and it looked beautiful. Scot announced that today TGCL was going to give away 3 copies of the movie For Greater Glory for the first 3 people who either post on the chat screen at BostonCatholicLive.com or sends an email to The Good Catholic Life. Scot talked about the article on the Anchor regarding the Choose Life License Plate and congratulated Merry Nordeen, president and founder of the non-profit Chose Life, Inc. for the her wonderful on this campaign. Scot said that the money raised with the license plate campaign will be deployed to help numerous pro-life organizations and that he is always inspired by lay people who work for pro-life and for the church and that he hopes to have Merry on The Good Catholic Life in near future. Greg noted that the license plate program is great because every time you renew your license plate the organization gets the donation again. Susan said that this is great campaign and you know that the money is going towards providing great resources. Scot mentioned Pope Benedict’s visit to the Lebanon at the hype of the Middle East Crisis and that he thought that he was going to cancel the trip but that his visit serves as a great witness to the many Christians in the Middle East and also for the support of religious freedom. Susan said that this trip underscored the Pope’s care for the country and their people. Greg said that this was an important trip and comes at the right time, as there are thousands of Christians fleeing from the Middle East because they face persecution and this is a call for religious tolerance. Scot talked about all of the publicity regarding the papyrus fragment with reference to Jesus’ “wife.” Scot said this was blown out of proportion as it is a document with only a few words and from several hundred years after the death of Jesus. Susan noted that its an interesting story but does not provide evidences and that even the person bringing this document forward said that it does not prove anything. Greg said that the headlines on all of the articles he read were just an attempt to sell papers and that several articles listed many arguments that this is not credible but that it also posed the question regarding the disciplines of the Church regarding priests celibacy. Scot announced that Susan, Louise and Karla were the winners of a DVD copy of the movie For Greater Glory. Scot apologized for the technical problem that did not allow Fr. Roger to be at the show today but that he will be with us next week to talk about his trip Lourdes.…
Summary of Today's Show: Scot and Father Matt are joined by Connie and Patricia from the Massachusetts Court of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas. Since their founding in 1903, the Catholic Daughters have supported troops, popes, the poor, the infirm, the retired, and their fellow sisters in local, state and national chapters. Listen in to hear about the impact this less well known organization has in its members lives, and how it helps bring women of all ages to Christ. Watch a video of today's show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Connie Pagan, State Regent; Patricia Abruzese Johnston, 2nd Vice State Regent from the Massachusetts Court of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas Links from today’s show: Today's topics:The Catholic Daughters of the Americas 1st segment: 1st Segment: Scot started the show by reminding everyone that you can now to watch the live stream of the show at BostonCatholicLive.com. Scot welcomed Fr. Matt Williams and asked if there are any upcoming events. Fr. Matt said that they have another Life Teen coming up soon but that his weekend, September 22nd, there will be another Holy Spirit Empowerment at St. Mary’s Parish, Dedham that will start with Mass at 7pm and its open for all ages. Scot welcomed Connie Pagan and Patricia Abruzzi Johnston from the Catholic Daughters of the Americas and asked to tell a little bit about the Catholic daughters and their history. Connie said that they are the largest organization for catholic women in the world and they were founded in 1903 in Utica, NY and are currently active in 42 states. Connie said that they have lay member and religious members who do social and charitable activities. They also have the Junior Catholic Daughters and are also present on some college campuses. Scot asked how many courts the Catholic Daughters of the Americas curretly have. Patricia said that there are 18 active courts and that unfortunately many members of the organization, which is over 100 years old are aging or infirmed and that depleted some of the activities but that all courts are active in participating in the activities and the fundraising. Patricia explained that local courts have their own boards and do their own fundraises and activities based on the current needs. Scot asked Connie what lead her to join the Catholic Daughters of the Americas. Connie said that she has always been active in her parish and was brought up with the Knight of Columbus because of her father and while preparing for a coalition she met a women who was involved with the Catholic Daughters on a national level who invited her to learn more about the organization and she is now with the organization for over 10 years. Scot asked Connie how does being part of the Catholic Daughters help her with her spirituality. Connie said that it’s the sisterhood of praying together, having retreats together, going on rosary walks and coming to together for Mass and adoration. Scot asked Patricia about how she got connected with the Catholic Daughters of the Americas. Patricia said that she was basically told to and was a slow starter but that after she realized there was a need for her in there that she was truly baptized by fire and just wanted more and more. Fr. Matt asked if when the Catholic Daughters of the Americas was founded if it was because of a specific need. Connie explained that the initial intent was to help the service men from WWI and their families as well as the to raise money for church initiatives like the Vatican II council and that today that is still the work of the daughters. Scot asked about the relationship between the Catholic Daughters and the parishes and the diocese. Connie said that one example of how they connect with the parishes and diocese is through pro-life events. Connie said that the current initiative Pennies for the Unborn and baby showers raised this year alone 20k. 2nd segment: Fr. Matt asked about how often the local courts meet and what is the rhythm of the meetings. Patricia explained that they need to meet at least 9 times a year and but its it is usually once a month on week evenings. Every chapter can be different but whenever possible they’ll start with Mass and the meeting will follow with coffee and discussion about regional news they receive and possible fundraising. Scot asked what types of fundraising activities will they to support the different initiatives. Patricia said that they will do different types of gathering with some kind of entertainment to attract people, like bake sales or an Irish or Italian night where they invite a guest speaker and usually there is a big turnout for these events. Connie also said that for their scholarship program for the youth they sell raffle tickets for money prizes and that is also successful. Fr. Matt asked what are some of the ways they attract new members. Patricia explained that they do membership drives at the parishes and that word of mouth from those who are members also attracts many members. Fr. Matt asked if there are any requirements or devotions required. Patricia explained that the woman does need to be catholic and although they do a lot of prayers together many women are attracted to the Catholic Daughters because of the service projects but that the faith does grow as you get involved. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Joanne LeBlanc from Waltham, MA! She wins a CD from Matthew Kelly, "Becoming the Best Version of Yourself, and the booklet “Catholics in the Public Square” by Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit WQOM.org. For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Fr Matt asked how are they helping with the PAS and human trafficking issues. Connie said they have met with the Cardinal regarding the PAS issue and they are committed to hand out literatures at the parishes, to constantly update themselves and educate others on the issue. Patricia said that for the human trafficking issue they are hosting events to better educate others through guest speakers and introducing people to fair trade products.…
Summary of Today's show: Ann Carter, Joe D'Arrigo, and Fr Michael Medas describe the Celebration of the Priesthood Dinner with Scot and Fr Chris, highlighting this important event where the people of the Archdiocese can say thank you to our clergy. Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr Chris O'Connor Today’s guest(s): Ann Carter, co-chair of the Celebration of the Priesthood Dinner; Joe D'Arrigo, Executive Director of the Clergy Funds; Fr Michael Medas, Director of Clergy Personnel. Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The 4th Annual Celebration of the Priesthood Dinner will take place on September 26th starting with a 5pm reception, and dinner starting at 7pm. Tickets and tables are available at . 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr Chris and asked him about the installation of Msgr Moroney as the new Rector of St John Seminary this week. Cardinal Sean and four or five other bishops and about 35 priests will join the seminarians and their families to welcome Msgr Moroney, who will take the oath of fidelity along with the seminary faculty. 2nd segment: Today's topic is the Celebration of the Priesthood dinner next Wednesday, Scot said, which helps to support 645 priests both active and retired. Ann explained the invitation to co-chair the dinner was a compelling invitation - priests have taken care of her throughout her life, from parochial school to sacraments for her family and friends. This is an opportunity for her to be there for the priests and say thank you. Fr Medas said that priests are very privileged to be at the bedside of someone who needs anointing or presence, but when you come to a room with more than a thousand people who are appreciating you it feels great as a priest. The priest symbolizes Christ, Fr Chris said, and brings Christ to the people, which is a unique gift. Joe said the dinner started as a fundraiser when he first came to the clergy funds, as they were losing a lot of money - the first year, they had over 1,400 people at the dinner. This year's dinner is on track for 1,200 right now, with still a week to go. Joe said what was primarily a fundraiser has turned into a beautiful expression of thanks from the people of the Archdiocese to the clergy. The dinner has allowed them to come out of that hole into a small surplus, an extraordinary turnaround in one of the most difficult economic times. It is the priests and laity who have supported through the Christmas and Easter collections and the dinner. A healthy fund helps priests not worry about things like healthcare, Fr Medas said, and takes a weight off their shoulders and lets priests focus on serving the people of the Archdiocese. Ann added that the dinner is different than most charity dinners - you don't walk away wondering if your contribution makes a difference. In this dinner, you are actively involved with the people around you and know that your work and contribution have made a difference in the life of people who have made a difference in your life. Joe spoke about the 265 senior priests (over the age of 75) who have" retired="" -="" not="" completely="" but="" just="" slowed="" down="" a="" bit="" one="" of="" the="" joys="" his="" job="" joe="" said="" is="" going="" to="" regina="" cleri="" residence="" for="" senior="" priests="" that="" in="" many="" ways="" clergy="" funds="" are="" business="" keeping="" promises="" we="" promised="" our="" joyful="" retirement="" and="" as="" lay="" people="" need="" keep="" promise="" fr="" chris="" there="" about="" 50="" or="" who="" live="" at="" wanted="" know="" where="" other="" retire="" medas="" replied="" parishes="" they="" love="" family="" houses="" it="" important="" all="" maintain="" dignified="" opulent="" living="" after="" their="" years="" service="" p=""> Scot asked Ann what she and co-chair Neal Finnigan want people to take away from this year's dinner. Ann replied that when she accepted the invitation to be a co-chair, she didn't know why she was being asked. She realized that she was getting a gift, not just giving one. Her awareness has been raised exponentially, she continued - people will take away the opportunity to reflect about the importance of clergy in their lives. Ann said that one meeting of the committee was at Regina Cleri, and the chance to talk to the senior priests there about their lives and work was thrilling. Much of Boston was built on parishes and parish priests and how they participated in the communities - in social justice matters, protecting affordable housing, helping new immigrants, and more. There is a calling to us as laypeople, Ann said, to step up in the shadow of that tradition and be inspired to play those roles in our community and fix instead of saying what's wrong. Fr Michael concluded the segment by saying that the words of thanks to a priest in the moment are so important, but so are collective thank yous like the dinner. Sometimes, negative messages can overwhelm, but events like the Celebration of the Priesthood cancel out that negativity. 3rd segment: Scot asked Joe to describe the program for the dinner. Joe said they are very aware that it is a weeknight and aim to wrap up the event around 9pm. The co-chairs will say a few words before dinner, and a video with five of our priests will be featured after dinner. The keynote speaker is Don Rodman. Scot commented that many listeners may know Don from his various car dealerships and the Rodman Ride. Joe said even though Don is a devout Jew, he is also a successful philanthropist and giver. He has been involved with Catholic Charities for many years and fundraised for the Society of St James after a visit with Joe. Joe and Ann both agreed that the committee and the work of Boston Catholic Development Services were critical to organizing such a great dinner. The priest committee also understands the value of participation, Joe said. Fr Chris added that the seminarians at St John Seminary are always eager to attend the uplifting evening as well. The dinner provides about 10% of the support for clergy funds, Scot noted. Joe said the goal for this year's dinner is $1.25 million, and they are already at $1.1 million of pledges as of this morning. The record isn't a financial record, Joe said - he is more interested in how many attendees can gather to show support and appreciation to the clergy of the Archdiocese. Joe said he invited many media outlets and they are coming - not just working reporters but editors. This is a great opportunity to showcase our priests in a light that the mainstream media often doesn't see them in. The 4th Annual Celebration of the Priesthood Dinner will take place on September 26th starting with a 5pm reception, and dinner starting at 7pm.…
Summary of Today's Show: Scot discusses the future hopes and dreams of WQOM with new General Manager Christopher Kelley and Director of the Advisory Board Andreas Widmer. Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Christopher Kelley, General Manager of WQOM; Andreas Widmer, Director of the Advisory Board of WQOM Links from today’s show: 1st segment:Scot mentioned that for the first time TGCL is live streaming the radio show on Bostoncatholiclive.com! Scot introduced Andreas Widmer and Christopher Kelley, both new to the management team at WQOM in the last few weeks. Chris will serve as the General Manager, handling day to day operations, while Andreas will serve with the Advisory board to create a vision and stable base of supporters for the station. Scot asked Chris about his connection with Catholic radio. Chris said that before he started working for WQOM, he used to work for WNEB Catholic radio in Worcester, his hometown. He was drawn in to it because of the idea of new evangelization through radio which rapidly and strongly expanding. Scot mentioned that one of the reasons for catholic radio expansion in the country is because EWTN provides free programming to radio stations throughout the country. Scot asked Andreas to share a little about his faith. Andreas shared his story from when he was a Swiss Guard in Rome and was blessed to witness the life of Pope John Paul II who inspired him to want to live the Christian faith. Scot noted that the last time Andreas was on the show he talked about his book “The Pope and the CEO.” Andreas said he is very happy with the book and that it has sold over 10,000 copies. He also said that is he is really humbled with the messages he receives from the readers about how much the booked has helped them. 2nd segment: Scot asked Chris about some of the duties he has as the station manager for WQOM here in Boston. Chris said that his first duty is to increase the number of listeners through the website, newsletter social media and word of mouth. He is also engaged with the fundrive, which will happen October 17th-20th. Scot said that the 1060AM bumper sticker he has on his car is a great conversation starter and way to promote WQOM and asked what else can people do to help share about WQOM. Chris encouraged the listeners to write to WQOM by sending an email and this way they will receive information and material, including the bumper sticker, about WQOM that they can use to help share about WQOM. Scot asked Andreas more details about the Facebook page for WQOM Boston. Andreas said that one of the primary focuses is to bring together the catholic community and to engage them and this way they will be able to not only listen to the program but also participate by getting more involved. Chris said that one of the ways people are getting engaged is that Catholic school teachers are asking students to listen to Catholic radio as a homework assignment and that alone is a great way to get the kids to listen and also their parents. Scot asked Andreas about the major gift campaigns and the work he is hoping to do. Andreas shares that there are people who want to make a difference with evangelization and he hopes to find that group that would support with ideas and financially because this is a commercial free radio station. Andreas said that with the vibrant catholic community in the area he doesn’t think this will be a problem. Scot asked about the advantages for radio to have tools like an app and podcasts. Andreas said that you can control the program you want to list to and create your own radio schedule. Through the technology you can hear unfiltered catholic information and news and learn about the faith.…
Summary of today’s show: The Archdiocese of Boston is looking to the future and planning for the work of the New Evangelization. The Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission has forwarded its final proposal of a pastoral plan, entitled “Disciples in Mission”, to Cardinal Seán. Scot Landry talks with Fr. Paul Soper, interim director of pastoral planning, and Michael Lavigne about the proposal’s history, the massive consultation that took place with tens of thousands of Catholics, the proposal’s historic recommendations, and the hope for the future found in its pages. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Paul Soper, interim director for Pastoral Planning, and Michael Lavigne, special assistant to the Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Disciples in Mission: A Pastoral Plan Proposal 1st segment: Scot Landry said today’s show is very important as they dive into the compenents and recommendations of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission’s proposal to Cardinal Sean. Today’s guests are Fr. Paul Soper and Michael Lavigne. Scot asked Fr. Paul about the the work that led to thie proposal that went to Cardinal Sean two weeks ago. Fr. Paul said Cardinal Seán formed a formed a commission several years ago led by Fr. George Evans. That commission determined that a substantial pastoral plan was needed for the Archdiocese. In 2011 Cardinal Seán brought together a commission of 19 people to consider welcoming Catholics in to the active life of the faith; strengthening parishes; focusing on evangelizationl developing excellence in religious formation. They decided to start by focusing on the second objective because parishes are the natural unit of life in the Church. Scot said any pastoral plan has to work through the parishes because it’s where we gather and live out our live in the Church, after the family. Fr. Paul said the commission spent a year looking at all sorts of ways to strengthen parishes. In December 2011, they presented a rough proposal to the priests of the archdiocese and got a lot of feedback and that started an historic moment in the Archdiocese. People at all levels of the life of the parishes met in 40 different meetings with about 5,000 people throughout the Archdiocese. They also collected eletronic feedback. About 200 parishes held open meetings and they were attended by about 20,000 people. They received about 8,000 pages of feedback. Scot said the first rough proposal had some ideas that were not supported by all the priests or the people attending the consultations. Fr. Paul said the original proposal was going to move all the priest because they thought it would be better for the collaboratives as they start out so that one parish would seem to be keep its own pastor. But the people expressed very strongly that they believed their priests were capable of overcoming that challenge and not letting this happen. The people were insistent that this could not be a cookie-cutter plan, but recognize the differences from parish to parish, with different cultures, and not just ethnic cultures. So the proposal now has a central recommendation that the collaboratives as they are inaugurated over five years that they come up with local pastoral plans for that collaborative for how they will go out and become a welcoming community. Scot said one of the key questions became personal and what will become of their parish. Fr. Paul said the document Disciples in Mission sets forward the collaborative model, with one pastor, one pastoral team, one pastoral council, and one finance council serving multiple parishes in collaboration. But it does not set forward a list of proposed collaboratives. A list went out about nine months ago and it’s been re-written over and over and they are still working on it. Scot said a lot of people may have a bad memory of reorganization in 2004, which was about restructing and merging and suppressing parishes. Fr. Paul said this plan respects the integrity of individual parishes. They retain their own finances, their own name, their own canonical status, their own obligations. If two parishes are in a collaborative and one parish needs a new roof, the other parish is not required to pay for the repair. This pastoral plan recognizes we’re at a crossroads. This is the moment to choose. We could give up and resign ourselves to being a small church with an uncertain future. But this pastoral plan recognizes we have the precious gift of Jesus Christ handed onto us through the centuries. This is of value not just to us, but to the whole world. We have a responsibility to proclaim the Good News to the world. Scot asked how that vigor was expressed by everyday Catholics? Fr. Paul said they didn’t have the evangelization piece ready for the consultations, but almost everyone responded to those meetings that the evangelization piece was forgotten and it was heartening to see that there was near unanimous demand for including evangelization in the plan. Fr. Paul said the hiring of Michael Lavigne for the Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization was a key aspect of that and Michael and Fr. Paul meet on a regular basis. Scot said one of the reasons Michael was hired was that he had experience in the Diocese of Portland, Maine, which went through a similar process that is envisioned here. He asked some of what they did in the diocese of Portland. Michael said when he arrived in Portland, they had the planning process underway, recognizing they needed to be doing more evangelization. One change was that they created 29 clusters spread throughout the whole state of Maine. Bishop Malone had issued a pastoral letter emphasizing the importance of the New Evangelization and when they finished the process of restructuring all the parishes, the goal would be to be better equipped to evangelize. The Office of Lifelong Faith Formation was formed to provide training and support for these 29 clusters to put these ideas into practice. Scot said Boston is putting training in place before the grouping of parishes. Fr. Paul said the training is central to the pastoral plan and has six stages. The first stage of training is for people involved in the work of the central ministries of the Archdiocese, in leadership and management skills, the mechanics of collaboration, and the theology and practice of the New Evangelization. This will equip them to help the parishes./ Michael said Pope Benedict’s writings on the New Evangelization is able to explain it in a simple way. In training they will learn that this is about conversion and a relationship with Christ. The New Evangelization is first for us, to be more converted. It’s also about the Person of Christ, the Savior of the World. Scot said it took him about six months of hearing about New Evangelization to understand that the first step was his own conversion. Michael said the New Evangelization is not just about massive conference or organizations. But Pope Benedict said it’s about the mustard seed, about one person at a time. It’s about the call to holiness, which gives us the grace we need. Scot said another part of the training is in leadership and change management. Priests have been asking for all the training to be effective leaders and pastors. Fr. Paul said they the question, how important is training for the process. There was an overwhelmingly positive response. They had similar response of people being willing to participate. Scot said Cardinal Seán is very committed to making sure this training is done right. Fr. Paul said they will be working with the which has programs for priests called Good Leaders, Good Shepherd and for laypeople called Tending the Talents. They will provide the leadership and management training. Scot said he notes how enthusiastic CLI is about the boldness of this plan. The nex aspect of training is the practical aspects of managing two or more parishes. Fr. Paul said the finance councils will be asked to develop budgets for collaboratives instead of just one parish, for example. There are property management and canon law issues as well. 2nd segment: Fr. Paul said they have already presented the proposal to the Presbyteral Council, representing all the priests of the Archdiocese. They gave their unanimous recommendation to present the proposal to Cardinal Sean. This was the 16th time the planning commission had met with the council as they developed the proposal and in the end they wanted to give unanimous support. They also presented it to the Cardinal’s Cabinet and they too gave their unanimous approval. Fr. Paul said they still hear concerns, which is about how to implement and not such much in the substance of the proposal. There is an expectation that they will hear back from Cardinal Seán about mid-November on whether he wants it put forward for implementation or if he wants it worked on some more. They will begin training of Pastoral Center staff as early as January 2013. They would also put forward the first 10 to 15 collaboratives around the same time and announce the pastors of those collaboratives in the early spring. Michael said it will be daunting and challenging but it will be doable as long we keep focused and work together. Scot now got into the specifics of the proposal. That the 288 parishes of the Archdiocese of Boston be organized into approximately 135 Parish Collaboratives, these collaboratives consisting usually of two or three parishes, but sometimes only one, and, in rare occasions four parishes. Fr. Paul said they chose this number because they felt this would result in the right size of a collaborative for a pastor to be able to have an ideal relationship with the whole community. They also didn’t want them to be too big and spread the resources too thin. Scot made clear that the 288 parishes remain distinct. Fr. Paul said this is because they recognize the importance of the parish as the normal and ideal place of evangelization and for communal Catholic life. People love their parishes and they want to respect that as much as possible. Scot said we want to have a church footprint in this diocese to support 80% attendance and if we close parishes we wouldn’t have enough churches for growth. The second recommendation: That the formation of the parish collaboratives be phased in, with appropriate flexibility, over a period of five years. a. Phase One would consist of at least fifteen collaboratives, geographically distributed among the regions of the archdiocese. b. Phase Two would begin a year later than Phase One, with a significant number of collaboratives. c. Phase Three would begin two years later than Phase Two, again with a significant number of collaboratives. d. Phase Four would begin either one or two years later than Phase Three, and would complete the implementation. Fr. Paul said they decided on a modest phase one that includes all the different kinds of collaboratives and parishes so that they can learn how to do this and see what works and what doesn’t. Then phase two will be 50 collaboratives over two years. Same with phase three. And then phase four will be the rest. If it all starts next year, phase four would start in 2018. The third and fourth recommendations: That the parishes of each collaborative be assigned one single Pastor. … That the pastor form the staff members serving the parishes of the collaborative into a Pastoral Team Fr. Paul said 20 percent of our parishes already have one pastor serving multiple parishes. What often happens is a pastor gets sick or dies and the Cardinal asks a nearby pastor to take over, which is a reactive process. Instead, this is proactive in which they make sure the groupings are right, that they have a timetable so everybody knows what’s happening and when, that there is a single team with the same mission as the pastor supporting him, and that they have sufficient training specific for multiple parish pastoring and for the New Evangelization. Scot noted that the assignment of pastors received the most feedback. The proposal now recommends that the assignment of the most suitable pastor be paramount: We recommend that, while being very respectful of the particular needs of the priests of the Archdiocese, the Archbishop of Boston give, so that the assignment of the most suitable pastor is the single most important factor in ensuring the success of the collaborative and its evangelization efforts. The Commission recommends that religious and laity, as well as clergy, be formally involved in the assignment process of pastors. It further recommends the return to the consultation process that was used in parishes in anticipation of the assignment of a new pastor. Recommendations fice, six and seven involve the collaboration of pastoral staffs and pastoral and finance councils, including: That the pastor, pastoral team, and councils of each parish collaborative participate in extensive theological and practical training for the New Evangelization preference to the goal of evangelization in every assignment of a pastor to a collaborative. Michael said it makes clear that the purpose is not just moving finances or buildings around, but preparing for the New Evangelization. Scot said each collaborative would be required to have its own pastoral plan for its community. Fr. Paul said, for example, an appendix of the proposal is about religous education, but its up to each collaborative how to manage religious education,such as how to organize it. But it has to go beyond those aspects to go into how the collaborative will evangelize, write down, and keep revisiting that plan every year and live from that plan. Scot said we’re trying to be as proactive in our approach.…
1 TGCL #0373: Pastoral Planning proposal; Aging Gracefully; Assisted suicide; Mary at Vatican II; Liberty Flagpole 56:28
Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Gregory Tracy discussed the news headlines of the week, including the final proposal of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission to Cardinal Seán; CatholicTV’s new show “Aging Gracefully”; The lack of realization among Catholics that assisted suicide is on the ballot in November; How Marian devotion got downplayed at Vatican II; and the dedication of a Liberty Flagpole at one parish. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Pastoral Planning proposal; Aging Gracefully; Assisted suicide; Mary at Vatican II; Liberty Flagpole 1st segment: Scot Landry and Susan Abbott talked about busy everyone at the Pastoral Center is with the end of summer. Susan noted that the start of religious education programs on Catechetical Sunday this Sunday is keeping her office busy. Susan said today at Mass she heard St. John Chrysostom’s phrase “invincible patience” and that’s been on her mind all day. Scot asked Gregory Tracy about the front page story in the Pilot which is about the final proposal to Cardinal Sean from the Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission. Scot said it was delivered to Cardinal Sean a couple of weeks ago. Scot said the Cardinal is now reviewing it and consulting with other bodies before making a final decision. So far, he’s met with the Presbyteral Council, which unanimously recommended he accept the proposal. Last week, Scot said the Cardinal’s cabinet also unanimously recommended it as well. The final decision is expected in mid to late December. Susan said she was pleased to see in the article in the Pilot that all along that this was emphasized as a proposal. Many people thought this was a rubber stamp process and a done deal. Scot said part of that is because this is the third or fourth attempt by a group to come up with a recommendation. But for this process the participation of everyone was taken. Susan said some of the original elements of this proposal were modified after feedback from the consultations throughout the archdiocese. Scot noted that the consultation over the last 10 months included 40 archdiocesan meetings with 5,000 people as well as 200 independent parish meetings representing 20,000 people. They received more than 8,000 single-spaced pages of feedback. They consulted 16 times with the Presbyteral council and the Commission itself met 31 times. Fr. Paul Soper, the interim pastoral planning director, said this is an historic consultation. Greg concurred that he’d never seen or heard of such an extensive consultation with as much give and take and feedback. He added that it is clear that changes were made based on the feedback, including the biggest item concerning how pastors for the proposed collaboratives would be chosen as well as phasing in the changes versus making a massive change in a short time. He noted that there will be an initial voluntary first phase. Scot said the proposal is available for anyone to read on the link above. He said it’s a thorough document and anyone who cares about the Church should read it. He noted that it is also written very clearly. Susan said that damage is done when people argue based on what they’ve heard, rather than reading the primary sources first. She encouraged everyone to read it with an open mind. Greg agreed and said he’s heard people talking and sharing information that was incorrect and he attempted to correct them. He said that’s one of the reasons why they wrote a story that was so long. Scot said tomorrow’s show will be dedicated to looking at the proposal in depth. He provided a summary. The first part of the document is focused on strengthening parishes and the second is on strengthening parishes for the work of the New Evangelization. He listed some of the highlights, including the 288 parishes of the Archdiocese will be grouped in approximately 135 Parish Collaboratives, usually consisting of two or three parishes. They will be phased in over a period of five years. The collaboratives will be assigned one single Pastor. Scot noted that most pastors have said this is where the archdiocese needs to go, but they need training on how to accomplish the goals of the pastoral plan. Each collaborative will be asked to come up with a local pastoral plan within 12 months of implementation of the collaborative. The recommendation also includes pastoral training for priests and lay pastoral staff by the Office of the Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization, the Catholic Leadership Institute, and the Office of Pastoral Planning. There are also separate recommendations from the Religious Education Task Force and the Committee to Study Lay Formation Programs which the APPC recommends be implemented in their entirety. Greg said this is a monumental undertaking. The focus of the discussions he’s heard so far has focused on administration and organization, but the training is really worth noting. He was taken aback by the massive undertaking of all the training that they plan. If it all comes to fruition, we will have one of the best formed dioceses in the US. He thinks a lot of the controversies we see, it comes from confusion about what the Catholic faith is, and this training plan helps deal with that lack of understanding. Scot said Cardinal Sean is serious that this plan is about the New Evangelization and giving significant training so we can be effective at evangelization. Susan said certification of catechists comes through the Archdiocese and her office, and this planning process has given them the impetus to get everything properly set up and improve how they standardize and certify everyone. 2nd segment: Scot said “Aging Gracefully” is a new series on CatholicTV, and the host is Fr. Michael Sheehan, SJ,the provincial of the local Jesuit province who also happens to be a medical doctor. Greg said while the show never says they’re motivated by the assisted suicide debate, they do say that this is a moment to talk about the elderly and how they can live their life well. Greg said it deals with the many aspects of living a full life. There are five episodes that talk about spirituality, how to talk to your physician, thinking about and preparing for death, and more. Scot said it’s all very practical. The elderly need to be able to advocate for themselves with their doctors. Susan said Fr. Sheehan is amazing and heard him speak at a presentation at the Pastoral Center and saw him on Fr. Chris Hickey’s TV show “Going My Way.” Also in the Pilot this week is a story about St. Augustine Parish in Andover dedicated a Liberty Flagpole in honor of September 11. They dedicated the pole a day earlier so that those they invited would also be able to attend 9/11 celebrations. It was prompted by a parishioner asking why there wasn’t a flagpole in the sanctuary. Greg said there are no regulations concerning the practice, but it began during World War II. Later on the US Bishops recommended that symbols apart from the worship of Christ should be outside the sanctuary. Fr. Peter Gori, the pastor, explained all this in his bulletin, and then said tongue-in-cheek that if anyone wanted to dedicate a flagpole to the church, he would welcome it. One parishioner immediately donated the flagpole and another couple donated the flags. Fr. Gori said it honors every citizen who has strived to be both a good American and a good Catholic. The flagpole was dedicated to the men and women of St. Augustine Parish who served in the U.S. Armed Forces throughout the years. “My greatest passion has always been to serve God and my country,” [Claude] Gallant [the donor of the flags] said. In The Anchor this week was a story about the efforts to oppose Question 2 on the ballot in November about the legalization of assisted suicide. There was discussion that an issue like this should be debated in public in the Legislature so that the voters can be informed and heard before a vote. A ballot question avoids all that and many of the people the Anchor talked to were shocked to learn that this is on the ballot. Scot said if people like the listeners of TGCL or who go to church on a regular basis or read The Pilot and The Anchor don’t take up the baton and engage others on Question Two, then we face an uphill battle to oppose it. Greg said those of us who work in the Church and especially in the media, we can think we’re overdoing coverage of this issue, but he knows that you have to keep hammering it home because you never know which article someone will pick up and get informed. Scot said it’s important to know that arguments put forward by the broad-based coalition opposing the ballot initiative are not faith-based arguments, of which there are plenty. There are also arguments that are very practical and can be apprehended by anyone, whatever their faith background. Susan noted that there will be a series of workshops taking place throughout the Archdiocese that start next week. The list of workshops is . Scot said yesterday’s show was a great discussion with Dr. Ken Stevens, an oncologist from Oregon where assisted suicide has been the law for more than a decade. He said DR. Stevens brought up a great point that a state can’t on the one hand say assisted suicide is okay, while also saying that other kinds of suicide is bad. Scot said tonight, Cardinal Seán will be on EWTN’s The World Over with Raymond Arroyo at 8pm. It can be heard on WQOM or on TV. Also, on October 3 at 8pm, Cardinal Sean will be hosting a live virtual town hall on CatholicTV, simulcast on WQOM, at 8pm. Starting that evening, Cardinal Seán is asking all Catholic families to pray a daily rosary to defeat this ballot question. The Cardinal has recorded special episodes of the Rosary to air on CatholicTV for this purpose. This will air five or six times per day until November 6. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Joseph Montuori from Newton Upper Falls, MA He wins A CD from the Envoy Institute: “An Antidote to Atheism” by Msgr. Stuart Swetland, and the booklet “Catholics in the Public Square” by Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot noted that there was a big conference at the Vatican on Marian devotion. Fr. James Phalan of the Mariological Society told the academic conference that a misreading of Vatican II led to a collapse in Marian devotion. He said people interpreted some of the debates on where to include devotion to Mary in the documents as being a downgrading of devotion. He also said that was connected to a collapse in devotion to the Holy Spirit. He described it as overly rational. At the same time, Pope Benedict XVI during an audience remembered that debate over where to include a document on Mary. There wassome talk about having a separate document, but they ultimately decided to include it as part of Lumen Gentium. The Pope recalled the vote of Oct. 23, 1963, in which it was decided to include a chapter on Mary in Lumen Gentium. In this chapter, he said, “the figure of Mary – reinterpreted and reproposed in the context of the Word of God, the texts of the patristic and liturgical traditions, as well as a broad theological and spiritual reflection – appears in all of its beauty and singularity, well inserted in the fundamental mysteries of the Christian faith.” The Holy Father said there were good reasons to make this part of the Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium). He then reflected on how popular piety is nourished by biblical and patristic references. “The singular figure of the Mother of God must be developed and studied from diverse and complimentary perspectives: while the ‘via veritas’ (way of truth) is always valid, we must not forsake the ‘via pulchritudinis’ (way of beauty) and the ‘via amoris’ (way of love) to discover and contemplate still more profoundly Mary’s crystalline and solid faith, her love for God, her indestructible hope.”…
Summary of today’s show: As Massachusetts voters prepare to consider Question 2–a proposal to legalize physician-assisted suicide–in November, Dr. Ken Stevens, an oncologist from Oregon, sits down with Scot Landry to talk about the impact of passage of a similar law in his state in 1994. Since 1998, when the law went into effect, more than 600 people have taken their lives under its provisions, the suicide rate in general has skyrocketed, and patients are being denied treatment by insurance carriers. Deacons Steve Marcus and Don Philips also joined Scot and discussed how Massachusetts is seen by proponents as the key to pushing both a larger anti-life agenda and wider passage of such laws throughout the country. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Dr. Ken Stevens and Deacon Steve Marcus and Deacon Don Philip Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Physician Assisted Suicide’s impact in Oregon 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and said on Election Day, November 6, voters in Massachusetts will be asked to consider the ballot Question 2 on whether to legalize physician-assisted suicide. ORegon has already legalized the practice. Dr Ken Stevens is an oncologist in Oregon and he helped formed the Physicians for Compassionate Care Education Foundation. Scot emphasized that the organizers of this group represent many faiths, including Ken who is Mormon. Scot said Ken just addressed more than 50 leaders of the effort jun Massachusetts at an event at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center. Deacon Don Philip met Dr. Stevens when he was working in healthcare in Portland, Oregon, in 1995 when assisted suicide was just getting going in that state. Deacon Steve Marcus operates nursing homes within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as well as hospice centers and psychiatric facilities. Assisted suicide has been legal in Oregon since 1994. Scot asked Ken why it passed in Oregon. He said he’s been a cancer doctor for more than 40 years. When it came up in 1994, he didn’t think it would pass and when it did pass–51 percent to 49 percent– he was appalled. Patients no longer have a safe harbor to go to. He said since assisted suicide became operational in 1998, there have been over 600 death with more than 70 last year. He emphasized that this was not about scientific medical advances, but a drive by the Hemlock Society to legalize the practice. They were then successful in Washington and now they’re in Massachusetts because they think it’s possible to legalize it here. Ken said individuals approach his organization wanting to know whether their doctors will push them to suicide. One woman said her mother had a history of cancer, was admitted to a hospital and a doctor she didn’t know told her that her mother had pneumonia and asked if she wanted her to receive antibiotics. This was a roundabout way of giving the daughter the opportunity to have her mother die. Her response was that her mother was competent and that her mother should be asked and of course she wanted to have the antibiotics, which were not extraordinary measures to keep her alive, but ordinary treatment. He related another story of a woman who had a treatable form of cancer. She didn’t want treatment and wanted the pills to kill herself, saying she had voted for it. He went back and forth with her and finally asked her about her family and convinced her to take the treatment for them. She never required surgery, the treatment was relatively mild, and she is still alive twelve years later. Now she thanks him for saving her life. In fact, since then she’s been able to take care of her own mother who has suffered from dementia. Scot asked Dr. Stevens about the pronouncement by doctors that a patient has a particular amount of time left, since that is the crux of the proposed law. He noted that you can tell whether a patient is within a day or two of death, but beyond that it’s very common for a patient to live for years after a terminal illness. He related several stories of people given terminal diagnoses, including in cases of advanced malignant tumors with predictions of agonizing death within days. But when he got more tests it turned out to be a different kind of benign tumors and he is still alive today. Yet during those awful days he went through a lot of fear and he could have received suicide pills. Terminal is a very vague term. Scot said that even those people who think there should be a choice think this proposed law is flawed. One reason is that there isn’t a requirement for a psychological evaluation. Deacon Steve said depression is a disease that can truly be cured with proper medicine and therapy. They treat thousands of frail elders who suffer from depression at the end of their lives, yet this law could have horrific results. Deacon Don said medical institutions are faced with cost pressures all the time. He said in Oregon patients are being denied chemotherapy because of their prognosis, but are being offered assistance in dying in their denial letters. Ken said the pills are large capsules. You have to take 100 of them all at once. Even a healthy person would have trouble swallowing them so the capsules are emptied into a liquid solution. The problem is that it tastes very bitter and is foul tasting. Ken said that putting aside the euphemisms, this is a prescribed overdose of sleeping pills. Ken said the purpose of the legislation in Oregon is not to give the patients any right. The purpose is to give immunity to doctors prescribing fatal doses of medication. Once the doctor writes the prescription he doesn’t any further obligation. On the claim that this is a right to die, Ken said we are all going to die at some point. The proponents of assisted suicide twist the language and use language to pacify the voters and that they think they will respond to. The aim is to use passage in Massachusetts as a springboard for further expansion of assisted suicide. For one thing, they would like to require doctors who do not want to prescribe suicide pills to refer patients to doctors who will. Proponents acknowledge that they don’t include the “duty to refer” in the original measures because they know the bill wouldn’t pass, then once it’s passed they can push it through incrementally. 2nd segment: Ken said study of assisted suicide in the Netherlands show the impact on medical professionals, who report increased amounts of depression and displeasure for their careers. Dutch doctors have formed counseling groups to help one another deal with the emotional and psychological aspects of killing patients. Ken said the claim that this is about uncontrollable pain is a smokescreen. In Oregon, most who have killed themselves said it wasn’t about pain and suffering. We can treat pain adequately. Deacon Steve said assisted suicide ruins the sacredness of the relationship between patient and doctor. Deacon Don said insurance providers in Oregon have already denied care for those with terminal diagnoses. Ken told the story of his wife Shannon’s treatment for a malignant lymphoma 30 years ago. It spread throughput her body and in May 1982 when they went to their doctor to see what else can be done, he subtly suggested an overdose of pain medication and she was so distraught that her doctor had given up on her. She died a few days later, leaving Ken with six kids. When you legalize assisted suicide, the doctor has all the power in the relationship. He related more stories of how Oregon’s health plan guidelines wouldn’t cover the cost of treatment medication, but would cover palliative care that includes assisted suicide. She went to the media and said the state was telling her that they wouldn’t pay for her to live, but would pay for her to die. Ken said the few days he had with his wife after that last doctor visit were valuable. He remembers his wife going from room to room in their house and around the yard and appreciated the 18 years they’d had together. He said that assisted suicide in Oregon has resulted in the state being given a mixed grade on end of life care. There are more patients dying in pain than they did before legalizing assisted suicide. The states’s suicide rate is also very high, 140% higher than the national average. This was an increase since the legalization. Scot said proponents call themselves Compassionate Choices and Death with Dignity, but were previously called the Hemlock Society. He asked Ken what the leaders of this effort have said about their aims. Ken said they write their language for easy passage, but they want doctors to have a duty to refer, they want to do away with “burdensome” reporting requirements to the state, make assisted suicide available to those who are demented or not otherwise mentally competent, and make it possible to have a lethal injection for those who can’t take the pills which makes it then euthanasia. Steve said true compassion is what he sees in his own facilities where the nurses aides help a frail elder or a chaplain bringing someone a sense of peace. When he sees a patient thank someone for delivering them the proper care they need. These are the Jesus moments and this is true compassion. Scot said these aren’t Catholic arguments we’ve heard today, but one good Catholic argument is that being with someone suffering at the end of life is a new opportunity to be with someone and bring Christ to someone in a precious moment. Ken said Massachusetts needs to realize the reality of assisted suicide and we need to educate ourselves to what has happened in Oregon.…
Summary of today’s show: Catechetical Sunday is coming up on September 16 and this year the theme is Catechists and Teachers as Agents of the New Evangelization. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor talk with Kathy Curley and Susan Abbott about the joys and challenges of parish religious education and why catechesis is vitally important for the future of our Church and our families. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Kathy Curley and Susan Abbott Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Catechetical Sunday 1st segment: Scot said today’s show looks forward to Catechetical Sunday, especially preparing for the Year of Faith. Fr. Chris O’Connor said St. John Seminary is also preparing for the Year of Faith. One thing they’re doing is sending four of the faculty members out to parishes in each of four regions of the Archdiocese to talk about the four parts of the Catechism. They’re also inviting all of the 5th graders in the diocese, their teachers, parents, priests, and catechists to visit them at the seminary and to talk about the Sacrament of Holy Orders and to show them both the seminarians and the seminary. Scot also recalled that today is the anniversary of the events of 9/11/2001. Fr. Chris read a prayer of remembrance for 9/11. 2nd segment: Scot said Susan Abbott is here today not as a co-host but as director of religious education for the Archdiocese. Kathy Curley said she has been working in parish religious education for 16 years at St. Paul’s in Wellesley. She said she started as part-time, but over the years the parish has grown significantly and it has become a full-time position and she now has an assistant. Fr. Chris asked why the parish is experiencing such growth. Kathy discussed the parish’s family Mass, social time for families, and how they work with families’ schedules. Scot asked how many children they have registered. Kathy said they have 525 registered as of today, but they expect over 650 when finally registered. They have more than 50 catechists, but they expect to need even more. When parents drop off their kids, they will ask them to stay, to sit in on a class, and they can see how much support there is for the catechists and how it isn’t so daunting. Fr. chris asked what are the highlights of St. Paul’s religious education. Kathy said during the family Mass, the pastor brings the children up around the sanctuary during the homily, when he asks them questions and gets them involved. After Mass, there is a social time with a lot of parents involved. Following that, there is a Sunday session of religious education. During the week, they have a Wednesday afternoon program as well to give parents an option. For older students they have Sunday afternoons and evenings. Scot asked Susan how many catechetical leaders there are in the archdiocese. Susan said they don’t know the exact split of full-time and part-time, but out of 288 parishes about 280 have religious education programs. (For example, Our Lady of Victory in downtown Boston doesn’t.). They have about 435 listed as catechetical leaders because some parishes have multiple leaders who take charge of certain grades. Most of them are part-time. Susan said there are several parishes where the religious ed program is directed by a deacon. A few parishes have the pastor listed as the contact person, but there isn’t more than a handful where the pastor or parochial vicar is solely responsible. Across the archdiocese, there are about 11,000 catechists covering kindergarten to Grade 12 and not adult formation. There are about 122,000 students in those age ranges. Scot said there’s a ratio of about 11–12 kids per catechist. Kathy said that’s the perfect size class for one person, especially for people who are not professional educators. However, a lot of the catechists are sharing classes, teaching every other week, for example. The average class is about 18 and professional teachers will get even more students. Kathy pointed out that one of Susan’s daughters is a catechist in her parish. Fr. Chris said he’s often making the announcement from the altar during Masses that they need more catechists. He asked how they convince people it’s something they’re capable of doing? Kathy said the best advertising is their own peer group. She said she sees friends and parishioners at the supermarket running the other way when they see her. Susan said she’s recruited many a catechist in line at the supermarket. But Kathy said she asks teachers already involved to talk to their friends and maybe even ask them to plan one Advent or Lent activity which they can see go well. Kathy said she often hears from a first-timers the objection that they don’t feel qualified. But Kathy asks them to sit with her one-on-one and to show them the material. She encourages them that she doesn’t know everything either. She also noted the importance of preparing for lesson because children pick up on that. So they give plenty of resources to the catechists. She said there are plenty of good resources like short videos that stimulate discussion. Fr. Chris asked Susan some of the benefits of being a catechist. She borrowed a line from the Peace Corps: It’s the toughest job you’ll ever love. She said we’re all called to be an evangelizer, but we’re not all called to be a catechist. However, those who do answer the call are mentored by catechetical leaders and then should spend time in prayer and with the teacher’s manual. Susan said in the end that we are handing on the faith of Christ. How can we not be in love with this idea? Then considering that some of the kids in class won’t be in Mass on Sunday, you are the face of the Church to them. Susan said they get 24 hours per year to educate them in their faith compared to the thousands of hours of school. These children need to know that God loves them. Quoting John Paul II, the whole point of catechesis is not just to put people in communion, but in intimacy with Jesus Christ. Scot said we want to teach them that Jesus is not just a historical figure, but is alive today and loves them infinitely. Susan said catechists make a deep commitment, being there for the kids week after week after week. They are not just showing up, but are spending plenty of time preparing for each class. Kathy said she tells the catechists to preach the Gospel every day and if necessary to use words. They will teach through their love and nurturing and caring. If they are witnesses to Christ in their lives, they will teach better and get their points across even when there are questions you can’t answer. Kathy said a great way to keep young people involved after confirmation is to get them to volunteer as catechists. She even has young people who started in religious education when she did 16 years ago who are now catechists. Kathy said summer is a tough time for recruiting, so they ask people in March and April if they’d like to come back next year as catechists. She also starts preparing for people who retire from teaching catechism. She has one volunteer who has been teaching for 16 years and is finishing up his time teaching. So they always look to have extra teachers at every grade. That’s especially true in second and third grade for preparing for the sacraments. And if they get ten more students in late September at the last minute, they’ll need another teacher. Kathy also said that 7th and 8th grade is a tough slot to fill, so they have changed the program to put all the students together and have a team of 3 teachers. They also have parents who are willing to be small group facilitators. Fr. Chris talked about how it’s essential to go to both religious education and Mass. He said it’s like going to all the football practices and not playing in the game itself. He asked Susan about Catechesi Tradendae, the apostolic exhortation that Pope John Paul II wrote about catechesis in our time which was one of the first things he wrote as Pope. Susan said it was published on the first anniversary of his election as pope. She said she often pointed out in budget meetings this quote: As the 20th century draws to a close, the Church is bidden by God and by events - each of them a call from Him - to renew her trust in catechetical activity as a prime aspect of her mission. She is bidden to offer catechesis her best resources in people and energy, without sparing effort, toil or material means, in order to organize it better and to train qualified personnel. She also noted this quote: Accordingly, the definitive aim of catechesis is to put people not only in touch but in communion, in intimacy, with Jesus Christ: only He can lead us to the love of the Father in the Spirit and make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity. We are telling the story of 2,000 years of our faith, the Good News of Jesus Christ, and we have to proclaim it with joy. Yes, we have issues, but if we can’t proclaim this message with joy, then just turn out the lights. Scot asked Kathy about the joys of being a catechetical leader at St. Paul’s. She gets joy from meeting people, including parents who tell her how enthused their kids are at learning their faith. she also pleased by the class they’ve developed for students with special needs who wouldn’t otherwise be coming to religious education. Scot asked Susan how parishes mark Catechetical Sunday. She said some parishes will do a commissioning of the catechists at Mass on Sunday. She said the Sunday being marked on the third Sunday of September was started by the Holy Father in 1935. The theme for Catechetical Sunday this year is Teachers and Catechists as Agents of the New Evangelization and the USCCB has a treasure trove of free resources on their website (see link above.) She said this is heady stuff because if we don’t hand on the faith, it won’t continue on. Kathy said many of us could go back in time and pick out one person who told us one thing that sticks with us that caught our attention about our faith.…
Summary of today’s show: The Year of Faith is coming up quick and a group of lay volunteers, led by Chuck Alfano, in the Diocese of Springfield have organized a conference to help prepare. Scot Landry talks with Chuck and emcee Matt Weber about the genesis of the conference and the star-studded lineup of speakers, including Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Jeff Cavins, and Patrick Madrid. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Chuck Alfano and Matt Weber Links from today’s show: by Matt Weber Today’s topics: Year of Faith Conference in Springfield 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed listeners to the show. He mentioned that today is World Suicide Prevention Day, but in Massachusetts we’re facing a ballot initiative on November 6 that would legalize physician-assisted suicide. He asked people to pray for a defeat of Question 2. Scot said he’s a big supporter of big Catholic conferences and in Springfield, Mass., which is about an hour and a half from Boston, they will have a big conference for Preparing for the Year of Faith and The New Evangelization. Chuck Alfano is the event coordinator. Scot asked him how the idea for the conference came about. Chuck said he had the idea for the conference overnight but it’s taken nine months of planning. He’s studying for a Master’s degree in theology and ministry and complained to a professor of a lack of Bible study programs and the professor told him to stop whining and get working. Once he had the idea for the conference, he started calling around to venues and calling potential speakers. Scot said it’s an A-list of Catholic speakers, including Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Patrick Madrid, Jeff Cavins, Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio, Sr. Jane Morrissey, and Matt Weber. The conference is on September 22. Matt Weber said he will be emceeing the evening, as well as talking about his new book “Fearing the Stigmata”. Scot said looking at the list of speakers, it appears everything went right for him which would be a sign of the Holy Spirit’s favor. Why are they coming to Springfield? Chuck said many of them don’t get to New England very often and saw this as an opportunity to come up this way. The Year of Faith begins October 11. Why did Chuck want to pick a date before the start of the event. Chuck said he went through every diocesan calendar to make sure there were no conflicts, but he also wanted to give people time to prepare for the Year of Faith. There will be events throughout the Year so this is an opportunity to get a jumpstart. This conference was created by lay volunteers. Scot asked Chuck why he picked Symphony Hall. He said it’s centrally located in downtown Springfield with comfortable seating. Speaking of singing, Vinny Flynn from MercySong will sing the Divine Mercy chaplet a cappella in the morning. Scot asked Matt what he hopes young adults will get from the Year of Faith. Matt said he grew up in Springfield and feels a connection to Western Massachusetts. He’s excited to welcome people to Springfield and showcase the charism, graces, and joys of the diocese. It’s an opportunity come together as a community of Catholics throughout Massachusetts. Who doesn’t want to celebrate a year of something so important to us. Matt said he’s been living in Cambridge for the last five or six years as he’s been in school and working there. Scot and Matt talked about how long it takes to get from Cambridge to Springfield, noting that it already takes a half hour just to get in the city of Boston so an hour and a half is nothing. He noted that Springfield has a lot to recommend it, including the Basketball Hall of Fame. Chuck said he wanted this to be a regional conference, not just a diocesan conference, because as he said these speakers don’t get out this way very often. They’ve sent packets to 1,100 parishes throughout New England and are sending people out this weekend to many parishes throughout the region to sell tickets. 2nd segment: Scot said the first speaker is Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ, the host of EWTN Live. Chuck said Fr. Mitch was supposed to attend a men’s conference in Springfield in April but had to cancel at the last minute so he was very open to coming again.They talked about Fr. Pacwa’s background. He’s a founder of Ignatius Productions and holds a doctorate. He will be available for a book signing and will be celebrating the Mass. Chuck said the next speaker is Patrick Madrid, who is a great apologist and is great at explaining the Church’s teachings. Matt said one of Madrid’s books is a Catholic Challenge to Modern Atheism. Jeff Cavins, the third speaker, is president of Ascension Press and is an author of the Great Adventure: A Journey through the Bible. It takes the reader through the Bible in a chronological manner. Chuck said one of the reasons for the conference is to raise money for those Bible study programs he complained about to his professor. Matt said Jeff was the producer of Life On the Rock on EWTN, a show for young adults, and he was once the understudy for Mother Angelica. Marcellino D’Ambrosio is a native of Rhode Island and lives in Fort Worth, Texas, now. chuck said he did his doctoral dissertation under Avery Cardinal Dulles. Chuck said D’Ambrosio is founder of the , which provides new resources for adult faith formation. Matt said he’s created a series of segments for CatholicTV on the Year of Faith that will begin airing soon. He said whatever our skills, we need to chip in and get the word out. 3rd segment: Chuck said Sr. Jane Morrissey is a local Springfield Sister of St. Joseph who has worked in education and started a program called the for kids who need help with homework and don’t have the resources at home. She’s also worked in programs that benefit poor Latino families. Matt said his aunt is also a Sister of St. Joseph. He said Homework House is where his mother volunteered for many years and brought back many inspiring stories. Her topic is “Joy and Hope: the Gospel for the Modern World”. Sr. Jane just lost her sister to cancer a few weeks ago and they worked together on the talk together. Gaudium et Spes, one of the four major documents of Vatican II, will be a primary part of her talk. Scot asked Matt Weber about his story. About three years ago he started producing short “Andrew Rooney style” messages about a man in his 20s living out his Catholic faith. It’s not easy to live your life as a young person today and so he’s going to talk to about how to live out the same story he has. The health of the Church in the next generation of Catholics is still strong. Scot said one of the main reasons Pope Benedict called for a Year of Faith is because there is a crisis of faith. It’s not that there are more atheists or agnostics than before, but that we’re diluting the way we live our faith that way we’re called. This isn’t unique to Catholicism. Scot said for young people, it’s cool to be spiritual, but not a member of a religious organization. Matt said looking at the media, you can see a lot of negative coverage of the Church. He was on WBZ’s Nightside with Dan Rea and asked why the good things aren’t covered by the media. Dan said it’s because the media covers plane crashes, not planes landing well. So it’s a steady diet of bad news about the Church and nobody at 17 wants to be a part of something not cool. It’s cool to say that maybe there’s a God, but not to commit to anything. Matt said he wants to tell them that it is cool to go to Mass and connect with Jesus Christ in the sacraments. chuck said the Year of Faith is for us to renew our faith, especially those of us going to Mass now, but we also need to know how to talk about our faith to those who have left. Matt talked about having gone to Catholic school for 20 years and then going to Harvard and getting challenged by classmates for being religious. Being challenged made him re-examine his faith and learn how to defend his faith. It was like going through a new confirmation preparation. Then Chuck talked about getting of high school and going into the military and how he stopped going to church. Twenty years later his sister told him their father’s dying wish was for them to return to the Church. They found a priest on a Sunday morning to hear their confession and they went to Mass. Two hours later, their faith died in Chuck’s arms. Chuck said there were group tickets available as well as individual tickets. Matt volunteered that during lunch he will pay the Mass Pike tolls for the first 10 people who ask him. Chuck said during the afternoon there will be an open panel for the spacers. Scot said he would give $50 to anyone who can a question about the Catholic faith that will stump the panel.…
Summary of today’s show: Jaymie Stuart Wolfe was called to serve on a grand jury for three months earlier this year and the experience left her with 16 distinct insights as seen through her Catholic faith into our culture and human nature. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell discuss her unique take on a process most people will only see in TV legal dramas, but can be applied to every person’s life. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Jaymie Stuart Wolfe Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Insights learned while serving on a grand jury 1st segment: Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell discussed the upcoming annual Red Mass and luncheon for the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Boston. Fr. Mark is the chaplain for the local guild. This year’s speaker is Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey. The Red Mass is celebrated by the Cardinal at the cathedral. This year it is September 30 at 11:30am. Rep. Smith is well known within the pro-life movement. The website with information about the Red Mass and luncheon is 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Jaymie Stuart Wolfe to the show. She works as an editor of children’s books at Pauline Books and Media and has been writing a column for The Pilot for the past 17 years. Jaymie wrote a column in July about her experience serving on a grand jury. She said in Massachusetts grand jury is a three-month commitment, 3 to 4 days per week almost full-time. She clarified that this is a separate summons than the usual jury duty. The reason it’s such a long commitment is because it takes so long to get the members of the jury up to speed. You are called to consider major crimes and their duty is to be a check on the government. They are a safeguard to prevent people from being railroaded on the basis of insufficient accusations. The grand jury considers the evidence of the prosecutor. There are 23 jurors and 3 more alternates. The judge does not judge reasonable doubt, but instead consider probable cause. They only hear from the prosecutor to see their evidence. You don’t hear from the defense. Then they weigh whether it’s probable to believe that this person committed this crime. You have to connect the dots from the crime to the person. They vote to find a majority. She said it could become heated at times, but it was cordial. One of the challenges is that evidence isn’t presented all at once, so they have to keep notebooks for weeks, hearing evidence one day and then again several weeks later. She said a bond forms among the jurors even such they’re having a reunion today. You see in the jury room interacting with people in very positive ways and not just the jurors but also the people work work in the criminal justice system. Jaymie said the jurors can ask questions directly of the witnesses. They also came to know the assistant district attorneys very well in their work. She noted that they were in Woburn two days per week, two days per week in Lowell and in Natick once per month. One day in Lowell there was a witness who’d seen a stabbing. Her personal life was a mess, but she was there to testify for her friend and to help her out. Jaymie said the prosecutor was able to humanize the witness to the jury through her testimony. She said about eighty percent of the cases they saw would not end up in court, but would be settled. But the success rate of convictions for those that do is over eighty percent. In her column, Jaymie wrote about sixteen things she’s learned: If someone is a drug addict, homeless, or has been convicted of a crime, it is still possible for that person to be a victim. Sin is real. People routinely do terrible things to each other. They also tolerate terrible things being done to them for a chance to be loved. Virtue and selflessness are also real. People often come to the aid of a stranger at great personal risk. The amount of child sexual assault reported is astonishing. I can only imagine what goes unreported. Jaymie said the first thing speaks to our perceptions of the poor and not just the materially poor. People can be victims no matter what they look like, sound like or even smell like. Fr. Mark asked about the judges or prosecutors becoming jaded. She found that they were all quite sympathetic and theorized that those who do move on to other jobs. You do see that sin is ver real. Not every sin is a crime, but every crime involves sin. There are a lot of terrible things that go on and you may not be aware of it. We tolerate evil and disrespect because we hope for better. She said it as rare even in the rape cases that there victim didn’t know the perpetrator. But she wanted to be loved or believed it could be better. Police, prosecutors, state and federal agents, forensic interviewers, court reporters, computer experts, accountants, and lab technicians engaged in law enforcement have a high level of professionalism and dedication to their jobs. None of them gets the respect they deserve. People from intact families are far less likely to commit a crime or be the victim of one. Victims of crime are among the most courageous people you could meet. A very high percentage of criminal activity involves drugs or alcohol in some way. Jaymie said of the 150 or so cases, she could count on one hand the number of cases that involved an intact family: a mom, dad, and children living in the same house. The breakdown of families leads people either to act out or to become victims. It puts you in jeopardy. It puts you at risk. The risk for divorce also puts you at risk for so many other things and into a world where criminal activity is so much more common. Mayhem is a felony. On the whole, bank robbers are probably the dumbest criminals. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or hanging out with the wrong people can cost you your life. The overwhelming majority of criminals are men, and the overwhelming majority of victims are women. Jaymie said mayhem is injuring someone in a way that disfigures them intentionally. Slashing someone on the arm is assault and battery, but across the face is mayhem. It’s disfigurement or dismemberment. She also said that bank robbers always get caught. There are cameras everywhere, marked bills, ink packs and more, and then you don’t get the money you think you’re going to get. They get a few hundred dollars and are caught within minutes. Jaymie said in violent or serious crimes men are almost certainly the perpetrators and it will be a woman who is the victim. There were maybe a dozen cases where women where perpetrators and even then it was usually a joint venture crime with a man. Fr. Mark asked about the men and women on the jury. Jaymie said there were differences were in how they got to the decisions, but they usually came to the same conclusions. Nobody wakes up one morning and rapes a child. There has to be a long line of other choices that brings a person to a day on which something like that becomes possible. People can change, but most never do. The worst day of your life can lead you to make the changes that could have prevented that day from ever happening. I have more in common with every defendant I have voted to indict than I will ever be willing to admit. On Number 15, Jaymie said when someone is the victim of s tremendous act of violence they were in a state of mind–drunk, high, out to the early hours–that could bring them to the place where they said they want to make a change. In some domestic violence cases, some women have woken up one morning and decided that this is the rock bottom and now I’ve got to change and do something different. Some people were brought to a moment where their lives changed because they found themselves in a place they never planned to be. On those who can change but don’t, they often saw cases involving people who were habitual criminals, who kept offending over and over again. On the last point, under some of those circumstances that she saw which she doesn’t share in a daily basis, maybe she would act the same way or make the same decisions. She has much more in common with both criminals and victims than she has in common with God and that’s why we need confession. Scot asked Jaymie how this has affected her faith. For her, evidence was what she heard from people. It was the compelling story someone made of the facts. When she thinks of sharing faithful she wants to be a good wittiness that testifies in a way that’s honest enough or detailed enough. She wants to be able to share what happened to her, not just her thoughts or insights about God; what God has done for her. She remembers how some victims weren’t compelling in their stories, even though they were true victims. She wanted victims to tell her how much it hurt them. One of the most compelling witnesses was a 15-year-old boy who was able to communicate clearly and without embellishment the horrific violence he saw. It’s really easy to put up a persona and tell the story you wish was yours. Just tell your story. Scot said Pope Benedict says the beginning o the New Evangelization is not testifying, but is having a deep conversion and relationship with Christ. He suggested those to pray for the Holy Spirit to enter into a deeper relationship. Scot noted that part of being a good homilist is being able to tell a good story. Fr. Mark said he can see the people when he preaches and the key is not just to tell a story, but to relate it in some way to every person in the church. It’s not about what the priest says, but what about the person hears and that’s up to God. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Thus says the LORD: Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing. Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe. The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water. Gospel for the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 9, 2012 (Mark 7:31–37) Again Jesus left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!”– that is, “Be opened!” – And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it. They were exceedingly astonished and they said, “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” Scot said we are not called to be mute about God in our life. Jaymie said the people around this man knew him as someone who was mute, but he experienced life as someone who couldn’t hear. Jesus cures what the community sees about this man, but what they don’t see about him. Fr. Mark noted how Jesus’ care is not generic, but it’s very personal. In other cases, Jesus just says be healed and the man is healed. Another man is only healed gradually. But in this case, the man needed to be touched by Jesus. Jesus brings people along individually. Jaymie notes how the man himself doesn’t ask because he can’t ask. He is brought to Jesus by other people. Jaymie said Jesus might have groaned because what he saw wasn’t right, it was not in accord with the way God wanted things to be. They discussed why Jesus might have told them not to tell anyone. Fr. Mark said elsewhere Jesus adds, “until I am risen”. Scot noted that this passage is not an excuse not to witness to God in our lives.…
1 TGCL #0368: Back to school; Barbara Thorp; assisted suicide; RNC and DNC; Bl. John XXIII seminary 56:28
Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Gregory Tracy discussed the news headlines of the week, including the retirement of Barbara Thorp as head of the victim assistance office; students returning to school equipped with amazing new technology; a disability group’s advocacy against the assisted suicide ballot question; the Bl. John XXIII Seminary lawn party; the amazing, late Msgr. Abucewicz; and responding from a Catholic perspective to the Republican and Democrat conventions. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Back to school; Barbara Thorp; assisted suicide; RNC and DNC; Bl. John XXIII seminary 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Susan Abbott to the show and they discussed how she helps parishes find and form catechists for the beginning of the religious education year. Scot said Fr. Roger is away on his annual priest retreat, but he did welcome Greg Tracy back to the show and noted that we are back into a busy news cycle. Greg noted that the month of August was a desert for Catholic news, but then there is a massive backlog of news in September. He said their editorial calendar for the next month is completely filled. The headline in the Pilot this week is that Catholic school students are heading back to school. The school profiled in the article is St. Columbkille’s in Brighton and they note that there is a big technological push, especially to provide iPads and ebooks. Scot said his son has about 30 pounds of books and wishes his son could replace all that with an iPad. Greg also noted that they’ve created a closed social media platform for the students that will be monitored by the teachers. He said social media is a reality for kids today. The aim is to teach them how to be good and safe digital citizens with Catholic values and principles. Scot noted that Catholic schools aren’t just for the benefit of students enrolled and their families. He said he has come to realize it is a critical ministry for the Church and that it’s important for the whole Catholic community to support, not just financially, but also through volunteerism, especially if you have specialized skills. Susan reiterated how the entire society benefits from strong Catholic values education. Also in the news, Barbara Thorp, who has headed the office for pastoral support and child protection for the past 10 years, is retiring after 35 years of serving the Church in various ministries. Susan said she counts Barbara as a friend. She said she has a wonderful blend of a professional and pastoral touch. “This has been really ‘holy ground,’ to have been invited into the sacred space of people’s lives in the midst of a very, very painful moment in the life of our Church. So, I have just considered every minute of it an extraordinary gift and a blessing for me personally,” she said. “I have prayed and thought about this for a long time now too and it just felt like this was the right moment,” she said. “I think the people often will think in a situation like this, ‘well you know Barbara must be burnt out or something like that.’ It is not that at all,” she said. Greg said they dedicated a lot of space to this story because of the significant role Thorp has played in the Archdiocese of the past three decades. He said the news staff joked who else could have possibly taken on this role 10 years ago when there was no precedent for it. Greg said he is most amazed by what Thorp must have endured through this job and to hear these stories repeatedly while maintaining her faith and to remain hopeful that these people can reconnect with God. Scot noted that Cardinal Seán has often said how much he has appreciated Thorp’s work in this area. “Barbara Thorp has been a beacon of hope for survivors and their families. Her care, concern and compassion have been essential in bringing healing to many survivors and their families, and to the wider community of the Church,” he said. “These last ten years have been life changing for everyone impacted by the tragedy of clergy sexual abuse. I have relied on Barbara’s sound judgment and expertise in responding to the needs of survivors. We give thanks for her decades of service to the people of God and we ask the Lord’s blessing on Barbara and her family,” he added. Scot also said a few years ago Pope Benedict turned to Cardinal Seán to help when clergy abuse became a big topic in Ireland and the Cardinal made sure to bring Thorp with him when he visited Ireland for her expertise. Greg added that she was intricately involved in the meeting between victims and Pope Benedict during his visit to the US in 2008. She described it asa fundamental turning point for those victims who were there. Also in last week’s Pilot was a profile of the disabilities group Second Thoughts. They are part of the coalition opposing Question 2 on the Massachusetts ballot in November to legalize assisted suicide. They are called Second Thoughts because we should all have second thoughts about assisted suicide when we see the reality of how it has been implemented elsewhere. Second Thoughts says it encourages voters “to look at assisted suicide in the real world” which it says is one “where insurance companies and other organizations try to limit spending on health care”; “where disabled people face discrimination through architectural barriers and unemployment while lacking in-home services to enable them to integrate into communities”; “where some people think it might be better to be dead than disabled”; and “where abuse and financial exploitation of elders and people with disabilities is at unacceptably high levels.” Susan said Tom Keane wrote a great article in the Boston Globe a few weeks ago called The question we ask ourselves as a society is who do we have sit at the table with us? Do we only value those who are productive? Because that way lies doom for society. She said we need to ask how we support the sick among us and the families caring for the sick. Beyond the vote in November, whether it succeeds or loses, we need to step up our care for them. Scot said Second Thoughts brings up many of the questions about and loopholes contained in the proposed law. Greg said The Pilot wanted to show this particular perspective on the issue because this isn’t hypothetical for them because they are in a situation where they feel threatened by this law. Coming up in the Archdiocese is the Blessed John XXIII National Seminary annual lawn party. This seminary forms and trains priests for dioceses all over the country, men who have come to the priesthood later in life after some very amazing life experiences. The event takes place on September 19. Susan and Scot have said it’s a treat to meet the seminarians. She said one of the men she met one year had been a park ranger in Alaska. Another was the first native Bermudian to be ordained for the Diocese of Hamilton, Bermuda. Greg added that the seminary is doing a lot of renovation work to prepare for the next 50 years of forming priests and their website has many good photos and videos of the work done. Next, Scot and the panel discussed the passing of Msgr. Abucewicz who has a very interesting biography, including playing an extra in the John Wayne movie “Sands of Iwo Jima”, playing to type as a priest administering last rites. He also wrote three published novels, two plays, and painted over 100 paintings. He was a Navy chaplain at the time of the movie role. Susan said the monsignor reminds her of another artistic Polish prelate, Pope John Paul II. Greg noted that the two were ordained in the same year. Also in last week’s Anchor was the story of Fr. Andre “Fr. Pat” Patenaude, a popular singing priest of the LaSalette order, who has been hospitalized in Grenoble, France, and is in a medically induced coma for a pancreatic disease. 2nd segment: Looking to the 2012 presidential election, Scot said there was a powerful story in Catholic News Agency about Mary Ann Glendon, former US ambassador to the Holy See, in which she explains why she thinks this election is most important in many years. Her concerns are both economic and cultural. She has accepted the chairmanship of the Catholics for Romney group. She has left the Democrat Party and is a registered Independent. She never joined the Republican Party because some sections within it have failed to “place a high enough priority on our need to be responsive to the needs of the poorest people in our society.” Her greatest fears, however, are about what another four years of President Obama being in office will do to both the economy and culture of the United States. “The current administration will regularly subordinate rights relating to human life, rights relating to religious freedom, to their agenda items on the gay rights agenda and the abortion rights agenda,” she stated. Scot said he feels similarly, that he feels like a political orphan where neither major party is a complete fit for his views. Susan said as a pro-lifer, she’s not just pro-birth. She wants to see parties do more for the poor. Susan read a quote: “There is nobody here but us Americans, including the Catholics, and this election is going to be a very close election. The population is divided, families are divided; it’s like the Civil War when some wore blue and some wore grey and (they) were often brothers.” She recalled Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey, the Democrat who wasn’t allowed to speak at the Democrat convention solely because of his pro-life beliefs. Scot said it’s interesting to him that Glendon, who’s never really gotten involved in politics, has taken on this role with Catholics for Romney. He said there’s not really any wiggle room on what we believe as Catholics, although there can be room in some areas as to how they are applied. As a Catholic, there was much more for Catholics to agree with, but yesterday at the Democrat convention there was a big brouhaha over the simple inclusion of the word “God” in the party platform. Greg said he agrees with Susan that 25 years ago there were a lot more centrists and today both parties are heading harder to the Left and the Right. Scot pointed out that it’s the word “extreme” that’s being used to label people as polarized if they hold views that were centrist in the past, like pro-life views. When Casey was governor, you could follow him as a Catholic. A forum in Charlotte asks whether you can be a pro-life Democrat. He noted the statistic that there were 125 pro-life Democrats in Congress in 1978 but only 17 today. The forum noted that big pro-abortion lobbies, like Planned Parenthood, have targeted pro-life Democrats in primaries to oust them as incumbents. Susan added that when the Republicans controlled the White House, Senate, and House in the 2000s, they didn’t use the opportunity to propose any legislation to end abortion. If the Republicans won’t take action, where do we go? Scot said we can at least hold self-proclaimed pro-lifers accountable, but pro-life Democrats have nearly no one in power to hold accountable. Susan said Republicans allow pro-choice Republicans, but Democrats won’t tolerate any pro-life Democrats. Scot said the election will probably be determined by voter turnout, especially in the Midwest where there are a lot of blue-collar Republicans.…
Summary of today’s show:Tom Nunan and Mary Grassa O'Neill join Scot and Susan Abbott to discuss the newest Catholic high school in the Archdiocese of Boston - St Joseph Preparatory High School. Tom, as the Head of School, explains his hopes and dreams for this merger of Mount Saint Joseph and Trinity High Schools, and how he hopes they will grow and educate in the future. Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Tom Nunan and Mary Grassa O'Neill Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: New school profile: St Joseph Preparatory High School 1st segment: Scot welcomed Susan back for a non-Thursday show - Susan said that with back to school happening, the beginning of the year shouldn't be January 1st but rather Labor Day! Scot said that Catholic schools are a central part of the Archdiocese's mission, and welcomed Thomas Nunan, the Head of School of the newest Catholic high school in the Archdiocese, St Joseph Preparatory High School, and Mary Grassa O'Neill, Superintendent of Schools and Secretary for Education for the Archdiocese of Boston. Scot asked Tom to give a snapshot of St Joseph Prep. Tom explained St Joseph Prep was formed on the tradition and legacy of Mount St Joseph Academy for girls in Brighton and Trinity Catholic High School in Newtown. What's fascinating, Tom said, is that the Sisters of St Joseph are engaged not only with the new St Joseph Prep but were the sponsors of Mount St Joseph and a vital part of Trinity Catholic. Tom concluded by saying that while the sisters have several sponsored ministry, having the sisters a stone's throw from the motherhouse and being joined by five sisters on the faculty is healthy for all. Scot asked how many students are enrolled in the new freshman class - Tom replied that the enrollment is approximately 280 students. While the freshman class is a bit smaller than before, Tom continued, it was recruited by people who didn't work for a school that didn't yet exist! The senior class is more than 90 students this year, and Tom said they have been blessed by contributions by the administrative team to create good classes all around. Scot asked Tom to talk about the priorities since he was named this past April, especially considering there is so much history between the two communities. Tom said he was hired during Holy Week, and they think of themselves as an Easter people with the new schools in a very real way. Tom explained the only other option from combining was to lose both schools, but there is tremendous new hope with the school's combination and re-opening. Taking a tour of the building was an interesting start, Tom said, and finding things like a bathtub on the 5th floor of the building by the library. Other challenges have been setting up master schedules for all the students, figuring out what the mailing address of the school is (they are 30 yards into Boston rather than Brighton), and most importantly putting the people in place. Tom concluded by saying that any institution relies heavily on its people, so they've put much time and prayer into finding the right faculty, staff, and administrative teams - about one third from Mt St Joseph, a third from Trinity Catholic, and a third new faculty members from as far as California and as close as down the street in Brighton. The mascot for the new school's sports, Scot said, is a phoenix. Tom explained that the students from both schools got together at a workshop at Boston College in the spring for team building, and one exercise was to pick a mascot. Tom said he usually says three things about the phoenix: first, the bird comes out of the ashes of a funeral pyre of it's own making; second, it is a resurrection symbol, sometimes our own views and timelines forget that loss and suffering have the last word and the phoenix shows that isn't quite the case; third, legend says there can only be one phoenix at any time in history. Tom explained each faculty member and student should feel they are unique and called to be at the school at that very time. 2nd segment: Scot commented that what Tom is going through at St Joseph Prep is not necessarily unique in the world of Catholic schools today - some schools are hanging on the edge of being viable. Mary said the first thing the Catholic Schools Office looks for schools to be excellent in faith formation, academics, and financial practices. Scot said over the last few years at the Archdiocese many grade schools have combined and come together for excellence, and asked Mary about the planning process for something like this. Mary replied that a strong leader, like Tom, is critical to facilitate the transition. The leader must understand first the Catholic part of Catholic schools, strive for excellence in education, have a strong sponsor, and recruit strong partners. Mary commented that Tom has facilitated partnerships with Boston College, major donors, and even an international program to recruit students from around the world. Mary expressed confidence that St Joseph Prep, under Tom's leadership, will produce well-formed and well-educated young adults. She also explained that this was one of the first high school integrations. Announcing the merge a year ahead of time allowed for planning and allowed students and parents to be brought further into the process. Scot asked Tom what he took away from his time on the board of Trinity Catholic Academy in Brockton. Tom replied that he learned a vibrant, active, thoughtful and engaged board is important, from recruitment to fiscal sustainability. Catholic schools need partners of many kinds, and board members can provide those partnerships Tom said. Scot mentioned that many people seek excellence, and that Tom is leaving St Sebastian in Needham, a school many people consider very excellent. Tom replied that he was attracted by the excitement of opening a new school, first - it's like working at a start-up company, sitting around a giant conference table planning to get a school going. The second thing Tom said attracted him to St Joseph Prep is the opportunity and even obligation to provide the same excellence St Sebastian's offers into the heart of Boston. The third thing Tom said he finds exciting about opening the new school is a new challenge to provide education to students and the challenge of bringing people together around the table. Scot asked what Tom has done since he was hired in April to get ready for the new school and new school year. Tom answered that he has a very "people first" approach, responding to email and phone calls from parents to acknowledge that a school is a partnership between parents and the faculty. Tom said he also tries to keep his focus on the high goal, to serve parents and students always and everywhere. The only reason the school exists, Tom said, is the students. The school is not about the adults (parents, faculty, staff, or administrators), but about the students they serve and nurture. When people come to the table at St Joseph Prep, Tom said, they will see a level of professionalism and care that no other school has ever offered them before. Scot asked how Tom plans to inspire school pride, which is an important part of the culture of St Sebastian's. Tom said that students have told him they want what every student should want - meaningful assignments, challenging and invested teachers, a positive morale, a nurturing community. This starts with a culture in the faculty, Tom said, teaching from bell to bell, putting up on the board what the objective is for the day, and implementing best practices for teaching. 3rd segment: Susan asked Tom about the challenges of moving from a single gender school at Mt St Joseph. She commented that both she and Mary are the product of single gender schools, and have spoken about how meaningful that experience was. Tom said coming from 27 years of an all-boys school to a merger with a school that is all girls is an interesting change! He explained that his initial response is that he has a teenage daughter who will be a senior in high school, so he does have some experience with girls that age in education. The first mission of preparing students for college is mostly gender blind in his opinion, Tom said, and that the new school will be opening with almost 65% girls in the school. There was an argument a long time ago about girls not taking advantage of the opportunities for leadership and more that schools offered if boys were in the same classes. Tom said he does appreciate the argument, but any guidance counselor these days will say it is harder to get girls into colleges than boys because their grades tend to be stronger, resumes more complete, and GPAs higher. Tom expressed confidence in the incoming senior class, and that they'll put St Joseph Prep on the map with their college placements. He hopes that the student body is able to take advantage of all the benefits of co-educational rather than single-sex education, even though retreats and such might be separated. Susan mentioned that Tom has had involvement in theater before, and asked what arts programs might carry over from the two schools. Tom said that Mt St Joseph had a strong theater tradition they hope to continue, and that freshmen and sophomores will have fine arts courses built in. Eventually, Tom said, the hope is to prepare students to take the AP Studio Art exam, which involves a significant amount of work preparing a portfolio. Scot said there are many parents who struggle with the decision of where their child should go to high school. Mary said that students at Catholic high schools are expected and have proved themselves as better candidates for better colleges, as well as have been formed into good Catholic young adults. Students perform community service, learn about their faith, and give back to others. Studies from Notre Dame have shown that Catholic school students vote more often, are more involved in their community, and are more stand-up citizens. Tom added that integrity is another critical part of the St Joseph Prep mission - they ought to be taught by people of high moral character in order to become people of high moral character. Blessed John Paul II said that young people don't learn from teachers, Tom continued, but they learn from witnesses. Scot asked Tom to provide some stats on the student body for the upcoming year at St Joseph Prep. Tom said they represent neighborhoods from West Roxbury to Hyde Park to Melrose and even around the corner in Brighton. Economically, the diversity is wide as well - families who are partnered with foundations who can reduce tuition down to only $1,000, and some who have no financial aid. In four years, Tom said he would like to grow the student body from the 280 or so that it is now to upwards of 400 students, where everybody could know everybody else's name in the school. This will also help with the structuring of the long-term financial planning, and encourage foundation partners to invest in the school as well as parishes and families. Right now, Tom said, there are about 50 international students with host families in the area, and he'd like to see students continue to come from all over Boston and all over the world. Susan pointed out that parents are sometimes scared by the idea that they are the primary educator of their children, and that what she hears from Tom about St Joseph Prep's model of welcoming parents is a fantastic way to involve parents in the pivotal years for their children's formation. If you can partner with a school who shares your values, Susan said, the odds are a lot better that the child will be a better formed, happy, and holy adult. Tom replied that he's been in high school education for most of his adult life, and people tend worry about dangerous places in high school - parties, gangs, and worse. But at the same time, Tom said, it is just as bad to be alone. St Joseph Prep will constantly strive, he said, to be a place where no one is alone. Another piece that they talked about their faculty meeting last week, Tom said, is no more "them," only us. "Us includes everyone" is the new mantra among faculty, staff, and students.…
Summary of today’s show: Father Matt Westcott is a former Marine who loves being a diocesan priest, and yet he serves at perhaps the world’s most prestigious university, Harvard, as chaplain to its Catholic undergraduates. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams welcome Fr. Westcott to hear about his path to the priesthood and the four years he served in parishes before becoming Harvard’s chaplain. They also discuss the unique joys and challenges of serving a student body that is highly accomplished and motivated and just doesn’t know when to slow down. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Father Matt Westcott Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Father Matt Westcott 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and mentioned his kids had their first day of school. He then noted that since Fr. Matt Williams was last on the show over a month ago he was in the Dominican Republic with a pilgrimage of six young people for a mission experience as part of their leadership curriculum, which follows after Witness to Truth and Witness to Love retreat courses. They partner with Sr. Lisa Valentini, who’s been on the show several times. He thinks these young people will never look at the world the same way again. Fr. Matt then related a story of one of these life changing encounters with a family there. Scot said Boston is known as a university town and the Archdiocese has a special responsibility to help form in the faith young people who come here from across the globe. The undergraduate chaplain at the Harvard Catholic Student Association and parochial vicar at St. Paul Parish in Cambridge. He was ordained in 2007. He’s originally from St. Clement in Somerville, which he says is now technically in Medford. HE sometimes jokes that growing up it felt like a 1950s parish with a bunch of priests in the rectory, full schools and pews, and lots of activities. Everything in life was parish-based. Fr. Westcott also worked in the rectory as a youth, answering the door and phones. He got to see the day to day life of the priest, which later influenced his decision to enter the seminary. After St. Clement’s high school, he entered Norwich University in Vermont in 1993. It is a military college and he intended to make a career in the military and served in the US Marine Corps. He went on to law school later and graduated in 2000. He entered seminary in Fall 2001 in order to give God one year to show him whether he was being called to the priesthood. What he was looking for whether Jesus was enough for him in whatever way he is called. He said the decision to enter the seminary is the decision to discern along with the Church whether the man is called. The discernment is by both the man and the community of the Church. Scot said the month he entered the seminary was the attacks of 9/11 and just four months after entering the clergy abuse scandal broke. He said it was actually a good time to be in the seminary because they weren’t in the parishes like the priests were and weren’t in the battle. For most of the men it served as galvanizing force for them to take to heart the call to holiness. For Fr. Westcott, he was very excited about being a Boston diocesan priest. It is where the grace of God intersects with the every day existence. The parish priest, among all the roles in the Church, walks with people in the joys and tragedies and routine of life. After ordination, Fr. Westcott spent his first three years at St. Mary in Scituate. He still feels close to the people in that town. The community was based seriously on the Gospel and were serious about their town. He then went to St. Mary in Foxboro for only one year. Then he was asked to become undergraduate chaplain for Harvard. Fr. Westcott had anticipated being asked to be pastor, and he hadn’t considered specialized ministry. One of the threads of his priesthood was his friendship with Fr. Bill Murphy and he was his predecessor at Harvard, so they talked about it. It is very different from parish work. The work is much less sacramental–fewer baptisms, funerals, and weddings– and the pace is different. Scot asked what the typical day is like for the chaplain. Fr. Westcott said the typical parish priest is more free to plan disown day, until there’s an emergency call. Working with undergrads, he finds himself on their schedule. The opportunity to meet them when and where they’re free is crucial because they’re not working 9–5 lives. He might says the 8am Mass at St. Paul’s and then be out of the residence until 11pm. The goal is authenticity, to be visible and approachable. One way is to wear his collar and walk through Harvard Yard. They then commented on Fr. Westcott’s accent saying Harvard Yard. Fr. Williams asked Fr. Westcott his greatest challenges in fulfilling his role as priest-chaplain. Fr. Westcott said Harvard is unique. All the students are smart, but the students are also extraordinarily driven. They take tasks on themselves and want pressure. Motivating a Harvard student isn’t a problem, but getting them to slow down and cultivate silence is. They need to give themselves time to explore how the Holy Spirit is working in their lives. Even when they’re doing good things, it can stifle one’s spirit because they don’t have time or energy to dedicate to prayer. As a practical matter, he preaches about and talks about it in personal conversation. Scot asked about fielding the very tough questions from very smart and motivated students. Fr. Westcott said some of the conversations he has are almost like a seminar. Once they see the willingness to learn more, the students are capable. 2nd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Joseph Jacob from Newton Center, MA He wins a CD from the Envoy Institute: "the Roots of Modern Atheism" by Dr. Ed Fesem and the booklet "Catholics in the Public Square" by Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 3rd segment: Fr. Westcott talked about the four missionaries from Fellowship of Catholic University Student who help him to reach the students where they are, in places that Fr. Westcott generally isn’t available and they also meet them in in all phases of life, including social. FOCUS works on many college campuses across the country and they work closely with Fr. Westcott to ensure they are meeting the unique needs of Harvard. The vision and methodology are well in place as they begin the new academic year. Fr. Westcott said there is no shortage of information and material from FOCUS to help him work together with them. one of the FOCUS missionaries is the leader and he helps to ensure they’re on the same page, coordinating calendars, etc. The guidance generally comes from the Catholic Center out to the FOCUS team. He’s impressed by their dedication to daily Mass and a duly Holy Hour. FOCUS does a good job of taking care of their own missionaries and a regional coordinator also coordinates with Fr. Westcott and the pastor at St. Paul’s. Scot said he guessed about 400–500 freshmen at Harvard are Catholic. Fr. Westcott said there’s no shortage of opportunities for Harvard students to spend their time doing many things, but they encourage them to get involved in mall faith-sharing groups to give them a personal investment in the life of the Catholic Center and to create personal relationships. Scot noted that they now have adoration in the chapel. Fr. Westcott said they are clear that the Eucharist is the center of Catholic life and their is great desire among the students for expressions of devotion that are Eucharist centered. Scot notes that St. Paul’s is a parish that appreciates liturgy done well. There will be a special kickoff Mass on September 16, 11am, celebrated by Bishop Jim Connolly of Denver, for the new academic school year. He’ll then give a lecture after. Fr. Westcott said the Mass of the Holy Spirit derives from the great golden age of the universities of Europe, which began the academic year invoking the Holy Spirit in the pursuit of truth. Bishop Connolly has been invited as a bridge between FOCUS and the diocesan chaplaincy. He’s a friend of FOCUS and St. Paul’s pastor, Fr. Michael Drea. He will address the pursuit of academic truth and the life of the Church. Fr. Westcott said he hasn’t gone a day without being tremendously impressed by several students, not just by their resumes, but by their hearts and desire to live lives as holy men and women with authenticity in the world and for God. Scot said one of the most moving moments in his time serving the Archdiocese was the funeral Mass for one of Fr. Westcott’s classmates, Fr. Dan Kennedy, who died just 8 months after being ordained. He recalls all the priests singing at the end of Mass, Cardinal Seán’s palpable emotion at Fr. Dan’s passing, and Fr. Dan’s father’s talk at the end of Mass which was perhaps the best vocation talk he’s ever heard. He asked Fr. Westcott how this event has affected him. Fr. Westcott said they became friends the first year in the seminary. Neither remembers meeting, but they always seemed to have been friends. Fr. Dan remains close to him and there isn’t a day that goes by that he doesn’t think of something he’d like to talk to Dan about. He also remains close to Fr. Dan’s family. Fr. Westcott said Fr. Dan died one year to the day from when they were ordained deacons. Fr. Westcott says he finds himself praying for the intercession of Fr. Dan for vocations to the priesthood, but also for many of the young couples Fr. Westcott encounters. He was always very gregarious and joyful in his priesthood and touched many, many people in his brief time. Fr. Westcott clarifies that he’s not claiming Fr. Dan is a saint, but he’s relying on the graces and devotions we make for the deceased and has a private conviction that Fr. Dan is in heaven. Scot asked for prayers for Fr. Dan and for people to pray to him. Scot also noted that today is also the 15th anniversary of the death of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.…
Summary of today’s show: The story of the Mexican martyrs of the Cristero Wars, fighting against religious persecution in the 1920s, was virtually unknown, even in Mexico, until recently. Now the blockbuster film “For Greater Glory” has shed new light on these heroes of the faith. In anticipation of the release of the DVD and Blu-Ray, Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor welcome producer Pablo Jose Barroso to talk about how he saw the film as a work of his own faith. They also talk to Ruben Quezada, author of the official companion book, about his lifetime effort to make know this troubling time in Mexico’s history and what it could mean for the US today. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Pablo Jose Barroso and Ruben Quezada Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The movie “For Greater Glory” 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chris O’Connor to the show and said today’s show will focus on For Greater Glory, a movie about the Mexican civil war and the fight for religious freedom. Fr. Chris said the movie also addresses the idea of what it means to be a priest. Scot welcomed Pablo Barroso, the producer of the movie, to the show. He noted that Pablo has not always been a film producer. but has been a Mexican Catholic businessman. Pablo said he has felt called to the New Evangelization and is concerned about creating Catholic movies for the sake of his four children and other children. They want to bring Hollywood-level production values to movies with good content. Scot said before the movie he knew nothing about the Cristero War in the 1920s and very few Mexicans knew about it either. Pablo said this sad period of history in his country has been written out of the history books. He said the concerns over religious freedom, especially in the United States today, see the same kind of conflict in Mexico in the 1920s. Pablo said it was a struggle to produce the movie, but it was worth it. The Holy Spirit wanted this movie to be delivered in this moment. It took three years to produce and he worried about the timing. The timing allowed many of the fabulous people involved to participate including composer James Horner, who said he was blown away by the movie himself. Fr. Chris asked Pablo when he first heard about this battle for religious freedom and what does he hope it does for younger viewers. Pablo said he is 41 years old and his father passed away when he was 9, so he never heard from his own father about the Cristeros, but society never really talked about it. But 5 years ago suddenly he heard from the same story from a number of different people and realized that he had to make this movie. He hopes young people will be inspired and entertained by both the values and the action included in the film. He hopes they come to understand everything the Lord has done for us and why we follow Him, if not in taking up arms, but through peaceful means where possible. We raise up our voice and be close to Our Lord and be clear about what we believe and practice. Scot said there’s no doubt this is an epic film, especially in the battle scenes and cinematography around Mexico. He said he read that it’s the biggest budget film shot in Mexico. Pablo confirmed that it was a very expensive movie, but he wouldn’t focus on the money. Instead he focuses on the cast and crew he put their hearts into high production values so that the people in the theaters will be drawn into the story. He noted that the director worked on the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings and so knew how to make these big scenes and to address a young audience. Pablo said it was a dream come true to have so many big stars and names in Hollywood trust in him as an inexperienced producer and to help him create this true story. Scot said the Blu-Ray and DVD come out one week from today on September 11. Scot said Pope Benedict surprised Mexicans with a plan to visit Mexico and honored those being profiled in the film at the same time that the movie was coming out. Pablo said the Holy Father came to the location where the statue of Christ the King is being built. Pablo said there was no way to anticipate that the Holy Father would make this trip at this time. Fr. Chris asked Pablo about the novel by Graham Greene that includes the events of the Cristero War and then Scot asked about the number of people who died in the war and how many have been canonized and beatified. Pablo said it killed 250,000 people, more than the Mexican Revolution. There are more than 25 canonized saints and 23 beati, some of them priests and some of them laypeople. Some are martyrs from the Knights of Columbus, which was very supportive at the time, trying to end the war through pressure in the American embassy. America had economic interests in Mexican oil at the time and so there was great interest throughout North America. Pablo talked about one of the priests who is canonized today who was among the martyrs. He is played in the movie by Peter O’Toole. He refuses to leave and stays to comfort the people. Another martyr is a 13-year-old boy who refused to renounce his faith. Andy Garcia portrays an agnostic general who was hired to lead the army and ended up finding his faith. Another was the man some call the Mexican Ghandi, who tried in every way to avoid violence and war. Fr. Chris noted that there were women-only St. Joan of Arc brigades. Pablo said if not for the women, there would have been no fight in the war. They were the support behind the army. They took care of the soldiers, providing food and medical care. Scot asked Pablo why they made the movie in English and subtitled it in Spanish for Mexico. Pablo said English is the international language of film and appeals to the widest audience throughout the world. He noted Schindler’s List wasn’t filmed in German and Troy not in Greek. 2nd segment: Scot said the companion book “For Greatery Glory: The Story of the Cristiada” is written by our next guest Ruben Quezada. Scot and Fr. Chris talked about the foreword to the book by Archbishbop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles. Ruben is the director of operations of the Catholic Resource Center. Scot asked Ruben how the idea for the companion book for the movie came about. He said he’d been speaking nationally and internationally on the subject of the Cristiada and he was contacted by Ignatius Press, the publisher of the book. He said he’d also helped some of the actors as they prepared to play their characters in the film. Fr. Chris asked about a Jesuit priest he talks about in the book. Ruben talked about how the priest inspired him as a child, and encouraged him to learn about the persecution of Catholics in Mexico and the story of Blessed Miguel Pro. He told about going to the library and trying to find anything about the Cristero War and learned how well these events were suppressed by the Mexican government for over seven decades. Scot noted that the ruling party in Mexico from the 1920s into the 1990s was the same party that engaged in the same persecution and so was successful in suppressing it. Ruben said he hears two responses: it happened in Mexico and can’t happen here or it was all so long ago. He noted that the same roots of the persecution have started today. He said Archbishop Gomez has said when it looks like outright persecution it may too late. We have to stand up and profess our faith before it gets to that point. Ruben said the Cristiada was about controlling the people. When President Calles came into power in 1924, he was already an atheist and he didn’t want the Church to have any influence or to compete with the socialist ideals he was putting into place. They started by kicking out all foreign priests from the country. In order to be a priest, they had to register with the local government and even then they were required to violate their faith by charging for sacraments for example. Some of the foreign priests stayed behind to risk everything and others went underground. There are images of the execution and torture of priests for saying Masses, hearing confessions and anointing the sick. Scot said the book contains questions and answers on all the key facts from the war, photos from the movie and of actual events, along with discussion points for parishes. Scot said his favorite parts were the letters sent from the pope to the Mexican people at the time as well as the remarks by Carl Anderson, Supreme Knights of the Knights of Columbus, on the Cristero War. He said 90% of the priests in Mexico were either killed or forced to leave the country. Scot said people will want to draw parallels between the persecution in Mexico and what the US Bishops have been writing about what we’re experiencing in the US. Ruben said we have to raise our eyebrows at the parallels. He gave the quote from the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller: “When they came for the Jews I did not speak, because I wasn’t a Jew. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak for me.” This is not a Catholic issue, but is important for all people in the US. Ruben said people wondering whether to read the book or the film first. He said it works either way, but he recommends seeing the film first because the book gives the depth that the movie can’t give. He said more information is also available on his website vivacristorey.com. Ruben said what affects him most is knowing that these men gave their lives for him and for all of us, the next generations. The question is whether we will respond in kind.…
Summary of today’s show: Our Sunday Visitor has been serving the Catholic Church in the US for 100 years this year and Zartarian publishing has served parishes in the Archdiocese for 50. This year those two companies came together to continue that long tradition of helping parishes in many ways. Scot Landry sits down with Kyle Hamilton, Terry Poplava, Chris Keiley, and Joanie Lewis from OSV to discuss the many ways OSV serves, from books, periodicals and pamphlets to offertory solutions, websites, and communication plans, as well as the OSV Institute, which gives back millions of dollars per year to the Church. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Kyle Poplava, Terry Hamilton, Chris Keely, and Joanie Lewis from Our Sunday Visitor Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: 100th anniversary of Our Sunday Visitor and Zartarian joins OSV 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. Today’s topic is Our Sunday Visitor, celebrating its 100th year serving the Church in the United States. Scot welcomed Kyle Hamilton, Terry Poplava, and Chris Keely to the show. Scot asked Kyle for a brief background on OSV. Kyle said around 1912 Fr. John Noll started the OSV newspaper. Later he became bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend and in an unusual move was later named Archbishop even though it wasn’t an archdiocese. He set out initially to try to inform Catholics about their faith and how they could fit into American society. At the time there was a lot of anti-Catholic sentiment. Fr. Noll met it head-on, going to tent meetings and traveling roadshows to stand up and challenge the anti-Catholic information being spread. He was very entrepreneurial, teaching what the Church teaches, but also starting the newspaper and offertory envelopes and more. Scot said it’s not common for a parish priest to start an organization that ends up as a large as OSV or the Knights of Columbus and for it to last as long as they have. Scot asked Terry about the growth of OSV to what it is today. Terry said OSV has printed diocesan newspapers and more, but the mission has always been focused on serving the Church. The business tries to focus on two primary things: bringing your Catholic faith to life, making information accessible and easy to understand, particularly within their publishing business in print materials like books or periodicals or electronically, whether websites, ebooks, blogs, social media. The other focus was helping parishes with operational needs, within offertory envelopes at the beginning to online giving today. They also pioneered the use of offertory materials to communicate catechetical information to parishioners. They’ve also moved into creating curricula. Scot said OSV is a very large not-for-profit organization. All of their surplus income goes into the OSV Institute to support innovative projects within the Church through grants. Kyle said this is what sets them apart as a 501c(3) which exists for a charitable, religious purpose. Through the years the business has changed in that there have been different growth engines. For years the newspaper was the growth engine. They had a publishing operation which was large, but it’s now closed. But throughout all the surplus income goes into the Institute. They have t here grant cycles per year and any diocese can make grant application for projects related to stewardship, education and more. On average they’re giving about $3 million per year back to Catholic organizations. The typical grant is $10,000 or $15,000. They made a grant of several hundred thousand dollars to the US Bishops’ conference’sCatechism office. He said there is a Master’s degree through the University of Notre Dame that the Institute has funded to send catechists to get degrees in catechesis and religious education. Scot said three different organizations that received funds last year helped put on the Co-Workers in the Vineyard conference, help fund the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, which is on local campuses, and fund RENEW International, which help put on the ARISE and Why Catholic? programs in the Archdiocese. Terry said in the offertory solutions business, OSV serves 11,000 parishes in the US. There are about 18,000 parishes total. OSV walks with the individual parishioners through life: baptismal formation materials or a pamphlet, marriage, the grieving process. OSV may be in the entrance to the church, in the pew, in a bookstore, or something the pastor is reading. They are touching the majority of Catholics in the US and many throughout the world. Scot related a story about visiting his brother’s parish and how his brother had put OSV’s pamphlets directed at men on sensitive topics in the men’s room. He said those pamphlets are taken by many men. Terry said it’s a great idea. So often the pamphlets are in a display in the entrance to the church, but there are so many more opportunities to make them available. Kyle said they’ve had a busy year marking the 100th anniversary. On May 5, they had an open house at their headquarters in Huntington, Indiana. They have almost 400 employees in 18 states, but the majority are in Huntington. They opened the doors to local neighbors as well as their retirees, many of whom have retired with up to 40 years of service, to show them how it’s changed. They had almost 1,000 visitors. They also had an employee and retiree picnic on site this summer, with a focus on the history of the company, On September 28 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, they will host a symposium with a general theme on religious liberty. Cardinal George of Chicago will be a speaker along with Helen Alvaré and Dr. Scott Hahn. It will be followed by a massive celebration. They a cardinal, three archbishops, nine bishops, and 60 clergy celebrating that Mass. They will cap the year with an employee Christmas dinner to wrap up the anniversary. Scot noted that we pray for Cardinal George, for whom it was announced his past week that his cancer has returned. He has been a leader on religious liberty issues. Scot asked what OSV is looking forward to in the future. Kyle said this question has been part of their planning for the year. They wanted to acknowledge their rich history, but also to be talking and looking to the future. They’re looking at how technology can and should be adopted and integrated into parish life, whether it’s the way people give or the way parishes or dioceses communicate. It includes websites, social media, ebooks, online giving, and more. He said an interesting part of their history is that it looks like the business cycle, with the engine that drives the finances of the organization changing with the time. For instance, they don’t have confidence that offertory envelopes will have the same prominence in 50 or 100 years that they do today, so they want to evolve with the ways parishes want to communicate and relate to their people. Terry added that during the open house they had an observation from the retirees who came back that the the changes they saw in the facility, they were amazed. While they don’t print many of their actual publications there anymore, they do continue printing envelopes and specialized communications materials and do much of the conversion and creation of materials. They’ve made huge investments in the latest technology and continue to update so that they remain very efficient and provide optimal customer service. Scot said in his previous work experience he was worked in consumer products companies and he’s been impressed by the OSV plant floor operations. Kyle said they have two brand-new high-speed envelope converting machines. They make 1,600 envelopes per minute, which is 27 per second. They invested about $5 million in them. He recalled how one of the retirees stood and stared in awe at the operation of these machines, comparing it to the machines he worked with 20 years ago. 2nd segment: Terry said OSV has been working with the Archdiocese of Boston for decades providing both materials and services for websites and online giving. A majority, if not all, parishes have at least some connection to OSV through one of their products. They are serving about 30–50 parishes with envelopes and have rolled out their website and online giving offerings in partnership with the Archdiocese to a similar number or parishes. Terry corrected himself by saying that the number is now 200 parishes. Scot said OSV recently acquired Zartarian Publishing,which was the major offertory envelope printer locally. Chris Keely was the general manager of Zartarian. Chris said the business was founded 50 years ago by Dick Zartarian, who died four years ago, and Chris has been running it since then with Dick’s widow. They joined with OSV and chris currently works with them. He too has been impressed by OSV’s operations and agrees that they are the industry leader. He said Zartarian just didn’t have the resources for all the new technologies that they see coming in the future. Chris thinks this acquisition will serve the parishes tremendously. Scot said Zartarian wasn’t in the offertory envelope business to make money, but to serve the Church. He noted that the company often sacrificed on their end in order not to pass costs along to parishes. Chris said they agonized every time they had to worry about raising their prices. They asked their employees to do more and more and they often went without salary increases for years, but they eventually saw they had to do more. Chris noted that Zartarian too constantly gave back to parishes through sponsoring parish programs and events. He said that’s why so many parishes stayed loyal for so long. Chris said he began thinking about the future of Zartarian and talking with people and after he met with Terry and OSV it became clear which way he had to go. Scot asked Kyle why Zartarian was a good fit. Kyle said it’s the reputation and history. Fifty years is a long time for any business to be serving the Church. He’d known Dick and his wife for years and recognized them as a quality supplier. Kyle said the primary focus is to serve the Church and they felt like they could bring some of the new product and service offerings to benefit Zartarian’s parishes. They think all the pieces together are better than the individual pieces by themselves. Scot said Zartarian was mainly in New England and New York. He asked Terry what he hopes this acquisition does for servicing parishes throughout the Northeast. Chris added that they did have 5 or 6 accounts in Arizona and even in one in the Bahamas. Terry said the focus is helping all of the parishes in the Northeast which has had a high density of Catholic population. By joining forces with Zartarian, they think they can serve the parishes even better. While it benefits OSV’s reach, the objective is helping parishes deliver their message to parishioners in multiple ways. Chris said there was some shock from the 348 Zartarian customers in the beginning, but OSV was able to roll-out the switchover smoothly with the customary OSV efficiency. He said he was struck by their concern for the Zartarian employees. Terry said that from the beginning the idea was determining what’s going to be good for everyone involved. they wanted to make sure it was positive for everyone and worked out well. Scot said he views OSV as one of the strongest partners for the Archdiocese. He said it’s moving to him that when a Catholic like Dick Zartarian decides to start a business to help the Church and to do so for 50 years. They have served well more than half the parishes in the Archdiocese. He wanted to take a moment to thank everyone at Zartarian for the way they have served the Church. Chris thanked Scot and offered an anecdote about some Catholic parishes outside Boston being taken aback by the Armenian name on the company, but Dick had a devout Irish Catholic mother. But in Boston, no one even thought twice about, which speaks to his impact in Boston. Scot said we’ve talked about how the way people support the Church has changed ever since she began. Today the offertory envelope is starting to give way to online giving solutions and OSV’s solution is one of the biggest. Scot said OSV doesn’t just provide the tools, but also provides strategies for parishes to communicate to parishioners about the need and grow the offertory. Joanie said parishioners want to increase their offertory to grow their ability to do more. She helps parish’s plan for their goals and how to reach them. There are many tools they use including envelopes, websites, and print communications. For instance, they make sure that the same strong message is on the envelopes, in the bulletins, on annual reports, on newsletters and more to reinforce the message they want to portray. Scot said OSV may be the only provider of both envelopes and online giving. Joanie said nationally that about 12% give through online giving and that has grown a lot over the past few years. Those giving electronically are giving of their first fruits rather than from they happen to have on Sunday morning. Online givers are planning ahead and they are giving 38% more than those putting an envelope in the basket. When people switch from envelopes, they increase by that amount. Scot noted that by planning ahead monthly, people can compare their giving to their other monthly bills and prioritize accordingly. He also said when people travel, like for vacation, they don’t put their envelope in, but when people give online they don’t miss a week. Terry said very few people make up missed contributions when they travel. But when people don’t miss the difference is 10 to 20%. Scot said as more people transition to online giving, it makes it easier for parishes to plan. Kyle said the business manager or pastor can see the whole history of giving through the online tool and lets them look ahead because they can generally count on a steady level of giving. He told the story of a parish that had implemented online giving and after a tornado leveled the church, the giving continued to flow in to support the parish. Scot said the Catholic Media Secretariat at the Archdiocese is always looking to help parishes stay innovative in communications. He asked Terry how he sees the newer trends in offertory. Terry said they need to continue to reach people to sustain parish life. They have to make sure that people recognize their giftedness and are able to participate in their parish. He sees much more openness in many different ways. He said a recent book asked why people give to Harvard, which doesn’t necessarily need their money, and it’s because they believe in what they’re doing. Offertory has to continue to be the ability to give in ubiquitous ways to their parish.…
Summary of today’s show: Father Joseph Mazzone became pastor of St. Mary Parish in Hull just four years out of the seminary. Scot Landry and Father Mark O’Connell sit down with Father Joe to talk about life as a parish priest on “the peninsula”, Hull, a close-knit seaside community, as well as his path to the priesthood from Providence to Notre Dame to Prague and then to Boston, where he entered Blessed John XXIII Seminary, which forms men who have “late” vocations. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Father Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Father Joseph Mazzone Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Pastor Profile: Father Joseph Mazzone 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Father Mark O’Connell back to the show and they discussed a news story this week about an article in the Economist magazine about church finances in the US. Father Mark said in his previous work, he was in charge of the Clergy Fund. During that time, they found out through audits that there was trouble in the clergy fund. He had to go to the priests of the Archdiocese to tell them that there was trouble and one of the slides in his presentation was misinterpreted that seemed to show that contributions from the mid-80s to the mid-90s were not given to the Clergy Funds. Scot said the information was misinterpreted and that money was used for the medical care of the retired and active clergy. So the money was going to a different fund within the Clergy Funds, but the all the money was spent on the purposes for which it was intended, the care of the priests. Father Mark said that particular slide was written so poorly that the priests became angry and demanded an outside audit to determine if money was stolen from the Clergy Funds. The outside audit explained that this was a legitimate use of the money and recommended some changes. Today, the Clergy Funds is almost in the black, if not already in the black today. The Economist article’s author simply lifted the previous erroneous information and repeated it. The misleading information is repeated over and over. Today’s guest is Father Joseph Mazzone, pastor of St. Mary of Assumption Parish in Hull. Father Joe was ordained in 2008 after attending Blessed John XXIII Seminary. Before seminary, he worked in human services mostly in Boston. He’s not from Boston, but from Providence. He said both Sacred Heart, Weymouth, his first parish, and St. Mary’s have had patient and kind people who pray for him. He was named a pastor on February 1, 2011. He hadn’t even been a priest for three years. Scot noted back in the day, it would take 25 or 30 years before a priest would become pastor. Father Mark said when he was ordained he was told it would be 12 years before he became a pastor, although Father Mark has never been. Father Mark said he was ordained at 25 years old, but Father Joe comes with a lot more experience. Father Joe said he was surprised at being asked to become pastor already. The people at St. Mary’s were warm and inviting and it made the transition easier. The people had been praying for whomever their new pastor would be and it made a huge difference. Scot said Hull is off the beaten path as a peninsula and people have to intentionally go there. Father Joe said Hull is tight-knit with 11,000 people and has a strong sense of identity. It’s physically beautiful and you’re never more than 3 blocks from the water. Sunrise in the morning is a beautiful opportunity to pray. Within pastoral planning, they are connected with St. Anthony in Cohasset which is a little over seven miles. Father Joe said three of his four grandparents grew up on islands, Sicily and Madeira. He grew up on and around the water. In the summer, there are a lot of visitors. Father Joe said the Mass attendance goes up 15 to 20%. Scot said Sacred Heart in Weymouth stands out to him in his experience as warm and welcoming. He asked what makes St. Mary in Hull stand out. Father Joe said they have a great commitment to the poor and social justice, including through St. Vincent de Paul. It’s not a wealthy community, but is fairly middle class and extremely generous proportionally. He recalled that when Sacred Heart’s church burned down a few years ago, people attended Mass in the school hall and the Mass attendance drop at all. In the same way, the Church in Hull has had its challenges too. Hull used to have three parishes plus a chapel on Peddock’s Island. Two of the parishes merged into the third at St. Ann’s Church. Nevertheless, the community remained tight and committed to their faith. 2nd segment: Scot asked Father Joe what age he first started to think about the priesthood. He said he was very young. His parents were great models of faith and he loved going to church. He remembers one Mass with his father very early on a Sunday. He remembers looking into the sanctuary at the priest celebrating Mass and knew that something different and beautiful and holy was happening and that never left him. His mom had saved a picture he drew as a kid of what he wanted to be when he grew up and it was a priest. Father Mark said Father Joe took a long route to the priesthood. Father Joe said he graduated the University of Notre Dame in 1987. He had been thinking during his time there whether to become a diocesan priest or a member of the Congregation of the Holy Cross. He said it was a very Catholic experience. Each dorm had a daily Mass and spirituality is woven into the life of every student. There’s a high rate of Mass attendance among students. Scot, Father Mark, and Father Joe discussed their experiences of being at or visiting Notre Dame and seeing the faith lived out by the students. After college, Father Joe went to New Orleans for a two-year service project and then came back to the Northeast. Then he got an opportunity to work in Prague in the Czech Republic to write for the English-language newspaper there. He said responding to the call to the priesthood is different for each man. Every time he wanted to apply the seminary, he kept getting the sense that it wasn’t the right time. It eventually happened one year to the day after his father died. He said the three biggest influences on his priesthood were his parents, his parish priests, and Karl Malden. He played a priest in the movie On the Waterfront and Father Joe remembers seeing Malden as a great model of the priest, brave and courageous. Growing up as Sicilian and Portuguese, everything in their family lives revolved around the parish. They were at the church during the week all the time. He saw his parents live out their faith, not just in all they volunteered to do, but that their motivation for being kind and non-judgmental was their faith in JEsus Christ. They prayed the rosary every day, but they also prayed in little ways in everything they did. When he applied to the seminary, he was at work at the time. He was going back and forth whether to apply. He reached into a pile of articles on his desk and pulled out a magazine article with a prominent quote on it in which a nun said, “My father said, go into the convent and if you change your mind come home. That was 58 years ago.” And he took that as inspiration to apply. Father Mark asked why Father Joe chose Boston instead of Providence. Father joe said he’d lived and worked in Boston for a decade before applying and he’d made friends with a lot of Boston priests. Scot asked Father Joe about formation at Blessed John XXIII Seminary in Weston. Father Joe said it’s a national seminary. There were 17 men in his class, only 4 of whom were from Boston. Many of the men had also had careers before seminary and they brought all kinds of life experiences, like being a physician or carpet-layer or video store owner. He said they had great models of priesthood in the faculty who were very patient with all these middle-aged men who had been set in their ways. They went from being in charge of their own lives and then had to give it over to the seminary and give up so much autonomy. In addition, most of them hadn’t been involved in a college setting for decades in some cases. Father Joe said what he loves most as a priest is celebrating Mass. He celebrates Mass quite a lot in his parish and he loves it so much he never feels like it’s too much. Scot asked how much Father Joe prepares for Mass. He said he tries to pray over the Scriptures early in the week. He tries to stay current on events in the world. He doesn’t want his homilies to be political, but they should be topical. He loves to weave historical events into his homilies when they’re relevant. A wise priest once told him that if he hasn’t hit oil in seven minutes stop drilling and he tries to keep his homilies that length. Scot asked him about the challenge of preparing a homily to address all the different kinds of people who will hear it. Father Joe said some people want more catechesis, others want life experiences, others want a story they can tell, and others just want the Scriptures explained more. He tries to balance as much as he can, but you have to be yourself and you have to respond to how Christ is calling you to preach today. On the Feast of the Assumption, he talked about the encyclical of Pope Pius XII in 1950 on the doctrine of the Assumption and the people seemed moved by the Pope’s words. Scot said Father Joe serves on the committee that helps implement the Light Is On For You confession initiative in Advent and Lent. Father Joe said being a confessor is great because he knows what it’s like to be a penitent on the other side. He sees people who are transformed by confession. When he talks to people who have fallen away from the faith, when penance comes up that’s when the person gets very interested and it piques their interest on even an emotional level. Even when he talks to people at social events, they approach him in a very confessional way. One thing Father Joe has brought to Hull is the tradition of processions. The first year they did they had a statue of the Blessed Mother that they brought on board a boat, and then to a dock and then down streets with 350 people. He said people really turn out for the processions. Father Joe said people want to be public and and are proud of their Catholic faith. With very little publicity, hundreds of people turned out and the numbers keep going up each year. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, summoning their elders, their leaders, their judges, and their officers. When they stood in ranks before God, Joshua addressed all the people: “If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” But the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD for the service of other gods. For it was the LORD, our God, who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, out of a state of slavery. He performed those great miracles before our very eyes and protected us along our entire journey and among the peoples through whom we passed. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.” Gospel for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 26, 2012 (John 6:60-69) Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.” As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” Father Joe talked about how often people have trouble wrapping their heads around the mysteries of our faith. We live in a culture that is not comfortable with the idea of mystery and not knowing something completely. Scot said when he hears a message that is hard to receive, he looks to the messenger and if he is trustworthy then to trust his message. Father Mark said when he looks at his previous homilies on these readings during the difficult years nine years and six years ago, these powerful lines stand out, especially Joshua saying he and his house will serve the Lord and Jesus knowing people will leave despite what he says. We have to make s stand and choose faith for ourselves. Scot said St. Peter’s response of faith is simple. Who else can we go to? Father Joe said when he talks with people who have drifted from the faith or those who haven’t but have great doubt and struggle, he tells them that even in our doubt we can never be disconnected from God, we always remain connected to him.…
1 TGCL #0358: Cardinal Dolan at the GOP convention; Mitt Romney on EWTN; Gone with the Wind in Atlanta; Carmelite serving the infirm 56:32
Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy looked at the news headlines of the week, including Cardinal Timothy Dolan being asked to give the benediction at the Republican National Convention; Presidential candidate Mitt Romney agreeing to an interview with EWTN’s The World Over program; the Archdiocese of Atlanta receiving Gone with the Wind as a bequest; the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm showing the alternative to assisted suicide; and Fr. Roger writing on the call to martyrdom as a witness to our culture. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Cardinal Dolan at the GOP convention; Mitt Romney on EWTN; Gone with the Wind in Atlanta; Carmelite serving the infirm 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed the four Thursday regulars back to the show after a long time apart. Scot said that soon we will start making a live video stream of the show available for many shows. Susan said she is preparing for the new catechetical school year. She said August feels like the shortest month of the year sometimes because they’re so busy getting ready. Scot welcomed Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry back to the show. At the top of the news was the invitation by Mitt Romney to Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York to give the benediction at the Republican National Convention. Scot wondered if people will criticize the cardinal as being partisan. Susan said the move by the Republicans is brilliant. Cardinal Dolan is very articulate and will use the time to call down blessings on our country without being partisan. Susan then told the story of being at dinner with Cardinal Dolan during Bishop Richard Malone’s installation celebrations in Buffalo, New York. Scot asked Greg why would a Catholic prelate say yes to such an invitation. Greg recalled the discussion about the invitation to the President Barack Obama to participate in New York’s Al Smith dinner to benefit Catholic Charities. He said it’s interesting that the Cardinal is blasted for inviting Obama and he’ll be criticized for praying at the convention. Scot asked Fr. Roger about the involvement of the Catholic Church in the political sphere. Fr. Roger said the first thing to recognize is that Cardinal Dolan said he would be willing to speak at both conventions and that the principle is that we should start something so important with prayer to call upon God’s authority and wisdom as we undertake such actions. He added that there are some people who think that the Catholic Church’s business is to be in church on Sunday, not to be salt and light for the world. We’re trying to lift everything up for the common good. It is a great sign that we begin so much of our public life with prayer because we can’t evict God from our society. Cardinal Dolan has been trying to chart the path by which the faith will purify all political reason. This is the same goal of Pope Benedict XVI, who said during his visit to the United Kingdom that the political sphere has nothing to fear from the Church. The Church is trying to articulate the moral principles which aren’t just for Christians, but apply to the dignity of every human person as part of natural law. Scot noted that Mitt Romney will be appearing on EWTN tonight in a significant interview. He said it’s clearly an attempt to reach out to Catholics from the Romney campaign. Susan said the whole issue of the candidate’s religion has come up before, but the issue of Mormonism is new today and should make for an interesting conversation. Scot said these are the sorts of interviews that frame lots of issues going forward. Greg said this looks like evidence that the Romney campaign is reaching for the Catholic vote. Greg said he’s not sure that there is a Catholic vote, as if all Catholics vote the same. Traditionally Catholics did vote Democrat, but there seems to be a split between generations where older Catholics still tend to Democrats while younger Catholics often tend to be Republican for pro-life reasons. He thinks President Obama should take the opportunity to make his case to the Catholic voters like Romney is. Fr. Roger said he hopes Arroyo asks Romney about his conversions with regard tho the life issue. Early in Romney’s life was pro-life, then was later pro-abortion running for governor, and then came back to a pro-life position. Catholics need to be able to get beyond the typical frame on Romney as a flip-flopper who switches for political expediency. Fr. Roger said he’s heard that Romney’s switch came when Fr. Tad Pacholczyk explained to him about what’s going on in embryonic stem cell research. He’d also love to see what he likes about Paul Ryan in terms of Ryan’s understanding of the Catholic faith as well as what Ryan has written with regard to Catholic teaching and public policy. Fr. Roger thinks Ryan’s writings on the subject are the best attempt to apply the principles by any public elected official. Fr. Roger also always wants to see if candidates are men of personal faith and personal principle. Scot said he’d ask Romney how things would be different in a Romney administration with regard to religious liberty and how the HHS mandate might be reversed. Susan would ask him about his faith and why it’s important to him and about his Mormon missionary commitment. Greg said he would ask him to speak a little about how Catholics can somehow relate to him in his Mormon faith. At the Pilot they’ve seen a lot of reluctance to support Romney because they’re afraid of his Mormonism in the feedback they’ve received in letters to the editor and elsewhere. Scot said there is a deep connection between “Gone with the Wind” and the Archdiocese of Atlanta, because one of Margaret Mitchell’s heirs has willed it to the archdiocese. From the Joseph Mitchell estate, Archbishop Gregory has designated that $7.5 million be given to the Cathedral of Christ the King for its building fund. He also has assigned $1.5 million to Catholic Charities Atlanta for its immediate use and an additional $2 million to create an endowment fund for the social services agency to address its long-term need for sustaining income. The archbishop also has asked the Catholic Foundation of North Georgia to create an endowment fund for each parish, mission and Catholic school of the archdiocese with a $10,000 gift apiece from the Joseph Mitchell estate, totaling more than $1 million. He also has assigned $150,000 to the Deacons’ Assistance Fund, $100,000 of which will be a challenge grant that is in place until May 31,2013, to match any charitable contributions made to the fund during that time. The remainder of the Mitchell bequest will be held in reserve and used by the archdiocese for general religious purposes as requested in Joseph Mitchell’s will, Deacon Swope said. Plans call for the cathedral parish, which has limited space on its Peachtree Road site, to use part of the bequest to purchase the nearby archbishop’s residence on West Wesley and renovate it as a rectory. A new residence is planned for Archbishop Gregory and future archbishops of Atlanta on the property given to the archdiocese by Joseph Mitchell. Scot said he loves to highlight the living legacy that generous people leave to the Church. Susan said she didn’t realize many of the details about Gone with the Wind in the story, like the language translations and how the estate had many artifacts from other authors, which they hope to put on public display. Scot said when an estate gives half or more to the Church, it shows the Catholic faith was central to the donor’s life. Greg said it also provides a massive cultural icon. He also finds it shows how much the South is changing and growing and becoming so much more Catholic. He also noted that it’s an ongoing gift that will benefit the archdiocese with future profits. Scot said he was surprised the Church didn’t sell the rights and various art, rather than seek to maintain it. Fr. Roger has been writing recently on the importance of art and beauty to the soul. Fr. Roger said the Church has been preserving cultural treasures from the beginning because they are created through the genius of human beings that God has implanted in them. The second consideration is that if the Church tried to sell it, it would have been impossible for the other half-owner to buy it and could have damaged the cultural legacy they’d been endowed with. Fr. Roger’s first thought was about the scandal years ago when Bob Dylan performed before Pope John Paul II and John Paul preached extemperaneously on what it means to be “blowing with the wind” and in similar way the Mitchell family has blown with the Wind of the Holy Spirit. 2nd segment: Scot called attention to a lengthy article in the Pilot this week about the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm in Massachusetts who run two homes for the elderly and infirm in Framingham and South Boston. They show that there’s a better way than assisted suicide, which is to love. Susan said the dignity of the human person has been their stock in trade since the beginning. They address the fear people have about end of life issues and they have assembled a good staff to meet the needs and fears of the dying. They say that people don’t come to them to die but to live, which is such an opposite attitude from the assisted suicide proponents. Scot said the founder of the Carmelite Sisters used to be one of the Little Sisters of the Poor, who focus mainly on the poorest at the end of life, but she wanted to offer the same care to everyone regardless of wealth or class. Scot noted how one of the sisters said with regard to assisted suicide that it not only could disrupt otherwise dignified lives, but also the peace of families that help someone end their own life. There will never be peace in that family again, she said. It will make everyone wonder what will happen to them if they get ill. The mission of the facility is to care our elders and to talk with them in this final stage of life so they don’t feel alone. Scot and Fr. Roger said that this is how our whole society should treat every sick person, and it shouldn’t be unique to the Carmelite Sisters. Fr. Roger said our culture is starting to look at people as disposable, as an economic burden. Instead we are a brother or sister and we are looked at with love. Mother Mark of the Sisters said “Somebody has to advocate for the elderly.” That should be all of us. Scot said people who contemplate suicide need help, no matter whether they are terminally ill. Susan said many years ago the Church started a program called “In Support of Life” and a priest told a gathering a story about interviews of families of elderly and terminally ill patients who said overwhelmingly that they should have the right to take their own life, but the elderly and terminally ill themselves said overwhelmingly that they shouldn’t have that right. Scot said people can go to the Suicide is Always a Tragedy website and click through to stopassistedsuicide.org to donate, to get educated, and to learn how to talk to others about voting No on Question 2. Scot said in other news, EWTN host Johnette Benkovic will be speaking this weekend at the St. Francis Xavier Parish in Acushnet, Mass. Call 508–995–7600. Fr. Roger has also restarted his Putting Into the Deep column in The Anchor newspaper. He has most recently written about the installation Mass homily by Bishop Richard Malone upon his arrival in Buffalo. He said the bishop preached about martyrdom, partly because he recognized that carrying out the New Evangelization today in a culture hostile to our faith, we need to have the grit of the martyrs to do what Christ has asked us to do. He said what our culture needs most today is the courage of the martyrs. The word martyr means witness in Greek and we are called to witness with our words and lives. Fr. Roger said we can’t proclaim the Gospel if we have a watered-down cowardly vision of the faith. Too often people are afraid to engage their faith in politics or public affairs. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. Scot said Fr. Charles Sheehy died at 94 years old on August 10, which was the 68th anniversary of his ordination. He served in 10 different towns in his time as a priest. Meanwhile, Fr. John Farrell, who just received Senior Priest status, served in only two different parishes, as well as teaching in the seminary. They also discussed how Fr. Farrell told his mother at his First Communion that he felt called to the priesthood.…
Summary of today’s show: Fr. Tom Foley has embarked on a new phase of his priesthood 26 years after his ordination by becoming an Air Force chaplain. Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines talk to Fr. Foley about his decision to answer the “call within a call”, the process of moving from the Archdiocese of Boston to the chaplains corps, and the important service provided by priest chaplains to our men and women serving our country all over the world. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Fr. Thomas Foley Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Fr. Thomas Foley, Military Chaplain 1st segment: Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines talked about how the summer is going for Fr. Chip and his parishes in Wrentham and Plainville. He said his parishes have been offering some summer programs to combat the drop off that many parishes experience in attendance and participation. Fr. Chip said he spends his summer mainly with his parents in Plymouth. Scot said as the show airs he’s going to a 20-year college reunion in Pittsburgh. Today’s guest, Fr. Tom Foley, left his post as Secretary for Parish Life and Leadership about a month ago to enter the chaplain corps for the US Air Force. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Tom to the show. He said Fr. Foley’s role as secretary was one of the toughest jobs in the Pastoral Center. He deals with a lot of the materials that eventually end up on the Vicar Generals. Cardinal Seán gave him a few weeks for vacation and retreat before going on to the Air Force. Fr. Roley was secretary for 4 years. He oversaw clergy personnel matters, permanent diaconate, vocations office, Clergy Funds, Regina Cleri and many more. Fr. Foley said each of the offices were staffed by great people so that the work is done by many hands. Much of his work was working with priests. He noted that the staff of the Clergy Funds, caring for the priests’ health, have done much to stabilize those funds. He noted the work of Deacon Dan Burns and the formation of permanent deacons. Another office if Pastoral Planning, which is a top priority for the Archdiocese now, but we always have to be planning for the future. His role was to monitor and orchestrate a whole spectrum of the priests. Fr. Chip asked about the fun and edifying memories of his office. Fr. Tom mentioned visits to the three seminaries, engaging with the seminarians, which is a hopeful experience. The quality of the men coming into the seminaries is outstanding. He thinks of the priest appreciation dinner we’ve had the past three years. No one expected the turnout at that annual dinner, which is not just a fundraiser for the Clergy Funds, but has also become a chance for the people of the archdiocese to pour out their love for their priests. He said no one expected such an outpouring. Scot recalled the priests’ convocations. He said there have been at least 3 or maybe more. Fr. Tom said the priests are ordained to serve the people of God and to be there for the people in all times of sadness and joy. But someone has to take care of the priests too, which is the responsibility of the bishop. As Cardinal Sean’s helpers, they made it a top priority to visit the priests when they were sick, or to visit the retired priests at home or those living in Regina Cleri retirement home. The purpose is to care for those who are caring for others. The Clergy Services Group includes highly respected priests, both retired and active, to make sure they are available to priests at any time, so as to be present to them to be healthy and strong for the people. Fr. Chip said he had surgery a few years ago and was the recipient of that love and attention while he was recovering at Regina Cleri. Fr. Chip having lunch with the retired priests was a highlight of his stay, especially the stories of the old days. Fr. Tom said the seminarians talk about how much they look forward to visiting Regina Cleri. It’s an experience of sharing one generation’s wisdom to another. It’s truly a home of priests who look out for each other. Scot said Fr. Tom served in parish ministry until 2008. He asked him about the adjustment from parish to administrative work. Fr. Tom said it’s an eye-opener, but St. Paul talks about the gifts of administration. It’s all about helping the cardinal to lead the Church. They try to be good stewards of the resources of the Church as best they can, to give the best advice to the Cardinal they can. It’s a lot of meetings, on the phone, at the desk. There’s a lot of detail work. Fr. Chip said much of the sensitive material that comes across Fr. Foley’s desk could only be seen by a priest and it must have been difficult to deal with. Scot said Fr. Foley was often one of the leading celebrants at the Pastoral Center’s 8:15am Mass, which saw a handful of employees on a constant basis. Fr. Foley said the 12:05 pm Mass is a blessing, which sees so many people come to it, especially from outside the Pastoral Center. But he often found the noontime hour problematic, especially when at meetings. So they started the 8:15 Mass, which mimics parish Masses. It’s great to start the day that way. 3rd segment: Scot asked Fr. Foley what led him to ask Cardinal Seán about going to become an Air Force chaplain. Fr. Tom says chaplains speak about the call within the call. Chaplains are ordained and serve in parishes, but at some point they have experienced another call to serve as a military chaplain. Some of his close priest friends are or have been military chaplains. He’s been inspired and edified by them. It’s natural for priests to have an interest in military chaplaincy because as celibates it’s easier for them to pick up at a moment’s notice. He said there’s a lot of stress of military families, long deployments, many of them are young adults. There is a need for someone to support and care for them. A priest-chaplain is a reminder of home. He’s a connection to family and home. Scot asked how many Catholics in the Air Force and priest-chaplains. Fr. Tom said about 25% of the 330,000 active duty members are Catholic, plus any dependents. There are about 250 chaplains in the Air Force of all faiths. There are only 60 Catholic priests on active duty in the Air Force today. That’s 60 priests serving over 75,000 airmen plus their families. Scot said he could drive 20 miles in any direction, he could pass 15 Catholic churches in each direction. But in our military some of our service members could go a month or more without access to the sacraments. Fr. Foley said Catholic chaplains are only assigned to the largest bases in the US and take turns being deployed to the combat zones to serve the troops who have been waiting for them. They hear of the great desire of the Catholic service members to see a chaplain. The priests are stretched thin, especially in deployed situations. Fr. Chip said his brother was in the Navy for five years. He met a chaplain on his brother’s ship, who told him that there’d never been a Catholic chaplain on their ship and they only get to go to Mass maybe once per month. Fr. Foley said those in the military have the constitutional right to the free exercise of religion and the military is determined they can exercise that right. The chaplains are there to serve primarily their own faith group, but they’re also chaplains for everyone in the military and will do everything they can to help them whatever their faith. The chaplains are willing to travel everywhere and work very hard for their people. Scot asked what was the attraction of the Air Force over the other services. Fr. Tom said his friends in other services will listen attentively to his answer. One of his closest friends spent 20 years in the Navy, mainly with the Marine Corps. He ‘s worked closely the past couple of years with priests who have been Air Force chaplains so he got to know it better than the others. Having been ordained 26 years already, he didn’t know if he could even be accepted and talking to the Air Force it seemed possible with them. Scot asked him about the process to prepare himself for acceptance. Fr. Foley said he’s still finalizing all the details and paperwork. Most the chaplains who enter are in their 30s to 40s. Being over 50 is unusual. He had an age waiver from the Secretary of the Air Force to even apply. He had to travel to an Air Force base in New Jersey to interview with a Wing Chaplain. He had to go before a board. Fill out all kinds of paperwork. It’s quite a process and takes several months. This was all after he’d gone to the Cardinal to express his desire to explore it. Fr. Foley said he will go through 4 weeks of officer training. In his first year he will go through 12-week chaplain school. Then he will get his first assignment at a base in the continental United States. From there to any American base in the world, including deployments to any active deployment area. For chaplains the basic commitment is three years. They get fitness reviews every year. Fr. Chip said Fr. Tom looks like he’s in great shape and working on all those fitness requirements. Scot said the Archdiocese of Boston sends some of its finest priests to serve in the military and it’s a longstanding tradition. It’s not easy for an archbishop to send one of his episcopal vicars off to the military instead of putting him in charge of one of our largest parishes. Cardinal Seán recognizes the need in the military and we have to do our fair share. Fr. Tom said Cardinal Cushing had been an Army National Guard chaplain as a young priest and perhaps even continued after he became a bishop. These young men and women are in harm’s way. They are all-volunteer and highly trained to go defend our freedom anywhere in the world. If a chaplain can be there to help them, that’s the least we can be doing for them. The Church wants to be wherever her people are. The Church is the mission of Jesus. We are missionary by nature and outgoing. In this way, we want to go with our men and women in uniform. Scot asked how Fr. Tom has been prepared for combat situations? Do chaplains get trained with weapons. Fr. Tom said chaplains do not carry a weapon as noncombatants. He said chaplain friends told him that when you’re deployed in forward operating areas, you are assigned a bodyguard. They do go wherever the military goes. Fr. Chip talked of a friend deployed in Iraq who said that after the company commander he was the most protected member of the unit. Scot said diocesan priests are usually assigned within an hour’s drive of their family. How do you prepare for the transition to be sofa away from family? Fr. Tom said after he got the green light from Cardinal Seán, he shared this with his family, including his brother and sister. He’s received lots of love and support and he thinks his nephews are probably proud of him. Wherever the Lord sends us, we never go alone. We hold each other in prayer. Plus today we have means of communication that people never dreamed of in the past. Fr. Tom also said the airplanes fly both ways and people can come and visit. Scot wondered how he expects serving as a base chaplain to be similar to being a parish priest. Fr. Tom said the way a chapel works on an Air Force base is very much like a diocesan parish, with a staff, RCIA, religious education, and the like. Having spent 22 years in a parish that’s what he’s used to. It’s a chapel-based ministry in the Air Force and families are very much used to that. He expects that he will go at least briefly to a base where there’s another Catholic priests. Archbishop Broglio of the Military Archdiocese said we are 1-deep, meaning one priest deep on the line. Scot asked the connection to the Archdiocese for Military Services. Fr. Tom said a chaplain is an Air Force officer and reports up that chain of command. He’s only able to be a chaplain if he’s endorsed by the Archdiocese for Military Services and the priestly faculties are granted by that archbishop. So as far as the Church is concerned, you come under that Archdiocese. This is a Lend-Lease situation, where the archbishop of Boston lends his priests to the archbishop of the military. An important aspect of the chaplain’s work is helping the young people who come to faith while in the military.They do a lot of baptisms, receiving into the Church, sacraments of initiation, plus lots of counseling. Fr. Tom said he asks people to pray for peace, for security of our country, for all those who serve our country. Those prayers are a tremendous consolation. Fr. Tom said about 12 or 15 priests of the archdiocese of Boston are currently serving on active duty in the military.…
Summary of today’s show: Deacon Thomas MacDonald found a calling to the priesthood while studying at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Since then he has studied at St. John Seminary and the Pontifical North American College in Rome. This summer he was ordained to the transitional diaconate by Cardinal Seán and has served at St. Paul’s in Cambridge. He returns to Rome this fall for his final year before ordination. Deacon Tom joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to talk about his journey to the priesthood and give listeners a brief tour of the Rome he has come to call home. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Deacon Tom MacDonald Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Transitional Deacon Tom MacDonald 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Chris O’Connor back to the show and they announced that St. John’s Seminary is completely filled and can take no more men. There are 27 new men coming to the seminary this fall. It’s partly due to more men from Boston and more dioceses sending men to St. John’s. Scot said we need many, many more men to answer the call to the priesthood. Fr. Chris said they are strategizing ways to accommodate even more men next year. Scot asked Fr. Chris what he attributes the growth in seminaries to. Fr. Chris said in parishes with Eucharistic adoration, there you find vocations coming out. Fr. Chris said particular priests inspire young men in their vocations as well. Today’s guest is Deacon Tom McDonald, who was ordained a transitional deacon on June 30 this year and will, God willing, be ordained next spring. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcomed Deacon Tom to the show. He grew up in Westford, Mass. He was born in Concord, Mass. He is a lifelong parishioner of St. Catherine of Alexandria in Westford. Deacon Tom said the town of Westford boomed in his childhood and St. Catherine boomed as well. He attended public schools in Westford. He said the seeds of his priesthood were sown about the age of 16, around his confirmation. He had a reconversion as a young adult and became convinced of the truth of the faith and he and a group of friends grew together in faith. He attended University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Scot said UMass was known as a crazy school. Deacon Tom said the reputation was deserved in some places, but that’s also the place where his faith grew to include a call to the priesthood. He saw the sadness of the life lived away from God that opened his eyes to the gift of faith and the privilege of sharing his faith. It was through sharing his faith that he came to appreciate how wonderful it was to do that. Thanks to the help of Fr. McGonagle at the Newman Center that he was steered to the priesthood. Fr. Chris asked what helps in his own spiritual growth he encountered, what advice he would give to college freshman. Deacon Eric told them to get plugged in to what’s going on. Take the initiative and ask how to get involved. Stay close to young men and women who share your values and faith. The company you keep shapes your destiny over the next four years. He knew a number of students who faded away from campus ministry and took a tragic course. Much depends on those opening weeks, cultivating the right sort of friendships and getting involved in the right sort of activities. Deacon Tom said one of the advantages of going to a secular college was that there was a clear demarcation between the life of faith and the life of the world. All you had to do is wake up early on Saturday morning to see the “walks of shame” and the dazed looks. You can see that they are suffering from the lies of the world. On the positive side were the friendships built upon the fullness of the Church’s teachings and a life lived there. The decision was crystal clear. The goodness of God was so attractive in comparison with the darkness beyond. Scot asked what it was about the campus ministry at UMass that led so many to a deeper faith. Deacon Tom said it was the quality of friendships. When people would come to the Newman Center and get connected they would find themselves attracted to the friendships. Deacon Tom said his first instinct when he heard the call to the priesthood was to run. He heard the call as a freshman, but as a senior he resigned himself to exploring the call. During that time, he went to daily Mass, frequent confession, adoration. The quiet silence attuned the heart to hear God’s voice. After graduation he wanted to spend a year in service. He worked at Northampton High School working with kids with learning disabilities. Deacon Tom asked himself which hurt less: walking away from the possibility of marriage or walking away from the prospect of the priesthood. The priesthood won out slightly and he decided to give it a year. He was still very far from knowing he was called and it took a long time for him to stop going back and forth over the decision. Scot asked when it connected and he became settled about the question. He had asked to leave the seminary in February of his first year but the faculty had asked him to go to a priestly formation course in Nebraska. They asked him to go regardless. In the midst of the eight-day Ignatian retreat, he experienced incredible graces and all of his worries, concerns, and apprehensions were obliterated. Scot asked what he would say to young men listening who are wondering if they’re really being called. Deacon Tom said there is nothing to lose by applying to the seminary. He would recommend giving it a shot. If there’s a woman you’re interested in, you have to ask her out to determine if she’s the one for you. You can’t figure that out from afar. The seminary is like a courtship. By giving it a shot and experiencing it, he answered questions that could only be answered inside. Deacon Tom was also sent to the Pontifical North American College in Rome by Cardinal Seán. He hadn’t known anything about it beforehand and so he trusted the faculty to send him where he needed to go. He’s not a big traveler and so the prospect was daunting. He also loved his time at St. John’s, where he was with three friends from U. Mass, and where he felt at home. To leave for Rome was intimidating. He also had to study Italian. Fr. Chris asked what graces he received from studying at the NAC. The first major blessing was going into this unknown world and having to trust God outside the network of his friends and family, but in a more radical way. Being in the city of martyrs and churches is humbling. One can’t help but feel the immense place of Rome in the Church when there. Attending the big papal liturgies was electrifying, especially to se the love of pilgrims for Pope Benedict. The Pope exudes peace, calm, and power. People from every corner of the world crowd into the Square just to see him. Scot asked his favorite churches. Deacon Tom said his favorite is St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, built in classic Roman basilica style. Fr. Chris asked Deacon Tom what would be the perfect day visiting Rome. He said it would have to begin in St. Peter’s Square by the obelisk in the center, the some obelisk St. Peter saw as he was crucified upside down. Then they would go on the Scavi tour in the excavations under St. Peter’s, where the cemetery that held the bones of St. Peter were buried. This is the heart of the city. Then he would take them on a tour of the basilica itself, seeing the great altars and statues and art and windows. Scot said his favorite time in St. Peter’s is 7am where everyone is there to pray. Deacon Tom would then take people to the North American College for the best view of the city from it’s sixth floor. From there they would take the “Greg” route, which is their path to the Gregorian University and along the way they would see the beautiful Piazza Navona. The Piazza has beautiful cafes and fountains and art. From there would be the Pantheon, originally a Roman temple converted to a beautiful church dedicated to Our Lady. It’s a testament to the history of the Church. They would stop at the Gregorian University. Fr. Chris complained they haven’t stopped for food yet. They would also see the Trevi fountain, which Deacon Tom says is a trust trap with pickpockets. So they would go to Santa Maria Maggiore, the first church in Christendom dedicated to Our Lady. They have a relic of the creche, the manger in which Christ was laid in Bethlehem. Deacon Tom said in the fifth century a young Roman patrician had a dream about the Virgin Mary sending snow in the middle of the summer. He told the bishop and he interpreted it as a desire of the Blessed Mother for a church in the city. Sure enough the snow fell in Rome in the middle of summer. Rome is extremely hot in the summer and it hardly even snows in winter. This is the Feast of St. Mary Major on August 3. Ever year they drop white rose petals on the congregation to remember this miracle. From there it’s to the Colosseum and then St. John Lateran Basilica, the cathedral church of Rome. Scot said this is his favorite church in Rome. Fr. Chris disagrees and said St. Peter’s is first for him, then St. Mary Major, then St. Paul’s, and only then St. John’s. Scot said the Popes lived at St. John Lateran until the 16th century. Fr. Chris said the Pope celebrates Holy Thursday at St. John Lateran instead of St. Peter’s. Deacon Tom also recommends the neighborhood of Trastevere, which was the site of some of the first Christian communities in Rome. It was traditionally Jewish in the imperial time. It’s a beautiful picturesque and artistic community with wonderful food. Fr. Chris said there’s a Bohemian feel to the neighborhood. 3rd segment: Deacon Tom has been doing his summer pastoral assignment at St. Paul in Cambridge. He said it’s very vibrant, with a lot going on, including the boys’ choir school and campus ministry to Harvard. The parishioners are very active and involved. Fr. Chris asked Deacon Tom what is the basic message of his homilies. Deacon Tom said it’s that God desperately wants to be a part of your life in many and varied ways. Be vigilant and generous in opening ourselves to him. Scot said he thinks St. Paul’s is unique in the United States. He said people drive for more than an hour to come to St. Paul’s on Sundays. There’s a deep intellectual tradition that comes with the parish. Deacon Tom said he’s encountered a number of young people who have come into contact with the faith and who have questions and want to know more. He’s given a couple of talks at the parish on several topics and he’s had a very varied group of attendees, from Protestant pastors to agnostic political science students. Fr. Chris asked Deacon Tom to explain his position. He said a transitional deacon transitions from the diaconate to the priesthood. He will become a priest. They also take a promise of celibacy. Permanent deacons who are married do not. the deacon is also meant to have a heart for the poor and needy. In the liturgy, the deacon assists the priest at Mass, including preaching at the discretion of the priest. They can also baptize and witness marriages. Scot said many young priest and transitional deacons don’t have the opportunity to live in a full rectory like at St. Paul’s. Deacon Tom said some of the priests are on vacation but they’ve also had visiting priests, including some studying at Harvard. There’s been a wonderful fraternity and fellowship in the rectory. He’s learned a lot from the experiences and stories from the older priests. Deacon Tom said the parish was kind of quiet during the summer, but still was busy. He was surprised by the number of young people coming to confession every day after Masses. Fr. Chris asked Deacon Tom’s goals in Rome next year. He will be starting a new degree in theology and spending these months as a deacon and preparing for priestly ordination in May. His pastoral assignment will be teaching First Communion class at Santa Susannah in Rome, which is the American parish there. The students aren’t always American but are there to be exposed to new cultures.…
Summary of today’s show: The Knights of Columbus is one of the largest charitable organizations in the world and was started by a parish priest wishing to care for Catholic widows and orphans. Brian Caulfield joins Scot Landry to discuss the Knights of Columbus, Fr. Michael McGivney’s cause for canonization, and their website initiative, Fathers for Good, which aims to help men become better husbands and fathers to their wives and children. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Brian Caulfield of the Knights of Columbus Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Knights of Columbus’ Fathers for Good 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show. He said today’s topic is the discussion of the Knights of Columbus initiative called Fathers for Good. He read Supreme Knights Carl Anderson’s words about the website and then welcomed Brian Caulfield to the show. They discussed that Anderson is one of the leading lay Catholic thinkers in this country. Scot asked Brian to give an overview of the Knights. They were founded in New Haven, CT, in 1882 by Fr. Michael McGivney, whose cause for canonization is active right now. Their headquarters are still in New Haven, including their museum and St. Mary’s Church, where Fr. McGivney was pastor. They have 1.8 million members worldwide, including Mexico, the Philippines, and Poland. They are just starting in Poland. They publish their magazine Columbia in four languages: English, French, Spanish, and Polish. They are most known for their charitable works. Every year they have a survey of their fraternal activities and their local councils donate millions of dollars in charitable giving and millions of hours of volunteer work. Scot said the Knights donated $158 million this past year. He said the Knights donated more than 70 million hours of charitable work worldwide. Brian said the Knights are known in parishes as the ones to go to get things done. They’re often men who want to give something back to the parish and to God. They know their faith calls them to give to those in need. Our Catholic faith demands of us to give to others, whether financially or through our “sweat equity”. They have been big supporters of the Special Olympics from the beginning. Other programs include giving away coats to children for the winter. They have a food for families program where councils restock the food pantries of their local parish or town. Scot pointed out that the millions do not come primarily from the members themselves. The Knights are one of the largest life insurance companies in the US. They got into the business at the idea of Fr. McGivney to care for orphans and widows. Brian said in 1882 anti-Catholic discrimination was rampant even as boatloads of Catholics continued to come into the country. Often they had the most dangerous, backbreaking work and if they died, the widows were left penniless. Fr. McGivney had lost his own father at a young age. He had thought of giving up the seminary to care for his family, but the bishop of Hartford took him aside and offered him a scholarship because he recognized his potential. So Fr. McGivney kept the idea in his heart of providing help. There were many non-Catholic fraternal organizations that provided these death benefits, and he didn’t want men to have to jeopardize their Catholic faith in order to provide for their families. The insurance idea was right at the foundation of the order and was intended as a charitable option. The original idea that there would 1,000 members and if a member died, the rest would give $1 each to the widow. Now they are one of the highest rated insurance programs in North America and receive highest ratings for ethics. Life insurance is sold by brother knights to brother knights. You have to be a knight in order to buy the insurance. Scot said he’s struck that the Knights of Columbus and Our Sunday Visitor were formed by parish priests and have been so influential in the Church in the US. Brian said Fr. McGivney’s vision was ahead of his time in seeking to empower the laity in their legitimate vocation. He gathered 12 men in his parish to start the organization, but within two years he stepped aside in leadership. He was never Supreme Knight, but became Supreme Chaplain. Within four years, he had been transferred by the bishop to a new parish which removed him from day to day to contact. So 100 years before Vatican II, he was helping laity to lead, to grow spiritually, and to keep their faith both in church and socially in the community. We don’t realize today how difficult it would be for a parish priest to found a lay organization and then to set it to go on its own. Scot said that the Knights are also very active in Rome in caring for St. Peter’s Basilica and to support the work of the Pope. Brian said they’ve always tried to be supportive of the work of the priests and bishops without trying to take their place. They don’t try to overstep their bounds. Brian said he’s been helping to promote the cause of Fr. McGivney in the Philippines. He was in a remote and rural region of the island nation meeting various councils. As he was driving with someone to stop at councils along their route and calling ahead with a few minutes notice, at every stop a group of men would be gathered at the church to greet him as someone coming from the Supreme Council. They had a strong connection immediately despite the distance and were able to immediately discuss their charitable works and the news of order’s work worldwide. 2nd segment: Scot said Fathers for Good has been around for a few years and has great resources. He asked what the genesis was for this initiative. Brian said in 2008, Carl Anderson realized that in order to attract younger men to the order, they needed to be on the web in a big way with a site geared toward fathers. The intent was to provide a forum for ideas. They look for responses to each article. They want to give men information, formation, a sense of welcoming. Fatherhood is a not always welcome in our popular culture, especially when you see how fathers are portrayed in primetime television. The biggest problem is separation of man from his family, on a cultural level, a communications level, and even a legal level through involuntary divorce. They do try to keep a positive view of fatherhood where it’s not always esteemed. Many of their articles offer suggestions for fathers to implement in their lives. The name has two meanings: Every father is a father for the rest of his life, for good. It also means that all fathers want to be good fathers deep down in his heart. Many men come from families where they didn’t get a good example and now it’s our turn to make good for our own children. Fathers for Good provides the resources to be the best dad they can be. Wives are some of the biggest readers of the articles. Most wives want to be involved and they want more involvement from their husbands. Scot remembers the day he and his wife learned that she was pregnant for the first time. He was surprised how much information was out there for general pregnancy books and general parenting tips, but how little there was about being a great father, especially from a Catholic perspective. He finally found some books by a local Bostonian called Jim Stinson. But now he’s happy to see Fathers for Good as a resource he didn’t have. Fathers for Good is for all dads, including men who want to be dads. Brian said the average user of the site is a man over 40 who has two children in their teens. The demographic are men on the web looking for resources and advice. They are often already connected to online Catholic communities. He said the men will share their experiences with each other and this is a forum they feel comfortable doing that. Brian said one regular features is movie reviews, which help them decide whether they should watch it themselves or whether their children should see it. Secular reviews often don’t give that kind of information. They discussed other sections of the site and topics covered, including discipline, courage as a father, fathering a daughter, spirituality for fathers, a section for moms, and even how to overcome porn. There was some discussion of the prevalence of porn and the statistics of how much of an epidemic there is given easy access on the web. It’s a terrible scourge for men, Brian said. Men like to think of themselves as strong and courageous, yet they can fall so easily for such cheap images on the web. We have to look at it as right and wrong and we have to think of our loved ones. How would the men feel if their wife walked in on them or their children. Brian said they have a powerful witness from Deacon Ralph Poyo about his own former addiction to porn. Men need to pray about it and in some cases they may need a Catholic counselor and provide all kinds of resources for them to be set free to be the men and fathers they’re called to be. Scot said this isn’t just affecting men, but affects everyone. Twenty-one percent of websites are porn sites, he said. It’s a $3 billion per year business. About 8% of all email is porn-related. Twenty-five percent of all search engine requests. The average age of first viewing online porn is 11. Scot asked what new elements of the site they’ve added. Brian said they have a new Facebook page and they invite people to Like it and add their comments. They post links to new content there. The movie reviews are updated each week. The husband and wife column is also updated weekly. Right after Labor Day they will be featuring how families can get involved in the upcoming Year of Faith, starting October 11. The Knights of Columbus have recently come out with a booklet “What is the New Evangelization?” They hope to answer it in a way that is practical for families, like praying as a family and being witnesses in your community and parish. To get a booklet, write to 1 Columbus Plaza, New Haven, CT, 06510 and include $1. Scot asked about the cause for canonization of Fr. McGivney and where it stands. He said in March, 2008, Pope Benedict declared Fr. McGivney Venerable, which is the furthest stage that human effort can bring the cause. They explore all the written records, do interviews, and so on. This is ruled on by the Congregation of Saints to rule whether it is evidence of a life of virtue. He lived all the Christian virtues to a heroic level, above the level of usual sanctity. From that point, in order to verify they are in heaven, God performs a miracle due to the intercession of the Venerable person. With one miracle, they are declared Blessed. When a second miraculous healing verified by the Vatican occurs, they can be canonized. Fr. McGivney’s process began in 1997. They are currently looking into a reported miracle regarding the intercession of Fr. McGivney. Brian asked for listeners to hope and pray for the canonization. They can order the canonization prayer card for free and can join the Canonization Guild for free at a special website. Scot said if canonized, Fr. McGivney would be the first American priest who didn’t found an order or became a bishop to be made a saint. Brian also suggested listeners check out their news website called Headline Bistro.…
Summary of today’s show: The Year of Faith declared by Pope Benedict XVI is rapidly approaching and Archbishop Rino Fisichella, head of the Vatican’s efforts centered on the New Evangelization, recently gave a landmark address on the topic to an Australian national conference on the topic. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell are joined by Michael Lavigne to discuss the address and to talk about what the New Evangelization and the Year of Faith will mean for us in Boston. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Michael Lavigne of the Office of the Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Archbishop Rino Fisichella on the Year of Faith and the New EVangelization 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Mark O’Connell to the show. Fr. Mark said at the end of each summer, the SMA Fathers, an African missionary order based in Dedham, welcomes people from all over the archdiocese, including Cardinal Seán and many archdiocesan priests. There was a Mass celebrated by the cardinal and a dinner with traditional African foods. Scot said today we will be discussing an address given by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for New Evangelization, to the the Church in Australia. He discussed the upcoming Year of Faith that has been proclaimed by Pope Benedict, including just what it is and what we’re expected to do. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcome Michael Lavigne from the Office of the Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization. Michael said plans for the upcoming Year of Faith are well underway and they hope to make announcements after Labor Day. Scot said Cardinal Seán has allocated a lot of resources in the archdiocese to the Year of Faith. Michael explained what the New Evangelization is. He said it’s focus is on those who are already baptized, especially those who are Catholic, including those who have fallen away from the faith or even those who sit next to us in the pews who don’t know the faith or don’t know friendship with Christ. Scot said growing up here, after he went through CCD in eight grade, confirmation prep was not formal catechetical classes and then there was nothing after that. Beyond eighth grade, for most people it was a self-study. This New Evangelization is tied to adult faith formation. Michael said he grew up very involved in his church, but realized at age 19 that he didn’t really know about about the faith. Now today we have the Internet and all kinds of resources and we need to do a better job at pointing people to those resources. Scot asked Michael about the difference between knowing about Christ and knowing him in a personal way. Michael said the idea of truly embracing the faith and being called to holiness wasn’t present in his childhood. His knowledge of the faith was more about himself than about Christ and others. Scot said for those listening who feel the same way Michael did, they shouldn’t feel like they have done something wrong. The Year of Faith is a recognition that many Catholics are in this same boat. Fr. Mark said it’s the responsibility of the community to be evangelizers to the community and not to be alone in their own faith. Scot said Archbishop Fisichella, as the leader of the Vatican efforts in the Year of Faith, was invited to address an Australia-wide evangelization conference. It’s the first time he’s given such a significant address in English and it applies to the whole English-speaking world. The address is entitled “The timeliness of the proclamation” and begins: In the very first line of his Motu Proprio, Ubicumque et Semper, which officially established the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, Pope Benedict XVI draws the attention of all to the person of Jesus Christ. “It is the duty of the Church to proclaim always and everywhere the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He, the first and supreme evangelizer, commanded the Apostles on the day of his Ascension to the Father: ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you’” (Mt 28:19). Such a beginning emphasizes both the necessity of placing Jesus Christ at the center of the new evangelization and the importance of recognizing that the faith received from the Apostles and that which is to be preached is namely the person of Jesus Christ. Scot said when you think of all the Church teaching and all the books written about the faith, Archbishop Fisichella is saying that’s all great but let’s boil it down to the Good News of Jesus Christ and the person of Jesus. Fr. Mark said there is a unique approach here by the Pope and the archbishop: We need to have a personal relationship with Jesus, beyond being in church on Sundays. Michael said being Christian is first and foremost about Jesus Christ and the essential truths about Him. Scot said there’s so much we do as Catholics, like our social ministries, but even before we begin those good acts, we need to slow down and reflect on the revelation, love, and person of Jesus Christ, who took on flesh and taught us so much, and then offered himself as a sacrifice for us only to rise again. We have to take time to reflect on that, especially if we’re too busy doing all the other things we have to do as Christians. Michael said we should awake every morning and re-center ourselves in Christ, to reflect on this beautiful gift of life. From both Scripture and Tradition, we can see that the path of the new evangelization has been marked out: we are called to renew the proclamation of Jesus Christ, of the mystery of his death and resurrection to stimulate people once more to have faith in him by means of conversion of life. If our eyes were still capable of seeing into the depths of the events which mark the lives of our contemporaries, it would be easy to show how much this message still holds a place of special importance. Therefore, we need to direct our reflection towards the meaning of life and death, and of life beyond death; to face such questions, those affecting people’s existence and determining their personal identity, Jesus Christ cannot be an outsider. If the proclamation of the new evangelization does not find its power in the element of mystery which surrounds life and which relates us to the infinite mystery of the God of Jesus Christ, it will not be capable of the effectiveness required to elicit the response of faith. Scot said he says we just need to tie this mystery of Jesus Christ to the biggest questions: What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of death? What happens after death? Michael said every human being is wired to ask those questions and we know the answer starts first and foremost with Jesus Christ. Fr. Mark said the key is to make it relevant to the people in the pew. They can’t just start from scratch: “You need to love Jesus more.” We need to show them why it’s important to give this priority. Scot said the archbishop is saying to compete with everything else in life first with the big questions. The ideologies that de-evangelize people don’t have answers to these questions. Michael said when his brother’s firstborn was born, he told him about the excitement and how when he first held his daughter, it made him think about God and how God made him and why God made him. We need to engage people in the every day moments to evangelize them in that way. Christ, who is the new Adam, revealing the mystery of the Father and of his love, reveals man fully to himself and manifests to him his most exalted vocation… Through the Incarnation, the Son of God united himself in a certain sense to every human being. He worked with human hands, thought with human intelligence, acted with a human will and loved with a human heart. Being born of the Virgin Mary, he made himself truly one of us, like us in all things but sin. The innocent lamb, freely shedding his blood, he earned for us eternal life; in him God has reconciled us to himself and with one another and he has torn us away from slavery to the devil and to sin, such that each one of us can say, along with the apostle: the Son of God ‘has loved me and sacrificed himself for me’ (Gal 2:20). By suffering for us, he has not only given us an example that we might follow in his steps, but he has also opened up for us the way we are to go; if we follow it, life and death will be sanctified and will be given new meaning” (Quoting from Gaudium et Spes, the 2nd Vatican Council document) Fr. Mark said Jesus loves us as we are. We don’t have to get our lives in order first. Jesus walks with us and gives meaning to us in this life. Yet, before proceeding to a further discussion on the Year of Faith, it is necessary to examine, from a unique perspective, the present crisis in which society finds itself; that with respect to its connection to the question of God. The new evangelization cannot think that this question lies beyond its field. In contrast to the past, today we do not encounter great systems of atheism, if they were ever great; hence, the question of God needs to be addressed in a different way. Today God is not denied, but is unknown. In some respects, it could be said that, paradoxically, interest in God and in religion has grown. Nevertheless, what I note is the strong emotive connotation and declining religion in the plural; there is no interest in a religion and much less for the theme of the ‘true religion’; what seems to count are, rather, religious experiences. People are looking for different modalities of religion, selected by everyone taking up that which they find pleasing in the sense of ensuring for them that religious experience which they find more satisfying on the basis of their interests or needs at the moment. To this must be added that, especially for the younger generations, their horizon of understanding is characterized by a mentality strongly influenced by scientific research and by technology. These achievements, unfortunately, already hold the upper hand, even with respect to the basic elements of grammar and to culture in general. Thus, the new evangelization requires the capacity to know how to give an explanation of our own faith, showing Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the sole savior of humanity. To the extent that we are capable of this, we will be able to offer our contemporaries the response they are awaiting. Scot said the challenge if the New Evangelization today is not competing with atheism, but the bad practice of religion, a watered-down form of religious practice. People say they are spiritual, but not religious. Michael recalled how in his youth, the church youth group was not appreciably different from the Boy Scouts or other organizations and so people feel okay going anywhere. Scot said it’s a consumeristic view in seeking experiences that make me feel good, but not seeking the truth or anything that makes us uncomfortable in a good way. Fr. Mark likes the line: “we will be able to offer our contemporaries the response they are awaiting.” The only way to do that is to be more involved in our own faith, to know our own faith, to be part of our parish in a meaningful way. The new evangelization begins once more from this point, from the conviction that grace acts upon us and transforms us to the point of bringing about a conversion of heart, and of the credibility of our witness. … Hiding away in our churches might bring us some consolation, but it would render Pentecost vain. It is time to throw open wide the doors and to return to announcing the resurrection of Christ, whose witnesses we are. As the holy bishop Ignatius wrote, “It is not enough to be called Christians; we must be Christians in fact.” If someone today wants to recognize Christians, he must be able to do so not on the basis of their intentions, but on the basis of their commitment in the faith. If we want to be effective in the New Evangelization, we need to first ask for a conversion in ourselves. And then through ourselves, witness through our actions. Fr. Mark related a story he heard from a comedian who gives himself credit for having charitable thoughts, but never follows through. Michael said we need to have an integrity. Thus, the Year of Faith is a path, an opportunity, that the Christian community offers to the many people who possess a longing for God and a profound desire to meet him again in their lives. It is essential, therefore, that believers recognize the responsibility to provide an authentic companionship of faith, to become a neighbor to those who seek the reasons for and explanations of our Catholic beliefs. These opportunities, provided by the Year of Faith to form authentic friendships in faith, bring to the fore the very question of community. Scot said Christianity is a team sport, meant to be experienced as a group where we all work together to help each other. Fr. Mark reflected on what makes a good neighbor, someone who’s willing to help out, who is concerned with your well-being. Michael said the Archdiocese’s efforts will be focusing on the creed and the Catechism and the meaning of the Second Vatican Council. The second part will be to focus on prayer and all the different ways we all pray as Catholics. The third part will be becoming active witnesses to those around us, discerning the ways the Holy Spirit is giving us the opportunity to act and to share our faith with others. Scot said there will be a lot of opportunities to come together in person, including for those who haven’t been to church in a long time. Michael said this will be at both the parish level and archdiocesan level. Fr. Mark said some people are afraid of studying, that there is a fear that the faith is out of touch. He said the Church is pointing out in particular the documents of the Vatican II and they are rich and have the answers and are relevant. Scot said the Catechism of the Catholic Church is a tremendous document, but it may be difficult to read for beginners, so he recommends the YouCat, which is very accessible given in question and answer format. Scot wanted to end with two quotes from Archbishop Fisichella. The first was from Cardinal Ratzinger made about a week before he was made Pope: “What we need at this time of history are people, who, through a faith which is enlightened and lived out in practice, make God credible in this world … We need people who keep their gaze fixed upon God, learning from there what true humanity is. We need people whose intellect is enlightened by the light of God and whose hearts God may open up in such a way that their intellect may speak to the intellect of others and that their hearts may open the hearts of others. Only through people who are touched by God can God return to humanity.” Hence, the new evangelization starts from here: from the credibility of our living as believers and from the conviction that grace acts and transforms to the point of converting the heart. It is a journey which still finds Christians committed to it after two thousand years of history. Scot’s favorite part is that we need people who keep their gaze fixed on God, learning from there was true humanity is. Michael said the key to what we do is that it’s all about Who, Jesus Christ. God uses as instruments of grace for those around us. It’s about God first and foremost so I let go of me and let God work through me. Fr. Mark said we often hear people say they wish they listened years ago, but the Year of Faith is an opportunity for us to jump in now. Archbishop Fishichella concluded with this story from the Middle Ages: A poet passed by some work being conducted and saw three workers busy at their work; they were stone cutters. He turned to the first and said: ‘What are you doing, my friend?’ This man, quite indifferently, replied: ‘I am cutting a stone’. He went a little further, saw the second and posed to him the same question, and this man replied, surprised: ‘I am involved in the building of a column’. A bit further ahead, the pilgrim saw the third and to this man also he put the same question; the response, full of enthusiasm, was: ‘I am building a cathedral’. The old meaning is not changed by the new work we are called to construct. There are various workers called into the vineyard of the Lord to bring about the new evangelization; all of them will have some reason to offer to explain their commitment. What I wish for and what I would like to hear is that, in response to the question: ‘What are you doing, my friend?’, each one would be able to reply: ‘I am building a cathedral’. Every believer who, faithful to his baptism, commits himself or herself with effort and with enthusiasm every day to give witness to their own faith offers their original and unique contribution to the construction of their great cathedral in the world of today. It is the Church of our Lord, Jesus, his body and his spouse, the people constantly on the way without ever becoming weary, which proclaims to all that Jesus is risen, has come back to life, and that all who believe in him will share in his own mystery of love, the dawn of a day which is always new and which will never fade. Fr. Mark said he knows that God has created each one of us for a reason and while we could spend our lives running away from that meaning, we should spend our lives understanding and fulfilling what God has called us to do. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Jesus said to the crowds: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." Scot said the readings hits both the original hearers of the time and us today. He said we are called to “gnaw” on the flesh of Jesus and drink his blood, as it literally says in the original Greek. For Jews to even touch blood was to become unclean, so this was incredibly shocking. To follow him as a disciple we need to understand the great gift of the Eucharist for us. Michael said this is the source and summit of the Christian life and who we are as Catholics. One of those things he wrestled with as a 19-year-old was this mystery and so he took Christ at his word and believed without having understanding. It’s critical to those of us called to witness to receive the Eucharist regularly because it will empower us in all we will face. Scot said the kernel of the Good News is right here. Fr. Mark said the Old Testament fed people with literal food for the journey and Jesus gives us his body and blood as true food for the journey, whatever journey we take. If we live the Christian life the right way, we will be uncomfortable at times, but Jesus gives us what we need to accept whatever challenge we receive. Scot said this reading tells us not to take the Eucharist for granted. This food nourishes us for eternity. Michael said St. Thomas Aquinas points out that Christians live life abundantly, but that with the Eucharist we live out life super-abundantly, ultimately with God in heaven. It gives us a taste of heaven. Scot said we can take the greatest things in our life for granted, even our spouses and children. We have to approach the Eucharist without taking it for granted. Fr. Mark said if we truly understood and didn’t take it for granted truly, we would approach the altar on our knees and in awe. Michael said the Eucharist is the source of the Christian life because all grace that enables us comes from us. It’s the summit because it’s the place where we gather as a community, as brothers and sisters in faith.…
Summary of today’s show: On our first live Thursday show in several weeks our panel of Scot Landry, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy look at the news headlines of the week, including the passing of pro-life icon Nellie Gray; the Republican Party’s pick of vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan who ensures that the next vice-president will be Catholic; and the controversy over the New York archdiocese’s Al Smith Dinner and Cardinal Dolan’s traditional invitation to the sitting president to attend. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Nellie Gray; Paul Ryan; Al Smith dinner 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and said Susan Abbott had the day off from the show. He welcomed Gregory Tracy to the show and they caught up on what Greg has been doing since he’s last been on the show about a month ago, including his vacation on a lake in southern Virginia. Scot then welcomed Fr. Roger to the show and they talked about his trip to the Caribbean and St. Lucia and the unique way of celebrating the liturgy with the local steel drum music. Scot said we’re beginning today’ examination of the news with a story about the death of one of Cardinal Seán’s heroes, Nellie Gray, the organizer of the annual March for Life in Washington, DC for the past 39 years. Greg said Cardinal Seán had known Nellie from the beginning of the March when he was just a Franciscan priest serving in DC. Having received news of Nellie Gray’s death, I wish to express my sincere condolences and prayers for her family and for all who came to know and love her in the Pro-Life Movement. Her love for life and her dedication to protecting the unborn, the most vulnerable among us, have inspired countless generations of Catholics and non-Catholics alike, and we will miss her tremendously. Nellie Gray will be remembered as the Joan of Arc of the Gospel of Life. The architects of the pro-abortion movement in the United States thought that the opposition would go away, but close to 40 years later the issue is still very much alive, thanks in part to the annual March for Life and because of people like Nellie who are committed to the culture of life. Having participated in every single March for Life since its inception, I have witnessed firsthand her advocacy and dedication. I was honored by her presence in Boston in 2009, when during the Boston Catholic Women’s Conference we conferred upon her the Culture of Life Award. Her death is a great loss for both our Church and our Country, but her life has left a meaningful and lasting impression upon the hearts of those who knew her and upon the many hearts of those whose lives she saved. We will keep Nellie Gray and all those who mourn her death in our prayers. We ask God to grant her eternal rest and peace, and we give thanks to Him for the gift of her life. Scot asked Fr. Roger what it means for her to be the Joan of Arc of the Gospel of Life. Fr. Roger said in the great battle between life and death, she had all the great virtues of a real military leader, including organization and courage. She was also an incredible inspiration in her faith just as the young girl in armor inspired so many men in her cause. Nellie as like that as well. Scot said Nellie leaves much in her legacy, including the many lives saved. she was never officially asked by the bishops, but responded to a need and that effort was blessed by the bishops. Scot said the Church needs many entrepreneurs who want to innovate. He said the March for Life is one of the biggest gatherings in the Church in the US ever year. Greg said he has gone nearly every year he’s worked for the Pilot and he has seen it grow younger in that there are more and more young people coming every year. Greg said he was touched by Nellie’s story and to see that she started her work on the March later in her life and she thought at first it was going to be a one-time deal and she ended up doing it for the rest of her life. Fr. Roger said the March for Life allows people not to feel alone in being pro-life, especially in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He recalls the first time going to the March when he was a pro-life student leader at Harvard and it wasn’t easy. He remembers being warmed by the presence of so many from colleges all over the country, proudly standing up for life. He believes that today the median age of the participants is under 22 and this is what frightens those on the other side of the issue. 3rd segment: Scot said last week Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, a Catholic, as his running mate. For the first time, we have two Catholics on the opposing tickets. Greg said Ryan’s selection is a good choice, bringing something to the ticket that Romney lacked. In addition to being pro-life and pro-marriage, he appeals to a wing of the Republican party that wanted someone more conservative. Scot said he and Fr. Roger speculated in the days leading up to the announcement about the running mate and Fr. Roger had picked Ryan. He had a sense that Ryan would be good on economic issues for the Republican ticket because he’s been articulate on these issues. He has a plan that’s coherent and compelling, even if not everyone will agree with specifics or even generalities. Fr. Roger said that as an individual and as a moral theologian, we he recognizes the need to address the massive federal dent. What he likes about Paul Ryan is that he not only goes to Mass on Sunday (Biden himself goes to Mass every Sunday too), the faith appears to penetrates Ryan’s life in a way that it doesn’t for Biden. Fr. Roger said there was an interesting exchange of letters between Ryan and Cardinal Dolan on economics and the federal budget in which Ryan showed his facility with Catholic theology. Fr. Roger noted that some more liberal Catholics, like the National Catholic Reporter, have criticized Ryan as a “dissenting” Catholic. Fr. Roger said Ryan has argued persuasively for his point of view as compatible with Catholic social teaching. If Ryan can engage so well with Cardinal Dolan, it shows Catholics how we should know our faith. Scot said in the coming months part of the election story will be the defining of what it means to be a good Catholic in the public sphere. Greg said many Catholics feel like they are political orphans without a party because neither party fully represents their views. In the past the Democrat Party was the party of choice for many Catholics and many older Catholics still reflexively vote Democrat. Greg noted that the bishops don’t tell Catholics for whom to vote, but they do propose the principles and application of the principles by which Catholics should consider candidates. Scot said one of the ways Catholics form their consciences before voting are voting guides. There will be several voting guides coming out in the next few months. He said not all issues are created equal. He asked Fr. Roger to help listeners to prepare for the types of voting guides and the types of issues they’ll hear. Fr. Roger said there is a hierarchy of truths in the Church and some of them are so central that we would be prevented from voting for a candidate who opposes them. If there were a candidate who was very good on the economy, but wanted to torture for a candidate who wanted to torture children, we couldn’t vote for him. It doesn’t mean we had to vote for the other party, but there are some things we just can’t do. We laos have to distinguish between ends and means. We have to make sure candidates line up with the ends we want as Catholics even if we disagree on means. But if they disagree on ends, calling evil good, then we cannot support them. Fr. Roger warned that some voter guides will try to understate the Catholic faith and make an equivalence between tax policy to benefit the poor and the safeguarding of marriage. They are the same value. one is an intrinsic evil in which it can never be done and the other is a narrow issue in which it could be applied in some cases. Voting is a moral decision and like any more decision we will have to answer to God for it. What values will we show to God? Scot said one of the most important political events in the Catholic realm each year is the annual Al Smith Dinner in New York. Al Smith was a Catholic presidential candidate in the early 20th century. Before the presidential election, the major party candidates are invited to the dinner, which benefits Catholic healthcare for the poor. This year’s invitation to President Obama and Mitt Romney has generated controversy, with some shocked that the Catholic Church would bring the architect of the HHS mandate to this fundraiser for Catholic healthcare. Greg said it’s always been the tradition to invite the candidates, except on a few occasions and when that has happened, there has been criticism of the Church for seeming partisan. Cardinal Dolan has made it clear that the issue of the HHS mandate is not partisan. He also noted that tone of the dinner is lighthearted and Cardinal Dolan has said that this isn’t a honor being given neither is it a platform for Obama to expound on his views. He also made a point that he wants to bring a level of civility to politics. We want to dialogue with the government on the HHS mandate. What would it say to the president if we said we couldn’t stand to be in the same room with him for dinner? Scot asked Fr. Roger for his take on the controversy. He said some people want to see that this is an opportunity to make a point about Obama. Fr. Roger said what motivates a lot of critics is that many Church leaders have been pathetically soft on Catholic legislators who have dissented from Church teaching and so many see this incident in that light. At the same time, we have to beware of a pharisaicalism in which we write off all the sinners. The Pharisees took such great exception to Jesus talking to, eating with, and going into the homes of sinners and Cardinal Dolan is receiving the same kind of criticism. Some people want a kind of excommunication for Obama, but Fr. Roger thinks we need to keep lines of communication open and have an opportunity to have a conversation that highlights how the Catholic charity they’re raising money for is just the kind that is affected by the HHS mandate. Cardinal Dolan also said he hoped his own credentials in defense of life would prevent people from questioning them or questioning their own relationship with the Church. Scot said in local stories about Fr. Jack Ahern and Fr. Doc Conway receiving awards from the City of Boston for their work stopping crime in Dorchester; the news of Fr. Thomas Foley being sworn in as a chaplain in the US Air Force; the retirement of Fr. Robert Kennedy; and a priest-physician who gives a unique perspective on physician-assisted suicide.…
Summary of today’s show: Fr. Eric Bennett has been a priest of the Archdiocese for just over six weeks now and joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to talk about what it’s been like to finally live and minister as a priest, what is just what he expected, and what has been a surprise to him. They also discuss today’s Feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe and Fr. Chris’ vacation in Poland the couple of weeks, as well as tomorrow’s Feast of the Assumption. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Eric Bennett Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Catching up with newly ordained Fr. Eric Bennett 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomes every one back to the show after two weeks of vacation and Best Of shows. He welcomed Fr. Chris O’Connor to the show. Scot said on his vacation included a trip to Pennsylvania for a reunion with college friends and a visit to Niagara Falls. Fr. Chris visited Poland. He visited Krakow, the hometown of Pope John Paul II, where the faith is very much alive and vibrant. They also visited Auschwitz. He said the first thing that hits you is the organization of evil, the extermination of people in a systematic way. But also profound was the cell of Maximilian Kolbe, the Franciscan priest who gave his life in the place of a married father. Today is the Feast day of St. Maximilian. A candle continues to burn in that cell as the sign that the light of Christ shines in the darkness and evil has not overcome it. Today’s guest is Fr. Eric Bennett, one of six men ordained by Cardinal Sean in June. Scot said Fr. Eric has also visited Auschwitz. Fr. Eric said he too was astonished by the organization of evil, but also the goodness that God did through Kolbe. Despite the mass murders, the legend that lives on is the story of hope from those who gave their lives and survived. Fr. Chris said St. Maximilian is one of his favorite saints because he’s not like a museum piece that you can’t identify with. This man, however, walked the earth only 60 years ago. He was a priest who had a sense of what his vocation is about. He’s very real. Fr. Eric said for someone to give their life, it’s a culmination of the living of a virtuous life knowing Christ’s love. He said this morning in his homily at Mass he spoke of the opportunity for a “white” martyrdom for everyone every day as opposed to St. Maximilian’s “red” martyrdom. Fr. Chris said Kolbe’s example resonates with young people immediately because the choice was so stark. He rose to the occasion and stepped forward when he could have just kept his head down and stayed silent. Scot said one of the legends of the pro-life movement, Nellie Gray, died over the weekend. She had organized the March for Life after Roe v. Wade came down and Cardinal Seán was very close to her, going to every one of the marches for 39 years. Back in 2009, the Boston Catholic Women’s Conference gave Nellie Gray the Culture of Life award. Cardinal Seán called her the Joan of Arc of the pro-life movement. Fr. Chris has been on the March for Life. He said many vocations have come from the March and St. John’s Seminary sends all its men every year to the March. Even more profound is the numbers of young people from all over the country walking in peaceful protest. The March instills in young people at a very young age of the value, gift, and sanctity of human life. Gray said what keeps her motivated to maintain the fight is that 50,000,000 babies are killed each year. “That should make front-page news in the New York Times and Washington Post,” she said. “But it doesn’t. The people are kept in the dark. The feminist movement has manipulated popular opinion with language like ‘pro choice,’ and a ‘woman’s right to privacy.’ After fighting against evil in World War II, I get very upset that we have Americans trying to justify abortion. Americans cannot think they can authorize the killing of an unborn child. Somehow a juggernaut of evil has grown in this country, including Catholics who vote for pro-choice candidates. We will never win this fight until this juggernaut is exposed and eliminated. I just don’t know how we’re going to do it.” Fr. Eric said for the first time this year there was a March for Life in the city of Rome and the pro-life movement in Europe is looking to emulate the movement in the United States. 2nd segment: Scot said Fr. Eric is assigned this summer at St. Brigid-Gate of Heaven Parish in South Boston before he heads back to Rome for his final year of study. Fr. Eric said he recently talked to a friend about he’s finally able to be in the parish as a priest, after anticipating this for six years. The most beautiful part is how people open up to him, how deep their faith is, the trust they put in their priests and that is very humbling. Fr. Chris said Fr. Eric had mentioned to him that hearing confessions has been profound. Fr. Eric said he’s impressed by how people want to be in union with Christ through Communion and forgiveness of their sins. It makes him to want to be a better person to see how they’re growing in holiness. Fr. Eric has also been visiting inmates to hear how they are growing in faith. Fr. Eric said the people recognize the fundamental change in him and people more than twice his age now call him Father and recognize him as priest. Scot said people sometimes try to define a priest by the duties he performs, but spiritual father is also a relationship. Scot asked Fr. Eric about the duties and whether any of those activities surprise him after ordination. Fr. Eric said this past weekend they had a cleanup of St. Augustine chapel in the cemetery in South Boston and he was surprised by the simple and humble response of people wanting to come and honor the dead through their service. The chapel is the oldest Catholic building in the archdiocese and the earliest priests are buried there. The people want to be part of a culture and a community more than just join to Mass. Fr. Chris asked about the experience of homily preparation and preaching. He said as a deacon he had weeks to prepare homilies, but now he has to prepare one every day. He reads the Scriptures the day before, tries to find a story to make a connection to the Gospel, and he looks forward to developing a sense of where he’s heading in preaching, developing a preaching plan with goals and milestones, like a teaching plan. He is trying to look at virtues and talk about how to live as a Catholic today. Scot asked about Fr. Eric’s preaching style. He doesn’t go off the cuff, but goes from a complete written text so he doesn’t ramble. Fr. Chris said every priest has a basic homily they preach. Fr. Eric said in order to live as Catholics we need to know God and his love, so we go to the sacraments to know and receive his love and are sent forth into the world to help the world know and love him. Fr. Chris asked Fr. Eric what the experience off going into prison to preach is like. Fr. Eric said he feels like he needs to tailor his homily to the particular community. This weekend, at the prison, he didn’t go from a text and went off the cuff and relied on the movement of the Holy Spirit. Because they don’t have Mass all the time, he feels like he can be a little more braid-based and general in his approach. Scot asked about why its important for people to pray every day and get to daily Mass. Fr. Eric said we all need a reminder each day about how God loves us. At Mass we come to the Lord and receive him and we are in Communion with him. Everything in life flows from him. It’s our opportunity to ask God to help us work on one thing that day. It was praying every day while a student at Boston University changed his life. As a child we go to Mass out of obligation, but as adults we go because we understand Jesus Christ is our happiness. Fr. Chris said the Mass can become rote and habit. We need to go to Mass as if it were our first Mass, our last Mass, our only Mass. Mother Teresa first said that to priests, asking them to celebrate the Mass in that way. Scot said many people are doing their best to be Catholic but only going through the motions. He asked how God spoke to Fr. Eric so he recognized that he was taking God for granted. Fr. Eric said Fr. Paul Helfrich of the Brotherhood of Hope had patience with him as his spiritual director and walked beside him the whole way. 3rd segment: Scot said tomorrow is the Feast of Assumption, a holy day of obligation for Catholics. Scot said the educational process in seminary in Rome is slightly different, which is why Fr. Eric is returning to Rome. He is getting a Licentiate degree, which is equivalent to a Master’s Degree. He has been asked by Cardinal Seán to study moral theology at the Angelicum in Rome. Fr. Chris asked what it was like to meet Pope Benedict with Cardinal Seán. Fr. Eric said he went as secretary for one of the auxiliary bishops during an ad limina visit. Scot said Rome is a wonderful place to study for the priesthood. Fr. Eric said he sees the universality of the church in Rome. It also becomes home. When people come and see Rome for the first time, it reignites his own faith, as does the excitement and joy of people from around the world. Scot asked Fr. Eric what kind of pastoral service he did in Rome. Fr. Eric said he wishes he would have had an opportunity to work in a parish, but he was able to do street evangelization in St. Peter’s Square with the Legion of Mary, encouraging people to see their visit as a pilgrimage. He’s also worked on a college campus in campus ministry there. Fr. Eric said clerics and a smile go a long way to breaking the ice with the people they talked to in the square. People often approached him, sometimes with mundane questions of Mass times, or they would go and introduce themselves to people who might seem lost. Fr. Chris asked what the blessing has been from studying in Rome. Fr. Eric said one blessing is seeing how the Church lives in Rome, but also seeing how people mix the way they live their faith with those from elsewhere. Scot said his brother Fr. Roger Landry couldn’t wait to get to Rome after ordination in order to celebrate Mass at the great places. Fr. Eric said he is too, as well as going to places throughout Europe to celebrate Mass in the great churches and at the altars of great saints. He also helps to encourage the men coming up behind him to see that ordination is not too far away. Fr. Eric said he’s also been blessed to spend his time studying for the priesthood from all over the United States. That can be difficult, but it can also be educational in how they share their pastoral strategies and how the Lord is working in other dioceses. Fr. Chris asked about the unique characteristics of Gate of Heaven and St. Brigid in South Boston. He said they have a lot of pride in their community. There’s an older generation with deep roots that is slowly being supplanted by young adults without the same roots. One of the plans for the future is to reach out to them. Scot said Gate of Heaven is magnificent church and would be a cathedral in many dioceses. Fr. Eric said Fr. Bob Casey has done a great job at maintaining and renovating the parishes. They discussed what life is like in the rectory there where there are several priests that cross several generations.…
The Good Catholic Life is on summer vacation! In the meantime, we're bringing you some of our favorite shows. We will return on August 14 with an all-new show. Summary of today’s show: Chuck Hall has had a long journey through just about every Christian denomination until finally landing in the Catholic Church, where he is now preparing for ordination as a deacon. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell listen to Chuck tell his tale, from hippy to evangelical Christian to Catholic in 2008, and how he furthered discerned the call to the diaconate. Also the role that G.K. Chesterton played in his conversion. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Chuck Hall Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: A convert becomes a Catholic deacon with help from Chesterton 1st segment: Scot asked Fr. Mark about the concert by the Three Priests that we did a show about last week. Fr. Mark said they sang all the standards and the concert hall had many priests in it. He said most of the priests were dressed casually, except they all had black pants and black socks and were easily picked out. Scot said this week was a Mass celebrating men who have been ordained for 25 years. Fr. Mark said he was a first year theology student in the seminary when these men were fourth year. Twelve men were present for the Mass, while four more couldn’t attend because they are serving outside the archdiocese. Fr. Mark said this week he had his third-year theology seminarians for Mass this week at the Pastoral Center. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Chuck Hall. He’s studying for the diaconate and is a parishioner at Our Lady of Hope in Ipswich. Scot asked him about his preparation for the diaconate. Chuck said it’s been an incredible experience and it’s being revealed why God led him to this place. He has great affection for the deacon brothers and their families he’s in formation with. There are 15 men in his class from a variety of backgrounds. Chuck said he’s so busy with formation now, he’s not as involved in his parish as he was, but he previously started the Wednesday evening prayer group and has been active in Bible studies. He’s also been involved in music in the life of the Church. This is new for him. One of the surprises of formation was that his musical past has a place in his life in the Church. His love for music in the past came flowing back to him in an unexpected way. Scot said Chuck is halfway through the four-year program. He said the first year is a year of discernment. He talked about one of his first classes, which helps with spiritual discernment. Fr. Mark asked about the wives’ involvement. Chuck said his wife came to every single activity in the first year, but in the second year she missed a class and broke her perfect attendance. Scot recalled his time in the seminary and having the time to slow down and pray and discern, and that was tough to maintain when he left. Chuck said one of the lessons from a class this year was the understanding of a number of things about the Catholic that he never fully grasped before. As a convert, he doesn’t have the reflexive knowledge of the faith that others have. To see it broken out in the class, he understands now the why and how. He’s learned for the first time how the Mass is a sacrament, what baptism is about and how it introduces us to the life of God. Chuck says becoming a deacon was not his idea, but when he looked into, all the doors opened, and all the other doors closed. God was telling him he as enough information and God wanted him to have more formation. Chuck said after becoming Catholic he got involved in the parish, helping start a prayer group and responding to an ad in the bulletin for Eucharistic ministers at a local hospital, which has been very fruitful. He went to the pastor and gave him his idea for starting a prayer group in the parish. The pastor said, Ask the pastor and then go do it. He was surprised at the lack of bureaucracy. In the course of that, people he would encounter at the parish or hospital or at the software company he worked at would ask him if he’d thought about the diaconate. One time at the hospital, he visited a patient. When he came in the room, the man was talking on his phone to someone and at the end of the conversation, the man said, “I have to go,. The deacon is here to talk to me.” When he talked to his priest, he told him that God seemed to be calling him. Chuck said the deacon has a particular role in the Church, different from priests or religious or laypeople. They have one foot in the world and one foot in the parish. They are always in places that priests or religious are not. The particular call to the diaconate is a call to be an icon in the world. It involves a deep commitment. Scot said Chuck attended his first Mass in 2006 and only came into the Church in 2008 from Evangelical Christianity. He said one of the misconceptions of people considering the call is that it’s all up to them, but instead it’s up to both the Church and the person discerning. If the Church decides the deacon candidate is not being call to the ministry, then that’s it. Chuck said that as a convert he had a strong sense of the integrity of the Magisterium and believes that the Church isn’t going o let him down. The Church wants to help form him and discern for him and he’s going to let them do that. Fr. Mark said he read the Chuck defended the Church even before he was Catholic. It happened around the time of the scandals and in conversations with a friend about conspiracy theories surrounding the “DaVinci Code” and gnostic writings. He had suggested that his friend should read some materials, and as he was digging into the early Church fathers, he began to see the evidence for the Church’s claims. One of the books he suggested was . As he began to hear about the scandals, despite being a Presbyterian, he began to feel that it was his Church being attacked, that all Christians had a stake in the Church. In most of the world, when people think Christians, they think Catholic. Even Hollywood always equates the two. So there must be something about theChurch is she’s always the target and always has this body of wisdom in it. He said G.K. Chesterton is very unusual: It’s both too militant and too passive, too much this and too much the opposite. So he picked up a copy of the Catechism and see what the Church really believes. It produced a full picture of his own belief, but opening it all up even further. He began to feel that this is Jesus’ Church. Scot said its natural for a Christian man to defend what’s important to you. He said a lot of men return to the Church because they feel called to defend it and so they pick up the Catechism and take other steps to lose their faith. Scot said Chuck came of age in the 60s and began to respond to Christ’s call in the 70s. He went through a lot of different Christian groups. Chuck said when he filled out his application for the diaconate program he was supposed to fill out a spiritual biography. It was pointed out to him how he zigged and zagged through is life, but from his own viewpoint it’s a straight line in how he responded to God at any particular point in time. His first “God moment” was when he was 8 and went to see a friend and she was at Catechism class at her Catholic church. As he was walking home, he thought, “If God exists, that’s all that matters.” He recalls thinking that’s too big for him, but that it’s true. His parents dropped him off at the local Protestant church on Sundays to get a religious education that for a faith they didn’t share with him. So there was a lot of input from religion so when his life was beginning to fall apart in the late 60s, it was natural for him to turn to God. There came a moment when he was at a party in 1971 that was next to a church. He saw a friend take drugs and nearly die and he turned to God in the church and told Him he couldn’t do it anymore. When he told his friends that, he was directed to a new pastor in town. The pastor found himself sitting with two hippies smoking away, but Chuck was told for the first time that Jesus died for him. At school at University of New Hampshire, Chuck became involved with Campus Crusade for Christ. It took a long time for him to really start changing. He was introduced to a lot of great writers and philosophers, like C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton. His testimony is that he cried out to God and He heard Chuck’s cry. God reached out to Chuck. Chuck started with the conservative Baptists, where he learned to love his Bible. Then he took a turn to Reformed theology, including Presbyterian Church in America. He began to sense there was more to the picture, including the corporal works of mercy. He came to understand that these things need to be part of his life. He went to his minister and asked how to discern how to show these things in his life. The minister told Chuck that if he’s called to these, the minister will know before Chuck will. Chuck knew that was the wrong answer. When Chuck would take communion at the Presbyterian church (not Catholic communion, they don’t believe in the Real Presence) once per month like they did, he would be in tears. This was the beginning of his move to Catholicism. Scot said he read in Chuck’s biography of the importance of G.K. Chesterton for those thinking of converting to Catholicism. Chuck said he was introduced to Chesterton through his Father Brown mystery stories. He realized that there was a lot more in the books than just a mystery. At one point, he was at Keene State College studying classical guitar and he met a used book store owner he sold him many Chesterton books. He began to realize while he was reading “Orthodoxy” that he was becoming accustomed to the way the mind works and how one forms a philosophy. Chesterton, who was not a theologian, but a journalist, wrote about what the Catholic mind thinks about. When Chuck finally decided to convert to Catholicism, all that Chesterton he’d read came back to him. Fr. Mark asked where someone should start with Chesterton. Chuck said the Father Brown stories is a good place to start. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. The whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “Would that we had died at the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread! But you had to lead us into this desert to make the whole community die of famine!” Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will now rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not. “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God.” In the evening quail came up and covered the camp. In the morning a dew lay all about the camp, and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground. On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another, “What is this?” for they did not know what it was. But Moses told them, “This is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.” Gospel for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 5, 2012 (John 6:24–35) When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” So they said to him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.” So they said to him, “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.? So Jesus said to them, ”Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." So they said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” Scot asked how can you miss the complaints of the Israelites? They’re cranky because they’re hungry, but even despite that God supplied them materially with the food so they wouldn’t be hungry and so they would know he cares for them. Fr. Mark said none of us can excuse ourselves. How often do we grumble against God? But God in the Old Testament says okay, so I will feed you. So now the disciples ask Jesus what he will feed them. More than physical food, he gives the food that feeds our body and soul. Scot said Jesus says they came to him because the disciples at the loaves and are filled. How often do we pray for material things thinking that will be for our good. Jesus instead says do not work for the material things. The apostles had just seen this monstrous miracle of feeding the thousands from a few loaves and fishes. But Jesus says the true bread from heaven is the one that gives life for the world in every possible way. Of course, they ask for it and he says that he is the bread of life. Jesus gives life. Jesus is life. Fr. Mark said after all the ways God has blessed us, our attitude can be “What else you got?” if we’re only looking at worldly things. Jesus wants us to keep our eyes fixed on heaven, not on the world. Scot said we say to God, help me get the life you want for me. Fr. Mark said for that to happen, we have to be silent in our prayer to listen for the voice of God.…
Summary of today’s show: Fr. Joseph Scorzello has been a priest-secretary for two cardinals, a parochial vicar, a pastor, and now a seminary professor. He joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to talk about attending seminary in Rome just after the Second Vatican Council closed; serving in several of Boston’s Italian parishes; being asked to become a priest-secretary by Cardinal Humberto Medeiros and his successor, Cardinal Bernard Law; and ultimately ending up at St. John’s Seminary where he teaches philosophy and imparts his decades of pastoral experience upon the young men who will follow him into the priesthood. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Joseph Scorzello Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Fr. Joseph Scorzello 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Chris O’Connor back to the show and notes that they are recording today at St. John Seminary. He noted that the seminary is called the heart of the Church and asked Fr. Chris what that means. Fr. Chris said this place and its purpose serves as the lifeblood of any diocese. As Cardinal Seán has said, without priests, there is no Eucharist and the Eucharist is at the heart of our Catholic existence. The seminary provides priests and those who will minister throughout the Archdiocese. While the principal purpose is to form priests, they also offer all sorts of programs to the laity as well, in order to shape and form them to be co-workers with the priests. The parish is only as good as the pastor who empowers the people around him to assist him in running the parish and in evangelization. Evangelization is a big part of our agenda. It involves every man, woman, and child in a parish so they offer programs to educate the laity in such a way that they know him in a deep and profound way and transmit that to others. Scot said The Theological Institute for the New Evangelization and St. John Seminary are able to do this work because of the great work of the faculty, including Fr. Joseph Scorzello. He asked Fr. Chris to tell listeners about Fr. Scorzello. Fr. Chris described Fr. Joe as a great mentor to him. He said he’s a man of deep prayer and is always present in the seminary and values the work of seminary formation. He said when bishops from others dioceses ask why they should send their seminarians to St. John’s, Fr. Chris notes it’s a regional seminary forming men from around New England and building those relationships among the priests and it has a great faculty, who are all united on the right stuff and who value and treasure the priesthood. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcomed Fr. Joseph Scorzello. Scot said Fr. Joe has had an interesting priestly life. He asked him about his background. Fr. Joe said he was born and lived for 10 years in East Boston and attended Most Holy Redeemer Church. They moved to Hyde Park and went to Most Precious Blood Parish and attended St. Raphael’s school. From there he went to Christopher Coilumbus High School in the North End and graduated from there in 1962 and entered Cardinal O’Connell college seminary in Jamaica Plain. After two years there, he came to St. John Seminary and studied Philosophy at St. Clement’s Hall. After two years there, he received a bachelor’s degree and was appointed by Cardinal Cushing to theological studies at the North American College in Rome and the Gregorian University. He was there for four years until 1970 and was ordained in Rome on December 19, 1969. They were ordained at the end of the first semester of the fourth year of theology which was unusual, but which was allowed for seminarians at the Gregorian University. He was ordained by Bishop Hickey, who became the cardinal archbishop of Washington, DC. Scot asked what it was like to be studying in Rome during Vatican II. He said it was exciting academically speaking. Many of the faculty were members of the commissions that put together the draft documents for the Council. Fr. Joe said it was all part of the course material he was studying. They would refer to the documents in their courses on Scripture and fundamental theology and more. He was there just a couple of years after the close of the council. Bishops came to visit who were members of the council. In 1968, Pope Paul VI wrote the important encyclical Humanae Vitae. Scot asked about the change in the liturgy and whether Fr. Joe was trained in both the old and new rites. Fr. Joe said at his ordination they had the new English translation of the Mass in a binder on the altar because it was so new. He also offered Mass in Italian. His first Christmas Eve Mass was in Italian with the workers at the North American College. Fr. Chris said there are two basic systems for seminary formation, the French system and the Italian system. St. John’s follows the French system, having been founded by the Sulpician order, where the faculty live with the men. Fr. Joe explained the Italian system, in which the college is a living space. At the NAC, all the Americans from all over the states would live together, eat together, pray together, and do some formation together. Their intellectual formation was done at a university. Most went to the Gregorian University, but there were others as well, including the Angelicum. after ordination, during the second semester, the new priests celebrated Mass at the college, and during Lent they went out to the hospitals in Rome to hear confessions. Next to the college is a hospital for children, where the sickest children are sent. Many of them die there. He would go over to pray with the family at the death of their children. He never wanted to hear the phone ring. Scot asked whether the change in the liturgy was controversial among the seminarians or were they in favor of the change to vernacular. Fr. Joe said most of the men were happy to see the vernacular, but there was tension as well and its true in himself. It’s difficult to leave what you were brought up with and familiar with. Now there was a new way of doing something. His concern, even now with teaching the Tridentine rite, we have to celebrate the Eucharist and it has to be prayerful. If we’re doing it in a language we’re not familiar with, it may not be as prayerful as it could be, especially as the priest-celebrant leading it. As the president of the assembly, the priest has to lead the assembly in prayer. He said some of the men in his class didn’t have as much Latin as others and were happy to go into the vernacular. Certainly Gregorian chant was irreplaceable. Overall, everyone was happy with the change, if perhaps not as happy with all the translations. He said the new translation is a bit more reverent and using a language that is a bit different from regular day-to-day language so it lends itself to a prayerful environment. Scot noted that it often takes several generations after a Council for the Church to appropriate all aspects of it. Fr. Joe said he returned home to Boston in July 1970 and celebrated his first Mass here on July 19. His first assignment was St. Mary’s Italian Church in Salem, which had a small Italian community. The monsignor who was there was a wonderful first pastor. He was very respectful of Fr. Joe. At one point, he was in charge of religious education and when concerns came up about the textbook, he accepted Fr. Joe’s decisions on the matter. He was prayerful and concerned about his people as well. He was then assigned to Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton. They also had a large Italian community there. There were four priests there at the time. They had a grammar school and a high school, where he taught for a year. He also visited the grammar school often as well. He also taught religious education. He celebrated funerals and weddings in Italian and heard confessions in Italian and had Communion calls in Italian, about 20 or 30 per month. He was also on call at the hospital for the occasional Italian patient who didn’t speak English well. After eight years he moved again to St. Anthony’s in Revere, another strongly Italian parish. St. Anthony’s had four priests as well. This was about 10 or 11 years in the priesthood for Fr. Joe so he was the senior curate in the house, that is the most senior of the priests not the pastor. Fr. Joe was put in charge of the parish band even though he’s neither a musician or singer. He was there for about 2–1/2 years and one day got a call from Bishop Thomas Daily who asked him to come in. Cardinal Medeiros wanted him to come in and meet on Friday. The whole week from Monday to Friday he wondered what it was about. On Friday, the cardinal told him he wanted to appoint him as his secretary. Fr. Scorzello thought it was a mistake at first, but the cardinal insisted that it would be a good fit. The Cardinal asked if he needed time to think about it, but Fr. Joe said that if it was the wish of the archbishop then he didn’t have to think about it. He was asked not to talk about it until he got the official appointment, except for his pastor. The next week, Fr. Joe got a call from the cardinal himself who told him to call his parents and tell them first. Scot said he can’t recall any personal memories of Cardinal Medeiros. Fr. Joe said he’s known many priests and bishops and says from his own judgment that he was a bishop who was holy, intelligent, and perceptive. He had them to a higher degree than anyone else he’s known. He knew the diocese well, he loved the people and priests, he was intellectually acute. At the time, Fr. Joe was studying for his comprehensive exams in philosophy, and the cardinal was hospitalized for a week and every night the cardinal quizzed him on the work. Scot asked what the cardinal’s legacy is in the Archdiocese. Fr. Joe said he stabilized the archdiocese’s finances certainly, but his legacy is really his gentleness, his love of his priests, and the lasting memory of him among the people. He said the funeral Mass for the Cardinal was incredible. They celebrated memorial Masses for him all week and the cathedral was filled for all of those Masses. Fr. Chris said one of his earliest memories is of standing in the huge line at the cathedral for the wake. The line went out the cathedral doors and they had to wait more than an hour and a half to go by. He remembers the reverence and love and outpouring of the people. Bishop Daily was appointed administrator and then out of the blue a bishop from Missouri was being sent to Boston. Fr. Joe said Bishop Bernard Law was named in January 1984 and came up for the news conference and met with the auxiliary bishops of Boston, the secretaries, and the bishops of the metropolitan region. He asked Fr. Joe to return to Springfield-Cape Girardeau to help him transition to Boston. He stayed there for six weeks. Fr. Chris noted it was only supposed to be 10 days originally. When he was told he needed to stay for six weeks, Fr. Joe told Bishop Law that he’d have to make a few phone calls, to Bishop Daily, of course, but more importantly to his mother so she wouldn’t worry. Fr. Joe said his mother was delighted to hear from him. Much later, after Cardinal Law had retired to Rome, after the death of Fr. Joe’s sister, he called Fr. Joe’s mother to extend his own sympathies to her. Scot said he has heard from many, many people about Cardinal Law that when somebody was ill or in the hospital or somebody had died that was close to one of his priests or to somebody that worked in the chancery, that the cardinal was tremendous in those moments. Scot said that for the archbishop, there is so much administration and so much ceremony that there isn’t a lot of time for simple pastoral ministry of a priest. Fr. Joe said while he was with the cardinal as his secretary,one time as they traveled from Worcester, the cardinal wanted to go to Ipswich because there was a nun there who was dying that he wanted to visit. It was already after 8pm and the house was secluded and once they were there the cardinal gave the anointing and visited for a while and they didn’t get home until after 11pm. The Cardinal came to Fr. Joe’s dad’s wake and funeral too. He continued the tradition set by Cardinal Medeiros. They both had a great deal of affection for the priests and the people. After his time as priest-secretary, Cardinal Law asked him to become administrator of Most Precious Blood in Hyde Park. Bishop Riley was the pastor there and was getting on in years so he had very much on his plate as auxiliary bishop and pastor of parish and school. This was after the cardinal’s first year in Boston. It worked out for Fr. Joe very well to go back to his home parish. While Fr. Joe was there was when his own father got sick and died so it was a blessing to be close to home. After 5–1/2 years, he asked not to become pastor and asked for sabbatical for six months to write his dissertation. He went up to St. Anselms College abbey to live with the monks and wrote a rough draft of his dissertation. After that he was assigned to St. Mary’s in Brookline with Fr. Jack Ahern and Fr. Richard Lennon, now the bishop of Cleveland, and Fr. Joseph Trainor, He taught school there again and religious education. He continued working on his doctoral dissertation and celebrated his 25th anniversary of his priesthood while there. He took his mother and sister to Rome to celebrate. They visited with friends in the city every night and had a wonderful time. Cardinal Law got them very good audience tickets to greet Pope John Paul II. The Friday of the week, December 17, he got a call from the Vatican inviting them to celebrate Mass in the private chapel with Pope John Paul on the following morning. They went to the early Mass with the Pope and met him afterward. He was at St. Mary’s for another after that and then he was appointed Pastor of St. Francis of Assisi in Medford. Scot noted that you can see it from Route 93. After six years there, Fr. Joe was asked whether he wanted to stay or apply to another position. He wasn’t happy with all the administrative work of the pastor so he asked to be made a parochial vicar. The cardinal asked him to come in and talk about it. The cardinal said he would respect his decision given that Fr. Joe had always been obedient and said yes to the bishop’s requests. So he appointed him as parochial vicar at Our Lady of Lourdes in Brockton. after a couple of years, he got a call from Fr. John Farren, a Dominican priest he didn’t know. Fr. Farren asked Fr. Joe to come and teach at the seminary. Fr. Joe said the first year, he came from Brockton twice per week to teach, which was a bit difficult. At the end of the year, he said he couldn’t keep it up any longer at 60 years old doing two jobs. Fr. Joe asked Cardinal Seán to appoint him full-time to the seminary or to the parish. That was 7 years ago. Fr. joe said the great gift of working at the seminary is the priestly fraternity with the faculty. Most priests live alone in their rectories or with one other priest, but in the seminary there are many more priests. Then the young men in the seminary are very courageous and inspiring to dedicate themselves to Christ and His Church. Fr. Joe said he’s always enjoyed being a priest, but the seminary is a very special assignment. Scot said it’s unusual for a priest serving many years in parishes to come onto the seminary faculty as a professor late in life. Fr. Joe said that was one of the reasons Fr. Farren asked him to come to the seminary. He wanted him because of his pastoral experience. Most of the priest-faculty have only spent a limited amount of time in the parish, so in classes and at meals, the students are intent on talking about his pastoral experiences. Fr. Chris said Fr. Joe really shines in those lunches in which he imparts his wisdom in both the good and bad, the dangers and what to look out for and watch for as a priest.…
Summary of today’s show: The final language for the physician-assisted suicide ballot question facing voters in Massachusetts this November has been issued by the Secretary of State’s office and Janet Benestad returns to update Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell on what it says, what’s been happening in the educational initiative and to hear from Sarah Barry, a recent high school graduate working in Janet’s office this summer, who recently wrote about her experiences working in a nursing home and how that relates to this issue. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Janet Benestad and Sarah Barry Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Physician-Assisted Suicide 1st segment: Scot Landry asked Fr. Mark O’Connell back to the show after a couple of weeks away. Fr. Mark has spent his vacation working on some publications. Scot said after today we’ll be on vacation for a couple of weeks, so for the next two weeks we’ll have some pre-taped shows and some of our best previous shows. Scot said today we’ll talk about recent developments in the assisted suicide ballot initiative in Massachusetts. Fr. Mark said we have a lot of work to do before the ballot because there’s still a lot of ignorance on it. Today’s guest is Janet Benestad, Secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization and chairperson of the Cardinal’s education initiative committee for this issue. Also joining us is Sarah Barry, who is interning in Janet’s office this summer, who will be attending college in the fall. As a senior at Montrose School, she we wrote a paper on physician-assisted suicide based on her experiences working at a nursing home. Scot asked Sarah what she thinks young people especially should know about this issue. She said they should know they have the power to effect change. They should remember this affects young people, not just the elderly, not just in the future, but now as well. Sarah said it harms the understanding of human dignity and devalues life. Scot said we wouldn’t be talking about assisted suicide if we didn’t have Roe v. Wade and aborted 50 million people in America since the early 1970s. Janet said there’s no doubt it has devalued human life. She also said that the age limit for assisted suicide under this initiative is 18. They can request assisted suicide without notifying anyone in their family. When the state puts the wooer over life and death in the hands of a private individual or institution, then we’ve really devalued life. Forty years ago, this would have been unimaginable. Scot said Massachusetts was targeted for this initiative in a presidential election year because it’s seen that if it passes here it will pass everywhere. Janet noted that by 2030, 60% of the population will be between 66 and 84 and this will affect the broad swath of people. Fr. Mark commented on Janet saying the power is in the hand of the physician. Janet said the emphasis is on the voluntary aspect of the assisted suicide where the doctor is seen to be acting only on the request of the patient. But the New England Journal Of Medicine, which has been in favor of the ballot question, are now saying that physicians need to extricate themselves from this. Major groupings of doctors are opposed to assisted suicide and being involved in the prescription of lethal medication. The Supreme Court has said the public welfare requires the preservation of life. When the law says this is part of normal medical care at the end of life, the physician is putting into the hands of the patient the opportunity to end his life. The doctor is participating in the killing of the person. Now, the law isn’t administering the drug, but he is giving the lethal weapon to the patient. Fr. Mark said when the patient is unable to administer it himself, then it means that anyone like a caregiver or anyone can give it. There’s no requirement to have family present or notified. Janet said there are none of the important safeguards. There is no requirement for a psychiatric examination. Scot said in theory the bill purports to allow someone with a terminal diagnosis to ask for a prescription to end your life. Scot said even people with treatable diseases get depressed, never mind those with terminal illnesses as they consider the pain, the struggle, being a burden on others and more. Even a terminal diagnosis may not truly be terminal with treatment. Janet noted that in the Netherlands under the law with a lot of supposed safeguards it devolved into easy assisted suicide and even euthanasia (killing without the patient asking). Scot said the main argument of the proponents is that people suffer needlessly at the end of life and too many people turn to “violent means” to end their lives. Janet said in Oregon where this is legal, pain is only the sixth most frequent reason people choose suicide. Loss of autonomy is listed as the number one. Janet said women tend to be more opposed than men, probably because of the fear of the loss of control. Scot said pain can be treated with a lot of advances in palliative care. The arguments of the proponents is if we have fears about the end of life, then this is a blanket solution. Scot said the main proponent in Massachusetts of assisted suicide tells the story of her father committing suicide by gun and that people should have the option of suicide of medication as a better option. Why should suicide be a better option in any situation? Fr. Mark asked Sarah about the use of compassion to mean helping someone die. She said it’s the opposite of true compassion. They might be trying to do the right thing for the elderly and infirm, but it doesn’t respect the human person. Fr. Mark said real compassion is showing someone true love through palliative care. Scot said at the beginning and end of life we go through a phase of having to be cared for. That changes not just the person being cared for, but also the person who cares for the other. Why should we deny others that opportunity. Scot asked Janet about the prescription used in Oregon. She said in Oregon the patient gets 100 capsules, which they take home and empty into a drink and then they have to get most of that medication down. If you don’t you won’t slip into unconsciousness in about 5 minutes and die in a couple of hours. It has happened that it took four days for the person to die. If you don’t get enough down, you can vomit and choke to death on it. This ballot initiative talks about death with dignity, but this is neither dignified nor compassionate. Anybody can help there sick person with this difficult process. Scot said the pills themselves are very big and there’s a lot of them. This isn’t just a little pill that puts you out. Janet said 9 of the 71 who received prescriptions in the most recent year came back later to ask for a new prescription years later. This means (1) the diagnosis was wrong and (2) something deterred them from doing it the first time. There’s no guarantee in this law that the doctor will know you well enough or take the time consider whether you know what you’re doing. She said it’s also been shown when depression is treated, then the desire for suicide goes away. Scot said in the Netherlands, a much higher percentage of elderly people don’t trust their doctors anymore. They’re afraid of being pressured by their doctors to end their lives. So they avoid going to the doctor to be treated for normal medical care. 2nd segment: Scot said we’re going to look at the ballot initiative language and he’s going to encourage all his friends to vote No on Question 2. This is the summary voters will see on the ballot: This proposed law would allow a physician licensed in Massachusetts to prescribe medication, at a terminally ill patient’s request, to end that patient’s life. To qualify, a patient would have to be an adult resident who (1) is medically determined to be mentally capable of making and communicating health care decisions; (2) has been diagnosed by attending and consulting physicians as having an incurable, irreversible disease that will, within reasonable medical judgment, cause death within six months; and (3) voluntarily expresses a wish to die and has made an informed decision. The proposed law states that the patient would ingest the medicine in order to cause death in a humane and dignified manner. Scot noted that nothing in this uses the language of suicide which is disappointing. Janet said mentally capable means two physicians have to certify the person as mentally capable, but a psychological exam is not required. We also think of a longtime physician relationship, but you can go to any doctor and in Oregon people have doctor-shopped for one who will prescribe for them. Fr. Mark said seeing the bottle makes it particularly horrifying but even one pill would be horrible. Scot noted that an 18-year-old in the state can’t drink, but they can ask for a lethal prescription. The proposed law would require the patient, directly or through a person familiar with the patient’s manner of communicating, to orally communicate to a physician on two occasions, 15 days apart, the patient’s request for the medication. At the time of the second request, the physician would have to offer the patient an opportunity to rescind the request. The patient would also have to sign a standard form, in the presence of two witnesses, one of whom is not a relative, a beneficiary of the patient’s estate, or an owner, operator, or employee of a health care facility where the patient receives treatment or lives. Scot said first, they have to orally or verbally communicate to a physician on two occasions. Janet said if you can’t write or speak, the request can be made through someone who says they’re familiar with their way of communicating. Someone can say, I think Grandma wants this, and that would be good enough. It doesn’t even have to be videotaped to provide proof. Janet said there is no requirement that anybody has to be present and if there is a suspicion of foul play, this may not be investigated and the death certificate will say the person died of the underlying disease, not assisted suicide. Also as to the witnesses, while it says one of the witnesses cannot be a relative who stands to inherit, the other can be. And the second can be the heir’s best friend. Scot said there’s no safeguard to ensure the witnesses are truly objective. Is this the sort of society we want? Janet said even those in favor of assisted suicide should be wary of this bill because of how poor the safeguards are. The proposed law would require the attending physician to: (1) determine if the patient is qualified; (2) inform the patient of his or her medical diagnosis and prognosis, the potential risks and probable result of ingesting the medication, and the feasible alternatives, including comfort care, hospice care and pain control; (3) refer the patient to a consulting physician for a diagnosis and prognosis regarding the patient’s disease, and confirmation in writing that the patient is capable, acting voluntarily, and making an informed decision; (4) refer the patient for psychiatric or psychological consultation if the physician believes the patient may have a disorder causing impaired judgment; (5) recommend that the patient notify next of kin of the patient’s intention; (6) recommend that the patient have another person present when the patient ingests the medicine and to not take it in a public place; (7) inform the patient that he or she may rescind the request at any time; (8) write the prescription when the requirements of the law are met, including verifying that the patient is making an informed decision; and (9) arrange for the medicine to be dispensed directly to the patient, or the patient’s agent, but not by mail or courier. Scot said the key verbs are “inform” and “recommend” but there’s no documentation. While it says the medication must not be mailed, note that there is no followup. Janet noted that the prescription can be sent by mail or email, meaning a third person could fill it and take it. She said there’s lot of recommendations and few requirements for a law that can end a life. The proposed law would make it punishable by imprisonment and/or fines, for anyone to (1) coerce a patient to request medication, (2) forge a request, or (3) conceal a rescission of a request. The proposed law would not authorize ending a patient’s life by lethal injection, active euthanasia, or mercy killing. The death certificate would list the underlying terminal disease as the cause of death. Scot said they’re trying to say that this isn’t euthanasia, making it more palatable. Euthanasia is either refusing to give a treatment or actively killing. Janet said the physician is indeed creating the conditions under which the person can end their life. Scot said it puts a face on assisted suicide that this isn’t ending life, but only making someone comfortable on their way. It’s aim is the make it less objectionable. Janet said we’re giving a happy face to something we would never approve under any normal conditions. Janet noted the case of the Lockerbie bomber who was released from prison because he was supposedly dying, but he lived in Libya for three more years. She said there are many, many documented cases of people given terminal diagnoses and go on to live many years more. Participation under the proposed law would be voluntary. An unwilling health care provider could prohibit or sanction another health care provider for participating while on the premises of, or while acting as an employee of or contractor for, the unwilling provider. So a Catholic physician or Catholic hospital wouldn’t have to do this and could prevent someone from coming on the premises to do it. But of course, you only have to recall the Health and Human Services mandate to see how someone’s ideology can be forced on someone else. Janet said in Oregon one woman was told that her insurance wouldn’t cover cancer treatment, but would cover assisted suicide. The proposed law states that no person would be civilly or criminally liable or subject to professional discipline for actions that comply with the law, including actions taken in good faith that substantially comply. It also states that it should not be interpreted to lower the applicable standard of care for any health care provider. Scot said the loaded word is “substantially comply”. Janet said the liability language is meant to protect physicians who are afraid of being prosecuted. But there’s a lot of wiggle room. Janet said this law is going to define comfort care as giving lethal medication. How can that not lower the standard of care. Doctors have said this is going to lower standard of care because they will be pressured to go along with this and patients will have more suspicion of them. Scot said when healthcare providers have to look at the balance sheet, where will they be pressured to go: the cheaper route of ending lives or the more expensive route of ongoing care? A person’s decision to make or rescind a request could not be restricted by will or contract made on or after January 1, 2013, and could not be considered in issuing, or setting the rates for, insurance policies or annuities. Also, the proposed law would require the attending physician to report each case in which life-ending medication is dispensed to the state Department of Public Health. The Department would provide public access to statistical data compiled from the reports. Scot at least in theory we will be able to determine how many people will be given the medications, but we won’t know how many took it because the underlying diasease will be listed as cause of death. It also doesn’t provide penalty for not reporting. The proposed law states that if any of its parts was held invalid, the other parts would stay in effect. A YES VOTE would enact the proposed law allowing a physician licensed in Massachusetts to prescribe medication, at the request of a terminally-ill patient meeting certain conditions, to end that person’s life. A NO VOTE would make no change in existing laws. Everyone in the studio said they’re voting No on 2. Janet said it’s important for people to go to the Death with Dignity 2012 website and to see what proponents are saying. We know as Catholics and good citizens that this law is not compassionate or good for Massachusetts. We should put our resources into palliative care and hospice care. As Catholics we don’t have to have treatments that are burdensome and we can take medication to ease our pain. Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred days?’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.’” One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people recline.” Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.” Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone. Scot said this is the only miracle story recounted in all four Gospels. He said this miracle precedes the Eucharist. He wondered why Jesus started with the fish and loaves instead of dropping food from heaven. Scot said Jesus wants us to participate in his miracles. Fr. Mark said this is for us as well as we are presented with giving God our little talents against a daunting problem and letting God do the rest. Scot said we want to pray for the success of the No vote on 2. We want to work to stop it. But God will magnify our efforts we put into this. Scot said in the Mass we are called to bring not just our money but everything we are to the offertory to bring the altar. Janet said one pastor tells a story about he Gospel who said a First Communion parent told him that if the little boy can be the means to the miracle and his child is receiving the Eucharist, then he is coming back to the Eucharist and the practice of his faith as well. Scot said at World Youth Day they tell the young people that they aren’t the future of the Church but the present of the Church and they can make a difference in the world. Sarah said while 18-year-olds can request suicide, they can also make a difference and prevent assisted suicide by voting against this ballot question. Fr. Mark said to notice the last line that Jesus goes back to the mountain alone to pray and the power of prayer is enormous.…
Summary of today’s show: On our Thursday news show, Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Antonio Enrique, and Domenico Bettinelli discussed the headlines of the week, including the work of the Opus Dei center in Pembroke; Our Sunday Visitor acquires a local offertory envelope company; the conviction and sentencing of an Archdiocese of Philadelphia priest; preparing for the Olympics; and an interview with the new head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Antonio Enrique, editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Domenico Bettinelli, creative director of Pilot New Media Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Opus Dei center; OSV buys Zartarian; Philly cleric sentenced; Olympics 1st segment: Scot and Susan caught up on their week and she told him that she’s talking an online course through the University of Dayton. It is one of the avenues that catechists can use toward certification. She wanted to experience it. She’s taking a survey of Catholic doctrine course. She described the other students in her class, who hail from Hawaii, Germany, Bahrain, and throughout the United States. Scot asked if it was asynchonrous learning where they login as they can. Susan joked that if she learns anything new it will be grounds for dismissal. She said there is a lot of writing required. Scot noted that the Catholic Media secretariat has partnered with another online Catholic educational institution called and noted the classes he has taken have helped him refresh his understanding of the faith. Scot welcomed Dom and Antonio to the show. One of the local stories this week in the Pilot is a feature story on Arnold Hall in Pembroke, a retreat center connected to Opus Dei. Scot and Susan recounted the well-known retreat centers in the Archdiocese of which Arnold Hall is one. “Pembroke Opus Dei center ready to ‘change the world’”, The Boston Pilot, 7/27/12 Antonio said he was contacted by Joe Billmeier from Opus Dei in June about covering a special Mass, which they couldn’t cover, so instead he offered a feature story on Opus Dei in Boston and on Arnold Hall. Antonio said the Pilot should have both hard news and feature stories. The features inspire Catholics to explore their faith in all its diversity. Scot said the article is long and the first third explains what Opus Dei is and how it’s been portrayed in Hollywood. He recounted the different levels of membership in Opus Dei. Dom talked about the experience of attending a silent retreat at Arnold Hall. Susan said there is a connection between Opus Dei and the Montrose School and she loved hearing about the young women who have been involved in programs there. She quoted the end of the story as well in which the work of Opus Dei to change the world is described. Antonio said the idea was that Christian sanctify themselves and the world through the little things they do every day. St. Josemaria Escriva promoted the idea that there aren’t two kinds of Christians: the holy clergy and the regular laypeople. But he promoted the idea that we are all called to holiness. Opus Dei is not controversial in quite the way Hollywood frames it. “If you want something controversial, it is just simply that, yeah, we want to change the world. But, how are we going to change the world? It is just everything you have heard here. It is smiling when you don’t feel like smiling. It’s undertaking this little mortification. Ir is helping the guy you work with. It is using your own initiative,” he said. For more information, go to . “Our Sunday Visitor acquires regional firm Zartarian Publishing”, The Boston Pilot, 7/27/12 Scot said Our Sunday Visitor yesterday acquired the biggest local offertory envelope provider. While OSV serves more than half of the 18,000 parishes nationwide, locally Zartarian had held sway among parishes. Recently, Zartarian decided the best way to stay with the modern times was to partner with OSV, which offers so many more services. Susan related how her parish has used Zartarian for years. Scot said he is inspired by OSV’s and Zartarian’s attitude that they are in business to serve the Church. Dom said he looks forward to all the associated services that OSV will now offer to Zartarian parishes. Scot by having envelopes and online giving under the same roof means it’s not competition or taking away from one company. Antonio said he prefers the offertory in the Church where people have the experience of giving. Scot noted how people are paid twice a month or monthly and why wouldn’t we move that way in the Church. When we see our monthly giving to the Church we can compare it to what we’re paying in our monthly bills. Susan said she and her pastor have gone around on this issue for ages and he had argued that there is something about people coming and contributing in person. Scot said instead of the offertory being just about money, that people be able to submit a paper prayer petition to put in the basket. Scot noted that Our Sunday Visitor’s 100th anniversary this year. They were founded by a priest who wanted to publish pamphlets to combat anti-Catholic untruths. 3rd segment: Scot and Dom noted the story about the conviction and sentencing of a priest in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for failing to do enough when he knew of priests who had abused children. Scot read from the archdiocesan statement on the sentencing. Dom noted that it seemed like a symbolic sentencing designed to send a wide message. He hoped that this wasn’t just a message to the Church, but to all institutions where such things have happened. Scot noted there is a double standard, but we should welcome the double standard because people should have a higher expectation of the Church. Antonio said if you’re in a position of authority, you’re in a position to prevent not just one event, but many possible crimes. There is some outrage over the longer sentence for the supervisor than for the perpetrator of the crime. He said we can’t forget the horror of the sex abuse crisis. This isn’t just a Church issue; it’s a societal issue. No institution is addressing this issue more carefully than the Church. We need to pray for everyone involved and hope we can move forward. [“Pope says he hopes greatest sports event in world brings global peace”,The Boston Pilot/CNS, 7/23/12](http://pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=14918 Pope Benedict was asked his opinion about the start of the Olympics and he said he hopes it brings peace to the world. Scot noted that there has been conflict surrounding the Olympics, such as in 1980 when the US and the USSR had disputes over the invasion of Afghanistan or this year over the controversy surrounding the 40th anniversary of the assayer of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. Susan said sports is one of those things that transcend religion, culture and language. [“Pope says he hopes greatest sports event in world brings global peace”,The Boston Pilot/CNS, 7/23/12](http://pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=14918 Pope Benedict was asked his opinion about the start of the Olympics and he said he hopes it brings peace to the world. Scot noted that there has been conflict surrounding the Olympics, such as in 1980 when the US and the USSR had disputes over the invasion of Afghanistan or this year over the controversy surrounding the 40th anniversary of the assayer of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. Susan said sports is one of those things that transcend religion, culture and language. Dom and Scot talked about 15-year-old Katie Ledecky from Bethesda, Maryland, an Olympic swimmer and Catholic school student. Scot noted briefly the interview with Bishop Gerhard Muller, the new head of the CDF. He noted the two zingers from the interview that mentioned the Society of St. Pius X and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Antonio noted that you often have the most candor from such high officials when they’re first in office. Scot and Antonio talked about how Muller has seemed to be very open to all that is true, without regard to conservative or liberal ideologies.…
Summary of today’s show: Michael Lavigne has worked in Catholic ministry for two decades, including the last four years leading faith formation efforts for all ages in the Diocese of Portland, Maine. Now he’s come to the Archdiocese of Boston to assist the office of the new Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization as we prepare for the Year of Faith. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams talk to Michael about his years in parish ministry with young people, teaching high school theology, and then working at the diocesan level. Also, Jim Wright of the Station of the Cross stops by discuss the latest WQOM news including big updates to their smartphone apps. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Michael Lavigne and Jim Wright Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Michael Lavigne and the New Evangelization 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed everyone to the show and noted today is the Feast of St. James the Greater. Fr. Matt Williams said he is the greater because he was martyred first, because he was present with Jesus at moments that 9 of the apostles wasn’t, because of his authority in Jerusalem; or because he was just taller than the other James. Fr. Matt is very busy this week. Tomorrow begins their middle school leadership retreat called Witness to Hope. Tonight he’s going to be at the Espousal Center for praise and worship, Mass, and a Holy Spirit empowerment primarily for young people. They will pray for a deeper receptivity to the Holy Spirit. It’s geared to all the young people who have gone through the programs of the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults and to receive peer support. They announced it at the Steubenville East conference this past weekend in front of 2,700 young people. Scot noted the is in Waltham. Speaking of Steubenville East, Fr. Matt said it was a phenomenal time with dynamic and gifted speakers. The theme was The Eighth Day, which is the day of the Resurrection. It’s held now at the University of Rhode Island. Monday night is a the high school harbor cruise. There’s still room for participants. Sign up at the website. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Jim Wright, the owner and founder of the Station of the Cross radio network and WQOM. Jim said he’s in town for some business and stopped by. They’re looking for office space for the local studio. Scot said he often hears from people how appreciative they are that Catholic radio came to Boston. Jim thanked all the listeners supporting the Station of the Cross and asked them to continue. The work is intended to bring the people back to the parishes. Scot said Jim has been in the Catholic radio ministry for more than a decade. He said Catholic radio grows by listeners recommending it and introducing to others. Jim suggested approaching your family first. Jim said August 15 will make 13 years for the Station of the Cross being on the air. Jim said the same day is also the anniversary for EWTN. Scot said the new iPhone and Android apps are just recently updated with new capabilities. Jim said you can get all of the stations of the network and a Spanish feed as well. It has podcasts as well. They’re planning more features too. To find it in iTunes or an Android marketplace, search for iCatholicFM or iCatholicRadio. Scot said Cardinal Seán would love to see even more content for Spanish-speaking people. Jim asked people to pray for a dedicated Spanish Catholic radio station. 3rd segment: Scot and Fr. Matt welcomed Michael Lavigne to the show. He is senior associate to the episcopal vicar for the New Evangelization. Scot said Michael used to work for the Diocese of Portland, Maine, and they launched three Catholic radio stations there. Michael said the Presence Radio network began a year after the Office of Lifelong Faith Formation was formed. They were overjoyed at being able to collaborate with the radio stations. Scot said Bishop Malone had wanted to raise funds for Catholic radio as a primary effort of the New Evangelization in Maine. Scot asked Michael where he comes from. Michael is originally from Woonsocket, Rhode Island. He married his wife Lori and lived in Providence for four years. They moved to Maine for four years and now moved to Boston. He began working for the Church two decades ago when called by a priest. He was the pastor of his parish when he was a junior in college and active in youth ministry. The pastor asked him to be youth minister and has worked for the Church ever since. At the parish level, Michael moved from the old model of CCD and CYO to a new comprehensive youth ministry vision for the parish. They developed a task force in the parish. They realized that young people were dealing with more and more difficult issues they hadn’t seen prominently before. The task force looked to change things up and ensure that everything was Christocentric, steeped in sacraments and prayer. In the past, everything they did in youth ministry, whether athletics or prayer, had been of equal focus. So they introduced them to Eucharistic adoration which brought them to regular Mass attendance. Michael said the world we live in is so busy and so fast with so much competing for our attention. For some young people, 20 minutes in adoration was an eternity. But once they experienced it, they wanted more of it. The kids said they loved being silent, sitting there letting Christ love them, knowing they were being prayed for. Fr. Matt said for a long time we were afraid to offer the sacraments or adoration because we thought they would be bored and we thought everything had to be fun. It might be because we aped so much of Protestant youth ministry, which doesn’t do the sacraments. Some thought this meant that sacraments wouldn’t interest them. But because of Pope John Paul II and World Youth Days, we learned they wanted to be taught. Many young people, when you teach them, have an epiphany and love what they learn. When you explain and invite, they respond. Michael said he realized early on that they also needed to reach the parents. If the kids went home to parents who extinguished the enthusiasm for the faith, they wouldn’t grow in faith. They used the teens to challenge the parents to grow in faith. They created a clear message starting from the pastor that the parents are always welcome in any youth ministry program. They prepared for everything, including bringing in their kids to register and how they would welcome them and be open to them. Michael told a story of a women who thought she couldn’t register her kids because her husband had left her. Not only did they register the kids, they got her an appointment with the pastor. Michael also taught theology in high school and coordinated confirmation. Michael said in school he had them every single day. At first it was a trial to have enough material to cover and to ensure that he would be real to them, to challenge them. His job was to witness to the Church’s teaching and why it teaches it and then show it in his own life. He said every Catholic who encounters young people has to step up and show we have a relationship with Christ that we are truly living. When they see us, they need to see someone who is proud to be Catholic with their spouse, their kids, their co-workers, their sports teams, etc. He believes he was able to make headway with these young people. After parish work, Michael moved to the Diocese of Portland and led the Office of Lifelong Faith Formation. When his situation at the high school changed, he sent out resumes. When Portland called, there were a series of events that led them to move there. There had been an office for teaching kids and and office for teens and office for young adults and some others, but they felt it was time to make the point that faith formation was for all ages and lifelong. They were strong in youth ministry but weak in formation of adults. They improved marriage preparation and RCIA. They offered something new for parents when they brought their kids for sacraments. First of all, they served the parish leaders and then offer diocesan-wide training for young people and adults to evangelize in their own lives. Scot compared the size of Providence to the size of Boston and the geographical size of Portland, Maine. He asked how they serve such a large area. Michael said it’s always been the obstacle for serving the northernmost parishes. So they used technology, like web conferencing, Skype, high-def TV, websites, email, social media and the like. They found they were able to send a lot more information in a more timely manner. If someone was having a problem in a remote parish, they could talk face-to-face via Skype and make that personal connection. It’s impossible to drive the state of Maine even once per year. They reached as many places as they could. Parishes responded to this.They were able to save money which they used to offer more scholarships and programs. Scot said Portland had a major pastoral planning process over the past five years in which parishes were grouped in clusters to shepherd personnel resources. He asked what they learned there that could help Boston. Michael said he came in after they’d gone through the most difficult parts of the process, like determining parish closings and mergings and the like. When he came in, he was able to say that now they’d done the hard part, it was time for the good stuff. Michael said one of the keys to their work was the catechetical certificate program from the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization at St. John Seminary. They partnered together and had offered it for two years before he left, and the fruit was visible immediately. Parish leaders who’d gone through it said they’d learned more than they ever thought. Some homeschooling parents said they would be more effective teachers of their children. Also catechists, deacons, and others who began to realize that we all need to continue to learn and grow. They also developed the New Evangelization Week. They taught young people the basics of the riches of the prayers of the Church, taught them how to use a Catechism, basics of the faith, how to defend the faith. Bishop Malone called it a Catholic boot camp. They examined what it means to be a son or daughter of God, how to relate to brothers and sisters in the faith–brother to brother and brother-to-sister. All of it was steeped in the Mass every day, Reconciliation, and more. In their second year, a priest came out of Confessions one night to say that the kids who had come the last year were telling him that they had gone to confession within the past week or month. He heard them wrestling with growing as disciples of Jesus Christ. 4th segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Nancy Moan from Newton Center She wins the books and . If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: Fr. Matt asked Michael how he went about creating a new system so that when young people are being formed that when they get to the confirmation age, they are more receptive. Michael said in Portland, they have the restored order of the sacraments, in which 2nd graders receive confirmation along with first communion and confession. They have been doing it since 1997. Scot asked the main reason to have confirmation earlier. Michael said the general concept is that they realized they were losing so many young people after confirmation as teens or not even getting confirmed so they weren’t even getting the sacrament. So at an earlier age, more young people receive the grace of the sacrament. They did a 10-year study ending in 2007 and they found it didn’t do anything for retaining kids in grades 3 through 8. So they tackled the 6 through 8 first, bringing the Edge program from Life Teen, jumpstarting middle school youth ministry. In high school, they still had relatively high numbers, but there was still the same question of how to keep people coming to the Church. The answer is about putting witnesses to our faith, passionately in love with the Lord, in front of everyone. When people are in love with the Lord, there is joy. Fr. Matt said where the Holy Spirit is, there is life and joy. Scot said Cardinal Sean appointed Bishop Arthur Kennedy as Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization and created this new office to provide more resources for the New Evangelization. Michael said in the next 12 months the focus will be twofold. First, helping the Archdiocese to focus on the Year of Faith, including a celebration to kick it off and compiling recommendations for parishes to mark the Year of Faith. Second, they want to be part of all the conversations connected to Pastoral Planning to ensure that it will really be about conversion and the New Evangelization. We need to give the leaders in the parishes to grow in Christ and in turn help them to bring that to the people in the parishes. Michael said the New Evangelization is ongoing conversion of Catholics to conform our lives to the faith, to have a deeper conversion and strive to holiness. So many of our fellow Catholics have walked away from the faith. There are even people still in our pews who don’t have a relationship with Christ yet. They haven’t had that conversion experience to make it their own. Scot said he got a letter from a weekly Mass-goer that he didn’t really get his faith until he listened to Catholic radio and was led to take his faith more seriously.…
Summary of today’s show: Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Stephen Salocks Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Fr. Stephen Salocks 1st segment: Due to technical difficulties, today’s show notes will delayed until later Tuesday evening. However, the audio file is available for your listening and we hope you enjoy the show.…
Summary of today’s show: Infertility is becoming an increasingly common problem in the 21st century and more and more women are being pushed to artificial reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization by their doctors, without regard to the lack of effectiveness and the physical, psychological, sociological, financial, and especially spiritual costs. Katie Elrod joins Scot Landry to talk about the Wild West of unregulated IVF and the moral and effective alternative in Natural Procreative Technologies, which respect human dignity and treats the underlying pathologies afflicting women instead of steering them immediately to very lucrative and dangerous IVF procedures. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Katie Elrod Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Infertility, Natural Family Planning, and NaPro Technology 1st segment: This week, July 22–28, the USCCB is asking all Catholic dioceses, parishes and families to mark National Family Planning Awareness Week. So as part of that effort, we will be discussing NFP, NaPro Technology and Infertility here on The Good Catholic Life today. Because of the subject matter, I wanted to note up front that this content might not be suitable for young kids. Parents will always know what age is appropriate but I did want to give a heads up if you have kids in the car or kitchen listening with you that this show might be best to catch later on our podcast or via TheGoodCatholicLife.com. “Faithfully Yours" is the theme of this Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, which is a national educational campaign of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on the Catholic teaching on married love and the gift of human life. The annual campaign, which began in 2002, promotes awareness of Natural Family Planning (NFP) methods. Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth said: “NFP Awareness Week is an opportunity for married couples and Catholics everywhere to better understand and embrace the Church’s uniquely positive and liberating message on the truth of married love.“ ”The theme for 2012, ‘Faithfully Yours,’ highlights the beauty of how husbands and wives are called to live out their total dedication to one another." Our guest today to discuss NFP, a particular type of NFP called Napro Technology and Infertility is Katie Elrod. Katie is a “double-eagle” graduating from Boston College with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Philosophy from Boston College. She has been a humanities teacher and administrator at independent schools for over fifteen years, and has taught in the Perspectives Program at Boston College. Elrod has spoken on natural fertility treatment at MIT, Boston College, Notre Dame University and at various Catholic women’s conferences. She is also the author of “Chapter 6” in the acclaimed book “Women, Sex and the Church” that came out in 2010. Chapter 6 is entitled “The Church’s Best Kept Secret: Church Teaching on Infertility Treatment.” She and her husband Kevin live outside of Boston with their son, T.J. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Katie to the show. He noted that Katie is a teacher at Montrose School in Medfield. Katie became interested in the topic of infertility because of her own infertility. She and her husband pursued various avenues, including in vitro fertilization. She eventually found a doctor through the Archdiocese who specializes in National Procreative Technology. Katie said 35% of women are infertile and the rates are increasing. The rates for men are also increasing and they think because of environmental concerns. Men born in the 1970s have 25% fewer sperm than men born in the 1950s. Katie said she learned that infertility is not a disease in itself but is a symptom of other diseases and disorders. Ovulation disorder is the cause of 40%. It’s when the female endocrine system doesn’t produce enough of the hormones to allow the embryo to implant. Scot asked the definition of infertility. Katie said the technical term is that you are unable to deliver a baby. Some women are able to conceive but not able to carry to term. But infertility is an umbrella term and most women who are infertile have two or more pathologies going on. Scot said sexually transmitted diseases are often at the root of infertility. Katie said she was horrified to find out how common it is. The CDC estimates that there are 19 million new diagnoses of STDs every year in the US. Some of the most common forms can go unnoticed, but they cause scar tissue that prevents the egg from moving into the fallopian tube. STDs cause at least 24,000 each year in the US to become infertile. Sometimes it’s reversible, but it depends on how long it goes untreated. Scot said he understands that when a woman goes to a doctor with trouble to conceive, the doctors don’t often properly diagnose. Katie said 25% of women have unexplained fertility, meaning the doctor doesn’t find out what’s wrong. But it doesn’t have to be although it requires a lot of time, patience, and bloodwork. Scot said instead they’re often just pushed toward in vitro fertilization and assisted reproductive technologies. Katie said it’s a multi billion dollar business with a lot of money and little regulation. It gives the doctor a lot of control. They fertilize eggs in a lab and then implant them in the woman’s womb. Scot asked Katie to explain the Church’s teaching on this. Katie said there is lots of reasons why it’s bad for women, not just the morality of it. Katie said people say it’s not fair to prevent women from having IVF. It’s not just because embryos are discarded. Even if no extra embryos were created, it would still be a violation of human dignity. This procedure trikes at the core of the meaning of marriage and the marital act. The act in which designed human beings to be conceived is sacred because it mirrors the way God loves. God is love. He does not have love or contain love. He is love itself. Love is giving and to be in communion with others. This is why God is three persons. God is his own family. God’s children are created to love as God does. The highest expression of this love is in the marital act between husband and wife. In their bond they have the potential to be co-creators of a new life with God. Scot said Cardinal Seán often says the Church is seen as the Church of No, but the beauty of the Theology of the Body is that we are a Church of Yes, saying yes to God as part of his plan for us and all of humanity. Katie said saying yes rot life is saying yes to love. Scot said Katie describes IVF as the Wild West of medicine, an industry growing quickly and is very unregulated. It’s something that attempts to create human life and control fertility, but is unregulated. Katie said it’s bad medicine because it’s unregulated, bad for the husband, wife and the child. In 1982, clinics were requested to report their data to the CDC, but it’s voluntary. But no one checks the data. Because it’s seen as a women’s issue, this is why it’s unregulated. Scot said women of all ages are getting pushed to IVF, not just women getting married in later life. Katie said 60% of women using IVF are over 35, even though the success rates drop dramatically after 35 to 20% and all the way down to 5% after 40. The CDC is not tracking who’s using IVF, their age, their relationships, etc. Katie said if a woman is suffering some kind of pathology, she needs to be treated for it regardless of whether she goes for IVF. If the womb isn’t healthy it’s not good for the baby or the woman. Instead once you restore the woman to health, then let’s try to conceive in a natural way to respect the dignity of a woman. Scot said part of the reason there’s a better way is because there are risks to women. Katie said the woman goes through an invasive procedure that will only increase the physical costs. She takes a drug to stimulate her ovaries so she can produce 5 to 10 eggs in one cycle, as opposed to one per cycle. As they take Lupron, the side-effects include failure of the ovary which can result in infertility or even death. The FDA has over 6,000 complaints about the drug, but no investigation has been done. Just this year, a Netherlands study found that IVF doubles the chance of ovarian cancer. Katie said there is a movement to discourage young women from taking these drugs to sell their eggs because of the risk they’re taking. There is also a physical cost for the babies. Katie said a 2002 study concluded that IVF babies have twice the risk of major birth defects. The chance of miscarriage is 7 times higher. The movement in IVF has been to reduce the number of babies in the womb to two so there’s a desire to have fewer children at a time. But even single babies have increased risk of prematurity and low birth weight. Scot said there’s a practice of selective reduction in which doctors abort some of the babies that have been conceived. Katie said this happens in all assisted artificial reproductive technologies. Scot asked listeners to imagine how this couple that’s been struggling to conceive a child and now they’re being asked to abort their children. It’s psychologically damaging. Katie said in the New York Times there was an article about a new trend in IVF in which women who are pregnant with twins voluntarily go in and ask to have one of her children aborted in order to give the other a better chance to survive the pregnancy or even to have a better quality of life or more resources after birth. “Things would have been different if we were 15 years younger or if we hadn’t had children already or if we were more financially secure,” she said later. “If I had conceived these twins naturally, I wouldn’t have reduced this pregnancy, because you feel like if there’s a natural order, then you don’t want to disturb it. But we created this child in such an artificial manner — in a test tube, choosing an egg donor, having the embryo placed in me — and somehow, making a decision about how many to carry seemed to be just another choice. The pregnancy was all so consumerish to begin with, and this became yet another thing we could control.” It shows why the Church is opposed to this because we’ve dehumanized the children and turned this beautiful miracle into a base transaction. 3rd segment: Katie said her husband asked her to call the archdiocese to find out if there’s a morally acceptable choice for treating infertility. But first, she wanted to talk about the Catholic principles surrounding fertility. There are three guiding principles in the Vatican instruction : The Church believes every human being has the right to live. The Church has great concern for the half-million embryos in cryogenic storage. The spouses only have the right to become biological mother and biological father through each other. This relates to the increase in the use of donor eggs or donor sperm or surrogacy.The sexual act is a sacred act to create new life. This new life has a right to know his or her parents. The Church believes each child has the right to be conceived in the self-giving act of his parents. Men and women don’t have a right to be parents. They have a right to the marital act, but not a right to a child ataxy cost. No person has a claim on the right to the life of another. Otherwise that person would have their life subjugated to the lives of others. Scot asked how someone would feel as an adult finding out they were produced this way when there was a better way. Katie said we’re starting to get data on children conceived through anonymous sperm donors. The majority of these children say they would not do the same thing to their own children and they do think half of their identity comes through their biological father. So when a child born of an IVF, they are created through pornography and masturbation. They were created by an anonymous person in a lab in a petri dish and then implanted. And you were there with your brothers and sisters who were selectively reduced. Natural family planning is an umbrella term for methods to conceive or avoid conception through observation of natural signs in a woman’s ovulation cycle. It requires communication among a couple and fertility is a shared obligation. Katie and her husband connected with Dr. Paul Carpentier who recommended a form of NFP called the Creighton Model. It’s a kind of NFP that is standardized observation and charting of biological markers. It’s used by millions of people around the world. It was standardized by a doctor at Creighton University in Nebraska. Dr. Hilgers used NFP to help treat infertility. This subset of NFP is called Natural Procreative Technologies (NaPro Technology). It’s primary goal is to restore a woman’s reproductive health. It properly diagnoses the underlying pathologies. The woman is a full participant by charting her bio-markers and often sees before the doctor does what is wrong. It also treats all kinds of reproductive health issues, including postpartum depression and PMS. Once it is properly diagnosed, the treatment usually happens without a lot of invasive procedures. Hilgers trains other doctors in the delicate forms of laparascopy to fix endometriosis. Scot said the difference is taking time and care to treat the whole person versus ignoring the underlying problems to create the baby in the fastest way possible. NaPro is about healing the woman. It respects the woman’s biological systems. Katie said NaPro’s effective to IVF is very high. IVF success ranges from 35% at the highest down to 10% depending on age. A study of NaPro done in 2003 looked at a pool of women who have already had low success with IVF and the result was a 50% live birth rate. AMong the women who didn’t need surgery there was a 70% live birth rate. More and more medical students are interested in learning NaPro, even if they’re not motivated by the moral teaching, but because it’s good medicine. Katie said in the beginning she wish she’d been practicing NFP in the Creighton model that could have revealed the problems. She also wants to say to young women not to wait if they think something is wrong. Doctors will often tell them just ti wait, that they’ll get pregnancy eventually. Instead, find a NaPro practitioner and start treatment right away. The book and the chapter Katie wrote in it is the best resource on these fertility treatments. To women who think maybe it’s not God’s plan for them to have children, Katie said NaPro is not 100% effective. We don’t know what God’s plan is for each couple. All we can do is return women to health. A life without children by a couple who is open to life regardless is a great witness to the world which says we can have whatever we want whenever we want it. The whole purpose of the Church’s understanding of life-giving love is that we have to love. If we’re not giving love in having children, how can we love in other ways?…
Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Fr. Dan Hennessey consider the new pastoral guidelines for fostering priestly vocations from the Vatican that show that family, Catholic schools, the witness of joyful priests, and serving others in charity are they keys to more priests in our parishes, while families that discourage, priests who are marginalized or take the shine off the priests’ life, and a growing secularism in society work to deter men from considering this vital vocation. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Dan Hennessey Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The four keys to more priestly vocations and the four factors that work against 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed back Fr. Dan Hennessey, vocation director of the archdiocese of Boston. Scot said summer is busy for him, beginning with helping the newly ordained men who are now priests and continuing with helping men discerning their entrance to the seminary. Fr. Dan encouraged men who are finishing up their applications and applying to the seminaries. Scot noted that the men are from all different backgrounds, finishing college, starting college, or coming from a working background. Fr. Dan said a majority of men have just finished college or within the past couple of years. Scot asked what the rules and requirements are for seminary. Fr. Dan said men have to have graduated high school. If they don’t have a college degree, they go to a college seminary at Providence College. At the other end of the age range, they don’t have a hard and fast rule, but anything over 45 or 50 years old, it becomes less common. He said there are men in the 50s and 60s studying for the priesthood. Scot noted that it’s a mutual discernment between the man and the Church. Fr. Dan noted that you can’t really discern in a vacuum. He encouraged any interested man to start a conversation that has no obligation in it. Scot said he spent two years in the seminary and is grateful for that opportunity of discernment. Fr. Dan said the end result isn’t simply that we get more priests, but that each man can know and do God’s will in their life. His job is to challenge men to ask the questions well. Today’s topic is a new document from the Congregation for Catholic Education on guidelines for fostering priestly vocations. Scot said he notes that Fr. Dan has Fr. Dan said they have an even in early August called the Blessed Pier Giorgio Hike. Fr. Dan said there’s a story of Frassati climbing up this mountain with his friends and wrote on the bottom of the picture his friend took “To the Heights”. So the vocations office is gathering young men to have an outdoors event. Previously, they’d had a hike in June on Mt. Watatic, starting at St. John’s in Townsend with breakfast by the Knights of Columbus. They drove to the mountain and hiked to the top where they had Mass. One of the knights literally built an altar that they carried to the top of the mountain. It was just ann event for seminarians and priests and young men to get together. In August, they’re going to do it again by hiking Mount Monadnock on Saturday, August 11 at 8:30am. They won’t be able to have a Mass at the summit, but they will have it at St. John’s parish and breakfast again as before. Fr. Dan said a lot of the men who came in June were invited by the seminarians and other priests. Interested folks can call or email to register. Find the information at . 2nd segment: Scot said 20 years ago Pope John Paul published a letter on the formation of priest called , which guides all the ways that seminaries form men for the priesthood. The Vatican wanted to mark that anniversary. Fr. Dan said it’s actually his longest papal writing and it goes through all the different aspects of formation in a seminary for a man to become a priest. There are four pillars of seminary formation: pastoral, spiritual, intellectual, and human. These four pillars together form a whole man. The seminary revolves around that. It’s not just academics, but a formation of the whole person. He said we should believe that any man’s time in the seminary is more than just an intellectual engagement. The Latin name means “I will give you shepherds.” It’s become the Magna Carta for forming seminarians. Scot said as a father raising three kids to be good and responsible adults who know God and are good citizens, those four pillars apply to the formation of his kids as well. They should have good human qualities, strong spiritual qualities, intellectual formation, and pastoral formation to put others first through service and giving of self. Scot said it’s good to read for anyone in any state in life. Fr. Dan talked about the identity of the priest and what the ministerial priesthood is for the Church and the world according to John Paul II. He said the priest stands there as an icon of Christ. That extends even to the human dimension, so that the man must become more and more a bridge to bring others to Christ. Now this new pastoral guidelines document was compiled by the Congregation for Catholic Education in the Vatican which sent out a survey to the bishops’ conferences around the world. They asked them to complete a situational report on what’s working and not in each culture. What they found was that the situation of priestly vocations the star is very varied in the world: The situation of priestly vocations is very varied in the world today. It seems to be characterized by both good and bad. While in the West there is the problem of a decline in vocations, in other continents, despite their lack of resources, there is a promising increase in priestly vocations. In traditionally Christian countries, the worrying fall in the number of priests, the rising of their average age and the requirements of the new evangelization are shaping a new situation for the Church. The reduced birthrate also contributes to the diminishing of vocations to a special consecration. The life of the Catholic faithful is suffering the effects of the unbridled quest for material goods and the fall in religious practice, which discourage making courageous and demanding Gospel choices. Scot asked Fr. Dan if he sees less support from family for men considering the priesthood. Fr. Dan said the document points out many times the importance of the family for passing on the faith and encouraging and nurturing the seed of the vocation. Unfortunately, in some families they don’t see the value in their son considering whether God might calling them to the priesthood. Scot said the document also says there’s a vocations boom in some places, especially African and Asia. Scot said wherever vocations are promoted and prayed for, men do respond to the call to the priesthood. If we want more priests, religious, and good marriages, we need to pray for them. Fr. Dan wanted to be sure to quote: “The key things to foster priestly vocations are those proposed by formation for Christian life: listening to the Word of God, participation in the Eucharist and exercising charity.” He often responds to parents who ask him how to encourage vocations in their kids by telling them that vocations grow from a strong Catholic environment. Scot said the family is very important: The family remains the primary community for the transmission of the Christian faith. It can be seen everywhere that many priestly vocations are born in families where the example of a Christian life in keeping with its calling and the practice of the evangelical virtues give rise to the desire for complete self-giving. Care for vocations presupposes, in reality, a strong family pastoral ministry. Also they note the joyful witness of priests: The witness of priests united to Christ, happy in their ministry and united in brotherhood among themselves, has a strong vocational appeal for young men. Bishops and priests offer to young men a high and attractive image of ordained priesthood. ‘The very life of priests, their unconditional dedication to God’s flock, their witness of loving service to the Lord and to his Church – a witness marked by free acceptance of the cross in the spirit of hope and Easter joy – their fraternal unity and zeal for the evangelization of the world are the first and most convincing factor in the growth of vocations.’ Fr. Dan said it’s amazing how much of an influence joyful priests have on young people. Very often he hears from men considering the priesthood is because they have a friendship with or are parishioners of a priest who loves being a priest. He often thinks that if more priests were proactive at inviting men to consider the priesthood, they might be surprised at the positive response they receive. Scot said someone who gives everything that they have and live their life with joy, it inspires other people to want to do that. A mom who is full of joy in her life inspires her daughters and other women to want to emulate her. Same with plumbers and electricians. Scot recalled Cardinal Seán’s story of his vocation, how as an eight-year-old boy he met a Franciscan gardener at a retreat center who was the most joyful person he’d ever met. Fr. Dan said another group of influential people is the seminarians themselves, showing the joy in their seminary life. He said there’s something about knowing you’re not alone in the struggle. When young men realize there are other young men like them considering the same thing gives them courage. That’s why the hike and events like it are so important. Scot said two other important contexts are service work and schools: It can also be seen that many young people discover the call to priesthood and to consecrated life after they have had an experience of doing voluntary work, in charitable service towards those who suffer, the needy and the poor, or after they have taken part for some time in Catholic missions. Fr. Dan said very often a year of service after college can be a life changing experience. The men come out of their comfort zones and encounter Christ in the poor, allowing them to consider what’s most important. Discernment is when a young man or woman asks what really is most important in life? How can I live a serious life instead of just floating along? When a Catholic man comes to see that the priesthood is integral to the most important things in life, then he can ask whether this is for him. Scot said when we see heaven as the most important thing in life, that’s when we can see rightly. Fr. Dan told the story of the Cure of Ars, when he arrives at his new pastorate for the first time. On the road he encounters a young boy and tells him, you show me the way to Ars and I’ll show you the way to heaven.“ Priests are human beings who are fallible and weak, but who has been changed by God to be somebody who can stand in the midst of the community and say, ” I want to help lead you to heaven." Scot said when you spend life in Christian service you care for their material needs because you see them as God’s children and you begin to ask who’s caring for their spiritual needs. The other context is schools. In interviewing more than 100 priests and asking them where they first considered a vocation ,he said many point to Catholic schools as a place where they first thought of it. Fr. Dan said about 10 to 20% of Catholics attend a Catholic school, but over 50% of seminarians priests have gone to Catholic school. There is nothing more powerful than witness and the witness of religious brothers and sisters and priests in those schools has been key. Scot argues that the biggest context is experience of a big Catholic event like World Youth Day or the March for Life. He said many men talk about their experience at those events triggering the thought of God calling them. They see thousands or millions of people and wonder if God is calling them to serve the vast crowds. Fr. Dan said the next part of the document talks about the identity of the priest. “Before calling his disciples to a particular task, Jesus invites them to put everything to one side, to live in profound communion with him, indeed to ‘be’ with him (Mk 3:14).” The first thing Christ did with his disciples was to “be” with him before sending them out. So all these contexts of family and schools and the like first start with prayer. When we know Christ, it isn’t so scary to say that he might be calling us to a life because we know he will always be with us. 3rd segment: Scot said the document also talks about factors that depress Catholic vocations. The first is the sense that we are living in a growing secularized society: “The spreading of a secularized mentality discourages the response of young people to follow the Lord Jesus more radically and more generously.” Scot said Pope Benedict often talks about how don’t act like a Christian in public; we are practical atheists who hide our faith in a box. We’re told religion isn’t something we share in public. Fr. Dan said priests are aware that secular environment more and more. He said when people recognize he’s a priest wearing a collar, he finds that people are welcoming to him. Scot said in young people there’s not the conversation or narrative that there used to be even in public schools: What do you think God has in store for you? People don’t feel comfortable talking that way now. Children in Catholics schools today talk about how they are happy to be able to use the name of Jesus in school today. Another chilling factor: “Parents, furthermore, with their hopes for their children’s future, reserve little space to the possibility of a call to a special vocation.” Fr. Dan said the further we get away from understanding the priesthood as a beautiful and important vocation in the world, the more the priest comes to be seen as a functionary. We need to understand the priesthood is not just a functionary activity. He thinks this is why Pope Benedict had a Year for Priests a few years ago. The priesthood doesn’t boil down to what one does, but it’s who he is. That’s important for vocational discernment and it’s unfortunate we don’t recognize this. Fr. Dan is not a service provider. Scot said the response to secularism is the Year of Faith. The response to discouraging parents is to be the one who tells kids you know to consider their vocation. Scot said another factor is the lack of chastity in society today. The hook-up culture is normalized and the person trying to be faithful to chastity is seen as strange. Fr. Dan said it’s important to recognize that when a parent is discouraging, they are motivated by great love even if they are not exercising it in the best way. They think their son going to the seminary is wasting his life. They don’t think their son will be happy. We need to educate parents and help them to see that the vocation to the priesthood is a life-giving vocation. The fourth main concern is that some parents scandalized by priests not faithful to the priesthood are concerned about their sons becoming like that man, even those are just not joyful. In any vocation there are going to be people who live it well, who are mediocre, and those who are embarrassment to that vocation. Look for the holy and happy priests as the model. Fr. Dan invited everyone to pray for vocations to the priesthood and to form an invisible monastery of prayer for priests for the Archdiocese of Boston.…
1 TGCL# 0344: US mission territory; low confidence in religion; ministry to priests; pro-life boot camp 56:31
Summary of today’s show: Our Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Antonio Enrique look at the news headlines of the week, including Cardinal Dolan’s declaration of the US as a mission territory; a survey that shows falling confidence in the Church and all organized religion; a slew of new priest assignments; a ministry that cares for ailing priests; new leadership for the Sisters of St. Joseph; and vocations retreats and pro-life boot camps in the Fall River diocese. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Antonio Enrique, editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: US mission territory; low confidence in religion; ministry to priests; pro-life boot camp 1st segment: Scot Landry and Susan Abbott caught up on their week. Scot noted that his young sons, Christian and Dominic, are in the studio today. Dominic is six years old today. The Pilot has returned from its two-week hiatus and there’s a lot of news to catch up on plus a provocative piece by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. 2nd segment: Scot and Susan welcomed Fr. Roger and Antonio to the show. Scot said Cardinal Dolan wrote a column that called the Archdiocese of New York and all of the United States is a mission territory. “I was raised – as were most of you – to think of the missions as ‘way far away’ – and, to be sure, we can never forget our sacred duty to the foreign missions,” the New York archbishop wrote on his “Gospel in the Digital Age” blog. “But, we are a mission territory, too. Every diocese is. And every committed Catholic is a missionary. This is at the heart of what Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI call the New Evangelization.” Susan said she was reminded of a conversation with an Irish Holy Ghost Father 15 years ago who had just come from Africa. He told her that the US is a mission country needing a second evangelization, which is harder than the first. Susan noted how Cardinal Dolan spoke from the heart and warned that we’ve taken our Catholic faith for granted. He said we all need the Year of Faith. Cardinal Dolan was referencing a speech by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia that his archdiocese is a mission territory. Antonio said many Catholics live their faith as if they just happen to be Catholic. He said the religious understanding of life doesn’t go very deep anymore and hopefully we renew our focus on passing the faith onto the next generation. Scot quoted from the Cardinal’s blog: Because, guess where we’re at: We’re with the apostles on Pentecost Sunday as we embrace the New Evangelization. No more taking our Catholic faith for granted! No more relaxing in the great things the church has accomplished in the past! Cynicism is replaced by confidence … Hand-wringing by hand-folding … Dullness by dare … Waiting for people to come back replaced by going out to get them … Presuming that people know the richness of their Catholic faith replaced by a realistic admission that they do not … From taking the Church for granted as a “big corporation,” to a tender care for a Church as small and fragile as a tiny mustard seed Jesus spoke about… Keeping our faith to ourselves to letting it shine to others! This is the New Evangelization! The Archdiocese of New York is a mission territory! The whole Church is! Our parishes are! Culture is! The world is! You and I are missionaries! No longer can we coast on the former fame, clout, buildings, numbers, size, money, and accomplishments of the past. As a matter of fact, all of this may have dulled us into taking our faith for granted. No more! We are missionaries. And, it starts inside. Fr. Roger said at the same time as there will be a Synod of Bishops from around the world on the new evangelization in the Vatican in October we’ll be launching the Year of Faith for us to re-examine our own faith and re-found it in Christ in our daily life. He said he often talks about the New Evangelization in retreats and talks about the methods of the New Evangelization. Pope Benedict said in a Jubilee Year address that the first method of the New Evangelization is prayer. We need to be praying far more for people to come and experience the fullness of the Lord’s love as we have in our own lives. Then we need to be docile to the Holy Spirit, who makes the converts to the faith. We must become more and more united to God. Pope Benedict is asking us to reflect more on our faith. Scot said the Holy Father has called the Year of Faith because of a crisis of faith in the West, as seen in a recent Gallup survey that shows a low in confidence in the Church by Catholics and in organized religion in general. Forty-six percent of Catholics express “a great deal or quite a lot of confidence” in the church and organized religion, compared to 56 percent of Protestants. Overall, 44 percent of Americans expressed that same level of confidence in church/organized religion. The percentage is slightly lower than what Gallup has found in recent years; in 2002, it was 45 percent and in 2007, 46 percent. “This follows a long-term decline in Americans’ confidence in religion since the 1970s,” Gallup said. In 1973, 66 percent said they had a high level of confidence in religion. Antonio said it’s not very surprising, given all the social unrest in the Sixties and movements to separate people from organized religion. He said maybe it’s time to start the New Evangelization because we can see the effects of the last four decades which haven’t been fulfilling to people. All the societal decline goes together with this decline in religion and so we can go out and announce the beauty of Christianity and the fulfillment found in God. Scot said a related finding is that American’s confidence in other important societal institutions is also at an all-time low, so it’s not just the church, but all institutions. Susan said it seems the whole country is in a funk. She said Scripture tells us we must always be ready to give reasons for our hope. (1 Peter 3:15) If we have no hope, where do we go? How do we more forward? The whole spiritual/not religious dichotomy shows the emptiness and loneliness when their is faith without community. She said we see it in our own Archdiocese when the pastoral planning proposal was made and was met by fear and suspicion. Scot said Cardinal Dolan said that cynicism needs to be replaced by confidence. Scot said when he sees that 46% of American Catholics have great confidence in the Church, he would have expected it to be a lot less. Fr. Roger said that number is about double weekly Mass attendance, so we have great reason to hope that there are a lot of people who could be ready to be invited back to Mass. He also noted that many institutions are much lower than the Church (like Congress which was in single digits), even though we really do want 100% to have total confidence in the Church. We are living in an anti-institutional, anti-authoritarian age. Confidence from top to bottom: military, small business, police, church/organized religion, banks, US Supreme Court, public schools, medical system, presidency, television news, newspapers, criminal justice system, organized labor, big business, HMOs, and Congress at the bottom. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Fr. Thomas Bouton of Dorchester, MA He wins a “Praying for our Priests” 3 Pack: “Praying for Our Priests” - A Book of prayers for the priesthood An audio CD of the Stations of the Cross and Divine Mercy Chaplet with meditations on the priesthood An audio CD of the Rosary with meditations on the priesthood If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot announced all the recent priestly assignments made in recent weeks: Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap., has announced the appointment of Father Rodney J. Copp from pastor at St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Waltham, to pastor at St. Gerard Majella Parish in Canton. The effective date of this action is Aug. 28, 2012. Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap., has accepted the request of Father Robert R. Kennedy to resign as pastor at St. Monica-St. Augustine Parish in South Boston. The cardinal has also granted Father Kennedy senior pries/retirement status. The effective date of these actions is July 31,2012. Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap., has announced the appointment of Father Thomas J. Powers as pastor at Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Lynnfield. This appointment is in addition to Father Powers’ assignment as pastor at St. Maria Goretti Parish in Lynnfield. The effective date of this action is Aug. 1,2012. Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap., has announced the appointment of Father George C. Hines from pastor at St. Mary Parish in Wrentham and from pastor at St. Martha Parish in Plainville, to pastor at St. Joseph Parish in Medford. The effective date of this action is Aug. 1, 2012. Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap., has announced the appointment of Father Frank J. Silva from pastor at Corpus Christi-St. Bernard Parish in Newton, to pastor at St. Margaret Parish in Burlington. The effective date of this action is Sept. 4, 2012. Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap., has announced the appointment of Father Robert J. Carr from pastor at St. Benedict Parish in Somerville, to pastor at Holy Trinity Parish in Quincy. The effective date of this action is Oct. 1,2012. Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, OFM Cap., has announced the appointment of Very Reverend Thomas F. Nestor, V.F., from pastor at St. Eulalia Parish in Winchester, to pastor at St. Paul Parish in Hingham. The effective date of this action is Aug. 26, 2012. Scot, Susan, and Antonio discussed the priests they know and the affect it will have. Fr. Roger said anytime there’s a change in pastors, it’s a time for people in those parishes to bond themselves even more to Christ who sends the priests to serve in His name. Scot noted an article in the Pilot this week profiling Fr. Jim Flavin, a priest of the Archdiocese, who has been sent by Cardinal Seán to work at the St. John Vianney Center in Pennsylvania that provides pastoral care to priests and others in religious ministry who require spiritual and psychological care. He said the work he undertakes can restore a priest or a nun to ministry serving thousands of others in some cases. “If I get a priest healthy, that’s a thousand people that get a priest, get the Eucharist, and get God in their lives. So, it’s good work,” he said. Antonio liked Fr. Flavin’s quote on the foolishness of youth which is also the gift of youth, that is that they think they can change the world. Scot thinks another quote relates to pastoral planning in the archdiocese: “We are getting to a point where we just give priests more work. Where there was one parish with four or five priests, now we are giving one priest four or five parishes,” he said. Scot mentioned Fr. Flavin’s relationship with Dorchester native and movie actor Mark Wahlberg. Fr. Roger said the work of the Vianney Center is important because of the work they do for clergy who receive unique stresses in their work. How can a priest deal with the stress of hearing upsetting things in confession when they can’t reveal it. So having a talented priest can minister to his brother priests, he can understand better than anyone else who isn’t a priest. Fr. Roger said there are several centers like St. John Vianney Center around the country. Also in the Pilot is the 20th anniversary of the Archdiocese of Boston Black Catholic Choir. They had a Mass and gala dinner on June 30 at Boston College High School. Susan said it was pointed out in the article that their work is really a ministry of prayer. Scot said it can be difficult to start ministries but it’s even harder to keep them going year after year. He said the choir does more than just sing in some churches, but travel all over to sing at conferences and other events as well. The Diocese of Fall River had its Quo Vadis high school vocation retreats days for young men to consider the call to the priesthood or to just be better formed as Catholic men whatever their vocation. They’ve had one of their largest gatherings this year and already some of the men entering the seminary now have been on previous Quo Vadis Days. Scot referred to another local story about the Sisters of St. Joseph, a local religious order, who have elected a new leadership team. Susan said Sr. Margaret Sullivan, one of the new leaders, used to work in the Pastoral Center and misses her terribly but wishes her well. In her reflections at the end of the liturgy, Sister Rosemary Brennan said, “Each transition of leadership dares us to dream we can co-create a future which ‘moves always towards profound love of God and love of neighbor without distinction.’ The passion and enthusiasm we have for being Sisters of St. Joseph and Associates is what impels us to live - knowing that relationship is always at the heart of who we are; and when we find ourselves in situations which test our relationships we will always seek to live in and through our charism - a charism that is our unique gift to our Church and our world.” Also in the Anchor this week is a story about the pro-life boot camp taking place on the campus of Stonehill College in Easton. Fr. Roger said it was founded last year to help young pro-life Catholics to receive real training to be effective agents in the culture of life. Several years ago some members of the youth group wanted to set up a training program for them so they could then train others. The diocesan pro-life apostolate took on the program, sent a couple of young people to a boot camp in Texas, and then set up the first sold-out boot camp in Easton last year. Fr. Roger said he will be participating and a number of other pro-life leaders will be coming from around the country to help. Scot said Jaymie Wolfe has a great column on what she learned from her time serving three months on a grand jury, especially 16 particular findings.…
Summary of today’s show: Brian Boyle has reached the apex of his profession, a career that many young kids dream about, as a professional hockey player with the NHL’s New York Rangers. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams talk with Brian and his father, Artie, about his faith journey, how his father’s struggle with and miraculous cure from cancer affected him, the discipline and commitment it took to get where he is today and to stay there, and how his faith, family, and friends as his top priority in life keep him in grounded in the sports media spotlight. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Artie Boyle of Boston Catholic Development Services, Brian Boyle of the NHL’s New York Rangers Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Brian Boyle of the New York Rangers 1st segment: Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams caught up his busy summer. Last week, they had a retreat called Witness to Truth, a leadership retreat for high school students. Next Thursday they are doing a similar program for middle school students. For middle schoolers who are interested should check out the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults website at . Today’s show is a followup to two shows they did last summer interviewing Artie Boyle about the miraculous cure of his cancer. Today Artie returns with his son Brian Boyle, NHL player and one of Artie’s 13 children. 2nd segment: Scot said there’s been a tremendous amount of feedback on the shows with Artie last summer and asked Artie if he had any updates. Artie said the good news is that his health is still good. He said he also just came back from Medjugorje with a group of young people, including his two youngest sons who went for the first time. Scot said he’s heard that Brian didn’t know how ill his father was when he was going through it. Brian said he remembers as a teen being floored by the news when he was at a church in Hanover and his father gave his witness to a confirmation group. In the talk, his father said he thought he was going to die and Artie had protected his kids from that news. Artie said he thinks its more difficult for the spouse and children of the sick person to go through with it than for the sick person himself. He said his family was busy with their own lives. Artie said he had just been diagnosed with the metastatic cancer and Brian had just been taken into the junior NHL hockey league in Canada and so he went up to Canada with Brian to experience it with him. Brian said he can’t imagine what his father went through with all the people in his life he’s taking care of. As he gets older, he understands even more what Artie did and how he kept everyone together. It’s amazing how his dad traveled with him to a remote area in Canada on two or three planes and a long bus ride. Scot asked Brian what it was like to go to Medjugorje knowing it was the place where his dad was likely healed of his cancer. Brian said it was impressive, especially how far it took to get there. He was 18 years old, right before the NHL draft and after high school graduation. He was under a lot of pressure, but going over there he felt a lot of peace. He understood the most important part of life. It was easy to walk up the mountain and be consumed in prayer. Fr. Matt said we often talk about the importance of a mother and father in being handed on the faith. Brian said it’s just impressive how they got everyone out of bed and to church on Sunday morning, but it’s important because it became part of his life and as he got older he got more out of it. He learned to work hard at school and sports and be self-motivated because it was a gift from God and he had a responsibility. Fr. Matt said our humanity is the bridge by which people can encounter Christ. He said it’s amazing to see their selflessness in the lives of their kids and how it translates into so many ways they shaped their faith. FR. Matt asked how going to Medjugorje further shaped his prayer life after he returned. Brian said the confession in Medjugorje was the biggest change. Before, he was afraid of the sacrament, especially having to verbalize what he had done. But over there he went to confession and realized he could release the burden he didn’t even know he was carrying. Going over there opened up for him all the things it can do for you. Scot said Artie said last year he’s never said no to invitation to share his story. Scot said he’s sure thousands have come to a deeper relationship with Christ through his store; how does he feel to know his story has helped his own children. Artie said it’s humbling. He and his wife Judy want nothing more than his children to believe in Jesus Christ and to follow him. Artie said every time he gives his talk, it feels like he’s being healed all over again. He always says Yes because he someone may need to hear the story. Artie said their children are passing on the faith to their own children. Their one responsibility as a parent is to pass on the faith to their children. You can’t force it on them. All you can do is live it as a witness. 3rd segment: Scot said Brian went to St. Paul in Hingham and St. Sebatian’s in Needham for high school. In his senior year, he was invited to participate in the NHL draft. Brian said it was very stressful, measuring yourself against the others, wondering which team would pick him, what round they would pick him in. He said it helped him mature a lot before going on to college. He flew down a couple of days early to Nashville for the draft. He had to do workout drills and they pick them apart and strip them down for their strengths and weaknesses. There were 30 from the family down there total. He was picked 26th overall. It was a whirlwind after that and finally later it all sunk in. Unlike the other leagues, when you’re drafted in the NHL he can choose to go to college. Going into the draft, Brian knew he was going to Boston College. His first year in college was tough with many ups and downs. He’d known being drafted was no guarantee, but he knew he would make it to play in the league. Those experiences helped him with his work ethic and being able to take ups and downs. Scot said at Boston College the team made it two championships but never won. He asked how the closeness of family helped him. Brian said it was a dream of his to play for Boston College. He’d always cheered for them. In senior year when they lost to Michigan State was the worst loss for him and took longest to get over it, but being with his family helped him through. He said his dad took it even harder. Artie said he grew up playing all sports. He played hockey goaltender in college and still plays. He said hockey players are a little more caring for their teammates than the other sports. Scot noted that he’s seen the Bruins have always been a little more down to earth than the other athletes. Brian said he’s found that among every hockey team he’s played on. Selfish players are weeded out early. He said it’s difficult to understand that you’re always fighting for your job, but the culture is still caring for the whole team. They don’t care who gets the goal as long as the team scores. It’s one reason there’s fighting in hockey with guys standing up for each other. Scot said after college Brian played in Manchester in the minor leagues and then went to the LA Kings. He was asked to play a different position as defense instead of forward, which he’d played all his life. Now with the Rangers he’s back to his old position. Brian said he was a center his entire life until the last eight games of his senior year when injuries on his team forced him to play more defense. When he turned pro he was put on defense and had to spend a lot of time trying to understand the brand-new position. Over 30 games in Manchester he played D and it did give him an understanding of the position and how to use that as a center in the defensive zone. In the long run, that’s helped it become a big part of his game. Scot asked Artie about reports of a meeting between Artie and the general manager of the Kings, asking him to trade him East if he’s not going to use him the way he should. Artie said he’d known Dean Lombardi socially as a friend of a friend and so when he heard he was coming to Boston and arranged a meeting. They met for an hour at the airport Hilton to tell him about Brian, talk about his character and makeup so they wouldn’t try to make him something he isn’t. He understood Brian as a goal scorer. He asked if they plan to trade him to trade him East so they could see him play. A month later they traded him to the Rangers. Scot said Judy, his mom, had been praying a novena to be traded East. Brian said he wasn’t aware of his father talking to the general manager of the hockey club and when he heard about it he was nervous. Dean was understanding and was willing to do what was right for Brian. He’s very happy in New York and thinks it’s the best place to play, within an hour of home without being in front of the hometown crowd. Artie said his first night in New York, his mother told him she couldn’t control herself, crying because he was so close. He didn’t realize until he came back how much he missed his family and being close to home was a huge plus for him. Fr. Matt asked what it’s like to make it to the professional level and play in New York, night and night out with the pressure, and media scrutiny, and how he gets through it, especially with his teammates. Brian said he’s been on both sides of the scrutiny. He said the fans have been supportive of him in New York. He said there’s pressure even inside the locker room with the coaching staff and other players. they make sure your attitude doesn’t change at all and that you remember you’re part of a team. For Brian, he downplays everything else. He always remembers that they’re just a bunch of guys playing the game, that they’re all human. If you lose today, there’s another game tomorrow, and if there isn’t another game tomorrow, then leave it all out on the ice. Scot said when you get to the apex of your profession, how complete is it for you? What can he say to teens about the balance of his life. Brian said it was always his dream to play in the NHL. Being able to do that, he’s always striving to be better and then to achieve the ultimate goal of the Stanley Cup. Hockey is a huge part of his life, but it’s not who he is. The biggest part of his life is family, friends, and faith. Those have been with him through the ups and downs of life. The best games are when he can talk to his dad after the game or to have his family there. Hockey is more fun when his family is part of it. And they’ve taught him that his faith is number one. Fr. Matt asked how he lives his witness as a Christian on the ice, off the ice, in the media room or wherever. Brian said hockey is funny because of the violence in it. Before every game he prays, right after warm up. He says the novena to St. Jude because that was his confirmation name and they prayed it when he was struggling in freshman year in college. He then goes out with then intention to do his best to glorify God with the gifts he as given Brian. In his interviews he gets to tell people how blessed he is to play in the NHL with the NY Rangers. Scot said New York is the media capital of the world and asked Artie what it’s like to deal with the ups and downs in the NHL, especially when they saw a cheap shot on Brian in the playoffs that knocked him out of playing for a few games. Artie said he was at the game and was concerned that he’d been hurt after he disappeared off the ice. After the game, they were called into the locker room. He saw the nasty hit on replay. Brian had a concussion and it took him a while to recover from that. They temper the ups and downs, scoring and getting hurt, playing too little and too much. Artie said he gets so personally involved that his wife Judy says he’s playing in his son’s body. Fr. Matt asked Brian about the discipline he goes through to go for excellence and how he stays motivated. Brian said the best example is getting up early on a Monday morning to drive an hour in July when the season just ended and next season is months away. It’s a challenge but he also has seen what happens to guys who don’t put in the work. The way he’s been brought up and the way he’s learned all along the way that he has to make this priority, that you have to work hard and not give in to temptations. Scot asked Brian what advice he has for kids playing in whatever sport about reaching the apex of the sport. Brian said the number one thing is that winning as a team is more important than personal accomplishment. Teams want winners who’ve contributed their individual effort to the ultimate prize. Brian said he’s always been passionate about victory at the end of the day. You can’t accept losing in yourself and always look to improve yourself for the next time. Brian’s younger brother was just drafted by the NHL. He said he was even more excited for that than for his own draft. Artie said his others kid include a doctor with seven kids, a real estate broker, school teachers, retail, an MBA, two in high school, and the drafted hockey player going off to college.…
Summary of today’s show: There are many laity who serve in various roles in the Church, but some are called to a specific role as lay ecclesial ministers. These laypeople are specifically formed, authorized, and commissioned into professional ministry in parishes, schools, and the diocese. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor are joined by Dr. Aldona Lingertat of the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization and Patty O’Connor, a parish lay ecclesial minister to talk about the phenomenon and how we can support them in their efforts to build up the Church and evangelize their communities. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Dr. Aldona Lingertat and Patty O’Connor Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Calling of the Lay Ecclesial Minister 1st segment: Scot Landry pointed out that a big part of Fr. Chris O’Connor’s job, when he’s not co-hosting The Good Catholic Life, is helping forming laypeople for evangelization though the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization. Fr. Chris said there’s lots of planning going on for the new school year starting in September. TINE is part of St. John’s Seminary and is located on the old St. Gabriel’s property in Brighton near the old St. Elizabeth’s hospital. Fr. Chris said they’re just putting the finishing touches on their new chapel. The numbers at St. John’s in both priests and laypeople means they’re bursting at the seams and need more space. Fr. Chris said Aldona Lingertat has been with the Master of Arts in Ministry program since it’s start and now under TINE has been paired with a Master of Arts in Theological Studies as well as the certificate program. They’re also gearing up for something new, but he’s not yet prepared to announce what it is yet. This is all to mark the Year of Faith. Scot said today’s show is about the calling of the lay ecclesial minister in serving the Church as a lay person. He said among other things they will discuss the US bishops’ document of a few years ago called Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord, which Fr. Chris pointed out is the same name as the conference they produce every Spring from Aldona’s office, which is always about lay ecclesial ministry. Our other guest is Patty O’Connor, a lay ecclesial minister and DRE from St. Mary’s in Randolph. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcomed Aldona and Patty to the show. Scot asked Aldona about the MAM program. She said the MAM just graduated 10 students, many of whom are already working in Catholic parishes and schools, including campus ministry, directors of religious education, and general pastoral associates. Now, they’re interviewing the incoming class. Scot asked what a typical class looks like. Aldona said they hope to have 20 incoming students each year. They pace themselves. The students can take one or 2 courses per semester or go full-time. If they go full-time and take summer courses, it can take two years. If they take one or 2 courses, it can take 4 to 5 years. Scot said Patty O’Connor has been director of religious education at St. Mary’s. She said she grew up at the parish and went to school there. After graduation from college, she went back to teach in Catholic school as a 1st grade teacher. When the school closed she stayed on as director of religious education. She said it’s one of the most diverse parishes in the Archdiocese. Scot said Randolph is a diverse town, that every language spoken in the Archdiocese of Boston is spoken there. Scot asked Aldona about the vocation of the laity in building up the Church. She said our life in Christ starts in baptism and we are called to bring Christ to the world. Through our baptism we share in that life and bring it to our families and society. Scot noted most laypeople live that calling in the secular world wherever we might work. Patty said we’re called to be leaven in the world in every community that we’re in and that starts with the people we see every day. Fr. Chris said in the Co-Workers document, it says: The secular nature of their calling refers to the fact that God “has handed over the world to women and men, so that they may participate in the work of creation, free creation from the influence of sin and sanctify themselves in marriage or the celibate life, in a family, in a profession and in the various activities of society.” This task is itself a participation in the mission of the Church. He said the baptismal call that we are all sent to sanctify ourselves and be active in the world. Scot said there are many roles in the Church that used to be just for priests or religious: Today in parishes, schools, Church institutions, and diocesan agencies, laity serve in various “ministries, offices and roles” that do not require sacramental ordination but rather “find their foundation in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, indeed, for a good many of them, in the Sacrament of Matrimony.” Some of those roles are under the title of lay ecclesial minister. Some choose to build up the Church by working inside the Church. It’s an important development of the Church and the transformation we hope to have in the Church will have a lot of lay involvement. Aldona points out that in Luke’s Gospel Jesus sends out 72 disciples to proclaim ahead of him that the kingdom of the Lord is at hand. This is what a lay person does. Scot said people involved in volunteer ministry are not lay ecclesial ministers, but they are still vital to the work of evangelization and the life of the Church. Patty said the baptismal call is one that people in the pews still hear loud and clear, and despite their busy lives still step forward. Fr. Chris said a priest friend preaches that the Church isn’t a country club or 7-11. It’s not a place to get goods and leave. It’s a place to be a member of a community. Each of us is called to contribute to the life of the parish. The word “parish” comes from a word meaning “to draw near” to both Christ and to the Body of Christ, all the members of the parish. Aldona said when she first talks to someone considering a degree program, they express a call to know more about their faith and be of service to their parish and the Church, but aren’t sure how yet. She sees the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives as they are open to that sense of a call to serve. Scot said when it’s a call to work full-time for the Church, there’s a sense of community and duty. As more laypeople began to work in leadership roles, the US bishops wanted to outline what those roles might be and give guidance on how to form them. So they outline four characteristics on what makes a lay ecclesial minister: Authorization of the hierarchy to serve publicly in the local church Leadership in a particular area of ministry Close mutual collaboration with the pastoral ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons Preparation and formation appropriate to the level of responsibilities that are assigned to them So they are authorized by the bishop and announced publicly. Aldona said this is key. Many people feel called, but there’s always two parts to a calling: You discern your gift and where you will give that gift. Not everyone is suited for leadership in religious education, but may be great in hospice work, for example. Scot said it also provides some confidence in what this person is teaching to make sure it’s in line with the Church’s teachings. Fr. Chris said the bishop is number one, he’s the overseer, the conservator of the faith as the successor of the apostles. Historically, the bishop has sought out collaborators to help his ministry. The bishop is the source of unity within the diocese and with the Church as a whole. Aldona noted that their formation is human, spiritual, pastoral, and academic. In the second year of formation, they form ministerial identity. The goal is the candidate for ministry learns that the role they will play in the future is on behalf of the Church. The second characteristic is the call to leadership. It’s not just anybody who works for a parish or diocese. They have a lot of delegation of authority to carry on that ministry.Patty said you grow into leadership positions and it’s important to have good mentors to form you. The third is close, mutual collaboration with the ministry of bishops, priests, and deacons. You can be a lay ecclesial minister off on your own. Aldona said you’re part of a body. Fr. Chris said Christ prayed that they all might be one. When there’s division or separation, that creates scandal. True collaboration is the work of Christianity. The parishes that are vital are the ones where the pastor is collaborating. The fourth is preparation and formation. Aldona said the Co-Workers document gives a guideline of formation and what courses to cover. The diocese can determine who is certified after the formation program. There are also national certifications as well. Aldona is currently president of Association of Graduate Programs in Ministry. It brings together the programs for lay ecclesial ministry in the US. Scot said the preparation and formation four pillars is the same as that for the formation of priests: human, spiritual, pastoral, and academic. Fr. Chris said we do this with our seminarians on a separate track. It’s also a whole person formation. They develop leadership and communications and relationship skills. The minister is to be a bridge, not an obstacle, to Christ. The spiritual formation means we have that connection to Christ that we’re trying to convey. Scot talked about the lay ecclesial ministry roles most often associated with it as the lay pastoral associate, who often assists a pastor in a variety of different roles; director of religious education, director of youth ministry, director of worship/pastoral musician, school principal. At a non-parish level, there’s a health-care chaplain or campus minister and other diocesan leaders. Scot has heard debate over whether a business manager is a lay ecclesial minister. He said they may not get all four pillars of the formation. Aldona said at one point there was a training program that did try to include all four pillars and there is a move toward that direction. Fr. Chris asked Patty about her responsibilities as a pastoral associate in her parish. She said she’s coordinated the Arise program and the Why Catholic program. She trains and forms liturgical ministers, teach on the new Roman Missal, work with RCIA, led Catholics Come Home for her parish. Her current role came out of a discussion with the pastor four years ago when they listed the duties she wanted to take on. Scot asked if parish secretaries are lay ecclesial ministers. Patty said that in a loosely defined way, a lay person working in the church is a lay ecclesial minister in a way. She said there are circumstances in which a business manager is a lay ecclesial minister. Scot said in thinking about a secretary, he thinks it might be conditioned on how formation they have and how much leadership they have. Fr. Chris said this is a developing situation in how we define particular roles. He said the important thing is that the parish secretary is doing incredible work at the front door. In many ways she’s the voice of the Church. When we are the voice of the Church, we have to be aware how we communicate Christ’s love. Anyone involved in the parish is in some way a lay ecclesial minister. Aldona said there’s another term that may more accurately describe the role as lay minister as opposed to lay ecclesial minister. The lay ecclesial minister is the one in leadership. Scot said as lay ministry becomes more formalized we have these kinds of discussions about the differences in different roles. Maybe we need to say these other roles do need all the formation because they are someone who represents the Church in many places. Even lay ministers don’t just enter the ministry, but are approved by the pastor and trained to do the work. Scot said the standards we hold clergy too are now being created for lay ministers. Aldona said there is a national movement to develop a certification that will be portable between dioceses. The US bishops have accepted the guidelines that have been proposed and for the first time lay ecclesial ministers are requesting national certification. Scot asked Aldona on the numbers of lay ecclesial ministers and their growth. In 2005, the most recent survey, there were about 30,000 lay ecclesial ministers, defined as working at least 20 hours per week in paid positions in parishes. This year, it’s up to 31,000. Patty said in the Archdiocese, there are 435 parish catechetical leaders and of them 85 are DREs and certified with graduate degrees. There are also about 100 pastoral associates, 125 Catholic school principals. Fr. Chris said he would include the teachers in the Catholic schools. Fr. Chris said he thinks Scot is a lay ecclesial minister, but Scot asks if he’s received the formation he should have for that designation. He said there are many jobs in the Pastoral Center that would qualify as lay ecclesial ministry. Aldona said the 2005 survey found that the lay ecclesial ministers were raised up from inside their parishes. She encouraged anyone listening to talk to their pastor if they feel like they are called and then seek out a formation program. Patty said a former pastor continually invited her to continue her education as her children grew older. It was in 2002 that she discerned that call into the Master of Arts in Ministry program. She said the four pillars gave her a confidence and maturity. Fr. Chris said we have to address the financial situation of parishes. This is where the money in the basket goes. Pastors want to hire these lay ecclesial ministers and the ministers are due a decent salary. So the offertory in part goes to paying these ecclesial ministers’ salaries. Scot said looking forward at the recommendations in the pastoral planning for pastoral service teams to serve more than one parish in most cases, it seems as more effective to group these ministerial activities in parishes together under certain leaders, probably lay ecclesial ministry. He asked Aldona her hopes for the growth of lay ecclesial ministry. She said she hopes the collaboration of these teams would go well and the transitions would go smoothly. It’s a challenge to grow to serve a couple of parishes at a time. Patty said her hope with the pastoral service teams is that they be able to entice young lay ecclesial ministers, who are unable to take the jobs because of finances. If the Church can bring the resources together, that may be possible. Patty said certification calls for one to have a graduate degree appropriate for the job and letters of recommendation from the bishop and pastors, and the sending it into the pastoral planning office. There is a committee that will review them and make a recommendation. Most of the time the applicant has already done much of the work of the lay ecclesial minister. Scot said TINE offers two degrees and there are about 90 people in the MAM program. Aldona said many of the deacons have options for getting degree credit for their work. Fr. Chris noted that many of the wives take the classes with their husbands. Scot suggested a young person start working in a parish while working toward certification. Fr. Chris said Catholic school teachers receive 50% off their tuition when they apply at TINE. Patty is on the Pastoral Planning Commission. Scot said the real goal is to allow us to be better at evangelization. Pattyy said she joined in February to represent catechetical leadership. She thinks the committee has worked hard at the goal of strengthening parishes. It’s now turning its focus to the other four elements focused on evangelization.…
Summary of today’s show: In January 2012, Pope Benedict XVI created an ordinariate for North America as a way to welcome former Anglicans, their priests, and their parishes into communion with the Catholic Church. On the North Shore of Massachusetts, a group of former Episcopalians is preparing to do just that with their priest, Fr. Jurgen Liias. Scot Landry talks with Fr. Liias and Fr. David Barnes, pastor of St. Mary Star of the Sea in Beverly, about Fr. Liias’ spiritual journey and what the new ordinariate means for resolving the rift in Christianity caused by the Protestant Reformation and Henry VIII. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Jurgen Liias and Fr. David Barnes Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Fr. Jurgen Liias and the Anglican Ordinariate 1st segment: Scot said in the future the year 2012 will be remembered as the creation of an ordinariate for Anglicans becoming Catholic. Fr. David Barnes, pastor of St. Mary Star of the Sea in Beverly joins us to discuss this news. Also joining us is Fr. Jurgen Liias, currently an Episcopalian priest seeking to become a Catholic priest in the ordinariate. Scot said Fr. Jurgen was born in Europe and moved with his family to the US. He said he was born in Germany. His mother was a refugee from East Germany and his father was a refugee from Estonia. He was born in 1948 and they later came to the United States as displaced persons. They originally lived in a displaced persons camp in Baldwinville, Massachusetts. He was four years old and his brother was two. His father found a place for them to live in an Episcopalian church rectory in Charlestown at St. John’s in Monument Square. They lived there for most of his childhood. His father became caretaker of the church. Fr. Jurgen said from the time when they moved in he would say he wanted to be a minister like their host who took them in. He never changed his mind from that. He’d been baptized Lutheran, but they became Episcopalian. Fr. Jurgen said the two are very much alike. He said Charlestown in those days was a pretty rough Irish Catholic ghetto and he got beat up regularly for being a Protestant and a “Nazi”. The church was a refuge and the one place they were accepted, a safe haven. He went to Boston Latin school and to Amherst College in Western Mass. He met his wife who was at Smith College. They met the first day as the Amherst men went to Smith to help the young ladies move into their dorms. In college, he was very involved in the peace movement and Students for a Democratic Society. As a Christian he always said he was there because Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. Most of his Christianity in those days was expressed in the social gospel. Scot asked if the Sixties was a turbulent for Episcopalians as it was for Catholics. Fr. Jurgen said it was a shift, but not as much as for Catholics. He said while he was involved in the social gospel, it was all externalized and he hadn’t internalized or taken a good look at himself. As the charismatic movement began to rise, he started to have his heart opened to a more person exposure to the Holy Spirit. Meanwhile, his church’s pastor wasn’t very interested in this spirituality. He became more convinced what he was experiencing was something the Church needed. Out of that came a call within a call to work for the renewal of the Episcopal Church. It had become stale and spiritually tepid. Most of his ministry over the last 30 years has been working to this end. Fr. Jurgen said he began to delve into deeper questions of what is the faith and what is the Church. He found a confessor, which is unusual for a Protestant, in order to confess his sins. His first confessor was an Episcopalian monk, but after 5 years he told him he’d left his order and became a Dominican in the Catholic Church. This was a seed planted in Fr. Jurgen’s psyche. Another seed planted for his journey to Rome was the pro-life movement. He found in the pro-life movement in the early 1970s. Most of his Episcopalian friends, other clergy, abandoned him as he took a stand against abortion. Feminism had taken strong root in the Episcopal Church. He started the National Organization of Episcopalians for Life. He saw in the Catholic Church a consistency in standing for the Church and that’s where he began thinking about maybe he’d be better off in the Catholic Church. 2nd segment: Scot asked Fr. Jurgen to define Anglican, Episcopalian, and ordinariate. Fr. Jurgen said the Anglican Church encompasses Christianity in England going back to the times of the Holy Roman Empire. It flowered when St. Augustine of Canterbury was sent by Pope St. Gregory in the fourth or fifth century to bring Christianity there. At the time of Henry VIII in the 1500s, the king broke away from the Pope and created the Church of England. During the heyday of the British Empire, the Anglican church went wherever the empire went and created the Anglican Communion, all the branches throughout the world. In the United States, the Anglicans called themselves the Episcopal Church. In the worldwide Christianity, the Catholic Church is the largest, the Orthodox is the second-largest, and the Anglicans are the third-largest. Pope Paul VI started the Anglican-Catholic dialogue during the 1960s. Scot said the Anglican Ordinariate was founded in January 2012. Why now? Fr. Jurgen said Pope Benedict said it was a response to the requests of Anglicans over many, many years. Bl. John Henry Newman was an Anglican priest in the early 1800s who started the Oxford Movement to bring the Anglicans back to Rome, but he eventually concluded that he had to do it himself. In the 1980s, Pope John Paul set up the Anglican provision, which let individual Anglican priests convert to Catholicism and to become Catholic priests. Then there was permission given to certain Catholic parishes to use a different liturgical form, closer to the Anglican form. Now, the ordinariate allows Episcopalian congregations to come into full communion with Rome with their priests, but to continue to hold to their traditions. the ordinariate is the structure under which they serve. Scot said it’s kind of parallel to a diocese, except dioceses are territorial, while the ordinariate in the US covers all of North America. Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, a former Anglican bishop, has been put in charge of the ordinariate by Pope Benedict XVI and serves the function of a bishop. Scot said there are a few ordinariate parishes in the US so far. Fr. Jurgen said there are close to 60 or 70 men like him who are seeking Holy Orders through the ordinariate, some of them with significant parishes with them, others who are like Fr. Jurgen have a small group of people looking to come into the Church with him. Scot asked Fr. David Barnes why this is significant, not just in the world, but more locally in the Archdiocese of Boston. Fr. David said it’s part of the New Evangelization. Pope Benedict is open to all the movements in the life of the Church and interested in opening up new ways for people to become Catholic. The Pope has gone around all the problems to open up this new way. Scot said it’s his opinion that because Pope Benedict grew up in Germany among Protestants that he views the role of the papacy to further this work. Fr. David said the witness of the Catholic faith of the new converts is a good example. Fr. Jurgen and those like him bear witness to a relationship with Jesus Christ, how we come to faith and it changes our life. Scot asked what it means to him to see an Episcopal priest to share the priesthood with him. Fr. David said it’s great to share faith with him, apart from ordination. Through him, he’s met other people and occasionally sees another Episcopalian priest coming to Mass at St. Mary’s. 3rd segment: Scot asked Fr. Jurgen what are the steps to becoming a Catholic priest in his position. Fr. Jurgen said the ordinariate has sped up the process. Under the pastoral provision it took one or two years. Fr. Jurgen started his process in February and hopes to be ordained this fall. He’s taken part in theological formation, every Saturday for months, via computer distance learning. He’s also had a mentor, a Catholic priest to help him, and Fr. Barnes has filled that role. He’s also just came from psychological testing. There’s a background check as well. These are all things that a seminarian has to go through. This is all gathered together and sent to Rome for approval by the Vatican. Fr. Jurgen said at a certain pint within the next few weeks, he will be expected to formally renounce his orders in the Anglican church. He will become a layman and await a decision by the Vatican. Scot asked him if he receives other sacraments first. Fr. Jurgen said he will be received at St. Margaret’s in Beverly Farms on August 15. He will make his first Catholic confession and his first Communion. He will also receive confirmation at the same Mass. He said he’s been going to Mass and it’s difficult not receiving Communion so far. Scot asked Fr. David how he will prepare parishioners. Fr. David said people have been very receptive. Msgr. Steenson came to the parish a few months ago to give a substantial lecture on the ordinariate. They had a Mass on which several people were received into the Church. On August 15, a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC, who also serves as vicar general of the ordinariate, will fly up for the confirmation. If he will be ordained in the Church, Cardinal Seán will do that. Fr. Jurgen said there’s also about 15–20 people who have also chosen to make this journey with him. He started almost two years ago with a little group that met on Saturdays in 8am. They discussed the papal document setting up the process for the ordinariates. They also studied many ecumenical documents. Dr. Tom Howard, a former Anglican who became Catholic nd who later taught at St. John’s Seminary, helped catechize the group. They were meeting every week and now meet twice per month. They continue to meet regularly and tonight, for example, they will be studying the rosary. Fr. Jurgen said there is a wing of the Anglicans that does all the Catholic devotional life, call the Anglo-Catholics. He said he is more of an Evangelical. There are Anglican traditions that aren’t part of Catholic devotional life. He said familiarity with the Bible will be something they can bring. There are some spiritual traditions as well. One is called choral evensong. It’s a form of Vespers with Anglican chant. Pope Benedict had just had the Westminster choir in the Vatican to sing evensong. Fr. David said Msgr. Steenson predicts that the Anglican traditions will be saved by the Catholic Church. Fr. Jurgen said the group will be forming a parish of the ordinariate within the Archdiocese of Boston. They intend to have a positive relationship with the local diocese. While they could form a parish without approval of local bishop, Msgr. Steenson said they want a cordial partnership. Fr. David said the priests on the North Shore will love to have Fr. Jurgen’s help in the area. He hopes to have faculties to function within the Archdiocese. But in the meantime, he will help found a parish of the Diocese of North America. One of the visions of Pope BEnedict is the beginning of the end of the divisions of the Reformation. They want an organic reunion. Fr. David said he’s very hopeful that Fr. Jurgen will be ordained and he’s been a very wonderful priest who shown many gifts in his previous parishes. He hears that he’s a wonderful preacher and has a great love for the Church already. Fr. Jurgen said he feels like he’s falling in love with the Catholic Church and is enormously blessed with the gift of the Church and the riches it will give him. Fr. Jurgen said he published his spiritual autobiography as part of his application and had so many requests for it that he put it on a new bog.…
Summary of today’s show: Just before Christmas every year, the Holy Father gives a kind of State of the Church address to the Roman Curia and this past year was no exception. Scot Landry, Fr. Chip Hines, and Domenico Bettinelli delve into Pope Benedict’s address and his diagnosis in Europe and North America of faith fatigue as well as the cure: a faith that takes on new life, a joyful passion for faith. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Domenico Bettinelli of Pilot New Media Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Pope Benedict on faith fatigue and the joy-filled Catholic 1st segment: Today we present the text of Pope Benedict’s address to the Roman Curia at the end of last year, which will be the topic of discussion in this show. Dear Cardinals, Brother Bishops and Priests, Dear Brothers and Sisters, The occasion that brings us together today is always particularly moving. The holy feast of Christmas is almost upon us and it prompts the great family of the Roman Curia to come together for a gracious exchange of greetings, as we wish one another a joyful and spiritually fruitful celebration of this feast of the God who became flesh and established his dwelling in our midst (cf. Jn 1:14). For me, this is an occasion not only to offer you my personal good wishes, but also to express my gratitude and that of the Church to each one of you for your generous service; I ask you to convey this to all the co-workers of our extended family. I offer particular thanks to the Dean of the College, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who has given voice to the sentiments of all present and of all who work in the various offices of the Curia and the Governorate, including those whose apostolate is carried out in the Pontifical Representations throughout the world. All of us are committed to spreading throughout the world the resounding message that the angels proclaimed that night in Bethlehem, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to people of good will” (Lk 2:14), so as to bring joy and hope to our world. As this year draws to a close, Europe is undergoing an economic and financial crisis, which is ultimately based on the ethical crisis looming over the Old Continent. Even if such values as solidarity, commitment to one’s neighbour and responsibility towards the poor and suffering are largely uncontroversial, still the motivation is often lacking for individuals and large sectors of society to practise renunciation and make sacrifices. Perception and will do not necessarily go hand in hand. In defending personal interests, the will obscures perception, and perception thus weakened is unable to stiffen the will. In this sense, some quite fundamental questions emerge from this crisis: where is the light that is capable of illuminating our perception not merely with general ideas, but with concrete imperatives? Where is the force that draws the will upwards? These are questions that must be answered by our proclamation of the Gospel, by the new evangelization, so that message may become event, so that proclamation may lead to life. The key theme of this year, and of the years ahead, is this: how do we proclaim the Gospel today? How can faith as a living force become a reality today? The ecclesial events of the outgoing year were all ultimately related to this theme. There were the journeys to Croatia, to the World Youth Day in Spain, to my home country of Germany, and finally to Africa – Benin – for the consignment of the Post-Synodal document on justice, peace and reconciliation, which should now lead to concrete results in the various local churches. Equally memorable were the journeys to Venice, to San Marino, to the Eucharistic Congress in Ancona, and to Calabria. And finally there was the important day of encounter in Assisi for religions and for people who in whatever way are searching for truth and peace, representing a new step forward in the pilgrimage towards truth and peace. The establishment of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization is at the same time a pointer towards next year’s Synod on the same theme. The Year of Faith, commemorating the beginning of the Council fifty years ago, also belongs in this context. Each of these events had its own particular characteristics. In Germany, where the Reformation began, the ecumenical question, with all its trials and hopes, naturally assumed particular importance. Intimately linked to this, at the focal point of the debate, the question that arises repeatedly is this: what is reform of the Church? How does it take place? What are its paths and its goals? Not only faithful believers but also outside observers are noticing with concern that regular churchgoers are growing older all the time and that their number is constantly diminishing; that recruitment of priests is stagnating; that scepticism and unbelief are growing. What, then, are we to do? There are endless debates over what must be done in order to reverse the trend. There is no doubt that a variety of things need to be done. But action alone fails to resolve the matter. The essence of the crisis of the Church in Europe is the crisis of faith. If we find no answer to this, if faith does not take on new life, deep conviction and real strength from the encounter with Jesus Christ, then all other reforms will remain ineffective. On this point, the encounter with Africa’s joyful passion for faith brought great encouragement. None of the faith fatigue that is so prevalent here, none of the oft-encountered sense of having had enough of Christianity was detectable there. Amid all the problems, sufferings and trials that Africa clearly experiences, one could still sense the people’s joy in being Christian, buoyed up by inner happiness at knowing Christ and belonging to his Church. From this joy comes also the strength to serve Christ in hard-pressed situations of human suffering, the strength to put oneself at his disposal, without looking round for one’s own advantage. Encountering this faith that is so ready to sacrifice and so full of happiness is a powerful remedy against fatigue with Christianity such as we are experiencing in Europe today. A further remedy against faith fatigue was the wonderful experience of World Youth Day in Madrid. This was new evangelization put into practice. Again and again at World Youth Days, a new, more youthful form of Christianity can be seen, something I would describe under five headings. Firstly, there is a new experience of catholicity, of the Church’s universality. This is what struck the young people and all the participants quite directly: we come from every continent, but although we have never met one another, we know one another. We speak different languages, we have different ways of life and different cultural backgrounds, yet we are immediately united as one great family. Outward separation and difference is relativized. We are all moved by the one Lord Jesus Christ, in whom true humanity and at the same time the face of God himself is revealed to us. We pray in the same way. The same inner encounter with Jesus Christ has stamped us deep within with the same structure of intellect, will and heart. And finally, our common liturgy speaks to our hearts and unites us in a vast family. In this setting, to say that all humanity are brothers and sisters is not merely an idea: it becomes a real shared experience, generating joy. And so we have also understood quite concretely: despite all trials and times of darkness, it is a wonderful thing to belong to the worldwide Church, to the Catholic Church, that the Lord has given to us. From this derives a new way of living our humanity, our Christianity. For me, one of the most important experiences of those days was the meeting with the World Youth Day volunteers: about 20,000 young people, all of whom devoted weeks or months of their lives to working on the technical, organizational and material preparations for World Youth Day, and thus made it possible for the whole event to run smoothly. Those who give their time always give a part of their lives. At the end of the day, these young people were visibly and tangibly filled with a great sense of happiness: the time that they gave up had meaning; in giving of their time and labour, they had found time, they had found life. And here something fundamental became clear to me: these young people had given a part of their lives in faith, not because it was asked of them, not in order to attain Heaven, nor in order to escape the danger of Hell. They did not do it in order to find fulfilment. They were not looking round for themselves. There came into my mind the image of Lot’s wife, who by looking round was turned into a pillar of salt. How often the life of Christians is determined by the fact that first and foremost they look out for themselves, they do good, so to speak, for themselves. And how great is the temptation of all people to be concerned primarily for themselves; to look round for themselves and in the process to become inwardly empty, to become “pillars of salt”. But here it was not a matter of seeking fulfilment or wanting to live one’s life for oneself. These young people did good, even at a cost, even if it demanded sacrifice, simply because it is a wonderful thing to do good, to be there for others. All it needs is the courage to make the leap. Prior to all of this is the encounter with Jesus Christ, inflaming us with love for God and for others, and freeing us from seeking our own ego. In the words of a prayer attributed to Saint Francis Xavier: I do good, not that I may come to Heaven thereby and not because otherwise you could cast me into Hell. I do it because of you, my King and my Lord. I came across this same attitude in Africa too, for example among the Sisters of Mother Teresa, who devote themselves to abandoned, sick, poor and suffering children, without asking anything for themselves, thus becoming inwardly rich and free. This is the genuinely Christian attitude. Equally unforgettable for me was the encounter with handicapped young people in the Saint Joseph Centre in Madrid, where I encountered the same readiness to put oneself at the disposal of others – a readiness to give oneself that is ultimately derived from encounter with Christ, who gave himself for us. A third element, that has an increasingly natural and central place in World Youth Days and in the spirituality that arises from them, is adoration. I still look back to that unforgettable moment during my visit to the United Kingdom, when tens of thousands of predominantly young people in Hyde Park responded in eloquent silence to the Lord’s sacramental presence, in adoration. The same thing happened again on a smaller scale in Zagreb and then again in Madrid, after the thunderstorm which almost ruined the whole night vigil through the failure of the microphones. God is indeed ever-present. But again, the physical presence of the risen Christ is something different, something new. The risen Lord enters into our midst. And then we can do no other than say, with Saint Thomas: my Lord and my God! Adoration is primarily an act of faith – the act of faith as such. God is not just some possible or impossible hypothesis concerning the origin of all things. He is present. And if he is present, then I bow down before him. Then my intellect and will and heart open up towards him and from him. In the risen Christ, the incarnate God is present, who suffered for us because he loves us. We enter this certainty of God’s tangible love for us with love in our own hearts. This is adoration, and this then determines my life. Only thus can I celebrate the Eucharist correctly and receive the body of the Lord rightly. A further important element of the World Youth Days is the sacrament of Confession, which is increasingly coming to be seen as an integral part of the experience. Here we recognize that we need forgiveness over and over again, and that forgiveness brings responsibility. Openness to love is present in man, implanted in him by the Creator, together with the capacity to respond to God in faith. But also present, in consequence of man’s sinful history (Church teaching speaks of original sin) is the tendency that is opposed to love – the tendency towards selfishness, towards becoming closed in on oneself, in fact towards evil. Again and again my soul is tarnished by this downward gravitational pull that is present within me. Therefore we need the humility that constantly asks God for forgiveness, that seeks purification and awakens in us the counterforce, the positive force of the Creator, to draw us upwards. Finally, I would like to speak of one last feature, not to be overlooked, of the spirituality of World Youth Days, namely joy. Where does it come from? How is it to be explained? Certainly, there are many factors at work here. But in my view, the crucial one is this certainty, based on faith: I am wanted; I have a task in history; I am accepted, I am loved. Josef Pieper, in his book on love, has shown that man can only accept himself if he is accepted by another. He needs the other’s presence, saying to him, with more than words: it is good that you exist. Only from the You can the I come into itself. Only if it is accepted, can it accept itself. Those who are unloved cannot even love themselves. This sense of being accepted comes in the first instance from other human beings. But all human acceptance is fragile. Ultimately we need a sense of being accepted unconditionally. Only if God accepts me, and I become convinced of this, do I know definitively: it is good that I exist. It is good to be a human being. If ever man’s sense of being accepted and loved by God is lost, then there is no longer any answer to the question whether to be a human being is good at all. Doubt concerning human existence becomes more and more insurmountable. Where doubt over God becomes prevalent, then doubt over humanity follows inevitably. We see today how widely this doubt is spreading. We see it in the joylessness, in the inner sadness, that can be read on so many human faces today. Only faith gives me the conviction: it is good that I exist. It is good to be a human being, even in hard times. Faith makes one happy from deep within. That is one of the wonderful experiences of World Youth Days. It would take too long now to go into detail concerning the encounter in Assisi, as the significance of the event would warrant. Let us simply thank God, that as representatives of the world’s religions and as representatives of thinking in search of truth, we were able to meet that day in a climate of friendship and mutual respect, in love for the truth and in shared responsibility for peace. So let us hope that, from this encounter, a new willingness to serve peace, reconciliation and justice has emerged. As I conclude, I would like to thank all of you from my heart for shouldering the common mission that the Lord has given us as witnesses to his truth, and I wish all of you the joy that God wanted to bestow up 2nd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick– no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave. Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.” So they went off and preached repentance. The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.…
Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy looked at the news headlines of the week, including confirmation that assisted suicide will be on the ballot in Massachusetts in November; the excommunication of an illicitly ordained Chinese bishop; Cardinal Raymond Burke’s public comments on the Extraordinary and Ordinary Forms of the Latin Rite liturgy, concelebration, and other liturgical matters; and the Vatican’s financial reports. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Suicide on the ballot; Chinese bishop excommunicated; restoring tradition 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Susan Abbott to the show and noted that the usual Thursday panel is together again. Susan said her office has been planning for the new religious education year and meeting with parish staff on their concerns, including preparing for the Year of Faith. Scot welcomed Fr. Roger Landry, who is traveling in Michigan and doing a retreat for the Alma sisters, and Gregory Tracy. Scot noted that the Pilot is still on hiatus this week. Scot said this week that Secretary of State Bill Galvin has certified the ballot initiatives that will be on the ballot this November and Question 2 will be the physician-assisted suicide proposal. Scot said he will be voting No. Scot said he was disappointed by the the Secretary of State’s office used the pro-assisted suicide language of aid in dying, instead of assisted suicide. Susan said the language will make a difference; words are important. Susan said this is a matter of choosing death over life. End of life care is not easy, not pretty, but it’s a blessing and a privilege. Scot said we’re now in the final phase of this effort. These four months will have a lot of messaging and will be competing with a lot of over election matters. Greg said he hopes that the message isn’t lost. People could easily be misled about the exct intentions and purposes of this law, just like during the original signature petition in which people said they were misled about what they were endorsing. A misleading soundbite about a false compassion might be enough to convince people. He doesn’t think people would make a deliberate choice for this ballot initiative because of how badly written it is with loopholes and lack of safeguards. Susan said she’s surprised that even proponents are in favor of such a badly written law. Scot asked if having legalizing medical marijuana on the same ballot will have an impact. Fr. Roger said most people who care for others will recognize that marijuana is a gateway drug. He said it will be emphasized as personal rights or caring for others. Real compassion is helping people talk themselves down from the psychological rooftop and show that life still has meaning. Scot said he thinks it will be the one on one conversations people have about this in the next four months. He said there is a poll on the on this issue. Susan noted how people she knows haven’t heard about this initiative. Scot said 90% of the people who are going to vote don’t know the arguments on both sides of this issue and he thinks people can be persuaded by the Church’s arguments. Greg talked about reports that it is very easy to get doctor’s permission for medical marijuana in California, undermining the law. He said both issues are means of fleeing reality. Scot noted that we don’t have to make theological arguments on these issues. Fr. Roger said reason tells us that these things are wrong. Opposition to suicide is commonsense and has been recognized as contrary to the common good throughout history. In the ancient world, suicide was usually offered as a means to avoid execution. He said we’re all called to be Good Samaritans, like the firefighter who climbs out on a ledge to save a suicidal person. 2nd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is John and Ann Murphy from Merrimac, MA They win a "Praying for Our Priests" 3 pack: The book , an audio CD of the Stations of the Cross and Divine Mercy chaplet, and an audio CD of the Rosary with meditations on the priesthood. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 3rd segment: One of the bigger stories this week is the situation in China when the Holy See determined a Chinese bishop was illicitly ordained was excommunicated. Scot asked Fr. Roger to explain. Fr. Roger said a valid ordination means the man has been made a bishop. For that to occur an ordained bishop has to ordain a valid priest. Licit is a way of saying legal according to canon law. So there can be a valid ordination, but you don’t have the permission to make this man a bishop. For example, if Cardinal Seán ordained Fr. Roger a bishop without permission of Pope Benedict. Fr. Roger would validly be a bishop, would be illicitly ordained and would be excommunicated. That’s what happened in China. The Chinese government wanted the priest to be a bishop, but the Vatican did not want it. So the man is now a bishop, but is totally outside of communion with the Church. Scot asked why the bishop doing the ordination wasn’t excommunicated. Fr. Roger said it was probably because the Chinese government threatened the ordaining bishop and the Vatican must have heard about this. That’s what happened when Archbishop Marcel Lefebrve ordained men as bishops in 1988. Pope Benedict XVI lifted that excommunication a couple of years ago. Scot said it goes to show that religious liberty something we need to pray for everyday. The Communist Chinese government requires Christians to worship only in state-controlled associations, including the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which eschews any connections to the Vatican or the Pope. Many Catholics worship in illegal, underground churches, following only bishops appointed by the Pope, although the divisions are not hard and fast. Many priests and laypeople, and even bishops, are members of the patriotic association in public, and of the underground Church, in secret. Susan said there was another Chinese bishop who renounced his participation in the Patriotic Association was arrested by the government Scot said the next story is about Cardinal Raymond Burke, a leading American voice in the Vatican today, marked the five-year anniversary of the lifting of the restrictions on the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite. Greg said it adds to richness of the liturgy to have both forms of the Mass celebrated today. The liturgy is living and vibrant and not to be tampered with, even as the Church responds to the needs of the time. Scot said Cardinal Burke talked about resistance to the older form, elements of the older form that could be brought to the new, and parts of the new form that improve upon the old form. The reform of the Roman Missal in the period following Vatican II was “too radical,” and “went beyond, and in some senses perhaps not completely coherently with, what the council fathers had set forth,” the cardinal says. “There was a stripping away, a changing of the form of the rite that in my judgment was too much,” he says. “You can’t take a living reality, the worship of God as God has desired that we worship him, and tamper with it without doing violence and without in some way damaging the faith life of the people.” Fr. Roger said there are a lot of private prayers for the priest in the older form that have been cut from the present missal. He’d love to see those come back because it helps priests to pray the Mass better. He does agree there was a lot that could have been cut from the old missal. What he appreciates most in the new form, he loves the way we begin Mass now with the New Testament greetings, the Kyrie, and the readings. In addition to being in the language of the people, the lectionary is a lot larger. There were lots of the Old and New Testament that you never heard. Both Masses help us to pray the other better. Cardinal Burke also spoke in a separate article in Catholic News Agency that there’s an excessive use of concelebration, the practice of priests saying Mass collectively. His primary concern was that when a priest gets in the habit of primarily concelebrating, it can develop a sense in the priest of just being part of the congregation. Susan said she was surprised by this concern. Susan said he also outlined why a priest should not ad-lib prayers during Mass. She was surprised that this apparently happens enough to be remarked upon. In a wide-ranging interview, Cardinal Burke also outlined the reasons why a priest should not ad-lib his own words or prayers during Mass, since he “is the servant of the rite” and “not the protagonist – Christ is.” “So it is absolutely wrong for the priest to think, ‘how can I make this more interesting?’ or ‘how can I make this better?’” he said. They discuss the recent case of a priest in Illinois stripped of his faculties for this reason. Susan asked Fr. Roger why Cardinal Burke would be speaking on liturgy since the cardinal’s role at the Vatican is as Apostolic Signatura, which is like a judge. Fr. Roger said all cardinals serve on various of the Vatican’s congregations and Cardinal Burke is a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship. Fr. Roger said Pope Benedict said a few years ago that he was disturbed by the large-scale concelebrations of thousands of priests at certain events. For a priest to validly concelebrate the Mass, he has to be able to consume the precious blood. So how much must be consecrated so everyone has some, without having lot leftover. Fr. Roger said young priests in some situations outside of parishes don’t get a chance to celebrate the Mass on their own and are forced to concelebrate, like at the Pontifical North American College. Another big story was that the Holy See’s budget showed a loss this year. Greg said people have this idea that the Vatican is just full of gold and money. But when you see the numbers related to a worldwide organization of 1 billion people it’s not that much. Scot compared the budget for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Holy See and Vatican City State: $35 billion to $500 million.…
Summary of today’s show: The country of South Sudan has been in existence for just about one year and still struggles to provide even basic needs for its people. Last year, Scot Landry interviewed Fr. Peter Loro right after independence and now Fr. Loro has come back and sits down with Scot and Fr. Chip Hines to talk about the progress since independence and the many pastoral needs experienced by one of the poorest countries in the world with a population starving for the sacraments. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Fr. Peter Loro Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Fr. Peter Loro and South Sudan’s first year of independence 1st segment: Scot wished his mom a happy birthday today. Fr. Chip Hines also said he was asked by Cardinal Seán to become the pastor of St. Joseph in Medford. He broke the news to his parishes in Wrentham and Plainville this past weekend. They discussed how a priest says yes to a bishop unless there’s a very important reason. Fr. Chip said as hard it is, it’s a time of reflection with the people he’s leaving. It’s difficult because you become family as their priest. Scot noted that St. Joseph’s is the parish that Fr. Chip was baptized in. His grandparents and parents were married there. The parish also has a school and Fr. Chip is very interested in working with a parish school. Scot noted his own brother just transferred from one parish to another in the Diocese of Fall River. He asked what’s going through Fr. Chip’s mind. He said his parish staff is helping him with logistics, pack all his stuff, clean up all his paperwork, see what he needs in his new parish. He will start in his new parish on August 1. Scot said Fr. McLaughlin that Fr. Chip is replacing in Medford was in the parish for 35 years, 25 as pastor. He said perhaps a third or more of the parish have never known a different pastor. Fr. Chip said it’s a great opportunity to offer some different or new approaches to being a pastor. Today’s guest is Fr. Peter Loro, who will talk about the challenges for the Church in South Sudan, Africa. He was on the show last summer by phone to talk about the country right after its independence from Sudan. He will update us on the first year of the country and the current state of the Church there. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Peter Loro of the Archdiocese of Juba to the show. Scot said Fr. Peter has just completed a decree in canon law in Rome. Fr. Peter said he was sent to study in Rome three years ago and completed those studies last month. He’d been invited at the time to come to Boston to participate in the mission appeals in Boston by the Pontifical Mission Society here. Then he will return to South Sudan to take up his new assignment at home. Scot said Fr. Peter will speak at six or seven parishes throughout the Archdiocese. Fr. Peter said the situation in South Sudan is challenging because before independence they went through more than two decades of war with the north. Now that peace has come there have been many challenges. For instance, Juba is filled with displaced people returning to the country from abroad and from the countryside. The Church has been challenged to provide for the spiritual and physical needs for these people. This is why they have turned to the universal Church. Fr. Peter said the Pontifical Mission Society is more than just a charity providing handouts of money and goods. First and foremost, their work is to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to the people. He said behind the donations the people of Boston may give is the intention to bring the Gospel of Jesus. Scot noted most people are familiar with the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, which is just one of four Pontifical Mission Societies. Another is the Society of St. Peter the Apostle. They provided for Fr. Peter’s education in canon law in Rome. Fr. Peter said the society has done great work in forming priests. They don’t just pay for priests to be educated in Rome, but also continue to assist them when they return to their home dioceses. Whatever donation people can give to this office, they will participate in the formation of young men who will be very useful in supporting the Church in South Sudan. The St. Peter Society is supporting the seminary in Juba which is the lifeblood and future of the Church there. Fr. Chip asked the difference between Sudan and South Sudan and why the need to establish the new country. Fr. Peter said Sudan received independence from the British in 1956. They handed power to the northern Sudanese on whom most of the resources had been concentrated. Given that situation, the people of southern Sudan asked to be given their independence, rather than be forced into a quickie marriage that will break up eventually. Right away, they had their first civil war in opposition to that first decision. That war continued until 1972. Right after that peace agreement, it was abrogated by the northern Sudanese president. From 1972 to 1983, the people of southern Sudan prospered a little and by 1983 they wanted more independence. The people of southern Sudan were second-class citizens. The northern Sudanese are mainly Muslim Arabs versus the Christian Africans. The civil war started in 1983 and lasted until 2005. That peace agreement included a requirement that after 6 years the people of southern Sudan were to be given a choice for independence or unity. That led to a January 2011 referendum on the issue and 98.9% of people voted for separation. They celebrated their independence on July 9, 2011. If you go to Sudan today in the north, it is Islamic. It is a desert climate. In southern Sudan, it is Christian, African, and more temperate climate. They were historically different people forced together artificially by the British empire. The problems were political, religious, and cultural. Fr. Peter said they are bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the south, Ethiopia to the east, Central African Republic to the west. There are nine dioceses in the whole of Sudan, north and south. Now they have seven dioceses in South Sudan, including the Archdiocese of Juba, which is the capital. The majority of the Christians are Catholic, followed by Anglicans. The majority of the people have access to weekly Mass, in cities or villages. In some of the outlying areas, including Fr. Peter’s former parish of St. Thomas, the parishes don’t have churches. Instead they celebrate Mass outside, often under the trees. Fr. Peter didn’t have a rectory when he first went to his parish. They built a grass hut where he lived for three years. He said it was a good shelter, not ramshackle at all. Fr. Chip asked how many baptisms Fr. Peter would do on a general Sunday. Fr. Peter said he had to cover 16 villages in his parish and visited them on a monthly basis. The people would come in the hundreds and he would baptize the children. The people didn’t come to the parish center because of the danger of robbers and land mines which made travel dangerous. He said he would anoint so many people his arm would grow tired. He might baptize 100 children at a time. The people are hungry for the sacraments. It isn’t easy, but it is rewarding. Fr. Peter said he would stay for a week at a time in the villages. When Fr. Peter isn’t in the villages, he has catechists that he has trained. He would bring them together and show them how to teach the faith to the people. Fr. Peter said they have many materials in their native languages, including the Bible. the basic parts of the Catechism have also been translated. Scot asked what kind of money the parish of St. Thomas had and where it came from. Fr. Peter said the people of the parish want to help with the programs of the parish, but they look to him as a provider of the material needs they don’t have. They look to the Church to bring in international aid to the village. Fr. Peter said the Church there appealed to the Pontifical Mission Societies to provide a little money to create local projects to rise money. For instance, they built a ferryboat crossing the Nile River to raise money, which among other things helped them build a school. Fr. Peter said it’s important to have a school because you have to preach Jesus but also teach them how to preach Jesus to others themselves. Fr. Chip asked how many priests in the Archdiocese. Fr. Peter said there are 54 priests, plus the archbishop. Not all of the priests are in parishes. Some work in institutions, but those who work in parishes are paired together. There is a major seminary for all of South Sudan. While some studies still go on in the seminary in Khartoum in the north, they will have to transfer soon because the northern government treats the students as foreigners who need permits to study there. Fr. Peter said when he was in Juba last September they opened a new parish. The archbishop celebrated the Mass under threes. Fr. Peter said a parish should have a church, a place for the pastor to live, a basic primary school for the children, a health clinic and dispensary. Today, to get malaria medicine, people have to walk sometimes 55 miles to Juba and some die on the road. Fr. Peter said these basic needs would be a huge contribution to the life of the people. Scot asked what people do in south Sudan for jobs. Fr. Peter said most people live on subsistence agriculture. They grow just enough to feed themselves and to buy medicine or pay school tuition comes out of that. Fr. Peter said before the peace agreement, most kids didn’t even reach secondary school, whether due to lack of schools or because of insecurity. Now there is the possibility with new roads that people could even get to the towns for university study. Fr. Peter said war had scattered the people from their homes to other African nations or even to the rest of the world. In a way that was a blessing because many people were able to get higher education, even college degrees, while displaced and are now returning to contribute to the country. Fr. Peter said the United Nations is providing some aid through non-governmental organizations, which Fr. Peter said often have selfish ends. He said a number of NGOs did help to provide simple education and healthcare and food and shelter. Scot said the Pontifical Mission Societies help the Church there, but also Catholic Relief Services helps as well. Fr. Peter said CRS has helped southern Sudan for many years. Fr. Peter said they have particularly helped in education, building schools. They also provided healthcare and food and shelter. Other organizations include Aid to the Church in Need. But outside groups always want to manage their programs themselves as opposed to letting the local leaders prioritize their needs. Scot asked Fr. Peter what he thinks the people of the Archdiocese of Boston can help with. Fr. Peter said he hopes to support the pastoral needs of priests to reach the people. He means mobility. They don’t have cars in most cases and when they do it’s very old. Most walk on foot, which wastes a lot of time. He said people also look to the Church for food, shelter, medical services. All of this takes money and so hopes all of this can be supported. Scot recalled Fr. Paul O’Brien in Lawrence saying that the kids in the local Catholic school do better in school because they care for the whole person and the kids study better because they aren’t hungry or aren’t sick. Fr. Peter said the people need care for the whole person, the body and soul. Christ came to save us body and soul. Scot said if people wanted to help, the Catholic media secretariat in Boston will help create a website for Fr. Peter at which people can make donations.…
Summary of today’s show: From his school days at the Archdiocesan Choir School as a child, Fr. Bill Kelly has heard the Lord calling him to the priesthood. He just never thought it would take such interesting turns. In his 20+ years as a priest, Fr. Bill has studied in Rome, received a doctorate in theology, taught at the seminary, led the ongoing formation and support of priests, been a pastor, and co-hosted a movie review show on CatholicTV. Fr. Bill joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to talk about his vocation and his priesthood. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Bill Kelly Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Pastor Profile: Fr. Bill Kelly 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Chris talked about the busy seminary schedule interviewing prospective seminarians for next year. Fr. Chris said this could be the largest class in years, with close to 25 new men applying. He said he’s going on vacation next week so he’s hoping to wrap up the process this week. Scot noted that early in Cardinal Seán’s tenure there was a total of 25 men at the seminary and there was talking about closing it. Now it’s filled to capacity with 79 men in residence. Fr. Chris said it’s the wisdom of the Church that men are brought together to be formed together. Today’s guest is Fr. Bill Kelly, who has served in the archdiocese as head of the office that deals with ongoing clergy formation, as well as teaching at the seminary. Now he’s pastor at St. Mary Parish in Dedham. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Fr. Bill Kelly. Fr. Chris recalled that Fr. Bill taught him how to drink wine in Rome. Fr. Bill said Fr. Chris didn’t have a lot of experience with wine. On the other hand, Fr. Bill was introduced to gin and tonic by Fr. Chris and his family. Fr. Bill grew up in Sacred Heart in North Quincy. He said his parents still live there. The pastor who was there for most of his life exuded the life of the priest. Sadly, he died suddenly in 1996 and a book of essays about this priest by his brother priests was produced and Fr. Bill uses that as an example of the life of the diocesan priest. He was a gentle soul and a tremendous preacher. At his funeral, there were 250 priests and 15 bishops. Six thousand people came to his wake. Out of Sacred Heart, they’ve had 7 or 8 men who’ve gone on to priesthood. Fr. Bill said he is the oldest of six, two brothers and three sisters. They are a very musical family. His dad is a drummer and his mother sings. His grandmother had a radio show on which she played piano. They grew up singing around the piano. Fr. Bill attended the Archdiocesan Choir School in Cambridge which elevated his natural interest in music and was the seedbed of his vocation. Fr. Chris said Seiji Ozawa once threw Fr. Bill out of Symphony Hall. Fr. Bill said he was a sixth grader in the choir in a rehearsal and was chitchatting a bit with a friend. Ozawa lost his temper and threw him out. Scot asked why the school was the seedbed of his vocation. Fr. Bill said the first time he thought of the priesthood was in the fourth grade and remembered the priest going to the tabernacle and being in awe of that. Later at the choir school, Ted Marier, the founder and original headmaster was not just a great musician, but Fr. Bill also believes he authentically a saint. The faith of the headmaster and his wife was expressed in the work they did. The choir sang at Mass every day and on Sunday. It was by his devotion to the Church that came pouring out of him through his musical genius. He remembers that the entire school was confirmed every four years, all the kids in the school and the Mariers were the sponsors of all the boys. It was during the singing of one hymn that the ides of a vocation came to him most clearly. Fr. Bill attended Boston College High School. While some of the Jesuits encouraged him to consider the order, he was very interested in diocesan priesthood. He went right into the college seminary, which he loved, not least because they didn’t have take any math courses. From there he went to the North American College in Rome for five years. When he left home, his youngest sister was in seventh grade and when came she was a senior in high school. He was home for three years and then returned for doctoral studies. His first assignment was Sacred Heart in East Boston for just three or four months. Then he went to St. Paul’s in Hingham. He went to Rome for a doctoral degree in dogma with the plan that he would come back to be spiritual director at the seminary. He was there from 1995 to 2005. Every seminarian has to have a spiritual director. They would meet every two weeks to help him grow in sensitivity and understanding to how God was at work in their lives. It always comes back to how it fits in with how it helps him discern whether God is asking him to be a priest. At the seminary, he had 15 to 25 directees. He also directed a number of religious sisters and laypeople. He also helped design the spiritual life component of the Masters of Arts in Ministry program. All told, he was seeing about 40 people per year in spiritual direction. Scot asked what it’s like to see many of the men he directed as priests now. Fr. Bill said it’s great to see them later. Fr. Chris was one of the seminarians at the time. He recalls finding Fr. Chris doing an impression of Fr. Bill giving a lecture. Fr. Bill said his priesthood was transformed by the students, seeing their love for the Lord and their priesthood. Fr. Bill said his closest friends in the presbyterate are men who were students when he was there. After St. John’s, he was put in charge of ongoing formation for priests. Fr. Bill said it was a natural transition in some ways. He did have to help priests of varying experiences from newly ordained to ordained for decades. It was just a few years after the abuse crisis began so there was a lot of need for providing support for the priests, including just having men come together. Fr. Bill said he is convinced the conversion of the priesthood will come through intellectual formation. Scot said one of the programs Fr. Bill brought to the archdiocese was Good Leaders, GoodShepherds from Catholic LEadership Institute. Fr. Bill said it’s a program that helps priests look at leadership skills, especially for priests feeling burdened by administrative tasks. It’s not just a time management course, but it truly was centered in the Church’s teachings. It weds the best practices of leadership in the corporate world with Church teaching. More than 100 priests in Boston have gone through the program. Scot asked what it was like to travel a lot around the country, speaking and giving retreats for priests. Fr. Bill said he enjoyed speaking to varied groups. He loved to bring communities together in a different way. He’s been fortunate in his life. He once lived with the great spiritual writer Henri Nouwen. He met Mother Teresa a number of times. He met Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger. He’s been able to bring those experiences to his various talks. 3rd segment: Fr. Bill has been at St. Mary’s in Dedham for two years. He was a priest for 20 year before becoming a pastor. He’d been living at Holy Family in Rockland for 15 years, helping out on the weekends. He was happy to get the new assignment. It was a significant change. It’s phenomenal parish with wonderful leadership. Fr. Matt Williams and Fr. Bill Lohan were there as parochial vicars. Bishop Dooher was pastor there before becoming a bishop. Fr. Bill said their active youth group has a bunch of them in Nicaragua this week. Those who couldn’t go have committed to going to the 7am daily Mass to pray for those who went. Fr. Chris asked what makes St. Mary’s unique. Fr. Bill said it has a long and beautiful devotional tradition of care for the Blessed Sacrament. They have all-day/all-night adoration on Fridays. They have active prayer groups. The Mass is well attended and they have long and well-established music program. He remembers his first weekend singing with the choir. More recently, Life Teen is perhaps it’s most well-known program. Fr. Chris Hickey created this program from almost nothing. Five men with connections to St. Mary’s in the seminary with three more going next year. That’s the fruit of LifeTeen and of the prayer of the parish for vocations. They also have wonderful participation in the Sacrament of Confession. Fr. Bill said they renovated the confessional and made it very beautiful. It’s now a very large space with a great stained glass window. All the ancient traditional symbols of reconciliation have been incorporated into the confessional. They’re hoping to increase the amount of time devoted to confession and he said you can’t walk across the parking lot without being asked to hear a confession. It’s a spirit-filled parish. Fr. Bill said LIft Ministries was founded by two parishioners. Scot said he first heard about St. Mary’s because of the LifeTeen program. Scot said you don’t see many parishes that have all the generations so active in parish life. Fr. Bill said a priest friend visited last summer and on a Thursday night it was so busy that his friend asked him if he realized how lucky he is. Fr. Bill said at least six groups meet regularly on Thursday nights. Scot asked what the root causes of this active parish are in addition to good priests and prayer. Fr. Bill said it’s both the town of Dedham, which is the kind of place where people put down roots and always come home. It’s also the families. Because they don’t have a school, there is a little bit of a struggle to bring in young families, but they are seeing young families grow again and they are starting to see a growth of ethnic families in the area. Fr. Chris said each priest preaches one basic homily with variations. He asked what it is for Fr. Bill. He said because of his years as a spiritual director he thinks he’s mostly attuned to people’s friendship with Christ and their relationship with God. Then how does that get lived out. How is it that the Church is the surest way to grow in our relationship with Christ? The Church is the most abundant way that one’s spiritual life is able to grow. He said he thinks he needs to ramp up on some of the issues of the day in his preaching. Scot said Fr. Bill also co-hosts a show on CatholicTV called Spotlight along with Fr. Chip Hines. Fr. Bill said he and Fr. Chip were at some gathering for priests and got into a conversation about movies. They got into such an intense discussion that somebody told them they should have their own show. Somehow Fr. Bob Reed heard about it and asked them to do the show. They just finished their third year and have reviewed over 300 movies. They approach it from the point of view of whether it’s a good movie on a technical level, but also on what themes can be drawn from it on the basis of our Catholic faith. They will be upfront with people about the content if it’s morally objectionable. He said they often hear from cloistered nuns who watch movies based on their reviews. They take a currently running movie and build a theme on it, whether topic or theme or the like. He said the funny thing is when people come up to him at a wedding in the Communion line and look at him with recognition. For the summer, he recommends the quirky movie Moonrise Kingdom. He did just see the Spiderman movie and thought it was terrific. He does agree with critics who said the action scenes are not as exciting as in the other Spiderman movies. He’s very interested in seeing Woody Allen’s To Rome With Love. The biggest movie of the summer will be The Dark Knight Rises. He thinks the previous installment in the Batman series is one of the best movies ever. He said he knows some seminary professors use it in their moral theology classes. At the top of his list would be the Lord of the Rings trilogy; the Wizard of Oz; Ordinary People because he loves family dramas and because it’s when he fell in love with the movies. Scot asked Fr. Bill where he would recommend people look for family-appropriate movies. He said the Boston Globe has a family-friendly guide or search online. Fr. Bill said the old DIsney movies are great for kids. For children’s movies, don’t take them to the dumbed down movies. There are good movies with good messages and substantial messages. He recommended The Secret World of Arrietty.…
Summary of today’s show: There aren’t many priests in the Archdiocese of Boston who can say they felt the call to the priesthood in Blessed John Paul’s native Poland and none as young as Fr. Adrian Milik. Born in Poland, but raised in the United States from eight years old, Fr. Milik was studying in Krakow when John Paul II died and it was then that the Holy Spirit called him to become a priest in Boston. Fr. Milik joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to talk about his first three weeks as a priest, the whirlwind that he’s been in since the Ordination Mass, and the experience of bring the sacraments to the people for the first time. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Adrian Milik Today’s topics: New Priest Profile: Fr. Adrian Milik 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Chris caught up on their time off last week for the Independence Day holiday and their plans for the summer. Today’s guest is Fr. Adrian Milik, newly ordained just last month by Cardinal Seán. Fr. Chris noted that Fr. Adrian has a Polish background like himself. Scot said he’s been assigned to St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in East Bridgewater. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Adrian to the show. He asked Fr. Adrian how his first few weeks have been. Fr. Adrian said he moved in to the parish the week after the ordination, met the pastor and parish, and still had many family and friends in town for the ordination. Fr. Chris walked through all the various elements of the busy week surrounding ordination from the rehearsal on Thursday before to reporting to the parish the following Thursday. Fr. Adrian said what stood out for him was the moment his hands were anointed by Cardinal Seán and being told that they have been set aside for sacred things. It means everything you do know is different. They talked about the custom of giving the cloth used to wipe the oil on the priests’ hands to their mothers for them to be buried with as a sign that they gave birth not just to a son, but also gave to the Church a priest. Fr. Adrian said it’s part of the symbolism that the priest conveys something of God to the people. Fr. Chris said priests also give their first confessional stole to their fathers. Fr. Adrian said he gave these items to his parents before they went back to Poland. Fr. Adrian said he really felt God’s presence during the Mass, even when trying to make sure he had the right response for his part. He felt like he was being led, like God was in control. Scot another elements that stands out is the number of hugs given by all the priests in the cathedral at the sign of peace, the laying on of hands, and after the Mass. Fr. Adrian said he was surprised by the manner in which each priest lays hands on the heads was so different from one to another priest and reflected their personality. The same way with the sign of peace. Fr. Adrian said the moment when the cardinal receives the blessing and kisses his hands was odd at first, but very moving and an indicator of the change of reality in him. Scot asked about his first two Masses, concelebrating the rest of the ordination Mass and then his first Mass the next day. Fr. Adrian say when praying the Mass for the first time as a priest and surrounded by other priests, he felt their support for him. It was a powerful experience that didn’t sink in at the time. His first Mass was at St. Eulalia in Winchester, which was his parents’ parish for many years. They started the Mass with incense and he also decided to use the sprinkling rite for the beginning of Mass. While he was going through the church with the water, the thurible was in the sacristy with a very low ceiling and that caused the fire alarms to go off. The pastor made an announcement to ask everyone to evacuate until after the firefighters cleared the building. They were able to get back in the church after a few minutes. They didn’t use incense the rest of the Mass. Fortunately, it eased some of the tension he’d been feeling. On Friday before the ordination, he received his first assignment from Cardinal Seán at a dinner for ordinandi. Fr. Adrian said each man met with the cardinal in his office after dinner. They went in one by one and received the envelope with their assignment. He said he spoke to the cardinal about the assignment, that he’d heard a lot of good things about the parish and they discussed the presence of Bridgewater State College. He encouraged Fr. Adrian. Fr. Chris asked his sense of the parish. Fr. Adrian said it’s a very warm parish and the people have been generous in welcoming him and inviting him and the pastor and the seminarian there for the summer into their homes. Fr. Chris asked if his expectations of priesthood were different from the reality. Fr. Adrian said he’s surprised by how natural it feels. He’s not nervous in celebrating Mass nor is he nervous in being in a new place. He’s had an opportunity to celebrate Mass in a number of places in that first week after ordination, so it’s been an opportunity to learn and grow. Scot asked if he feels pressure to learn all the names. Fr. Adrian said he’s not particularly good at learning names, so he’s trying to do his best. He’s been grateful that they’ve been so understanding. Fr. Chris said one of the first Masses for the newly ordained is at Regina Cleri, the home for retired priests and those in physical or other rehabilitation. He was happy to be with these men who have given so much and are examples of faithful service to the people of Boston. There’s something great about being in a full chapel with everyone who is concelebrating the Mass together. They also had lunch with them after and they talked about the changes they’ve seen in their lives and the accumulated wisdom they’ve gathered. Fr. Adrian said his father is a quiet person, but his mother is more demonstrative and both showed how proud they are of him. His mother had a lot of good advice for him and his father said a lot through a couple of words and a hug. His mother was very glad to be able to be there and not just speak to him about the priesthood, but also to say goodbye to Boston and to give him to Boston. 3rd segment: Scot asked Fr. Adrian when he first had a sense he had calling. When he was 8, his dad got a job in San Diego and they were parishioners at Our Mother of Confidence Parish. He was a regular Mass-goer but he hadn’t yet owned his own faith. When he was in the confirmation program, the youth minister conducted a retreat. Fr. Adrian was saying some prayers and felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in him that immobilized him. He talked to God and felt God’s presence in him. He felt peace and direction in his heart. That was a life changing moment in which he realized God wasn’t a concept, but is a Person. His faith came alive after that. His prayer was no longer a series of negotiations, but a real conversation. When he was in college, he was invited to a Come-and-See Day for the Diocese of San Diego at the seminary. It felt right, but he wasn’t quite ready at that point. After he graduated college, he went back to Poland to do his Master’s degree at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, where Pope John Paul II was a college student before World War II. Fr. Chris talked about the depth of the expression of Catholic faith in Krakow and how the presence of John Paul II is felt there. Fr. Adrian said he was in Krakow when John Paul died in 2005. The university cancelled classes for the week. The street in front of the archbishop’s house was completely covered in candles. They talked about other ways t he love for John Paul expressed itself, including soccer hooligans who would normally be at each others’ throats, standing arm in arm. Fr. Adrian said his experience there at the time was definitely an influence in pushing him forward on the way to the priesthood. He said when he was in San Diego, he wasn’t in a particularly Catholic environment, which made it difficult to hear his call as he was distracted by his surroundings. Meanwhile, in Krakow most of his friends were involved in Catholic student groups and it was a very different environment that was very much shaped by John Paul II. He recalls that the Sunday Masses at the church would be filled 15 minutes before it began and people would be lined up outside the door. Meanwhile, his parents had moved to Boston for work. So he started to pray about what to do when he finished his Master’s degree. At the time in Krakow he went to see a French monk speak about being open to the Holy Spirit. He shared his experience of the truth of the Holy Spirit he knew, so Fr. Adrian prayed about where God was calling him to experience the truth in his life. At the time he was thinking about going for a PhD in history or looking for a job in the US. Those options left him unease and anxiety, but he prayed about applying to seminary, there was just peace. He spoke to both San Diego and Boston dioceses, and felt God calling him to Boston. Fr. Chris said every priest preaches one homily, just in different ways. He asked Fr. Adrian what is his one homily. Fr. Adrian said he tends to go back to God’s love and mercy and the importance of the sacraments, especially Confession. In Krakow, he regularly visited the Divine Mercy shrine and that Divine Mercy has been present throughout his life. We need to remember that God loves and forgives us so much. He’s already been able to hear confessions at his new parish. Fr. Adrian said St. Thomas has Masses at 7am and 9am during the week; on Saturday at 4pm; and on Sunday, 7:45, 10am, and noon Mass. Also St. Basil Chapel at 10am at Bridgewater State college. The noon Mass is the Life Teen Mass. During the school year, there is an evening Mass at St. Basil’s.…
Summary of today’s show: Archbishop Alfred Hughes notes eight times in his life–from his hometown of West Roxbury to the Archdiocese of New Orleans – where God led him in ways he resisted at first, but which later turned out for the good (of course). The archbishop-emeritus of New Orleans talks with Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell about growing up in West Roxbury; how his father’s example led him to the priesthood; when he wanted to be a missionary but ended up a diocesan priest teaching in the seminary; the talk he had with Pope John Paul II when he first balked at being asked to be a diocesan bishop; and the Church’s response to Hurricane Katrina and how it held the fabric of New Orleans together in the aftermath. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Archbishop Alfred Hughes, archbishop-emeritus of New Orleans Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Archbishop Alfred Hughes 1st segment: Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell talked about having a holiday in the middle of the week and how they celebrated their Independence Day. Fr. Mark talked about having a separated shoulder after his recent fall. Today’s guest confirmed Scot about 25 years ago and was rector of the seminary when Fr. Mark was there. Archbishop Alfred Hughes became archbishop of New Orleans after being a priest and auxiliary bishop in Boston. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcome Archbishop Hughes. Archbishop Hughes expressed concern for Fr. Mark’s shoulder. Scot said he and his twin brother, Fr. Roger Landry, had their confirmation names Theophilus and Deodatus. They had lost a bet with Fr. Lenny O’Malley and so he got to name them and Archbishop Hughes wanted to call Scot by Theophilus during the show. He said he’s disappointed because he’d thought Scot and Fr. Roger had come to those names by intense study. Archbishop Hughes was born in Boston. He grew up in St. Theresa’s parish in West Roxbury. It was during the post-Depression times, but everyone was going through the same thing and he didn’t see himself as any poorer than anyone else. His father had lost his job as head of sales for the new automatic washing machine. He was out of work for a couple of years and then worked for the WPA for 10 years. But never knew about the stress they were going through. They were tremendous parents, evidencing faith in an explicit way. He recalls finding out how his father got up every morning before everyone to pray and it led him to a contemplative wisdom about life that he passed on and this was formative to Archbishop Hughes being open to the priesthood. Every Friday night, before religious education on Saturday morning, his father would sit down with the four children and go over the Catechism lesson. He would then set it aside and ask them what their answers meant. then he would go on to tell them what that teaching meant to him, using examples from family life, in the neighborhood, or in his work. That left a deep impression on the archbishop that were was not intended to be any gap between God’s teaching and the living of ordinary life. He went to Boston College High School, which was his first Catholic school. His parents scraped together the tuition. He’ll be forever grateful in both the classical education and the opportunity to learn a lot more about the faith. One of the Jesuits had just returned from being a missionary in Jamaica and they used to draw him out about his experiences. Archbishop Hughes considered becoming a Jesuit, but his brother eventually did go on to become one. He entered the diocesan seminary because he wanted to stay close by his mother who was sick. But then he was asked to go to Rome to study, but his spiritual director told him that the greater gift to God might be to say Yes to what his superiors were asking him to do. After ordination, he got a doctorate in spiritual theology. When he came back to Boston, he became a professor and then rector of the seminary. He was also an auxiliary bishop. Scot said it probably wasn’t what the archbishop expected for his priesthood. Archbishop Hughes can count eight other times in his life when his superiors asked something of him that given his own preferences he would not have chosen. Yet each one of them is a way in which God has worked in his life and stretched him beyond what he thought he was capable of. He said the irony is that after Hurricane Katrina, the Archdiocese of New Orleans was declared by the US bishops to be a missionary diocese to qualify for aid. God eventually allowed him to become a missionary. Also his mother died one month before he left Boston, so he’d been able to care for her. Fr. Mark noted that Archbishop Hughes’ closest friend in the priesthood is Msgr. Connie McCrae. Archbishop Hughes said no matter where each has been, they’ve talked on the phone once per week. Later this month, they will vacation together in Marshfield. He’s also been able to visit Msgr. McCrae in Rome during his assignment there. They talked about the racquetball rivalry between the archbishop and the monsignor. They’ve been playing since the mid–1970s. The Archbishop still plays a couple of times per week even at 78 years old, while he think Msgr. McCrae is getting rusty living in Rome where they can’t play. The archbishop now lives in the seminary in New Orleans and plays against the seminarians. Scot said for his first 60 years the archbishop either was living in Boston or studying in Rome. He asked what it was like to live Boston to go become bishop of Baton Rouge. Archbishop Hughes said there are a lot of similarities between Louisiana and Boston despite the differences. He said the greatest challenge was going to Rome to study: He didn’t know Italian, he was going to have take his classes in Latin, he didn’t know any of the other students. After that, every other adjustment, including the one to Louisiana pales in difficulty. After that he was convinced he could live in anyplace. When he got the call from the nuncio to go to Baton Rouge, he asked him if the pope knew how different the two areas are and said it would be difficult for the people to accept him. He was leaving that night with four busloads of kids to go to Denver for World Youth Day, so the nuncio told him to talk it over with the Pope. He did in fact and the Pope assured him that he wanted him to go to Baton Rouge. Going to Baton Rouge was a wonderful experience. Louisiana is different in terms of history–originally a French colony and influenced by the Acadians–but there are many similarities, especially in New Orleans where there are historically ethnic neighborhoods like Boston and a rich Catholic history. The culture of south Louisiana was originally Catholic where in Boston it was originally Protestant. So even the Baptists and Evangelicals think like Catholics, unlike what has happened in the Northeast. It is a rich town for the arts and music and food and sports, much like Boston. Fr. Mark asked if the archbishop going from Baton Rouge to New Orleans helped out in having Baton Rouge help out New Orleans after Katrina. His successor in Baton Rouge had been vicar general in New Orleans. For the first four months after Katrina, he could not get back into New Orleans so they set up the diocese-in-exile in the offices of the diocese of Baton Rouge. In that 4 month period, they distributed almost 40 million pounds of food to people who had next to nothing. Because of the generous national collection, they were distributing basic, fundamental subsistence help at the rate of $200,000 per week through 12 centers they set up. The priests were encouraged to see themselves as pastors of virtual parishes and to be in contact with parishioners wherever they might be, to let them know they were still connected and see to their new needs. Archbishop spent half his time in Baton Rouge administering and the other going down to New Orleans to celebrate Mass with people and provide a sense that God was present and cared. After getting the fundamentals of food, clothing and shelter, people craved meaning and to know that God was there to work together to rebuild. The partnership was an extraordinary collaboration between the dioceses. Scot asked how New Orleans stands compared to right before the Hurricane in 2005. Have people generally returned to where they lived? Archbishop Hughes said 85% of active Catholics are back in the archdiocese on the basis of the annual October census of parishes. They’re not necessarily in the same parishes. A number of people have relocated elsewhere. One of the great losses in Katrina were middle-class Catholic blacks. A number of those who had gone to the Catholic schools had moved to the middle class. After Katrina many were offered attractive jobs elsewhere in the country and lost a fair percentage of the the black Catholic leadership. About 20% of Catholics in New Orleans historically have been black. This is in large part because French plantation owners baptized and catechized the black slaves. It’s also due to some free blacks who came from the islands in the Caribbean who came to live in New Orleans. The public schools have a sad record in New Orleans, although post-Katrina even there they have made good progress by rebuilding the school system. Eighty percent of public schools are charter schools. They are making progress every year, even though they started far behind. The charter schools have a two-year sunset clause in that they have to show progress in student achievement or lose their charter to someone else. This is now being extended by the state government to the rest of the state. Ninety-eight percent of those who went to Catholic schools went on to college and better jobs. He looks at the diaspora as a gift to the rest of the country. Scot noted that political commentator, Mary Matalin, who lives in New Orleans with her husband James Carville, said that New Orleans would not have had the recovery it did without the Church. Matalin recently became Catholic. Archbishop Hughes said Matalin and Carville didn’t move back to New Orleans after Katrina and didn’t see the immediate aftermath, but he agrees that what the Church was able to do by the grace of God made a huge impact. For example, the public schools didn’t open for a year, while Catholic schools began to open in October, just a month or two after the hurricane, one at a time. They welcomed public school students free of charge. Later a bill was passed that allowed the government to reimburse schools that accepted the students, but they had no idea at the time they would get reimbursed. Fr. Mark asked the archbishop about what he’s up to today. Archbishop Hughes is a spiritual director for seminarians in New Orleans. He’s also active in Vox Clara, the liturgical commission created by the Vatican to provide assistance with translation of the liturgical texts for use in English. They discussed the new translation of the Mass and the perceived complexity of the texts. Archbishop Hughes also teaches a course each semester at Notre Dame seminary. He also does retreat ministry for laypeople, priests, and bishops. He really enjoys very much being able to focus on those dimensions of life that I couldn’t always focus on the administrative roles he had. He hopes it’s a way of God preparing him for his final days, that through this ministry it helps him to keep God first and foremost and make that final gift to God. Scot thanks Archbishop Hughes for always saying Yes to God and for sharing his story with the listeners of The Good Catholic Life. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. As the LORD spoke to me, the spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard the one who was speaking say to me: Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have revolted against me to this very day. Hard of face and obstinate of heart are they to whom I am sending you. But you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD! And whether they heed or resist–for they are a rebellious house– they shall know that a prophet has been among them. Gospel for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 8, 2012 (Mark 6:1–6) Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples. When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. Scot said both reading speak of rebellion: the rejection by the Israelities and the rejection of Jesus by the people who should have been the most receptive to him. Jesus models for us how we overcome rejection to keep bringing the good news to people who will receive it. Fr. Mark said Moses had to put up with the hardheartedness of the Egyptians and then 1,000 years later it’s the Lord’s own people who are hardhearted, but Ezekiel preaches anyway. Fr. Mark say the reason Jesus can’t perform a miracle in his own town is that the people lack faith. Usually in the Gospel Jesus says to the receivers of the miracles that their faith has healed them. Fr. Mark says we too can be hardhearted. We can treat Jesus for granted in the miracle of the Mass. Scot asked us to imagine someone who comes to our parishes because of what they’ve heard and to ask what they will experience. Many converts talk about how they don’t see fervor in the people. Scot and Fr. Mark compared how Archbishop Hughes went where he didn’t expect to go and it turned out great.…
1 TGCL #0334: Fortnight4Freedom ends; Healthcare lawsuits; Vatican news; New vocation guidelines 53:30
Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry discuss the news headlines of the week, and despite the holiday and the Pilot being on hiatus, it’s been a busy week. This week the Fortnight for Freedom ended with a Mass in Washington, DC, in which Archbishop Charles Chaput gave a remarkable homily; bishops reacted to the Supreme Court’s decision on the healthcare reform law; a significant appointment at the Vatican; an expression of papal confidence; and the Vatican gets media savvy. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Fortnight4Freedom ends; Healthcare lawsuits; Vatican news 1st segment: Scot Landry noted that Susan Abbott is out on vacation. He offered Gregory Tracy a happy end of Fortnight for Freedom. Scot and Fr. Roger Landry wished their parents a happy 43rd wedding anniversary Scot said the Fortnight for Freedom ended yesterday and the big closing event was a Mass in DC at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia delivered the homily. Greg said Chaput focused in on “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and render unto God what is God’s”. In the end it’s not about trying to strike a balance between the two worlds. We belong entirely to God and that is where our allegiance belongs and from which we get our freedom. Scot said a lot of people focus in that reading on rendering to Caesar, but the real focus is we should render ourselves in our entirety to God. Fr. Roger Landry said Chaput went far beyond his book on the same subject. Because we are made body and soul in God’s likeness and image, and because we owe the icon to the original, we owe ourselves to God. He said freedom is not just independence, but also a dependence. We have both freedom from, but also freedom for. We have to use our real freedom for God’s cause. Fr. Roger thought it was a theological tour de force. He was calling Catholic Americans to use their freedom for good in such a way as to revolutionize our country anew and return us to what made us great in the first place. Scot quoted from the CNA/EWTN story: While religious liberty “is a foundational right” and “necessary for a good society,” it is not “an end in itself.” Rather, it must be used to find and live out the truth in order to attain to holiness, the highest form of freedom. This higher form of freedom, found through God’s grace, “isn’t something Caesar can give or take away,” Archbishop Chaput taught. “In the end, we defend religious liberty in order to live the deeper freedom that is discipleship in Jesus Christ,” he reflected. The right to religious freedom only finds its fulfillment when believers “use that freedom to seek God with our whole mind and soul and strength.” Scot’s favorite part was from the end of the homily: We live in a time that calls for sentinels and public witness. Every Christian in every era faces the same task. But you and I are responsible for this moment. Today. Now. We need to “speak out,” not only for religious liberty and the ideals of the nation we love, but for the sacredness of life and the dignity of the human person – in other words, for the truth of what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God. We need to be witnesses of that truth not only in word, but also in deed. In the end, we’re missionaries of Jesus Christ, or we’re nothing at all. And we can’t share with others what we don’t live faithfully and joyfully ourselves. When we leave this Mass today, we need to render unto Caesar those things that bear his image. But we need to render ourselves unto God – generously, zealously, holding nothing back. To the extent we let God transform us into his own image, we will – by the example of our lives – fulfill our duty as citizens of the United States, but much more importantly, as disciples of Jesus Christ. Scot said every generation needs public witnesses who alert people. We need to speak out. Greg said he was struck that beyond speaking out, we need to draw ourselves closer to Christ and thus be an example to others. There was a way in which Mother Teresa’s way of being Christ-like changed the minds of people she encountered without speaking a word. Scot clarified said “render” means to return or to give back. For all the blessings we’ve been given by God, we need to give it all back to God 100%. Scot asked Fr. Roger about “Either we’re missionaries of Christ or we’re nothing at all.” Fr. Roger said if we’re a true disciple then we’re trying to bring Christ and his kingdom to others. Fr. Roger said “surrender” is an intensified “rendering”. The biggest aspect of the Fortnight for Freedom is that if we’re going to be defending religious liberty, we need to be a religious people. Turning to the next story, Scot said last Thursday the Supreme Court decision about the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, came down, and some commentators thought the bishops’ response should have been stronger. The bishops’ statement said they support universal healthcare and asked for modifications to the law. Greg said the bishops’ have been consistent in their message; it just hasn’t been well understood. The bishops have urged for an expansion of healthcare without dictating how it should happen. But they said it should be done in a way consistent with respecting conscience and freedom of religion. The reason they’ve been speaking out so much is that this lack of exemption for religious conscience is sour of character of every other law that’s been passed. The way the narrow exemption has been written in such a way that the only major institution affected by this is the Catholic Church. Fr. Roger said when you look back over the whole debate, the bishops have always been in favor of most of the provisions of the law, so when they came out against it, it was for the specific lack of exemption. That’s why they hadn’t joined the lawsuits that resulted in last week’s decision. The other lawsuits from Catholic organizations over the HHS mandate continue on. Fr. Roger said there are many issues in play and the US bishops have always been clear in what parts they favor or oppose, but that doesn’t always show up in newspaper articles. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Charles Ford of East Walpole, Mass. He wins the book by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot said there were some big appointments in the Vatican recently. One of the biggest was the appointment of a new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Bishop Gerhard Mueller of Regensburg, Germany. Fr. Roger said Mueller had been mentioned for the past year as a candidate. He’s brilliant and written 500 books on theology. He’s a very clear writer, just like Pope Benedict is. Recently, he’s been editing the complete works of Pope Benedict’s articles and books into a definitive edition that will be read by scholars for centuries. He’s also been controversial for his friendship with on the leading liberation theologies in South America. Liberation theology has been criticized for preaching political revolution, especially of the Marxist variety, for spiritual salvation. Cardinal Ratzinger had been very influential on suppressing the bad liberation theology. Fr. Roger thinks it will help Bishop Mueller engage liberation theology and other theologies that are outside orthodoxy. Pope Benedict’s last proferrship was in Regensburg and his brother served in that diocese. Cardinal Levada, who was head of the CDF from 2005 to now, had been brought in for expertise in dealing with abuse cases. Fr. Roger said Bishop Mueller will be able to take on a lot of the theology work that Pope Benedict has been continuing and now he will be able to move on to a new agenda for himself. Scot noted that this is someone who will know Pope Benedict’s writings better than anyone else. Greg also said it was notable that a German pope has picked a German bishop to head the CDF. He said ultimately we want to see someone who acts as Pope Benedict would act. We don’t want a curia full of people working toward their own goals with their own agenda. Scot said most people would say this CDF is the number 3 position in the worldwide Church, after Pope and Secretary of State. Fr. Roger said the Secretary of State has influence throughout the world through the foreign ministry, as well as all the Vatican administrative staff. He said the work of the CDF will have the most influence in the future over the centuries. Scot said before going on Vacation Pope Benedict released an unusual letter affirming the work of Cardinal Bertone. On the eve of my departure for a period of summer rest at Castel Gandolfo, I would like to express my deep gratitude for your discreet closeness and enlightened advice, which I have found particularly helpful in recent months,” said the Pope in a brief letter dated July 2 and released to the media July 4. “Noting with regret the widespread and unjust criticism against your person, I intend to renew my statements of personal confidence in you.” This is in response to the Vatican leaks scandals and accusations of mismanagement or other incompetence of Cardinal Bertone. Greg said Americans generally don’t appreciate the doggedness of the European tabloid press. Fr. Roger said it was unprecedented, especially in that Pope Benedict has never released a personal letter he’d written to anyone else expressing personal confidence in them. Cardinal Bertone is very Italian and there is within the curia, a lot of Italian prelates with an old boys’ network and some have said the scandals have attacked this network. Fr. Roger said he thinks there needs to be a personal defense of Cardinal Bertone if the press would focus not on the person, but on the principles being questioned in the Vatican leaks. Fr. Roger said Bertone has been well regarded in the past. He was Cardinal Ratzinger’s righthand on the CDF. He was talented enough to do color commentary on Italian TV about professional soccer. Fr. Roger said the story has been shifted away from the leaks themselves to the person of the cardinal. Scot said the Secretary of State has created a new position of media adviser and hired Fox News reporter Greg Burke. Scot said he’s surprised that the Vatican has recognized the need for this; that they’re hiring an American; and that the position is placed within the Secretariat of State. Greg said it’s understandable they hired an American with the leadership role that America takes in communications principles and that English is the common language of the world. He sees the need for this because the Church can become insulated from the world and not savvy enough to know how something outside of its context can be misunderstood. Fr. Roger said the Vatican press spokesman said the Press Office reports to the Secretary of State already so that’s why the media adviser is in that dicastery. Fr. Roger said he knows Greg Burke and recently ran into him in an airport a few weeks ago. Greg didn’t say anything at the time. Fr. Roger said Burke will help with crisis communications and will help with breaking news, for example, helping members of the media can get the embargoed documents in advance so the breaking news stories are less shallow. Fr. Roger also said Americans think differently about crisis news. We acknowledge that reporters will eventually get the story so we need to be able to frame the narrative in advance. Scot noted Greg Burke said No to the job at least once. “I had a great job at Fox, just the right mix of time in Rome and travel; I was in my comfort zone,” he said. It took him some time to “get the courage up” and take the chance rather than risk living with the nagging feeling he could have been able to make a difference, he said. In the Anchor this week, the Fall River diocese offered its third annual Quo Vadis retreat for teen boys. Fr. Roger said it’s a help to the young men to be formed in order to have the inner strength to listen to the Lord’s call for their lives. That last few years they had good numbers and they’re expecting to exceed the numbers this year. There have been 30 or 40 ordinations in other dioceses from these days. In Harrisburg, they have 150 young men at their retreats. Quo Vadis comes from early Christian tradition about St. Peter escaping from persecution in Rome. Peter encountered Jesus on the road and asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” (Quo vadis, in Latin). Jesus said he was going to Rome to be crucified again. Peter knew that Jesus was to be crucified in him. The Quo Vadis retreat helps the men ask the question of where the Lord is going in their lives. Scot and Greg talked about the Pilot being on hiatus this week and the next and what they’ve been up to. The Pilot’s website is being updated with current news during the hiatus.…
Summary of today's show: Scot Landry and his guests discuss religious freedom, the HHS Mandate, and the conclusion of the Fortnight for Freedom. Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Cardinal Sean O'Malley, Kim Daniels, Dr. John Garvey, Dr. Angela Franks, and John Monohan Links from today’s show: Today’s topics:The US Conference of Catholic Bishops recognizes that our religious freedom as Americans is under threat - today, July 4th, marks the end of a Fortnight for Freedom, a time of prayer, education, and activism to assert our first most cherished liberty to our elected representatives. Our show today features four addresses on the topic of religious freedom and the "HHS Mandate," as well as a reading of the USCCB document "Our First Most Cherished Liberty." 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the program and wished all a happy 4th of July. He explained that we are now at the end of the Fortnight for Freedom. To cap it off, we'll hear addresses from Cardinal Sean O'Malley, Kim Daniels, Angela Franks, and John Garvey. Cardinal Sean opened by thanking all for listening and watching. He emphasized that today, Independence Day, we celebrate certain inalienable rights that God has given to us - one of which is our freedom of religion. The HHS Mandate the Church is fighting, Cardinal Sean continued, would violate our deepest convictions, restricting ministry and employment only to those of our own faith. Unless we work hard and speak frankly when our freedoms are threatened, Cardinal Sean said, we will lose this cherished freedom, as has happened in other parts of the world. Historically, the cardinal concluded, the USA has been a strong defender of religious freedom - we need to remember that this mandate is not a Catholic or Protestant issue, but an American issue that all citizens must speak out on. Kim Daniels echoed the Cardinal's words, reminding listeners that American Catholics are standing up for a basic American principle. She pointed out that attempts have been made to negotiate with the administration to avoid this fight, but all failed. Now, Kim said, 43 institutions, from Catholic Colleges to soup kitchens, schools to Archdioceses, are suing to keep the government from defining what a religious ministry is. The Catholic commitment to religious freedom, Kim continued, is not a partisan issue - anyone who has listened to a dinner-table argument between Catholics knows not everyone holds exactly the same views on politics. The USCCB has always maintained that affordable healthcare is a good for society, and bi-partisan consensus used to exist on it too! If anything, Kim said, it is the Obama administration who has politicized the universal health care issue by ignoring conscience protections for Catholics, both institutionally and individually. Dr. John Garvey made three points in his address. First, he said that the legal protection of religious liberty is waning - it has slowly degraded over the years, giving protection to priests but not teachers, or religious orders but not hospitals. Catholics and Catholic organizations exist to provide every citizen with services. Catholic Charities does adoptions, Dr. Garvey continued, because the Gospel tells us to care for the weak and vulnerable. Catholic schools and colleges exist to educate because the Gospel tells us to teach all nations. But even that basic mission is under attack - Dr. Garvey said that Catholic University itself would have to pay almost $2.6 million per year in penalties should it follow Church teaching and refuse to offer contraception, sterilization, and abortion services on health plans. Lastly, Dr. Garvey emphasized that the framers of the Constitution protected religious freedom because they thought it important for human flourishing and happiness. Dr. Angela Franks opened by listing what the mainstream media says the HHS mandate is about - a "Catholic war on women," contraception, the Church "imposing values" - none of this is true, Angela affirms. The issue cannot be contraception, Angela argues, because it is already ubiquitous and cheap; any woman who can afford a few lattes a month can buy birth control. The issue is not the Church forcing people to do anything, Dr. Franks continued, but rather about the government trying to force a policy of secularization on the Church. The biggest lie, Angela concluded, is that the Church is waging a war on women or is anti-woman. As a woman, she said, it offends her that Speaker Pelosi, SEcretary Sebelius, organizations like NOW or Planned Parenthood, or even the President should think they speak for all women. Angela mentioned a petition initiative about this point, located at . 2nd Segment Scot welcomed everyone back and explained that the second half of the show would be a reading of the USCCB document "Our First Most Cherished Liberty." You can access the full text at . For Scot Landry, our Producer Rick Heil, and our team of Dom Bettinelli, Karla Goncalves, and George Martell, happy Independence Day!…
Summary of today’s show: Msgr. John McLaughlin has seen a wide variety assignments as a priest of the Archdiocese: urban parish, suburban parish, a parish that includes the New England Patriots, first vocation director for the Archdiocese of the Military Services, now priest-chaplain for campus ministry at Boston University, and the first new monsignor the Archdiocese of Boston has seen in years. Msgr. McLaughlin joins Scot Landry and his old friend Fr. Chris O’Connor for a laughter-filled hour in which the monsignor tells his fascinating story of ministry to young people that took so many different forms. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Msgr. John McLaughlin Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Msgr. John McLaughlin 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone and discussed preparing for Independence Day and the final day of the Fortnight for Freedom. Scot said to Fr. Chris that last weekend we had an ordination of a man to the transitional diaconate. Fr. Chris said Deacon Tom McDonald was ordained at St. John Seminary. He’s been studying in Rome and just came back. He now declares ordination season is over until September when they will ordain some permanent deacons. Fr. Chris said Tom wanted to be ordained here now instead of in St. Peter’s in Rome in October mainly so that more of his family and friends could attend. Other men have made the same decision for similar reasons. They also have an another summer in order to carry out the duties of deacons, baptizing, marrying, and their other roles. Deacon Tom has been assigned to St. Paul’s in Cambridge for the summer. Today’s guest is Msgr. John McLaughlin, who was a military chaplain last year until returning to Boston to become chaplain at Boston University’s Catholic Center. 2nd segment: Scot noted that Msgr. McLaughlin wants to be called Father. He asked about his background. He grew up in St. Anthony’s parish in Woburn and when he was ordained he was the sixth man from that parish in six years and three of them were ordained at the same time. Fr. John thinks it was a coincidence that three were all together. He said Woburn is a good, close, faith-filled community that produces many vocations. He was about 30 years old when he started thinking about the priesthood. He had worked for 10 years after graduating Boston College. He was also coaching Woburn high school wrestling when a car accident killed some of his young men and injured to hers, working with them made him look at life a different way. He also traveled to Medjugorje with one of the men. He went there in 1989 for the first time.(It was reported that children were seeing the Blessed Mother.) There were 250,000 were in the little Bosnian village of about 3,000, where people prayed and sang about their faith very openly. It made him re-think his life. Later, after his second trip in 1990, he went to talk to the vocations director. Scot asked if it was a surprise to him that God might be calling him to the priesthood. Before the accident Fr. John never would have thought about it and it was a surprise to friends, family, and co-workers too. Scot asked how it was returning to college after 10 years out. Fr. John said the most difficult adjustment was moving out of his own house into a small room without a phone or a bathroom of his own. Fr. John said their class was about 18 ordained together, plus another 30 from other dioceses. He said they had a lot of fun. Scot said the class of 1995 was the largest in a lot of time. Fr. John said after ordination he went to St. Clements in Somerville for 5 years and then after that to St. Mary’s in Foxboro, which was so different. He was there for 5 years. While he was there he started LifeTeen there. They had 1,800 kids in religious education. Scot asked what it was like on Patriots Sundays in the fall. Fr. John said they had very large 4pm crowds. The Patriots won three Super Bowls while Fr. John was there. He also blessed the stadium 10 times and the Patriots never lost when he blessed the stadium. Fr. Chris said he once celebrated Mass for a visiting team. Fr. John then moved to St. Monica in Methuen for three years as pastor. It went very well. It’s a very large parish. They started LifeTeen there as well, and they have one seminarian from that who will be ordained next year. Fr. John said when you go to a parish, you don’t often see teens, although you see all other ages. He’d learned about LifeTeen and recognizing that there wasn’t a lot in the Church to bring in teens, he wanted to do that. It’s not perfect, but it is Eucharist-centered. The results were phenomenal. The kids loved coming. Scot asked if LifeTeen is a lot of work for the pastor and parish. Fr. John said it’s a lot of work and there is a financial aspect as well. There’s an evening Mass on Sunday plus the Life Night after. There’s a need for good music for the kids with a particular kind of band. From parish ministry, Fr. John was assigned to the Archdiocese of Military Services. Fr. John recalled getting a call one night asking him if he wanted to be the vocations director for the Archdiocese of the Military. He wasn’t sure at first about leaving St. Monica’s so early. Later on he found out that Cardinal O’Brien who was Archbishop for the Military Services had known Fr. John in Rome and recommended him. Archbishop Broglio, he followed Archbishop O’Brien, eventually signed him up for the job. Fr. John said he went to Washington, DC, where he had to figure out what to do as the first vocation director of the military. The archdiocese of the military is all over the world, so he relied heavily on the chaplains of the different military services. They understood that they had to be proactive in finding replacements for themselves in the priesthood. Fr. John said there was a great fraternity among chaplains. Boston has always ranked among the top three dioceses in giving chaplains to the military. He said spent a lot of time getting to know all the chaplains on retreats or convocations. Scot pointed out that Fr. John wasn’t in the military but was working for the military archdiocese. Scot asked if there seems to be an affinity for the priesthood among particular services. Fr. John said he was never in the military so he didn’t focus on one more than the others. He did note that the Marine Corps has more Catholics than any other branch, but overall the seminarians were spread out among the branches. He once did an interview with EWTN on the Fourth of July. He got a call the next day from a young Marine, a Major helicopter pilot stationed in Cherry Point, N.C. The man had some doubts, but Fr. John pointed out that he was already living and acting in a priestly way. He told the man that he was acting like he couldn’t handle the truth. The major called him back in the middle of the night and agreed. He was the first man he recruited. Fr. Chris asked what the Archdiocese of the Military is. Fr. John said it’s like the pastoral center in Boston: It takes care of the records of sacraments, it has a tribunal, takes care of the canonical and sacramental needs of chaplains. Archbishop Broglio traveled the world for confirmations and the like. He was archbishop for Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard. Scot said in the military service Fr. John wasn’t recruiting men to become military chaplains, but to help dioceses get new seminarians because he had access to so may young men who could have vocations. Fr. John said it started because a study showed that 10 percent of the men in the seminaries had military experience so they thought there might be more. The Military Archdiocese doesn’t have priests itself. They are all lended from dioceses. If the men he recruited want to be chaplains, they would be co-sponsored–each diocese paying half–and after ordination they would be in the diocese for three to five years and then go to the chaplains, where they could serve up to 25 years. Fr. John said he always tried to keep the men in the dioceses where they were from in order to be closely connected to their family and friends for life. But there are men who come from military families who have no home, so he worked with them to find a bishop who was open to the chaplains corp. He said they brought in 40 vocations over three years, including a couple into religious orders. They were able to send a seminarian to the Capuchins and one to Boston. He did that for three years and then came back to Boston to become campus minister at Boston University. He had been expecting to come back as a pastor. As a Boston College grad, he thought it was a joke at first. But the kids are great, a wonderful group of young people. Fr. John said he hasn’t had any kids from his old parishes at BU yet. As the priest-chaplain at BU, there’s no real typical day, especially when working with young people. There are money problems, family problems, problems with roommates, etc. He celebrates Mass and hears many confessions. They run five retreats per year, including two graduate retreats. They have Fellowship of Catholic University Students who run Bible studies. FOCUS are young people who are missionaries who come to campus to reach out to other young Catholics and teach them the faith, so when they go out they can instruct others. Scot recommended listeners to listen to last Wednesday’s show on FOCUS. Scot said last year the campus ministry team at BU turned over completely. Mother Olga had been there several years and the Brotherhood of Hope even longer. Fr. John said it was a difficult change for the students and for him, especially since he’s not done college ministry. He has to do fundraising for the program now. Also, the students are up very late every night, past midnight, and doesn’t usually get to bed past 1 or 2am. He lives in East Boston at Sacred Heart Parish with Fr. Wayne Belschner. They have three Masses on Sundays, 12 noon, 6pm, and 10pm. He likes being with young people filled with hope with a positive outlook on life. It’s exciting to be with them at this time as they prepare for life. Scot asked what it’s like being a priest at a secular college in the city. BU is the fourth largest private school in the country and is 40% Catholic. They have 30,000 or 40,000 students total. Cardinal Seán calls it the largest Catholic school in Boston. Fr. John said they have a lot of weddings of graduates who come back to Marsh Chapel. Fr. Chris filled in for Fr. John at a wedding last weekend. Fr. John said they are grateful to be able to use Marsh Chapel, which was a Methodist chapel, and Boston University lets them have Mass there. The Catholic Center is a four-story brownstone owned by the Archdiocese of Boston on Granby Street. For Mass on weekends, they see 700 to 1,000 students. They have anywhere from 30 to a few hundred people in the building daily. They do spaghetti suppers on Tuesday open for anyone on campus where they feed several hundred. After the supper they do something called Spirit Night Live. Other times in the week they have adoration that is well attended. Scot asked what activities besides Mass helps the kids go deeper in their faith. Fr. John said Adoration is very powerful in the kids and the students are serious about. They also get 90+ at the retreats and they plan it all themselves. Fr. John congratulated Camille, one of his interns, on getting engaged to Danny Menardi and they will be married next year. They have also had two BU alum ordained in recent years and there are several alums in the seminary right now. Scot asked Fr. John for his hopes as he goes into his second year. Fr. John said they are looking at a new retreat site, Camp Fatima in Gilhmanton, NH, which they hope will give them some new opportunities. They will do the undergrad and grad retreats at the same time there while keeping them separate. They will also be purchasing breviaries – if anyone would like to contribute to Catholic Center, 211 Bay State Road, Boston, MA for the breviaries–for use by the students. They plan to start doing the Liturgy of the Hours with the students during the school year. Scot suggested that people could support the work of the Catholic Center, which gets only about half its budget from the Catholic Appeal.…
Summary of today’s show: Ross Douthat’s new book “Bad Religion” looks at how the landscape of American spirituality has changed over the past 60 years–from traditional orthodoxy to individual spiritualism– and what that means for our society and culture. Scot Landry and Douthat talk about the American religious revival after World War II in a common Christian orthodoxy and then splintered into a series of heresies that hold sway today. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Ross Douthat, columnist for the New York Times and author Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Ross Douthat and Bad Religion 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show. He recalled as a father how time flies past when raising kids andy ow it’s tough to see trends when living in the present. This is true of our faith and it can be tough to see how much has changed in our faith over the past 40 years and to understand why. The new book “Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics” has helped Scot to understand how Catholicisicm has changed in the past 40 years. Scot welcomed Ross Douthat to the show. He’s the youngest-ever op-ed columnist in the history of the New York Times. He was previously at The Atlantic. He’s also authored two other books and . Scot asked Ross about his background. He’s from southern Connecticut originally. He grew up in the 1980s and was baptized in the Episcopalian church. When he was about 8 or 9, his family started attending charismatic healing ministries conducted by this particular woman and they became introduced to Pentecostalism and Evangelicalism, until at about 15 years old, when they started attending a Catholic church. He formally converted at 17. He took a tour of American Christianity when he was young. It gave him a slightly broader perspective on American religion than most journalists certainly. Ross said he wasn’t pressured to convert, but with his mom converting he kind of moved in the wake of his parents’ spiritual journey. He didn’t take an unconventional path into the faith. He also found it a relief to enter a church where nothing unexpected happened during worship, like in Pentecostalism. He said his parents spent a lot of time at a startup Evangelical church at Yale university and were involved in several smaller Protestant churches. For his mother, she always said she had an encounter with Jesus through Evangelical Christianity, but was looking for the Church that was the fullest expression of Jesus on earth. For her, the absence of final authority in Protestantism was a mark against it. The Catholic mystical tradition provided a bridge for her from Pentecostalism. They were also still Episcopalian enough that Catholic liturgy wasn’t foreign either. Scot said that as a cradle Catholic going to Harvard he found defending his faith as a spur to growing deeper in it. He asked Ross what it was like for him at Harvard about a decade later. Ross said intellectually it was a great experience. As a Christian entering such an environment, you either abandon your faith immediately or you hold onto your faith and end up getting the best possible education because you’re working even harder as someone outside the academic mainstream. You’re more likely to challenge and be challenged by the experience. In terms of the practice of his faith, he doesn’t think an Ivy League education is not necessarily the best thing because the culture of the elites in this country is oriented around achievement for achievement’s sake and success at any cost. It’s not so much atheism as worldliness. He started writing in high school and in college he worked on the conservative campus newspaper and wrote a conservative column for the Harvard Crimson, but he didn’t really decide on becoming a journalist as a career until he needed a job after graduation. He was hired at the New York Times at 29 years old. He said it wasn’t much of a choice to move from The Atlantic to the Times. He loved The Atlantic, but the Times–even in this age–is a unique institution with an unparalleled reach. Maybe particularly for someone with his conservative, Catholic vies, it makes him distinctive among their columnists. He mostly writes about American domestic politics. Mostly he’s been writing about the presidential campaign. He most recently wrote about healthcare. But he also writes about religion and religious issues, plus pop culture, sociology, and topics like that. Ross said the idea for the book Bad Religion came to him during George W. Bush’s second term when the battle in American politics and culture seemed to be between the Irreligious Left and the Religious Right. Ross took part in the debates and dismissed claims that America was about to turn into a theocracy. He also thought the binary division in that approach didn’t come close to reflecting religion in America today. He wanted to write about where Americans were getting their spiritual ideas and beliefs from. The thesis became that America has become less institutionally religious and less overall Christian, but just as religious. He writes a lot about people like author Elizabeth Gilbert, Joel Osteen, and Dan Brown. He argues that you need to look closely at pop spirituality: books, TV shows, and the like because that’s where people are getting their religion from, not churches. Scot said the religious cultural history Ross documents was helpful. After World War II, orthodox Christianity was at the center of American culture. Ross said the books start after WWII which historians of American religion call the post-war religious revival: People were attending church at higher rates, church construction was booming, there were more movies of Bible stories and depicting Catholic priests. There was a broad revival, but he also says that it coexisted with an intellectual revival. The experience of totalitarianism led to a reassessment and a new willingness to look back at traditional sources of wisdom to understand what had gone wrong in the modern age. So he started the book with the poet William H. Auden,who returned to his Christian faith after being confronted with the evil of the Nazis. Ross argues that this kind of reassessment happened in al to of places. There was a new interest in religion on college campuses. It didn’t mean America had turned into a land of orthodox Christians. America has always been a land of many competing definitions of what Christianity is, but in this time the institutional churches were stronger then than any other time. It also seemed to be a times when various branches seemed to be merging, when Bill Graham would do a crusade in a city and a Catholic bishop would write an op-ed in support. Scot said Ross writes that in 1930, 37% of Americans were formally affiliated with a church and it rose to 69% in 1960. Also in 1950, Americans spent $24 million on church architecture. By 1960 it was $1 billion. Ross said there are many reason all that went away. He tried to look at the more structural factors because there’s often a heavy focus on personalities, like High Hefner or Betty Friedan or Gloria Steinem. He said the trends start with political polarization. In the early 1960s, when you look at how Christianity interacted with politics, you see that religious believers were intimately involved in politics. The Civil Rights movement was explicitly Christian. But because the two parties weren’t completely polarized into conservative Republican and liberal Democrat, something like the Civil Rights wasn’t completely partisan. But Christian interventions became identified with the religious left and later with the religious right. It became harder to become a Christian first and a liberal or conservative Republican or Democrat. After Roe v. Wade, there was a moment when it seemed the pro-life movement could be bipartisan, but then it became polarized. Then there is the sexual revolution, which makes the link between middle class norms and Christian sexual ethics seem weak, out of date, and repressive. American society has severed sex from reproduction and to divorce it from Christian morality. There’s also money as America becomes a much wealthier country. Just as the New Testament play on chastity doesn’t play in post-sexual revolution America, so too did the Christian suspicion of wealth gets lost too. America becomes a worldlier society. Then with globalization, the world in all its diversity is beamed into living rooms as never before, while the West becomes associated with imperialism and repression. So people begin to question how their church could be the One, True Church in such a big, diverse world, plus the association of Christianity with European crimes and oppression. Ironically, the areas experiencing decolonization have Christianity take off because Christianity becomes less Western. Scot said Ross writes that the Christian response is to become more relevant to the culture or become more resistant to the changes. 2nd segment: Scot said Ross charts four main heresies in American Christianity today: the search of the historical Jesus; the prosperity Gospel; spiritual, not religious (i.e. against organized religion); and the nationalism of our destiny of the United States as that shining city on a hill. Scot asked Ross to describe what he means by orthodoxy. Ross said it’s a kind of Christian consensus shared by the Catholic Church, much of Eastern Orthodoxy, and most of the mainline Christianity, i.e. Christianity as it coalesced in the 3rd of 4th century. He contrasts that with heresy, which he says is something deeply influenced by Christianity, but takes on aspect of Christianity emphasizes it out of balance with the rest. Christianity is willing to speak in terms of mystery and to always be balancing one side with the other: e.g. the world is both good and evil or the balance between faith and works. Heresies try to make the faith more rational, saying mysteries or paradoxes aren’t rational and need to be made cleaner. Heresies are easier to accept and easier to explain than the true mysteries of faith. For example, there is the prosperity Gospel. He spends a lot of time looking a Joel Osteen, a successful TV preacher and author of many books. He’s a lot like Billy Graham in his preaching a message of God’s universal love, traveling about and selling out stadiums. But the difference is that Graham’s preaching was always balanced between love and the need for repentance in the face of damnation. But you can listen to Osteen for a long time without hearing much at all about human sinfulness and God’s judgment. Graham is more in the orthodox tradition because he’s balancing love and justice, while Osteen only takes one piece of the story and emphasizing it. Scot said he sees sometimes that the harder demands of Catholicism aren’t perched because it’s thought it will help people come back to faith, even though experience shows the opposite. Ross spends a fair amount of time talking about how institutional churches are good for our society and in fact make it all work. But if a more do-it-yourself form of spirituality becomes dominant, then it becomes harder for churches to do the social part of their job. It’s hard for a religion of people praying on their own to help society. If you’re your own church then it becomes hard to run a soup kitchen on your own. People aren’t as much joiners as we used to be, plus even more children are born out of wedlock making the social fabric weaker. You can see that younger Americans are more narcissistic, more self-centered, less empathetic. DIY religion makes it easy to come into something that never challenges. Thus the prosperity Gospel is very comforting to people who upwardly module in a materialistic society. But maybe what America could have heard in the housing bubble was that you can’t serve both God and mammon, for example. Scot said one of the tougher heresies is the DIY religion, cherry picking the beliefs you want. This is tough because we’ve been bombarded by messages from Oprah and others that we don’t need to balance our needs and wants. Ross said it’s a case that takes something good in the Christian message–that you can encounter God within yourself–but then makes it the whole of religion. So if the “god within” contradicts your Church’s voice, then the god within trumps all. Sometimes that voice of god becomes your ego or libido, so people use that to bless their own desires and impulses. The book and movie Eat, Pray, Love depicts a spiritual journey where God seems to exist to bless the author’s decision to divorce her husband for her own self-fulfillment. Scot strongly recommends this book for Catholic discussion groups and for individuals.…
Summary of today’s show: Earlier in June, Msgr. Robert Deeley and Msgr. William Fay traveled from Boston to Ugandan in Africa for the feast of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, martyrs for the faith who are highly revered in that country. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell talk with Msgr. Deeley about the trip, how it came about, the story of the martyrs, and the remarkable faith of the Ugandans today, where one parish has 100,000 people and a Mass will typically last three hours. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Msgr. Robert Deeley, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Ugandan Martyrs and Catholicism in Uganda Today 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Mark to the show and noted that the end of June marks the end of the fiscal year for the Archdiocese, which means goodbyes to people leaving and hellos to new people. Fr. Mark said they said goodbye to Sr. Peggy who was working as a judge in the Metropolitan Tribunal. Also, Mary Ryan, who worked in the finance department, is retiring after 20 years in service. Scot recalls that Mary was at the 8:15am Mass at the Pastoral Center every day. He said she worked in the Revolving Loan Fund, which functions like the Archdiocesan bank for parishes. Fr. Tom Foley’s farewell Mass was yesterday. He leaves the post of Secretary for Parish Life and Leadership and is going to become an Air Force chaplain. Also, Bishop Arthur Kennedy is leaving as rector of St. John Seminary to take up a new office as vicar for the New Evangelization. Also today, Scot asked listeners to pray for Cardinal Seán on his 68th birthday. He celebrated the noon Mass at the Pastoral Center and was joined representatives of the Orthodox Church to celebrate the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. Today, Msgr. Robert Deeley is joining us to talk about a recent trip he took to Uganda to talk about the Ugandan martyrs. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcomed Msgr. Deeley to the show. Scot said June 29 makes him think of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul and how it’s a big holiday in Rome. Msgr. Deeley spent many years in Rome and said it marks the two great apostles upon whom the Church was founded. It’s also traditional for the Pope to give the pallium, the symbol of the metropolitan archbishop’s office, to new archbishops from around the world. It reminds us of the unity of the Church and its expanse around the world. There were four Americans this year, three from the Roman rite: Archbishop Charles Chaput of Piladelphia; Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver; and Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore. They note that the Archbishop wears it only in his own diocese and the diocese’s of his province. Moving to another topic, Msgr. Robert Deeley recently traveled to Uganda along with Msgr. William Fay at the beginning of June for the feast of the Ugandan martyrs. Msgr. Deeley went to Uganda because so many priests from Uganda come to Boston, especially to study at Boston College and other local colleges. While here, they live in our rectories and help out in our parishes. One Ugandan priest lived with Msgr. Fay for two years before returning to Uganda. Fr. Paul is rector of the cathedral in Lugazi, Uganda, and he invited Msgr. Fay and Msgr. Deeley to come and be there for the great feast of the Ugandan martyrs. Msgr. Deeley said they didn’t go on safari so they saw no animals. It’s a beautiful country. They visited Lake Victoria and saw the source of the Nile, which travels 4,000 miles through Africa. Scot said he was surprised that as little as 200 years ago there were practically no Christians in Uganda, but it was the martyrdom of St. Charles Lwanga and his companions in the 1880s led to the great growth of Catholicism. Msgr. Deeley said he wanted to go back a few steps. The king around 1850 wrote and asked Queen Victoria to send missionaries to impart values and morals they had. The first were Anglican and then Catholics followed. The king who succeeded the first about 6 or 7 years after the Catholic missionaries arrived was a selfish and immoral man. He murdered a group of young men who wouldn’t acquiesce to his immoral demands. The youngest of them was 13 or 14 years of age. Charles Lwanga was their leader. They were burned to death. There 13 Catholics and 11 Anglicans and shrines maintained by both Catholics and Anglicans are maintained at the site of the martyrdom. The missionaries were expelled from Uganda, but the Catholic laity continue to teach and preach and catechize one another. Scot said the king gave all the martyrs the chance to renounce their Christian faith, including a few who were only baptized at the last minute, but all chose to keep their faith even though they knew they would die in a horrible way. At the time of the martyrdom, there were only about 200 Christians in the country and now there are millions, which shows how the blood of the martyrs become the seed and fertilizer for faith. Msgr. Deeley said one of the eyewitnesses recalled how the martyrs pointed to the sky as they went to their death to signal that they were going to Paradise for their faith. The celebration of this feast is a spectacular representation of the culture and faith and music and more. He said there were 1 million people at the celebration. Meanwhile, one of the bishops was here in Waltham to celebrate with a Ugandan community here as well as another in Germany doing likewise. Otherwise, every bishop in the country was there at the celebration. The Mass is celebrated on an artificial island in the middle of the lake and the people surround. People were singing in Swahili, Buganda, and Gregorian chant. The full representation of the whole Church, all ages, all vocations, was a spectacular view. Fr. Mark asked for Msgr. Deeley’s experience. Msgr. Deeley said the Mass was five hours long, three hours for the Mass itself and two hours for the speeches at the end. This is the longest Mass he’d ever attended, including Easter vigil at St. Peter’s. The next day he went to the funeral of a local priest and that was three hours. People love to celebrate their faith and they do it with great joy and solemnity. He said they were blessed because Maureen Heil of the Propagation of the Faith in Boston had contacted the head of the episcopal conference in Uganda who got excellent seats at the Mass on the island and they were announced as honored guests. Msgr. Deeley said the country is very poor and it’s still very young at only 50 years of independence. But their hospitality is tremendous. Scot asked about the Church’s role in society in Uganda. Msgr. Deeley said in the cathedral parish they have 26 outstations or parishes in villages. They visited one parish where they met the pastor and his two associates. They had a parish school and a high school, built by people from Canada and the United States. He also had 30 more outstations with 12 schools and 100,000 people all in one parish. They had tea with Bishop Matthias Ssekamaanya of Lugazi one night, and he told him that they believe that every parish needs a school and that as the outstations grow they will also become parishes with schools. The government funds some of the education. He said the vicar general of the diocese is also in charge of schools. The government’s funds are limited, and they also control what you can do. The government doesn’t allow the Church to take any fees whatsoever, including having children pay for lunches during the day in order to make it appear the education is completely free. There are also private schools, which aren’t run by the government or the Church. Scot asked what Msgr. Deeley’s sense is of the freedom of the people to live their faith as Catholics, in light of the Fortnight for Freedom. He said the Church plays an important role as the voice of the poor, the needy and families. The country is 87% Christian, 13% Muslim; 40% Catholic, 30% Anglican. The Church is a very important force for the betterment of people and building of systems that are just and honest. Fr. Mark asked how modern the area is. Msgr. Deeley said many buildings are indeed modern. They are building a new center for the episcopal conference, which the Archdiocese of Boston contributed to. He noted that they don’t use metal frameworks, but wood, and then add concrete and brick and the like. He said it’s a tropical climate so most places don’t have windows. He said bananas are an important part of their diet, several different varieties they eat in many different ways. Back to schools, he noted the dedication of teachers in the schools. They visited a school where one classroom had 75 students. They are trying their hardest to make education and opportunity available to the children of their communities. Many of the teachers are catechists. In each of the outstations, there is a catechist who is often a teacher or other professional. When they can’t have Mass with a priest, they gather for prayer and study. They try to get a priest to the outstations at least once per month. Scot said there are several thousand Ugandans living just in Waltham. He asked how his experience helps Msgr. Deeley appreciate and welcome Catholics who come to our Archdiocese from all over the world. He said he saw how the faith is central to their lives. It’s not just something they do on Sunday, but their whole lives. Scot said most people living in this area wouldn’t be able to say they personally someone who died for their faith, except perhaps people who’ve come here from other places around the world. He said he’s been moved by the stories from Vietnamese priests who tell of how the martyrdom of someone they knew inspired them. Msgr. Deeley said he met a priest from Kenya who’d only been ordained a few days who was walking with his parish and they’d been walking 21 days to go to the shrine of the Martyrs. He told a story of being beaten and left by the side of a road because he’d been preaching about morality and faith. He only survived because another priest found him in time. The pilgrimage to the shrine was his way to thank God a year later. He was filled with joy and faith and was excited to go on this pilgrimage with the people of his parish. Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. For he fashioned all things that they might have being; and the creatures of the world are wholesome, and there is not a destructive drug among them nor any domain of the netherworld on earth, for justice is undying. For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him. But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who belong to his company experience it. Gospel for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 1, 2012 (Mark 5:21–43) When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea. One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him. There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?” But his disciples said to Jesus, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked around to see who had done it. The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.” While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. So he went in and said to them, “Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.” And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was. He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. At that they were utterly astounded. He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat. Scot said he was struck by the long interruption in the story of Jairus and his daughter with the afflicted woman. The message was that our faith can heal us. Msgr. Deeley said it’s a good opportunity to remind us to avail ourselves of the opportunity to receive the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick before we go to the hospital. It is a healing sacrament. It can be difficult because of privacy laws to find out who is in the hospital and to visit them. He said it’s not Extreme Unction anymore and it’s not just the Last Rites. Fr. Mark noted Jesus’ kindness, noticing the one woman in the crowd. He reached out to her with kindness and love. He also made sure the crowd knew the girl was not dead, but he told them she was just sleeping so people wouldn’t treat her like a zombie. St. Mark also puts in the Aramaic words that show Jesus’ gentleness in awakening the girl from death. Scot said Jesus wants us all to arise in our faith and that was the name of our program of renewal. Jesus then asked the people to give her something to eat to prove that she is alive and not a ghost. Msgr. Deeley said it’s so important for us to have the freedom to work with the sick and feed the hungry because we are following the example of Christ.…
1 TGCL #0329: Supreme Court ruling; Fortnight for Freedom town hall; Ordination Mass; Redemptoris Mater dinner; Catholic Appeal; Catholic Press Awards 56:31
Summary of today’s show: On our Thursday show, Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry consider the new headlines of the week, including the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act; Cardinal Seán’s Fortnight for Freedom town hall; last Saturday’s ordination Mass; the Redemptoris Mater Seminary gala dinner honoring Rabbi David Rosen; the Catholic Appeal passing a milestone; and Catholic Press awards for the Pilot. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Supreme Court ruling; Fortnight for Freedom town hall; Ordination Mass; Redemptoris Mater dinner; Catholic Appeal; Catholic Press Awards 1st segment: Scot said big tech news from Susan. She finally got an iPhone and is turning to producer Rick Heil for help in learning how to use it. She has already added the ICatholicRadio app. It’s been a busy week between the ordinations, the Fortnight4Freedom live,interactive town hall, the Redmeptoris Mater Seminary. They brought in Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry, who has just completed his move to St. Bernadette Parish. Scot said the live town hall was the first of its kind to his memory. Susan said she was impressed by the production values as well as the guests, Jim Garvey, president of Catholic University of America; Kim Daniel of CatholicVoices USA; and Angela Franks of Theological Institute for the New Evangelization. Greg said he liked it very much especially toward the end with the question and answer period. He liked the give and take among the panelists. Scot said that for those who hadn’t been up to speed on these issues this town hall provided a lot of good background. Fr. Roger said he was also very impressed by the Q and A. He thought President Garvey looked like Christopher Plummer and speaks like a movie star. Angela Franks was incredibly powerful on how this isn’t a war on women. Fr. Roger also thinks this is the kind of thing we should do more often, not just when we’re in crisis. It’s a great opportunity to learn a lot in one hour. Scot said Cardinal Seán very much liked it too and he thinks the cardinal would like to do similar things on other issues, like the Year of Faith this fall on what it’s about and what he’s asking Catholics in the Archdiocese to do. Scot said the Pilot article did a good job on getting quotes from the panelists, including Angela Franks: “You may have heard some in the secular media advance certain myths about the HHS mandate, which is the latest infringement on our religious liberty. For example, you might have heard that this issue is about access to contraception, or that this is just a Catholic issue, or that the Church is imposing her values on the rest of society. You might have heard that the Church is waging a war on women,” she said. “All are false, blatantly false. Clearly this issue cannot be about access to contraception, which is inexpensive and broadly available. If a person can afford a cell phone or even three lattes a month, she can quite likely afford to pay for contraception. Instead this issue is about forcing Church organizations and every Catholic to provide contraception and abortion-causing drugs and subsidize them, which are actions against public teaching,” she said. Susan said the comparison to phones and coffee grounds it in reality. Angela was succinct and refuted the major points we keep hearing in the popular press one by one. Susan also liked Angela’s comment that it’s up to the laity to take the lead on the front lines at the water cooler. Scot also quoted John Garvey’s third point: “The framers of our constitution and the Bill of Rights protected the free exercise of religion because they thought it was important for human flourishing and happiness, but our society will not care about protecting religious freedom for long if it doesn’t care about God. That is where we must begin to reform. We won’t have and we probably won’t need religious exemptions for nurses, doctors, teachers, social workers, if no one is practicing their religion. The best way to protect religious freedom might be to remind people that they should love God,” Garvey said. Scot said when we look at the Church as a family, many of our family members have stopped practicing their faith and we have to look in the mirror and see if we are still practicing our faith as strongly. If we don’t care about our faith, then why should it be protected? Greg said the ambivalence of some Catholics was one of the arguments used against our religious liberty. Fr. Roger said the point illustrates how we got here. As for the how to move in the future, we have to grow in the importance of religion not just to society, but to each of us individually as well, which is why the Year of Faith is so important. Moving to other news, the ordination Mass took place at Holy Cross Cathedral last Saturday. The new priests are Fathers Eric M. Bennett, 31; Eric F. Cadin, 31; Felipe de Jesus Gonzalez, 34; John J. Healey, 62; Adrian A. Milik, 30; and Michael F. Sheehan FPO, 31. Father Michael Sheehan, a member of the Franciscans of the Primitive Observance, a religious community in the archdiocese, described the feeling of finally becoming a priest after completing his studies. “It is awesome. It is awesome in all of the senses of that word. On the one hand, there is the joyful thrill of knowing that you will be acting as Christ for people, and then on the other hand, there is the chilling responsibility that you will be acting as Christ for people,” he said. Father Sheehan’s parents said their son felt the call to the priesthood from an early age. “I am extremely proud of Michael and all his accomplishments. It all culminates today in his ordination. We are very pleased and excited for him,” the new priest’s father Gary Sheehan, 59, said. His mother Diane Sheehan, 57, said she knew her son would find success in his pursuits. “Michael has been a leader his whole life. We knew in second grade that he was going to do well whatever he did. God bless him. It has been a long time coming to this day,” she said. His grandmother, Anne P. Shannon, 83, said she knew her grandson had a calling since he was young. “I was attending the quarter of seven Mass every morning. He was with me, so I always knew that Michael was special, and that he indeed had a calling — and I was right,” she said. Scot said the ordination is the highlight for all the families, not just the new priests. Susan said she didn’t attend the Mass, but watched it on TV and found herself compelled to watch the whole thing. She said she took notes on Cardinal Seán’s homily in which he talked about St. Peter’s denial, which he said wasn’t made to a soldier with a knife, but to a waitress with an attitude. She talked about the images of the imposition of hands and how the CatholicTV coverage allowed for the sacred silence that occurred at several times during the Mass. Fr. Roger said the words of the sacrament are a continuing call to conversion 13 years after his own ordination. He looks at his hands differently now because of the sacraments he now performs with them. His hands are an extension of his body as he is an extension of Christ’s Body. Fr. Roger talked about how as a priest he is now on call 24/7. He recalled a conversation with actor Jim Caviezel who played Jesus in the Passion of the Christ about the pressure that’s on him all the time now to live up to that image and how he wondered how priests lived up to that their whole lives. Greg said he thought how fortunate he’s been able to go to the last 10 out of 11 ordination Masses. What he recalls is the sense of emotion among the ordinands both before and after the Mass. One of his favorite moments was when the Cardinal blesses the hands of the new priests and then kisses them. The six men are starting their new assignments today. Breaking news this morning is that Archbishop Fulton Sheen has been declared Venerable, which is the second big step toward canonization. Fr. Roger said when he was in the diocese of Peoria, he’d heard about a miracle attributed to Sheen, which could advance him to the next step of beatification. He also called attention to the cause of Servant of God Alvaro del Portillo y Diez de Sollano, who was also declared Venerable, and was a major contributor to Vatican II as well as a close collaborator with Pope John Paul II. from on . Also in the Pilot this week is a story about the Redemptoris Mater Seminary gala dinner last Sunday. Susan said her first close-up experience of the NeoCatechumenal Way and the seminary was the big concert this past May at Symphony Hall and so she wanted to come to this dinner. She said it was a great dinner, honoring Rabbi David Rosen, the International Director of Interreligious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee and Director of its Heilbrunn Institute for International Interreligious Understanding. He is also the former Chief Rabbi of Ireland. He is a past chairman of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations and is also Honorary Advisor on Interfaith Relations to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. He serves on its Commission for Interreligious Dialogue, and represents the Chief Rabbinate on the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land. Susan said he spoke about the struggle of the Jewish people for survival as well as the teaching of the Church in the Second Vatican Council on our Jewish elder brothers in faith. He also spoke about Pope John Paul II’s friendship with the Jewish people. After the rabbi spoke, the seminarians of Redemptoris Mater sang “Shema Israel,” a song based on one of the most important Jewish prayers, to honor the speaker and the message. … The archdiocesan liaison to the Jewish community, Father David C. Michael gave his thoughts on the speaker and the meaning of the night for Catholic and Jewish communities in Boston. “Reaching out in love and understanding to one another, that is an important place to begin. Then we have to deepen that relationship, that’s where the hard work begins. The hard work begins in the deepening,” he said. “I think that his quote of John Paul II was absolutely on target where the pope says before we can be a blessing to the nations we have to be a blessing to one another,” Father Michael said. Greg said Rosen is very significant in terms of Catholic-Jewish relations. When the Holy Father calls inter-religious meetings, it’s Rosen who is called to stand next to the Pope as a representative of the Jewish faith. The audio of Rosen’s speech will be on the Pilot’s website on Friday. Scot said June 30 is a milestone date for the Catholic Appeal, because it’s the end of the fiscal year and the end of the parish campaign. Scot said they are within $100,000 of making their fiscal year goal of $14 million but still have a long way to go to make the calendar year goal of $14 million in 2012. Scot also noted that the Pilot won seven Catholic Press Awards among 64 total awards given. Greg won an award for a photo he took to illustrate a story on the new Roman Missal. They also won an award for their editorial on the Maria Talks website as well as another on the Defense of Marriage Act. The Anchor also won an award for the columns written by Fr. Timothy Goldrick. The award was given by the Society for the Propagation for the Faith. Scot also profiled the obituary of Fr. Joseph Moynihan who was a pastor for 22 years in Westwood. 3rd segment: cot said the Supreme Court decision this morning was surprising, that Chief Justice Roberts sided with the so-called liberal wing. Scot read from : Today the United States Supreme Court issued a decision upholding as a tax the provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that requires individuals to purchase a health plan—the so-called “individual mandate.” For nearly a century, the Catholic bishops of the United States have been and continue to be consistent advocates for comprehensive health care reform to ensure access to life-affirming health care for all, especially the poorest and the most vulnerable.Although the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) did not participate in these cases and took no position on the specific questions presented to the Court, USCCB’s position on health care reform generally and on ACA particularly is a matter of public record.The bishops ultimately opposed final passage of ACA for several reasons. First, ACA allows use of federal funds to pay for elective abortions and for plans that cover such abortions, contradicting longstanding federal policy.The risk we identified in this area has already materialized, particularly in the initial approval by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) of “high risk” insurance pools that would have covered abortion. Second, the Act fails to include necessary language to provide essential conscience protection, both within and beyond the abortion context.We have provided extensive analyses of ACA’s defects with respect to both abortion and conscience.The lack of statutory conscience protections applicable to ACA’s new mandates has been illustrated in dramatic fashion by HHS’s “preventive services” mandate, which forces religious and other employers to cover sterilization and contraception, including abortifacient drugs. Third, ACA fails to treat immigrant workers and their families fairly. ACA leaves them worse off by not allowing them to purchase health coverage in the new exchanges created under the law, even if they use their own money.This undermines the Act’s stated goal of promoting access to basic life-affirming health care for everyone, especially for those most in need. Following enactment of ACA, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has not joined in efforts to repeal the law in its entirety, and we do not do so today.The decision of the Supreme Court neither diminishes the moral imperative to ensure decent health care for all, nor eliminates the need to correct the fundamental flaws described above.We therefore continue to urge Congress to pass, and the Administration to sign, legislation to fix those flaws. Scot said it seems a measured statement. If the whole act had been struck down, the 50-plus lawsuits filed against the HHS mandate wouldn’t have been needed, but today we’re in the same position we were in yesterday. Greg noted that the justices in the minority would have struck down the whole law. He said the bishops were always in favor of expanding healthcare for the poor, just in a way that doesn’t violate consciences. Scot said these lawsuits filed Catholic institutions continue and it is another constitutional issue about religious liberty. Today’s decision was on the government’s authority to enact an individual mandate. Scot said his analysis is that this clearly expands federal power, even if it’s a tax on those who won’t buy federal healthcare. Roberts said you can’t force someone to buy healthcare, but you can tax someone for almost anything. Greg said Roberts also said he wasn’t saying that this tax is a good idea. He’s essentially saying that we need to respect the will of the people through their elected officials in passing a law if it’s constitutional. It may not be a good law, but it’s constitutional. It also means it can be repealed by the representatives as well. Scot said this is the second biggest court decision in his lifetime, second only to Bush v. Gore. Greg noted that this is different from Roe v. Wade when it invented something that didn’t exist before. In this case, the court was only giving deference was being given to the elected representatives.…
Summary of today’s show: The Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) has been present on college campuses around the country for 14 years, reaching out to tens of thousands of Catholic students to introduce them to Jesus Christ. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams talk with Curtis Martin, the founder of FOCUS, about the FOCUS difference, the intense training and strategic plan they give their missionaries, and how they call people to live heroically for something bigger than themselves. Also, they discuss Curtis’ appointment as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization in Rome. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Curtis Martin Links from today’s show: from on . Today’s topics: Curtis Martin, evangelizing on campus, and the New Evangelization 1st segment: Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams talked about the annual Middle School Harbor Cruise. They started at Our Lady of Good Voyage chapel on the harbor, where they had a catechesis on the Eucharist and a little bit of Adoration. He said toward the end of the evening the thunderstorms hit and the light show was pretty spectacular. Tomorrow is a youth ministry gathering, a beach day for those who work in ministry, starting with Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas in Nahant followed by a beach party. Scot welcomed Curtis Martin to the show. Curtis is founder and president of Fellowship of Catholic University Students, which has presence on several local college campuses, Boston University and MIT. They will be adding Harvard this fall. Scot said Curtis spoke at the Boston Catholic Men’s Conference a few years ago. Curtis said there are a lot of exciting things going on in Boston. He said there is a great local parish near Harvard in St. Paul’s, which helps their efforts greatly. Scot said FOCUS missionary is said to be the toughest job they will ever have because they have to raise their own funds and talk in sometimes hostile environments on college campuses. Curtis said being a missionary is awesome and you’re paired with great people, but it’s really tough. Curtis said they are right on the front lines and they don’t pull punches. This young generation wants to do great things for great reasons. The New Evangelizations is a great cause. They just completed their training with 110 new missionaries to become part of 450 missionary staff around the country. Scot said FOCUS is about 14 years old. People often lower their expectations for young people. Do young people respond because Curtis sets expectations so high? Curtis said secular culture treats them like consumers and the Church is sometimes tempted to talk down to them too. Christ is calling us into a life of holiness and greatness. He sees young people making heroic decisions one after another and we need a nation full of young people like that. Fr. Matt asked what qualities does he see in the missionaries that makes them successful. Curtis said friendship and broke it down to friendship with Jesus Christ personally; friendship with peers, like the students on campus just a couple years younger than them; and friendship with leaders in the Church, like local pastors. Curtis said there are great Catholic colleges and Newman Centers around the country. What makes FOCUS different is that it’s a lay outreach. Most are in their early 20s on campus engaged with students. They go out onto to campus to meet students in libraries, athletic fields, and everywhere to draw them back to the Newman Center. That’s where they can engage a vibrant Newman Center. Scot said he’s amazed at how the missionaries have to raise a significant amount of money themselves to support their mission. Curtis said they raise their basic living expenses from friends, family and parishioners. They raise about $2,000 per month. He said they don’t want them going broke serving FOCUS. They ask for a two year commitment and the average is 3-1/2 years. When they raise money, they want them to talk about what’s going on with the Church, what’s going on with young people, and what’s going on in the donors’ lives. It’s a form of evangelization. They also find the donors tend to pray for the missionaries in addition not giving money. Where your heart is, there is your treasure. Scot asked Curtis what inspired the idea. He grew up Catholic but drifted in his adolescence. He said he had a come to God experience his sophomore year in college. He came to know Jesus personally along with some Evangelical friends. As he grew in his faith, questions arose about his faith and it led him back to the Catholic Church. He realized then that there was no outreach on college campuses for Catholics like there were for Evangelicals. They build a new model and bishops wherever they’ve gone have been very receptive. Scot said they are receptive because FOCUS has a proven impact wherever they go. The witness of FOCUS missionaries on campus makes a difference. Curtis said they go wherever they are welcomed and so they serve both secular and Catholic colleges. They’re even going to Baylor in Texas, which is the largest Southern Baptist college in the country. Ninety percent of Catholic college students don’t go to Catholic schools and they pretty much have followed that ratio in their efforts. Fr. Matt asked why FOCUS is the place the Church should put its efforts. Curtis said there’s not a part in the human lifecycle in this culture that isn’t in desperate need for renewal in Christ, from before birth to death. If you have to go everywhere, where do you start? They think it’s universities. You can go to 2nd graders, but they don’t autonomy to serve. You can go to nursing homes, but they won’t be able to serve long. University students have the rest of their adult life to serve and can begin immediately. No other institutions gathers young people in the numbers that universities do, 10,000 people, 20,000 or more. They can influence the next generation of parents, priests, and religious. Almost all of our future leaders will pass through universities. Scot said on the FOCUS website, they don’t have a mission statement, but a “main thing”. Inviting College Students into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church. Inspiring and Equipping them for a Lifetime of Christ-centered Evangelization, Discipleship, and Friendships in which they lead others to do the same. Curtis said FOCUS launches college students in lifelong Catholic mission. Whether it’s the new working document for the upcoming synod this October or the almost daily comments from Pope Benedict, there is a growing sense we have to talk about our faith in terms of our relationship with God. It is in real deep friendship that we love. The Church exists to people into right relationships with God, one another, and ourselves. The reason we need Christ, because we find ourselves desperately lonely without Him. If we don’t have the ability behave how a friend would behave, we won’t have friends. Young people today have thousands of “friends” on Facebook, but not many real, good friendships with people they share life with. They may come from a broken home and no or one sibling they are close with. The average young Italian doesn’t have a brother, sister or first cousin because they are only children of only children. Fr. Matt said rules without relationship equals rebellion. Friendship with Christ helps us to understand his teachings.He said he downloaded the FOCUS app on his iPhone and asked him about it. Curtis said there is a website at with resources, including phone apps. He said St. Augustine asked one question: What will make me authentically happy? Pope John Paul II walked through the false ideologies of Nazis and Communists and asked what would satisfy people. It’s Catholicism. Relationship gives us the why. You can give a doctoral dissertation on adultery, but we don’t do it because we love our wives. John Paul II shared his friendship with Christ with those he spent time with. If we’re friends then my friends become your friends. Not everyone is called to do soap-box evangelization, but everyone is called to friendship evangelization. Scot asked what things do well-meaning people do that doesn’t help bring people to Christ. Curtis said he’s met a lot of men in his ministry around the country, and men in particular tend to be successful at work because they are strategic, but in our faith we’re not strategic. Good farmers outproduce bad farmers, but God always causes the growth. But he gave us rules to live by. You need a strategic plan: Win, Build, Send. Win people into relationship by going out and doing things you love to do with other people and do things they love to do. Build them up: what do you need to know to think like a Christian? What do you need to be formed in to act like a Christian? What skills do you need to be an effective leader? Now send them out to win more people. The most central form of leadership is self-control, to lead oneself. Curtis said one of the reasons they ask for a two-year commitment because that’s how much time they need to train them. They start with a five-week training session from the very beginning. They are trained in prayer, leading bible study, apologetics, fundraising. After that five weeks, all of the missionaries serve on teams and for the whole next school year, they are mentored by a veteran missionary. In the following summer they come back for five more weeks of training. Only then do they consider the initial training is finished. At this pint they are committed lifetime learners. Scot asked about the resources it takes for the overall national organization. Howcan people support FOCUS or a particular missionary. Curtis said it’s essential that people who work for the Church are cared for. Go to FOCUS.org and adopt a missionary or to support a particular project. Scot said Curtis is one of two Americans appointed to serve as consultors for the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization in Rome. 2nd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Maria Ippolito from Reading, MA She wins a Glory Stories CD: Be Not Afraid, the Story of Blessed John Paul II and a “Gospel Champions” computer game. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 3rd segment: Scot read the prayer for religious liberty from the Fortnight for Freedom campaign. He then said the Vatican has called a Synod of bishops for the New Evangelization in Rome this October as well as the Pontifical Council. He asked what it was like for him and Ralph Martin, no relation, to be two Americans called to assist the Pontifical Council. Curtis said he would never guessed when he was elected that Pope Benedict would make the new evangelization am ajar theme of his pontificate. Curtis said his major role will be to listen and to share it with others and when asked to give his two cents. The Pontifical Council has only been around for about a year. He said the synod will be an exciting time. After the synod, Pope Benedict will issue a papal document to the world on the New Evangelization that will give the marching orders for the New Evangelization, who is supposed to be involved and what we are supposed to do. Curtis said it’s an exciting time in the Church’s history when he vigor for the faith incoming back with tremendous power. Scot asked Curtis to compare evangelization in the US to what’s going on around the world. Curtis said the message he’s been receiving as a consultor is that there’s a sense the Church is looking to America, North and South, for inspiration. In the Americas there is the family-centered devotional life of the Latino communities plus the entrepreneurial drive and if we could bring those together, we could bring about a major change in the New Evangelization effort. In Europe, they are looking for the Americas to re-evangelize Europe. There is a real Catholic wealth living in the two halves of our continents and if we can bring them together, we could be a real blessing to the world. Curtis said to look at the apostles. They lived with Jesus for three years, but even after the Resurrection, they were hiding in the upper room until the Holy Spirit was sent. Without the Holy Spirit we can’t bring the faith to the world. We need to learn to rely on the Holy Spirit and to live in a state of grace. The Holy Spirit takes up residence in us to give us the power to live the life of Christ. In can’t be about us, but God working through us. We have to be open to the Spirit’s promptings. Scot asked for his hopes for the Year of Faith in the US. Curtis said it’s a call to come back to the foot of the Cross to live a life for Christ. We don’t live very differently from the rest oft he world as Catholics. If Christ lives within us, then we should living radically different lives. Many Catholics have allowed the secular culture to speak to them more loudly than the Church has. Faith is the gift that allows you to see things that aren’t visible: the Trinity, grace, the Eucharist. If you have faith, you will live differently. Scot said one of FOCUS’s two missionaries at Boston University has entered religious life. How important is that to FOCUS in terms of its impact? Curtis said it’s wonderful to see people responding to their vocation. FOCUS is calling people to hear how Christi is calling them to live their lives. In 14 years, they’ve seen 75 women in their programs go on to religious life and 270 men have entered seminary, more than half of them in the last 4 years. There is snowball of people going on to live lives in which they are hearing God’s call for them.…
Summary of today’s show: Msgr. James Moroney will assume the mantle of rector of St. John’s Seminary on July 1 and Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor talk with him about his background, his work at the US bishops conference and with the Vatican on liturgy, and what it takes to form a “Swiss Army” priest for today’s Church. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Msgr. James Moroney, incoming rector of St. John Seminary Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Msgr. James Moroney and Formation of Priests 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chris O’Connor to the show. There’s been a lot going on over the last three days, starting with the Ordination Mass on Saturday an on up to the live, town hall on CatholicTV last night. Fr. Chris said the cathedral was filled with people celebrating thesis new priests. Fr. Chris preached the homily at Fr. Eric Cadin’s first Mass on Sunday night at St. Mary’s in Dedham. This was during the Life Teen Mass and he thought there will be some more vocations coming from among the teens who were there. Vocations come from families, from moms and dads, including asking them if God was calling to them to the priesthood or religious life. Fr. Chris said on Monday, the men went to Regina Cleri to celebrate Mass with the retired priests. They will also be with Cardinal Seán on Wednesday with their families and the faculty of St. John’s Seminary for a luncheon. Last night was the live town hall meeting and CatholicTV will be re-broadcasting it several times, including tonight at 8pm. Scot encouraged everyone to get more involved. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcomed Msgr. James Moroney to the show. Scot said formation of future priests is one of the most important ministries in the Church. Msgr. Moroney has been involved in formation before, but now he will become rector of St. John’s Seminary. It was a different perspective this year for him at the ordination Mass. He looked at the men and thought to himself how good how God is to us. Fr. Chris and Msgr. Moroney were both very moved during the Mass. They know how beauty it is, even in the cross that it comes with. Msgr. Moroney said Fr. Chris has taught him to survive in this new job. As the vice-rector he’s the one the monsignor relies on. He said day to day you come to know these men like a pastor knows his people. Scot recalled that the greeting of the priests at the Mass to the newly ordained is a fraternal embrace, a brotherhood even if they have just met. Msgr. Moroney said we are not saved individually, but by being baptized into the body of Christ. In the same way, the presbyterate is all of the priests joined to the archbishop. The men were ordained into that presbyterate, now sharing the three part ministry of being shepherd, teacher, and sanctifier. Scot asked Msgr. Moroney about his background. He grew up in Milbury, Mass. in Our Lady of Lourdes parish and then St. Bridget’s parish in the same town. He didn’t go to Catholic school because one wasn’t available. He recalls the town was 80 to 85% Catholic. He recalls his teacher leading the public school kids in prayer every day. As he walked home from school every day, he’d stop in the church to pray and he learned to listen to God, quieting all the problems in his own life. Msgr. Moroney said it’s important that every young man listening pray for God to open up to him what his plan for him is. After high school, he went to a college seminary in Baltimore for one year until it closed. Then he stayed in Maryland for a year, working as a community organizer for the Quakers against the draft. He came back to Worcester and was sent to North American College in Rome. He’s been a pastor in several different places. He’s also worked for the US bishops conference for 13 years as director of the liturgy office. Scot said Msgr. Moroney has prepared two different series on the liturgy for EWTN and CatholicTV, as well as other media. Msgr. Moroney said he had been told that the Church needed someone to explain the liturgy for the average man and that’s why he studied for it in order to promote it. Once he was pastor of two parishes separated by a parking lot and lots of old feelings. They used the promotion of beautiful liturgies and Eucharistic adoration to bring them together so that the two eventually became one parish. Msgr. Moroney was appointed by Pope John Paul II as a consulter to the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments. He’s also executive secretary of Vox Clara, a committee of bishops who advise bishops’ conference on English in the liturgy around the world. Fr. Chris noted that Msgr. Moroney is a priest of the Worcester diocese. Msgr. Moroney said Cardinal Seán has promoted St. John’s as a regional diocese. They have seminarians from every diocese in New England and other countries too, including Saudi Arabia. He sees the role of rector as being pastor of the seminary, which is how John Paul II saw it in the document Pastores dos Vobis. Being a pastor of a flock of shepherds is one way to put it. Scot said he’s the first diocesan priest not of Boston to be appointed rector. Scot recounted some of the other rectors over time. Msgr. Moroney said Bishop Arthur Kennedy, the outgoing rector, is an old friend from when they both worked at the US Bishops Conference. Bishop Kennedy working in the Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. When Bishop Kennedy became rector in St. John’s, he asked Msgr. Moroney to come teach there as well. He said Bishop Kennedy is the “second founder” of the seminary, expanding the seminary, not just in numbers, but in programs and quality of formation. 3rd segment: Scot asked the essential aspects of forming a priest today. Msgr. Moroney said it’s centering on Christ, a personal relationship with Christ. The same Christ, Cardinal Seán prayed to in the ordination prayer. The same Christ the new priests prayed to on Sunday in their first Masses. Whether you’re a newly ordained priest or a priest living in Regina Cleri, to know Christ personally, to be led deeper into the mystery of Christ. “That I may decrease, that Christ may increase,” is the heart of priestly formation. Msgr. Moroney said every generation faces particular challenges. The challenge we face is that all the demands made of me to look at this and that, to grab my attention, to be able to put that aside and center on Christ. The device and media might be able to help, but it’s a challenge. He noted that book, “I Am Not A Gadget”, asks a lot of philosophical questions about living in a digital world with social media and everything. If Christ is not there, then all the digital stuff is a clanging symbol. Scot said 50 years ago we lived in a much stronger Catholic culture. We had 75% or higher Mass attendance then. Now the new priests will serve where the majority of Catholics don’t attend Mass. Msgr. Moroney said the zeal and purity of vision is just the same as when he was was ordained. However, the men come from a different culture now. Msgr. Moroney came from an atmosphere where everyone was imbued with catechism and devotions were the norm. A few years ago, the US bishops acknowledged that we need two extra years of formation for priests because they’re not getting that like they used to. Msgr. Moroney taught a course on homily preparation. About 5 years he played tapes of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, and the seminarians were not that impressed. Msgr. Moroney realized he was speaking to a different culture and a different world. There’s more skepticism about even the fact of ultimate truths. Fr. Reed of CatholicTV will teach a course next year on media and the new evangelization. Scot said Msgr. Moroney leads days of recollections across the country for priests and to teach in seminaries on many subjects. Scot asked if there’s a vocations crisis. Msgr. Moroney said the crisis is in believing God will take care of us. When we say to young men, “Have you thought about becoming a priest?” the result is magnificent. God only asks us to pray and do a little work. He said he saw a young man at Fr. Cadin’s Mass who looked particularly intent and so he went over asked him if he ever thought of becoming a priest. Scot said in the Archdiocese of Boston on a Sunday morning you can find a Mass every 30 minutes within a 15 minute drive. In other places in the country, you have to drive 1-1/2 hours to get to the next church. Msgr. Moroney said the numbers of priests in the 60s was a result of the baby boom. We are doing very well for priests in the United States today. Fr. Chris asked about the type of priest to ordain from St. John’s. Msgr. Moroney said they want to form the Swiss Army priest. They want a priest who could go to a parish centered around the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Mass or a Life Teen parish or a Brazilian parish or whatever. The priest has such a pastor’s heart and skills to go beyond himself, he’ll be able to minister wherever he goes. Like St. Paul who was able to be all things to all men wherever he went. Scot said there’s a pressure on young priests to be defined by their parishioners as a type of priest. Msgr, Moroney said the biggest obstacle to the Swiss Army priest is the self-confidence of the young man. The temptation is to compromise in order to get people to like you. We should preach Christ, not just tickle people’s ears with what they want to hear. He said they should preach in kindness, but in truth. Fr. Chris said the Gospel is meant to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Scot noted that the age of new priests is creeping upward. In the past they would have to be 25 at least. Fr. Chris said most men coming into seminary are 23 to 24 or so. Fr. Chris said when men come in right from college, they often left soon after. Now men who have been out in the world are leaving something behind, and have already thought long and hard about this step, so they are less likely to leave. The men are generally ordained in late 20s/early 30s. Scot asked if it’s easier or tougher to have men that are older who more experience as well as more habits to break. Msgr. Moroney recalled one of the first seminary classes he taught had a former doctor, a former lawyer, a former engineer. They were very accomplished and used to calling the shots. Now they are living a simple life and having to listen to others tell them how to grow and improve. Fr. Chris said seminary is meant to stretch and challenge the men because priesthood will do the same. Msgr. Moroney said during the ordination Mass the men lay flat on their face while the litany is prayed around them. In reality, they laid down on their face when they entered seminary by embracing the humility of openness to formation. Scot asked Msgr. Moroney how his background on liturgy will affect the formation of seminarians. Msgr. Moroney said over the last five years he’s monied into a reflection on priestly spirituality. Without a conformity to Christ on the Cross, the people will see it as inauthentic. It is from hearts that hearts learn. He said we’re on the cusp of a revival of spirituality among priests today. Msgr. Moroney asked people to pray for seminarians every day. Go to the St. John’s website, pick a seminarian, and pray for him every day.…
Summary of today’s show: The HHS mandate of the Affordable Care Act is an unprecedented infringement on religious liberty, according to a wide cross-section of religious leaders and political observers. Scot Landry talks to Kim Daniels, an attorney who specializes in religious liberty issues and coordinator for Catholic Voices USA, about the HHS mandate and other attempts to infringe on religious liberty during this Fortnight for Freedom called by the US bishops. Daniels will be one of the panelists on the Fortnight for Freedom town hall airing on CatholicTV and WQOM tonight at 8pm. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Kim Daniels, Coordinator for Catholic Voices USA Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Religious Liberty and the HHS Mandate 1st segment: Scot said tonight Cardinal Sean will be hosting on the live town hall meeting at CatholicTV at 8pm on the topic of religious liberty. On of the presenters joining is Kim Daniels, an attorney working on religious liberty issues and is a coordinator for Catholic Voices USA and lives in Maryland. Scot said he met Kim when he attended a meeting in Washington, DC, of Catholic Voices USA. Kim said the group is lay Catholics who stand up and talk about our faith and why we love it, making the Church’s presence felt in the public square. They don’t speak on behalf of the bishops, but do speak authoritatively because they know their faith well. It’s an outgrowth of a similar successful group in England last year that began before the Pope’s visit. Scot said Catholic Voices is launched while we’re fighting to defend our religious freedom. Kim said they saw a need for lay Catholics to be out there on this issue.They want as many lay Catholics talking about it as possible because it’s important we tell everyone how it’s under siege today. Scot asked Kim to provide background on the HHS mandate. She said it’s part of the Affordable Care Act. Last August, the Dept. of health and Human Services put out a regulation that all employers provide insurance for contraceptive services under the ACA or face a fine. The only exemption was for a narrow definition of churches. Church-related organizations were not exempted. In January this year the president affirmed that this was going to be the rule and then later proposed an “accommodation” which was only an accounting trick. For the first time, religious believers would be forced to provide a good or service that violates their faith. Kim said the problems with the “accommodation” includes the idea that insurers would be forced to provide the coverage rather than the employers, but of course the costs would be passed along to employers. The employers would still be forced to participate. Also, many church organizations are self-insurers. Kim said religious liberty is our first freedom. One of the central reasons people came to this country was to escape religious persecution and that’s what the first amendment was about. For Catholics especially, it’s important, because it it’s the glue that holds civil society together. Catholics found civil society institutions that stand between individual and government and provide the glue for society. Scot asked what makes the HHS mandate so bad. Kim said the mandate has an extremely narrow definition of what counts as a religion. You’re a religious organization if you primarily employ people of your faith and promotes your faith. If reduces religion to freedom of worship within the four walls of the house of worship, not freedom of religion. Mother Teresa would not qualify for the exemption. Scot said we don’t serve other because they’re Catholic. We serve others because we’re Catholic. That’s what defines us as Catholic. Free exercise isn’t freedom of worship, but freedom of religion, which is prayer, belief, and action, and more. Kim said look at the list of the Catholic organizations that have signed on to lawsuits against the HHS mandate: publishers, colleges, nursing homes. For every corporal work of mercy, you can find an organization that has signed on. Scot said some people believe Catholics have been targeted specifically. Cardinal George of Chicago said this is an unprecedented requirement that we be forced to act contrary to what we believe. This has never happened in the US. Kim said we know there’s been plenty of religious bigotry in history. It’s important to remember here that what’s going on is that people are being forced to pay for something that violates their deeply held religious beliefs. Once this precedent is set, you can violate beliefs in other places as well. A good example is conscientious objection to serving in war. That could be threatened. Scot said when there are laws passed, there’s usually a robust set of exemptions for different groups. Scot said the Affordable Care Act has many exemptions, but the exemption for Catholics was so narrow it violates our religious liberty. Scot asked Kim how exemptions work in laws like these? Kim said we have a longstanding bipartisan census in favor of religious liberty and exemptions for religious conscience. President Clinton signed int o law the religious freedom restoration act. Ted Kennedy had written to Pope Benedict that he was in favor of strong exemptions for Catholics. But what happened here is the Obama administration has set all that aside. Scot said the troubling part of this is that the Secretary of HHS came out with a list of preventative care that’s covered under the law that included contraception and abortifacients, when real preventative care wasn’t included. Kim said wouldn’t it be great to have free health club memberships or blood pressure medicine or the like? But instead contraception, sterilization and abortifacients are. That shows they are presenting pregnancy as a disease to be prevented. Kim noted that the Amish got an exemption from the Affordable Care Act as did millions of people who were grandfathered. 2nd segment: Scot said on this issue, Catholics of all stripes were all united that this was a massive violation of religious freedom. Kim said when the mandate first came down, she heard people talking about in her parish in a way that you don’t see normally. They saw it as an attack on them and it’s created a solidarity. The lawsuits show a wide array of groups participating from small to large and across the viewpoint spectrum. An important development last week saw the Catholic Health Association, which had supported the Affordable Care Act, came out against the HSS mandate and the supposed accommodation. Kim said the institutions that will not provide the objectionable goods and services will be subject to fines of $100 per day per employee. For large organizations and small ones that is significant. It will lead some to shut their doors. Others will reduce their services. It will have a big impact on our network of schools and social service providers. Scot has asked if there’s a precedent for fines that are so crippling? Kim said this is what’s unprecedented: That the government is forcing us to make that choice between our religious beliefs and paying these crippling fines. Because we are an institutional church, we work through groups we form, not just through individuals, it affects us uniquely. It’s not just a Catholic issue, but it particularly affects us. Scot said there are about 200 Catholic universities in the US, about 7,000 secondary and elementary schools, 1,400 long-term healthcare centers, and hundreds of hospitals. The most important thing for the common good is not the the number of institutions, but the people who are served here. Kim said the key issue to remember is that at the end of the day this will harm the poor, kids in schools, those served by Catholic services. Kim said when the government says to some that they are not meeting the narrow exemption, it involves the government coming in and defining whether they are religious. The government becomes entangled in the practice of our religious faith. Scot said this violates the separation of church and state. Kim said it goes to the Establishment clause. It’s setting up a regulation that determines what it means to be religious. Scot asked Kim to respond to the claim that the Church is trying to impose its views on others, including employees who don’t agree. Kim said the Church only seeks to retain the constitutional right to propose it’s views as a full participant in public life. It’s the government is coming in to tell the Church what it should believe about contraception and abortion.Kim said contraception is cheap and widely available and the government could take many steps to provide it easily without forcing religious believers to violate their beliefs. People coming to work for the Church know or can easily know what the Church believes coming in the door. Kim said when the Catholic Health Association came out against the mandate, they made this argument. Scot said he’s also heard that the Catholic Church is trying to hurt Obama’s re-election campaign. Kim said the plaintiffs in the lawsuits have all different political views. If anyone is trying to politicize this issue, it’s the Obama administration. Scot said that’s another slogan he’s heard, that this is a War on Women. Kim said it’s clear that it’s a manufactured war. It’s patronizing for the administration to claim that religious freedom isn’t as important to women. 30,000 women have signed up for an inititiative to say this. Kim and her neighbor Helen Alvare, who is a prominent pro-life Catholic, started this initiative on the grassroots level, sending it out to their friends without a big budget or infrastructure. She’s heard of women taking up the initiative on their own to stand up for their religious liberty. Scot read the open letter from the website called “Don’t Claim to Speak for All Women”: We are women who support the competing voice offered by Catholic institutions on matters of sex, marriage and family life. Most of us are Catholic, but some are not. We are Democrats, Republicans and Independents. Many, at some point in our careers, have worked for a Catholic institution. We are proud to have been part of the religious mission of that school, or hospital, or social service organization. We are proud to have been associated not only with the work Catholic institutions perform in the community – particularly for the most vulnerable — but also with the shared sense of purpose found among colleagues who chose their job because, in a religious institution, a job is always also a vocation. Those currently invoking “women’s health” in an attempt to shout down anyone who disagrees with forcing religious institutions or individuals to violate deeply held beliefs are more than a little mistaken, and more than a little dishonest. Even setting aside their simplistic equation of “costless” birth control with “equality,” note that they have never responded to the large body of scholarly research indicating that many forms of contraception have serious side effects, or that some forms act at some times to destroy embryos, or that government contraceptive programs inevitably change the sex, dating and marriage markets in ways that lead to more empty sex, more non-marital births and more abortions. It is women who suffer disproportionately when these things happen. No one speaks for all women on these issues. Those who purport to do so are simply attempting to deflect attention from the serious religious liberty issues currently at stake. Each of us, Catholic or not, is proud to stand with the Catholic Church and its rich, life-affirming teachings on sex, marriage and family life. We call on President Obama and our Representatives in Congress to allow religious institutions and individuals to continue to witness to their faiths in all their fullness. Scot said it’s a beautiful letter. He’s said the issue can turn in this country if women stand up and say that NARAL and NOW don’t speak for them. Women aren’t one-issue voters who only care about abortion and contraception. Kim said it’s patronizing for the Obama administration to call this a women’s issue because it involves contraception, abortion, and sterilization. Scot said 43 Catholic institutions filed a lawsuit on one day in late May, adding to 11 previous lawsuits. Kim said it was an unprecedented coordination of lawsuits among Catholic groups. As a civil rights matter it’s striking to see organizations come together to file suit across the country to show that it matters to all of us. It’s also important it was filed then because the Supreme Court’s decision on the Affordable Care Act is imminent. Plus the clock is ticking: Catholic organizations need to purchase insurance. Scot said some in Boston thought the Archdiocese of Boston should have filed a lawsuit too. There are 195 dioceses and parches in the US. He asked what about groups that didn’t file a lawsuit? Kim said the suits are directed against just the mandate. There are lots of reasons while you would have some plaintiffs sign on and others not sign on and why you would file in the some places and not in others. It’s mainly a tactical question. Scot asked how long it will take to see this resolved. Kim said it depends on what happens in the next few weeks and months on these issues. You could see them happening in the next year. Scot asked how the 43 lawsuits might be affected by the Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act itself. If the Court rules the law constitutional or only part of it is unconstitutional, the lawsuits will move forward. If the court rules against the whole Act, then it’s an immediate win for the plaintiffs and we return to the status quo of strong religious freedom protections. Scot asked what the likelihood for that is. Kim said her sense is the Court will strike down part of the Act and these cases will move forward in court and they will win. Scot asked Kim what she hopes to come from the Fortnight for Freedom. She wants her own kids to see Catholic standing together on an important issue. It’s also a wakeup call about what’s going on with religious liberty. Even if it seems like it’s removed in Washington, the Fortnight can bring this home to parishes. Scot said he’s been thinking about those who gave their lives in our history for the sake of religious freedom. What message would Kim have to the listeners on why we should educate ourselves and do something about this now? Kim said religious liberty isn’t always attacked in a grand way, like bombing of churches and Christians being murdered. What we have here is the slow whittling away of our religious liberty. But this will really affect all os u. It will set the precedent in the law that religion is what happens within the four walls of a house of worship.…
Summary of today’s show: There are several living legends among the priests of the Archdiocese of Boston and Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell welcome one of them today. Fr. Walter Waldron has been a priest for 48 years and pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Roxbury for 29 years. Fr. Walter tells our listeners about seeing the Second Vatican Council firsthand, putting the lessons of the Council into practice in the inner-city in the 1970s, and then serving a parish that’s like three parishes in one for nearly three decades in a neighborhood many have written off. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr. Walter Waldron, Pastor of St. Patrick Parish, Roxbury Today’s topics: Pastor Profile: Fr. Walter Waldron 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show and started with the startling news that Fr. Mark was taken by ambulance to the hospital from his rectory yesterday. He fell down a few steps and was taken to the hospital as a precaution.Fr. Mark said the neck brace they put on had four settings: tall, medium, short, and no neck. He was highly insulted that they had it on no neck. Last night, Fr. Mark was able to go to a special Mass at Regina Cleri, where Fr. Bob Oliver is also recovering from an accident and a broken hip. Scot said it’s been a busy week preparing for the live, interactive town hall meeting on CatholicTV Monday night with Cardinal Seán. He said it’s never been done before over all the different media: TV, radio, and the Internet. He encourages everyone to tune in via WQOM or CatholicTV. On Monday’s The Good Catholic Life we will have one of the panelists, Kim Daniels, to talk about how we got to this point. The town hall meeting begins at 8pm. Scot said today’s guest is one of the legends of the priesthood in Boston and he’s been looking forward to this conversation. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcomed Fr. Walter Waldron. Fr. Walter said he grew up in Milton and went to school there. He had two brothers and two sisters. One of the gifts in his life has been his family and extended family. He realizes how much all those cousins mean to him and made him what he is today. His vocation came from his family and the community was very Catholic. He went to St. Agatha School. He wanted to be a lawyer, teacher or priest. He went to BC High and considered being a Jesuit. When Fr. Walter’s father was at BC High in the 1920s and he considered becoming a Jesuit. His grandfather had a work accident that prevented him from working and so his father was counseled he should stay to support his family. So it comes full circle to him. Fr. Walter said Fr. Riley, who was a younger priest in charge of the altar servers at St. Agatha’s, was an influence on his vocation too. He said there were no priests in his family. Fr. Walter said he ended up deciding he would end up encountering more people in the diocesan priesthood than if he joined the Jesuits, who at the time specialized in education. He went to Cardinal O’Connell Seminary for two years out of high school. He went to St. John’s Seminary for two years and then went to the North American College and was ordained in St. Peter’s. He was there in the early Sixties and was there during the death of Pope John XXIII and election of Pope Paul VI. Scot asked what it was like being in Rome during the Second Vatican Council? Fr. Walter said it was very exciting, partly because some of the US bishops stayed in the North American College and had interaction with the seminarians. Some seminarians were even able to sneak into the sessions in St. Peter’s. He and his classmates were on the side of those who were most forward-looking. During his time in Rome, he wasn’t able to come back from Rome, but his family did come visit once before ordination. He took a ship over with the other seminarians. He recalled how the seminarians were all seasick at first, but he loved it so much that he came back by boat rather than fly. Scot asked Fr. Walter is he learned the old and the new liturgies. He said he was trained in the older missal. There was no transition while he was there. Fr. Walter was ordained in 1964 and has had only three assignments in those 48 years. He was first assigned to St. Margaret in Beverly Farms. He remembers saying to the people that first Sunday, “I’m so glad to be here in Beverly Hills.” He was there for two years. Then he was a parochial vicar at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross for 18 years. He had asked Cardinal Cushing to be assigned to work in the city and to live in an apartment among the people. Cardinal Cushing said no, but offered him a position at the cathedral. He made many friendships and is still involved with some of the groups from them. He loved living in the city and came to learn the movement of the city. He has remained in the city, going to St. Patrick’s parish in Roxbury in 1984. Fr. Walter wanted to live in the city because of the priests he knew in Roxbury at the time. He liked the life they lived and how they had freedom to interact with people. He talked about how he was mentored and affirmed by Msgr. Russ Collins. Fr. Mark said the monsignor was a real innovator in our archdiocese. He helped form a group called the Boston Urban Association of Priests. They were very vocal about public policy and even endorsed a candidate. They thought they were reading the signs of the times. Scot said it was a tumultuous time in Boston with the busing crisis. Fr. Walter said it gave him an identity with the people that were there. He came to understand their difficulties and pain and how far they felt from the mainstream of Boston. It was an eye-opener for him. Scot noted that the Boston Urban Priests helped the Pine Street Inn form itself. Fr. Walter said there was a place called the Dawes Hotel that was pulling out of the business of serving the poor, and no one wanted to take over the ministry. They took over the place and re-named it the Pine Street Inn. They didn’t know they were supposed to ask the cardinal first. They had some advisors on how to help people who were addicted to alcohol. They had only one employee and each priest would take a night to be there. Scot perceives that time as a time for the Church asking herself what she was to be in this town and in this world. What do the condiments of Vatican II mean in practical matters? There was a lot of adjustment. Fr. Walter said there wasn’t a model to follow. Fr. Walter at the time took on a foster kid and moved out of the rectory into an apartment. He was then called in by Cardinal Medeiros. He told Fr. Walter that he knows what he did and only wanted to know that he was taking good care of him. He had the foster kid for four years. Scot asked what it was like to move to St. Patrick’s in 1984. He didn’t want to move out of the cathedral after being there so long. In fact, he’d just been asked to be the chaplain at Walpole State Prison and he said no because it would be the same population day after day. So when St. Patrick came up, he took it. He’s attracted to variety in his priestly ministry. Scot said you couldn’t get more variety in St. Patrick’s. Fr. Walter said they just celebrated their 175th anniversary. They had three languages: English, Spanish, and Portuguese Creole. He feels like he’s already in charge of three parishes. In 1989, the Boston Globe did a big three-page article on him in the newspaper. It showed how he had a presence on the streets, a consistent presence over a period of time. After a while he wasn’t a stranger there and people came to know he was interested in all communities. He showed how they could come together as one parish with three communities. Fr. Walter said for a long time they had three parish councils. He didn’t think it made sense o he established a supercouncil. After a while they formed one parish pastoral councils for the last 5 to 10 years. It’s helped him to learn better the other language groups, to know them on a personal and a professional Catholic level. Scot said half of the parish are newcomers to the country. 85% of all parishioners are from Cape Verde. He said much of the ministry must be helping people adjust. Fr. Walter said the question has been whether to focus on people’s background and culture or do you try to acculturate them? They’ve found a balance. They’ve been able to do a lot of outreach in the native languages, mainly through a lot of sisters who spoke the language. There’s a commonality between the pastoral staff and the people who came here. Cape Verde is traditionally Catholic and so there’s no difficulty in attracting them to the Church. Like in the past, so much of their lives focus on the Church. Fr. Mark asked if the Church is sanctuary. Fr. Walter said “sanctuary” is a loaded word, but Fr. Mark said he didn’t intend it that way. Fr. Walter said they’ve always had good relationships with civil authorities. He’s never been faced with a person asking for sanctuary from immigration issues. Scot said growing up, Roxbury was never portrayed in a positive light in the news. He asked Fr. Walter to describe it. He said it is home for people. He tells priests that they have to come in recognizing that they are people just like you. People are sometimes afraid to come to Roxbury, but he encourages them to come. He said the safest part of the city on a Sunday morning is Roxbury because everybody’s in church. It’s hard to drive the image of the shootings in the street from people’s minds. But it’s not an everyday occurrence. There are people who are interested in raising their kids, keeping their homes neat, and living their lives. Fr. Mark said he regularly says Mass with the Carmelite Sisters in Dudley Square. Fr. Walter calls them the spiritual powerhouse. He’d never before met cloistered sisters, but he found them to be just like the rest of us. He said a number of religious orders work with St. Patrick’s so they make a big deal in February for World Consecrated Life Day. Now they have the Franciscans of the Primitive Observance in the parish. Fr. Walter said their desire is to live a life as close as possible to St. Francis’ life 800 years ago. They wear a rough habit, they sleep on the floor, they eat only what they’ve begged that day. They are very good at reaching out to others. They’ve only been there two year,s but everyone knows them. Fr. Walter said they are living in one of their buildings, but have a broader vision than the parish. Several of them have learned Creole in order to say Mass and do confessions in the language of the people. When they first came they came over the parish to offer to help. They’ve established a monthly holy hour for vocations to the priesthood. One of the brothers of the FPO is being ordained to the priesthood tomorrow. Br. Michael Sheehan will be ordained by Cardinal Seán at the Cathedral. After the Mass, they will have a reception at St. Patrick’s. He will continue doing the work of the order in the community. Fr. Walter said they are like worker-priests whose work is for the advancement of the Church, being out where the people are and making sure there’s a normal interaction with them. They are concerned the people are not only Catholic in name, but in practice too.They want the folks to see the Church as an essential part of their lives. Scot asked what is one of his biggest joys as a priest. Fr. Walter said being a priest and being fortunate to be in a life he just loves. He loves it as much today as he did the day he was ordained in St. Peter’s. He said he’s heard stories of priests burdened by the stress of their priesthood. He doesn’t recall a moment he felt that way. He said it’s the joy of being with the people and being astounded at how they take him into their homes and family. He remembers a couple of years ago after some surgery and seeing how concerned the people were for him. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.” But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and all were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel. Scot said we tend to think of John the Baptist as preparing for way of the Lord during Advent, but we should think of him at all times because he’s always pointing us to Jesus. Fr. Walter said he was an evangelizer and it’s believed to have belonged to a spiritual sect of Judaism that was looking to reinvigorate the faith for the coming of the Messiah. Fr. Walter said it is traditional in Judaism for a boy to be named after the father or an ancestor. But we don’t know why Zecharaiah wanted to name him John. It shows the importance of names in Scripture. Jesus renamed Peter, Saul was renamed Paul. Fr. Walter said this is true today. It’s common for recovering addicts to give up the name they used while they active, they went back to their real name or a nickname they had as a kid. Scot said Popes take on a new name. Cardinal Seán grew up as Patrick O’Malley, but took on the name Seán when he became a religious. Fr. Mark said he was struck that John is about humility and his birth, which references much of the Old Testament, has lots of triumphant images. In the Gospel, John says that he must decrease while Christ increases. He was humble and our Lord was heralded through humility. Scot related that Zechariah couldn’t speak because he doubted the news from the angel Gabriel that he and his wife would have a son in their old age. Scot said the entirety of John’s life pointed to Christ.…
Summary of today’s show: On our Thursday show, Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy considered the news headlines of the week, including the start of the Fortnight for Freedom; the end of Fr. Roger Landry’s tenure as editor of The Anchor; the deadline looming for Choose Life license plates; and the Vatican gaining control of the .catholic internet domain. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Fortnight for Freedom; Changes at The Anchor; Choose Life license plates; Dot-Catholic 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show. Susan and Scot talked about how work in the religious education office doesn’t slow down in summer because religious educators in parishes now have more time for planning and preparations for the next year. Susan and her office also met with the Anti-Defamation League, who they work with regularly on joint educational programs. Scot said today begins the two-week Fortnight for Freedom, in which the bishops have asked everyone to pray more, study more, and act more to defend religious liberty. 2nd segment: Scot and Susan welcomed Greg and Fr. Roger to show. The first topic is the Fortnight for Freedom and Scot played the audio of a new video from Cardinal Seán for the Fortnight for Freedom, in which he asked everyone to tune in to the live, interactive town hall meeting he will lead on Monday, June 25 on CatholicTV. Scot said the Cardinal’s message is basically that we should not take for granted our religious liberty and we need to preserve it for future generations. Fr. Roger’s editorial this week is on the same topic and it takes readers through the main prayer for the Fortnight produced by the US Bishops conference. O God our Creator, Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit, you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world, bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel to every corner of society. We ask you to bless us in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty. Give us the strength of mind and heart to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened; give us courage in making our voices heard on behalf of the rights of your Church and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith. Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father, a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters gathered in your Church in this decisive hour in the history of our nation, so that, with every trial withstood and every danger overcome— for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, and all who come after us— this great land will always be “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. The prayer begins by turning the first words of the Declaration of Independence into words of praise and thanksgiving, “O God our Creator, from Your provident hand we have received our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Then it describes how those rights correspond to religious duties that society must respect: “You have called us as Your people and given us the right and the duty to worship You, the only true God, and Your Son, Jesus Christ. Through the power and working of Your Holy Spirit, You call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world, bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel to every corner of society.” Next, it turns to prayers of petition that we might act in accordance with our God-given rights and gifts and that God will fortify us during this Fortnight to protect and promote true freedom. “We ask You to bless us in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty. Give us the strength of mind and heart readily to defend our freedoms when they are threatened; give us courage in making our voices heard on behalf of the rights of Your Church and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.” Then it prays for the gift of unity in the Church. Some joke that the only time the Church stands together is at the Alleluia before the Gospel. It’s now a time in which the Church needs the gift of true communion to overcome division in order to give a united witness to liberty, and turn back the threats of liberty not merely for ourselves but for all those who will come after us. “Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father, a clear and united voice to all Your sons and daughters gathered in Your Church in this decisive hour in the history of our nation, so that, with every trial withstood and every danger overcome - for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, and all who come after us - this great land will always be ‘one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’” Fr. Roger said they’ve been praying this prayer in his own parish already and encourages every listener to download the prayer and to pray it at home and at church. Scot said on Monday, Cardinal Seán and four religious liberty experts will give brief presentations stake questions from the studio audience and those who are listening. Susan said the ingredients of good catechesis are here: prayer, study, and action. She said the town hall meeting will allow people to send in questions via Twitter and Facebook. She thinks it’s the first time this has ever happened before. She did point out that it will also be available in re-broadcasts. Scot asked Greg for his opinion of the town hall meeting as a veteran journalist. He said it is covering all forms of media: TV, radio, new media, print. Scot said the Diocese of Anchorage, Alaska, has organized a town hall meeting to bring people together to watch this town hall meeting on CatholicTV. Several parishes are also organizing gatherings to watch it as well. He said the other panelists include Dr. John Garvey, president of the Catholic University of America; Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus; Kim Daniels of CatholicVoices USA, and Dr. Angela Franks of the Theological Institute of the New Evangelization. Scot also mentioned that there is a great column by Dwight Duncan in both the Anchor and the Pilot this week called “Religious Freedom: Use It or Lose It.” If we won’t fight to preserve our liberties, we shouldn’t be surprised if they are eroded. What does Ihis mean? It doesn’t mean that in this country you have just the right to believe whatever you want to believe. Even in North Korea they have that right, because as a practical matter no one can force you to believe or not believe something. ‘The free exercise of religion means the ability to act on those beliefs. To practice your religion in private or in public. To proclaim your religion to others, if you wish. To spend your money in furtherance of your own religion, and not in furtherance of anyone else’s. To promote what you think is moral, and to not promote anything you think is immoral. These are all necessary consequences of the idea of religious freedom. Fr. Roger was struck how Dwight recalled Paul Revere and Rosa Parks. It’s a bit of a Paul Revere moment. Only this time it’s not the British that are coming. It’s Big Brother. Or, if you prefer, think of Rosa Parks. We can go along and sit quietly in the back of the bus, or we can stand up for human dignity and Ihe rights of conscience. When it comes to our precious heritage of religious freedom, we must either use it or lose it. Scot said this isn’t just about contraception coverage under universal health care. Just a few years ago, in the Archdiocese of Boston Catholic Charities was forced out of adoption because a new law was passed that prevented them from doing so and abiding by their conscience. Greg said on some level we say to ourselves that they wouldn’t really allow the Church to close hospitals and schools. It shows that the other side will go to almost any length to impose their beliefs. Scot said once the freedom is lost, it’s tough to regain it. The best strategy is to defend it while you still have it. Susan said she loves all of the history that Duncan covers. She particularly enjoyed this part: Of course, we want to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. But we must also render to God the things that are God’s. Conscience, as the voice of God within, is distinctly a resident of Our Father’s house. The top story in the Anchor this week is a story about the transition of the editorship from Fr. Roger, who has been editor of the newspaper for the past 7 years. Fr. Roger said he took over in the summer of 2005, three years after the clergy sex abuse scandals broke. There were a lot of beleaguered Catholics and lot of bad coverage of the Church in the secular media, so he wanted to pull the bushel baskets off all the very good work being done in parishes across the diocese. He wanted to show that the good news was ongoing. He also wanted to specialize in local news. He wanted to cover the whole diocese. He also replaced all the national columnists with local columnists to give the newspaper a diocesan paper. Fr. Roger said he will miss the newspaper team and the pulpit in front of 29,000 people. He won’t miss the extra 30 hours per week he spent on the newspaper. He plans to write some books and continue to be a pastor in his new parish. Fr. Roger said he already started working on research for a book about Pope John Paul II and young people. No matter how young we are, he thinks John Paul’s teaching to young people will buttress our faith. Many of his retreats are being converted into books by Catholic publishers. A book on the prayer of Pope Benedict is coming out. Fr. Roger has been asked to continue to write a column in the Anchor each week, which will be easier as a columnist than as the editor and official voice of the diocese. His successor, Fr. Rich Wilson, is a native of Quincy who worked on the Quincy Patriot Ledger. Greg said working on the Pilot was difficult for him when he first started there. He came from a marketing firm where he was used to more regular hours. He realized that it could suck up every minute of your day. People at secular newspapers keep asking how he produces a newspaper with the small staff he has. Greg said the staff is very dedicated to what they do. Susan said she still values the tactile sense of reading an actual newspaper in print, as much as she reads news online. Scot encouraged everyone to subscribe to the Pilot or Anchor to support their work. Even if you read it online, please got to their websites and make a donation. In the Pilot this week is a special edition for the ordination Mass this weekend, which includes profiles of the six men to be ordained, but also lots of information about the men celebrating their jubilees. The six men being ordained are Eric Bennett, Eric Cadin, Felipe Gonzalez, John Healey, Br. Michael Sheehan, and Adrian Milic. Scot identified them, their backgrounds, and where they will celebrate their first Masses. Scot asked Fr. Roger to point out a few things viewers should look for. Fr. Roger said the candidates laying on the floor is often very striking to observers. It symbolizes that the old man is dying so that a new man can rise in this candidate for the priesthood. It’s always very moving as all kneel and chant the litany of saints, begging for their help for the men and for all of us. It’s always important when the man’s hands are drenched in sacred oil and a special towel. For Fr. Roger one of the most powerful moments is hearing the newly ordained priest recite his part of the Eucharistic Prayer for the very first time. We will hear Christ in their voice continue the prayer of the Church. No matter how many ordinations he goes to, he never gets tired of them. Watch the Mass on CatholicTV, Saturday at 9 am. Also in the Pilot, the June 30 deadline looms for the Choose Life license plates. They need to have people sign up by the end of the month in order for them not to lose their bond. Another story is that the Internet controlling authority has expended internet domains beyond .com and .org. The Vatican has stepped forward to put up the money and request control over .catholic and other versions of the word in Cyrillic, Arabic, and Chinese. In a few years, anything with the .Catholic domain extension will be known as an official organization or entity of the Church. Susan said that the problem of reviewing the authenticity of websites that claim to be Catholic. So this will be for any organization that is officially listed in the Kenedy Directory in the US or other official organizations elsewhere in the world. Greg said it comes at a significant cost, $185,000 each, and $25,000 per year. He said we probably won’t see these until 2013. Fr. Roger can’t wait for TheGoodCatholicLife.catholic web site. Greg suggests people read the story in the Pilot about three parishes in Salem working together to form a pro-life committee. Fr. Roger suggested the article on the Fortnight for Freedom activities in parishes through the diocese of Fall River.…
Summary of today’s show: For three years, Fr. Israel Rodriguez has been the first and only priest ordained from Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary, but this weekend he will be joined by Felipe Gonzalez. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams talk with Fr. Israel, as well as Fr. Tony Gonzalez and Tom Noe, about the Seminary and the NeoCatechumenal Way, the ecclesial movement that is the spiritual engine of the seminary, as well as the missionary focus of the group that sends fired-up Catholics door-to-door in their neighborhood and around the world to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Fr. Tony Medeiros, Fr. Israel Rodriguez, and Tom Noe Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: NeoCatechumenal Way and Redemptoris Mater Seminary 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show and noted that there are two big events in the Archdiocese this weekend. The ordination Mass is Saturday and the big gala dinner to benefit Redemptoris Mater Seminary is Sunday. Scot said Fr. Matt hasn’t been on the show in a while so he and Scot caught up. He said the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults is planning for the Middle School Harbor Cruise coming up as well as the Middle School and High School leadership retreats coming up this summer. He suggested people check out the office’s website. Scot noted that Deacon Eric Cadin who will be ordained this weekend will celebrate his first Mass at the Life Teen Mass at St. Mary’s Parish in Dedham, the Mass Fr. Matt celebrated for several years. He said youth ministry enervates the priest and his priesthood. He also said having a newly ordained priest there can be the nudge for a young man to consider the priesthood. Fr. Matt said they have had many seminarians assigned to the parish over the years, which is a twofold blessing for both the seminarian and for the young people, who are encouraged to consider their own vocations from God. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Matt welcomed Fr. Tony Medeiros, rector of Redemptoris Mater Seminary; Tom Noe, who is coordinator of the Neocatechumenal Way in the archdiocese. Tom said he grew up in Stoughton and works at St. Patrick’s in Brockton. Also he welcomed Fr. Israel Rodriguez, who was the first priest ordained from Redemptoris Mater. He said his first assignment was in Immaculate Conception in Marlborough, which was a trilingual parish—English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Then he was transferred to St. Patrick’s in Lawrence, a large parish with a large Hispanic population. Fr. Israel is from Granada, Spain, and is one of 12 children in his family. Scot said many of the priests from Redemptoris Mater Seminary serve worldwide and come from the Neocatechumenal Way. Fr. Tony said there are 86 Redemptoris Mater seminaries around the world. They are preparing almost 3,000 men. In Boston, they have 20 men, 15 in the house and 5 in mission, from 11 different countries. Fr. Matt asked about the Neocatechumenal Way. Tom said it started around the start of the Second Vatican Council with a Spanish artist, Kiko Arguello, who gathered others around him who were searching for truth. He found the answer in the Church. Fr. Tony noted that when John Paul II was a very young priest in 1947, he wrote a theological treatise on the importance of the catechumen ate for the 20th century. He had seen the effects of atheistic communism trying to wipe out the faith and saw how a return to the way of the early Church in initiating into the faith would combat that. Scot said one of things distinctive about the NeoCatechumenal Way forms people not just in their faith, but also forms them to be missionaries. Tom said one enters the community, there’s no expectations put on you. Most people are looking for answers. What’s important is Word, Liturgy, and Community. This is the basis of the NeoCatechumenal Way. This is lived out in small communities, because you can only really get to know people intimately in a small group. The Word of God is proclaimed and prepared by a member of the community who talks about what the Word means to them, but after an official presentation by the priest. They also have particularly intimate experiences of the faith. Tom said it happens in such a way that people’s lives start to change. He recounted the story of his own marriage, where he and his wife were nominal Catholics at the time of their marriage ended up having a crisis in their marriage. At that time, they were told that the answers they were looking for would be found in Christ. They start going to the catechesis, then entered the community. Scot asked Fr. Tony about the blending of diocesan priesthood with missionary zeal. Fr. Tony said all the men in the seminary are ordained as diocesan priests, but they still have the idea of being sent out by the Lord into the world. This sense is strongly ingrained in the Way, including in the laypeople. All of these men have to be willing to go where the Cardinal sends them. Perhaps in the future, they could be sent somewhere else in the world to minister at the Cardinal’s request, like in the Society of St. James. Scot asked Fr. Israel how this missionary heart enters into the way he serves as a priest. Fr. Israel said anyplace can be a mission. He looks around at the families, the problems, especially in Lawrence. He began to visit families, going door to door, sometimes accompanied by seminarians or sacristans. People are grateful to see the priest to give a word of encouragement or hope, even if they don’t go to church. The fact that the Church is looking for the lost sheep is a sign of love. Many people will come back or even just start a conversation about baptizing children or the like. He finds a lot of joy in that kind of mission in the streets. This Saturday, Fr. Israel will have Fr. Felipe Gonzalez join him as another priest ordained from Redemptoris Mater. Felipe had served 4 years on mission in India and Pakistan and other places. He’s very down-to-earth said Fr. Israel. Fr. Tony said Felipe comes from California where he grew up. He said Felipe’s experiences have all prepared him for this ministry. Fr. Matt asked if Felipe visiting the foreign missions was part of his seminary. Fr. Tony said it is part of the seminary formation. Felipe started his seminary formation that the seminary in London, then went on his itinerancy for four years and then he was sent to Boston to provide maturity and experience to the men in formation here. Fr. Tony said at the second year of theology, the men are pulled out of St. John Seminary, where they are doing their academics, and sent to the missions where they serve with a priest and an itinerant family for three or four years. Fr. Matt asked how they and the families are prepared to be sent out on itinerancy. Fr. Tony said it is the Way. the seminaries are a shoot from the tree of the Way, which is a school for the missions, in whatever way they will live it out. Sometimes it is local and door to door and other times it is going very far away. The door-to-door ministry provides a presence and visibility in the community, where people begin to look for and ask for them. Tom said the the Way teaches them to be Christian, to have inside of you Christ’s victory over death. The Church announces the Good News that death is overcome, and they bring this with them into the world. The members of the Way are given a formation in Scripture and Catechism to be able to share it. Eventually at one point some members of the community are identified as catechism, who are people who show evidence of a particular ability and charism for sharing the faith. When identified, they can be sent as part of a team to another parish to found a community there. Scot asked Fr. Israel what it’s like to go thousands of miles away from his home to place he’s never been to serve potentially for the rest of his life. Fr. Israel said it’s like a wonderful adventure. Wherever you are, you set down roots. Scot asked Tom how the Way helps celebrate the ordination of one of their own. Tom said they are already part of a NeoCatechumenal Way community. Felipe is part of a community in Framingham and they are providing all kinds of logistical support, to take care of Felipe and his family coming into town this weekend. Scot said the Ordination Mass will be at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross this Saturday at 9am. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Josephine Muller from Gloucester, MA She wins 2 items for children: A Glory Stories CD: “Be Not Afraid, the Story of Blessed John Paul II” and the “Gospel Champions” computer game. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot said big way to fund the operations of Redemptoris Mater Seminary is the upcoming Gala Dinner. It is the third annual dinner. Fr. Tony said it’s the main annual fundraiser for the seminary. In the first year they honored Cardinal Sean and John McNeice. Last year, they honored Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the late apostolic nuncio who passed away just a month later after the event. They also recognized Jack Shaughnessy. Shaugnessy and McNeice have been big supporters of the seminary. Scot said Cardinal Sean has a missionary heart. Fr. Tony told the story of meeting Bishop Sean when he was bishop of Fall River and learning of the missionary heart of the Cardinal. He has the heart of a shepherd who has been assigned a portion of the flock and serves them in that place. Scot said both Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul II have both been very big supporters of these new ecclesial movements within the Church. Fr. Tony said it’s an expression of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council which continues to unfold. Scot asked who this year’s honoree is. Fr. Tony said they invited Rabbi David Rosen, one of the most prominent rabbis in the world who lives in Israel. He’s director of inter religious dialogue for the AJC. He’s most famous for his role as head of the commission of diplomats which negotiated full diplomatic relations with the Holy See. He was very close to Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. One of the great gifts of the Council to the Church is the renewal of the centrality of the Word of God to faith. After the Reformation, the pendulum swung to highlighting the importance of the sacraments to detriment of the Word of God. Now the Second Vatican Council brought the emphasis back to Scripture. He hopes that Rabbi Rosen’s visit and the inter religious dialogue, it will encourage Catholics to re-discover the Jewish roots of our Catholic faith. Fr. Tony said both Israel and the fathers of the Council have come to understand that the Church has a mission in the world, to serve humanity through what we have inherited. Fr. Tony said they have close to 400 people coming to the dinner on Sunday. People who want to support the seminary can contact Fr. Tony through the seminary’s webpage on the Archdiocese’s website. (Link above.)…
Summary of today’s show: For the last 34 years, Fr. Joe Baggetta has served as chaplain of the Massachusetts Department of Youth Corrections, living out Fr. Edward “Boys Town” Flanagan’s dictum that there are no bad boys, just bad examples and bad environments. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor have a conversation with Fr. Joe about how his short career as a prison guard before (and during!) seminary helped prepare him for his ministry, as well as the efforts he takes in showing unconditional love and acceptance to his kids in order to give them the childhood they have been deprived of. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Joseph Baggetta Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Fr. Joseph Baggetta 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Chris said they are 4 days away from the ordination to the priesthood of six men for the Archdiocese of Boston. Fr. Chris said they are seeing a whole bumper crop of great young men answering the Lord’s call. Fr. Chris said the men are on retreat this week with Fr. John McLaughlin in preparation. The Cardinal has a meal with the men on Friday night and then meets with them individually to give them their first parish assignments. They discussed the logistics for the event, including providing hospitality to some friends and family who are coming into town from overseas. Scot said the most moving moment for him is the first priestly blessings. Fr. Chris said for him the two moments are when the Cardinal places his hands on the ordinand’s head to call down the Holy Spirit and then when the Cardinal receives the first blessing from the priests and then kisses their hands. Scot said Fr. Baggetta is the chaplain to the Department of Youth Corrections and works to help reform youth who have been incarcerated and to help them re-enter society. Photos of the ordination will be available live this Saturday at [BostonCatholicPhotos.com] 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Joe Baggetta to the show. He asked him about growing up in the North End. His parents were born in Abruzzi and Calabria, Italy, and he was born here in the US. Fr. Joe said his parents didn’t speak very good English, so he speaks Italian. He went to school at St. Leonard’s and attended Christopher Columbus High School, both in the North End. He went to Merrimack College and it was a cultural shock for being far away from the city. It’s one of the half-dozen Catholic colleges in the Archdiocese. It’s run by the Augustinians. He’d had inklings of the priesthood, but never coalesced. When he got out of college, he worked as a prison guard at the Charles Street Jail. He said the old-timers always told the young guys that when the jail was too quiet, be careful. It was the lull before the storm. He took the job because he needed a job, not because he had a particular idea of making it a career. He spent six years there and strange as it may seem, Fr. Joe says he enjoyed it, having learned a lot about life. He saw the humanness and goodness within a majority of the inmates, while also seeing the worst part of humanity. It was a county jail, so they were being held while awaiting trial as well as men who were serving sentences of 2-1/2 years or less. Fr. Chris said the Charles Street Jail is now the Liberty Hotel, which is now beautiful. Fr. Joe sat down with historians to help provide a history of the jail in an exhibit in the hotel. Fr. Joe said there were 400-500 men in the jail when it was open. Fr. Joe felt in his heart at the time that there was a way to assist the inmates. He saw how the chaplains had men gravitate to them and he saw the faith in the inmates. Fr. Joe started doing some reading and learned there war religious orders who worked with those who had fallen onto the wayward path. Fr. Joe attended St. John Seminary where he had a great experience. On every vacation and every summer, he would continue to work at the jail. The inmates seemed to expect more mercy than justice from him. He was ordained in 1974. There were 15 men in his class and 9 continue to be in the priesthood in the Archdiocese. Scot noted that Fr. Kevin Deeley and Fr. Jerry Hogan were in his class and they continue to be great friends. Fr. Joe said the 38 years have flown by. Fr. Joe’s first assignment was St. Catherine of Siena in Norwood. The parish is massive. They had 1,500 kids in CCD, in addition to all the kids in the parochial school. Even to this day, St. Catherine’s remains a tremendous supporter of his ministry. He was then assigned as chaplain at St. Sebastian’s high school. Cardinal Medeiros called him and said he would be assigned to be Dean of Discipline. He was also going to be part-time working at the Department of Youth Services. It was the complete spectrum of teens from those who had everything to those who had nothing. But there was a common thread was that they were just kids with the same feelings and the same things they were going through in their lives. There were six priests on staff at the archdiocesan school. Scot said may consider St. Sebastian’s to be an elite high school. Fr. Chris said the St. Sebastian’s students are well-formed in the Christian life. Fr. Joe said they are often going into major fields affecting society with this good formation. Fr. Joe did double-duty for five years and has remained at Department of Youth Corrections ever since. 3rd segment: Scot asked Fr. Joe if this was the sort of ministry he asked for. Fr. Joe said he promised obedience at ordination and so Cardinal Medeiros called him to assume the position and it’s worked out very well. He’s extremely happy. He assists in changing the inner hearts of the individuals. He admires Fr. Edward Flanagan from Boys Town who said he firmly believes every child can be a productive citizen if given love, a home, an education ,and a trade. He also said that there are no bad boys, there is only bad environment, bad training, bad example, and bad thinking. In his ministry, he tries to change the bad environment, bad training, bad example, and bad thinking to give them an opportunity to be and feel loved, to give them a home environment, to give them an education and a trade. Fr. Chris said he will be visiting Boys Town this coming week. It’s an amazing place that shows the benefit of investing in youth. He said Aristotle teaches us that we learn virtue by seeing other practice it. When there isn’t virtue in our life, how will we learn it? Fr. Joe said example is tremendous. The staff at the department are excellent models of character and goodness as well as the Catholic volunteers who come in. Scot asked for an overview of the Department of Youth Corrections. Within the Commonwealth, it is separate from Youth Services. Their philosophy is that the kids are able to change. The difference from the adult program is that they do their set time. It is metric. The youth correction is not metric, but is about helping them change their heart and mind. The juvenile is committed to the Department for services until the age of 21. Some of the kids are living at home, but they are committed to the department. The majority of kids are between 13 and 21. Scot said he thinks it’s great that this state office has a Catholic chaplain committed to caring for all the children in their care. He asked what the job entails? Fr. Joe said a part is the celebration of the sacraments and religious education, but also the chaplain’s role is one of presence, to assist them, to talk to them. It’s also the corporal works of mercy so when a kid leaves and needs clothes, they get it for them; on their birthday give them a card and a gift; Christmas gifts for all; work with family to make sure the kids get a card on their birthdays and holidays. They do many things, but they do it in the name of Jesus, showing them unconditional love and acceptance. In 34 years, Fr. Joe has never asked to see a resident’s file. He doesn’t want to know why they’re there. He wants to love them unconditionally. Fr. Chris said many of the kids need that encounter with Christ. He asked what’s most effective in reaching them? Is he overwhelmed by the numbers? Fr. Joe said he isn’t overwhelmed, but understands how one can be. This was the benefit of his correctional days. That unconditional love, calling them by their first name in a place when they are always called by their last name, creates a loving, calming effect. He watches TV with them, listens to music with them, plays games with them. The majority of them have never had a childhood, so they’re trying to give them positive memories. He often receives letters that went into the adult system, thanking him for the good memories. Fr. Chris asked about the success stories. Fr. Joe said he will be walking down the street and someone will beep their horn at them, and it will be one of the kids who’s out of trouble and has a job. He got a call from California about a kid now working on the oil rigs. He comes into town and takes Father out to dinner every time. Fr. Joe recalls two kids who were afraid to go back to school in their neighborhood so he got them into Cathedral High School, where they did tremendously. After graduation, they had a contact at Gillette who pledged to send the kids to any school they could get into and so they went to Johnson & Wales to study business. They both got MBAs and went to work for major corporations. At Christmas they have their big bonuses from their employers an they now donate them to help other kids go to college. Fr. Joe said the majority of the kids he works with are Roman Catholic. Those who are not, the attitude is still unconditional love and acceptance. They are all welcome to come to Mass. All religious activities are optional. They get the same treatment as everyone else. He said the Knights of Columbus have renovated a portable building to use as a chapel. Fr. Joe wanted the youth to be able to leave the facility, which is incarceration, to go to a place of freedom. Scot said the chapel is 12 foot by sixty feet. On a weekend, Fr. Joe says 6 Masses. Fr. Chris asked if he’s seeing a second generation of kids. Fr. Joe said he’s seeing the children of those who he first started working with in his 34 years. Scot asked what the major reasons kids end up in the system. Fr. Joe said it’s like Fr. Flanagan said. It’s not totally environment though because there are many kids who come from the same background who do the right thing. That’s because the parents, guardian, grandparent is transmitting the values. If they don’t value education or value work, they’re not going to get up for school or a job. In today’s climate, gangs are the most prevalent reason for kids getting into the system. The kids don’t call them gangs. They call them family because the yard provided food, clothing, affirmation. They feel respect for who they are. Because they’re now entrenched in this and becomes such a part of their identity, if they see someone of another gang, they must retaliate. It’s difficult because the kids say they can either work for minimum wage or stand on a corner as a lookout for drug dealers and make $500 per night. In the department, they put kids of different gangs together for them to know them as a name, as a person. They also try to show them that there is more than the present, but that there is a future. Scot asked if the kids are taught trades. Fr. Joe said there is a maintenance department where they work with the maintenance people. The majority are not going to graduate from high school, so they will get jobs where they use their hands. They teach them that they are as important no matter what they do, that doctors or lawyers are not more important than they. They also teach them culinary arts and other skills. Fr. Joe said St. Anthony is one of his favorite saints because he is the patron of finding that which is lost, and it isn’t just about finding the car keys. He finds the lost souls. Also, Don Bosco and St. Vincent de Paul. It’s Don Bosco’s unconditional love and acceptance of street kids that he admires. Scot asked about the misconceptions that people have about the kids in the care of Youth Corrections. Fr. Joe said most people see these kids as throwaways, that they have no future. People have even told him that he’s wasting his priesthood. Fr. Joe said he is having an effect through the work of the Lord. These are ultimately children of God and they are our children. These kids have not had the opportunity so let’s give them the opportunity. They are children at heart, they cry at night, they hurt like other children. One kid said the only thing he wanted for Christmas was to have a family. For those who want to help, contact the Mass. State Knights of Columbus who continue to support the Chapel of Hope. He can also be reached at St. James the Great in Chinatown.…
Summary of today’s show: As both a pastor and interim director of pastoral planning, Fr. Paul Soper is living out the challenges and opportunity of the landmark process for which the Archdiocese of Boston is planning. Fr. Paul joins Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell to discuss the state of the pastoral planning process that will reorganize and restructure the Archdiocese so that it can embark on the mission of evangelization with new vigor. After seven months of the most extensive consultations in the history of the Archdiocese, the pastoral planning commission is preparing for the next phase in the process and Scot, Fr. Mark, and Fr. Paul take a moment to assess where we stand now. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr. Paul Soper, Interim Director of the Office of Pastoral Planning Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Fr. Paul Soper on Pastoral Planning 1st segment: Scot wished Fr. Mark a happy 22nd anniversary of ordination tomorrow. Scot welcomed Fr. Paul Soper back to the show as well. He asked Fr. Mark for the highlights of his ministry. He said he became friends with Fr. Paul even before seminary when they were in undergraduate at different Boston area colleges and looking into the priesthood. They were ordained together. Fr. Paul said he also treasures their friendship, but also added all the parishes and ministries he’s served. He loves being a priest and administering the sacraments. Scot said Fr. Mark and Fr. Paul have served through many changes. He said we are in a moment of deep hope after a tough decade to begin this century. Fr. Mark said the last decade is personally significant because it corresponds with his work in canon law in the chancery and pastoral center. Fr. Paul is pastor of St. Albert the Great Parish in Weymouth. Scot asked him what other assignments he’s had. His first five years were at St. John’s in Wellesley. From there he went to Lowell, where he was half-time in campus ministry at U. Mass Lowell and half-time at St. Rita’s. Scot recalls going to the 5pm Mass at St. Rita’s. Fr. Paul said UMass Lowell they had a 10pm Mass for students. From there he went to St. Anthony’s in Revere for three years. The day he started was the merger of three former parishes. Then he was assigned to St. Alphonsus in Beverly for seven months. It was a short time but significant. It was during Reconfiguration and they looked at their situation and the situation in Beverly, they decided to be very positive about the parish closing, including building a new church in the Dominican Republic with appointments transferred from St. Alphonsus. Fr. Paul described how the people ceremoniously closed their church. Scot said at the time he remembers thinking how this was the way one should go about this difficult process. Then he was the pastor of two parishes in Dorchester. St. Williams and St. Margaret merged into Bl. Mother Teresa Parish. He said the people were wonderful, even if the finances were messy and difficult. They are now with three other parishes under a single pastor, Fr. Jack Ahern. One of the highlights was the formation of Pope John Paul Catholic Academy. His own school was about the close. They discussed the demolition of the old rectory in order to build a new gymnasium for the school. The rectory was falling apart so it needed to be done. Then Fr. Soper went to St. Albert theGreat in February 2009. Weymouth is Fr. Paul’s hometown. At the time he’d been recuperating from an illness and the people were very accommodating. A lot of what Fr. Paul is doing now in determining what a parish is supposed to look like comes out of his experience at St. Albert. On Ash Wednesday, the parish is open for 24 hours, midnight to midnight, with big signs outside inviting people to come in. They have teams of people the entire time. Fr. Paul heard a countless number of confessions on the Ash Wednesdays. They’ve had people who haven’t been in many years. They have people come in just before midnight. Nurses going in early tend to be the first ones in and policemen returning home after shift are the last. They then invite the people to come back on Good Friday and Easter. They give them a nail on Ash Wednesday and sk them to come back on Good Friday to nail it to a large cross. Scot said often he’s thought that something innovative would be very effective. He asked where the ideas come from. Fr. Paul said they have a strong and active parish council, a creative liturgy committee that thinks about how to make the liturgies welcoming and evangelizing, open parish meetings every two months, and after every Sunday Mass and each weekday Mass, people gather in the church hall for hospitality. Fr. Mark looks at the pattern of Fr. Paul’s life and sees how the Holy Spirit has prepared Fr. Paul for this particular task in pastoral planning. Scot said when Fr. David Couturier had announced he was leaving as director of pastoral planning, Cardinal Sean asked Fr. Paul to be interim director while also remaining pastor. Scot said many priests are going to be asked to do double duty in coming decades. Fr. Paul said what he’s learned in doing these jobs apply to multi-parish ministry. He said St. Albert’s has had very strong lay leadership and the people have stepped in and filled in the gaps. Also, there have been a number of generous priests who have helped out, including other priests in Weymouth and local retired priests who are on call to help out on a moment’s notice. Fr. Paul Rafferty, retiring from St. Paul’s in Hingham, will be moving in to the parish to be in residence to help out. He said the people at the Pastoral Center have been very accommodating. Most important is unity of mission. The mission of St. Albert the Great and the mission of pastoral planning is the same mission. They’re hoping to bring together parishes with one staff supporting one parish in accomplishing one mission, although in different sites. Parishes may be very different, the mission is the same. Although the priest may be drawn to different places with different responsibilities, it’s all in service of the same mission. Scot said he found that having someone currently serving as pastor, who is in touch on a day to day basis with parishioners, as director of pastoral planning is great. From December 2011 and the priestly convocation until today has been an intense period of consultation. Fr. Paul has attended 39 out of 40 of the consultation meetings. Scot asked Fr. Paul to reflect on what he’s heard and seen. Fr. Paul said that to the best of his knowledge a process like this hasn’t happened in the archdiocese to this extent before.There was a synod of laity in 1988 of about 10,000 people over the course of a couple years and that the closest one. Fr. Paul said these weren’t always easy or short meetings, yet people turned out. Scot said the feedback was generally high-quality feedback and Msgr. William Fay said it would affect the work of the Pastoral Planning Commission. Fr. Paul said the reason they did this extensive consultation was because the Cardinal said he wanted it. That was in the mandate of the commission from the very beginning. Msgr. William Fay was chosen as the chair of the commission because this is something he has great experience in. Now that they’ve heard from everyone, it was always the intention to reflect the feedback in the proposal itself as well as the various groupings. Fr. Mark asked Fr. Paul to explain how the process of making the changes was modified. Fr. Paul said there were three alternatives: everyone on the same day; do it by region; or do it by phases with parishes going as they are ready. The feedback was overwhelmingly in favor of the phased approach. Fr. Mark said it was also originally proposed that no pastor would remain in the same parish. Fr. Paul said they changed that based on feedback as well. Almost everyone on the commission had been in favor of changing everyone because you wouldn’t want one pastor out of three to stay while the other two leave, creating an inequity in the situation of the parishes from the beginning. Then when they put it out to people, the people said No, that they trust their priests to work it out and that they are willing to work it out. People said moving everyone would create so much hurt it would drive everyone away. Fr. Paul said it’s not what the priests or people wanted. Fr. Paul said he doesn’t think he appreciated as much before how deep the appreciation for their priests and pastors is among the people. Scot said the principle now is to find the best pastor of that grouping of parishes, whether it’s a priest from the parishes or from outside.Fr. Paul said it makes a lot of sense. they have decided to just trust that process of assigning priests will find the right priests. Scot said some people say that some aren’t getting the connection between grouping parishes and the goal of better evangelization. Fr. Paul said the restructuring is only part of the pastoral plan. It doesn’t contain within itself the whole of the thrust of evangelization. For instance, Bishop Kennedy is now setting up an office focused on evangelization in the parishes. Evangelization takes place within the context of the parish. Those parishes have o be strong and have sufficient resources to be mission oriented. Many parishes barely have enough to keep the lights on, never mind have sufficient staffing. Scot said many parishes are in a survival mentality. Fr. Paul said the structures we have now were built to support 70% of Catholics coming to Mass weekly. Now it’s less than 16%. Scot said it would have been 1.3 million versus 300,000. Those 300,000 have attempted to prop up a structure built for 1.3 million people through donations and volunteerism. There are areas where parishes would stronger with better stating. There will also be the opportunity for substantial training of the pastors and pastoral teams and then of pastoral councils and finance councils in the practicalities of evangelization. He said they hope the new collaboratives will have the impetus to do that. He said they acknowledge there will be loss and grief, but there will also be excitement and excited, dedicated people are de facto evangelizing people. When a person comes to the parish, what are they looking for? They’re not looking for people who are always arguing. Unity is attractive. Fr. Mark said some of our people feel like survivors, but they need to feel like evangelizers. Fr. Paul said on Pentecost the disciples were comfortable in the upper room, but when the Holy Spirit came they went out and never went back to that room. There is a need for a fundamentally different vision. As a parish priest he spends 95% of his time with his parishioners, but in a circumstance where less than 16% are coming, does that make sense for almost all of his time to be spent with people who are coming to church. Scot said he could free himself to go out where people are congregating. Fr. Mark said that when he did weddings in a parish, he went to the reception primarily to meet people who aren’t going to church and haven’t talked to a priest. Scot said all the resources from the consultations and videos of talks are available at , including materials from last week from the priests’ convocation. Fr. Paul said over the summer the commission will take everything from the consultation and craft it into a document to present to Cardinal Sean in the fall. He will bring that to others for their feedback. He could approve it or send it back for refinement. At the same time, the commission is working with auxiliary bishops and others to refine the lists of collaborating parishes. About half of the initial groupings were confirmed to be correct from the feedback in the consultations. Most of the remaining have an easy fix while the rest just need more time to think, consult, and see what happens. They’re not going to rush into anything because there’s plenty of time. Fr. Mark said the biggest difference between this and Reconfiguration was then the idea was to do it and do it quick. Scot said we’ve learned a lot of what worked and what didn’t work. All that wisdom from those lessons back then will be part of the process in the future, to have the right pace. Scot said the best idea he’s heard about evangelization was the idea of each family inviting another family to come to Mass with them. Each family can pray to be guided by the Holy Spirit to find another family at the right time with the right words. Fr. Paul said the Spirit is in the middle of the process and we have to trust. Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Jesus said to the crowds: “This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.” He said, “To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.” With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private. Scot said it’s one of his favorite parables. The thought of the smallest seed making one of the biggest plants is about the power of evangelization. We don’t know how many seeds we plant in life, but the Holy Spirit can bring tremendous fruit from them. Fr. Paul said it’s easy for us to overlook the mustard seed. Fr. Mark said the reading corresponds with trusting the Holy Spirit. All of us needs to be planting seeds of faith in other peoples’ hearts and our own. He said Jesus knew how to communicate best, through teaching lessons through stories. Scot said Cardinal Seán loves to start his talks and homilies with stories too and he’s very effective with it. Fr. Paul said he gets his good stories from Fr. Mark. Fr. Paul said St. Mark is his favorite of the Gospels. It’s clear and concise and every word has punch behind it.…
Summary of today’s show: On our Thursday show, Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Antonio Enrique considered the news headlines of the week as they appear in The Pilot and The Anchor newspapers, including a Mass of Thanksgiving on the 10 anniversary of the Dallas Charter; Stand Up For Religious Freedom rally; National Review Board reports to US bishops; Priests meeting on pastoral planning; Fathers for Good; and International Eucharistic Congress Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Antonio Enrique, editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: 1st segment: Scot and Susan talked about baseball to start the show and the perfect game pitched by San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain. Scot said some say it was the best 9-inning pitching performance of all time. A perfect game is where a batter never reaches base, whether through walk, hit, hit by pitch or any other means. Fr. Roger said the best pitching performance was Scot’s no-hitter that he caught for Scot in senior league. Scot said Kerry Woods’ 20-strickeout, 1-hit performance for the Chicago Cubs. Antonio said he’d rather speak about the Euro 2012 Cup in soccer. He’s hoping that his native Spain will win the Euro Cup, especially since they won the last World Cup and Euro Cup. Scot said Germany is the most frequent pick among the pundits. Scot recommends the Euro Cup for those who aren’t soccer fans, but are sports fans. 2nd segment: Scot said Cardinal Sean celebrated Mass this past Sunday to mark the 10th anniversary of the charter for the protection of children. It was a Mass of Thanksgiving for all those who have worked in child protection. Susan said Cardinal Seán did a wonderful job of integrating this message with the Feast of Corpus Christi. She said the children’s choir at Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton was terrific. She said there was a sense that this was ongoing and the work would continue. Scot said it’s an anniversary we wish we didn’t have to celebrate because it recalls a very dark period, but it’s important to mark such events and the progress we continue to make. Antonio said the purpose was mostly a recognition that the Church has listened and has acted in reaction to what happened. Also, to give thanks to all the volunteers who made the choice to get involved after learning of the scandal and who have implemented all these programs over the past 10 years. Scot said on the agenda of the US Bishops meeting being held in Atlanta this week was a report from the National Review Board. Fr. Roger said the secular media is only covering the Church when there’s bad news to report. This report notes the real progress made in the Church in the past decade. He said the religious freedom angle has been getting a lot of attention, with people concerned over the impact this will have on the presidential election. But the bishops have said this is not a partisan effort or has an intention to affect the election. Fr. Roger thinks this focuses Catholics in the US on religious freedom and how that will affect how they vote. Scot said the other big front-page story in the Pilot this week is the convocation of priests for pastoral planning. A lot of the article covers the experience of Bishop Richard Malone in the Diocese of Portland, Maine, where they implemented similar changes for the sake of shoring up evangelization efforts. Antonio said Bishop Malone said you cannot make changes in the structure of the diocese without having a focus on evangelization. Bishop Malone said this is an opportunity to evangelize both those in the Church and those who are far away from Christ. Whenever people come back to the Church, they land in the parishes, so it’s important to have a welcoming parish infrastructure. Scot said Bishop Malone’s talk, which is available on Planning2012.com along with the other main talks, has two main points: “It is so important to have the lamp of the New Evangelization shining brightly on all the aspects of this pastoral planning process.” he said. “May your work together going forward, guided by the Holy Spirit, be for you and all you serve even with the challenges and all of that what John Paul II, in ‘Novo Millennio lneunte: called an exciting work of pastoral revitalization. Think of that, pastoral revitalization, our work involving all of us.” the bishop said. And “I do want to affirm how crucial your role is. Nothing good will come of this project without the highest quality of pastoral leadership offered by each one of you.” he told the priests. Susan said his comments about the crucial role of pastoral leadership connect to the experience of parishes where there is already great collaboration among pastoral leaders. Antonio said Bishop Malone said the unity of the presbyterate was vital got moving forward. Fr. Roger said he wasn’t surprised that closing parishes was not very popular. A lot of hard work has gone into this. There’s no easy way to do this. You need to move slowly. He was thrilled to see how so many of the comments were incorporated into the process. He also liked to see how priests can see whether their own opinions were outliers or whether they were in the mainstream. He thinks the big picture gives hop not just to the Archdiocese of Boston, but also gives hope to other dioceses who will go through the similar effort in the future. Antonio said at the most recent meeting showed how much the commission is listening. He also notes how the tone of immediacy has been dialed back. Now they are talking about phasing in by region and having pilot parishes to observe over a longer period of time. He said it’s impressive how the people have complained about proposal to remove every pastor and have all new pastors. Scot said the idea was that if one of the parishes in a cluster kept its own pastor, there would be favoritism. But in the consultations they learned that no one liked that idea. Now the mantra is that they will find the best priest, whether a current pastor or another priest from outside. Susan said the nine key findings show that this process is not a rubber stamp and they are listening. She said she’s heard from several parishes who are willing to go forward in the pilot process. A couple of official appointments this week: Fr. Paul Clifford has been named a new pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Braintree. It’s former pastor was named Secretary for Parish Life and Leadership. This is pending Fr. Hamilton’s successor being appointed at St. John the Evangelist in Hopkinton. In Lynnfield, Fr. John Farrell at Our Lady of the Assumption has been granted Senior Priest retirement status. Also the Standup for Religious Freedom Rally took place in Boston, along with those in 160 other cities in the US, last Friday. Ray Flynn, Janet Benestad, and Don Feder were among the speakers. Fr. Roger said this is citizens taking back their country from the elites running it, like with the Tea Party and Occupy movements. It builds a certain dynamism. What has happened is that Catholics have been a sleeping giant and now recognizing that we are to be salt and light in the world. We are recovering that flavor of Catholicism that helped make our country great. Ordinary citizens are saying “this is what we stand for, this is what we believe.” Antonio said he was impressed by Don Feder, who is Jewish, and it was very telling about his grandfather coming to the US where he found his human rights. He talked about the dangers of the overreach of government. Susan said Don has been a friend to the pro-life movement for many years. Susan said Janet Benestad’s background was in political science and she noted that June 8 was the anniversary of the introduction of the Bill of Rights in the constitutional congress. Fr. Roger said these rallies encourage everyone to say that there’s strength in numbers. The biggest thing for the Fortnight for Freedom is for Catholics to get together and pray about this, educate ourselves within the context of history, embolden ourselves and get ready for a long-term cultural education effort. He said some Catholics on the Cape have been standing on the sides of some roads educating people about the issues. Scot said the Knights of Columbus have a website called Fathers for Good. Fr. Roger said men and women need continual formation in the faith. Parishes can provide much, but not everything. One of the best organizations to form men to be real men of God is the Knights of Columbus. Fr. Roger has contributed some of this writings to Fathers for Good. He profiled it in the Anchor to educate men about this free resource and to lift up the work of the Knights to buttress them with a real fraternity that is very patriotic and helps many parishes. Fr. Roger said every man should consider becoming a Knight of Columbus. Susan noted from the article about Brian Caulfield who runs the site who spoke about the difficult birth of his son: “The first time I saw that beautiful little face lying in the incubator, I knew the great joy that God was sharing with me, and the great responsibility.” he said. “It struck me that this was for keeps - there would never be a moment for the rest of my life when I would not want to know how my son was doing, where he was going, and what I could do to help. I held him in my arms that day and walked around the neonatal unit praying softly in his ear. It was the start of a new life for me too, a life given for the good of another.” In Dublin right now is the International Eucharistic Congress. Scot said Ireland is going through tough times and he hopes the Congress will begin to create a stronger Church in Ireland. Antonio noted that so many missionaries have gone out from Ireland in the past. It’s been a beacon of hope in Europe for being stalwart in faith, but sthe sex abuse crisis has injured that. He said hopes this Congress is an opportunity for renewal. Antonio said we turn to the Lord who renews, heals, and strengthens his people. Scot said we pray that publicity for the congress will renew people in their appreciation for the gift of the Eucharist. Fr. Roger said that during the Eucharistic Procession on Corpus Christi Thursday, Pope Benedict talked about the misconception that Eucharistic adoration was downplayed by Vatican II. Pope Benedict tells us we need to adore the Lord before, during, and after we receive Him. If we don’t adore the Lord, we aren’t really receiving him worthily. The connection between Communion and adoration was always meant to be there. He acknowledged that adoration is making a comeback in many places and he hopes it will continue. Fr. Roger said the more we love the Lord in the Holy Eucharist, the more we will care for every single part of the mystical body, the children of the Lord. Scot said the website Any Given Sunday is a great site with a fantastic video Why Go To Church. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Mary Adams from Stoneham, MA She wins by Fr. Dave Pivonka, TOR. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program.…
Summary of today’s show: Sr. Lisa Valentini and Maureen Heil return to The Good Catholic Life to talk about the missions, mission trips by high school students, the Holy Childhood Association, and the mission group traveling from the Archdiocese of Boston to the Dominican Republic and sponsored by the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults. Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines talk with Maureen and Sr. Lisa about the amazing benefits of taking young people on mission trips for both the kids going on the trips and those to whom they are witnessing to Christ. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Maureen Heil, Director of Programs and Development for the Pontifical Mission Societies in Boston, and Sister Lisa Valentini of the Missionary Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Sr. Lisa Valentini and young adult mission trips 1st segment: Scot noted that the US bishops are having their semi-annual meeting, this time in Atlanta. People can follow along at USCCB.org. Scot said they’re reflecting on the 10th anniversary of the Dallas Charter for the protection of young people related to sexual abuse. The other major topic is the upcoming Fortnight for Freedom for religious liberty. Fr. Chip said he thinks the Fortnight is gaining steam and in his parish they’re making preparations. It’s also good to review the charter and see how it’s going. The Fortnight is June 21 to July 4 and all Catholics are asked to enter a period of prayer, study, and action to preserve our most cherished freedom, religious liberty. Fr. Chip recommended people see the new movie “For Greater Glory” about how people can lose their religious freedom even in a Catholic country. Scot said Cardinal Seán will be hosting a live town hall meeting on June 25 on CatholicTV and simulcast on WQOM. Viewers will be able to submit questions via Facebook, Twitter, and email. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Maureen and Sr. Lisa back to the show. Scot asked Sr. Lisa to refresh listeners about her ministry. She is a native of a small town in Pennsylvania and grew up with one brother and four younger sisters. She said she was asked by a religious sister if she had a vocation to religious life and the idea got stuck in her head. She realized she thought if God wants it for her, it would be cool. She joined the Sister Servants of Immaculate Mary and she remembers hearing stories from sisters serving overseas and being very moved. One day, while teaching first grade she came across the statistic that one billion people have never heard about Jesus. So she asked to be sent to Peru, but she ended up in an all-girls academy for rich kids. Then she learned that the Sisters serve the rich in order to inculcate them in the service to the poor. She met with parents and told them that she would only stay in the school if she could expose their children to the service to the poor. The parents wanted this for their kids. Every week, they took the girls to the orphanages. One day, a first grade girl came to her upset. One of the kids had a ripped shirt and so the next time the little girl brought three of her shirts to one of the orphans. It was then that the other kids got the same idea. From that day on, they never came without bringing something. Sr. Lisa was in Peru for five years until she was called back to the United States. Then she was sent to work for the Holy Childhood Association in Philadelphia and her job was to go around and talk to kids about missions. She told the story of a woman who came to her door looking to get her baby baptized. She told her the priest wasn’t there, but the mother said her baby was very sick. The doctors had told her it was going to die. So she took her into the chapel and led her through the rite of baptism and she was able to baptize in an emergency because she was there as a missionary. This is the kind of story she told American kids about the missions. The kids started demanding to go on mission trips with her. During the summers in that period, she was going on mission trips and the kids wanted to go with her on the missions. She’s been going to Haiti for 21 years and knew it was too dangerous to take kids there. She was also going to Mexico at the time and so they took kids there. This year will be her 39th mission trip and it will have been hundreds of kids. In 1997, Sister transferred to the Missionary Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus because she felt called to be a full-time missionary. They went to Mexico on the mission trips until 2000 and then they switched to the Dominican Republic. Five years ago, Sr. Lisa heard from one of the families from Peru that had moved to Toronto. Three of the girls who she taught as first graders in Peru contacted her and wanted to go with her on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. She also said among the kids on the missions, five have entered religious life, one is a priest, and four are in seminary. Scot asked Maureen how she met Sr. Lisa. She said it was when she worked for the Holy Childhood Association office in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She was always looking for missionaries to go into schools with her and talk to the kids. They’d known some of the same people in the missions as well. Sr. Lisa made herself to speak whenever she was in the country. Maureen said now that she’s in Boston she’s in this archdiocese very often as well. Scot said Holy Childhood is one of four Pontifical Mission Societies. He asked her what it is. Maureen said HCA is the junior Society of the Propagation of the Faith. It started in the 1800s when a French bishop came to the US, which was then mission territory, and traveled from New York to New Orleans and up to Canada. He went back to France wanting to bring the Catholic faith back to the US. So he went to the schoolchildren of France to pray and sacrifice a penny per month. They prayed one Hail Mary per month and they had to earn the one penny. Those donations went to the US and to China. His main concern was the babies were dying unbaptized. After only six years it went international and the first US office opened in Baltimore in 1853. Cardinal Sean has asked that HCA be in every Catholic school and religious education program. They show kids what the kids in the missions have to live with, including the poverty conditions, but mostly that they don’t know Jesus. Maureen said they went to a school this week and the kids were so excited that what they were doing as part oft he HCA was making a difference in the real lives of others. Sr. Lisa said the kids know how lucky they are to have what they do. Maureen said they know how important it is to sacrifice and pray every day. It’s not just an Advent or Lent thing. They have something in every month. One is the World Mission Rosary created by Archbishop Fulton Sheen during the month of October. They have a saint of the month every month, missionary saints that aren’t necessarily well-known. Her favorite recently was St. Mathilda, the wife of a king who died. By choosing a different son as successor and set off a war. The sons reconciled and banned mom to a monastery. There she entered a life of heroic virtue that led to sainthood, which shows how a mistake in life can be overcome to end up in canonization. Scot said Sr. Lisa is leading a pilgrimage this summer to El Factor, Dominican Republic. Sr. Lisa was stationed there in 2000 where she was principal of two pre-schools and in charge of choir and youth group. In her parish, there were no priests living there, so the sisters were the connection to parish life. She was also the only driver and so she was the ambulance. They knew that the sisters were their sisters in that town. The people are so welcoming to missionaries and it’s amazing to see the good done by the young people. There are two groups from Pennsylvania who go every year. One group is going to down on July 3. The missionaries are supports to the parish now and so they are welcomed. When they are there, they do a lot of catechesis in the mission church and some of the 20 mission chapels. The children of the area are waiting in anticipation for the mission group. They have 100 children per session. They do arts and crafts activities with the kids, sing songs, and pray with them. They will fly into the capital and take a bus for about two hours to El Factor. Five miles from there is a small city with a little supermarket. The area is the rice-growing zone and the people are simple farmers. There is no running water in the homes. They have an aqueduct now, about 8 years old, and the people fill buckets from a spigot two times per week. The also only have intermittent electricity. Scot asked if people are going hungry. Sr. Lisa said people used to have enough, but poverty is getting worse. Some families are going hungry. Generally, there are fruits that grow which can take the edge off, but it’s not complete nutrition. There is high unemployment and the educational system isn’t good. Kids often leave school to work on the farms. Sr. Lisa said they try to pair American kids with Dominican teens to do catechesis for the younger kids. This is eye-opening for the Americans on the dedication to the faith. The Boston kids will also have time for leadership formation. Maureen said her son Alex went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic with Sr. Lisa. She said it’s a leap of faith for parents to trust the kids with being out of communication for two weeks when they used to constant contact. there’s a sense of pride in watching her children choose to go on missions, especially when the idea comes from them. Fr. Chip asked what the youngest age they will take. Sr. Lisa said they have to have finished their junior year of high school because she needs to count on their maturity and also so they can get full advantage of the experience. It can’t be all about them and until about 17, they are not quite ready for that. She said the Boston kids have been on a leadership track and they have done a lot of preparation for this trip, including retreats. For her kids from Pennsylvania, she meets many times with the kids many times before the trip. She has asked them to fast for a month. In Boston, Danielle Olsen has challenged the teens to fast for 56 days prior to the trip and to go to Mass more in preparation. Maureen said this also affects the family when the child is fasting from something. Parents have to adapt to respect that choice. But when they come back, parents will see the changes both subtle and obvious: respect for others, more reverence in church, and so on. Fr. Chip asked what the spiritual fruits of the mission work later in their life? Maureen said they will be the kids who will get involved in Newman Centers or get involved in local parishes, perhaps teaching religious education. She said one parish in Virginia threw a big graduation party for college students who had been volunteering 15 hours per week at the parish. These 20 or so kids had in common going on a mission trip. Maureen said it’s the compelling stories that start in the younger kids. When they’re older they go on the trips. And as adults they retain those experiences and have stories of their own. Sr. Lisa said she has many of the kids she talks to in grade school seek her out years later and want to go on mission trips. Then in college, the kids often major in social justice majors or minor in Spanish or something related to their experience. Scot said he was moved by the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults’s brochure to advertise the trip. It said the cost of the trip was $1,200 per kid, but they wanted them to rise the money to go in order to involve many others so that they can participate in this mission trip. Sr. Lisa said it’s the whole Archdiocese of Boston. She said the kids are going to people to get material for crafts donated, to dentists and doctors for first aid items, and more. But no one should buy donations. People can be missionaries to give by going, but they can also go by giving. Maureen said they had the kids write to every single person they know to ask for even one dollar and they would be praying for their donors and the donors would be participants. Sr. Lisa said the mission kids have a calendar and are putting names on it of people they will be praying for. Scot said Fr. Matt described the activity of catechizing, spending times with the village people, learn the culture, spend some time at the beach, pray, grow in the relationship with Christ, and come home with unforgettable memories and stories. Sr. Lisa said they will also come home with great photos.The Dominicans love pictures and the people there treasure the photos and hang them on the walls of their homes. The people fall in love with the missionaries and ask for them by name when Sr. Lisa goes back. Sr. Lisa said the people of El Factor are amazed how the people of American spend money to go there and work hard. They know what our lives are like here and wonder they come. Maureen said the only reason is the love of Jesus. Sr. Lisa said it will be two weeks long. Maureen said the yearly HCA art competition is nationwide and involves 10,000 kids. This year two kids from Boston were among the winners.…
Summary of today’s show: One of the newest faculty members at St. John Seminary is Sr. Jeanne Gribaudo, CSJ. As a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston, her roots in the area grow deep and she has served the people of the area as a parochial school teacher, a youth minister, a college professor, and even an advisor to the Mayor of Boston. Sr. Jeanne talks with Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor about growing up in Roslindale, her vocation among the Sisters of St. Joseph, her ministry, and the final homestretch toward her PhD. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Sr. Jeanne Gribaudo, CSJ Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Sr. Jeanne Gribaudo, CSJ 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Fr. Chris to the show. They are taping from St. John Seminary. The guest is Sr. Jeanne Gribaudo is a new member of the faculty at the seminary and the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization. Fr. Chris said they are planning for the ordination on June 23. Fr. Chris has been asked to be the vesting priest for Deacon Eric Bennett. They also discussed the other seminarians being ordained as well. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Sr. Jeanne to the show. She said said she grew up in Sacred Heart parish in Roslindale. They had the Sisters of St. Joseph at the school and they had a very positive influence on her life. In the sixth grade she transferred to public school, but she still had the feeling that she wanted to be a religious. When she graduated from high school she met with a vocation director. She went to Stonehill College and after 4 years there, she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph. She said the Sisters at Sacred Heart so obviously enjoyed each other. She recalled how the Sisters joked with each other and needled each other. They had a care and concern and deep faith. She saw them in church all the time. Sr. Jeanne said the charism of the Sisters of St. Joseph is unity and reconciliation. They are built on an Ignatian-Salesian spirituality. For years, they taught in the archdiocese, but they expanded to social work, outreach to immigrants, and especially human trafficking. Fr. Chris asked her to expand on that. Sr. Jeanne said the spirituality is ad extra, as opposed to ad intra. Their community life is concerned with love of neighbor and being diocesan. The order belongs to the Archdiocese in a special way. Scot said so many religious orders are worldwide, but the Sisters of St. Joseph are locally based. Sr. Jeanne said so many of the priests and laypeople approach the CSJ and ask them about other CSJ they have known. Scot said it’s similar to diocesan priests in that the CSJ stay local frost of their lives. Sr. Jeanne said there is an exception. She recalled that Cardinal Cushing sent some of the Sisters to Peru to assist with the St. James Society. On her home parish, she recalled the pastors of her childhood. She said they had six or seven priests in the rectory and they would say that the parish ran the priests, not the other way around. The parish was divided into six regions and each priest was assigned to that area. That’s how big it was. Everything in the area revolved around the church. Fr. Chris said growing up people’s parish identity was part of their whole identity. When asked, where are you from, people responded with their parish name. Sr. Jeanne said she was the youngest of four. Her brothers were altar boys and her sister was in May processions. She said we need to bring that back and that’s why the New Evangelization is so important. People need those moments to hold onto. Scot asked if it was uncommon for someone to leave parochial school to go to public school. Sr. Jeanne said her mother didn’t want to let her go to Boston Latin School, but one of the sisters convinced her. When she told her parents she was thinking of religious life, her family was supportive but wary, especially since vocations had started to go down. Extended family wasn’t as supportive in the time after Vatican II. There were some impulses in the Church that needed to have the kinks worked out. Fr. Chris noted that much of the confusion has abated, which works better for the men in the seminary. On the other hand, many major societal questions have cropped up, like assisted suicide and the like, topics they would never have worried about 15 years ago. Sr. Jeanne said when she first entered the order in 1988 as a postulant. She was there 1-1/2 years and taught English at the high school level at St. Columbkille’s in Brighton. From there she went to the novitiate at Sacred Heart in Watertown for two years. There were two novices at the time. during the first year, she entered community programs and the second year she volunteered 4 days a week somewhere. She went to Msgr. Charles Bourque and they started a Jamaica Plain CYO with all kinds of sports teams. She did all kinds of fundraising and credited Doyle’s in JP for donating tons of pizza to the kids, including every Friday during the summer. She said those are the memories the kids will remember. She began to work with local political leaders to get the gyms open for the kids. She recalled working with the then-City Council president and then acting Mayor, Tom Menino. She pestered him so much he called her Sister Relentless. Afterward, he asked her to be his city youth advisor and offered her a job. But she got advice that it wouldn’t be good to take a salary but to do it for $1 per year. She helped streamline the youth programs. She helped start the mayor’s youth council, which is juniors and seniors who represent their section of the city who meet with the mayor every 4 to 6 weeks. Scot asked what it was like to work in a political environment as a sister. Sr. Jeanne said you’d be surprised how many sisters get involved with politics at some level to get assistance for programs they’re running. She said because she wasn’t taking a salary, she felt free to speak her mind about things. It can be heady wine, she said, being invited to go to the White House to meet the president, for example. That can all be seductive and she tried to balance it with her life in Christ. Sr. Jeanne said it was a privileged place to be in, in order to speak to the mayor about matters of concern to the Church and vice versa. So often between the religious world and political world, everything is passed secondhand and thirdhand. She told a story about teaching college students and when they realize how important it is to not implicitly trust the media reporting, but to go to the original sources and find out for themselves. In addition to those assignments, Sr. Jeanne has worked at Stonehill College as assistant to the president. Since she’d been a student there before, it was fun to go back there. She’s also done a lot of fundraising. She’s very proud that she worked with Ron Burton, former New England Patriot, to start a scholarship for two students per year at the Ron Burton Training Village to go to Stonehill. They have two students from Eritrea who are freshman and junior this year at Stonehill. Scot asked about the courses she was teaching at Fairfield University and Sacred Heart in Connecticut. Sr. Jeanne said she talked to the chairs of the departments who were having her teaching courses at the colleges in which they talked about the tough ethical issues, like euthanasia, abortion, exploitation of persons. She said it’s a scary time and the students were often horrified about the way the dignity of human life is trampled today and became more and more enamored of the Church’s teachings in these areas. 3rd segment: Scot asked Sr. Jeanne about her doctorate program. Sr. Jeanne said she remembers when she first started and was told by her advisor that he couldn’t explain what it would be like, but after she would understand. Fr. Chris said he was breaking into a sweat listening to her. She discussed how much work was completed to get to her dissertation. She’s just got back the first chapter of her dissertation from one of three readers giving her feedback. She’s writing on the holiness and sinfulness of the Church. She’s focusing on six theologians who had a lot of influence on Vatican II’s document, Lumen Gentium, and how that affected John Paul II’s millennial apology. She said it was prophetic. The apology means that there are times when the members of the Church all sin and the Church composed of sinners asks for forgiveness. She said Pope John Paul II relied a lot on one of those theologians, Hans Urs von Balthasar, with a profound understanding of humanity on a journey toward God. Fr. Chris said she has to finish writing and then has to do a two-hour defense. Sr. Jeanne said hopefully it will be late fall or early spring. Scot asked what led her to study ecclessiology, the theology of the Church. Sr. Jeanne said she’s often hear people say: Jesus, yes; the Church, no. But Pope Paul VI said we can’t live that way.You can’t have one and not the other. It’s a both/and. You have to have the Church in order to have Jesus. You can’t write 260 pages without having a passion for the topic. Sr. Jeanne said we sometimes throw out the word “Church” without defining our terms. She said you can’t say the “Church is sinful” because then you are saying Christ is sinful. So we have to be very careful. Scot asked what Sr. Jeanne will be doing at St. John Seminary and the TINE program. She has started by teaching an ecclesiology course. She said the class is an evening seminar from 6-9pm with 9 students from all walks of life studying for the Master of Arts in Ministry.She’s also been asked to work on some parish outreach for the New Evangelization, helping to bring it to the parishes in a user-friendly way. Scot said the New Evangelization needs to take up a programmatic format in the parishes. Sr. Jeanne hopes that young people in the archdiocese will be involved in some contests to do something for the new evangelization. She wants to get young people excited. They discussed the Year of Faith and how it integrates the New Evangelization. One idea is to bring young people to see what the seminary is all about, not just those who might be discerning priesthood. Sr. Jeanne said we don’t talk enough about the vocation of family life and marriage. Her favorite line in the Catechism is that parents are first and best teachers of the faith. One of her great joys is when former students come to see her and tell her that they have stay involved in their faith. She also hears from current students who haven’t been practicing their faith who have started. Fr. Chris asked who her favorite saint is. She said John Henry Newman, especially his poem “One Kindly Light”. Also, St. Peter Canisius, because he did so much with religious education. With regard to parents who thinks the children are lost to the faith, Sr. Jeanne advises they don’t give up on them. Look for the right program, even if your parish doesn’t have it and you have to go to another. Look at outreach programs. Encourage your college student to do an alternative Spring Break or a year of service. Scot asked why students connect with the faith on a service project. Sr. Jeanne said it’s because they see their faith in action, helping real people. It’s not just talk, but it makes a difference. Scot asked how our families and parishes overcome sinfulness and strive toward holiness. Sr. Jeanne said her mother always used to say, There but for the grace of God, go I. There’s enough blame and judgment to go around, but we could ask what if we were in the other’s shoes. The sacraments do not depend on the holiness of any of us. That grace comes from God. We can forget the rudimentary teachings about God. Often people leave the Church because they don’t understand the teachings of the Church. Don’t get your understanding of the Church from the media. Try to read the original documents, like the Catechism of the Catholic Church or the, which is a version of the Catechism for young adults. They talked examples of people misunderstanding their status with regard to the Church, like with divorce or other matters. Don’t be afraid to find out more and talk to a priest. Fr. Chris asked the most important fact to know about the Church. Sr. Jeanne said that it is Christ present on earth. The Church makes mistakes, but it’s our way to Christ and it’s our home. Even if you’ve been away forever, you can always go home.…
Summary of today’s show: Greg and Jennifer Willits are the hosts of the satellite radio show The Catholics Next Door and authors of a new book by the same name, in which they delve deep into what it’s like to be that “wacky Catholic family” with lots of kids and who hold to that old-time religion. In their conversation with Scot Landry, they have a lot of laughs and talk about their new web site, NewEvangelizers.com, the Gabriel Award for their Catholic sitcom, and the potential pitfalls of writing a book with your spouse. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Greg and Jennifer Willits Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Catholics Next Door 1st segment: Scot welcomed Greg and Jennifer Willits to the show. Scot noted that Greg and Jennifer have been early proponents of Catholic new media and host their own satellite radio program on The Catholic Channel. Jennifer said they wrote their book to linger on aspects of Catholic living that radio doesn’t allow them to. When they were asked to write it, they didn’t have a solid idea of where they were going and the publisher gave them free rein. They decided to talk about their faith and dive deep into the big topics and not hold back. They were very transparent with their journeys living with the teachings of the Church. They tackled writing a book together. Scot said Fr. Roderick Vonhogen wrote in the foreword that these are above all “real people” who desire to share their lives in the midst of a culture where TV shows “reality” that is all but scripted. Scot asked Greg what it’s like to write a book with someone else and how they went through the process. Greg said it was the hardest part of figuring out how they were going to do it without stepping on each other’s toes or repeating what the other said. Greg said he’s sometimes over analytical. He said they’ve been cohosting their radio show for four years and their podcast before that for four or five. In that process, he’s always taken the lead of setting the outline and doing the preparation, but she said with the book that she wanted equal input. Finally, they did have the outline down and knew the topics that are most important to Catholics in general that they wanted to cover, topics that Catholics who grew up in the 70s and 80s didn’t have a firm grasp on. They knew they didn’t get the best catechesis and so they want to make someone else’s journey a little easier. It could help someone feel less alone and grow closer to Jesus. After the outline, they had to figure out the voice. They started with a combined voice of “we”, but it became difficult, especially when talking about natural family planning and ovulation and the like. So they turned to a book that had a dramatic impact on them, “Rome Sweet Home”, by Dr. Scott and Kimberly Hahn. Greg first read the book at a critical time when he was questioning whether he would remain Catholic. The book said you are exactly where you’re supposed to be, it’s good to have questions, it’s good to seek answers, and it’s okay to have doubts. So Greg and Jennifer modeled the way the Hahns wrote their book, in which they took turns talking about their journey. Greg said he believes the Holy Spirit took their book in a direction that will benefit a lot of people. Now other people are comparing the book favorably to “Rome Sweet Home.” Scot said in many ways we’re all the Catholics next door to other people who come to us with questions in the faith. The book says to be a Catholic next door is to live sincerely. We’re not perfect or experts or the best Catholics we can be, but we want to be. We recognize that others are at different places on the way and we accompany them on the way. The book wants to let people know that they are not alone in their journey in Christ. Scot said Catholics who live their faith don’t look down on others, but know they are imperfect. Jennifer said we have to realize we are Catholic 24-7, not just putting on the church-face during Mass. It’s at the bank or the grocery store or in the park. When you encounter anyone else, you have an opportunity to let your Catholic light shine. Maybe sometimes you will say the right thing, but we certainly want to strive for it everyday. She wants to encourage people not to be ashamed of being Catholic, but to be loving and charitable. Scot said the first chapter is titled “Our neighbors think we’re nuts.” In the book, they quote Ghandi who said he likes Christ, but not Christians, because Christians are so unlike Christ. The chapter ends, “we’re called to do what we can… We don’t have to be superheroes or super-saints, but we may have to be willing to be a little nutty.” Greg said that comes from a previous production in the That Catholic Radio Show video series they did on being able to be a Christian within our own home. While they were filming it, Greg had Jennifer doing a lot of weird things like dressing up in costumes so Greg wanted to dress her in a superhero costume in their backyard. The idea was that in the simple things in life, you can still be a superhero to those around her. So he started pelting her with clean pairs of kids’ underwear while she hung from the monkey bars. Their neighbor comes out in his yard, sees them, and shakes his head at them and drives away. Greg said he’s certain the neighbor thinks they’re off their rocker, but Greg still takes the opportunity to say things like “I’ll pray for you.” Scot said going to the supermarket with five kids is a silent way of living out and witnessing to faith. Jennifer said she’s proud of going out with her whole family as she knows what she must look like. People will even approach her and think she’s some kind of superhero. The trick is she delegates chores to the kids. Greg said she ends up in the backyard drinking a glass of wine. Jennifer said she often wears her Catholic T-shirts and people will sometimes approach and ask about it. Then there is an opportunity to witness to a perfect stranger. At the very least, we always witness to our children. They are always watching the good and bad. Scot asked Greg about the idea of raising our kids well and the chapter Greg wrote on fatherhood. Scot said what resonated with him the most was the four simple rules of being a dad. Greg said they are rules he tries to adhere to himself and will look back at the chapter as something the Holy Spirit wanted him to write for himself. I need to do what I can do to get myself to heaven. I need to develop a personal relationship with God; that I remain in a state of grace. I need to do whatever I can to get my wife to heaven. Do what I can to get my kids to heaven. I need to help anyone else get to heaven. Of course, the Holy Spirit is throne doing the converting while we’re just a tool for the Spirit. Scot talked about how he too is also the one who always does the driving. In the book, Greg has an analogy of the husband driving the family minivan to heaven and not leave anyone behind. Also, Greg said one of the best lessons for a Catholic dad is to love our kids mom even more than we love the kids and we need the kids to see that. Greg said with so many kids in the house, they’ve always struggled with making sure they have time together, especially in the summer when the kids are staying up later as they get older. for years they were able to sit down after 8pm bedtime. Now they are spending less time together. So now he reminds the kids how many of their friends who have parents who are separated and divorced and whether they want the parents to stay married, and then tells them to go to bed. there’s always something that needs to be done and we keep ourselves so busy that it’s easy to get lost in the world. Love is not just an emotion, but it’s an action. They have to keep reminding that we need to love in a tangible way, spending time with each other, reminding themselves of why they fell in love in the first place. It’s like exercise. If you stop, you get fat and lazy. Scot said parents see their kids as gifts from God, but the “we” time for the couple gets the less attention because it’s not as urgent and not as “squeaky a wheel” as the kids. Jennifer said their 15th anniversary was one of the most exhausting things they had done. It was a significant anniversary so they decided to include the kids in the celebration. They got a “city pass” which allows people to experience all the major attractions of Atlanta. They had three 10-hour days in the midst of the summer and they were so drained from what they had done, Greg and Jennifer felt so defeated on the last day, she wondered if they had really celebrated their marriage. So she decided to arrange a last-minute getaway for them to renew and recharge and refresh and recall the sacramental reality of their marriage. Sometimes we can forget the entire marriage and everything in it is a sacrament. Greg said at the same time, their intention to spend time with the kids was good, but they got out of balance. While the intention is good, they need to check and balance. They realized their marriage also needed some time and attention. Jennifer said parents of lots of kids know the challenge of getting away is easier said than done. Overnight childcare on short notice is pretty difficult. She was hoping God would send someone to help them on two hours notice. By the time they got home from Atlanta, they actually had everything they needed. They were already willing to be thankful for what they had on their anniversary no matter what and God gave them the extra treat. Scot said another chapter folks appreciate is how the Willitses came to terms with the Church’s teaching on contraception and how they came to live natural family planning in their own lives. They say in the book that the Church’s teaching can help strengthen a marriage. Jennifer said honestly she forgot she was so transparent in the book. She had prayed to the Holy Spirit to guide her in what she wrote and so she wrote what she thought needed to be said. She was so honest in writing about their journey to understanding, she realized she’d struggled to find the answers from the Church and had kept coming up short. she genuinely wanted to follow the teaching, but kept getting stuck in finding what the teaching is. She’s sure there are people who wonder the answers to the questions they have encountered as well. So she wrote about how she came to understand what the truth really is. The reason there is no black-and-white list of what you can do and what you can’t is because once you understand what love is and understand the theology of the body, then you have a moral guide that answers those questions for you and you can know you’re not using your spouse in the guise of loving them. Pope John Paul II in his Theology of the Body and Christopher West in his books that break that open, all the understanding came into place. She said even now they continue to struggle with the variables of who we are from day to day. Scot said if he were in charge of marriage preparation, he would make this book required reading for the couples. Scot said he was struck by a homily in church by Deacon Jack Jansen to get Greg to think about this topic in the first place. Greg said as a cradle Catholic, he knew the Church taught contraception was wrong, but his understanding ended there with a question mark. It’s wrong, but is it ever okay? There was no explanation of why. If we have a rule without an explanation, it can feel ambiguous. Even after they got married and had their first child, they sat down with a priest to understand their obligation in their openness to life. Unfortunately, the priest gave them bad advice and basically said it boiled down to conscience. But it’s about the Church’s teaching on God’s love and plan for sacramental marriage. When we use contraceptives, we not only create barriers between and our spouses, we are not wanting that person completely. You want everything except having the opportunity for God to bless you and your spouse with children. So now when they heard this deacon who has nine kids give a homily and he said it’s difficult at times, but it’s a blessing, they realized it’s okay to say sometimes it’s difficult being a parent. The deacon preached about chastity in and out of marriage. Greg had thought that in marriage all bets are off and that you can do anything. But in reality you are only free when you remove the barriers between you and your spouse. The barriers prevent access to grace. It doesn’t mean you have to have 20 children. It’s about what God plans for you and how you’re including God on a daily basis. After Mass, the deacon gave Greg a tape of a talk by Dr. Janet Smith called It talks about how couples who don’t use contraception have a talk on a monthly basis about where they stand in their relationship. Deacon Jack died in 2006. Two weeks after that homily Jennifer was pregnant with their third son. Chastity has given them freedom in their marriage. Scot said a good place for any couple to start talking about contraception and NFP is this chapter in this book. Greg and Jennifer said they’ve got some great reviews and feedback on the book. Jennifer said they didn’t think people would be seeing the book as a marriage preparation book or a primer on the first 15 years of marriage. There is something for everyone in the book, whether single and struggling with Catholic identity or married with or without kids. Scot congratulated Greg and Jennifer and their friends Mac and Katherine Baron on winning a Gabriel Award for their sitcom pilot “Mass Confusion”. Greg said people are now wondering if they’re going to a second episode. Scot said now that the format has been proven, hopefully someone will step forward to fund it. Scot asked about the New Evangelizers website that Greg and Jennifer have created. Greg said its the fruition of almost 10 years of work in ministry. They have created an apostolate called Rosary Army, to make pray and give away knotted twin rosaries; That Catholic Show; The Catholics Next Door; and more. And as more and more focus is placed on New Evangelization, we are all called to be new evangelizers and so they put all their ministries under on banner with a motto of “Know your faith, live your faith, share your faith”. They give away a kit for new evangelizers. Scot said it gives people a lot of tools to deepen their faith. Jennifer said people just go to New Evangelizers and click on the Rosary Army link. From there people can order their free rosary, picking out their own colors. Catholics Next Door airs Monday through Friday 1-4pm on SiriusXM channel 129.…
Summary of today’s show: Cardinal Seán and the priests of the Archdiocese of Boston gathered on Thursday for their annual convocation at which they considered the latest news and feedback on the ongoing process of pastoral planning for the future of the Church in eastern Massachusetts. Scot Landry. Fr. Mark O’Connell, and Fr. Chip Hines listen to the compiled feedback from throughout the Archdiocese as presented to the convocation by Msgr. William Fay, chairman of the Pastoral Planning Commission, and consider what lessons have been learned, what proposals have been given support, and what might have changed. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry, Fr. Mark O’Connell, and Fr. Chip Hines Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: 2012 Priestly Convocation and Pastoral Planning Today’s show: Scot said earlier today he was able to go to Boston Common for the Stand Up For Religious Freedom rally, at which Janet Benestad who is the secretary for faith formation and evangelization spoke. He said people came up to him and told him how they listen to the radio show every day. One of them was Scot’s former high school teacher. The rallies occurred in 160 cities around the country on today which is the anniversary of the signing of the Bill of Rights. On today’s show, they will discuss the priestly convocation that occurred yesterday that covered evangelization and an update on the process of pastoral planning. We will share clips from Msgr. Fay’s address, but first getting Fr. Chip’s and Fr. Mark’s takes on the convocation. Fr. Chip said something we learned from 2004 was the ned to listen and this process is much better at that. Fr. Mark said he looked around the room and saw a lot of priests, but then recalled how even more priests there were when he was ordained 20 years ago. This pastoral planning recognizes that if we don’t plan all the things we fear are going to happen anyway, but in a haphazard way. Scot said the first Reconfiguration was done in crisis mode. This pastoral planning is being done when we’re not in a crisis and to create the opportunity and resources for evangelization. Fr. Chip is living this out with this two parishes, hacking a parochial vicar to help instead of having the two of them each running one parish. Scot said Msgr. Fay said the commission received 8,000 pages of feedback on the proposal. 2,500 group responses were responded. These were groups of pastoral councils and the like. The general response was that they were moving in the right direction. Some responses reinforced what the commission was proposing and others changed their directions. A clip of the first takeaway from the surveys: 66% thought the pastoral plan is in general the right direction. 15% thought it was wrong direction and proposed closing parishes or seeking priests from other countries. 84% of people were clearly opposed to closing parishes. Only 7% were in favor of closing parishes. Scot said most people consulted though the plan heads in the right direction, even if they don’t agree with every single thing. Having attended some of these consultation, Scot has seen similar responses. Fr. Mark said the priests who attend the convocations are those who are generally supportive, while those who don’t go are generally not supportive of what’s going on in the archdiocese. He said it’s clear that everyone agrees that doing what we’re doing now isn’t the answer. He said getting a bunch of foreign priests wouldn’t solve the problem. Scot said the problem in many parishes is that we don’t have the resources to go out to bring back those who aren’t coming to Masses. Fr. Chip said in his experience is that some people complain about priests with accents. Regarding the status quo, Fr. Chip said that when there is an open pastorate, they have to pull a priest from another parish and then have a domino effect in filling holes. A clip from the third takeaway from the surveys: Finding the right pastor is key. When they first suggested that current pastors from a group of clustered parishes would not become pastor of the whole group. 70% of people wanted to keep their own pastor. What they did learn was that the principle they introduced— to keep parishes in the cluster from feeling slighted—was that the right man needs to be found as pastor. Scot said he’s happy with this change in attitude. He said a parish from a grouping would already be known by the parishes in that grouping. Fr. Chip said he has to be case by case as opposed to a blanket policy. In some case bringing a priest in from outside might be best. Fr. Mark said we learned the lesson in Reconfiguration in which sometimes it was best to keep a guy in place and sometimes it was best to replace him. Fr. Mark said a lot of the people in the parish are too focused on the pastors. He said that’s shortsighted because priests get reassigned all the time. They should look at macro issues of the culture and neighborhood and the like. Another clip from Msgr. Fay: The implementation has to be phased in. 68% of people wanted it to be gradual, deliberate, and organic. Start small and build, learning from best practices as they move forward. They may start with two or three clusters in a region, then step back for two or three years to learn best practices. But the hope would be after five years they’d be moving the diocese pretty well forward on this. Scot’s sense was that there was a lot of agreement among the priests for this. Fr. Chop said it makes sense to do it this way. We’re already phasing it in with 20% of parishes sharing a pastor with other parishes. Fr. Chip said he’s always known the Church has moved slowly and now we’d been moving quickly. Scot said that was the experience of Reconfiguration, a suddenness. Fr. Mark remembers the presbyteral council being asked whether to phase it in and a priest spoke up and said the bandage should be ripped off quick. That was the advice given to Cardinal Seán and now all the priests who were in the room have learned the lesson. Fr. Mark said 99% of the priests in the room were comfortable with Msgr. Fay’s style of leadership. He and Deacon Chuck Clough have led the process to take its time. The next takeaway from Msgr. Fay: Parishes have very different cultures, and not just ethnic cultures. Parishes do things differently. they learned that two parishes right next each other do things in very different ways and have done them that way for many years. Legitimate differences are to be respected and the pastor of those parishes has to be able to recognize that. While the pastor guides a group of people who have been that parish for a very long time. We need to help folks in parishes to work together to bring the best out of one another and not try to collapse differences into a flat homogeneity. Scot said each parish grouping should be treated individually. It’s good to note that parishioners that might look the same on a statistical sheet, the history and culture of those parishes can be so different they might not be a good fit when grouped together and maybe they shouldn’t be grouped differently. Scot said it’s a recognition that some of the proposed groupings need to change. But Fr. Ship said some of those groupings will need to stay and those parishes will need to find a way to work together. Parishes need to recognize they’re part of something bigger and they will need to change a bit to work together. The next takeaway: TRaining is critical. 82% said training should be integral and 72% would be willing to do the training. Scot said people are hungry for training to make sure we can accommodate cultures and understand the vision of Cardinal Sean and learn to evangelize and invite people to join us once again. Fr. Mark said this is a critical stage in the history of the Archdiocese We’re doing something different and changing our pattern. We have to make sure we’re going to do this right so we’re all formed for this new reality. Fr. Chip said Msgr. Fay also said we need to be flexible with the training, like online or other kids of options. Part of it is true leadership training. He said it’s important that it’s mandatory. Scot said a key here is leadership of change, helping people through the process of change. Everyone needs at least a refresher on that and everybody in leadership positions need to sharpen their skills in this area. Fr. Mark noted that some parishes will still standalone and even those parishes will need that training. Scot said they’re still working out what that will look like. Msgr. Fay’s eighth takeaway: there is exploratory thinking about how to bring parish and finance councils for parishes are brought together without violating canon law that each parish have its own. Scot said they need more information on the idea of a pastoral and a financial council that represents the grouping of parishes. A key is how to keep assets separate, and Scot said you have written rules on how to do this and give processes and norms. Fr. Chip said he likes to keep some things separate in his two parishes. For instance, he keeps the bills and records for two parishes in two separate places. How we do that is a good question and he hopes the training will help with that. Fr. Mark said as a canon lawyer, that the law doesn’t seem flexible and the Vatican is on our side and is working with the archdiocese to find an acceptable position. This is innovative and will help the entire country. Second, during the table discussion at the convocation, one of the pastors was concerned about having two parishes in a cluster in which one is very poor and the other is very rich where you can’t combine assets. Fr. Mark said one good thing is that people who help the better off parish will be able to help the poorer parish with how to get better. Scot speculated on a norm that would say that the parishes would pay the combined salaries of the pastoral service team based on their relative ability to pay. Fr. Mark said he can imagine a much bigger parish paying more than the other parish in the grouping. Msgr. Fay’s last takeaway: Will the new collaborative structure really strengthen parishes financially? He said those who have worked deeply in this area believe that this is true. Scot said there is concern over the notion that parishes that are struggling financially today will be better off in these groupings. Fr. Chip said the key is to have the pastors involved at the local level. Fr. Mark said the Cardinal is asking us to look at this optimistically and he’s asking us to strengthen parishes and train for evangelization to attract Catholics home and bring new Catholics. Scot aid all the problems of the Church find their root in the Mass attendance problem. If we’re able to follow Jesus’ Great Commission— Go and make disciples of all nations—live and share the faith with others, we will be much better off. Scot said the addresses by Msgr. Fay, Bishop Malone and Cardinal Seán will be posted on the Planning2012.com within the next week. Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. When Moses came to the people and related all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all answered with one voice, “We will do everything that the LORD has told us.” Moses then wrote down all the words of the LORD and, rising early the next day, he erected at the foot of the mountain an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. Then, having sent certain young men of the Israelites to offer holocausts and sacrifice young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD, Moses took half of the blood and put it in large bowls; the other half he splashed on the altar. Taking the book of the covenant, he read it aloud to the people, who answered, “All that the LORD has said, we will heed and do.” Then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words of his.” Gospel for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, June 10, 2012 (Mark 14:12-16, 22-26) On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city and a man will meet you, carrying a jar of water. Follow him. Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there.” The disciples then went off, entered the city, and found it just as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover. While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Scot said the feast of Corpus Christi was instituted in the 12th century. We used to celebrate the Body and Blood of Jesus on Holy Thursday but because of the focus on Good Friday and Easter, the Church wanted to have a Sunday when we focus just on the Blessed Sacrament. Fr. Chip loves the connection between Moses sprinkling the blood and Jesus giving us his blood as true drink. The Eucharist is the source and summit of everything we are as a Church. Fr. Mark said he was also struck by the juxtaposition of these two readings. When Moses does the sprinkling and the people accept to follow the covenant, then if they break the covenant they are cursed which happened. Jesus’ blood restores that covenant. Fr. Mark said his first Mass was on the Feast of Corpus Christi. He said it’s such a privilege and honor for priests to hold the Eucharist in their hands as they say “This is my Body” and “This is my Blood.” Scot says he tries to receive the Eucharist as such a way that he gives witness to those who are watching of what he believes. He asked all listeners never to take the Eucharist for granted. Receive in such a way that little kids will see that you believe. Fr. Chip said the children preparing for First Communion show such anticipation and everything about them is crying out for it, even as others come forward with their minds elsewhere.…
Summary of today’s show: On our Thursday show, Scot Landry, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy considered the news headlines of the week as they appear in The Pilot and The Anchor newspapers, including the upcoming Fortnight 4 Freedom, including a televised town hall with Cardinal Seán; A celebration of marriage anniversaries at Holy Cross Cathedral; honoring decades of service by two priests; Dozens receiving catechetical certificates from the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization; Major reassignments of pastors in Fall River; and the World Meeting of Families in Milan last week and the next one in Philadelphia in 2015. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Fortnight 4 Freedom; Renewal of marriage vows; Theological certificates; Priest assignments in Fall River; World Meeting of Families 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Roger and Gregory to the show. Susan is not available today. Scot said they’re taping the show on Thursday morning because this afternoon is the annual convocation of all the priests of the Archdiocese with Cardinal Seán. Greg said Cardinal Seán always genuinely seeks feedback fom his priests on his priorities and initiatives. Scot said Bishop Richard Malone, most recently of Portland, Maine, and recently reassigned to Buffalo, NY, will speak at the convocation. He recently went through major pastoral reorganization of his diocese in Maine and will offer insights. Scot said the first topic is that Cardinal Seán will host a televised town hall meeting for the Fortnight for Freedom on June 25 at 8pm on CatholicTV. Scot and Dr. Angela Franks will appear on the panel. Greg said it will be very interesting to see how people will be able to pose questions to Cardinal Seán and the panel. Questions will be submitted via Facebook, Twitter, and email. [CatholicTV](http://www.catholictv.com] Fr. Roger said the US bishops are trying to accomplish what they learned from Pope John Paul II: It’s not enough just to talk about something, but we have to add prayer to education. In Poland, their fight for freedom from Communism, including much public prayer in addition to other kinds of civil action. Pope John Paul II continued that in his papacy, narrowly focusing the attention of the Church on something important through prayer. The US bishops hope for an intense two-week period of liturgical prayer that includes some great saints related to the idea of religious freedom. He said we shouldn’t have to choose between being a good Catholic and a good American. Scot said this is definitely appointment television or radio. People can watch it on CatholicTV on cable or online on CatholicTV’s website or listen live on WQOM. Also in the Pilot this week is a story about 175 couple who were celebrating their 25th or 50th wedding anniversaries this past weekend at Holy Cross Cathedral during a Mass with Bishop Dooher. Greg said this is a great sign of the gift of Christian marriage. He said the cathedral was filled with many families and they showed the gift of life that these marriages created. Fr. Roger said it’s a reminder of the vows these couples have made to one another in their sacrament strengthens us all in our fidelity to our faith. He said long-lived couples give him the advice on how they stayed together so long. He recalled one couple who said the secret was that they really trusted each other. Another story is about the certificate program at the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization and the graduation of 115 people who spent many, many weekends studying their faith either for personal enrichment or to become catechists in their parishes. Greg said this is related to the Master of Arts in Ministry program that we talked about last week. That is a degree program, while this is a certificate. Only about 10 people per year graduate from MAM, but the certificates bring dozens of more people into parishes with this formation. Angela Franks described the coursework of the certificate programs. “The certificates are designed to provide an affordable yet intensive experience of the fullness of the faith. They cover the entire catechism and provide this essential foundation for further growth in the faith.” she said. Angela Franks said the focus on the catechism is critical to the program. She said the catechism provides definitive source for learning the teachings of the Church. “What we find is that a lot of students have been relying on other people relying them what the Church reaches, which is fine, but when you access the catechism you really have it from the horse’s mouth. You have the explanation of the Catholic faith from the Catholic Church itself. Our students, after they go through the course, I felt very empowered.” she said. Fr. Roger said this is what Pope Benedict XVI intends for the Year of Faith. Dioceses have been encouraged to set up these kinds of institutes of instruction and formation. He said the Archdiocese is setting a standard for what should be occurring everywhere. The Pope has said that religious freedom depends on an engaged, articulate laity bringing the truths of the faith to the public square. Fr. Roger said it would be worth any sacrifice for listeners because knowing your faith is the most important part of our lives. Also in the Pilot, are two profiles of priests who provided many deuces of service. Msgr. William Roche, 90, served 30 years at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, was a paratrooper in US Army and the OSS, the predecessor of the CIA, during World War II. Fr. Patrick McLaughlin has recently accepted senior priest/retirement status after 51 years of service. He’s served in Peabody and Brockton and in Bolivia in the St. James Society. He’s been at St. Joseph’s in Medford since 1976. In the Anchor, lots of stories about priestly assignments this week. In Boston, assignments of priests are done on a rolling basis. In other dioceses, including Fall River, they do them all at once around the first of July. Fr. Roger has received a new assignment. He aid this is an unprecedented number of moves, including 21 pastors being reassigned in some way, because 5 pastors are retiring, with 5 taking their places, and then musical chairs to cover everything. On June 27, Fr. Roger is moving from St. Anthony in New Bedford to become pastor of a new parish in Fall River, St. Bernadette, which is made up of the merger of two previous parishes, Immaculate Conception and Notre Dame. Fr. Roger said he’s disappointed it’s happening at the same time as the Fortnight 4 Freedom, which makes it more difficult to concentrate on this event at the same time they’re moving. Scot said it can be compared to leaving an old job and going to a new job, but it’s also the move of a physical residence. But these aren’t just co-wrokers, they are people whose souls Fr. Roger has cared for. Fr. Roger said the Lord is calling him to preach the Gospel in another place, which is like when Jesus told the people of Capernaum that he had to go and preach to others. He aid he will very much miss the people of St. Anthony’s, especially the kids for whom he’s been the only pastor they’ve ever known. But if a priest is good at his task, he will have prepared people to focus not on himself, but on Jesus. Priests will come and go, but Jesus Christ is working through every priest. Fr. Roger said there are 90 parishes in Fall River and over one quarter of the pastors are moving. Next week, they will publish the changes in parochial vicars and they will have almost no parochial vicars left in parishes as they become pastors and hospital chaplains. Scot noted that there is an ordination Saturday at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River. Jason Brilhante will be ordained. He discerned his vocation while he was in college. He prepared for the priesthood at St. John Seminary. Fr. Roger said during their interview Jason couldn’t contain the joy he felt at his imminent ordination. Fr. Roger said the ordination of a priest is a shot in the arm to all priests who are laboring in the vineyard. He said another priest will be coming back from Rome after finishing up an advanced degree there so Fall River will be getting two reinforcements. Scot said the ordination will be broadcast on CatholicTV. Scot said the World Meeting of Families took place in Milan last week, which included one million people at the final Mass. At the end of the event, Pope Benedict announced that the next meeting will take place in 2015 in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Greg said he’s planning to go with his family. It will be a great sign for this country of hope for marriage and family. Scot said Philadelphia has many challenges. The situation in the Church there is like what it was in Boston in 2004. They’re undergoing a trial of a prominent priest in connection to the sex abuse crisis, plus all the pastoral reorganization they’re undergoing. Scot said he was surprised that they were chosen at this time. Fr. Roger said the Pope is going because of the struggles in Philadelphia, to support Archbishop Chaput, and because of the place of Philadelphia in American history, including the Declaration and Constitution, which outlines our religious liberties. Fr. Roger thinks it’s going to be enormous, maybe not 1 million people, but people will be trying to get there like in 2008 when the Pope came tot he US last. Fr. Roger said he was surprised too. He’s really praying that the Holy Father can make it to 2017 as a German on the throne of St. Peter on the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation so he can explain how the differences of that time can be understood as misunderstandings of the Catholic faith. Fr. Roger asked the listeners of The Good Catholic Life to pray for the Holy Father’s health and vigor. Scot said the Holy Father will be 88 in 2015 and a multi-city schedule on that trip would be difficult to plan for at this time. Fr. Roger said unlike John Paul II, they’ve been trying to conserve Pope Benedict’s energies while he’s traveling so the odds are slim he’ll go any other place. Greg speculates that it would be someplace close to Philadelphia, like New York or DC. Also in the Anchor this week is a story about a defeat of a bill to ban sex-selection abortions on May 30. Scot said it’s ironically shocking to him that women’s organizations are okay with sex-selection abortion that predominately affects unborn girls. Fr. Roger shows the hypocrisy that they’re not standing up for women’s rights by not standing up for the young women being executed simply for being women. He noted that the only Massachusetts representative who voted in favor of this bill was Rep. Stephen Lynch. He said every listener should ask themselves if their representative thinks it’s okay to kill little girls for being girls, do they actually represent our interests and the good of the human race? The real War on Women is being waged by the abortion business. “For most of us ‘it’s a girl’ is cause for enormous joy, happiness, and celebration,” said Rep, Chris Smith (R-NJ.). “But in many countries, including our own, it can be a death sentence.” Scot noted the US is one of the only developed countries that hasn’t banned this practice. Greg said when it comes to issues of abortion that things that would make sense in any other context, like parental consent for medical procedures, when it has to do with abortion, anything goes. Scot said studies show that sex-selection abortion is indeed happening in the United States. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) argued thaI the bill is necessary to “give baby girls the same chance at life as baby boys.” She said that it is “hypocrisy” to call oneself “pro-woman” while supporting the abortion of a girl based on her gender. “Since when did America subscribe to the idea that males are worth more than females?” she asked.…
Summary of today’s show: When Deacon Eric Caden discovered God while spending a summer surfing in San Diego, it began a journey that has brought him to St. John Seminary on the brink of ordination to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Boston on June 23. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor talk with Eric about finding God at Harvard, the awesome opportunity of seminary, and how the sudden loss of his mother confirmed his call to the priesthood. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Transitional Deacon Eric Caden Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Transitional Deacon Eric Caden 1st segment: Broadcasting today from St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, Scot said it’s an exciting time as 6 men prepare for ordination in the Archdiocese of Boston and Deacon Eric Caden is one of them. Fr. Chris said the two most exciting days at the seminary are when they welcome new men and anytime they have an ordination, whether to transitional diaconate or priesthood. The Ordination Mass will be Saturday, June 23, at 9am at Holy Cross Cathedral. Other men who studied at St. John’s were ordained this past weekend in Springfield, Mass. Six men were ordained for that seminary. Scot and Fr. Chris said the Diocese of Springfield has been through a lot in recent years, not least of which was the tornado that hit the area almost exactly a year ago. Fr. Chris said he went to a Boston Red Sox booster luncheon and heard manager Bobby Valentine and others speak. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Deacon Eric Caden. Scot asked him about his background. Eric said he grew up in Weymouth at St. Francis Xavier Parish. He went to the parish school for elementary school and junior high. It was there he first had an idea of the priesthood. He didn’t fully understand it. In second grade, his favorite month was May because of the Marian processions and devotions. He loved the Blessed Mother. As he reflects back, he has recollections of thinking in church that this would be a wonderful thing. As he got older, he put that away as he got involved in the world. He embraced a kind of selfishness about what he wanted for his life. When he left St. Francis school, he went to Roxbury Latin, where he did well. He became more and more to think what was important was to be successful in a worldly way. Scot interjected that Roxbury Latin is an elite school in Boston. Eric said it provided good character formation. The headmaster at the time was an Anglican priest who imbued the school with Christian principles. The bar was set in terns of service to family, community, and country. He got an extraordinary education and the seeds of not being consumed with one’s own desires. In junior high and high school, Eric’s participation in his parish was mainly sunday Mass. His mother was a nurse and she would often go to a different Mass from the rest of the family. He was involved in some youth group programs, but his schoolwork didn’t leave a lot of extra time. From Roxbury Latin, Eric went to Harvard College. Having been successful in the eyes of the world, he was still searching for the point of it all. He wanted to know what it took to be happy. After his freshman year, he and his best friend decided to go to Mexico to learn to surf and got as far as San Diego. They took a car across the country and while his friend slept in the passenger seat, Eric was starved for conversation. By the fourth night, Eric was going nuts for human contact and they had stopped in Utah. They hiked to the top of a Mesa and laid out their sleeping bags under the stars. His friend was tired and didn’t want to talk, so he told Eric to go pray. Eric remembers asking, what he was talking about. Eric didn’t know what prayer was about, but to spite his friend he decided to do this. Eric walked to the edge of the cliff watching the spectacular sunset. He then introduced himself to God for a very awkward 8 minutes in which he told God all about himself. Then Eric had a realization that he wasn’t just talking to himself, that someone was listening. He didn’t know how to frame that for himself, but he had realized God was real. After they got to San Diego, Eric’s interest in faith exploded. He went to the library and got every book he could on faith, saints, the church, and so on. They’d surf during the day and then he would read it. Now at the time he’d thought that the way one became a priest was that after high school you said you wanted to be a priest and they made you one. He picked up a book by Mother Teresa and came across a passage about you may think it’s a waste of talent to serve the poorest of the poor, but no life is worth anything unless you love God in the poorest of the poor. That knocked down every wall that Eric had built in his disordered human ambition. Suddenly the idea of priesthood occurred to him. Scot asked him how his prayer life was. Eric said it had become a dialogue and a relationship was forming. When he speaks to confirmation classes that at that age he didn’t know how to pray, so he tells them to just introduce themselves and God will respond. God loves all of us and wants to be in a relationship with us. In the very little that we do, he is overjoyed and spoils his sons and daughters. Scot said think of the most loving human father and multiply it by infinity. After he returns from his summer, Scot asked if he was explicit in discerning the priesthood. Eric said he was still solidifying his faith. He got involved in a Protestant group at Harvard that would challenge him on his Catholic faith. Eric never thought of anything but being Catholic, so when asked questions, he went to research it. Over the next three years he had an amazing catechetical self-strengthening through this process. Fr. Chris asked what the questions were. Eric said they asked about sacraments, nature and grace, and more. He read Augustine and Aquinas and found the treasure and wisdom of the Church. Scot asked which books made the most difference. Eric said he had stumbled across Willa Cather’s “Death Comes for the Archbishop.” It’s roughly an historical fiction of the 19th century of the foundation of the Diocese of New Mexico. It’s about two priests who are best friends sent from France into this vast new diocese covering the western US. They encounter real historical characters, like Kit Carson and others. It’s not just a story of their friendship, but also the fruitfulness and dedication and love that is real in a priest’s life. They are transformed and come to love God and his people in new and extraordinary ways. When he read the book, he realized that this is what he wants and this solidified his vocation for him. He’d always known he wanted to love greatly, wherever that lead him. Scot asked what it was like to be Catholic at Harvard. Eric said Harvard has its own perspective on life. Because it draws people from all over with very strong backgrounds, people aren’t just passive. He found very strong groups, including a Catholic group he spent time with. As he was specifically discerning the priesthood, he was still playing rugby. In his senior year, the team made it to the national championship and lost. There was a development and growth of bonding and brotherhood. So a priest he was talking to about discerning the priesthood, he was cautioned to be careful who he talks to about the priesthood. But when he told his rugby team, every guy was enthusiastic and excited for him. One of his teammates came up to him and said, “I wish was passionate about anything as you are about this.” All of his peers were supportive, but it was only the older people were skeptical. It was the idealism of college that helped them to be excited. Eric has invited everyone he played with in rugby to the ordination, about 50 men. Some will be coming. When they come he will remind those who are Catholic that they promised to start going to church again when he became a priest. So he hopes many will come. People are invited to weddings all the time, but an invitation to an ordination is rare. Fr. Chris mentioned Eric had a minor detour at Harvard in his discernment. Eric said he took a year off after Harvard to move to Hawaii to surf on the North Shore, one of the best surfing destinations in the world. Fr. Chris said he was going to discern a little more. Eric said it was an extraordinary opportunity and strengthening of his faith. He went on his own and lived in a tent on a beach. When his father found out he was doing this, he asked him to please get one he could stand up in. He ended up in a tent he had to sleep diagonally in to fit. Eric encountered a very strong Christian community of mainly fallen away Catholics. They too had many questions so he took out every single book in the Hawaii public library system on Catholicism. He worked in a souvenir shop and surfed, so he had a tremendous amount of time to read. When that time ended, he entered St. John’s Seminary. Fr. Chris and Eric were both new to the seminary. Fr. Chris said there were only 28 men in the seminary and only 2 men from Boston entered that year. Eric said his time at the seminary was the best time of his life. Their full-time job there is to work on their relationship with God. It is a blessing and he’s so grateful for the people of God who make it possible for them to devote their time to study, prayer, and formation. This is where he could finally concentrate on developing his understanding of theology and philosophy in practical ways that are supported. At Harvard, he’d studied religion, but they didn’t have an atmosphere of faith. Every man at the seminary is in love with God and wanting to encounter him in the sacraments and in the teachings of the Church. That was so eye-opening. He’d always been a very good student and there’d been a functionary aspect to study. But at the seminary, they were probing the mystery of God and coming to know the Beloved. It was so tangible. The more he would study, there would be a profound peace, satisfaction, and fulfillment that would overcome in a real way. Scot noted that it was the deepening of the relationship with God that is different. Also, there is difference between education and formation. While they take classes at the seminary, they are being changed and formed as human beings. Eric said God is so good and loving and when we participate in grace, when we step out in faith, then if it’s not the right decision, he will let us know. It will either fit and make sense or it won’t. When you walk in the door of the seminary and sit down at the first evening prayer or Mass, it will feel right or it won’t. Eric often looks around the chapel, which is full now, and sees men of all backgrounds, personalities, and interests.He’s blown away that every man there said Yes to God. It is so humbling and inspiring. When you surf a lot, you have some ridiculous adventures. But the life in the seminary has been an adventure with God. Eric can’t stress enough to young men to trust God that he loves us so much. Fr. Chris said Eric left the seminary for a period of time. Eric said he knew God was calling him to the seminary and Our Lady had her hand in his whole life. He recalls that the Blessed Mother protected him from so many dangers growing up. He knew that his motivations in coming were stilled mixed, being there for himself as much as being there for God. Eric said he recognized he wasn’t mature enough. He said it wasn’t right, so he left and went back to Harvard to finish his pre-med requirements. He knows God was stilling moving in his life. He met the woman of his dreams, but as the relationship grew he knew he was called to the priesthood. Also during that time his mother died suddenly of a heart attack on St. Patrick’s Day. It was the most awful day of his life. Three priests showed up at the hospital, friends of his. They were dressed as priests and there was something about that uniform that touched something very primal. they prayed with the family and were with them when they got the news. Later, Fr. Bill Kelly who was there talked to him later and said it was rare to have any priest present at a death, never mind three. Fr. Bill said the Father loves Eric so much that he wanted to physically show him that in this horrible moment that God is still there, in control, and present. That opened Eric’s eyes not only to who the priest is, but how when he is present in the particular moments of people’s lives, it is a blessing and a humbling experience. Eric said the priest doesn’t love in a shallow or faceless way. He loves everyone personally and individually, like God does. When a priest brings the sacrament of anointing, in that moment he loves that particular person and brings the presence of God in that moment. Eric can hold on to this in his mother’s death. The priest is called and invited to by to be his instrument in this way. Scot said a priest is present in the biggest moments in people’s lives. Scot said in less three weeks, Eric will be Father Eric. He said his classmates are beginning to be ordained and was in the Springfield diocese going to the ordination and first Masses. As he sayt in the Mass, it all suddenly became more real what was going to happen. He’s very excited. He senses the greatness of God configuring these men. At one of these first Masses, a transitional deacon knelt and receiving the blessing from his classmate, and he started weeping at the realization of the change in his friend. Eric said he is nervous in the same way a groom might be nervous. Scot encouraged people to come to the cathedral for the ordination or watch it on CatholicTV. He said Eric will have his first Mass. Eric said his first Mass will be at 5pm at St. Mary’s Dedham on the next day at the LifeTeen Mass. LifeTeen was very influential to him. He started going there when he first entered seminary and he was so struck by the faith of those high school kids. He was so energized by the parish and the love of the teens for the Church, for priests, and God. Eric said he will certainly have a Mass of Thanksgiving at his home parish, but his sisters are still uncomfortable with Mass at that parish because of his mother’s funeral being there. Eric has also asked Fr. Chris to be the homilist at his first Mass. Fr. Chris said he doesn’t plan to be brief. Fr. Bill Kelly, Eric’s spiritual director, is also the pastor at St. Mary’s now. Scot asked when he will find out his new parish. Eric said he will get it the night before the ordination when they have dinner with the Cardinal. In Springfield, they got their assignment after Communion at the ordination Mass. Eric said the ordinandi will have a 5-day silent retreat in Milton with the Oblates before the ordination. It’s a blessing to be able to just spend time with God. He’s very much looking forward to it. Fr. Chris said the to-be-ordained also traditionally ask priests to vest them at the Mass and asked who Eric has asked. Eric asked Fr. Wayne Belschner because the first parish assignment he had as a seminarian was at Sacred Heart in East Boston. It was a very incredible time for him and it’s a beautiful and wonderful parish. He said Fr. Wayne is a great example of priest, who lives his calling remarkably. Scot said Eric would welcome listeners’ prayers. Eric said all the prayers would be most helpful and desired and wanted. During his diaconal ordination, as they processed in, he had no special feelings or feelings of being overwhelmed. So finally as they came into the sanctuary during the consecration, he was moved in his heart about what he was called to. His whole person began to feel called to that.…
Summary of today’s show: When you really believe God’s call is to marriage and you’re still single, Emily Stimpson says it can be very painful for the single Catholic woman. Scot Landry and Dom Bettinelli talk to Emily about her new book, “The Catholic Girl’s Survival Guide for the Single Years: The Nuts and Bolts of Staying Sane and Happy While Waiting for Mr. Right”, including dealing with well-meaning advice and debunking all the myths about the single life. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Domenico Bettinelli Today’s guest(s): Emily Stimpson Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Catholic Girl’s Survival Guide to the Single Life 1st segment: Dom and Scot caught up on their weekend and discussed today’s guest, Emily Stimpson. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Emily to the show to talk about her book: The Catholic Girl’s Survival Guide for the Single Years: The Nuts and Bolts of Staying Sane and Happy While Waiting for Mr. Right. Scot said her humanity and femininity comes across in the book. Emily said her book was her editor’s idea. She had commented to her editor in exasperation that someone should have written a survival guide to the single life. This book is most definitely about being single when you believe your vocation is to marriage. She said it wasn’t an easy book to write. Emily said she is a Catholic hack writer, like G.K. Chesterton. She writes for Our Sunday Visitor, Franciscan University’s magazine, and a lot of ghost writing. She’s written several books under other people’s names. She also blogs for CatholicVote.org. Prior to that she worked as a legislative assistant to Congressman Jim Talent and later at the Heritage Foundation. She just came back into the Church and so moved to Steubenville to study theology. In the production, she wrote that at 35 she wasn’t supposed to be single and the fact it hasn’t worked out is a constant source of heartbreak. Scot said this is a kind of new problem for women in history. Emily said there are lots of books on why people aren’t marrying. 43% of adults over 18 are not married. Over 60% of those have never been married. This is an entirely new cultural phenomenon. So why is it happening and how do we deal with it? Scot said when he was younger, there was an implied peer pressure to postpone in order to go to grad school and advance their career. Now some of his friends say they wish they didn’t listen to the advice and in the big scheme of things it would have been much better to start a family than start his career. Emily said it is a factor in the culture, but even more might be the sexual revolution. There’s less pressure to marry and more pressure to cohabitate, plus the psychological and emotional damage all that causes. Then it becomes more difficult to meet people. Scot said the concept of a single vocation was an a-ha moment for him. Emily said when people suggested the single life was a vocation for her, it was frustrating. They were trying to make her feel better, but when the desire of your heart is so completely for another thing, the idea that God would you to something else hurt. One truth is God never drags you kicking and screaming into a vocation, and you could never be ordained if you were so reluctant. Then a vocation director explained to her that there is no vocation to the single life. There can be missed vocations, but we’re all called to give ourselves spousal to someone. In her book, Emily describes the three levels of vocation: the universal call to holiness, the primary vocation (marriage, priesthood, consecrated life) and the secondary vocation (what you do as your journey toward those other two vocations.) That could be your job or other activity. But there’s to be single when you feel called to marriage is a missed vocation. Emily said vocations can come late in life too. Emily said you could use the terms spousal and providential instead of primary and secondary. The spousal way can be to God or another person. Scot said some people have said they like the chapter in which Emily talks about how choosing work flows into the primary vocation. Emily said women should always keep in mind what you believe your primary vocation is. If you’re called to marriage, take it into consideration when planning your career. So if a husband or family came along, do I want to have this debt or do I want to have a skill that will enable me to work at home? Women can tend to have the attitude of waiting for real life to begin when a husband comes along. But this is real life and God wants women to do it well. She talks about discerning God’s will and embracing that to find joy in the current moment. Scot said Emily asks the women who read this book to be very intentional in asking themselves about going on to graduate school and taking on that debt and putting themselves in a situation when they get married they can’t feel they can afford to have children for a while. Emily said she’s watched her friends struggle with this issue. They are in a tremendous state of worry often, and all of them wish they could go back and tell their younger selves not to take on the debt. It’s easy to focus on the present and the advice we’re getting at the time, but the decisions we make as a single person can have profound effects on our future selves. 3rd segment: Emily’s second chapter of her book is authentic femininity. She gives several lessons on what an authentic women in Church teaching and in her experience is. Emily said women are told so many lies in the culture about beauty, about career importance, about having children. Because they are lies, they cause unrest in the feminine soul. So she wanted to expose the Church’s teachings on femininity. She had to get over the false understandings of femininity. Scot said some myths are that men who wouldn’t be attracted to a woman who owns her own house or is extremely intelligent or other myths. Emily tried to debunk these myths through her own experience and the writing of Pope John Paul II and St. Edith Stein and others. She said when you look around at married women, you realize how silly all those myths are. All kinds of women are married. You will marry if you are being the woman God called you to be. But women can think, “I would be married if only I were …” She outlines 10 lessons that outline what women are called to be and learn. Emily said the point of submit is not to submit to controlling ex-boyfriend, but to submit to God and yield to God in every moment of the day. Gentleness is about controlling strengths. Being attentive to the people you’re with. She explains what these feminine qualities really mean. Women learn to receive help, love, counsel, compliments, attention, guests, knowledge, the grace God longs to give you. Scot said this is good advice for all of us. Emily said a lot of the lessons single women need to learn are the same lessons we all need to learn. Scot noted how many Catholic women raised to live a chaste life, then reach a certain age and unmarried and then submit to the culture and end up in serious sin with a man. We don’t have enough support in our society to help single people live chastely. Emily said sometimes women hear advice to loosen up a little in order to get a man to the altar. So she wrote about how to live chastity. If you make a compromise to get a guy to the altar, the compromises don’t stop. Love doesn’t mean asking someone to commit a mortal sin. Scot said the chapter on do’s and don’ts of dating is a list of helpful advice to give any young woman. Sometimes single women won’t have enough folks to normalize their thoughts and help them not feel alone in this. If God wants me be to married, He doesn’t want me to commit mortal sin to find a husband. Emily said we’ve picked up a lot of our expectations in dating from TV and moves and guys are very different in real life. PEople who are dating according to our culture’s norms are deeply unhappy. What the culture is doing isn’t working. Emily noted that there used to be much community interaction with people in different states in life. Singles lived with families and grandparents and the like. Emily said she has learned so much from her married friends about what it takes to be a good wife and mother. Scot said one chapter answers advice in a Dear Abby format. One question deals with the question of being childless as they get older and worry about having children. Emily said a lot of fertility problems are caused by contraception, so if you contract for 20 years and then want a child at 37, you can have problem. But where there is no contraception, many women can have multiple children past their mid-thirties, and it’s even almost a mini-fertility boom. She also discusses adoption. 4th segment: Scot said so much of the practical advice is how to have a God-centered attitude toward the situation you’re in. There’s a whole gamut of advice on how to recognize that God has given you this moment to take advantage of opportunities that come your way, from hobbies to traveling to reading to looking for ways to serve those around you. She talks about being grateful and counting blessings. Women have a special relationship with beauty, whether it’s creating a pretty blanket or redecorating your house. But it comes down to relationship with Christ. When you’re in love with him, it makes everything much more bearable. In the book, Emily addresses the advice that she should just “offer it up.” In this period of waiting when patience is important, how do you integrate offering it up. Emily said it’s very simple. If she’s really sad, just look at the cross and say, “I accept this. This is what you have for me.” The only wasted suffering is suffering we refuse. God is with us in our suffering. Scot said Emily also advises us to count our blessings. Emily said we have to cultivate a spirit of gratitude, as cheesy and hokey as it sounds. It’s easy to focus on what you don’t have, but God has given us so much. See how richly God has poured out on us, even if we haven’t yet received what we most wanted. Scot said he was stopped in the book by the statement that in some ways women are single by choice, not by chance. They own the situation because of the standards they have and the way they date. God, I trust in you, and am making choices the way you’ve taught me to. Emily said a lot of women could be married right now, but they recognized that the options they’ve had were not the right spouse. Being single longer to hold out for the right spouse is a good decision. Emily said the book is really for women from early 20’s on up. For women who want to be married, it doesn’t matter if you’re 23 or 53, if you’re not living the vocation your heart is crying out for, it can hurt just as much at any age. Scot asked what feedback she’s got from men. She said most men who read the book have liked it and they’ve received some wisdom from that for themselves. She said there is no planned sequel. She is working on a book that builds on the Theology of the Body chapter, how women can really live the theology of the Body outside of the bedroom, dressing, eating, and serving others.…
Summary of today’s show: Fr. Joseph H. Casey, S.J., is a native son of Lynn, Mass., but has been a Jesuit for 75 years, a priest for 63, and he’s assisted at St. Julia Parish in Weston for 56! Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell talk with the 94-year-old Fr. Casey about how he came to his vocation, his many years teaching theology and philosophy, and his relationship with one of the pre-eminent moral theologians in the Church today, Germain Grisez. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr. Joseph H. Casey, S.J. Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Fr. Joseph H. Casey, S.J. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Mark talked about how Fr. Mark got a few people who volunteered to work in the tribunal in expert fields based on his bulletin announcements in parishes last week. He has up to 4 people volunteered. He also hired a new employee to fill an open position. Fr. Mark also talked about how Fr. Kevin Sepe, the pastor of St. Francis in Braintree, threw a barbecue for Fr. Mark’s family on Memorial Day. Today’s guest is Fr. Joseph Casey, S.J. Fr. Mark said Fr. Joe has been a key advisor and mentor for him, especially over the decade Fr. Mark has worked in the Pastoral Center. They noted that Fr. Joe has been a priest for 63 years and has been active, teaching classes up into his 80s. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcomed Fr. Joe Casey to the show. Fr. Joe said it’s been an inspiration to work with Fr. Mark. Scot said Fr. Casey grew up in Lynn and asked him about it. Fr. Joe said he was born in West Lynn. It was a very Catholic atmosphere. Their parish was St. Patrick’s, which had a building with a school downstairs and a church above. It was ghetto-lie, but he was very content. He attended daily Mass with his sister. Then he went to St. Mary’s Boys High School (which is now St. Mary’s High School). It was the second year it was open. Fr. Casey talked about the priests of the parish and school and how he related to them. He said he first began thinking about the priesthood when he was in grammar school with the Dominican nuns. In high school it was encouraged by the atmosphere. He did half-expect to see an angel appear to tell him to go, but it didn’t happen of course. He went on to Boston College and met Fr. Tommy Feeney. He suggested Fr. Joe enter the Jesuits. After a time, came to love the Society more after spending a week at St. Mary’s in the North End when his mother was dying at Mass. General. Fr. Mark said it was interesting that he gained his calling to the Jesuits in the novitiate. Scot said there so many religious order priests in the archdiocese and have been blessed by them. It sounds like Fr. Joe was thinking of the diocesan priesthood and it was just happenstance that God put the Jesuits in front of him and it was only then that he felt the call to the order. Scot asked about Jesuit formation. Fr. Joe said they have two years of novitiate and two years more. He did those years at Weston College, which is now Campion Center. He said there were 24 men in his class. He did three years of philosophy at Weston and then went to teach at the new prep school in Fairfield. After that he went for a Master’s degree in Philosophy at Fordham. That’s where he also discovered his love of Broadway plays. Then he went back to Weston College and did four years of theology. He was ordained after the third year of theology. In the fourth year, they helped in the parishes. Fr. Mark asked him how many years he has lived in Weston/Campion. Fr. Joe started there in 1940 and with a few interruptions, including going to Rome and Belgium between 1950 and 1953, he has lived there ever since. That’s 57 years. And for 56 years, he has helped at St. Julia’s in Weston. He recalled many of the pastors who had been there over the years. In fact, Fr. Joe served as pastor for six months in the absence of Fr. McGlinchy. Fr. Joe said in the early 1960s, he was absorbed into the faculty of Boston College when Weston’s classes were sent there. He taught until he was 87 in 2004. He taught natural theology and linguistic analysis. Natural theology is what we can know about God through reason. God is intelligent because he made intelligent people. But he’s intelligent in a super-eminent way. When Fr. Joe moved into BC, he was assigned to a core course on philosophy and ethics. In doing that he used Germain Grisez’s text “Beyond a New Morality.” Fr. Joe got to know Grisez. Fr. Mark said he’s a married layman who is a moral theologian at Mount St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He wrote a four-volume work called The Way of the Lord Jesus, and he would send each manuscript to Fr. Joe for him to comment on. When the Vatican had said Catholic moral theology needed to new revamped from the ground up, he set out to the work himself. He spent a whole year just outlining his work ahead of him. When he published the first volume at 791 pages, he got the Knights of Columbus to subsidize it and sold it for $35 each. He hasn’t yet published the fourth book. Scot said Fr. Joe has just published a book about Germain Grisez and claims to have read every word written by Grisez. The book is called “Guiding Your Own Life On The Way Of The Lord Jesus: Liberated By The Profound Theologian, Germain Grisez”. Fr. Mark clarified that Fr. Joe is one of the readers who helps Grisez, editing each book before it comes out. Scot asked Fr. Joe what motivated him to write a book about Grisez at 94. Fr. Joe said Grisez has had a huge impact on his spiritual life to the point where he’s requested that at his funeral a copy of Grisez’s book be in his casket. The key point is that God elected to expand the divine family by creating human beings who could become the adopted children of God, that we would be divinized. Scot said it’s wonderful to hear how a layman father of 4 deeply impacted a well-educated Jesuit priest. Fr. Joe said Grisez is a profound thinker and devoted to the Church. When he presents a position, it is always profoundly logical. Fr. Mark said Grisez is hard to read, except for a little book called . Fr. Joe said this book was written in the middle of the third volume of his great work. It was co-written with Russell Shaw, a Catholic journalist. They write a history of the idea of the personal vocation, which began in the New Testament, lasted until about the 3rd or 4th century and only came back strongly around Vatican II. Fr. Mark said there are neutral choices. It’s not good v. bad, but multiple options that are neither good nor bad. We can choose the option that best serves our vocation. Scot said the sense he’s hearing that there are 3 levels of vocation: be a Christian; a state of life (marriage, religious, ordained); and personal vocation, a unique blend of skills and talents to serve God’s plan of salvation. Fr. Joe said Grisez so emphasizes this personal vocation that it’s a grave error the way we’re pushing vocations today. Have people seek their personal vocations and the priestly and religious vocations will come. Scot asked what it’s like to be serving Communion to the great grandchildren of people he served 56 years ago. Fr. Joe said it’s very comfortable. He’s still asked to give the homily on occasion and concelebrate. He never got too involved in the parish and so he was never party to any politics, which made everyone comfortable with him. Fr. Joe recalled his ordination retreat and he asked how much pastoral work he should do and the response was enough in order to keep it incorporated with his apostolic teaching. Fr. Joe has also seen Blessed John XXIII Seminary from its beginning in Weston. He said he was impressed by the many men who have come to the seminary after long careers in the secular area. Fr. Mark said it’s amazing how many diocesan priests this Jesuit has affected. He’s like a diocesan Jesuit with a split heart for both the archdiocese and the Society of Jesus. About he priesthood, Fr. Joe said it’s a glorious vocation filled with joy and awe that he can celebrate Mass. He’s recently become so aware that at Mass he’s standing with Mary at the crucifixion of Jesus. Secondly, to know that God was so condescending to our weaknesses that he gave us the sacrament of reconciliation and that God uses Fr. Joe as a conduit. Jesus tells the penitent through Fr. Joe that he forgives and loves him. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Moses said to the people: “Ask now of the days of old, before your time, ever since God created man upon the earth; ask from one end of the sky to the other: Did anything so great ever happen before? Was it ever heard of? Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live? Or did any god venture to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, with strong hand and outstretched arm, and by great terrors, all of which the LORD, your God, did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? This is why you must now know, and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other. You must keep his statutes and commandments that I enjoin on you today, that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may have long life on the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you forever.” Second Reading for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, June 3, 2012 (Romans 8:14-17) Brothers and sisters: For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. Gospel for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, June 3, 2012 (Matthew 28:16-20) The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they all saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Scot asked Fr. Joe about how we can overanalyze the Trinity, which is the communion and relationship of Three Persons in love. Scot said we are called to call God “Abba” which is the equivalent of a child calling his father “daddy”. FR. Joe said it is mystery, but he always starts with Jesus, because he is easier to understand in his humanity. And Jesus tells me that there is a Father, but he is not the Father, and that he is sending the Holy Spirit. And because he trusts Jesus, he believes in the Trinity. Fr. Mark said his favorite passage on the Trinity is by Romano Guardini that we don’t want to understand the Trinity because to understand the Trinity it would limit God. Fr. joe summed up that if you understand the Trinity, then you are a heretic. The Trinity teaches us that to be a human person is to be a member of a community of persons in love.…
Summary of today’s show: Our panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Domenico Bettinelli looked at the headlines of the week on Thursday, including a special Pentecost vigil Mass with Cardinal Seán and members of ecclesial movements and ethnic communities; 10 new graduates of the Master of Arts in Ministry program at TINE; the Archdiocese is looking for a new director of pastoral planning; Fr. Gerry Dorgan retires after 21 years as pastor; a native son becomes Bishop of Buffalo; and more Americans are self-identifying as pro-life. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese; and Domenico Bettinelli of Pilot New Media Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Special Pentecost Mass; Master of Arts in Ministry; Seeking Pastoral Planning Director; New Buffalo bishop; More pro-life; Vatileaks 1st segment: 2nd segment: “New ecclesial movements and realities join cardinal for Pentecost Vigil,” The Boston Pilot “Ten receive Masters of Arts in Ministry degrees,” The Boston Pilot Those receiving Master of Arts in Ministry degrees are: Marika Donders, of Keene, N.H. Linda Russo of Watertown Chad Puclowski of Hanover David Gilpin of Quincy Kathleen T. Riordan of Milton Kay Kociuba of Wellesley Susan Horne (Tierney) of Needham Kristin Campbell of Medford Marie (O’Connor) Sweeney of Melrose Jeff Volkers of Goshen, N.H. “Archdiocese begins search for Pastoral Planning Director,” The Boston Pilot “Father Thomas F. Murray, 81,” obituary, The Boston Pilot “Danvers pastor Father Dorgan granted senior priest status June 5,” The Boston Pilot 3rd segment: “Pope appoints Maine’s Bishop Malone to Buffalo,” The Boston Pilot…
Summary of today’s show: The family that prays together, stays together and local families can put that maxim into practice on Saturday at the Family Rosary Retreat. Sr. Terry Rickard, Beth Mahoney, and John Monahan of Holy Cross Family Ministries share with Scot Landry the plans for the day at Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton to bring families together in prayer and inspire and encourage them to make a commitment to family prayer in the future. Sr. Terry also reveals plans for a new parish small-group program on the Blessed Mother due out this fall in time for the Year of Faith as a collaboration between HCFM and Renew International. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Beth Mahoney, Sister Terry Rickard, and John Monahan Links from today’s show: Video of the 2011 Family Rosary Retreat Today’s topics: Family Rosary Retreat 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show. Fr. Matt is away today. Today, we’re talking about the importance of the rosary and the upcoming family rosary retreat in Brockton at Cardinal Spellman High School on Saturday from 8am to 5pm. Beth Mahoney is mission director for Holy Cross Family Ministries. She said this will be the third annual retreat. The format is to keep the families together. They’ll gather in worship, watch a film on Fr. Peyton, split into English and Spanish tracks with speakers, Q&A, then a panel discussion. They’ll pray the rosary together followed by Mss with Bishop Dooher. Scot said previously they had a kids track and adults track. Beth said they wanted to remain faithful to Fr. Peyton’s admonition that families that pray together, stay together. Few programs keep the whole family together. Cardinal Spellman welcomed them into their school this year and the theme is “Closest Neighbors, Trustworthy Friends, Brother & Sisters: Living the Beatitudes Together in Christ”. Scot said the theme for ARISE in the Archdiocese of Boston is Arise, Together in Christ, which means we are making the journey together. Sr. Terry said when we say together in Christ, it’s such an important response to individualism in our culture. The personal relationship with Christ takes place in the heart of the Church. The Christian life is first and foremost lived within the family. Sr. Terry will speak on Mary as Mother of God and the first disciple. She sees the Word and obeyed it. We recall our natural family and our spiritual family through baptism. Sr. Terry said in the Gospel of Luke we see Mary become a primary character in the Gospel. She is the first to hear the word of the Angel and then says, “Let it be done to me according to your Word.” As her discipleship unfolds, she hears the Word and then goes to her cousin Elizabeth to share the Word. She is the first evangelizer. Scot said it must be challenging to craft the keynote address to appeal to the whole family. Sr. Terry said the use of story is the most powerful way to cur across age groups. She hopes to enflesh this word by using both personal and other stories. John said the retreat goes to the core of the HCFM mission, reaching out to families. This is what attracted John. He recalled how important it was for Fr. Peyton, who founded the HCFM. John recounted how Fr. Peyton founded his ministry in upstate New York and it has spread around the world to reach millions. Scot said he can’t think of any other local family retreat like this, to spend some time together in a prayerful environment. Beth said the family regret encourages them to see the presence of God in everything they do, in every way they live the beatitudes for others and for the family. She said over the past three years she has noticed many new faces each year. She hears from families who say they realize for the first time that they are not alone in the difficulties of family prayer. The families also learn about the many resources available to help them pray, whether books or videos or websites. Sr. Terry said many families are pulled in a lot of directions. They hope to share many action steps to share faith together. She said in the programs done by her Renew International, like ARISE and Why Catholic, they are directed mainly to adults, but they try to include many resources for the adults to take back to their families. She said events like this help families join with other families and reenergizes them to live their faith more fully in their day to day life and hopefully make a commitment to make these practices a habit. Beth said if families can only come for part of the day, the setup allows for people to jump in where they can. The donation is $10 per person, up to a max of $50 per family. It includes lunch. They can register online all the way up to the morning of or even at the door. John said an event like this can help families see how they can work together. It lets them consider who they are, what prayer means and how the rosary can work for them. When you see other families do it, it becomes more natural. 2nd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Lynn O’Connor from Bedford, MA. She wins a Rosary Activity Set for children by Holy Cross Family Ministries and a CD: Roses for Mary by Quiet Waters Productions. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 3rd segment: Scot said one of the fruits of collaboration between Renew and HCFM is a program on the Blessed Mother in time for the Year of Faith. It involves small groups that connect personal experience with the faith of the Church and moves to some kind of commitment in our lives. Fr. John Phalen is the author of the program. HCFM has produced a rosary video that shows athletes and other celebrities witnessing to their faith and then praying a decade of the rosary. This will be part of the program. Archbishop Kurtz of Louisville gives an introduction in which he talks about his relationship with the Blessed Mother and how it led to his priesthood. John said the video is called Rosary Stars and it will be part of the retreat this weekend. The individual reads from Fr. Peyton’s prayer book and then reflect on that. More about the stars on the video can be found at the . Beth said the rosary was a prayer for the domestic church, for families. All members of the family can pray the rosary. In the educational component of family prayer, the children become the catechists for the family. The children encourage the parents to pray the rosary. On the other hand, she encourages parents to start in a simple way. Start with just the basic six or seven prayers and delve into the importance of our Blessed Mother to our lives. Scot said it’s helpful to use a booklet that’s often available. John quoted Fr. Peyton said a world at prayer is a world at peace and that begins in family prayer. He said Beth is very much in demand to speak on the rosary and family prayer. He named the three big awards Beth has been given for her work of spreading the message of family prayer. Scot asked Sr. Terry about her hopes for the new program. She said they want people to learn about Mary and how she is relevant today for us, particularly on Mary in Scripture. Also, how to learn how to pray to Mary. People often ask for help learning all the prayers of the rosary. They also offer a book by Fr. Thomas Mooney on praying the family rosary. She also said HCFM also has a great app for iPhones and iPads. Scot asked Sr. Terry how the Why Catholic program is doing in the Archdiocese of Boston. She said it’s doing well. There are almost 100 parishes involved. Those small groups were together for 3 years and have now committed to four more years. They just had meetings throughout the archdiocese for the program. At each meeting, they had a priest-leader, lay leader, and a lay participant talk about best practices. Scot said Why Catholic is a journey through the Catechism. Each year focuses on one of the four pillars of the Catechism. Scot emphasized that people can join in any time and many new parishes are also joining in as well. He aid a group of Chinese-speaking Catholics that very much wanted the curriculum to be available in Chinese and worked with Renew International to translate it. Sr. Terry said Boston was the first archdiocese to use Arise and from the beginning Cardinal Seán wanted it available to everyone so they translated it into 7 languages. They have several hundred people involved in the Chinese language version. Now they are coordinating a translation into Vietnamese and the Powerpoints and handouts for training of leaders has been done. Beth said HCFM said they just had a contest on prayer and 5th grader from St. John the Evangelist in Canton won it this year. Next year, the theme will be Joy to the World on the joyful mysteries. The contest is open to the whole country and about 40,000 entered this year. They have a family retreat planned at the University of Notre Dame in August. They are also organizing a pilgrimage to Ireland in September with Fr. Phalen. They will visit the Fr. Peyton Center in Mayo and the shrine of Our Lady of Knock. On Monday, Beth, Fr. Phalen and Fr. John Phelan will be leaving for the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin.…
Summary of today’s show: Just when you might have given up on the next generation of young Catholics, we meet Kathleen Grey and Catherine Asher, two young women graduating from Ursuline Academy in Dedham, who sit down with Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to talk about their strong Catholic faith, which was handed on by their families and strengthened in their parishes and school, and how they hope to grow and to serve God in their bright futures. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Kathleen Grey and Catherine Asher Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Conversation with young Catholic women 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Chris caught up on their Memorial Day weekends. Fr. Chris was out at Castle Island in South Boston. He said it was a great day honoring our veterans. Fr. Chris was also out at Scot’s parish, St. Agnes in Arlington, over the weekend, visiting with the priests there. Scot said his kids look up to Fr. Flatley and Fr. Graham as good role models. Fr. Chris lived at St. Agnes for a brief time after he was first ordained. They also discussed the graduation for the Master of Arts in Ministry program at St. John Seminary last weekend. Bishop Arthur Kennedy, the outgoing rector, gave the homily at the Mass and Cardinal Seán presided over the ceremonies. Fr. Chris said the participants in the program are laypeople who make sacrifices several nights every week in addition to their family and job obligations. This Friday, they are having a completion Mass for those who took part in the Catechetical Certificate program. About 150 people have been participating one Saturday per month since October to learn more about their faith. Scot notes that Bishop Richard Malone, who was an auxiliary bishop in Boston and most recently Bishop of Portland, Maine, has been named bishop of Buffalo, New York. Scot said Bishop Malone is a big supporter of Catholic radio, which is good for the Station of the Cross network. Fr. Chris said Bishop Malone used to be secretary for education in the Archdiocese of Boston and is scheduled to speak at the priests’ convocation in Boston on June 7. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Kathleen Grey and Catherine Asher to the show. He asked Kathleen about her background. She as born in Boston and they lived in Norwood and then later moved to Canton. They remained parishioners at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Norwood. She attended St. Catherine in Siena school. She’s been an altar server and now trains younger kids as servers. The former pastor Msgr. Connie McCrae asked her to become the trainer for altar servers. When she started in 5th grade as an altar server, she didn’t know what her faith meant to her. She had learned the facts, but was interested in learning what it meant for her life. By the time she transferred to Ursuline, she realized she wasn’t going to let it go. She wanted to be involved in helping others in their faith and has since become a religious education teacher as well. Scot said teaching ninth grade catechism for anybody would be difficult, never mind a high school senior. He asked how it helped her grow? Kathleen said it’s not easy because they want to be independent and speak for themselves. They are trying to find their own voices. She told them as someone who’s seventeen teaching those who are 14 and 15, she doesn’t have a lot more knowledge than them, but that they would take the journey together. Catherine said she’s lived in Milton with her family. She attended Glover Elementary School and was involved in a French immersion program. She went to a public middle school for one year before deciding to attend Ursuline. She was a member of Girl Scouts for 10 years and has also played viola. She’s been involved in a number of extra curricular activities, including choral group, which is the liturgical choir. She also sings in the church choir at St. Elizabeth’s. Singing in the choir has been a turning point for her faith and was a way to bond with her family. Her father is musical director at the parish and her mom and three sisters also sing in the choir. Catherine said her extended family is also musical. At holidays, the whole family will sing together. For example at Christmas, they will sing carols as their dad plays the piano. Catherine said her favorite hymn is “Lead me, Lord” because it’s uplifting. It’s been anthem for her life because it’s so difficult to lead a good Catholic life. Scot asked her what led her to play the viola. She said at Christmas and Easter in the parish, they pull out all the stops and she plays the viola during Mass. Her older sister had switched from violin to viola and when she entered Ursuline, she decided to switch as well. She said it allowed her to excel in her instrument. Violin is so competitive in the musical world because there are so many violinists. As a violist she’s been able to be a leader in symphonies she’s involved in. Kathleen said her favorite hymn is “Open my Eyes, Lord”. She learned it while preparing for First Communion and the teacher taught them how to Sign it. Scot asked Kathleen why she picked Ursuline Academy. She said in sixth grade she was struggling in her academics and her parents looked at other options to help her focus her academics. The only school she looked at was Ursuline. She remembers at the open house meeting the teachers and how everyone was very welcoming. It made her want to be part of that small community. She also was glad to not have the distractions of boys and not have to worry about her appearance every day. She saw it as a way to express her faith and be proud of it. Kathleen said there are about 400 students and there are 73 seniors graduating. Fr. Chris asked about St. Angela Merici. Catherine said St. Angela lived in Italy in the 16th century. She had a vision on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She founded a community of women to educate young women. The Ursuline Order has schools all over the world. Ursuline Academy is specifically a college preparatory school that pushes you to excel academically but also in your person, to be a right-thinking and right-acting person. Catherine said her two elder sisters went to different Catholic girls schools. Her parents strong believers in Catholic single-sex education for the education of the whole person. She decided to go to Ursuline because her third sister went there. At the time, Catherine the decision to leave her old school and go to Ursuline was difficult, but she became very comfortable at Ursuline very quickly. Scot said there are fewer single-sex schools. What does Kathleen think is the strongest reason to go to Ursuline? She said it helps you become who you are meant to be. You don’t care what other people think. There are fewer distractions. It’s a great opportunity to develop a close group of friends and to develop her faith. It’s also a great education. Fr. Chris asked what traditions Ursuline has. Kathleen said one is Mission Day, a day for girls to shop, but all the money goes to various charities. It brings community, alumnae, and families altogether. Catherine said it’s a far in the school where each homeroom becomes a store. One room is a country store. Another room is the jail where you can pay to send someone to “jail” and the person can either pay to make bail or just serve time there. Kathleen emphasized the day begins with Mass. Catherine said Serviam “I will Serve” is an integral part of the school. Everyone is required to serve a certain number of service hours each year. Catherine served at Beth Israel Deaconness Lab in Milton. Kathleen served her time in the Catholic Media Secretariat at the Pastoral Center. Kathleen said she wanted to do something connected to her faith and she’s had an interest in communications and journalism. She spent a whole month in the Pastoral Center, working with Rick Heil on The Good Catholic Life and writing a couple of articles for The Pilot. Scot asked what it’s like at the Pastoral Center. She was apprehensive at being the youngest. She made it a goal to start every day with Mass. She’d never had a job like this and so she learned a lot, whether sitting at her desk or sitting in on the show. She’s learned a lot hearing God’s message. Catherine said her classmates are working in hospitals, volunteering in local elementary schools, working with Friends of the Unborn in Quincy, volunteering with cancer patients, at the Mass. Hospital School helping children with developmental disabilities in horseback riding. Scot said what he liked about the program was that it says that their education is not complete until they’ve lived this service. Kathleen said she believes God has a plan for everything. Everything they’ve learned is not wasted and they will take it with them for their whole lives. Kathleen will be attending Emmanuel College in Boston. Her mom attend the college and she loved it. Her parents were married in the chapel there as well and they’ve stayed connected over the years. Catherine will be attending Fordham University in the Bronx. She won’t be wearing a Yankees hat on campus. She’s deferring for a year in order to study in France next year with Rotary International. She’ll be a high school student for another year in southern Normandy and living with French families. She has a desire to immerse herself in another culture and try to understand another culture. There are so many different perspectives in the world and she hopes this year will give her a better understanding of people who live in a different environment. She hopes it expands her thinking and her view of the world. Kathleen plans to study communications and journalism, with a minor in theology. Catherine plans to to double major in French and biology. 3rd segment: Scot asked Kathleen and Catherine what they would say about their peers not practicing their faith with passion. Kathleen said teens who practice their faith are a minority. It is very difficult for them to express their faith confidently and to know there is truth in it. Scot asked why they think it’s been sparked in them and how parents could help their own kids. Catherine said a great blessing for her has been adults who have led by example, including her parents and her priests. They are firm in their beliefs. She credits family dinners every night in which they discuss challenges they face every day. They talk about why the Church believes what she does, ethical issues, and how Catholics should respond. She added that adults who want their children to be active shouldn’t stop encouraging them and show them why it’s important to you that they have this faith. Encourage them to be involved in their parish in any way they can. Fr. Chris asked what excites them the most about their faith. Kathleen said the Church is constant. There are so many parts of our lives that change, but the Church always believes what she believes. Having that strong voice is important to teens. Catherine said the loving nature of the Church, no matter who you are or whatever stage, you are loved. Catherine recommended on Facebook as a daily inspiration. Kathleen admits to being new on social media and she often encourages others to move away from checking Facebook all the time because of the ways it can be negative for their lives. Scot asked what questions about their faith they’ve had. Kathleen said the question of abortion and physician-assisted suicide and generally making decisions to drink do drugs and bullying are important among her peer group. Catherine said human sexuality is a big question for teens. She had a friend who asked why the Church thinks sex is bad. She explained what the Church teaches and realized her friend had a set idea of what the Church teaches and wasn’t open to hearing anything else. Scot noted how much racier television has become in the past 25 years. Fr. Chris said compared it to visiting Rome where everyone smokes. When you get home, everything in your suitcase smells like it. In our culture we are bombarded with these messages constantly and don’t realize how much of it we’re soaking up. He said the Church has a consistent message and if only we open our eyes and ears, how blessed we will be by it. Kathleen said she hopes in college that she stays close to her faith because it keeps her joyful, and that she stays prayerful. Catherine hopes that God will lead her where He needs her to be and that she will be an instrument of His will. Scot asked Catherine why Fordham and not Holy Cross, like her parents. She said she wanted to branch out on her own a little with a little distance from her family.…
Summary of today’s show: As we observe Memorial Day, we hear from a number of different voices, including the words of Fr. Paul Hurley, serving with the 101st Airborne Division; Beirne Lovely, archdiocesan general counsel who was a young Marine lieutenant during the Vietnam War; and Fr. Stephen Rock, pastor of St. Agnes in Reading who was a Navy chaplain for 34 years. Scot also talks to Mary Doorley and Michelle Huntley about a video they helped produce highlighting the service of the priests sent by the Archdiocese of Boston to serve as US military chaplains over the years and how the annual Catholic Appeal supports that ministry to servicemembers all over the world. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Stephen Rock, Beirne Lovely, Mary Doorley, Michelle Huntley Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Memorial Day 1st segment: Scot read a column by Fr. Paul K. Hurley, a military chaplain with the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army, that appeared in the Pilot this week. Twelve years of service as a Catholic chaplain in the Army have given me a deep respect for the men and women serving in the military. Though most soldiers deployed in combat zones are young (the majority under the age of 30), they are willing to lay down their lives for the sake of their friends and for their country. On one of my recent combat deployments, I was celebrating Mass in as many locations as possible to bring the sacraments to troops. Due to rugged terrain, most movements were done by helicopter. Though helicopter travel is the safest means of transportation, it often means an extended stay at a base until an aircraft for transport becomes available, or until combat operations permit travel. I’ll never forget one such time when I was stranded for several days at a small and remote Forward Operating Base (FOB) awaiting Army helicopter transport. An unexpected convoy arrived at the FOB with a very special mission. The soldiers explained that they had come from an even smaller and more remote FOB. Due to the location and isolation of their base, no Catholic priest had ever been able to reach them. After learning that a Catholic priest was at a base nearby, these soldiers had risked their lives to bring me to their location to celebrate Mass. All chaplains in the military provide counsel and care to the troops, but a Catholic priest’s primary mission is sacramental—to offer Holy Mass and confession. Though 20 percent of soldiers are Catholic, less than 6 percent of all Army chaplains are Catholic priests. More often than not, Catholic chaplains are not able to stay at one base or with one unit because the need is too great to visit troops who may not have encountered a Catholic priest in months. Despite a perilous route filled with dangers from roadside bombs or attacks, the soldiers in the convoy decided it was worth the risk to organize a mission to find a priest. These young soldiers’ hungry desire for God and Holy Communion was stronger than their fear of the dangers they faced. I was honored to travel with them, to celebrate the Eucharist, and to hear their confessions. As I geared up for the return trip to my base, I was inundated with the most meaningful and heartfelt gestures of gratitude. These young men were so thankful to have the presence of the Blessed Sacrament in their midst and have the opportunity to attend Mass and have their confession heard by a priest. I never have encountered such profound and genuine thankfulness for the gift of the Eucharist—in combat zones or at home in the U.S. These experiences crystallize how important it is for our soldiers to have access to a priest and to the sacraments. The ministry and presence of a chaplain can make all the difference for a soldier and help him or her find hope and comfort during difficult times—when a friend is wounded or killed, or when a soldier feels the loneliness that so often accompanies deployment. Away from home and loved ones for extended periods of time and living under the constant threat of attack and danger, soldiers look to a chaplain for normalcy and reminders of the love and comfort that family, friends, and faith provide. Though I’m a Boston priest, my work in the military takes me outside the boundaries of the Archdiocese of Boston to deployed troops who need the same pastoral care that is so easy to take for granted living in safety. The chaplain’s ministry helps carry out the universal mission of the Church to care for souls, and it is a ministry of which I am privileged and honored to be a part. The most important thing you can do to help this ministry is to pray. First, pray for the brave men and women who go into harm’s way in the name of freedom. Remember their families—spouses, children, parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, and uncles—who also are making a sacrifice. Second, pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood. We need more holy men to hear and answer the call to serve the Church as priests both domestically and abroad in the military. Finally, please pray for me, and for all priests serving in the military as chaplains. The Catholic faithful who offer their prayers renew and strengthen the work of all Catholic chaplains and this critical ministry of presence to our brothers and sisters in the military. May God continue to bless our faithful soldiers and give them the grace, hope, and strength they need to serve and protect our country and all of us. Father Paul K. Hurley is lieutenant colonel of the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army. His ministry is made possible in part, by the Archdiocese of Boston’s office of clergy personnel and the vocations office, two of 50 central ministries supported by the Annual Catholic Appeal. To support the Catholic Appeal, please visit . 2nd segment: We will now replay two segments from The Good Catholic LIfe on Memorial Day last year, interviews with Beirne Lovely, archdiocesan general counsel who also served as a US Marine in the Vietnam War, and with Fr. Stephen Rock, pastor of St. Agnes Parish who served for many years as a U.S. Navy chaplain.* Scot welcomes Beirne Lovely, general counsel for the archdiocese and a former Marine, to the show. Scot asked him about his military service. He was commissioned as a Marine officer directly from Dartmouth College in 1967, followed by six months in Marine officer training, and then directly to Vietnam. He was stationed there for 13 months, all of 1968, which was one of the worst years of the war, including the . He spent his whole tour up north, including a and the . He was very close to the North Vietnamese border, serving as a platoon commander in an infantry company. He became a company commander when his company commander was killed. Scot said his perception of the Marines is that they are the ones who go in first, taking on the most difficult and most life-threatening assignments. Beirne said that was true. The Marine Corps had responsibility for the northern region of South Vietnam so they primarily were facing uniformed, trained soldiers rather than guerillas, so that’s a fair statement. Beirne has been out of active duty with the Marines for 40 years now. What’s it like to be a veteran on Memorial Day, remembering all those who have served and given their lives? Beirne said he lost a lot of friends in Vietnams. He arrived in Vietnam on an airplane with about 40 infantry Second Lieutenants and of those about half were killed and virtually all of the rest were wounded, so he has a special memory of service. He spends Memorial Day with other veterans in his hometown of Milton, which has services of recognition of veterans. He’s spoken at a number of memorial services. He stays in touch with them year-round. He belongs to a number of veteran organizations to gather and recall the services of others. It’s a difficult day in some respects because it reminds him of the friends he’s lost as well as the people who served with and under him who were killed. He remains close to a small cadre of friends who he survived with and periodically they gather. Every year they celebrate the Marine Corps birthday on November 10. Boston is famous for its . They have a Marine Corps luncheon with over 2000 at the Hynes Convention Center. It’s the biggest gathering of Marines in the country and often the or the assistant commandant come and speak. They have a number of Medal of Honor winners who are present. Msgr. John McDonough, a priest of Boston and former Chief of Chaplains for the Air Force (who Scot and Beirne jokingly call “the General”) and Fr. Rich Erikson, the vicar general of the Archdiocese and reserve Air Force chaplain, have attended the last couple of years with Beirne. Scot asked Beirne about the message he often delivers about the debt we all owe to those who are willing to give their lives in service to their country, particularly those who have lost their lives. The principle message he tries to send is one of respect and thanks and admiration for those who have served. This past week was recently Armed Forces Day, which honors everyone, living and dead, who have served. Memorial Day is a special time to remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. When he talks to young people, many of them have no idea of this reality and have not experienced this and hopefully never will. But given Iraq and Afghanistan, people are more cognizant. He tries to make them understand that people can have a special calling and sometimes we have to do what we don’t like to do. No one likes war, but someone has to fight it. Scot said Beirne served in a time when the respect for the military was low during the War in Vietnam. Beirne said during his last parade at Dartmouth College before graduating, they had to move to the stadium because there were so many protesters. He remembers having eggs thrown at him. Coming back from Vietnam, he recalls spitting at him or looking the other way or yelling at him. Quite a different experience than what troops experience today. He doesn’t hesitate to say that he thinks Vietnam was a mistake, but when one is serving in the Armed Forces, you don’t challenge your superiors, from the President on down. Scot said we may face some of the same issues today where some don’t agree with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which can lead to an attitude towards men and women in uniform. It seems to have gotten better, but Scot’s not sure that we still show proper appreciation for those who offer their lives in protection of our country. What’s Beirne’s sense of how we as a society, particularly in Massachusetts, appreciate our servicemen and women? He thinks we’re getting much better at it. He thinks veterans are being accorded the respect that they’re due. It’s painful for him to watch. He wasn’t a big supporter of what we did in Iraq or the strategy in Afghanistan. It’s difficult to conceive how the war will be “won”. He has friends, whose children are in the service and going back for their third, fourth, or even fifth tours. In a sense, you’re waiting for the bubble to burst. Vietnam was somewhat similar. Beirne was at Khe Sanh for 100 days. It was a famous base in a valley that was ill-situated. He remembers taking patrols out every day for 100 days and running into small-arms contact every day without exception and forcing his troops to walk through the densest of brush. Today, the young people are forced to drive on roads which they don’t have complete control over and there’s no way to combat the improved explosive devices (IED). One of Beirne’s jobs, his hardest, was when he came back from Vietnam. He was assigned to Newport naval base as executive officer of the Marine barracks over a couple hundred Marines. His job every fourth day was to make casualty calls to families of Marines who had lost a loved one. He probably did 100 of those over 3-1/2 years. That was the most painful task. There’s nothing worse than knocking on the front the door and telling a mother her son is dead. Scot said, they know as soon as they see you. It’s a very quick notification in the sense that you have to get it out: “Mr Lovely, I’m sorry to tell you that your son, Charles, was killed two days ago in the Republic of Vietnam serving his country.” It just doesn’t get any worse than that. After the notification it was his job to follow through and handle the funeral and coordinate the military honors at the funeral. Of all the things that bring him tears, he’s not ashamed to say it, is thinking about those people who gave their lives. Scot said, both for our Catholic and non-Catholic listeners, Memorial Day takes on an air of “what cookout are you going to?” using the language of celebration, not thinking of how difficult it is for someone who’s made 100 of those calls and lost so many friends. What suggestion does Beirne have for everyone, but especially Catholics? Beirne said he was not the most devout and faithful Catholic when he finished college. But he remembers in Vietnam the role of the chaplain. At Khe Sanh, you had to stay in a trench all the time. They were taking 2,500 rounds per day of heavy artillery. These chaplains were notoriously visible, which gave him a great deal of comfort. His message to people is to pause some time during the day to think about those who have worn the uniform and have made the ultimate sacrifice for their God and their country from their perspective. Scot would add to that to pray for the souls of the faithful departed, particularly those who have served in the military. Something we’re very good at in the Church is remembering those who have gone before us. If you happen to encounter someone you know has served, thank them for their service, however short or long it is. 3rd segment: Scot welcomes Fr. Rock to show. He’s pastor of St. Agnes in Reading and a former Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard chaplain. Scot said he’s retired as a military chaplain and asked him about the assignments he’s had as a Navy chaplain. Fr. Rock said he served for 34 years, the first 13 in the Reserves and the rest on active duty. He served with the Marines in ; on board the out of San Diego, (which was built in Quincy); , North Carolina, with the Marines; and then in Sicily, Italy. From there he was called back to Washington to serve as personnel director for chaplains serving the Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard. Scot asked how many Navy chaplains are there? Fr. Rock said there were 1,100 chaplains around the world, 235 of them active duty priests. That was at the time he left he job in 1996. As he understands it now, there are less than 100 priests on active duty. After that job, he assigned himself to the out of Norfolk, Virginia, an aircraft carrier with 5,000 sailors and Marines on board. From there he went back to the Marines in Okinawa and then around the world again to , which gave him an opportunity to be in Rome on several occasions. For his last assignment, he returned to New England for the in New London, Connecticut. He spent 3 great years with those young men and women. Scot asked him what attracted to being a naval chaplain when he was in the seminary. Fr. Rock said his father had a cousin who was a chaplain with the Army Air Corp in World War II and he’s sure he heard some of those stories growing up. Also growing up in Boston, he had a great love of the ocean and stories of naval history here. He wanted to be a priest in conjunction with serving the country and traveling and seeing the world. Scot asked what it was like to be a chaplain on the Roosevelt, how it’s different from being pastor of a large parish in Reading. Fr. Rock said he was the senior chaplain on the ship with two Protestant chaplains who served under him along with a couple of enlisted personnel. Their role was to provide not only for the religious needs of the men and women onboard, but also the personal needs that are the equivalent of social work. They would handle all the Red Cross messages from the US regarding a death in the family or issues back home. They became pastors for the whole trip. The difference between being a chaplain on the ship and a pastor in a parish is just the uniform. In the parish he has the collar on and on the ship he has the uniform on. Some of the sailors would refer to him as “Captain” (his rank), but most would call him “Chaps” or “Padre” or “Father”. It was always a sign of endearment. He wasn’t into the rank. He remembers a sailor telling another, “Don’t worry about his rank. He couldn’t care less about it. He’s more interested in being with us.” Fr. Rock saw that as the ultimate compliment. His responsibilities as a chaplain extended beyond the Catholics. Fr. Rock said chaplains are responsible to provide religious opportunities for everyone. So of course he would celebrate the Masses, which occurred on the Roosevelt on Saturday night, Sunday morning, and Sunday afternoon. He would also helicopter to other ships in the carrier’s task force. There was no Jewish chaplain so he would work with the Jewish community onboard to prepare lay-led services. Before they would deploy, he would connect one of them with a local rabbi for training. They would do the same for all the other faith groups as well. Scot asked if there were big difference between serving with the Navy versus serving with the Marines and serving with the Coast Guard. Fr. Rock said that one interesting difference is that there were more Catholic Marines than there were Catholic sailors. He’s heard different explanations, but he doesn’t know how to explain it. He said there’s a deep desire in people for a better understanding of God, and who more than those putting themselves in harm’s way. They want to know there is a God who cares and loves them. That is the same between the services. The chaplains serve as role models and to share with them not only their hardships, but also the love of God and the hope that comes from a relationship with God. Scot asked what it’s like to be at sea for long periods. Fr. Rock said it’s awesome to see the beauty of God. Being a person of faith, you try to see God everywhere in His creation. At sea, you see the ocean, the clouds, the sunrises and sunsets, and the night sky. Also the animals you find at sea. You get a whole sense of God’s creation. In 1987, he was on an coming out of the Persian Gulf through the Straits of Hormuz about midnight. The Captain told him that they would have Mass that night out on the deck between weapons mounts and they jokingly named it St. of the Sea. It was incredible in terms of the brightness of the stars and the phosphorescence of the ocean so they didn’t need any lights for the Mass. The men and women could sense that God was with them in this place in a very special way. It’s one of his best memories celebrating Mass at sea. Scot asked Fr. Rock what is like to be chaplain in the Far East during his two stints at Okinawa for himself the men interacting in a culture different from our own. Fr. Rock said it’s a blessing for our military to have assignments around the world because they are put in contact with other cultures and they don’t have a choice. When they get there, they can embrace it and go out and discover it, or they just stay on the base. For those that want to learn as much as they can, there’s a richness that opens up for them. Fr. Rock was blessed to have a priest in the local diocese, a Capuchin Franciscan from Wisconsin who’d been there since the 1950s. He was a great mentor to all the priests coming through Okinawa and he gave them a view into the local culture that was very Shinto Buddhist but also connected to the Catholic Church. The more Fr. Rock understood Shinto, it was like reading the Old Testament. He remembers being at a ceremony in a town in northern Okinawa called , for the cherry blossom festival, which is a big celebration for Japan. There was a huge banyan tree in the middle of the city, in front of which was an altar covered with fruits and vegetables and other items, like sake. Of course, Fr. Rock didn’t understand Japanese, so he just had to go on what he saw was happening. But he watched them chant, beat the drum, and dance around, and then take the food on the altar and throw it up into the tree, and then take the big bottles of sake and pour them on the roots of the tree (which disappointed the Marines he was with). Later on the day, one of his chaplain friends who’d been a missionary in Taiwan before becoming a chaplain said to Fr. Rock that’s right out of the Old Testament. Wherever the patriarchs had encountered God in a special way, they would build an altar and offer sacrifice to God in honor of that visit. For the Shinto, in the ceremony they weren’t worshipping the tree, but worshipping the gods as they understood them. What they did know is that because the tree was so big and unique in Okinawa, they believed the gods as they understood them must have touched earth in this particular spot. The Franciscan missionary told him that they were able to use much of the folklore to help the people understand Christianity because of the connections to Christian understanding. The more he traveled in Asia and visited Shinto shrines, he saw the devotion of the people at them and their sense of the divine mystery. They had no understanding of it as we do, but they recognized that there was something beyond them. At these places of worship they would be present while we in the West, without our scientific way of thinking and wanting to figure everything out, have lost a lot of the sense of the sacred and the divine. The biggest difficulty for Christianity in that part of the world is the crucifixion. They can’t understand the humiliation of the cross. Fr. Rock recalls a book that said the way to the Japanese heart is through the compassion of Christ and the stories of Scripture like the Samaritan woman and the the woman with the hemorrhages. Fr. Rock said it enriched the spiritual lives of those from the West who were able to experience it. Scot asked Fr. Rock how often he brings his experiences in the Navy to his preaching at St. Agnes. He replied that it depends on what’s going on. He tries not to tell Navy stories all the time, but there are opportunities to bring his experience to a particular reading. Scot asked him to describe St. Agnes. He said it’s a busy parish with a lot going on. They have had a great foundation of faith-building in the parish. They had Fr. Arthur Flynn as pastor for 33 years and they did a lot of great spiritual development at that time. Fr. Rock wants to go from being a good parish to a great parish and move forward, improving their outreach. That’s one of the big differences from being a chaplain. On a naval base, you take care of the chapel and maintain things for two or three years or maintain the chaplaincy on a ship, and you move on to another assignment. But now Fr. Rock is close to his fourth anniversary at St. Agnes, which is the longest he’s been in one place for the last 25 years. So on the one hand, he could sit back and relax, but on the other, there’s so much that needs to be done working with all the parishioners and growing the parish. Something they’ve took on was the project related to the book, “From Maintenance to Mission,” by Fr. Bob Rivers, to be come a church that is mission-oriented. They started the process a year ago and in October they did the parish-wide survey during the homily at Mass. The surveys were sent to the at Georgetown, who complied the data and put it together in a report. Then they did focus groups which involved about 140 people. In February, they had a listening day at which 175 people came to the church for six hours. They were excited to be able to talk and be heard. Then in March they had a discernment day, trying to narrow down all the ideas of listening day into some practical things they could move forward with. That was another six hour day. They have another one coming up at the beginning of June that they call vision day, to lay out what they will do for the next three years in outreach. It begins a process that is Christ-centered and will be all laid out on Pentecost weekend. Scot said he will have Fr. Rock and some of his parishioners back on the show to talk about this process which could be a model for other parishes. He thanked Fr. Rock for his service to our country and as a priest here in the Archdiocese of Boston. Fr. Rock said Memorial Day is a reminder to us of the sacrifice of all who have gone before us and a good day to remember them, to pray for them, and to thank God for the gifts we have in this country of those who are willingly to go in harm’s way on our behalf. 4th segment: Scot welcomed Mary Doorley and Michelle Huntley from Boston Catholic Development Services to the show. Scot said the office has created a video honoring military chaplains from the Archdiocese of Boston. Mary said they approached Fr. Michael Medas in the Clergy Personnel office earlier this spring if they could reach out to chaplains. Those chaplains shared their stories and photos which were edited into a video that has been getting a lot of positive response. Michelle said priests serving in the military is a wonderful gift to the Church and we often don’t remember them. There are hundreds of thousands of Catholic soldiers serving overseas who need the sacraments too. Our priests lay down their lives in service for them. Scot said it’s important we’re connected through the support of these chaplains. Mary said it’s sometimes very difficult for servicemembers to receive those sacraments.When we support the Catholic Appeal, we help that ministry. Scot said the priests of the Archdiocese of Boston and their bishops have been very generous. The Archdiocese is know for generosity in serving the St. James Society, but the Archdiocese also sends many priests to the chaplains corp. Michelle said it’s shocking that people don’t know the kind of service that chaplains provide and the grace and gift that it is for our men and women in the military. Scot said he’s read testimonies from service members who can go months without seeing a chaplain and then when one comes they treasure the opportunity for the sacraments. Those priests are able to be sent from the Archdiocese because of the work of the Vocations Office and the Clergy Personnel Office and our seminaries. There are currently 12 who are actively serving as chaplains, but so many more in our parishes have experience as military chaplains. Many of these pastors in our parishes are still in the Reserves and National Guard, providing service throughout the year. There are a number of priests who are themselves veterans from before they entered seminary. Mary thanked the many families who have supported the Catholic Appeal and asked those who are listening to do so if they can.…
Summary of today’s show: Whether it’s in a media interview or at a Memorial Day barbecue, Catholics are often called upon to defend their faith. Scot Landry, Fr. Mark O’Connell, and Dom Bettinelli discuss Austin Ivereigh’s new book “How to Defend the Faith Without Raising Your Voice,” and especially his 10 principles of civil communication, so that all Catholics can give a good witness and avoid winning arguments at the expense of changing hearts and minds. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Domenico Bettinelli Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: How to Defend the Faith Without Raising Your Voice: 10 Principles of Civil Communication Because Dom Bettinelli was a guest on today’s show, he was unable to provide the usual detailed show transcript. Please listen to the audio recording if possible or pick up the book 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Mark caught up on the last two weeks. Fr, Mark recalled Msgr. Frank Strahan’s story about singing before Pope John Paul II at a moment’s notice. We heard this story when Msgr. Strahan was on the show. 2nd segment: We all at some point represent the Church to our friends or families or coworkers to defend the faith. A new book by Austin Ivereigh covers these principles. Scot spent last weekend at a workshop with the author and others. Excerpts from Introduction to “How to Defend the Faith Without Raising Your Voice”: We know how it feels, finding yourself suddenly appointed the spokesman for the Catholic Church while you’re standing at a photocopier, swigging a drink at the bar, or when a group of folks suddenly freezes, and all eyes fix on you. ‘‘You’re a Catholic, aren’t you?’’ someone says. ‘‘Um, yes,’’ you confess, looking up nervously at what now seems to resemble a lynch mob. What you’ll read in these pages is the result of a group of Catholics getting together to prepare themselves for precisely these high-pressure, get-to-the-heart-of-it-quick, kind of contexts: not just around the water-cooler, but in three-minute interviews on live television. Their experience, distilled here, will help you to ‘‘reframe’’ the hot-button issues which keep coming up in the news and provoke heated discussion. We call these issues ‘‘neuralgic’’ because they touch on nerve endings, those places in the body which, when pressed, cause people to squeal. In our public conversation, they are the points which lie on the borders where mainstream social thinking inhabits (at least apparently) a different universe from that of Catholics. Touch on them, and people get very annoyed. “How on earth can you believe that?” they ask you. So while we can’t predict the news story, we can be pretty sure about the neuralgic issues. This book helps you to think through ten of the most common (and the toughest) for yourself; to understand where the criticism is coming from; and to consider how to communicate the Church’s position in ways that do not accept the presuppositions of the criticism. At the end of each of the nine briefing chapters, there are some ‘‘key messages’’ which summarise these positions—and which will hopefully help you next time you’re challenged. Ten Principles of Civil Communication Here are the ten principles which helped Catholic Voices develop the mind-set needed for this work: Look for the positive intention behind the criticism. Shed light, not heat. People won’t remember what you said as much as how you made them feel. Show, don’t tell. Think in triangles. Be positive. Be compassionate. Check your facts, but avoid robotics. It’s not about you. Witnessing, not winning. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.” Second Reading for Pentecost Sunday, May 27, 2012 (1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13) Brothers and sisters: No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit. Gospel for Pentecost Sunday, May 27, 2012 (John 20:19-23) On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”…
Summary of today’s show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy consider the news headlines of the week, including the lawsuit filed by 43 Catholic organizations against the Department of Health and Human Services universal healthcare mandate; the attack on a parish in Acushnet for the pro-marriage message on its sign; the Vatican’s rejection of appeals related to closed parishes; the death of the dean of Boston historians; and more. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Catholic HHS mandate lawsuits; Parish threatened by gay activists; Church closing appeals rejected 1st segment: Scot and Susan discussed that there are many offices moving within the Pastoral Center this week, including Susan’s. Scot said the building has been occupied by Central Ministries for 4 years and now some entities related to the Archdiocese moving the Pastoral Center and also moving people who work within the same secretariat so they will be working in close proximity. Scot also said the graduation ceremony for the Master of Arts in Ministry program at St. John Seminary was last night. It was the 10th graduation and they had one DRE who received a Master’s degree. Bishop Arthur Kennedy gave the commencement address and focused on St. Augustine. Cardinal Seán presented the diplomas and gave his blessing to the 10 graduates. 2nd segment: Scot said this past Monday 43 Catholic dioceses and organizations filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services for the Obamacare mandate. The most prominent dioceses are New York and Washington, DC, as well as St. Louis. [“Federal lawsuits by Catholic dioceses, groups seek to stop IllIS mandate”, Boston Pilot/CNS, 5/21/12](http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=14716 Fr. Roger said the Church has been negotiating with the Obama administration since last year to find an accommodation for religious conscience. Despite many attempts for compromise, the administration gave a phony accommodation. After a year of work, it became obvious that the Administration is obstinate in violating the First Amendment and federal law. Cardinal Timothy Dolan said they had to reluctantly file suit. Fr. Roger said Catholics should step up to support the Church in this matter. This was the last resort of the US bishops. Scot said the expectation is one of these suits will end up before the Supreme Court. The Pilot has an editorial this week called “Stop the HHS mandate”: The decision of a wide spectrum of Catholic institutions to join together in a lawsuit against the Obama administration should not come as a surprise. The HHS mandate that would force most Catholic institutions to provide contraception. sterilization services and abortive pills to employees is an unprecedented attack on the freedom of conscience and religious freedom. Furthermore. enacted in an electoral year to. reportedly. mobilize the more liberal segment of the electorate. this decision is an insult to Catholic voters. The issue at stake is not accessibility to contraception. which is widely available at very low cost. The issue for Catholics. and all people of good will, is that the government feels compelled, for no compelling reason, to force individuals and institutions to act against their conscience. If this mandate becomes effective, those advancing the most secular agendas will have a precedent to claim that, in fact, religion does not belong in the public square, opening the door to other restrictions on religious freedom. The Obama administration should make no mistake. Catholics of all political persuasions will be united on the need to defend individual freedom of conscience in front of an intrusive and unnecessary government mandate. That is at the core of Christian beliefs and even those currently nor practicing their faith know that freedom of religion is intrinsic to who we are as a people. In our opinion, the apparent political calculation that forcing this issue will benefit the president in November is risky and will backfire. Mr. President, there is still time to stop the HHS madness. Scot said the key idea is that the government feels compelled for no good reason to compel the conscience of individuals. Greg said people may not be familiar with how the government passing a law that infringes on freedom of religion will affect them. The government can restrict the practice of religion when there is a compelling public need and must be done in such a way as to have the least possible impact. Scot said in many ways, this lawsuit is unprecedented. Susan said the implications of this reaching the Supreme Court will be huge. Scot said there has been some media coverage and some prominent Catholics have come out with key reminders of why we’re doing this as a Church. Fr. Roger said one of those points is that the Department of Health and Human Services has come out with an unprecedented definition of religious groups that qualify for exemptions, which is that if we serve those who aren’t Catholic, we don’t qualify. Fr. Roger said the service of those who aren’t Catholic is a key element of our faith. The definition goes against what President Obama himself said at the National Prayer Breakfast in February in which he lauded religious groups serve others. Fr. Roger said either Obama was talking about of both sides f his mouth or HHS Secretary Sebelius violated the president’s own principles. Fr. Roger also said any exemption being talked about doesn’t protect Catholic business owners. This mandate also fits a larger pattern of the US government forcing Catholics to violate their religious beliefs on many issues, including abortion and same-sex marriage. Scot noted the story this week that Franciscan University of Steubenville dropped its requirement for student health insurance and won’t provide it for those who want it. Scot said Cardinal Seán will host a live town hall meeting for the Fortnight for Freedom on Monday June 25 at 8pm on CatholicTV and simulcast on WQOM. He asked listeners to make an appointment and spread the word. Also in the Pilot this week is a poll commissioned by the Knights of Columbus. It found that 74% of Americans value religious freedom even when it conflicts with laws. Greg said people support this principle even if the religious freedom conflict doesn’t affect them. Whether or not they personally believe, they support the right of people to live their faith as they see it appropriate. Susan said she thought the questions people could choose from were very clear cut. “This survey reveals that the American people are fundamentally dedicated to protecting the First Amendment conscience rights of everyone.” said Carl A. Anderson. supreme knight of the New Haven-based Knights of Columbus. “Allowing people to opt out of these procedures or services - which violate their faith - is the right thing to do.” he added. “It is also key to protecting the First Amendment rights of all Americans and enjoys strong public support as well.” Fr. Roger said he wants to attribute good intentions to people like Kathleen Sebelius, but it then shows the deeper problem that they believe that we can’t survive if the government doesn’t give us certain things for free. On the other hand, we could presume a cynical political motive designed to ignite a political base that hadn’t been excited about a re-election campaign. 3rd segment: Scot said the Anchor editorial is called “Lessons from Acushnet”: Prior to last Tuesday, the beautiful town of Acushnet was known mainly to residents of the southcoast of Massachusetts. Most in other parts of the Commonwealth - not to mention outside its boundaries - would have had to use atlases or the Internet to locate this charming place of bogs, farms and a world-famous golfing equipment company. That all changed on May 15 with six words placed on the rectory lawn sign facing the city’s main intersection, “Two men are friends not spouses,” placed there by the parish director of Pastoral Services in response to President Barack Obama’s May 9 newly announced support for the redefinition of marriage to embrace two men or two women. The phrase was meant to express in a succinct way the Church’s teaching that those of the same sex not only can but are called to love each other, but that that love is not meant to take on the form of romantic or spousal love (what the Greeks called eros) but rather the deep love of friendship (philia) consistent with the self-controlled and -sacrificial love (agape) that Christ Himself gave and called us to imitate. For Jesus and those who follow Him, love and truth are always united. Christ very clearly spoke about the truth of marriage when He said (Mt 19) that in the beginning God made them male and female (not male and male, or female and female) and for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother (not two fathers or two mothers) and cling to his wife (not to whomever he is sexually attracted) and the two shall become one flesh (which refers not merely to the ephemeral physical contact involved in sexual activity but to the fusion of the flesh of a man and a woman in a child, a fruit of which those of the same-sex are obviously incapable). Jesus also said that what God has joined, man must not divide, and this can be interpreted not just with regard to a particular man and a particular woman in a particular marital bond, but also to the marital communion intended in general between man and woman: The union of man and woman in marriage cannot be rent asunder to make marriage a husbandless or wifeless union. To believe in Jesus means to believe in what He taught. To follow Jesus means to seek to imitate the way He showed us how to love. St. Francis Xavier Parish was giving witness to its authentically Christian faith in the public square by reiterating the particular type of love to which those with same-sex attractions are called. Based on the media attention the six-word message garnered, however, one might have thought that instead of reiterating the Church’s teaching on the meaning of marriage and the love of friendship, St. Francis Xavier had put up a message calling for the condemnation of all those with same-sex attractions. One young woman started a Facebook campaign calling the message “hateful,” as if the six-word message had been, “The Church hates gays and lesbians.” Soon a blast got out to the wider gay community. A few picketers showed up. Others started bringing other posters. Many started calling. And, curiously, within hours all the major television stations in Boston and Providence were coming to Acushnet to do interviews and live reports about the protests to putative Catholic hate-mongering. It’s worth noting - as a commentary on the media’s coverage of the Church as well as the issues concerning gays and lesbians - that five days a week, 240 students attend St. Francis Xavier School to learn the Church’s teaching on truth and love in classrooms and on Sunday more than 800 worshippers come to hear it from the pulpit. These activities garner no media attention at all. Yet when as few as three people come to hold protest placards on the city sidewalk near a parish sign - even after the message had been changed the following day to announce the Ascension Thursday Mass schedule - television from all the major news affiliates of the two closest metropolises somehow show up. To the media’s credit, however, once journalists had arrived to cover a hyped-up story on homophobia and anti-gay hatred, they recognized, in talking with pastor Msgr. Gerard O’Connor and director of Pastoral Services Steven Guillotte, that not only was that animus totally absent, but another type of hatred - one of the most underreported forms of uncivility and bullying in our culture - was. And they reported it. They were shown various posters that had been left on the property. “Jesus freaks, come to your senses. Jesus freaks, pray for death,” said one. Another went straight after the Blessed Mother in a mockery of the angelic salutation, “Hail Mary, Virgin Whore.” Facebook and verbal messages referred to both pastor and parishioners as pederasts - a facilely-employed and relatively ubiquitous ad hominem used against Catholic ministers and believers today, especially whenever the Church speaks on human sexuality. The message that captured the journalists’ attention most was a voicemail left by an unidentified woman. In the span of 54 seconds, she somehow managed to employ 16 expletives while threatening, “Seriously, your Church should be burned,” insisting “God isn’t real,” and saying that the town of Acushnet, St. Francis Xavier Parish, and the Catholic Church and her teaching should nevertheless all go to hell. Apparently, God doesn’t exist but hell does. It didn’t take advanced degrees from Columbia school of journalism for reporters to figure out that such messages were hardly consistent with a side admonishing the Church to “Spread love, not hate,” as one poster left on the property declared. What is the larger lesson to be learned from what was really going on in Acushnet? It’s about the verbal nuclear attack that the gay movement regularly employs against the Church for her opposition to the redefinition of marriage. Whenever the Church expresses its principled objection to the redefinition of marriage - not only out of fidelity to Jesus’ teachings but out of concern for the future of our nation, because of the importance of the marriage between one man and one woman for the procreation and education of our nation’s future citizens, teachers, defenders, and leaders - she is accused of “homophobia,” “gay-bashing,” and “hatred.” This is part of a strategy directed against the Church and Christian believers that has been publicly described by various gay leaders. Notice that when President Obama, up until the “evolution” he announced on May 9, stressed his support for marriage as the union of one man and one woman, he was never accused of an irrational fear of those with same-sex attractions or of despising gays. When President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, passed overwhelmingly by Democrats and Republicans in both the House and the Senate, they weren’t accused of collective antipathy toward gay fellow citizens. It’s only when Christian believers defend marriage as the union between one man and one woman that we begin to hear the accusations of hatred and homophobia. Why? The reason, gay strategists have declared in interviews, is because with politicians and citizens in general, the gay movement is trying to persuade them patiently to abandon the wisdom of the centuries about marriage and redefine its meaning as the crowning achievement of the social normalization of same-sex behavior. But since those who truly believe in Jesus and His teachings will never be persuaded of the same-sex ideal of marriage as a husbandless or wifeless institution with no intrinsic connection to children flowing from that privileged bond - and the Catholic Church in particular is seen as a bulwark against this revolution in social and sexual mores - what needs to be done is demonize and marginalize believers’ convictions altogether. Nobody, after all, likes to associate with “bigots,” especially in the politically-correct milieus of education and media that mold public opinion. In Acushnet, this strategy backfired. The real bigotry at play - against Catholic teaching and faithful Catholics- was exposed. The Church loves and welcomes those with same-sex attractions and defends them against all unjust discrimination. But the Church’s - and society’s - defense of marriage as the union of one man and one woman is not unjust discrimination, because gays do not have the right to change what marriage means and is. The “right to marriage” is not the unlimited right to marry anyone one wants. Laws rightly discriminate against certain types of attempted “marriages” in order to protect what marriage is and thereby serve the common good, and to affirm that those of the same-sex do not have the right to marry each other is not unjust discrimination any more than to say that people do not have the right to marry kids, or siblings, or another person’s spouse. It’s not hateful or homophobic to say this; rather, it’s the common sense and wisdom of the centuries, even from before the Church was founded. The truth about marriage as the union of one man and one woman, however, is also part of what the God of love has revealed. This is a message that all Catholics should confidently, charitably, and courageously proclaim from their rooftops, belltowers and parish lawns. Fr. Roger said this is bigger than just one parish, but points to a pattern being faced by Catholics. He said the parish was subjected to a Facebook campaign and received death threats; there were pickets outside that accosted parish employees and parishioners; and vile attacks. Every single major news station and media outlets provided blanket coverage. However, almost all of the media coverage ended up contrasting the parish’s passivity and calmness against the hatred they encountered. Fr. Roger said the only people who are called hateful toward homosexuals are Catholics and Bible-believing Christians. That’s because the activists recognize they aren’t going to change Christians’ minds so they will marginalize and demonize them so no one will want to identify with them. Fr. Roger said this was exposed by one little parish in a little town in Massachusetts. Scot and Greg discussed how the secular media did a good job and was not biased against the Church in any way. Scot said if you want to see the kind of venom that is spewed against the Church, go on to a newspaper website when any article about the Church is posted and read the comments. \ Scot said another story concerns the Vatican’s rejection of the appeals regarding six churches in closed parishes. The appeals had opposed the relegation to profane use of the buildings. He said there has been predictable responses from the group Council of Parishes that has been riling up people across the country. Greg said in last week’s show we discussed what relegation and profane use mean. He those fighting the Archdiocese in this regard have dropped accusations that the Vatican gave Boston special treatment because of the influence of Cardinal Seán in Rome. Scot said the Archdiocese encourages people to join their fellow parishioners in their new parishes. Greg said Terry Donilon, archdiocesan spokesman, said the protesters are grasping at straws. Scot said Peter Borre of Council of Parishes threw out the rumor about Cardinal Sean throwing his influence around. “We feel we did it right procedurally, we did it right on the substance, we provided an enormous amount of information with the Vatican to back up the decision that was made, and I think they are grasping at straws and I think they are trying to create a conspiracy theory that does not exist,” [Donilon] said. Susan said the property of St. James the Great church in Wellesley has an agreement from the town of Wellesley to buy it, but that sale can’t go through until the appeals are finished. Greg said thinks the appeals will be exhausted eventually and thinks if the town does purchase the property they will be less sympathetic and merciful toward those occupying the building. He wonders how the media will cover that. Also in the Pilot this week is an obituary for Thomas O’Connor, the dean of Boston historians, who died this week at 89. He wrote several books on the history of the archdiocese. Scot said the books helped him understand so much of the background for the current issues in the archdiocese today. Fr. Roger said O’Connor helped people like us understand the roots of the trees that spread throughout this region. His funeral Mass was earlier today at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Braintree. Susan said she’s read several of his books and he spoke several times to gatherings of directors of religious education. He was really a storyteller. Greg said that as a convert to Catholicism, he found the books to be very accessible. Scot reiterated that O’Connor brought the characters he wrote about alive. Greg said the Pilot this week also covers the workshops going on around the Archdiocese for the doctor-assisted suicide education campaign. Fr. Roger said the Anchor profiles several priests of the Fall River diocese who have served the Church for many years. Susan highlighted the family retreat going on at the Family Rosary Retreat in Easton next month. More information will be on the Pilot’s website on Friday. We will interview organizers of the retreat on The Good Catholic Life next Wednesday. Scot highlighted a moving testimony from a Catholic chaplain serving with the 101st Airborne as we head into Memorial Day weekend.…
Summary of today’s show: One of Bl. Pope John Paul II’s major emphases in his pontificate was the New Evangelization and Pope Benedict XVI has continued that work with the establishment of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams talk with Ralph Martin, a lay member of the council and president of Renewal Ministries, about what makes the new evangelization different from the old and then discuss practical tips on how to seek opportunities to share your faith, how you might do so effectively, and why it’s the call of every baptized Catholic to do so. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Ralph Martin Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The New Evangelization 1st segment: Scot Landry and Fr. Matt William caught up on their week and Fr. Matt said he’s been out at all the vicariates in the Archdiocese to meet with priests to talk about youth and young adult ministry, to see how his office, the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults can better serve them. Scot said he’s made the rounds of the meetings four times in his six years at the Archdiocese. They talked about how big the Archdiocese is. Fr. Matt commented on how even after 9 years in the priesthood and he’s still introducing himself to priests he doesn’t know. Fr. Matt is also planning a retreat this weekend, Friday to Monday, for teen leaders called Witness to Truth about Love, adapting the teachings of Pope John Paul’s Theology of the Body for teens. About 10 of the teens will be going to the Dominican Republic this summer on a youth service trip. Scot said today’s guest, Ralph Martin, has been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization and has been on the forefront of Catholic evangelization for decades. 2nd segment: Ralph is the president of Renewal Ministries and also director of graduate studies at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. Scot said Detroit reminds him a lot of the Archdiocese of Boston, including its evolution over the years. Scot said both Ralph and Curtis Martin were singled out as two lay Americans appointed as consulters to the Council. Ralph said it was a total surprise. He received a call asking him to call them back in Rome. He was told he had been appointed. Ralph said we had become used to Pope John Paul II speaking about the need for a new evangelization and some wondered what Pope Benedict would do about and it was a surprise when he institutionalized it and made it as prominent as he did. The Pope also chose the new evangelization as theme of the synod of bishops in October. Ralph said the Pope is painfully of the erosion of Catholic life. Scot asked what the new evangelization is. Ralph said evangelization was traditionally preaching the Gospel to those who have never heard it before. It brings people to relationship with Christ. The new evangelization, according to John Paul II, is directed to baptized Catholics who aren’t living the faith and have drifted away. His encyclical makes three distinctions in Section 33. He called for new fervor in preaching the Gospel and what the different kinds are. The fact that there is a diversity of activities in the Church’s one mission is not intrinsic to that mission, but arises from the variety of circumstances in which that mission is carried out. 51 Looking at today’s world from the viewppoint of evangelization, we can distinguish three situations. First, there is the situation which the Church’s missionary activity addresses: peoples, groups, and socio-cultural contexts in which Christ and his Gospel are not known, or which lack Christian communities sufficiently mature to be able to incarnate the faith in their own environment and proclaim it to other groups. This is mission ad gentes in the proper sense of the term.52 Secondly, there are Christian communities with adequate and solid ecclesial structures. They are fervent in their faith and in Christian living. They bear witness to the Gospel in their surroundings and have a sense of commitment to the universal mission. In these communities the Church carries out her activity and pastoral care. Thirdly, there is an intermediate situation, particularly in countries with ancient Christian roots, and occasionally in the younger Churches as well, where entire groups of the baptized have lost a living sense of the faith, or even no longer consider themselves members of the Church, and live a life far removed from Christ and his Gospel. In this case what is needed is a “new evangelization” or a “re-evangelization.” Scot said one of the reasons for this falling away is that so many of us haven’t been living our faith publicly as a witness as we should. Ralph said that was one of the emphases of the Second Vatican Council and it’s universal call to holiness in the mission of Christ as part of our baptism. Fr. Matt said when people experience a conversion they sometimes think they are called to a religious vocation or to work for the Church as a job, but he said we also need people to be on fire in all areas of society. He said as a Church we’re just beginning to help people understand that. Ralph said there’s a growing understanding is that the purpose of leadership in the Church not to do the whole work of the Church, but to equip all Christians to do the work of the Lord. They need to help laypeople awaken to their participation in the work of the Church. Ralph said he was just in Rome a few weeks ago meeting with the president of the Council on the beginning of the work and getting organized. They’re having lots of meetings, especially with US bishops in Rome on their ad limina visits. But the council will ultimately take their marching orders from the results of the Synod of Bishops. Ralph expects the document will continue the work begun by Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. Ralph said there will be three major events in Rome in October: the Synod, the Year of Faith, and the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council. He said each bishops’ conference will send a proportionate number of bishops for a total of about 350 total from around the world. There will also be a number of experts who will give 3-minute presentations like everyone as well as auditors who will be present but won’t speak. He said he thinks the result will be a recapitulation of the theology of evangelization and an encouragement to use new means. It may recommend diocesan and parish committees and offices of the new evangelization. It probably won’t get very concrete. Scot asked Ralph what he thinks is working in new evangelization in the US and abroad. Ralph said it isn’t programs that do the work, but people, and some people will feel comfortable with one approach and others with another. The main thing is for everyone to do something they feel equipped for. A diocese can’t just mandate one thing for all parishes, but should make available a whole range of possibilities. Some parishes will do Alpha or Cursillo or Ignatian Retreats or Life in the Spirit or Marriage Encounter or anything else. Let a thousand flowers bloom. Scot said many people will know a friend or family member who hasn’t practiced their faith in quite a while. What would Ralph recommend for them to propose to others to rejoin the Church actively. Ralph said it depends on the relationship and where the person is. There must be prayer and love for the person at the base. Then be sensitive what would be helpful, like inviting them to a parish mission or a parish talk on faith or coming to church with them. It might be just giving a book or pamphlet to read. Ask them what their reasons for not coming are and find answers. And a lot of times these people aren’t on the timetable to be reached now so we have to be alert for a time when we can have another opportunity to invite. Ralph said a lot of times you can have a random encounter. He related an encounter he had with a man who said he didn’t believe in God and so they had time to sit down and have a conversation. He knew he couldn’t answer all objections in a short conversation, but he wanted to remove some of the biggest obstacles. He said he challenged the man to ask God every day for one week in prayer to ask Him to reveal himself. Sometimes we plant a seed, sometimes we water a seed that someone else has planted, and sometimes we’re there for the harvest. Fr. Matt encouraged listeners to pray for the man. Fr. Matt said his seminary formation spent more time on pastoral care than on evangelization. He asked Ralph how seminary formation has implemented new evangelization over the years. Ralph said in his seminary that it’s been implemented. The motto of the seminary is to prepare heralds for the new evangelization. Cardinal Adam Maida, former archbishop of Detroit, also implemented a pontifical degree in new evangelization. That was originally for laypeople, so Ralph asked to offer required courses for seminarians. They also changed their apostolic experience to include evangelization, in addition to hospital work and serving the poor. We get so consumed with those who do show up to church, we forgot those who don’t and we don’t have a plan to go after them. Scot asked how the priests ordained from this program impact their parishes. Ralph said they have been ordained over the past four years and they’re doing things like censuses, Catholics Come Home nights, making liturgies more welcoming (training greeters and readers, etc.). Scot reiterated parishes often focus on those who are in the pews, but we need to focus beyond them to those who aren’t with us. Some people may saw that they’re not suited to evangelization. What can we say to them?Ralph said the Sacrament of Baptism says it unites us to the living God and Jesus is within us. What He wants to do is awaken us to the Father, to love Him like He does, and to love other people as He does. A lot of Catholics haven’t awakened to the meaning of the indwelling Trinity. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Collette Lavallee in Middleboro, MA. He wins the CD “The Apostle of the Rosary: Servant of God Fr. Patrick Peyton” and the booklet “Preparation for Total Consecration” by St. Louis de Montfort. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Fr. Matt asked how one goes about evangelizing another person, like a random person you’re sitting next to on an airplane. Ralph said he usually strikes up a purely small-talk conversation, then maybe ask a little about the person. This tells you whether the person is willing or interested in talking. If they are willing, they might ask you what you do or who you are. This is an opportunity to put on the table something about being a Catholic. That opens the door to asking about their faith background. From there just keep talking and find out where they are and maybe give your own testimony, mentioning important books or events in your life. Sometimes conversations in airplanes, he’s ended up praying with someone and promising to send them a copy of a book. When he prays for God to give him opportunities, he sees them. When he doesn’t pray for them, he doesn’t see the opportunities. Fr. Matt said it has to be the work of the Holy Spirit, who is the animator of evangelization. Fr. Matt asked about praying with strangers and what that’s like. Ralph recounted the story of encountering a family at a restaurant, talking about being Catholic. The guy later Googled Ralph, find out who he is, and emailed him, asking if they could get together and talk. Ralph and his wife went to their home, talked about their sorrows and prayed with them because they were trying to have another baby. Later, Ralph was back in the city and at a church he sat behind the man’s wife and she turned around and she was pregnant. Scot said Ralph’s TV show on CatholicTV “The Choices We Face” is one of the oldest Catholic TV shows. They started Renewal Ministries in 1980 and they have several TV programs and radio shows. They also work in 30 countries, including Kazakhstan and Zimbabwe, recently. They help the local Church and sometimes organize huge rallies, as a way of countering pressure from evangelicals and other Protestants. They also do training for catechists and others. They partner with local bishops and others and maintain relationships with those local churches in Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia. Scot asked how people would join in on their short-term missions to these other places. Ralph said people can get information and sign up at their website, as well as their other resources. Ralph said they also do parish missions and seminars in the US. They also do a major rally in Toronto every year through their Canadian branch. Scot asked for practical steps to get prepared for the Solemnity of Pentecost this Sunday. Ralph said since John XXIII the popes have been crying out for a new Pentecost. We need an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We need to encounter the Lord and recognize his magnificence, the fire for evangelization won’t be there. So we should pray for the Holy Spirit to come, to remove obstacles and hesitancies. We should pray to surrender ourselves so we become a more docile instrument in the hands of the Lord. Ralph said the Cursillo movement brought him back to the Church and then went deeper through the Charismatic renewal. He encouraged people to participate in a Life in the Spirit seminar, if that seems the way for them. Fr. Matt asked him to explain the Life in the Spirit seminar and the Charismatic renewal. Ralph said Cardinal Suenens described its purpose as not being for everybody to join, but to be a witness and living voice to awaken the whole Church to recall what belongs to the Church. He’s not encouraging people to join a movement, per se, but to open themselves to the Holy Spirit. Ralph noted that even the apostles, who had the best teaching from Jesus, didn’t really get it until they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Fr. Matt said the Holy Spirit makes a difference for the preacher, teacher, and the one who’s open to the Lord. Scot said Ralph’s last book was a guidebook for people on a spiritual journey. Ralph said 7 of the 33 doctors of the Church had major insights into how we make the spiritual journey and he put all their best insights together. He said people don’t want to just have an emotional experience, but a steady enduring relationship with God. Scot said there’s a study guide for the book so a groups in parishes can go through the book together. Ralph said there’s also a video based on the book from EWTN as well. Ralph has another book coming out in September that deals with the confusion that can impede the new evangelization. He wrote it while in Rome finishing up doctorate last year. Fr. Matt said he read Ralph’s book and it’s a wonderful book with words of wisdom from great saints.…
Summary of today’s show: There are more than 25 different ethnic communities spread across 75 parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston, representing the breadth and diversity of the Catholic Church throughout the world, served by the Office of Cultural Diversity and Outreach. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor talk with Fr. Mike Harrington, director of the office, and Natalia Perdomo and Kateri Thekaekara, members of the office’s young adult council about their experiences of their faith as an immigrant or the child of immigrants as well as the upcoming Catholic Family Festival that will showcase the unity and diversity of the Church in the Archdiocese. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Michael Harrington, Director of the Office of Cultural Diversity; Natalia Perdomo; and Kateri Thekaekara Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Cultural Diversity and the Catholic Family Festival 1st segment: Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor discussed the “eschatological barbecue and bocce tournament” to mark the end of the St. John Seminary school year. Fr. Chris said the “evil empire” trio of seminarians who have been winning over and over were defeated in the tournament. Fr. Chris said the Master of Arts in Ministry commencement and Mass are the next big events for the eight graduating this year. He said Cardinal Sean will be there for the ceremony on Wednesday. Scot talked about his past weekend in which he took part in a training called Catholic Voices, which prepared laypeople for being in the media. He said it was great to hear professionals teach how to respond to hostile questions. 2nd segment: Fr. Mike Harrington described the Office of Cultural Diversity’s work. They act as liaison to the more than 25 different ethnic communities found in 75 parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston. Scot said many of the people that Fr. Mike’s office serves will be the future lay leaders of the Archdiocese of Boston. Fr. Mike said they serve many immigrants who find their home in the Catholic Church of their faith. They feel a call to help the communities to realize that they are part of the mission of the Archdiocese. Fr. Mike said as he experienced the communities, he was surprised by the size of the communities, how packed the churches were, and how many young people were present. At one event, more than 100 Korean young adults showed up. Fr. Chris said Cardinal Sean recently noted during Lent how many converts to the Church were Korean. Fr. Chris added that there were several Korean seminarians as well. Fr. Chris said they don’t just minister to those who speak other languages, but they also minister to the deaf apostolate and black Catholic ministries. Scot listed all the countries of origin of the various ethnic communities served by the Office of Cultural Diversity. Fr. Mike said they have started a young adult cultural diversity council and an ethnic council. That is made up of two members from each of the ethnic communities. Fr. Mike said many of these people have known priests and others who have been martyred. Scot asked Kateri about the young adult council. She said mentioned the people she’s got to know on the council. Fr. Chris asked about their work and Kateri said they’re planning a music night to share their talents and helping prepare for the family festival. Natalia said the council started about two years ago. She’s a member of Sacred Heart Parish in Newton, which is her immediate family, and the young adult council is her extended family. She said she was born in Bogota, Colombia. She’s 20 years old and they moved her 14 years ago. She attended Montrose School in Medfield and is now a junior at Franciscan University of Steubenville. She hopes to counsel young adults struggling with addictions. Kateri said he father is from India and her mom is from Slovakia. They met at St. Anthony’s Shrine in downtown Boston. Her mom was a refugee and her dad was studying music. They had eight kids. She’s attending College of the Holy Cross and will be a junior next year majoring in music and physics. Her father is Catholic and is from Kerala in southern India. Fr. Chris said a recent issue of National Geographic discussed how the apostles spread throughout the world, including St. Thomas to southern India. Kateri said the fact her parents are from different continents and yet strong in their faith strengthens her own faith to make it her own. Natalia talked about her family coming from a majority Catholic country and how her mom has a strong devotion to Mary. She grew up praying the Rosary daily with her family. They had a particular devotion to Our Lady of Fatima. Kateri talked about the Indian Syro-Malabar rite Catholics in the area and while they took part in that for a few years, because of her mom’s Slovakian background, they’ve become more involved in their own parish. Fr. Mike talked about his different experiences of the ethnic communities, including a Brazilian summer pilgrimage, where he saw so many gifts among the young adults. Fr. Chris asked what expressions of faith Fr. Mike said seen that affects his faith life. Fr/ Mike said it’s the way they worship, how strong their faith is despite challenges and persecutions in their pasts. He noted that African Catholics often worship at Mass for more than 2 hours each Sunday. Kateri said she majored in music because she knows she will be involved in cantering in church all her life. As a cantor, her singing can reach the hearts of those in the pews. Her favorite song to sing is Matt Maher’s “Jesus is My Everything”. Natalia said her favorite church song is “Lead me to the Cross”. Scot asked how they would respond to those who don’t sing. Kateri said in ethnic communities people sing with their whole hearts. We sing to praise God with our whole selves. Kateri described visiting India. the church is packed every Sunday, everyone gets there early, and they are very focused. Indian Masses are very long, she said. 3rd segment: Scot began the segment by talking about Kateri’s unusual name. Fr. Mike told the story of how he first encountered Kateri’s whole name. The Catholic Family Festival is June 23 at Boston College High School. Fr. Mike said the event’s origins are in a family conference that talked about elements of the faith. Last year, as he got to know the ethnic communities, they wanted to get more involved and it became more of a family festival. He said last year they packed Malden Catholic High with over 1,400 attendees. They hoping to get even more this year. This is for everyone, not just for members of ethnic communities. Natalia said he was remembers Cardinal Seán’s homily last year on re-kindling the fire of faith through the Eucharist. Kateri said members of the young adult council were cantering for the Mass and they sang “We are One Body.” She was amazed to see how powerful it was for the people attending the Mass. Fr. Mike said everyone at the Mass was given a flag representing their country and during the procession it was like a mini-World Youth Day. Natalia said it was great to see the universality of the Church. Fr. Mike said Eucharistic adoration will take place all day in the chapel. There will also be a cultural gala of 20 different dance and music groups from ethnic communities, expressing honor for Mary, Queen of Apostles. Fr. Chris noted that there is an international food festival.they discussed their favorite dishes from last year. Fr. Mike said he particularly loves desserts and he recalls some great Middle Eastern desserts. Fr. Mike said there will be an area for activities and events for young kids of various ages. They will also have some blow-up bouncy games for kids. Of course, the music and dances will be there as well. They are also constructing shrines from each community that are devoted to a particular shrine to Mary in their home countries. Scot said it recalls for him visiting the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Last year, they honored Pope John Paul II after his beatification. This year, they realized what everyone had in common was devotion to the Blessed Mother. He came across a quote of Pope John Paul II about deepening our bond with Mary who on the pilgrimage of faith goes before the whole people of God. This made Fr. Mike think of Pope Benedict’s Year of Faith which begins in October of this year. Fr. Mike emphasized that this is a free festival. They didn’t want to make any barrier to people coming. You can register at their website. Fr. Mike gave a list of reasons for people to attend the festival: Experience the universality of the Church; attend Mass with Cardinal Sean and maybe receive an apostolic blessing; come to experience diversity of our faith; come to meet your brothers and sisters; families come together as one family of faith; it’s a free event; experience traditional Mass and devotions; live music; networking; good food; and more. Natalia said Catholic young adults should come as a response to the attack on the family in our culture.…
Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry delivered a talk on the push for physician-assisted suicide in Massachusetts, addressing the historical, ethical, and practical considerations as voters in the Commonwealth are confronted by this matter of life and death in the election this fall. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Physician-assisted suicide 1st segment: Scot Landry mentioned that he recently delivered a talk, co-written by his brother Father Roger Landry, entitled “A Matter of Life and Death: Defeating the Push for Doctor-Prescribed Suicide: Historical, Ethical and Practical Considerations.” As part of the Archdiocese of Boston’s Suicide is Always A Tragedy educational effort, Scot recorded this talk for use on The Good Catholic Life. Information from materials on and from the USCCB webpage on Physician Assisted Suicide is used in the talk. A matter of life and death: Defeating the Push for Doctor-Prescribed Suicide Historical, Ethical and Practical Considerations Suicide is ALWAYS a tragedy. It’s never a dignified way to die. Most in our society readily understand that when someone is contemplating suicide at any age of life, he or she is normally suffering from a depression triggered by very real setbacks and serious disappointments and sees death as the only path to relief. The psychological professions know that people with such temptations need help to be freed not from life but from these suicidal thoughts through counseling, support, and when necessary, medication. The compassionate response to teenagers experiencing a crushing breakup, to unemployed fathers overwhelmed by pressure, to unhappy actresses feeling alone and abandoned, to middle-aged men devastated by scandalous revelations, is never to catalyze their suicide. Heroic police officers and firefighters climb bridges or go out on the ledges of skyscrapers for a reason. Dedicated volunteers staff Samaritan hotlines around the clock for a reason. This same type of care and attention needs to be given by a just and compassionate society to suffering seniors or others with serious illnesses. We’re now living at a time in which this clear truth isn’t seen by all and where some are advancing that suicide, rather than a tragedy, is actually a good, moral, rational and dignified choice. A year ago, if you were exiting the Callahan Tunnel in East Boston, you would have been confronted with a billboard paid for by the Final Exit Network, with white letters against a black background proclaiming, “Irreversible illness? Unbearable suffering? Die with Dignity.” To die with dignity, the billboard advanced, was to commit suicide with the help of a doctor. We would never tolerate a similar sign in Harvard Square or at any university: “Failing your courses? Unbearable heartbreak? Feel like the “one mistake” the Admissions Office made? End your collegiate career with dignity. Take your life.” We would know that preying on the emotionally down and vulnerable is never an act of compassion but what John Paul II called a perversion of mercy. Yet, in Massachusetts, we now have a Citizens Initiative Petition called the Death with Dignity Act that seems to be headed to the ballot this November that will legalize suicide for a class of citizens.This would involve the active cooperation of doctors prescribing lethal overdoses of drugs. Such attempts to legalize physician-assisted suicide have been introduced here in Massachusetts and been rebuffed in 1995, 1997, 2009 and 2010, but this year seems to be the best chance for proponents of euthanasia to achieve their objective of making Massachusetts the East Coast Oregon and the North American Netherlands. A recent poll by Public Policy Polling showed that support for the measure is ahead of the opposition 43-37 percent. So there is much work to do and much at stake. It’s literally a matter of life and death. Whether we become active in the fight against doctor prescribed suicide may make the difference between lives being saved or tragically ended. So in this address, in the brief time we have, I’d like briefly to do several things.First, I’ll describe the cultural background for this push for doctor prescribed death. Next, I’d like to touch on Church teaching, in order to strengthen us in our conviction as believers. Third, I’d like to focus on the Death with Dignity Act, and what the problems with it are even from an agnostic, commonsensical point of view, to equip us with arguments that will meet citizens where they’re at, regardless of their belief in the dignity of every human life and that intrinsic evil of suicide. Lastly, I’d like to describe what we’re being called to do now, as Catholics, as Harvard students and alumni, simply as truly compassionate human beings. II. The Cultural Context The push for physician-assisted suicide isn’t coming out of a vacuum. It’s a natural consequence of several factors that we need to be aware of if we are going to be able to persuade those who may unwisely be prone to support it. A great fear of suffering and death and a desire to control it – Pope John Paul II pointed this out in his 1995 encyclical The Gospel of Life (64): “The prevailing tendency is to value life only to the extent that it brings pleasure and well-being; suffering seems like an unbearable setback, something from which one must be freed at all costs. Death is considered “senseless” if it suddenly interrupts a life still open to a future of new and interesting experiences. But it becomes a “rightful liberation” once life is held to be no longer meaningful because it is filled with pain and inexorably doomed to even greater suffering. USCCB 2011 document “To Live Each Day with Dignity,” said: “Today, however, many people fear the dying process. They are afraid of being kept alive past life’s natural limits by burdensome medical technology. They fear experiencing intolerable pain and suffering, losing control over bodily functions , or lingering with severe dementia. They worry about being abandoned or becoming a burden on others.” An exaggerated notion of personal autonomy or selfish individualism - There is a notion that no one can tell me what is good for me.. EV 64: When he denies or neglects his fundamental relationship to God, man thinks he is his own rule and measure, with the right to demand that society should guarantee him the ways and means of deciding what to do with his life in full and complete autonomy. It is especially people in the developed countries who act in this way. There’s a distinction to be made between a healthy individualism and an exaggerated one that excludes any real sense of duties owed to family members, to society, to others. Almost all the justifications for legalizing physician assisted suicide focus primarily on the dying person who wants it. Its harmful impact on society and its values and institutions are ignored. Euthanasia, we have to remember, is not a private act of “self determination,” or a matter of managing one’s personal affairs. AsCardinal O’Malley wrote back in 2000 in a pastoral letter on life as Bishop of the Diocese of Fall River, “It is a social decision: A decision that involves the person to be killed, the doctor doing the killing, and the complicity of a society that condones the killing.” If personal autonomy is the basis for permitting assisted suicide, why would a person only have personal autonomy when diagnosed (or misdiagnosed) as having a terminal condition? [ Rita Marker]If assisted suicide is proclaimed by force of law to be a good solution to the problem of human suffering, then isn’t it both unreasonable and cruel to limit it to the dying? A legal positivism that believes that there are no universal moral norms, but just the values we impose, either by courts and legislatures or ballot petitions - In yesteryear, the debate over euthanasia would take place within the context of moral and religious coordinates. No longer. There ceases to be common reference to anything higher than the debates that occur in the “secular cathedrals” of courthouses and legislatures. Believers have often abetted this secularization of discourse by allowing secularists to drive religious and moral values from normal discourse so that the public square becomes “naked” and our sacred scripture becomes court opinions and our prophets become the talking heads in the media. Materialism and consumerism - Our society has lost a sense of the sacred, of mystery of the soul. The body is looked at just as a machine and human life as a whole has become two dimensional. This abets the push for euthanasia because ideas that there is meaning in suffering, even in death, seems like outdated ideas and that we should treat these fundamental human realities of suffering and death the way we do cars, or pets, or other things that begin to break down. We dispose of them once their usefulness is no longer apparent. An anthropology based on scientific and mechanistic rationalism - Our scientific and medical progress, among other things in being able to produce life in test tubes and other practices, has led us to believe that if we can “create” life we should be able to manipulate it and end it, because life has lost its sense of mystery and its connection to a creator beyond us. We become what the raw material of human life becomes with time. We no longer are seen to be special in comparison with animals or robots. If we can euthanize our suffering pets, we should, so says Princeton’s Peter Singer, be able to euthanize human beings and allow them to end their own lives. A misunderstanding of human dignity - American political scientist Diana Schaub says “we no longer agree about the content of dignity, because we no longer share … a ‘vision of what it means to be human’.” Intrinsic dignity means one has dignity simply because one is human. This is a status model — dignity comes simply with being a human being. It’s an example of “recognition respect” — respect is contingent on what one is, a human being. Extrinsic dignity means that whether one has dignity depends on the circumstances in which one finds oneself and whether others see one as having dignity. Dignity is conferred and can be taken away. Dignity depends on what one can or cannot do. These two definitions provide very different answers as to what respect for human dignity requires in relation to disabled or dying people, and that matters in relation to euthanasia.Under an inherent dignity approach, dying people are still human beings, therefore they have dignity. Under an extrinsic dignity approach, dying people are no longer human doings — that is, they are seen as having lost their dignity — and eliminating them through euthanasia is perceived as remedying their undignified state. Pro-euthanasia advocates argue that below a certain quality of life a person loses all dignity. They believe that respect for dignity requires the absence of suffering, whether from disability or terminal illness, and, as well, respect for autonomy and self-determination. Consequently, they argue that respect for the dignity of suffering people who request euthanasia requires it to be an option We need to be aware of these aspects of our culture because we’re really going to be able to change hearts and minds long term, to re-evangelize the culture of death with a culture of life, only when we’re able to get to the roots of the ideas that find euthanasia not only acceptable, not only worthwhile, but in some cases obligatory. The moral worth of our society hinges on how we respond to these false ideas and fears. As the US Bishops wrote in To Live Each Day with Dignity: “Our society can be judged by how we respond to these fears. A caring community devotes more attention, not less, to members facing the most vulnerable times in their lives. When people are tempted to see their own lives as diminished in value or meaning, they most need the love and assistance of others to assure them of their inherent worth.” III. The teaching of the Catholic Church I presume most people listening to this presentation would be aware of the Church’s teaching with regard to euthanasia and doctor prescribed death.We believe that human life is the most basic gift of a loving God, a gift over which we have stewardship not absolute dominion. As responsible stewards of life, we must never directly intend to cause our own death or that of anyone else. Euthanasia and assisted suicide, for that reason , are always gravely wrong. The fifth commandment applies to our actions toward ourselves and to others. For this reason, Blessed Pope John Paul II said in Evangelium Vitae : To concur with the intention of another person to commit suicide and to help in carrying it out through so-called “assisted suicide” means to cooperate in, and at times to be the actual perpetrator of, an injustice which can never be excused, even if it is requested. In a remarkably relevant passageSaint Augustine writes that “it is never licit to kill another: even if he should wish it, indeed if he request it because, hanging between life and death, he begs for help in freeing the soul struggling against the bonds of the body and longing to be released; nor is it licit even when a sick person is no longer able to live”. Even when not motivated by a selfish refusal to be burdened with the life of someone who is suffering, euthanasia must be called a , and indeed a disturbing “perversion” of mercy. True “compassion” leads to sharing another’s pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear.Moreover, the act of euthanasia appears all the more perverse if it is carried out by those, like relatives, who are supposed to treat a family member with patience and love, or by those, such as doctors, who by virtue of their specific profession are supposed to care for the sick person even in the most painful terminal stages” (66). The CatholicChurch regularly teaches about importance of palliative care and emphasizes that we don’t teach that we have to preserve life by all means no matter what the circumstances.Palliative care is a holistic approach to terminal illness and the dying process. It seeks to address the whole spectrum of issues that confront a person with a terminal diagnosis through information, high quality care and pain relief, dealing with the emotions, dispelling fear, offering spiritual support if required and including the family in every aspect of the patient’s care. In Evangelium Vitae, John Paul II wrote that “Euthanasia must be distinguished from the decision to forego so-called “aggressive medical treatment”, in other words, medical procedures which no longer correspond to the real situation of the patient, either because they are by now disproportionate to any expected results or because they impose an excessive burden on the patient and his family. In such situations, when death is clearly imminent and inevitable, one can in conscience “refuse forms of treatment that would only secure a precarious and burdensome prolongation of life, so long as the normal care due to the sick person in similar cases is not interrupted” The US Bishops in To Live Each Day with Dignity stated that “Respect for life does not demand that we attempt to prolong life by using medical treatments that are ineffective or unduly burdensome. Nor does it mean we should deprive suffering patients of needed pain medications out of a misplaced or exaggerated fear that they might have the side effect of shortening life. The risk of such an effect is extremely low when pain medication is adjusted to a patient’s level of pain, with the laudable purpose of simply addressing that pain (CCC, no. 2279). In fact, severe pain can shorten life, while effective palliative care can enhance the length as well as the quality of a person’s life. It can even alleviate the fears and problems that lead some patients to the desperation of considering suicide. Effective palliative care also allows patients to devote their attention to the unfinished business of their lives, to arrive at a sense of peace with God, with loved ones, and with themselves.” This is the “infinitely better way” to care for the needs of people with serious illnesses,” what Blessed John Paul II called “the way of love and mercy.” These considerations are very important in terms of forming ourselves as Catholics, and they help all of us see more clearly and with greater confidence, thanks the help of Revelation, that doctor prescribed death is always wrong. These arguments won’t necessarily work ad extra, in terms of the persuasion of the public as a whole, but they will be far more direct and persuasive to those who believe that they believe that God exists, that he speaks to us through Sacred Scripture and the Church he founded, to guide us to the truth in faith and morals. IV. National and International Survey of Doctor Prescribed Death Before we look at the situation in Massachusetts, I’d like to do a quick survey of the situation in our country and across the globe. I do this because euthanasia proponents sometimes give the impression that the advent of physician assisted suicide is inevitable. It’s not. There is, in fact, the total reverse and negation of a “domino effect.” The state of Oregon made assisted suicide a medical treatment in 1994 and three years later legalized it outright. In 2008, Washington did the same. That same year courts in Montana said that patients have the right to self-administer a lethal dose of medication as prescribed by a physician and determined that the doctor would not face legal punishment for doing so. But in the time since 1994 in Oregon, there have been 124 proposals in 25 states. All that are not currently pending were either defeated, tabled for the session, withdrawn by sponsors, or languished with no action taken. Michigan defeated a Kevorkian led referendum in 1998. Maine defeated a referendum for physician assisted suicide in 2000 (51-49). California defeated the Compassionate Choices Acts in 2005. New Hampshire defeated an assisted suicide bill 242-113 in January 2010. Later that year, Hawaii’s health committee unanimously rebuffed it. Earlier this month, the State of Vermont defeated it 18-11 in the Senate. The vast majority of times it has come up in states across the nation, it has been defeated. Doctor physician suicide remains an explicit crime in 44 states. The same thing has happened internationally. After the Netherlands legalized it, The Scottish Parliament overwhelming defeated an attempt to give “end of life Assistance” 85-16 in 2010. In the same year, the Canadian parliament defeated a bill that would have legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide by a vote of 228 to 59. In Western Australia, a major effort was launched to pass a euthanasia bill, and it was struck down 24-11 in September 2010.Since the beginning of 2010 five countries have defeated efforts to pass more radical laws enabling not just assisted suicide but Netherlands-style euthanasia, which allows medical professionals to kill very ill or depressed patients. The bottom line is that we should have hope. If euthanasia can be defeated in California, in Vermont, in Britain, in Canada, it can be defeated here. The reason is because fundamentally those fighting against euthanasia are not primarily conservatives or, even more restricted, religious conservatives. Most current opposition coalitions include many persons and organizations whose opposition is based on progressive politics, especially disability rights groups and medical associations . V. The Massachusetts Death with Dignity Act Let’s turn now to the Death with Dignity Act that Attorney General Martha Coakley certified as a citizens initiative petition on September 7, 2011.Presently assisting suicide currently is a common law crime in MassachusettsThis petition allows a Massachusetts adult resident, who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness that will likely result in death within six months, to request and receive a prescription for a lethal drug to end his or her life. If passed, the petition would legalize physician-assisted suicide. Two physicians will need to determine the terminal diagnosis, the mental state of the patient, and that the patient is acting voluntarily. The patient must make two oral requests within no fewer than fifteen days of one another. A written request is also required with a minimum of forty-eight hours between the written request and the writing of a prescription for the lethal drug. Let’s begin parsing what this is all about.First I’ll describe technical issues with the actual petition and then discuss some of the larger issues involved. There are at least 5 technical issues with the actual petition. First, we see first the use of euphemisms to mask what’s really involved. The US Bishops have stated that proponents … avoid terms such as “assisting suicide” and instead use euphemisms such as “aid in dying.” They note that The Hemlock Society has changed its name to “Compassion and Choices.” They state, “Plain speaking is needed to strip away this veneer and uncover what is at stake, for this agenda promotes neither free choice nor compassion.” Proponents scrupulously avoid the term suicide, instead opting for “compassion,” “dying with dignity” “humane” and “end-of-life care.” It’s important for us to keep the term suicide in the forefront, because people, especially in our culture, recognize that suicide is wrong. A vote for doctor prescribed suicide is a vote for suicide. Cardinal O’Malley said in a powerful homily, “We hope that the citizens of the commonwealth will not be seduced by the language: dignity, mercy and compassion which are used to disguise the sheer brutality of helping some kill themselves.… We are our brother’s keeper and our sister’s helper. Cain who forgot he was his brother’s keeper ended up becoming his executioner. “Thou shall not kill” is God’s law and it is written in our hearts by our Creator.” Second, the petition uses a vague definition of terminally ill. There are many definitions for the word “terminal.” For example, when he spoke to the National Press Club in 1992, Jack Kevorkian said that a terminal illness was “any disease that curtails life even for a day.” The co-founder of the Hemlock Society often refers to “terminal old age.” Some laws define “terminal” condition as one from which death will occur in a “relatively short time.” Others state that “terminal” means that death is expected within six months or less, WITHOUT MEDICAL CARE. Even where a specific life expectancy (like six months) is referred to, medical experts acknowledge that it is virtually impossible to predict the life expectancy of a particular patient. Some people diagnosed as terminally ill don’t die for years, if at all, from the diagnosed condition. Increasingly, however, euthanasia activists have dropped references to terminal illness, replacing them with such phrases as “hopelessly ill,” “desperately ill,” “incurably ill,” “hopeless condition,” and “meaningless life.” But it is extremely common for medical prognoses of a short life expectancy to be wrong. Studies indicate that only cancer patients show a predictable decline, and even then, it is only in the last few weeks of life. With every disease other than cancer, prediction is unreliable. Prognoses are based on statistical averages, which are nearly useless in determining what will happen to an individual patient. Thus, the potential reach of assisted suicide is extremely broad and could include many people who may be mistakenly diagnosed as terminal but who have many meaningful years of life ahead The third technical issue with the petition is that there is no mandatory psychiatric evaluation to determine the level of depression or a plan to handle depression. The petition only requires a determination that the person does not have impaired judgment (Section 6). In To Live Each Day with Dignity, the US Bishops remarked, “Medical professionals recognize that people who take their own lives commonly suffer from a mental illness, such as clinical depression. Suicidal desires may be triggered by very real setbacks and serious disappointments in life. However, suicidal persons become increasingly incapable of appreciating options for dealing with these problems, suffering from a kind of tunnel vision that sees relief only in death.” It is never rational to choose suicide. In 2010, the Oregon Public Health Division found that the leading reasons people gave for asking for death were loss of autonomy (94%), decreasing ability to participate in activities that make life enjoyable (94%), and loss of dignity (79%). It is not pain but fear that drives people to suicide. Fear of dependence. Fear of “being a burden.” Depression is one of the main factors that drives one to suicide. it’s not pain. The latest figures from Oregon show that while 95% of patients requested euthanasia or assisted suicide for “loss of autonomy” and 92% for “loss of dignity” only 5% (3 people) requested it for “inadequate pain control.” It should be noted here that hospice care is not as well developed in Oregon as in other US states. The two professional associations representing oncologists in California wrote: It is critical to recognize that, contrary to belief, most patients requesting physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia do not do so because of physical symptoms such as pain or nausea. Rather, depression, psychological distress, and fear of loss of control are identified as the key end of life issues. This has been borne out in numerous studies and reports. For example, … a survey of 100 terminally ill cancer patients in a palliative care program in Edmonton, Canada,. .. showed no correlation between physical symptoms of pain, nausea, or loss of appetite and the patient’s expressed desire or support for euthanasia or PAS. Moreover, in the same study, patients demonstrating suicidal thoughts were much more likely to be suffering from depression or anxiety, but not bodily symptoms such as pain. Fourth – there are multiple problems with criteria for witnesses and reporting structures. Witnesses can be strangers or those who seek to benefit from the death. Can be friends of the heirs. Under this Initiative [11-12], someone who would benefit financially from the patient’s death could serve as a witness and claim that the patient is mentally fit and eligible to request assisted suicide. The Initiative [11-12] requires that there be two witnesses to the patient’s written request for doctor-prescribed suicide. One of those witnesses shall not be a relative or entitled to any portion of the person’s estate upon death. However,this provides little protection since it permits one witness to be a relative or someone who IS entitled to the patient’s estate. The second witness could be the best friend of the first witness and no one would know. Victims of elder abuse and domestic abuse are unlikely to share their fears with outsiders or to reveal that they are being pressured by family members to “choose” assisted suicide. The US Bishops stated last year that “in fact, such laws have generally taken great care to AVOID real scrutiny of the process for doctor-prescribed death—or any inquiry into WHOSE choice is served. In Oregon and Washington, for example, all reporting is done solely by the physician who prescribes lethal drugs. Once they are prescribed, the law requires no assessment of whether patients are acting freely, whether they are influenced by those who have financial or other motives for ensuring their death, or even whether others actually administer the drugs. Here the line between assisted suicide and homicide becomes blurred.”In Oregon, in only 28 percent of the patient deaths has the prescribing physician been present at the time of patient ingestion of the lethal dose, and in 19 percent of the cases, no health care provider has been in attendance. The fifth technical problem is that the initiative doesn’t do enough limit the possibility of elder abuse or a lack of consent. Criminologist Jeremy Prichard doubts that many people in the community will be able to give full and voluntary consent to ending their lives. He contends that the growing prevalence of elder abuse suggests that aged people could easily be manipulated.Most elder abuse is at the hand of a relative. We must recognize that the prospect of euthanasia and assisted suicide becoming law in this country could effectively be aiding and abetting elder abuse with extremely grave consequences.It’s not hard to imagine that a relative who has been systematically abusing an elder emotionally and financially could see euthanasia as the final (and most profitable) card to play for personal gain.It’s not hard to imagine someone who has been emotionally abused over time succumbing to the suggestion that they ‘do the right thing’ once their frailty and ailments reach a certain point. VI. Larger issues involved Now I’d like to discuss 8 larger issues that are involved .There’s a false compassion involved in this initiative.It’s an explicit promotion of suicide. It will lead to a weakening of palliative care. It creates tremendous pressure on those who are ill and on their caregivers. It provides financial incentives toward euthanasia. It begins a slippery slope to many other possible abuses and evils. It creates legitimate fears in the disabled community. And It introduces a change in the nature of medical care. First, it’s a false compassion – The US Bishops state that “the idea that assisting a suicide shows compassion and eliminates suffering is equally misguided. It eliminates the person, and results in suffering for those left behind—grieving families and friends, and other vulnerable people who may be influenced by this event to see death as an escape. The sufferings caused by chronic or terminal illness are often severe. They cry out for our compassion, a word whose root meaning is to “suffer with” another person. True compassion alleviates suffering while maintaining solidarity with those who suffer. It does not put lethal drugs in their hands and abandon them to their suicidal impulses, or to the self-serving motives of others who may want them dead. It helps vulnerable people with their problems instead of treating them as the problem.” Blessed Pope John Paul II wrote, “True ‘compassion’ leads to sharing another’s pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear.” Second - it’s an explicit governmental promotion of suicide - Once government begins to say under certain circumstances suicide is not only permitted, but a public good, then others in situations — that are by no means severe — start to take their own lives.We’ve seen this in Oregon. In the first decade after Oregon legalized physician assisted suicide, the suicide rate - which had been declining - rose to 35 percent above the national average.And That 35 percent does NOT include doctor-assisted deaths in Oregon. By rescinding legal protection for the lives of one group of people, the government implicitly communicates the message—before anyone signs a form to accept this alleged benefit—that they may be better off dead. If these persons say they want to die, others may be tempted to regard this not as a call for help but as the reasonable response to what they agree is a meaningless life. Those who choose to live may then be seen as selfish or irrational, as a needless burden on others, and even be encouraged to view themselves that way Third - it will lead to a weakening of palliative care – The push for doctor prescribed death is a movement to kill not the pain a person suffers but the person with the pain. Euthanasia advocates have pushed to confuse everyone on the palliative care issue: They have conflated or fused palliative care — the medical alleviation of pain and other distressing symptoms of serious illness — with intentionally ending the life of the patient.The pro-euthanasia lobby has deliberately confused pain relief treatment and euthanasia in order to promote their cause. Their argument is that necessary pain relief treatment that could shorten life is euthanasia; we are already giving such treatment and the vast majority of people agree we should do so; therefore, we are practicing euthanasia with the approval of the majority so we should come out of the medical closet and legalize euthanasia. Indeed, they argue, doing so is just a small incremental step along a path we have already taken. The US Bishops in To Leave Each Day with Dignity wrote, “Even health care providers’ ability and willingness to provide palliative care such as effective pain management can be undermined by authorizing assisted suicide. Studies indicate that untreated pain among terminally ill patients may increase and development of hospice care can stagnate after assisted suicide is legalized. Government programs and private insurers may even limit support for care that could extend life, while emphasizing the “cost-effective” solution of a doctor-prescribed death. The reason for such trends is easy to understand. Why would medical professionals spend a lifetime developing the empathy and skills needed for the difficult but important task of providing optimum care, once society has authorized a “solution” for suffering patients that requires no skill at all? Once some people have become candidates for the inexpensive treatment of assisted suicide, public and private payers for health coverage also find it easy to direct life-affirming resources elsewhere.” Fourth - it creates tremendous pressure on those who are ill and on their care givers - If voluntary euthanasia is introduced, every dying person capable of doing so would have to decide not just whether or not his own pain had become too much to bear, but whether or not the emotional, physical and financial burden was becoming too much for relatives and friends to bear. What are the dying to do when their children and grandchildren have to travel long distances, endure enormous emotional strain and go through wearing physical fatigue to be with them during an awkwardly long and unpredictable “dying period”? What are the poor, vulnerable dying to do when they are made to feel that their continued existence is an intolerable public burden? In cases where the dying elderly are not in a position to give formal consent to their own death, those legally vested with the right to make this decision on their behalf can never be sure that they acted out of the right motives. (In the worst case, one can wonder whether they were motivated by their dying relative’s emotional strain or by THEIR OWN, by the interests of the patient or by the prospect of securing an inheritance sooner rather than later?, and so on). The legalization of euthanasia would put almost “humanly impossible” demands on the dying and their relatives, especially if they are poor. Where voluntary euthanasia is illegal, the timing and extent of medical intervention in the lives of dying patients is more a matter of “professional judgment” than of “personal choice” and this means that the health professions are able to protect the poor and vulnerable from pressures of this kind. Fifth – it creates financial incentives for euthanasia – In an era of cost control and managed care, patients with lingering illnesses may be branded an economic liability, and decisions to encourage physician assisted suicide may be driven by cost.I ask you, is it reasonable to assume that some government bureaucrats or some bottom-line-driven managed care decision makers would be motivated to encourage less costly assisted suicide pill prescriptions over more expensive longer-term treatments?The cost of the lethal medication generally used for assisted suicide is about $300, far cheaper than the cost of treatment for most long-term medical conditions. Many common-sense adults have already concluded that assisted suicide is a deadly mix with our challenged health care system, in which financial pressures already play far too great a role in many health care decisions. The U.S. Solicitor General in the Clinton Administration, Walter Dellinger, warned in urging the Supreme Court to uphold laws against assisted suicide: “The least costly treatment for any illness is lethal medication.” Patients in Oregon have already encountered that reality. In May 2008, 64-year-old retired school bus driver Barbara Wagner received bad news from her doctor. Her cancer had returned. Then she got some good news. Her doctor gave her a prescription for medication that he said would likely slow the cancer’s growth and extend her life. It didn’t take long for her hopes to be dashed.She was notified by letter that the Oregon Health Plan wouldn’t cover the prescribed cancer drug. It also informed her that, although it wouldn’t cover the prescription, it would cover all costs for her assisted suicide. Wagner said she told the OHP, “Who do you guys think you are? You know, to say that you’ll pay for my dying, but you won’t pay to help me possibly live longer?”Wagner’s case was not isolated. Other patients received similar letters. Sixth - clearly this initiative would launch the Commonwealth down the slippery slope to involuntary euthanasia and other evils. The “slippery slope” argument, a complex legal and philosophical concept, generally asserts that one exception to a law is followed by more exceptions until a point is reached that would initially have been unacceptable We’ve seen the path the slippery slope has taken in Belgium and the Netherlands. In 30 years, the Netherlands has moved from euthanasia of people who are terminally ill, to euthanasia of those who are chronically ill; from euthanasia for physical illness, to euthanasia for mental illness; from euthanasia for mental illness, to euthanasia for psychological distress or mental suffering—and now to euthanasia simply if a person is over the age of 70 and “tired of living.” Dutch euthanasia protocols have also moved from conscious patients providing explicit consent, to unconscious patients unable to provide consent. Denying euthanasia or PAS in the Netherlands is now considered a form of discrimination against people with chronic illness, whether the illness be physical or psychological, because those people will be forced to “suffer”longer than those who are terminally ill. Non-voluntary euthanasia is now being justified by appealing to the social duty of citizens and the ethical pillar of caring for others [beneficence]. In the Netherlands, euthanasia has moved from being a measure of last resort to being one of early intervention. Belgium has followed suit, and troubling evidence is emerging from Oregon specifically with respect to the protection of people with depression and the objectivity of the process For many years Dutch courts have allowed physicians to practice euthanasia and assisted suicide with impunity, supposedly only in cases where desperately ill patients have unbearable suffering. However, Dutch policy and practice have expanded to allow the killing of people with disabilities or even physically healthy people with psychological distress; thousands of patients, including newborn children with disabilities, have been killed by their doctors without their request. The Dutch example teaches us that the “slippery slope” is very real.A recent study found that in the Flemish part of Belgium, 66 of 208 cases of “euthanasia” (32%) occurred in the absence of request or consent. The reasons for not discussing the decision to end the person’s life and not obtaining consent were that patients were comatose (70% of cases) or had dementia (21% of cases). In 17% of cases, the physicians proceeded without consent because they felt that euthanasia was “clearly in the patient’s best interest” and, in 8% of cases, that discussing it with the patient would have been harmful to that patient. Those findings accord with the results of a previous study in which 25 of 1644 non-sudden deaths had been the result of euthanasia without explicit consent The US Bishops Conference speaks about this: “Taking life in the name of compassion also invites a slippery slope toward ending the lives of people with non-terminal conditions. Dutch doctors, who once limited euthanasia to terminally ill patients, now provide lethal drugs to people with chronic illnesses and disabilities, mental illness, and even melancholy. Once they convinced themselves that ending a short life can be an act of compassion, it was morbidly logical to conclude that ending a longer life may show even more compassion. Psychologically, as well, the physician who has begun to offer death as a solution for some illnesses is tempted to view it as the answer for an ever-broader range of problems. This agenda actually risks adding to the suffering of seriously ill people. Their worst suffering is often not physical pain, which can be alleviated with competent medical care, but feelings of isolation and hopelessness. The realization that others—or society as a whole—may see their death as an acceptable or even desirable solution to their problems can only magnify this kind of suffering.” There is a moral trickle-down effect. First, suicide is promoted as a virtue. Then follows mercy killing of the terminally ill. From there, it’s a hop, skip and a jump to killing people who aren’t perceived to have a good “quality” of life, perhaps with the prospect of organ harvesting thrown in as a plum to society. Seventh – the disabled community is rightly concerned about this initiative – A Once concerns about the perception of one’s quality of life come to the forefront, disabled advocates anticipate that the disabled will be among the first to be targeted under an anthropology focused on doing rather than being. These advocates tell us that many people with disabilities have long experience of prejudicial attitudes on the part of able-bodied people, including physicians, who assume they would “rather be dead than disabled.” Such prejudices could easily lead families, physicians and society to encourage death for people who are depressed and emotionally vulnerable as they adjust to life with a serious illness or disability. Although the debate about assisted suicide is often portrayed as part of the culture war—with typical left-right, pro-con politics—the largest number of witnesses at the most recent hearing on Beacon Hill were 10 disability-rights advocates who oppose the initiative. According to the National Council on Disability: “As the experience in the Netherlands demonstrates there is little doubt that legalizing assisted suicide generates strong pressures upon individuals and families to utilize the option, and leads very quickly to coercion and involuntary euthanasia.”This is a fear that many people living with a disability and their families express over the idea of euthanasia.They fear that misunderstandings and false compassion could result in them being considered ‘better off dead’; devalued and perhaps even killed. They also fear being treated as second class citizens in respect to their medical care. A policy of euthanasia will inevitably lead to establishing social standards of acceptable life. When “quality life” is more important than life itself, the mentally ill, the disabled, the depressed, and those who cannot defend themselves will be at risk of being eliminated. The prohibitions against both euthanasia and assisted suicide treat all citizens equally. Making exceptions for the hard cases while advantaging the very few, risks placing far more people at a decided risk of disadvantage. We would be implicitly suggesting that the lives of the sick or disabled are less worthy of the protection of the law than others. Will these ‘vulnerable groups’ be heard In Massachusetts, the disability advocates call their opposition group “Second Thoughts.” They say that assisted suicide may sound like a good idea at first, but on second thought the risks of mistake, coercion and abuse are too great. Cardinal Seán O’Malley summed up this thought in a homily he delivered in September of 2011.“By rescinding the legal protection for the lives of a category of people, the government sends a message that some persons are better off dead. This biased judgment about the diminished value of life for someone with a serious illness or disability is fueled by the excessively high premium our culture places on productivity and autonomy which tends to discount the lives of those who have a disability or who are suffering or dependent on others. If these people claim they want to die, others might be tempted to regard this not as a call for help, but as a reasonable response to what they agree is a meaningless life. Those who choose to live may then be viewed as selfish or irrational, as a needless burden on others, and might even be encouraged to see themselves in that way. Many people with a disability who struggle for their genuine rights to adequate health care, housing and so forth, are understandably suspicious when the freedom society most eagerly offers them is the freedom to take their lives.” The eighth large issue is that this initiative if passed would bring about a massive change in the nature of medical care – The American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Nurses Association and the Massachusetts Medical Society all oppose doctor-prescribed suicide and for good reason, because it changes the nature of medical care and corrupts the medical profession.The Hippocratic oath states: “I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan.”The American Medical Association holds that “physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer.” Once we allow doctors to start to kill patients with terminal illnesses, the meaning of the medical profession changes, from one that seeks always to save lives, to one in which it is possible to end them. Once that occurs, then it’s a small step to allowing them to assist non-terminal patients in taking their lives and another to putting pressure on those who are in terminal illnesses to do family members and society a “favor” by ending their lives so that medical resources can be spent elsewhere. We’ve seen the consequences in terms of the doctor-patient relationship. In Holland, reports have been published documenting the sad fact that elderly patients, out of fear of euthanasia, refuse hospitalization and even avoid consulting doctors, because doctors and nurses become potential destroyers of life, rather than defenders. They become executioners. There would also be a fundamental change in the way doctors are formed. A fundamental value and attitude that we want to reinforce in medical students, interns and residents, and in nurses, is an absolute repugnance to killing patients. It would be very difficult to communicate to future physicians and nurses such a repugnance in the context of legalized doctor prescribed death. VII. Our mission in response to this challenge With regard to the citizens initiative petition, we need to know some facts. It’s still in the “second quarter of the game,” but we are slightly behind and therefore we must work harder and better, both on offense and defense. The recent poll by Public Policy Polling showing that 43 percent are in favor of the petition at the present, and 37 percent are against. But we saw some breakdowns that will teach us particular areas that we can emphasize: There is a gender difference. Men were in favor of 48-34 percent.Women were opposed 41-38.Therefore we particularly need to work on men to become real protectors of the vulnerable and to accentuate woman’s nature compassion. There are also generational differences. 65 and older were opposed with 44 percent against it. Those 46-65 were the most in favor, with 49 percent supporting the bill. It’s clear that our seniors will be opposed if the specter of people making the decision for them is brought to them.We need to help the care giver generation to recognize there’s a better way, a way of returning love for the love received, of the availability of good palliative care in hospices. The larger issue of how we should be getting involved was brought out by the US Bishops in To Live Each Day with Dignity. “Catholics should be leaders in the effort to defend and uphold the principle that each of us has a right to live with dignity through every day of our lives. As disciples of one who is Lord of the living, we need to be messengers of the Gospel of Life. We should join with other concerned Americans, including disability rights advocates, charitable organizations, and members of the healing professions, to stand for the dignity of people with serious illnesses and disabilities and promote life-affirming solutions for their problems and hardships. We should ensure that the families of people with chronic or terminal illness will advocate for the rights of their loved ones, and will never feel they have been left alone in caring for their needs. The claim that the “quick fix” of an overdose of drugs can substitute for these efforts is an affront to patients, caregivers and the ideals of medicine. When we grow old or sick and we are tempted to lose heart, we should be surrounded by people who ask “How can we help?” We deserve to grow old in a society that views our cares and needs with a compassion grounded in respect, offering genuine support in our final days. The choices we make together now will decide whether this is the kind of caring society we will leave to future generations. We can help build a world in which love is stronger than death.” This initiative petition is a time in which all citizens of the Commonwealth have the chance to choose the path of Cain and Kevorkian or the path of the Good Samaritan. It’s the path of the executioner or of the truly compassionate care-giver, the life-affirming hospice nurse, the 24-hour operator at suicide prevention hotlines, and the heroic firefighter or police officer who climbs bridges, risking his life to save those who are contemplating ending their own. The path of the true brother’s keeper will also be shown in the educational work of those who begin anew to educate others about the dignity of every human life and persuade legislators and fellow citizens to rise up to defeat soundly this evil initiative. It’s a matter of life or death.…
Summary of today’s show: Employees at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center have a new tradition of getting out each spring to give some hands-on assistance at inner-city parishes and making a connection between the work they do at their desks and the people in the parishes they serve. Scot Landry and The Good Catholic Life team made their way to St. Matthew Parish in Dorchester today to get their hands dirty and to sit down with Denise McKinnon-Biernat, one of the organizers of the Week; Rich Durham, business manager for a number of inner-city parishes; and Gerard Lafalaise, a parishioner and volunteer at St. Angela’s and St. Matthew’s parishes. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Rich Durham, Denise McKinnon-Biernat, Gaspar Lafalaise Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Pastoral Center Service Week 1st segment: Scot Landry said we’re at St. Matthew Parish in Dorchester. He welcomed Rich Durham, business manager at many of inner-city parishes; Gerard Lafalaise, a volunteer at the parish; and Denise McKinnon-Biernat of Parish Financial Services. Denise said the objective of Parish Service Week is the give people who work in the pastoral center the flavor of working in the parishes and also providing some manual labor for parishes that need some help. A lot of the volunteers find they get more from doing this than what they give. Denise said they’re promoting a culture of service. The Pastoral Center serves parishes, but often its from behind a desk, but the service week gets employees out into the parishes and face to face. Last year they were at St. Katharine Drexel Parish in Roxbury with about 35 people and this year at St. Matthew’s and St. Angela’s in Mattapan, they had more than twice as many. Rich said these two parishes were picked this year because they are inner-city parishes that need significant help. St. Katharine was chosen last year because they needed a lot of landscaping and exterior painting, which are very visible signs of change for the parish. Scot said many of the parishes Rich serves receive subsidies from the Central Ministries, which are supported by the Catholic Appeal. Scot asked how many parishes need that support. Rich said it costs about the same to run any parish. So a suburban parish can support a general budget, but an inner-city parish’s parishioners have less they can afford to give, although they are still giving a lot as a percentage. Rich wants to ensure they have websites and Facebook pages so they have all the tools that any other parish has to make sure they feel part of the archdiocese. An example of the work being done is St. Angela’s in Mattapan where they had a contractor fix a railing. That required skilled labor. But the volunteers painted the front doors of the church to give a welcoming façade. They power washed the statues in front of the church, so now there’s a bright white statue of the Blessed Mother as people pull up. Scot said the exterior of the church tells people whether we take pride in our church, whether there’s a lively community. We all have lists of things to do and we can help parishes with that list. Scot asked Gaspar about helping out at St. Angela’s and St. Matthew’s. He said he’s helped out at St. Angela’s for 16 years with Fr. William Joy, the pastor, and at St. Matthew’s for the last few years. Gaspar is a native of Haiti. Both parishes are diverse communities. The majority are Haitian or of Haitian descent, but they also have groups from other Caribbean islands and Latin America. He said it’s a fragile community too because there are many cultural concerns. The Haitian community in the Archdiocese is the largest in the country. Gaspar said both parishes gather the majority of the Haitian Catholic community in Boston. People come to the parishes from as far away as Maine for cultural devotional events. Even when people move to other communities, they come back because this is the hub of Haitian immigration. Fr. Joy is the pastor and couldn’t be here because of a funeral. Gaspar said he loves Fr. Joy because he is a humble leader. He lets people express themselves and trusts people to make good decisions. He works with Fr. Joy closely and is very comfortable with him and that’s why he is happy to volunteer. Scot said being a pastor in an inner-city parish is one of the most challenging but also fulfilling ministries. Rich said Fr. Joy has a difficult task. Of the two parishes, St. Angela’s is much larger, but he never favors on parish over the other and ensures that he gives equal attention to all groups. There is no favoritism. He’s amazed at how he’s able to accommodate all the needs, whether it’s culture or facilities management or language. The reason we’re at both parishes this week is because Fr. Joy insisted on coming to both. They hired more professionals for St. Matthew’s because the needs are greater here, while St. Angela’s got more of the volunteers yet both got equal amounts of service. 2nd segment: Scot asked Denise about the many vendors who serve the Archdiocese who have donated products and services. The mulch, flowers, and some of the labor was donated by Landscaping in Bridgewater. from Weymouth donated new drywall and prep work to allow volunteers to paint seven rooms at St. Angela’s. Ridgemont Construction in Quincy donated new railings in St. Angela’s. Follan Waterproofing power washed the statues at the parishes. Scot said the hedges at St. Angela’s were trimmed by Cardinal Sean and showed up in a photo in the Globe. Rich said it took six people two hours to weed the flower beds at St. Angela’s, including removing fencing. Also the front of the rectory there doesn’t get a lot of sun and so there were a lot of dead plants and trash. Even though it was general landscaping it took a lot of time. He noted that landscaping work can be tough when you work behind a desk most of the time. Thankfully, there have been no major injuries among the volunteers. Scot said there’s been a broad group from the pastoral center. They came from most departments, including BCDS, Catholic Media (including Scot’s flower bed planting, which he credited to Dom Bettinelli), legal services, Catholic Schools, Parish Financial Services, Facilities, Real Estate, Faith Formation, Finance. People of all ages and sizes too. Scot asked how Cardinal Sean got assigned to hedge trimming. Rich said they had to find a photo opportunity and in front of the Blessed Mother was a good idea. George Martell the photographer had a good idea to give him hedge trimmers. Scot asked what Msgr. Deeley is going to do and Rich said they’re going to give the vicar general a bow saw and a ladder to trim trees. Scot noticed a sense of joy among those working. He said it’s nice to get to know the other people who work in the Pastoral Center that he might not have gotten to know before. Denise said it is a community building exercise. She said last year people kept saying they couldn’t wait to do it next year and happy to work beside people they didn’t know before. Denise said she’s sure that will happen again next year. Scot asked Gaspar his opinion on the quality of work. Gaspar said he was happy to see all that’s been accomplished. He’s looking forward to the impact on the parishes in terms of recognizing the support they have from outside. It will make a huge long-term impact. He said the front doors at St. Angela’s look great as well. It makes a big difference from what there was before. What has been done is wonderful and he doesn’t have words to express his gratitude. Rich said the biggest thing he hopes people take away from this is having seen the people who work in the parishes and seeing the facilities, they can appreciate the impact their work has on the people in the parishes. It’s good to see how the parishes can struggle with limited resources and it bridges the gap. Many people see their home parish as the Catholic Church, but seeing a different parish helps people to understand the breadth of the Church. Scot asked Denise what she would ay to those who give to the Catholic Appeal and the impact their donations have for the immigrant Catholics who in many ways are the future leaders of the Archdiocese. Denise said they provide funding for the mission of these community. The Church needs to be in these neighborhoods and provide for the ministry to those who don’t have the wherewithal to provide for themselves now. Gaspar said he invites long-term parishioners, those whose families have roots in those parishioners, who have moved out of state or out of town and into other parishes to come back and visit St. Angela’s and St. Matthew’s. The current parishioners are grateful for what they have left for this generation, which is doing its best to keep up the gift that has been handed on to them. There are a lot of challenges they are facing and former parishioners may be able to support the parishes with prayers or financial gifts. Scot said St. Matthew’s probably started as serving the Irish immigrants. Gaspar said both parishes have highly mobile populations, in and out of the parish. So if someone comes from Haiti, they seek out St. Angela’s to worship in Creole French. As they become more stable and learn English and get married, for example, they move somewhere else. Scot asked what communities Haitian Catholics are moving to? Gaspar said it depends on income or education. Many move to Malden, Chelsea, Brockton, Randolph or Avon. Some go to Hyde Park and Milton. A large percentage go to New York or Florida, which is a challenge to the church both financially and spiritually. People form bonds but then one person moves away, often just when they are making a little more money and could support the church with gifts a little more. Rich said both parishes have strong youth and young adults groups. That provides for a strong future. St. Matthew’s has a very vibrant food pantry, in which the food is provided by a parish in the western suburbs. They serve very many families in the area. The parishes do share the sacraments, doing First Communions and Confirmations together, which is mainly for financial reasons. The business operations are run out of St. Matthew’s, but the parishioners would appreciate having two offices. Scot said he prepared for today by looking at the parish websites and he was impressed by them and how they have many photos showing parish life. Gaspar is the creator and maintainer of those sites. He doesn’t take the credit for the sites for himself. He said the Archdiocesan highlighted the parish’s site as one of the top six parish websites, but he said the parish ministries take credit for providing the good content. The choir ministry and youth and young adult ministries are the backbone and strength of the parishes and all he does is take pictures of what they do. One of the goals of the websites was to create an online giving program and so they needed a good website for them. But it was also a good opportunity to show the good news from inside the parishes to the outside world. Scot asked Denise what else she hopes will be accomplished today. This is the largest day with over 21 volunteers today. They hope to do flower beds, trim trees and bushes, and paint the front doors to bring them back to life and make them more welcoming. They’re going to work around the parking lot and clean up some areas. Rich said the front of both churches came out spectacular and people will feel very welcome with the new doors, the power washed statues, and new flower beds. He pointed out that on rainy Wednesday, volunteers painted 7 rooms in the rectory which benefits the parish staff especially. Denise said even when it rains there’s a lot of work to do inside. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers —there was a group of about one hundred and twenty persons in the one place —. He said, “My brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand through the mouth of David, concerning Judas, who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus. He was numbered among us and was allotted a share in this ministry. “For it is written in the Book of Psalms: May another take his office. “Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us, become with us a witness to his resurrection.” So they proposed two, Judas called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this apostolic ministry from which Judas turned away to go to his own place.” Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven apostles.…
Summary of today’s show: On our regular Thursday show, Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy consider the news headlines of the week, including President Obama’s same-sex marriage “evolution”; rejection of a parish closing appeal by the Vatican; new priest assignments; and the 40th anniversary of monthly all-night Eucharistic adoration in the Archdiocese of Boston. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Obama’s same-sex marriage “evolution”; Parish closing appeal rejected; 40 years of all-night Adoration 1st segment: Scot and Susan talked about how she came to show from a very important meeting with Cardinal Sean and parish catechetical leaders. The bishop of a diocese is the primary catechist and they discussed how the timing of the meeting after winding down of the faith formation year helped them to listen to new initiatives coming up. Scot said today is the Feast of the Ascension and a Holy Day of Obligation in the Archdiocese. Find a church near you on your way home at . This week has also been Parish Service Week, where employees at the Pastoral Center have been volunteering at parishes in Mattapan and Dorchester. 2nd segment: Scot and Susan welcomed Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry back to the show. One of the big stories of the week has been the change by President Obama to support same-sex marriage. Fr. Roger wrote an editorial in the Anchor this week on the topic. Fr. Roger said no one was surprised by the change because his words and actions have been different over the past eight years. His Justice Department had opposed the Defense of Marriage Act as bigotry and the State Department has stopped defending the right to religious freedom in order to promote the invented right to normalized same-sex marriage and activity. Fr. Roger then focused on Obama’s claim to have had his stand on marriage “evolve”. [T]he term evolution - which he has been using for two years to describe the interior ethical flux he said he was in - is clearly a loaded one. Not only does it imply a progression from Neanderthal to enlightened ideas, but it also suggests that the only people opposed to such positive development would be the same fundamentalist primitives who believe the world was created in six 24-hour periods. But Obama tried mainly to base the change on Christian faith. Most striking of all, however, is that the particular type of evolution the president said he had gone through was above all theological. “I’ve been going through an evolution on this issue,” the president said to Roberts, describing how politically he has gone from supporting civil unions to same-sex marriages. “I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, the word Marriage was something that evokes very powerful traditions, religious beliefs and so forth, but … at a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married. … In the end the values that I care most deeply about and [the first lady] cares most deeply about is how we treat other people … . We are both practicing Christians and obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others but, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing Himself on our behalf, but it’s also the Golden Rule, you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated. And I think that’s what we try to impart to our kids and that’s what motivates me as president and I figure the most consistent I can be in being true to those precepts, the better I’ll be as a dad and a husband and hopefully the better I’ll be as president.” Obama thought he had to give in on same-sex marriage because he thought that’s what Christ would want him to do. It’s clear, however, in terms of the consistent application of this lapidary moral principle, that the president still has much evolving to do. If he applied it to the victims of abortion, he would be hard pressed to desire that physicians do to him what abortion doctors do to our younger, smaller, more vulnerable fellow human beings. If he applied it to the situation of conscientious Catholics in America, he would not be trying to compel Catholic institutions, business owners and individuals through their insurance plans to fund practices they believe are immoral. He also needs to evolve toward a correct interpretation of the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule does not mean to do for others whatever they’d like, but to do for them what is for their true good, just as we’d always want others to act in promotion of our true good. The Golden Rule for parents with regard to their kids’ appetites is not to feed them all the cotton-candy, chocolate and ice cream they’d like, but to make them eat their vegetables. The Golden Rule for teachers who care for their stUdents is not to give them little or no homework and easy A’s, but to exercise their developing minds and even to flunk them if they fail to perform. The Golden Rule for friends of those who are addicted is not to enable or ignore their problems but to intervene forcibly to get them help, even if it be against their desires. The Golden Rule is not about others’ wants, but their genuine needs. It’s always linked to the truth about the good. The Golden Rule pertains to all society as well. Scot said “evolution” is a loaded term and he was offended by the implication that those who disagree with the President are not as evolved as him. Susan said if this were a different topic and a different candidate, would we say he evolved or would we say he flip-flopped. Evolution carries the implicit meaning of moving to something at a higher level and offers an unfortunate implication. Greg said it seems convenient that now when Obama’s in the middle of campaign for re-election he is switching. Before he was more guarded in his positions, perhaps because it wouldn’t have played very well to most people. This announcement seems to be a political inoculation for the campaign. Scot said Republicans used to be the party accused of making social issues a key part of the election, but this year it seems it’s the Democrats doing it. Fr. Roger said we’re seeing a little bit of desperation like with the health care bill. Certain segments in the Democrat Party are worried about losing in November and so they’re trying to force the social issues forward. Fr. Roger said we have to approach these issues being confident and strong in our faith. Fr. Roger said Jesus spoke emphatically about marriage in his ministry. The roots of the meaning of marriage are found in the Book of Genesis. Scot quoted Cardinal Dolan’s remarks. “President Obama’s words today are not surprising since they follow upon various actions already taken by his administration that erode or ignore the unique meaning of marriage. We cannot be silent in the face of words or actions that would undermine the institution of marriage, the very cornerstone of our society,” Cardinal Dolan added. “The people of this country, especially our children, deserve better.” “I pray for the president every day, and will continue to pray that he and his administration act justly to uphold and protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman,” Cardinal Dolan said. “May we all work to promote and protect marriage and by so doing serve the true good of all persons.” 3rd segment: Scot said two new assignments for priests were announced in the Pilot this week. Fr. Michael J. Doyle will become pastor at St. Mary of the Annunciation in Danvers, effective June 5. He had been serving as a military chaplain. Fr. Paul Aveni has been named pastor at Sacred Heart parish in Middleborough and Sts. Martha and Mary in Lakeville, effective June 5. Scot said Fr. Aveni’s territory might be the largest area for any one priest to cover in the archdiocese. Fr. Roger talked about the beauty of the area around the Lakeville parish. Also in the Pilot is a profile of Fr. Kevin Deeley, the new pastor of St. Michael’s in North Andover, the largest in the Archdiocese. Greg said Fr. Deeley was a Navy chaplain for many years and just returned to the Archdiocese. He seems very happy to be there. He is the younger brother of the vicar general, Msgr. Robert Deeley. He was also a high school chaplain at Matignon back in the 1980s. Susan commented on the great rewards he found as a chaplain. “[The chaplaincy] was very rewarding, in the sense that the Catholic priest is there for the sailors who are Catholic. It’s like bringing the Church to them,” explained Father Deeley. “As a chaplain, we make their home parish visible to the sailors,” he said, adding that in his 16 years in military service he has realized that “we are in good hands” with our service men and women. Another story in the Pilot is the rejection of the appeal of the closing of St. Francis Cabrini in Scituate by the Vatican. Greg said this story starts in 2004 when the parish was closed as part of the Archdiocesan reconfiguration. It had a full-time 24-hour vigil of those who were trying to keep the parish open. Greg said there are two aspects to a closing. First is the suppression of the parish and second is the disposition of the building. Greg said the parish was suppressed in 2004. Parish in canon law is an entity like a corporation, but it doesn’t necessarily have a building. It’s typically a territorial area. It can have more than one church as well. The first appeal was to reverse the decision to suppress the parish. Then the second step was the church building itself being relegated to profane use, which means it’s deconsecrated and can be used for other uses. Profane here is the opposite of the sacred. So it can have a profane or secular use, but it must be sordid. The Vatican has reversed relegation of property in other parts of the US, but in this case the appeal was rejected. Scot said it’s been a controversial eight years. Most parishioners in the Archdiocese affected by closings moved on and accepted the change. About eight or nine parishes had some parishioners hold on and Cardinal Sean was committed to allowing the vigils to continue while appeals were ongoing. Scot said many Catholics in the archdiocese are calling people to move on, especially with the cost to maintain these vigil sites. Scot noted that the leaders of the Scituate vigil are the neighbors next door to the parish and so a person could reasonably conclude that they have self-interested reasons for holding out. Susan sought clarification on whether there is one more appeal, and Greg said they are appealing to the Apostolic Signatura on whether the Archdiocese followed the requirements of canon law. They can appeal twice, first to a panel of the court and then to the full body of the court. The court’s decision will be based on whether lower courts acted correctly, not on the merits of the case. Scot said no one wants to close a church. We’d rather keep opening parishes, but there are greater issues and Cardinal Sean has a responsibility to maximize resources for the entire Archdiocese of Boston. Fr. Roger added that with regard to suppression of a parish, it’s fundamentally whether the followed canon law to the letter. With regard to relegation, the Archdiocese has to have a grave reason for doing that and the Congregation for the Clergy has recently overturned those decisions in other dioceses because the bishops didn’t give a sufficiently grave reason. We’re closing a place where God has been worshipped and we have to look closely at that. In Europe, churches are maintained by the government. In Italy, every church but five are owned and maintained by the government. So you can understand why the Roman Curia might not recognize the burden on dioceses that have to pay to maintain empty churches. Fr. Roger said there’s been a lot of conversation between US bishops and the Roman Curia during the ad limina visits this year. Scot said Cardinal Sean has respected the appeal process. Greg followed up on what Fr. Roger said to clarify that even in the cases where the Vatican has said the buildings can’t be relegated, it doesn’t mean they have to be parishes again. Scot said it’s tough to make the case that there aren’t enough other parishes in the area given Mass attendance now. We can hope that changes in the future, but we know you need to have a critical mass of people, priest, staff, and ministry in parish to make it feel alive and bring people back to the Church. Moving on, Scot said on June 1, the All-night Eucharistic Vigil marks its 40th anniversary at St. Mary’s Chapel at Boston College with a Mass at 9pm celebrated by Fr. Ron Tacelli, SJ, and a talk by Fr. Ed Riley on the message of Fatima. Barbara Keville was interviewed for the Pilot article and she has been the force behind the 40 year tradition. “I am no theologian but I am so grateful that God uses a person like me, just a simple housewife and a mother,” Keville said. “No words can fully express the deep gratitude and joy that this apostolate has been for the past forty years. God is so good to allow this to happen. If God and our beloved Cardinal permit, we will continue these vigils for as long as possible,” Keville said. Keville also called for others to stan vigils, and offered to assist the cause in any way she can - just as she has done for 40 years. “Anybody can start a Eucharistic vigil,” she said, “If anybody wants any help in any way, I would be glad to,” Keville said. Scot said the idea of continuing one ministry for 40 years is astonishing. Susan said Barbara is amazing person and a force of nature. Fr. Roger offered public thanks to Barbara for everything she’s done for the Lord and our faith. Scot said Cardinal Sean has also asked all new ecclesial movements and ethnic apostolates to join him at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on May 26, 6pm for a special vigil Mass for Pentecost. Scot also pointed out a rosary retreat by Holy Cross Family Ministries at Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton.…
Summary of today's show:Scot and Father Chris talk about the Society of St James the Apostle with Fr David Costello, the newly elected Director of the Society. Fr David discusses his early formation for the Diocese of Limerick, Ireland, his work starting a brand new parish in the diocese of Lima, Peru, and what he looks forward to accomplishing over his upcoming three year tenure as Director. Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Father Chris O'Connor Today’s guest(s): Father David Costello, Director of the Society of St James the Apostle Links from today's show: Today’s topics: Fr David Costello and his formation, the work of Fr David and the Society of St James in Peru, the Society itself, the future and mission of the Society. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr Chris back to the show, and asked about what he did to celebrate Mother's Day this past weekend. Fr Chris said he visited with his sister and family and did lots of grilling, and connected not only to his biological mother but Mary, our spiritual mother. Scot commented he liked St Agnes in Arlington's way of celebrating Mother's Day - by crowning Mary right after the morning Mass. Scot also mentioned that the Pastoral Center crowned the statue of Mary today in a celebration after the noon-time Mass. Fr Chris said most prayers now are directed towards doing well on exams before heading out to their summer assignments - men will be working 6 to 8 weeks in a parish, shadowing priests and learning how to live a holy life. It also gives the seminarians a chance to put the pastoral skills they are learning into practice. Some of the men go to the Institute for Priestly Formation, Fr Chris said, a program in Omaha that teaches the Igantian Spirituality to men preparing for the priesthood. Lastly, Fr Chris said there are several men traveling to Portugal this summer for an immersion in the language - this will better prepare the men to serve the Portuguese-speaking communities here in the Archdiocese of Boston. Scot also gave a "shout out" to Paul Blanchette, who ministered to the listeners at Norfolk State Prison this past weekend with the Cursillo program. Fr Chris added that he sees the fruit of Cursillo in the lives of all the men there, and thanked them all for listening and for their prayers. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Father David Costello to the show. Fr David said he is from the south of Ireland, a town named Limerick. Scot asked when Fr David got the idea that God might be calling him to serve as a priest - Fr David replied that from a very early age he always knew he wanted to be a priest. Growing up, Fr David said he was very involved in his parish as an altar server, with family events, and more. The priests, people in his parish, and the community influenced him in a positive way, and when he was 16 he made the decision to enter the seminary after high school. He was ordained for the Diocese of Limerick in 1995, and spent his first 8 years as a priest in a parish in County Limerick. Fr David said at that point, he heard a vocation call within a vocation call - to not just be a priest but to be a missionary priest. Fr David said he was lucky that there was a St James priest from Limerick he knew well - he spoke with his fellow priest about the St James Society and visited him in Peru. Scot noted that the whole country of Ireland has been very active in the missions throughout the world, and that activity has been part of the foundation of the Irish population here. Fr David agreed and said that it was difficult to get a place in the diocese in Ireland when he was younger, so Irish priests were sent abroad. Every diocese would also have its own mission outreach in those days as well, Fr David added. Fr Chris said that we're very proud of the Society here in Boston because it was at the idea of Richard Cardinal Cushing that the Society started. Fr David explained that the membership being made of diocesan priests is the most unique part of the Society - being able to live out a mission call while still being incardinated to their home diocese. Priests generally remain members for about 5 years, Fr David said, and are then sent back to their home dioceses after service. Fr David said most of the pioneers were from Boston - the ones who went to the furthest parts of Bolivia and Peru and did the hardest work to start the mission of the Society. Fr Chris said he thinks the other great benefit to the diocese is that the priests come back home with a new language skill and cultural knowledge to minister to South American Catholics who have migrated. Fr David agreed, and said it's interesting to him to meet people from parishes as he does appeals and parish missions who remember past priests in their lives who have served with the Society. Scot noted that priests who come back have a deeper cultural connection to their people, not just a new language. He asked Fr David how that worked in his case - Fr David said he didn't even speak Spanish when he first went to Peru! Fr David said that it was an exciting time for him to go to Peru - it was like being ordained again, and learning everything again for the first time, even without the support structures or physical structures that we may be used to in Boston or Limerick. Saying Mass on the street wouldn't be unheard of - it's a very different way of becoming a priest, Fr David said. There was a young population where he worked, Fr David continued, which kept both him and his Masses very active and lively. Fr Chris asked what the most difficult transition was for Fr David - Fr David replied that the biggest fear of his was the language gap, but he realized that the biggest gap is cultural. He said a Peruvian culture of "manana" (tomorrow) is a bit different - time doesn't mean much to the people there, and it can be difficult to adjust to that. Fr David gave the example that a Bishop came to confirm some Catholics and he told the people the Mass was at 8:30am so that 90% of them would be there by the actual start time of 11am! Scot asked Fr David how the Mass is the same or different down in Peru. Fr David said first that the Mass has a different sense of liveliness - there is always music, whether there are musicians or good singers or not. One thing Fr David said he noticed was that Mass would start when the priest showed up - he would start the Mass with only a few people, but by the time you get to the Gospel, many people will be attending. Fr Chris asked Fr David to describe the processions that are in Peruvian culture. Part of the culture is to express their faith publicly, Fr David said - blessing with water and proclaiming their faith in the street aren't at all unusual - to say, "We are the Catholics here, and we're proud to be Catholic!" Scot asked why countries like Peru, who we may hear are very Catholic places, are not producing as many vocations. Fr David said that historically he would imagine that it is due to a lower level of education - not many people would have the knowledge that being a priest requires. Now, Fr David, many of the dioceses are starting to produce native and local priests from seminaries based in the diocese. There are many signs of hope of fruitful vocations Fr David said, unlike 40 to 50 years ago - much of that may be due to Cardinal Cushing's decision to send priests to Peru long ago. Fr David said that the mission is to "get in, get on, and get out" - to set the parish up, put the infrastructure in place, and then hand the founded parish to a native priest - essentially, to "put themselves out of work!" Fr David said he was very proud when he attended an ordination and both of the new priests spoke highly of how the St James priests had encouraged and fostered their vocations throughout the years. Currently, Fr David said, the Society is in Peru and Ecuador, with about 21 priests total serving abroad and two in the United States. Several of the parishes in Peru are very new - the parish that Fr David just left is only 6 years old. Scot asked how the parish structure is in the missions - one pastor typically takes care of one church here in Boston, but Fr David said his parish covered about 12 chapel areas he managed by himself for about 2 years - now there are two priests. The mountain parishes, though, can sometimes cover an area as big as Ireland with only one priest, covering various outstations sometimes only once per month. Fr Chris asked Fr David to talk about what the average day in his old diocese was. Fr David said the daily Mass was always in the evening - nothing really happened before 3pm. Not for laziness - but because the people are up at dawn working. Fr David said he was involved with many of the social outreach programs, feeding school children meals Monday through Friday or working with a social worker. After 3pm, people would come in for catechetical programs or evangelization programs, followed by Mass at a different chapel each evening. Sometimes meetings would even go to 10pm - much different than a morning weekday Mass and early dinner. Apart from the social worker, Fr David said, all the parish workers are volunteers - almost 80 catechists come for preparations each week and then in turn prepare their individual groups for sacraments. In one case, Fr David described, one boy about 15 years old was a catechist for a group of his peers - it was encouraging for Fr David to see a young boy express his faith so publicly. Schooling in Peru is provided by the state, but sacramental preparation happens on the parish level. The social worker Fr David employed helped him figure out who was needy or who wasn't, and would also visit them in their home to get a sense of what the home was like. The role of the priest was not to hand out money, though - Fr David said he helped with food or navigating red tape. The social worker was invaluable here, Fr David said, helping him get discounts for parishioners or even free medical care. Fr Chris noted that Lima isn't what people might think of with the missions - not a jungle with dense vegetation but rather a desert. Fr David said there isn't much rain where his parish was on the coast because of geography, and no trees because watering trees costs a lot of money. Going into the mountains, however, Fr David said it becomes much more of a tropical climate instead. Fr David said he enjoyed experiencing the different rhythms of life in the parishes all over Peru. Scot asked what the level of poverty is - Fr David answered that 80% of the citizens of Peru live in dire or extreme poverty. A typical home in his parish was a one room straw shack - the lucky ones would have a bed. The social progarams the Society runs cover nutrition programs, inexpensive but healthy food, meals for school children, even just teaching the value of eating a salad is something the people need to be taught. 3rd segment: Scot asked Fr David to talk about "Rescusitado", "The Resurrected One" - Fr David's parish in Peru. Fr David said that 6 years ago he was asked to move to Lima to form a new parish. When he went there, there was no rectory, parish center, or central place at all - the first month was spent looking for somewhere to live. The first few months, Fr David said he spent time just introducing himself - spending his time wasting time, in a way, saying hello to everyone he could find. The parish next door might have been accessible by a bus, but it's very hilly and not easy for them to make it down to the local village. This is the reason for the twelve different chapel sites - each area is at a different level of development but the key is to get people involved and signed up for sacramental preparation and adult education. Fr Chris asked Fr David what an invasion was - Fr David said that people usually come from the mountains into the coast by Lima, the capital, and just invade the land - claim their spot of land on the side of a hill and build a house. Over time, they eventually get a title or deed and paperwork to prove they own the land. Sometimes whole villages do this, Fr David said - even forming their own elected governments to coordinate. Scot asked how a church gets built - Fr David said if you're there at the beginning of an invasion, the priest just lays claim to a piece of land for the Church, a right the government has recognized. Fr David said this is important because the people get the sense that this is their parish and take a sense of ownership in the church. Fr Chris asked what Fr David's role as the "head honcho" of the Society of St James entails - even though he was left the missions, he is still doing mission work. Fr David laughed and said he finds out more about what the work is every day! Fr David continued and said that all the financing comes through the Boston office, so he is responsible for that fiscal work. He's also responsible for the personnel, taking him out of Boston to Peru and Ecuador to visit the parishes and ensure the priests in his care are doing well. Fr David said another primary mission is to recruit new members - many priests are nearing the end of their 5 year commitment, so he hopes to bolster their numbers. Fr Chris asked what Fr David talks about when he does a mission appeal - Fr David said he speaks a bit of the St James Society, but always shares a story from the missions, and asks for prayerful and fiscal generosity. Obviously Fr David said he has to ask for financial help, but it's also about sharing the information about what the Society does in Latin America. Scot asked Fr David to describe the ways that local Catholics could come and hear more about the Society - Fr David said their main means of fundraising is the Missionary Cooperative program through the Pontifical Mission Societies here in Boston, which allows them to speak in parishes all over the Archdiocese. Fr David said that they have two dinners and a golf tournament for fundraising, and distribute a monthly newsletter called "Friends" that is available on their website. Fr David said people can also visit Fr Derek Leonard's blog, who he worked with in Peru. The blog has great pictures of the parish and life as a Catholic in Peru. Scot asked Fr Chris what he and the seminarians have taken away during their visits to Peru - Fr Chris answered that the importance of giving with your resources is always made clear when they visit - that they see the dedication of the priests in Peru to spread the Word of Jesus. The people in Peru are filled with joy and love for the Lord, Fr Chris said, and is a great way to experience the world-wide nature of the Church - as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Fr David said even $30 is salary for 3 days for a hard laborer who works all day - feeding a family with small donations or supporting a parish is very easy. Fr David concluded by asking for prayers for new priests to send down to Peru and Ecuador, and for all the priest members and their parishioners.…
Summary of today’s show: Every year, the Order of Malta, a 950-year-old organization with roots in Catholic knighthood, brings the sick and ailing from around the world to Lourdes, France, to pray and to bathe in the miraculous healing waters promised by our Blessed Mother to St. Bernadette in the 19th century. Scot Landry is joined by Craig Gibson and Joe & Sheila Feitleberg, local members of the Order, as well as 10-year-old Luke Dillon and his mom, Dawn, who made the pilgrimage earlier this month. Luke shares his experience of the pilgrimage as he suffers from muscular dystrophy, while Craig, Joe, and Sheila talk about the work of the Order and why this ministry to the “malades” is so important and fulfilling to them. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Craig Gibson, Dawn Dillon, Luke Dillon, Joe & Sheila Feitleberg Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Lourdes and the Order of Malta 1st segment: Scot said today we’re profiling the Order of Malta’s pilgrimage to Lourdes with the sick and ailing. one of our guests is Luke Dillon, 10, who experienced the pilgrimage two weeks ago. Scot also welcomed Joe & Sheila Feitleberg in the studio along with Craig Gibson on the phone. Luke said he goes to St. Catherine’s parish in Westford. His mom, Dawn, said Luke had been excited to go and was able to go because her in-laws, Jim and Sue Dillon, who are a Knight and Dame, sponsored I’m because of his muscular dystrophy. Luke said it was his first trip outside the country. Scot asked Joe and Sheila an overview of the Order of Malta. It’s an actual order in the Church with both a military history but also a religious history. Joe said it is 950 years old and began with Blessed Fra Girard in Jerusalem and it was intended to care for pilgrims who were sick. It was at the time of the Crusades. What distinguished Girard was that it didn’t matter hither the injured and ill were Christians or Muslims, which continues today in Bethlehem. Sheila said one of the major initiatives of the Order is a big hospital in Haiti, Sacre Couer, as well as a national prison ministry to visit prisoners, but also Bibles and a newsletter for inmates. They also have a Haitian health foundation, a ministry for housing the homeless, plus local causes in New England to help the sick and the poor, like Cathedral Care at Holy Cross Cathedral; soup kitchens; inner-city schools. Craig said he and his wife Nancy joined the Order back in 2008, in which they took an oath to uphold all the elements of the Order. The Boston chapter numbers about 230 members. What attracted them was that Nancy’s parents have long been involved as were a number of siblings and spouses. What was most appealing to them that it was an invitation to respond to the universal call to holiness. This was a different call than the parish or diocesan activities. It was a call to live a deeper spiritual life. Joe said the spiritual element is particularly strong. There are more than 12,000 members worldwide and 3,000 in the US, but the underlying idea is not just to get people to do more, but to couple their works with the spiritual reasons. Joe and Sheila said they came into the order in 1984 and there’s nothing secret about the organization. They’re with people who have a value system that they share. Scot said his experience with the order is that they are anything but elitist. They roll up their sleeves and get the work done. Sheila said the Church is the people and that’s what they’re about. She said being involved strengthens not just the individual, but the couple together. It’s thrilling to share the pilgrimage of Lourdes with other and with hundreds of other people who come along. By the time they come home, no one is a stranger and they are very committed to one another. The services they attend in Lourdes are beautiful and uplifting. They have Masses and Rosary processions and healing services. Scot asked why the Order chose to do the annual pilgrimage to Lourdes. Joe said it’s the 27th year for the pilgrimage run by the 1,800 members of the American Association part of the Order in the US. They had 50 “malades” (the sick), 50 family accompanying them, plus about another 100 health care workers, and then the Knights and Dames themselves for about a total of 350. Joe talked about the people who said the feeling of the presence of Our Lady was very strong there. Our Lady had specifically asked people to drink and bathe in the water of the spring that St. Bernadette Soubirous dug with her bare hands. Sheila said it was her eighth trip to Lourdes two weeks ago. She finds it to be grace-filled and uplifting. She tries to nurture that feeling throughout the year, and eventually finds herself wanting to go back. She said it’s very strenuous and the accommodations are simple. THis is not a vacation by any means. The people she met at the airport coming home spoke about how they couldn’t possibly explain what happened to those back home. Craig works at Holy Family Hospital in Methuen in pastoral services for patients. He said when any of us are dealing with difficult health situations, we would normally look upon a pilgrimage to Lourdes as opportunity for healing of body, mind, and spirit. He said there now 68 documented miracles, documented by the Vatican. There are 2,000 more miracles that have been proposed for those who have visited Lourdes. In most cases, however, people are drawn closer to God permanently, even if there isn’t obvious physical healing. 2nd segment: Luke said he wanted to go to Lourdes because he thought his legs would get better in the baths. He talked about the airplane travel and arriving in France. In Lourdes they went to the Rosary Basilica and then the St. Pius X Basilica which is underground. They talked about going to the Grotto. He said he waited a long time to bathe in the grotto. He said the water was very, very cold. He was in the water for just a second or too. He recalled praying. Luke said he felt different in his heart after. He remembered listening to people praying in all different languages. Joe said people may not understand how big it all is. There were more than 25,000 people at Mass on Sunday morning in the Pius X Basilica. There people from all over the world. Sheila said it made you realize how universal the Catholic Church is. Luke recalls seeing kids who were younger even than him. Scot asked Luke what he told his friends about the trip after he got home. Luke said he hasn’t told them a lot yet, but he would tell them about all the people who were there and the miraculous baths. He remembers the story of St. Bernadette and how she was ill and poor. But she continued to be faithful to God. He recalls a movie about her life in which her body remained incorrupt after her death. Luke’s mom, Dawn, said everyone was incredibly kind. She said she didn’t have to do a single thing, everything was taken care of them. She didn’t have to carry luggage and Luke was carted around by others everywhere. She said there was a truly wonderful spirit, even in the midst of three-hour airplane delays. She said in Lourdes they are surrounded by miracles every day. After she stopped anticipating the big miracle, she realized those miracles. She said they came home better because they had been surrounded by Godly people. She said the trip was as much for Dawn and her husband Tim as it was for Luke. She said few are cured but all are healed. Scot said he was last at Lourdes about 10 years ago and recalls the display of the thousands of crutches left by those who are healed. Luke said an autistic boy came out of the baths and was able to speak to his mom for the first time. Scot asked what it’s like to know so many people love you who didn’t even know and Luke said it was great. Scot asked what kinds of things did Mrs. Gibson, Craig’s wife Nancy, do for him in Lourdes. Luke said she gave him all kinds of goodies. Joe said anybody who godson the pilgrimage and gives of themselves gets much more than they give. He said anyone who knows someone with an illness can come forward and ask to be considered as malades. About 50 to 55 have thje opportunity to go again next year. People looking for this kind of opportunity are encouraged to step forward. Sheila said they schedule it for the beginning of May because it’s the beginning of the month dedicated to Our Lady. All of the Order in Europe are able to bring many more on special trains set up for the especially sick. Craig said of Nancy’s experience on the trip that when she came home she had arthroscopic surgery on her knee. She had a wonderful time with Luke and others. They had a larger number of children on this particular trip. They had a three-year-old from Florida who couldn’t move very much at all. Nancy said her brother went on the trip for the first time. He is the father of eight children. About 12 years ago, their seventh child at the time drowned in a pool accident. When he went on the pilgrimage, he opened up about the memory of his son that Nancy couldn’t begin to comprehend. He realized we all come to Lourdes with broken pieces in our journey and he was able to touch the brokenness of having lose his 2-1/2 year old son. Scot asked Luke what other kids his age at 10 years old should know about the Blessed Mother. He said she can help you and she does a lot of miracles. They should pray a lot and have fun doing it. Luke said he prays in his room without anyone bugging him. Sometimes he tells jokes to Jesus and Mary and gave a sample. He thinks other kids who need healing should go. Other kids would especially love seeing the Basilica of St. Pius X. 3rd segment: Sheila said it’s important that members of the Order on the pilgrimage remembers that we are all malades. We have to seek out those who are not obviously ill to shore them up and encourage them. She added that an important element of the Order is defense of the faith and Cardinal Seán has been encouraging the Order to stand and be counted. It’s important in today’s political climate to be very aware of what is eroding our freedom of religion.…
Summary of today’s show: Chuck Hall has had a long journey through just about every Christian denomination until finally landing in the Catholic Church, where he is not preparing for ordination as a deacon. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell listen to Chuck tell his tale, from hippy to evangelical Christian to Catholic in 2008, and how he furthered discerned the call to the diaconate. Also the role that G.K. Chesterton played in his conversion. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Chuck Hall Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: A convert becomes a Catholic deacon with help from Chesterton 1st segment: Scot asked Fr. Mark about the concert by the Three Priests that we did a show about last week. Fr. Mark said they sang all the standards and the concert hall had many priests in it. He said most of the priests were dressed casually, except they all had black pants and black socks and were easily picked out. Scot said this week was a Mass celebrating men who have been ordained for 25 years. Fr. Mark said he was a first year theology student in the seminary when these men were fourth year. Twelve men were present for the Mass, while four more couldn’t attend because they are serving outside the archdiocese. Fr. Mark said this week he had his third-year theology seminarians for Mass this week at the Pastoral Center. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Chuck Hall. He’s studying for the diaconate and is a parishioner at Our Lady of Hope in Ipswich. Scot asked him about his preparation for the diaconate. Chuck said it’s been an incredible experience and it’s being revealed why God led him to this place. He has great affection for the deacon brothers and their families he’s in formation with. There are 50 men in his class from a variety of backgrounds. Chuck said he’s so busy with formation now, he’s not as involved in his parish as he was, but he previously started the Wednesday evening prayer group and has been active in Bible studies. He’s also been involved in music in the life of the Church. This is new for him. One of the surprises of formation was that his musical past has a place in his life in the Church. His love for music in the past came flowing back to him in an unexpected way. Scot said Chuck is halfway through the four-year program. He said the first year is a year of discernment. He talked about one of his first classes, which helps with spiritual discernment. Fr. Mark asked about the wives’ involvement. Chuck said his wife came to every single activity in the first year, but in the second year she missed a class and broke her perfect attendance. Scot recalled his time in the seminary and having the time to slow down and pray and discern, and that was tough to maintain when he left. Chuck said one of the lessons from a class this year was the understanding of a number of things about the Catholic that he never fully grasped before. As a convert, he doesn’t have the reflexive knowledge of the faith that others have. To see it broken out in the class, he understands now the why and how. He’s learned for the first time how the Mass is a sacrament, what baptism is about and how it introduces us to the life of God. Chuck says becoming a deacon was not his idea, but when he looked into, all the doors opened, and all the other doors closed. God was telling him he as enough information and God wanted him to have more formation. Chuck said after becoming Catholic he got involved in the parish, helping start a prayer group and responding to an ad in the bulletin for Eucharistic ministers at a local hospital, which has been very fruitful. He went to the pastor and gave him his idea for starting a prayer group in the parish. The pastor said, Ask the pastor and then go do it. He was surprised at the lack of bureaucracy. In the course of that, people he would encounter at the parish or hospital or at the software company he worked at would ask him if he’d thought about the diaconate. One time at the hospital, he visited a patient. When he came in the room, the man was talking on his phone to someone and at the end of the conversation, the man said, “I have to go,. The deacon is here to talk to me.” When he talked to his priest, he told him that God seemed to be calling him. Chuck said the deacon has a particular role in the Church, different from priests or religious or laypeople. They have one foot in the world and one foot in the parish. They are always in places that priests or religious are not. The particular call to the diaconate is a call to be an icon in the world. It involves a deep commitment. Scot said Chuck attended his first Mass in 2006 and only came into the Church in 2008 from Evangelical Christianity. He said one of the misconceptions of people considering the call is that it’s all up to them, but instead it’s up to both the Church and the person discerning. If the Church decides the deacon candidate is not being call to the ministry, then that’s it. Chuck said that as a convert he had a strong sense of the integrity of the Magisterium and believes that the Church isn’t going o let him down. The Church wants to help form him and discern for him and he’s going to let them do that. Fr. Mark said he read the Chuck defended the Church even before he was Catholic. It happened around the time of the scandals and in conversations with a friend about conspiracy theories surrounding the “DaVinci Code” and gnostic writings. He had suggested that his friend should read some materials, and as he was digging into the early Church fathers, he began to see the evidence for the Church’s claims. One of the books he suggested was . As he began to hear about the scandals, despite being a Presbyterian, he began to feel that it was his Church being attacked, that all Christians had a stake in the Church. In most of the world, when people think Christians, they think Catholic. Even Hollywood always equates the two. So there must be something about theChurch is she’s always the target and always has this body of wisdom in it. He said G.K. Chesterton is very unusual: It’s both too militant and too passive, too much this and too much the opposite. So he picked up a copy of the Catechism and see what the Church really believes. It produced a full picture of his own belief, but opening it all up even further. He began to feel that this is Jesus’ Church. Scot said its natural for a Christian man to defend what’s important to you. He said a lot of men return to the Church because they feel called to defend it and so they pick up the Catechism and take other steps to lose their faith. Scot said Chuck came of age in the 60s and began to respond to Christ’s call in the 70s. He went through a lot of different Christian groups. Chuck said when he filled out his application for the diaconate program he was supposed to fill out a spiritual biography. It was pointed out to him how he zigged and zagged through is life, but from his own viewpoint it’s a straight line in how he responded to God at any particular point in time. His first “God moment” was when he was 8 and went to see a friend and she was at Catechism class at her Catholic church. As he was walking home, he thought, “If God exists, that’s all that matters.” He recalls thinking that’s too big for him, but that it’s true. His parents dropped him off at the local Protestant church on Sundays to get a religious education that for a faith they didn’t share with him. So there was a lot of input from religion so when his life was beginning to fall apart in the late 60s, it was natural for him to turn to God. There came a moment when he was at a party in 1971 that was next to a church. He saw a friend take drugs and nearly die and he turned to God in the church and told Him he couldn’t do it anymore. When he told his friends that, he was directed to a new pastor in town. The pastor found himself sitting with two hippies smoking away, but Chuck was told for the first time that Jesus died for him. At school at University of New Hampshire, Chuck became involved with Campus Crusade for Christ. It took a long time for him to really start changing. He was introduced to a lot of great writers and philosophers, like C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton. His testimony is that he cried out to God and He heard Chuck’s cry. God reached out to Chuck. Chuck started with the conservative Baptists, where he learned to love his Bible. Then he took a turn to Reformed theology, including Presbyterian Church in America. He began to sense there was more to the picture, including the corporal works of mercy. He came to understand that these things need to be part of his life. He went to his minister and asked how to discern how to show these things in his life. The minister told Chuck that if he’s called to these, the minister will know before Chuck will. Chuck knew that was the wrong answer. When Chuck would take communion at the Presbyterian church (not Catholic communion, they don’t believe in the Real Presence) once per month like they did, he would be in tears. This was the beginning of his move to Catholicism. Scot said he read in Chuck’s biography of the importance of G.K. Chesterton for those thinking of converting to Catholicism. Chuck said he was introduced to Chesterton through his Father Brown mystery stories. He realized that there was a lot more in the books than just a mystery. At one point, he was at Keene State College studying classical guitar and he met a used book store owner he sold him many Chesterton books. He began to realize while he was reading “Orthodoxy” that he was becoming accustomed to the way the mind works and how one forms a philosophy. Chesterton, who was not a theologian, but a journalist, wrote about what the Catholic mind thinks about. When Chuck finally decided to convert to Catholicism, all that Chesterton he’d read came back to him. Fr. Mark asked where someone should start with Chesterton. Chuck said the Father Brown stories is a good place to start. Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and, falling at his feet, paid him homage. Peter, however, raised him up, saying, “Get up. I myself am also a human being.” Then Peter proceeded to speak and said, “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly While Peter was still speaking these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the word. The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit should have been poured out on the Gentiles also, for they could hear them speaking in tongues and glorifying God. Then Peter responded, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit even as we have?” He ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Gospel for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 13, 2012 (John 15:9-17) Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father”s commandments and remain in his love.” “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.” Scot said three words jump out from the gospel: love, joy, friends. Love appears often in the Gospels, yet in contemporary society we don’t appreciate the love Jesus speaks about here. The love Jesus is talking about is agape, self-sacrificial love. He’s willing to lay down our life for us and we respond by being willing to lay down our lives for him. Chuck said he’s learned in his study of Theology of the Body is that self-giving love is the love of God for us. God gives himself to us and we do the same for one another. Scot said in the first reading, St. Peter and the apostles are deliberating whether the love of God was for just the Jews or the whole world. Fr. Mark said the conclusion is yes, the whole world, and Peter demonstrates this with Cornelius. Like Peter choose Cornelius, so God chooses us. We’re all invited to the table of the lamb. God chooses every single one of us. Scot said God has appointed us to go and bread fruit that will be everlasting. It’s not just for us to love Jesus back, but to go and bear fruit. Chuck said one of his great discoveries in becoming Catholic is the appreciation we have for the sense that we participate in the life of God, that he is the eternal exchange of love between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The way we participate in that is by the way go and bear fruit in the world. Scot said as we look to Mother’s Day, consider how all our mothers have laid down their lives for us. Scott, Fr. Mark, and Chuck wished Happy Mother’s Day to mothers and wives.…
Summary of today’s show: On our regular Thursday show, Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Antonio Enrique consider the news headlines of the week, including last weekend’s performance of Kiko Arguello’s symphonic homage “The Suffering of the Innocents” in Boston; CatholicTV’s Gabriel Award; Massachusetts as the most Catholic state; a parish’s mortgage burning to honor a former pastor; youth ministry awards; priest assignments; and safeguarding the Catholic identity of colleges. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Antonio Enrique, editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Catholic symphony; CatholicTV; most Catholic state; mortgage-burning; youth ministry awards; Catholic identity 1st segment: Scot and Susan discussed the religious education office’s Mass and graduation ceremony for the Spanish-language two-year leadership program for parish volunteers, which will occur tonight. Everyone involved volunteers in their parish and they meet every Saturday for two years from 1-5pm. They will go back to their parishes with solid foundation in theology and skills in catechetics, hospital ministry, youth ministry, and more. Scot said the Catholic Media secretariat is also working with the Hispanic Apostolate on helping them with more Spanish-language radio programming. Susan said Cardinal Seán will participate in the graduation tonight. Scot said Susan, Antonio and himself were present on Sunday for the symphony of the “Suffering of the Innocents” composed by Kiko Arguello. Antonio was one of the organizers and more than 2,000 people attended. The vast majority were Catholics, but there were also representatives of the Jewish community were present. Scot said he was moved by quotes from members of the Jewish community. “I had tears in my eyes when everyone sang the Shema,” said Robert Liekind, director of the American Jewish Committee. “It was immensely moving. The sense of our common heritage, our common roots, really came out.” “This couldn’t have been possible 50 years ago,” added Rabbi Barry Starr from Temple Israel in Sharon. “We have made a lot of strides on the path of reconciliation, and I am truly grateful that I was here to witness to this.” “This has been moving and touching to my heart,” Rabbi Starr added. Marybeth Bisson, parishioner at Most Precious Blood Parish of Dover, also said she also was moved by the symphony. “We have been to a lot of symphonies,” Bisson said. “This was everything they said it was going to be and more. Absolutely phenomenal.” Scot heard that from many others who were present. Scot said he had high expectations and those expectations were surpassed. Antonio said the organizers were happy with how it went and Cardinal Seán was as well. He said some a Jewish rabbi told him they felt like part of the community and he felt loved. This contrasts with the old prejudices and animosities that existed at times and in some places between Christians and Jews. Antonio said these Jewish-Catholic relations are becoming more of a movement and not just theologians talking. The singing of the Shema Yisrael was a key part of that unity. They discussed how Mary is an icon of the suffering of Christ, helping us to enter into the suffering in our lives with our eye on Christ, seeing how she accepted the sword of suffering that would pierce her heart, as the prophet foretold. The wages of sin are death, as St. Paul says, and Christ takes the suffering upon himself to give us a new and different life. Mary is at the center of that renewal. Scot said a moving moment was when everyone in the audience chanted a prayer to Mary with the choir. Susan said just being in Symphony Hall was beautiful and then Cardinal Seán quoted Dostoevsky: “The prince says that the world will be saved by beauty!” She also said she was unsure what to expect from an artist who composes music, but it was so lovely. Fr. Roger Landry said Pope Benedict said the greatest evangelization force, the means by which to bring people to conversion, is the beauty of the art the Church has produced and the beauty of the saints. When God produces these great acts of beauty, it brings us to the Source of Beauty, which is God. Great symphonies, great cathedrals, great pieces of art help us to understand who we really are and become mirrors of the beauty of the Lord. When we look back to St. Thomas Aquinas, in addition to his 50 volumes of theology, he also produced some of our greatest Eucharistic hymsn we still sing today. He recognized that the beauty of God and our faith couldn’t just be expressed in philosophical and theological prosaic sentences. They had to be expressed too in poetry and music. Antonio said CatholicTV was there and did many interviews and they also taped the whole catechetical experience. He expects them to have a special program. He said the plan is to put it online somewhere. There was also discussion of how it resonated with many how the very Brahmin Symphony Hall was the site of this Catholic and Jewish event. Also, regarding CatholicTV, they were awarded Television Station of the Year by the Gabriel Awards along with EWTN. This is the second time they were honored. It shows how the two national Catholic television networks are bringing people to God. Fr. Roger said in age when so many people watch TV and watch videos on the Internet that the Church take advantage of this new . He said both networks are doing high quality work with very good content. For many people who are homebound, this is their connection to the Church. Also, this week, a headline shows that the latest shows that Massachusetts has passed Rhode Island as the state with the highest percentage of Catholic population. Antonio said realistically it means that the Catholic population dropped a little slower than it did in Rhode Island. Antonio and Susan agreed that it might be due to the number of Catholic immigrants coming into MAssachusetts versus Rhode Island. In Massachusetts, the Catholic population is 44.9%, but what’s really telling is that weekly Mass attendance is 1 out of 6 Catholics. We should not stop until we can raise that number much higher. Rhode Island’s Catholic population has dropped by 14%. Fr. Roger said he agrees that the influx of immigrants is responsible and we have a greater responsibility because of our greater numbers. We have to help people who call themselves Catholics to respond to a renewal of their faith. To whom more is given, much is to be expected. Scot said Holy Family Parish in Duxbury honored their longtime former pastor with a mortgage burning ceremony. Msgr. William Glynn was pastor for more than 25 years before entering Senior Priest status a few yearsago. Susan said the article ends with a great quote: In the spirit of care for priests and the priesthood, he repeated a message he gave in his homily. He pointed to the need for young men to step up and serve in the priesthood, and called upon lay people to encourage vocations. “It has been a great life to have been a priest. I regret that there are not more vocations,” he said. Scot said most parishes have some sort of a debt, but many leaders in Holy Family wanted to retire this mortgage as a way to honor Msgr. Glynn who had seen this parish built and worked had to put this parish in a great financial position. It’s a testament of a connection by a parish family to their spiritual father for many years. Antonio said Catholicism is about community. Community meets and gathers around their pastors. Even in canon law that pastors are to meet and care for everyone in their parish, not just the Catholics. Antonio said he’d never heard of mortgage burning before so he wanted to make sure to cover the event in the Pilot. Scot said he was struck by how much Msgr. Glynn wanted to retire this debt on behalf of the parish. It highlights the pastor’s role as both a spiritual leader, but also as a leader in the more mundane needs of life. Fr. Roger said the great pastors are those who want to provide for those entrusted to them. Msgr. Glynn didn’t want to pass on debt to his successors. Most priests leaving a parish want to leave their house in order. But it’s not just a gift to his successor but to his spiritual children, grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren. The people witness his commitment to them. Also in the Pilot this week was the annual awards banquet for Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults, recognizing the great work being done by many people in many parishes. They honored 120 youth, young adults, and their leaders in ministry in 46 parishes throughout the Archdiocese. Antonio said everyone recognized were models of Catholic life. Susan said she was impressed by the ONE office’s organization of the event. She said one of the awards was to Marge Costa, a teacher at Ursuline Academy, who taught Susan’s daughters. Fr. Mike Harrington won an award and had a fan club of about 100 people. Deacon Jim Greer and his wife Terri won the Norm Plante Awards in honor of their work in youth ministry. Scot said the Fall River diocese also recognizes young people and those who minister to them. Fr. Roger said everyone recognizes that peer pressure among kids is a reality. These kinds of award ceremonies give positive peer pressure to lift up young people living their faith with great joy and even heroism as examples for them to follow. Fr. Roger likes to embarrass the award winners at the end of Mass by recognizing them in front of the whole community. Also in the Pilot was an announcement of five priest assignments. Fr. Shawn Carey, one of the few deaf priests in the US, has been named director of the Office of the Deaf Apostolate. Fr. Alonso Macias is leaving his three parishes in Roxbury and Jamaica Plain and is assigned to a growing Spanish-speaking community in Marlborough. Replacing him is Fr. Carlos Flor, who is moving from Immaculate Conception in Revere. Fr. Patrick McLaughlin will be leaving as administrator of St. Joseph in Medford and entering senior priest status. Fr. Bob Carr, pastor of St. Benedict in Somerville, will be accepting a new assignment soon as well. Scot said the Pilot also profiles Fr. John Delaney who’s the new pastor of Sacred Hearts in Haverhill. Antonio said he comes to the parish with a wealth of experience in that area of the Archdiocese. Fr. Delaney was quoted as saying, “1 try to live my priesthood always keeping in mind the philosophy, ‘How can I help you to get closer to God?’ My goal is to be a holy prayerful priest who is available to people to journey with them in life.” Scot said he’s extremely well-respected for his work at St. Michael’s in Andover, one of the largest in the Archdiocese. Susan said she was surprised to learn that Fr. Delaney has two Master’s degrees, one in chemistry and another in environmental engineering. 2nd segment: Scot said this week’s editorial in the Anchor talks about genuine Catholic colleges and universities. It’s been in the news lately with the decision of Anna Maria College outside of Worcester rescinding a commencement invitation to Victoria Kennedy. Pope BEnedict also spoke on this to US bishops on their ad limina visits. Fr. Roger said Pope Benedict recognizes that Catholic education is key to spreading the Gospel. In college, it’s where many young people are beginning to choose the trajectory of their life. This means that there needs to be an authentic Catholic culture, not just a religion class and a chapel on campus. Unfortunately, many young people leave Catholic colleges having lost their faith. He noted that Vicki Kennedy has made public statements in support of abortion and same-sex marriage and so inviting her to get an honorary degree and give her a platform to speak to the students would be difficult. In the editorial, Fr. Roger writes: If Yeshiva University invited Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a debate and discussion, it might even be a sign of magnanimity, peacemaking and institutional self-confidence. But if Yeshiva were to ask him to speak to the graduates at commencement and give him an honorary degree, everyone would wonder whether it had lost its identity, not to mention marbles. … There’s a reason why Howard University never invited — and never would have considered inviting — Strom Thurmond for an honorary doctorate. Even if in all other parts of his life he were a consummate gentleman, even if he had done many other things for many other people through public service, he would still not be invited because of the strident support of racism in his political ascent. Catholic institutions of higher learning should have as high standards with regard to potential honorees’ positions on abortion and marriage and other fundamental issues of the Catholic faith as historically black institutions have had with regard to racism. Fr. Roger said God bless Bishop McManus for recognizing this action would call into question Anna Maria College’s commitment to their Catholic identity. Bishop McManus was disinvited to the commencement by the students, which is an indication of the culture at the college. The Catholic identity needs to be reinforced there. As Catholics we can’t support the killing of babies in the womb or undermining the meaning of marriage. Catholic universities and colleges ought to be distinguished by preparing students not just for life but eternal life, not just for work but for mission, not just for LSATs, MCATs, and GREs but for the eschatological final exam. The choices that a Catholic college or university makes — selecting administrators and faculty members, allocating resources, determining admissions standards, and even choosing commencement speakers — should always be in harmony with the faith and reflect these genuinely Catholic priorities. Scot said it’s a controversial issue only because the Church hasn’t embraced the ideal we all should support Church teachings on life issues. Susan said the two examples Fr. Roger gave are good illustrations. It’s not we don’t invite people who disagree with us ever, but the context of the address is important. She noted the Pope aid young people have a right to hear the teaching of the Church. Antonio was happy to see the Pope say the key problem here is we need to witness to the faith, but we are in a moment where there is no absolute truth, but whatever we think is true is what’s important. Susan noted we have to have a well-formed conscience. Scot said bishops have a job to do to ensure that any institution that has Catholic as part of its identity live up to the ideals of the faith and don’t send out mixed messages.…
Summary of today’s show: Fr. Darin Colarusso was an Air Force aviator serving in Korea when he heard God unexpectedly calling him to the priesthood. Now he sits down with Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines to talk about that call and what’s it been like to transition first to seminary life—at a time when the Church was undergoing great trials—and then into the priesthood and eventually his first pastorate. He says he has discovered the priesthood is the greatest excuse to love every person you meet. Fr. Darin also speaks about the future and his work with the archdiocesan pastoral planning commission and presbyteral council, advising Cardinal Seán on how the Church should organize herself for the next 50 years. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Fr. Darin Colarusso, pastor of St. Athanasius Parish, Reading Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Pastor Profile: Fr. Darin Colarusso 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chip Hines as guest co-host for Fr. Matt Williams who is away. They discussed the recent vote in Foxboro that ended an attempt to build a casino in that town. Fr. Chip said that his parishioners were concerned about the casino in a neighboring town that they would have no say over. Scot said in the Pastoral Center today at the noon Mass they celebrated the 20 priests celebrating their 25th anniversary of the priesthood. Scot read their names on the air. Fr. Chip and Scot agreed that 25 years in service is the sweet spot of the priesthood, having served long enough to be well-known and to have plenty of experience. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chip welcomed Fr. Darin Colarusso, who is pastor of St. Athanasius in Reading, which is Fr. Chip’s home parish. Scot asked about his background. Fr. Darin said he grew up in Wilmington. His parents grew up in Wilmington. When he was 18, he went to the Air Force Academy. He entered flight training and became a Weapon Systems Officer in the F-4G Wild Weasel and the F-15E Strike Eagle. When he was 30, he ended up in a one -year non-flying assignment in Korea and began to investigate his faith life. He started praying the rosary after learning about Our Lady of Fatima. One day he was praying the rosary asking for God to show him the woman to marry and it came to him to be a priest. Scot asked about growing up in Wilmington. Fr .Darin said he never went to Catholic school until seminary. He alway wanted to be a pilot from when he was 3 years old. He said his mom’s friends tell him stories about how he always wanted to fly jets. In high school, he was pretty standard college track, taking honors courses and engaging in athletics. He played golf and track and wrestling. His resume was good for the academy. He said during the Cold War, along as you were medically qualified you got a pilot slot. He washed out of the pilot slot, and ended up as a back-seater or navigator. He said in his second jet the pilot deployed the weapons while he did in his first het. He never employed weapons in combat, but only in training. He also flew in no-fly zones in the Middle East. Meanwhile, he has classmates who were in every major and minor conflict from 1988 to 2008. He was spared by Providence. He also served in Germany and was able to see Europe. He was also assigned to Nevada outside Las Vegas at Nellis Air Force Base. They could fly over the whole northern part of the state and then after hours be able to go into a major metropolitan area. Fr. Chip asked what it was like in Saudi Arabia, and Fr. Darin said it was hotter than Las Vegas. He spent 12 years active duty and 4 years in the academy. He never thought about the priesthood as a child and was never even an altar server. He also talked about the benefit of having come from the suburbs and now serving a suburban parish. Scot brought him back to the moment of hearing the call to the priesthood. Fr. Darin said he was shocked, but didn’t realize the level of prayer he’d entered into. He had been praying the rosary on his knees in his room and said the interior voice called him, “I want you to be a priest.” He said he was typical of so many men who should be considering the priesthood, helping out at the parish, reading at Mass, and the like. Chaplains often asked him, but he rejected the notion out of hand. But when he heard the voice, he knew he should test that thought. He knew if God was calling him, he would have to say yes. A few weeks later, he would say to God in prayer that he’d received so many blessings that if he wanted him to be miserable the rest of his life, so be it. From there he went on to his next assignment for the next four years. He didn’t apply to the seminary until 1998. He didn’t realize he had to leave the military to become a priest. If he’d wanted to be a lawyer or doctor, the military would send him. He thought he could go to the seminary and come back as chaplain. At the time, that wasn’t possible and he had to resign his commission. So going to the seminary was an even bigger commission, because even if he left, he would still be out of the military. There is a program now where a man can go from a military assignment to seminary as a chaplain candidate. There are a lot of guys going to the seminary now because of it. Scot asked how his friends in the service reacted. Fr. Chip guessed they were shocked. Fr. Darin said his close friends were close friends, but others would say he shouldn’t give up looking for a wife and similar reactions. But by the time he left the service, his friends were supportive. He was in seminary from 2000 to 2006. Scot asked what it was like to hit the books again. Fr. Darin said Fr. Chip once saw him driving in his Jeep Grand Cherokee on the seminary grounds with a contented look on his face. Fr. Chip said at the time, there goes a man contented with his life. Fr. Darin said he was happy to study philosophy and go to Mass every day. Scot said the clergy sex-abuse scandal broke while Fr. Darin was there and asked what it was like in the seminary at the time. Fr. Darin said originally he did have a few reservations about studying for Boston, but wanted to be local after his mother yelled at him for even thinking about going somewhere else. But when the scandal broke, he realized why God had called him. He said you don’t want every fighter pilot to be a priest, but you need a few, like you need artists and lawyers and the like in the priesthood. Fr. Darin said he was very conscious of being in a difficult scenario. He had a conversation with an academy classmate about some issues at the parish and his friend reacted that the reason for the issue is because they don’t realize that failure is not option. That was their attitude at the seminary, that even if nothing else was left, they still say Mass on a card table. He noted that at the beginning of his time, there were 100 men in the seminary plus the college seminary. At the end, there were 25 men and no college seminary. Fr. Chip recalled being there at the same time and they agreed it was a tough time. Fr. Chip said it affected him every time he drove down Commonwealth and turning onto the chancery grounds and driving past every TV satellite truck and crowds of reporters. They eventually had to block it out and focus on what they were doing. He said the rectors did a good time keeping them focused. Fr. Darin was ordained in class of 2006. In the seminary, he was assigned as a deacon to St. Francis in Dracut nd served under the first he met in the process of applying to the seminary, Fr. Bob Blaney. He also served St. Agnes in Arlington and St. Ann’s in Neponset, and he lived at Immaculate Conception in Salem for a summer while working on his hospital rotation. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Nancy Fitzsimmons from Duxbury, MA She wins “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin” by St. Louis de Monfort. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: After ordination, Fr. Darin went to St. Francis in Braintree with Fr. Kevin Sepe. He was there for several years. Scot said it’s a place with a lot of young families and is very active. People still walk to church there and they have inactive and successful parochial school. It was a good assignment because he was absorbing a model for his own priesthood from Fr. Sepe. Fr. Darin said the key lessons from first assignment is just learning how to be a priest. the first and most important lesson for a new priest is that the people do want to have you as their priest. People want you to succeed and they do want to love you. They also know you’re new so they help you as well. Even now in his first assignment as pastor, when you’re talking about certain topics, he has to keep in mind that people often know what the Church’s teaching is and you have to take that into account when talking to them. You still have to be a representative of Christ and the Church. But the people know what you’re going to be teaching, so it’s about getting others to see the beauty that you’ve been able to see, say through seminary education and formation. Fr,. Chip said all priests want people to see the same thing they see in the beauty of the Church. It’s like finding something wonderful and not wanting to share it. Scot said Fr. Sepe was a great gatherer of priests, bringing them together in his own rectory. Fr. Darin said it’s important to recognize there is a cultural shift in the diocese and a lot of priests have worked out the right way to live and Fr. Sepe is one of them. Fr. Sepe is a very fraternal priest who wants the priests to be together. One priest had said that it was unusual for him to watch sports on TV with other priests in the same house, which is not the right way to live. Fr. Darin said, that being said, he lives alone at St. Athanasius, but he’s not isolated form others. After 4 years, he was named pastor of St. Athanasius in Reading. Fr. Chip, who is on the personnel board and had called Fr. Darin about the opening. At the end of the first four year assignment, priests are advised to put their names in for pastorships or other assignments. So Fr. Darin got the opening in Reading while Fr. Chip went to his parish in Wrentham. Fr. Darin said the personnel board came up with a slate of priests that they give to the Cardinal, who picks one. Scot said one of Fr. Chip’s jobs on the board is to encourage good priests to apply for openings that fit them. Fr. Chip said it was important in his mind to get some good guys to apply for his parents’ parish. He said it’s tough to get an opening and have no apply for it and then have to find men to offer it to. Scot asked what it was like to make the transition as first-time pastor. Fr. Darin said just as the slate was being decided for St. Athanasius, St. Francis in Dracut opened up. Clearly, if St. Francis had opened up earlier, he would have applied to it, but he said it all worked out as God intended. The transition was hard though, because he had lived in a good house in Braintree with other men and hadn’t been interested in leaving the assignment and serve for six or seven years. He said he felt like he needed to learn everything, having never been an altar server. He was scared, but knew that failure was not option. Scot said he would do his best and trust in God. Fr. Darin said while he was still considering the assignment, he stopped at St. Athanasius and went into the church to pray. He knelt before the tabernacle and got the feeling that God said to relax, that He will take care of everything. He felt like it was what he was meant to do. He did like the idea of going to a smaller parish as a starter place for him. Fr. Darin said there are about 1,900 registered parishioners. They have about 600-700 people coming to Mass during the school year. They are a medium-sized parish. They are distinctive for their architecture. The church was built in 1960 and has the shape of what he called a Dorito chip. He said it’s like the Air Force Academy architecture and he’s very fond of it. The other parish in Reading is St. Agnes and he said they’re working on collaboration. Fr. Stephen Rock at St. Agnes is a former Navy chaplain and he said they get along fine despite that. He said one of the joys of serving his parish is how new and different it is. He said the priesthood is the greatest excuse to love every person you meet. As a pastor, versus parochial vicar, the benefit is you come as being sent by the Cardinal and are replied upon to see to the needs of the parish and are expected to move it in a direction of improvement or maintenance if it’s going well. That process has been awesome for him. He said it’s the right size for one priest. With regard to being on the presbyteral council and the pastoral planning commission, it allows him to make St. Athanasius as a model and example parish for the future of the Archdiocese. Scot asked what it’s like to be on a commission charged with helping Cardinal Sean plan for the next 25 to 50 years. He said excellent advice has been that Fr. Darin has an opinion, but it’s not the only opinion. He said they are offering a framework that has to be modified for each local situation, which will require input from all kinds of areas within the archdiocese. He sees the dedication of the people throughout the archdiocese, including laypeople who are extremely competent in their fields and serving the Church. Fr. Darin said it’s difficult to change the culture and change course. The book is being re-written and there isn’t anything historical to fall back on.…
Summary of today’s show: Some say the Church is waging a “war on women”, but in this war, the Church is women’s defender. Dr. Angela Franks discusses with Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor the Church’s often misunderstood teachings on contraception, sexuality, and marriage, as well as the shocking roots of Planned Parenthood’s efforts to solve societal problems by making women the problem. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Dr. Angela Franks, Director of Theology Programs, TINE Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Church’s teaching on contraception and sexuality 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Chris talked about the quiet period at the seminary as the men prepare for their final exams next week. They also talked about how Bishop Arthur Kennedy is winding down in his service as rector of St. John Seminary as he prepares to take up a grew role as Vicar for the New Evangelization for the Archdiocese. Fr. Chris and Msgr. James Moroney, who’s taking over as rector, have been visiting with vocation directors at various dioceses talking about sending them to St. John’s. Fr. Chris said the Vatican has asked the US bishops to look at the number of seminaries in the US and combine faculties and resources to make more regional seminaries. Fr. Chris also went to Cheverus School in Malden as he does every month to be with the young people and hear the wonderful understanding of their faith. The first and fourth grades held a traditional May crowning. He said they represented every continent and many different countries. Scot mentioned that today’s topic is more for adult audiences. We’ll be discussing the Church’s teaching on contraception and the current myths that are out there. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcomed Dr. Angela Franks to the show. Scot said Angela’s presentation at a seminar last week on Women, sex, and the Church’s teaching promoted him to ask her to be on the show. Scot asked her about the connection between Planned Parenthood and the eugenics movement. Angela said there’s a lot of misinformation out there. The eugenics movement was a big part of the contraception movement in the early 20th century. The eugenicists divided the world into the so-called fit and the so-called unfit, the latter of whom are poor, physically disabled, or in otherwise undesirable classes. They believe if you eliminate the number of unfit people, you eliminate the number of world problems. Scot said these same ideas still exist today. Angela said anytime you hear someone trying to sell you on abortion or contraception as a solution to poverty, that’s a eugenic idea. The same is true of addressing Down syndrome by aborting them. 90% of them are aborted in the womb. Angela said we have learned that you don’t solve poverty by eliminating the poor. Margaret Sanger was the founder of Planned Parenthood in 1916. She was a eugenicist and admitted in 1920 that birth control was about weeding out the unfit and eliminating “defectives”. She was also married to the belief in sexual promiscuity and an early proponent of the sexual revolution. She believed this would all liberate women. She helped internalize the idea that women are oppressed by their bodies, that fertility is a cause of women’s oppression. This puts the problem on women, rather than on the societal structures. Angela said Sanger packaged eugenics in a way that was accessible to people and became convincing, partly because she founded an institution. Most eugenicists at the time were embarrassed by her, but she’s the one we know today because she founded Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood today now acknowledges those embarrassing attitudes, but they point to Jefferson owning slaves as analogy. But Jefferson didn’t devote hie entire life to defending and fostering and legalizing slavery, but instead was somewhat embarrassed by it, but wrote the Declaration of Independence. Sanger was the opposite and promoted her embarrassing ideas. Today Planned Parenthood names awards after Margaret Sanger. Angela said she first started researching Sanger in high school because her textbook had a two-page canonization of her. You’d never see a treatment of a noted racist in a high school textbook in that manner. Angels said her website has many references to what Sanger said. Scot asked Angela about the Church’s teachings. Angela said in 1968, Pope Paul VI released the encyclical Humanae Vitae. There was a lot of expectation that the Pope would reverse the teaching, but when he didn’t, people were outraged and confused and since then we’ve had a few generations that don’t understand what the Church teaches. Angela said the Church pretty much stands alone saying that contraception is not allowed. What Paul VI says is that sex has two meanings: procreation and unity or babies and bonding. Not every sex act has to end in a baby or that you must have as many babies as you’re physically able to have. We’re to have responsible parenthood, which means generously accepting all the children God sends us and discerning when we might choose to avoid pregnancy at a particular time,. But that can’t be by deliberately removing the possibility of procreation because when God made sex he made it for this physiological purpose of procreation as well as the emotional and spiritual purpose of unity. We need both because they reinforce each other. Sex has its own reality we must conform to. Fr. Chris pointed out that there is a naturalness to it. The sex act is about what it is, not what we make of it. Angela said eating is an enjoyable activity, but the purpose of food isn’t just enjoying it; it’s provide nutrition, although we also want it to be enjoyable. Sex is enjoyable because God wants us to want to do it to perpetuate the race. Scot asked how to respond to atheists. Angela said the design of the human body includes a reproductive system, that this is its natural function, its end and purpose. That is its intention. Scot said a common misconception is that natural family planning is Catholic birth control. Angela said NFP is not the rhythm method. It’s a scientific method to determine whether a woman would be fertile on a particular day. It’s not Catholic birth control. People assume that only intention matters. Abstaining and sterilizing the conjugal act are different things. Abstaining is not having sex. It is moral to not have sex. People don’t want to use NFP because they don’t want to abstain from sex. Those who use NFP are stepping back from act rather than changing the act. Fr. Chris asked why contraception is wrong. Angela said if you deliberately sever the procreative possibilities with the pill, then you are tinkering with the sexual act rather than respecting it. That affects the whole tenor of the relationship. Statistics show that couples who contracept divorce at a much higher rather than those who use NFP. Fr. Chris said we become gods, determining when life begins. She said people look at her five kids and say it doesn’t work. She said it works because it opens you up to welcoming more children. You become willing to turn your life over to God and trust that his plan for fertility is better than my plan. Angela said NFP makes the couples’ decision based on the woman’s body and her cycles as opposed to the male desire. Right now for most the male desire is the dominant force in sex. But in NFP, the woman’s body and dignity is being respected. It also very much promotes communication. With the Pill, there’s no stopping to ask if this is still what they want to do, whereas NFP couples address it nearly every month. Scot said Humanae Vitae came out in 1968 and he had many predictions about what would happen if artificial birth control grew in this country and around the world. Angela said he predicted husbands would lose respect for their wives. He also predicted that human sexuality would become cheap and degraded. Husbands would be tempted to use their wives as instruments to serve their own desires. Countries would use population control programs to control their people. There would be an increase in divorce. All of this has come true. Instead of procreation and bonding, it’s now just recreation. It’s just a tool. Angela said it makes women think that the cause of their problems is their own body. Women are at war with themselves and constantly fighting who they area. Scot said contraception cheapens the way men look at women. Women can’t demand a certain kind of commitment between men and women. Angela said economists looking at the causes of steep increase of divorce in the 70s was due to contraception because everything became negotiable and marriages without children are easier to divide. She also noted that contraception fails all the time, which leads to more abortion when they’ve already decided that children are the problem. Contraception was supposed to solve child abuse, but there’s no evidence that child abuse has gone down. If anything all of these problems have increased. Teen pregnancies and abortion were supposed to have become better, but children have become seen as disposable. 3rd segment: Scot said the Health and Human Services mandate controversy has resulted in stats like the fact that 98% of Catholic women are contracepting. Angela said that’s impossible, of course, since 98% of Catholic women are having sex! The study that it comes from debunks that myth itself because it acknowledges that it’s listing women who are not trying to get pregnant, who are between 15 and 44, self-identifies as Catholic (not necessarily practicing Catholic). That doesn’t mean that all Catholic women agree. We do still need to educate many Catholics. Scot said many Catholics do still practice contraception and have pre-marital or extramarital sex. Angela said there was a general breakdown in comfort in talking about the Church’s teaching because they were scared of making people angry. We live in a culture saturated with bad sex. The Church is a witness on how to live happily. It’s not a matter of a guilt trip. It’s a call to live a better way because it might be more difficult at first, but is more fulfilling. Fr. Chris said it’s important that the beauty of the sexual act be talked about. He then asked Angela about Dr. Janet Smith, whom she’s referred to. She’s a professor of philosophy who’s been very influential in talking about the Church’s teaching. Fr. Chris asked how to help someone trying to figure out how to do natural family planning. Angela said the Archdiocese of Boston has a Natural Family Planning office that offers classes. On the current topic in the news that the Church is waging a “War on Women”, Angela says she’s agree there’s a war on women, but it’s by the contraceptive culture. It’s the idea that women are the problem and we have to fix their bodies. The Church is the only one that’s fighting on behalf of women and their bodies. Scot said a lot of people want to speak for women who advocate for things the majority of women don’t support. For example, the National Organization for Women promotes abortion and contraception, whereas in many places abortion is inordinately biased against baby girls. He noted that in the Obama administration, there are plenty of people who come from this viewpoint. Angela said many of these groups aren’t speaking for women, so much as speaking for the sexual revolution, which doesn’t advance the cause of women. Some argue that it advances the cause of some men. Scot said there’s been a movement toward a New Feminism. Angela said John Paul II used this phrase. He recognized that these “pro-woman” movements are not, so we need to offer an alternative. Angela said at TINE they are forming people to make a case that the Church’s teachings are indeed pro-woman and that they help us to flourish as human beings. Fr. Chris said John Paul talks about the complementarity of the sexes and some find fault with it. Angela said the Church affirms the equality of the sexes, but yet they are different. God made us man and woman, and these bodily differences are real and help us understand the differences in the sexes that can complement each other rather than have an antagonistic approach. Ultimately each sex is called to give of themselves in complementary ways, rather than compete or act selfishly. Scot said sometimes gets boiled down to sexual freedom or abortion. He asked what are the attributes of the New Feminism. Angela said women are called to receive love and to give, according to John Paul’s teaching. In some way, we all receive God’s love and give it, but because women nurture children in their own bodies, they have a concrete understanding of this truth. He calls it the feminine genius. She said ability to receive love is not prized today. Scot said New Feminists would never support abortion, contraception, infanticide. Angela said they don’t see children or their fertility as the enemy. Why do women have to change? If society doesn’t appreciate children or fertility, maybe society is the one that needs to change. Scot said Angela also spoke about marriage, including the decrease in the number being married sacramentally. Angela said this is connected to contraception. When you have the breakdown of the ability to give of themselves, then people become afraid to make a lifelong commitment. We see that in epidemic proportions. Fr. Chris asked about the vocation of marriage. Angela said Cardinal Sean the crisis in the vocation of marriage is as severe as the crisis in the vocation of the priesthood. It is connected to this idea that we have to give of ourselves in a definitive way. If we’re never committing, we’re never setting out into the unknown to something we can’t control. In marriage, we set out with this other person and commit to doing it gather no matter how hard it gets. Scot said the increase of cohabitation leads to decrease of ability to commit. Angela said people do it to prevent divorce, but the irony might be the best way to set yourself up for divorce. They’re 50% more likely to divorce if they marry. To be a good preparation for marriage, it’s more than just living together. You have to be able to give of yourself. Yet, they can’t give fully because they keep one foot out the door: they have two sets of silverware, two television sets, and so on, all in the possibility that they might break up and move out. They develop the habit of not giving of themselves, which is the worst habit to develop for marriage. Fr. Chris said when he’s preparing a cohabiting couple for marriage, he leaves them dumbfounded when he asks what changes when they marry. There’s no sense of any further commitment or the sacramental bond uniting them. In their mind nothing has changed, but everything has changed because God is becoming a part of this. Scot said sometimes the church becomes better known for what we’re against, rather than what we’re for. Angela and her husband led an initiative to help strengthen marriage a few years ago. Scot said there are a lot great websites for couples preparing for marriage.…
Summary of today’s show: One of the biggest initiatives in the Archdiocese of Boston is one of the least well-known. The Improved Financial Relationship Model (IFRM) changes the way parishes support the Central Ministries and gives the Central Ministries a more immediate stake in the financial health of parishes. Scot Landry talks with Denise McKinnon-Biernat and Patricia Fraser from Parish Financial Services about the IFRM and how the first parishes to participate are already seeing good fruit from their efforts. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Patricia Fraser, IFRM Project Manager, and Denise McKinnon-Biernat, Director of Parish Financial Services Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Improved Financial Relationship and Parish Financial Services 1st segment: Scot said one of the largest initiatives going on in the Archdiocese of Boston that listeners may not have heard about. The Improved Financial Relationship Model (IFRM) is aimed to strengthen parishes. Scot welcomed Denise McKinnon-Biernat to the show. She’s been working at the Archdiocese since 1996. She lives in Bellingham and worships at St. Mary in Franklin. That’s also Patricia Fraser’s parish. she’s worked with Archdiocese since 2008. Scot said St. Mary’s is one of the largest in the Archdiocese. They recounted some of the other very large parishes in the Archdiocese. It’s often a parish in a growing suburb with no other parishes. Scot asked Denise about Parish Financial Services. She said it was created to be a liaison between the central ministries and the parishes. They help parishes with budgets, increased giving, staffing, payroll, and any other administrative operations in a parish. They typically work with business managers, if they have one, or with the pastors. She said they’ve been working hard to create a ministerial aspect to the job of the business managers. They’ve also been working to standardize many of the functions of the parish finances, like standardizing financial software across parishes. Scot said many pastors have come to realize that they need business managers and that pastors have much more to do than manage business functions. But many of these business managers need some help dealing with issues that come up. Parish financial services often networks the business managers with each other and helps with problem solving. Tricia said pastors are so stretched in their pastoral ministry they help business managers take on the other tasks required. They organize regional meetings of business managers to share the knowledge they have gained. Scot said some business managers have worked in the Church, while others have worked successfully in corporate environments and want to serve the Church in their later years. Denise said about 60% of current managers have come up through the parish, having worked with the parish in other ways. About 40% and more now, come in as a second career. They help them apply their business acumen to the unique needs of parishes. Scot talked about the Revolving Loan Fund, which is like a church bank, where parishes deposit their reserves and parishes who have cash flow needs can get temporary help. Tricia said they recommend parishes keep 3 months of operating funds and put the rest in the loan fund where it earns interest. There are lots of reasons a parish would need a loan. Denise said they help parishes to increase their weekly giving, work with their grand annual, work with their cash flow or envelope companies or budget. They help them with their annual reporting to parishioners and may even provide a loan, particularly in the summer when everyone’s on vacation. There are also grant opportunities for parishes that are really in trouble. Scot said parishes at the other extreme, that are growing very fast, they can help them have a capital campaign and hire fundraising counsel. As parish financial services, they help parishes with funding of parish work, help them decide if they need a campaign and then help them do a survey of the potential. They also provide a bridge loan over the three to five years it takes to bring in the money from a campaign. 2nd segment: Scot said they will not talk about the Improved Financial Relationship Model. He said they first formed a committee in 2008 to address the particular problem. Denise said the Cardinal had formed the IFRC (i.e. committee) to look at the current model of support of parishes and the archdiocese. The current model was complex with all kinds of taxes and fees and pastors felt they were being nickeled and dimed and the timing was all over the place. The idea was to build a model that was simple and good for both parishes and the archdiocese. Scot said models of support evolved over time previously. The main way that parishioners helped support the Central Ministries was the Catholic Appeal, then the cathedraticum, health care ministries tax, school tax from schools without schools to schools with, audit fees, real estate and facilities fees. Scot said the issue was how to get parishes to support the ministries that help them in a way that’s simple and fair. Denise said they surveyed other dioceses and most had a simple, broad-based across the board percentage. They used that as part of their new model. They have two basic components with a set monthly bill that parishes can budget for. Scot said another problem was the inequality of the sharing across parishes. Some parishes were giving as little as 2% and as much as 36%. A little difference is understandable but that’s too much. It’s not just the poor parishes giving little and rich giving a lot. Tricia said this was one of the key sticking points with pastors. Also there was no accountability for parishes that didn’t work hard at the Catholic Appeal. This came from pastors, not the pastoral center. Scot said the committee then embarked on a long consultation process. Tricia said the IFRC committee did a great job. Many came from the parishes to give their input and as a result the model we have now is different from the proposal. They also recommended to have a voluntary pilot phase. They were afraid parishes would not embrace change, but 33 parishes came forward. Scot recalled that there had been 30 different revenue categories that parishes had including candle funds, heating fuel, Easter flowers, and the like. they needed to determine what budget items went toward their operating costs. They eventually came up with three main categories of revenue to calculate the fair share: the weekly offertory, the Grand Annual collection, and net rental income. Tricia said Grand Annual can fund special projects, but more and more it was going toward basic operating costs. Some pastors are unhappy with it being taxed because it wasn’t taxed before. Scot said some parishes had valuable locations for their parking lots or extra buildings that they rented out and made substantial income. Denise aid rental income has really taken off in the past five years and more and more parishes are becoming dependent on rental income. In fairness to parishes paying the same expenses without having rental income, they had to include it. Tricia said they do a three-year loopback average to even out spikes. They take that average and it becomes the base revenue. Once all are agreed, they multiply it by 10%. If they don’t have a school, that’s the central ministry tithe and they divide it by 12 and pay it out over 12 months. Then they use the same base revenue number and 8% becomes the Catholic Appeal assessment. The parish used to have a goal, which is usually higher, but the 8% is what the parish is accountable for bringing in. Scot said a lot of parishes from the initial phases have had Catholic Appeal far greater than the 8%. Tricia said once a parish’s pledges reaches 8%, the parish earns 50% back to the parish, which is significantly more than there used to be in the old model. Denise said in the new model was revenue neutral from the Central Ministry viewpoint. The Archdiocese isn’t taking more money out of the parishes. Now as the Archdiocese helps parishes increase revenue, the central ministry revenue goes up. And if it goes down, it’s a motivation to help the parishes. Scot said it’s not a zero-sum game, but if the parishes get more, the Archdiocese gets more. 3rd segment: Scot asked how many parishes followed for phase II? Tricia said when they went back to the presbyteral council on the first round of pilot parishes, they were sent to go back for phase II and 45 parishes signed up for that. Thus far, they have had 61 parishes volunteer for phase III and more are coming in every day. Scot said Cardinal Seán very much wanted parishes to opt-in and nearly half of the parishes have done so. Scot said many in phase II have heard and seen the results. Tricia said another critical element of the IFRM was having parishes run an increased giving campaign. And Parish Financial Services also focuses on the improved relationship model as well. The phase I parishes ran their increased giving campaigns one year ago and those 33 parishes increased by $1.3 million, or 11% overall. Parishes not involved in IFRM over the same time period had about 1% increase. (That includes parishes that ran increased offertory on their own.) Denise said they structured programs that were tailored to the parishes. They brought in fundraising consultants who got to know the parishes and went through programs fit to the parishes. Scot said many parishes hadn’t run increased offertory campaigns in five to ten years. Most experts say parishes should remind parishes every three years that expenses are rising and old parishioners might give a little more and new parishioners might show up. Many respond to the pastor laying out the facts of what the parish needs. Tricia said Phase II are running this year and early results are in that indicate that increased offertory campaigns are just as strong as phase I. These campaigns are working in suburbs and cities as well. Scot asked Tricia how the greater sharing in the Catholic Appeal is helping parishes with more money. Tricia said the 50% rebate in the first year is double what they used to get. But phase I and II parishes now realize that this is a joint fundraising effort that benefits both the parish and the archdiocese. She said at the close of the Appeal last year there was about $1 million of rebates to parishes, $850,000 went to IFRM parishes, which made up a small percentage of the total number of parishes. Scot said most of the IFRM parishes are doing much better than under the old model. Tricia warned that it is not a cure-all, but gives them the best tools to increase viability, to pay off debt. Scot said one of the best non-monetary benefits is the close working relationship between parishes and the central ministries. A pastor got up at a meeting to say that the parish had completely changed its attitude toward the Archdiocese. Scot asked Tricia how they help a new business manager. She said they begin by getting the word out, meeting in the parish with parish councils, finance council, to help them understand what the IFRM means for their parish. They walk through their numbers and show them where they’re at and the impact on the budget. They start work with the development consultants for increased offertory. The parish can also apply for an abatement to get some relief from paying for part of that tithe this year. Scot said it helps parishes that believe in the model to make the difficult transition. Denise said 11 total parishes have gone through the abatement process. Part of the process make their office part of the solution so they can identify the issues when making the budget, for instance. Abatement is about being with the parishes on the journey and helping them get to where they want to be. One pastor said the IFRM saved his life because he’s no longer stressed about the parish’s finances.…
1 The Good Catholic Life #0291: Thursday, May 3, 2012 1:00:03
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1:00:03Summary of today’s show: Our regular Thursday panel looks at some of the top stories of the week from the headlines of the Pilot and Anchor newspapers, including the 5th annual Eucharistic Congress held in the North End of Boston last weekend, including a Eucharistic procession through the streets on Saturday night; the opening of First Communion season with quotes from communicants expressing nervous excitement; and the visit of Havana’s Cardinal Jaime Ortega to a Harvard forum in Boston that made an international stir. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Eucharistic Congress, First Communion, Cuban cardinal in Boston 1st segment: Scot and Susan talked about the seminar they attended today on Women, Sexuality, and the Church’s teachings. The speakers tackled some of the controversial Church teachings that are often misunderstood. The speakers are authors of the book “Women, Sex, and the Church,” including Erika Bachiochi, who was on The Good Catholic LIfe last year to talk about the book, and Dr. Angela Franks, Katie Elrod, and Sister Sara Butler, MSBT. Scot said on the front page of the Pilot today is an article about the Eucharistic Congress that took place in the North End last weekend. Gregory Tracy said it was the fifth year for this congress. The highlight of the congress is the Saturday evening Eucharistic procession through the streets of the North End. On a Saturday night, the North End is full of people out for dates and revelry and dining. Scot said the slideshow by George Martell is phenomenal. Scot said his favorite part was the talk by Damon Owens. “How ofren do we frame our retreats as getting away from it in order to rejuvenate to get back to it, where the reality is getting back to the job, getting back to our responsibilities? But every once in a while we have to back up and catch our breath,” he said. He said favoring the toil of this world over the contemplation of the gift Christ offered the world in the Eucharist is like holding a preference for exhaling over inhaling. He said in his struggles with the idea of always working hard, he had trouble finding stillness when he did adoration with his wife. “I love you Lord but I got to do something for you. I got ro do something period,” he recalled thinking. With time, he said he realized the need for balance between serving God in action and loving Him in adoration. Scot said that was like a bolt to the heart for him. People who work for the Church are often busy with the work and need to remember to step back and pray. Susan said that’s why integrating prayer into daily life is important. It is both/and, not either/or. We can adore the Lord by serving Him in what we do each day in addition to praying before the Blessed Sacrament. Break for fund drive banter. to support Catholic radio in the Archdiocese of Boston on WQOM. 2nd segment: Scot introduced a front-page story in the Anchor this week about youngsters getting ready for First Communion. Scot noted that most parishes begin First Communion ceremonies this weekend and Susan said they continue throughout May. Susan noted her favorite quotes of the children from the story. “I feel excellent about receiving First Communion,” he said. “I’m looking forward to getting a blessing and having a good life.” Susan said while we don’t diminish the importance of the First Communion, this is about the second and all the following communions. There should be a lifetime of communions. Scot quoted Mother Teresa who told priests to celebrate each Mass as if it were his first, his last, or only Mass he’ll celebrate and that’s how we should receive Communion. Do we act like we truly believe it’s the Body and Blood of Christ. Scot said his own daughter made her First Communion last month. Greg said he and his wife had made their First Communion every other since 2000 and will continue until 2017. His son will receive his First Communion on Mother’s Day. He said his son is nervous about having to go up to and do one of the prayers of the faithful. He noted how recently his son has been watching his parents every week at Communion during Mass and thinking about his upcoming First Communion. On the other hand, people can take it too far, making it like a little wedding and concentrating too much on the clothes and gifts instead of the Eucharist. Scot said what he does love about doing it big for First Communion is that it’s one of the top three biggest days in their life at this point after birth and baptism. Susan said everyone in the church, whether they have a child or not, loves to see First Communions. Susan noted there are no private sacraments, they all have a communal effect. Scot said when he’s old and grey what he’ll remember is the sacramental celebrations. Break for fund drive banter. to support Catholic radio in the Archdiocese of Boston on WQOM. 3rd segment: Scot said Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Havana, Cuba came to Boston to give a public talk. There are not many cardinals in the College of Cardinals and Cardinal Ortega’s been a cardinal for several decades. His talk occurred at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. Greg said a number of local universities had invited Cardinal Ortega to come speak as a followup to the Pope’s visit to Cuba. He also spoke at Boston College and at colleges in other countries. One talk was a light talk on what it’s like to live in Cuba and in the evening he participated in a forum that included Cardinal Seán. His remarks at the forum were more pointed and he spoke about the hope of the Cuban people for the Pope’s visit. He said it was very important that they were allowed to bring a statue of Our Lady of Charity, the patroness of Cuba, to every town, which was quite unusual in this heavily Communist country. Greg said the cardinal had strong words for the exile community in Miami, who Scot said criticizes the Church in Cuba for not being strong enough critics of the Castro regime. the cardinal said the Church is not political. “Now that the Church is expanding and gaining footing in Cuba, there is likely going to be added criticisms from those on the outside,” [Mario Paredes] said in an April 27 the telephone interview with The Pilot. “The fact that [Cardinal Ortega] doesn’t criticize the regime directly is seen as his collaborating with the regime, which is untrue,” Paredes said. “The Cardinal is doing what he is supposed to do,” he continued, noting that the cardinal’s role is “to bring people to faith, to call on collaboration in rebuilding Cuba, to bring Cubans to reconciliation.” “It’s very hard for people to understand his role,” he said. Susan said Cardinal Seán’s blog has some pictures of the forum. Greg clarified a point in the article about an incident when 13 protesters were removed from a church in Havana before the Pope’s visit. They said they were protesting in favor of freedom, but the cardinal called them “former delinquents,” which was the same language the Castro regime used. This was one of the reasons Cardinal Ortega was criticized by the exile community. Scot said they were trying to disrupt a very delicate situation that takes years to plan and many negotiations. Greg said he sympathizes with those who want greater change in Cuba. His sense from Cardinal Ortega is that he feels squeezed between a rock and hard place. Break for fund drive banter. to support Catholic radio in the Archdiocese of Boston on WQOM.…
Summary of today’s show: Three priests from Northern Ireland–two brothers and a childhood friend–share their musical talent as the musical group The Priests, and have recorded two albums, the first of which went to number 1 in Ireland and other countries. The Priests will be performing on Monday, May 7, in Boston and Scot Landry interview Fr. Eugene O’Hagan on the challenge of being simultaneously a parish priest and a touring recording star, and what was in the water of their childhood village that brought the three young boys not just to the priesthood together, but musical stardom as well. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Eugene O’Hagan of The Priests Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Priests, a classical musical group of 3 priests from Northern Ireland 1st segment: Scot said today is the one-year anniversary of the dedication of the radio studio to the newly beatified Pope John Paul II. Today is also a celebration of Catholic radio on WQOM. Scot and Rick Heil talked about the value and importance of Catholic radio. Today is a fund drive for WQOM and he encouraged listeners to keep Catholic radio on the air. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Eugene O’Hagan to the show. Fr. Eugene is a pastor in Northern Ireland, but he is part of a touring group of musical priests called The Priests. They will be in Boston on May 7. The three priests are Fr. Eugene, his brother Fr. Martin O’Hagan, and Fr. David Delargy. They discussed some of the American locations they’ve already visited on the tour. Neither of the O’Hagans have been to Boston although Fr. David has. Scot asked how three parish priests find the time to record music and gon on a several week tour in the US. Fr. Eugene said it takes planning well in advance. They had the good grace and help of their fellow priests and parishioners. They’re taking it out of their annual vacations. Many parishioners feel very involved by following along with their travel on the website. Scot said he senses that the priests have not just their vocation, but also an avocation to music. Fr. Eugene said it came from their appreciation for the gift of music that the Church has encouraged in their lives from their time as seminarians. When they began their journey to the priesthood, the seminary recognized that it be could for them to develop their musical talents and encouraged them to do so. Over the years, they’ve always been involved in music to encourage others to take part in worship. They made their first album in 2008 and saw it as part of Pope John Paul II’s call to put out into the deep of the culture. They will be performing at the Wilbur Theatre this coming Monday. Break for fund drive banter. . Two listeners who donate this hour were to win a pair of tickets to The Priests at the Wilbur Theater. 3rd segment: Scot said the album rose to number 1 in Ireland and a number of other countries. In the US it got to 66. He asked Fr. Eugene what it says about the beauty of Church music’s resonance with young people today. Fr. Eugene said they had the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performing and they performed one part in St. Peter’s Basilica, which helped a lot. He said they sang traditional hymns that reached Catholic and non-Catholic alike. There are still lots of people looking for the spiritual and this musical contribution was a form of gentle evangelization. It got people curious about who these priests were and whether they were really or good or just a PR stunt. Scot noted that the royalties for concerts and CD sales go to their charitable foundation. Fr. Eugene said they fund educational projects, including ones in Uganda, Thailand, and Cambodia. He said the actual work is done by the Mercy Sisters and Jesuits who are working in those areas. They also support Sightsavers International, who help the blind. They are conscious of supporting Catholic organizations, but not just exclusively Catholic ones. Break for fund drive banter. . Two listeners who donate this hour were to win a pair of tickets to The Priests at the Wilbur Theater. 4th segment: Fr. Eugene talked about many of the amazing venues in which they’ve performed, like St. Albert’s Hall in London. Scot asked how his parishioners react to having a priest who has such a large international profile. Fr. Eugene said today when priesthood is in the press so much, some good and some bad, they are in a position to present a different side of the priesthood than what people perceive it to be. He said they acknowledge the challenges of the priesthood, but all priests try to live their vocations to the best of their ability. They are able to do it through the support of their parishioners. They all recognize it’s a hugely important opportunity. Scot asked how these three men, two brothers and their childhood friend, all from the same village were able to have such musical talent that blossomed in their priesthood. He said they were blessed to have encouraging parents, teachers, priests, and in the seminary. He noted their musical teacher, a religious sister, who was a dynamo of enthusiasm who got them all involved in music. They were blessed to have received that encouragement from those put in their lives at the right time, to fulfill themselves to the best of their ability and to reach their potential. He says concertgoers will experience humanity, Irish site, and banter. People often tell them they look happy and comfortable onstage and they start the concerts by making the audience equally comfortable. An old music teacher told them there’s no reason to go on stage if they look like it’s a burden. Break for fund drive banter. . Two listeners who donate this hour were to win a pair of tickets to The Priests at the Wilbur Theater.…
Summary of today’s show: The Xaverian Missionary Fathers serve Christ in the missions in African and Asia, as well as at the Fatima Shrine in Holliston in the Archdiocese of Boston. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor talk with Fr. Rocco Puopolo and Fr. Joseph Matteucig about their service in the Xaverian Missionaries in both Sierra Leone and Taiwan, as well as the initiatives they are undertaking in this country to connect American youth with their counterparts elsewhere. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Rocco Puopolo and Fr Joseph Matteucig Links from today’s show: [St. Guido Maria Conforti]: http://www.guidoconforti.com/ [Xaverian Missionaries USA]: http://www.xaviermissionaries.org/ Today’s topics: Xaverian Missionary Fathers 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Chris talked about the celebrations at the end of seminary year. The seminary years ends on May 18. They had a deacons night the other night in which they salute, toast, and roast the deacon class who is going to be ordained. There are 13 resident and 3 or 4 religious community seminarians, about 17 total. They had Fr. Jason Jalbert of the Manchester diocese came to give a talk about priesthood. Scot pointed out that the 17 are from 4 dioceses and several religious orders. Fr. Chris said the two happiest days in the seminary are opening day and ordination day. The other celebration at the seminary was for Bishop Arthur Kennedy who is ending his service as rector at St. John Seminary. Fr. Chris said they commemorated Bishop Kennedy’s distinguished service. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Fr. Joe and Fr. Rocco from the Xaverian Missionary community. Scot said there are 45 men’s religious communities in the Archdiocese and those in the metro west region are probably familiar with them. Fr. Rocco said they were found in 1895 by a young diocesan priest in Parma, Italy. He was unable to be a missionary and later became a bishop and archbishop. He founded the order under the patronage of St. Francis Xavier. He noted they are not related to the Xaverian Brothers order that runs Xaverian high school in Westwood. The Xaverians came to Holliston in 1947 after the war. His mother and grandmother assisted with the community from those early days. He became a Xaverian in order to become a missionary in Asia. He was ordained in 1977 at St. Catherine of Siena in Norwood and was sent to Africa. Fr. Joe said he is from northern Italy in the town of Udina, near what used to be Yugoslavia. He entered the Xaverians in Italy and was sent to Chicago for seminary. There was a Xaverian community just a short ride from his home in Italy. He entered while he was still in high school because he felt a strong attract not the community. Fr. Chris asked about St. Francis Xavier. Fr. Joe said he could be described with zeal, a passion for Christ, and enthused, because he wanted to share the Gospel with everyone. Francis did not start as a saint, but loved to fight and party, but when he encountered St. Ignatius of Loyola, he left his old ways and became one of the first Jesuits. Francis Died before getting to China and so the founder of the Xaverian Missionaries wanted them to complete his mission to China. The founder is St. Guido Conforti. He was born in 1865 and died in 1931. As a seminarian, he conceived of the seminary. He started the community as a vice-rector of the seminary. He sent out the first seminaries in 1899. In 1901, he became Archbishop of Ravenna, but he was only there a few years when he got very ill. He went back to Parma to die, but regained his health. He became coadjutor of Parma and then bishop until he died. He made one trip to visit his missionaries in China in 1928 and died in 1931. Fr. Joe said Guido wasn’t well known in northern Italy until recently. Fr. Chris noted he was just made a saint last October. Fr. Joe said what made him special was that he said the Xaverian Missionaries have the gift of living faith which challenges him to see God, seek God, and love God in all. Also, Guido had a dream to make the whole world one single family and we as Jesus’ disciples have to fulfill that dream. He also wanted them to be religious and missionaries. Other missionary orders do not take religious vows. They take four vows: poverty, chastity, obedience, and the missions. Fr. Rocco said he was a pastor of souls locally and a missionary globally. He was committed to helping save souls worldwide. Scot asked Fr. Rocco about the Holliston shrine. Fr. Rocco said the property used to have a high school seminary on it. Since they didn’t have parishes in this region, they wanted property to help people know they were here, It’s a Fatima shrine, because the message of Fatima is a missionary message. Scot said it’s a good visit for families with young kids. They have an outdoor rosary made of large boulders and chains. Fr. Rocco said they had an African night at their hall this past week. People came to hear the head of the Africa Social Justice Network come talk about the Africa synod that took place in Rome a few years ago. Different ethnic communities hold pilgrimages to the shrine. Fr. Chris noted the grounds are lit up with Christmas lights each December. Fr. Joe said people like to come because it’s a quiet place to pray. Fr. Joe said one of the things that attracts children is that the boulders of rosary have prayers in different languages of the world. They are soon going to start a regular outdoor language and will invite people to come forward and pray the Hail Mary in their own language. Fr. Chris asked what formation of men for the missions is like. Fr. Rocco said they hope the men can deal with diversity in a comfortable way. Working and living overseas can be uncomfortable. In formation he would often send the men to work in parish in ethnic communities very different from their own. They help them to be open and comfortable with people of different faiths, to witness to Christ and to listen to the gifts of the spirit found in people throughout the world. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Shirley Bramante from Middleboro. She wins the CD, “The Apostle of the Rosary: Servant of God Fr. Patrick Peyton” and the booklet “The Secret of Mary” by St. Louis de Montfort. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot said Fr. Rocco served many years in Sierra Leone, Africa. Fr. Rocco said he went there as part of his graduate studies. It was a last minute switch from Indonesia. He went back to the States and right after ordination went back for six years. He did some mission work in the remote northern area of Sierra Leone. It is in West Africa near Liberia, about the size of North Caroline. It gained independence in 1961. The “blood diamond” trade has resulted in the exploitations of many people. He eventually became superintendent of schools. He came back in 1984 for 10 years and then went back, this time in the middle of a war. Charles Taylor of Liberia was trying to annex a portion of Sierra Leone that was rich in diamonds. For 10 years, Liberian-backed insurgents wreaked havoc in the country. Fr. Rocco became a staff member of the bishops’ conference that covered Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Gambia. He did a lot of work in conflict resolution and was also a national youth minister. Scot noted Fr. Rocco was shot in the course of his missionary work. He had been working with youth to empower them to reach out on a peer level. Many of these youths were being enticed into the ranks of the soldiers. As their pastoral center was being looted one day in 1988, Fr. Rocco engaged a conversation with one of these children looters. He went away and came back drunk, demanding money and other goods. He shot near him without trying to hit Fr. Rocco, but did hit him in the thigh. The 100 kids were later rounded up by the army and they were all shot. Scot asked what percentage of Sierra Leone is Catholic. Fr. Rocco said the number of Catholics has increased because the Church staged during the dark days of the world. At the time, 10 percent were Christian, half of them Catholic. About 30% Muslim, and the rest animists. Fr. Chris asked about the culture. Fr. Rocco said there is no privacy. It is important to greet everyone or risk offending them. He said he couldn’t walk between the high school and the church without it taking three times as long as it should. Fr. Joe’s primary service overseas was in Taiwan. Fr. Joe said he spent 13 years in Taiwan. He learned the language and culture in three years and had active ministry for 10 years. He said you need a musical ear and a good memory to learn the language. He gave examples of how difficult it would be. He did find that when he arrived in the country he felt at home. His teachers were very understanding and solicitous almost too a fault. They were always very positive and affirming. For three years they studied Chinese for three hours per day, then the bishop of Taipei asked him to be part of the diocesan youth office. Ninety-five percent of high school and college students coming to diocesan youth programs were non-Catholic. They felt attracted to the values of the Gospel. The goal was to show that God created them for something special. The Chinese culture emphasizes taking care of yourself and working hard. He found the youth to be extremely generous with time and talents. The students would be in school from 7:30 am to 4:30pm. Then from 5:30pm to 9:30pm they go to remedial school to review the topics of the day. They are preparing for then end of high school exams which were a lot of pressure. So they do their homework until midnight and get up at 5 or 6 pm. Yet, when there were programs, they were always willing to come out. Fr. Chris asked if the government was supportive. Fr. Joe said it was much like in the US, where you could do anything that’s allowable within the law. That contrasts with China where you have to be much more attentive. In mainland China, they work mostly with disabled children and adults. He said about 60 million people have disabilities in China. Fr. Rocco said a high percentage of people in the developing world are under the age of 15. In the majority of countries they work in, the majority of people are young people. He said there are about 800 Xaverian Missionaries. They have about 80 men in formation. Fr. Chris about the Taiwanese culture. Fr. Joe said the Chinese are very curious. People have no compunction about looking into places that we would see as private, or asking questions, but you learn that it is a kindness because they want to know you better in order to serve you better or give you a better gifts. They are also very superstitious, especially about numbers. They are also very generous. Scot said they have a program in Holliston called Global Youth Mission. Fr. Rocco said for the past 10 or 15 years they have been looking at ways to reach out to young people. The order initiated the outreach to empower youth to be active in the Church, to help them link with young people overseas. They are also working with the Office of Cultural Diversity to connect with youth immigrants from Africa and Asia to help them connect with the Church locally. Fr. Rocco said they have information on their general website and still working on a specific website for the initiative.…
Summary of today’s show: The Daughters of Charity were founded in France in the 17th century as a different kind of religious community active in serving the poor and that charism continues to today, including in the Archdiocese of Boston. Scot Landry and Susan Abbott are joined by Sr. Denise LaRock to discuss her own vocation story; the story of the founding of the order and how St. Elizabeth Ann Seton brought the community to the United States; and Sr. Denise’s work helping young women discern a vocation to religious life. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Sr. Denise LaRock, D.C. Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Daughters of Charity 1st segment: Scot welcomed Susan Abbott as a co-host on Monday in addition to her usual Thursday spot. Susan talked about being in the middle of sacrament season in faith formation: first reconciliation, confirmation, and first communion. She prayed for the children and their parents. Scot said today they will profile the Daughters of Charity religious order and some great saints have been connected with the order, including St. Vincent de Paul and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. 2nd segment: Scot and Susan welcome Sr. Denise LaRock, D.C. from the St. Louise Province of the Daughters of Charity with headquarters in Baltimore. Scot asked her about how she heard God’s call to religious life. She said she was in 7th grade in a boarding school with the Visitation Sisters. It was through the prayerfulness and generosity of those Sisters that she began to consider it. She didn’t even have the seed of faith planted until she started at the school in fourth grade. The school was in Frederick, Maryland. In high school at another boarding school she got the prompting again. Even when wasn’t thinking about religious life, she continued to go to daily Mass. Sr. Denise went to Franciscan University of Steubenville and at the end of her time there that she started seriously discerning. She looked at a lot of orders, but wrote a letter to the Daughters of Charity. She had prayed with each packet she got from each order. She began her student teaching and went to the Daughters of Charity school her brother attended to check out the order. She was attracted to the order because she wanted to serve the poor. They also ran schools, had foreign missions, and wore a habit, and all those were attractive to her. She liked that each sister was unique and different, yet so united in prayer, community, and service. The atmosphere of prayer at Steubenville was key to her hearing the call of God in her vocation. She said at Steubenville there was positive peer pressure to go to daily Mass. There was also a kind of living in community through the Franciscan University household system. She also saw many religious sisters on campus. Scot said telling your family about a religious vocation is often difficult. Sr. Denise said her foster family was supportive when she first brought it up, but they wanted her to wait some time before entering the order. She said young women don’t always get that support from their parents. She said pressure from families is often a big influence on young men and women not answering the call. Often when the parents see how happy the young women is in religious life, they come around and they even become connected to the community. Sr. Denise said she started as an elementary school school. She worked at Mother Seton Academy in Baltimore, serving very poor children. She also worked with teaching children of migrant farm workers in Florida, following the children as families moved with the harvests. she said the sisters often got involved in immigration issues. She noted how workers often were disposable, so when the harvest ended they would be harassed into leaving and being deported. She talked about the stories of some of the immigrants, talking about why people are so desperate to risk the dangers of illegal border crossings. They are desperate to raise their families, to feed them and to keep them safe from the violence in Mexico, they are willing to risk coming here. Scot said these people are our brothers and sisters in Christ. At a time when she was teaching in Georgia, she was on a retreat when the province was considering a new leadership team. The old vocation director was elected to the leadership team, so Sr. Denise said she was willing to take over the job, even though she had been preparing to go to Bolivia for a mission. She said it’s been a wonderful ministry. She notes a lot of women don’t enter the order, but it’s a blessing to see so many women on fire for the Lord. Sr. Denise has been in town for a short visit, going to some of the schools served by the Daughters of Charity, including St. Joseph in Holbrook, as well as attending parts of the Eucharistic Congress. The province covers St. Louis to the East Coast, but there are a couple of vocation directors for the province so they split up the work. She said it’s not about recruitment, so she doesn’t do the hard sell. They don’t just want bigger numbers, they want the women that God is calling. She often works with other religious communities and they work together to find the right communities for women who are discerning. Scot asked what advice she has for parents whose children are interested in religious life. She said they should have the conversation first with the child. In the Archdiocese of Boston, they can contact Sr. Marian Batho, the Delegate for Religious, to get material. Nothing takes the place of visiting the orders and having those experiences. Even for women interested in the Daughters of Charity, she encourages them to look at other communities. Susan said each community has a different charism, a different emphasis or focus. 3rd segment: Scot asked about the founding of the Daughters of Charity. Sr. Denise said the founding is unique. They started in 1633 when all sisters were cloistered. They were originally the servant girls of the parish charities. St. Vincent de Paul had been starting parish-based charities. St. Louise de Marillac had a rough life in her younger years and St. Vincent pulled her out of herself by getting her involved in the works of charity. She’s the patroness of social workers. She was a great organizer. For the servant girls, it was very hard work and there was a lot of burnout so Louise suggested they come together to live in community in prayer. Most couldn’t read or write. She was also nursing her own sick husband and she taught those skills to the young women. Today the community life and prayer are still vital, but it’s in service to the poor. A lot of the terminology of the order today is different because they couldn’t appear to be nuns without being in the cloister. Their original habit was the dress of the country girls. The “flying nun” habit grew out to he bonnet worn by the girls, after the order was disbanded during the French Revolution and came back. Other differences are that they don’t have a novitiate, but a seminary; they live in residences not convents; and they take annual vows, not permanent vows. They have to receive permission to renew their vows each year on the Feast of the Annunciation. Mother Seton was a convert to the faith and was invited to come to Baltimore from New York to start a school for girls. The bishops asked her to start a religious community. She was living near the Sulpicians and they knew the Daughters of Charity so, because the DC couldn’t come to the US because of Napoleon, they sent the rule of the order and they started the Sisters of Charity. Around 1850, the Sisters of Charity in the US most united with the Daughters of Charity in France. The Sisters of Charity continue today. Scot said in Boston we have Sisters of Charity of Halifax, of Ottawa, of Québec, of St. Mary, of Montreal, Nazareth in Kentucky, and more. Sr. Denise said not all of them are tied to Mother Seton. She said the Sisters of Charity federation connects many of those Sisters of Charity orders. Scot asked about all the ministries of the Daughters of Charity. Sr. Denise said they serve Christ in those living in poverty. The three big areas are healthcare, education, and social services. So they have sisters who work in hospitals and clinics, Catholic schools, after-school programs, GED and alternative education, Catholic Charities, meal programs, soup kitchens, social service work. St. Ann’s Infant and Maternity Home in Hyattsville, Maryland is for teen moms. They do prison ministry and mission work. She has some friends in Kenya, others are Magadan, Russia, and Taiwan. Scot asked if the typical sister stay in one ministry for most of her life or does she move from one to another. Sr. Denise said it’s a lot of personal discernment and discernment with the community. Much of it has to do with training and experience. She said some sisters enter already trained as doctors or nurses or teachers. Sr. Denise said over the past 5 years she’s seen a change for the positive among young people toward hopefulness. They are tired of consumerism and selfishness and they are having a sense of being called to something. Scot asked where she goes to find young women. She said it’s about relationship and connecting. There are women who come through their parish presence or ministries. She receives contacts through advertising or retreats or inquiries from the . Scot asked how blogging has helped her work in vocations. Sr. Denise said she tries to look at different aspects of who the Daughters are, highlighting the spirit of the Vincentian communities. It’s a way to meet them online. It helps to know who it is you’re looking at. She said when young people get information on communities, they often look the same, so the blog helps to share the personality of the community. Sr. Denise said she’s never had regrets. She’s met people who’ve had regrets they didn’t check it out. The sisters are more than happy to welcome young women who are interested in checking them out without any kind of obligation. She’s met so many wonderful people and lived with so many wonderful sisters, who supported her in prayer and helped her through tough times.…
Summary of today’s show: Kevin Kiley has worked for the Archdiocese of Boston for most of his adult life in what he describes as a calling to serve God and the Church. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell talk to Kevin about his service, including managing the massive move from the chancery in Brighton to the Pastoral Center in Braintree in 2008 as well as shepherding budgets through difficult times and aiding unprecedented financial transparency. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Kevin Kiley, Director of Budget and Planning for the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Kevin Kiley, longtime employee of the Archdiocese, Director of Budget and Planning 1st segment: Scot welcomed back Fr. Mark and asked him what he was up to last week when he was away. Fr. Mark said he was at a board of governor’s meeting for the Canon Law Society of America at the airport hotel in Baltimore. Scot said many who work at the Archdiocese serve on national boards and committees in the Church. Scot said this weekend will also be the 5th annual in the North End of Boston on Friday night and Saturday morning. Also next week, there will be seminars at the Pastoral Center for priests and laity on the topic of the Church’s teachings related to Women and Sexuality. Find more about the seminars at . 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcomed Kevin Kiley to the show. Kevin has worked at the Archdiocese for 20 years when he was 25 years old and newly married. He’d worked a few jobs after college and his last job was sales. One of his clients referred him to a friend at the Archdiocese. He did work a couple of years outside the Archdiocese and came back in 2004 because he missed it. He grew up in Weymouth in St. Albert’s parish with his two older sisters. At the time he didn’t know how much his faith meant to him, until he came here to interview. His brother-in-law, Fr. Paul Hurley, who is a chaplain with the 101st Airborne, was just entering the seminary at the time. Fr. Mark said Kevin used the word “call” and a lot of people have a calling to work for the Church. Kevin said he’s seen a lot of people come and go. Even while he was away working at a for-profit company, he still helped out at St. John Seminary and had a side practice as a parish consultant, so he kept his hand in it. People are drawn to serve the Church. Scot asked Kevin what he missed during his two-year hiatus. Kevin said it’s the atmosphere, the ability to go to daily Mass. His prayer life suffered a bit because he wasn’t spending time in the moment not being here. Scot said Kevin’s worn many hats in his time. Kevin said he started as an accountant. He moved up to accounting supervisor and accounting manager and then assistant comptroller. He grew into a budget role. When he came back, he did more with the budget, and then when Jim McDonough came as chancellor in 2006, he worked in planning and projects. He worked with human resources and then the Pastoral Center project came along. He hadn’t had experience with facilities management or construction before, but he determined to form relationships with the right people. Scot said Kevin had a good handle on all the work that was needed for a massive relocation from six locations to here under budget and on time. Kevin said the Pastoral Center building had been a financial services company with 500 people working in it. Tom Flatley sold the building to the Archdiocese for $1 and when Kevin came into the building for the first time, it was obvious there was a lot of construction that was going to need to be done. They had to plan to lay out the whole building. The most challenging part was sitting down with people to determine what they need. He needed to lay out a functional workspace for each department. They brought in three buildings in Brighton, and offices in Dorchester, West Roxbury, and downtown Boston. They built a new chapel. He remembers a few times wondering how it would possibly happen. Everything that good go well went well. When they told other building managers that they would start the move and be done in a week, they got disbelieving laughter. Scot said the plan was to have everything working and open for business in one week: telephones, computers, voicemail, and so on. He recalls the reservations at moving from the center of the Archdiocese to an office park, but when people walked into the building they felt at home. Kevin said they didn’t just move, but had brand new telephone system, brand new networked printers, brand new data center and it was a lot of change at once. Everyone had a new workstation and felt like they were moving into a brand new home. It was a place to be proud of. Scot said it’s truly a center of pastoral activity because of all the conferences and activity going on here. Scot said in the first year, there 25,000 people to come through for various seminars and trainings. Kevin said the ability to gather together in the full-service cafeteria, which we’d never had, is a whole new atmosphere. Scot asked Kevin about the highlights of the project for him. Kevin said he treasured the relationships he formed, including with Paul Morin, who’d worked with Flatley for many years and came to work with us; people at W.B. Mason; Dan Guerra who was IT manager at the time, and others. The reason the building came to gather they way they did was the relationships. Everybody was on the same page with the same mission. Kevin said they had a very tight deadline with Boston College. We had to be out. Fr. Mark said until they got here, he didn’t realize how much they needed to get out of the old spaces. What makes the most difference for how we minister as a Church is the relevance. When you drive down Route 128 and see the glowing cross at night, the Church is more available. It’s a more inviting experience. That said the Brighton campus was beautiful, although the buildings on the inside were antiquated. Fr. Mark said one of the best benefits is the amount of work that gets done in the hallways and cafeteria that didn’t get done when they were in six buildings. He said there are a lot of people who come from the community to daily Mass every day. Kevin said he’s glad they were able to keep the crucifix from the old chapel. Kevin said the monthly staff meetings in the auditorium of the new building are great compared to the old Peterson Hall gatherings which occurred irregularly in a dingy atmosphere. Scot said Kevin’s current role oversees many projects in the Archdiocese. He assists the Cardinal in the allocation of resources to all the ministries. Kevin said we don’t make widgets and sell them, but rely on donations. He said the size and scope of the Archdiocese, it rivals major corporations that 1,000 people in the home office, while we have a little more than 200. Ten years ago we had 400. Then we had $40 million budget activity and now it’s $28 million. The most difficult part of the job is trying to do what needs to be done with less. Kevin said no one takes it personally when he sits down with them to talk about budgets. It’s always difficult, especially when reducing staff. Unfortunately the economy is a key driver in how the organization goes. There’s a lot of balancing scarce resources and prioritizing. No one thinks they have enough to do what they need to do. Infrastructure expenses take up a lot of resources. While they have had to cut back, a lot of cuts have come from administrative services to reduce the impact on mission services. He said if there was a $20 million Appeal it would be a lot easier. Scot said the Archdiocese is recognized nationally for financial transparency. Kevin publishes the budget annually and there is a lot of detail that wouldn’t be available anywhere else. They try to show what the Corporation Sole is comprised of and the Central Ministries. They drill down into each cabinet secretariat, give a brief description of each agency and department’s mission. It’s pretty comprehensive. Scot said many pages describe how many people work in each ministry. Scot said many offices have just one or two people. Kevin said there’s almost 300 parishes, 100 schools, and 50 affiliate organizations, but there’s a very small home office to oversee and provide support. Kevin said you have to be as transparent as you can. Scot said people don’t often understand how complex the Archdiocese is from a corporate standpoint. It is a Corporation Sole with 4 different groups in it, plus many other related entities, like iCatholic Media, of which TGCL is a part. Kevin said the Corporation Sole is the parishes and schools; self-insurance fund and risk management; a small endowment; and central operations. Within Central Operations is unrestricted operations; restricted funds, reconfiguration fund, and special collections. Unrestricted operations is the Central Ministries activity. The parish and school aspect is not centrally controlled. Kevin said the parishes and schools have done well with transparency. Kevin said he looks at about 100 different budgets, each with about 50 different line items. In the past couple of years, they implemented a new financial system called Lawson. It’s been beneficial. Part of the challenge is just trying to find the time to use the system more effectively. In the past there were more people in the Finance office dedicated to those efforts than there are now. Kevin lives in Marshfield and they have four children, three boys and a girl, from 12 years old to 17. They are parishioners at St. Christine’s. He loves being able to help out at the parish and all of our parishes need good volunteer help. He praised Fr. Tom Walsh the pastor of his parish. They then discussed what it’s like to have his wife’s brother as a priest. He recalled when his brother-in-law was a seminarian having so many of them over to the house. Kevin said Fr. Hurley has done a couple of overseas tours and just came back from Afghanistan last year, telling stories that are gut-wrenching. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said: “Leaders of the people and elders: If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a cripple, namely, by what means he was saved, then all of you and all the people of Israel should know that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; in his name this man stands before you healed. He is the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” Second Reading for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 29, 2012 (1 John 3:1-2) Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 29, 2012 (John 10:11-18) Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father.” Scot said the Gospel of the Good Shepherd is where Jesus owns his decision to lay down his life for us. His favorite line is that Jesus knows us individually by name. Kevin said it’s profound and comforting. In these difficult times when people are struggling, knowing we have a shepherd who loves us is comforting. Scot said in the second reading that knowing we are God’s children is also a form of comfort. Fr. Mark said any Jewish person hearing this would recall Ezekiel, chapter 34. It speaks of the scattered sheep that God sees. He promises them a shepherd who will bring them back and they will be his. So Jesus assures us he is the fulfillment of that prophecy. We are his flock that he will lead. When the sheep see the shepherd is confident and unafraid, they will be okay. Scot said it’s easy for him to feel close to God being described as a child than being described as a sheep. Being a child is God is wonderful. In the darkest days, step back and think about what being a child of God means. He will hears and love us non-stop. Fr. Mark said Scot and Kevin both responsibilities to their own children and they know that if they are faithful, the children will feel safe. Scot said the other sheep Jesus refers to shows how he recognizes how scattered we can be and we should be one flock. Fr. Mark said a lot of people are scattered and wandering outside the flock. We have a mission to spread the Gospel that the Church is less without them. Scot said this Sunday is World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Fr. Mark said it’s amazing how many people take it seriously and make a special effort to write to priests and express love and appreciation on Good Shepherd Sunday. Scot said he loves the first reading from Acts. Peter in desperate times proclaims what his mission is. The ending may be the best verse: “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” This is why so many prayers end “in Jesus’ name.” Kevin said the rejected stone becoming the cornerstone is so profound. He feels bad to for those who don’t have faith to be able to turn to the Lord in difficult times. Fr. Mark said it’s been a difficult few years for Kevin as the budget guy. He notes how Peter was challenged in the reading too. Kevin has stood up as well to declare what needs to be done.…
Summary of today’s show: Our regular Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy discussed the week’s headlines including the annual Co-Workers in the Vineyard conference; Emily Stimpson’s new book that gives hope to single Catholic women; keeping your kids Catholic during vacation; Clergy assignments; and concrete steps that parishes can take to promote vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: 1st segment: Scot and Susan caught up on their week and Susan said it’s been a difficult week for her as she’s been to the funerals of three people close to her. She talked about the hope and consolation of her faith. They also talked about the Co-Workers in the Vineyard Conference and spoke about encountering listeners to the show. Scot also discussed his recent work preparing for the next phase of the educational campaign for the effort against legalized physician-assisted suicide in the Commonwealth. He recorded some talks that will be posted on the campaign’s website . 2nd segment: Scot said the there is an annual conference in the spring for clergy and the laity called Co-Workers in the Vineyard. Susan said what’s impressive is that whole parish staffs come to the conference together. She said the theme was excellence in pastoral leadership. The keynote speaker was Fr. Michael Keating and Msgr William Fay gave an update on the pastoral planning process. Cardinal Seán began the day with Mass. Janet Benestad gave a talk on physician-assisted suicide. Scot said that presentation will be available in a different format on the assisted suicide education website. Susan said there was a panel discussion as well with a number of pastors. They discussed what it was like to enter a parish as a new pastor and to bring parishes together. Scot said a number of ministries support and sponsor this event. Greg tracy said they put this story on the front page because they want to raise awareness of the event and increase attendance at these types of events. It can be easy to get focused on your day to day work. Scot mentioned that there are two seminars next week on the same topic, one for clergy and the other for laity. The topic is the book Women, Sex, and the Church: The Case for Catholic Teaching. Fr. Roger said they have a large article in The Anchor about the book “The Catholic Girl’s Survival Guide for the Single Years” because he often hears from young faithful Catholic women on their despair at finding a good husband and remaining single in those years. He found the book to be a great book and he said Emily is a tremendous writer. Fr. Roger said any young woman listening to the show and is in this situation would find this book to be a great help. He said parents, friends, and priests could also read the book to understand how to help support women in these circumstances because a lot of the time we inadvertently cause pain to those in these circumstances by what we say, even when well meaning. While working on a story featuring vocations, Stimpson had spent some time talking to nuns, priests and married couples. She listened to them say, “The vocation fills the desires of your hear!.” Well. she would counter, “God never drags you kicking and screaming into any vocation you don’t wont to go into, so why would being single be called a vocation?” “We don’t want to be single; this isn’t filling the desires of my heart,” said Stimpson. Few ever cry about becoming a nun or priest or being married, she added. It wasn’t until she talked to a priest who was the vocations director for the Archdiocese of Denver that she got her answer. “He said there is no single vocation,” said Stimpson, meaning there is no vocation that does not involve the consecration of one’s self as a gift to God and others. “That was helpful in that I’m not imagining things - that makes sense to me. There’s not a lot out there explaining why it’s not a vocation.” ”There are millions of single people around going, ‘Hey! What about us?’” continued Stimpson. “So even though it’s been made clear that there is no single vocation, no one had really developed why that was the case. That’s when I realized how there was so much imprecision in how people talked about vocation. Sometimes they’re talking about vocations to holiness, or how my job is a vocation - all are using these words but not in the same way. We need to sit down and take 3 step back and define our terms, so that’s what I try to do in the first chapter.” “Women want a faithful spouse who won’t ask us to commit a mortal sin before or after marriage, and those guys are not easy to come by. We have to own the situation,” she said. “that we’ve made this choice and made the decision to shop from this very small pool of eligible men. So when you see it and own it, and there’s an explanation, that’s what helps. Being told to console ourselves for this made-up primary vocation doesn’t help women.” Susan thought the distinction that there is no vocation to the single life to be very interesting. She said she sympathizes with how difficult it is to me someone today. Fr. Roger said there will be another article next week in which she talks about practical ways women can deal with this situation and can continue to enjoy life and take advantage of their free time to do good, to focus on what they have, and make themselves attractive to potential suitors. In the Pilot, this week, Susan has a column writing about Faith Formation during vocation. The primary place for faith development is in the family where parents are their children’s first and most long-lasting religious education teachers. Parents are not alone in this work - parishes partner with parents in the faith formation of youngsters. During the summer months, when children and teenagers are not in school, families have a special opportunity to nurture the faith in family life. She had six concrete suggestions for families. She said first that we continue to go to Mass every Sunday. We don’t take a vacation from worshipping God. They can also take time to pray with their children, even if they begin with something simple like asking God to bless the dinner. They can share books on the faith and she suggested people could go to the Daughters of St. Paul store in Dedham or the Carmelite book shop in Peabody. They can go to confession together as a family. On long car rides, have a time when the electronics are off and have a conversation. She also said there are great feast days for saints in the summer. Find out the saint of the day online and talk about it. Scot further suggested taking a family day trip to a beautiful church or shrine or retreat center. Greg concurred that some of the best conversations he’s had with his kids have been on car rides, whether long or short. Susan said it’s a captive audience and Greg said it’s often one of the few times that you can be alone with the child and speak heart to heart. Fr. Roger said Susan has all the main thoughts there. He added that people might want to attend daily Mass when they can as well. He added that as families travel that they should enjoy the beauty of God’s creation because it reminds us of the Creator who has done all this for us and to thank Him for it. Scot said in the Pilot this week also was a new official announcement that Fr. John L. Sullivan was leaving as Pastor of St. Gerard Majella in Canton as of June 5 and will be accepting a new pastoral assignment. There was also the official announcement that Fr. Kevin Sepe will leave St. Francis in Braintree to become Secretary for Pastoral Life and Leadership. Also in the newspaper are four profiles of priests who will be accepting senior priest/retirement status: Fr. Richard Crowley, Fr. Henry Jennings, Fr. James Rafferty, and Fr. Francis Daley. Fr. Jennings has been at St. Joseph Parish in Somerville for 45 years, since 1966. They also note that Fr. James Rafferty was ordained in his home parish of Holy Name in Roxbury because there were 5 men from the same parish being ordained together. 3rd segment: Scot said Fr. Roger’s editorial this week is on how parishes can help promote vocations as we look forward to Good Shepherd Sunday. Fr. Roger said we need to pray for vocations first. One of the reasons for the shortage of priestly vocations is because we haven’t been praying as insistently as we ought to for the gift of new priests. The second thing we need to do is invite young people to consider it. He remembers at his home parish of St. Michael’s in Lowell, how women would approach him at 5 years old and encourage him to consider it. The third stage is to encourage our own families. There’s a tremendous example of this type of vocational soil in a superb prayer booklet published in 2007 by the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy. Entitled “Adoration, Reparation and Spiritual Motherhood for Priests,” it lifted up as a model of the type of prayer to the Lord of the harvest that was done in the tiny village of Lu Monferrato in northern Italy. In 1881, when secularism and virulent anti-clericalism were becoming increasingly pronounced, the mothers of this tiny village of a few thousand inhabitants, conscious of the need for priestly vocations, began to gather each Tuesday afternoon for eucharistic adoration to ask the Harvest Master to send priestly laborers. They would together make the following prayer: “O God, grant that one of my sons may become a priest! I myself want to live as a good Christian and want to guide my children always to do what is right, so that I may receive the grace, O God, to be allowed to give You a holy priest!” That prayer, their fervent desire for vocations, and their home’s and parish’s great awareness of the love of God in the blessing of priestly vocations, bore more fruit than any of them could have ever imagined. In the span of a few decades, this one village parish smaller than many parishes in the Diocese of Fall River - produced 152 priestly vocations and 171 religious women to 41 different congregations. Then Fr. Roger said we’d never have a shortage of priests in any diocese if one young man from each parish entered the seminary every eight years. Many of the seminarians who start don’t get ordained so we’d have a new priest from each parish every 12 years. If a parish has 100 boys, then you’d have one vocation to the priesthood out of every 100. Scot said he has advocated in the pastoral planning process that if a parish produces regular vocations to the priesthood or religious life that should be part of the weighting of the vibrancy and strength of the parish. Scot said there’s been a lot of coverage of the Vatican’s decision on a leading leadership of women’s religious. Fr. Roger said the mainstream media has framed the story as old men clamping down on all religious sisters. He said he hopes it will eventually become clear that this is about ensuring the Catholicity of certain groups of religious sisters. He said this isn’t about all women religious, but the leadership of the LCWR, which has done some things in recent decades that leads many bishops wondering whether they support the Church’s teachings, including abortion, priestly ordination, healthcare, moral theology, and more. He said the great sisters who have served us over the course of time will eventually be heard and will say that this reform is what they want too. Scot said his sense is that you have the typical liberal newspapers talking a story narrative for this which is “Conservative organization continuing the ‘War on Women’”. The Church is the most pro-woman organization there is, but part of this the normal election cycle of 2012 where pro-Obama columnists stirring up sentiment against the Church. Scot believes that the request for reform probably came from women within the orders being led by the women who’ve been saying these questionable things. Greg said it’s true that this is being driven by an election year agenda framing it as a wedge issue. One way or the other, many of these pundits see the Church as anti-woman and oppressive. He said the secular press comes to the issue without a full understanding and this shows why we need a diocesan newspaper. The Pilot’s slogan is “Read the Pilot and be fully informed.” You’re not going to get the full perspective on the Church from the secular media. Similarly Greg could write an article about Wall Street, but he’s not an expert. Scot then mentioned an article in the Pilot about the rise in the number of people saying that they are atheists or nonbelievers. Under the age of 29, 25% believe themselves atheist, agnostic, or nonbeliever. Susan said she just wants to ask them how they can live without the hope that faith gives them. Scot said it’s his experience that your life won’t be fulfilled without acknowledging the fuller life of faith that extends from this world to the next.…
Summary of today’s show: Hundreds of thousands of Catholic families now homeschool their children. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams delve into the why and the how with Allison Gingras, Maureen Wittmann and Mark Schwedrt of the New England Homeschooling Conference that is taking place on May 19 at St. Monica parish in Methuen. They discuss the socialization myth, how Allison and Maureen decided to homeschool their children, and what attendees can expect at the conference. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Mark Schwerdt, Allison Gingras, Maureen Wittmann Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: New England Catholic Homeschooling Conference 1st segment: Scot wished a happy birthday to our producer Rick Heil, celebrating his 24th birthday. Scot and Fr. Matt discussed the Eucharistic Congress taking place this weekend in the North End. He encouraged interred people to register online at http://www.eucharisticcongress.org or to show up at Sacred Heart church in the North End of Boston on Friday night and Saturday morning. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Mark Schwerdt, who is organizing the New England Catholic Homeschooling Conference on May 19 on behalf of St. Thomas More College. He said these conferences happen all over the country and they attract people from all over the region. It will take place St. Monica’s in Methuen. There will be speakers as well as a hall full of vendors who provide resources to those who are homeschooling. Mark said this is the fourth New England conference, but it’s the first that St. Thomas More is organizing. Previously, the event was held in western Massachusetts. Mark said they chose St. Monica’s as a central location that is very accessible. He said in the future they hope for growth and probably will end up closer to Boston. Scot welcomed Maureen Wittmann of Homeschooling Connection. She encouraged parents to go to homeschooling conferences and meet face to face with other homeschoolers. There’s nothing like being with dozens of like-minded people to energize you, plus see so many curricula up close. Scot asked her what led her to homeschool her families. Maureen said in eighth grade she was out of school for six months and realized she could do all her schoolwork in a couple of hours per day. Later on she met homeschoolers and was encouraged to begin. They have seen many benefits by strengthening their family life and atmosphere. Scot asked about spending all day with kids and how to avoid stress. Maureen said you get along better with your children by being with them all day. When they are at school all day there is actress when they come home to do chores and homework and all that. In homeschooling, they have a lower pace, go to Mass a few times per week together. It’s not always smooth, but being together throughout the day improves the family dynamic. Allison Gingras said she home schools because God asked her to. She said she has a special needs child who thrives in that one-on-one environment. She added she’s happy to be at St. Monica’s parish because she’s spends a lot of time praying to her. St. Monica was the mother of St. Augustine and prayed for her son when he was far from God. Allison said St. Monica offered fasts for Augustine’s conversion, showing the quiet sacrifice of a mother. Scot asked Maureen why homeschooling stories are long stories. Maureen said it’s not something that’s the norm so you need more than one reason to do it. Homeschooling resources are more abundant today than when she started 20 years ago. She used to rely a lot on libraries and photocopies. Now new homeschoolers can be overwhelmed, Allison said the most important resource for her is her own prayer life. She spends a lot of time asking God for the plan to raise them. Then she goes to the resources. She relies on Rainbow Resource a lot for a curriculum. Scot wondered if there needs to be a kind of Catholic homeschooling Khan Academy. Maureen said at Homeschool Connections they’re creating some resources like Khan Academy with a Catholic worldview. Fr. Matt asked how you measure so you know your child is keeping pace. Who sets the standards? Allison said the kids don’t have to take the MCAS. She said in her town she has to meet the superintendent of schools and show her curriculum and submit progress reports. She chooses to follow the Massachusetts Frameworks. Maureen said in Michigan they have the most liberal homeschooling laws in the country. They don’t have to report anything to the government. She does track progress and now three are in college. She said she never used a science textbook and he scored a perfect score on his science ACT. When he was younger, they read a lot of literature, watched videos, got out into nature. In high school, they got involved in another kind of science team activity. Scot asked Mark what led Thomas More College to become involved in the conference. Mark said the conference came to them providentially. The school’s involvement is to minister to the families in the archdiocese. Catholic homeschoolers form a large percentage of students at the college, about 30 percent. He said they often are more prepared than Catholic and public school students. He they aren’t just good students, but wonderful people as well.Scot asked what differences they do see in the homeschoolers from others. Mark said they do come prepared for a rigorous curriculum. He said it’s also a myth that they aren’t socialized. Often they are involved in home school cooperatives. Scot asked Maureen about the socialization myth. Maureen said for her family it’s been proven to her that socialization in homeschool is equal to or superior than a site-based school. At theme, they’re used to being around adults and children of all ages. She recalls how at ease her 16-year-old son was with caring for small children. She cited studies in how home schooled children vote more, use libraries more, and are as well socialized as any others. Allison said the biggest myth is that the children won’t have as good an education without a professional teacher. She has a master’s degree in education, but she’s seen kids in school who aren’t learning as well as home schooled kids. She notes that with her own children she’s able to spend as much time as possible for them to pass topic. Fr. Matt asked about mentoring and support. Maureen said there are many people out there to help. She suggested going online and searching for a local homeschooling support group. If you sign up with a home study school, they have counselors. There are online forums and Facebook support groups. She said homeschoolers always seem excited to help each other. Maureen said 83 percent of homeschoolers do it for religious or moral reasons. They want a faith-based education primarily. It took off in the Eighties when evangelicals wanted to be able to pray in schools. As a homeschooler she can pray the rosary with her kids during the day or the Divine Mercy chaplet at 3pm. Her kids who discern a religious vocation are not dissuaded from that as being uncool, for instance.. Scot asked Allison how much benefit she gets from being able to structure her day and her family time to do more unusual activities that give a well-rounded educational experience. Allison said schooling can be 24 hours per day 7 days per week, so they can have different opportunities. They’re not tied to a school day. They can on vacation when everyone else is in school. Scot said there might be a perception that homeschool kids are jealous of going to school with all other kids. Allison said people used to give her the look that homeschooling is weird. Now she hears kids say they wish she could teach them too. All her own kids miss is school lunch, which she says is a comment on her cooking. Maureen said she hears a variety of reasons. One friend was terribly bullied in school. Sometimes it’s that her kids can be done with schooling in a few hours so they can do other projects and sports. Allison said her school system has a program where she bring her kids to play sports, They also have town sports they can join. She just has to pay the same fee the other kids pay. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Laurie Costello from Brookline, MA She wins The “Glory” Rosary Musical DVD If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Mark gave an overview of the conference. Danielle Bean of Catholic Digest and Faith and Family will be speaking as will Allison and Maureen. Fr. Ed Riley will speak on children and the sacraments. Fr. Dan Hennessey will talk about encouraging vocations. Mark also listed a number of different providers of homeschooling curriculum and resources: Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, Sophia Institute Press, Teaching Textbooks, Christendom College, Seton Home Study School, Traveling Rosaries Apostolate, Crisis Magazine, The Teaching Creche, St. Benedict Religious Shop, Nancy Larson Science, Kolbe Academy Home School, Thirty-One Gifts, Catholic Homeschoolers in Massachusetts East (CHIME), Homeschool Connections, Usborne Books & More, Navis Pictures, Kosierowski Education Group, Morning Star Christian Center – a non-profit Catholic Apostolate, A Special Mother is Born, The Rooted Mind, LLC, Modern Woodmen of America, Our Lady Queen of Saints Catholic Homeschool Support Group, Reconciled to You Ministries, Danielle Bean. There’s also going to be a used book sale. Allison said it will be great to talk to the person who has used the book before in homeschooling and get a personal review. Allison said her talk will be called “Swallowed by a Whale”. She said she tried to run from God when he called her to homeschool. When God calls you to this, he will provide everything you need to do this. You don’t need a college degree or be a professional educator. She will also talk about her ministry called Reconciled to You, encouraging people to live a sacramental life and thus encourage child to live it too. Maureen’s topic will be “High School and Beyond: Yes, You Too Can Homeschool High School”. She said in her old homeschool group, about half of the parents put their kids in high school because they didn’t feel qualified or have resources. In her new city, it was rare, but they had a co-op in which they could take classes one day per week with teachers. She wants to encourage parents that they can do it. Maureen said in high school you get into deeper work and loftier subjects, but she finds it much more thrilling and interesting. She said she couldn’t teach Latin, so she hired a tutor to teach them. She said she takes her planning each week before the Blessed Sacrament in prayer. Scot said the conference sounds like it would be good for homeschoolers, but also for those who are thinking about it and even those whose kids go to school. Mark said you will find families who care about the education of their children and want to give them the best resources available. Mark said to register online at http://www.newenglandhomeschool.com/. It’s $15 per person, $25 for a married couple, and $5 for each teen. This is the preregistration rate until May 11. Pre-registering helps them to plan the conference and be prepared. It starts at 9:30 am and ends at 3:30pm followed by 4pm vigil Mass in the parish. Scot asked Allison about the greater challenges that come with homeschooling. Allison said it’s not always easy to get motivated. Her own children have followed her lead in becoming night owls. They have had trouble getting things done, but she reminds herself that everything can be educational and that they can school 365 days per year. Scot said it sounds like adjusting your own expectations. Allison said this is why its great to connect with other homeschoolers because they have often had the same obstacles and can help each other with strategies and plans. Fr. Matt asked how the time use differ in homeschool. Allison said her children tackle a little of each subject per day. Maureen said her homeschool became much less structured, but it depends on the child. She said she has children with dyslexia, ADHD, and Asperberger’s. For one she would give them many more breaks from work. Other days they would get on a roll and work on English for hours. Some parents set a schedule and teach certain subjects during certain hours. Allison said she knows people who are homeschooling as parts of groups or independently, but they all eventually connect in one way or another. She said it’s important not to feel alone in it. Maureen said you need support. You need encouragement and prayers and to be that support for others. Maureen said about there are about 2.4 million homeschooling families and Catholics are about 25% of Christian homeschoolers. She guesses it’s about 180,000 Catholic homeschooling families. And it’s growing. Scot said the Church’s teaching is that parents are the primary educators of their children. Maureen said the Diocese of Lansing has her on the school board as a homeschooler. Scot said Fr. Ed Riley is the Archdiocese of Boston’s official liaison to homeschoolers.…
Summary of today’s show: Proponents of a ballot initiative to legalize physician assisted suicide in Massachusetts cloak their effort in misleading terms like “compassion” and “choice”. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor expose the lies of the assisted suicide movement, which has been defeated in 124 of 127 places it’s been advanced, and give a thorough discussion of the Church’s teaching on assisted suicide by examining the US bishops’ recent letter “To Live Each Day with Dignity”. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: US Bishops’ statement on assisted suicide: To Live Each Day with Dignity 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Chris caught up on the past week and talked about how Fr. Chris and Fr. Wayne Belschner celebrated their 40th birthdays. The Italian families at their parish in East Boston invited them for an incredible Italian feast. They discussed the ending of the Seminary year, including preparing the 4th year seminarians for ordination. Fr. Chris said they also had Archbishop Henry Mansell of Hartford celebrate Mass at the seminary this past weekend for the candidacy of the men preparing for the priesthood at the end of their first year of theology, which would normally give them three more years to ordination. Fr. Chris said one of the men put it as “You’re now officially engaged” to the Church. He said this is the first step to ordination. Next year they would be made acolytes, which would allow them to serve in an official capacity at the altar. The third year, they would also be made lector, giving them an official capacity to proclaim God’s word. They then discussed how these ceremonies and titles are different from those who serve in parishes. Scot switched to today’s topic and said he’s been surprised by how many people in Massachusetts he meets who have no idea that this fall we could be voting on whether to legalize assisted suicide. They will be going through an important document on the topic today in depth. The document from the US Bishops Conference was released last June and is called “To Live Each Day with Dignity.” To live in a manner worthy of our human dignity, and to spend our final days on this earth in peace and comfort, surrounded by loved ones—that is the hope of each of us. In particular, Christian hope sees these final days as a time to prepare for our eternal destiny. Today, however, many people fear the dying process. They are afraid of being kept alive past life’s natural limits by burdensome medical technology. They fear experiencing intolerable pain and suffering, losing control over bodily functions, or lingering with severe dementia. They worry about being abandoned or becoming a burden on others. Our society can be judged by how we respond to these fears. A caring community devotes more attention, not less, to members facing the most vulnerable times in their lives. When people are tempted to see their own lives as diminished in value or meaning, they most need the love and assistance of others to assure them of their inherent worth. The healing art of medicine is an important part of this assistance. Even when a cure is not possible, medicine plays a critical role in providing “palliative care”—alleviating pain and other symptoms and meeting basic needs. Such care should combine medical skill with attention to the emotional as well as spiritual needs of those facing the end of life. Scot said it begins by comparing the hope we have was Christians with the fear of the end of life. Fr. Chris said there is fear of passing from this world to the next. God is with us at the beginning and the end of life and in a continuum from one to the next. Scot said we hope in our final days we will be surrounded by loved ones, that it will be without pain, we will not be a burden on others. We have fears that we will linger in pain or dementia or be a burden. We can respond to those hopes and fears in others with love or by telling them to end their lives abruptly. Fr. Chris said the gift of life is a gift that we’re not in charge, but it belongs to the Lord for us to cherish and value. He said on becoming a burden to others, we have to think of it as a moment to allow ourselves to be loved by and care for by others. Family members are naturally desirous to surround us and care for us. The bishops are reminding us we live in a culture that is concerned with the expedient. He said Archbishop Mansell talked about the reality that if you want to destroy a person, convince them that they’re useless. Scot said there’s nothing in Catholic teaching that says you can’t get the maximum pain relief for any physical pain, but those who choose suicide aren’t about physical pain, but mental and spiritual anguish. That’s what people at the end of life really need. Today there is a campaign to respond to these fears and needs in a radically different way. It uses terms like “death with dignity” to describe a self-inflicted death, generally using a drug overdose prescribed by a doctor for the purpose of suicide. This campaign to legalize doctor-prescribed suicide has been rejected by most policymakers in our society. Although Oregon passed a law in 1994 allowing physicians to prescribe deadly drugs for some patients, similar proposals were rejected by legislatures and voters in all other states for many years. The claim of a constitutional right to assisted suicide was firmly rejected in 1997 by the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld state laws against the practice as legitimate safeguards for innocent human life and the ethical integrity of medicine. But after fourteen years of defeats, the assisted suicide campaign advanced its agenda when Washington state passed a law like Oregon’s in 2008. The following year, Montana’s highest court suggested that physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients is not always against public policy. With expanded funding from wealthy donors, assisted suicide proponents have renewed their aggressive nationwide campaign through legislation, litigation, and public advertising, targeting states they see as most susceptible to their message. If they succeed, society will undergo a radical change. Jewish and Christian moral traditions have long rejected the idea of assisting in another’s suicide. Catholic teaching views suicide as a grave offense against love of self, one that also breaks the bonds of love and solidarity with family, friends, and God (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], no. 2281). To assist another’s suicide is to take part in “an injustice which can never be excused, even if it is requested” (John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, no. 66). Most people, regardless of religious affiliation, know that suicide is a terrible tragedy, one that a compassionate society should work to prevent. They realize that allowing doctors to prescribe the means for their patients to kill themselves is a corruption of the healing art. It even violates the Hippocratic Oath that has guided physicians for millennia: “I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan.” Proponents know these facts, so they avoid terms such as “assisting suicide” and instead use euphemisms such as “aid in dying.” The organization leading this campaign has even concealed its agenda by changing its name. The Hemlock Society, whose very name reminded people of the harsh reality of death by poison, has become “Compassion and Choices.” Plain speaking is needed to strip away this veneer and uncover what is at stake, for this agenda promotes neither free choice nor compassion. Scot said this segment was called “A Renewed Threat to Human Dignity”. Scot said his brother gave a talk at Harvard last week in which he said proponents have tried to advance assisted suicide in elections 127 times in the US and they’ve only succeeded 3 times. Sometimes the media makes it look this is inevitable, but we’re 124-3 in the win column. Just last week, a proposal was defeated in the Vermont Senate. Fr. Chris said legalization would affect the good moral order of the entire society, not just those directly involved. He said the Hemlock Society has co-opted good language, calling themselves compassionate. This is about taking a pill that ends your life. That’s not compassion. Scot said people who are primary caregivers will take on the role of executioners. It’s also a terrible tragedy every time someone decides to take their life. It’s always a tragedy. It’s also a corruption of the healing arts. Does the drive to legalize physician-assisted suicide really enhance choices or freedom for people with serious health conditions? No, it does not, for several reasons. First, medical professionals recognize that people who take their own lives commonly suffer from a mental illness, such as clinical depression. Suicidal desires may be triggered by very real setbacks and serious disappointments in life. However, suicidal persons become increasingly incapable of appreciating options for dealing with these problems, suffering from a kind of tunnel vision that sees relief only in death. They need help to be freed from their suicidal thoughts through counseling and support and, when necessary and helpful, medication. Because the illnesses that cause or aggravate suicidal desires are often overlooked or misdiagnosed, many civil laws provide for psychological evaluation and treatment for those who have attempted suicide. The Catholic Church, as well, recognizes that “grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture” can diminish the responsibility of people committing suicide; the Church encourages Catholics to pray for them, trusting in God’s mercy (CCC, no. 2282-3). These statements about psychological disturbance and diminished responsibility are also true of people who attempt suicide during serious illness. Yet this is often ignored in proposals authorizing assistance in these individuals’ suicides. Many such proposals permit—but do not require—an evaluation for mental illness or depression before lethal drugs are prescribed. In 3 practice such evaluations are rare, and even a finding of mental illness or depression does not necessarily prevent prescribing the drugs. No evaluation is done at the time the drugs are actually taken. In fact, such laws have generally taken great care to avoid real scrutiny of the process for doctor-prescribed death—or any inquiry into whose choice is served. In Oregon and Washington, for example, all reporting is done solely by the physician who prescribes lethal drugs. Once they are prescribed, the law requires no assessment of whether patients are acting freely, whether they are influenced by those who have financial or other motives for ensuring their death, or even whether others actually administer the drugs. Here the line between assisted suicide and homicide becomes blurred. People who request death are vulnerable. They need care and protection. To offer them lethal drugs is a victory not for freedom but for the worst form of neglect. Such abandonment is especially irresponsible when society is increasingly aware of elder abuse and other forms of mistreatment and exploitation of vulnerable persons. Second, even apparently free choices may be unduly influenced by the biases and wishes of others. Legalization proposals generally leave in place the laws against assisting most people to commit suicide, but they define a class of people whose suicides may be facilitated rather than prevented. That class typically includes people expected to live less than six months. Such predictions of a short life are notoriously unreliable. They also carry a built-in ambiguity, as some legal definitions of terminal illness include individuals who have a short time to live only if they do not receive life-supporting treatment. Thus many people with chronic illnesses or disabilities—who could live a long time if they receive basic care—may be swept up in such a definition. However wide or narrow the category may be, it defines a group of people whose death by lethal overdose is wrongly treated by the law as objectively good or acceptable, unlike the suicide of anyone else. By rescinding legal protection for the lives of one group of people, the government implicitly communicates the message—before anyone signs a form to accept this alleged benefit—that they may be better off dead. Thus the bias of too many able-bodied people against the value of life for someone with an illness or disability is embodied in official policy. This biased judgment is fueled by the excessively high premium our culture places on productivity and autonomy, which tends to discount the lives of those who have a disability or are dependent on others. If these persons say they want to die, others may be tempted to regard this not as a call for help but as the reasonable response to what they agree is a meaningless life. Those who choose to live may then be seen as selfish or irrational, as a needless burden on others, and even be encouraged to view themselves that way. In short, the assisted suicide agenda promotes a narrow and distorted notion of freedom, by creating an expectation that certain people, unlike others, will be served by being helped to choose death. Many people with illnesses and disabilities who struggle against great odds for their genuine rights—the right to adequate health care and housing, opportunities for work and mobility, and so on—are deservedly suspicious when the freedom society most eagerly offers them is the “freedom” to take their lives. Third, there is a more profound reason why the campaign for assisted suicide is a threat, not an aid, to authentic human freedom. The founders of our country declared that each human being has certain inalienable rights that government must protect. It is no accident that they named life before liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Life itself is a basic human good, the condition for enjoying all other goods on this earth. Therefore the right to life is the most basic human right. Other valued rights—the right to vote, to freedom of speech, or to equal protection under law—lose their foundation if life itself can be destroyed with impunity. As Christians we go even further: Life is our first gift from an infinitely loving Creator. It is the most fundamental element of our God-given human dignity. Moreover, by assuming and sharing our human nature, the Son of God has more fully revealed and enhanced the sacred character of each human life. Therefore one cannot uphold human freedom and dignity by devaluing human life. A choice to take one’s life is a supreme contradiction of freedom, a choice to eliminate all choices. And a society that devalues some people’s lives, by hastening and facilitating their deaths, will ultimately lose respect for their other rights and freedoms. Thus in countries that have used the idea of personal autonomy to justify voluntary assisted suicide and euthanasia, physicians have moved on to take the lives of adults who never asked to die, and newborn children who have no choice in the matter. They have developed their own concept of a “life not worth living” that has little to do with the choice of the patient. Leaders of the “aid in dying” movement in our country have also voiced support for ending the lives of people who never asked for death, whose lives they see as meaningless or as a costly burden on the community. Summarizing, the three reasons assisted suicide doesn’t really help people: People who take their own lives are often mentally ill; it devalues all human life; and apparently free choices may be influenced by the biases of others. Scot noted the New York Times recently reported that in the Netherlands there is a group that wants to do drive-in assisted suicide. Fr. Chris said the bishops are pointing out the threats that come with assisted suicide. How many of us have seen the images of a man not in his right mind on a window ledge and police and firemen risking their lives to protect the life of the man on the windowsill. We know as a society that we have to save and preserve those in similar situations. Scot asked listeners to imagine a firefighter showing up at a house fire and asking if it the life of the person left in the inferno was worth saving. That’s crazy. Firefighters and police officers train to be willing to risk their own lives to protect others. This is what is built into men as husbands and fathers. How can we look at a proposal to say we’re willing to let others die or even be coerced into death while we stand by? Fr. chris said lifers the first principle. From life flows all of our other rights. Scot said it came before liberty for a reason. Fr. Chris said there’s a hierarchy. You can’t have freedom or the pursuit of happiness without life. Scot said he learned in seminary that there is a difference between Catholic thinking and secular thinking. What makes us valuable is our being in the made and likeness of God, not what we do or how productive we are. This proposed law does make a dichotomy by saying some lives are more valuable than others. The idea that assisting a suicide shows compassion and eliminates suffering is equally misguided. It eliminates the person, and results in suffering for those left behind—grieving families and friends, and other vulnerable people who may be influenced by this event to see death as an escape. The sufferings caused by chronic or terminal illness are often severe. They cry out for our compassion, a word whose root meaning is to “suffer with” another person. True compassion alleviates suffering while maintaining solidarity with those who suffer. It does not put lethal drugs in their hands and abandon them to their suicidal impulses, or to the self-serving motives of others who may want them dead. It helps vulnerable people with their problems instead of treating them as the problem. Taking life in the name of compassion also invites a slippery slope toward ending the lives of people with non-terminal conditions. Dutch doctors, who once limited euthanasia to terminally ill patients, now provide lethal drugs to people with chronic illnesses and disabilities, mental illness, and even melancholy. Once they convinced themselves that ending a short life can be an act of compassion, it was morbidly logical to conclude that ending a longer life may show even more compassion. Psychologically, as well, the physician who has begun to offer death as a solution for some illnesses is tempted to view it as the answer for an ever-broader range of problems. This agenda actually risks adding to the suffering of seriously ill people. Their worst suffering is often not physical pain, which can be alleviated with competent medical care, but feelings of isolation and hopelessness. The realization that others—or society as a whole—may see their death as an acceptable or even desirable solution to their problems can only magnify this kind of suffering. Even health care providers’ ability and willingness to provide palliative care such as effective pain management can be undermined by authorizing assisted suicide. Studies indicate that untreated pain among terminally ill patients may increase and development of hospice care can stagnate after assisted suicide is legalized. Government programs and private insurers may even limit support for care that could extend life, while emphasizing the “cost-effective” solution of a doctor-prescribed death. The reason for such trends is easy to understand. Why would medical professionals spend a lifetime developing the empathy and skills needed for the difficult but important task of providing optimum care, once society has authorized a “solution” for suffering patients that requires no skill at all? Once some people have become candidates for the inexpensive treatment of assisted suicide, public and private payers for health coverage also find it easy to direct life-affirming resources elsewhere. Scot said the proposal of those in favor of the ballot initiative says that to eliminate suffering take a pill, but this only eliminates the sufferer, not the suffering. We say we should increase pain management and other techniques to reduce suffering. But if people are just going to commit suicide, some will ask why we need to waste time and resources on palliative care? Fr. Chris said he was struck by the discussion of cost effectiveness for health care providers. Scot said people say that no insurer ever denied coverage for someone who refuses to take the suicide pill. He said it only agrees with what we know already about human nature and track record of some bean counters and penny pushers. There is an infinitely better way to address the needs of people with serious illnesses. Our society should embrace what Pope John Paul II called “the way of love and true mercy”—a readiness to surround patients with love, support, and companionship, providing the assistance needed to ease their physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering. This approach must be anchored in unconditional respect for their human dignity, beginning with respect for the inherent value of their lives. Respect for life does not demand that we attempt to prolong life by using medical treatments that are ineffective or unduly burdensome. Nor does it mean we should deprive suffering patients of needed pain medications out of a misplaced or exaggerated fear that they might have the side effect of shortening life. The risk of such an effect is extremely low when pain medication is adjusted to a patient’s level of pain, with the laudable purpose of simply addressing that pain (CCC, no. 2279). In fact, severe pain can shorten life, while effective palliative care can enhance the length as well as the quality of a person’s life. It can even alleviate the fears and problems that lead some patients to the desperation of considering suicide. Effective palliative care also allows patients to devote their attention to the unfinished business of their lives, to arrive at a sense of peace with God, with loved ones, and with themselves. No one should dismiss this time as useless or meaningless. Learning how to face this last stage of our earthly lives is one of the most important and meaningful things each of us will do, and caregivers who help people through this process are also doing enormously important work. As Christians we believe that even suffering itself need not be meaningless—for as Pope John Paul II showed during his final illness, suffering accepted in love can bring us closer to the mystery of Christ’s sacrifice for the salvation of others. Catholics should be leaders in the effort to defend and uphold the principle that each of us has a right to live with dignity through every day of our lives. As disciples of one who is Lord of the living, we need to be messengers of the Gospel of Life. We should join with other concerned Americans, including disability rights advocates, charitable organizations, and members of the healing professions, to stand for the dignity of people with serious illnesses and disabilities and promote life-affirming solutions for their problems and hardships. We should ensure that the families of people with chronic or terminal illness will advocate for the rights of their loved ones, and will never feel they have been left alone in caring for their needs. The claim that the “quick fix” of an overdose of drugs can substitute for these efforts is an affront to patients, caregivers and the ideals of medicine. When we grow old or sick and we are tempted to lose heart, we should be surrounded by people who ask “How can we help?” We deserve to grow old in a society that views our cares and needs with a compassion grounded in respect, offering genuine support in our final days. The choices we make together now will decide whether this is the kind of caring society we will leave to future generations. We can help build a world in which love is stronger than death. Scot asked what kind of society we want to live in. That’s really what this comes down to and we have a chance to do with regard to this proposed ballot initiative. Fr. Chris said the quick fix of assisted suicide is an affront to the Gospel, where we are all called to love and mercy, especially when we hear about the corporal works of mercy. Scot said it’s important for us to choose a better way to deal with the hopes and fears of the end of life. We have to be able to trust health care providers will work to help us and save our lives, not to work to take them away. Fr. Chris said listeners have to get the word out that true compassion is being closed to our loved ones.…
Summary of today’s show: Some of the mysteries of life can be better expressed in music than in words and God can speak to our hearts through that music. On May 6, Boston will host at Symphony Hall the world premiere of “The Suffering of the Innocents: A Symphony Homage and Prayer,” as a Christian work offered to the world. Scot Landry talks with Fr. Tony Medeiros and Antonio Enrique about the genesis of the work, the composer behind it, and how Cardinal Seán worked to bring it to Boston. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Antonio Enrique and Fr. Tony Medeiros Links from today’s show: Excerpts from the symphony: Today’s topics: “Suffering of the Innocents” Symphony 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show. He said today’s show is about a unique event on May 6 in Symphony Hall in Boston, a symphony composed by Kiko Arguello called “The suffering of the Innocents”. There will be about 200 musicians from Europe and America in the orchestra. It will be one of three public performances of the symphony in the US. Kiko Arguello is one of the founders of the NeoCatechumenal Way. Scot welcomed Fr. Tony Medeiros, rector of Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Boston, and Antonio Enrique, editor of the Pilot, to the show. Scot asked Fr. Tony how the symphony came about. Fr. Tony said the experience of suffering is something Kiko has wrestled with since he was a young person, understanding the suffering of people, whether it’s from their own actions or due to no fault of their own. Scot said you can sometimes see the cause of suffering, but so much of the suffering in the world seems unfair. The mystery of suffering and why God permits it is one of the big questions. This symphony seems to be a response to why God allows innocent people to suffering. Antonio said this is the focus of the symphony. The paradigm of suffering is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the symphony addresses it from the perspective of Mary, who suffered in her own flesh next to the cross. Through her, our sufferings can make sense in the Cross of Christ. Scot asked Fr. Tony about Kiko’s background, who seems to be a renaissance man. He’s one of the best known artists and architects in Spain. Fr. Tony said Kijko was a disciple of Pablo Picasso as a young man and his early work was influenced by Cubism. At the age of 19 he won a national prize for fine arts in Spain. Then in no small measure due to suffering of people, who began to confront the purpose of his life. This happened in the years around the Second Vatican Council. Enlightened by words of Pope John XXIII calling for renewal of the Church through the poor, and inspired by the spirituality of Bl. Charles de Foucauld, who wanted to influence the world through adoration of the Eucharist. Kiko leaves his family, feeling called by God to live among the poor in the outskirts of Madrid for three years. This is where he developed the blueprint for the Neo-Catechumenal Way, in the questions of the people he lived among and which he tried to answer. Scot asked Antonio what it is about the experience f the poor that provides answers to the larger questions of life. Antonio said we are used to living in a way that presents a particular face to others, hiding our real feelings and thoughts. But the people in the shantytowns live in a different way. In that environment, the reality of the Gospel could be announced in a different way. The Gospel tells us that prostitutes will precede us in heaven, which helps them know that God loves them despite their sins. Without the buffer of polite society, you are able to enter into the reality of their lives more readily. The people Kiko encountered started to change. Thieves stopped stealing. Parents sent their children to school. So much else changed. Scot asked about Kiko’s musical background. Fr. Tony said some of Kiko’s songs are popularly known and sung around the world. He’s put music to most of the Psalms and some of the Scriptures. But before now, Kiko has never written a symphony. He’s never studied it or written it. But last year, Cardinal Ruoco of Madrid asked him to prepare music to inspire youth coming to World Youth Day in Madrid. So he brought together many musicians and from that came the seed of the symphony, along with the seed from his time in the shantytown. Giving expression to suffering isn’t easy. Fr. Tony said we are compartmentalized in our own lives about our sufferings. We carry wounds in us that we try to hide. Sometimes we don’t know how to express it. This music is a way of expressing it. The way the symphony was written is that Kiko would hum a tune and the musicians would adapt it for their instruments and play it together. He says now that he’s not a real composer like Mozart or Beethoven, but he said a priest told him never to not do something for fear of being criticized of being vain or prideful. Antonio said the first time a part of this symphony was played was before the Holy Father. After that, they went to Israel to perform at Domus Galilee before 250 bishops from around the world in January 2011. Cardinal Seán was there among 7 or 8 cardinals. Antonio said some rabbis happened to be present at the same time of the performance as well as some Israeli politicians. Then after the symphony, it resonated in them in ways that were very deep. They were very impressed and one of the rabbis, Rabbi David Rosen, gave a beautiful address to those gathered on how the symphony resonated with the suffering of the Jewish people. Through the music, they felt loved by this work. Taking into account historical Christian-Jewish relations before the Second Vatican Council in which some of the teachings of the Church were used to persecute Jews, they saw this work now as an expression of love. Fr. Tony said Rabbi Rosen’s remarks were not planned, but were a spontaneous response to the symphony. Scot said it doesn’t seem the Kiko narrowly defined the category of innocents, but used a broad definition that would include the Jews who died in the Holocaust. Fr. Tony said there a memoir of an SS guard at Auschwitz who witnessed thousands of Jews dying in gas chambers. He eventually heard a voice inside him telling him to help them. The voice told him he could help by removing his clothe and getting in the line with those going to their death. He wasn’t a Christian, but a pagan, and sought an explanation for this voice inside him. But Jesus really was the one who got in line with those lined up for the gas chamber to defeat death from inside itself. He is a pill of immortality that explodes from within through death to eternal life. Fr. Tony said for many this will be their first time in Symphony Hall and many may not even understand what Kiko will say, but in their hearts they will have a dialogue with the Holy Spirit. Scot said one of the reasons the event is almost sold out is because Kiko asked that it be offered free of charge. Antonio said Kiko felt the message being announced of a meaning for suffering is something that you can’t pay for. There is not enough money to pay for such a message. Especially in Boston, the focus is geared toward Catholics. Cardinal Seán felt strongly about having the symphony here. He asked every parish to receive free tickets so that the pastors can bring a handful of parishioners. Close to 90 parishes have responded so far. Antonio said in New York it will have a wider audience. Rabbi Rosen had asked it to be brought to New York in order for the Jewish community there to experience it. They have made an outreach to Jews of all the different Jewish groups to come and experience it. It’s given as a gift to our Jewish brothers and sisters. On May 14, the symphony will take place in Chicago. 2nd segment: Coming back from break, we heard a selection from the symphony. Scot can’t recall ever hearing about a gathering of 3,000 Catholics in Symphony Hall to hear a composition by a Catholic composer. He asked what Cardinal Seán’s involvement will be. Fr. Tony said Cardinal Seán will preside at the gathering in light of his experience in hearing it for the first time in Israel. Originally the symphony wasn’t coming to Boston, just New York, but the Cardinal asked for it come here. The Cardinal sees a means in a very sensitive way to introduce a way to articulate the pain we carry within us. The music is a means for people to find a vehicle of expression to see that God has not forgotten them,. but is with them always, looking for an opportunity to show us his grace. Fr. Tony said most oft he most beautiful music we hear in symphonies is inspired by Christ and Christian faith: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven. What inspires us is the mystery of Christ who becomes flesh, dies and rises as the first fruit of a new creation. I have kinship to Jesus Christ through music and word and sacrament. Scot said there are four parts of the evening: A greeting and prayer; introduction by Kiko, five movements of the symphony, and remarks by Cardinal Seán. Scot said there are 194 musicians and 90 voices in the choir. They discussed some of the more obscure instruments that will be in the performance. Scot asked how this is getting paid for if the tickets are free. Fr. Tony said they don’t know, but if it comes from God then they have faith it will be paid for. They followed the signs laid out before them. Maybe some benefactor will make a contribution, but they are convinced that God wants this to be done for the love of the people. To reserve one of the remaining tickets, email infoboston@sufferingoftheinnocents.com or call 617-879-9814. If the tickets run out, your name will be put on a waiting list. Scot said Rabbi David Rosen is being honored by Redemptoris Mater Seminary on June 24 at at their gala dinner at the Four Points by Sheraton in Norwood. He said they’d invited Rabbi Rosen before the concert was coming to Boston. Scot said the honoree at last year’s dinner was the late-Archbishop Pietro Sambi, who was apostolic nuncio to the United States. Tickets for the dinner can be had by calling 617-879-8914 or email seminary@rmsboston.org.…
Summary of today’s show: The US bishops sounded a clarion call to Catholics on April 12, 2012 with their landmark statement on religious liberty, “Our First, Most Cherished Liberty”. Scot Landry, Fr. Chip Hines, and Domenico Bettinelli go over the document in detail, discussing what it means for Catholics, showing how unprecedented is this courageous stance form the bishops, and how dangerous is the current threat to religious liberty, not for just Catholics, but for all people of faith—and even no faith—everywhere. They also discuss concert steps you can take to join the fight to protect your religious liberty Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Domenico Bettinelli Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The US bishops’ statement on religious liberty 1st segment: Our First, Most Cherished Liberty: A Statement on Religious Liberty United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty We are Catholics. We are Americans. We are proud to be both, grateful for the gift of faith which is ours as Christian disciples, and grateful for the gift of liberty which is ours as American citizens. To be Catholic and American should mean not having to choose one over the other. Our allegiances are distinct, but they need not be contradictory, and should instead be complementary. That is the teaching of our Catholic faith, which obliges us to work together with fellow citizens for the common good of all who live in this land. That is the vision of our founding and our Constitution, which guarantees citizens of all religious faiths the right to contribute to our common life together. Freedom is not only for Americans, but we think of it as something of our special inheritance, fought for at a great price, and a heritage to be guarded now. We are stewards of this gift, not only for ourselves but for all nations and peoples who yearn to be free. Catholics in America have discharged this duty of guarding freedom admirably for many generations. In 1887, when the archbishop of Baltimore, James Gibbons, was made the second American cardinal, he defended the American heritage of religious liberty during his visit to Rome to receive the red hat. Speaking of the great progress the Catholic Church had made in the United States, he attributed it to the “civil liberty we enjoy in our enlightened republic.” Indeed, he made a bolder claim, namely that “in the genial atmosphere of liberty [the Church] blossoms like a rose.”1 From well before Cardinal Gibbons, Catholics in America have been advocates for religious liberty, and the landmark teaching of the Second Vatican Council on religious liberty was influenced by the American experience. It is among the proudest boasts of the Church on these shores. We have been staunch defenders of religious liberty in the past. We have a solemn duty to discharge that duty today. We need, therefore, to speak frankly with each other when our freedoms are threatened. Now is such a time. As Catholic bishops and American citizens, we address an urgent summons to our fellow Catholics and fellow Americans to be on guard, for religious liberty is under attack, both at home and abroad. This has been noticed both near and far. Pope Benedict XVI recently spoke about his worry that religious liberty in the United States is being weakened. He called it the “most cherished of American freedoms”—and indeed it is. All the more reason to heed the warning of the Holy Father, a friend of America and an ally in the defense of freedom, in his recent address to American bishops: Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion. Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience. Here once more we see the need for an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-à-vis the dominant culture and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the future of American society.2 Religious Liberty Under Attack—Concrete Examples Is our most cherished freedom truly under threat? Sadly, it is. This is not a theological or legal dispute without real world consequences. Consider the following: HHS mandate for contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs. The mandate of the Department of Health and Human Services has received wide attention and has been met with our vigorous and united opposition. In an unprecedented way, the federal government will both force religious institutions to facilitate and fund a product contrary to their own moral teaching and purport to define which religious institutions are “religious enough” to merit protection of their religious liberty. These features of the “preventive services” mandate amount to an unjust law. As Archbishop-designate William Lori of Baltimore, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, testified to Congress: “This is not a matter of whether contraception may be prohibited by the government. This is not even a matter of whether contraception may be supported by the government. Instead, it is a matter of whether religious people and institutions may be forced by the government to provide coverage for contraception or sterilization, even if that violates their religious beliefs.”3 State immigration laws. Several states have recently passed laws that forbid what the government deems “harboring” of undocumented immigrants—and what the Church deems Christian charity and pastoral care to those immigrants. Perhaps the most egregious of these is in Alabama, where the Catholic bishops, in cooperation with the Episcopal and Methodist bishops of Alabama, filed suit against the law: It is with sadness that we brought this legal action but with a deep sense that we, as people of faith, have no choice but to defend the right to the free exercise of religion granted to us as citizens of Alabama… . The law makes illegal the exercise of our Christian religion which we, as citizens of Alabama, have a right to follow. The law prohibits almost everything which would assist an undocumented immigrant or encourage an undocumented immigrant to live in Alabama. This new Alabama law makes it illegal for a Catholic priest to baptize, hear the confession of, celebrate the anointing of the sick with, or preach the word of God to, an undocumented immigrant. Nor can we encourage them to attend Mass or give them a ride to Mass. It is illegal to allow them to attend adult scripture study groups, or attend CCD or Sunday school classes. It is illegal for the clergy to counsel them in times of difficulty or in preparation for marriage. It is illegal for them to come to Alcoholic Anonymous meetings or other recovery groups at our churches.4 Altering Church structure and governance. In 2009, the Judiciary Committee of the Connecticut Legislature proposed a bill that would have forced Catholic parishes to be restructured according to a congregational model, recalling the trusteeism controversy of the early nineteenth century, and prefiguring the federal government’s attempts to redefine for the Church “religious minister” and “religious employer” in the years since. Christian students on campus. In its over-100-year history, the University of California Hastings College of Law has denied student organization status to only one group, the Christian Legal Society, because it required its leaders to be Christian and to abstain from sexual activity outside of marriage. Catholic foster care and adoption services. Boston, San Francisco, the District of Columbia, and the state of Illinois have driven local Catholic Charities out of the business of providing adoption or foster care services—by revoking their licenses, by ending their government contracts, or both—because those Charities refused to place children with same-sex couples or unmarried opposite-sex couples who cohabit. Discrimination against small church congregations. New York City enacted a rule that barred the Bronx Household of Faith and sixty other churches from renting public schools on weekends for worship services even though non-religious groups could rent the same schools for scores of other uses. While this would not frequently affect Catholic parishes, which generally own their own buildings, it would be devastating to many smaller congregations. It is a simple case of discrimination against religious believers. Discrimination against Catholic humanitarian services. Notwithstanding years of excellent performance by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services in administering contract services for victims of human trafficking, the federal government changed its contract specifications to require us to provide or refer for contraceptive and abortion services in violation of Catholic teaching. Religious institutions should not be disqualified from a government contract based on religious belief, and they do not somehow lose their religious identity or liberty upon entering such contracts. And yet a federal court in Massachusetts, turning religious liberty on its head, has since declared that such a disqualification is required by the First Amendment—that the government somehow violates religious liberty by allowing Catholic organizations to participate in contracts in a manner consistent with their beliefs on contraception and abortion. Religious Liberty Is More Than Freedom of Worship Religious liberty is not only about our ability to go to Mass on Sunday or pray the Rosary at home. It is about whether we can make our contribution to the common good of all Americans. Can we do the good works our faith calls us to do, without having to compromise that very same faith? Without religious liberty properly understood, all Americans suffer, deprived of the essential contribution in education, health care, feeding the hungry, civil rights, and social services that religious Americans make every day, both here at home and overseas. What is at stake is whether America will continue to have a free, creative, and robust civil society—or whether the state alone will determine who gets to contribute to the common good, and how they get to do it. Religious believers are part of American civil society, which includes neighbors helping each other, community associations, fraternal service clubs, sports leagues, and youth groups. All these Americans make their contribution to our common life, and they do not need the permission of the government to do so. Restrictions on religious liberty are an attack on civil society and the American genius for voluntary associations. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America issued a statement about the administration’s contraception and sterilization mandate that captured exactly the danger that we face: Most troubling, is the Administration’s underlying rationale for its decision, which appears to be a view that if a religious entity is not insular, but engaged with broader society, it loses its “religious” character and liberties. Many faiths firmly believe in being open to and engaged with broader society and fellow citizens of other faiths. The Administration’s ruling makes the price of such an outward approach the violation of an organization’s religious principles. This is deeply disappointing.5 This is not a Catholic issue. This is not a Jewish issue. This is not an Orthodox, Mormon, or Muslim issue. It is an American issue. The Most Cherished of American Freedoms In 1634, a mix of Catholic and Protestant settlers arrived at St. Clement’s Island in Southern Maryland from England aboard the Ark and the Dove. They had come at the invitation of the Catholic Lord Baltimore, who had been granted Maryland by the Protestant King Charles I of England. While Catholics and Protestants were killing each other in Europe, Lord Baltimore imagined Maryland as a society where people of different faiths could live together peacefully. This vision was soon codified in Maryland’s 1649 Act Concerning Religion (also called the “Toleration Act”), which was the first law in our nation’s history to protect an individual’s right to freedom of conscience. Maryland’s early history teaches us that, like any freedom, religious liberty requires constant vigilance and protection, or it will disappear. Maryland’s experiment in religious toleration ended within a few decades. The colony was placed under royal control, and the Church of England became the established religion. Discriminatory laws, including the loss of political rights, were enacted against those who refused to conform. Catholic chapels were closed, and Catholics were restricted to practicing their faith in their homes. The Catholic community lived under these conditions until the American Revolution. By the end of the 18th century, our nation’s founders embraced freedom of religion as an essential condition of a free and democratic society. James Madison, often called the Father of the Constitution, described conscience as “the most sacred of all property.”6 He wrote that “the Religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate.”7 George Washington wrote that “the establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive that induced me to the field of battle.”8 Thomas Jefferson assured the Ursuline Sisters—who had been serving a mostly non-Catholic population by running a hospital, an orphanage, and schools in Louisiana since 1727—that the principles of the Constitution were a “sure guarantee” that their ministry would be free “to govern itself according to its own voluntary rules, without interference from the civil authority.”9 It is therefore fitting that when the Bill of Rights was ratified, religious freedom had the distinction of being the First Amendment. Religious liberty is indeed the first liberty. The First Amendment guarantees that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Recently, in a unanimous Supreme Court judgment affirming the importance of that first freedom, the Chief Justice of the United States explained that religious liberty is not just the first freedom for Americans; rather it is the first in the history of democratic freedom, tracing its origins back the first clauses of the Magna Carta of 1215 and beyond. In a telling example, Chief Justice Roberts illustrated our history of religious liberty in light of a Catholic issue decided upon by James Madison, who guided the Bill of Rights through Congress and is known as the architect of the First Amendment: [In 1806] John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop in the United States, solicited the Executive’s opinion on who should be appointed to direct the affairs of the Catholic Church in the territory newly acquired by the Louisiana Purchase. After consulting with President Jefferson, then-Secretary of State James Madison responded that the selection of church “functionaries” was an “entirely ecclesiastical” matter left to the Church’s own judgment. The “scrupulous policy of the Constitution in guarding against a political interference with religious affairs,” Madison explained, prevented the Government from rendering an opinion on the “selection of ecclesiastical individuals.”10 That is our American heritage, our most cherished freedom. It is the first freedom because if we are not free in our conscience and our practice of religion, all other freedoms are fragile. If citizens are not free in their own consciences, how can they be free in relation to others, or to the state? If our obligations and duties to God are impeded, or even worse, contradicted by the government, then we can no longer claim to be a land of the free, and a beacon of hope for the world. Our Christian Teaching During the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, Americans shone the light of the Gospel on a dark history of slavery, segregation, and racial bigotry. The civil rights movement was an essentially religious movement, a call to awaken consciences, not only an appeal to the Constitution for America to honor its heritage of liberty. In his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in 1963, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. boldly said, “The goal of America is freedom.” As a Christian pastor, he argued that to call America to the full measure of that freedom was the specific contribution Christians are obliged to make. He rooted his legal and constitutional arguments about justice in the long Christian tradition: I would agree with Saint Augustine that “An unjust law is no law at all.” Now what is the difference between the two? How does one determine when a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of Saint Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.11 It is a sobering thing to contemplate our government enacting an unjust law. An unjust law cannot be obeyed. In the face of an unjust law, an accommodation is not to be sought, especially by resorting to equivocal words and deceptive practices. If we face today the prospect of unjust laws, then Catholics in America, in solidarity with our fellow citizens, must have the courage not to obey them. No American desires this. No Catholic welcomes it. But if it should fall upon us, we must discharge it as a duty of citizenship and an obligation of faith. It is essential to understand the distinction between conscientious objection and an unjust law. Conscientious objection permits some relief to those who object to a just law for reasons of conscience—conscription being the most well-known example. An unjust law is “no law at all.” It cannot be obeyed, and therefore one does not seek relief from it, but rather its repeal. The Christian church does not ask for special treatment, simply the rights of religious freedom for all citizens. Rev. King also explained that the church is neither the master nor the servant of the state, but its conscience, guide, and critic. As Catholics, we know that our history has shadows too in terms of religious liberty, when we did not extend to others the proper respect for this first freedom. But the teaching of the Church is absolutely clear about religious liberty: The human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that in matters religious no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs … whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits… . This right of the human person to religious freedom is to be recognized in the constitutional law whereby society is governed. Thus it is to become a civil right.12 As Catholics, we are obliged to defend the right to religious liberty for ourselves and for others. We are happily joined in this by our fellow Christians and believers of other faiths. A recent letter to President Obama from some sixty religious leaders, including Christians of many denominations and Jews, argued that “it is emphatically not only Catholics who deeply object to the requirement that health plans they purchase must provide coverage of contraceptives that include some that are abortifacients.”13 More comprehensively, a theologically rich and politically prudent declaration from Evangelicals and Catholics Together made a powerful case for greater vigilance in defense of religious freedom, precisely as a united witness animated by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.14 Their declaration makes it clear that as Christians of various traditions we object to a “naked public square,” stripped of religious arguments and religious believers. We do not seek a “sacred public square” either, which gives special privileges and benefits to religious citizens. Rather, we seek a civil public square, where all citizens can make their contribution to the common good. At our best, we might call this an American public square. The Lord Jesus came to liberate us from the dominion of sin. Political liberties are one part of that liberation, and religious liberty is the first of those liberties. Together with our fellow Christians, joined by our Jewish brethren, and in partnership with Americans of other religious traditions, we affirm that our faith requires us to defend the religious liberty granted us by God, and protected in our Constitution. Martyrs Around the World In this statement, as bishops of the United States, we are addressing ourselves to the situation we find here at home. At the same time, we are sadly aware that religious liberty in many other parts of the world is in much greater peril. Our obligation at home is to defend religious liberty robustly, but we cannot overlook the much graver plight that religious believers, most of them Christian, face around the world. The age of martyrdom has not passed. Assassinations, bombings of churches, torching of orphanages—these are only the most violent attacks Christians have suffered because of their faith in Jesus Christ. More systematic denials of basic human rights are found in the laws of several countries, and also in acts of persecution by adherents of other faiths. If religious liberty is eroded here at home, American defense of religious liberty abroad is less credible. And one common threat, spanning both the international and domestic arenas, is the tendency to reduce the freedom of religion to the mere freedom of worship. Therefore, it is our task to strengthen religious liberty at home, in this and other respects, so that we might defend it more vigorously abroad. To that end, American foreign policy, as well as the vast international network of Catholic agencies, should make the promotion of religious liberty an ongoing and urgent priority. “All the Energies the Catholic Community Can Muster” What we ask is nothing more than that our God-given right to religious liberty be respected. We ask nothing less than that the Constitution and laws of the United States, which recognize that right, be respected. In insisting that our liberties as Americans be respected, we know as bishops that what our Holy Father said is true. This work belongs to “an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-à-vis the dominant culture.” As bishops we seek to bring the light of the Gospel to our public life, but the work of politics is properly that of committed and courageous lay Catholics. We exhort them to be both engaged and articulate in insisting that as Catholics and as Americans we do not have to choose between the two. There is an urgent need for the lay faithful, in cooperation with Christians, Jews, and others, to impress upon our elected representatives the importance of continued protection of religious liberty in a free society. We address a particular word to those holding public office. It is your noble task to govern for the common good. It does not serve the common good to treat the good works of religious believers as a threat to our common life; to the contrary, they are essential to its proper functioning. It is also your task to protect and defend those fundamental liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. This ought not to be a partisan issue. The Constitution is not for Democrats or Republicans or Independents. It is for all of us, and a great nonpartisan effort should be led by our elected representatives to ensure that it remains so. We recognize that a special responsibility belongs to those Catholics who are responsible for our impressive array of hospitals, clinics, universities, colleges, schools, adoption agencies, overseas development projects, and social service agencies that provide assistance to the poor, the hungry, immigrants, and those faced with crisis pregnancies. You do the work that the Gospel mandates that we do. It is you who may be forced to choose between the good works we do by faith, and fidelity to that faith itself. We encourage you to hold firm, to stand fast, and to insist upon what belongs to you by right as Catholics and Americans. Our country deserves the best we have to offer, including our resistance to violations of our first freedom. To our priests, especially those who have responsibility for parishes, university chaplaincies, and high schools, we ask for a catechesis on religious liberty suited to the souls in your care. As bishops we can provide guidance to assist you, but the courage and zeal for this task cannot be obtained from another—it must be rooted in your own concern for your flock and nourished by the graces you received at your ordination. Catechesis on religious liberty is not the work of priests alone. The Catholic Church in America is blessed with an immense number of writers, producers, artists, publishers, filmmakers, and bloggers employing all the means of communications—both old and new media—to expound and teach the faith. They too have a critical role in this great struggle for religious liberty. We call upon them to use their skills and talents in defense of our first freedom. Finally to our brother bishops, let us exhort each other with fraternal charity to be bold, clear, and insistent in warning against threats to the rights of our people. Let us attempt to be the “conscience of the state,” to use Rev. King’s words. In the aftermath of the decision on contraceptive and sterilization mandates, many spoke out forcefully. As one example, the words of one of our most senior brothers, Cardinal Roger Mahony, thirty-five years a bishop and recently retired after twenty-five years as archbishop of Los Angeles, provide a model for us here: “I cannot imagine a more direct and frontal attack on freedom of conscience than this ruling today. This decision must be fought against with all the energies the Catholic community can muster.”15 A Fortnight for Freedom In particular, we recommend to our brother bishops that we focus “all the energies the Catholic community can muster” in a special way this coming summer. As pastors of the flock, our privileged task is to lead the Christian faithful in prayer. Both our civil year and liturgical year point us on various occasions to our heritage of freedom. This year, we propose a special “fortnight for freedom,” in which bishops in their own dioceses might arrange special events to highlight the importance of defending our first freedom. Our Catholic institutions also could be encouraged to do the same, especially in cooperation with other Christians, Jews, people of other faiths, and indeed, all who wish to defend our most cherished freedom. We suggest that the fourteen days from June 21—the vigil of the Feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More—to July 4, Independence Day, be dedicated to this “fortnight for freedom”—a great hymn of prayer for our country. Our liturgical calendar celebrates a series of great martyrs who remained faithful in the face of persecution by political power—St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, St. John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, and the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome. Culminating on Independence Day, this special period of prayer, study, catechesis, and public action would emphasize both our Christian and American heritage of liberty. Dioceses and parishes around the country could choose a date in that period for special events that would constitute a great national campaign of teaching and witness for religious liberty. In addition to this summer’s observance, we also urge that the Solemnity of Christ the King—a feast born out of resistance to totalitarian incursions against religious liberty—be a day specifically employed by bishops and priests to preach about religious liberty, both here and abroad. To all our fellow Catholics, we urge an intensification of your prayers and fasting for a new birth of freedom in our beloved country. We invite you to join us in an urgent prayer for religious liberty. Almighty God, Father of all nations, For freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1). We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty, the foundation of human rights, justice, and the common good. Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect and promote our liberties; By your grace may we have the courage to defend them, for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land. We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness, and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. * Acknowledgements* Excerpts from The Documents of Vatican II, Walter M. Abbott, SJ, General Editor, copyright © 1966 by America Press, Inc. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved. Excerpt from Pope Benedict XVI, Ad limina address to bishops of the United States, January 19, 2012, copyright © 2012, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Vatican City. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2012, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright holder. The document Our First, Most Cherished Liberty: A Statement on Religious Liberty, was developed by the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). It was approved by the Administrative Committee of the USCCB at its March 2012 meeting as a statement of the Committee and has been authorized for publication by the undersigned. Msgr. Ronny E. Jenkins, JCD General Secretary, USCCB Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty Chairman Most Rev. William E. Lori, Archbishop-designate of Baltimore Bishop Members Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap, Archbishop of Philadelphia Most Rev. Wilton D. Gregory, Archbishop of Atlanta Most Rev. John C. Nienstedt, Archbishop of St. Paul–Minneapolis Most Rev. Thomas J. Rodi, Archbishop of Mobile Most Rev. J. Peter Sartain, Archbishop of Seattle Most Rev. John O. Barres, Bishop of Allentown Most Rev. Daniel E. Flores, Bishop of Brownsville Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix Most Rev. Thomas J. Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield, IL Bishop Consultants Most Rev. José H. Gomez, Archbishop of Los Angeles Most Rev. Stephen E. Blaire, Bishop of Stockton Most Rev. Joseph P. McFadden, Bishop of Harrisburg Most Rev. Richard E. Pates, Bishop of Des Moines Most Rev. Kevin C. Rhoades, Bishop of Fort Wayne–South Bend ENDNOTES Cardinal James Gibbons, Address upon taking possession of Santa Maria in Trastevere, March 25, 1887. Benedict XVI, Ad limina address to bishops of the United States, January 19, 2012. Most Rev. William E. Lori, Chairman, USCCB Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty, Oral Testimony Before the Judiciary Committee of the United States House of Representatives, February 28, 2012. Most Rev. Thomas J. Rodi, Archbishop of Mobile, August 1, 2011. Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, Statement, January 24, 2012. James Madison, “Property,” March 29, 1792, in The Founding Fathers, eds. Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1987), accessed March 27, 2012. http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch16s23.html James Madison, “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessment,” June 20, 1785, in The Founding Fathers, accessed March 27, 2012. http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_religions43.html Michael Novak and Jana Novak, Washington’s God, 2006. Anson Phelps Stokes, Church and State in the United States (Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1950), 678. Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, 565 U.S. _, 132 S. Ct. 694, 703 (2012). Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963. Second Vatican Council, Declaration on Religious Liberty (Dignitatis Humanae), no. 2, in The Documents of Vatican II, ed. Walter M. Abbott (New York: Guild Press, 1966). Letter from Leith Anderson et al. to President Obama, December 21, 2011 (available at www.becketfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/To-President-NonCatholics-RelExemptionSigned.pdf). Evangelicals and Catholics Together, “In Defense of Religious Freedom,” First Things, March 2012. Cardinal Roger Mahony, “Federal Government Mandate for Contraceptive/Sterilization Coverage,” Cardinal Roger Mahony Blogs L.A. (blog), January 20, 2012, cardinalrogermahonyblogsla.blogspot.com/2012/01/federal-government-mandate-for.html…
Summary of today’s show: Our regular panel reviews the headlines of the week, including Pope Benedict’s 7th anniversary as Pope and 85th birthday; the appointment of Fr. Kevin Sepe to the significant post of Secretary for Parish Life and Leadership in the Archdiocese; the Pilot’s extensive coverage of the NCEA convention last week; a profile of the Fall River diocese’s office of pastoral planning; the Vatican’s call for reform of a US religious women’s group; defeat of an assisted suicide bill in Vermont; and the US bishops’ statement on religious liberty. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Pope’s anniversary; Fr. Sepe’s new role; NCEA; religious liberty 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show and talked about his recent time he’s been able to spend with his family. Susan said tomorrow she’s looking forward to the Co-Workers in the Vineyard conference taking place tomorrow at t Our Lady Help of Christians Parish in Newton. Many different offices and ministries are participating and producing the conference together for parish staff, pastoral associates, and other parishioners. 2nd segment: Scot noted that today is the seventh anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI on April 19, 2005. Rick played a clip from CNN of the announcement of the pope’s election. Scot asked Susan for her recollection. She said she was in her office at the tribunal building in Brighton. They’d heard the announcement was coming and they all gathered in a small conference room with a TV along with people from some other offices to hear the announcement. Susan said her pastor, Msgr. Helmick, was in St. Peter’s Square that day. It’s exciting to see the tradition and the Holy Spirit at work. Greg said the Pilot was in Cray library at the old chancery and they gathered in a room with a TV there as well. He recalls the reactions of people after all the speculation on who would be elected. He said no one was upset although they might have been hoping for a Latin American or African. Fr. Roger said he was on a priests’ retreat in Pembroke when it was announced the white smoke from the Sistine Chapel had gone up. They decided to tell the priests before the conference that it was happening and interrupt. He recalls being certain it was going to be Ratzinger after just four votes. It made the rest of the retreat very memorable Scot said this past Monday was also another significant date for the Holy Father as he celebrated his 85th birthday. He is the now the sixth oldest pope in recorded history. Pope Leo XIII was over 93 years old when he died. The others were Clement XII, Clement X, Pius IX, and Innocent XII. Some have asked how old a pope would be before resigning. Scot asked Fr. Roger. He said Cardinal Ratzinger had offered his advice to Pope John Paul II on this, but John Paul wrote in 2004 that he never looked at the papacy as a job, but as the vocation of a father., Fathers don’t resign from their fatherhood and he wouldn’t as long as he could continue. That was probably from the advice he got from Ratzinger at the time. Scot noted that the holy Father recently traveled to Mexico and Cuba and then celebrated the very rigorous Holy Week. Greg said his recollection in Cuba was that the Holy Father was very vigorous during his trip. He said John Paul II set a tone and expectation of being very energetic and making many trips, but Pope Benedict has set a different tone. Susan said it’s not important whether he can walk the length of St. Peter’s, but what is important is that he’s working on a new encyclical and a new volume in his trilogy of books on Jesus of Nazareth. His writings are far more important than that he does these other tasks. Fr. Roger said he expects the Holy Father will put most of his work into his homilies each week, his book on Jesus, and a continued renewal of the Church, especially the episcopacy, trying to choose the right men to be bishops. There have been rumors in Rome this week that a reconciliation with the Society of St. Pius X, the only schism since the Second Vatican Council. Signs are very hopeful that the schism will be brought to a conclusion, and this was a major part of the Holy Father’s work in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. 3rd segment: Scot said in the Pilot this week is the announcement of the appointment of Fr. Arthur Mackay to be pastor at Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Marshfield. He was recently ordained from Bl. John XXIII Seminary, which is for late vocations. Another big appointment concerns Fr. Kevin Sepe who has been pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Braintree. He will succeed Fr. Tom Foley as Secretary for the Parish Life and Leadership. Fr. Foley will become an Air Force chaplain. Scot said he’s a wonderful builder of fraternity and well liked by his brother priests. Greg said Fr. Foley said in the Pilot story that he felt a calling to the military chaplaincy. Greg said of Fr. Sepe that he has been known for his work with seminarians, senior priests, and other priests. Scot said some priests are known as builders of great community in their rectories. Susan said Fr. Sepe has high standards for his religious education program, and a few years ago the parish received an award from the town of Braintree for their work in religious education with special needs kids. He’s been at St. Francis since 1998. He was ordained in 1986. Scot said he hopes to have Fr. Foley on the show before he ends his tenure on July 1. Fr. Roger said military chaplaincy is very demanding and rewarding work among young men and women willing to lay down their lives for their country. Many of these young people will only see a priest once every few months in the theater of operations. There is a great demand for priests in military service. He said the military lately has been getting some of the finest priests available even where they don’t have many of them. Scot said the Pilot has extensive coverage of the NCEA convention in Boston last week. Greg said it’s the second time the convention has been here. They had expected 8,000 attendees and got over 10,000, which is a record. They were at the Hynes for workshops and talks and networking. A big part of the convention was the expo where vendors could show their wares. Greg said the nature of the vendors has changed a lot from 2004 when he saw it last. There’s now a lot about iPads and other technology in schools. Greg said the fact that the convention was in Boston allowed many schools to send their entire faculty to the convention. Some schools had each staff member attend a different workshop and then brief the rest on what they had learned. Susan said the liturgies were among her favorite part. They were reverently done, despite being in a giant auditorium seating 10,000 people. The music was wonderful with a different group each day. They had a number of school choirs providing the music. Susan said her first NCEA was in 1984 and then 1991 when they were in Boston before. She said this convention was the best because of the energy of the group. Scot said he was stunned by the number of exhibitors showing some kind of new technology for our local schools. Scot said in the Anchor this week is another profile of a Diocese of Fall River office, the Office of Pastoral Planning. Fr. Roger said they give a snapshot of the typical work in that office. Pastoral Planning is about more than closing or merging parishes, but advancing the mission of the diocese as a whole. One initiative is the formation of leaders in parishes to set up pastoral plans. Scot noted that in Boston, the associate director of the Office of Pastoral Planning has left for another job and the director has been reassigned by his religious order, so Fr. Paul Soper, pastor of St. Albert the Great in Weymouth, will be filling in part-time until a new director is appointed. 4th segment: Scot said a significant story in the Church broke yesterday regarding an action by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with regard to the Leadership Council for Women Religious. Fr. Roger said there was an investigation begun a few years ago of this group because of the some of the teachings of the Church were not being supported and being disputed in some cases by the leadership or speakers at conferences. The Vatican has appointed Archbishop Peter Sartain of Seattle has been appointed to lead a reform of the group. Fr. Roger said women’s religious groups ought to be known for their fidelity to the Church’s teachings. He also noted that some of these religious orders have very few vocations, while those that are growing are the more orthodox orders that don’t belong to the LCWR. Fr. Roger hopes it’s an opportunity for real, genuine renewal. Scot said women religious have made many contributions to the Church over the years. The LCWR represents about 80 percent of the country’s women religious, although many of those communities aren’t growing quickly, which some say is because of straying from Catholic teaching. Greg said there was a meeting of women religious at Stonehill College a few years ago in which Cardinal Seán and Cardinal Rode spoke, and Cardinal Rode said some orders had moved outside the bounds of the Church. Susan said this report grew out of the apostolic visitation of women’s religious orders that began in December 2008 and was submitted to the Vatican this past December. Scot said they said yesterday that the revising of statutes and reviewing liturgical texts and affiliation with problematic organizations among other actions could take about 5 years. Fr. Roger said the timeline could depend on how much resistance there will be. He said some people are encouraging the LCWR to leave the Church and form a secular organization. This highlights the problems underlying the leadership of these groups. Scot said another local story reported in the Anchor was the defeat of an assisted suicide bill in Vermont. He said he hopes this has a positive ripple effect in Massachusetts. It also notes some recent polls in Massachusetts that indicate those opposed to assisted suicide have their work cut out for them. The poll showed 43% in Massachusetts were in favor of assisted suicide with 37% opposed. There’s also an age gap, with those who are older very opposed while those who are younger but in a caregiver age range are in favor. Fr. Roger said those who have been pushing this have been better at getting their message out. Even in Vermont, which is among the most liberal states in the country, people were opposed to assisted suicide. Fr. Roger’s editorial this week concerns the US bishops’ document on religious liberty. He said this is a very significant intervention by the bishops. He said their statement on not obeying unjust laws was very courageous. They also concretely addressed the various groups in the Church to assimilate these words and work to protect religious liberty. He encouraged everyone to read the document. Greg said his experience is that we shouldn’t be surprised that people around need to hear about this issue from us, however much we think they’re well-informed.…
Summary of today’s show: Hundreds of young Catholics gather in the North End each spring for the annual Eucharistic Congress for College Students and Young Adults, together in prayer, service, and public witness including a Eucharistic procession in the streets with Cardinal Seán. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams previewed the Congress coming up on April 27 & 28 with seminarian Patrick Fiorillo and Fr. Dan Hennessey, including the topic of “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Life” and the speakers: Cardinal Seán, Sr. Helena Burns, fsp, Damon Owens, and Fr. Derek Borek. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Patrick Florillo, Fr. Daniel Hennessey Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: 2012 Eucharistic Congress Boston 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Matt talked about celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday this past week. He celebrated Mass at St. Joseph, Holbrook, and at the state prison in Norfolk. He said it was an amazing experience to celebrate Mass there because of what the Lord is doing through the ministry there, including Cursillo and the Dominican Third Order. He’s been doing prison ministry for four years now and when he goes there, he finds God alive in their eyes. They give him a warm welcome each time. To be able to proclaim God’s mercy in a prison is humbling. He said they may be more free in God’s spirit than many people walking around the streets of Boston. They discussed Fr. Matt’s latest video blog on how to face your fears. Fr. Matt said, “Fear is useless. Trust Jesus.” Fr. Matt said the Pope coincidentally spoke about the fear the apostles faced. Fr. Matt also recalled how he preached this past Sunday on the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. In the midst of the tragedy, there was another vessel bringing great hope. It was the priest, Fr. Thomas Byles. On that evening, when the Titanic hit the iceberg, he was praying the Divine Office. He ultimately made his way to the deck and assisted people into the boats. At least twice, he refused to get into the boats. Instead, he heard confessions, prayed the Rosary, and helped people turned to the Lord. One of the last recollections of him was being surrounded by people of all faiths on their knees while he prayed for them. God’s mercy came to them as they prayed for their deaths. He was a vessel of God’s mercy. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Matt welcomed Patrick Fiorillo from St. John’s Seminary. He said he’s from St. Mary in Franklin, Mass. He studied music production at University of Hartford. He heard the call to the priesthood about halfway through college. With a bachelor’s degree, he will study philosophy for two years and theology for four. His favorite class right now is on the topic of the study of the soul. Patrick said he’s a drummer, playing jazz and rock, andy hat’s what got him into music school. He later fell into classical music and that became the focus of his recording engineer career. He took up singing as a hobby and that became part of the practice of his faith. He now sings sacred music and sings in the choir and cantoring. He said he was literally tone deaf before entering college so the fact he can hit the right pitches is miraculous to him. Patrick said he doesn’t play drums in a sacred context yet, but he does play timpani on certain sacred music occasions. There are about 15 men in the the 2nd year pre-theology class. They study Latin, Greek, SPanish, the Catechism, and two courses of philosophy each semester. At the Eucharistic Congress, he’s leading music. He’s planning some new hymns and some old ones, plus some chants from the new Roman Missal. He hinted at a secret selection that’s both centuries old and brand-new at the same time. 3rd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Dan Hennesey to the show. Scot said the Congress is co-sponsored by the Office for Vocations, Office for Campus Ministry, and Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults. Fr. Dan said they planned it five years ago to bring together college students and young adults. He said a lot of students and young adults they might not have opportunity to meet other Catholics their age to socialize and pray with. One of the inspirations for the Congress was Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, a young man at the beginning of the 20th century in Italy. Fr. Dan said Bl. PG used to go to Mass every Saturday before going to visit the poor, bringing them gifts and doing chores around their homes, paying their bills, and so on. One day, his friends were going hiking and they wanted him to come instead of going to Mass and serving the poor. He said when he goes to Mass, the Lord visits him in his home, his soul, and in the afternoon, he returns the favor by visiting the Lord in his home, among the poor. So in this Congress, they visit the Lord in the Eucharist and among the poor. This year, the Congress is Friday evening, April 27, and Saturday, April 28, in the North End of Boston. Fr. Matt said the North End is a beautiful old Italian-American neighborhood. They’ve been doing the Congress for five years now and people have become used to them. The weather is usually cooperative and it’s an opportunity see the city and meet other people. Scot asked Patrick why all this comes together so well in the Congress. Patrick said the summit of the event is a public procession of the Eucharist in the evening through the streets. He said not everyone experiences Eucharistic adoration. So they get adoration, procession, Mass and service in a package you don’t get to experience any other time. Scot said Eucharistic processions are more uncommon today. Patrick said this was his first Eucharistic process last year. It was a powerful experience walking the streets among people just out and going about their business. The people see it and know right away that this is not just a typical cultural Catholic gathering. Fr. Dan said it’s amazing to behold the procession. One year it was so freezing cold and as they were walking they imagined it must be a witness to faith. He’s heard about stories of moments of conversion in the hearts of those observing. He said very often they will walk by a group of people and they offer a candle to them and ask them to join in. He notes that people are usually reverent and respectful, even if they don’t understand or don’t believe as we do. Fr. Matt said a nice addition to the Congress has been places where they stop, place the Eucharist on an altar, and everyone kneels down. There are at least three locations, including right outside St. Leonard’s. People can’t help but ask what is going on here. If you’re Catholic, it has to at least trigger the question of what you really believe. He said as they cross Hanover Street, which holds traffic for up to five minutes, and all the people come to the windows of the restaurants and even come outside. He recalls seeing people actually sobbing as they watched. Scot asked why they end with the procession. Fr. Dan said they are ending by sending people out as missionaries. The procession is the first step in the mission and the witness is part of that mission. Fr. Dan mentioned the story of one young woman who had been looking at graduate schools around the country, including Boston, so when she Googled “Boston” and “Catholic” and saw their website and all the pictures of the Eucharistic Congress and that convinced her to come to Boston. Scot said the bulk of Saturday is witnessing through service projects. Fr. Dan said each year, they have their mainstay service projects and they add some other ones. They send people to Boston Common and the public gardens with the Little Brothers of St. Francis to visit some of the homeless to bring food and clothing and be with them. Another project includes visiting the inform priests, doing cleanup around the neighborhoods or doing a spring cleaning at some of the parishes. Cardinal Sean is always involved in the Congresses. Fr. Matt said the cardinal has a great love for young people. He celebrates the Mass on Saturday evening and then joins them for the dinner after. He then joins the Eucharistic procession. 4th segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Robert Caissie from Wakefield, MA He wins . If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: Scot said the theme for the Congress this year is “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Life”. Fr. Dan said it means that to live the Catholic live, it is an extraordinary life. Everyone wants a life with meaning. So they wanted to have someone speak on being drawn into the extraordinary life. There are three keynote speakers. Sr. Helena Burns, fsp, speaking on Bodies Are Not Optional: Living Catholic in the Digital Age, asking what it means to be human online. Our use of media technology is altering our bodies, influencing our minds, wills, and hearts. Our media use is changing us as human beings. But what does it mean to be human? How can we use media in a way that is truly human and never de-humanizing? Social media is a significant part of the lives of young adults and she speak to their experience. Scot said the Daughters of St. Paul have been pioneers in the Church with new media. Fr. Matt Sr. Helena is currently involved in working on a film about the life of their founder, Bl. Alberione, and has studied screenwriting. Scot asked Patrick how social media affects young adults. Patrick said it can have the tendency to dehumanize. Facebook friends can become substitutes for real friends. On the positive side, it can be used as a tool to evangelize. On Saturday, Fr. Derek Borek from St. John’s Seminary will speak on what it means to gather at the Eucharist every week or every day and what does it mean to give ourselves away in love outside of the Mass. We are called to imitate Jesus’ self-giving, being blessed and broken and given like the Eucharist. In the evening, Damon Owens of the Theology of the Body Institute, will speak on “Working out Salvation”. Fr. Matt said Damon is a nationally recognized speaker on marriage and theology of the body. He also has a background in Opus Dei, which contributes to his talk on connecting our worship and our work. We are to sanctify our work, sanctify ourselves in our work, and sanctify others through our work. Work, for the believer, should be a joyful occasion for us to “work out our salvation”. The seriousness and devotion by which we take our work can sanctify our work and sanctify us. Patrick said it’s important for us to get out and experience the universal Church outside our own parish groups or our experience of the Church will be limited. A big part of his conversion was experiencing the wider Church in all the different ways people are living out their faith and seeing how it all comes together in the Body of Christ. Fr. Matt said after Mass with Cardinal Seán, they will make their way across the street for dinner in the school cafeteria, which is catered by a number of the restaurants of the North End. Many restaurants donate food, enough to feed 650 people. The music in the evening program will also be provided by Jon Niven, who will do some praise and worship, followed by Damon’s talk, then adoration, then the Eucharistic procession. To register, go to the website link above.…
Summary of today’s show: The National Catholic Educational Association 2012 convention gathered more than 10,000 educators in Boston last week to inspire, energize, and teach one another in how best to follow their ministries. Scot Landry went to the floor of the convention last week to speak with members of the Boston archdiocese’s Catholic Schools Office—Mary Grassa-O’Neill, Sheila Kukstiss, and Jorge Hernandez—about what it means to host the convention and share the good news of Catholic education in New England. Then Scot sat down with Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, the keynote speaker for the day, to discuss his topic, “Keeping a mellow heart in a bitter time.” Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Dr. Mary Grassa-O’Neill, Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, Jorge Hernandez, Sheila Kukstiss Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: NCEA Convention 2012 in Boston 1st segment: Scot said last Wednesday, he and Rick Heil traveled to the Hynes Convention Center in Boston to tape a special show at the first day of the National Catholic Educational Association annual convention, which gathered 10,000 people in Boston to discuss Catholic education. Scot said it was a joy to be surrounded by so many people who had such a great spirit of hope for the future of Catholic education in this country. Rick said a lot of the workshops he poked his head into had a great energy and he noticed a great emphasis on the Catholicity of their education. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed listeners to the Hynes Convention Center and welcomed Mary Grassa O’Neill, Sheila Kukstiss, and Jorge Hernandez from the Catholic Schools Office of the Archdiocese of Boston, who were key to the organization of the NCEA convention in Boston. Mary said it’s brilliant that the NCEA is in Boston because it means all of our Catholic schools can participate and as Cardinal Seán said, we love showing off our city. It’s a once in a lifetime career opportunity for many to meet their colleagues from across the country. Sheila said there were two award recipients from Boston for honors from the NCEA. Sheila said the recipients were St. Patrick Parish in Lawrence and Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton, honored for their Catholic identity. Sheils said it was a had choice to single them out among all the schools. She said what stood out at St. Patrick was the work with Cor Unum meal center. Cardinal Spellman does a great job with getting their students alive with Catholic identity through their liturgies and Catholic service teams. Scot asked Jorge about his initial experiences at NCEA. It was his first time at the convention. He said it’s great to have all these people in Boston over the course of three days, all invested in helping Catholic education thrive and grow. Jorge is Area Superintendent for the Merrimack Valley in the Schools Office. He said it wasn’t hard to convince educators in his area to attend the NCEA. Scot said Cardinal Seán celebrated the opening Mass. Mary said the cardinal was funny and profound and offered challenges and support for Catholic education. She said eight high school choirs performed during the opening Mass. She said about 35 bishops and priests concelebrated and about 10,000 people received Communion. They had many positive comments on the Mass. Scot asked who comes to the NCEA. Mary said seminarians, librarians, religious education teachers, pastors, colleges & universities, in addition to teachers and principals. Sheila said she keeps hearing from people who say they love coming to the convention when it’s in Boston because of the spirit they experience here. Sheila said people come from Argentina, Curacao, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and England among other countries. Scot said the convention is being co-hosted by the dioceses of New England. Jorge said he’s hoping to be able foster the relationships among dioceses in collaboration. Sheila said they had people from all the dioceses of New England working together preparing for the convention, even stuffing ten thousand bags the day prior and they all said how much fun it was to work together. Mary said it’s wonderful to come and make the connections, meeting superintendents from all over the world that she could be in contact with in the future. She said they showed a narrated video about Catholic education in New England that was co-produced with the Catholic Media Secretariat and they got rave reviews for it. Scot asked what led to the decision to have more than one diocese to co-host this convention, which is the first time it’s happened. Mary said all the superintendents and bishops agreed and all the staffs participated. Scot said it’s a blessing to work for a big dioceses because of the resources available and the partnerships that are possible. To involve the other dioceses who would never be able to host a convention is wonderful to be able to share it with them. Sheila said in her experience NCEA conventions have always been able bringing people together. But what has changed is the technology that they use to connect everyone. One example s that they have images from all the dioceses on monitors around the convention center. Jorge said they also had digital displays of students artwork available of all the artwork. Sheila said what doesn’t change is the energy that comes from being with people who share the same passion. Sheila said we’re keeping up with what’s going on in education nationally and internationally through the speakers in keynotes and workshops. Scot asked how many local leaders are involved in speaking in the various workshops. Mary said many of our principals and those on the Catholic Schools team are speaking. Jorge said it’s a tough choice to choose which workshops to participate in, so schools should bring many participants in order to later compare notes. It’s an opportunity to allow all of these people to be able to grow with one another and pick up best practices. Scot asked Sheila was she learned that surprised her. She said what energized her was bringing everyone together to organize this and the community that developed around it. Mary said they’re working to spread the good word of Catholic schools’ success and she’s pleased and honored to be part of this ministry. 3rd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Ron Rolheiser to the show. He was the inaugural keynote speaker. Scot asked him he likes to speak to the convention. Fr. Ron said it’s one of the larger gathering of Catholic educators in the world, but also there’s a special energy. They are people deeply involved in Catholic education. They are passionate about their jobs and hungry for information on Catholic education. Fr. Ron said it’s the same for all careers, that you have a special energy when you meet with people who do what you do. Scot said Fr. Ron is currently the president of a Catholic college in San Antonio, Texas, the Oblate School of Theology. He’s know as a Catholic author and speaker. Fr. Ron said he tries to limit his speaking to twice a month because he has a full-time job. Scot said Fr. Ron covers many topics of Catholic spirituality. He asked Fr. Ron how defines himself as a Catholic speaker. He said he defines himself in terms of his Catholic spirituality. He said his Catholic education gave him a solid foundation and now he belongs to a missionary order and he sees himself as one who speaks to those who are away from the Church. Fr. Ron tries to write for doubters, questioners, and those struggling, and likes to work with those doing that kind of work. Scot said Fr. Ron is a member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. He said he grew up knowing the OMI order and that’s why he joined them. They turned out to be a very good choice. The keynote’s title was “Keeping a mellow heart in a bitter time.” Fr. Ron said he picked the topic because it’s something all of society needs to reflect on. The world is in a time of polarization and misunderstandings at a global level that filters down. there’s anger and demonization and bitterness. His challenge was to talk about how to remain understanding and respectful in a time when virtually everything leads otherwise. Scot asked if it’s new that we let politics seep into how we think of our brothers and sisters in the Church. Fr. Ron said it’s always there, but not so intense. Throughout history we went through times of more or less bitterness and division. He cited how Vatican II occurred at a time when documents could be produced that saw no winners of losers. Sadly, today there wouldn’t be such consensus. The media is helping to inflame bitterness and division. Fr. Ron said we end up bracketing three of the most fundamental virtues there are: respect, charity, and graciousness. We do it under the title of cause or truth. He said Jesus was neither liberal or conservative. Instead he goes wherever truth and charity take him. Fr. Ron said the solution is in the Gospel. He pointed out Christ’s opening word: metanoia. We translate it to English as “repent”. The Greek word literally means to “put on a higher mind”. It rejects the fear and ideology of paranoia. Christ could be saying, “trust and believe there can be good news.” We either go to “metanoia” “the big mind” or “paranoia” “small mind”. Then he talked about Christ washing the feet of the apostles. On one level it’s Christ showing the apostles how to serve one another. On another level, it’s about crossing dividing lines. It’s not about saying truth is relative. It’s about how we talk and have a dialogue. entering a conversation with the intent to prove the other wrong is not a dialogue. Intending to understand is a dialogue. What happens is that the extreme positions take over the dialogue and the middle is marginalized. Even if we don’t agree, we owe each other respect and charity. There tends to be mean-spiritedness on both sides, but you don’t see it in Jesus. Scot asked how he address this to Catholic education. Fr. Ron said we have to form Catholic minds and Catholic hearts. The word catholic means universal. We need to form a huge heart, a big mind, a Catholic mind. He said the theme of all his work is to help people to face the mystery of God in their lives.…
Summary of today’s show: Each spring, the Church in the US takes up the Black and Indian Mission Collection. Fr. Wayne Paysse and Lorna DesRoses join Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell to discuss the work of the Black and Indian Mission Office, which was started under the inspiration of St. Katharine Drexel in the late 1800s, and how the grants issued by the office each year provide necessary funding of catechetical and evangelical work in dioceses, parishes, and communities and on reservations, throughout the United States, including in our own Archdiocese of Boston. The Archdiocese is among the most generous to the collection each year and its continued generosity is urgently needed. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Lorna DesRoses and Fr. Wayne Paysse Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Black and Indian Mission Office and Collection 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Mark to the show and asked him how he celebrated Easter. Fr. Mark said he spent his time at St. Francis of Assisi in Braintree, where he lives. They also discussed Fr. Gerry Dorgan who is retiring from his parish. Fr. Mark lived in Fr. Dorgan’s parish for two years when he was first ordained and they have been friends ever since. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Lorna and Fr. Paysse, who is a priest of the Archdiocese of New Orleans and is director of the Black and Indian Mission Office in Washington, DC. Scot asked for an overview of the office. Fr. Paysse said it consists of three organizations: The Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions, Black and Indian Mission Collection, and Catholic Negro-American Mission Board, all of which were founded in the 1800s by the US bishops. The collection was the first nationwide collection. It gives the bishops of the US the funding to evangelize black communities and native American communities. It helps them buy catechetical materials and Bible; provides stipends for clergy; pays for sisters to work on reservations or in black communities. Fr. Warne said every bishop in the US is encouraged to apply for grants every year and most do, but of course most of the native American ministry occurs in the West, SouthWest, and Northern parts of the US and funding for black Catholic communities occurs mainly in the South. Scot said when he heard of this collection, not knowing how far back it went, he wondered why these two missions went together. Fr. Wayne said St. Katharine Drexel was a key influence in this focus. She spoke to the bishops of this need and they were pleased to respond to Mother’s request. Prior to founding her community, she traveled by train across the country with her family and would often see the black and Indian communities and God spoke to her heart. It was part of God’s plan she would go onto be a Mother foundress, work with the bishops, and launch this ministry of evangelization. Fr. Wayne said there is a connection to where he lives as director of the office. They live in a house that the Drexel family had owned and which is now their national office and the director’s residence. St. Katharine sold the house to the Missions for the amount of $1. She knew that for the ministry to take off, they needed a place that would be in a strategic location like DC. Scot asked Lorna how this helps her ministry as director of the Office for Black Catholics in the Archdiocese. She said it helps with their youth leadership retreats, Black Catholic youth revival, and other prayer services and events. Scot asked if there are any outreaches to native Americans in our archdiocese. Lorna said we don’t now, but she’s hopeful that we will someday. Scot said the annual collection is on April 28 and 29. Lorna said the grant request serves not just her office but also a number of individual parishes that serve mainly black Catholics. Scot asked Fr. Wayne how much money is generally raised by this collection and how grant requests they get. Fr. Wayne said 150 or so dioceses applied and they raise anywhere between $6 and $14 million. Fr. Mark asked how the money is distributed. Fr. Wayne said the dioceses send the money to his office. He reviews the applications and prepares a report for their board, which consists of the bishops of New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. They then discuss the requests at their board meeting during the US bishops’ conference meeting in June and authorize grants. The grants are distributed in two lumps sums to dioceses and those are distributed at the discretion of the bishop according to the application. Scot said we take our parishes for granted in the northeast, but that Fr. Wayne travels across the country and sees a different picture. Fr. Wayne said he travels about half of each month and remembers in one diocese in Texas, a black parish applied for funding for purchasing hymnals. To this day, he is moved by recalling his arrival at the parish and seeing the people standing in front of the church holding the hymnals. They made a gift to him of a performance of their choir. That particular parish had some struggles, but they were able to assist them in bringing joy to the community. He also remembers going to an Indian parish in Superior, Wisconsin, and when he arrived the children of the parish ran to him and pulled off to a shrine of Bl. Kateri. The children said they painted the statue and planted flowers for his visit and they started to pray in English and in their native language. To see the children and the communities filled with joy, knowing the money from his office brought that joy, is a blessing to him. Fr. Mark asked about native Americans and their Catholic faith. Fr. Wayne said the most recent census shows about 5 million in the US total, and about 500,000- 800,000 are Catholic. There are perhaps even more who have embraced the faith. Fr. Wayne said they have been a blessing to the Church and wen red to continue to foster the faith among. About 60 percent have moved off the reservations and while we need to keep a presence there, we also need to reach out to them in our urban areas. This is one of Fr. Wayne’s goals that together as a team we need to continue the work of Christ among these communities. Scot asked how many dioceses or parishes or missions have native American populations. Fr. Wayne said some dioceses have what we used to call national parishes for native Americans. In the Southwest, we have a number of native Americans. We have some on the East coast if not as many in the West. He said they’re planning a national study looking at native American communities and dioceses. Scot said Archbishop Chaput and Cardinal Dolan are two of the most effective evangelists in our Church and Archbishop Chaput is native American himself. Scot said it’s sobering to realize that if the faith wasn’t passed on to his ancestors, we wouldn’t have him in our Church today. Fr. Wayne said his office was elated when Archbishop Chaput was appointed. He serves on the board by virtue of his office in Philadelphia. Fr. Wayne thanked the people of the Archdiocese of Boston for their support over the years and asked for continued prayers and monetary sacrifices. He said the Archdiocese is in the top 10 highest monies given across the nation, over $300,000. Without those funds, they wouldn’t be able to share with mission outreach to other parts of the country. Some dioceses are so poor that the funding from places like Boston is very important. Lorna said the Office for Black Catholics falls under the Office for Cultural Diversity. She said there is a large black Catholic community in the Archdiocese, including a Cape Verdean community that is the largest outside of Cape Verde, the third-largest Haitian community in the US, and largest Ugandan community in the US. They provide priests who celebrate Mass in Portuguese Creole and Haitian Creole, help them with religious education, and support what are mainly young communities. They pay to train youth ministers, to bring priests from Cape Verde and other expenses. They support 18 parishes that evangelize the black Catholic community. They work with many immigrant groups, but also a very large African American community. Fr. Mark related the impact of seeing a black priests on an inmate on a recent visit to a prison. Lorna said they hope to see an increase in vocations among these communities. Scot asked Fr. Wayne to situate this fund in the broader context of our call to be missionary. Fr. Wayne said by virtue of our baptism we are called to be missionaries. He recalled telling a group of young people how important it is for them to love God each day, to claim their baptismal gift by the grace of the Holy Spirit. He told them that Jesus was the first missionary sent from heaven and then he called the apostles to send them out and the Church has been sending us out as missionaries as well, whether in our homes or parishes or dioceses. We start in our own communities. You don’t have to cross the ocean to be a missionary. Pope Benedict XVI reminded us not long ago that mission is not part of the Church, but that the Church is mission. Scot said Cardinal Sean often says we as a Catholic community do a great job caring for the corporal or bodily needs of others, but the spiritual needs as much attention. This collection does help with those spiritual needs. He said the most holy duty of a bishop is to send a priest to serve the people. This fund enables them to send a priest or sister or catechist to people who could not pay for it themselves. Lorna said for many communities it is a great joy to have a priest to celebrate the Mass for them in their language and to serve them. Scot said he often hears of the of the mission diocese of Gallup, New Mexico. He asked how it is different from Boston. Fr. Wayne said it is a vast territory and very beautiful. In the diocese they have St. Michael’s Indian Mission, staffed by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, and the funding from the office enables them to continue their work in the elementary and high schools. Bishop James Wall has really embraced the native Americans and shared his dreams for the community with Fr. Wayne. Lorna thanked everyone listening for their generosity to this collection each year. Without it, there wouldn’t be as many parishes able to reach out to these communities. Historically speaking, we need to continue to reach out to these communities as we ever did when the office was founded. She said there are 3 million black Catholics in the USand through education they have brought many people in to the Church. She said she and Fr. Wayne have visited many parishes in the past few days and the pastors were uniformly grateful for the grants they received because it helps them reach out to the community. It helps them with the good work they do in their neighborhoods. 3rd segment: Now as we do each week at this time, we will consider the readings for this Sunday’s Gospel and reflect upon them. The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need. Gospel of the Second Sunday of Easter, April 15, 2012 (John 20:19-31) On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name. Scot said these readings come within the context of Divine Mercy Sunday. He said one of the main themes of Divine Mercy is that we have peace. One way to have peace is turning to God for his mercy. Fr. Wayne said as we look at the readings in light of Divine Mercy, the opening sentence of the reading from Acts, where the community is of one heart and mind, speaks of peace and unity. We too must be of one heart and mind. Jesus wants us to have peace and be merciful as he is merciful to us. Lorna said what stays with her is Christ saying Peace be with you three times. Also that Jesus came through the door that was locked out of fear and told them not to be afraid, but to go out to the place they feared. Also, Thomas wasn’t there, but Jesus came again so Thomas could experience and see him. Scot said we’ve all had our Thomas moments when we’ve tried to put conditions on our relationship with God. Fr. Mark said Thomas is a complex person. He’s the doubter, but he’s also the only time in the Gospel that Jesus is referred to as God. Earlier in the Gospel, Thomas is the one who calls the apostles to continue on the way to Bethany. Scot said the apostles are locked in the room because they’re in fear, but through the encounter with Jesus, they are given the Holy Spirit and sent out. Fr. Wayne said that message is for each one of us. We have to be honest with ourselves that from time to time we are fearful of many things, but when we are in the presence f Christ, Jesus brings his peace to strengthen and focus us to move forward as his disciple. Scot said Jesus says clearly that the apostles will forgive sins in his name. It shows how much love God has for us. Lorna said through the sacraments we have the opportunity to return to God for forgiveness. Confession such an important way to encounter God. Fr. Mark points out that in the first reading we see the generosity of the early Christians who don’t count their possessions as their own, and we see that fits with today’s topic of giving of what we have to support those who are in need. Fr. Wayne said this year Pope Benedict will canonize Blessed Kateri, the Mohawk maiden, in October. the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions will lead the official pilgrimage to Rome. The month prior to that, they will lead a pilgrimage to Chicago to promote the cause of Fr. Augustus Tolton, the first US black priest to have a cause for canonization opened.…
Summary of today’s show: Easter week continues as Scot Landry is joined by Antonio Enrique and Domenico Bettinelli to discuss the headlines of the week, including Pope Benedict’s Easter Sunday Urbi et Orbi message; the US bishops’ latest and forceful statement on religious liberty; Divine Mercy Sunday; 40 Days for Life; the rescinding of an invitation to Vicki Kennedy to a Catholic college commencement. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Antonio Enrique, editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Domenico Bettinelli, creative director of Pilot New Media Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Pope Benedict’s Urbi et Orbi; US bishops statement on religious liberty; Divine Mercy Sunday; 40 Days for Life; Kennedy commencement address 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Antonio Enrique and Dom Bettinelli to the show. Scot asked how their Easters are going, noting that we celebrate Easter over eight days. Dom said his kids are continuing to sing the Easter hymns and prayers they hard at the Easter vigil. Antonio said his own parish has an Easter Vigil that lasts all night and his whole family attends. Scot said on Easter Sunday the Holy Father gives an address called Urbi et Obri, meaning “To the City and the World.” Scot read most of the pope’s message. Dear Brothers and Sisters in Rome and throughout the world! “Surrexit Christus, spes mea” – “Christ, my hope, has risen” (Easter Sequence). May the jubilant voice of the Church reach all of you with the words which the ancient hymn puts on the lips of Mary Magdalene, the first to encounter the risen Jesus on Easter morning. She ran to the other disciples and breathlessly announced: “I have seen the Lord!” (Jn 20:18). We too, who have journeyed through the desert of Lent and the sorrowful days of the Passion, today raise the cry of victory: “He has risen! He has truly risen!” Every Christian relives the experience of Mary Magdalene. It involves an encounter which changes our lives: the encounter with a unique Man who lets us experience all God’s goodness and truth, who frees us from evil not in a superficial and fleeting way, but sets us free radically, heals us completely and restores our dignity. This is why Mary Magdalene calls Jesus “my hope”: he was the one who allowed her to be reborn, who gave her a new future, a life of goodness and freedom from evil. “Christ my hope” means that all my yearnings for goodness find in him a real possibility of fulfilment: with him I can hope for a life that is good, full and eternal, for God himself has drawn near to us, even sharing our humanity. But Mary Magdalene, like the other disciples, was to see Jesus rejected by the leaders of the people, arrested, scourged, condemned to death and crucified. It must have been unbearable to see Goodness in person subjected to human malice, truth derided by falsehood, mercy abused by vengeance. With Jesus’ death, the hope of all those who had put their trust in him seemed doomed. But that faith never completely failed: especially in the heart of the Virgin Mary, Jesus’ Mother, its flame burned even in the dark of night. In this world, hope can not avoid confronting the harshness of evil. It is not thwarted by the wall of death alone, but even more by the barbs of envy and pride, falsehood and violence. Jesus passed through this mortal mesh in order to open a path to the kingdom of life. For a moment Jesus seemed vanquished: darkness had invaded the land, the silence of God was complete, hope a seemingly empty word. And lo, on the dawn of the day after the Sabbath, the tomb is found empty. Jesus then shows himself to Mary Magdalene, to the other women, to his disciples. Faith is born anew, more alive and strong than ever, now invincible since it is based on a decisive experience: “Death with life contended: combat strangely ended! Life’s own champion, slain, now lives to reign”. The signs of the resurrection testify to the victory of life over death, love over hatred, mercy over vengeance: “The tomb the living did enclose, I saw Christ’s glory as he rose! The angels there attesting, shroud with grave-clothes resting”. Dear brothers and sisters! If Jesus is risen, then – and only then – has something truly new happened, something that changes the state of humanity and the world. Then he, Jesus, is someone in whom we can put absolute trust; we can put our trust not only in his message but in Jesus himself, for the Risen One does not belong to the past, but is present today, alive. Christ is hope and comfort in a particular way for those Christian communities suffering most for their faith on account of discrimination and persecution. And he is present as a force of hope through his Church, which is close to all human situations of suffering and injustice. May the risen Christ grant hope to the Middle East and enable all the ethnic, cultural and religious groups in that region to work together to advance the common good and respect for human rights. Particularly in Syria, may there be an end to bloodshed and an immediate commitment to the path of respect, dialogue and reconciliation, as called for by the international community. May the many refugees from that country who are in need of humanitarian assistance find the acceptance and solidarity capable of relieving their dreadful sufferings. May the paschal victory encourage the Iraqi people to spare no effort in pursuing the path of stability and development. In the Holy Land, may Israelis and Palestinians courageously take up anew the peace process. May the Lord, the victor over evil and death, sustain the Christian communities of the African continent; may he grant them hope in facing their difficulties, and make them peacemakers and agents of development in the societies to which they belong. May the risen Jesus comfort the suffering populations of the Horn of Africa and favour their reconciliation; may he help the Great Lakes Region, Sudan and South Sudan, and grant their inhabitants the power of forgiveness. In Mali, now experiencing delicate political developments, may the glorious Christ grant peace and stability. To Nigeria, which in recent times has experienced savage terrorist attacks, may the joy of Easter grant the strength needed to take up anew the building of a society which is peaceful and respectful of the religious freedom of all its citizens. Happy Easter to all! Scot said he notes how present the word ‘hope’ is in the messages of Pope Benedict. Dom said this is a time when so many are lacking in hope. He recalled Eric Genuis said on Monday’s show that he sees a lack of hope in the 100,000 youth per year he plays for and Pope Benedict is holding up Christ as the single point of hope. In a time of a lack of faith, we see a lack of hope. Pope Benedict is telling us that Christ is present to us today, He is alive today. Scot said the most important fact in the Christianity is that Christ is alive and rose from the dead. Antonio said as important is that he left us the Holy Spirit. The Resurrection is a fact that carries on in history and helps people to have change in their lives. Antonio recalled a Russian story during the Communist re-education of Orthodox Christians to convince them of atheism. The Risen Christ brought hope to them and it brings hope to us today. Antonio said Pope John Paul II said in Evangelium Vitae that no matter how hard things become, we know how the story ends: Christ is victorious. Scot said at Easter what stands out to him is the joy of Alleluia as part of the season and how quickly we can leave the spirit of Alleluia when we return to our normal daily lives. Easter is an octave to allow it to take root in our daily lives. Dom said the joy of Easter could be hard to sustain so what do we do to keep Easter alive in us. Easter is also a season of 50 days until Pentecost. We can pray the prayers of Easter, remembering to say Alleluia, to wish a happy Easter to others. Returning to hope, this hope is not a passive hope. “In this world, hope cannot avoid confronting evil.” Hope brings Christ to the world. It doesn’t simply wait for something good to us. That’s a way of keeping joy alive. Scot said the Octave concludes with Divine Mercy Sunday. always the second Sunday of Easter since 2000. Jesus died for reconciliation for all of us. There are several articles in the Pilot and Anchor on Divine Mercy, particularly on the may people who need to be reconciled to God and we need to reach out to them. Antonio said if your life is transformed in Christ, then you can have joy despite problems and bring that joy to others. Divine Mercy Sunday fits perfectly within Easter. Once we’ve experienced the joy of the Resurrection, then we can go out and share the joy of Easter with others and ask them to come back. Scot said a week ago last Monday, we had Fr. Kaz and Mary Kay Volpone from the Divine Mercy Shrine in Stockbridge on the program, giving a background on the message and Divine Mercy Sunday. It’s a message and devotion that most Catholics are still hearing about. It isn’t totally ingrained in the Church. It often happens with new devotions in the Church. Pope John Paul II put this devotion forward, he took his last breath on the vigil of Divine Mercy, and was beatified last year on Divine Mercy Sunday. Dom noted the beauty of the diversity of devotions within the Church. There seems to be something for everyone and every temperament to find a way to God through the Church. Dom noted in the Anchor article a quotation from Robert Allard of the Apostles of Divine Mercy: “If we are truly Apostles of Divine Mercy, then we need to get really serious about helping Jesus to save sinners and to ease the Lord’s sadness,” Allard said. “We need to stop focusing our energy on what can he viewed as ‘parties for devotees’ at 3 p.m. in the afternoon and focus more on saving poor sinners.” The devotion shouldn’t be just for the devotees, the same people in the parish showing up for the service and then going home. We’re not saying that the prayer services are bad, but if they’re not coupled with action, there won’t be fruit from it. Not that there isn’t a place for contemplative prayer life, but if you can we must couple prayer with bringing the message to people. God loves you, God forgives your sins, mercy is available. God isn’t just a judge sitting on a throne waiting to throw the book at you. He wants to jump off the throne and run to embrace you like the prodigal son. Scot said a central message of Divine Mercy is that the Church is meant to be a refuge for sinners, not a museum for saints. What is being said is that members of the Divine Mercy apostolate must focus outward ,not inward. We must look for the one sheep that isn’t part of the 99 or the 75 not joined to the 25. He suggested people learn more. 2nd segment: On page two of the Pilot this week, we see that Fr. Gerry Dorgan of St. Mary of the Annunciation Parish in Danvers has been granted Senior Priest/retirement status by Cardinal Sean effective June 5, 2012. Fr. Dorgan was on our program a few months ago. Fr. Dorgan was Fr. Mark O’Connell’s first pastor out of the seminary. Dom said he remembers from the show Fr. Dorgan’s devotion to art history and how he incorporated it in pastoral ministry. It’s impressive how he used his talents and interests in parish service. Scot said Fr. Dorgan’s been a priest for about 50 years and noted that many legendary priests will be retiring in the coming year. Scot then noted another article in the Anchor about the 40 Days for Life campaign in the Diocese of Fall River. He noted that the Archdiocese hasn’t embraced it officially because of the difficulty of the John Salvi murders an the complications it presents. Antonio said this campaign has been effective in changing hearts and minds since it started in 2004. That these warriors for life can bring attention to this issue is welcome. Antonio noted that the 40 Days for Life did take place in Lynn and Haverhill, even though officially sponsored by the Archdiocese. Scot said this apostolate started at a college campus ministry at College Station, Texas, at Texas A&M. Some young people wanted to take concert action. Dom said it’s inspiring to see how many young people take part in the pro-life movement. He recalled at Franciscan University of Steubenville about 20 years ago that some of his classmates organized a walk across America , stopping along the way to witness to life and it’s ongoing. It’s an opportunity for young people to put their faith into action. Dom explained that 40 Days for Life is that during Lent there is someone standing outside a clinic every day from morning to evening, praying for everyone there, talking to to those who would work. And there is great fruit from it: conversions of clinic workers, clinics that close, and women who decide to keep their babies. Also in the Anchor is that Ana Maria College near Worcester, Mass., rescinded an invitation to Vickie Kennedy to be commencement speaker. In the article, Bishop McManus of Worcester said: ‘“My difficulty is not primarily with Mrs. Kennedy:’ Bishop McManus told The Catholic Free Press, newspaper of the Worcester Diocese. “My difficulty is with the college choosing her to he honored by allowing her to be commencement speaker and giving her an honorary degree. “My concern basically was that to give this type of honor to Mrs. Kennedy would in fact undercut the Catholic identity and mission of the school.” he said. “And that in so far as that that happens, the ‘communio’ (communion) or the unity that exists between the local Church and the local Catholic college is strained and hurt.” Scot said McManus was concerned that it would give the impression that someone could hold positions contrary to the Church’s teachings and still be honored by a Catholic institution. Scot said McManus thought he was doing his job as bishop and wasn’t trying to be harsh toward Vickie Kennedy. Dom said this is right in line with the US bishops’ 2004 statement Faithful Citizenship, where they said people who hold views contrary to Catholic doctrine on impotent moral issues should not be given platforms or honors at Catholic institutions. The bishop doesn’t want to give the impression that it’s okay to oppose the Church’s moral teachings as a Catholic. We don’t want to tell these graduates that we don’t take our own teachings seriously. Bishop McManus wasn’t being strident. He only said he couldn’t attend the graduation and it was the school’s decision to rescind. Scot said as a Catholic college they said they value the bishops’ role. Scot compared it to what happened at Notre Dame where then-Bishop D’Arcy said he couldn’t attend a graduation where President Obama was going to receive an honorary doctorate. Notre Dame decided to go ahead anyway. Antonio said we’re going to find this more and more in the Church as society moves away from critical values. The Church has a prophetic role and the bishop has to be able to star we can’t condone an event like that. He describe a way of thought called proportionalism, in which people say they will believe differently in their personal lives. He said the Church needs to clarify that the Church teaches one thing and some issues are not negotiable. Scot said this issues can be controversial because not every bishop applies the standard in the same way in his own diocese, and interprets what positions go beyond the limits to say the person doesn’t deserve the honors or platform. Another local story is that the seniors at Fontbonne Academy had their annual social justice fair. The students take on projects related to the topic of social justice. Antonio said he was struck by the part of the story about Chinese exchange students talking about being survivors of China’s one-child policy, being given up by their mothers to relatives so they could live. Antonio was struck by the sadness in the girl who said her mother had to act like she hadn’t been born. He also said sometimes there is distinction made between social justice and pro-life issues as if they were different. He’s glad that wasn’t the case here. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Therese Willette-Rudolph of Saugus, MA She wins by St. Faustina Kowalska. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: The US Conference of Catholic Bishops today issued a major new statement on the topic of religious liberty. It begins: We are Catholics. We are Americans. We are proud to be both, grateful for the gift of faith which is ours as Christian disciples, and grateful for the gift of liberty which is ours as American citizens. To be Catholic and American should mean not having to choose one over the other. Our allegiances are distinct, but they need not be contradictory, and should instead be complementary. That is the teaching of our Catholic faith, which obliges us to work together with fellow citizens for the common good of all who live in this land. That is the vision of our founding and our Constitution, which guarantees citizens of all religious faiths the right to contribute to our common life together. Freedom is not only for Americans, but we think of it as something of our special inheritance, fought for at a great price, and a heritage to be guarded now. We are stewards of this gift, not only for ourselves but for all nations and peoples who yearn to be free. Catholics in America have discharged this duty of guarding freedom admirably for many generations. In 1887, when the archbishop of Baltimore, James Gibbons, was made the second American cardinal, he defended the American heritage of religious liberty during his visit to Rome to receive the red hat. Speaking of the great progress the Catholic Church had made in the United States, he attributed it to the “civil liberty we enjoy in our enlightened republic.” Indeed, he made a bolder claim, namely that “in the genial atmosphere of liberty [the Church] blossoms like a rose.”1 From well before Cardinal Gibbons, Catholics in America have been advocates for religious liberty, and the landmark teaching of the Second Vatican Council on religious liberty was influenced by the American experience. It is among the proudest boasts of the Church on these shores. We have been staunch defenders of religious liberty in the past. We have a solemn duty to discharge that duty today. We need, therefore, to speak frankly with each other when our freedoms are threatened. Now is such a time. As Catholic bishops and American citizens, we address an urgent summons to our fellow Catholics and fellow Americans to be on guard, for religious liberty is under attack, both at home and abroad. Scot said the statement goes on to provide lots of concrete examples of where religious liberty is under attack in this country, like the HHS mandate. It then describes how religious liberty is more than just freedom of worship in our churches and homes, but freedom to live faith in public. It describes how religious liberty is the most cherished freedom in the eyes of our founding fathers and should continue to be. It describes our Christian teaching on religious liberty and how it is in jeopardy across the world. It then desrcibes all the actions the Catholic community can muster: What we ask is nothing more than that our God-given right to religious liberty be respected. We ask nothing less than that the Constitution and laws of the United States, which recognize that right, be respected. They then announced a “fortnight for freedom” that recommends we “that we focus “all the energies the Catholic community can muster” in a special way this coming summer. As pastors of the flock, our privileged task is to lead the Christian faithful in prayer.” It would be 14 days from June 21 to July 4 and they ask everyone to pray this prayer: Almighty God, Father of all nations, For freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1). We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty, the foundation of human rights, justice, and the common good. Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect and promote our liberties; By your grace may we have the courage to defend them, for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land. We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness, and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Scot said this statement has been anticipated after the US bishops formed this committee last year for this purpose. This document creates the framework by which we will defend our rights. Dom said our liberties have been attack for many years. It should also concern those beyond our borders. The US has been a leader in the fight for freedom in the world, as a beacon of freedom and hope. If that freedom erodes here in this country, how will that light be extinguished elsewhere. And when we lose this freedom, what freedom will we lose next? What other rights will they decide we don’t need? Scot said the document’s objective seems to inform the broader community about what we stand for, what is the history of religious liberty in this country, and then the real call to action through prayer in the fortnight for freedom. Antonio said it’s not just the bishops who must act, but all of us. Jesus said we are the salt of the earth and we are obligated to influence others and to speak up. We have an obligation to follow the government, but not when it contradicts the will of God. He also noted that contrary to the French revolution which said rights came from the state, in the United States our Declaration of Independence declares our rights as inalienable and descending from God. We are going through a fundamental change in this country. In Europe, the government can decide how people can use or lose their rights. This is a key moment in how we understand our rights within our society. Scot said the bishops are clear that religious heritage in our country appreciates religious freedom for all, whatever their faith and that we should be able to live our belief systems in the public square and not have those beliefs be seen as contradictory to our American citizenship. the bishops are saying it’s un-american to say we can’t live our faith in the public square. Dom said he hopes that other faiths join in this fortnight for freedom because this applies to all of them. Scot said the bishops make that very point. This year, we propose a special “fortnight for freedom,” in which bishops in their own dioceses might arrange special events to highlight the importance of defending our first freedom. Our Catholic institutions also could be encouraged to do the same, especially in cooperation with other Christians, Jews, people of other faiths, and indeed, all who wish to defend our most cherished freedom.…
Summary of today’s show: The Theology of the Body was the foundation of Pope John Paul II’s pontificate and an answer to the depersonalization and objectification of the human person in society in recent decades. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams are joined by Damon Owens of the Theology of the Body Institute for an introduction to this teaching and discussion of a definition of love that moves beyond mere feelings to an act of the will and desire to make a complete self-gift of oneself. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Damon Owens, executive director of the Theology of the Body Institute Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Theology of the Body 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Matt to the show and wished him Happy Easter. They noted that Easter takes place over 8 days. Fr. Matt said on Holy Thursday he concelebrated Mass at St. Joseph in Holbrook and then on Good Friday he took part in the Hunger for Justice retreat in Nahant. He then concelebrated the Easter Vigil at St. Mary’s in Lynn with many of the teens from the Hunger for Justice retreat. On Sunday, he was back at St. Joseph and then celebrated Mass in the chapel at Bridgewater State College. Fr. Matt said the Hunger for Justice retreat was wonderful. He said the receptivity of the teens and reverence and respect were powerful. He said the retreat began on Short Beach in Nahant with a lesson that salvation is impossible on our own and that God comes to save us. They then walked in a procession with the Cross to St. Thomas Aquinas Church. He said lots of people were drawn to what the hundreds of teens were doing. He said their actions proclaimed Jesus. Scot said he saw many of the photos from the beach at Today’s topic is Theology of the Body. Fr. Matt said Pope John Paul II began to write and reflect upon the Theology of the Body at the beginning of the sexual revolution. He believes this is a profound gift from God to speak to the hearts of all people, especially the young, to help them realize our lives are intended to be a gift given to another, and that gift is inscribed in our bodies. It speaks to the hook-up culture many of our young people are saturated in today. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Damon Owens to the show. Scot asked him how Pope John Paul developed the Theology of the Body. Damon said like many of the major teachings in the Church, this developed out of a crisis. He said it takes time to delve into it. It responds to some of the worst degradation of humanity in history during the 20th century and it tell us what it means to be a human being. Scot said Pope John Paul put these teachings forward in a series of 129 Wednesday general audiences over 5 years ending in 1984. He thought it was so central in our understanding of the human person and how we relate to each other. Damon said it is the culmination of his priesthood from his time as a pastor to theology professor to bishop and cardinal and then pope. It laid the foundation for the entire 25-year pontificate. Each encyclical shows how he unveils it and applies it to every facet of the world. Scot asked Damon to define what is Theology of the Body. Damon said it is a body of teaching that is the fruit and implementation of the Second Vatican Council. It doesn’t replace the body of faith, but makes it accessible. It’s not a new teaching, but draws from our teachings to help us understand who Christ is and learn what hit means to be made in the image and likeness of God. The first part of the 129 audiences ask and answer the question of who we are, what is our identity. It starts with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eve. Scot asked what are some misconceptions about what it means to be a human person debunked by John Paul. Damon said there is an overspiritualization and an overly materialistic view. John Paul said physical and spiritual are not working against each other, but they work together to bring us to the deepest truth about our identity. It’s a both/and not either/or. Damon said they always begin with morality. Everyone asks the fundamental questions of morality, who can they love, how do they know if it’s true love. What they don’t realize is that they’re asking questions of identity more than morality. Questions of the moral law build on top of our identity. If we know who we are, we will know how to act. Many have absorbed a false identity, but they offer the dignity of masculinity and felinity, which have no parallel in our culture. John Paul said love is an act of the will. We make of ourselves a self-gift, which Christ on the cross is the prime example. In marriage, we make a gift of ourselves as a state of life, where we literally learn how to love and become love by the acts we choose to make and pledge of our being to another. We need to be on our knees asking God how to love with his love. Fr. Matt said we’ve been called to live our lives as gift, which comes from John Paul’s philosophy of personalism. Damon warned that many of these ideas are deep and profound and hearing them the first time can be intimidating. But we have to recognize the full depth of what John Paul is calling. We are mde in the image and likeness of God, male and female. God created masculinity and femininity out of that image, when God is neither male nor female. God is a communion of divine persons and being made in the image and likeness of God, he has given us the capacity to love as he loves. The language of our bodies shows what we are called to as male and female is a call to communion. We are not meant for solitude. When we love like God, we become what we love like, we become God. Damon said John Paul said overcoming the dominance of sin, the temptation to concupiscence is the beginning of the accessibility of eternal life won by Jesus Christ. The challenge is to live purity of the heart. We have to dig deep to things that move our heart. We have to seek, will, and do the good. We have to have a singularity of learning how to love. Purity is not simply following rules or avoiding some things. It is the singularity of our posture toward God, serving him our of love, not out of a sense of obligation. Fr. Matt posed a hypothetical about what to say to someone we know who is having sex outside of marriage. Damon said there should be a necessary affirmation of the longing for love and desire that it shown in relationships, even these ones. What they’re seeking is good and true and beautiful. But there has to be an acknowledgment that they will never find it if they don’t follow the calling to the greater dignity of love. Scot said wherever you are in life is an opportunity to begin again with God. Damon said marriage is a major theme in the Theology of the Body because it conjures up the lived encounter. It’s a universal natural institution in every human community. As Christian,s we see God placed it there from the beginning. It gives us a spiritual truth about how we live our lives. Marriage is beautiful and gives us a union in which a full human person can come into being. Scot said statistics show that about half of all marriages end in divorce. Theology of the Body tells us that our vocation in life is lived out through our state in life and the truth is that the heart of marriage is self-gift, not selfishness. When he hears about divorce, it’s often a story of one or both of the spouses living selfishly. Damon said society says love s what we feel and it places us at the center of the universe as the measure of what’s good and worth fighting for inasmuch as it benefits me. But Theology of the Body speaks of willing, not wishing, the good of another. This describes all different aspects of self-giving love. Not just giving something of self, but giving totality of self. The beauty of an act is measured by the depth of self-giving. We cannot love if we don’t suffer. We don’t look for it, it comes to us anyway. But we see that suffering is not evil in itself. Love embraces suffering. Fr. Matt said when he meets with engaged couples, he asks them what they mean when they say, “I love you.” They usually respond with how the other makes them feel. But that won’t sustain them long term in marriage. He said young people are influenced by Hollywood’s vision of love. Damon said Titanic is a good example. On the one hand, he gave his life for her. On the other hand,we recognize that there isn’t a sexual maturity or mature sexual love. The sign of that is that it moves from how the other person makes me feel to who the other person is. It moves from affection to identity. That attraction and affection isn’t bad, but we are called to grow beyond that immature state. The second great vocation of living our masculinity and femininity is celibacy for the sake of the kingdom. John Paul says some who live the state in life isa fulfillment of masculinity and femininity. We have to see their supernatural origin. Loving as self-gift. Priest, religious, bishop have full possession of their masculinity and femininity that the signs of marriage are still there, but lived in a deeper reality. Priests are spiritual fathers, not as a Plan B. Spiritual fatherhood and motherhood is the Plan A for humanity, and some are also called to biological parenthood. They discussed the resources available of the Theology of the Body, which was formed to teach everyone this body of teaching. They have weeklong Head and Heart immersion courses with world-class faculty. On April 27 & 28, Damon will also be a speaker at the Eucharistic Congress for College Students & Young Adults.…
Summary of today’s show: How does a stint in the Marines help with the life of a parish priest? Fr. Edward Doughty sits down with Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to talk about his childhood in Woburn, which is the hotbed of priestly vocations in the Archdiocese of Boston; serving in the US Marine Corps’ drum and bugle corps; being ordained in one of the biggest ordination classes in the US in the past 20 years (18 men in 1995!); serving in parishes in Danvers, Manomet, Weymouth, and Randolph; working campus ministry at two state colleges; and returning to parish ministry as pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Medford. Be prepared for some laughs and listen for the plug for Fr. Robert Reed of CatholicTV. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Edward F. Doughty Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Pastor Profile: Fr. Edward F. Doughty 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chris to the show and they talked about Fr. Chris spent his Easter with his family and helping at a couple of parishes. He said the crowds seemed larger this year. Fr. Chris talked about how great it is to celebrate Easter for the eight days of the octave. Fr. Chris also talked about going to a Catholic school to be the mystery reader for the second grade. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Fr. Ed Doughty to the show. Fr. Ed talked about growing up in Woburn at St. Barbara parish. He attended all public schools throughout his schooling. They discussed other priests who came from St. Barbara’s, including Bishop Chris Coyne of Indianapolis. Fr. Ed graduated from Umass Lowell with a degree in music education, but wasn’t able to get a job as a music teacher. He went to the recruiting office to join the Navy, but the Navy recruiter had reached his goal for the month and wasn’t speaking to anyone. As he walked down the hall, the Marine recruiter stopped him in the hall to talk and before he knew it he was on a plane to boot camp at Parris Island. Scot said it seems that Marine boot camp is very scary as a form of physical exertion. Fr. Ed said you arrive in the dead of night off a bus and then the 13 weeks go by in the blink of an eye. You arrive thinking you’re not going to be able to do anything and leave thinking you can doing anything. Scot asked how his Marine formation helps him today as a priest. Fr. Ed said sometimes it’s a positive and sometimes a negative. He said Marines can have a swagger that makes you less passive than people expect from a priest. Sometimes he’s a little less likely to take direct complaints passively. On the other hand, he’s more disciplined, less likely to be late. Fr. Chris said Fr. Ed was in the drums and bugle corps. Fr. Ed said they traveled around the country most of the time to Marine and Navy installations, but they also performed for President Reagan. Fr. Ed said every Marine is a rifleman so they kept up their training in that area, but their primary job was to be a musician. Fr. Ed said he grew to appreciate his time in the Marines after he got out. When he was in the Marines, it was a bit of a grind being on the road all the time. He has maintained some great relationships from that time. He looks back only with fondness. Fr. Ed said his first hint of vocation came when he was 12 years old. Fr. Rodney Kopp was in his deacon assignment at St. Barbara’s at the time and was a role model. During his time in the Marines, he got away from the regular practice of his faith, but when he came home he became friends some newly ordained priests and they encouraged his vocation. Once he went on a retreat at the seminary, he felt like he belonged where before he thought he was just doing it to get his friends off his back. His attitude the whole time at the seminary was, “If they keep me, I’ll stay.” Before he knew it he was walking down the aisle for his ordination. Fr. Ed said he always prayed that he would end up where God wanted him to be. He said he also grew up in a family that had a great devotion to the Eucharist, which helped a lot. Scot said that it’s important to recognize that discernment of the priesthood is mutual between the seminarian and the seminary. Fr. Ed said he was 30 when he entered the seminary and there were men both older and younger than him, as well some guys he’d gone to high school with. Fr. Chris said in both the Marine Corps and the seminary you need a rule of life. Fr. Ed said Marines have a plan of the day posted each day that told you where you had to be each day. The seminary was similar with schedules for the liturgical and the academic. Fr. Ed said he’s a pretty scheduled person anyway. At the time of his ordination, his dad had been very sick and his biggest memory from that day was that his dad was unable to go, but his dad watched from home. At one point the Cardinal asked parents and godparents to stand up to be recognized and his sister said his dad stood up at home. His dad was able to attend his first Mass, but was hospitalized the next day and it was his dad’s last Mass. Fr. Ed said it’s the greatest blessing for him that his dad was the first to receive communion from him at the Mass. Fr. Ed said he preached his first Mass. He was going to have someone else do it. One of his childhood friends is Dr. Kevin Mooney, who told him that no one was going to the Mass to hear someone else preach so he did it himself. In the end, his dad got to hear him preach. Fr. Ed celebrated his father’s funeral Mass, but Msgr. John McLaughlin preached at the Mass. Fr. Ed said he teased Msgr. McLaughlin relentlessly when he was given the honor recently. He’s currently campus minister at Boston University and was previously the first vocation director for the Archdiocese of the Military Services. 3rd segment: Fr. Ed was ordained in 1995 in a class of 18 men. His first assignment was at St. Richard in Danvers, then St. Bonaventure in Manomet. He didn’t know where Manomet was. Fr. Ed said it was a fantastic parish with a lot of young families and an enormous religious ed program. Plus it was living at the beach. Fr. Ed said it was a booming parish then and it’s gotten larger. They’re building a new church in the parish. Fr. Ed was involved in youth ministry, that started with about 9 kids. He said they went to a completely prayer-based youth ministry program. Everything was based around some kind of prayer experience. It started to attract kids. They also did a targeted recruiting, calling 250 kids from someone in the program and sending invitations to those who responded positively. The first event had 125 kids and they gained momentum until there were 200 or 300 coming on a regular basis by the time he left. His success came from hounding the kids, being relentless in inviting them back to events. Fr. Ed said young people get it much more than we give them credit for a lot. One of his pet peeves for youth ministry is when parishes have an event and invite the kids only to be workers. But how often do we invite kids to be part of the group? Fr. Ed also made sure the people who invited made the kids feel like they were wanted at the event so badly that it would hurt badly if they didn’t go. After Manomet, he was sent to St. Jerome in Weymouth for a year before being sent to St. Bernadette in Randolph as pastor. Scot said he got to know Fr. Ed because of his implementing the Catholic Appeal as well as any pastor. Fr .Ed said there were 23 language groups in the parish, including Vietnamese, Nigerian, Filipino, and Haitian. Fr. Chris asked how they brought them together, but Fr. Ed said he’s not sure they ever got to where they wanted to be. Mostly he wanted them to have their own identity and accommodate them to be who they are. Fr. Ed said he particularly recalls Vietnamese New Year celebrations as an enormous celebration with food and joy. Fr. Ed said during his time in the parish, they torn down and built a new building that has become the daily Mass chapel. After St. Bernadette he became campus minister at Salem State and U Mass Boston. Fr. Ed said life doesn’t begin until noon on the campuses. He said it was interesting for him to talk about faith on a publicly funded college campus. People would tell him that he has to be a little less Catholic, but he’d reply that he’s Catholic and that’s what he’s going to say. He said the people he met were very friendly and mostly he was expected to show up at games and events and dining facilities. Fr. Chris said it sounds like the ministry of presence. Fr. Ed said UMass has an interfaith chapel where he’d say daily Mass a couple times per week. At Salem State he didn’t have an office or chapel so he’d just wander around the campus most of the time. He’d just try to make eye contact with students, faculty, or staff and say hello and try to have a conversation. Sometimes those brief encounters would lead to more. Fr. Ed said he would celebrate Sunday Mass at Salem State in a conference room on the campus. Scot asked how serving as a campus minister differed from serving in a parish. Fr. Ed said in seminary they warn you about being a lone ranger in the diocese where you operate by yourself. But on campus, you really are alone. You have to be willing to put yourself out there and hope that in your prayer you’re bringing an atmosphere of faith with you. Fr. Ed said a great day was if a kid honked your horn at you as you walked down the street. It was really the small victories. Once he was in a dean’s office and a staff member told him how she was hearing nice things about him and how he was making great connections with students. Later he told the dean he couldn’t remember remember the last time anyone spoke to him, but the dean said everyone notices him and see him in the same places all the time. His presence matters to kids wherever he is on campus. Fr. Ed said you can’t go in expecting students to fit in a particular mold. You have to take them where they’re at. Many of them come from families that don’t practice faith and the minister may be the first person they’ve spoken to in a faith context. 4th segment: Fr. Ed became pastor of St. Francis of Assisi in Medford on March 1. Scot noted that every single post on Facebook from Fr. Ed prior to March 1 was a joke so at first he thought the announcement was a joke. Scot asked Fr. Ed what a new pastor does when he comes to the parish. Fr. Ed said he starts with a prayer he doesn’t destroy the place. He said it’s almost a sensory overload, where you meet all new people, have an all-new schedule, and there’s all kinds of people you need to talk to and learn about all while trying to learn where the parish is, what needs to be done, and who’s involved in the parish ministries. He had to quickly learn who’s on the parish council even as he’s involved in pastoral planning activities. But there is a great rhythm in the parish. He starts the day with celebrating Mass and then go about with whatever is necessary, whether a funeral or a meeting or some administrative duties. Fr. Ed said everyone who’s been dissatisfied with something come to see the new pastor first. You try to respectfully give them time and you may or may not agree with what they want. He said he often doesn’t even know what they’re talking about. But he’s willing to listen to people who’ve lived there a long time because they can help him get a read on what they want to happen. He’s learned not to take things personally and that he doesn’t have to be in a hurry all the time. Fr. Chris said the wise advice is that the only thing the new pastor needs to change in the first year is change his socks. The new pastor is learning to lead and shepherd this particular community. Fr. Ed said it’s important for people to know that he asked to be sent to st. Francis when the opening became available. Fr. Ed said St. Francis is a middle class parish of hard-working people raising their families who love their parish. It’s a beautiful church with facilities that have the potential to do so much good for the community. They had temporary administrators for almost a year before he came which led to uncertainty. Now they can relax knowing that Fr. Ed is assigned there for six years. Scot said you can see the church from Route 93 and asked how many people come to daily Mass are just commuters on their way to work, but Fr. Ed said the Mass is at 9am so they don’t get a lot of them. Fr. Ed said his parents’ devotion to the Eucharist has led to him knowing that the high point of his day is celebrating Mass with his parishioners. Then being nourished by that, it allows him to go through the rest of the day with a sense of peace and purpose and urgency, not in the sen of having to change anything, but wanting to get at the daily routine. He said his favorite saints include St. John Vianney, even before knowing he was patron saint of parish priests because he was thought to be somewhat lacking in academics. HE shows a regular guy can have an effect and make a difference for people. Also St. Francis and St. Bonaventure have been particularly important to him as well. He loves that everything around the parish reminds him of St. Francis. Being back in a parish for Easter was great. Fr. Ed also gave a shout out to Fr. Bob Reed of CatholicTV.…
Summary of today’s show: Music transcends words and beauty moves the soul. Catholic world-class musician and composer Eric Genuis has dedicated his life to bringing beautiful music to schools, churches, concert halls, and prisons and Scot Landry talks with Eric about his mission, which brings hope to the hopeless and beauty to those starving for beauty. Eric will be performing at St. William in Tewksbury on Monday, April 16, and St. Mary in Waltham on Tuesday, April 17. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Eric Genuis Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Catholic musician and composer Eric Genius 1st segment: Scot wished all listeners a Happy Easter and reminded them that Easter is eight days long until song. He asked Rick Heil how he celebrated Easter. He said he was with his parents and they went to Mass at Bl. Kateri in Plymouth with Bishop Dooher. They discussed the bishops’ homily. Rick said his mother and father sing in the choir at the parish and sang in many of the Triduum Masses. Scot said his family participated in all the Triduum liturgies at St. Agnes, allowing his kids to participate as one family for the first time. He said the St. Agnes choir was beautiful. He congratulated everyone who was a part of that. Scot said he ate dinner at his brother’s house and they started a new family tradition of kickball. Cardinal Seán’s Easter homily: Scot said Eric Genuis is our guest today and said Rick Heil will be participating in the conversation today. Eric is a Catholic composer and musician and he will be coming to St. Williams, Tewksbury on Monday 4/16 and at St. Mary, Waltham on Tuesday 4/17, both at 7pm. The concerts are free but a free-will offering will be taken up. 2nd segment: Coming from the break, we hear an Eric Genuis composition called “Russian Ballade”. Scot read a quote from Jim Cavizel complimenting the work of Eric Genuis and the quality of his music: “What a pleasure to listen to not only a world class pianist and composer, but an artist whose music translates beyond its genre to lift the audience to belief and hope in the power of the human spirit. I have been honored to be present at several of Eric’s concerts. Every time with every unique audience nuance, those present felt the power of Eric’s music and his words clearly elevated people”. Scot welcomed Eric and asked him about his background. Eric has a degree in piano performance after growing up in Canada. He’d always promised God that he would never refuse to play anywhere based on money or availability of instruments. He;s played in school, churches, concert halls, prisons, and stadiums. He began to notice very early the impact of music. He said his music is classical in form with a modern feel. He’s always known theoretically about the effect of music, but when you see it and experience it it really moves the performer. Deciding to pursue music was a difficult decision in this culture, which views rap and Lady Gaga as music. But it’s not the same thing that will bring beauty and reflect human dignity. He knows that what he plays isn’t very popular in culture and he knew it wouldn’t be easy to make a living for his family, which includes 4 children now. But he and his wife feel strongly that this has to be done. He speaks to about 100,000 youth per year, performing for them. He sees that what the young lack right now is hope. They have no hope for their futures, economically, societally. They are suspicious of their parents’ generation. In this suffering, they are taking desperate measures to alleviate suffering and fear. These are young people who have been bathing in a very low level of entertainment, which isn’t really art anymore. Being entertained is reasonable, but it was never just that. We can sink to a low-level if we’re only seeking entertainment. It’s like eating only junk food. Scot said when he was young Madonna was big and it seemed that with every album she created it ramped up the debasement of herself and her audience. He remembers asking himself where it stops. Rick said it reflects the devaluation of life in our culture from previous decades to now and our pop culture descended on the same level. Eric with this age of instant communication, we’ve created the superstar celebrity phenomenon. He cited the Spice Girls, whose music was really very simple, yet it was constructed by record companies to become icons for young children and make billions of dollars. Now the girls who were fans of the Spice Girls are now young adults and he’s performing for them. He finds that music was used as a vehicle for commercialism and the creation of a product. He notes that many of the musicians can’t even carry a tune without computer processing. So if it wasn’t about music, it was about image. there’s now a machine that can take “star quality” that has nothing to do with music and propel them. Eric said he performs at colleges and many in his audiences have never hear a cello played live. He hears from parents who tell him they don’t know what to do about the music. Confucius once said if you want to know a nation’s morality, listen to the music. Plato said if given a choice to govern law or govern music, he would govern music because music moves men’s souls. He said there is a mysterious way of atmosphere being brought about with music without a word being spoken. He said his daughters with Downs can communicate a depth beyond words even though she can’t speak. The image and likeness of God within us speaks beyond words in us. Eric said the goal of his concerts is to entertain, but also to do much more. He tries to writes music wit the genius of a Bach or Mozart, but for the audience of today so it’s accessible to them. He goes into a school in the Bronx or a musically sophisticated audience and appeals to them both. This is the mystery of music that touches the soul. He was performing in New Mexico and he saw a grandmother who had brought her 15-year-old granddaughter, who was obviously upset she had to come. After the concert, the girl was in tears and gave him a hug and thanked him for moving her as she’d never been moved before in her life. This is the power and impact of music. Scot asked what parents and grandparents can do to help them expose kids to music that empowers the soul. Eric said his own parents came from Malta and came to Canada after the Second World War. They never studied music, but they wanted to expose their children to good things. For Eric, the music resonated with him. He practiced the piano and became obsessed with it. He’d play 7 or 8 hours per day. He knew very young that children had free time and knew that he’d never get the opportunity to play as much once he got into his 20s. He was exposed to all kinds of music. Being a parent now, he feels music is much more in your face than it was when he was a kid: Internet, iPhone, iPods, and it’s everywhere. So just banning the music just shuts off conversation and they find it anyway. They don’t learn how to make good choices and discern. Not everything new is bad. He doesn’t want his own children to be afraid of culture. Eric’s son comes to him with a song he likes. It could be something Eric doesn’t like, but he tries to understand why his son likes it. To reject the song would be to reject the son because he doesn’t understand the separation. So he asks what is it about the song he likes and then plays different styles of music for him that has the same qualities, whether from movie soundtracks or from Beethoven or from his own compositions. He asks him whether he gets the same feel from both. Then they talk about “colors” in music, which one has positive energy or negative energy. They talk about atmosphere, positive or negative. For his son, it’s not about he quality of music, but how it makes him feel. We can’t just dismiss this music that’s out there and we have to deal with it. Rick related how when he was in eighth grade, he was into heavy metal music when a teacher gave him Gustav Holst’s the Planets to listen to. He learned he wasn’t looking for negative energy, but for weightiness. Scot said as a parent who hasn’t had to have these conversations yet, hearing Eric go through the stages has helped him. 3rd segment: Coming back from the break, we heard another one of Eric’s compositions, Romanza Tranquilla. Eric said about his concerts that families are welcome. He wants people to bring their children. He doesn’t care if the children cry during the concerts or fuss. He is bringing violinists and cellists are extremely talented and gifted. The children will be moved by them. Bring your children to live performances. He will also be talking about the instruments. Scot asked Eric about his performances in prisons. Eric said he doesn’t look at his prison performances any differently from any other concert. He feels honored to perform before an audience that wants to hear him. He said prisons are the ugliest places on earth, without beauty. There is nothing beautiful about anything. It is strictly utilitarian. There is nothing beautiful about amy of the human interaction. There is nothing to inspire anything human in anyone. So he arrives with stellar soloists, some of the best musicians in the world, and the inmates can’t contain themselves. They are moved to cheers and one time a man rushed to the stage, wanting to embrace the violinist for the beauty of her music, but knew he couldn’t and just stood there shaking. If you want to change people on a deep level, bring God to these people, don’t use words, use beauty. Scot said he learned how beauty can lead you to understanding and knowledge of God, whether it’s art or natural beauty. Eric said beauty like nothing else moves. It’s the unspoken. Eric said sound is just a physical wavelength, but when you play it you affect people. He received a letter from an inmate who’d been in prison for 13 years how he was filled with and surrounded by hate. He had only been growing in hate in his time in prison. But after the concert, he kept the program because when he wanted to remember something beautiful he would look at it and have hope again. The music brings hope. Eric related a letter from a prison warden in Wisconsin who said the behavior of the inmates during and after the concert indicated it had a powerful impact on the inmates. Everyone who works in the prison noted the difference it had made to the prisoners, bringing the peace of the world into their lives. Eric remembers a young inmate, about 22, after the concert came up to him and said thank you for the 90 minutes of freedom. If it can do that for him, what can it do who are imprisoned in figurative ways in the rest of the world. Let’s give each other hope, not just this low stuff that we want to sell them. Eric said there is a great mystery between us and our Creator that we must tap into through art and music. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote about the Eucharist by writing poetry, Panis Angelicus, because the art and music transcends words. Scot asked what people can expect from a performance before the Blessed Sacrament in a beautiful church. Eric said it’s amazing because the Eucharist is the most beautiful art on the planet. He wants to being his best. He will be playing music and telling stories. There will be great music and world-class performances. The show ended with some of Eric’s music, a composition called “Here I Am.”…
Summary of today’s show: On a special Thursday news edition of the show, Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy discuss the week’s headlines, including the Pilot special report on a Boston pilgrimage to Cuba; the retirement of three long-serving pastors; the sale of St. James in Wellesley; National Catholic Education Association convention in Boston next week; and a profile of the work of the diocesan archives. Finally, the panel took some time to discuss the importance of the Easter Triduum, especially Holy Thursday and Good Friday and the unique differences from all other liturgies. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Visiting Cuba; retiring pastors; diocesan archives; the Triduum 1st segment: Scot wished Susan a blessed Triduum. He said what stands out for him today is that there isn’t a Mass today at the Pastoral Center. Susan said the Holy Thursday Mass of the Last Supper is worth waiting for. Fr. Roger said the Chrism Mass is traditionally held on Thursday morning. There can also be a Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper for those whom it would be impossible to attend the regular evening Mass, but that requires a bishops’ permission. Scot said part of the Holy Thursday observance is to process from the Church with the Blessed Sacrament to a place of reservation to hold vigil with the Lord. Scot wanted to start with the news this week, especially the Pilot’s special coverage of Pope Benedict’s trip to Cuba. Greg said he and his wife, Donis, who wrote most of the articles, accompanied a delegation of Boston pilgrims who went to Havana to go to Mass with the Holy Father, but also visited cultural sites as well as the work of Caritas Cubana, the Church’s social service agency. Donis also wrote a story detailing Cardinal Seán’s long relationship with the Cuban people. When he was first a priest in Washington, DC, he worked closely with Cuban-Americans in serving refugees and others. Scot said the Cardinal talked a bout how conditions in Cuba changed significantly after 1998 when Pope John Paul II visited Cuba. The cardinal went to Cuba in 2003 for an apostolic visitation of the seminaries. “I found that of the 80 or so seminarians, 90 percent of them were converts who attributed their conversion to [Pope] John Paul II’s visit to Cuba,” he said. Scot noted that Raul Castro declared Good Friday to be a national holiday this year after Pope Benedict’s visit. Cardinal Seán said, “Hopefully the Church will be allowed a greater presence in the media — in Catholic radio, Catholic newspapers, and the like… and will be allowed to have a Church presence in schools and hospitals, something that today they are not allowed to do.” He added, “I think the Holy Father’s presence brought the world’s attention to Cuba, which is a good thing because it helps to put pressure on the government to continue to change and to allow greater freedom to the people of Cuba,” he said, “which is something we would all like to see.” Fr. Roger said being in the presence of Christ’s Vicar on earth is a powerful reminder that the reason for the Pope was Peter and the reason for Peter was Jesus and it’s all real. It’s a powerful reminder that the Christian story is all true and it’s not just history, but a present reality. He said it’s also curious that while Good Friday will be a civil holiday, we also heard that 42 Cubans arrested during the visit last week that they will remain in prison through the Triduum. Scot said he enjoyed the profile of the Educational Travel Alliance, which has been leading trips to Cuba for the last 10 years. He noted that the founder has personal reasons for this work. For Eizenberg, the trips are also closely linked to his personal experiences. He said the words of his mother, a survivor of a Nazi death camp, echo in his mind whenever he brings a group to Cuba. “She used to say, ‘We knew we were really in trouble when no one was coming (to Germany) anymore and we were left alone with them,’” said Eizenberg. “I don’t want that to happen to the Cuban people anymore,” he added. In the future Eizenberg is hoping to develop a campus ministry program facilitate student mission trips to Cuba. “Campus ministries go everywhere in the world to help people, but they don’t go to Cuba,” he explained. “We shouldn’t keep Cuba off the map,” he said. Greg said the more they got to know the travel organizers the more they realized that there was a story in their work and mission. Greg said his impression of Cuba is that it’s a country stuck in time. It’s essentially stuck in 1959, at the moment of revolution. “Cuba is unlike any other place we have taken anyone,” added Rice. “You feel like you are really touching people’s lives — be it the tour guides, the waiters, everyone — which is unlike anywhere else in the world since now society is so homogenized everywhere.” “By nature, the American people are very generous,” added Eizenberg, noting that people who go on his exchanges often come laden with everything from soaps and spices to nail polish and children’s toys — items that can be found on any U.S. store shelf but can be nearly impossible to obtain for ordinary Cuban citizens. Susan said thought it was interesting how Eizenberg said he was immediately hooked on Cuba and thought he could make a little difference. She said one doesn’t have to change the world, if you can change one person’s life. Greg said his group visited a senior center and brought little fun-sized candy bars to hand out and one of the women said these were extremely valuable. She said her grandchildren might see one of these per year if they’re lucky. 2nd segment: Scot noted the news of official appointments in the Pilot this week, including the granting of senior priest/retirement status effective June 5: Fr. Richard Crowley, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Middleborough, Fr. Francis Daley, pastor of Sts. Martha and Mary, Lakeville, and Fr. James Rafferty, pastor of St. Paul in Hingham. Fr. Rafferty received an award as a priest of the year on Tuesday after the Chrism Mass. Susan noted her work with Fr. Crowley and how much he has done in that parish, along with the other pastors. Scot said the parish in Lakeville is in a beautiful location. Scot said Fr. Jim Rafferty took some heat a couple of years ago for a decision he made about admission of child of a lesbian couple. Fr. Roger wrote an editorial at the time about how Fr. Rafferty took heat for this decision, which he believes was appropriate given that the child would have been taught at school that her situation at home was immoral. Fr. Roger said Fr. Rafferty was really looking out for the best interests of that child. Fr. Roger noted that Fr. Rafferty is looked up to by all priests, young and old, and has set a good example of being a pastor. Scot said he was impressed by the way Fr. Rafferty handled that situation. Also in the Pilot is Vatican approval of the sale of the former parish church of St. James to the town of Wellesley where they will build an athletic center. Scot noted that the parish had been in vigil for several years and he hopes that this will bring closure and help the town of Wellesley. There is a special insert in the Pilot this week for the National Catholic Education Association, which will hold its national conference in Boston next week. Susan said it’s a very large event over three days. It attracts national speakers and lots of attention. She said it’s convenient for the conference to come to Boston because they don’t get to travel for conventions lately. Scot said the Inner City Scholarship Fund had it’s annual dinner to raise $3.7 million for Catholic school scholarships. Greg said they always want to do a story to acknowledge the work that they do. One of the students who receive help spoke at the dinner. In making the announcement Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Tucci also recognized Fortune Kalala, a senior at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, who was the evening’s student speaker. Fortune, a scholarship recipient and honor roll student, moved to Lawrence when he was 13 from Mozambique where he had lived in a refugee camp with his family. After years of fleeing political unrest and civil war, Fortune began the 7th grade not knowing any English. After two years of hard work, he was accepted to Central Catholic High School and was able to attend because of a scholarship provided by the Inner City Scholarship Fund. In the Anchor this week is a profile of the Archives of the Diocese of Fall River. Fr. Roger said it’s part of a continuing series on diocesan agencies. He said the Archives keep the history of the diocese. Those records are very important for future Catholics to understand what happened in the past. Susan said Robert Johnson Lally, the archivist in Boston, has been extremely helpful for her when she researches her own topics. She finds the material to be gripping and amusing. Scot said he went through the archives once to read all the files used to plan the visit of Pope John Paul II to Boston in 1979. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Joseph Szymanski from Boston, MA He wins the CD “The Truth” by Fr. Larry Richards and “The Stations of the Cross in Masterpiece Art,” a set of 6”x9” prints. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot and Fr. Roger discussed that the Triduum is a season of its own, inaugurating the Easter season. Scot said one of his favorite George Weigel columns, “Easter changes everything.” In the Gospel readings of the Easter Octave, the Church annually remembers the utterly unprecedented nature of the paschal event, and how it exploded expectations of what God’s decisive action in history would be. No one gets it, at first; for what has happened bursts the previous limits of human understanding. The women at the empty tomb don’t understand, and neither do Peter and John. The disciples on the road to Emmaus do not understand until they encounter the Risen One in the Eucharist, the great gift of paschal life, offered by the new Temple, the divine Presence, himself. At one encounter with the Risen Lord, the Eleven think they’re seeing a ghost; later, up along the Sea of Galilee, it takes awhile for Peter and John to recognize that “It is the Lord!” (John 21:7). These serial episodes of incomprehension, carefully recorded by the early Church, testify to the shattering character of Easter, which changed everything: the first disciples’ understanding of history, of life-beyond-death, of worship and its relationship to time (thus Sunday, the day of Easter, becomes the Sabbath of the New Covenant). Easter also changed the first disciples’ understanding of themselves and their responsibilities. They were the privileged ones who must keep alive the memory of Easter: in their preaching, in their baptizing and breaking of bread, and ultimately in the new Scriptures they wrote. They were the ones who must take the Gospel of the Risen One to “all nations,” in the sure knowledge that he would be with them always (Matthew 28:19-20). They were to “be transformed” (Romans 12:2). So are we. Fr. Roger’s editorial this week examines the heart of Holy Week, which the Heart of the Christian faith and life itself. The heart is who Jesus is and what he’s trying to do. Pope Benedict notes that the people around Jesus at first acclaimed an idol of their own imagination rather the Jesus as the real Messiah and King. Jesus came to give witness to the truth. Jesus is the axis of truth on which everything depends. In being crucified, Christ becomes the power and wisdom of God. We need to recognize Jesus as the truth and not separate him from the truth that he taught. In our relativistic age, people reject the idea of truth. Scot noted that this Holy Thursday is a much bigger deal than Opening Day for the baseball season. Susan said these three days are the jewel in the crown of our liturgical year. We celebrate and remember the ongoing Eucharist in our lives. These aren’t holy days of obligation, but Susan said her church is packed at every service because how much richer Easter is when we’ve walked the walk with Jesus. Scot said some will ask why they’re not holy days of obligation. Fr. Roger said the Church would never dream of making something so significant mandatory. A practicing Christian would never be forced to go; they’re going to want to be there. That’s how it’s supposed to be for us as Christians. To call it an obligation would be to downgrade it. Scot noted that the Holy Thursday Mass has two significant differences: the washing of the feet of 12 men and that the Mass has no actual dismissal, but continues to a place of adoration. Greg noted that the connection to the Passover seder and how the least important person, usually the youngest child, would wash to hands of all those present. Jesus takes this last place and then goes further to wash feet, which in the Middle East feet are considered lowly and unclean. Fr. Roger noted that the Book of Revelations says were are cleansed in the blood of the Lamb, and Jesus takes on the form of a slave to wash us in his own Blood. Then he gives us the chalice of his Blood, where he continues his love to the extreme. He institutes the priesthood to continue to feed us and wash us across time and space. Like a parent for a small child, Jesus washes us and feeds us. Scot noted that on Good Friday, it isn’t a Mass, we hear the Passion from the Gospel of John, and we have the veneration of the Cross. We also pray profound prayers of petition for the world. Susan said we are a Church of sign and symbol and much of what we do doesn’t have words. We hear the Passion of the Lord and we kiss the cross, and it’s a powerful action. Scot said there will not be an episode of The Good Catholic Life on Good Friday and wished all listeners a Happy Easter. 5th segment:…
Summary of today’s show: The Easter Vigil is the Super Bowl of liturgies in the Catholic Church calendar, with our most beautiful prayers and symbols and imagery, encapsulating all of Salvation History. For the first time this Easter, we will hear the prayers using the new translation of the Roman Missal, which restores the beautiful phrase lost over time. Fr. Jonathan Gaspar joins Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams to discuss the Easter Vigil and especially to chant the Exsultet, the Easter Proclamation, like you’ve never heard before. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Fr. Jonathan Gaspar, Director of the Office for Divine Worship Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Easter Vigil Liturgy 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Matt discussed the topic for today’s show which will be the Super Bowl of liturgies, the Easter Vigil on Saturday evening. Fr. Jonathan Gaspar, the director of the Office for Worship will assist them with examining the Vigil Mass. Fr. Matt will be very busy on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, starting in Nahant and engaging in many service projects with the Hunger for Justice retreat for high school students. Fr. Matt said he has only been the main celebrant of the Easter Vigil liturgy once as a priest, because he’s either been a parochial vicar or head of the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults and it’s usually the pastor who celebrates. Also, tonight is the last opportunity for The Light Is On For You, to go to confession in any parish or chapel in the archdiocese from 6:30-8pm. Scot welcomed Fr. Jonathan to the show and said over the past year he;s been helping people adapt to the changes in the Roman Missal. Fr. Jonathan said all the texts of the Mass have changed and the Easter vigil is no different. He said the texture of the language is changed, phrases that were lost in the old translation have been restored, including language related to the work of Creation in preparing the liturgy./ Scot said the Mass is usually in two parts: Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist. But the Easter Vigil is not just two parts. Fr. Jonathan said the Easter vigil is four parts: We begin with the Service of Light, the blessing of the fire in darkness outside of the church. This blazing fire scatters the darkness of night. This goes back to the second century and Eusebius refers to this in the fourth century, saying the Easter fire illuminated the city of Byzantium. The deacon or priest then proclaims the great praise of Easter. Scot talked about taking small children to the Easter Vigil, how they will love seeing all the different aspects. He suggested sitting in the back to see the events surrounding the lighting of candles. Then there is the Liturgy of the Word. There are seven readings from the Old Testament, which are the story of Salvation History, how the love f God for his people culminated in Easter; the Epistle from the New Testament; and the Gospel. Fr. Jonathan said it tells the story of how God remembers his covenant even when we have failed to love him. It tells the story of God calling us back each time, reestablishing his covenant. Finally the Father sends His Son to establish a new eternal covenant that will never be broken. Scot said you can’t walk away from the Vigil without being aware of God’s love for us. The third part of the Vigil is also different. It’s the celebration of the sacraments of initiation for candidates and catechumens. During Lent they have been preparing through prayer and examination of themselves to receive these sacraments. They receive the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist. This part also helps everyone renew their baptismal promises. In a beautiful way we relight our own candles. The water of the baptism is sprinkled upon the people, reminding us of the blood of the sacrifice of the lambs sprinkled over the people of Israel during the first Passover in Egypt. Scot said it also reminds us of our own baptism. Fr. Jonathan said a funeral liturgy is like a mini-Easter Vigil, from the way t he body is greeted at the door to the church and blessed and carried forward and clothed in baptismal gowns and the use of the paschal candle and more. Fr. Matt said the funeral is first and foremost a celebration of the paschal mystery of Christ. The fourth part is the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Fr. Jonathan said every Mass is a celebration of the special meaning that the Eucharist has on Easter, receiving the risen body and blood of our Lord. Fr. Jonathan said at the cathedral they have the blessing of the fire outside because the rubrics say it should be a roaring fire. Then they will hold a procession around the cathedral. CatholicTV will broadcast the Easter vigil. Scot said the Mass always has to start after dark. Fr. Jonathan said this goes back to the 2nd century. In the 7th century they started creeping back the vigil to Saturday morning, but in 1951 the Vatican released a new text for the vigil that required that it take place after dark and finish before dawn. In the Archdiocese of Boston, parishes cannot begin until after 8pm. How can Christ cast out darkness if the sun is still shining. The symbolism speaks volumes when done in a dark church. Fr. Jonathan said at the beginning of the Liturgy the priest blesses the fire. The fire represents purification, passion, and illumination. The first should represent our passion for evangelization. Dear brethren (brothers and sisters), on this most sacred night, in which our Lord Jesus Christ passed over from death to life, the Church calls upon her sons and daughters, scattered throughout the world, to come together to watch and pray. Ifwe keep the memorial of the Lord’s paschal solemnity in this way, listening to his word and celebrating his mysteries, then we shall have the sure hope of sharing his triumph over death and living with him in God. Then the Priest blesses the fire, saying with hands extended: Let us pray. o God, who through your Son bestowed upon the faithful the fire of your glory, sanctify this new fire, we pray, and grant that, by these paschal celebrations, we may be so inflamed with heavenly desires, that with minds made pure we may attain festivities of unending splendor. Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen. They then bless the candle, and the priest inserts some Greek letters and the numbers of the year. The priest then puts five spikes of incense. Incense is part of sacrifice and the incense signifies that the candle itself burns in praise. The incense is inserted in a shape of cross, representing the wounds of Christ. The candles is a symbol of the resurrected and glorified body of Christ. After the blessing of the new fire, one of the ministers brings the paschal candle to the Priest, who cuts a cross into the candle with a stylus. Then he makes the Greek letter Alpha above the cross, the letter Omega below, and the four numerals of the current year between the arms of the cross, saying meanwhile: 1. Christ yesterday and today (he cuts a vertical line); 2. the Beginning and the End (he cuts a horizontal line); 3. the Alpha (he cuts the letter Alpha above the vertical line); 4. and the Omega (he cuts the letter Omega below the vertical line). 5. All time belongs to him (he cuts the first numeral of the current year in the upper left comer of the cross); 6. and all the ages (he cuts the second numeral of the current year in the upper right comer of the cross). 7. To him be glory and power (he cuts the third numeral of the current year in the lower left comer of the cross); 8. through every age and for ever. Amen (he cuts the fourth numeral of the current year in the lower right comer of the cross). [Insert inscription diagram for candle, cf. Missale Romanum, p. 339] When the cutting of the cross and of the other signs has been completed, the Priest may insert five grains of incense into the candle in the form of a cross, meanwhile saying: By his holy (Insert incense diagram for candle, cf. Missale Romanum, p. 339] and glorious wounds, may Christ the Lord guard us and protect us. Amen. The candle is lit from the bonfire and the priest sings, and the deacon leads the procession of the people into the church, reminding us of the Israelites being led by God as a pillar of fire from Egypt through the darkness of the wilderness into the Promised Land. The church is the promised land, a sign of the eternal reward. Scot said he loves to see the church become lit up with the candles held by individual parishioners. It showcases the beauty of the churches lit only by candlelight, showing us how churches have traditionally been lit throughout the centuries. Fr. Jonathan said the new fire blessed in the bonfire is brought into the church by the paschal candle for all the individual candles and all the lamps of the church. The deacon sings a proclamation three times. This when the electric lights are turned on. At this point the Easter proclamation is chanted. Fr. Jonathan said it is an over-excited expresso not Easter joy. In the old liturgy the priests were still in the purple of Lent, while the deacon was in the Easter color of white or gold. He sings of the joy of the Paschal Candle, which tells the story of our redemption and the mystery of the Easter vigil. It probably goes back to the third or fourth century and it originated in or around southern Italy. The chant itself is an ancient chant. There is both a new text and new music this year and it’s the only time in the liturgy that Gregorian chant is permitted to be over the top. We heard a recording of the Exsultet made at St. Cecilia Parish in Boston: Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven, exult, let Angel ministers of God exult, let the trumpet of salvation sound aloud our mighty King’s triumph! Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with light from her eternal King, let all comers of the earth be glad, knowing an end to gloom and darkness. Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice, arrayed with the lightning of his glory, let this holy building shake with joy, filled with the mighty voices of the peoples. (Therefore, dearest friends, standing in the awesome glory of this holy light, invoke with me, I ask you, the mercy of God almighty, that he, who has been pleased to number me, though unworthy, among the Levites, may pour into me his light unshadowed, that I may sing this candle’s perfect praises). (V. The Lord be with you. R. And with your spirit.) V. Lift up your hearts. R. We lift them up to the Lord. V. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. R. It is right and just. It is truly right and just, with ardent love of mind and heart and with devoted service of our voice, to acclaim our God invisible, the almighty Father, and Jesus Christ, our Lord, his Son, his Only Begotten. Who for our sake paid Adam’s debt to the eternal Father, and, pouring out his own dear Blood, wiped clean the record of our ancient sinfulness. These, then, are the feasts of Passover, in which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb, whose Blood anoints the doorposts of believers. This was the first section of the Easter Proclamation. Scot said he doesn’t recall hearing the beautiful imagery of the building shaking with the voices of the people. That’s how he envisions heaven to be: Heaven rocks because everyone participates fully. Fr. Matt said when you’ve been entering the spirit of Lent and the Triduum, there’s a sense of your heartbreaking for Him along with Our Lady. And then the Holy Light and the church lights up and the proclamation says there’s great hope in the Resurrection. It’s amazing how you enter into realizing that without Christ there is darkness, but with the Resurrection there is great hope and joy. there’s something that happens in you that lifts up your spirit. Scot said all of Creation sings aloud the triumph of the cross and all Creation on earth is to be glad. The Church is involved in that. Fr. Jonathan said every single word is packed with joy. He said musically you hear all those beautiful lines. He said parts of the chant sound like bells and he’s convinced that when the bells of Westminster Abbey were made, they had this chant in mind. Another line sounds like a trumpet. The music matches up with the imagery of the text. He said are not to be shy as Christians. We have mighty voices because of what we celebrate this evening. At the end of this section, it shows that tonight we celebrate the Christian Passover. For this next section, the music changes, and we hear longer notes for the great mystery that is being proclaimed: This is the night, when once you led our forebears, Israel’s children, from slavery in Egypt and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea. This is the night that with a pillar of fire banished the darkness of sin. This is the night that even now, throughout the world, sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices and from the gloom of sin, leading them to grace and joining them to his holy ones. This is the night, when Christ broke the prison-bars of death and rose victorious from the underworld. Our birth would have been no gain, had we not been redeemed. O wonder of your humble care for us! O love, O charity beyond all telling, to ransom a slave you gave away your Son! O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ! O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer! O truly blessed night, worthy alone to know the time and hour when Christ rose from the underworld! This is the night of which it is written: The night shall be as bright as day, dazzling is the night for me, and full of gladness. The sanctifying power of this night dispels wickedness, washes faults away, restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners, drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty. On this, your night of grace, O holy Father, accept this candle, a solemn offering, the work of bees and of your servants’ hands, an evening sacrifice of praise, this gift from your most holy Church. But now we know the praises of this pillar, which glowing fire ignites for God’s honor, a fire into many flames divided, yet never dimmed by sharing of its light, for it is fed by melting wax, drawn out by mother bees to build a torch so precious. O truly blessed night, when things of heaven are wed to those of earth, and divine to the human. Scot said his favorite line was “to ransom a slave you gave away your Son! O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ! O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!” Fr. Matt said the words before it are different from the previous translation because now they emphasis the love of God, love beyond all telling. Fr. Jonathan said these all come from St. Ambrose’s commentary on Scripture. His favorite line is “Our birth would have been no gain,had we not been redeemed.” Fr. Matt recalled the imagery of Christ breaking the prison bars of death. Therefore, O Lord, we pray you that this candle, hallowed to the honor of your name, may persevere undimmed, to overcome the darkness of this night. Receive it as a pleasing fragrance, and let it mingle with the lights of heaven. May this flame be found still burning by the Morning Star: the one Morning Star who never sets, Christ your Son, who, coming back from death’s domain, has shed his peaceful light on humanity, and lives and reigns for ever and ever. R. Amen. Scot encourages all listeners to come to the Easter Vigil at any parish in the Archdiocese. Fr. Jonathan said the morning star is the last star seen before the sun comes up. In Christian thought, Christ is the star that never sets.…
Summary of today’s show: On Tuesday of Holy Week in the Archdiocese of Boston, Cardinal Seán celebrates the Chrism Mass with the priests of the archdiocese, blessing the holy oils used in sacraments for the next year and renewing their priestly vows. In a special broadcast from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor, first, discuss the Mass and Holy Week with Fr. Jonathan Gaspar and the listen to and reflect upon Cardinal Seán’s homily to the priests, which each year is the one he prepares for with the greatest reflection and prayer. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor **Today’s guest(s): Fr. Jonathan Gaspar Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Cardinal Seán’s homily at the Chrism Mass 1st segment: Today the show is being broadcast from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross following the celebration of the Chrism Mass. He is joined by Fr. Jonathan Gaspar and Fr. Chris O’Connor. Fr. Jonathan said it’s always great to see so many priests turn out. Fr. Chris said many priests make a conscious decision to come from all over the Archdiocese in order to receive the oils used in sacraments and to renew their priestly vows. Many can’t come because they are needed in their parishes. Scot said it seems the Cardinal puts extra time and effort into his Chrism Mass homily. Fr. Jonathan said the Cardinal loves to preach, but he spends a great of time preparing for this one in particular, offering the priests a message of hope and encouragement. He said the Cardinal has spent many nights over the past few weeks in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and at his desk writing his homily. Scot said Cardinal Sean said the Chrism Mass is a sign of unity across the archdiocese in the sacred chrism consecrated today to be used in every sacrament of baptism, confirmation, and anointing. Fr. Chris said all of those sacraments are connected to this Mass today. Another element of unity is the presence of Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Methodios. Both the Metropolitan and the Cardinal spoke of the need for Christian unity. Scot said there is a luncheon for priests after the Mass at the cathedral and each year two priests received awards for their service. Fr. Jim Rafferty and Fr. Dave Palmieri were the recipients this year. Scot noted that Fr. Rafferty received unfavorable press coverage for a pastoral decision a few years ago at St. Paul’s in Hingham and this was a chance to highlight his service and to reaffirm him as one who preaches the faith in season and out of season. Scot said Cardinal Seán also mentioned during his homily how many priests tell him they first had an inkling of their vocation from their childhood priests who mentioned the possibility for the call in their lives. Fr. Jonathan recalled his own childhood priest who planted the idea of a vocation in him as a boy. He said Cardinal Seán told priests that the first way to foster vocations was to just smile and show the joy of the priesthood. 2nd segment: Scot said the Chrism Mass is the second big event of Holy Week after Palm Sunday. In many places, Chrism Mass is on Holy Thursday morning, but in big dioceses they move it to another day because priests need to get back to the parishes for Holy Thursday evening for all the preparations that must be made. Fr. Chris said in Rome it will be held on Holy Thursday. He said Pope John Paul II used to publish a Holy Thursday letter to the priests of the world giving them something to reflect on. He’s hoping Pope Benedict issues such a letter this year. Scot said priests at this Mass renew their priestly promises from ordination. After 14 years as a priest, Fr. Chris reflected on the renewal and he recalled the words, “Lord, I am unworthy.” In the midst of our own brokenness, Christ continues to call us to minister to his people. It also brought him back to his ordination day, being with his brother priests and celebrating the gift of his priesthood. The only large gathering of priests for Mass like this is the ordination Mass. The Cardinal asked three questions of the priests to renew their priestly vows. Fr. Chris said the Cardinal also asked the priests to pray him as a priestly leader. At another point, the vicar general kepis up and reads the names of all the priests who have died in the past year. About 25 priests were named this year. Scot said he reflected on how every priest present knew that one day their name would be read in this Mass. Fr. Chris said all Christians need to be cognizant of their own mortality and death, but the proximity of Easter reminds us of the promise of eternal life. Now we will hear from Cardinal Sean’s homily for the Mass and we will stop periodically to comment on it: Good morning everyone. Your eminence, Metropolitan Methodius, Brother Bishops and Priests, Deacons, Fellow Religious, dear brothers and sisters in the Lord. I first learned about the great tradition of Boston when John Wright became our bishop when I was a seminarian and he would regale us with many stories about Boston. But my favorite story of his was about Mayor Curley. Once when he was running for mayor, he was opposed by one of his lieutenants, a big, garrulous red-haired Irishman who I think was the police or the fire chief at the time. When his opponent had a political rally he decided to go. When he got there, he asked to speak. He said, “You know, every great man in history has had a betrayer. Caesar had his Brutus, Washington had Benedict Arnold, and our blessed savior had Judas. And you know? They were all redheads. Once I was visited by a priest who was very discouraged. He thought he was a redhead… He said: “Bishop, I am the worst priest in the world.” I said to him, that is quite a distinction. I asked him about his ordination and first mass. I said, “Did you fight over who was going to be first in line at your ordination? Did you betray Christ for the collection? Did you chop off someone’s ears with a machete? Did you then run away and hide? I was of course comparing the worst priest in the world with the first priests in the world, the apostles. The vocation of the apostles begins with the joyful discovery of Christ, and with the reckless abandoning of their boats, their nets and their families, to follow the Lord. It wasn’t too long however, when they were soon in competition with each other and worried about their retirement benefits, like who was going to have the thrones on the right and the left. They spent most of the first Sacred Triduum locked in the Cenacle, while it was the women who followed Jesus through the Stations of the Cross and to Calvary. To me one of the most poignant scenes in the Gospels is the apparition of the Risen Lord on Easter to the 11 remaining apostles. They’re hiding out in the Cenacle with the doors bolted. Suddenly, Christ is in their midst showing them his wounded hands as if to say: “See how much I love you.” The reaction of the apostles certainly must have been one of very conflicted emotions. First of all, they were overjoyed to see that Jesus was alive and in their midst. Secondly, they would have felt a profound shame and embarrassment because of their cowardly behavior. The apostles did not surface even to bury Jesus’ body after the crucifixion. Had it not been for Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, Jesus’ body would have been cast into a common ditch to be savaged by vultures and dogs. But Jesus’ love and forgiveness is so great, He does not even remind them of how badly they have behaved, but instead gives them the gift of the Spirit so that these sinners could become wounded healers. I find immense consolation in the fact that the Gospels give us, not pious platitudes, but a gritty, realistic portrayal of our first priests, the apostles. They were ordinary men like ourselves, full of humanity and shortcomings and idiosyncrasies. They were entrusted however, to carry on the most important mission in the history of the world and despite all of their weaknesses, they did an extraordinary job. Scot said one the ideas that stood out to him was that the people entrusted by Jesus to spread the Gospel were not those who had the courage to follow the Way of the Cross and stand at the foot of the Cross. Fr. Chris said we only know for sure that the Virgin Mary and John the beloved apostle were there. He loved how he picked up on the flaws and foibles of the apostles because it shows that by Christ picking these flawed men we see that the Church’s ministry is about reconciliation. He reconciles them to himself in order to send them out to tell about the power of forgiveness. Scot said the cardinal has immense satisfaction that the Gospels give us a gritty, real, intense view of the apostles. Our Church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum of saints. Fr. Chris said it goes back to the incarnation, that Christ became human so we might become divine. Christ is present to us and offering us an opportunity to die to self, so we might live in him. That’s what he calls us all to, regardless of state in life. I’m sure that all of us at one point have felt a certain envy of the apostles. We imagine how wonderful it would be to be there and hear Jesus’ voice, to see his miracles, to experience the closeness, the companionship and joy of being in his presence. It is ironic however, that the apostles’ worst behavior came about while Jesus was still with them. They came into their own after the Pentecost experience. It’s then that they go out boldly to proclaim the gospel and to share with the world what they have received. Though we have not had the privilege of walking over the hills of Galilee in Jesus’ company, we have received the same Spirit that the apostles did on Holy Thursday, on Easter Sunday and on Pentecost. And now the mission must continue, despite our weaknesses and shortcomings and all obstacles. Christ is counting on us just as He counted on those simple fishermen to preach his gospel, calling people to conversion and discipleship, building a community of faith around the Eucharist. Like those first Christians in the Acts of the Apostles, we must be united in embracing the teachings of the apostles, fellowship and prayer, and the breaking of the bread. Holy Thursday is a very special day for us priests; indeed this very Chrism Mass is an extension of Holy Thursday. On that first Holy Thursday, Jesus washed the feet of his apostles and commanded them to love one another in the way that He loves us. He also commanded them to celebrate the Eucharist, “Do this in memory of me.” And later on that same evening, Jesus tells his first priests: “Watch and pray.” Today, 2,000 years later, Jesus is telling us the same thing: we must love one another, we must celebrate His Eucharist, and we must watch and pray. In Chapter 14 of the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke reports how Paul and Barnabas gather the faithful at Antioch and they reported what God had done with them and how God had “opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.” Pope Benedict has lifted that beautiful phrase, “the door of faith,” “Porta Fidei,” for the name and theme of his letter announcing the year of faith beginning in the fall. It will mark the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the second Vatican Council, convoked by Blessed Pope John XXIII, and which also coincides with the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, published by Blessed John Paul II. We are people of faith. Faith defines our identity and motivates our actions. Faith is our most precious gift. I am so grateful to have been born into a family of believers, the faith and example of my parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles was so life giving to me as child. And I am ever grateful to my uncle, Father Jerry Riedy, who baptized me into the faith. Scot said although priests today haven’t walked with Jesus in Galilee, they have received the same Spirit the apostles did on Pentecost. Christ is counting on these priests just as He did on the apostles. Scot said the Cardinal has a passion for gathering the people of God around the Eucharistic table each week, because it is where we show our love for one another. Fr. Chris said the early Christians did this to show their love for Christ. There is an equality at that table. All are invited and equal in the eyes of God. We receive communion, we are brought deeper into the mystery of God and are meant to share it with our brothers and sisters in the faith. Scot said Cardinal Seán later told the priests to open the door of faith to people and how grateful he is to his family for opening the door of faith to him. We are all called to show people the beauty of our faith in our lives. Fr. Chris said we learn by imitation and example and so when we see the example of those who love the Lord and willingly give their life in service to the Lord we see the love for Christ conveyed and that faith is infectious. Preparing these reflections today, I decided to consult my concordance of the Bible. I found that the word faith appears four times in the Old Testament. However, in the New Testament, which is much shorter, the term faith appears over 250 times and the word believe also appears over 250 times. It is impossible to read the New Testament without appreciating how important faith is. Faith means not being an orphan, having a father who is our God and having many brothers and sisters. Faith is a home where we dwell and move and have our being, where we discover how much we are loved and who we are. Faith is a relationship with Christ, a loving and trusting and enduring friendship. Indeed the mission entrusted by Jesus to the apostles is not first of all to announce the gospel, but first of all to believe in him. As priests we are called to be men of faith, teachers of faith and witnesses of faith. The epistle to the Hebrews tells us that faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. After a beautiful passage celebrating the faith of our ancestors throughout salvation history, the author of Hebrews exhorts us: “Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus the origin and crown of all faith.” A few weeks ago I was invited to give the opening talk at a retreat for 75 young Jesuits here in Boston. A Jesuit Father who is a missionary in Siberia had organized the retreat and invited me. Afterwards, he presented me with a beautiful Russian icon of Our Lady. He told me that in Russia it is said: You do not choose the icon, the icon chooses you.” A very interesting perspective. Well, faith is born of a glance. Not so much ours, but that of Christ. The account of the vocation of the Apostles begins by the assertion Jesus looking at them. Jesus saw Andrew and Peter. Jesus saw the sons of Zebedee. Jesus saw Matthew. And having seen them, having fixed his gaze upon them, Jesus calls them to a life of discipleship. We should ask ourselves: “when did we become aware that Jesus had set his eyes on us?” When did we recognize His voice, and His invitation – “Follow me.” Each of us has our own vocational story. For each of us, there is a precise moment for each of us where we became aware that Jesus was looking at us. Certainly, there were many other moments: moments of enthusiasm, moments of definitive choice, and moments of decision to renew ourselves in the face of trials and difficulties and trials in our ministry. Even moments of remorse and shame when we had to cast ourselves on the mystery of our Lord’s mercy, like Peter in the courtyard of the high priest, when the Lord turns and fixes his gaze on Peter, who goes out and weeps bitterly. To be under the gaze of the love and mercy of Jesus and to put our eyes fixed on Him, this is faith and from that faith comes every call, every following and even our ministerial vocation which unites us to Jesus who with love, compassion and tenderness sees the crowd and is moved because they are like sheep without a shepherd. Seeing our people’s needs, Jesus sends us. Indeed as priests, we must persevere in running this course with our gaze fixed on Jesus, the origin and crown of all faith. It is our own Boston Marathon with many a Heartbreak Hill. It is a long distance run, not the frenetic sprint of the person anxious to be everywhere, who feels indispensable, who never has time for smile, who is not capable of listening, and who does not have the capacity for a profound silence. We need to witness the faith not by adopting the rhythms and times of this world, but rather by responding to the urgency of the gospel. “Faith comes through hearing” (Romans 10, 17) and it is as men of faith, that we must build our lives on the Word of God. There are so many demands on our time and attention, and our energy is not limitless. It requires discipline in the organization of our time to guarantee that each day we can be nourished by listening to the Word of God. Our celebration of the liturgy is also a crucial contact with the power that comes from God’s Word and from the Sacraments. Regardless of what one may feel about the new translation, the changes in the liturgy have been an opportunity for us to focus with greater attention to the words we are praying. The Chrism Mass allows us to glimpse the grace of belonging to a presbyterate. It is this in this presbyterate, united to Christ and one another that the gifts that we received by the imposition of hands can be stirred up and enlivened. Here all of our struggles and triumphs are melded into one. The hidden sacrifices heroically made by some of our brothers, the special graces, the pastoral genius, the tireless dedication come together to forge our presbyterate. We are a body that together regenerates itself. Together we share the responsibility to announce the Gospel and to build up the Christian community. You often hear the expression: “keep the faith.” But what we really need to do is not keep the faith, but spread it around. Our faith grows stronger when we share it with others. All of us remember fondly the priests who mentored us in the faith. Now it is our turn to share these treasures. We are earthen vessels bearing treasures. The world is being overcome with darkness. To me one of the most chilling phrases on Jesus’ lips are the words: “When the Son of Man returns will he find any faith on the earth?” In great part it depends on us. We who are Christ’s priests have a huge responsibility to announce his Gospel in season and out of season. Scot said this was news to him about faith and belief in the Bible. It’s important for the growth of the Church to understand that faith and belief are fundamental. Fr. Chris said we have to remember that faith is a gift from God to us, which we can accept or reject. It’s also important to remember how grateful the Cardinal was that his parents were believers that they imparted their faith to him. How grateful we should be to those in our lives who have imparted the faith to us. Sometimes when we’re lacking faith, the best way to grow in faith is to tell the Lord and then to pray. We become a better athlete by practicing the motions of the sport, and we grow in faith by acting in faith. Scot said the Cardinal said our faith grows stronger as we share it with others. We all have a huge responsibility to preach the Gospel in season and out of season. Fr. Chris quoted the First Letter of Peter, “be prepared to give a reason for your hope,” for why we believe. What are the highlights of our own faith conveyed in 3 minutes that we would give to someone who asked? I often tell the Jesuits that I’m a little envious of them, since they have 35 craters on the moon named after Jesuit fathers. We Capuchins only have a cup of coffee…. One of the best spots to drink a good cappuccino is the Piazza of San Eustachio in Rome. If you have ever indulged yourself at one of the cafés there, you may have noticed the lovely church which looks like many other Italianate churches, except for the fact that on top of the church where one usually expects to find the cross, there is a huge set of antlers. I am sure that there is some pious explanation for the antlers, perhaps some story about San Eustachio running over a deer and miraculously providing venison for 4000 orphans. However, if you ask the Romans why there are antlers on the top of the church you may hear the story that I was told. Apparently, a young Roman nobleman married a beautiful bride in that church, but soon after the marriage she absconded with the best man. Today the man would have gone on the Jerry Springer show. The husband was disconsolate, and in his grief and rage had the antlers placed on the roof of that church. In Italian, a man who has deceived by his wife is referred to as “cornuto” which means having horns. I am told that ever since the antlers went up, there are very few weddings in that church. Accordingly, for many Romans, the antlers on the church betoken defeat and sadness. During this year of faith we need to climb up and pull the antlers down and lift high the cross, the triumphant, life giving cross. Our people need us to be confident and joyful teachers of the faith. Cardinal Dolan spoke of going to a conference by Cardinal Wright on Evangelization, expecting a deep theological treatise. The message of the eloquent Bostonian was simply – smile! Pope Benedict constantly dwells on relationship of faith with joy. The word joy appears sixty (60) times in the New Testament. The very word Gospel means glad tidings. We are messengers of that joyful news. Scot said when he lived in Rome, he never saw the church the Cardinal referred to. Fr. Chris said he is going to Rome this summer and he’s planning to check it out. Scot said the Cardinal seemed to be saying that we should tear down anything distracting us from the faith and in its place to lift high the Cross. But the cross isn’t about grief. The cardinal referred to Cardinal Dolan speaking of the joy of having received the Good News and letting it permeate out hearts, even before the cross. Fr. Chris quoted St. Theresa of Avila: “Lord, save me from long-faced saints.” We should see the cross as something beautiful and life-giving. Showing the joy of the love of Christ attracts people and is an invitation to the gift of faith. The people need to glimpse our own faith. They need teachers who are witnesses. In our priestly support groups and circles of priests, we need to talk about Christ and our love for the mission that He has entrusted to us. It is because the Disciples on the Road to Emmaus are talking about Jesus, that the Risen Lord draws near and breaks open the Scriptures for them. That experience made their hearts burn within them. Cleopas and his buddy never finished that dinner – they got up from that table probably without even paying the check and ran back to Jerusalem with the waitress chasing them down the road. They were filled with joy, and wanted to share that joy and good news with their brothers – “we have seen the Lord and we recognized him in the breaking of the bread.” Pope Benedict XVI, in Porta Fidei, writes “faith grows when it is lived as an experience of grace and joy.” He warns us not to grow lazy in the faith, and urges us to focus on Jesus Christ, because “in him all the anguish and longing of the human heart finds fulfillment.” At the Chrism Mass, I like to make an appeal, a challenge to my priests and to myself. In the past, I have asked us all to work harder on our preaching. I have asked that every priest make a serious retreat each year – I had to go down to St. Petersburg last year to make sure Bishop Hennessey was not offering the enneagram and reiki. Actually we are very grateful for the wonderful work Bob Hennessey is doing on those retreats. I have asked that each priest develop a personal rule of life to assure the balance we need to pray hard, work hard and play hard. I have asked that each priest join a priest support group to be able to build a truly spiritual fraternity with a deep sense of shared mission. This year I would ask that each priest, myself included, to recommit ourselves to our own ongoing formation. Each of us is ultimately responsible for his own ongoing formation, which needs to be spiritual, human, theological and pastoral so that we might be the teachers of the faith our people need. Pope John Paul II wrote in Pastores dabo Vobis: “Ongoing formation aims at increasing the priest’s awareness of his share in the Church’s saving mission”. “The priest’s permanent formation appears not only as a necessary condition but also as an indispensable means for constantly refocusing on the meaning of his mission and for ensuring that he is carrying it out with fidelity and generosity. By this formation, the priest is helped to become aware of the seriousness and yet the splendid grace of an obligation which cannot let him rest, so that, like Paul, he must be able to say: “If I preach the Gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel”(1 Cor. 9:16). At the same time, the priest also becomes aware of a demand, which insistently comes from all those whom God is unceasingly calling to salvation. Scot said in the seminary it’s important to remind the seminarians that formation doesn’t end with ordination. Fr. Chris said none of us are finished products. The disciples on the road to Emmaus were on a journey and each priest has to grow theologically and pastorally. He said he was intrigued by the list of challenges the Cardinal gives each year to the priests for them to work on. It’s helpful to look on all of them and see where they’ve grown. One year is was about working on homilies. Another year was about taking a serious renewing retreat each year. Another year, they were to form a spiritual fraternity. This year it’s about ongoing formation. Fr. Chris said it’s a good reminder to all of his priests. Scot recapped the end of the Cardinal’s homily. For the Church, the Year of the Faith is to be the year of the New Evangelization. Our personal ongoing formation will help us as a diocese in our task of imbuing our pastoral planning with the new evangelization which means taking the Gospel to those who have grown cold, to reach out with a new ardor and with new methods, turning our parishes into communities of evangelizers where every parishioner feels a call to share their faith, to be a part of the mission to make Christ’s Gospel loved, and to promote a civilization of justice and love. I am very grateful to Bishop Arthur Kennedy for his willingness to help us to equip our people for the challenges of the New Evangelization and for promoting our ongoing formation. I know that it seems daunting but I am confident that this Year of Faith will be great grace for our Church if we priests take advantage of this time to renew ourselves in an ongoing conversion that is a response to Christ’s loving call. Spiritual writers speak of a second call, actually there are many moments when the Lord glances at us as He did to Peter, after Peter’s fall and what I call the “Last Breakfast” when the risen Lord, having examined Peter in his love, says “Follow me” again. As we renew our ordination promises may we recommit our lives to Christ, to our brothers and sisters, in the service of the Gospel whose Heralds we are. May the Lord grant each of us a faith that bestows confidence and courage, generosity and joy, as together we work to build up Christ’s Kingdom. Together we want to take down the antlers of sadness and defeat and weathervane of doubt and uncertainly and lift high the cross. What St. Francis calls the book that contains the greatest love story in the history of the world – and we priests are all part of that story. God bless you. Scot said it’s his sense that the Cardinal’s hope is that each parish will come alive and each Catholic will be motivated to share their faith. Fr. Chris said it’s an insight that originates with Pope Benedict XVI, who is always talking about this new evangelization, re-presenting the Gospel to those who have grown cold in the faith, re-introducing the idea that Christ is the life and the Resurrection. Scot previewed the liturgies of the rest of the week. He said beautiful images from these liturgies taken by George Martell can be found at . Scot and Fr. Chris said the best way to prepare for Easter is to participate in all the liturgies and services of Holy Week. Fr. Chris reminded everyone that tomorrow night is the final light of The Light Is On For You for this Lent, where the sacrament of confession will be available in every church and chapel from 6:30-8pm.…
Summary of today’s show: Seven years ago today, Bl. John Paul II died on the eve of the Feast of Divine Mercy, the devotion that he did so much to promote. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams are joined by Fr. Kazimierz Chwalek and Mary Kay Volpone of the Association of Marian Helpers to discuss this great message of divine love, in which we are called to approach the fountain of Divine Mercy with great trust and through it renew the face of the world. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Fr. Kazimierz Chwalek and Mary Kay Volpone of the Association of Marian Helpers Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Divine Mercy 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show. He noted that today is the seventh anniversary of the death of Blessed John Paul II. They recalled where they each were on that day. Fr. Matt recalls being on a Life in the Spirit seminar in Maine. The day he died was the feast of Divine Mercy. Today we will be talking about Divine Mercy with Fr. Kaz and Mary Kay from the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Kaz and Mary Kay to the show. Fr. Kaz said hearing about John Paul brings up all the wonderful memories. Mary Kay recalled hearing the news of the passing of John Paul, being with her nephews and nieces and explaining the importance of the moment and praying with them. Fr. Kaz said the Holy Father actually died at 3:37 pm our time, 9:37pm in Rome, not yet the feast of Divine Mercy. Fr. Kaz said they prayed for him during the hour of Divine Mercy of 3pm. He was in the church at the shrine praying when he heard. Scot said George Weigel has written that John Paul’s love for the Divine Mercy was one of the 3 things that defined his papacy. Fr. Kaz said when John Paul was a laborer during World War II and he used to pass by the shrine of Sr. Faustina’s convent and he was aware of the devotion even before he entered seminary. In 1965 many people wanted him to initiate the cause of Sr. Faustina as archbishop of Karakow, but the Church had banned the devotion. So at the end of Vatican II, he asked the prefect of the Holy Office what to do and he was told to begin. In November 1965, he initiated the cause. He asked one of his best theologians to write an analysis of the diary and the ban was lifted in 1978, six months before John Paul was elected pope. This allowed him to promote the cause, where before it would have been called favoritism. In 1980, he published his second encyclical on Divine Mercy, , where he provided the theological ground for our understanding of divine Mercy without mentioning Faustina. Fr. Kaz was born in Poland and came to the US at 13. Scot asked him to describe how central to Polish Catholicism was the Divine Mercy devotion. Fr. Kaz said once the ban was put in place, the devotion died down and nobody really knew about it in most of Poland. Prior to the ban in 1958, it was promoted and spread, especially during World War II and was a consoling message of hope. In fact, the Marians of the Immaculate Conception brought it to the United States in 1941 and it was spread more widely here. The message was given to the Marians by Faustina’s spiritual director and they began to publish it immediately. The priest had asked the Lord that if he was able to get him out of Communist Poland, that he would do all he could to spread the message. Fr. Kaz said the Holy Father’s second papal trip was to Poland and at the time Fr. Kaz was a graduate student there. The atmosphere was still oppressive without freedom. Fr. Kaz said he will never forget the day on Pentecost when they televised the Mass nationally and John Paul cried out “Let the Holy Spirit come and renew the face of this land.” Fr. Kaz said the students left their studies and followed him for 7 days throughout Poland. Fr. Kaz had a sense of freedom. They were not afraid. This was the beginning of Solidarity. So what this message means is seeing how God works, how merciful He is, how much He cares for us. He can remove the shackles of slavery. Later on, out of that Solidarity movement came the whole collapse of European Communism. Mary Kay said the key points of the devotion are the feast, the image, the hour, the chaplet and the hour of great mercy. She said it’s not just a devotion but a message and way of life. It’s a way of trusting in the Lord and forgiving people. She said it was essential in Poland for people to learn to forgive after the Nazi oppression and then the Communist oppression. Fr. Matt said the Gospel proclaims the abundance of God’s mercy, so the Divine Mercy message through Faustina was not new. Yet, it beautifully unpacks and makes more accessible what we have received in the Gospel. Jesus is the first missionary. He was sent from the Father to redeem and save humanity. Fr. Kaz said the Lord in the messages wants us to know Him as He is. St. Faustina’s spiritual director talked about how much in reading the diary of St. Faustina, he rediscovered the great love and mercy of Christ. It highlights the teachings of our Church, like a spotlight on the Old Testament and New Testament. More than half the Psalms reference mercy, but we overlook it so often. Scot said too often people see God as a tough judge, and it is true that God is our judge, but He also loves us and is merciful and wants to carry our burdens for us. Fr. Kaz said God has given us the ability to know Him and His will and when we go contrary to the commandments we know there are consequences, like the law of gravity. Even though we know, we are weak, in Original Sin, so God gave us the incredible gift of his Son, who has already freed us for eternity. He gave its the power to overcome brokenness. 3rd segment: Fr. Matt asked how we help others rediscover the sense of sin that brings us to repentance. Fr. Kaz said in our hearts we brokenness and disillusionment. While we may not be aware of the nature of sin, God in his mercy wants to heal us. Someone going through hopelessness and despair, call upon God who will come and rescue them. God does not hold grudges. He loves us so much he will takes us home if we acknowledge our need for him. Mary Kay said St. Faustina wrote in her diary about souls striving for perfection. Jesus says there that we fall because we rely too much on our selves and not enough on him. But realize that God doesn’t provide just so many pardons. No matter how many times we turn to him with contrite hearts he will forgive us. It’s when we stop turning to him, that’s when we get in trouble. If the soul doesn’t allow even a little flicker of him in there, he will respect that choice. We have that choice to let him in. At the crucifixion, when Jesus’ heart is pierced and blood and water flow out, it means that there is nothing left to give. It is poured out for every single one of us. No one is ever lost. If someone needs prayers, pray for them because no one is ever beyond conversion. Fr. Kaz quoted, “I have opened My Heart as a living fountain of mercy. Let all souls draw life from it. Let them approach this sea of mercy with great trust (Diary, 1520). On the cross, the fountain of My mercy was opened wide by the lance for all souls — no one have I excluded!” Christ is our fountain so the minute we come to him in prayer, we ask him for healing for mercy and there is more. The Holy Spirit inspires us to pray. Once we are there in that moment, then he draws us to the sacraments. The person opens their heart even a little bit and the Lord comes in. It’s not just Confession, but also the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the fountain of His Mercy. Our Lady is also the one who brings Mercy because she intercedes for us. Scot asked about St. Faustina, who was born in 1905 and died in 1938. Mary Kay said Faustina was the third of ten children in a peasant family. Her family didn’t want her to enter religious life even though she felt a call at 7 years old. When she was 20 years old and attending a dance, she had a vision of the Lord standing before her and asking how long she was going to make him wait. She left the party, ran into a church, and asked for guidance. She was told to go to Warsaw. She got off the train and asked Our Lady for direction .She eventually ended up at the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy who took her in. She had little education and was a gardner, porter, and cook. A beggar came to the door one day and she gave him food. When she turned around she was gone. She started to see visions of Our Lord and write them in her diary. Her spiritual director, Blessed Michael Sopocko, had her examined by a psychiatrist and he later said that he was being so edified by the writings. Mary Kay said one of her favorite parts was Faustina talking about keeping control of an unruly tongue. At one time, she had tuberculosis and no one believed her. The other sisters thought she was stupid and careless and didn’t know about her receiving her messages, yet she thanked God for the daily crosses and harsh way she was treated. And today as a saint she’s interceding for those us who are struggling. Fr. Matt asked about the hour of mercy and how we can observe it. Fr. Kaz said as Catholics we used to have during Lent a remembrance of Christ’s Passion at 3pm. The Lord wanted us to remember him every day in His Passion. Wherever we are we should immerse ourselves in His Passion and to remember what He did for us. Otherwise we go about the day immersed in our present moment, but this life, this world, this moment is not everything. We can experience his love and extraordinary graces by meditating on his passion for as long as we can. He said the Chaplet of Divine Mercy is particularly important in turning to the Father and asking for graces and mercy for everyone around the world. The chaplet is a unique prayer given by the Lord to St. Faustina which grants unimaginable graces to those who recite, especially when recited before one who is dying. He said it’s especially useful to pray many chaplets while driving. It’s a powerful prayer because we turn to the Father. Scot said the chaplet is broadcast every day at 3pm on WQOM and CatholicTV does so as well. Fr. Matt said it can bring comfort to those praying for loved ones who are separated from the Lord, especially when they are dying and don’t have access to a priest. We can pray and the Lord has promised to come in His mercy to that person in the hour of his death. Fr. Kaz says to pray for the dying and trust in his mercy because they have the most need of trust and have it the least. Fr. Kaz said they often teach health care professionals, especially nurses, on the Divine Mercy because they are often the only ones who can pray for the dying. Scot said people are often familiar with the image of Divine Mercy with the motto of Jesus, I trust in you. It’s the promise we all can have to be able to trust in Christ. This was Jesus’ signature that he requested at the bottom of the image. Mary Kay said there are other versions of the image created by artists trying o capture exactly what St. Faustina saw. But instead of getting caught up on any particular image, we should ensure it captures our heart. This Friday begins the nine-day novena leading to the Feast of Diviune Mercy on the Sunday after Easter. Fr. Kaz said the Lord announced the feast before he asked for the novena and repeated it on numerous occasions His desire for this feast. The key element for the Lord was that it occur on the Sunday after Easter. The Eucharist is a key component of the novena as is a good confession. Fr. Kaz said learning this message 33 years ago was the most exciting gift he’s ever received. It’s a message of renewal. Mary Kay said everyone is welcome to the Shrine of Divine Mercy on April 15. It takes place outdoors on the ground and they get between 10,000 and 20,000 pilgrims each year.…
Summary of today’s show: For the past 25 years, Colbe Mazzarella has organized hundreds of people for a Good Friday Way of the Cross for Life through Boston, stopping at churches and in front of abortion clinics to pray for the end of the awful practice and offer reparations for their sins and those of our country and the world. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell discuss with Colbe how the Way of the Cross has grown over the years into three simultaneous walks averaging about 400 people giving witness through the city. In preparation for Palm Sunday, Scot, Fr. Mark, and Colbe read and discuss the lengthy Passion narrative. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Colbe Mazzarella Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Way of the Cross for Life 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Mark to the show. On today’s show, we will be hearing and discussing the Passion narrative for Sunday, but first we’ll talk to Colbe Mazzarella, organizer of the Way of the Cross for Life. Scot said the US bishops have asked everyone to pray and fast for religious liberty and protection of conscience. If everyone hasn’t heard that yet, they could pray with us this prayer from the . O GOD OUR CREATOR, from your provident hand we have received our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You have called us as your people and given us the right and the duty to worship you, the only true God, and your Son, Jesus Christ. Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit, you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world, bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel to every corner of society. We ask you to bless us in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty. Give us the strength of mind and heart to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened; give us courage in making our voices heard on behalf of the rights of your Church and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith. Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father, a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters gathered in your Church in this decisive hour in the history of our nation, so that, with every trial withstood and every danger overcome— for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, and all who come after us— this great land will always be “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcomed Colbe Mazzarella. Scot congratulated hero n the 25th year for the Way of Cross for Life. It started when she read a newspaper article about someone starting a similar walk in California. She told people what a good idea it is and when no one else started it she did. On Good Friday, they walk and stop and pray in front of several churches and abortion clinics, following three different simultaneous routes. They start at 9 am and usually end by noon and so people go on to a Good Friday service. They walk through Boston and Brookline and East Boston. Colbe noted how often as the people walk, praying not protesting, they get a good response from those who see them. Scot said the Good Friday connection helps people to acknowledge their own sinfulness, especially as it relates to the topic of abortion. They offer up reparation for our sins and the sins throughout the world. Colbe said reparation means “to repair” something bad that has happened, and abortion is something bad that is harming our whole culture. We need to make reparation as a whole nation. Scot asked how it’s different now from 25 years ago. Colbe said for her, she started pushing a stroller with her baby and now he’s a math teacher. Over the years, they’ve added reflections to the traditional Stations of the Cross that include a pro-life meditation that goes with each station. In Boston they start at Government Center. In Brookline they start at Planned Parenthood on Comm. Ave in Allston. In East Boston, the begin at Holy Redeemer. That walk ends at the Madonna Shrine. Colbe said attendance does fluctuate with the weather, but there’s usually 400 or so who are usually there. The East Boston walk is more of a neighborhood event. In downtown Boston they walk through the business district and end up at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. The Brookline/Allston walk mainly follows the streets of Allston. Colbe said Most Holy Redeemer is mainly Spanish speaking, so the prayers alternate Spanish and English. It has a touch of Latin cultural flavor. You don’t have to sign up. Just show up at one of the starting points. Scot asked about the ups and downs of doing this ministry over 25 years. Colbe said having something that happens on a particular day every year makes it easier over something that’s more open-ended. Having people who are meeting on a schedule is very important, whatever volunteer ministry you lead. Colbe said the walk is a mirror of what Jesus did: walk through the city with some people they pass for them and some against. It also keeps Jesus’ suffering as something timeless, connecting the suffering of Christ with the troubles in own lives and our place. Fr. Mark ask if people are really against them and Colbe said they do hear awful things yelled at them. In response, they respond like Christ, silently and praying for the person. Scot asked what a difference it’s made in her children’s and grandchildren’s lives to make such a public witness of their faith. Colbe said it’s great to start when they’re young so they don’t see it as unusual. Her kids walk right up front holding the banner and later in life they’re used to stepping up. When they see someone being negative, they see one angry individual versus a large group of prayerful people. They’ve borrowed the Holy Thursday tradition of the station churches. At each church, they go inside and say two of the stations. They also have Bible readings, going verse by verse through Salvation History, from Genesis to Revelation. Some of the stops include the Paulist Center, St. Thomas More chapel (even though it’s closed now), St. Anthony’s Shrine, St. James in Chinatown, Holy Trinity, and the cathedral. At the cathedral they make the same two stations, but are led by Cardinal Sean. This year it’s in the downstairs chapel. They discussed the renovations that have happened in the cathedral, including the beautiful chapel. They also discussed the various languages prayed in the cathedral. Colbe said most people walk the whole route, but people do join along the way. 3rd segment: Now as we do each week, we look forward to the readings from this Sunday’s Mass. We will hear the Gospel of the Pasison Narrative read in four voices. The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were to take place in two days’ time. So the chief priests and the scribes were seeking a way to arrest him by treachery and put him to death. They said, “Not during the festival, for fear that there may be a riot among the people.” When he was in Bethany reclining at table in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of perfumed oil, costly genuine spikenard. She broke the alabaster jar and poured it on his head. There were some who were indignant. “Why has there been this waste of perfumed oil? It could have been sold for more than three hundred days’ wages and the money given to the poor.” They were infuriated with her. Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you make trouble for her? She has done a good thing for me. The poor you will always have with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them, but you will not always have me. She has done what she could. She has anticipated anointing my body for burial. Amen, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed to the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went off to the chief priests to hand him over to them. When they heard him they were pleased and promised to pay him money. Then he looked for an opportunity to hand him over. On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city and a man will meet you, carrying a jar of water. Follow him. Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there.” The disciples then went off, entered the city, and found it just as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he came with the Twelve. And as they reclined at table and were eating, Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” They began to be distressed and to say to him, one by one, “Surely it is not I?” He said to them, “One of the Twelve, the one who dips with me into the dish. For the Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.” While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will have your faith shaken, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be dispersed. But after I have been raised up, I shall go before you to Galilee.” Peter said to him, “Even though all should have their faith shaken, mine will not be.” Then Jesus said to him, “Amen, I say to you, this very night before the cock crows twice you will deny me three times.” But he vehemently replied, “Even though I should have to die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all spoke similarly. Then they came to a place named Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took with him Peter, James, and John, and began to be troubled and distressed. Then he said to them, “My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch.” He advanced a little and fell to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass by him; he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will.” When he returned he found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” Withdrawing again, he prayed, saying the same thing. Then he returned once more and found them asleep, for they could not keep their eyes open and did not know what to answer him. He returned a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough. The hour has come. Behold, the Son of Man is to be handed over to sinners. Get up, let us go. See, my betrayer is at hand.” Then, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs who had come from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. His betrayer had arranged a signal with them, saying, “The man I shall kiss is the one; arrest him and lead him away securely.” He came and immediately went over to him and said, “Rabbi.” And he kissed him. At this they laid hands on him and arrested him. One of the bystanders drew his sword, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his ear. Jesus said to them in reply, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs, to seize me? Day after day I was with you teaching in the temple area, yet you did not arrest me; but that the Scriptures may be fulfilled.” And they all left him and fled. Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked. They led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. Peter followed him at a distance into the high priest’s courtyard and was seated with the guards, warming himself at the fire. The chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus in order to put him to death, but they found none. Many gave false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. Some took the stand and testified falsely against him, alleging, “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands and within three days I will build another not made with hands.’” Even so their testimony did not agree. The high priest rose before the assembly and questioned Jesus, saying, “Have you no answer? What are these men testifying against you?” But he was silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him and said to him, “Are you the Christ, the son of the Blessed One?” Then Jesus answered, “I am; and ‘you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.’” At that the high priest tore his garments and said, “hat further need have we of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?” They all condemned him as deserving to die. Some began to spit on him. They blindfolded him and struck him and said to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards greeted him with blows. While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the high priest’s maids came along. Seeing Peter warming himself, she looked intently at him and said, “You too were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” But he denied it saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.” So he went out into the outer court. Then the cock crowed. The maid saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” Once again he denied it. A little later the bystanders said to Peter once more, “Surely you are one of them; for you too are a Galilean.” He began to curse and to swear, “I do not know this man about whom you are talking.” And immediately a cock crowed a second time. Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said to him, “Before the cock crows twice you will deny me three times.” He broke down and wept. As soon as morning came, the chief priests with the elders and the scribes, that is, the whole Sanhedrin held a council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate questioned him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He said to him in reply, “You say so.” The chief priests accused him of many things. Again Pilate questioned him, “Have you no answer? See how many things they accuse you of.” Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed. Now on the occasion of the feast he used to release to them one prisoner whom they requested. A man called Barabbas was then in prison along with the rebels who had committed murder in a rebellion. The crowd came forward and began to ask him to do for them as he was accustomed. Pilate answered, “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” For he knew that it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed him over. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. Pilate again said to them in reply, “Then what do you want me to do with the man you call the king of the Jews?” They shouted again, “Crucify him.” Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” They only shouted the louder, “Crucify him.” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them and, after he had Jesus scourged, handed him over to be crucified. The soldiers led him away inside the palace, that is, the praetorium, and assembled the whole cohort. They clothed him in purple and, weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him. They began to salute him with, AHail, King of the Jews!” and kept striking his head with a reed and spitting upon him. They knelt before him in homage. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him out to crucify him. They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. They brought him to the place of Golgotha — which is translated Place of the Skull — They gave him wine drugged with myrrh, but he did not take it. Then they crucified him and divided his garments by casting lots for them to see what each should take. It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” With him they crucified two revolutionaries, one on his right and one on his left. Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself by coming down from the cross.” Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes, mocked him among themselves and said, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing him. At noon darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Some of the bystanders who heard it said, “Look, he is calling Elijah.” One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink saying, “Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.” Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. Here all kneel and pause for a short time. The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he breathed his last he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” There were also women looking on from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses, and Salome. These women had followed him when he was in Galilee and ministered to him. There were also many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem. When it was already evening, since it was the day of preparation, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a distinguished member of the council, who was himself awaiting the kingdom of God, came and courageously went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate was amazed that he was already dead. He summoned the centurion and asked him if Jesus had already died. And when he learned of it from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. Having bought a linen cloth, he took him down, wrapped him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses watched where he was laid. Scot said when he prays this on Palm Sunday and Good Friday, it’s always difficult to shout as part of the crowd. But it drives home our own sin. Colbe said we do crucify Christ when we sin and so it’s only appropriate that we are the ones to voice that. Fr. Mark said most priests don’t preach a long homily after this, but usually emphasize the entry into Holy Week. But a few interesting parts include the line about the young man wrapped in a linen cloth, who some say was the author of the Gospel, St. Mark. It doesn’t say it’s Mark, but why is it in there? Other possible appearances of Mark might be the rich, young man and the young man who peers into the empty tomb on Easter Sunday. Scot noted that effects of nature, when true darkness falls over the land, earthquake, the veil in the Temple being torn in two. We could have been one of those shouting for the crucifixion, but we could also be the pagan centurion giving testimony, having witnessed the three hours darkness and the momentous events. Why is it just the single voice who reads this line? Colbe said it’s always fewer who see Christ for who he is. But we are often both those who call for the crucifixion, and also those who express our belief. Scot said thinks about how often we are faced with choosing Jesus or Barabbas in our life, i.e. something that is a replacement for Jesus. How often do we choose not-Jesus? It could be as basic as praying more or watching television? Listening to Catholic talk radio or sports talk radio. Fr. Mark said we could be Pilate, who finds his way out and not understanding the full consequences of what he does. Rick Heil, producer, said we could be Simon Cyrenean, the bystander called from the crowd to perform a minor but extremely important role. People are often willing to step up and help if only they’re asked. Scot said Judas comes off worst in this reading, but second worst in Peter. Eventually Jesus gives Peter a chance to repent, to choose Christ instead of himself three times, and then making him Pope. We can never do something that Jesus won’t forgive. Choose Peter’s way, not Judas’ way. Colbe said the biggest difference between Judas and Peter is Judas wouldn’t turn to Jesus, couldn’t believe in forgiveness. Scot said the Agony in the Garden often gets overlooked in this long narrative, but there are important choices in that scene. For instance, the apostles couldn’t stay awake and pray with Jesus for three hours. Sometimes we need to give our attention and best effort to accompany him in prayer. Let him accompany us. This was a gift to the apostles, to be in Christ’s presence in that moment. Fr. Mark said we should pledge to spend time during Holy Week with Christ in the garden. Perhaps that could include the Way of the Cross for Life.…
Summary of today’s show: On our weekly headline show, Scot Landry and Susan Abbott discuss the news with Fr. Roger Landry and Antonio Enrique, including last weekend’s Catechetical Congress; appointment of a pastor for the Archdiocese’s largest parish; religious freedom rally in Boston and a day of prayer and fasting; the Pope’s trip to Cuba and Mexico; and asking inactive Catholics why they left. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Antonio Enrique, editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Catechetical congress; day of fasting for liberty; Pope in Cuba, Mexico; exit interviews for Catholics 1st segment: Scot thanked everyone for joining us on our Thursday news show. Scot said Susan looks more relaxed this week after last weekend’s Catechetical Congress and preparing for her office’s day of prayer. Susan said her office goes away three times per year for prayer. Filling in for Gregory Tracy today who was with the Cardinal on his trip to Cuba is Antonio Enrique. Susan said the Pilot did a great job reporting on the Catechetical Congress and had many nice photos. It was a wonderful day at Boston College High School last Saturday. They had an overflow crowd. They had prepared for 850 people and even more came. Bishop Richard Malone of Portland, Maine, celebrated the opening Mass, Fr. Bryan Hehir preached the homily, and the Black Catholic Choir provided the music. Susan said she read every evaluation and people were so pleased with the 27 English workshops, 12 Spanish, and 4 Portuguese. Scot said he noticed that half of the participants were Spanish-speaking. Susan said the Spanish community is growing and Pilar de la Torre works closely with the Spanish-speaking communities and has a very personal relationship with those 20 communities that Susan and her co-worker Susan Kay can’t have with 290 parishes. Antonio, as a Spanish immigrant, said he thinks catechetics is a very important value for the Spanish-speaking community. Those immigrants tend to be very committed to their faith and are a very close-knit community. Scot said he also learned the the word catechesis comes from the word “echo” and what we’re echoing is the teaching of Christ. Susan said it’s the Greek root for echo. We’re talking about a systematic echoing of the faith. Scot said he noticed catechesis and catechist being used a lot more today than when he was younger when it was called CCD or religious education. Susan said that comes from the publication of the revised General Catechetical Directory by the Vatican in 1997. Scot said a huge focus for the Holy Father in the upcoming Year of Faith is improving how we catechize. Fr. Roger said the holy Father is much aware of a catechetical illiteracy amount adults and young adults, so we have to give the world a gift of true knowledge. Pope Benedict has always stressed that our catechesis must not be just pedagogy, i.e. instruction in knowledge, but must also be mystagogy, i.e. leading people in a way of life. Catecheists must tech by example in the practice of the faith, not just by words. Pope BEnedict is doing this with his weekly general audiences in St. Peter’s Square. At the end of the article, Susan said she hopes continue to grow the congress: “”I live for the day when we have to turn people away, when we have to hold this at…is it still called Gillette Stadium?” she asked.” Another story in the Pilot this week is the official appointment of Fr. Kevin J. Deeley as the new pastor of St. Michael’s in North Andover. Over the past several weeks we have seen three priests assigned to the parish leaving for health reasons, retirement, and reassignment to a new parish. He is the brother of vicar general Msgr. Robert Deeley. Scot said St. Michael’s is the biggest parish in the archdiocese. Fr. Kevin Deeley was is returning from service as a US military chaplain. Antonio said Fr. Deeley had recently been filling in as a temporary administrator at St. Raphael’s in Medford while their pastor was in Rome on a sabbatical. The appointment is effective April 27. Another story in the Pilot covers the Stand Up for Religious Freedom rally at the State House in Boston. Scot was one of the speakers, as well as Massachusetts Citizens for Life Edwin Shanahan, Clarivel Marin de Dragas, and State Representative Jim Lyons of Andover. Antonio said the US bishops are drawing a line in the sand to protect our right to religious liberty and to protect our consciences from being forced to violate them. Antonio was recently at a meeting between Catholic press and the US bishops conference and they are seeing this as a very important moment in the history of our country. Scot said the bishops are trying to mobilize Catholic to be much more active in the public square. Fr. Roger said we’re still in the first quarter, to use a sports analogy. We’re getting organized and rallying our resources. We’re somewhat on the defensive at the moment against those trying to curtail our rights. But the offensive aspect includes education from the US bishops religious freedom committee, which will be issuing a document on the history of religious freedom in America. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York has hinted at some of the content, referring recently to some of the great events in our history which were a direct outgrowth of religious faith. This education initiative will help Catholics to take the fight for their freedom and rights into the public square. Scot said the bishops are also also asking all people of faith to fast and pray for religious freedom tomorrow. Scot said Catholics need to get educated and speak up or those who are opposed to us will be the only voices in the public square. But we must also recognize the importance of times of quiet and fasting. Many of the big problems in the world have been solved by prayer and fasting. Susan said as we enter Holy Week, it’s a perfect time for such an initiative. Scot said it’s always complicated in an election when the US bishops ask us to be active in the public square. Cardinal Dolan was on Fox News’ O’Reilly Factor the other night and was asked whether the bishops were asking Catholics not to vote for Obama, and the cardinal said the bishops don’t tell Catholics who to vote for. Fr. Roger said the cardinal said if they asked the people to vote one way, they’d end up motivating some to vote the other way. Instead, they are helping people build a properly informed conscience and once they are properly formed, the obvious vote can become clear. They are certainly hoping to bring clarity to all the various issues and to show that some issues are more important than others. 2nd segment: Scot said the biggest stories this week are the Holy Father’s apostolic visits to Cuba and Mexico. He said the Holy Father singled out Cardinal Sean to thank him for helping with the building of a seminary outside of Havana. Antonio said in Boston there is a group of friends of Caritas Cubana, the Catholic charitable organization in Cuba, which means a special connection. The Pilot sent a reporter and photographer to Cuba to accompany the Boston pilgrims for a special perspective on the trip, giving a personal view of the conditions in Cuba and how their charity was received. Scot said there were some wonderful photos accompanying the articles. Antonio said they hope to have some more stories in next week’s paper as well. They had hoped to show the reality from the perspective of the reporter as she encountered it, the crumbling infrastructure, the lives of the people, and more. Susan said the articles put a human face on the realities of Cuba. Scot said the Holy Father’s message had some political content but were also meant to stoke the fires of religious belief. Fr. Roger said the Holy Father focuses on curing us of the spiritual diseases of secularism and does that wherever he goes. In Mexico, despite the deep faith of the people, there is a trend among the elites to drive the people to live as if God doesn’t exist. Similarly in Cuba, where they have had two generations of official atheism. The Holy Father said we have to recognize that the atheism in Communism has failed. Fr. Roger said he was struck by the image of one of the Masses which included a huge statue of Christ the King. In the mid-20th century when the Mexican government was trying to exterminate the Church, theory of Viva Cristo Rey, All Hail, Christ the King was the cry of the martyrs. Pope Benedict was using this image to show that the Christian faith cannot be killed off. Christ is always persisting in all those places. Scot said there’s a move coming out in June about the Cristeros, the Mexican martyrs, called “For Greater Glory.” Scot noted that Fidel Castro requested a private meeting with Pope Benedict. Antonio said it’s impressive to see how Fidel, who took the Church out of Cuba with his revolution, went to see the Pope and reading the reports of the visit, he was struck by the question Fidel asked the Pope about how the Mass has changed from his childhood. Fidel is realizing how much the Church has changed since he was a boy practicing his faith. It shows the person behind the public persona and perhaps he’s reconsidering his life as he gets older. Scot noted that the Missionaries of Charity has a charism where one of the sisters prays for a particular priest every day. One Cuban sister was assigned to pray for Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger 25 years ago and they finally got to meet during this trip. Fr. Roger said this was a practice started by the Carmelites and Mother Teresa picked up many of the practices of the Carmelites. Fr. Roger said there was a Missionary of Charity in New Bedford who prayed for him every day. He said many cloistered nuns are co-workers in the ministry of the priests they pray for every day. Scot said many of the Pope’s addresses can be found at the website of . Scot said in another story John Hancock Financial gave a gift of $1 million to Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy in Dorchester to be given over five years. Scot said the editorial in the Anchor refers to an article that was in America magazine in which a program of performing exit interviews of Catholics who abandoned the practice of the faith was discussed. Fr. Roger said they found a consistency in the reason why the people gave up. Some were on nonnegotiable issues, such as teachings that cannot be changed, but it’s not just a rejection to he teachings. Sometimes people were looking for an explanation and a better way to understand it which wasn’t provided. Some people said when they asked for a conversation, instead they got back flat statements. There were also negotiable issue the Church could do on: empty” homilies detached from daily life, uninspiring music, an insatiable focus on raising money, an inadequate response to the sexual abuse of minors, the sense that Church was simply a place to attend Mass lacking a true community spirit, an absence of consultation and transparency in Church administration, “arrogant” and “aloof” priests,, and so on. So the authors’ hope was that the Church could address what could be fixed in order to encourage people to stay. Scot said there’s a beauty in understanding where people are at and to help become formed, to gain understanding, to be enlightened. Susan said one of the saddest comments was that when they left the parish no one noticed, nobody called them, and nobody asked why. People wanted a community, wanted to be involved and couldn’t find a way. Scot asked all listeners to make people know that we care when we see them at Mass each week.…
Summary of today’s show: For 17 years, teens from the North Shore have been spending their Triduum in a 3-hour fast and serving the poor and needy in Boston on the Hunger for Justice retreat. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams interview organizers Chris Carmody and Andrea Alberti to see how 400 teens are challenged to move beyond their physical hunger to experience their spiritual hunger for Christ and then go out and serve Christ in those they encounter in a profound experience of the reality of Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Andrea Alberti, youth minister at St. Thomas Parish in Nahant and St. Mary High School, Lynn; and Chris Carmody, youth minister at Immaculate Conception in Salem and religion teacher at St. Mary High School, Lynn Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Hunger for Justice 2012 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show. He noted it’s the last full week of Lent and said it’s a busy time for many in the Church. He said the catechetical congress last weekend was a big event preparing for Lent. Fr. Matt spoke at a breakout session on praying and ways of prayer. His talk focused on love as as not just a feeling, but as self-gift. Nor is faith a feeling. We don’t pray to make ourselves feel good or have faith because we feel God close to us. Instead, we exercise the disciplines of prayer. Scot said the Holy Father has been in Mexico and Cuba over the past few days. In the past 24 hours, the Pope met with Fidel Castro in a personal meeting at Castro’s request. Scot said the Missionaries of Charity have a ministry where they adopt a priest to pray for every day. Pope Benedict has met his spiritual godmother, a Cuban Missionary of Charity who has prayed for him every day for the past 25 years. The Holy Father then celebrated Mass for 700,000 people in Havana today. Scot said it recalls when Pope John Paul went to Poland and it is hope that it has a similar effect in Cuba, to bring freedom to the people. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Chris and Andrea back to the show. Andrea said they’ve been holding the Hunger for Justice retreat for 17 years and about 70 total retreat experiences. Chris said the Hunger part of the retreat is a fast that starts about 5pm on Good Friday and ends after the Easter Vigil. The Hunger for Justice is the found in the service work for the homeless and they see the value and human dignity in people. This hunger for justice grows in the young people. Scot asked how they prepare the teens for the fasting, physically and spiritually. Andrea said the Triduum focuses on death to life. No matter how small their sacrifice, it can have a profound impact by uniting it to Christ. They mention St. Therese a lot. She said they tell them that when they experience physical hunger, it makes them more aware of the spiritual hunger in our hearts for the love of God. The teens are also getting sponsors who pledge money for each hour the participants fast. Chris said the Hunger for Justice that engages the entire parishes of all the kids who participate. They ask parishioners to donate food and other goods for the kids to give to the homeless. Andrea said they tell the kids that they should tell 25 people about the sacrifice they’re making, just tell 25 and people are so impressed by what they’re doing and the money will roll in. The kids get apprehensive about asking for money, but just by letting others know what they’re doing, people want o donate. Last year, they raised $18,000 and the year before $25,000. Fr. Matt asked what makes service so appealing to young people. Andrea said the youth want to help, to be engaged. The reason we don’t see them involved is because our expectations are so low. We need to challenge them. Ask an adult to fast for 30 hours and they’ll tell they’re too busy. But if an adult tells a teen that we see God’s plan ready in them, they will only be held back by their own self-doubt. Andrea said she wishes all the adults listening could see what she sees, including 300 to 400 kids fasting and serving for 30 hours. Fr. Matt said the Hunger for Justice brings a balance between the project they’re doing and Who they are doing it for. Chris said they are very deliberate in doing Christian service. It’s not just Christians doing service, but that Christ is at the center of what they do. When they bring food or donations to the homeless, they see Christ in them. The goal isn’t just to feed people or hand things out, but to serve the other and see Christ in him. Andrea said it’s the holiest days of the year in which Christ died for you and that inspires the kids to give everything for Him. Andrea said it’s not just a hunger relief program to raise money. It’s also identifying with, becoming one with the hungry and homeless. They tell the homeless that the kids have slept on the ground the night before, have gone without a phone. The kids get that they will go home and sleep in their bed tonight, but the guy they just met won’t be able to. the parents talk about how the kids come home profoundly changed. Chris said whatever they do, they always process what happened and reconnect it back to the Passion of Christ. The kids now understand what “offer it up” means. They understand that sacrifice of a meal is a sacrifice for other. The Hunger for Justice takes place in Lynn and Nahant next week. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Patricia Hogan from Quincy, MA She wins an Audio Book CD: The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Anne Catherine Emmerich, read by Roger Basick, and a booklet: Meditations on the Stations of the Cross from Belmont Abbey College theology professor, Dr. Ronald Thomas. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot asked them to describe what happens on the week. Andrea said on Good Friday they gather at noon on Short Beach in Nahant. They prepare for the Veneration of the Cross by honoring the Cross in a less traditional way on the beach. Fr. Matt preaches the Cross to those present. She said many of those present are hearing it proclaimed so well for the first time. They then carry this very large cross up the main road in Nahant, taking turns holding it, praying the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. They carry the Cross to the St. Thomas Aquinas parish in Nahant, where the community is waiting for them and they have the traditional Veneration of the Cross. This ends by 4:30pm. They travel to St. Mary’s in Lynn for a last meal together donated by local restaurants. After this last meal, they have an hour of getting to know each other and then they watch The Passion of the Christ, for the first time for many of them. Afterward, Fr. Matt goes into a healing service. They go from what Christ did for them and why to living life to the full. They gather in small groups to pray, claiming the cross for what they need in their life. At about 11pm, the students make their cardboard, makeshift homes for the night. Scot asked Chris about the carrying the Cross through Nahant and for how many of the students it’s their first public profession of faith and what they say about it? Chris said many are still nervous because it’s the beginning of the retreat. When they see positive reaction from people they see, they realize being public about your faith doesn’t have to result in persecution. They love to carry the Cross and begin to thrive on it. Andrea said those who watch the Passion for the first time are often very moved and there are often tears.It’s not so much the gore, but the realization of what Christ really went through for us and what that means for how we live our lives. He died for you, so are you going to go back to the way you were? Many of those who are most moved by it become the peer leaders for the next year. They express it in how they set the bar high for themselves and each other in how they live their faith publicly. Scot asked why there’s a healing service on the first day? Fr. Matt said on the Saturday morning, they stop at St. Anthony’s Shrine for confession where ultimate healing occurs. But they recognize that a lot of these kids are hearing the Gospel for the first time, having had the whole Gospel shrunk into one day and experienced it in three different ways. The message is that God so love the world. We were born to live, but Jesus was the only one born to die. So their hearts are confronted by the truth and it gives an opportunity to be able to say how do we now take that message and let the Lord love us in our lives? How do we begin with precision to bring that Gospel message in to our heart. For the most part they know what the typical struggles are and so the leaders ask who is struggling with a particular problem. Hands go up and the other kids in the small group will lay hands and pray over them. Andrea said Love heals. The understanding and experiencing the Gospel message and embracing it, experiencing God as loving father is powerful. The openness of the kids is amazing. Chris said it’s humbling to see them turn their struggles over to God. You can see it in their faces and attitudes and how they act after. It’s because of this prayer service that the service projects have real fruit on Saturday. They’ve let go of what was holding them back and they are able to focus on seeing Christ in others. They were able to let go of their baggage and let God work in them. Andrea said the kids get between four and five hours of sleep, which is more than most retreats, considering all these hundreds of teens. They know they will be working hard on Saturday morning and even harder on Saturday afternoon. They will be doing physically taxing labor. On Saturday, they split into three groups. One goes to Boston Common to hand out food to the homeless. Another third goes to Arch Street to hand out food and clothing. And the last group goes to Pine Street Inn. they will all eventually make their way to Arch Street where they will receive the Sacrament of Confession. Chris said his favorite part is seeing 300 youth and adults all going to confession. It’s a beautiful scene to see people receiving the sacrament. They also process what they’ve done, asking what it was like to serve the homeless and to hear the stories from the homeless. The students are often shocked by what they learn about the homeless. After they finish in Boston, they return to the North Shore where they help out at parishes, schools, shelters, food pantries, or camps. They do yard work, clean out messes, and all other kinds of hard work. They bring them all back together in Lynn where they process their experiences and they have a commissioning. They don’t want it to be a one-time event. They want to commission them to go out and serve Christ every day. This occurs about 5pm. ABout half the group stays at St. Mary and half goes back to their parishes to join the Easter vigil in their communities. Andrea said they see a response to the reality of sacrifice and love. They are hearing the sacrifice of Christ for them and they want to go do that for others. She’s inspired hearing kids who have an epiphany that the first food they will receive will be the Body of Christ. Scot asked what they’re supporting this year with the donations. Andrea said they are giving some to the Coalition for the Homeless in Lynn and Chris is going on a mission trip to Ecuador so the Hunger for Justice will be paying for some water filtration systems. Anyone who would like to donate, can send checks to Andrea Alberti or Chris Carmody at St. Mary High School, 35 Tremont Street, Lynn, MA 01902…
Summary of today’s show: A new spirit of evangelization is moving across the Archdiocese of Boston and one reason for it is the Why Catholic program offered by the Office of Worship and Spiritual Life. In a series of six-week sessions spanning four years, small parish-based groups explore the Church’s teachings through prayer and Scripture and apply them to their lives. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor talk to Mary Ann McLaughlin and Janet Benestad about the genesis of Why Catholic in Cardinal Seán’s vision for evangelization and how it grew out of the success of the similar Arise program. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Mary Ann McLaughlin, co-director of the Office of Worship and Spiritual Life, and Janet Benestad, secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Why Catholic 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show and noted that it’s the last week before Holy Week. Fr. Chris said he had a big surprise birthday party with family and friends last Saturday. Scot was able to attend. Fr. Chris’ family and friends ribbed him about how he sounds on the radio. They also ribbed him about the facts he got wrong, including he was born in East Milton, not Dorchester. The seminarians are preparing for Holy Week. This Saturday they will be having a work day in the seminary, cleaning up. A handful will also be going to help the Missionaries of Charity prepare for Holy Week as well. The seminarians are also continuing with the Stations of the Cross and having a penance service this Thursday. The deacons will be practicing the Exulset, the Easter proclamation. Scot noted that both the text and music are changed this year. Fr. Chris said his vocation was fostered in experiencing Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil and seeing the story of Christ’s love played out for us. The churches should be filled to the rafters. Scot said the Holy Father has asked us all to celebrate a Year of Faith starting in October, especially asking families to study the Catechism. Today we’ll discuss the Why Catholic? program, which encompasses four years of study of the Catechism. 2nd segment: Scot asked Mary Ann McLaughlin about Why Catholic? She said the Office of Spiritual Development always had a focus on small groups to build up larger groups. She said when Cardinal Sean arrived in 2004, he almost immediately called in the Office and told them of his desire to bring Renew International to Boston. He was clear that we needed somebody who could provide materials in various languages. They brought in the Arise program, which was a three year program. Scot said the parishes that enrolled in Arise reported tremendous results both in numbers of participants and in what it was doing for the parishes. Mary Ann said every one had been scared about whether the program was going to work, given everything that had been going on in the archdiocese. Scot asked Janet Benestad to compare the implementation of a program like this in a big archdiocese with a small diocese, like the Scranton diocese she came from three years ago. When she arrived in Boston, Arise was already running and there was 10,000 people enrolled. Cardinal Sean had been prophetic in the desire for a program that helps people reflect on Scripture and share what was in their hearts. Fr. Chris told the story of someone who was drawn back in to practicing her faith through Arise programs. Scot asked Mary Ann about her sense of people who were reconnected to the Church through Arise. She said she heard that one of the Daughters of St. Paul was approached by a woman who had left the Church, but saw a sign for Arise and came back to check it out. Scot said Arise and Why Catholic? are both small groups that share their faith. Mary Ann said Why Catholic takes the teachings of the Church and aligning them with Scripture, giving people an opportunity to digest it all. Janet said many people who’d met in Arise groups wanted to continue their study and reflection in small groups and so they came up with the Why Catholic program. Mary Ann said the wonder of both Arise and Why Catholic, after your pray Scripture and read the Catechism, you leave the meeting with the desire to implement these beliefs in your life. Fr. Chris asked how many people are involved in Why Catholic, but Mary Ann said we won’t know for sure until the end of Lent. She said they have a rough estimate of between 7,000 and 10,000. Mary Ann said this program has been done in other dioceses here and in other countries. She talked to other dioceses and had heard of so much success elsewhere. She’s hearing from participants here that they like it even more than Arise. Scot noted that the Catechism often collects dust on many bookshelves, but a program like this helps to break it open for people. The Catechism has four sections and this is why Why Catholic is over four years. The sections are Prayer, the Creed, Sacraments, and Christian life. Each session starts with a section of the Catechism, a passage of Scripture, and then application of the teaching to our lives. Scot asked Mary Ann how often she encounters people who have never been taught to pray. She finds that people you least expect are grateful for any help in learning how to pray. However much accomplished we seem to be in the life of prayer, there are always new benefits to receive, new depths to lump. It has made a huge difference for people. Fr. Chris asked for an explanation of how knowing the Catechism can help the faith life. Mary Ann said knowing the Catechism is layer upon layer. You hear what the Church teaches, hear it again in Scripture, and then in faith sharing you hear people tell you what it’s like to experience it in their daily life. Finally, you decide how you will implement what you have heard over the next week. Mary Ann said the group gatherings are 90 minutes. They begin with an opening prayer, then a reflection, a question, Scripture, one or two questions to allow people to respond again, and then suggestions for how they can use what’s there over the following week. She said the books have imprimaturs and nihil obstat so people can trust what they’re reading. Mary Ann also told stories of Arise groups going as a group to other events like The LIght Is On For You for confession or other programs. Mary Ann said the cardinal had hoped that Renew and Arise would lead people to Cursillo, to allow people to deepen their lives in a new way. Scot noted that Cardinal Sean lived a Cursillo in the first year of his priesthood and speaks often of the transformative effects. Scot shared some of the sharing questions from the first several session of Why Catholic: How do I consciously walk in God’s presence? In what instances of my life have gone away to lonely place to prayer? How do I feel when I offer prayers of blessing to God? How and when have I learned to pray? Who are some saints who I pray to because of my spirituality and how have they helped me? How have we as a small group grown comfortable with vocal prayer? Fr. Chris said these small groups are helping parishioners to learn the faith stories and life stories of fellow parishioners they only knew to say hello to before. A program like this allows for a type of sharing and connection that we shows we are one body in Christ. Mary Ann said they have book after book of testimonies from people in Arise. Parents tell of going home and telling their children about their experiences and opening up a faith-based dialogue with them. She said the language groups have been remarkable. The Vietnamese came to the English training and then set up Vietnamese training on their own, She also heard that at Mass people were suddenly hearing Scripture and were moved by it. Mary Ann said many aspects are wide open. Groups can meet at church or in their homes, on any day of the week and any time of day. The flexibility allows them to meet the local needs. Some people prefer going to the church and others prefer going to their neighbor’s house. 3rd segment: Scot asked Mary Ann about the training resources available for those interested in starting a group in their parish. First, Mary Ann suggested they call her office at 617-779-3640. She said Renew International offers webinars for parishes who come into the program too late for the regular training. One leader gives distance training for up to 25 people at their computers. Training sessions take place regionally prior to each six week session. The Lent session is coming to an end and in October is when the next session starts. Mary Ann said the program is parish-based so parishioners would need to go through their pastors. The spiritual life happens within communities and Renew has always worked first through the bishop and then through the priests in the parish. As pastors begin to serve more than one parish, Renew sees the opportunity to bridge across parish lines in these small groups. They do have individuals calling asking them how to join a group. They encourage them to talk to their own pastor or to pair up with a neighboring parish. Scot said he believes for the parishes that haven’t done this, it’s because there haven’t been enough people to step forward to take the initiative with their pastors. Janet said these programs foster lay leadership in parishes. She encourages interested people to talk to the pastor and offer themselves to go to the training and do the work to bring it to the parish. Mary Ann said in the fall they will have a faith enrichment festival to allow all the parishes to come together for a prayer experience. She said she hesitates to give expectations, because you never know where things will go. Her experience is that she feels the Spirit moving in this archdiocese. This would never have happened on poor human energy. she’s heard from a parish that 49 new parishioners have joined Why Catholic. Scot asked Janet to Why Catholic in context of the Cardinal’s vision for the Archdiocese. She mentioned Catholics Come Home, Arise, his pastoral letters, and Why Catholic are all part of a program of extending an invitation to rediscover the Catholic faith. It’s in pryer that God speaks to us in the silence. To pray in this way is an evangelizing outreach. As the Archdiocese continues to restructure the ways we hand on our faith, our parishes or pastoral collaboratives might become bigger, but small groups help us to become more connected and to realize ever more that the Church isn’t just those we go to Mass with on Sunday, but so spans the world. Fr. Chris said it breaks down barriers and allows people to understand they are part of One Body in Christ. Mary Ann said those interested in Why Catholic, go to BostonCatholic.org and click on the Why Catholic logo at the bottom of the page (or lick the link at the top of this page.) Their office’s phone number is also 617-779-3640. Scot also reminded everyone that tomorrow night The Light Is On For You, every church and chapel in the Archdiocese will be open from 6:30 to 8pm. More information can be found at .…
Summary of today’s show: Learning the Latin and Greek roots of English words isn’t just a road map to success, it’s a GPS, said one educator of The Latin and Greek Root Challenge. John and Maureen Riley of Wellesley have developed this fun program that helps children from kindergarten through eighth grade learn the Latin and Greek roots in a fun and engaging collaborative environment, leading to higher test scores and better vocabulary, not just in English, but in every subject, including science, math, health and religion. Scot Landry talks with the Rileys and Charlotte Kelly, principal of St. John the Evangelist School in Canton, about the Latin and Greek Root Challenge, how it works, the benefits it’s already exhibited, and how it’s spread to more than 20 schools in Boston and Chicago. Plus, see how Scot does when he’s asked to take the challenge! Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): John and Maureen Riley and Charlotte Kelly Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Latin and Greek Root Challenge 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show. Today’s topic is the Latin and Greek Root Challenge which is being implemented in 5 Catholic schools. But first Scot discussed briefly Pope Benedict’s trip to Mexico and Cuba. The Holy Father arrived in Cuba a few hours ago. Cardinal Seán is also in Cuba to be with the Holy Father and two reporters from the Pilot are in Cuba covering the visit. Scot introduced John and Maureen Riley, the creators of the Latin and Greek Root Challenge. Charlotte Riley is principal of St. John the Evangelist School in Canton, which is implementing the challenge. Scot said he heard about the challenge from John in their meetings in the Pastoral Center about the Catholic Appeal. John said this is his wife Maureen’s brain child. He said a lot of educators and parents understand there’s a tremendous value to the classics, looking at the Latin and Greek heritage of the English language. Sixty percent of the words in English have Latin and Greek roots. Scot said it makes you wonder why we don’t spend more time on Latin and Greek in primary education. John said it used to be the case, but that faded away. In science, medicine, and law are even more rooted in those languages. John said they are trying to educate elementary school students and introduce Latin and Greek roots in a fun engaging and school-wide way that helps them understand the meaning of the roots to help them recognize words they might otherwise not know by breaking it down into its roots. Scot asked Maureen how she got the idea for it. Maureen said she’s always had a fascination with education and asked herself how the kids in the inner city schools ended up with lower test scores, but how the schools with Latin in their name ended up with higher test scores. At their children’s school, St. Paul’s Wellesley, discussed bringing Latin and Greek into the school, but she didn’t know these languages herself. She recalls seeing a movie about an inner city student who won a big spelling bee by learning how to break down words into their roots. With her own children, she was always going to their teachers to ensure the kids were being challenged. Maureen wanted to find some way to help all children. Finally she woke up one day with the idea for a board that would create a challenge for all the kids in the school. Charlotte said she sold by the Riley’s enthusiasm when she met them a year ago. They were already doing a vocabulary program and saw how this could fit in. They already teach Spanish in 5 through 8, but they could include this for every grade level. John said it was important for them from the outset that this be a school wide activity, that the kindergartners would get the same roots the middle school students get and it would build community in the school. Kindergartners are being introduced the whole concept of roots and that’s an important lesson at such a young age. Speaking to a first grade teacher, she told them that words come up in math and science and the students say they can figure out what they mean. There’s a magic and power to words. 2nd segment: Scot said there are 20 total schools in the pilot program, including 8 in Chicago. Four or five more schools have expressed interest for next September. Scot said they have a board in front of him with words on it, including roots of various words, like tele-, micro- and -scope, and tell them what the meanings are. Then they ask them for the subsequent words to make from them like telephone and television. John said they introduce the kids to the roots and their meanings and they ask them how many words they can identify with the root. Then they remind them of the meaning and then present a new word and ask them to define it based on what they’ve learned. Maureen said they also give them visuals, like telling them to imagine looking through a telescope to see things far away. Throughout the week, the teacher has a board to review the roots with photos and visuals to break down the meanings of each root. The children are encouraged to write in meaning of roots as they go. There are three different level workbooks for different grades to slowly go from easy to more difficult, from concrete learning to abstract learning. Charlotte said while many of the young teachers haven’t themselves had classics training, the teachers have picked them up enthusiastically and are now offering their feedback. She related a story of six and seven-year-olds children impressing other teachers on their ability to break down and construct new words. John said he and Maureen have 3 kids, 10, 8, and 6. They have been the test subjects and they really enjoy it, albeit at different levels. The kindergartner really dives into it. The second-grader and fourth-grader are showing how they can process at different levels and understand the complexity of the words. At middle school, the kids are independently looking up words online and going to the dictionary for words. Maureen said the kids get very creative in working on the words. She works every week with grade two. Each week, they do a quick review. She gives a root and they have to give back the meaning in unison and every week they have it down pat. They also do collaborative learning. They go around the class with a paper to come up with lists of words for that root. Scot said his experience of his kindergartner is that not all of them can read well at that age. How does it help a child learn to read by recognizing roots? Charlotte said they have a pre-K and K level that uses a simplified version that explains root words and the difference from a beginning sound. (T v. tele). Where they are beginning to read, the data shows high improvement across the board. As much as 18 percentage points by Grade 6. Maureen said one parent of a second-grader told her that in the grocery store the children point out Latin and Greek root words. They see a difference in the child’s vocabulary. Scot said kids are natural problem solvers and sleuths. John said part of the fun is that the kids view it as a game. The parents, teachers, and principals have given great feedback. They met the superintendent of the Chicago archdiocese this past summer. Maureen said they had been asked to present the program to Sister Mary Paul, the superintendent in Chicago. She told the sister that it’s almost as if when your child gets to 18 or 22 and going on the first road trip. You give them maps. Latin and Greek Roots are the maps. They don’t tell you exactly where to go, but the tools to get there. Sr. Mary Paul said it’s not a map, but a GPS system. John said most students, except for the youngest, get 3 roots per week over the 25-week program in a three-year cycle. They are also exposed to secondary roots on the constructed word lists that contain the primary roots. Each of those words on the list have other roots as well. They will eventually have a tremendous command of roots. Charlotte said in her 11 years at St. John’s they built up vocabulary programs, especially one from grade 3 to 8. They see this as an addition in order to be able to put words together. Scot asked how important is that these are also words that will help them get into college on the SATs and ACTs. Charlotte said this is a program you don’t to pass up at a reasonable cost. It raises test scores, but it’s also a lot of fun. During the school year kickoff, they had the parents play the root word game. This is a fun way to learn Latin and keep it from being boring. John said in the program development they have researched high frequency standardized exam test words with the goal of ensuring that there is also a value in giving them better scores, making it fun, helping them with their future careers, and score well on tests. Scot said on the SATs, the highest possible score is 800. The average score for those who studied Latin versus those who didn’t study language or studied a different language was much higher. Maureen said they are waiting for the best data on their programs which will be available after 3 to 5 years in practice. Scot said studying Latin helped him in his own studies in geometry. Charlotte said it’s helping them with the study of religion. 3rd segment: Scot said the excitement of learning Latin and Greek words has helped Charlotte’s student incorporate Latin into the fun of preparing for Lent. She said students have learned the Our Father and Hail Mary in Latin. She said it’s helped with vocabulary in religion classes, as well as in health and science classes. Charlotte said this program is a great marketing tool for the school and in their own marketing, they include the Rileys’ marketing materials as well. Maureen said her first dream is to get this program into every single inner-city school in the country to transform them and teach children the love of words. Where scores are dropping everywhere else, the kids using this program are getting better scores. Her second dream is to gather all the statistics to show that this makes a difference, to show that what they believe about it is proven scientifically. Scot pointed out that Maureen never studied Latin, but she was inspired in a way that is helping so many students to learn in a more enjoyable and quicker way. Maureen said she’d always believed that she would work in educating children some day and throughout this process, every time she encountered an obstacle she’d turn it over to God and they would overcome it. She credits God as the inspiration and the assistance of so many people that have helped them from other parents to teachers and principals to other volunteers. Scot said there are a million ideas, but it’s not easy to actually implement it. It’s not easy to get into schools and get onto budgets, whether Catholic or public schools. John said it’s been a rewarding and exhausting experience. He said this is a little bit of the American dream, to have an idea and promote it and encourage others to take it on to help others. It’s also been a labor of love, with a passion for the mission of educating children, especially in Catholic schools. He said Catholic schools are near and dear to their hearts, because they nurture the spiritual life of children. It’s been an adventure and they’ve questioned their sanity at times. Scot said everyone who starts anything gets to a point where they feel overwhelmed or question going on, but to get to the point where it’s implemented and successful, is a massive amount of work. John said you have to be reflective, to look ahead but to look back once in a while to see how far you’ve come. Look at how many children they’ve affected in two years and then look ahead to the potential impact in the future. Charlotte would tell other principals that this is a must have in their schools. She encouraged the Rileys to have a booth at the National Catholic Educators Association coming up in Boston in a couple weeks. Scot asked what makes it a must? Charlotte said it’s definitely vocabulary. After testing recently, they are finding scores to be up especially among those taking the high school placement exams. Some students always do even better than the others and it creates excitement around the dinner table. Maureen said they hope that it creates good dinner conversations in the family. The kids find it fun and so they play the root challenge and stimulate further conversation. John said a lot of parents haven’t been exposed to these languages and so they can benefit as well. John wanted to name a number of people who have helped from the beginning of their work and said how much they appreciate the effort and assistance from all of them.…
Summary of today’s show: As Pope Benedict addresses each group of US bishops making their way to Rome this year in their ad limina visits, he is really sending a message to all Americans with his pastoral eye on what we need most. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell take up one of the most recent addresses in which the Holy Father discusses the importance of marriage and family to society, the causes for its weakening today, and the prescription for its renewal among the generation of the young today. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Pope Benedict on Marriage and Family to the US 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Mark back to the show. He said this has been a weather week for the ages. Fr. Mark said he has spring fever. Scot said he was outside at midday today at the Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally at the State House in Boston today. It was put together in less than 48 hours and about 400 people showed. There were many good speakers. Scot spoke and reflected on Pope John Paul II’s first visit to Boston and how he spoke about religious freedom and the need for us in the West to defend that religious freedom and now we’re fighting for our own religious freedom here. Pope John Paul II could be our patron saint for religious freedom. Fr. Mark has been planning a meeting of the Catholic Lawyers Guild tomorrow. They’re having a Day of Recollection, an annual event during Lent. It will have the theme of the Book of Genesis. All Catholic lawyers and judges are welcome to come to the Pastoral Center, 66 Brooks Drive, Braintree, tomorrow morning. 2nd segment: SCot and Fr. Mark said they will be discussing an address by Pope Benedict to the US bishops who were visiting Rome as part of their ad limina visits. Dear Brother Bishops, I greet all of you with fraternal affection on the occasion of your visit ad limina Apostolorum. As you know, this year I wish to reflect with you on certain aspects of the evangelization of American culture in the light of the intellectual and ethical challenges of the present moment. In our previous meetings I acknowledged our concern about threats to freedom of conscience, religion and worship which need to be addressed urgently, so that all men and women of faith, and the institutions they inspire, can act in accordance with their deepest moral convictions. In this talk I would like to discuss another serious issue which you raised with me during my Pastoral Visit to America, namely, the contemporary crisis of marriage and the family, and, more generally, of the Christian vision of human sexuality. It is in fact increasingly evident that a weakened appreciation of the indissolubility of the marriage covenant, andthe widespread rejection of a responsible, mature sexual ethic grounded in the practice of chastity, have led to grave societal problems bearing an immense human and economic cost. Scot said of all the issues the Pope could talk about, he chooses this topic because the breakdown of the marriage covenant affects all of society. The rejection of the sexual ethic has led to immense societal problems. The fact that so many kids are being raised without both mom and dad has huge consequences for society. Fr. Mark said these ad limina addresses are not just for the bishops in the meeting but for all Americans and these are his first ad limina addresses to the US. SO this is what he’s holding up as the fundamental issue and the fundamental building block. Yet, as Blessed John Paul II observed, the future of humanity passes by way of the family (cf. Familiaris Consortio, 85). Indeed, “the good that the Church and society as a whole expect from marriage and from the family founded on marriage is so great as to call for full pastoral commitment to this particular area. Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature, since whatever is injurious to them is injurious to society itself” (Sacramentum Caritatis, 29). He’s calling us to be fully invested in this defense of marriage and family. Fr. Mark said the answer to the question of how to build the kingdom of God on earth is found in Familiaris Consortio and Sacramentum Caritatis and it is family. The family is the salvation of society. Scot said it’s not just doing things for kids, but the formation of the kids. It’s the parents’ responsibility, not schools or other societal issues. Sometimes parents have to heroically raise their kids as single parents, but the holy Father is saying we have to provide support for families stay together, not pull it apart. Society must help strengthen the family. Fr. Mark said the family is the natural institution created by God. In this regard, particular mention must be made of the powerful political and cultural currents seeking to alter the legal definition of marriage. The Church’s conscientious effort to resist this pressure calls for a reasoned defense of marriage as a natural institution consisting of a specific communion of persons, essentially rooted in the complementarity of the sexes and oriented to procreation. Sexual differences cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to the definition of marriage. Defending the institution of marriage as a social reality is ultimately a question of justice, since it entails safeguarding the good of the entire human community and the rights of parents and children alike. The Holy Father calls for a reasoned defense, not just a faith-based defense, of marriage. Fr. Mark noted that he’s not talking about the Catholic definition of marriage, but marriage itself. Marriage predates Christ’s raising it to the dignity of a sacrament. the Holy Father lists four basic things about the natural institution of marriage. The first is unity, meaning that marriage is exclusive between one man and one woman. The second is indissolubility, until death do we part. The third is procreation and education of children. Procreation is essential to marriage and education is formation. The fourth is the good of the spouses. The good of the spouse is not love per se, but for the other person’s good and vice versa. It’s selfless and other-directed, not selfish and me-directed. Fr. Mark said love is not an essential element of marriage. Arranged marriages are still marriages. Hopefully, they grow to include love. In our conversations, some of you have pointed with concern to the growing difficulties encountered in communicating the Church’s teaching on marriage and the family in its integrity, and to a decrease in the number of young people who approach the sacrament of matrimony. Certainly we must acknowledge deficiencies in the catechesis of recent decades, which failed at times to communicate the rich heritage of Catholic teaching on marriage as a natural institution elevated by Christ to the dignity of a sacrament, the vocation of Christian spouses in society and in the Church, and the practice of marital chastity. This teaching, stated with increasing clarity by the post-conciliar magisterium and comprehensively presented in both the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, needs to be restored to its proper place in preaching and catechetical instruction. In response to the bishops saying that it’s difficult to communicate the Church’s teaching now and we aren’t getting the job done in making young people understand marriage. One of the reasons it’s not being received by young people is they aren’t coming to church for the sacrament. Fr. Mark confirms here are far fewer marriages in the archdiocese over the past 10 years. While that’s bad, it also means that people who are coming to the Church really do mean it. Fr. Mark said we have to teach about the sacrament of marriage in many ways. Children should be hearing them from families, religious education, homilies, and the like. Pre-cana programs are more proximate preparation. In these programs the priest takes the couple from where they are and launches them on a higher road. The actual marriage ceremony itself must be an act imbued with God. After the marriage we also need to provide better assistance after the wedding ceremony, sometimes called enrichment programs. Scot said one of the reasons we don’t see this very often is there is often a dearth of well-formed couples who’ve been married for a long to help newly marred couples through the struggles and challenges they will face. Fr. Mark said people shouldn’t wait to be asked to help in their parish. Pastors need people to come forward and volunteer to assist. God will use your strengths and weakness in his service. Your weaknesses will often make what you do more accessible. Never feel your not good enough or holy enough. On the practical level, marriage preparation programs must be carefully reviewed to ensure that there is greater concentration on their catechetical component and their presentation of the social and ecclesial responsibilities entailed by Christian marriage. In this context we cannot overlook the serious pastoral problem presented by the widespread practice of cohabitation, often by couples who seem unaware that it is gravely sinful, not to mention damaging to the stability of society. I encourage your efforts to develop clear pastoral and liturgical norms for the worthy celebration of matrimony which embody an unambiguous witness to the objective demands of Christian morality, while showing sensitivity and concern for young couples. One, he wants to make sure marriage prep programs are up with the times. Scot said the Archdiocese of Boston has renewed its program called Transformed in Love. Fr. Mark was on the steering committee for this program. He said this program fulfills what the Pope is calling for. The bad news is that the program is not being used widely enough. It does have the emphasis on why Catholic marriage? But there are still a lot of poor programs in our archdiocese and other dioceses. If listeners know of a need for renewal of a particular program, Fr. Mark urges them to contact Kari Colella at the Archdiocese of Boston: Scot said one of the reasons people cohabit is they haven’t heard enough from Catholics around them that it is wrong. We’re not living our faith if we don’t help these couples. Sometimes they wouldn’t cohabit if someone offered assistance, perhaps helping them with money issues that they think they living together for. Fr. Mark said the biggest difference between marriage and cohabitation is that the latter has a big exit sign. It is not a covenant, not until death. Marriage is a full commitment to the other person until death do you part. Scot said there are studies that show that couples who cohabit before marriage are less likely to stay married successfully. Fr. Mark said people think that if they live together they have a better chance, but that’s not proven by the facts. Here too I would express my appreciation of the pastoral programs which you are promoting in your Dioceses and, in particular, the clear and authoritative presentation of the Church’s teaching found in your 2009 Letter Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan. I also appreciate all that your parishes, schools and charitable agencies do daily to support families and to reach out to those in difficult marital situations, especially the divorced and separated, single parents, teenage mothers and women considering abortion, as well as children suffering the tragic effects of family breakdown. In this great pastoral effort there is an urgent need for the entire Christian community to recover an appreciation of the virtue of chastity. The integrating and liberating function of this virtue (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2338-2343) should be emphasized by a formation of the heart, which presents the Christian understanding of sexuality as a source of genuine freedom, happiness and the fulfilment of our fundamental and innate human vocation to love. It is not merely a question of presenting arguments, but of appealing to an integrated, consistent and uplifting vision of human sexuality. The richness of this vision is more sound and appealing than the permissive ideologies exalted in some quarters; these in fact constitute a powerful and destructive form of counter-catechesis for the young. the Holy Father’s central point is the need to recover a sense of charity. Scot said it means using the gift of sexuality in the way that God intended for your state of life: single, married, or ordained. Chastity in marriage is to be faithful to those four elements of marriage that Fr. Mark outlined earlier. Scot said it’s often mistaken for continence, which is refraining from sexual activity. Young people need to encounter the Church’s teaching in its integrity, challenging and countercultural as that teaching may be; more importantly, they need to see it embodied by faithful married couples who bear convincing witness to its truth. They also need to be supported as they struggle to make wise choices at a difficult and confusing time in their lives. Chastity, as the Catechism reminds us, involves an ongoing “apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom” (2339). In a society which increasingly tends to misunderstand and even ridicule this essential dimension of Christian teaching, young people need to be reassured that “if we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, absolutely nothing, of what makes life free, beautiful and great” (Homily, Inaugural Mass of the Pontificate, 24 April 2005). Let me conclude by recalling that all our efforts in this area are ultimately concerned with the good of children, who have a fundamental right to grow up with a healthy understanding of sexuality and its proper place in human relationships. Children are the greatest treasure and the future of every society: truly caring for them means recognizing our responsibility to teach, defend and live the moral virtues which are the key to human fulfillment. It is my hope that the Church in the United States, however chastened by the events of the past decade, will persevere in its historic mission of educating the young and thus contribute to the consolidation of that sound family life which is the surest guarantee of intergenerational solidarity and the health of society as a whole. I now commend you and your brother Bishops, with the flock entrusted to your pastoral care, to the loving intercession of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. To all of you I willingly impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of wisdom, strength and peace in the Lord. The Holy Father speaks of marriage as fundamental in the way we form and prepare our young to lead our society. Fr. Mark said our voices are drowned out by the counter-arguments in every venue. The Pope is calling us to not be afraid of the truth. We need to be saying this or the truth will be silenced. Scot said the key message is to trust the Church’s teaching. Rejecting all authority makes you miserable. Jesus knew we need to be connected to God and let’s give thanks to the teaching magisterium which guides us in wisdom. Fr. Mark urged married couples to remember the grace of the sacrament which can be called upon in hard times. Marriage is two people gazing together at God who helps and leads. Marriage is not easy. This teaching is not easy, but the rewards are well worth it. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt; for they broke my covenant, and I had to show myself their master, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD. I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives how to know the LORD. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more. Second Reading for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, March 25, 2012 (Hebrews 5:7-9) In the days when Christ Jesus was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. Gospel for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, March 25, 2012 (John 12:20-33) Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me. “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours. Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” He said this indicating the kind of death he would die. Scot said Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples for His death and resurrection. He’s trying to tell them that His death will produce the fruit that we hear at the end of today’s reading from Hebrews: He would become the source of eternal salvation. Fr. Mark said it will come through sacrifice. The first reading has more curses than blessings, but it is a blessing. Jesus prepares everyone for spiritual battle. The battle for religious liberty is a battle. The fight to defend marriage is a battle in service of God. Scot said little did the disciples know that Jesus was going to be glorified by becoming sin. He would take on all the sins ever committed and all those still to be committed. One of Scot’s favorite verses is “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” It’s very personal. That’s the love that God has for us. Fr. Mark said the covenant is key. Jeremiah speaks of the Mosaic covenant and Christ sealed the covenant for us so that we are forever redeemed. Scot said Jesus uses dramatic language: speaking of “hating” life. Our lives are a blessing from God. What Jesus is saying is that we need to love the promises that Jesus made for us in the next life over what we have now. Fr. Mark said lifers walking with God. That’s what real life is. Scot encouraged listeners to renew our Lenten promises and renew our efforts in our fasting.…
Summary of today’s show: In our regular Thursday news roundup, a new Catholic college is moving to the Archdiocese of Boston; palliative care is introduced as an alternative to assisted suicide; time is running out to show support for Choose Life license plates; a rally for religious freedom on Boston Common on Friday; new archbishop for Baltimore; Obama losing support from women; and Greg Tracy is going to Cuba. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: St. Thomas More College; palliative care; Choose Life plates; stand up for religious freedom; Baltimore archbishop; going to Cuba 1st segment: Scot welcomed Susan Abbott back to the show. She’s planning this Saturday’s Catechetical Congress. It’s a gathering of 800 catechists and directors of religious education. Bishop Richard Malone of Portland, Maine, will celebrate Mass and be the keynote speaker. They will give out two awards for excellence in catechetical leadership and recognizing volunteer catechists nominated by their pastors. After lunch here will be a number of workshops in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. It’s going to be held at Boston College High School. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry to the show. Scot said in the Pilot this week is a story about the move of Thomas More College, now in southern New Hampshire, that is moving to Groton, Mass., which is in the Archdiocese of Boston. Pilot reporter got a tour of the new land that the campus will be located on. It’s an old farm and they intend to keep some of the farm buildings. It’s about 35 acres, but it’s surrounded by dozens of acres of conservation land. They intend to preserve the historic buildings, but they will be able to build new buildings. The college will be able to grow from about 80 students to over 300. The college president said they will like Groton because they were very serious about the whole of the community. He also likes that students will be able to enjoy an historic New England town. They also hope to buy the former Sacred Heart church building, which is closed, and move it to the new campus. Scot said this is a win for the Archdiocese. Susan said she’s thrilled, especially because of the mission of the college. Scot explained where in the northwest corner of the Archdiocese Groton is located. The move is expected between 2014 and 2019. Fr. Roger talked about the college’s positive features and advantages, including a semester abroad program in Rome. Scot said another story is about the Women Affirming Life spring breakfast at which the speaker was M.C. Sullivan - a nurse, bioethicist, attorney and Director of Ethics at Covenant Health Systems in Tewksbury—who said the answer to the push for assisted suicide is better palliative care, which treats not just bodily pain, but also spiritual and emotional pain. The women at the breakfast were fired up. Susan said she was glad to learn of the difference between palliative care and hospice care. Hospice focuses strictly on the end of life, but palliative care can also be used for those with chronic illness. Greg said more and more people are coming out to stay this assisted suicide is not curative and isn’t really helping people. He said palliative care recognizes that quality of life is not solely about “fixing” or curing someone. Fr. Roger said the short-term focus in this fight is for those who are the end of life, but also for the fight against the legalization effort for November. The longer-term issue is about creating a culture of life, not just for palliative care, but also to provide companionship and compassion through presence for those who are suffering alone. Scot said another pro-life effort is the Massachusetts specialty license plate called Choose Life. Those who sponsor the plate effort have to give a bond to ensure to the state that enough plates will be issued. The organizers need about 600 plates in order to read their goal in the next few months. Fr. Roger said these plates are one of the best pro-life efforts we’ve been able to get through our Legislature the past few years. Thousands of people will see these plates as we drive around each day. He was one of the first to get the plate and he challenged many of his parishioners to get the plate as well and they have responded. Fr. Roger joked they might even be a get-out-of-a-ticket card with regard to being pulled over by state troopers. He said we should be grateful for the anonymous donor who put $100,000 of his own money for the bond and hopes he gets all of his money back. But even more important we can show we support life in a commonwealth that may not be as pro-life as we want it to be. Also in the Pilot this week is the announcement that Fr. John Delaney from St. Michael Parish in North Andover has been appointed as Pastor of Sacred Hearts Parish in Haverhill. Scot said St. Michael’s has had a lot of upheaval in recent months with three priests leaving for one reason or another. It is the largest parish in the archdiocese with the most activities of any parish. Greg said it’s a dynamic parish that is well-supported by the parishioners. Also in the Pilot is the obituary for Fr. John Fallon, who was 89 years old. He was ordained in 1946 and served in many parishes in southern and western parts of the Archdiocese, although he served in most parts of the Archdiocese, including Gloucester, Arlington, and Ayer. He served 9 parishes in the archdiocese. His funeral Mass was celebrated in the parish where he was baptized, St. Charles Borromeo in Woburn. Fr. Roger talked about the baptismal imagery invoked in the funeral Mass and the symbolism of being buried from the same parish where he ws baptized. Scot said in the Anchor was a story about Fr. Riley Williams who is serving in Rome where he wrote a book on the station churches of Rome. He also has a popular blog. Other articles include the Legion of Mary of the diocese of Fall River celebrating its 60th anniversary, a profile of the Faith Formation Office in Fall River, Catholic Girl Scouts celebrating 100 years of scouting, and a new parish that brings togethers two other parishes in Fall River. Scot also read prize-winning pro-life student essays that were published in this week’s Anchor, including an essay by eighth-grader Althea Turley: I am lucky to walk, talk, and communicate normally with the people I love. I have spina bifida, and without spinal operations. my life would be dramatically different. My parents always loved me, regardless of my problems. Not all babies with birth defects are so lucky. Some never take their first breath. Six hundred ninety unborn babies with Down’s Syndrome were aborted in 2002, and that rate rises every year. Aborted babies will never experience the simple joys of life because a person rejected a wonderful gift. Only God should have the power to give or take a life as every human life is a gift and a miracle. Jesus “came so that all might have life and have it to the full.” Victims of murder, capital punishment, assisted suicide, and abortion have a right to life. They are unable to have it because of the choices of others. God should be the only One to make these decisions, yet some people give up hope rather than trusting in God. They don’t leave it up to the omniscient Father. Humans are fallible and make mistakes. Therefore, cancer patients who might live three more years may commit suicide because ofa doc-Il tor’s estimate of a month left to live. The same goes for abortion and capital punishment. A baby in a complicated pregnancy might not kill a mother, and a convicted criminal may be innocent after all. Life’s potential cannot be known. An aborted baby could discover cures for diseases or become a great world leader, but no one will ever know if he or she is deprived a chance at life. The disabled, poor, elderly, and sick are just as important as anyone else and should be treated with the same respect. This past Advent season. my classmates and I volunteered at a homeless shelter and served lunch to the less fortunate who were so appreciative of a single meal. As I was there. I realized the homeless people who seemed so different on the outside weren’t so different from us. We all have the same needs and hopes, and we are all God’s children. We are all important and all merit good lives. God is love, and He created us in His likeness, with the purpose of living a full, happy. and successful life. Humans need to realize this and let God choose when to terminate a life. We should put our faith in God and help others live lives God gives all His children. Susan said she was really impressed. She has the message and has made this her message. She’s not just repeating what she’s heard. There seems to be great commitment in this. Scot said this is a neat contest, in which the winners read their essays during a Mass with Bishop Coleman. Fr. Roger said they’ve been doing the contest for a decade and they change the theme each year. Fr. Roger said he loves seeing the perspective of the youth and the young have a great energy and hope and enthusiasm. Scot said the first place in the senior division was Eileen Corkery, a high school senior. 3rd segment: Scot said across the country tomorrow a lot of organizations are sponsoring local rallies at noon to stand up for religious freedom. A Boston rally will take place on the Boston Common on the corner of Park and Beacon Street. There will be five speakers from 12-1. Scot asked those who could take the time to join in so that our voices could be seen and heard. Also this week, the bishop who is overseeing the US bishops’ religious freedom initiative, Bishop William Lori, has been appointed to become the next Archbishop of Baltimore. Fr. Roger said Baltimore was the first and only diocese in the United States soon after 1789. It’s the closest thing the US has to be a primatial see. That fact that we’re now in a very visible battle for religious freedom, most pundits thought Bishop Lori was most likely to be given the archdiocese. He is a native of the area. [“Former government officials join religious leaders in conscience fight”, CNS, 3/16/12](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20120315.htm] Scot said another article shows that two former ambassadors to theVatican have joined the fight for religious freedom, Ray Flynn and Jim Nicholson. They have joined other former government officials to create a group called Conscience Cause. Greg said they intend to travel around the country speaking out about this issue from a different perspective from the bishops. Scot said another late-breaking story is related to the lawsuit filed by EWTN against the HHS mandate. Today the state of Alabama has joined EWTN in that lawsuit, claiming that the federal mandate is hurting the rights of all Alabamans. It’s a big development for a state government to join a lawsuit like this. Another story shows that President Obama’s approval rating among women voters has dropped. Fr. Roger said he thinks the sense the Obama administration is projecting, that all women are lining up for their free contraception, is false. It’s awakened the vast majority of women for whom the National Organization for Women and Planned Parenthood don’t speak. Fr. Roger also thinks economic news is also important to women and that might be hurting the president as well. What Catholic women need to do is stand up and say what the President is trying to do doesn’t speak for their values when forcing them to pay for other women’s abortifacient pills. This is not the type of feminism they want to support. Scot said it seems like it could offend a lot of women when far-left groups claim they speak for all women. Susan said this is a hot topic among women she knows, who are saying that the administration isn’t doing this for them. Susan suggested listeners re-listen to last Friday’s show to hear an excellent argument. Scot suggested many women will want to sign on to the petition at WomenSpeakForThemselves.com. Greg said we can’t draw direct conclusions art o why the president’s approval rating dropped, but it must be related. It’s a little degrading to think that their vote can be purchased by contraceptions. Scot said next week Greg will be visiting Cuba to cover Pope Benedict’s trip. Greg said his group is traveling to Havana to participate in the Pope’s Mass there. He is traveling with a group called Caritas Cubana. Over four days they will visit many of the projects they are doing there.…
Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams welcome Catholic musician and convert Sean Forrest who talks about his journey from a successful secular music career to the Catholic Church where he ministers to thousands of teens and adults every year. And if that wasn’t enough, in 2002 Sean started a new mission in Haiti, creating a model orphanage that local and international organizations say is the cleanest and most joyful in the country. When you hear Sean’s joy and faith expressed with such awe and excitement, you’ll want to know how you can take part. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Sean Forrest and his remarkable mission to Haiti Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Catholic musician Sean Forrest 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Matt back to the show. They discussed his weekend which began with the Jesus in the North End young adult gathering. On Saturday and Sunday, he attended 10 CYO basketball games, and then on Monday was a retreat day for youth ministers. On Tuesday, he was in the North End again, begging restaurants to donate food for those attending the annual Eucharistic Congress for Youth and Young Adults. On Tuesday, Fr. Matt also posted on his Twitter a photo of himself with Boston Bruin Zdeno Chara, who he ran into in the North End. One of the restaurant owners is friends with Zdeno and introduced them and asked Fr. Matt to give him a blessing. After the break, we will hear a clip of one of Sean’s signature songs “Movin’ with the Spirit”. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Sean to the show. Scot recalled that Sean spoke at the 2006 Boston Catholic Men’s Conference, where he was photographed by the Boston Herald and placed on the front page of the newspaper. Scot said many probably don’t know he wasn’t raised Catholic. Sean was born to Baptist parents who kept searching for the perfect church, which depended on how good the pastor was. As they got older, his brother Michael converted to Catholicism. Michael began challenging Sean with questions he couldn’t answer, like how he could know Pastor Bob was interpreting the Bible correctly. From there he began reading more and more. At the time, Sean was a fairly successful musician, and even dropped out of college because he was making so much money. He played for many influential people and making very good money. Then one Sunday morning he woke up with an epiphany. He has a song on the CD about it. He had been out partying the night before and he woke up to find his wife had already been up and out for a walk on the beach. He realized he’d been putting his wonderful wife second to networking with people in his business. That caused him to think that God didn’t put him here to play Jimmy Buffett songs and watch people drink too much while not being with his wife every day. So he stopped the partying, but he still needed to make a living. He was trying to live in the world, playing bars, while trying to follow Jesus Christ. Then he had a health crisis: a vascular seizure that crippled him on his couch that scared him tremendously. For six months, he went from doctor to doctor and was chronically ill. He started having anxiety attacks and thinking he’s going to die. He finally acknowledged God had his attention and it helped him break from that scene. Scot said one of his favorite songs is called “Righthand Land,” which talks about living life in the fast lane and needing to slow down to have contemplation and prayer. That seemed to be Sean’s life. As part of his suffering, Sean went to Medjugorje, even though he wasn’t Catholic yet. He had been invited by a friend to go. He saw things he now knows were supernatural, but due to the hardness of his heart he wouldn’t believe them. He finally heard a homily on the true presence in the Eucharist and he was blown away. After his conversion, Sean started working in youth ministry. He had been studying like crazy after that homily and a priest in Stratford, Connecticut, invited him to come work there, even though he wasn’t Catholic yet. He was so excited to become Catholic at the Easter vigil and the cradle Catholics around him didn’t understand his excitement. After about six months, Sean felt called to go out beyond the parish to speak to others about his faith and running confirmation retreats. (Sean said the youth ministry program is still going on strong in that parish.) In the first year, he did 15 retreats. The next year he did 50. That also gives him time to write music and let God use his past to help heal the present. Fr. Matt said like Sean he was influenced by Medjugorje and working in youth ministry. He asked Sean what it was like to welcome Our Lady into his life. Sean said he had to get past the feeling of betraying Jesus. but as he read the Church fathers, he saw how they all prayed to the Blessed Mother. He prayed to ask God to guide him. So he prayed a rosary and praying that God would stop him if it was wrong. He realized he was meditating on the life of Christ along with people from all over the world and that they were a large global family. This Easter vigil will be 15 years since Sean entered the Church. Scot said the Church is strengthened by all converts. After the break, we will hear Sean’s most recent song “Kay Mari (Hey oh)”, : 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Clare Walsh from East Bridgewater, MA She wins 2 items: An audio CD from Living His Life Abundantly: The Defense of Traditional Marriage Meditations on the Stations of the Cross, an inspiring booklet of meditations accompanying prayers that will enrich your Lent by helping you deepen your relationship with Love Himself, Jesus Christ. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Sean said Kay Mari is an orphanage in Haiti that he’s working with. He said the government and the UN tells him that it’s the cleanest and happiest orphanage they’ve seen in the country. Scot said Sean began his relationship with Haiti in 2002. Sean said he worked with the Haitian Health Foundation and it was his first experience. He went back but wanted to find something he could do since he’s not a doctor. He wanted to find orphans that he could help. It’s perhaps the poorest country in the world with more than 1 million orphans. He walked into an orphanage and there so many of them and so few caretakers. The children were so lacking in stimulation that they were pacing or banging their heads against the wall. They weren’t being held by anyone because there weren’t enough workers. Sean walks in and a little boy stands in front of him. He tried to pick him up, but the director told him not to touch because the boy had contagious scabies. He pulled away and started to walk away, but he turned back and saw the boy looking at him still, with lifeless eyes. He heard Christ tell him that He carried Sean’s sins to the cross, but he wouldn’t hold Him in this child because he was afraid of a little rash. So he put his arms around him and the boy latched onto him so tight. The other children saw this and they all ran to him. He tried to kiss as many of them as he could and hold them. He spent the whole day doing it. He never contracted any skin rash or anything. Sean decided he wanted to direct his resources toward helping these children. They built an orphanage with a Haitian-American team and as he traveled to speak and play, he would find people wanting to get involved and take part. Scot compared it to the ministry of Fr. Paul O’Brien and St. Patrick’s in Lawrence with the Cor Unum Meal Center, where they treat people with the dignity and love of Christ, the way Christ would do it. Scot said it makes him proud that Sean and other Catholics did an orphanage in the way that Jesus himself would set it up. Scot asked how the orphanage got funded and how they secured the land. Sean said one of his co-ministers in a summer camp he runs told him that she knew someone from Haiti whose parents owned some land. So they bought the land and that man has become a priest in Haiti (Fr. Louis in the Kay Mari video). When they first got to Haiti they were living in huts with no bathrooms and no running water. But he kept going back every three or four months and fundraising here in between. Conferences he was speaking at would hold a collection for him to raise $20,000 and other cases like that where in a couple of years they raised $175,000. Sean said he’s a professional beggar now, not for himself, but for these kids who will become the great generation for Haiti’s future. They’re empowering the Haitian people to evangelize and spread the faith on their own. Fr. Matt asked where in Haiti the orphanage is located. Sean said you arrive in Port au Prince, which is definitely the third world, even more so after the earthquake. The orphanage is four hours drive and about 60 miles. They drive up a little dirt road into the mountains into the most beautiful country. When they arrive everyone comes running out to welcome them with great joy. One time Sean arrived with a priest-friend from Kingston, MA. It’s so quiet there and while they were out walking they encountered a hut were an old woman who was laying in a bed and very sick. But when they saw the priest enter her hut, she threw her arms up in the air and asked, “How is that the servant of the Lord has found me here.” He gave her the anointing of the sick and she threw her arms around him weeping and he wept too. Sean loves to bring priests to Haiti. They don’t care about celebrities in Haiti. Priests are the rock stars. Sean said there are 14 children in the orphanage now. They’re expecting 3 more and the state has told them that they might have 20 more brought to them, so they’re being careful. There are 15 staff workers and they’re feeding and caring for about 70 people. Sean said the buildings are completed, they just need to tile it to keep down the dust. They have a chapel and a clinic and Sean said the church is very beautiful. They need pews, tiles, altars, and paint. They are also building a school which was funded with $400,000 from Mexico. They need to furnish and pay for housing for the teachers. To support the mission go to . They need money to support the local economy and to buy goods, but they also need the donation of rosaries prayed for the orphanage. They also have a wish list of items they need on the website. Sean said they also bring mission trips every month so people can help and also spread the word, anything from hard labor to giving the workers a break by holding the kids. Scot said a few days ago, his Facebook news feed was full of people talking about this Kickstarter project to help him raise money to underwrite the cost of a new album. In four days they raised the goal. Sean has been producing albums on a shoestring budget, but a friend in the music business who puts on the annual Soulfest festival in New Hampshire told him that if God gave him a gift of music, he needs to get real about it. His friend told him about Kickstarter.com, a way to self-fund projects, and they went to Nashville where a Grammy-winning producer helped them record a great album. Sean said he now thinks he should set the goal at $50,000. Kickstarter gives people a chance to get on board with a pledge and get rewards like a t-shirt or even a concert in your own home. People are still giving because they want to take it to $100,000. Scot said he hears about Kickstarter projects from his business school friends about entrepreneurial goals, but hopefully this will encourage Catholics with ideas for projects to use this unique means of funding. Sean said it’s very humbling to see the response. It’s humbling to see people believe in what he’s doing. Even now he still has doubts in himself, but God keeps proving to him how he wants to use him to change hearts and do something in this world.…
Summary of today’s show: With regular Tuesday co-host Fr. Chris O’Connor celebrating his 40th birthday today, it had to be time to do a priest profile of Fr. Chris. Scot Landry talks with Fr. Chris about his childhood growing up in Dorchester’s St. Margaret Parish, attending parochial schools and then Boston College High; going to seminary, including a year in Rome at the Pontifical North American College; and after ordination being selected for further studies and a ministry forming other men for the priesthood at St. John Seminary. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Fr. Chris O’Connor 1st segment: Scot said today is Fr. Chris’s 40th birthday, Scot will never forget it because he was born on the exact same day as Scot’s wife, Ximena. Fr. Chris was born at St. Margaret’s Hospital in Dorchester, which was also located in his parish of St. Margaret’s, which is now Blessed Mother Teresa Parish. Fr. Chris talked about going back as a priest to help in the maternity ward of St. Margaret’s after his ordination. Fr. Chris is the oldest of three with a sister and a brother. He grew up in St. Margaret’s and Fr. Peter Uglietto, now Bishop Uglietto, was the pastor. Fr. Tom Conway and Fr. Joe Hennessey were also there during his childhood. Fr. Chris said the parish is the central identity of people from Dorchester. When you asked someone they were from Dorchester, you were automatically asked what parish. He said their sports rival was St. Peter’s Parish, although they also competed to see how many priests and religious they would produce. Fr. Chris remembers that Fr. Conway had brought Mother Teresa to his parish where she prayed for vocations and within a year Fr. Chris was in the college seminary. They also recalled stories of Fr. Chris’ childhood in the parochial school. He believes part of the decline in the vocations to the priesthood is connected to decline in the number of religious because the sisters in the schools promoted vocations very strongly. Some of the sisters who taught him in school would share stories of heroic priests, would tell boys that they should consider the priesthood. They also taught the faith in ways not seen today: learning the Psalms by heart, for instance. They also taught the importance of the Eucharist. They also had customs like May processions, which formed an important part of the faith. Fr. Chris said the parish was mainly Irish and Polish, which happened to be his background. There is a whole Polish enclave in Dorchester, with Our Lady of Czestochowa parish in the neighborhood. When he was coming into his adulthood, he also started to see the first influx of families from southeast Asia. 2nd segment: Fr. Chris said both his parents were graduates of Catholic schools and they wanted him to go to Boston College High School. He had many good Jesuits etchers who formed him. Meanwhile, they had moved to Quincy and Sacred Heart Parish, which also produced so many vocations. Fr. Chris said he was helped to graduate by the underhanded tactics of his teachers in giving him a leg up on tests and the like in their tutoring. He graduated from BC High in 1990 and it was still primarily a Jesuit faculty. He recalls so many characters among the priests there. Being around so many priests throughout his youth and adolescence made the abuse crisis especially painful because he had so how hard the priests worked and how they were smeared by association with those who faltered. Unfortunately, now priests are far removed from young men these days because of the fallout from the scandal. Getting to know priests as real men helps boys picture themselves in that life, while only seeing them from afar makes them seem like other. Fr. Chris didn’t become a Jesuit because he didn’t want to end up in a classroom for his whole priesthood, but ironically he ended up teaching at the seminary. He went to the college seminary and he said there were many pivotal moments of formation there. He was in seminary for 8 or 9 years total. He attended the Pontifical North American College in Rome and at the time it was much more difficult to stay in touch with family and friends back home. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York was the rector of the seminary at the time, and even then he radiated the joy of the Church. Cardinal Law did allow Fr. Chris to return to Boston to finish his seminary training and he was ordained in 1998. He had asked to serve in an inner-city parish with a school when he was asked for his preferences. He wound up at St. Mary Parish in Chelmsford, which was not inner city nor had a school, but it was a very large and active parish. It was so far from Dorchester, it was like being back in Rome. He served there for three years and he helped form a junior youth ministry program to complement the regular youth ministry that had been so successful. After Chelmsford, he was selected for further studies in philosophy at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He earned a Licentiate in philosophy in three years. He lived in an active suburban parish there while studying. He’d studied philosophy in the minor seminary and he was fairly successful in returning to it. He was happy to have had several years of parish experience seeing questions and wonder in people’s lives so he could explore those questions in the classroom through a philosophical lens. Scot asked what it was like to study at Catholic University in DC, where there are so many religious orders, the US bishops conference, the National Basilica, and more. Fr. Chris said there were many prominent scholars at CUA, plus elected Catholic officials who would come to speak very often. They would have visiting priests come in to lecture as well as prestigious professors. Fr. Chris said very often the secular study of philosophy attacks the faith, but at Catholic University, faith and reason are presented as compatible. He said young people going to study philosophy need to make sure their school is open to the honest pursuit of truth. Speaking of favorite philosophers, Fr. Chris said St. Augustine is at the top of his list. His thesis, however, was on the philosopher John Rawls. He examined Rawls’ assertion that people of faith should not bring that faith into their actions in the public square. Scot said the last four years in seminary is major seminary where you get a Master’s in theology. Before that they need a bachelor’s degree and study pre-theology. This course includes metaphysics, which considers the big questions of life. They also study ethics, epistemology (study of how we know), ecclesiology (the study of the Church). He also teaches that at the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization, which forms lay people. Fr. Chris has become vice-rector at the seminary, which added administrative responsibilities to his workload. The request that Fr. Chris study theology, especially ecclesiology, came from the current rector, Bishop Arthur Kennedy. Scot and Fr. Chris discussed what ecclesiology is. Fr. Chris is working toward his doctorate in theology. He is thinking of writing his dissertation on the role of the bishop as the principle of communion in the diocese. On the topic, he talked about how the coming pastoral collaborative in the Archdiocese will affect our understanding of what a parish is and the nature of the Church. Scot said Fr. Chris’s favorite questions for guests is who are their favorite saints. Fr. Chris said one of his favorites is St. Maximilian Kolbe. In the Franciscan church where Kolbe was a priest before being deported to Auschwitz is a painting of the saint. Nearby is a plaque that says Pope John Paul II prayed there often when he was archbishop of Krakow. Scot asked Fr. Chris was the 40th birthday means to him. Fr. Chris said he has reflected on his own mortality, which good Catholics should do on occasion. In another sense, it’s just another day. He considers that as wonderful as this life is, there is a greater life to come in heaven. He said people worry that priesthood is a lonely life, but he’s never been lonely. He’s open to the many people that Christ brings into his life. Fr. Chris gives thanks to God for his family, who love him at his highest moments and weakest moments. He gives thanks for so many good lay friends, who challenge and encourage him. He appreciates the seminary faculty, nine solid priests who are all on the same page and supportive. He’s thankful for the seminarians. He wishes he had been as good as a seminarian as they are today. He wishes they could all be serving in parishes today as priests. He is also thankful for The Good Catholic Life, although he had at first been hesitant to take on another responsibility. Fr. Chris said one of his favorite shows was when they interviewed Fr. Joseph Fessio on Pope Benedict’s book last Lent. It was very cerebral and exhilarating. Fr. Fessio gave insight into how then-Fr. Ratzinger was like as a professor.…
Summary of today’s show: St. Joseph was silent in Scripture, but spoke through his actions as the provider and protector of Jesus and Mary as chosen by God. Scot Landry and Fr. Philip Merdinger of the Brotherhood of Hope talk about St. Joseph on his feast day and the many ways he provides a role model to Christians, especially to Catholic men, whether they are single, married, or ordained, on how to truly live the Good Catholic Life. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Philip Merdinger, B.H., founder of the Brotherhood of Hope Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: St. Joseph 1st segment: Scot talked about St. Joseph’s feast day and his impressions of the saint, the foster father of Jesus and spouse of the Virgin Mary. Our guest, Fr. Philip Merdinger, who is on the faculty of St. John Seminary and the founder of the Brotherhood of Hope, has given many retreats and talks on St. Joseph. Fr. Philip said he has been a priest for 47 years and was ordained for the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey. After he had been ordained 10 years, he encountered the Charismatic Renewal and learned of covenant communities. They are people who pledge to live a particular Christian ideal in common. As a chaplain for one of these communities, he found a call to bring single lay men into deeper relationship to the Lord. They began households for single men in college or just out of college and out of it came the Community of Hope in 1980. In 1995, they were invited to Boston to make their primary house here. They now serve at Northeastern University and its surrounding schools, at Rutgers University, and Florida State at Tallahassee. The community of men became a community of religious brothers whose primary apostolate is to college students. Scot said most of the Brothers serve on secular college campuses. Fr. Philip said there are 19 of them, 3 of them priests. Scot said he encountered the Brotherhood about 8 years ago at an Advent retreat for Catholic men. Fr. Philip said they started their involvement in Catholic men’s conferences and retreats after he encountered the leaders of the Cincinnati Catholic men’s conference, the largest in the country for many years. Fr. Philip said he has since become a regular speaker at these conferences, of which there are about 50 in the country each year. Scot asked him about his devotion to St. Joseph. Fr. Philip said he came late to his devotion in his life, but in working in the men’s movement, it kindled his interest in St. Joseph because he is a model for men trying to bring their wife nd children to heaven. 2nd segment: Scot said we don’t know much about St. Joseph from Scriptures and we don’t even have any direct quotes attributed to him. Fr. Philip said St. Joseph is the man who speaks by what he does, not by his words. He said we start by acknowledging St. Joseph is a married man and he and his wife would have lived according to the customs and norms of their societies. He had a wife he cared for deeply. He had to learn two very difficult things most men don’t have to learn: That she had a child not by him and that he had to take her into her home and live a celibate life because she was consecrated and set aside for a separate purpose. What stands out is his character. Once he knew that this was the road he needed to walk, he walked it well. He took Mary into his home and legally made Jesus a descendant of Jesus, and he loved and cared for her and provided everything she needed. Scot said God chose how he wanted his own Son to be raised. God wanted Jesus to be raised in a nuclear family, with a mother and father who loved each other and loved him. Scot recalled Fr. Philip said in a homily once that everyone should think that God chose Joseph from all men who would be born to teach his Son what it means to be a man, to work in the world, to care for other people, to be a committed family member. Then Fr. Philip asked those present, What if God called you to raise Jesus, but in fact He does call us to raise our own kids with that same love. Fr. Philip said God gives to men a particular responsibility for their family that can’t be shirked. Think of how Mary was totally at peace entrusting herself to him during her late pregnancy as they traveled to Bethlehem. He’s ready to act for her and for her son. Joseph was a real father to Jesus. We know when Jesus was 12 and he was found in the Temple, Mary said, “Your father and I were looking for you.” Scot said Joseph, from the first moment of the angel’s message, his motivation was to protect Jesus and Mary from all of his being and was always open to however God was trying to communicate to him. Fr. Philip said Joseph was a just man, because his relationship to God’s law put him a place of honor. For any man, it’s their person relationship with the Lord that empowers them to be protector, provider, and governor. When Joseph is told to flee to Egypt, he leaves that very night. He takes the lead and takes action. A man can’t discharge his manly responsibilities unless he has a relationship with the Lord of Lords. Sometimes it’s not easy for me to have that relationship because men are doers, not thinkers. He encouraged men to seek that relationship with the Lord in order to discharge those responsibilities. Scot said we often hear “To Jesus, through Mary”, but for some men it might be worthwhile to consider that Joseph was also very close to Jesus as his father. For many men who struggle with providing and protecting their families or being a chaste man, St. Joseph might be the patron saint for them. Fr. Philip said the sudden departure from what they had built in Bethlehem because of the threat from Herod and the long road to Egypt and then to provide for his family, showed his trust in God who would provide for him. A man can come to trust the Lord in his personal relationship despite the enormous challenges. Trust is not easy for men. Scot said part of trusting might be praying to St. Joseph for humility. He said part of that humility is accepting a message from an angel in a dream. When we think God is leading us, we can pray to St. Joseph. Maybe he can help us to have the humility to accept suffering, like when Joseph and Mary heard the prophecy of Simeon was Jesus was 10 days old. Fr. Philip said part of being a man is to act when the time is right. Am I ready to have patience or am I ready to respond. Men often want someone to tell them what the right thing is to do and St. Joseph had that in abundance because of his relationship with God. Scot said imagine how Joseph and Mary felt when they lost 12-year-old Jesus during the caravan from Jerusalem. Then their sorrow or anxiety was replaced with joy on finding Jesus. What we learn here is that even the Holy Family had moments of anxiety and fear like we all have. Fr. Philip said Mary was not a happy lady: “Why have you done this to us?” And then Jesus responds in a way that must have been hard to understand: “I was in my Father’s house.” Then it says that Jesus returned with them and was obedient and Mary pondered these things in her heart. 3rd segment: Scot said the finding of Jesus in the temple was the last time we hear about Joseph, but our tradition is that Joseph died surrounded by Jesus and Mary after having raised Jesus. Fr. Philip said it’s a small-t tradition which reminds us of a crucial understanding for being a good Catholic, that the Son of God took flesh for us and his relationship in his family was like ours: Joseph would have cared for Jesus, would have held his hand in the synagogue to learn the Torah, would have taught him a trade. Joseph raised and cared for him. So it’s a lovely tradition that Joseph would have been surrounded in love by Mary and Jesus. Joseph is patron of the universal Church because he cared and protected for Jesus and the Church is the body of Christ. Scot said the Church is under attack in our culture today and so we turn to St. Joseph that we would have the strength to fight our battles well. Fr. Philip talked about the potential for this conflict to send us “into exile in Egypt” and how we should as St. Joseph to intercede on behalf our persecutors as well. Fr. Philip said when he was young, someone could just follow the practices of the faith, they could call themselves a good Catholic. But today it’s not enough anymore. We need to be able to defend the church, first in our own hearts, making these teachings our own. Scot said St. Joseph heard the voice of God and took action unquestioning. We need to be able to accept the Church’s teachings with an attitude that we want to obey the Church and if we’re not sure we understand, to give the Church the benefit of the doubt while we seek to understand. Fr. Philip said it’s obedient to the mind of Christ. He pointed out that it’s not just Church teaching, but it’s the mind of Jesus. Not something external coming from the outside, but something from the inside, in our hearts. Fr. Philip said doubt isn’t the problem. It’s when you just say No, I don’t care what Christ thinks. He said John Garvey, president of Catholic University of America, and Jim Towey, president of Ave Maria U, are excellent examples of Catholic lay leadership against attempts to restrict the Church. Scot discussed the Obama administration’s efforts to restrict the right to freedom of religion in favor of a manufactured right to free contraception. What’s at the root of that is that the idea that men and women today can’t control themselves and thus need free contraception in order to act irresponsibly and not bear the consequences. Fr. Philip said in the seminary, they encourage the men to understand that St. Joseph is a model for them of one who cares for the Church, just like the men will be if ordained as priests. They want to pray that they will become willing protectors of the Church, not just administrators or purveyors of sacraments. Scot asked Fr. Philip about he’s observing Lent. Fr. Philip said he’s been thinking more about the Cross and its central message.…
Summary of today’s show: This week, the US bishops issued a new and passionate statement on the current debate over religious liberty precipitated by the Obama administrations rules mandating coverage for contraceptive care in health insurance. Scot Landry, Fr. Mark O’Connell, and Domenico Bettinelli consider the statement in a similarly passionate discussion, including the clarifications from the bishops on the 7 things that the debate is NOT about (despite media coverage to the contrary), the 3 things that the debate is ACTUALLY about, and 5 next steps the bishops have pledged to take. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Domenico Bettinelli, Jr. Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The US bishops’ latest response on the HHS mandate and religious liberty 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Mark caught up on the last week. He was on vacation last week, but came back to crises in both the office and family. He’s looking forward to St. Patrick’s Day weekend. Most of Fr. Mark’s background is Irish. Scot read an article about St. Patrick from this week’s Pilot, giving the background on the Irish saint who is the patron saint of Boston. Scot said that to us in the Archdiocese of Boston and throughout the Church in the US, we look to St. Patrick especially, considering what Irish Catholics have done for the Church here over the decades. Scot said St. Patrick did not march in parades or drink green beer, but the Church does not discourage celebration. We just ask that in the midst of celebrating to say a prayer to St. Patrick for the Catholic Church. Fr. Mark said he has heard today from some people upset the Cardinal did not give a dispensation from Lenten abstinence for meat today, the day before St. Patrick’s Day. 2nd segment: Scot said he still hears from people wondering what the big battle is about between the US bishops and the Obama administration, so we will go through the document in detail. The Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, gathered for its March 2012 meeting, is strongly unified and intensely focused in its opposition to the various threats to religious freedom in our day. In our role as Bishops, we approach this question prayerfully and as pastors—concerned not only with the protection of the Church’s own institutions, but with the care of the souls of the individual faithful, and with the common good. To address the broader range of religious liberty issues, we look forward to the upcoming publication of “A Statement on Religious Liberty,” a document of the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty. This document reflects on the history of religious liberty in our great Nation; surveys the current range of threats to this foundational principle; and states clearly the resolve of the Bishops to act strongly, in concert with our fellow citizens, in its defense. One particular religious freedom issue demands our immediate attention: the now- finalized rule of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that would force virtually all private health plans nationwide to provide coverage of sterilization and contraception—including abortifacient drugs—subject to an exemption for “religious employers” that is arbitrarily narrow, and to an unspecified and dubious future “accommodation” for other religious organizations that are denied the exemption. We begin, first, with thanks to all who have stood firmly with us in our vigorous opposition to this unjust and illegal mandate: to our brother bishops; to our clergy and religious; to our Catholic faithful; to the wonderful array of Catholic groups and institutions that enliven our civil society; to our ecumenical and interfaith allies; to women and men of all religions (or none at all); to legal scholars; and to civic leaders. It is your enthusiastic unity in defense of religious freedom that has made such a dramatic and positive impact in this historic public debate. With your continued help, we will not be divided, and we will continue forward as one. Second, we wish to clarify what this debate is—and is not—about. This is not about access to contraception, which is ubiquitous and inexpensive, even when it is not provided by the Church’s hand and with the Church’s funds. This is not about the religious freedom of Catholics only, but also of those who recognize that their cherished beliefs may be next on the block. This is not about the Bishops’ somehow “banning contraception,” when the U.S. Supreme Court took that issue off the table two generations ago. Indeed, this is not about the Church wanting to force anybody to do anything; it is instead about the federal government forcing the Church—consisting of its faithful and all but a few of its institutions—to act against Church teachings. This is not a matter of opposition to universal health care, which has been a concern of the Bishops’ Conference since 1919, virtually at its founding. This is not a fight we want or asked for, but one forced upon us by government on its own timing. Finally, this is not a Republican or Democratic, a conservative or liberal issue; it is an American issue. So what is it about? An unwarranted government definition of religion. The mandate includes an extremely narrow definition of what HHS deems a “religious employer” deserving exemption—employers who, among other things, must hire and serve primarily those of their own faith. We are deeply concerned about this new definition of who we are as people of faith and what constitutes our ministry. The introduction of this unprecedented defining of faith communities and their ministries has precipitated this struggle for religious freedom. Government has no place defining religion and religious ministry. HHS thus creates and enforces a new distinction—alien both to our Catholic tradition and to federal law—between our houses of worship and our great ministries of service to our neighbors, namely, the poor, the homeless, the sick, the students in our schools and universities, and others in need, of any faith community or none. Cf. Deus Caritas Est, Nos. 20-33. We are commanded both to love and to serve the Lord; laws that protect our freedom to comply with one of these commands but not the other are nothing to celebrate. Indeed, they must be rejected, for they create a “second class” of citizenship within our religious community. And if this definition is allowed to stand, it will spread throughout federal law, weakening its healthy tradition of generous respect for religious freedom and diversity. All—not just some—of our religious institutions share equally in the very same God-given, legally-recognized right not “to be forced to act in a manner contrary to [their] own beliefs.” Dignitatis Humanae, No. 2. A mandate to act against our teachings. The exemption is not merely a government foray into internal Church governance, where government has no legal competence or authority—disturbing though that may be. This error in theory has grave consequences in principle and practice. Those deemed by HHS not to be “religious employers” will be forced by government to violate their own teachings within their very own institutions. This is not only an injustice in itself, but it also undermines the effective proclamation of those teachings to the faithful and to the world. For decades, the Bishops have led the fight against such government incursions on conscience, particularly in the area of health care. Far from making us waver in this longstanding commitment, the unprecedented magnitude of this latest threat has only strengthened our resolve to maintain that consistent view. A violation of personal civil rights. The HHS mandate creates still a third class, those with no conscience protection at all: individuals who, in their daily lives, strive constantly to act in accordance with their faith and moral values. They, too, face a government mandate to aid in providing “services” contrary to those values—whether in their sponsoring of, and payment for, insurance as employers; their payment of insurance premiums as employees; or as insurers themselves—without even the semblance of an exemption. This, too, is unprecedented in federal law, which has long been generous in protecting the rights of individuals not to act against their religious beliefs or moral convictions. We have consistently supported these rights, particularly in the area of protecting the dignity of all human life, and we continue to do so. Third, we want to indicate our next steps. We will continue our vigorous efforts at education and public advocacy on the principles of religious liberty and their application in this case (and others). We will continue to accept any invitation to dialogue with the Executive Branch to protect the religious freedom that is rightly ours. We will continue to pursue legislation to restore the same level of religious freedom we have enjoyed until just recently. And we will continue to explore our options for relief from the courts, under the U.S. Constitution and other federal laws that protect religious freedom. All of these efforts will proceed concurrently, and in a manner that is mutually reinforcing. Most importantly of all, we call upon the Catholic faithful, and all people of faith, throughout our country to join us in prayer and penance for our leaders and for the complete protection of our First Freedom—religious liberty—which is not only protected in the laws and customs of our great nation, but rooted in the teachings of our great Tradition. Prayer is the ultimate source of our strength—for without God, we can do nothing; but with God, all things are possible. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God. In some parishes, where the RCIA candidates are present, sometimes they will use a different Gospel that goes along with the questions or Scrutinies put before the candidates. But most people will hear this Gospel. This is perhaps the most famous verse, John 3:16, and it is the perfect summation of the Gospels. Scot said that “believe” doesn’t just mean acknowledge his existence, but means those who “live the truth.” We have to be seen that we are living in God, not joust for God. Fr. Mark made it very clear that one doesn’t have to explicitly state belief in Christ to go to heaven.…
Summary of today’s show: Scot, Susan, Fr. Roger, and Gregory catch up on this week’s headlines, including updates on the religious freedom fight with 7 lessons we’ve learned so far and a great ministry threatened by the new rules; pastor appointments and parish mergers; and how priests are using new media to enrich their faith lives, including something half of priests under 40 are doing; encouraging statistics about the Church; plus much more. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: HHS mandate, appointments and mergers, priests using new media, encouraging stats on the Church 1st segment: Scot welcomed Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy back to the show. Scot said Fr. Roger on Saturday received Scot’s daughter Ali for her First Communion. They discussed how beautiful and wonderful it is to celebrate the Sacraments for everyone, especially for those he knows are taking their sacrament seriously. Susan talked about how First Communions are a wonderful moment in the life of the Church. She said it may be their First Communion, it should only be the first of thousands of Communions. Greg Tracy then talked about his experience as the father of 10 to celebrate the First Communions of his first six children. 2nd segment: Scot said the editorial in the Anchor is the second of two parts dealing with the battle for religious liberty in the US, especially what we’ve been learning in the interplay between the Obama administration and the US bishops. The first thing Fr. Roger wrote is that we learned about this process is that the administration and many of its friends in the media are trying to make this about contraception, instead of religious freedom. Scot said they hope to make this a wedge issue to bring support from women who would be made to believe that their “right” to birth control is threatened. Fr. Roger discussed the real issue of Sandra Fluke, the 30-year-old political operative attending Georgetown Law, aside from Rush Limbaugh’s ill-considered insults, is that someone spending tens of thousands of dollars to attend school can compel religious believers to act against their conscience to provide her with birth control. Greg said the Obama administration claims to want to resolve this in a way that respects religious freedom, but in reality they show no evidence of wanting to have a real discussion with the US bishops. There is no compromise possible that continues to abrogate religious freedom. Greg said it’s like the administration is promising to say “please” but we’re not allowed to say No in any case. The third point in the editorial is that there doesn’t seem to be the will in Congress to protect religious freedom, so it will be up to the Courts to protect our rights. The Senate failed to pass the Blunt Amendment. The voting on that amendment also show us that Democrats voted against conscience rights 48-3 and Republicans favored it 45-1, so Republicans on Capitol Hill seem to be supportive of religious freedom. Fr. Roger said we have to confront the Democratic Party straight on. There’s something in the party trumping their respect for religious conscience. Scot said the claim can be made that the Democrat Party is being a shill for the special interest of Planned Parenthood. He noted that Planned Parenthood was a big part of the Dept. of Health and Human Services consultation on the services that would be covered under universal health care. The fate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation about a month ago shows that people have a right o be fearful of the political backlash from Planned Parenthood. Fr. Roger noted that 13 Catholic Senators voted against the Rights of Conscience Act, including Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. Scot noted that Democrats often supported the Church’s service to the poor, but they aren’t even on board with the Church when this issue threatens the services that the Church provides. When faced with a situation in which every single U.S. bishop wrote a letter decrying the consequences of the HHS mandate on Catholic and other religious institutions, these CatholiC senators - many of whom who have routinely cited their “conscience” to vote for bills in favor of abortion -still voted against the Church’s being compelled, as the legislation stipulated, to “provide, participate in, or refer for a specific item or service contrary to the provider’s religious beliefs or moral convictions.” Such a betrayal would probably even make Judas blush. Scot said another point is that it’s amazing how much power the Secretary of Health and human Services has been given over religious groups. Those who have examined the text of the PPACA have noted that it contains 700 references to the secretary “shall,” another 200 to the secretary “may” and 139 to the secretary “determines.” The HHS secretary has not only been given unprecedented power over what amounts to be one-sixth of the U.S. economy, but the authority to determine all sorts of things that no unelected official should have. Susan said she found this paragraph frightening. Greg said there are just so many problems we’ve encountered already, what will happen when it’s in full effect? How much more damage will it do? Fr. Roger’s last point is that people need to ask themselves and their legislators whether we want to elect the sort of people who do not respect religious freedom and who believe that free contraception trumps religious freedom. Fr. Roger said in a free country we get the leaders we deserve. We should never elect people who would use their office to take our rights away and get us to fund other’s newly-invented secularist pseudo-rights. As citizens, we have the power to correct these abuses, but we need to rise up and use that power. These are all lessons that, unfortunately, we’ve been learning the hard way. We need to ask candidates completely and substantively about these specific problems with specific answers, not vague assurances. Our votes have become enormously consequential. Scot said the bishops came out a wonderful new statement on this issue that he will discuss on the show with Fr. Mark O’Connell tomorrow. There’s an article in this week’s Anchor about the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order that cares for people at the end of their lives who have no one else to care for them. Now they are having to reconsider whether they will still be able to serve people of all faiths and employ people of all faiths because of the onerous restrictions of HHS mandate. Greg said the Little Sisters of the Poor have a sense of vocation and service and it is a concrete example of the game of chicken that the administration is playing to see whether we’re really going to end our ministry. Greg said what we need to do is march a group of the Little Sisters down to Washington and have them confront some Senators to ask them why they won’t be allowed to continue their ministry. “Because the Little Sisters of the Poor cannot in conscience directly provide or collaborate in the provision of services that conflict with Church reaching, we find ourselves in the irreconcilable situation of being forced to either stop serving and employing people of all faiths in our ministry - so that we will fall under the narrow exemption - or to stop providing health care coverage to our employees,” the order said. “Either path threatens to end our service to the elderly in America. The Little Sisters are fervently praying that this issue will be resolved before we are forced to take concrete action in response to this unjust mandate.” … “If the federal government succeeds in enforcing this rule, what is to stop it from rationing health care to seniors or including euthanizing procedures on the list of required ‘preventive services’ as a way of eliminating the costs associated with caring for our aging population?” they asked. “Would health care providers like the Little Sisters of the Poor then be forced to cooperate in such practices?” “We wish to affirm that the HHS mandate is an unjust and dangerous infringement upon the natural and constitutional rights of Americans and that the only just solution is to rescind it. The Little Sisters of the Poor call upon Congress and the Executive Branch to reverse this decision as soon as possible and we pledge our prayers and sacrifices for the true good of our beloved country,” the order said. Susan said this statement comes from a group not prone to speaking out on politics or public policy. Scot said columnist George Weigel also wrote this week titled “Religious freedom: It’s not just Pakistan and China.” The need to defend religious freedom comes to the US. Scot turned to local news. Father Brian J. McHugh has been appointed as Pastor at St. Joseph Parish in Somerville. This appointment is in addition to his present assignments as Pastor at St. Ann Parish in Somerville and Pastor at St. Catherine of Genoa Parish in Somerville. He becomes the third pastor overseeing three parishes in the Archdiocese. He takes over for Fr. Henry Jennings who is retiring. Fr. Roger said a decision has been made in the Diocese of Fall River to close the oldest Portuguese parish in the country, St. John’s in New Bedford, and merge it with another parish. They had been slated to close in 2009, but the bishop gave them a chance to raise money to keep themselves open. Unfortunately they fell short in their efforts with support only from 17% of parishioners. Fr. Roger said it helps that the pastor of the welcoming parish has been pastor of the closing parish. It’s sad to see the church close. Scot said the Pilot also has a nice story on the one-year anniversary of The Good Catholic Life. Greg said they wanted to make the story a little more personal rather than a straight just-the-facts story. They wanted to give a little bit of insight for those who may not have heard it before. In the Anchor this week is a story about priests using new media tools to enrich their faith, including smartphone apps, Facebook, Twitter, and Skype. There was a quote from a priest who noted how many young priests at a diocesan priests’ retreat praying on their smart phones. Fr. Roger said he thinks at least half of priests under 40 now pray the Liturgy of the Hours using apps on their phones rather than in a book. It makes it simpler because it’s always with them, they no longer have to worry about the ribbons and flipping back and forth, or switching books between seasons. They can concentrate on their prayer. Fr. Roger said he has his entire priestly library on his iPhone or iPad, including books in his Kindle app. He no longer has to break his back carrying a suitcase of books. He hopes the article helps to inspire laypeople to start taking advantage of the high tech means to keep the presence of the Lord throughout the day. Scot said the iMissal app reads the readings to you, which he likes to do on his way to work. The Anchor also profiles the Pro-Life Office of the Fall River diocese, including stories of how they have helped women considering abortion, not just telling them of the Church’s teaching, but treating them with compassion and giving them alternatives. He told one particularly touching story of lives changed by their work. Scot said another column by Msgr. James Moroney on the Collects of Lent is in the Pilot. He is writing each week on the opening prayers for Mass on the Sundays of Lent. Susan said he writes that we are halfway on the journey through Lent. He quotes Pope Gregory: Pope Gregory begins by talking about Lent itself, noting that no matter how much we are fasting, we should hunger more for the Word of God than for food! He then says later in his column: When Christ kneels to wash the feet of his Apostles and tells them to love others as he has loved them, we will remember those whom we have fed and clothed and loved in their poverty. Susan said Cardinal Sean often preaches on Holy Thursday on how we need to remember to love as God loves us, which is a high bar. His columns give us some good insight into the Sunday Mass. Scot said there is a column in the Pilot today giving the status of all the divisions in the Archdiocesan CYO March Madness basketball tournaments. He also noted a story giving a statistics on the worldwide Church. The Church’s total population has grown by 1.3%, which outpaces overall population growth. The number of bishops and priests and seminarians grew in the past year as well. There were 412,236 priests as of December 31, 2010 and 118,990 seminarians. The major increases were in Africa, Asia, and Oceania, while Europe saw the greatest decrease. Other headlines this week include:…
Summary of today’s show: Last October, Pope Benedict issued the motu proprio Porta Fideo (the Doors of Faith), declaring a Year of Faith to begin in October 2012, coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams dive into Pope Benedict's words, examining just what the Holy Father wants for us in this year, which is for the whole Church to rediscover the joy and abundance in Christ that leads the world out of the desert toward life. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Pope’s declaration of the Year of Faith 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Matt to the show and they discussed his recent blogging and video messages for Lent. They discussed the Mass readings from last week. In the first reading we see the giving of the Law to Moses and how God is teaching what it means to be human and live in this world. Israel’ responsibility was to be holy, a people unique to God alone, and be a light to others. But throughout the Old Testament, Israel looks to the other nations and wants to be like them. They fall into pagan worship and break the First Commandment. Then we see in the Gospel that Jesus cleanses the Temple in Jerusalem. The area was called the Court of the Gentiles and it had become a marketplace. They had lost sight of what it meant to be on holy ground. The Lord restores the proper order. Taken together, we see how when we stop going to Mass, we lose touch with God. If we don’t fall in love with Jesus, we will fall in love with something else or someone else. If we take a Sunday off, before we know it, we take another Sunday off. It’s easy to get separated and we begin to seek other gods. If we don’t keep worship of the Lord first and foremost in our lives, we’re putting something else ahead of him. Restoring worship of the Lord restores the order in our lives. Scot asked Fr. Matt about the leadership retreat for 57 high schools teens who will be leading the Hunger for Justice service retreat on Good Friday and Holy Saturday for several hundred teens. It was held at Immaculate Conception Church in Salem last weekend. They looked deeply into the cardinal virtues-prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance— in order to live a more disciplined life. The theme was “Cross” Training. God wants us to be disciplined, especially if we’re going to be leaders. It’s not enough to just avoid vice, but we also must strive for virtue. We also must live with discipline. Discipline leads to peace, happiness, and contentment. At the end of the retreat, they talked about creating a prayer discipline for themselves. They listed three levels of prayer life, which they called junior variety, varsity, and intramural. They included practices like the rosary, divine mercy chaplet, visiting the Blessed Sacrament and so on. They also created a Facebook group to create some accountability among themselves. They make a pledge on the page, saying they’re going to be “junior varsity” today for example and then checking back in later to see how they did. Fr. Matt said he’s enjoying his new work in social media. He’s getting a lot of good feedback from others and it’s become part of his daily routine. He looks forward to it and it’s very simple. They also discussed that The Light Is On For You tonight in every church and chapel in the Archdiocese. Find out more at http://www.thelightisonforyou.org and find a parish near you at http://www.pilotparishfinder.com. 2nd segment: Last October 2011, the Holy Father released a document called Porta Fidei (Door of Faith) announcing that a Year of Faith lasting 13 months would begin in October 2012 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. The “door of faith” (Acts 14:27) is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into his Church. It is possible to cross that threshold when the word of God is proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be shaped by transforming grace. To enter through that door is to set out on a journey that lasts a lifetime. It begins with baptism (cf. Rom 6:4), through which we can address God as Father, and it ends with the passage through death to eternal life, fruit of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, whose will it was, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, to draw those who believe in him into his own glory (cf. Jn 17:22). To profess faith in the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is to believe in one God who is Love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8): the Father, who in the fullness of time sent his Son for our salvation; Jesus Christ, who in the mystery of his death and resurrection redeemed the world; the Holy Spirit, who leads the Church across the centuries as we await the Lord’s glorious return. Fr. Matt said he loves the opening of the ritual of baptism, which welcomes the candidate into the church. He starts it at the front door of the church and asks the questions of the parents and godparents. Then they walk through the door into the sanctuary. The symbolism is so rich because baptism is the entryway into the Church. It is the root of all sacraments and the life of the Church. The parents are promising to raise the child in the faith and model their faith to them. When you think about it, when God reveals himself, he makes a gift of himself to his people. God makes himself to vulnerable, in a way. Faith is in many ways that reception of that gift of God’s divine life and it assimilates into our being and transforms our hearts. Ever since the start of my ministry as Successor of Peter, I have spoken of the need to rediscover the journey of faith so as to shed ever clearer light on the joy and renewed enthusiasm of the encounter with Christ. During the homily at the Mass marking the inauguration of my pontificate I said: “The Church as a whole and all her Pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the One who gives us life, and life in abundance.”[1] It often happens that Christians are more concerned for the social, cultural and political consequences of their commitment, continuing to think of the faith as a self-evident presupposition for life in society. In reality, not only can this presupposition no longer be taken for granted, but it is often openly denied.[2] Whereas in the past it was possible to recognize a unitary cultural matrix, broadly accepted in its appeal to the content of the faith and the values inspired by it, today this no longer seems to be the case in large swathes of society, because of a profound crisis of faith that has affected many people. Scot said the Holy Father echoes that he’s been encouraging the Church to rediscover the journey of faith, but also to show how the church leads people out of the desert, i.e. depression, pain, toward the life of abundance in Christ. Not that we’d have every material thing, but that our life would be full of peace and joy, knowing we are where God wants us to be in this life. Fr. Matt said there was a time when as a society we were defined by our relationships with friends, family, colleagues, and the Lord. But very often today we are defined by our jobs, our degrees, our titles. The Holy Father is saying that we are defined by our relationship with the One, who reveals what it means to be human. We experience a joy, peace, life ,love, grace that the world cannot give. Even a spouse cannot give it because he or she is not God. Scot said he’s been reading a book by author Gus Lloyd called “Magnetic Personality.” The general thesis is that to help grow the Church and be all we’re called to be, we are supposed to be magnetic. He mentioned Sister Olga Yaqob, who powerfully attracts people to Christ through her positive attitude and the way she interacts with people. We’re supposed to be a person that is confident and encouraging and humble in our faith. That’s what the Holy Father is calling all of us to. Fr. Matt said Mother Teresa was not beautiful physically, but she was beautiful because the love of Christ radiated from her. We become magnetic by the joy in the life of abundance that comes from knowing Christ. Scot acknowledged that those of us in the Northeast culturally don’t often share the joy of our faith on our faces, but he challenged listeners to share the good that has been done in our lives by Jesus in a way that others want to have what we have. Fr. Matt said Preach always and when necessary use words. We may be the only Gospel some people ever read. In the light of all this, I have decided to announce a Year of Faith. It will begin on 11 October 2012, the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and it will end on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, on 24 November 2013. The starting date of 11 October 2012 also marks the twentieth anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a text promulgated by my Predecessor, Blessed John Paul II,[3] with a view to illustrating for all the faithful the power and beauty of the faith. This document, an authentic fruit of the Second Vatican Council, was requested by the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops in 1985 as an instrument at the service of catechesis[4] and it was produced in collaboration with all the bishops of the Catholic Church. Moreover, the theme of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops that I have convoked for October 2012 is “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith”. This will be a good opportunity to usher the whole Church into a time of particular reflection and rediscovery of the faith. It is not the first time that the Church has been called to celebrate a Year of Faith. My venerable Predecessor the Servant of God Paul VI announced one in 1967, to commemorate the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul on the 19th centenary of their supreme act of witness. He thought of it as a solemn moment for the whole Church to make “an authentic and sincere profession of the same faith”; moreover, he wanted this to be confirmed in a way that was “individual and collective, free and conscious, inward and outward, humble and frank”.[5] He thought that in this way the whole Church could reappropriate “exact knowledge of the faith, so as to reinvigorate it, purify it, confirm it, and confess it”.[6] The great upheavals of that year made even more evident the need for a celebration of this kind. It concluded with the Credo of the People of God,[7] intended to show how much the essential content that for centuries has formed the heritage of all believers needs to be confirmed, understood and explored ever anew, so as to bear consistent witness in historical circumstances very different from those of the past. Scot said the Holy Father is saying that it’s a time for all of us to rediscover our faith. Lent is the often a time for us to refresh our faith and this Year of Faith is a way to do this in a special way. Fr. Matt said the Holy Father is challenging us to counter the faith fatigue so many of the faithful show. He said every time we reread the Catechism and the documents of Vatican II are inspired by the Holy Spirit and speak to us at this juncture in the Church’s life and give us new insights. We want this Year to arouse in every believer the aspiration to profess the faith in fullness and with renewed conviction, with confidence and hope. Scot said theHoly Father wants us all to say, “I believe” like in the new translation of the Roman Missal. We will say we believe in the fullness of the faith. It’s a time for us to ask ourselves if there are elements of our faith we don’t understand or disagree with and then with the help of the Lord to seek out understanding and to have the courage to say “I believe” in public, even if it’s unpopular. Fr. Matt said the more we dive into our faith, the more we can own it for ourselves. People often hesitate to being a witness because they don’t feel articulate. To a greater extent than in the past, faith is now being subjected to a series of questions arising from a changed mentality which, especially today, limits the field of rational certainties to that of scientific and technological discoveries. Nevertheless, the Church has never been afraid of demonstrating that there cannot be any conflict between faith and genuine science, because both, albeit via different routes, tend towards the truth. Scot said there are many non-believers who put a lot of faith in science and believe there faith and science are opposed. Pope Benedict tells us that faith and science work together as long as they seek truth. The technology of ultrasounds is a good example where our faith in the sanctity of life is supported by emerging science. 3rd segment: This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is William Wallack from Peabody, MA. He wins a Series of CD’s by Peter Kreeft from the Envoy Institute: · “How to Win the Culture War” · “Being Catholic in a Post-Christian World · “The Importance of Critical Thinking Skills and How to Acquire Them” AND · “The Logic of Relativism” If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Moving on with the Holy Father’s words in the document Porta Fidei: The Year of Faith will also be a good opportunity to intensify the witness of charity. As Saint Paul reminds us: “So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:13). With even stronger words – which have always placed Christians under obligation – Saint James said: “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled’, without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But some one will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith” (Jas 2:14-18). Faith without charity bears no fruit, while charity without faith would be a sentiment constantly at the mercy of doubt. Fr. Matt said faith is a supernatural gift oriented toward God. As we receive this Communion with God, the natural expression of encountering the God who is love is to mirror the one who is love. Faith must lead to acts of charity. Scot said faith isn’t just a set of beliefs. The beliefs give foundation to our actions that we are impelled to do out of love for God and others. Faith without charity is just asset of beliefs. Charity without faith is good action without proper roots in why we do it is like the seeds planted in shallow soil. Without deep roots, it’s easily uprooted. Fr. Matt said faith directs us to the Lord so charity without faith has only an earthly frame of reference. Faith and charity each require the other, in such a way that each allows the other to set out along its respective path. Indeed, many Christians dedicate their lives with love to those who are lonely, marginalized or excluded, as to those who are the first with a claim on our attention and the most important for us to support, because it is in them that the reflection of Christ’s own face is seen. Through faith, we can recognize the face of the risen Lord in those who ask for our love. “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). These words are a warning that must not be forgotten and a perennial invitation to return the love by which he takes care of us. It is faith that enables us to recognize Christ and it is his love that impels us to assist him whenever he becomes our neighbour along the journey of life. Supported by faith, let us look with hope at our commitment in the world, as we await “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet 3:13; cf. Rev 21:1). Scot recalled Monday’s show with Fr. Andrew Apostoli. He had quoted Mother Teresa who said in serving the poorest of the poor, she didn’t just see the face of Christ in them, she saw Christ himself. “That the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph” (2 Th 3:1): may this Year of Faith make our relationship with Christ the Lord increasingly firm, since only in him is there the certitude for looking to the future and the guarantee of an authentic and lasting love. The words of Saint Peter shed one final ray of light on faith: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet 1:6-9). The life of Christians knows the experience of joy as well as the experience of suffering. How many of the saints have lived in solitude! How many believers, even in our own day, are tested by God’s silence when they would rather hear his consoling voice! The trials of life, while helping us to understand the mystery of the Cross and to participate in the sufferings of Christ (cf. Col 1:24), are a prelude to the joy and hope to which faith leads: “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10). We believe with firm certitude that the Lord Jesus has conquered evil and death. With this sure confidence we entrust ourselves to him: he, present in our midst, overcomes the power of the evil one (cf. Lk 11:20); and the Church, the visible community of his mercy, abides in him as a sign of definitive reconciliation with the Father. Let us entrust this time of grace to the Mother of God, proclaimed “blessed because she believed” (Lk 1:45).…
Summary of today’s show: The Sacrament of Confession liberates us from sin and is where God’s desire to heal our relationship with Him meets our desire to be healed. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor talk with Fr. Wayne Belschner about confession and they discuss the Pastoral Letter and manual for confession written by Archbishop Robert Carlson when he was bishop of Saginaw, Michigan (available at thelightisonforyou.org). Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Wayne Belschner, Pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in East Boston Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Sacrament of Confession & The Light Is On For You 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chris back to the show after being away. On his spring break from the seminary, he went on pilgrimage to Povence, France, especially to Avignon, where a number of popes lived in the Middle Ages. Fr. Chris explained how the popes ended up in Avignon between 1309-1376 in the reigns of 7 popes.They were all French and we haven’t had a French pope since, Fr. Chris said. He also noted that it was St. Catherine of Siena who finally convinced the pope to return to Rome. Scot said after Pope Gregory IX moved back to Rome, there were also three other bishops who claimed to be pope and are called anti-popes. They welcomed Fr. Wayne Belschner to the show and asked him to give him his expert information. He said eventually when there were three popes, there was a council that deposed all three and elected one new one. Fr. Wayne recounted all the intrigue and murder and violence involved in the end of the Avignon papacy. Fr. Chris changed subjects to celebrating Life Teen Mass at St. Mary in Hanover and how great it was. He discussed his admiration for Fr. Chris Hickey, the pastor there. 2nd segment: Fr. Wayne talked about The Light Is On For You and how wonderful it is going. He said in the past Saturday afternoon before the anticipatory Mass is not the most opportune time for the penitents or for the priests. In his parish, they offer Mass during Holy Hours and before daily Mass. He’s hearing from other priests that The Light IS On For You is going very well. They discussed the progress of pastoral planning in East Boston. Fr. Wayne said they had a meeting of the parishes in the vicariate on Sunday. The people attending were shocked when they were told that in the 1960s and 70s, 70% of Catholics in Boston went to Mass and today only 15.8% go to Mass. As a church historian, Fr. Wayne said it’s amazing. It wasn’t just the upheaval of the 60s that caused it. Certainly parish closings can be a cause as well as the abuse crisis. Scot looks at it from the viewpoint of whether general religious practice across the US is down from that period of time. Fr. Chris said we have to be aware that there is a constant stream of secularization in society. We’re no longer cognizant of what’s in our faith and what’s important. Fr. Chris said we also have to be aware of our religious education programs. He had a priest tell him to look in a textbook and find one thing worth dying for. Fr. Wayne said at that meeting on Sunday, a young lady got up and pointed out that the people coming to all the programs like Arise and Why Catholic are those who go to church every Sunday and even they don’t know their faith. Scot said his theory is that there was a sense that many families outsourced religious upbringing of their kids an hour per week and the central role of the parent in forming faith was lost. He said he sees a lot of parents drop of their kids at religious education but never bring them to Mass. Twenty hours per year isn’t enough. Fr. Chris said even just going to Mass isn’t enough. Boiled down to the essence, that about 8 hours per year of religious instruction. Measure that against the hours of television and other influences kids receive. On the power of the Sacrament of Confession, Scot said Pope Benedict said during his trip to the US: “The liberating power of this sacrament, in which our honest confession of sin is met by God’s merciful words of pardon and peace, needs to be re-discovered and re-appropriated by every Catholic. To a great extent, the renewal of the church in America, and throughout the world, depends on the renewal of the practice of penance and the growth in holiness which the sacrament both inspires and accomplishes.” Fr. Wayne said he waits every week to hear that most important phrase: “I absolve you of your sins” because of its power. Scot said it’s not just that our sins are forgiveness, but we also receive grace to be at peace. Fr. Chris said in the opening prayer at Mass this past week, it said our consciences bring us down, but God’s mercy brings us up. He recalled his doctor telling him to carry 10 pounds of bricks in a backpack a day and then taking them to imagine what losing 10 pounds would be like. This is the same sense of liberation from sin. Fr. Wayne said when you go to your confessor, you let down the boulder down first and then drop the pebbles. When you go to confession, confess the big sins first and once those are gone, you feel the weight lifted and then confessing the venial sins is easy. Scot said his experience of confessing the smaller sins first shows how hard it is to finally confess the big one. Fr. Chris said he sometimes encounters people who say they haven’t been in years and don’t know what to confess. He tells them to think of what weighs on them most heavily and what separates them most from God’s love and love of neighbor. Fr. Wayne said those who are away from the sacrament, they put a lot of weight on what they don’t know how to do. He said people can just tell the priest they need help and they will love to do so. Scot moved on to the Pastoral Letter by then-Bishop Robert Carlson of Saginaw (now in St. Louis). One of the major purposes of the letter is the attempt to move us away from a guilt-centered notion of sin and the sacrament: sin means that we feel guilty, that God is angry, and the sacrament of Penance is about softening our guilt and God’s an ger. I want to move us toward a different notion of sin: sin means that something is deeply wounded in us, that we have weakened or ruptured our relationship with God, and the sacrament of Penance is where God’s desire to heal our relationship meets our desire to be healed. Scot said we need to focus on God’s desire for us to be healed, rather than our just punishment. Fr. Wayne said Jesus’ ministry was one of healing the person from the inside out. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a moving forward. Where are we moving too? Fr. Chris said Pope BEnedict said the sacraments provide for us what we can’t provide for ourselves. Scot said Bishops Carlson is like many midwesterners in being very practical. He uses three analogies for confession: Every 3,000 miles or so, we change the oil in our car. There may not be any major problem with our engine. But slowly, over time, minor impurities have been build- ing up. If we leave those impurities unattended, they will eventually result in major (and costly) problems for our car. Every once in a while, we move the furniture and vacuum behind our couch. If we don’t get to it one week, it’s no big deal. If we don’t get to it the next week, it’s no big deal. If we fail to move the couch and vacuum behind it for six months, it will be filthy. The sacrament of penance is like an oil change for the soul. It’s like moving the furniture of your soul and getting to the places that escape everyday cleaning. … Let me add one more analogy: brushing your teeth. If you forget to brush your teeth tonight, it’s no big deal. If you forget to brush your teeth tomorrow morning, it’s no big deal. If you forget to brush your teeth for three months – or 10 or 15 years – there are going to be big problems! One person’s analogies may help or hinder another person’s understanding. So I want to encourage each of you to come up with your own analogies. What is an image that might help you to understand the sacrament of penance more deeply, and take advantage of its graces more frequently in your spiritual journey? Fr. Chris recounted how much work it is for his sister’s four boys to get their teeth brushed. They have a sign in the bathroom that says only brush the teeth you want to keep. Our soul is going to bring us to heaven and we want to keep it clean and holy and we do that by going to confession. Fr. Wayne said he watched the show “Hoarders”. Some of these people can’t even walk in their homes because they’re so cluttered. When we neglect confession, we become hoarders. We can’t unpack what we’ve gathered. Like the hoarders, we need help to get rid of what is cluttering up inside. Fr. Chris said regular confession is a wonderful thing. The saints have a keen insight that the more they went to confession, the more they would find ways to grow and to grow closer to the Lord. He said people often say that God hasn’t forgiven them, but God always forgives. It’s our own ability not to forgive ourselves. Scot said we can project our own lack of mercy toward ourselves for the sins we commit. Fr. Wayne said in confession we have to be sincere and authentic and have a desire to do that penance. Once we confess our sins, there has to be a change of life as well. Fr. Chris said sins are like cancer. They corrode the body. No one prays to get cancer in order to get chemotherapy and get healed. We don’t want to use confession in order to be able to sin again. Fr. Wayne said the more a priest goes to confession, the better confessor he becomes. Fr. Chris said we learn by example and it’s important to have examples of priests going to confession. Likewise, we can’t tell people confession is so important and then give them a small window for confession. We have to show confession is so important that every church and chapel will be open for confession on Wednesdays in Lent and Advent, 6:30-8. Fr. Wayne said it shows that this is important and serious. Fr. Wayne said he tries to assure the people in his parish who don’t want him to hear their confession that he won’t look at them any differently after hearing their confessions. Scot said Bishop Carlson talks about the root causes of sins: “What we tend to do when we go to confession is confess our sins – but not the root of the sin. So our sins are forgiven, but what caused us to sin has not been healed. We think that the sin is what the problem is. But it’s not. The problem is what’s been build- ing up in us in terms of our attitudes, our habits, our weakness, our human condition, that needs regular infusions of God’s grace. We need to look deeper, asking the Holy Spirit, ‘Come in. Probe my heart. Reveal to me what the real problems are. What are the things that lead to sin? What are the attitudes? Where do I need mercy most? Where do I need healing? What are the things in me at a deep level that need to be healed?’” At the root is often the seven deadly sins—pride, greed, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, sloth— and he says: What am I struggling with? What are the actions? What’s underneath the actions – what attitudes or habits? What do I need to aim for? (Notice the opposites are basically fruits of the Spirit.) What do I want help becoming? Fr. Chris said the bishop also lists the corresponding virtues: humility, generosity, charity, meekness, chastity, moderation, and zeal. The bishop is showing that the Christian life isn’t just a list of don’t, but it is a list of do’s, showing us what will make us happy. Fr. Chris said he loves the quote from Christ who says a man who can be trusted in the little things, then he can be trusted in the big things. If we’re virtuous in little acts, then when the opportunity presents itself we will be virtuous in big things. Fr. Wayne said the sin is the exterior manifestation of what is inside us. What is driving that sin? We need to get at that root cause of the sin. Scot said pride is listed here first. Fr. Chris said pride was the first sin, that of Adam and Eve and sin starts with pride. Fr. Wayne said it’s the deadliest of the sins. Pride is the foundation of all the other deadly sins. Fr. Chris said lust is the most powerful of the sins, especially in today’s culture. We can combat the devil in the other sins, but we are too often powerless before lust. Fr. Wayne said when we are tempted by lust, we should pray to Mary to only have eyes for her and a heart for her Son. Scot read from the pastoral letter: Through the sacrament of reconciliation Jesus’ voice echoes down through the ages saying “Call them to me.” In his sacramental presence through the priest Jesus repeats his question to us: “What do you want me to do for you?” When we have unburdened our hearts we will hear him speak again, saying to us “Go in peace, your faith has made you well.” Scort said his favorite parable is that of the prodigal son, but we should focus on the father of the son, who loves him so much. Fr. Wayne said we all have been in all of the shoes of the people in that parable: the father, the son, and the brother. Bishop Carlson ends by telling people not to be afraid to go back to confession. Be humble. Every priest wants to help. Fr. Wayne said we can’t be afraid to go to confession.…
Summary of today’s show: There are 7 corporal works of mercy and 7 spiritual works of mercy, and Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR, gives us practical advice for living them in our daily lives as Christians in his new book, “What to Do When Jesus Is Hungry: A Practical Guide to the Works of Mercy”. Scot Landry and Fr. Andrew discuss the book and delve into how to ensure we don’t fall afoul of St. James’ admonition: “Faith without works is dead.” Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The corporal & spiritual works of mercy 1st segment: Scot said according to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus will judge us on the basis of whether or not we fed him when he was hungry, gave him drink when he was thirsty, welcomed him when he was a stranger, clothed him when he was naked, and visited him when he was sick or in prison. What we have done for others, he will tell us, we have done for him. The Catholic Church has traditionally called these six acts of kindness-along with a seventh, burying the dead — the “Corporal Works of Mercy.” In this down-to-earth yet inspiring guide, Father Andrew Apostoli, explains the Corporal Works of Mercy and illustrates multiple ways we can do them in our modern everyday life. Father Apostoli also outlines the lesser-known but equally important “Spiritual Works of Mercy”: counseling the doubtful, teaching the ignorant, admonishing the sinner, consoling the afflicted, forgiving offenses, bearing wrongs patiently, and praying for the living and the dead. And he offers many creative ways these too can be made part of our lives. As a founding member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, Father Apostoli knows firsthand about the challenges and rewards of caring for those in physical or spiritual need. His order is dedicated to the works of mercy, and Father Apostoli brings to this subject a great wealth of spiritual and practical wisdom gained from personal experience. He welcomed Fr. Andrew back to the show. Fr. Andrews said it’s a pleasure to be back and thanked Scot for all he’s doing to broadcast the Gospel. We are challenged by the Holy Father to build the civilization of love in the new evangelization and the challenge in our country. Scot said they had a great conversation l;art summer on his book about Fatima, but this book “What to Do When Jesus is Hungry” is the instruction manual for how to live the Good Catholic Life. But first, Scot asked Fr. Andrew to share about the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. He said on April 28 they will be celebrating their 25th anniversary. It was a movement of the Holy Spirit. Eight Capuchin Franciscans from the New England province and New Jersey province felt the Spirit leading them to bring deep changes to bring them back to an earlier charism on which the Capuchins were formed. They now have 125 friars in 15 houses, including in Central America, Europe, and across the US. About half the community is in the New York metropolitan area. Fr. Andrew said their main charism comes from the original charism of St. Francis. By his own personal holiness led a deep life of prayer expressed, first, in his preaching. He restored a real deep sense of the apostolic life. From the time of St. Benedict to St. Francis, religious life had become monastic, but St. Francis brought back the idea of going out to preach among the people. Jesus sent out the apostles, telling them to take nothing for the journey, and so sent the friars out to be active in the world. So the CFR evangelize and care for the poor, just like St. Francis. He cared for lepers, he brought peace to society. He brought peace by having the third order seculars in his order promise not to take an oath of fealty and not to carry weapons. Scot asked how the CFR serve the materially poor here in the US, especially in the Bronx and New York area. Fr. Andrew said the friars always choose to go to poor places. There are poor everywhere, including in America. There are those who live on the fringes and are marginalized. He said serving the poor can be for everyone. Many parishes have food pantries, for example. Scot recalled the ministry of My Brother’s Keeper in Easton and the Cor Unum meal center in Lawrence. He asked Fr. Andrew about the genesis of this book. Fr. Andrew said he writes for Envoy magazine and the editor, Patrick Madrid, asked him to write about the works of mercy, what they are, how important they are, and how people can in a practical way live it out. A lot of times a person has a desire and doesn’t know what to do. The Holy Spirit inspires creativity among people and it gives them a chance to express their zeal for the spread of the Gospel. St. James says if you see someone who’s hungry, and wish them well but don’t do anything for their need, then your faith is dead. One of the signs that Christians are living the Gospel is a practical outreach to those in need. Scot said Fr. Andrew quotes Mother Teresa in his book who said that we can’t do anything for God in heaven, so He became a man for us to serve him in the poor, to take care of their needs. These are the people society doesn’t even want around. He noted that as many as 90% of children with Down syndrome are aborted when detected, but everyone who has one of these children says that they are so loving. Scot said Mother Teresa also said it’s a gift to serve Jesus in the distressing disguise of the poor. “We should not serve the poor like they were Jesus. We should serve the poor because they are Jesus.” The roots of all the works of mercy is that as much as we have served the poor, we have served Jesus. 2nd segment: Scot listed the seven corporal works of mercy: • Feeding the hungry • Giving drink to the thirsty • Sheltering the homeless • Clothing the naked • Visiting those in prison • Visiting the sick • Burying the dead In the book, Fr. Andrew says feeding the hungry takes precedence. He said that Jesus himself took a lot of concern about their need to eat. In the Gospel of John, chapter 6, Jesus asked the apostles to take care of the people’s need for food, and the little boy generously gave the fishes and loaves. We can’t feed everybody, but for those we can feed, we can also give them a special kind of love. He remembered Mother Teresa said she didn’t work with government feeding programs is that she had to give the poor what the government couldn’t, the love of Jesus. Scot said we can take for granted the number of people who go to bed hungry, including the in the US. In some places, there can be a lack of supply of food, for instance. In the book, Fr. Andrew said one practical way we can help feed the poor is to give to a food pantry or volunteer at a soup kitchen. He said someone has to provide all that food that is served. He said Fr. Solanus Casey set up a soup kitchen in Detroit to feed all the people that came to see him. People can help cook food or assist in the background, or even spend time with the people. At the Fr. Solanus Soup Kitchen in New York, the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal pray the rosary with those coming for food. Scot said Fr. Andrew said what the poor and hungry are often seeking the most is companionship to overcome the deep loneliness of homeless or poverty. Fr. Andrew said the friars of his community work at the shelter and they sit and talk with the men and they make you feel like you made their day by talking to them. One of the hardest imprisonments is solitary confinement and many of these people are in a kind of solitary imprisonment. We need to know we are loved and cared for. Another idea is identifying elderly in our neighborhood and do their shopping or take them to the market and spend some time with them. Scot said most of us live near the elderly and perhaps they might need some help. Fr. Andrew said a person may be able to get a few people together in the parish or prayer group and organize an effort to get food for three or four people. They may not have the means to get their food or able to get out or have a car. You don’t have to go to a foreign mission to help someone. He does caution when you do this work, do it joyfully. People you serve could start to call you constantly and become disruptive. You must be ready for this. St. Paul said, Decide how much you can give, and when you give it, give it cheerfully. It’s not just the recipients who benefit, but those who volunteer are also fulfilled as well. Scot said Fr. Paul O’Brien at St. Patrick Parish in Lawrence with the Cor Unum meal center says that they have a crisis of volunteers in the summer months. He said another idea is voluntary fasting where we offer up the savings based on the difference between what we would have spent and actually spent as a donation to a soup ministry. Fr. Andrew said for those who don’t have much money to give, then giving up something in a spirit of sharing can be a service to the poor. The fifth of the corporal works of mercy is visiting the sick. Scot said the sick are also often lonely, especially those in nursing homes and assisted living. Fr. Andrew suggests in the book that we can assist the families of the sick. He said sometimes we may hear of someone who is ill and in need and we can visit them or even just send a card or make a phone call, especially if the person doesn’t have family close by. It can not only be a spiritual benefit to the person, but being less lonely and in better spirits it can help them get better. Fr. Andrew remembers as a boy when his mother broke her leg that a group of Third Order Franciscans came to his house and took care of all the chores she couldn’t do and he was touched by their kindness. It had a profound effect on him. Maybe there’s a way to find the people through the parish who are sick and organize to help. It’s not that we should be pushy, but make a gentle invitation and offer to bring whatever they need. Scot said there are many people who are requesting Communion calls and those same people may also just want someone to come by and sit and talk. Scot said the chapter on visiting the imprisoned was moving. Fr. Andrew talks about a conversion of attitude he experienced. He said we never look down on the imprisoned because great conversions take place there. Maybe in some cases it was God’s divine providence to allow them to spend that time in contemplating their place in the world. He thinks a lot of those conversions last after they get out. In the book he says we can “visit” those in prison by our prayers and by supporting chaplaincies, especially if we can’t go there in person ourselves. He said he cautions people not to give out full names or addresses or contact information to prisoners. That’s why he suggest getting guidance form the prison chaplain. Keeping those cautions in mind, spiritual letter writing can be effective and fruitful. He said he heard that there was an extraordinarily high number of Catholics on death row because of so many conversions to the faith. Many of them turned to the faith because of what the Church offered to them as they faced their mortality. The last of the 7 corporal works of mercy is burying the dead. Scot said we can’t for granted anymore that our kids who may not practice the faith will not make sure we have a Catholic funeral for us. We need to make sure we create mechanisms by which our wishes are carried out and followed through. Fr. Andrew said in the early Church there was an actual ministry of taking care of the dead and providing for their burial. He writes in the book of the importance of the wake to help the grieving deal with their loss. A priest or religious can come to the wake to lead praying the rosary and maybe to give a short talk. This can help people begin to let go of their sorrow and come to grips with it. Even Jesus wept at the death of Lazarus. It can take a few years for someone to let them go and people often need help or at least support to do that. Scot said it gives an opportunity to share how the deceased affected our lives. Many of the stories Scot has shared at wakes came as an inspiring surprise to see how their loved one affected another. Scot said Cardinal Seán often says the Church in Boston is good with their corporal works of mercy, but we need to take the spiritual works of mercy just as seriously. There are seven of those as well: • Instructing the uniformed • Counseling the doubtful • Admonishing sinners • Bearing wrongs patiently • Forgiving offenses willingly • Comforting the afflicted • Praying for the living, the sick, and the dead Scot asked Fr. Andrew where they come from. Fr. Andrew said they come from the life of the Church. Each one fulfills the life of a Christian. My love for Jesus and my love for my neighbor must find some visible expression. He ties in the works of mercy to building up the civilization of love. These works of mercy also motivate people. If I’m holding on to anger and am unable to get beyond hurt, it can block my love for Jesus. To forgive is a part of the Gospel. Listing it as one of the works of mercy almost serves the same purpose as an examination of conscience. Scot said two of the works sound harsh to modern ears: instructing the ignorant ad admonishing the sinner. The ignorant are just people who don’t know the love Jesus has for them. It’s not a put-down. Fr. Andrew said we’re not calling people names. It’s just people who don’t know the faith as they should. The truth will set you free, but if you don’t know the truth, how can it set you free? Over the past 60 years we have opened up a big gap in knowledge of the truth. We will fill in the knowledge that’s necessary for spiritual growth. Scot said in the chapter, Fr. Andrew tells us that we need to teach the faith to our children. Putting out children into religious education for one hour a week doesn’t work if the parents aren’t the primary teachers of the faith and modeling the faith to them. Fr. Andrew said if that home setting is not there, what they learn in religious education will sound empty and distant because they don’t experience it in their own home. That’s why parents need help in recognizing the truth. We need a good catechesis for the whole Church. Scot encourages everyone to read the book, especially for Lent. Fr. Andrew suggested asking for it at the local Catholic bookstore. Fr. Andrew is often seen on EWTN in various programs and has had several series on the network.…
Summary of today’s show: The Good Catholic Life is one year old! Scot Landry, Fr. Matt Williams, Susan Abbott, Fr. Chip Hines, and Fr. Mark O’Connell talk about their favorite shows and guests and how the show has affected them and their ministries. Also stories of how the show has affected others they’ve talked to. Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Matt Williams, Fr. Chip Hines Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Our one-year anniversary 1st segment: Scot welcomed listeners to our one-year anniversary show. We’ll be looking back at some of our favorite shows with our co-hosts, Fr. Matt Williams, Susan Abbott, Fr. Chip Hines, and Fr. Mark O’Connell. Fr. Chris O’Connor is traveling right now. Susan said when Scot asked her to be a co-host, she thought she just wouldn’t have the time to take away from her work, but the Lord and her immediate supervisor, Janet Benestad, made it clear she should do it. She had been on CatholicTV a number of times and knew what that was like and had had no idea what it would be like to be on radio, but it turns out is been great fun. Fr. Matt Williams said he remembers discerning a year ago whether to do the show. For the first month, he was nervous before each show, but now it’s a normal part of his day. He’s developed his own style. Susan said Scot told her that Thursday would be the easiest show because it was just the news, but it turns out that the packets are up to 39 pages of articles from The Pilot and The Anchor. Scot said he gives them at least an hour to prepare for the show. Fr. Mark O’Connell is on the phone. He said his discernment didn’t take long. He knew his parents would love to hear their son the priest on the radio. He said they are the show’s biggest fans. He said his biggest surprise is that he hasn’t been fired from the show. He was apprehensive at first, but really enjoys it. He especially loves when they interview his brother priests and their weekly look at the Sunday readings. Scot said we have tried to invite a lot of our priests on the show and it seems they are most often available on Fridays. Scot said two of his favorite shows included the moving witness of Fr. John Sheridan in leading a parish through the abuse scandal and Reconfiguration. Then Msgr. Frank Strahan is a legend among the priests of the archdiocese. Fr. Mark said he also loved to see the amazing variety of ministries in the Archdiocese of Boston. It is astounding to see the variety here. Scot said Fr. Chip Hines had previous broadcast experience with CatholicTV’s Spotlight show. He said TV is uncomfortable because the camera captures everything. He does enjoy coming into help out. Scot said Fr. Chip has filled in quite often at the last minute. Fr. Chip said it’s fun to come up with something impromptu. They recalled a show when there were some technical difficulties and after reading a document, Scot turned to Fr. Mark and asked him what he thought. Fr. Mark fumbled for a second, and admitted he wasn’t paying attention. Scot said our Wednesday shows have taken place a few times in other locations, including Madrid and Washington, DC. Fr. Matt said it’s been fun to be on the road during times where he’s been working in youth and young adult ministry. He recalled the great interview from the March for Life with Cardinal Sean and Sister Olga. Most especially when you can get the young people on in their witness. Scot said one of his favorite shows was Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton during Catholic Schools Week. He was almost speechless at their technology program and at their campus ministry, including an amazing Mass that has a waiting list of priests who want to celebrate it. Fr. Matt said the Mass is very lively and the Holy Spirit is strong there. Scot said unlike Fr. Matt, Susan sees the same group every Thursday pretty much to discuss the news, including Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy. Susan said of the shows she’s participated in, the favorite was the Holy Thursday show last year, looking at Holy Week and the Holy Father’s Stations of the Cross. She also loved being on the show with the Sisters of Notre Dame. Scot said one of the things he’s picked up on the Thursday shows was getting current on Catholic news every week, not just in the local Church, but nationally and internationally, including some of the documents in the news. Susan said as much work as it is, it really is an impetus to read. She can’t not read through her weekly packet. She did note how many wonderful positive stories, including local baker Andy LaVallee and last October’s series in the Pilot on Project Rachel. Certainly we need to be aware of what we need to act on, but also what’s happening that’s wonderful and lifts us up. Scot said it also has helped to appreciate the amount of content in our Catholic newspaper. He also said he’s also proud of being able to bring clarity to issues that have had erroneous information in the public or in the media. He recalled interviewing Msgr. William Fay on Pastoral Planning to clear up some misconceptions in the Boston Globe. He said recently he and Fr. Chip were able to talk about his practical experiences as a pastor leading two parishes to show the challenges he’s been facing. One of the best aspects of the show for Fr. Chip is being able to give that perspective. Fr. Chip talked about how pastoral planning has been such a positive experience. Scot said on Tuesdays and Wednesdays they often get to go in depth in some papal documents and he’s glad to be able to share that content with people in their daily lives. Fr. Matt said in the past couple of months they’ve been able to dive into a couple of the Holy Father’s letters and documents which are so rich. one of the most influential was the World Day of Communications message in which the Holy Father talked about Twitter that was the encouragement he needed to get going with it. 2nd segment: Scot said one of the first things he thinks of for our first year is the generosity of Jim and Joanne Wright who brought the Station of the Cross network into Boston and gave us this great time slot on WQOM. Rick talked about the great people in Buffalo that he works with regularly. Scot said there have been 276 guests on the 254 shows, 76 priests and bishops, 20 religious, 10 deacons, and 168 laypersons. We have profiled exactly 100 ministries, including 41 of the 50 or so ministries here in the Pastoral Center so it’s been a broad presentation of the Catholic faith. Fr. Chip said one of his favorite shows was when Lino Rulli was on and it was one of the funniest shows we’ve ever had. Scot said Lino is one of the funniest people in America. He’s a pioneer in Catholic radio. Fr. Chip said it was a giggle fest on the show. Scot said there’s so much good going on in the Archdiocese and we don’t have enough vehicles to get the good news on. Susan said religious education wasn’t one of the 100 so she would like to get them on soon. One of her favorite shows was when it was broadcast from Madrid. Scot asked her how often she gets to listen to the show and he favorite co-hosts. She said she listens to the recorded broadcast on her computer several times per week and of course, Fr. Chip and Fr. Matt are her favorites (who are the ones in the studio with her.) One of her favorite shows was the interview with Rocco Palmo, the blogger at Whispers in the Loggia, an expert on Church news. Scot asked Fr. Matt how The Good Catholic Life has affected his outreach to the events he organizes through his office, Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults. Being able to excite the listeners about what’s happening: World Youth Day, March for Life, Hunger for Justice, and Eucharistic Congress, for example. It plants seeds and he hopes it inspires people. Fr. Matt noted that we’ve received emails from people who say the show has helped them come back to the Church. Scot said he often heard from people who said they were concerned about their grandkids’ generation, and these shows help people hear about the good things that this generation is doing. Susan and Fr. Matt talked about the Award Ceremony for the Office for the New Evangelization and all the great submissions they’ve received for awards. Scot said one of Rick’s favorite shows was our 100th show. Rick is the one who plans the shows and it was Joe Melendrez, the Rosary rapper. At first, they were unsure, but as soon as they heard it, they saw it was done in a respectful way and then they heard about his burrito ministry. He had won a burrito a day for one year and he eventually started inviting friends to come with him for lunch every day and he would talk about his life. Another of Rick’s favorites was Tom Craughwell, author of a book about some interesting and crazy stories in their lives. Of course, another of his favorites was episode #15, which had Rick’s mom, Maureen Heil, as a guest as well as Sr. Lisa, talking about the Pontifical Mission Societies and Sr. Lisa’s mission trips to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Sr. Lisa was funny, sarcastic, bombastic and a lot of fun to listen to. One of Scot’s favorites was his interview of Jim Stenson, who has done a lot of talking about being a Catholic dad and raising Catholic children. That was our Father’s Day show. It’s a joy to interview people we’ve been fans of for so long. Fr. Chip said he’d been interviewed by Lino Rulli before, but meeting him in person was special. Fr. Chip said he also especially enjoyed the two shows interviewing Artie Boyle, who works in the Pastoral Center, who had been healed of a terminal illness after visiting Medjugorje. Scot said it was originally supposed to be one hour, but it was so good that they spontaneously recorded a second hour. Fr. Matt said the story is well worth going into the archives to listen to again. Scot mentioned other guests from the youth ministry area, like Bob Rice. Fr. Matt said last year they had Bob Rice come speak at an event. He’s a professor of catechesis at Franciscan University of Steubenville, a gifted musician, and a speaker in demand all over. Susan said Bob was an amazing speaker and she often refers rot the notes she took that day. Fr. Matt said we’ve also had Randy Rause from Life Teen as well, and it’s wonderful to have these people you look up to come and share their stories. Scot said Susan’s cross is she has to put up with two Landrys on Thursdays. She said it’s lovely to see the interview, but she said (jokingly), that he can be very fresh to Scot. 3rd segment: Talking about how the show gets made and some of the technical details and statistics. after 253 shows and 278 shows we’re not rookies anymore.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Fr. Roger in the Holy Land; Assisted suicide hearing on Beacon Hill; Catholic Charities in Brockton; updates on religious freedom fight Summary of today’s show: Fr. Roger Landry rejoins the Thursday panel, which included Scot Landry and Gregory Tracy this week, to discuss the headlines, including a hearing on Beacon Hill for a bill to legalize doctor-prescribed suicide, previewing the November ballot initiative; the great new Catholic Charities facility in Brockton; a new pastorship for former vicar general Fr. Rich Erikson; and updates on the fight to maintain religious freedom and how the current debate signals a new era of oppression of religious views. 1st segment: Scot noted that Susan Abbott was unable to be with us today because she had to attend a funeral in her family. Fr. Roger talked about going on his pilgrimage to the Holy Land over the past couple of weeks. He said his group was able to live the entire liturgical year, visiting the places related to Christ’s life, and they lived the meteorological year, experiencing all kinds of weather from 80 degrees and sunny to snow. It was an opportunity for a life changing encounter with Jesus. Scot said his wife and son both agreed on how the trip changed them and said they will never look at the Scriptures the same way again. Fr. Roger was able to celebrate Mass in the holiest of holy places in Christ’s tomb with Scot’s son, Christian, assisting at the altar. Fr. Roger said Pope Benedict calls the Holy Land the Fifth Gospel because the very stones cry out the Word of God. He talks about his experience on the Sea of Galilee and being able to understand how the apostles would have reacted during the Storm on the Sea. Susan’s nephew went on the pilgrimage with his family and they posted many of their photos online at . 2nd segment: This week the Mass. Catholic Conference testified at the State House on a bill proposed by a representative that would put into law what has been proposed by the assisted suicide ballot petition. “The Church reaches us that life itself is a gift from God. Life is to be cherished, nurtured, protected, and finally, cared for with the help of others unril the time of natural death - not self-administered death, not assisted death,” MCC executive director James Driscoll testified at the hearing. … “Terminally ill, dying patients should not be permitted to make or be encour-aged to make a choice that ends all choices. Terminally ill, dying patients do not need the so-called compassion that supports the idea that one is bener off dead,” Driscoll said. Greg said the testimony was a preview of the arguments about assisted suicide and was an opportunity to get those aired in public testimony. He said this bill had been advanced many times in the Legislature and never went anywhere, so proponents went ahead with the ballot initiative. While this hearing doesn’t affect the ballot initiative, it offers a chance for education on this issue. Greg noted new information that came out that the Legislature has options to put an alternative version of the bill on the ballot or can put a statement on the ballot that shows their disapproval. Scot said the Secretary of State will be the one writing up the description of the ballot referendum and that will be important. Scot quoted Peter McNulty, assistant policy director for the Mass. Catholic Conference, who noted one of the flaws in the bill is its vague language. The Anchor has a story about the Archdiocese’s efforts opposing this ballot initiative, including the website . Because the Diocese of Fall River hasn’t yet started its educational initiative on this issue yet, Fr. Roger wanted to disseminate the information that people will be able to use to form their own hearts and minds and equip them with the arguments they will need to convince others. Scot said the next local story is the appointment of former vicar general Fr. Richard Erikson who has been appointed as pastor of Our Lady of Fatima in Sudbury, effective March 1. The parish has been without a pastor for about a month and at an event this past week, Fr. Rich was sharing his excitement at being appointed pastor for the first time. He had spent many years as an Air Force chaplain and currently serves as a brigadier general in the Air Force. Greg said Fr. Rich has often spoke of his desire to have a parish of his own to serve. Fr. Roger said he thinks it will be a tremendous joy for Fr. Rich to take what he has learned and all of his experience and focus to help sanctify the people of Sudbury. He expects it will be one of the most joyous times of Fr. Rich’s life. Scot said even after five-plus years as vicar general, he always lead with a pastor’s heart. Scot noted two other local stories, including the launch of the 2012 Catholic Appeal. The story in The Pilot includes reactions from parishioners in the parishes where Cardinal Seán and Msgr. Deeley launched the appeal in person. The other story concerns the launch of a new facility on the South Shore by Catholic Charities on Court Street in Brockton. For the first time, Catholic Charities will have a facility on the South Shore that is designed for their specific needs, as opposed to jerry-rigging a location. “Most importantly, today I want to thank our staff and volunteers here at Catholic Charities South who put their hearts and souls into the work we are called to do, each and every day each making a real difference in the lives of our neighbors in need,” she said, before inviting guests to tour the facility after the ceremony. “This space was designed to fit program needs, not the other way around. This is the first time we will be able to house all of our services under one roof,” Rambo said. … “Brockton in particular has a fairly large newcomer population, so there are a lot of folks who need to learn how to speak English, who are certainly very capable, and just need a little extra help to get jobs,” Rambo said. Scot outlined the many programs that are offered at the facility, including teaching parenting skills. According to the US Census, more than 28 percent of children in the city live below the poverty line. Scot noted that the food pantry here is unique in that they allow people to shop for themselves. Fr. Roger noted at this own food pantry helps give people some choices between, say, different kinds of juices or breads, which lends people some dignity and gives some people the very basic skill of food shopping for themselves. He told a story about helping a man who had just got out of jail after 15 years and was paralyzed at having to make choices because he hadn’t been able to make any choices for himself in all that time. Greg said giving people a choice in their food builds up their human dignity. Scot said supporting food pantries during Lent is a good way of practicing almsgiving. 3rd segment: Scot said there are many stories in the Pilot and Anchor this week updating the fight for religious freedom. We have talked about it a lot, but there are new developments and this is one of the biggest issues of faith we have encountered as a Catholic people in our lifetimes. For us to be effective, everybody who is a member of any church needs to stand up. Fr. Roger’s editorial this week says this is a new day and gives a chronology of the history of religious freedom. He said in the past the fight for religious freedom was primarily against ethnic prejudices. It’s a new day for the Catholic Church and for truly religious believers in general in the United States. While the Church in the U.S. experienced discrimination in the past most notably during the Know Nothing era of the mid-19th century for the most part, this discrimination, despite its occasional mockery of Catholic beliefs, was fundamentally ethnic and anti-immigrant in its motivation. Once this rabid xenophobia passed and Catholics had the chance to demonstrate that they were good Americans hardworking, family-oriented, community-building, patriotic, and self-sacrificial citizens even those who may have had theological issues with Catholic teaching couldn’t help but recognize how much Catholics and Catholic institutions contributed to the common good. From hospitals, to schools, to orphanages, to soup kitchens, to local St. Vincent de Paul chapters, to scores of other parochial, diocesan and national social work, Catholic individual and institutional charity justly won the respect and admiration of almost all Americans; proof-texting Protestants, hard-core hedonists, supercilious secularists and assiduous atheists alike all seemed to agree that the Church’s charity was a cause for the common good that should be praised, protected, participated in and promoted. Those who opposed the Church’s teachings generally agreed to disagree with the Church in those areas, while enthusiastically supporting all the Church does and continues to do for the poor through her institutional charity. The good the Church did far outweighed in their opinion the problems they had with Church doctrine. Fr. Roger thought back to the Clinton administration, which had many disagreements with the Church on several areas, but still recognized the good that the Church does and how important the Church’s work is to America, especially for the poor. The good the Church does, far outweighs the problems they had with the Church’s doctrine. That has all changed with the Obama administration. They are saying that they would rather shut down the Church’s agencies than tolerate Catholic beliefs. That happened in Massachusetts when Catholic Charities was forced to end adoption services because the Church didn’t want to place children with homosexual or lesbian couples. Likewise with the Church’s aid to trafficked persons, which the government required to include abortion and contraception services. Scot said the Church has been persecuted in terms of living our faith, but hadn’t seen the distinction between the old persecution due to being immigrants, fear of foreigners. Now the attacks come because of how we live our faith, not how we pray. Greg agreed that religion in the past was just an identity marker, but now it’s really aimed at what we believe and how we live. Scot noted that Cardinal Dolan and Cardinal George have warned that the Church will in fact call the Obama bluff and end important charitable services. Scot also recalled during the Republican presidential primary debates that George Stephanopolous had in fact laid the groundwork for using contraception as a wedge issue. He believes the Left has seen that they are failing to win hearts and minds on abortion, so they are turning to contraception to divide the Right. Fr. Roger said many people believed President Obama went he went to Notre Dame and said he would honor our religious consciences and sincerely held beliefs, but he has completely reversed himself on this. Cardinal Dolan said he went to the White House last November and was assured by the president that he wouldn’t do anything to impede the good work of the Church and it turns out he lied. To top it all off, the White House has accused the bishops of lying about being consulted about the “compromise” offered by the White House. Fr. Roger ended his editorial: The first thing that we’ve all been learning is that, unbidden, the Church is now in a fight not of its making against members of an administration intent on using the power of government, in open defiance of the First Amendment, to compel the Church to act contrary to her teaching with regard to abortion, sterilization and contraception. This fight, as one commentator recently said, is not about contraception any more than the Revolutionary War was about tea. Anybody who wants contraception in this country can go to Target and buy a month’s supply for $9. It’s not exactly expensive and some groups even give it away for free. So what’s going on here is that the Obama administration wants to stick it to the Church. It’s not that we want people to use contraception, but the point is that it’s obvious this is a power play. It’s not about contraception; it’s about religious freedom. Even if we agreed with the false statistics that 98% of Catholic women use birth control, this mandate could set a precedent for even more egregious impositions on religious freedom in the future. Scot said one of the things that make our country great is that the rights of the minority is protected. Separation of Church and state is supposed to prevent the government from telling us how to live our faith and practice our religion, not to prevent people from living their faith in the public square. There’s a high burden of proof to say that our religious beliefs trample on the rights of others. The real issue is forcing people to pay for something that is abhorrent to them, when they can just go get it themselves. Those who have tried to claim the rights of their conscience are trampling on the conscience of others.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Joe McEnness, Executive Director of Parish Services & Risk Management for the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Risk management for the Church Summary of today’s show: How does one put a price on a relic of the Holy Cross? As director of risk management for the Archdiocese of Boston, Joe McEnness is tasked with managing risks associated with accidents and catastrophes to help prevent them in the first place, to make sure the Church is able to cope with them when they come, and then deal with recovering from any such loss or disaster. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams talk with Joe about recent examples of disasters in the Archdiocese as well as the types of questions he asks as part of his job? 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Matt back to the show. Last week, he was at the Theology of the Body Institute in Pennsylvania. Also, he’s started something new for Lent, a daily inspirational video blog with a meditation on Lent. He uses it to encourage people to go deeper. It can be seen at their , on his Twitter account , and their page. He records it on his iPhone each day wherever he is. They discussed how amazing it is to use the iPhone for ministry and the amazing capabilities it is. Fr. Matt also talked about the conference he was at last week which was led by Christopher West who helped integrate Pope John Paul II’s teaching on the Theology of the Body into our lives. Scot reminded listeners that tonight for confession at every church and chapel in the Archdiocese. If you’re looking for a church, go to . 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Matt welcomed Joe to the show. Scot asked Joe about his background. Joe commutes from Newport, Rhode Island, each day. It used to be even longer when his office was at the old chancery in Brighton. Before coming to the Archdiocese, Joe work in risk management for Budget Car Rental company and was based primarily out of Florida so he was traveling a lot. He was asked to come to the Archdiocese to help primarily with some of the litigation related to the abuse crisis. He thought it would be for 2 years, but it’s been 11 now. Joe said his origins were in the insurance industry and over the years risk management has evolved to include elements of insurance, but entails helping an organization to take the risks necessary to grow and prosper and sustain. Scot said Joe worked at Ford and Budget Rent-a-Car, but what are the greatest areas of risk in parishes and schools? Joe said you have to look at a couple of different areas. For example, there’s property risk. The Church has unique needs here because of the unique architecture and construction and there’s an extremely high value structure. It’s not a protected risk. So they look at the risks associated with owning and operating those properties. What’s most likely to happen and least likely to happen and the impact of them happening. Scot said if our oldest churches burned down, it would probably be difficult to rebuild them to their same magnificence today. Sacred Heart in Weymouth was the most recent church in the Archdiocese to burn down and be rebuilt. It was rebuilt to be similar to the old building for about $10 million. Are you ensuring the church in its totality? How do you put a value on, say, a stained glass window with history and artistic value? Joe said one of the things they bring to parishes through the collaborative efforts of the participants in the program is to gather the clout of a large insurance customer. It would be very difficult for a single parish to insure their own church, but the Archdiocese brings leverage when it wants to insure over 1,700 buildings. It’s not feasible to appraise value of the buildings every year so they have agreed upon values with the insurer every year that they adjust based on construction-related changes. One of the things he negotiates every year is a no-limit umbrella plan, which would cover, for example, a catastrophic earthquake. They look at all the factors and risks. They discussed last year’s tornado in western Massachusetts. Scot asked about the risks involved. Joe said the likelihood of a damaging earthquake is very low. He said the tornado was not surprising either because western Mass. has had tornados historically. He talked about the amount of devastation that a tornado can cause. Joe talked about the types of coverage churches would have. He said part of risk management is not just identifying the risk, but also the insurance you’re going to fund yourself and what you will have someone else fund. Another part is loss control, educating people, coming up with programs to identify the most likely problems and those with most impact and developing plans to mitigate them. One of the claims they see often is “slip and falls”. You have a large number of people going in and out of parish buildings, especially elderly and in the wintertime, which gives a high likelihood of slips and falls. Joe said their statistics show that they have a lower percentage of such claims than other similar-sized organizations, which he attributes both to good preparation and the caring nature of the people who work in parishes as well as parishioners themselves. People generally aren’t out for blood, but are just looking to be made whole, which is helped by the caring nature of the people at the parish who reach out to them. Joe answered a question from Fr. Matt by saying all programs are umbrella programs. They don’t insure individual locations separately. It gives coverage of exposure they retain and allows them to negotiate better terms and conditions. That lack of a limit on buildings is part of the value of that umbrella. He said 99% of insurance programs out there would have had lower caps. In Weymouth, without the “no-limit” policy the insurer wouldn’t have paid out the total to rebuild and the parish would have had a smaller church or had to pay a lot more out of pocket. Scot asked Joe about the flooding we had a couple years ago. Joe said it was a catastrophic year. There were three incidents that were classified as catastrophic. 180 locations had flood damage of varying degrees. There were about 106 parishes affected and the rest were institutions. The largest flood loss in one location that year was $700,000 in one location and the total that year was about $3 million. he said the Risk Managements website allows parishes and institutions to file claims online. The first step is to fix the immediate damage and pump water out and remove damaged furnishings. They have companies on retainer that they can deploy immediately. They then work with contractors and construction consultants to develop estimates. The Facilities office helps oversee reconstruction. They will help fund temporary locations to enable the parish to continue their mission. 3rd segment: It’s time to announce this week’s winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is the book, , by Msgr. Peter Dunne and Vicki Herout; and the CD “Catholic Answers Live: Is Anything Deviant Anymore”, signed by Jerry Usher and Teresa Tomeo. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Michael Stewart from Boston, MA. Congratulations, Michael! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Fr. Matt asked about special insurance for the theft of the relic of the Holy Cross from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Joe said there are special property coverages that they will place on particularly valuable items. They look at certain high-value and unique items and have appraisals done. They do that to obtain an agreement with the insurer up front about the reimbursement value. Scot asked how something of spiritual value can be appraised. Joe said it’s difficult to come up with a value, but they look to what it would it cost to replace it with something as close to it as possible. The original item is priceless, but they would ask the Cardinal what the process would be to replace the relic and what the cost would be of going through the replacement process. Scot asked how parishes insure against crime. Some parishes are in tough neighborhoods. Parishes aren’t in the business of keeping people out of the churches, especially those who look seedy or troubled. We want our churches to be open to all. Joe said one of the unique elements of risk management in the Church is the fact that priests need to have their arms open and their churches open to all. He tries to tell people that his job is listening to what a pastor needs to do to accomplish their mission and help them feel comfortable with what they need to do to do it. They provide education and training with regard to best practices, help arrange for police patrols, making sure valuables are kept locked up and the like. Joe said the most common kind of theft is internal theft, from people working inside parishes and organizations. Joe talked about the crisis management and response teams that they can provide to organizations and parishes when something does go wrong. They also discussed how they deal with data breaches and computer data theft.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Michael Harrington Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Light Is On For You Summary of today’s show: Lent is a time when we can hit the reset button on relationship with God, to start anew in the the spiritual life and confession is a perfect way to do that. During Lent, the Archdiocese offers the initiative The Light Is On For You in which every church and chapel will be open on Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:30pm for confessions. Scot Landry and Fr. Michael Harrington discuss the beauty and joy of confession and look at some of the resources and reflectiosn available about the sacrament at TheLightIsOnForYou.org. 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show and reminded Massachusetts listeners that today is an election day. He said that each Advent and Lent the Archdiocese of Boston offers The LIght Is On For You. He compared Lent to baseball’s spring training as a time to return to the fundamentals. Every Wednesday evening this Lent, every church and chapel will be open for confession. Scot welcomed Fr. Michael Harrington back to the show. He said the best confessors are those who frequent the sacrament themselves. Fr. Mike said the sacrament is one of the gifts for him personally and to the whole Church. It is an expression of God’s merciful love. Scot began the show with the words of Bishop Robert Hennessey as he launched The Light Is On For You this Lent. Hello. I’m Bishop Robert Hennessey. Cardinal Sean O’Malley asked me to lead an important initiative to encourage Catholics to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This initiative is called “The Light is On For YOU.” Each Wednesday evening this Lent, from 6:30-8:00pm, the priests of the Archdiocese of Boston are going to be opening EVERY church and chapel to welcome back Catholics to the sacrament of confession. Jesus once said, “Heaven rejoices more for one repentant sinner, than for 99 that never needed to repent.” Every time someone returns to the sacrament of confession, heaven celebrates and that unbelievable experience of joy becomes ours when we’re forgiven. In Jesus’ great parable of the Prodigal Son, we see how much the father rejoices at his child’s return home. The father runs out to greet him, restores him to his full dignity as an heir, and exclaims, “My child was lost and has been found. He was dead, but has come back to life again.” This great story describes what happens in the sacrament of confession. The sacrament is God’s great lost and found department for his sons and daughters. We find ourselves enveloped in God’s love. We experience the full measure of Jesus’ resurrection. We who are dead to sin are brought back to life again. Scot said too often Catholics view confession as the judgmental face of God on our sins. Bishop Henessey tries to change that image by looking at God as the shepherd who rejoices in finding the lost sheep or the loving father who welcomes home the prodigal son.That’s how God rejoices in heaven when we return to his loving arms. Fr. Mike said he gave a talk a few years ago to parents of second graders about to receive the sacrament of first confession. A teacher approached him later and said that most of the parents had the image of the judgmental God and the priests would be harsh in the confessional. Fr. Mike told her that they were projecting an image that is no longer there. He doesn’t find that image in confession any more. There is great care taken today by priests to express the Father’s love and that’s what the children when encounter when they go to confession. Perhaps a lot of these parents hadn’t been to confession in a long time and were projecting a stereotype. Scot said going to confession, you could be preoccupied with many other things, but we should focus first on the loving face of God. Fr. Mike said if the priest acknowledges we are sinners, he is not being judgmental. We acknowledge our sinfulness in the Hail Mary. We do so in order to open ourselves to the love of the father. Now continuing with Bishop Hennessey’s address: One of the great joys of being a priest is being God’s instrument to reconcile one of His children to Him through the sacrament of confession. The priest sees the tremendous joy and relief that people experience in being freed from their sins. Confession is one of our greatest gifts from God. I go to confession frequently myself, not only to confess what I’ve done wrong, but also to receive the grace to become a better disciple, a better priest, a better bishop. I’m a sinner and I need God’s grace. Confession gives us a chance to start over, to hit the reset button of our lives. It shows how forgiving and kind our God is and it helps us grow in compassion and love for others. Come to confession to receive God’s mercy, for peace of mind, to deepen your friendship with Jesus, to receive spiritual healing, to increase your sense of joy, and to experience Christ’s saving grace. If you say it’s been too long, or God couldn’t possibly forgive me, you’re wrong. God’s love for you is greater than all the sins you’ve committed or could commit. Now is the time to come and have God take away the burdens of sin and guilt that can so often weigh us down. Scot said Bishop Hennessey says it’s one of the greatest joys in being a priest to see the joy of the penitent in being forgiven and experiencing God’s love. Fr. Mike agreed a lot of people think God wouldn’t forgive them. He’s heard confession in prisons and in juvenile delinquent homes. He often heard that God could never forgiven them for what they had done, especially young 16 and 17-year-olds. He said, of course, God could forgive them. When they said God couldn’t possibly forgive them, Fr. Mike challenged them that they are not greater than God. God’s mercy is greater than any sin you can commit. Scot said too often we project human reactions and expectations on God. Fr. Mike said God offers us a chance to begin again, to start over. Scot asked who wouldn’t want peace of mind, friendship with Jesus, healing, and joy? Fr. Mike said he’s heard many people who said the high point of their spiritual conversion was the moment of going to confession. Jesus came to the world to save each one of us. He loves you so much and wants to help you now with whatever issues you face. He wants to fill you with joy, love and freedom. Every priest in every Church and Chapel in the Archdiocese of Boston will be waiting to welcome you. Please see to it that we are busy – share this message with family and friends by inviting them to come with you on any Wednesday evening of Lent, from 6:30-8:00pm. If you’ve been waiting for a sign to return to the Church or to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, this is your chance to reestablish and strengthen a relationship with God that will last forever. Please visit to learn more. Thank you and God bless you. Scot said Bishop Hennessey said Jesus came to save each of us individually. He loves us so much that he wants to help us with whatever issues we face. Fr. Mike said when Jesus said Father, forgive them for they know not what they do, he meant those words for each and every person. If you were the only person on earth, Jesus would have died for you. Fr. Mike says in talks in parishes that God knows you, loves you, and calls each of you by name. Scot said he hears stories about confessions on Wednesdays that are scheduled to end at 8:30 and go on until 10pm. Scot and Fr. Mike played a message from Father Robert Reed, president of the CatholicTV network, on confession. Scot said he was shocked when he first heard this message at how powerful this message was, saying that confession literally saved his life. He recommended everyone go to The Light Is On For you, click on the videos link, and recommend the video of Fr. Reed to friends and family to show them a priest who would hear their confessions not judgmentally. Scot introduced a humorous video from Matt Weber about going to confession. Scot said it’s a truly funny story about why he goes to confession face to face instead of behind the screen. Fr. Mike said those are the two types of people, but what’s important is that you go. But what’s true is you always feel so much better after confession. He talked about how he can usually guess how nervous the people coming into confession are and how much he wants to express God’s love for you. Scot quoted Matt: “It’s the best feeling in the world being liberated from sin.” Fr. Mike said the greatest experience is hearing confessions at World Youth Days or major youth events, hearing confessions of young people for four or five hours at a time. Given the opportunity and understanding of the sacrament, young people want to make use of it. Scot recounted the story of his daughter who went to first confession in January and will have her first communion on Saturday and how even she wants to avoid going to confess to a priest she knows. Scot recommended website and smartphone app to help you find a church to go to for confession, especially if you want to find one on your commute home. Also on The Light Is On For You website is a video that explains How to Go to Confession: Scot said it’s humorous and was aimed at a young adult audience. Fr. Mike pointed out that if you are unsure in the confessional, every priest will walk you through the examination of conscience or the exact ritual for confession. The priest is there to help you in your particular needs, making you feel comfortable. Scot said he often hears people ask what happens if they forget to confess a sin. Fr. Mike said we do the best we can. We try to bring forward everything we can remember, but if we forget it honestly then it is taken up by God. Scot said he ends his confessions by saying, “For those confessions and any I can’t remember…” Fr. Mike said the first step in the video is developing a good conscience. He said it is important for parents to help children develop a good conscience. Scot said some people don’t go to confession, don’t want to confess sexual sins. He said some priests say that it might be easier to say it in a less embarrassing way like “I’ve had impure thoughts” without going into detail about it exactly. On the Act of Contrition, Fr. Mike said the priest will help the penitent and the person can even just offer a personal heartfelt act of sorrow in their own words. He said the most beautiful acts of contrition have been that sort. The priest then says the prayer of absolution. Fr. Mike recited it and said it was one of the most beautiful prayers he prays: God the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of your son, has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins. Through the ministry of the church, may God grant you pardon and peace. And I absolve you of your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Last year during Lent we saw on TV the advertisements from the Catholics Come Home initiative, including this one: Scot said the message in this commercial goes back to the idea of hitting the reset button in Lent. God gives us a chance to get back in his loving embrace again today. Fr. Mike said one of the reasons he loves to administer the sacrament is how much he needs it himself. Scot said he loves that the commercial talks of life with God as an adventure.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Kathleen Driscoll, Mary Doorley, and John Riley Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Boston Catholic Appeal Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry welcomes members of the Catholic Appeal team for the Archdiocese of Boston, Kathleen Driscoll, Mary Doorley, and John Riley, and they discuss the critical support provided by donors to the Appeal to the 50 ministries that support parishes, schools, and other Catholic organizations in the areas of strengthening families, enriching parish life, inspiring future generations, and supporting Catholic leadership by the Cardinal and vicar general. 1st segment: Scot said the Catholic Appeal is the annual effort by the Archdiocese of Boston to raise the funds necessary to run the important central ministries that support our parishes and schools and other ministries. This past weekend was the kickoff of the Catholic Appeal and included either an audio or video presentation by Cardinal Sean. Scot welcomed Kathleen Driscoll, secretary for institutional advancement; Mary Doorley, and John Riley, chair of the Catholic Appeal Committee. Kathleen said the appeal launch went very well. They got positive feedback and they are thankful to the pastors and the more than 100 parish appeal volunteers who helped out. Scot asked about the appeal coordinators. Mary said the coordinators help the parish fully implement the appeal and then also give the people at the Pastoral Center insight into what’s working and what can be improved. The coordinators also address the appeal for parishioners in the parish, giving a witness talk after Masses, for example. Scot said it’s one thing to hear the appeal homily from Cardinal Sean or one of the priests, but it makes a difference to hear a lay person in the parish. John said having the witness from someone informed about the appeal and is in the parish week after week with local credibility links the parish with the archdiocese. Mary added that anyone interested in being an appeal coordinator to contact them through . Scot said Msgr. Deeley said on Friday that the Appeal provides the foundation for every ministry in the Archdiocese, whether it’s directly funded by the Appeal or not. Scot said the Appeal materials have a new look and feel. Kathleen said the goal was to put a face on the appeal and make it less institutional. It helps people meet those who benefit from the ministries funded by the appeal. The theme is the Good Samaritan, which is someone who helps someone he never knew before and will probably never see again. The materials have just four examples of the 50 ministries doing this work day in and day out. She said it was challenging to identify the 50 ministries funded by the Appeal within the four profiles of real people in the brochure. These are real people who are helped. Scot said the story of Georgia on the website with a video about her and a video with her pastor about the collaboration needed to make their parish accessible for people with disabilities. The video shows what a difference it’s made in the life of Georgia and her family to be able to attend Mass. Mary said there are so many aspects of parish life that can confound the pastor and the parish council. That’s where the central ministries can provide expert help. Scot said some people say they five to their parish so why do they need to give to the Appeal. John said many don’t realize the extent of the Archdiocese’s activities. The Archdiocese also links our local parish to the universal Church in addition to linking the local parishes together. We are all called to be missionaries and one of the ways we do that is through our support of the Appeal. Scot said Cardinal Sean has said that as he travels he hears about the reputation of the Archdiocese for generosity beyond our diocesan borders. Kathleen said she and Mary and John were able to go out last fall to thank lay volunteers in parishes. She said she has learned Marriage Ministries has offered pre-wedding counseling to hundreds of couple. Every year there are more than 4,000 weddings in parishes. The pro-life office has helped more than 400 women choose life for their babies. The religious education office oversees the formation of over 130,000 children. People in the parishes tell her they had no idea how big the ministries are. The appeal’s goals break down into four categories: strengthening families, inspiring future generations, enriching parish life, and supporting pastoral leadership. John said there is so much happening at the parish level and there are so many resources in the office of the Archdiocese that support that. Small schools have those resources, parishes have those resources, religious educators have them. It’s encouraging him as a parent to see the wonderful work happening in the parish and the dedication of the volunteers in those ministries and to know that there’s a large number of resources to support those works. It’s not just front-line ministries like religious ed, but also the real estate office and risk management and more. John said there are extraordinary people in the archdiocese who dedicate their careers to advancing the mission of the Church. They bring skills and their faith together to advance the work of the Church and his way to support them is by supporting the Catholic Appeal. Scot said about 250 people work in the Pastoral and about 2000 people work in the parishes, not including the schools, and about 30000 who volunteer. Scot spoke about the Marriage Ministry program, “Transformed in Love”. This is available to everyone in the Archdiocese because we have this central marriage ministry to coordinate. Kathleen said it’s almost a new day now where we’re looking ahead to ask how we can make our ministries the best. Scot said the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults is another office supported by the Appeal. Mary said there is also college campus ministry, which is on about 20 college campuses throughout the Archdiocese. The vocations office has also done so much to bring about many more vocations, which is due to prayer and the generosity of parishioners that make it possible. Scot recalled how Fr. Mark O’Connell reflected how he has benefited over that past 20 years from the generous donors to the Appeal. Kathleen also pointed to the many men who point to World Youth Day with the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults as the linchpin for their vocations. KAthleen said they’re thankful for anyone who’s made a gift and listeners are interested go to the website http://www.bostoncatholicappeal.org. 2nd segment: Scot asked Mary about the ministries within the area of enriching parish life. She said the Office for Spiritual Life offers archdiocesan-wide program like Arise and Why Catholic? Also, offices like Clergy Personnel and the Permanent Diaconate. There are also offices that help with the practical matters in parishes: finances, real estate, human resources, insurance, and more. Scot said these behind the scenes ministries enable parishes to invest those resources into other ministries on the parish side. John said it’s important to build up the business partnerships that will help you. It’s impossible for a parish to have all the resources they need, but they still need them. The archdiocese brings those resources together through the skills of the wonderful people who have those talents. Pastors and business managers can pick up the phone and have someone to call. Mary said the more efficient we can make parishes by helping them with risk management and avoiding other problems, then the more time the pastor has for ministry and the better use we’ll be making of the dollars people donate. Scot said one of this favorite ministries supported by the Appeal is the Office for Cultural Diversity and Outreach. Many reasons for the growth of Catholicism in the US is due to Catholic immigrants and this office provides the basic needs for them to practice their faith and integrate themselves into the local Church. John said new immigrants to Boston find a home here in the Catholic Church and the archdiocese is very welcoming with an outreach to all these different ethnic groups. Scot said Mass is celebrated in 22 different languages each Sunday in the Archdiocese: Scot said one of the major changes in the last six months in the Archdiocese has been learning the new prayers for the Mass and the Office for Divine Worship has been the major reason it’s been implemented well because of the training sessions for priests and liturgical ministers and music ministers as well as providing so many resources in use in parishes. One of the top priorities for Cardinal Sean in the next couple years is pastoral planning to prepare parishes for the future. John said we are a constantly changing society and we are the same in the archdiocese. There are resources dedicated to trying to identify the needs over the next fifty and 100 years and how do we plan for that as an archdiocese. We can’t do that as effectively on the parish level as we can on the archdiocesan level. For the last three months the archdiocesan Pastoral Planning commission has been out hearing from people in the parishes their opinions and feedback. Scot said the next broad area is advancing Church leadership, including the ministry of Cardinal Seán. The cardinal is the leader of the archdiocese, but he relies on the day to day basis on the assistance of the vicar general and moderator of the curia, Msgr. Robert Deeley. John added that the regional bishops also work with Cardinal Sean in carrying his vision out to the different regions of the Archdiocese. Mary pointed out that we are the fourth largest archdiocese in the country. Mary said the Catholic Appeal team is grateful for all the input of lay leaders, including those on the Catholic Appeal committee. There is also a pastors advisory committee, who give advice on everything from design of the materials to the resources that they will need. Anyone who wants to make a gift today can do so at .…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Msgr. Robert Deeley, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: 2012 Catholic Appeal Summary of today’s show: This weekend marks the launch of the 2012 Catholic Appeal, the primary fundraising effort for the central ministries of the Archdiocese of Boston. Msgr. Robert Deeley joins Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell to discuss the importance of the Appeal to the work of the Church, not just for those that are directly funded by it, but for all Catholic parishes and apostolates that depend on the support of the central ministries, as well as the work of Cardinal Seán and the other bishops. Scot and Fr. Mark then consider Cardinal Seán’s homily for this coming Sunday in which he considers God’s call for us to be transfigured and how our response to that call can take shape. Fr. Mark also notes that his work on the Tribunal over the past 11 years has positively affected the lives of many people and supported the work of priests and pastoral associates. He said it would not have been possible without the generosity of donors to the Catholic Appeal. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Mark discuss that this weekend is the kickoff for the 2012 Catholic Appeal. Fr. Mark said its important every year. Scot said it was moved from a May start to a March start a few years ago to coincide with Lent and give Cardinal Seán an opportunity to preach on Lent in a video or audio recorded homily throughout the Archdiocese. They will discuss the homily in detail in the third part of the show. Scot welcomed vicar general Msgr. Robert Deeley to the show and said it’s his first Catholic Appeal as vicar general. Scot said this is a big deal for every ministry in the Archdiocese whether it receives money directly or not because it undergirds the central ministries. Msgr. Deeley said its the most important effort to raise funds every year. The Catholic appeal is the foundation for all the work we do. It enriches our parishes because it is the instrument by which we help priests, deacons, and pastoral associates. We also work to strengthen families, inspire the next generation of Catholics, and aid our leadership here in the Church. Campus ministry is an important part of our ministry. He recently celebrated Mass at the chapel at MIT and it was standing-room only with students excited to be there. In the brochure for the Appeal is a picture of Stephen, a young man at MIT who has been served by campus ministry, and Msgr. Deeley was able to speak with him about how he has been helped by the ministry. Fr. Mark asked how money helps with evangelization of Catholics. Msgr. Deeley said the Cardinal has asked Bishop Kennedy to head a special initiative for evangelization over the next year. We hope that in our parishes there can be evangelization, which is supported by the ministries at the Archdiocese. Scot said the materials for the Catholic Appeal look great. The theme this year is “The Good Samaritan is You.” Msgr. Deeley said that is not only this year’s theme, but is also a new way to look at the Catholic Appeal. It reminds us that the work of the Church is about each of us individually. As Jesus speaks of the Good Samaritan, he teaches that when we serve one another we serve the Lord. The Good Samaritan is the perfect exemplar of what Jesus was calling us to be. Being Church is about each of us in our own way and able to afford, provide what we can for the needs of others. This is fundamental to what we are as Catholics. Scot said last year about 44,000 families contributed to the Catholic Appeal. How does he answer someone who asks why they shouldn’t just support the parish? Msgr. Deeley said the parish can’t exist without the Archdiocese. The Catholic Appeal is foundation of any other ministry happening. It is the offertory of the Archdiocese. Fr. Mark said some pastors hate asking for money, but if you believe in the good use it goes for, you should be able to stand up and ask for what you need. Msgr. Deeley said taking care of the Church and the poor the Church serves is part of our Christian responsibilities. It may not be comfortable to preach on, but it is a duty. Scot said pastors said having the Appeal launch in Lent ties in with the almsgiving of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Why is it important all Catholics in the Archdiocese to come together? Msgr. Deeley said the strength we have by the collective gifts we can use to further the mission of the Church makes it possible for other programs to exist. He offered the example of Catholic Charities, which has its own sources of fundraising, and turns to the Archdiocese for a lot of help. Scot said there’s a lot of information online which offers a transparency. Chancellor Jim McDonough concludes his service to the Archdiocese today. Msgr. Deeley said its hard to overstate what Jim has accomplished. He’s been a tremendous help to the Cardinal in moving the Church of Boston forward. Fr. Mark added his agreement. Jim McDonough gave both an outsider and insider perspective as both a former banker, but also a Catholic with a great love of the Church. Scot said both Msgr. and the cardinal will be on the road this weekend. Msgr. Deeley will be preaching at three parishes within about a 10 mile drive of the cathedral where he lives, while the cardinal will have about a 50-minute drive. Msgr. Deeley will be at St. Eulalia’s, Winchester; St. Brigid, Lexington; and Sacred Heart, Cambridge. Cardinal Sean will be at Holy Family, Amesbury, and Sacred Heart, Middleboro. Monsignor said the goal was to have them cover all five regions and the cardinal got first choice. Msgr. Deeley lived at St. Brigid’s for a number of years when he was working on the tribunal. Those Masses are intended for anyone who would like a live kickoff to the Appeal. Everyone else will hear a video or audio homily from Cardinal Seán. Msgr. Deeley would like everyone to think about we can never do anything alone. We are strengthened by our common bond in the Church. It helps us to speak and act in ways that no one of us can do alone. The Catholic Appeal is our way to be the Good Samaritan and to make the Church stronger. 2nd segment: Every Friday we discuss the readings for this coming Sunday. Because we want to preview Cardinal Seán’s homily for this Sunday, we want to read them now to give the context for what he says. God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” he replied. Then God said: “Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.” When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the LORD’s messenger called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am!” he answered. “Do not lay your hand on the boy,” said the messenger. “Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.” As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son. Again the LORD’s messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said: “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing- all this because you obeyed my command.” Gospel for the Second Sunday of Lent (Mark 9:2-10) Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified. Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them. As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant. Scot said we hear these readings every Lent on the second Sunday. The first reading prefigures the crucifixion of Christ and the transfiguration helps the apostles understand why God would send His only son in a bloody sacrifice on the cross. Fr. Mark said both readings have a returning, an unbelievable moment of God and then a return. The first reading is one of the most striking stories in the Bible. Abraham is never the same again. In the Gospel, Peter, James, and John are terrified. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience of God and then a return to normal. Most of our life is lived in those moments of “return”. Scot said we are called to be listening and responding. We will now hear what Cardinal Seán said about this first reading about Abraham’s call: The History of Salvation began with a call. God Calls Abraham by name. He was an unlikely choice. God’s choices often surprise us. Abraham was too old, he was childless, hardly the right person to be the father of a great nation, but what Abraham lacked in human attributes, he compensated for by his great faith. A faith that allowed him to trust in God completely, to hope against hope, to obey even the hardest command ever imaginable: to sacrifice the son of the promise, Isaac who was born when Abraham was 80 years old. This was the son whose descendants would be as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore. Abraham’s faith in God is of such magnitude that he felt God would be able to resurrect the slain Isaac in order that His prophesy might be fulfilled. Such faith in God’s word and in His promise lead this Old Testament passage to be regarded as incredibly significant and exemplary one. Isaac carrying the wood for his own sacrifice prefigures Jesus carrying the Cross up the Mount of Calvary to be sacrificed. The ram or the male sheep that Abraham is to substitute for his son as the sacrifice, points to Christ the Lamb of God, a substitute for humanity. And Abraham’s willingness to give up his own son Isaac is seen as a foreshadowing of the willingness of God the Father to sacrifice his Son. This powerful passage has been an inspiration to Christians, Jews and Muslims who all claim to be spiritual descendants of Abraham. To us Catholics there is a powerful Eucharistic symbolism but the story also speaks to us about faith and sacrifice. We too are being called to be a part of God’s holy people, to journey towards a promised land and to fulfill a mission in this world. God is calling each of us by name. Scot said the Cardinal began and ended by saying the history of salvation began with a call to Abraham and to us. The response is to model Abraham and Jesus by responding with faith and a generosity that recognizes all our gifts come from God. Part of our duty is knowing we can return it in love to God. Fr. Mark said a call is not necessarily a call to something that’s fun or easy. The call of Abraham, Isaac, and Jesus was a call to something difficult and hard to understand. Yet we have to listen to that type of call too in our lives. So many people listening have been called to carry the wood of the cross through illness or financial burdens or needs of their families. We’re all called to carry the cross. We’re not always called to something to jump for joy about. Scot said there are many levels of call. The Latin word is vocare from which we get vocation. From all of time we were created with a purpose for own lives that will return us to heaven. Then there is a call which is a substantial path to heaven that we call our personal vocation: religious life, married life, priesthood, etc. Beyond all the other good things we can do, our main path in life is to be the best husband or priest or religious. Sometimes our job vocation and personal vocation conflict, the calling to be a good husband or priest or religious takes precedence. Then there are the daily calls, the competing demands and requests and the ways we can respond each day in prayer. This is the call Cardinal Seán is talking about this weekend: How much am I being asked to sacrifice financially for those in need here in the Archdiocese of Boston. For some it might not be a lot, even if it’s just the widow’s mite for someone who can’t afford much. Certainly we are all called to holiness. Fr. Mark said it takes everyone of us. He recalled a recent example in his own life of a man who stepped up to help Fr. Mark communicate with a deaf man. It took their combined gifts to reach this deaf man. Lent is a time for us to reaffirm our faith and our willingness to embrace the sacrifices a life of discipleship demands of us. Lent is about making time and space for God, going into the desert, climbing the mountain. We need to step back from the routine, the noise, the distractions that prevent us from seeing what is really important in life. Lent is a communal retreat that all Catholics are making together. Our Lenten sacrifices and prayers prepare us to renew our baptismal vows at Easter and to walk closer to Christ and our fellow disciples. The geography of lent begins with the first Sunday in the desert and now the second Sunday finds us on the mountain. I can never hear this gospel without recalling my own visit to Monte Tabor, the place of the Transfiguration. I was making retreat with a group of priests from Massachusetts. We were staying at a retreat house on the mount of the Beatitudes. In the mornings we had prayers and conference, and in the afternoon we visited the holy places. To get to Mount Tabor we went in buses to the foot of the mountain, but the mountain was so steep that the buses could not make the climb. They took us up in some old Mercedes taxicabs with kamikaze drivers. The hairpin turns and the sheer cliffs were terrifying. When we arrived at the top I felt like St. Peter. I wanted to kiss the ground and say: “how good it is to be here. Let’s build some tents and stay because I’m not getting in that cab again.” The views from the mountain are spectacular, but what the apostle saw in that secluded place is much more stunning that the view of the valley; for they glimpsed the glory of God. The apostles needed to know that Jesus is much more than a persuasive rabbi or a great miracle worker. They needed to be assured that the scandal they would soon find in the cross is not the end, that it is necessary, and that all will end in glory for the Lord and for themselves. The mystery of the Trinity is made visible. A bright cloud overshadowed them, it is the shechinah, the luminous cloud that covered the Israelites during the exodus. That represents the Holy Spirit, and the voice of the Father is heard: “This is my beloved Son, listen to him”. Our Lord is strengthened and confirmed as to his unique sonship, his necessary cross, and his glorious future beyond, and because of it. The lesson for us can hardly be different. Carrying our daily cross, in imitation of Jesus, is our own prelude to glory. Transfiguration also means there is another level to our Christian lives that is yet to be. And what blessed one it is! On Mount Tabor were present the three persons of the Trinity, the three apostles and the two prophets. Heaven and earth meet in this event. At our Sunday Eucharist God’s glory is hidden but present. The community helps us to climb the mountain and glimpse Christ’s loving presence among us. Here we find the strength and motivation to continue on our journey of faith and to fulfill the mission that Christ has entrusted to us. Scot said he loved that the transfiguration is for us a sign of how heaven and earth meet which is similar to how heaven and earth meet at every Mass in the Eucharist. The partaking in the Eucharist as a community strengthens and motivates us to continue in our faith with the mission entrusted to us. Fr. Mark said no one us will encounter Christ like the apostles did in the transfiguration, but all of us get glimpses of God. He said a new father showed him the photo of his newborn baby and God is part of the pulse of that miraculous child. Scot said his wife and son were on the Mount of the Transfiguration this past Tuesday in the Holy Land and she described what it was like to go up there on the very high mountain with a beautiful view. It’s not difficult to imagine that if God was going to give his voice from heaven on a cloud, it would be on top of this mountain, not just because of its beauty, but because it can be seen from miles away. As we look out from these mountains, we are often struck by the wonder of creation, which is a glimpse of God. We’re all called to be aware of how we will be transfigured if we respond to Jesus’ call to us. Just like the apostles didn’t really understand, we’re not going to understand exactly how heaven is until we’re there. Fr. Mark said he’s never been to the Holy Land, but everyone he knows who’s been, it’s been a lifechanging event. You never look at the Bible the same again. The lifechanging event is a transfiguration. But Cardinal Sean also points out that lifechanging events begin in the desert with quiet and solitude. The desert is a challenging place. But to truly be transfigured, we must start with prayer and penance and fasting. It is during this Lenten season that I come to remind all of the Catholics of the Archdiocese that our mission of evangelization, our works of mercy, and our service to the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, the formation of priests, deacons and lay leaders, our outreach in campus ministry, the youth, our apostolate to immigrants, and the countless services and activities of the faith community depend upon your participation, your generosity, and spirit of sacrifice. Each year we turn to our Catholic faithful to ask for your help to be able to carry on our mission. We ask for your prayers, your time, treasure and talent. We know that many grandmothers in nursing homes are our prayer warriors. They join us each day for Mass and rosary on Catholic Television. We have thousands of volunteers who carry on so many acts of community service, works of mercy, religious formation of our young people and so many other ministries . On my own behalf and on behalf of the wider community, I thank each of you sincerely. We are also profoundly grateful for the monetary support given through the Catholic Appeal from many Catholics throughout the diocese. I know that it is your faith that allows you to make this sacrifice as did the Good Samaritan who stopped to care for someone he didn’t even know. Let us continue to work together to carry on the mission joyfully and generously so that the Gospel will be known and loved. Each of us must do our part. We are not alone but surrounded by a cloud of witnesses who urge us on together through the forty days of spiritual renewal to the joy of Easter resurrection. Know that you are ever in my prayers. Scot said we each one must do our part so that the everyone can hear the Gospel. Fr. Mark said he’s been a priest for 21 years and worked in Central Ministries for over 11. He thinks what he’s done in the Tribunal for 11 years has helped heal a lot of people and helps priests and parishioners fulfill their vocations. This is possible through the Catholic Appeal. He knows without a doubt that God works through him and that dollar in the Appeal in part funds him and every other person in the building and throughout the Archdiocese who have a direct effect on the lives of people. He knows the effect and wants to say Thank You for allowing him to do what he does. Scot said the person who gave to the Appeal 30 years ago or 25 years ago, investing in everyone who worked for the Church, have left this legacy so Fr. Mark can minister to people today and for many more years. And those investments 25 years ago in him lead to his current and future service. Scot spoke of Bishop Kennedy’s upcoming new role starting in July as the vicar for the New Evangelization. We all know someone who isn’t practicing their faith anymore and we all know we can do a better job in proclaiming the faith and reaching out to them. We want the biggest family reunion in heaven ad that’s really the work of the Central Ministries of the Church. While The Good Catholic Life isn’t directly funded by theCatholic Appeal, it wouldn’t be possible without the Catholic Appeal. Every gift makes a difference. Scot said he spent his first 4 years at the Pastoral Center in the development office and he knows that the every gift matters, no matter how much. We are a much stronger family works together.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Rite of Election; Catholic Appeal; Mary Ann Glendon; 10 ways to grow in faith this Lent Summary of today’s show: Our Thursday news show had a more local flavor than recent weeks. Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Greg Tracy began by discussing the Rite of Election this past Sunday at Holy Cross Cathedral and then talked about the importance of the Catholic Appeal, not just to the central ministries, but to parish ministries as well. Mary Ann Glendon’s talk at the seminary on the vocation of politics called on Catholics to be engaged in the public square and Fr. Roger Landry’s editorial this week gave fodder for discussion with the top 10 ways to grow in faith during Lent. Also, a commemoration of an immigration raid in New Bedford five years ago and a suggestion to give up coffee for Lent to benefit the poor. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Susan and wished her a Happy March. Susan recommend listeners read Emily Dickinson’s poem about March. Dear March — Come in — How glad I am — I hoped for you before — Put down your Hat — You must have walked — How out of Breath you are — Dear March, Come right up the stairs with me — I have so much to tell — I got your Letter, and the Birds — The Maples never knew that you were coming — till I called I declare — how Red their Faces grew — But March, forgive me — and All those Hills you left for me to Hue — There was no Purple suitable — You took it all with you — Who knocks? That April. Lock the Door — I will not be pursued — He stayed away a Year to call When I am occupied — But trifles look so trivial As soon as you have come That Blame is just as dear as Praise And Praise as mere as Blame — They discussed their activities over the past week. Susan said she was in the Diocese of Providence for a day of prayer for diocesan employees. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Greg to the show. Scot said that on the front page of the Pilot this week is a story about 500 people preparing to enter the Church on Easter gathering at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Sunday for the Rite of Election. “The fathers of the Church often see Noah’s Ark as a metaphor, or a sign, of the Church. We are tossed on rough seas. Some passengers are seasick, some of the crew have mutinied, some have fallen overboard, and yet we are one billion Catholics in all sizes, shapes and colors, and speaking every language imaginable,” he said. “Although it is sometimes a rough ride the Lord has promised that he will always be with us,” he continued. Susan clarified that there are two groups in the candidates. One consists of Christians who come from other faiths and Catholics who were baptized but didn’t receive any of the other sacraments of initiation. She said adult converts to the faith often bring a special zeal to the Church with them. She also spoke about how everyone in the Church is responsible for evangelization and bringing others to our faith. Scot said Greg was himself a convert to the faith. He noted that there are so many people entering the Church that they have to hold two different services for the Rite of Election. Scot said Fr. Jonathan Gaspar, director of the Office for Worship, is quoted as well: “They are already elect members of the Church, even though they haven’t been baptized. They gain a new status in the Church. The cardinal, the local bishop, is a reminder that for us as Catholics, it’s not just about belonging to a local parish, although that is very important. For many people their entrance into the Church is because of the outreach of local clergy and local Catholics. At this moment in their preparation they see with their own eyes and experience in the liturgy that they belong to a universal Church,” he said. “The bishop and the rite itself reminds all the fully initiated who are there present that it is our responsibility to support them with our prayers and by our example,” he said. “For us as Catholics it is a day of great joy, we anticipate it all year round, and to see new faces, to see new people being added to the family of God in the Church brings us tremendous joy,” Father Gaspar said. Susan recalled being a sponsor for a candidate at one time and asking them and other after the ceremony about their experience. Many spoke of the truth and beauty of the Catholic Church. Greg said it’s significant that the ceremony is held at the Mother Church of the Archdiocese and connects them to the universal Church. The rest of their preparation is in the parish so this gives them a connection beyond the parish and even personally to the cardinal. They spoke of the importance of the physicality of the cathedral and how the statues and windows and paintings of churches is a catechism lesson in images. The 2012 Catholic Appeal launch is this weekend and most parishes in the Archdiocese will have a recorded homily for the parish. Cardinal Sean will be personally in Amesbury and Middleboro parishes. The theme this year is “The Good Samaritan is you.” Many of the central ministries of the archdiocese are funded through the appeal including Susan’s office for religious education. She said when she was working at her parish during Catholic Appeal time, her pastor would always tell people that if they like the programs in their parish, they should give because those ministries only do the work they can because they receive support from the central ministries. Greg said Msgr. Deeley, the vicar general, made a good summary, which is that the Appeal funds that which makes us a Church. While we may be very parish centered on a day to day basis, it is the ministry of the archbishop that makes us one Church. In the end, every ministry in the parish is affected by something funded by the Catholic Appeal. He said the Pilot is not funded by the Catholic Appeal, but they are located in the Pastoral Center which supports their ministry. Also in the Pilot is a story about Mary Ann Glendon, former US ambassador to the Vatican, giving an address at the seminary about the vocation of the politician. “Anticipating practically every excuse most of uS would think of, [Pope John Paul II] said that ‘Charges of careerism, idolatry of power, egoism, and corruption, as well as the common opinion that participating in politics is an absolute moral danger, do not in the least justify either skepticism or an absence on the part of Christians in public life,’” Glendon told The Pilot. “I think he was reminding us, based on his own personal experiences in Eastern Europe, that the work of politics - despite all its frustrations, disappointments, and grubbiness- is what determines whether other human activities like philosophy. art, literature, science, and commerce, all flourish or wither,” she added. She related her experience teaching at Harvard Law in which she saw idealistic students become disillusioned in their years of study about the state of politics. But where would we be if good people didn’t get involved in public service? Greg said she makes the compelling point that Catholics have an important mission not to retreat from the public square. Scot said the article ends with Fr. John Mulloy talking about the address and his admiration for Glendon. Scot said that describes how a lot of people feel about her. She is one of the most influential lay Catholic women in the Church worldwide. Susan said she has known Glendon for some time and she has a wonderful way of presenting the truth of the Church without stridency and with love. She is obviously brilliant. Susan cited Edmund Burke: “All that’s necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.” Scot said there is also a story about an upcoming breakfast by Women Affirming Life on the topic of assisted suicide. The breakfast will take place on March 10 at Four Point Sheraton in Norwood. To register, call the Pro-Life Office at 508-651-1900. Scot also cited a couple of local stories in this week’s Anchor on a 5th anniversary service commemorating an immigration raid in New Bedford that detained 300 illegal immigrants and another on an initiative in Fall River asking people to give up their daily coffee from Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts and donate the money to the missions. Find out more at 3rd segment: This week’s editorial in the Anchor cites ways to grow in faith during Lent. It includes 10 suggestions related to growing in faith. Lent is a time for growth in faith. It begins with our being marked with ashes and instructed to turn our backs on sin so that we may be faithfully the Gospel. There is for sure a need for us to grow in a personal, trusting adherence to God, something that happens as we seek to pray more and better, to discipline ourselves through fasting and other means, and to give of what we are and have in alms to others, confident that our Provident God will not only sustain but reward us. The first three suggestions are to study the Catechism of the Catholic and the documents of the Second Vatican Council; Go on a pilgrimage, even to a local shrine; and increase one’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Susan suggests for studying the Catechism that people pick up YouCat for youth and the from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Of pilgrimage, she said we often just need the attitude of pilgrimage. Scot said pilgrimage could even just be going to a church you’ve never been to before. The next four are to grow in friendship with the saints as a holy, heroic witnesses to the faith; reading the writings of the Holy Father, who is one of the best teachers we’ve ever had as a pope; to attend missions and days of recollection; and attend conferences and study days. Greg said the idea of becoming more familiar with the saints can include getting to know the two new American saints who will be canonized in October, Blessed Kateri and Blessed Marianne Cope. Scot pointed out that there are calendars of events throughout the dioceses published in the newspapers and on their websites. The final four are celebrate the faith more intensely during Mass; examine your conscience on sins against the faith; give added attention to teaching the faith in Catholic school, religious educations programs and homes; and communicate your experience of faith to peers. Susan said the new translation of the Mass helps us to pay renewed attention to what is going at Mass and is a good opportunity for an examination of conscience and confession. Scot said there are two lengthy obituaries in the Pilot for priests who died this past week, including Fr. James Curtin and Fr. Edward O’Flaherty, SJ. There are also several articles in both newspapers about the Health and Human Services contraception mandate. Scot especially recommended an opinion column by John Garvey, president of Catholic University of America on the topic. Greg wrapped up by talking a special travel and pilgrimage section in the Pilot this week.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Stephen Colella, Peter Williams, and Fr. Frank Silva Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: CYO Athletics Summary of today’s show: Say the letters CYO to a Catholic from Boston, and they will inevitably recall the glory days of CYO athletics when hundreds of parish and parochial school sports teams competed in several sports across the Archdiocese. Peter Williams, Stephen Colella, and Fr. Frank Silva join Scot Landry to say that those glory days aren’t just in the past. The annual CYO March Madness tournament is beginning and will bring 87 out of 368 teams in 11 different divisions together to be crowned the best in basketball in eastern Massachusetts. But it’s not just another recreational league. Catholic athletics teaches virtues and Catholic values in an environment that helps young people to grow in faith and integrity. 1st segment: Scot said CYO Athletics is not just about the final score… It’s about positive coaching, sportsmanship for children and their parents, learning to live together in a diverse community, maximizing talents, and fostering the physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual strength in each of us. The programs are representative of the Christian values of respect, love, compassion and support for each other. Through sports, competition and teamwork, CYO athletics provides healthy growth and development through games, practices and the life lessons that sports teach. Scot said the Archdiocese has a version of March Madness in the CYO basketball tournament. Pete Williams is the CYO athletics director and Fr. Frank is the chaplain for CYO athletics. Stephen Colella is the assistant director of Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults, of which CYO is part. Peter said in 1963 he was appointed deanery athletic coordinator in Dorchester and since 1977 has been athletic director for CYO for the Archdiocese. Scot said CYO athletics was huge in Lowell in the early 80s when he was participating. Peter said in the 1950 and 1960s, every parish had a CYO program. Right now, there are still 350 teams in the Archdiocese. Peter said when he was a kid the parish was the hub of the community and most kids wanted to participate in the CYO. It was a time when young people were readily coming forth to be part of the Church. Fr. Frank said during his high school years CYO was known not just for athletics, but also social, spiritual and cultural programs. CYO was an opportunity for leadership development for young people. CYO councils were elected in parishes and on the deanery/vicariate level they had youth councils and then an Archdiocesan youth council. Fr. Frank served as an officer in his parish CYO and a deanery officer in the Lowell area and then served on the Archdiocesan council. He was an appointed member. Each council had committees for religious, social, athletic, and cultural activities. At the archdiocesan council level, he was appointed to the sports committee even though he’d never been involved in athletics. Peter said he was a classmate in the seminary with Fr. Frank along with Fr. Bill Schmidt, who was the chairman of the archdiocesan youth council that Fr. Frank served on. Fr. Frank said his decision to enter the seminary was affected by involvement in CYO. Those were the glory years of CYO, he said. National conventions for CYOs took place every other year and would draw five or six thousand young people from around the country. Stephen talked about growing up in Wayland and being involved in soccer and how that influenced his development as a person. He said CYO athletics ties together the natural virtues to the supernatural virtues. As you become a teammate you grow out of yourself. When you baptize sports, you realize what a powerful influence you can have on who young people can become. Scot said growing up CYO for him was just sports. Peter said the goal of CYO sports is to connect sports to the spiritual. Fr. Matt as director of Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults has done more to connect those, by for example, having a Mass for the opening of the sports year at the cathedral. Fr. Silva said growing up in the 1960s, there were still many community connections in neighborhoods and during high school, having a youth organization that was parish based created multiple opportunities to draw young people in through a variety of activities. He recalled CYO sponsoring an oratorical contest where people were invited to give speeches that culminated an oratorical contest at Boston College for the whole archdiocese. He said the Archdiocese was one of the first in the country to accept Search retreat weekends for high schools, which had many great fruits. Teen Encounter Christ programs also had a link with Search and CYO. Whatever else parish CYO programs offered, they all seemed to have athletics: golf, swimming, tennis, basketball, baseball. As we entered the 1970s, it began to change because of the culture and as youth ministry became the new model. Scot asked Peter what changed. Peter said when Msgr. John Carroll wrote his memoirs, he wrote that over 1,300 young people entered religious life out of the Archdiocese of Boston CYO program. The CYO program evolved over time and the upheaval of the Sixties and Seventies led to much of the demise of youth programs. Fr. Frank pointed out it wasn’t just youth programs and it wasn’t just in the Church. Peter said the athletic program has remained fairly constant and in recent time has seen a rebirth and new growth in the Archdiocese. Scot asked if it’s just sports-crazy Boston or is it nationally that CYO has become athletics focused. Peter said every diocese in New England has a very vibrant CYO athletic program. Scot asked Stephen what stands out for CYO in its effectiveness. Stephen said the Catechism speaks of the value of CYO and encourages us to be involved. The anchor for CYO has always been an outreach program to bring young people into orbit around their parish. Its in our nature to want to be in these socialized settings. Even though the culture has offered substitutes, these programs remain strong. Though there may have been a heyday and a lull, we’re rediscovering the value of this socialization and how powerful it can be for a new evangelization. CYO has some Velcro hooks that other ministries are missing. 2nd segment: Scot asked Peter about the March Madness tournament and the different levels and brackets. Peter said there are 11 divisions: 5th and 6th grade boys and girls, school and parish divisions; 7th & 8th grade boys and girls; junior boys; senior boys; senior girls. The grammar school divisions are the largest and the South Shore Parochial School League is the biggest one of all. Of the parish leagues, the Norwood-Westwood area league is growing large as well. These are parishes that don’t have Catholic grammar schools have parish league teams, although some parishes offer both. Peter said Gate of Heaven in South Boston has been a large force in CYO over the years, both boys and girls. Our Lady’s in Lynnfield is another program, and St. Margaret Mary in Westwood. St. Mary’s in Franklin field 14 teams. Fr. Frank said for this age level, while they are receiving proper religious education and growing in other ways, they are also seeing how being involved in a church activity can be fun. Peter said the priests are key and he sees the kids flock to their priests and pastors. Scot asked if the parishes travel well, sending more than just parents of the teams. Peter said it’s mostly family related, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Scot asked how the Archdiocese celebrates the teams in the March Madness tournament. Stephen said they build on the socialization idea and avenues of growing virtue. It’s powerful to give witness that is implicit and explicit. The priest coming by to see the teams. The credibility of a teacher or priest goes through the roof when you enter their world. That opens the door to their receptivity to the Church. Once that avenue is primed, then you add prayer before the game and all the other elements. The teams that take advantage of that really begin to grow a huge ministry apart from sports. Scot said he presumes that the trash talking you see on playgrounds doesn’t take place on the CYO courts. Fr. Frank said it is different, but the kids are still kids. However, the adults take a stricter line on such activity with technical fouls and if it continues coaches and priests getting involved. Fr. Frank said there have been teams eliminated from tournaments because they didn’t live up to the values being promoted. Peter said the Archdiocese has participated an online course for Catholic coaches that all coaches must take. He said we are blessed by the men and women passing on these values and virtues. Stephen said national statistics shows that young people who get involved in athletics tend to avoid trouble and get themselves on a different path. Peter said during the season, to qualify for post-season play, that a team be successful in at least 70 percent of their games and from that about 30 percent of the teams end up participating. This year 87 teams are taking part out of 368 teams total. Peter said the tournament is single elimination. It is highly competitive with large crowds coming to the games. Stephen said Milton High School is where they traditionally hold the tournament. They have a very large facility. They used to hold the tournament at Catholic Memorial for about 25 years. Fr. Silva said the younger the competitors, the more inspiring and entertaining it is to watch. Stephen said as the tournament goes on the level of play becomes incredible. He also offered thanks to the volunteers who get involved, including referees and coaches. 3rd segment: It’s time to announce this week’s winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is the book, by Curtis Martin. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Fr. James DiPerri, from Waltham, MA. Congratulations, Fr. DiPerri! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot asked Peter how the brackets are formed. Peter said the brackets are seeded to ensure that no one who has already faced an opponent during the season meets them again in the initial rounds. They do try to weight it to ensure balance in the brackets. Peter said his son Stephen is the tournament director this year and is responsible for creating all the brackets. Scot asked for where people can get more information. (The link to their web site is above.) Fr. Frank said what has competed with the development of CYO teams in many parishes is the development of city and town youth leagues. He said the CYO name does continue in many places with teams not affiliated with the Church continuing to use CYO. People have identified some teams as a CYO team for so long they continue to use the name. CYO has become ingrained within the psyche. Stephen said that will help CYO in the future. When you view it as ministry, you start to see what Pope John Paul said about the potential for the Church of the intersection with the culture. This is an important piece of who we are. The towns have copied a lot of what we did well. Now we need to find what new things we can do (for example, ultimate frisbee) and what things we can re-infuse with more catechesis for the future. Boston has had a rich history that will carry us forward in the new evangelization. There are so many CYO alumni who are very successful people in business and society and professional sports. Peter said we as a Church have a very difference product to offer. We’re not just a recreational league. Otherwise the Church shouldn’t be involved in athletics. We have a distinctive spiritual component to our athletics. Stephen said Catholic athletics is the Theology of the Body lived out in the bosy-soul union.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Tommy Lane, Associate Professor of Sacred Scripture at Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Scripture for Catholics in Lent Summary of today’s show: Since Vatican II, Catholics as a whole have been gaining a deeper appreciation for Scripture, but there’s so much more to do. Scripture scholar Fr. Tommy Lane joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to talk about the importance of reading, studying, and praying with Scripture, even to venerating Scripture as we venerate the Eucharist. Let this Lent be a time when the Word of God takes deeper root in your life and brings you closer to the Lord as you contemplate His “love letter” to all men and women. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Chris talked about Fr. Chris’ visit to Norfolk state prison last night to celebrate Mass with the inmates. Fr. Chris noted that the congregation included a dog, because one of the inmates trains service dogs for the disabled. He told the men that Lent is a boot camp and we use this time to chip away at those things in our lives that aren’t Christ-like. Scot asked what changes happen in the season of Lent at St. John Seminary. Fr. Chris said throughout Lent they have a book or two that they read in the refectory during lunch, about 15-20 minutes of reading, instead of conversations. They are also served soup and bread on Wednesdays and Fridays as a Lenten fast. On Fridays, where the men usually go out for pizza or a movie the rest of the year, during Lent they spend the time in the Stations of the Cross. This year, they are reading a book on Blessed Charles Foucauld and the imitation of Christ. Fr. Tommy Lane is the guest. He’s on a sabbatical from Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary in Emmittsburg, Maryland, in Boston for study and spending time at St. John’s Seminary while he’s here. He is a Scripture scholar. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Tommy to the show. He grew up on farm in County Cork, Ireland. He has one brother who is now looking after the dairy farm. He grew up in the country, which is a nice place to think about God and vocation. He was in second grade when he first began to think about. It was watching the priest celebrate Sunday Mass. Near the end of high school, he met the vocations director and then went to seminary where he studied Latin and Greek. He studied his theology at Maynooth near Dublin. He went on to Rome for graduate work in Scripture study where he earned degrees, including a Doctorate in Sacred Theology. Fr. Tommy said there was something about the priest in the sanctuary that attracted him to the idea of priesthood at such a young age. Scot asked when Fr. Tommy’s love of Scripture began. Fr. Tommy said about halfway through high school he began to read the Bible every evening before bed. One of the Sisters of Mercy in the high school teaching religion who made everyone in class buy a Bible and they would read it in class. Scot asked how seminary formation in Ireland is different. Fr. Tommy said back in the 80s, they didn’t have formation advisors at the time. Also every seminarian does pastoral work for a half-day every week. At the time, it was optional and there was much less emphasis on it. There is one seminary for Ireland, St. Patrick’s College in Maynooth. All the smaller diocesan seminaries have been closed and merged with Maynooth. After ordination, he continued with all his studies and after getting his doctorate, he served in various parishes. He also taught adult education in his diocese every week, several weeks. From there he taught in the seminary in Ireland and when the one he taught at closed, the bishop told him to apply to any seminary to teach Scripture. A priest friend in America told him of an opening at Mount Saint Mary’s in Maryland and he applied. Fr. Chris said one of the hardest degrees to earn in Rome is the Scripture degree Fr. Tommy earned. The hardest part for him was the Hebrew. He’d already studied Greek in undergraduate, but Hebrew is so completely different from any languages he’d known. Every word is formed with three consonants and the vocabulary is limited so you make words by adding prefixes and suffixes. But it’s great to read the Scriptures in the languages in which they were written. During exams, you would be allowed to bring Scriptures with you to quote from, but they only allowed the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures. Fr. Tommy said reading in Greek and Hebrew allows more precise understanding of what was being said than reading the translation in English. He cited the Annunciation, which in English usually just has Gabriel says “Rejoice, o highly favored daughter” or “Hail, full of grace”, but the Greek word used there carries a lot more meaning, such that the angel is saying to Mary that she is full of grace in such a way that she has always been full of grace, which infers the state of the Immaculate Conception. Scot asked how Scripture was developed and what languages was it written in? Fr. Tommy said the New Testament was written in Greek and the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and just a very small part in Aramaic. When he studies the New Testament, he studies it in Greek. It was translated later in all the various languages. He said biblical Hebrew and Greek are not the same as modern Greek and Hebrew, although he can sometimes understand many of the words he sees. The Hebrew he learned has vowel signs in it, while modern Hebrew does not, which makes it difficult for him to read, for example. 3rd segment: Scot said most Catholics don’t have a deep appreciation for Catholics and asked Fr. Tommy why that is. Fr. Tommy said there may be some historical reasons, but Catholics are reading Scripture much more now. However, Catholics have always meditated on Scripture in the Rosary and in the Mass and in other indirect ways. Scot guesses half of all Catholics have never read a book of the Bible from beginning to end. He said the Scriptures are a love letter from God to us, as Vatican II said. Fr. Tommy said when you have a conversation with someone there is some content. When you pray, you want to nourish your prayer life. Scripture does those. He tells people to read a passage of Scripture before you pray, to help you enter into a deeper prayer life. He suggests people pray for the Holy Spirit to open up the Scripture to them. Scot asked what central things he tries to teach Catholics who come for their first Scripture course. Fr. Tommy said he always starts with the inspiration and composition of the Scriptures. One common misunderstanding is that the Scriptures just sort of fell out of heaven. Of course, God is the Author of the Scriptures, but people don’t understand the human element involved in the composition of the Scriptures. At Mass we say “The holy Gospel according to Luke” because it is Luke who put it into writing and his character comes through. Scot said the human authors are not God’s robot, but he is inspired to write what God intends to be written. Fr. Tommy said they were real authors. Fr. Tommy spoke of the difference between teaching Scripture to seminarians and teaching it to lay adults in faith formation. He would tell laypeople that we can read Scripture, we can study it, we can pray it, and he wanted them to do all three. About halfway through each night, they would pause for a 15-minute guided meditation on Scripture, which turned out to be the most popular part of the programs. In seminary, he doesn’t need to do that because they already have spiritual directors and others teaching them to pray with the Scriptures, so he can dedicate his time to more academic study of the Scriptures. Seminarians must get an academic understanding of the Scriptures. Fr. Chris asked Fr. Tommy which one of the Gospels he would take with him to a desert island. Fr. Tommy said that would be Luke, who is sometimes called the Gentle Scribe. He likes his portrayal of the gentleness of Christ, who is always reaching out to others, especially those on the margins. Fr. Chris said he’s heard it as the Gospel of hospitality. Scot asked if Luke is more Marian than the other two synoptic Gospels, Mark and Matthew. Fr. Tommy said we could say that because the Christmas narratives come from Luke, with so much about Mary in the Annunciation and the Visitation and the Nativity. Fr. Chris asked Fr. Tommy to explain what are the synoptic Gospels. Fr. Tommy said synoptic is two Greeks words meaning “seeing together”. Those Gospels have avery similar presentation of the life of Christ. Those are MAtthew, Mark, and Luke. John has a different presentation, where he goes to the Passover in Jerusalem three times, instead of the one in the others, and he gives long speeches instead of the parables in the others. Scot said the synoptics are more about what Jesus did while John is more about who Jesus is and what he does for us. Fr. Tommy said the Last Supper Discourse in John is Jesus giving his instructions for the Church, which is why we read the Gospel of John in Easter season. Scot said during the season of Lent we encourage people to deepen their knowledge of God and grow in faith. What would we encourage moms and dads and their kids to do to grow in Scripture during Lent? Fr. Tommy said when praying with young children, use one paragraph, perhaps from one of the Gospels with Jesus in it, something that would appeal to the kids, to love Jesus and show Jesus’ love for them. For an adult studying for themselves for the first time, he suggests two ways: the Scripture readings from daily Mass or pick one Gospel and read it from beginning to end. You might want to pick up a commentary on the Gospel to help, for example, the Navarre Bible Commentary. In Lent the two readings for daily Mass are especially chosen because they connect with each other in some way. The rest of the year, they are not chosen to be linked in a particular way. 4th segment: Scot said on Fr. Tommy’s website, he saw something from one of the courses he teaches that he’s never seen before. He said that we should venerate the presence of God in the Scriptures as we would venerate the presence of God in the Eucharist. In our Catholic tradition we have been accustomed to giving devotion to the Eucharist a privileged position. Vatican II calls us to give equal reverence to the presence of God in his Word and in the Eucharist. Dei Verbum 21 states that the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerated the Lord’s Body. This is repeated in CCC 103. This may be a new way of looking at the Scriptures for you. I cherish the following quotation from Origen, a third century preacher, “You receive the body of the Lord with special care and reverence lest the smallest crumb of the consecrated gift fall to the floor. You should receive the word of God with equal care and reverence lest the smallest word of it fall to the floor and be lost.” Scot said he doesn’t know many Catholics who venerate the Word of God with that same passion as they devote to Eucharistic adoration. Fr. Tommy said Cardinal Arinze has made that phrase famous. What Fr. Tommy does is that he has a special place in his rooms for Scriptures to give them a place of prominence in your home. Scot said it’s easy to have the Bible on a shelf among other books, but its better to put God’s love letter to us in a special place. Fr. Tommy said it’s different from all other books. Fr. Tommy said it’s appropriate to have the family Bible blessed by a priest. Fr. Chris said you often see the four evangelists represented by an ox (Luke), an eagle (John), an angel or man (Matthew), and a lion (Mark). Fr. Tommy said they are taken from the four creatures in the Book of Ezekiel and the Book of Revelations. The eagle is John because John has such lofty theology. Luke opens with the angel Gabriel appearing to Zechariah, the priest sacrificing in the temple, and oxen were sacrificed in the temple. Matthew is normally said to be a human, which refers to the gospel opening with the family tree of Jesus. And Mark is a lion because it opens with John the Baptist preaching int he wilderness, roaring like a lion. Fr. Chris asked Fr. Tommy what he does to prepare a homily as a Scripture scholar. Fr. Tommy begins preparing on Monday before Sunday’s Gospel. He uses it for prayer and meditation and focuses on what the Lord might be saying through the Scriptures to his people. As the week goes on, he reads Scripture commentaries and might look for answers on various questions that arise and tease out deeper meanings of the passage. Scot said Fr. Tommy publishes his homilies on his website and over time the same readings elicit different ways to approach them. Fr. Tommy said God is always speaking to us in a new way through Scriptures. He’s trying to link with the lives of the people he’s speaking to. There may be situations or questions that cause people to seek answers. He wants Scripture to meet people where they are in some way. Scot said at the end of Lent we read some of the most powerful Scripture passages starting with Palm Sunday and ending on Easter. Some say the Palm Sunday Passion reading so long that it’s tough to get everything out of them. Fr. Tommy said reading the Passion at home beforehand would be great. We should understand how the Passion narratives work: Last Supper, Gethsemane, Jesus arrest, the religious trial before the Sanhedrin, the civil trial before Pilate, the condemnation,. and Jesus carrying his cross. Seeing this structure in can help guide us through it. Fr. Tommy finds the way we read the Scriptures helpful, with the congregation saying the words of the crowd. We don’t like to think about it, but it’s because of our sins that Christ is crucified. Scot said when we in the pews say “Crucify him” we in some ways might not want to acknowledge it and it’s very difficult for him to say this because its by our sins that we are saying “Crucify him”.Every time we sin, we choose Barabbas instead of Christ. Fr. Chris said one of the men at Norfolk told him that we forget that Barabbas was the first man that Jesus saved. For people who want to deepen their lives in Scripture, they can read Fr. Tommy’s homilies on his website and there’s also a few excerpts of Scripture courses. He’s on sabbatical right now to write a book on priesthood and Scriptures. The first part is on priesthood and the Old Testament. The second is on Christ the high priest of the New Testament. The third section is Christ sharing his priesthood in two ways with his apostles and the lay faithful.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Jack Graham, parochial vicar at St. Agnes Parish in Arlington Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Fr. Jack Graham Summary of today’s show: Today, we enjoyed another in our popular series of profiles of the priests of the Archdiocese of Boston, this time with Fr. Jack Graham, parochial vicar at St. Agnes Parish in Arlington. Scot and Fr. Jack talk about Fr. Jack’s beginnings in Quincy’s Germantown neighborhood through the first inklings of a vocation in college at UMass/Boston to seminary and then priestly assignments in some of the largest parishes in the Archdiocese with some of its most well-known priests. Fr. Jack and Scot also discuss what its like to celebrate so many funerals (St. Agnes has the most of any parish) to the parish’s culture that promotes frequent confession, as well as the parish’s unique status of having not one, but two parochial schools. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Jack Graham to show. Fr. Jack is parochial vicar at St. Agnes Parish in Arlington, which is Scot’s home parish. He asked him about his background. Fr. Jack grew up in Quincy, in Germantown, St. Boniface parish. He said it was the poorest neighborhood on the South Shore. They had exceptional priests. Fr. Jack said he grew up next door to the church. When he was a kid, Fr. Gerry Osterman was there with Msgr. George Carlson and he was altar boy for them for a number of years. They were followed by another great pair of priests. Fr. Jack has two brothers and two sisters. He’s the youngest. Fr. Jack said they used the church parking lot to play games, but they also were shanghaied the kids to work in the parish setting up for events. He said knowing these four priests as examples of the priesthood had a lot to do with his decision to enter the seminary. He went to public school because there wasn’t a Catholic school. He graduated Quincy High School in 1980. Scot said in the seminary now there are as many guys who didn’t go to Catholic school as there are. Fr. Jack said the college seminary, which was open at the time, was mostly Catholic school graduates, while many of the public school guys went to other colleges first. Fr. Jack said it was as he started to mature in high school and college he started to think about the priesthood. He worked his way through U. Mass Boston, working full time and going to school full time. His job was 3-11pm at an alcohol detox right next to Quincy Hospital. It was mainly for people living on the street or couldn’t otherwise afford it. He did that for five years, doing intake, helping people clean up, washing floors and the like. He found the people to have great compassion, to be very interesting, but just struggling with an addiction. He had a thought one day that no matter what else he did, how much money he made, he wouldn’t do anything more important. Scot asked if the priests he knew explicitly planted a seed. Fr. Jack said it was never explicit, but just the way they lived their priesthood. They were always supportive when he asked about it and they had kept in touch over the years. Scot and Fr. Jack talked about Msgr. frank kelly, who helped found the Pine Street Inn. Fr. Jack said the call to the priesthood was really a call. It wasn’t something he had particularly wanted. He had already planned to have a family someday and actively tried to push the call away. He decided to go to the seminary to put it behind him and he ended up getting ordained five years later. Seminary is a time for discernment. Fr. Jack said he saw many men discern they didn’t have the call. Scot said when he attended seminary, they told him half of the men would leave and that should not be seen as a failure. Fr. Jack said if you are truly called, it is a great life. If you’re not called, you can end up miserable. Scot asked Fr. Jack when he really knew God wanted him to be a priest. Fr. Jack said at one point he had left the seminary for the summer, thinking he wouldn’t go back. He worked at State Street Bank in Quincy and had a lot of prayer and discernment. He ended up going back to the seminary and that was when he had decided. Every year the faculty votes on the seminarians and decide whether they can stay. Scot said it’s common for him to hear religious or priests say they entered seminary or religious formation not sure whether they had a real call. God’s will is often revealed over a long time and a slow pace. Fr. Jack said he was ordained in 1990. He said it was a great class of priests, including our Friday co-host Fr. Mark O’Connell. 2nd segment: Fr. Jack’s first assignment was St. Richard’s in Danvers, which seemed like being on the other side of the planet for someone from Quincy. His first pastor was Fr. Paul Keyes, who is now retiring from St. Michael’s in Andover. He was wonderful as a first pastor. St. Richard’s had grown with a lot of young families under Fr. Keyes’ leadership. He is a very spiritual man who helped Fr. Jack with his prayer life. He enabled people in the parish to get involved and take ownership of things. It wasn’t just the paid staff running programs, but hundreds of people getting involved. Fr. Jack was there for five years. (His second pastor was Fr. Charlie Higgins, who is now in Kingston.) When he had first moved to St Richards, there was a retired priest there, but eventually it was just him and the pastor. From Danvers, he went to Sacred Heart in Roslindale with Msgr. frank kelly. The area was just becoming popular again. They had many Irish and Italians, but also a growing Spanish-speaking community. They also had a large West African community, and they had a priest from Africa there. Fr. Jack was there for seven years. During his time, they merged with St. Andrews parish in Forest Hills. He spent an extra year in the parish to stay after the merge. Fr. Jack said he loves city parishes. The parish is the hub of the neighborhood, even for those who aren’t Catholic. In Danvers, his first weekend he had people come up to him and say how lucky they were to have him. At Sacred Heart, a woman told him that he was lucky to be there. There is a real pride of parish. Scot and Fr. Jack discussed being assigned to a parish with a priest who’d been in his own parish before ordination. They’d had a mentor relationship before Fr. Jack entered seminary.In Roslindale, he learned about running a very large parish. From there, he spent two years at St. Anthony in Allston. This was during the heyday of the scandal and during the first part of the archdiocese trying to figure out what to do with reconfiguration. Originally he was covering the parish for a sick pastor, and ended up spending two years. After that he came to St. Agnes. Most of his priestly ministry has been in very large, urban parishes. Scot said they had the kickoff for the Catholic Appeal about four years ago at St. Agnes. He learned that St. Agnes is number two in the Archdiocese for the number of funerals. Scot listed the top 10 parishes in number of funerals. cot asked what it’s like to celebrate so many funeral Masses. Fr. Jack said they’re not all old people. He puts funerals, baptisms, and weddings together as an opportunity to evangelize people because there are a lot of people who haven’t been to church in a long time and you can teach what we believe about life and death and eternal life and apply it to our lives. It’s a great place for ministry because they often start ministering to the people weeks before they die when they get sick. The families are looking for something: Someone to comfort them or someone to be mad at. He said funerals are busy: There is a commitment to the wake, to the Mass, to the burial at the cemetery. He said the music at St. Agnes is exceptional, led by Michael Vaughn. Fr. Jack said he directs his homilies to all the different people by going to the fundamental beliefs we have. He often uses in funeral homilies St. Paul’s message to the Corinthians in Second Corinthians because he’s also addressing a varied community. He tells the community at Corinth that they must walk by their faith, not by their sight. So he says at funerals that we want to give people a sense that a good and loving God wants us to be happy here, but there’s more and we have a responsibility to pray for this person as well. Scot said it must be a logistical challenge to cover so much in the parish. Today, for instance, he couldn’t go to the cemetery in Malden for his funeral today so he asked another priest in that area to do that. Fr. Jack said the busier he is, the more fun it is. This is what he wants to be doing. 3rd segment: Scot what makes St. Agnes distinct is that it has two Catholic parish schools plus Fidelity House, a parish-based boys and girls club. Fr. Jack said it’s hard to describe what Fidelity House is. Scot said there are a lot of young families in the parish. Fr. Jack just following the sports team makes you busy. Two schools brings life to the parish. Sr. Barbara is the full-time chaplain at the high school and takes the lead there. Arlington Catholic has about 700 students. Fr. Jack takes more responsibility for the grammar school while Fr. Flatley takes the high school. When Scot first moved to Arlington, there were four parishes, and now there are two, so Fr. Jack said doing confessions in Lent and Advent for all the students takes longer than it used to. Scot said his experience is that a lot of men don’t go to confession. Many don’t go after first confession, but at St. Agnes is to make sure it’s a habit to go regularly. Fr. Jack said they want to make sure that they don’t become conditioned that confession is just a school or religious ed thing. Fr. Jack said just the regular parish confessions are packed. They have two times on Saturday and they have a constant line during those availabilities. Confession is a big deal there. They also have a lot of people who make appointments. The good thing about an appointment is that it gives them more time to talk than on Saturday. St. Agnes is a very large and faith-filled parish. Fr. Jack said someone on the early history of the parish, some priest must have made it seem like confession was to be a tradition of the parish. He said at St. Richard’s in Danvers, there was something similar about the culture being that everyone stay at the end of Mass to pray because a priest had said it was important decades ago. Fr. Jack said they just went through First Confessions for the kids. Most of the kids are nervous to talk to the priests. You get to teach them how to examine their conscience. If a kid says he has nothing o confess, then you can lead them through some potential problems. For second-graders, you just lead them through the relationships in their families. For adults who want to come back to confession, Fr. Jack said don’t worry about remembering how it goes. The priests will lead them through it. The idea is to just to get there. He remembered as a college student where hadn’t been to confession in four or five years. He got a notion to go to ST. Anthony’s Shrine on Arch Street in Boston. He sat in the pews for an hour and a half and ended up leaving because he was so nervous. He went back the next day, and finally went in. The priest was so kind and he left feeling like a million bucks. The sins that people confess that they think are heavy or dark are the ones that make the priest have admiration for the courage of the penitent. The best priest-confessors are those who go to confession a lot. The best way to help people get back to confession is to kill them with kindness and make it a very positive experience. Scot said the Archdiocese for the past couple of years has been doing The Light Is On For You, where every parish is open for confessions on Wednesdays in Lent from 6:30-8:30pm. Fr. Jack said he sees it builds momentum through Lent and by the last week, there is a very big crowd for confession. Scot said a lot of people tell him that confession on Wednesday night is a lot more convenient than Saturday. Fr. Jack said he agrees, but it’s hard with the number of priests we have now. Fr. Jack thinks The Light Is On For You will become a tradition in the archdiocese. Scot said there were more than 600 people at the Cathedral for the Rite of Election yesterday. He asked what it’s like working with people entering the Church. Fr. Jack said it’s a lot of joy. He learns something every year during the RCIA program. Everyone in the RCIA program wants to be there and are excited about it. This year they have two people, although they usually have more. They are always very different with interesting backgrounds. Scot said converts often know their faith better than most of the people they go to Mass with. Fr. Jack said they’ve learned how to use the Catechism and the Bible. Next year, they will be using Fr. Robert Barron’s “Catholicism” TV series and book. He said after RCIA ends, the people want to keep learning and he always maintains relationships with them that are uniquely like father and children. Fr. Jack said he loves the readings of Lent and it’s a great opportunity to teach people. He tells people we do things for a reason and explains them. They have a couple hundred extra people attending Mass on Sundays in Lent.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Cardinal Dolan’s address to the College of Cardinals Summary of today’s show: Last week, the day before the consistory at which he was to be made a cardinal of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York was asked to address the College of Cardinals and Pope Benedict XVI on the topic of the New Evangelization. Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell walk the listeners step by step through the Cardinal’s 7-step strategy for evangelization, which he peppered with many practical—and often witty—observations that itself demonstrates his call to be joyful, confident, and knowledgeable when witnessing to the beauty of a relationship with Jesus Christ in His Church. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Mark discussed the week. Fr. Mark had an emergency last week that caused him to miss the show because he had to have a root canal. They discussed about three priests who have died recently. Fr. Mark said he went to the funeral today for Fr. Ed O’Flaherty, a Jesuit who worked for many years as director of the ecumenical office for the Archdiocese among other ministries. There were many priests and bishops at the funeral. Fr. Bill Burckhart also died this week. He was the founder of the permanent diaconate and also worked with Fr. Mark on the Clergy Funds. Fr. Jim Curtin also died, who Fr. Mark recalled him as someone who was always happy to see you. Today they will be discussing a talk given by Cardinal Timothy Dolan before the consistory in which Pope Benedict made new cardinals last week. It was highly unusual for the keynote address of the meeting to be given by one of the new cardinals. 2nd segment: Cardinal Dolan began his address: It is as old as the final mandate of Jesus, “Go, teach all nations!,” yet as fresh as God’s Holy Word proclaimed at our own Mass this morning. I speak of the sacred duty of evangelization. It is “ever ancient, ever new.” The how of it, the when of it, the where of it, may change, but the charge remains constant, as does the message and inspiration, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.” We gather in the caput mundi, evangelized by Peter and Paul themselves, in the city from where the successors of St. Peter “sent out” evangelizers to present the saving Person, message, and invitation that is at the heart of evangelization: throughout Europe, to the “new world” in the “era of discovery,” to Africa and Asia in recent centuries. We gather near the basilica where the evangelical fervor of the Church was expanded during the Second Vatican Council, and near the tomb of the Blessed Pontiff who made the New Evangelization a household word. We gather grateful for the fraternal company of a pastor who has made the challenge of the new evangelization almost a daily message. Yes, we gather as missionaries, as evangelizers. Fr. Mark said the Pope chose evangelization as the key topic for all the cardinals of the world. We are all called to remember that we are also evangelizers through our baptism. Scot said the cardinal then talks about the re-evangelization of Catholics as complementary to evangelization to non-Catholics. HE then continues after that: The acclaimed American missionary and TV evangelist, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, commented, “Our Lord’s first word to His disciples was ‘come!’ His last word was ‘go!’ You can’t ‘go’ unless you’ve first ‘come’ to Him.” A towering challenge to both the missio ad gentes and the New Evangalization today is what we call secularism. Listen to how our Pope describes it: Secularization, which presents itself in cultures by imposing a world and humanity without reference to Transcendence, is invading every aspect of daily life and developing a mentality in which God is effectively absent, wholly or partially, from human life and awareness. This secularization is not only an external threat to believers, but has been manifest for some time in the heart of the Church herself. It profoundly distorts the Christian faith from within, and consequently, the lifestyle and daily behavior of believers. They live in the world and are often marked, if not conditioned, by the cultural imagery that impresses contradictory and impelling models regarding the practical denial of God: there is no longer any need for God, to think of him or to return to him. Furthermore, the prevalent hedonistic and consumeristic mindset fosters in the faithful and in Pastors a tendency to superficiality and selfishness that is harmful to ecclesial life. (Benedict XVI, Address to Pontifical Council for Culture, 8.III.2008) Scot said to re-evangelize anybody we need to come to Jesus ourselves. Fr. Mark said Vatican II commissioned lay people especially to be evangelizers in the secular world. He said he spends most of his time with other Catholics. It’s Catholics in the pews who meet non-Catholics in their daily life. But we can’t keep our Catholic life separate from the rest of life. Scot said most people in our own country most people have heard of Jesus Christ, even if they don’t believe in him or act on the belief in him. We need a re-evangelization, what the Church calls the New Evangelization. Cardinal Dolan said evangelization and re-evangelization are motivated by the same seven points he’s about to describe. Actually, in graciously inviting me to speak on this topic, “The Announcement of the Gospel Today, between missio ad gentes and the new evangelization,” my new-brother-cardinal, His Eminence, the Secretary of State, asked me to put in into the context of secularism, hinting that my home archdiocese of New York might be the “capital of a secular culture.” As I trust my friend and new-brother-cardinal, Edwin O’Brien — who grew up in New York — will agree, New York — without denying its dramatic evidence of graphic secularism — is also a very religious city. There one finds, even among groups usually identified as materialistic — the media, entertainment, business, politics, artists, writers — an undeniable openness to the divine! The cardinals who serve Jesus and His Church universal on the Roman Curia may recall the address Pope Benedict gave them at Christmas two years ago when he celebrated this innate openness to the divine obvious even in those who boast of their secularism: We as believers, must have at heart even those people who consider themselves agnostics or atheists. When we speak of a new evangelization these people are perhaps taken aback. They do not want to see themselves as an object of mission or to give up their freedom of thought and will. Yet the question of God remains present even for them. As the first step of evangelization we must seek to keep this quest alive; we must be concerned that human beings do not set aside the question of God, but rather see it as an essential question for their lives. We must make sure that they are open to this question and to the yearning concealed within. I think that today too the Church should open a sort of “Court of the Gentiles” in which people might in some way latch on to God, without knowing him and before gaining access to his mystery, at whose service the inner life of the Church stands. This is my first point: we believe with the philosophers and poets of old, who never had the benefit of revelation, that even a person who brags about being secular and is dismissive of religion, has within an undeniable spark of interest in the beyond, and recognizes that humanity and creation is a dismal riddle without the concept of some kind of creator. A movie popular at home now is The Way, starring a popular actor, Martin Sheen. Perhaps you have seen it. He plays a grieving father whose estranged son dies while walking the Camino di Santiago di Compostella in Spain. The father decides, in his grief, to complete the pilgrimage in place of his dead son. He is an icon of a secular man: self-satisfied, dismissive of God and religion, calling himself a “former Catholic,” cynical about faith … but yet unable to deny within him an irrepressible interest in the transcendent, a thirst for something — no, Someone — more, which grows on the way. Yes, to borrow the report of the apostles to Jesus from last Sunday’s gospel, “All the people are looking for you!” Fr. Mark said it’s easier to ignore someone who’s hostile to religion, but we have to want to reach out to them. Even the most hardened heart has a spark within them. This is what makes them curious, what makes them want to talk about it, even if they are completely opposed to the Church. We can use that spark to reach out to them. Scot said he knows people who are far from faith who were touched by the movie “The Way” that the cardinal gives a very strong endorsement to. Fr. Mark notes how the media is intrigued by and really likes Cardinal Dolan as the face of the Church in the US. … and, my second point, this fact gives us immense confidence and courage in the sacred task of mission and New Evangelization. “Be not afraid,” we’re told, is the most repeated exhortation in the Bible. After the Council, the good news was that triumphalism in the Church was dead. The bad news was that, so was confidence! We are convinced, confident, and courageous in the New Evangelization because of the power of the Person sending us on mission — who happens to be the second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity – because of the truth of the message, and the deep down openness in even the most secularized of people to the divine. Confident, yes! Triumphant, never! What keeps us from the swagger and arrogance of triumphalism is a recognition of what Pope Paul VI taught in Evangelii Nuntiandi: the Church herself needs evangelization! This gives us humility as we confess that Nemo dat quod not habet, that the Church has a deep need for the interior conversion that is at the marrow of the call to evangelization. Scot said Cardinal Dolan gets his reservoir of confidence from the fact that he knows he’s proclaiming truth, Jesus Christ. Fr. Mark said that in order to evangelize you have to be confident in the faith and in the message. A third necessary ingredient in the recipe of effective mission is that God does not satisfy the thirst of the human heart with a proposition, but with a Person, whose name is Jesus. The invitation implicit in the Missio ad gentes and the New Evangelization is not to a doctrine but to know, love, and serve — not a something, but a Someone. When you began your ministry as successor of St. Peter, Holy Father, you invited us to friendship with Jesus, which is the way you defined sanctity. There it is … love of a Person, a relationship at the root of out faith. As St. Augustine writes, “Ex una sane doctrina impressam fidem credentium cordibus singulorum qui hoc idem credunt verissime dicimus, sed aliud sunt ea quae creduntur, aliud fides qua creduntur” (De Trinitate, XIII, 2.5) Fr. Mark said some people come to religion looking for warm fuzzy feelings, but it only lasts so long. In the Catholic faith, we encounter God who became Man, who died on the cross, who chased coin changers, who was kind to Mary Magadalene and was a real human being, not a theory. 3rd segment: The cardinal’s fourth point is that because Jesus is the truth, then catechesis is critically linked to evangelization. Yes, and here’s my fourth point, but this Person, Jesus, tells us He is the truth. So, our mission has a substance, a content, and this twentieth anniversary of the Catechism, the approaching fiftieth anniversary of the Council, and the upcoming Year of Faith charge us to combat catechetical illiteracy. True enough, the New Evangalization is urgent because secularism has often choked the seed of faith; but that choking was sadly made easy because so many believers really had no adequate knowledge or grasp of the wisdom, beauty, and coherence of the Truth. Cardinal George Pell has observed that “it’s not so much that our people have lost their faith, but that they barely had it to begin with; and, if they did, it was so vapid that it was easily taken away.” So did Cardinal Avery Dulles call for neo-apologetics, rooted not in dull polemics but in the Truth that has a name, Jesus. So did Blessed John Newman, upon reception of his own biglietto nominating him a cardinal warn again of what he constantly called a dangerous liberalism in religion: “… the belief that there is no objective truth in religion, that one creed is as good as another … Revealed religion is not a truth, but a sentiment, a taste … ” And, just as Jesus tells us “I am the Truth,” He also describes Himself as “the Way, and the Life.” The Way of Jesus is in and through His Church, a holy mother who imparts to us His Life. “For what would I ever know of Him without her?” asks De Lubac, referring to the intimate identification of Jesus and His Church. Thus, our mission, the New Evangelization, has essential catechetical and ecclesial dimensions. This impels us to think about Church in a fresh way: to think of the Church as a mission. As John Paul II taught in Redemptoris Missio, the Church does not “have a mission,” as if “mission” were one of many things the Church does. No, the Church is a mission, and each of us who names Jesus as Lord and Savior should measure ourselves by our mission-effectiveness. Over the fifty years since the convocation of the Council, we have seen the Church pass through the last stages of the Counter-Reformation and rediscover itself as a missionary enterprise. In some venues, this has meant a new discovery of the Gospel. In once-catechized lands, it has meant a re-evangelization that sets out from the shallow waters of institutional maintenance, and as John Paul II instructed us in Novo Millennio Ineunte, puts out “into the deep” for a catch. In many of the countries represented in this college, the ambient public culture once transmitted the Gospel, but does so no more. In those circumstances, the proclamation of the Gospel — the deliberate invitation to enter into friendship with the Lord Jesus — must be at the very center of the Catholic life of all of our people. But in all circumstances, the Second Vatican Council and the two great popes who have given it an authoritative interpretation are urging us to call our people to think of themselves as missionaries and evangelists. Fr. Mark said he liked that the cardinal talks about being uncompromising about telling the truth. He makes a point to say to teens or RCIA candidates or anyone else he addresses that he’s not afraid of their questions, that the Church can justify its teaching or it’s not the truth. Then when he can back it up, that’s real evangelization. Scot said we need to understand what evangelization is and God’s gives us the tools to understand the faith. We are all called to be evangelizers to whomever God puts in our path. Fr. Mark said the message of Vatican II that opened the door to evangelization and to reading the Bible is still being taught today. Many people still don’t feel comfortable reading the Bible or talking about the faith. Scot’s personal favorite of these 7 strategies is the next. When I was a new seminarian at the North American College here in Rome, all the first-year men from all the Roman theological universities were invited to a Mass at St. Peter’s with the Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal John Wright, as celebrant and homilist. We thought he would give us a cerebral homily. But he began by asking, “Seminarians: do me and the Church a big favor. When you walk the streets of Rome, smile!” So, point five: the missionary, the evangelist, must be a person of joy. “Joy is the infallible sign of God’s presence,” claims Leon Bloy. When I became Archbishop of New York, a priest old me, “You better stop smiling when you walk the streets of Manhattan, or you’ll be arrested!” A man dying of AIDS at the Gift of Peace Hospice, administered by the Missionaries of Charity in Cardinal Donald Wuerl’s Archdiocese of Washington, asked for baptism. When the priest asked for an expression of faith, the dying man whispered, “All I know is that I’m unhappy, and these sisters are very happy, even when I curse them and spit on them. Yesterday I finally asked them why they were so happy. They replied ‘Jesus.’ I want this Jesus so I can finally be happy. A genuine act of faith, right? The New Evangelization is accomplished with a smile, not a frown. The missio ad gentes is all about a yes to everything decent, good, true, beautiful and noble in the human person. The Church is about a yes!, not a no! Scot said this is a homily the cardinal could have given in a parish, but he was giving this to all the cardinals and the pope. Fr. Mark said he relates to the admonition to smile. He studied in Rome and a lot of priests and nuns he saw on the street were awfully grumpy. We have to have joy in our Christianity or no one will be attracted to it. Scot said he loves that the cardinal was very practical in just telling people to smile. Fr. Mark said his father has been telling him since the day he was ordained that he needs to smile wherever he speaks or celebrates Mass. And, next-to-last point, the New Evangelization is about love. Recently, our brother John Thomas Kattrukudiyil, the Bishop of Itanagar, in the northeast corner of India, was asked to explain the tremendous growth of the Church in his diocese, registering over 10,000 adult converts a year. “Because we present God as a loving father, and because people see the Church loving them.” he replied. Not a nebulous love, he went on, but a love incarnate in wonderful schools for all children, clinics for the sick, homes for the elderly, centers for orphans, food for the hungry. In New York, the heart of the most hardened secularist softens when visiting one of our inner-city Catholic schools. When one of our benefactors, who described himself as an agnostic, asked Sister Michelle why, at her age, with painful arthritic knees, she continued to serve at one of these struggling but excellent poor schools, she answered, “Because God loves me, and I love Him, and I want these children to discover this love.” Fr. Mark said at Fr. O’Flaherty’s funeral this morning, it was recalled that Mother Teresa said when you spend your time judging, there is less time for loving. The way to love is service. How do you have an effective youth group? Teach them to serve. Show them the joy of someone who receives this service. Scot said in our actions we will converts to Christ. Words matter, but so do our acts. Fr. Mark said the lesson of the Missionaries of Charity is you never know who’s watching us. Joy, love … and, last point … sorry to bring it up, … but blood. Tomorrow, twenty-two of us will hear what most of you have heard before: “To the praise of God, and the honor of the Apostolic See receive the red biretta, the sign of the cardinal’s dignity; and know that you must be willing to conduct yourselves with fortitude even to the shedding of your blood: for the growth of the Christian faith, the peace and tranquility of the People of God, and the freedom and spread of the Holy Roman Church.” Holy Father, can you omit “to the shedding of your blood” when you present me with the biretta? Of course not! We are but “scarlet audio-visual aids” for all of our brothers and sisters also called to be ready to suffer and die for Jesus. It was Pope Paul VI who noted wisely that people today learn more from “witness than from words,” and the supreme witness is martyrdom. Sadly, today we have martyrs in abundance. Thank you, Holy Father, for so often reminding us of those today suffering persecution for their faith throughout the world. Thank you, Cardinal Koch, for calling the Church to an annual “day of solidarity” with those persecuted for the sake of the gospel, and for inviting our ecumenical and inter-religious partners to an “ecumenism of martyrdom.” While we cry for today’s martyrs; while we love them, pray with and for them; while we vigorously advocate on their behalf; we are also very proud of them, brag about them, and trumpet their supreme witness to the world. They spark the missio ad gentes and New Evangelization. A young man in New York tells me he returned to the Catholic faith of his childhood, which he had jettisoned as a teenager, because he read The Monks of Tibhirine, about Trappists martyred in Algeria fifteen years ago, and after viewing the drama about them, the French film, Of Gods and Men. Tertullian would not be surprised. Thank you, Holy Father and brethren, for your patience with my primitive Italian. When Cardinal Bertone asked me to give this address in Italian, I worried, because I speak Italian like a child. But, then I recalled, that, as a newly-ordained parish priest, my first pastor said to me as I went over to school to teach the six-year old children their catechism, “Now we’ll see if all your theology sunk in, and if you can speak of the faith like a child.” And maybe that’s a fitting place to conclude: we need to speak again as a child the eternal truth, beauty, and simplicity of Jesus and His Church. Sia lodato Gesu Cristo! (May Jesus Christ always be praised.) Scot said it’s interesting he ends with being willing to suffer and die for our faith and the cardinals need to lead in that. Fr. Mark said we hope that we don’t have to die, but we always have to be ready, especially when God himself died on the cross. He liked how Cardinal Dolan plugged Of Gods and Men, which Fr. Mark also found inspiring. It’s about monks in Algerian who have to decide whether to leave their monastery in a war-torn area. Scot said even in the presence of the College of Cardinals, Dolan cracked jokes and he’s sure the cardinals enjoyed this address. Fr. Mark said he remembers as a child having a Jewish neighbor who asked him why he believes in Jesus and he said, “I don’t know.” Since then he’s had better answers, but at least they had the conversation. 4th segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. This is the last Sunday before the beginning of Lent. Beloved: Christ suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the Spirit. In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water. This prefigured baptism, which saves you now. It is not a removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him. The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him. After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Fr. Mark said on Ash Wednesday we heard the priest say Repent and believe in the Gospel. It may be a short proclamation, but it’s very true. It is everything. Scot said we have heard this many times so we shouldn’t take it for granted. We need to internalize this in every way in our lives. We shouldn’t put off acting now during this Lent to re-prioritize anything that separates us from God. We don’t know when our death will come. How can we re-order our lives so we can have a closer relationship with God. Fr. Mark said even if you’ve already had a bad beginning to Lent, there’s still time to start again. He added that it should be challenging. It it’s too easy it may not be enough to really change us. Scot talked about the service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross this Sunday called the Rite of Election in which people who are preparing to enter the Church at Easter are welcomed.…
Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Lent begins; fasting; new cardinals; Catholic Press Month; local news Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Susan Abbott sit with Greg Tracy during Thursday’s news roundup while Fr. Roger Landry flies to the Holy Land. The beginning of Lent is the big story of the week, including free fasting bread from a local baker, as well as the consistory that created 22 new cardinals, including two from the US; Msgr. James Moroney’s new column on the Mass prayers for Lent; a behind-the-scenes look at how The Anchor comes together each week; and more local news. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Susan to the show on the second day of Lent. Scot said Susan is preparing for the Catechetical Congress on March 24 at Boston College High School. They have a couple dozen workshops planned in English plus more in Spanish and Portuguese. There will be hundreds of attendees. Scot said today is Fr. Roger Landry’s birthday and thus Susan said it is also Scot’s birthday. Scot said Fr. Roger is leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Scot’s wife and son are on the trip along with Scot and Fr. Roger’s parents. They left for the Holy Land today. Scot said Fr. Edward O’Flaherty, the director of the office for ecumenical affairs, died this week. He and Susan worked very closely over the past 10 years. Scot said he’d been sick for several months. 2nd segment: Scot and Susan welcome Greg to the show today. Scot said the big news this week is the beginning of Lent. They discussed their Lenten resolutions. Greg said he is giving up fresh-baked bread for Lent. In his house, they have fresh bread four or five days a week in his house. Susan said she gave up Diet Coke for Lent last year and never went back to it. She went from 32 ounces per day to one or two cans per week. Scot said the Pilot has a front-page story on Andy LaVallee of LaVallee’s Bakery Distributors, who we had on The Good Catholic Life, going more in-depth on the fasting breads that his company is providing free of charge this Lent. These are breads that are all-natural and more nutritious so that people don’t become more hungry while fasting. Most breads make you more hungry, making fasting more difficult, whereas these breads satisfy. It’s a great story of a Catholic businessman seeing some aspect of the faith and taking it to the next level, using his business to help people live their faith. Scot then discussed Pope Benedict’s remarks on Ash Wednesday about Lent being tied to Jesus’ 40 days in the desert and Israel’s 40 years in the desert. Susan recalled the Gospel passage in which the angels ministered to Jesus at the end of the temptations in the desert and the Holy Father says the angels are there to minister to us as well. New in the Pilot is a column by Msgr. James Moroney, who will be rector of St. John Seminary in July, in which he writes about the new prayers of the Liturgy. This week is the opening prayer for the First Sunday of Lent. Greg said Msgr. Thomas McDonald used to do a similar column some years ago, until he passed away. They hope to do this during Lent and Advent. Scot said he’s heard priests say that they are glad that the new prayers bring back the treasures of the Liturgy that we haven’t had for so long. Grant, almighty God, through the yearly observances of holy Lent, that we may grow in understanding of the riches hidden in Christ and by worthy conduct pursue their effects Susan quoted from the column: The observances of holy Lent are just such outward signs: for when I fast from food and from vengeance and from anger and from hate, I grow in understanding of the riches hidden in Christ: Christ who graciously showers me with mercy and peace and love. The observances of holy Lent are outward signs. When I go to the Stations of the Cross on Friday night, or to confession on Saturday afternoon, when I pray an extra fifteen minutes at the end of each day, I grow in understanding of the riches hidden in Christ: Christ who fills my heart with his hope and strength and a clear vision of his love for me. 3rd segment: Scot said last Saturday Pope Benedict XVI made 22 new cardinals, including two from the United States and one from Canada. They discussed why the Catholic News Service lumps together Canadian and American news, i.e. “The Pope created three cardinals from the US and Canada.” Greg said Catholic News Service is also used in many Canadian Catholic newspapers so they have tried to broaden their coverage. Scot said much of the coverage focused on Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. In a great honor for Cardinal Dolan, he was asked to give a keynote address to all of the cardinals of the world the day before the consistory. A lot of the secular press asked whether that made Cardinal Dolan high on the list as papabile. He told a reporter that what he really aspires to is becoming a saint. “As grateful as I am for being a cardinal,” he told reporters later, “I really want to be a saint. I mean that, but I have a long way to go.” Susan noted that both Cardinal Dolan and Cardinal Edwin O’Brien, grandmaster of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem and former archbishop of Baltimore, stressed in their remarks that this is not a personal honor, but a call to greater service to the Church. Scot said the Holy Father told the cardinals that they also have to be prepared for martyrdom, giving their lives for the faith. 4th segment: Scot said the Anchor this week celebrates Catholic Press Month by providing a front-page story about how the newspaper is produced behind the scenes. It shows how much work goes into making a 24-page paper every week. Susan said when she was in college she worked as a copy editor at the Boston Globe on weekends and find it hasn’t changed much since then. Greg found it enlightening to see how others do the same work and to see how similar their work is. Scot said the Anchor goes to press on Tuesday afternoon and they get started on the next week’s paper the next day. Greg said the Pilot goes to press on Wednesday between 5 and 6pm and drops in the mail by 10 or 11am on Thursday so it arrives in parishes on Saturday. He said Wednesdays are difficult days. Putting the paper together is like fitting pieces of a puzzle and by Wednesday you have to start fitting things in every little space. Scot said about 1/3 of the paper is local news, 1/3 is advertising, and about 1/3 comes from Catholic news services. Greg added that the number of pages of the newspaper comes from the amount of advertising, which leaves you the “news hole” to fill. He said local content comes from news stories and opinion pieces and columns. They are often asked to give more local content, but they also have a mission to help the people in the archdiocese get exposed to Catholic news beyond the borders of the Archdiocese. A recent study shows that the only Catholic publication that most Catholics see is their diocesan newspaper. The panel discussed the life and death and service of Fr. William Burckhart. Greg noted an anecdote that Fr. Burckhart and his sister were the impetus behind the change in Massachusetts from handicapped license plates to handicapped placards, which allows the person to park in a handicapped space whatever car they are in. Scot mentioned the announcement of new appointments of two pastors. Fr. Edward Doughty will become Pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Medford, effective March 1, and Fr. Mark Ballard will become Pastor of St. Mary of the Annunciation Parish in Melrose. Also in the Anchor this week is a profile of the “Catholicism” TV and DVD series by Fr. Robert Barron, which Scot called the greatest long form presentation of the faith in broadcast media.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Domenico Bettinelli Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Pope Benedict’s message for Lent Summary of today’s show: On Ash Wednesday, Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams discuss with Dom Bettinelli the message from Pope Benedict for Lent in which he calls for the renewal of the old practice of fraternal correction. We must care for our brothers and sisters enough to not remain silent in the face of choices they make that may affect their eternal salvation. Some may call it judgmental meddling, but when done with love, compassion, and within a relationship based on Christ, it can be a loving experience of God’s mercy. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Matt and Dom Bettinelli take the opportunity of Ash Wednesday to discuss the following message of Pope Benedict for Lent 2012. Dear Brothers and Sisters, The Lenten season offers us once again an opportunity to reflect upon the very heart of Christian life: charity. This is a favourable time to renew our journey of faith, both as individuals and as a community, with the help of the word of God and the sacraments. This journey is one marked by prayer and sharing, silence and fasting, in anticipation of the joy of Easter. This year I would like to propose a few thoughts in the light of a brief biblical passage drawn from the Letter to the Hebrews:“ Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works”. These words are part of a passage in which the sacred author exhorts us to trust in Jesus Christ as the High Priest who has won us forgiveness and opened up a pathway to God. Embracing Christ bears fruit in a life structured by the three theological virtues: it means approaching the Lord “sincere in heart and filled with faith” (v. 22), keeping firm “in the hope we profess” (v. 23) and ever mindful of living a life of “love and good works” (v. 24) together with our brothers and sisters. The author states that to sustain this life shaped by the Gospel it is important to participate in the liturgy and community prayer, mindful of the eschatological goal of full communion in God (v. 25). Here I would like to reflect on verse 24, which offers a succinct, valuable and ever timely teaching on the three aspects of Christian life: concern for others, reciprocity and personal holiness. 1. “Let us be concerned for each other”: responsibility towards our brothers and sisters. This first aspect is an invitation to be “concerned”: the Greek verb used here is katanoein, which means to scrutinize, to be attentive, to observe carefully and take stock of something. We come across this word in the Gospel when Jesus invites the disciples to “think of” the ravens that, without striving, are at the centre of the solicitous and caring Divine Providence (cf. Lk 12:24), and to “observe” the plank in our own eye before looking at the splinter in that of our brother (cf. Lk 6:41). In another verse of the Letter to the Hebrews, we find the encouragement to “turn your minds to Jesus” (3:1), the Apostle and High Priest of our faith. So the verb which introduces our exhortation tells us to look at others, first of all at Jesus, to be concerned for one another, and not to remain isolated and indifferent to the fate of our brothers and sisters. All too often, however, our attitude is just the opposite: an indifference and disinterest born of selfishness and masked as a respect for “privacy”. Today too, the Lord’s voice summons all of us to be concerned for one another. Even today God asks us to be “guardians” of our brothers and sisters (Gen 4:9), to establish relationships based on mutual consideration and attentiveness to the well-being, the integral well-being of others. The great commandment of love for one another demands that we acknowledge our responsibility towards those who, like ourselves, are creatures and children of God. Being brothers and sisters in humanity and, in many cases, also in the faith, should help us to recognize in others a true alter ego, infinitely loved by the Lord. If we cultivate this way of seeing others as our brothers and sisters, solidarity, justice, mercy and compassion will naturally well up in our hearts. The Servant of God Pope Paul VI stated that the world today is suffering above all from a lack of brotherhood: “Human society is sorely ill. The cause is not so much the depletion of natural resources, nor their monopolistic control by a privileged few; it is rather the weakening of brotherly ties between individuals and nations” (Populorum Progressio, 66). Concern for others entails desiring what is good for them from every point of view: physical, moral and spiritual. Contemporary culture seems to have lost the sense of good and evil, yet there is a real need to reaffirm that good does exist and will prevail, because God is “generous and acts generously” (Ps 119:68). The good is whatever gives, protects and promotes life, brotherhood and communion. Responsibility towards others thus means desiring and working for the good of others, in the hope that they too will become receptive to goodness and its demands. Concern for others means being aware of their needs. Sacred Scripture warns us of the danger that our hearts can become hardened by a sort of “spiritual anesthesia” which numbs us to the suffering of others. The Evangelist Luke relates two of Jesus’ parables by way of example. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the priest and the Levite “pass by”, indifferent to the presence of the man stripped and beaten by the robbers (cf. Lk 10:30-32). In that of Dives and Lazarus, the rich man is heedless of the poverty of Lazarus, who is starving to death at his very door (cf. Lk 16:19). Both parables show examples of the opposite of “being concerned”, of looking upon others with love and compassion. What hinders this humane and loving gaze towards our brothers and sisters? Often it is the possession of material riches and a sense of sufficiency, but it can also be the tendency to put our own interests and problems above all else. We should never be incapable of “showing mercy” towards those who suffer. Our hearts should never be so wrapped up in our affairs and problems that they fail to hear the cry of the poor. Humbleness of heart and the personal experience of suffering can awaken within us a sense of compassion and empathy. “The upright understands the cause of the weak, the wicked has not the wit to understand it” (Prov 29:7). We can then understand the beatitude of “those who mourn” (Mt 5:5), those who in effect are capable of looking beyond themselves and feeling compassion for the suffering of others. Reaching out to others and opening our hearts to their needs can become an opportunity for salvation and blessedness. “Being concerned for each other” also entails being concerned for their spiritual well-being. Here I would like to mention an aspect of the Christian life, which I believe has been quite forgotten: fraternal correction in view of eternal salvation. Today, in general, we are very sensitive to the idea of charity and caring about the physical and material well-being of others, but almost completely silent about our spiritual responsibility towards our brothers and sisters. This was not the case in the early Church or in those communities that are truly mature in faith, those which are concerned not only for the physical health of their brothers and sisters, but also for their spiritual health and ultimate destiny. The Scriptures tell us: “Rebuke the wise and he will love you for it. Be open with the wise, he grows wiser still, teach the upright, he will gain yet more” (Prov 9:8ff). Christ himself commands us to admonish a brother who is committing a sin (cf. Mt 18:15). The verb used to express fraternal correction - elenchein – is the same used to indicate the prophetic mission of Christians to speak out against a generation indulging in evil (cf. Eph 5:11). The Church’s tradition has included “admonishing sinners” among the spiritual works of mercy. It is important to recover this dimension of Christian charity. We must not remain silent before evil. I am thinking of all those Christians who, out of human regard or purely personal convenience, adapt to the prevailing mentality, rather than warning their brothers and sisters against ways of thinking and acting that are contrary to the truth and that do not follow the path of goodness. Christian admonishment, for its part, is never motivated by a spirit of accusation or recrimination. It is always moved by love and mercy, and springs from genuine concern for the good of the other. As the Apostle Paul says: “If one of you is caught doing something wrong, those of you who are spiritual should set that person right in a spirit of gentleness; and watch yourselves that you are not put to the test in the same way” (Gal 6:1). In a world pervaded by individualism, it is essential to rediscover the importance of fraternal correction, so that together we may journey towards holiness. Scripture tells us that even “the upright falls seven times” (Prov 24:16); all of us are weak and imperfect (cf. 1 Jn 1:8). It is a great service, then, to help others and allow them to help us, so that we can be open to the whole truth about ourselves, improve our lives and walk more uprightly in the Lord’s ways. There will always be a need for a gaze which loves and admonishes, which knows and understands, which discerns and forgives (cf. Lk 22:61), as God has done and continues to do with each of us. 2. "Being concerned for each other”: the gift of reciprocity. This “custody” of others is in contrast to a mentality that, by reducing life exclusively to its earthly dimension, fails to see it in an eschatological perspective and accepts any moral choice in the name of personal freedom. A society like ours can become blind to physical sufferings and to the spiritual and moral demands of life. This must not be the case in the Christian community! The Apostle Paul encourages us to seek “the ways which lead to peace and the ways in which we can support one another” (Rom 14:19) for our neighbour’s good, “so that we support one another” (15:2), seeking not personal gain but rather “the advantage of everybody else, so that they may be saved” (1 Cor 10:33). This mutual correction and encouragement in a spirit of humility and charity must be part of the life of the Christian community. The Lord’s disciples, united with him through the Eucharist, live in a fellowship that binds them one to another as members of a single body. This means that the other is part of me, and that his or her life, his or her salvation, concern my own life and salvation. Here we touch upon a profound aspect of communion: our existence is related to that of others, for better or for worse. Both our sins and our acts of love have a social dimension. This reciprocity is seen in the Church, the mystical body of Christ: the community constantly does penance and asks for the forgiveness of the sins of its members, but also unfailingly rejoices in the examples of virtue and charity present in her midst. As Saint Paul says: “Each part should be equally concerned for all the others” (1 Cor 12:25), for we all form one body. Acts of charity towards our brothers and sisters – as expressed by almsgiving, a practice which, together with prayer and fasting, is typical of Lent – is rooted in this common belonging. Christians can also express their membership in the one body which is the Church through concrete concern for the poorest of the poor. Concern for one another likewise means acknowledging the good that the Lord is doing in others and giving thanks for the wonders of grace that Almighty God in his goodness continuously accomplishes in his children. When Christians perceive the Holy Spirit at work in others, they cannot but rejoice and give glory to the heavenly Father (cf. Mt 5:16). 3. “To stir a response in love and good works”: walking together in holiness. These words of the Letter to the Hebrews (10:24) urge us to reflect on the universal call to holiness, the continuing journey of the spiritual life as we aspire to the greater spiritual gifts and to an ever more sublime and fruitful charity (cf. 1 Cor 12:31-13:13). Being concerned for one another should spur us to an increasingly effective love which, “like the light of dawn, its brightness growing to the fullness of day” (Prov 4:18), makes us live each day as an anticipation of the eternal day awaiting us in God. The time granted us in this life is precious for discerning and performing good works in the love of God. In this way the Church herself continuously grows towards the full maturity of Christ (cf. Eph 4:13). Our exhortation to encourage one another to attain the fullness of love and good works is situated in this dynamic prospect of growth. Sadly, there is always the temptation to become lukewarm, to quench the Spirit, to refuse to invest the talents we have received, for our own good and for the good of others (cf. Mt 25:25ff.). All of us have received spiritual or material riches meant to be used for the fulfilment of God’s plan, for the good of the Church and for our personal salvation (cf. Lk 12:21b; 1 Tim 6:18). The spiritual masters remind us that in the life of faith those who do not advance inevitably regress. Dear brothers and sisters, let us accept the invitation, today as timely as ever, to aim for the “high standard of ordinary Christian living” (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 31). The wisdom of the Church in recognizing and proclaiming certain outstanding Christians as Blessed and as Saints is also meant to inspire others to imitate their virtues. Saint Paul exhorts us to “anticipate one another in showing honour” (Rom 12:10). In a world which demands of Christians a renewed witness of love and fidelity to the Lord, may all of us feel the urgent need to anticipate one another in charity, service and good works (cf. Heb 6:10). This appeal is particularly pressing in this holy season of preparation for Easter. As I offer my prayerful good wishes for a blessed and fruitful Lenten period, I entrust all of you to the intercession of the Mary Ever Virgin and cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Sister Olga Yaqob and Sarah Doyle Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Preparing for Lent Summary of today’s show: Lent starts tomorrow. How are you going to take full advantage of this season to prepare for Easter? Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor are joined by Sr. Olga Yaqob and Sarah Doyle to talk about Lenten resolutions (“What are you giving up for Lent?”), prayer, fasting (and abstinence), and almsgiving. They share practical tips and spiritual insight for approaching the penitential season with joy. 1st segment: Scot welcomes Fr. Chris back to the show and Fr. Chris said last week while in Florida he caught his first ever. It was an edible fish and they had it for dinner. He then showed how it is an illustration for the preaching of the Gospel and the notion of being fishers of men. Fr. Chris also said that “Fat Tuesday” is his patronal feast day. At the seminary, the men prepare their ethnic dishes of their heritage. The word ‘Carnival’ comes from the Latin words for “Farewell to meat.” Scot said on today’s show, we’ll be talking about preparing ourselves for Lent. Scot and Fr. Chris discussed the consistory in Rome over the weekend where Pope Benedict made new cardinals. They quoted Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York who said to those who asked if he was looking to be pope next that he was seeking a higher calling: to be a saint. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Sr. Olga and Sarah Doyle to the show. Sarah graduated form Boston University last May and has been giving a volunteer year at the Catholic Center at BU. She’s been helping carry on the work of Sister Olga when she was there. Sr. Olga formed a new religious community, the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth, and they now have 8 young women and four more are preparing to join this summer. They are all between 18 and 30 years old. Scot also said Sr. Olga’s successor at BU, Fr. John McLaughlin, has been named a Monsignor by Pope Benedict for his work in the Archdiocese of the Military. Fr. Chris said Monsignor is an honorary title that recognizes some particularly distinguishable service. He recruited vocations for the Military Archdiocese and was the first to hold that office. The Military Archdiocese provides spiritual care for all Catholics serving in the US military services. Dioceses will co-sponsor men who are ordained in the diocese and serve for a few years before going off the military chaplaincy for up to 20 years and then return to the diocese. Scot talked about the requirements for abstinence and fasting during Lent. Abstinence means Catholics over age 14 and in good health must abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent. Fr. Chris said 14 years old is about the age of Confirmation and thus the person is about an adult. The reason we abstain is not that the Church has something against meat, but that we are doing some penance together. We are giving something up to set aside Lent as a different time. Giving something up is to reflect why we give it up. Christ gave his life on the cross for us as an offering and so we make an offering, we are reminding ourselves of our membership in the body of Christ and the great gift that Christ gave to us. Scot asked about vegans and vegetarians. Sr. Olga said she’s a vegetarian and so she gives up something else. Whatever we give up during Lent is a sign of love for Jesus. We are giving in return to the One who on Friday pours out his whole life to redeem us. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, those between 18 and up to their 60th birthday, we are asked to fast, which means to have only one full meal and up to two small meals that don’t add up to a full meal. No snacks between meals. Sarah said the freshman students at the Catholic center are just 18 and so may be fasting for the first time. The Catholic community gives them support to endure. Scot said he would play some clips from Fr. Robert Barron on the three practices of Lent: Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. (See video linked above.) Fr. Chris commented on Fr. Barron’s practical tips on prayer. He suggested praying while driving. Fr. Chris said he knows a priest who gives up music for Lent, including in the car, and substitutes it with prayer. He recalled Pope Benedict’s World Day of Communications message that talked about silence. If we don’t hear the Word, silence is aloof, cold and barren. They go together. We need moments of silence to hear the Lord. Sarah said it’s very difficult to find silence on an urban college campus like Boston University. Students will say they don’t have time for prayer, but what in life could you take out to take time for prayer. How about five minutes in prayer before or after homework. Sister said she told someone she was excited for Lent and Ash Wednesday and someone thought she was crazy to look forward to it. Scot said Cardinal Seán describes Lent as a 40-day retreat. Fr. Chris said when we’re making Lenten resolutions, we have to be reasonable and practical in order to succeed. We don’t want to become disheartened with ourselves when we fall, but so we can pick ourselves up when we continue. They should be practical and reasonable and good for us. It’s not about the quantity of what we do, but the quality of what we do during Lent. Sr. Olga said the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert after His baptism. Even Jesus needed the Holy Spirit to lead him. We need to pray about our Lenten season, to ask for the grace to have a faithful, blessed, and fruitful Lenten season. Sarah said you also have to take Lent in a humble way. Have someone in your life who can hold you accountable for your Lenten resolutions. It helps you with a sanity check, if it’s something you can actually carry out. It’s not cheating to rely on your friends, on the Body of Christ. Scot said in his message for Lent, Pope Benedict that we don’t go through Lent alone. Scot said of accountability, that you go public with your goal to receive help for furthering your prayer life. Sarah said she asked a friend for suggestions on a way she could work on her goals for Lent. Scot introduced another clip from Fr. Barron on fasting. 3rd segment: Scot said to Fr. Chris that Fr. Barron defines what fasting isn’t. The purpose isn’t a diet nor is it just giving up food. If we have suppress what we gravitate toward on a daily basis, we create space for God. Fr. Chris said the passions create enmity between us because we are always responding to our passions or appetites. St. Paul said the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.We discipline ourselves so the stronger or more beautiful parts come forward. Sr. Olga said when she was at BU, she used to encourage students to fast from Facebook and spend that time in person with a friend or writes notes to a friend, in order to be attentive. She said we are going on a camping trip with Jesus in the wilderness so we need to be attentive to him. Scot said addiction might be too strong, but we can get addicted to many behaviors or activities that eventually mean we say we don’t have time for prayer. Fr. Chris said there are some things that are essential and others that can crowd into our life and separate us from Christ. We aren’t asked to give up the essentials, but to break through the habits and patterns that keep us from Christ. Fr. Chris said Fr. Barron said we aren’t Puritans, and he addressed the lifting of abstinence and fasting when St. Patrick’s Day is on a Friday in Lent. St. Patrick is patron saint of the Archdiocese of Boston and a patronal feast is a time for feasting. Scot said Lent is a time of joy as well. The readings for Ash Wednesday tells us not to look gloomy when fasting. Sr. Olga used the example of an engaged couple during the preparation for marriage, working hard to get the wedding ready, but it’s also a time to be enjoyed and to look forward to sacrament on their wedding day. If we know why we are doing what we are doing during Lent, there is so much beauty we can’t help but more joyful. The Church is giving us a whole season to work toward sainthood, so how can we not be joyful. Scot introduced a clip of Fr. Barron talking about almsgiving. He suggests the practice of responding to every request for money you receive by mail during Lent, give them something. When you see a homeless person, give them something. If you’re buying something, choose the one you like, buy the next one down, and give the difference away to the poor. 4th segment: Scot said almsgiving is a generosity of spirit. All we own is not to be used just for ourselves. We are only stewards of those gifts. Fr. Chris said all we have been given comes from God so to be generous is to imitate the Divine. We give because God has given to us. He quoted St. Vincent de Paul who said when someone asks you for something, there’s poverty there, so give. Scot said it’s a spirit of almsgiving that’s more important than how much we give. Sister Olga suggested carrying gift cards to grocery stores or a fast food restaurant to be able to give to someone who asks for help. She said almsgiving can also be service, both spiritual and corporal works of mercy. It can even be visiting a cemetery to pray the Divine Mercy chaplet for the deceased. Sarah said she and several students are going on an alternative Spring Break. They are taking a road trip to different convents to do service for the sisters, whatever they need of them. They will also be going to the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Mass.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Victor Pap and Alexis Walkenstein Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Catholic communications and public relations Summary of today’s show: Alexis Walkenstein and Victor Pap discuss with Scot Landry their work at the Maximus Group, promoting books, movies, and other media—Like The Way, There Be Dragons, and Mighty Macs— that incorporate Catholic values using a grassroots efforts among Christian communities in a way that really has never bee done before. 1st segment: Scot welcomed listeners to the show. He said there are so many good books and movies and other media being produced that the owners want to let Catholic families know about, but the Church in the US is so decentralized with thousands of parishes and schools that it’s difficult for the Church to promote and market those initiatives. The Maximus Group entered that market a few years ago as a professional promotional and marketing agency. Two local people who grew up in the Boston area have now joined Maximus in leadership positions and Scot welcomed Victor Pap and Alexis Walkenstein to the show. Alexis joined Maximus about one year ago. Scot asked her about her background. She grew up in the Archdiocese of Boston, starting in Framingham. After graduating from Regis College, she started with WHDH-TV Channel 7 as the news assignment manager and a producer. Her last big assignment was covering the death of Pope John Paul II. From there she wanted to serve the Church, which led her to the Diocese of Palm Beach, Florida, where she served as the diocesan spokesperson, for five years. She wanted to move back to Boston and after praying a novena, she was contacted by Lisa Wheeler of Maximus out of the clear blue to come work for them. Scot asked Alexis what it was like working on the Channel 7 news desk during the height of the sex abuse crisis in Boston. Alexis said you couldn’t escape it. Your faith is your whole life and your job can’t be compartmentalized from it. Being an objective journalist and a fearless witness to the faith was difficult. She had already been considering leaving secular news because of the type of news that they cover. But sometimes God puts you in a difficult place to be a light in the darkness. Scot then noted that the diocese of Palm Beach had two of its bishops resign after being accused of abusing young men. They were followed by then-bishop Sean O’Malley, who himself was followed by Bishop Barbarito, who Alexis worked for. Alexis said much of her desire to leave secular news was being tired of seeing the Church take it on the chin, but she also wanted to go on offense to proclaim the good news of the Church and bringing the Gospel to people. Scot then asked Victor about his background and how he came to work for Maximus. Victor said he grew up in Weymouth. One of his parents came from Hungary and the other from Brazil and they both fled oppressive governments. They met at the Colonnade Hotel. They settled in Weymouth where he grew up and went to Sacred Heart School. He didn’t have an interest in government. He went to Suffolk University and got an internship at the State House. He was amazed at how the process worked. His communications and journalism degree helped him understand how he could have a greater impact. He remembers a vote on junior operator requirements to limit their driving. He was struck by how his peers didn’t know how they were being affected. From there he worked in campaigns for the next 13 or 14 years and lead the group Catholic Citizenship. It was a grassroots effort of laity to work with the Mass. Catholic Conference to influence lawmakers. Victor is also on the town council in Weymouth, bringing his Catholic faith to local government. He said Catholics have to become more savvy in how we communicate with our government. Victor’s Catholic faith has always been important to him, especially after getting married and having kids. He sees his own fatherhood in relation to the Father’s relationship to us. In college, Victor was a member of a debate team and they were national debate champions among the Ivy League. There was a lot of travel and it was very stressful.He remembers one tournament at Cornell during his junior year where he was nervous and had a scholarship riding on it. He went to a chapel before his round instead of practicing. He ended up winning that round and it showed how important it is to go to prayer. 2nd segment: Scot asked Alexis about the history of Maximus Group. She said it was founded in 2005 by Robert DeBellis, Lisa Wheeler, and Matt Pinto, seeing the need for the Church to be represented after the years of the sex abuse crisis and the death of John Paul. They said the need to engage the media with the right message with the right people on the topic of the day. Through that process Maximus was born and has been growing ever since. Maximus has been building a bridge between the sacred and secular. They have many clients they represent. They are often known because of the films they represent, but there’s a lot more they do. They are even hired by entities that are secular but want to have a reach in the Church, including Walmart and Proctor & Gamble. They represent Ignatius Press. Every day is different with Maximus. Alexis said she met Victor when he was working with Newt Gingrich promoting his film “9 Days that Changed the World.” Scot said to Victor that The Passion of the Christ was very successful and marketed very differently from other big films. It was very much a grassroots effort among churches and the idea came that this was a good way to market films. Victor said it takes a lot of organization and outreach to ensure each film or project is successful. Catholics need to realize the same is true about politics. They have to be organized a in a grassroots fashion. Marketing and promotion are the same. The personal touch of reaching out to a neighbor or parishioner is important. It’s far more important than mass marketing and advertising. Scot said Maximus helped to market a new book on the changes in the Roman Missal last year by Dr. Ed Sri. This exemplifies Maximus’ relationships with parishes and dioceses and Catholic media. Alexis said so much discussion about the Mass last year helped them to put the Catholic liturgy in the secular media. They haven’t had an opportunity like this in decades. They put together a press availability with Sri and Cardinal Wuerl and a number of others as well to talk about the changes and the first question came from a rabbi which showed Alexis that they were bridging the gap. Victor said it’s challenging as a Catholic parent who enjoys books and films and the major media are putting out so many products that are antithetical to Christian values. He was struck by the movie The Way, starring Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen, having seen those actors in other movies over the years but seeing them in a film that shares real Christian values. This made him want to be part of the Maximus Group’s work in promoting this type of media. 3rd segment: Scot said the movie The Way takes place on the Camino de Santiago del Compestela about a father following his father’s footsteps of the pilgrimage. Alexis worked on the promotion of the film, traveling with them around the country promoting it. It was very impactful. Churches turned out in force wherever they went to see this film which shows humanity seeking the divine and journeying as a community. Scot asked what led to them wanting o market this independent film in this grassroots fashion. Alexis said it speaks to their personal nature. Scot said it inspired him to want to walk the Camino in Spain as part of the ancient pilgrimage. Victor said there isn’t necessarily an appreciation for art among Victor’s generation. It allows for a form of prayer that’s different from what we’re used to it. It’s a different kind of way to affect your community and share with it. Scot said his sense is that the momentum for The Way built over time and it got a lot more public relations coverage than other films. Alexis said it was an incredible experience to be with them. They are a unique family that attracts a lot of attention all the time anyway. They were so generous with their time. The DVD is coming out on February 21 and because the movie didn’t reach every market in America, the buzz is inspiring others to want to see it too. 4th segment: Scot asked some of the other projects Maximus promoted in 2011. Films included Of Gods and Men, There Be Dragons, Soul Surfer, The Way. There many publications including Pope Benedict’s book on Holy Week, Lino Rulli’s Sinner, Teresa Tomeo’s Extreme Makeover. Scot asked if promoting 13 Days, a religious film about Fatima, and Mighty Macs, a film about a girls’ basketball team, is similar. Alexis said there is a lot of work and planning that goes into executing these projects months in advance. They have to carve out who the audience is, for example. Every project is individual. For some they’re charged with only reaching Catholic audiences, while others have them reaching every audience. Victor said he’s started his first project is a new film with Andy Garcia, who’s got a great story of his family. The film is about the role of the Mexican lay faithful during a trying time in their history in which their faith is challenged. October Baby is another film talking about how a young woman is facing some challenges in her life. Scot said he saw that October Baby was premiered at the March for Life. aLexis said it’s a story of a young woman who survived a failed abortion attempt and tries to find out who she is and her biological mother. It shows the wounds that exist and healing that needs to take place. Fr. Peter West was at the screening as well as other important lay leaders on the front lines of the pro-life movement. They were blown away by the quality of the film. She said the teens that saw the movie loved it as well. Scot said the premise of the movie sounds like the other movie Bella, which is a beautiful way to speak of the mystery of life. Victor said October Baby will be out in late March. It upholds the dignity of life, not in an abstract way, but a real human way. Alexis said they are also working on a book project written by Pope Benedict’s brother, Msgr. Ratzinger.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Pastoral Planning consultations Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines, the pastor of two parishes in Wrentham and Plainville, discuss the progress of the pastoral planning consultations in the Archdiocese, what the current proposals are, and the rationale behind them. They also discuss this upcoming Sunday’s Gospel reading. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chip back to the show. Fr. Chip is now pastor of two parishes and he’s been busy with his parochial vicar on retreat. They will be discussing the progress of pastoral planning consultations, especially Phase 2, and how it’s being accepted in the Archdiocese. 2nd segment: Scot said the Pastoral Planning consultation kicked off formally in this effort to put a recommendation before groups in order to get feedback to refine a final recommendation for Cardinal Sean later this year. It started with a convocation of priests in December, sharing principles. Phase 2 was proposing parish groupings. Phase 3 is sharing it with various interest groups. Scot said back in December heard the principles which is to provide more resources for parishes and help them thrive and grow by banding together. Fr. Chip said he was interested by the proposal because it’s a unique way of going about this kind of work they are thinking outside the box. He was already pastoring two parishes so he’s on the front line of all this. He thinks there’s been a generally positive response from priests. Some may be concerned at what it means exactly, but he thinks the archdiocese is taking those concerns into account. Secondly, people are worried what it means for the jobs of those who work in parishes. Scot said some of what was share in the Phase 1 consultation was that 50 of the 291 parishes already share a pastor with another parish. Msgr. Bill Fay, co-chair of the pastoral planning commission, said it hasn’t been done looking at the macro situation of the Archdiocese, looking at the situation of the entire archdiocese. We want to get ahead of the shrinking of the available priests over the next five years. Fr. Chip said he sits on the priest personnel board and when they make new assignments they often consider whether the new pastor can take of more than one parish. That’s good, but it’s not the culture of planning that Cardinal Seán wants. Scot said Cardinal Seán is trying to make that it ties to the strategic priorities he’s put in place, including strengthening parishes as primary communities of faith. Scot said the commission on December 5 said the proposal is not a proposal to close or merge parishes. Scot said that’s been often misunderstood in secular media. It’s also not a proposal to close churches within parishes or to restructure parishes. It’s a proposal to reorganize and regroup parish staffing and how priests are organized to serve parishes. Scot said back in the 1950s parishes had pastors who already served 20 years in parishes, a senior curate, a lot of junior curates, a lot of religious sisters and then a couple of lay employees, like a maintenance man. Now many of the parish staff have become lay professionals. Scot said even if nothing was done, most priests would be pastors of more than one parish in five years. Fr. Chip said the Archdiocese is very big in the numbers of people and the number of resources, including buildings. Scot said the reason for Pastoral Service Teams is it consolidates in order to have one pastor with one team for the collaborative. Fr. Chip said the process will cause some angst, but once we’re through it, this will be great for parishes. It’s also important to note the increasing professional of parish staff members. They emphasized that this is still a proposal. One of the proposals is the Pastoral Collaborative with a Pastoral Service Team. The collaborative has one pastor, one parochial vicar, one finance council, one pastoral council. The Pastoral Service Teams consolidate services. For example, they can bring together three different DREs and they would become DRE for children, one for teens and one for adults. No one necessarily has to lose their job. This means they can focus on expanding services. It can also helps pastors move beyond the focus on administrative trivia to be free for evangelization. Key questions include how the pastors will be chosen for the new PSTs. Some criticisms have been aired in the media. On the choosing of parish staffs, people are assuming a lot of people losing their jobs, but people will have the opportunity to expand their roles. 3rd segment: Scot said there’s no perfect way to group parishes. Fr. Chip emphasized that the proposed groupings are not a done deal. The parishes were grouped by six criteria: Geographic proximity. In addition to being in the same town, they also considered sharing school systems. Combined weekly offertory of $500,000 per year. They’re looking for income for mission, not maintenance. Sufficient other income to cover remaining operating expenses. An average of 1,600 Mass attendees per weekend in the pastoral collaborative. 1,600 was chosen as the basis for parish size based on how many a pastor can serve. Current sacramental index and what kinds of sacraments involved. They discussed the unique situation of St. Paul, Cambridge wit ha parish, the Harvard Catholic student center, and the choir school so it serves essentially three different parishes. Another parish recommended as a standalone parish is St. Bonaventure in Plymouth. The town is so big and growing so fast that it makes sense that for current and projected demographics stays as a standalone parish. Most of the groupings are 2s and 3s. Some are as many as four. Eleven parishes are recommended to standalone. Fr. Chip’s two parishes are already in the proposed grouping. They will be having meetings in any case to discuss the pastoral planning process, involving as many people as possible. Even in this cluster, they will see a lot of change. They currently have two pastoral councils, two finance councils, and two staffs. Fr. Chip said there will be growing pains. He has two deacons and their roles will continue to evolve. They will have to sit down as a staff and understand how to make this work. They’ve already changed the Mass schedule so that one priest could do all the Sunday Masses if necessary. They have two 8am Masses and two 4pm Masses. They moved one Mass, cancelled another and tweaked others. A lot of the people at the parish that lost the 4pm Mass went to the other parish and now the moved Mass now has a lot more younger families coming at 5:30. Scot said there is a fear that people will stop going to Mass when you changed the schedule. Fr. Chip said it doesn’t look like he’s lost people, but just that they’re going to different parishes. He does tell them they can put their envelopes for the home parish in the other parish’s collection. Change is hard and some are upset, but that’s a small group. Most people understand we have to change. Scot said he hopes we all step back despite the changes and see how blessed we are by the number of parishes and churches and priests and deacons and religious. It’s awesome we can find a Mass within about 20 minutes in any half hour of the day on Sunday. There are people in other parts of the country who have to drive an hour to get to one possible Sunday Mass. Fr. Chip said he hopes that more people are evangelized and we end up breaking up the collaboratives eventually because they are full of people and priests. 4th segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. This is the last Sunday before the beginning of Lent. When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it became known that he was at home. Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door, and he preached the word to them. They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him. After they had broken through, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?” Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth” -he said to the paralytic, “I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.” He rose, picked up his mat at once, and went away in the sight of everyone. They were all astounded and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.” Scot recalled last week’s Gospel in which Jesus cures a leper. Before curing this man, he cures the man’s soul by taking away his sins. Jesus is saying if you want to be healed, it’s more important to be healed of your sins before seeking healing for your soul. Lent is a good time to clean out that junk from our souls. Fr. Chip said sin paralyzes us and makes us stiff. God wants us to be animated in what we do.We need to look at ourselves and ask what’s holding me back, keeping me less inclined from doing something good? Scot said Jesus is surrounded by a large crowd and people who want to see Jesus do some crazy things: Hanging from trees, risking death. In this case, they open the roof and Jesus sees it for the desperate love that it is. Some people responded negatively though. They accuse Jesus of blaspheming even though the fruits of Jesus’ ministry were so clear. Jesus wants to cure their blindness that prevents them from seeing how God loves them. Fr. Chip said we still have those among us who are saying those same things. Scot said the leper last week didn’t do what Jesus told him and this paralytic does what Jesus told him to do: Pick up your mat and go home.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: The Obama administration’s contraception mandate, plus local stories Summary of today’s show: The biggest news of the week concerns the Obama administration’s so-called compromise for religious groups on the mandate that health insurance plans cover contraception for employees. Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Greg Tracy review and comment on editorials in the Pilot and the Anchor as well as reaction from bishops and opinion columnists to the rule and the general attitude toward religious liberty found in this administration. Also, other local stories, including an obituary for Fr. Robert McAuliffe, grants to local parishes from the national St. Vincent de Paul society, iPads for a Catholic high school, and Fr. Robert Barron’s Catholicism airing on TV locally. 1st segment: Scot and Susan caught up on their day. Susan was at a meeting in the southern end of the archdiocese in Halifax. Her big news is that she just flew in from Los Angeles where her newest grandson was baptized last Sunday. 2nd segment: Scot said both the Pilot and the Anchor have editorials on the mandate from the Dept. of Health and Human Services requiring contraception coverage in health insurance plans. Fr. Roger’s editorial covers President Obama’s “unaccommodating accommodation”. Fr. Roger said Obama said religious organizations won’t have to pay premiums for contraception, but the insurers will provide it for free, but this is just an accommodating trick. The reality is that these costs will be covered by higher premiums. The US bishops’ main concerns were all neglected in this so-called compromise: respect for religious liberty and consultation with religious groups . The Obama administration did not consult with the affected religious institutions at all. The bishops aren’t just trying to get an exemption for the institution, but that Catholic business owners shouldn’t be forced to violate their own consciences either.Scot said Catholic businessmen have told him that they hoped the bishops would defend all Catholics, not just dioceses and parishes and explicitly Catholic organizations. The bishops are asking Catholics to call the White House (202-456-1111), representatives and Senators. They should ask Congress to pass the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (HR 1179, S 1467). Susan said we have discussed before that there is a difference between the freedom to worship and freedom of religion and our country is built on the wider principle of freedom of religion. Also, the Church serves more than just Catholics. We don’t ask people whether they’re Catholic and hungry; we just ask if they’re hungry. Scot noted how Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas has been criticizing the mandate and standing up for the rights of all religious people. Greg talked about his editorial in the Pilot this week, which says that many Church health insurance plans are self-insurance plans. The editorial notes there is much confusion about the policies and statements being thrown about by partisans on this issue. We use the term “health insurance” very loosely; even the President did in his remarks last week. But we don’t all have the same kind of insurance plans. Scot clarified that consumer-marketed insurance plans are regulated by states, that is the individual consumer buys the plan. But most large employers choose to self-fund or self-insurance their healthcare benefits. In this case the the employer decides it’s cheaper to pay the bills as they come in as opposed to keeping a pile of cash set aside. These companies contract third-party insurance companies to process claims from doctors and patients and then bill the Archdiocese. In the Archdiocese of Boston, the archdiocese self-insurers, but employees have Tufts Health Plan cards. When the companies self-insure, they don’t have insurance plans that are covered by state regulations. The Archdiocese does not buy insurance from Tufts or Blue Cross/Blue Shield or another company. Thus these self-funded plans are only subject to federal law. Scot said Catholic organizations have also chosen to self-fund to avoid onerous state mandates. This is why the HHS mandate is so important: Here then is the rub: the new HHS mandate is a federal law and therefore it applies to all plans whether self-funded or insured. For the first time, self-funded health benefit plans find themselves being required to offer specific benefits. In creating a federal contraception requirement, the Obama Administration has not only shut the exit door for health plans, but locked it. The new federal healthcare law is the first time the federal regulations require insurers to cover specific procedures. The editorial will be available through a link in the Weekly Email from Cardinal Sean and the Pilot. You can subscribe to the newsletter . Fr. Roger said last August, the US bishops formed a committee on religious freedom because they saw that this HHS mandate is not a unique incursion on religious freedom, but is part of a general pattern. The Obama administration has tried in other ways to curtail religious freedom to a very, very narrow idea. They have excluded Church groups from giving aid to victims of human trafficking. They’ve threatened to end government contracts with Catholic Relief Services because they won’t offer abortions. 3rd segment: Scot said Archbishop Chaput has blasted this “compromise” as “insulting”. “The HHS mandate, including its latest variant, are belligerent, unnecessary and deeply offensive to the content of Catholic belief,” he wrote in a Feb. 12 Philadelphia Inquirer column. “Any such mandate would make it morally compromising for us to provide health care benefits to the staffing of our public service ministries.” “We cannot afford to be fooled – yet again – by evasive and misleading allusions to the administration’s alleged ‘flexibility’ on such issues. The HHS mandate needs to be rescinded.” Scot and Fr. Roger discussed the difference between rescinding and revising the mandate. Rescinding the provisions means no one would be required to finance this immoral practice. Archbishop Timothy Dolan also commented. We bishops are pastors, we’re not politicians, and you can’t compromise on principle,” said Cardinal-designate Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “And the goal posts haven’t moved and I don’t think there’s a 50-yard line compromise here,” he added. “We’re in the business of reconciliation, so it’s not that we hold fast, that we’re stubborn ideologues, no. But we don’t see much sign of any compromise,” he said. “What (Obama) offered was next to nothing. There’s no change, for instance, in these terribly restrictive mandates and this grossly restrictive definition of what constitutes a religious entity,” he said. “The principle wasn’t touched at all.” … “My brother-in-law, who’s a committed Catholic, runs a butcher shop. Is he going to have to pay for services that he as a convinced Catholic considers to be morally objectionable?” he asked. Susan said the article also speaks enthusiastically of the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act, introduced by Rep. Jeffrey Fortenberry, R-Nebraska. They then turned to discussion of a column by Michael Pakaluk, in which he says that government is enshrining the idea that sex and procreation are intrinsically separated. Scot noted that the claim that 98% of Catholics use contraception is bogus, even on the face of it. Greg said Pakaluk points out that before 1930, every Christian denomination held that contraception was immoral and in 1931 the Anglican Church opened the door to a very small possibility of the permissibility of contraception and that created a slippery slope. Scot said George Weigel’s column in the Anchor discusses the soft totalitarianism of the mandate. As the administration has demonstrated in its international human rights policy, it regards religious freedom as a kind of privacy right: the right to freedom of worship, which the administration seems to regard as analogous to any other optional, recreational activity. No serious student of religious freedom, however, takes the redefinition of religious freedom as freedom-to-worship seriously. For if that redefinition were true, there would be “religious freedom” in Saudi Arabia, so long as the “worship” in question were conducted behind closed doors. And that is manifestly absurd. … It is no exaggeration to describe that cast of mind as “soft totalitarianism”: an effort to eliminate the vital role in health care, education, and social service played by the institutions of civil society, unless those institutions become extensions of the state. So the state isn’t actually taking over everything, but the government is engaging in aggressive coercion. Fr. Roger said totalitarianism is where the state takes away all rights and its powers are unlimited. The HHS mandate says if you’re going to have health insurance, you have to violate your conscience or shut down or pay a fine of $2,000 per year for each employee. Fr. Roger said this is how the most repressive governments in history started their totalitarianism. Pope Benedict said in his White House visit that freedom must be won anew and defended by every generation. Scot notes the Pilot column by Jaymie Stuart Wolfe in which she says that opponents of religious institutions don’t aim to undermine faith, but to exercise power over life from conception to natural death. She said the Catholic Church is the prime opponent of the mindset that sees the human being as a tool to be used or a burden to be discarded. Susan said when you start saying every person is worthy of respect and made in the image and likeness of God, think of all the things that flow from that, what rights those persons have from conception to natural death. Scot then read from Kevin and Marilyn Ryan’s column in the Pilot titled “Why do they hate us so?” They describe many examples of anti-Catholicism in politics and media and says it’s hard to figure out why we provoke such hostility. The good news is that we are standing up for the right things, but unlike early Christians, we modern Catholic are falling down in our witness. We aren’t practicing our faith enough to be inspiring witnesses to our fellow citizens. Greg said this is part of the New Evangelization. The Church needs to figure out how to be a witness to the modern world. Scot noted other stories in the Pilot and the Anchor, including an obituary for Fr. Robert McAuliffe and the National St. Vincent de Paul Society providing grants to several parishes to help the poor. On the grants they went to the parishes to ask how even small grants will go a long way to helping those in need. Another article was about how Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton is moving to teaching using iPads for every student. Also the Catholicism series by Fr. Robert Barron is airing on . Fr. Roger encouraged listeners to watch this series, either on DVDs, perhaps in their parish faith formation groups, or on TV. Fr. Barron not only does a great job explaining the faith, but also shows us by taking us to the great shrines and places of Catholicism throughout the world. Susan noted that parishes can also get study guides and other supplemental materials.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Miriam Marston Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Catholic musician Miriam Marston Summary of today’s show: Miriam Marston has been singing and playing music since she was a young girl and now uses her gift along with what she has learned in her theological studies to express the beauty of the Catholic faith through beautiful music. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams listen to the music and discuss with Miriam the meaning of her music and how she was inspired to write it. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Matt talked about how Fr. Matt and his colleague Steve Colella made a presentation to a committee at the US Bishops’ Conference on the topic of the New Evangelization and the bishops’ document on the topic. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Miriam Marston to the show. He said he’s worked with her in her capacity in her job at the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization. Miriam said she assists with the day to day administrative duties for the Master of Arts in Theology and non-degree certificate programs. Miriam grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, and attended the College of William and Mary. She ended up in Boston by way of England. She had moved there after college for a couple of years and her sister asked her to move near her in Boston. She arrived in Boston on St. Patrick’s Day. Her sister was temping for Fr. Mark O’Connell and that’s how she ended up working at the Archdiocese. It was Boston’s weather that initially had worried her about moving here, but the charms of the city overcame that. she worked for two years in the Office of Canonical Affairs and then left to study for her Master’s degree at Boston College. Miriam’s parents met in a choir in France. Her mother was a professional singer of Renaissance music. She learned to play the piano as a girl and wrote her first song when she was 10. The second song she ever wrote was called Nostalgia, but at 10 years old she’s not sure what she was nostalgic about. She went to Catholic school until going to college and her music gave her a way to ask deeper questions. Music allowed her a way to unpack these questions that connected to her faith. When she was 19, Miriam recorded an all-piano CD and then recorded a second CD about 18 months ago, “The Luggage of an Optimist”. She’s also released a new song in January called “Juliette.” It was the quickest she’d ever written a song, at all once in one sitting at the piano. The name of the song came first. It refers to an unborn child. It’s written from the perspective of the child in the womb and then at the end switches to the perspective of a womb who’s had an abortion wondering how to fill the void in her life. The storm of the song is meant to convey the pain of abortion. Juliette The sound of water always lulled her to sleep, like the gentlest waves you could imagine. And she dreamed all of the purest dreams untouched by the madness outside her. And one day when the storm broke, the ocean spoke no more. And all the dreams ended there, inside where, alas there was a dreamer alive there. The sound of conversation stirred her awake, with all the comfort of a long awaited embrace. But they were only words deciding her fate without her thoughts and her perspective. And one day when the storm broke the ocean spoke no more. And all the dreams ended there inside where, alas there was a dreamer alive there. And one day when the storm ends our knees will bend for the unnamed. And is it freedom on display as some say, or gone astray, replacing the day with evening. “With all the emptiness locked inside maybe this thing will satisfy. With all the unwritten lullabies, maybe this love will sanctify.” Scot, Fr. Matt, and Miriam discussed the lyrics. Miriam said she loves the ocean as a calming, beautiful place. The storm breaking over the ocean represents something going wrong. The dreamer points to the potential of the unborn child who never had a chance. Miriam said the image of the baby sleeping in the mother’s womb conveys the sweetness and security of being able to sleep there in a safe place. Then it turns to the daydreams of the child’s potential future. Then she is awakened with the hope of comfort, but instead hearing words deciding her fate. Miriam said this is the most tragic line. The baby can’t understand what is said, so these words about killing her were comfort for her because she didn’t know. Fr. Matt recalled Cardinal Seán’s words that the womb is the most dangerous place in America today. Miriam said she doesn’t use the word abortion, in part because the child has no category to process it. They would only have images, the word would be unthinkable. Then the third verse switches to the mother’s perspective. The mother says the baby is unnamed, but Juliette is named in eternity. “Our knees bend” is also a call to all of us that we have a responsibility as well. The next line discusses the so-called freedom of choice, but is it a true freedom to kill someone? It is a freedom gone astray. Miriam said the reaction to the song has been overwhelming positive. The song made the rounds on Facebook and people have had very thoughtful responses, sometimes very unexpected. 3rd segment: It’s time to announce this week’s winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prizes this week are the books, by Michael S. Rose, and “The Leadership of Jesus”, by MSGT Michael M. Cutone, US Army Special Forces. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Fr. James DiPerri, from Waltham, MA. Congratulations, Fr. DiPerri! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot asked Miriam about her last album’s title, “Luggage of an Optimist”. It’s the second chapter title of G.K. Chesterton’s book “Man Alive”. It’s more about hope than it is pie-eyed optimism. Postcard See how every notion takes on new life under the moon, And the silence stands at my shoulder, keeps me frozen in this room. And lifted up from deeper thoughts, I am waiting for His move. But on the other side He smiles, as He waits for me to choose. Because I haven’t learned His name, or maybe haven’t learned it right, But I hear He’s got a thing or two To say about this fight. Because I haven’t felt the same, and I think I would have liked All the things He said I could have had If I’d let Him in my life. See how everyone points to all the sad times they never choose. What their memory doesn’t tell them, They make up to fit their mood. And woken up from bitter ways, I am calm but still unsure. And focused on those better days, I am standing at this door. Because there’s no one left to blame, And I’m pushing past the lies, And I see that this is far beyond anything that just sounds nice. And the truth is never tame, and I really think it’s time That I turned to face the Word I ran away from at the first sign. And He said He so loved the world, And He said He so loved the world… That He came to stay here. And I believed what He said when He said that He’d descend In my life, in my mess, as my best friend. And I believed what He said when He said that He would send All His love like a postcard from my best friend. Miriam said she doesn’t want to trivialize the love of Christ by connecting it to a postcard, but she’s trying to show that it is so very personal for each of us. She was inspired to write the song while meditating on John 3:16. Scot asked Miriam how she writes songs. She said it’s almost always at the piano with a notebook. She scribbles furiously as the inspiration comes quickly and she tries to capture the ideas. She does it by ear, not writing the music. Another song off the album is about the prophet Simeon who saw Jesus at a few weeks old as he was brought to the temple by Mary and Joseph. Simeon There was a man in the city and everyone thought him just a little odd. They passed him on his knees, his arms outstretched, As if waiting for a consolation. But on the edge of something new, he sensed that he had things to do And so lived a life of anticipation. Here is the moment he’s been waiting for All of his life; Rushing and wishing and racing towards A graceful moment when he’d finally see what faith becomes. He saw them enter by the front door, and he didn’t need any more proof that it was time To take the child in his arms, and looking up to heaven, Thanked his God for this chance. He told the mother of the days that would come and any other Would have turned away to run. But she kept in her heart all the words that she’d heard Because she had hope and all those good things in her son. So he was free to go, To go in peace with what he’d seen there. And with his last breath he thought How we were in the best of hands, and at that he smiled. Miriam sees Simeon as a model of faith and that’s why she brings us into it at the end. He’s been waiting all his life and we’ve been waiting all our lives. We have the responsibility of testifying to Jesus the way Simeon did. She said Simeon also had a sense of gratitude for this gift. We cant take the gift of faith for granted. Scot said he pictures Simeon having the grace of a happy death, knowing that all that he’d believed was true and could now see the Father’s face. Fr. Matt said Simeon is a man who trusts in God’s unconditional fidelity. Simeon is a man of hope and a beautiful testimony. Miriam said it’s also not passive, living in the spirit of hope.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Andy LaVallee, Catholic businessman and owner of LaVallee’s Bakery Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Profile of Catholic businessman Andy LaVallee Summary of today’s show: Local Catholic businessman Andy LaVallee llives his faith 24/7, bringing his Catholic values into LaVallee’s Bakery Distributors, which provides high-quality breads to feed the poor and homeless; puts employees, customers, and vendors above the bottom line through Gospel values; and has now started a new initiative providing free nutritious bread to anyone who wants to fast for Lent (LiveTheFast.com). In addition, Andy helped found the Massachusetts Catholic Business Association, bringing together Catholics in all fields and walks of life to pray, learn their faith, and join in fellowship on a regular basis. 1st segment: Scot wished all the listeners a happy St. Valentine’s Day. He discussed today’s topic of living the social gospel in how we conduct all our affairs, including our business life. Our guest is Andy LaVallee, owner of LaVallee’s Bakery in Waltham, which gives its first rate bread to many of the food pantries in the area and how he has made the Gospel central to his work. Andy said it’s a 35-year-old family-owned business. They bring in products from all over the world, cakes, cookies, breads and distribute them to top hotels and restaurants. Most of the products come from vendor partners all over the world. He grew up in Charlestown in the busing era. He found a job at a bakery to keep himself out of trouble. After about eight years, his wife was pregnant with their first son, so he bought a station wagon for a few hundred dollars and started delivering bread on the way home. LaVallee’s had a different vision of who they wanted to be, to have top-level service. Their breakthrough was delivering to the Château and Nocera restaurants. Andy said you have to be totally committed if you’re self-employed and through the first 15 years he put in a lot of long hours. The turning point was in 1997, when he was leaving Mass and Fr. Rodney Kopp asked him to teach CCD to confirmation age boys. He promised to do it for one year and ended up doing it for 13 years. He learned a lot about Catholic social values and how to treat people. It transformed how he lead the company and gave him the idea of servant leadership. He said in the beginning, he went to Mass, but had no other faith life. He said he’s a Triple type-A personality so he attacked teaching CCD in the same way and wanted to make sure he was teaching these kids the right thing. Andy said the first thing to know is God’s love and how his grace and mercy works in us. He used examples from their own lives to explain the Church’s teachings. By recognizing how blessed we are by God and we are created with a purpose makes us want to reciprocate for what we have been given and to find out what our mission is. He wanted to be an example of these teachings, not just for the CCD classes, but also for his own family. He had an interview with a young man for a driver’s job. They’d had trouble keeping drivers working for them. At the end of the interview, he asked him why he wanted to work there. The man said God had told him he wanted him to go work at LaVallee’s. That told Andy that he wanted to run his company that way. Instead of living by the spreadsheet, they wanted to live by the truth of the dignity of every human being. The way that works is that you have to show the love of God through your actions in all your business dealings. Vendors and customers can then trust you. He also continually focuses his people on the values of the dignity of the human being. Be more concerned with the people first and everything else will happen if you live by the rules God gave us. He doesn’t call his drivers “drivers”, they call them customer guardians. They set up a special program to teach them that their job is to watch over their customers, be the best teammate they can be, and be a step above everyone else delivering to business in Boston. That has led to double-digit growth in this economy. Not everyone is Catholic. Only about 50% are. But they all understand the Christian values and know they are treated better than any place else. They pay their health insurance. They allow employees to bring their newborns to work with them rather than send them to daycare. When you walk into LaVallee’s, you see the LaVallee’s logo and an portrait of Pope John Paul II, who is the example of servant leadership. Everyone in business wants to climb to the top of pyramid. But to be a success, you have to invert the pyramid. You have to support everyone who trusts in you and believe in you. How did Christ build the Church we are today? By being a servant-example to all. It’s so much easier to do it this way because you just live according to these teachings. When you finish a task, you say you’ve done the best you can and leave the rest up to God. There is a whole process in forming other managers in the company to this model. Lead by example and walk through the ideas with them on a day by day basis. Scot asked when Andy realized he had a responsibility to provide high-quality breads to the poor and homeless. Andy said in meetings with vendors, there would be cases and cases of product that get thrown out because they don’t meet a particular customer’s standards. They take that high-quality bread to shelters throughout Boston. On one Thanksgiving day, you would find the same exact bread on the tables at the Ritz Carlton as found on the tables at St. Francis House right out the back door of the hotel. Andy’s accountants complain about the cost, but they are building spiritual equity, not to mention gaining a positive response from others who want more of that bread. A few years he founded with some others an organization called the CEO Council on Hunger to provide high-quality foods to the poor and homeless. 2nd segment: Andy has started a website called LivetheFast.com, which discusses breads created for fasting. He said bread and water is the best fast: water is cleansing and bread represents the Eucharist. But 90% of the breads in supermarkets would accelerate your appetite that would prevent you from completing the fast by making you hungry: sugars, preservatives, etc. Jesus fasted and taught his disciples to fast, but no one has tried this commercially. Families used to make their own breads at home to fast. They’re doing this commercially all-natural, whole wheat, unbleached, no preservatives, and providing nutrition to maintain the fast all day. He has selected from among 600 products for his best fasting bread. It is an artisan roll, handmade, but with different flavor profiles. The cranberry multi-bread pecan is good for breakfast. The ancient grain bread is a soaked grain so it’s easier. They have a nut grain and even a white/whole wheat mix for kids. Once you sign up for the Lenten challenge at the website, they will also provide some great books and other resources to help you live the fast. He learned through this discovery of fasting breads, during all the apparitions of Our Lady, she has recommended we fast and pray. Andy was on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje a few years ago. In the middle of the night he heard some Italian women singing the rosary outside his window so he got up to pray with them. He had been fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays and the idea of fasting breads came to him and the idea stayed with him. He went back to Medjugorje five months later and researched their fasting practices. They use similar breads as he’s making. They use a spelt flour that’s hard to get in the US, but almost everyone fasts when they are there. Andy intends to provide the breads to anyone who wants to live the fast. Got to LivetheFast.com, sign up for the Lenten challenge, and they will provide the breads throughout Lent. Put them in your freezer, take one out before going to work and heat it up in the oven for a few minutes, take a bottle of water and go. When he’s fasting, his focus level is entirely different. He’d read that when you fast, you lose energy and look different, but he wanted to make the breads nutritious and not lose energy. But his prayer life remained focus and he doesn’t get too many lows. If someone signs up for the fasting challenge, people will be able to pick up the breads in various places and at different times. There will enough for a few weeks at a time, but you can come back for more for all of Lent. Cardinal Seán recently called us to pray and fast with regard to the Health and Human Services mandate so this can be part of that. Scot asked if Andy has internal projections on how much they’re going to be giving out. Andy said they don’t have projections, but he’s hopeful it will be very popular. 3rd segment: Andy has been asked to speak at St. Mary, Waltham, after Masses about the value of fasting and he’s hoping they get a lot of parishioners who want to take the Live the Fast challenge. A few years ago, Andy and some other Catholics formed the Mass. Catholic Business Association. Andreas Widmer is a friend and mentor to Andy and helped him found it. He got the idea while driving home one day from a Legatus meeting. He wrote a whole business plan for it and then presented it to Andreas. He said he’d been thinking of the same thing. The mission is to come together once per month, be centered around the Eucharist, and then have reflections after Mass and silence. They build the reflections around the liturgical calendar. It’s a great example of what they’re trying to do in the community. Scot said Legatus is also for Catholic businessmen, but it tends to be for CEOs and other’s running businesses, while Mass. Catholic Business Association is for everyone. Andy said they get guys in suits from the financial district and landscapers in jeans and boots, all praying together before the Lord. Their tagline is “Where faith and business meet.” They’ll be meeting at St. Francis Chapel at the Prudential Center. They had more than 60 present at their last Mass and they meet after Mass at Champions. One of the priests from St. Clement Eucharistic Shrine will celebrate Mass. It was the OMVs who suggested the move from South Boston to the business center of Boston at the Prudential Center. When they moved last month, they had 12 new people. They consistently hear from them that they never thought they’d find an organization like this. Scot said you can feel lonely because you don’t know other people at your workplace who share your faith. The next meeting is March 7 at 5:45pm with Mass at 6pm, reflection at 6:30pm, silent meditation and then dinner and fellowship from about 7pm to 9pm. Andy said the reflections are given by one of the members of the group. they give a School of Prayer, taking either the liturgical calendar or readings for the day and bringing into their daily lives, their work or family or community. There is no cost to be a member. It’s men and women and the ages range from college age all the way up to their 70s. There are great opportunities to mentor. And it’s everyone from the janitor to the CEO.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Br. Lake Herman, OFM Cap; Br. Eric Lenhart, OFM Cap; Cara Annese; and Kelly Hughes of Capuchin Youth and Family Ministry Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Capuchin Youth and Family Ministry Summary of today’s show: After serving the youth and families of the Archdiocese of New York for decades, Capuchin Youth and Family Ministry is expanding its services to Boston. Scot Landry talks with two Capuchin brothers and two lay volunteers from the post-college service year group CapCorps about the secret to CYFM’s success and how to reach young people of today with the Gospel message to awaken and enliven their Catholic faith. 1st segment: Scot said Capuchin Youth and Family Ministries reaches out to youth, especially those who’ve fallen away. They’ve been successful in New York and want to extend their ministry to parishes in Boston. Scot asked Br. Lake about CYFM. Br. Lake said it was a retreat center established about 40 years ago in the Hudson Valley after a couple of priests and Catholic families did a Cursillo retreat to bring the same experience to youth of the area. It expanded to parish confirmation retreats and meeting young people wherever they are. Scot asked Cara if it’s similar to Cursillo in the effects on young people. She said it’s similar, but it’s also an experience of being together with people who are similar that you can bond with for life. Br. Eric said Capuchins try to balance prayer and ministry. He told a story of early Capuchins who were intensely drawn to prayer, but saw people suffering from the Plague and so turned to that ministry. So the prayer informs the ministry. Not only the friars, but also youth and families are drawn to prayer and that work. Kelly was a psychology major at Providence College and was drawn to campus ministry. It was a transformative experience and she wanted to continue after graduation. CFYM says “It’s tough, but we need to do it,” so seeing how she could grow in ministry she decided to do it. She said it’s a little easier to minister to peers in campus ministry, but with teens it needs to be more engaging and entertaining, all with the intent of making them feel comfortable, which is easier for college kids over high school kids. Scot said St. Francis is well loved by so many for his beautiful attitude. He asked Br. Lake about the Capuchin order. Br. Lake said it was a reform movement from friars who wanted an intense prayer experience. From that contemplative prayer they could go out for other kinds of ministry. They formed in a time of great social upheaval around the time of the Reformation in the 1500s. Br. Eric said the Franciscan movement was almost always on the edge of chaos, but was most effective because of it. Scot said two things stand out about Cardinal Sean who remembers going to see a Capuchin brother as a young boy and being told that the Capuchin was the happiest man alive. Also, he knew the Capuchins got the hardest missionary assignments in the world and the thought he would get send far abroad. Br. Eric was a cadet at West Point and the Franciscan retreat center was just across the Hudson River. He had some powerful retreat experiences there and saw himself conflicted about being a soldier and the requirements of the Gospel. Seeing the older friars at the retreat center, he recognized a spirit in them and he hoped to have that spirit in himself after 50 years as a Capuchin. Cara got involved in the retreat ministry because it was different for involving the family. It was about the whole life of the teen. Adult observers are allowed on the retreat to experience what the teens experience. Scot asked if the kids come knowing what they’re getting into? Cara said for the confirmation retreats, they’re coming with schools or parishes. There are usually 40 to over 100 kids. Some don’t want to be there, but many are interested and come away inspired. On other CFYM retreats, kids come to the retreat after their older siblings have gone. The Day by Day Agape retreat is a Cursillo-style retreat for younger teens. Br. Lake said Day by Day Agape was named by the teens at the time and it comes from a song in the musical Godspell. The teens lead all the major talks on prayer, Christian life, conversion, transformation, and obstacles. The spiritual directors do the more didactic, theological talks on grace, paschal mystery, sin and the sacraments. To have teens exposed to that is a powerful experience of opening their hearts to receive the love of God all around them and to see the world differently. 2nd segment: Scot asked what parents do each day for their kids to help them maintain their faith. He asked Cara to lend her expertise based on her experience with the retreats. She said CFYM starts where the teens are and what they want to do. Most teens are looking for a place to fit in and what they offer has some kind of value. They run a service week program that lets them serve the community and then reflect on it. Br. Lake said teens long for relationships, a sense of belonging. The retreats begin with community building that opens up a sense of trust among them. Kelly said as a high school student she thought that if she wasn’t a perfect Catholic, then she wasn’t a good Catholic at all. CFYM brings teens together who have the same struggles to see that none of them have the answer and no one is perfect and that gives them encouragement to continue on. Scot asked Kelly what got her to go deeper into her faith when she got to Providence College. She said she went down all the wrong avenues and got to a breaking point. At PC she found meaningful relationships with genuine joy and acceptance among campus ministry. Now she can relate to the teens because she was like them in high school. Br. Eric said one of the primary goals of CFYM was building community. To put teens in the same space that is safe to share experiences, it can let them know that things they were crazy or abnormal in themselves is in fact normal. Br. Lake said when they can be honest with their own vulnerabilities, where God has touched their lives, there is something universal about the experience of heartbreak, hope and disillusionment and God picking us up to lead us forward. Cara said sharing her story is how she shares her faith. Kelly said on a confirmation retreat its best to be honest about how you didn’t know your faith, that you didn’t pray, you doubted God and it got better. Scot said a big problem in the Church is that after kids are confirmed, so many stop practicing their faith. Br. Lake said people want to serve and use their gifts to the full. Creating programs of opportunity to serve is vital. Kelly said she started in her walk with the liturgical choir and that’s how she started with campus ministry, and then getting involved in service projects. Service is the doing that brings belief and faith. Cara found what she loves to do by seeking out opportunities to live her faith, to serve. Scot recalled Pope John Paul said young people aren’t just the future of the Church, but also the present. He asked Br. Eric what young people can do to positively affect the Church today. Br. Eric said one thing is to take ownership of their faith. They need to take ownership of their parents’ faith and letting teens lead the retreat gives them that opportunity. 3rd segment: Scot asked Br. Lake about the CapCorps program and how it compares to similar programs. Br. Lake said it’s a community of young people who want to share their faith with teens and mentor them in their faith life. It is based out of their retreat center. They work in parishes as youth ministers as well as helping at the retreat center. The CapCorps volunteers live together, pray, eat, and socialize together. It’s been going on for 16 years. Scot asked Br. Eric how he went from West Point to the Capuchins. Br. Eric said one summer he read a bunch of books about St. Francis and at the same time he met Br. Carlos. He couldn’t avoid realizing that this was an important event happening in his life. He then went on a retreat at the center. Kelly said it was a long process to determine she wanted to do a year of service after college and then another long period to sort through all the programs. She found CFYM through a retreat leader at Providence College who’d been a CapCorps volunteer. The genuine love in all aspects of the program drew her in and sustained her. Cara was also very involved in campus ministry at Assumption College and when she was graduating she knew it was important to share her faith with others. Kelly said in the beginning it was overwhelming to see the talent and faith of the volunteers she is working with and they’ve been able to come together for the retreats. Then living in community while working in separate youth groups helps them to encourage and help one another. Br. Eric said going from West Point to CapCorps was a natural progression because they both were about mission-oriented teams working to accomplish a goal. Scot asked Br. Lake what CapCorps alum go on to do after. He said they come from such varied background and college degrees so they take their experience with them into a variety of ministries in the Church. Cara said being a CapCorps volunteer changed her career path from studying speech pathology to going to graduate school for pastoral ministry at Boston College. Br. Eric said being a CapCorps volunteer at 20 years old made an impression on him, especially meeting the friars, and when he eventually graduated college, the Capuchin whisper in his ear led him to enter the order at 26. Scot asked Br. Lake why he became a brother. He said the vocation of religious brother seems least appreciated in 2012. Br. lake said his background in undergrad was electrical engineering and worked in the aerospace industry building airplane engines for Pratt & Whitney. He had friends, success in his dream job, and was in graduate school, but he still felt unfulfilled. The joy of St. Francis drew him in and he went on a Capuchin retreat, and felt called to the community. He said the life is joy amidst the chaos. You never know what who will be coming to the house, what’s for dinner, and it’s a great experience of openness to the prompting of God. 4th segment: Scot asked Kelly about the types of retreats offered by CFYM. She said they do 7th and 8th grade overnight retreats, confirmation retreats, high school class retreats (freshman, sophomore, senior), high school leadership retreats for peer ministry, Day by Day Agape retreats, college student and young adult retreats, and adult retreats for women and family retreats. Brother Lake said family retreats are at parishes with some presentations for the whole family and others that are age-specific. They take place all-day on a Saturday. They engage the whole person in activities, discussions, and topics they want to talk about and don’t know how. Cara said the retreats are equally divided between the retreat center in Garrison, NY, and in parishes. Br. Lake said they chose the Archdiocese of Boston to expand because it’s a good fit for them and there’s a need for them. There’s a Capuchin presence here already and they have CapCorps alumni at Boston College. There’s a natural convergence. Parishes who are interested in scheduling them can call to ask about scheduling (See the website for contact information). Parishes can group together with other parishes to collaborate for the retreats. They do retreats in parishes or schools as well as in the retreat centers.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Janet Benestad, Secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Discussion of Cardinal Seán’s Homily on Doctor-Prescribed Suicide Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell welcome Janet Benestad, Secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization, to discuss Cardinal Seán’s homily for this Sunday, the World Day of the Sick, which will be heard in every parish in the archdiocese for the launch of an education campaign on efforts to legalize doctor-prescribed suicide in Massachusetts. Cardinal Seán warns us not to be mislead by euphemisms and the slow erosion of the respect for life. Christ’s Church responds to illness with love and true compassion, not by encouraging the ill to throw their lives away. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Mark talked about recovering the Patriots’ Super Bowl loss. They also discussed the work week, including the Presbyteral Council meeting this week. Fr. Mark said Msgr. Bill Fay, who co-leads the Pastoral Planning Commission, said people may be afraid of change, but we’re going to get there anyway. There are already more than 50 parishes that share a pastor with other parishes. If we do absolutely nothing, we will get the same place, but it won’t be planned. Scot said anyone who would like to see the resources that have been shared regarding the pastoral planning consultation can go to Scot mentioned news stories today that printed a private letter from Msgr. Bill Helmick to Cardinal Sean in which he gave his feedback on the pastoral planning suggestions. Fr. Mark said violating that confidentiality is tragic. Scot said the purpose of this consultation process is to receive such feedback. Scot said this Sunday is the World Day of the Sick and so Cardinal Sean has asked that a homily from him be read in all parishes this weekend to kick off an education campaign about a ballot initiative to legalize doctor-prescribed suicide. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcomed Janet to the show. She said it’s been several weeks of preparation for this weekend, and parishioners will not only hear or see the homily but will receive printed materials to help educate them on the proposed bill and its problems. They began by listening to the first part of Cardinal Seán’s homily: I am grateful to your pastor and the parish staff for this opportunity to talk to you today on the occasion of the twentieth World Day of the Sick. We celebrate World Day of the Sick each year on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes in order to pray for the sick and the dying and for those in the healing professions. Saint Paul exhorts us today to be imitators of Christ, who stretches out his hand in compassion toward the sick. This is the model that we as Christians have emulated for centuries in our hospitals, nursing homes, and treatment centers. Unfortunately, this model of compassion is now being threatened. In November, citizens in Massachusetts likely will be asked to vote whether doctor-assisted suicide should be a legal and normal way to care for the terminally ill. That is why it is so important for me to talk to you now about the so-called “Death with Dignity Act.” If passed, the referendum would allow an adult resident of Massachusetts— diagnosed with fewer than six months to live— to request and receive a prescription for a lethal drug. Proponents of this bill want us to believe that this is a compassionate response to the plight of people who have a terminal illness. It is not. We are called to comfort the sick, not to help them take their own lives. As the Catholic Bishops of the United States said in their recent statement on assisted suicide: “True compassion alleviates suffering while maintaining solidarity with those who suffer. It does not put lethal drugs in their hands and abandon them to their suicidal impulses, or to the self-serving motives of others who may want them dead.” Scot noted how the Cardinal said our outreach to the ill is imitation of Christ’s compassion for the sick. Fr. Mark said it’s surprising to him to hear it is being contemplated that we can give a pill to someone to kill themselves and that is called compassion. Janet said the initiative is called the Death with Dignity Act, which co-opts the language we use about the dignity of life. The proponents will not use the word suicide, but instead call it aid in dying. Scot said we have to ask what kind of society we want to have in the state of Massachusetts and whether we will be fooled by the proponents of a false compassion. People fear the dying process and the possibility of being kept alive by burdensome medical technology. They fear intolerable pain and suffering, losing control, or lingering with severe dementia. They worry about being abandoned or becoming a burden on others. For all these reasons, the ability to exercise control over the time and circumstances of death can appear attractive. Proponents of assisted suicide say that the Church wants people to suffer and that Catholics are obliged to accept every treatment available. This is simply not true. Burdensome and futile treatments may be refused as in the case of older patients who need not have risky surgery or painful chemotherapy in order to gain a few more months of life. Scot said there are two central points here. One is that it’s natural to fear the dying process, but it’s how we respond to those fears that is critical. Fr. Mark said it depends on what we mean by compassion. Compassion is to give palliative care, to help them not worry about what will happen after they die, to help them accept God’s timing. Compassion is not to leave them thinking they are a burden. Scot said the Cardinal then says that proponents falsely accuse the Church of wanting people to suffer. Janet said Catholics sometimes don’t understand the teachings of the church either. People are not obligated to take every possible treatment. They can refuse risky surgery or sometimes chemotherapy or other burdensome treatments. They can also receive pain killers, even if those pain killers could hasten death, when death is imminent and inevitable. Scot said the key is that the prescription from the doctor is intended to alleviate suffering not to eliminate the sufferer. You can never intend the person’s death. The 5th Commandment states “Thou shall not kill.” This certainly includes killing to alleviate suffering. Doctor-assisted suicide occurs when a doctor assists the patient to end his own life, even though does not directly administer the lethal drug. It is doctor-prescribed death. Blessed Pope John Paul II said: “To concur with the intention of another person to commit suicide and to help in carrying it out through so-called “assisted suicide” means to cooperate in, and at times to be the actual perpetrator of, an injustice which can never be excused, even if it is requested.” Scot said the Cardinal is very clear on this. This is not just the Church’s teaching, but it comes from God in the Old Testament. Fr. Mark said the doctor has a moral decision to make. Do we want to leave it in the hands of the doctor? Do we want him to put a pill in someone’s hand and then wash his hand of it? What are the standards for this decision? It is about expense? Is it about convenience? Why is the doctor playing God? Scot said the bill’s proponents claim there are safeguards, but they don’t go far enough. Scot said people who get a terminal diagnosis, they go through mental anguish and even depression. Janet said the bill creates a class of citizens who are different from the rest of us: People whose suicides we don’t prevent. People who we say are better off dead. She said there are many people who receive a terminal diagnosis who receive treatment and go on to live for years and years. For some people who have a terminal illness, they become tenacious and live life with fervor and strength. There is a slippery slope leading from ending lives in the name of compassion to ending the lives of people with non-terminal conditions. Doctors in the Netherlands once limited euthanasia to terminally ill patients; now they provide lethal drugs to people with chronic illnesses and disabilities, mental illness, and even melancholy. There is also evidence that the legalization of doctor-assisted suicide contributes to suicide in the general population. This is true in the state of Oregon which passed doctor-assisted suicide in 1994. Now, suicide is the leading cause of “injury death” and the second leading cause of death among 15 to 34 year olds. The suicide rate in Oregon, which had been in decline before 1994, is now 35% higher than the national average. Scot said the slippery slope is real. When we devalue human life in one case, it leads to devaluation in other cases. Fr. Mark said God’s gives us a gift of our life and we need to take care of it. To think of the body as something expendable is a tragedy. Janet gave an example of a story from Oregon of a woman who wanted to get chemotherapy treatment for cancer, but got a letter from the insurer who said they won’t pay for the cancer treatment but would pay for the lethal drug. She wasn’t looking to kill herself. one case of this is too much and there are at least two documented cases of this in Oregon. She said surveys show people don’t completely trust doctors, because of fears of overtreatment. So why would we trust doctors to prescribe lethal pills? Scot said people certainly trust their insurers even less and the lethal drugs are far more economical than any long-term treatments. They have an economic incentive. Scot said we’ve also seen suicide rates among young people go up because assisted suicide makes it seem acceptable. Why do we say suicide is unacceptable for a healthy young person, but it’s acceptable for the terminally ill? Fr. Mark said we also have to protect our good Catholic doctors from pressure to administer these pills. Doctor-assisted suicide is being presented as a way for the terminally ill to have greater freedom at the end of life. However, it would create pressures to limit our freedom, because it could establish an expectation that certain people will be better served by being dead, a dubious premise indeed! It creates a class of people— those whom doctors predict will live six months or less— for whom suicide should be facilitated, even made to seem attractive. It also opens the door for financially-motivated organizations like insurance companies and managed-care plans to someday encourage and pressure those at the end of their life to think that doctor-assisted suicide is an attractive option. Legalization of doctor-assisted suicide would compromise the practice of medicine. The Hippocratic Oath that has guided doctors for more than two thousand years says, “I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan.” Doctors and nurses are known for this devotion to heal and the refusal to assist in killing. Assisted suicide would compromise this ancient ethical code and the practice of medicine itself. It is important for you to know that the Massachusetts Medical Society voted recently by an overwhelming majority not to support this referendum. Scot said this sort of bill could change the relationship our doctors have with us and this is probably why the Mass. Medical Society voted overwhelmingly not to support this initiative. There are large flaws in the bill itself. For one thing, it requires that a doctor determine that the patient is capable of asking for lethal drugs, but there are no explicit criteria for assessing the mental capacity at the time of the request, nor is there a mandate to assess mental capacity at the time of the suicide. The bill also requires two witnesses to attest to the patient’s competence, but one of the witnesses can be a total stranger, and another can be the sick person’s heir. Alfred Hitchcock would make movies about this stuff. Also the law does not require that anyone witness the suicide, so there is no way to know for certain that the act was voluntary. Finally, the death certificate lists the underlying disease as the cause of death, not assisted suicide. This creates underreporting and a legalized deception. Indeed this initiative is on the ballot in part because of the deceptive way in which the required signatures were obtained. Last Fall, proponents of this bill solicited signatures from Massachusetts citizens as part of the process for getting it on the ballot. You may have been approached and asked to sign the petition. People who were asked to sign reported that the petition was presented as a bill to “aid the terminally ill.” In fact, the bill does not use the word “suicide” because, as the lawyer for the organization promoting the bill has said, the word “suicide” is inflammatory. Instead, it talks about “aid in dying” or “A-I-D.” The major organization behind this effort also changed its name from the “Hemlock Society” to the deceptive “Compassion and Choices.” Janet said it is a deception to have the cause of death not be listed as suicide. Insurance companies don’t want to be seen as paying for suicide. It’s also the case that no one has to be present at the time of death so you don’t know how it was administered. Did they even take it voluntarily? The bill has very few safeguards. Scot wondered which is a bigger euphemism: Death with Dignity or Compassion and Choices. Fr. Mark said this could absolutely lead to murder. There will one day be a trial in which it is asked whether an heir caused the death of a person. Scot said there is no requirement for these deaths even to be videotaped. Scot said the euphemisms are deceptive because during the ballot signature process people said they signed petitions thinking they were supporting help fort he terminally ill. Janet said there was a real intent to deceive people. Janet said the Secretary of State will determine what will go into the referendum on election day, but we do know that we will encourage people to vote No. Suicide is always a tragedy. A vote for assisted suicide would be a vote for suicide. For that reason, I ask you now to do three things to help stop doctor-assisted suicide from becoming law in Massachusetts. First, pray for people who are seriously ill and dying, and for their caregivers. Visit the sick which is one of the corporal works of mercy. Second, avoid believing the misleading and seductive language of “dignity,” “mercy,” “compassion” or “aid in dying” that proponents of the legislation will use to describe assisted suicide. Third, educate yourselves as much as possible on assisted suicide and share that knowledge with others. Brochures, prayer cards, bulletin inserts and other materials have been prepared for you and are available in your parish. Please visit the website which has been created to educate people on this issue. Scot said the Cardinal couldn’t be clearer on what he wants people to do and what this bill is about. He asked people to educate themselves and their friends and neighbors. Janet said the task of caring for the terminally ill can be a great burden. As a society we should undertake as an act of charity to assist families caring for someone who is terminally ill. She said the cardinal wanted this education campaign to be underway before the election season really got underway and distracted people away from this important issue. We as Catholics should be at the forefront of good palliative care. Our society will be judged by how we treat those who are ill and the infirm. They need our care and protection, not lethal drugs. As the Bishops wrote last year: We as Catholics should be leaders in the effort to defend and uphold the principle that each of us has a right to live with dignity through every day of our lives. Let us join with other concerned citizens, including disability rights advocates and members of the healing professions, to stand for the dignity of people with serious illnesses and disabilities and promote life-affirming solutions for their hardships. We should ensure that the families of people with terminal illnesses will never feel they have been left alone in caring for their needs. The claim that the “quick fix” of an overdose of drugs can substitute for these efforts is an affront to patients, caregivers and the ideals of medicine. When we grow old or sick and we are tempted to lose heart, we should be surrounded by people who ask “How can I help you?” We deserve to grow old in a society that views our cares and needs with a compassion grounded in respect, offering genuine support in our final days. The choices we make together now will decide whether this is the kind of caring society we will leave to future generations. Let us work together to build a civilization of love – a love which is stronger than death! God bless you. Fr. Mark said we need to reach out to the sick. We have a duty as Christians to bring Christ’s love. Yes, it’s difficult and expensive. Who cares? These are our loved ones, those loved by God that we are obligated to care for? Scot asked if our society will be viewed as having money or love as most important to us. The Cardinal hopes that we are building a civilization of love. 3rd segment: It’s time to announce this week’s winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is the CD: “The Apostle of the Rosary: Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton” by St. Joseph Communications. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Jim Fadule, from Wellesley Hills, MA. Congratulations, Jim! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “If someone has on his skin a scab or pustule or blotch which appears to be the sore of leprosy, he shall be brought to Aaron, the priest, or to one of the priests among his descendants. If the man is leprous and unclean, the priest shall declare him unclean by reason of the sore on his head. “The one who bears the sore of leprosy shall keep his garments rent and his head bare, and shall muffle his beard; he shall cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’ As long as the sore is on him he shall declare himself unclean, since he is in fact unclean. He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.” Second Reading for February 12, 2012, Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1) Brothers and sisters, Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. Avoid giving offense, whether to the Jews or Greeks or the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in every way, not seeking my own benefit but that of the many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. Gospel for February 12, 2012, Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. Then, warning the him sternly, he dismissed him at once. He said to him, “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere. Scot said at the end of the second reading, Paul tells us to imitate Christ. One of the way is to do as Jesus did. The lepers were outcast and Jesus reached out to them with compassion with love, when no one else would ever think of even touching them. The leper wanted to be cleaned physically and spiritually. Fr. Mark said Jesus touched someone who was an outsider from society because that wasn’t a barrier for Jesus. Scot said the lepers were hurt by their illness, but they were also hurt by their ostracization from the community. Janet said those with terminal illness will also be ostracized into a second-class category. Scot said when he thinks of St. Paul’s reading, we see how JEsus responded to the lepers in his day. We’re not going to see actual lepers today, but there are many figurative lepers in society today: people who were considered ugly or unattractive or bodily afflictions; people with metal illness or disabilities; spiritual or moral lepers, public sinners; economic lepers, the homeless and the very poor; emotional lepers, those who feel alone. It doesn’t take us long to find people who are outcasts in society that we can reach out to with the love of Christ. Fr. Mark points out in this reading the role of the Church. The man was healed and rejoiced in it, but Jesus told him to go present himself to the priest who would declare him clean. Jesus respected the Church’s role in society. There is a role of the Church to protect the outcasts of society. Janet said Christ’s love is so powerful that it can even heal the spirit in addition to the body. The Psalm doesn’t say accidentally, “I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.” Scot suggested that someone who wants to reconcile with Christ and the Church to receive spiritual healing through the Sacrament of Confession.…
1 The Good Catholic Life #0233: Thursday, February 9, 2012 1:00:15
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1:00:15Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Cardinal Seán’s homily on assisted suicide; Little Sisters of the Poor; Honorary Ibo chief; Defense of marriage Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Greg Tracy discuss the news of the week including an advance look at Cardinal Seán’s homily on assisted suicide that will be heard in parishes throughout the Archdiocese; the Little Sisters of the Poor in Somerville who truly show what death with dignity looks like; a pastor in Hyde Park who’s been made an honorary chief in a Nigerian tribe; and how the defense of marriage is linked to the defense of religious freedom. WQOM is having an emergency fund drive to raise $105,000 to meet operating expenses for the next three months. During the show on Wednesday and Thursday, our regular segments will be interspersed with fundraising appeals from the Station of the Cross network headquarters in Buffalo. Every gift matters. If you want to donate go to or call 888-711-6279. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Susan, Fr. Roger, and Greg back to the show. He said the biggest story in the Pilot this week is a preview of Cardinal Seán’s homily that will be played in the parishes of the Archdiocese with his remarks on the assisted suicide ballot initiative. Greg said the Cardinal has taken on this issue full force to make sure people are educated on this issue. Susan said the Cardinal talks about the slippery slope, noting how in the Netherlands after euthanasia was legalized, doctors are now killing people for non-terminal ailments and sometimes even without their permission. He also quotes from the Hippocratic Oath, which says the doctor will not prescribe a lethal dose. Fr. Roger said many schools no longer administer the oath. Greg said the original oath also said the doctor would not perform abortions. Fr. Roger said the Cardinal says the assisted suicide proponents use euphemisms for killing and suicide. He said the Cardinal’s leadership is very important and he hopes the cardinal’s words are repeated by people throughout Massachusetts. Scot quoted from the homily: The 5th Commandment states “Thou shall not kill.” This certainly includes killing to alleviate suffering. Doctor-assisted suicide occurs when a doctor assists the patient to end his own life, even though does not directly administer the lethal drug. It is doctor-prescribed death. Blessed Pope John Paul II said: “To concur with the intention of another person to commit suicide and to help in carrying it out through so-called “assisted suicide” means to cooperate in, and at times to be the actual perpetrator of, an injustice which can never be excused, even if it is requested.” Scot said the slippery slope is true when it comes to life issues. The more we devalue human life, the worse it becomes in the future. susan said there is much confusion about Catholic teaching on end of life care and we need education for this. Greg said in the proposed law it says that the death certificate wouldn’t say suicide. If suicide is okay, why won’t they use the word? 2nd segment: Scot talked about an article in the Pilot this week about the Little Sisters of the Poor in Somerville who are serving the elderly and terminally ill at Jeanne Jugan Residence. Greg said the Pilot wanted to have a story that was a counterpoint to the assisted suicide advocates. These woman witness to the dignity of human life by the care they show to the dying. Susan said they accompany those at the end of life and provide for the poorest who have no one else to take care of them. They stay with the person, even up to 24 hours a day. She quoted the sisters who said St. Jeanne Jugan did not found nursing homes, but founded homes for these elderly poor people and this is why they are called “little sisters”. Scot said this is truly death with dignity and there are many Catholics who are willing to care for the dying. Fr. Roger said Pope John Paul II wrote that seeing suffering in others unleashes love in us. Scot said also in the Pilot this week is a story on Fr. Paul Keyes, who helped grow St. Michael’s in Andover to the largest parish in the Archdiocese. He’s been given senior priest/retirement status. One of Susan’s favorite stories is about Fr. Peter Nolan who’s been named an honorary chief in a tribe in Nigeria. In recognition of the accomplishments of his ministry there 50 years ago, elders and tribal leaders made Father Nolan an honorary chief of the Ibo tribe at a ceremony on Dec. 31 celebrating the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first missionaries in the town of Nimo. Fr. Nolan is a Holy Ghost Father who came to Boston years ago from Ireland to study at Boston College. Susan said he originally lived at her parish, St Theresa’s in West Roxbury. He’s now pastor of Most Precious Blood in Hyde Park. 3rd segment: Scot said Fr. Roger’s editorial this week connects the defense of marriage with the Church’s battle for religious freedom. Fr. Roger said religious leaders in the US signed a letter connecting the two topics. The Obama administration has failed to defend the Defense of Marriage Act. As soon as we begin to change the meaning of marriage we start to lose religious freedom as we’ve started to see in states that have legalized same-sex marriage. Town clerks and owners of wedding-related businesses are being fined and sued if they follow their own conscience on the meaning of marriage. He said this letter is a consicise and beautiful statement on these connections. Greg said in a story this week that the 9th Circuit Court of appeals in San Francisco ruled a voter-passed law defending marriage is unconstitutional and violated the 14th amendment. Scot said the circular logic of the ruling was ridiculous because it based its decision on those who married during the brief period after a court created the right to marry. Greg noted that everywhere the people have voted on same-sex marriage, they have voted to defend the traditional definition of marriage. It’s not like the civil rights fight of the 60s because in that case it was a few states fighting against the majority of the country, but here it’s the courts stepping to undermine the will of the majority. Susan said she is interested to see whether this reaches the Supreme Court level. Fr. Roger said he thinks the Supreme Court will have to confront this issue and we have to pray for our Supreme Court Justices. Once the court makes its decision—which should be to defend marriage—then we’ll have to see if we can overturn it at the state level. At the least we’ll have to re-evangelize and educate people on the definition of marriage.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Dan Hennessey, Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Boston Today’s topics: Vocations Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Fr. Dan Hennessey discuss the discernment of lifelong vocations as well as God’s will in the small moments of every day. Meanwhile, WQOM is having an emergency fund drive to meet operating expenses and Scot spent those breaks talking with Rick Paolini from the Station of the Cross network in Buffalo. 1st segment: WQOM is having an emergency fund drive to raise $105,000 to meet operating expenses for the next three months. During the show on Wednesday and Thursday, our regular segments will be interspersed with fundraising appeals from the Station of the Cross network headquarters in Buffalo. Every gift matters. If you want to donate go to or call 888-711-6279. Scot said WQOM is having an emergency fund drive to cover costs until the Spring Fund Drive in May. Fr. Dan is covering for Fr. Matt Williams who’s down with the flu. Scot asked Fr. Dan how vocations is going. He said between Christmas and Easter is a time when a lot of men want to meet with him about being open to the possibility of the priesthood. They then discussed the number of men studying for the archdiocese, increasing from 30 a few years ago to 70 now. Fr. Dan said it’s the result of people praying for priestly vocations. All young men and women should be asking them what life God desires for me. Every person’s meaning of life is to figure out what God desires of us to get to heaven. Scot the question just doesn’t lead people to becoming priests or religious, but integrates into their daily lives to figure out what God wants us to do each day or at this moment. Fr. Dan said we shouldn’t equate vocation with career. What we should ask is what mode of life is God calling us to lay down our life for him? Priesthood, married life, single life, religious life? 2nd segment: Scot said he knows some seminarians at St. John’s Seminary who listen to the The Good Catholic and they hear many priests talking about their own lives as priests. Fr. Dan said the witness of good priests is invaluable and hearing from the priests how they came to hear the call from God to the priesthood is a beautiful part of The Good Catholic Life. Fr. Dan said a culture of vocations is a Catholic culture and having the Catholic faith on the radio builds that up. Scot said the Vocations office is planning discernment retreats from men under 40 and men over 40. He aid this weekend are two retreats. The first one is for men age 18-40 at Connors Family Retreat Center and St. John Seminary. It’s in two locations because they didn’t have enough space in the seminary. The cardinal gives three conferences on Saturday, there’s a seminarian witness, small-group discussions, Mass, and Rosary. For men over 40, there’s a retreat this weekend as well at Blessed John XXIII National Seminary. Go to for more information and to contact Fr. Dan.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Obama administration’s assault on religious liberty Summary of today’s show:Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor go in-depth on the Obama administration’s recent ruling that Catholic institutions must violate their religious beliefs and conscience in providing healthcare to employees. They consider Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan’s forthright remarks that show how extreme the administration’s policies on religious freedom are; the three key points highlighted by the US bishops that define this issue; a series of common questions and answers to clarify what’s at stake; the USCCB’s point-by-point rebuttal of the White House’s response; and a particularly egregious column by the Boston Globe’s Joan Venocchi. 1st segment: Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor caught up with their activities of the past week and discussed today’s topic. Fr. Chris said it’s outrageous what the Obama administration has done with Health and Human Services regulations on the contraception mandate for health insurance coverage. Scot said they will get behind the soundbites and slogan and examine the issue in-depth. 2nd segment: Scot said Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan has been on the forefront of this issue and read from his recent op-ed: Religious freedom is the lifeblood of the American people, the cornerstone of American government. When the Founding Fathers determined that the innate rights of men and women should be enshrined in our Constitution, they so esteemed religious liberty that they made it the first freedom in the Bill of Rights. In particular, the Founding Fathers fiercely defended the right of conscience. George Washington himself declared: “The conscientious scruples of all men should be treated with great delicacy and tenderness; and it is my wish and desire, that the laws may always be extensively accommodated to them.” James Madison, a key defender of religious freedom and author of the First Amendment, said: “Conscience is the most sacred of all property.” Scarcely two weeks ago, in its Hosanna-Tabor decision upholding the right of churches to make ministerial hiring decisions, the Supreme Court unanimously and enthusiastically reaffirmed these longstanding and foundational principles of religious freedom. The court made clear that they include the right of religious institutions to control their internal affairs. Yet the Obama administration has veered in the opposite direction. It has refused to exempt religious institutions that serve the common good—including Catholic schools, charities and hospitals—from its sweeping new health-care mandate that requires employers to purchase contraception, including abortion-producing drugs, and sterilization coverage for their employees. He played the Cardinal’s video statement from the USCCB website on this issue. Scot further explained the Cardinal-designate’s point about recent Supreme Court cases and how even justices appointed by Obama are saying the administration’s interpretation of the first amendment is getting more and more extreme. Fr. Chris said he hears priests refer to it as the persecution of faith. He said this isn’t the Church’s war on Obama, but the Church calling for the protection of the freedom of conscience. Scot and Fr. Chris pointed out that our rights do not come from the will of the government, but that they are ours by right of our birth and given to us by God himself and this has been emphasized by Pope Benedict XVI, quoting our own Declaration of Independence. Scot said the contraceptive mandate imposed on health plans by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) violates freedom of conscience, which is guaranteed by the First Amendment and several federal laws. The Bill of Rights says we are free to live by our religious beliefs. Forcing all of us to buy coverage for sterilization and contraceptives, including drugs that induce abortion, is a radical incursion into freedom of conscience. Never before in U.S. history has the federal government forced citizens to directly purchase what violates their beliefs. The Supreme Court recently declared in the Hosanna-Tabor case that the Constitution gives a priority place to Freedom of Religion. Scot and Fr. Chris discussed how this isn’t just a Catholic issue. The first amendment protects, for example, Jewish nursing homes from having to serve pork in meals to non-Jewish residents. The government cannot force them to under the Constitution. Scot said HHS created this mandate after Congress asked it to develop a list of services all health plans should provide without co-pay. Instead of keeping with the prevention of diseases like breast cancer, sexually transmitted diseases and gestational diabetes, HHS took it upon itself to include sterilizations, contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs. It treats pregnancy as an illness like breast cancer. Fr. Chris said we should talk about ensuring life, not discarding it. Obama is asking Catholics to support something that is radically against what we believe at the core of our faith. Scot said the US Conference of Catholic Bishops have been publishing numerous documents to help us understand this issue. One of the key points is that the mandate treats a healthy pregnancy as a disease in need of “prevention,” like breast cancer or AIDS (which other “preventive services” on HHS’s list do legitimately seek to prevent). In reality, some of the mandated contraceptives are associated with an increased risk of AIDS, blood clots leading to stroke, and other ailments. Inclusion of these drugs places HHS’s effort to prevent disease at war with itself. Militant pro-abortion people in the administration is trying to stick it to the Church. Fr. Chris said this is why he’s so glad the USCCB is mobilizing and people are hearing what this is called for. Scot said the second point they make is that HHS wants abortifacient drugs to be required in every health plan. These drugs cause abortions and employers must subsidize abortion and individual Catholics must pay as part of their general premiums for everyone else’s abortion drugs. Fr. Chris said the Church will not support this. Scot said the third point is that the rule violates religious freedom and rights of conscience. The rule has an incredibly narrow religious exemption for “religious employers” (not insurers, schools with student health plans, or families purchasing insurance). Even religious employers are exempt only if their purpose is to inculcate religious doctrine, they hire and serve mainly people of their own faith, and they qualify as a church or religious order in a very narrow part of the tax code. Most religious institutions providing health, educational or charitable services to others have no protection. The head of Catholic Charities USA said even Jesus wouldn’t qualify for the exemption because he healed everyone regardless of their belief. Fr. Chris said the bill protects individual churches. Scot said it would not include churches if they have a food pantry that serves non-Catholics. It would force the Church to stop providing public services. Fr. Chris said institutions that don’t buy in are threatened with fines and those fines could bankrupt them. It’s as if the Obama administration wants to put Catholic charitable organizations out of business. 3rd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris discussed a list of questions and answer put out by the USCCB. the first question is “How important is the right of conscience in American tradition?” Scot quoted Thomas Jefferson: “No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority”. In the past, has the federal government respected conscientious objections to procedures such as sterilization that may violate religious beliefs or moral convictions? Yes. For example, a law in effect since 1973 says that no individual is required to take part in “any part of a health service program or research activity funded in whole or in part under a program administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services” if it is “contrary to his religious beliefs or moral convictions” (42 USC 300a-7 (d)). Even the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, which requires most of its health plans to cover contraception, exempts religiously affiliated plans and protects the conscience rights of health professionals in the other plans. Currently no federal law requires anyone to purchase, sell, sponsor, or be covered by a private health plan that violates his or her conscience. How has the Department of Health and Human Services departed from this policy? By issuing a mandate for coverage of sterilization and contraceptives (including long-lasting injections and implants, and “morning-after pills” that may cause an early abortion) in virtually all private health plans. In August 2011 HHS included these procedures in a list of “preventive services for women” to be required in health plans issued on or after August 1, 2012. On January 20, 2012, HHS reaffirmed its mandate while deferring enforcement against some religious employers until August 2013. Scot noted that the timing means President Obama won’t have to stand for re-election with this issue hanging over him. Fr. Chris noted Mitt Romney’s recall of how Catholic Charities in Boston had to get out of the adoption business because of this kind of overreach into religious liberty. Scot noted that many Catholics who supported Obama in 2008 who have said how they are disappointed by this ruling and that they won’t be supporting Obama in 2012 unless this changes. Obama won in 2008 with a greater portion of the Catholic vote than John McCain. They discussed prominent Catholic Doug Kmiec who supported Obama in 2008 and later was named Ambassador to Malta by Obama has said this has gone too far. Isn’t this an aspect of the Administration’s drive for broader access to health care for all? Whether or not it was intended that way, it has the opposite effect. People will not be free to keep the coverage they have now that respects their convictions. Organizations with many employees will have to violate their consciences or stop offering health benefits altogether. And resources needed to provide basic health care to the uninsured will be used instead to facilitate IUDs and Depo-Provera for those who already had ample coverage. This is a diversion away from universal health care. Scot said the bishops weren’t very strong opposing the initial mandate in the law because they expected the religious exemption to be included and now the only provision was giving the Church an extra year to figure out how to violate our consciences or drop health care coverage for employees and face massive fines. Fr. Chris said Dolan met with Obama in November and came out of that meeting confident of this conscience clause so this is a real shock to the Catholic bishops. Fr. Chris said the media has reported first that the administration was reconsidering, but then said only that they would listen to concerns. What solution to this dispute would be acceptable? Ideally, HHS can leave the law the way it has always been, so those who provide, sponsor and purchase health coverage can make their own decisions about whether to include these procedures without the federal government imposing one answer on everyone. If HHS refuses, it will be especially urgent for Congress to pass the “Respect for Rights of Conscience Act” (HR 1179/S. 1467), to prevent health care reform act from being used to violate insurers’ and purchasers’ moral and religious beliefs. 4th segment: Scot said the USCCB issued a response to the White House’s contradictory statements on its own contraceptive mandate. The Obama administration, to justify its widely criticized mandate for contraception and sterilization coverage in private health plans, has posted a set of false and misleading claims on the White House blog (“Health Reform, Preventive Services, and Religious Institutions,” February 1). In what follows, each White House claim is quoted with a response. Claim: “Churches are exempt from the new rules: Churches and other houses of worship will be exempt from the requirement to offer insurance that covers contraception.” Response: This is not entirely true. To be eligible, even churches and houses of worship must show the government that they hire and serve primarily people of their own faith and have the inculcation of religious values as their purpose. Some churches may have service to the broader community as a major focus, for example, by providing direct service to the poor regardless of faith. Such churches would be denied an exemption precisely because their service to the common good is so great. More importantly, the vast array of other religious organizations – schools, hospitals, universities, charitable institutions – will clearly not be exempt. Most religious organizations, not just Catholic, would be forced to provide such services. Claim: “No individual health care provider will be forced to prescribe contraception: The President and this Administration have previously and continue to express strong support for existing conscience protections. For example, no Catholic doctor is forced to write a prescription for contraception.” Response: It is true that these rules directly apply to employers and insurers, not providers, but this is beside the point: The Administration is forcing individuals and institutions, including religious employers, to sponsor and subsidize what they consider immoral. Less directly, the classification of these drugs and procedures as basic “preventive services” will increase pressures on doctors, nurses and pharmacists to provide them in order to participate in private health plans – and no current federal conscience law prevents that from happening. Finally, because the mandate includes abortifacient drugs, it violates one of the “existing conscience protections” (the Weldon amendment) for which the Administration expresses “strong support.” Scot said this is about forcing insurers to include them in their plans and individual Catholics must then subsidize those immoral acts. This isn’t about directly providing the drugs. Claim: “No individual will be forced to buy or use contraception: This rule only applies to what insurance companies cover. Under this policy, women who want contraception will have access to it through their insurance without paying a co-pay or deductible. But no one will be forced to buy or use contraception.” Response: The statement that no one will be forced to buy it is false. Women who want contraception will be able to obtain it without co-pay or deductible precisely because women who do not want contraception will be forced to help pay for it through their premiums. This mandate passes costs from those who want the service, to those who object to it. Claim: “Drugs that cause abortion are not covered by this policy: Drugs like RU486 are not covered by this policy, and nothing about this policy changes the President’s firm commitment to maintaining strict limitations on Federal funding for abortions. No Federal tax dollars are used for elective abortions.” Response: False. The policy already requires coverage of Ulipristal (HRP 2000 or “Ella”), a drug that is a close analogue to RU-486 (mifepristone) and has the same effects.1 RU-486 itself is also being tested for possible use as an “emergency contraceptive” – and if the FDA approves it for that purpose, it will automatically be mandated as well. Scot said the White House is trying to pivot from an unfavorable question to a more favorable. This isn’t about a particular drug, but a class of drugs. Claim:“Over half of Americans already live in the 28 States that require insurance companies cover contraception: Several of these States like North Carolina, New York, and California have identical religious employer exemptions. Some States like Colorado, Georgia and Wisconsin have no exemption at all.” Response: This misleads by ignoring important facts, and some of it is simply false. All the state mandates, even those without religious exemptions, may be avoided by self- insuring prescription drug coverage, by dropping that particular coverage altogether, or by taking refuge in a federal law that pre-empts any state mandates (ERISA). None of these havens is available under the federal mandate. It is also false to claim that North Carolina has an identical exemption. It is broader: It does not require a religious organization to serve primarily people of its own faith, or to fulfill the federal rule’s narrow tax code criterion. Moreover, the North Carolina law, unlike the federal mandate, completely excludes abortifacient drugs like Ella and RU-486 as well as “emergency contraceptives” like Preven. Scot said some states have policies on this, but they would be overridden by federal law. The state laws don’t affect religious employers because federal exemptions sweep them away,but those exemptions would be done away by this. Fr. Chris said the White House is comparing apples and oranges. Claim: “Contraception is used by most women: According to a study by the Guttmacher Institute, most women, including 98 percent of Catholic women, have used contraception.” Response: This is irrelevant, and it is presented in a misleading way. If a survey found that 98% of people had lied, cheated on their taxes, or had sex outside of marriage, would the government claim it can force everyone to do so? But this claim also mangles the data to create a false impression. The study actually says this is true of 98% of “sexually experienced” women. The more relevant statistic is that the drugs and devices subject to this mandate (sterilization, hormonal prescription contraceptives and IUDs) are used by 69% of those women who are “sexually active” and “do not want to become pregnant.” Surely that is a minority of the general public, yet every man and woman who needs health insurance will have to pay for this coverage. The drugs that the mandate’s supporters say will be most advanced by the new rule, because they have the highest co-pays and deductibles now, are powerful but risky injectable and implantable hormonal contraceptives, now used by perhaps 5% of women. The mandate is intended to change women’s reproductive behavior, not only reflect it. Fr. Chris went back to Pope Benedict who said that the Church’s teaching is not based on popularity. It is based on the truth communicated by Jesus Christ. Claim: “The Obama Administration is committed to both respecting religious beliefs and increasing access to important preventive services. And as we move forward, our strong partnerships with religious organizations will continue.” Response: False. There is no “balance” in the final HHS rule—one side has prevailed entirely, as the mandate and exemption remain entirely unchanged from August 2011, despite many thousands of comments filed since then indicating intense opposition. Indeed, the White House Press Secretary declared on January 31, “I don’t believe there are any constitutional rights issues here,” so little was placed on that side of the scale. The Administration’s stance on religious liberty has also been shown in other ways. Recently it argued before the Supreme Court that religious organizations have no greater right under the First amendment to hire or fire their own ministers than secular organizations have over their leaders– a claim that was unanimously rejected by the Supreme Court as “extreme” and “untenable.” The Administration recently denied a human trafficking grant to a Catholic service provider with high objective scores, and gave part of that grant instead to a provider with not just lower, but failing, objective scores, all because the Catholic provider refused in conscience to compromise the same moral and religious beliefs at issue here. Such action violates not only federal conscience laws, but President Obama’s executive order assuring “faith-based” organizations that they will be able to serve the public in federal programs without compromising their faith. Scot said the bishops are encouraging everyone to contact their Senators and Representatives to ask them to support proposed legislation to protect religious liberty. 5th segment: Scot and Fr. Chris turned to discuss a recent op-ed in the Boston Globe by columnist Joan Venocchi. But not all employees of Catholic institutions are Catholics. Why should their employers impose their religious beliefs on them and deny coverage for birth control and other medical care? As long as those Catholic institutions are getting taxpayer money, they should follow secular rules. That’s the Obama administration’s argument, and it makes sense. Scot said Venocchi doesn’t remember that it’s the taxpayers who provide the money that the government disburses to provide services to people. Fr. Chris said the majority of Americans are religious believers, so she forgets that the majority of the people paying the taxes are believers in God who want to protect their conscience. On the larger health care reform issue, this president has the moral high ground, if only he would take it. A church that is supposedly dedicated to feeding the hungry and clothing the naked wouldn’t want to leave it to insurance companies and free markets to decide who gets to see a doctor and who gets care - would it? Fr. Chris said he’s doesn’t understand her point. It’s a red herring. People have been receiving health care all along. All the Church is saying is that we cannot support contraception, sterilization, and abortion. Scot said the argument is that if you support universal healthcare, you have to support this mandate. Obama isn’t trying to regulate religion or undermine Catholicism. He’s telling Catholic leaders they can’t regulate the beliefs of those of other faiths. That’s fitting in a country that treasures religious freedom, but also values separation of church and state. Scot said Obama is indeed telling Catholics that they can’t regular their own beliefs. He said separation of church and state is also misrepresented. It only means the government can’t name a particular religion as official. Fr. Chris said this is exactly what the Church wants: freedom from the interference of the state. Scot ended by reciting the First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Freedom of religion is not just how we pray in Church on Sunday, but we live our whole lives every day. This law prohibits the free exercise thereof.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Dr. Kevin Ryan, Mrs. Marilyn Ryan, educators, Pilot columnists, and grandparents. Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Catholic homeschooling Summary of today’s show: Scot sits down in today's show with Kevin and Marilyn Ryan, career educators and grandparents of a set of entirely homeschooled grandchildren. Kevin and Marilyn share their wisdom, advice, and opinions on the research, and explain why Catholic homeschooling is entering the mainstream. Scot and the Ryans discuss the academic benefits, social benefits, and most importantly faith benefits to parents guiding their child's learning in the home. Full show notes for this program will be available later tonight at TheGoodCatholicLife.com. We thank you for your patience.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Dr. Mary Grassa-O’Neill, Superintendent of Catholic Schools, and Jim Walsh, Associate Superintendent for Finance and Administration Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Catholic Schools Week: Wrapup Summary of today’s show: In our last show of Catholic Schools Week, Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell welcome Mary Grassa-O’Neill and Jim Walsh from the Catholic Schools Office to give listeners more examples of how Catholic schools around the Archdiocese celebrated, including students performing in Chinese at Boston College High and a human rosary at Holy Family in Rockland. They then discussed the success of Catholic schools in Boston, including the first rise in enrollment in decades and tools for principals and pastors to use to better ensure financial viability and strategize for future success in ensuring every child who wants an education steeped in the Catholic faith can have one. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Mark discussed the Super Bowl on Sunday then discussed the meeting of the Cardinal’s Cabinet. Fr. Mark said the meeting was very forward-looking. Fr. Mark said it’s also the Feast of St. Blaise and he’s been blessing many throats today. On the day after the Feast of the Presentation, on which the candles are blessed, the candles are used for the blessing. He offered the same blessing to anyone who hadn’t been able to receive it today. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcomed Mary and Jim to the show. Scot asked Mary for her highlights of the week. She said it’s exciting because there are so many activities. She said it begins with the special themed Masses, many of which take place in the parishes last Sunday and others which have them each day. BC High had a program this week called “Chinese Idol,” in which students performed in Chinese, to encourage them to continue to learn Chinese and learn Chinese culture. They were accompanied by an all-strings orchestra from Beijing. They offer nine levels of Chinese instruction and send students to China each year. She said we have to do more in our schools to prepare students for engaging Asian cultures in the future. Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy in Neponset also had a big Chinese celebration. Meanwhile, Holy Family School in Rockland did a human rosary, with each student being one of the prayers. St. Agatha’s in Milton had a standing-room only Mass that had over 600 students plus more from the community. Trinity Catholic in Brockton had the mayor and public school superintendent come in to read to the children and they had career days. That is a big school as well with 560 students on two campuses. Mary said the National Catholic Education Association provides suggestions, but schools come up with their own ideas. Quincy Catholic Academy students learned about filmmaking and made stop-motion movies. Other schools take educational field trips. Scot said there seems to be three purposes: school spirit, highlight the Catholic identity, and market the schools to potential students. Jim said it’s also an opportunity to celebrate the sense of community. Many honor and give tribute to the religious orders that founded and staffed those schools, teaching about former principals and teachers, for example. They welcome in former students as well as parents and grandparents to see what’s going on in the schools. Fr. Mark talked about the connection between the pastors of the parish and the schools. Mary told a story of one child with cancer at St. Mary in Melrose who had chemo but was afraid to come back with no hair so the pastor, Fr. Sullivan, got a local barber and five classmates (with permission of their parents) and they all shaved their heads in solidarity, Fr. Sullivan too. Scot said Catholic Schools Office has three main themes: Strengthening Catholic identity, enhancing academic excellence, and giving vitality to finances. Mary said academic excellence is critical because it’s using God’s gifts to their fullest. Fr. Mark said not all students are Catholic and we have a mission to educate everyone. Mary said 82% of students are Catholic, and non-Catholic students know they will be asked to participate in the Catholic life of the schools. Scot said Jim also participates in Catholic Schools Week as a parent with children at Xaverian Brothers in Westwood and St. Catherine of Siena in Norwood. He talked about how his own kids took part in events at their schools. He said they had open houses for potential students and their families next year. 3rd segment: Mary told a story of how the students and teachers of St. Catherine’s in Norwood lined the streets during the funeral procession of a soldier who died in Afghanistan. The students held their hands over their hearts and waved flags silently to give comfort to the soldier’s family and promote the Gospel ideal of laying one’s life down one’s friends. Jim said there are 123 Catholic schools in the Archdiocese, 89 of them are Archdiocesan parish or Archdiocesan-related schools. Some schools are separately incorporated or owned by religious orders. All of the schools participate in archdiocesan events. The five Catholic colleges also participate and cooperate with the Catholic Schools Office. Mary said there are many Catholic school leaders and the team at CSO help focus on Catholic identity, excellence in academics, and a strong and viable business plan. She said one example of a Catholic school that’s taken their help to heart is St. Agnes in Arlington. They had an assessment of their business plan and completely redesigned it so that the parish no longer has to provide financial support to the Catholic. The CSO undertook a study of the business plans and finances of all the Catholic elementary schools and came up with a snapshot of each school and a tool to help monitor and track how the school is doing over time. It gave a whole new vocabulary to pastors and principals because they’re not usually trained in business. In the past, the Archdiocese would sometimes hear of a school in distress at the last minute and this tool helps the CSO to monitor schools and give assistance long before the situation gets desperate. Scot asked Jim how the CSO helps schools that are in the danger. He noted that school enrollment in Catholic schools is up for the first time in decades. Jim said schools have generally fallen into three zones, red, yellow and green. They’ve used this “dashboard” tool to help schools under the metrics that drive the viability of schools, keeping in mind the competitive environment for private schools. The CSO has had several workshops to teach school leaders to understand the metrics and develop a strategy. For example, they’re showing schools to strategize their funds to increase ongoing income as opposed to single-time gifts. Scot said a key to a successful Catholic school is the principal and asked how they look for a good fit for each school. Mary said they have helped 45 schools find a new principals in the past few years. They help the school define the job requirements and what they’re looking for, hold parish meetings, help form screening committees, and provide other assistance. Mary said our principals are very talented, especially when you see the results. Catholic school students are far outpacing their public school peers in achievement of all kinds. Yet the principals are being compensated, in general, at well below market rate. Scot said a part of the success is getting the word out about the value of Catholic education. Mary said we have to promote our own good news. Catholic school students graduate at a 98% rate, ethnic minorities do better than their public school counterparts, and Catholic school students attend college at a higher rate. Part of the reason is that our people really care about Catholic education, invest a lot of themselves, and focus on what it is they’re trying to accomplish. Jim said he’s proud of a number of initiatives and recommendations that have taken place in recent years. One of the first was the opening of Trinity Catholic Academy in Brockton. It has a stable enrollment base and many pastoral, educational and social service programs such that the school is often the best thing happening in those kids’ lives. He then spoke of Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy which has 1,300 students on four campuses in Boston’s inner city. They’ve now create a Xaverian Brothers-sponsored Catholic high school in Lowell, which is now at capacity with a waiting list. Jim said these intiatives help build the Church in urban areas, but also help stabilize neighborhoods. He cited the example of the St. Peter teen center at Pope John Paul II that provides a place for children well into the night. Mary said Catholic schools provide benefits that surpass your expectations including learning in a Christ-centered environment that promotes a sense of teamwork, community, and caring. 4th segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Job spoke, saying: Is not man’s life on earth a drudgery? Are not his days those of hirelings? He is a slave who longs for the shade, a hireling who waits for his wages. So I have been assigned months of misery, and troubled nights have been allotted to me. If in bed I say, “When shall I arise?” then the night drags on; I am filled with restlessness until the dawn. My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope. Remember that my life is like the wind; I shall not see happiness again. Gospel for February 5, 2012, Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Mark 1:29-39) On leaving the synagogue Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever. They immediately told him about her. He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them. When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons. The whole town was gathered at the door. He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons, not permitting them to speak because they knew him. Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed. Simon and those who were with him pursued him and on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.” He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come.” So he went into their synagogues, preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee. Scot said in these readings, suffering is very present. In the first reading we only hear part of the story of Job, in which people doubted Job’s faithfulness because he was so blessed. So the blessings were withheld and remained faithful to God. In the Gospel there was much suffering as well and those sufferers came to Jesus and were healed. Fr. Mark said the message of Job is incomplete. The completion of the message of sacrifice and the problem of pain is in the healing message of Jesus. Mary said the first reading makes her think how love of God and faithfulness comes from within. Scot said in the Gospel Jesus healed people one on one. He didn’t heal whole crowds at once, but brought his love to the individual. Jim said when we are praying, our prayer sustains us in those difficulties. Often when we pray, we can recognize those who come into our lives as an answer to prayer. Our prayer life sustains us. Fr. Mark said Jesus is the busiest person around. He’s got three years to do everything and people are flocking to him, but notice how the Gospel writers say he rose and went to prayer. He always found time to pray. There’s no one busier than our Lord, but he finds time to pray.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Antonio Enrique, editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Chancellor steps down; HHS ruling and religious freedom; Proposed pastoral clusters; Mass. Citizens for Life on assisted suicide Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Susan Abbott are joined by Fr. Roger Landry and Antonio Enrique this week to discuss the headlines in The Pilot and The Anchor, including the resignation of Jim McDonough, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Boston for the past six years; the release of the proposed list of parish clusters as part of the continuing pastoral planning process; the US bishops react to the unprecedented attack on religious freedom via the Health and Human Services regulations related to Obamacare; the Mass. Citizens for Life annual assembly addressing assisted suicide proposals; and the retirement of a popular priest from our largest parish. 1st segment: Scot Landry and Susan Abbott discussed the birth of her eighth grandchild, Louise Sinead Cavanaugh, 8lbs 8oz. this past week. Scot said Rico and Ashley Ciricola had their first child, Isaac, this week. Rico works in the Pastoral Center and this is their first child. Scot said today is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord and for many years it was ordination day in the Archdiocese so for many priests ordained in the 50s and 60s, this is their anniversary. 2nd segment: Scot and Susan now welcome Antonio Enrique and Fr. Roger Landry. Scot said the top story is the resignation of Jim McDonough as chancellor for the archdiocese and John Straub will be succeeding Jim as interim chancellor. Antonio said Jim became chancellor six years ago. Last year, he renewed his five year commitment, but told the Pilot that it was not a good idea to leave his office vacant at the same time as the vicar general was changing. Six months after Msgr. Deeley came as vicar general, now is the right time. Scot said that even though John is interim chancellor, Msgr. Deeley said he expects John will be named permanent chancellor. They hope to use this interim status as a time for John to listen to the voices of the constituencies and perhaps in six months the title of interim will be dropped. Susan said the announcement was a surprise in the Pastoral Center. She said she loved how he said that at 61 years old he thinks he has another game in him and if he waits too long it will be cribbage. She was also touched by his interview with the Pilot. Scot said the chancellor is one of the top three leaders in the Archdiocese with the cardinal and the vicar general. The chancellor is the chief financial officer. During his tenure, he addressed the clergy pension funding and recommended the creation of an independent board to oversee its implementation. He also oversaw the move of the archdiocese’s central administration from the former Brighton campus to the Pastoral Center in Braintree in 2008. He also was able to balance the central ministries’ budget. John Straub said his focus will be on helping parishes realize the sorts of savings as they have found for central ministries as well as help with pastoral planning in parishes. Fr. Roger said in Fall River, the chancellor is a priest who is also a pastor as well as dealing with financial matters and canonical requests. Scot said Boston has had lay chancellors for about the past 25 years and John Straub, if he’s appointed, will become the sixth lay chancellor. 3rd segment: Scot said over the past two weeks the Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission has been charing throughout the archdiocese proposed groupings of two, three, or four parishes that would share one pastoral service team and one pastor. Scot said the aim is to get feedback on the groupings. Antonio said Msgr. Fay told the Pilot that this is the third phase of the consultation process and they emphasize that this is just a proposal, not a decision and it is definitely not mergers. In the next phase they will meet with all vicariates, parish staff, pastoral councils and finance councils. “The key point of all of this is what we are looking at is really managing the life of the parishes in very constructive ways to be able to strengthen evangelization in the diocese and to build up the Church mightily, and strongly for the future,” Msgr. Fay said. “The first phase was to lay out a proposal—and that is all it is— from the APCC,” Msgr. Fay said. He said the second phase took place in January as the APCC presented more detailed proposals on pastoral collaborative groupings at regional meetings through the archdiocese. “The purpose of phase two was to say, ‘Now that you understand the proposal, here is what we suggest the collaboratives might look like,” Msgr. Fay said. Scot and Susan emphasized that people shouldn’t listen to anyone else about what the proposals are, but should read it for themselves (at the link above). 4th segment: Scot said there has been much coverage in the media about the actions taken by the Dept of Health and Human Services that would curtail Catholics’ religious freedom and the reaction of the US bishops. Fr. Roger’s editorial this week was dedicated to this topic. He said this is all part of the Obamacare bill that was passed last year that mandates that contraception and abortifacient morning-after pills and sterilization would have to be covered under mandatory preventative care by every private health care plan. The new regulations do not allow for a religious exemption for institutions that hire or serve people who are not part of their religious belief system. Most Catholic institutions would be forced to pay for these in violation of our conscience. Fr. Roger said this rule violates the law passed by Congress that put a condition on such regulations in that it had to prove a compelling need to violate consciences. Nearly every US bishop has voiced his disapproval. The reaction of Catholic leaders to the trampling of conscience has been swift and strong, not only by Catholic bishops but also by people like Sister Carol Keehan. president of the Catholic Health Association, and Father John Jenkins, president of Notre Dame, both of whom have defended President Obama and his initiatives in the past. Perhaps the most powerful response of all, however, come from Pope Benedict himself in a very strong January 19 address to a group of U.S. bishops making their ad limina visits in Rome. Just four years after citing President Washington and praising America on the White House Lawn for our country’s promotion and defense of freedom, he lamented that “powerful new cultural currents”, opposed to core moral teachings of the Judeo-Christian tradition and increasingly hostile to Christianity as such” were eroding our nation’s respect for liberty. This culture is based on a “radical secularism,” an “extreme individualism” that is seeking to promote “notions of freedom detached from moral truth.” Of particular concern, he declared, are “certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion. … to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. … to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.” Antonio said there are some very liberal voices at work in the administration that want to reshape how we believe as Catholics. We need to defend our religious rights and conscience rights. Scot said many believe that this is about the push to redefine marriage and normalize same-sex relationships, pushing religion out of the public square in order to advance this message. Scot said Cardinal Seán has read a letter to the faithful of this Archdiocese and read it on the air. (See the link above.) Fr. Roger said Cardinal Seán repeats that this letter forces our conscience. That is unprecedented in our nation. Fr. Roger said the agenda is to copy what the Church has done with school and social services and the like, then to force the Church out of the work unless she is going to compromise herself. This has already happened with adoption services. Scot said once you lose your rights, you don’t get them back. Now is the time for all Catholics to stand up for their rights. Susan quoted Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan’s column in the Pilot: The Amish do not carry health insurance. The government respects their principles. Christian Scientists want to heal by prayer alone, and the new health-care reform law respects that. Quakers and others object to killing even in wartime, and the government respects that principle for conscientious objectors. By its decision, the Obama administration has failed to show the same respect for the consciences of Catholics and others who object to treating pregnancy as a disease. 5th segment: Scot said the Massachusetts Citizens for Life annual assembly strongly condemned physician-assisted suicide as proposed in Massachusetts. Wayne Cockfield was a guest on The Good Catholic Life last Friday before his address to the assembly. HE was quoted as saying: “Once people get used to killing, the pool of death always expands.” Antonio said we have examples of this from other countries, like the Netherlands, where the killing has grown beyond the original group. The law is supposed to teach and when it becomes deformed, the society forgets. In the Netherlands, it is now legal to kill children with deformities after birth. This would have been unthinkable before legalized euthanasia. Antonio notes that in Oregon where assisted suicide is now legal studies have shown that people are killing themselves, not because they are suffering unbearable pain, but to not be a burden on others. Scot said there is also a column in the Pilot by Drs. David and Angela Franks called “Love never abandons the suffering.” They ask whether we should be trying to eliminate suffering or the sufferer. Susan said there was a presentation at the Pastoral Center on assisted suicide by Fr. Michael Sheehan and Peter Cataldo this week and it was wonderful. Scot said an edited video of the workshop will be placed on very soon.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Dr. John McEwan, president, and Cathy Demers, head of the religion department at Cardinal Spellman High School, Brockton Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Catholic Schools Week: Cardinal Spellman High School Summary of today’s show: For the third day of Catholic Schools Week, Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams welcome Dr. John McEwan, president, and Cathy Demers, head of the religion department at Cardinal Spellman High School, Brockton, to talk about their unique school. From the famous school Masses that have priests on waiting lists to celebrate them to the model of 1st segment: Scot said we continue Catholic Schools Week. Fr. Matt is a product of Catholic schools. He was born in East Braintree and he attended Sacred Heart School in Weymouth, Xaverian Brothers High School, Stonehill College, and St. John Seminary so it was a Catholic education his whole life. His parents worked very hard and sacrificed to put them through Catholic schools. He said the Sisters of St. Joseph modeled the love of Christ, but they also put the fear of God into the students as well. Fr. Matt also remembers the joyful witness of Fr. O’Donovan, the pastor at Sacred Heart at the time. Today we profile one of our leading Catholic high schools at Cardinal Spellman in Brockton, but first Fr. Matt went on a Cursillo retreat this past weekend. He’d been invited so many times and had wondered what makes Cursillo so different. When he was invited, he saw he had a free weekend and he invited his uncle to come along. To sum it up, it was a beautiful foretaste of the communion of saints. The saints in heaven share in the eternal love of God and that overflows to us. In heaven, everyone is in sync with beautiful harmony and sharing of life. On Cursillo, you experience people’s authentic gift of themselves, pure love directed at you from a number of different angled and you can’t help but be overwhelmed by the love of God coming through people. He recommends anyone to go, especially his brother priests, as an opportunity to renew your faith or discover it for the first time. There were people there who haven’t been to church in years and who are regular worshippers. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed John McEwan and Cathy Demers to the show. Scot was inspired to know that John is not just the president, he was a student, the parent of a student, and a teacher too. John said Cardinal Spellman has changed quite a bit in the 60 years since he came there as a freshman. His was the fifth class to graduate from the school. Prior to Spellman he had been in 9 schools because his family moved a lot, and it became a home for him. He also received a full scholarship in his sophomore year which left him ready for the rest of his life. He went to the seminary for four years, but later left and ended up back at Spellman as a student-teacher and then on staff. He also married his wife, who had been in the same class as Spellman with him. Years later he has become the first lay president of Cardinal Spellman. He was very nervous to follow in the footsteps of Sr. Thomasina who was retiring and had been the first president of the school. Cathy also grew up at Sacred Heart in Weymouth, but this is also her second stint at Cardinal Spellman. She said it’s like her second family. She had her first teaching job there. She went to Regis College for her undergraduate work and went to work at Spellman until she had kids and stayed home with them. Ten years ago she came back and hasn’t regretted it. Scot asked what makes Cardinal Spellman distinctive. Cathy said it starts with their admissions program and Sr. Pat Lynch, CSJ, who runs admissions. The eighth graders come in and are “called by name” by the seniors and freshman who give them tours and have lunch with them so they already have a social connection when they come back in the fall. They also have a big brother/big sister program. John said Spellman was founded in 1958. There are 678 students and 75 staff members. They have made major changes in curriculum and the way the faculty work together. They’ve also enhanced athletics, arts, and sciences facilities. They are working on the cafeteria right now to make it like a food court. The classrooms have enhanced technology. He said it’s due to ensuring they have good finances, fair and reasonable tuition, and good alumni. Cathy said the faculty have had some ongoing workshops for faculty development and enhancement. Scot said Spellman is not named after a bishop of the diocese, but instead is named for native son of Massachusetts who went to become archbishop of New York. Cardinal Spellman grew up in Whitman. Cardinal Cushing built the school in honor of Cardinal Spellman and Cardinal Spellman built the auditorium in honor of Cardinal Cushing. The auditorium has numerous murals on its walls of the life of Cardinal Spellman. 3rd segment: Scot asked Cathy what are the goals for faith formation for students. Cathy said they first want them to know that Jesus loves them. Right from the beginning of the religion curriculum, the teachers are ministers in the classroom. They have to balance ministry and teaching theology. She said they get a lot of support from administration for their mission. Fr. Matt said faith is not something that’s taught, but it’s caught and caught from people living authentic Christian living. He asked why they need to evangelize in the classroom and what it means to minister in the classroom. Cathy said Christianity is counter-cultural and even parents are having the voice of theChurch drowned out for them. So they show the students how to be counter-cultural and strong in their faith. The seniors’ classwork is ministry work. They split up the different responsibilities of the Church and give them to each of these groups. They have a peer ministry program and food drives, but they also put a new kind of spin on it, including adoration ministry (every First Friday the religion classes pray in adoration all day), small prayer service ministry (chaplet of divine mercy), art and decoration ministry (decorating the auditorium for the monthly Mass), witness ministry educating the younger kids about the lives of the saints, and pro-life ministry. In pro-life ministry, they took kids to the March for Life in DC and are educating the seniors who will be voting this year on physician-assisted suicide. Fr. Matt said school Mass at Spellman is one of the most beautiful and spirit-filled liturgical experiences in his years as a priest. They have 126 members of the Choir-Band. One in 6 students belong. They have weekly rehearsals on Wednesdays. John said the Masses are a full house with families and friends and community members who want to be part of that. Cathy said the kids continue their fervor in college and even their school t-shirts get attention and they become evangelists for the faith and for the school. Fr. Matt said it’s easy to see why the Mass is so fervent because the leaders in the school are so animated by their faith and their love for the Eucharist is a good example for the students. Everyone has an obligation to evangelize to young people by their example. John said this is the most important priority and the reason for their existence is to show the love of Christ. They want to be a highly rated 21st century school, but they want to be a highly respected Catholic school most of all. When they ask the kids their favorite part of the school, they say overwhelmingly its the Mass. Of the three things they don’t want to change is the religion classes, adoration and other prayer experiences. John said one lesson for parishes looking to increase Mass attendance is that there is responsive. The kids see that it is thoughtfully done, is personal and communal. Cathy said Deacon Joe Nickley is the chaplain and he is responsible for bringing in priests for the Masses, but they actually have priests coming to them and there’s a waiting list. 4th segment: It’s time to announce this week’s winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prizes this week are the book “Parent Power” by James Sedlak and a copy of the CD “Catholic Answers Live: IS Anything Deviant Anymore?” signed by Teresa Tomeo and Jerry Usher. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Mary Kate D’Souza from East Weymouth, MA. Congratulation, Mary Kate! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: Scot said Cardinal Spellman is embracing the latest in technology with an iPad initiative. John said two years ago they set up a special technology committee of parents, students, faculty, and community leaders to look at the next step in education. They decided that the Apple iPad and etextbooks are the future to replace outdated books and heavy backpacks. In December they started meeting with Apple to be one of the first schools to do this. They visited Burlington High which is the first in Massachusetts to do this. For Christmas they gave all the teachers new iPads to get them started and familiar with it. They encouraged them to spend Christmas break coming up with ideas on how to use it. Every classroom has an electronic whiteboard and they’re using AppleTV to allow the teachers to write on the board from her iPad wherever she is in the room. After February vacation, the teachers will be able to use them. Tonight, they will meet with parents that they will tell parents that every child will receive an iPad next year. They are meeting with textbook publishers to talk about ebooks. They don’t anticipate every textbook will be replaced in September, but John guesses that in 3 to 5 years all their textbooks will be replaced by ebooks. Cathy said she’s excited that a lot of textbooks are from the 90s and new ones based on the bishops’ new curriculum won’t be ready for a few years. They will have a chance to write their own textbooks. John said it’s technology to enhance teaching, learning, communication, and organization. It prepares students for their future lives. He thinks this positively affect all subjects. With all the apps available they affect and enhance English, math, and science. Teachers can put together learning and testing materials. Scot said he is so proud that one of our schools is so much on the cutting edge to prepare our students to use this technology well. John said he wishes he was 25 and just starting his teaching career because it’s an amazing new opportunity. Scot said students come from 41 communities. John said they are planning to rebuild an on-campus former convent to provide more space, but right now they’re almost at capacity. Cathy said for Catholic Schools Week the seniors have come up with their own theme and they come up with t-shirts. The “Prayer Posse” organizes it and their theme is “Have it God’s Way”. They started with a prayer service on Monday and their question is “Are you down with the King?” and they search for students performing random acts of kindness. On Tuesday, they did an opening ad drive for the program for their annual musical and play religious family feud, teachers vs. students. It was also Hawaiian day, which is just a spirit week sort of activity. Today was the annual faculty-student basketball team. The seniors compete for the privilege to play the faculty. Tomorrow is Mass with Bishop Dooher and ending the week with adoration. Fr. Matt said he keeps hearing how they help the kids discover their gifts to give to the community and encourage their creative genius in those gifts. When young people are invited to relationship with Jesus they respond. For those interested in attending Spellman, call Sr. Patricia Lynch in admissions at 508-584-3004.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): William McIvor, headmaster, and John Robinson, music director of the Archdiocesan Choir School; and Fr. Michael Drea, pastor of St. Paul Parish, Cambridge Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Catholic Schools Week: The Boston Archdiocesan Choir School Summary of today’s show: Boys’ choir schools are an ancient tradition in the Church going back hundreds of years and the Archdiocesan Choir School is the only choir school left in the United States. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor talk with Fr. Michael, William McIvor, and John Robinson about the unique school and how it prepares boys with an excellent education and musical skills that put them ahead of even college-level freshman in most instances. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Chris caught up on their past week. Scot said there was a big announcement today in the Archdiocese. Jim McDonough, the chancellor for the Archdiocese for the past 6 years, is retiring as of March 2 and he will be succeeded by an interim chancellor, John Straub. Scot said this news will be discussed on our Thursday news show. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed today’s guests and asked how the Archdiocesan Choir School started 49 years ago. Fr. Michael Drehe said the school started with 25 boys in 1963 with a primary focus on music. They area choir with a school in that the music is the lifeblood of the choir. But academics are not given short shrift. The founder was Dr. Theodore Marier. John grew up in England and he said choir schools in that country are very common, but St. Paul’s is the only Catholic choir school in the US. He said that focus on music helps with academics. The discipline and hard work of music train them in the skills needed to succeed in education and Catholic formation helps that. Bill said the boys sing Mass every day of the week at St. Paul’s. You can’t help having that part of your everyday life but it will affect your faith. It becomes a platform for their formation. The school is currently grades 5-8 and they will be opening a grade 4 next year. Bill said he came from public education where he worked for 40 years and working at the choir school is a delight. Fr. Chris asked about the unique role of the pastor in the choir school. Fr. Michael said it is the opportunity to be with young people and to present the love of the priesthood and share it with them, to see men who are happy in serving the Lord and the Church. This is an important aspect of his ministry. He also works with Bill and John on the administration: academics, finances, music, and more. With only about 40 students, it has unique challenges and requires a lot of work to maintain. When the boys graduate, they have the opportunity to attend some of the best schools in Massachusetts. Fr. Chris asked John how he imparts a love for music and for liturgical music to the young boys. John said he’s amazed how the boys coming to the music for the first time find something intrinsic to it that they love. He believes it’s some of the greatest music in the world and these boys are coming into contact with it and carrying on a tradition literally thousands of years old. Fr. Michael said he hears from some of the students when they go away on vacation and come back, their comments when they come back is that they are happy to be able to sing the music they can at Mass. They understand the beauty of the music and how it elevates the soul in worship. Scot asked Bill what it means for them that they’re the only boys choir school in the country. Bill said it gives them a sense of pride in that they have this unique school. Some of the staff have been at other schools and they have come together to realize what a true treasure they have. Because they are involved every day of the week in the parish and school, it becomes a part of their life. He said they are also proud that their academics are strenuous and they believe the students to be studying a grade ahead. Every student takes French every year and in 7th and 8th grade they study Latin. Every boy studies music theory and they all study piano and are graded on performance, in addition to the recorder and handbells. He said he often hears from Catholic high schools looking for more graduates of the school. John said the 4th and 5th grade will sing together and then 6th, 7th, and 8th grade will sing together. It works perfectly that there will be 20-25 among them. In the upper grades the boys voices can start changing. Once their voices change, they don’t sing in the choir anymore, but then serve the Mass. They use the same amount of training and study for that service as they do in singing. Fr. Chris said there is a major commitment by the family to the choir school. John said they try to tell prospective families that it is quite rigorous. The days start with a 7:50am choir rehearsal and the day ends at 3:30pm, although some boys stay later a couple of days for vespers or to practice for Sunday morning. Fr. Michael said one of the hallmarks of Ted Marier’s founding is the working scholarship. While the basic tuition is about $5,000, the cost is about $15,000 and so the boys work off their costs through various performances and fundraising activities involving the parents. Bill said the decision to expand to 4th grade came from John. He said in England choir schools start at 4th grade because of how long it takes to train a boy before his voice changes. For the boy to enjoy it more, you start earlier. They don’t have as rigorous schedule as the older boys but the musical foundations begin. Fr. Chris asked what they are looking for when they audition. John said they are looking for potential, not a finished product. They’re looking for a musical ear, for the ability to hold a tune. Fr. Michael said at a recent audition a young boy came who had prepared with Gregorian chant and it was beautiful. 3rd segment: Scot said you can get their CDs by purchasing them on their website. John said the aspiration when they graduate is for them to pick up a piece of music and to be able to understand and perform the music. When they begin, most have never read music so the first year is music theory, understanding the nuts and bolts, especially if they go on to become composer or arrangers. In the sixth grade they sing different liturgical music every day and they have to be able to read music. He said the music theory course by the time they leave is the equivalent of a first-year college course. The boys actually achieve far beyond the ability of most adults, including musical performers. John said he thinks they’re the only choir school that insists all students learn piano. It helps them to hear music, especially when there are multiple notes. He said the bells are wonderful because it’s challenging to play them all together as one. Bill said there is a transference from learning to read and write music to all the other subjects and they use the three styles of learning—auditory, kinesthetic, and reading. Some of the eighth graders are taking algebra. All of the kids are very good writers. It teaches them to stay on task and focus, to look and read critically. More importantly, it lays a foundation for decision-making which comes into the spirituality. and because they serve at so many Masses, they hear homilies from four excellent priests on a daily basis and have in them marvelous role models. It makes a formation for a solid Catholic and dignified young man. The music alone and the kinds of experience they get means the eighth graders are at a college level of music. Scot asked Fr. Michael about what it’s like to sing the Mass among all these great singers. He deferred to John’s assessment. John said Fr. Michael have a lovely, strong singing voice that is very holy. Fr. Michael said the new Roman missal presented a new challenge because he didn’t know how to read the new music and so John has helped him to read music and understand it as a priest and appreciate the new setting in a much better way. Fr. Michael said Fr. Bill Kelly of St. Mary in Dedham and Bishop Peter Uglietto as alumni of the school. Fr. Michael said when he came back to celebrate the alumni Mass after being ordained bishop picked it up like he’d never left. They also have a seminarian at St. John Seminary as well. Fr. Michael said they also have a number of lawyers and businessmen and politicians in Boston who are alums as well. They also have some other alums who have come back and joined the Men’s Schola which performs on Sunday mornings, which is a good witness to the boys. Fr. Chris asked John who is his favorite composer and why. John said he always says he can’t bear to choose, but he’s always amazed by J.S. Bach and how he would compose a sonata each week. He also thinks of the 16th century composers and Palestrina and how they illustrate how faith can affect their music. Scot said single-sex schools are rare today and asked Bill how it helps the boys. Bill said the boys are just driven so much by the music and academics and service without all the other distractions. He said keeping that legacy has had tremendous benefit for them. Fr. Michael said studies show boys love to be challenged academically and to be called to excellence. He said in a single-sex school that the distractions that boys encounter in adolescent years aren’t present. It allows them to dig deeper in discovering God’s gifts and not be shy about expressing them. Fr. Michael said they reinforce the Catholic identity in the school by celebrating the sacraments with the boys regularly and coming into the school for events such as question-and-answer. He hopes someday to be able to teach a religion class, particularly with the eighth graders. Bill said as the boys leave the school, they find the students are going into second and third year French and they hope to do that with Latin as well. They also have new technology, including Smartboards in the classrooms and a website where parents can go and see what homework assignments have been assigned. There are auditions coming up for boys in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. On Feb. 4 at Immaculate Conception, Malden; Feb. 11, Quincy Catholic Academy; and Feb 25, St. Julia’s, Weston. All are from 10am-noon or by appointment. Tuesday through Friday at 12:10pm the boys sing the Mass. Wednesdays at 5:15 they sing Vespers. Sunday at the 11am, they sing the solemn Mass with the Men’s Schola and on Saturday at 5pm, the 5th grade sings the Mass. All Masses are at St. Paul in Cambridge. In May they have their principal fundraising event of the year, their Gala dinner. This year it will be at the Seaport Hotel in Boston. There will be a live and a silent auction, dinner, and performance by the boys.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Paul O’Brien, Pastor of St. Patrick’s, Lawrence, and Sr. Lucy Veilleux, Principal of Lawrence Catholic Academy Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Catholic Schools Week: Lawrence Catholic Academy Summary of today’s show: Lawrence Catholic Academy may be only two years old, but it builds on more than 100 years of Catholic education in Lawrence. Fr. Paul O’Brien and Sr. Lucy Veilleux talk to Scot Landry about the challenges facing their school in the poorest city in the state where 75% of kids come from single-parents families and the crime rate is skyrocketing. While the public school system has been taken over by the state, LCA had 100% graduation rate. What is their secret? And how did they manage to bring together two different schools with long traditions of their own in such a short time? 1st segment: Scot said it’s Catholic Schools Week, a time to focus on the importance of Catholic schools in the life of our Church and for society to recall the important impact our Catholic schools have had on our nation. Especially in inner cities, Catholic schools have helped students to excel and rise out of poverty and become leaders. Scot said it’s up to this generation to continue this legacy. He welcomed Fr. Paul O’Brien and Sr. Lucy Veilleux from Lawrence Catholic Academy. It was founded in 2010 with the St. Patrick School and Our Lady of Good Counsel came together. Fr. Paul said having a full school located at the parish in the inner city is great. The school now has more than 500 students. Sr. Lucy said families are very impressed by the faculty, how dedicated they are to the students. Fr. Paul said there were three Catholic elementary schools in Lawrence: Our Lady of Good Counsel in Lawrence was small, St Mary was a little bigger, and St. Patrick was biggest. They wanted to avoid the pattern of closing one by one, but combined for the greater strength of Catholic education for the entire city. It was a sacrifice for everyone. St. Patrick’s which could have survived gave up its identity in order to bring together more students and keep a strength of Catholic education for the city. Sr. Lucy said they put a lot of effort into bringing the students into the new school with the changes. Fr. Paul said the middle school kids had the hardest time assimilating into the new school. He said it took most of the first year to integrate the 5th, 6th, and 7th graders socially. Sr. Lucy said giving up the uniforms was the biggest change and they took the effort to choose a new uniform for everyone. They are planning to open up another second grade class next year, but that will put them at capacity. Fr. Paul said the parents were the ones most concerned about the future viability of schools and he was surprised by how the parents accepted the change. From the beginning the parents said they didn’t want to give up their own schools, but they need this what they needed to do. It’s a credit to the honesty of the school leaders and transparent. He said people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s are very realistic about the challenges of living in Lawrence and the need to keep the schools open. He said a desire for a Catholic education overrode school or parish loyalties. Scot said others may want to know how to integrate two separate communities into one. Sr. Lucy said the first step was to work with the staff. They had an off-campus retreat day for the staff. People were angry and had to seek forgiveness or forgive others. After that they were worked together as one to form Lawrence Catholic Academy. She said every event that the individual schools had was evaluated in order to create a new tradition. People felt like it wasn’t one school taking over another, but that this was a new school. Scot said St. Patrick had a school for 100 years. Fr. Paul said as a parish they affirmed that they were as committed to the school as they were before. The pastors are ex-officio members of the Board of Trustees of the school. It’s an expansion of Catholic education, not a contraction. Sr. Lucy said 20% of students are non-Catholic. 38% are Hispanic, about 20% are Anglo, and the rest are a combination of other immigrant groups and African-American. In Lawrence, about 75% of households don’t speak English at home. Most kids in Lawrence don’t speak Spanish as their first language, though. Scot said in recent months, the public school system in Lawrence was taken over by the state for academic non-performance. Fr. Paul said Lawrence is about 80,000 people in the economically poorest city in the state. Two-thirds of kids are born to single moms. Gangs and crime are rampant. The public school system is consistently the lowest performing community on MCAS tests. Lawrence Catholic Academy is educating the same kids. While they have a higher percentage of middle-class families, they also have many of the kids in the worst circumstances. They have a 100% graduation rate. Sr. Lucy said the secret is the dedication of teachers to the students. The lack of a union helps. The parents believe in the program and ensure that students do the homework. And the students want to be in the school and they know what the alternative is. They include the parents in activities. This week they had a Mass for Catholic Schools Week. Parents help with fundraising, they come in for meetings with teachers. Fr. Paul said the parents understand the standards of the school and they also buy-in to the tuition. Whether they are paying full rate or getting scholarships, they are investing a significant amount. They have a 99.9% payment rate of tuition receivables. Sr. Lucy said many families work 3 jobs, leave work on lunch break to pick up their kids or the kids stay at an afterschool program for late-working parents. Parents give up lunch hours to participate in programs during the day and spend time with the kids doing homework at night. They see this as the children’s way out of Lawrence. Scot said a key factor is how teachers in Catholic schools love their students. Fr. Paul said the teachers are involved in the school out of their faith. They could be making more elsewhere, but they are here because of their faith. Catholic eduction works because we believe God created these kids, He loves them, and we love them. A child may respect an adult and their message, but that may not override the other influences in their life. But if it’s God giving them the message, then it’s God they are responsible to. Sr. Lucy said they permeate respect in school for all students and all people. If students or teachers don’t respect each other, they don’t stay in the school. They see examples of love and respect and respond to that. There is a zero-bullying policy in the schools and they want the kids to feel safe. Fr. Paul said Cor Unum meal center is one-block from the school and so kids who are hungry can eat there with their families. They also have free or reduced cost meals at the school itself. They also also have kids who go to Cor Unum get sponsored for their complete education at LCA. They have about 20 kids on full scholarships. Sr. Lucy said they also have a lot of students who volunteer at Cor Unum. 2nd segment: Scot said this year’s Catholic Schools Week theme is Faith, Academics, Service. He said academics is hard to achieve. Fr. Paul said last year 61% of kids go on to Catholic high schools, while the rest go on to the good public schools in their area. The best public schools require an interview to get in and they are regional schools. Sr. Lucy said the teachers try to know and appreciate each student for who they are, to know their gifts, and to teach them in the way they learn. They raise the bar, helping students to try to achieve more than they are if they can. They work with the parents. They evaluate their academic programs on a yearly basis. Part of the board focuses just on the curriculum. Every classroom now has a Smartboard. Fr. Paul said the Catholic Schools Foundation has been very generous with them and has given them a few extra grants, including the funds for the Smartboards. Sr. Lucy said their program is based on the Massachusetts Frameworks, because they know if the students leave their school they will have to pass the MCAS. Scot asked if there is something in the pedagogy at LCA that gets better results. Fr. Paul said in 7th and 8th grade every kid has to do an oral presentation every week, which gives them an important life skill. He said one of the things that kids repeat about why they are different at LCA is that they do it the hard way; they don’t take the easy route. Scot asked why LCA is able to get high achievement with fewer dollars than public schools. Fr. Paul said part of it is that the public school system has to educate special needs. But public schools in Lawrence spend $16,000 per pupil, while LCA spends $4,000. Money doesn’t solve the problems. The one thing LCA needs is more money for capital needs. They have all they need for academic excellence. Sr. Lucy said what struck her in the interviews with the teachers applying to work at LCA was their faith. They wanted to work in an environment where they could live and work their faith and be able to talk to students about their faith. They have an inner commitment to loving and working with kids. Fr. Paul said there are teachers who would be happy to work with kids in public schools, but the system doesn’t allow them to get at the roots problems. Scot noted that LCA has more religious teaching there than any other Catholic school in the Archdiocese. There are 6 religious sisters who have all been working in the schools for about 20 years. She doesn’t like to separate religious and lay teachers as they are all living the mission. Fr. Paul said these are real sisters, living the poverty and other evangelical counsels, giving inspiration and spiritual direction for the school. Sr. Lucy said many of the lay faculty have been there for 20 years. Some teachers leave for public schools and then want to come back. Fr. Paul pointed out that many of the teachers are sacrificing financially to teach there, trying to support their own families while serving their students. He said in the inner city, people can read motivations very easily. If someone was in it for the wrong reason, they know. If someone is doing it out of love, faith, and commitment, then they know. Fr. Paul said the students are actively engaged in many service projects, including green community recycling, serving those in the military and so on. Sr. Lucy said they also have a program where the older students form as role models for the younger kids. Also high schools students who graduated from the schools come back to serve as homework helpers. They also plug them into the activities of the parishes. The students come from Lawrence, Methuen, Andover, No Andover, Amesbury, Chelmsford, Dracut, Haverhill, Lowell, Medford, Salisbury, Tewksbury, Boston, and even the Salem NH, area. Many of them are from families that lived in Lawrence and they moved but have chosen to continue to attend LCA. Sr. Lucy said one of the reasons is that there is a welcoming spirit and they want to be part of the community. The students themselves have identified that as an identity of the school. Fr. Paul said there are bad things going on in Lawrence and it’s a wonderful place to live because of the people in the community. If you can avoid the bad stuff, they love it. So when they leave, the school still has that wonderful community. Scot asked Sr. Lucy how they help the kids stay safe outside of school. She said they get them to believe that they don’t need the gangs to stay safe. They give them a safe environment during the day. Fr. Paul when kids do get in trouble, they often come back to the parish or school or Cor Unum for a place to rebuild their lives because they are places of love when they have had no other experience of love in their lives. Fr. Paul said everyone listening to the show should send all their money to LCA. They have three buildings on the campus that need renovation which is an $8 to $10 million capital need. They know from Cor Unum, which went from 0 dollars to being built, that when people hear the story they respond. Fr. Paul said helping Catholic schools is a mission of the entire Catholic Church. Catholic education is the best kind of education for every kid.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Wayne Cockfield Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Physician-assisted suicide Summary of today’s show: Proponents of physician-assisted suicide are pushing a ballot initiative in Massachusetts this November and Wayne Cockfield, a disabled Vietnam veteran and vice-president of National Right to Life, sits down with Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell to talk about this dangerous expansion of the culture of death. Wayne tells Scot and Fr. Mark that such a law would strip constitutional protections from another class of citizens—the disabled, elderly, and sick—and create pressures on them to seek death for the convenience of others. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Mark caught up on their past week. Fr. Mark was in Baltimore this week working on behalf of the Canon Law Society of America. It was the board of governors meeting held at the Baltimore airport so it wasn’t very glamorous, but he did get to gloat a little at the Patriots beating the Baltimore Ravens. Scot said this November, Massachusetts will get to vote on a proposed law that would legalize doctor-prescribed suicide. We’re beginning our coverage of this issue with Wayne Cockfield, vice-president on medical ethics for the National Right to Life and their representative at the United Nations. He speaking to the Mass. Citizens for Life assembly this Sunday at Fanueil Hall. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcome Wayne to the show. He is a Vietnam veteran and former US Marine. Wayne said he was born and raised in South Carolina and a 13th generation South Carolinian. He had an ancestor on the first ship at the founding of Charleston. Scot asked him about his experience in Vietnam and how it prepared him to speak up for disabled Americans’ rights and the right to life. Wayne joined the Marine Corps in 1969 and was sent to Vietnam. He was eventually promoted to Sargent at 20 years old. during a river patrol on rubber rafts, they were ambushed and an explosive threw him 20 to 30 feet in the air. He was riddled with shrapnel. A helicopter had just enough room to get into a clearing nearby with the rotors actually hitting leaves. He was literally in the field hospital within 10-15 minutes after being wounded and that is what saved him. He stayed conscious the whole time and he still believes that if he lost consciousness he’d have died. He spent more than 2 years in the hospital and had 27 surgeries. He is now an amputee and in a wheelchair. He suffered massive pain that went on for days and weeks and months. When people talk about pain in relation to assisted suicide, he understands pain at least as well as anyone in this country and he knows suicide is not appropriate pain treatment. When he got home, it took 4 to 5 years to have the stamina even to do normal daily tasks. This was about the time of the abortion wars in the early 70s. He’d left behind the culture of death in war to America which was steeped in a new culture of death. He decided right then to join t he battle on the part of life. Wayne started in the pro-life movement at the local level in Columbia, South Carolina and quickly became a spokesman against abortion. He would say that if they continued to kill unborn children, it would lead to one day killing our grandmothers. Devaluing some life leads to devaluing all life. Once society gets used to killing—and as a combat Marine he knows you get used to killing—we would have euthanasia. We’re already at the bottom of the slippery slope, killing disabled babies, grandmas, the terminally ill. Scot said doctor-prescribed suicide will be a ballot initiative in all likelihood in Massachusetts. He asked how is it different from some of the other life issues and how is it the same? Wayne said doctor-prescribed suicide is a form of euthanasia. He said euthanasia is not for dying people. It’s for those who will not die, the “biologically tenacious”. We’re not talking about whether or not to kill—that decision was made in 1973 with the Roe V. Wade decision that took constitutional protections away from a class of citizens, unborn babies—now some are pushing to take those rights away from another class of citizens. Why do they want to do this? Because of the cost to keep you alive and some calculation about the quality of life. Scot said doctors should be involved in healing people, not killing people. Wayne said there are good doctors and not-so-good doctors and they are pushing the death ethic in this country. There are pro-life doctors who do not want to be pressured to be involved in euthanasia. Wayne talked about doctors who tell him how they feel pressure from other doctors not to give life-saving treatment to chronically ill patients. Wayne said his mother died last year and said before that, a hospice worker asked if he wanted to remove his mother’s medicine to hasten her death. Fr. Mark asked a question and Scot replied that the reason we’re talking about removing medication is because advocates of assisted suicide are saying that since it’s already happening surreptitiously then we should legalize it. Wayne said there’s a presumption for death in this country. What is a good quality of life? It’s a subjective term. It could mean anything. If a person is unconscious, they can’t say they would want to live in a wheelchair, for instance. And perhaps they wouldn’t even know in the midst of the pain that later on they would have wanted to go on. By saying that someone who is in a wheelchair or is blind or the like, then they don’t have a good quality of life, and thus devalue the lives of millions of disabled and elderly. Wayne cited a study in Oregon where assisted suicide is legal, that 26% of those who died under the law was clinically depressed, but they were never treated for the depression. Scot said in Massachusetts, if this becomes legal, there will be incredible pressure on people to choose suicide in order to be “loving” to those who take care of them or watch them suffer. He cited Pope John Paul II who said that suffering is not good in itself, but it is good in that it unleashes love in those around you. You become Christ in distressing disguise. Fr. Mark asked if we’re talking about a right for the person to ask a doctor for this or a right of a family member. Scot said the ballot question says a person can ask with two witnesses—not necessarily someone who knows them, but who can say that they have the mental capacity to ask. But this could be anyone. Wayne said this law could pass as voluntary suicide, but the first court case will expand to include non-voluntary, incompetent person as chosen by a surrogate. This has happened elsewhere. The precedent would be that it would be required under the equal protection clause. Scot summarized Wayne’s point as saying that mentally incompetent patients would have a legal guardian appointed who make the decision for them to have a suicide pill. Scot said to Fr. Mark that the bill has no provision to require any kind of witness to ensure that the pill is not forced down someone’s throat. Wayne said physician-assisted suicide is not suicide, it is killing and the doctor would be guilty of murder if not in this world, then in the next. This is not a free choice for someone. No one would say a 20-year-old woman who broke up with her boyfriend could go to a doctor for a suicide pill. So it’s not about freedom. There’s only a small group of people that this “freedom” is offered to: the disabled. Wayne cited a court case about a 20-year-old disabled woman who asked for food and water to be withdrawn from her so she would die after her husband left her and she won. She won only because she was disabled. This shows a prejudice and bias against the disabled. Scot said research shows that people who get diagnosed with a terminal illness very commonly get depressed. And those depressed people will get lots of pressure. It’s in the insurance companies’ best interest for people not to linger until death. Wayne said the most cost-effective outcome of terminal illness is early death. In Oregon, the suicide cocktail costs $40 to the taxpayer. Scot said it’s often unclear where the assisted suicide proponents are getting their funding. Scot said one of the strongest arguments of the proponents is that it’s about the control and autonomy of the ill at the end of life, but the reality is that control and autonomy are taken away by the pressure to choose to die “on their own terms”. It’s not just a religious issue. Wayne said the right to die, becomes the duty to die. The people who are the targets of doctor-prescribed suicide will expand. The future will be a nightmare if we keep going down this road in this nation. We keep restricting who is eligible for our freedoms in this country. Scot said the more suicide becomes acceptable, what happens is that, as it has in Oregon, suicide of all kinds go up. In that state, suicide is the number two form of death among young people. Suicide becomes more acceptable in society because we’re saying it’s okay to think that way. Fr. Mark said he wants to talk about the restriction of extreme measures and the Church’s teaching on that. It’s not that we never allow someone to die. Prescribing a pill to someone to take is different. Wayne said doctor-assisted suicide is for those who are not dying or not dying right now. He said the people who are the targets of doctor-assisted suicide, the disabled and sick, are not the ones pushing for this. So who is pushing for this? Scot said the proponents of the bill were able to get enough signatures to put it before the Legislature. If they do not act on it, then with some more signatures, it will be put on the ballot in November. The exact language that will be on the ballot has not yet been decided, but we will be asking people to vote No on the ballot question. Fr. Mark asked how Massachusetts is perceived on this issue. Wayne said this is just the latest battleground, but they’re fighting this all over the United States. He’s had legislators ask him whether we should be compassionate to people. Compassion means “to suffer with.” Medical abandonment is not compassion. Wayne is speaking at the Assembly For Life, on Sunday 2-4pm at Fanueil Hall. As a final thought, Wayne said we have a choice in this society. We can have a society that values life or a predatory society where innocent are put to death. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Moses spoke to all the people, saying: “A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own kin; to him you shall listen. This is exactly what you requested of the LORD, your God, at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let us not again hear the voice of the LORD, our God, nor see this great fire any more, lest we die.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘This was well said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kin, and will put my words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command him. Whoever will not listen to my words which he speaks in my name, I myself will make him answer for it. But if a prophet presumes to speak in my name an oracle that I have not commanded him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, he shall die.’” Gospel for Sunday, January 29, 2012, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Mark 1:21-28) Then they came to Capernaum, and on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are?the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out of him!” The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him. All were amazed and asked one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.” His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee. Scot said it’s not the easiest readings for priests and deacons to preach on, but the main theme is prophets who speak in God’s name. In the first reading, there is discussion of true and false prophets and in the gospel, we hear that Jesus was so different from all the good prophets because he taught as one who has authority. The God who judged the good and false prophets is the one now speaking himself. Fr. Mark noted that there are false prophets today, including those who are saying that assisted suicide is good. We too must drive the false prophets from our midst. The demon-afflicted man challenge Jesus, what do you have to do with us? But we too can ask what Jesus has to do with us in that how well do we choose to accept his teaching authority. Fr. Mark said you often hear from people who challenge us for speaking up for truth and the Gospel, “What do you have to do with us?” Keep your religion to yourself. But we preach the truth and truth is always relevant. Scot said we are so anti-authoritarian in our society. But we have total freedom when we acknowledge God’s authority and choose to be obedient to him. Are we willing to obey the teaching authority of the Church? Scot said Sunday begins Catholic Schools Week. Our Catholic schools do such a wonderful job forming people to be well-formed adults and citizens. He asked to express appreciation to every single principal and teacher we encounter.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Transitional deacons; Archdiocese’s annual report; Catholic schools; March for Life roundup Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Susan Abbott review this week’s headlines with Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry, including the ordination of transitional deacons; the release of the Archdiocese’s annual financial report; Fr. Roger’s editorial on how all Americans should realize the value of Catholic schools to our nation; and a roundup from this week’s March for Life. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Susan to the show and said they were recording Thursday morning. After the show, Susan was heading to an afternoon meeting with religious educators to discuss the topic of pastoral planning in the archdiocese. Scot said we will have a show coming up on the second round of pastoral planning. He said listeners can go to and see the current list of proposed grouping of parishes throughout the Archdiocese. The idea is to expose the thinking of the pastoral planning commission to receive many responses and thus incorporate all the feedback into further recommendations to Cardinal Seán. Susan emphasized that nothing is carved in stone and that they are looking for constructive criticism. Susan also said she is counting down the days until her newest grandchild is born. Her daughter, the youngest of her children, is due to have her first baby at any time. 2nd segment: Scot and Susan welcomed Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry to the show. On the front page of the Pilot this week is the ordination of seven men as transitional deacons by Cardinal Seán last Saturday. Eric F. Cadin, Felipe de Jesus Gonzales, John J. Healy, Adrian A. Milik, and Brother Michael F. Sheehan, FPO, were ordained for Boston. Matthew Skal Peter Guidi was ordained for the Diocese of Springfield and Brother John M. Luong was ordained for the Oblates of the Virgin Mary. Greg recounted his experience covering the story. He recalled that it was snowing, but the Cathedral was still two-thirds full and it’s a testimony that people came out on this horrible day to see this ordination. “Of course in the Church’s way of preparing men for priestly ministry part of the itinerary is to be deacons. So, this celebration today puts them on that journey to priesthood, even closer, and underscores the fact that ministry is about service, about answering a call to serve the Lord, and the poor at the altar, and to be at the service of the word of God,” Cardinal O’Malley said. Scot said last week, Fr. Roger said that these men will always be deacons. Susan said it struck her too that the diaconate will always be part of their priesthood. Fr. Roger said the ordination of Jason Brilliante in Fall River was thinly attended unfortunately because they had about 11 inches of snow. Scot said the priestly ordination in Boston will be in late June this year. Scot said the Archdiocese has released its latest annual report. Back in 2006, when the archdiocese released its first report, it made national news because never before had a diocese released so much information. Now it’s a non-story. This is for fiscal year 2011 which ended last June. It covers the Corporation SOle, which includes parishes and central ministries. The budget was balanced and net assets increased by $31 million because of investment performance and net contributions in parishes grew 3%. Enrollment in Catholic schools increased for the first time in 20 years. Parishes involved in the first phase of the financial relationship model also got a very successful start with an overall net increase in operating funds of $1.2 million. Greg recalled the initial financial report media coverage and noted that over time it has become commonplace. Cardinal Seán had seen alack of trust of the Church, especially in finances and he felt it was important to have a full accounting to the people. He has kept that commitment every year, even if it takes more or less time to finish the report. They do release vast amounts of information every year and it doesn’t make the news because there’s no remarkable in the figures. The money is used the way they say it is. Scot said the report has been released in January this year and previously it had been at least April before it got out. It takes a lot of work to combine all the parishes and other institutions into one financial report. Scot and Susan discussed the difficult cuts that had to be made to get to a balanced budget. Susan appreciated the comment from the article that the Pastoral Center ensures a culture of service. Scot said there’s a budget report on the diocesan website that shows how the budget gets allocated to the central ministries. Scot said the Church has a responsibility to be good stewards of the generosity of the people. 3rd segment: Scot said Catholic Schools Week starts next week and the Pilot has a 32-page special edition next week. Greg said they run stories from many students from as many schools as they can. It gives people an insight into what’s happening in schools across the archdiocese. Scot said this is the time that many parents think about what they’re going to do for their kids next fall. Catholic schools give good whole-person formation and it’s an environment that welcomes the mention of Jesus. Susan said many schools are having open houses next week to get to know the local schools. Fr. Roger’s editorial this week discusses the benefit of Catholic schools to our entire country because it has been engine of assimilation for millions of immigrant children, forming them into good citizens, especially in our urban neighborhoods, helping them excel. They do this not because the Church has a secret teaching method, but because of the selfless dedication of so many teaching religious brothers and sisters and now laity. Catholic schools made the American dream achievable for millions. The ranks of policemen, firefighters, the military, and our political class are filled with graduates of Catholic schools. There shouldn’t be competition between government and Catholic schools. Scot said Catholic schools face financial trouble, not other kinds of trouble. Many of the teaching orders have had their ranks thinned and they have been replaced by lay teachers, but they need more pay and benefits to support their lives and families. As a result, tuitions have risen from a nominal amount to somewhere around $4000 per year. Many families can’t afford the cost. Fr. Roger’s editorial quoted Archbishop Charles Chaput’s comments when he had to close about 25% of the schools in Philadelphia about where the anger should be directed. Many parents and others are angry at the blue ribbon commission that recommended the closings, but he said they should instead be angry at the legislatures who voted down a school vouchers bill that came before them last year and at the teachers’ union that lobbied against it. If the bill had passed, many of these schools would not have to close. The voucher bill would have redirected the local property tax of parents sending their kids to private schools to the schools where their kids are going. Fr. Roger said this would also create a system of competition because now parents have a choice and schools will have to succeed. Scot said the Catholic school system gets better results than public schools and everyone should want to support that. He also noted the anti-Catholic laws on the books that forbid any state funds from going to Catholic schools specifically. 4th segment: It’s time to announce this week’s winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prizes this week are the book by Dr. Eugene Gan and two audio CDs by Fr. Larry Richards, “The Mass Explained” and “Confession”. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Mark DiMarzo from Stoneham, MA. Congratulation, Mark! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: Scot said there are two stories on the March for Life pilgrimage from Boston this past weekend. Greg and reporter Chris Pineo accompanied the pilgrims. Greg said they do a tag team approach to covering the March because it is so big. Greg stays with the cardinal and Chris stays with a group of pilgrims on the buses. The Cardinal often attends different events so they want to cover his activities. He did join the pilgrims on several occasions for the liturgies and the March itself. Greg said it was a rainy walk, but there was a palpable sense of joy, especially among the young people. Scot commented on Chris’ story on the reactions of pilgrims visiting the historic sites in DC, including the Lincoln Memorial. “This place makes me feel inspired and it’s very big. It shows what this country has come through and what we have been through and how we have overcome challenges,” Savannah Bynum, freshman at Central Catholic, said. Bynham said she hopes someone will step forward to lead the United States away from the tragedy of abortion, like the Great Emancipator led the country away from the tragedy of slavery. “It makes me think that one person, one inspiring person, can make a difference,” Bynham said. As Brother Rene D. Roy read Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address tears rolled down his face. “After those very heart-felt thoughts about who we are, and what our destiny is on this planet, it just seems like it is falling apart,” he said, descending the steps where Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in 1963. “But with the firm resolve and the dedication of those who have gone before us we shall overcome that,” Brother Rene said. He looked around at the students with whom he came to the capital to stand against abortion. “There is a lot of hope in these young people, but there are times when it just seems so degenerated, but it will be rejuvenated like the park will be rebuilt,” he said. Crews worked at the $31.6 million repairs to the reflecting pool, as Brother Rene walked back toward the bus. “I think this just gives us a great challenge to face. We are not facing Roman persecution, but we are facing a kind of more subtle dissolution of the established message of Jesus, the established ways of the past,” Brother Rene said. “But there is always hope that is why we’re here, as long as we are alive there is hope,” Brother Rene said. Scot noted a story in the Anchor this week about an increase in the number of babies saved from abortion last year in the Boston area. Fr. Roger said he felt it important to not that these 117 children saved could grow up to save so many more in their lives. If you save one person, you can save a whole nation, according to an old Jewish saying. Greg said also in the Pilot this week is a column from Fr. Roger on physician-assisted suicide and the Pilot will be covering this issue in the coming weeks and months to help people get the full story. Fr. Roger said in the Anchor this week is a story about an appeals court that overturned a lower court ruling that was going to force her to have an abortion against her will because she has a mental illness.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Domenico Bettinelli Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Pope Benedict’s message for World Communications Day Summary of today’s show: What does silence have to do with communication? Everything, says Pope Benedict XVI in his latest message for World Communications Day. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams are joined by Domenico Bettinelli to talk about the Holy Father’s message and the importance of creating a balance between word, silence, images and sound and to let silence lead to contemplation which leads to a deeper relationship with Christ. 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show and welcomed Fr. Matt Williams back from leading the pilgrimage for the March for Life in Washington, DC. Scot said Monday’s show was recorded before the actual March and asked how it went. Fr. Matt gave kudos to the people from his office who coordinated the March: Kathy Stebbins, Steve Colella, and Danielle Olsen. He also said all the group leaders were amazing in their witness and they were a pleasure to work with. After the recording on Monday, they traveled down to Sixth Avenue and lined up with Cardinal Seán, marching with him. Scot asked about the weather. Fr. Matt said it was raining at the start, but for 85% of the walk they didn’t need umbrellas. He said many of the groups of kids stopped and prayed the Divine Mercy chaplet in front of the Supreme Court. Fr. Matt talked about how the three different age groups did their own thing after the March. Scot said he’s heard some seminarians tell him that going on a March for Life was the beginning of their call to the priesthood. He said he hopes that many of the pilgrims have the opportunity to discern their vocation. He also said he hopes the pilgrimage see that they are not alone in living their faith. Fr. Matt said the pilgrims are accompanied by witnesses who show them how to live that Catholic life. Whenever you see a priest or religious, you can say that person gave their life for me and the witnesses on the March showed the same truth. The pilgrimage exposes them to the experience of God through all these different streams. Scot said the Popes have issued for 42 years a message on the Feast of St. Francis de Sales and in recent years it’s been focused on digital media. This year, Pope Benedict focuses on the value of silence in communication. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Dom and said we’ll read each paragraph and comment on it as we go. As we draw near to World Communications Day 2012, I would like to share with you some reflections concerning an aspect of the human process of communication which, despite its importance, is often overlooked and which, at the present time, it would seem especially necessary to recall. It concerns the relationship between silence and word: two aspects of communication which need to be kept in balance, to alternate and to be integrated with one another if authentic dialogue and deep closeness between people are to be achieved. When word and silence become mutually exclusive, communication breaks down, either because it gives rise to confusion or because, on the contrary, it creates an atmosphere of coldness; when they complement one another, however, communication acquires value and meaning. Silence is an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist. In silence, we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves; ideas come to birth and acquire depth; we understand with greater clarity what it is we want to say and what we expect from others; and we choose how to express ourselves. By remaining silent we allow the other person to speak, to express him or herself; and we avoid being tied simply to our own words and ideas without them being adequately tested. In this way, space is created for mutual listening, and deeper human relationships become possible. It is often in silence, for example, that we observe the most authentic communication taking place between people who are in love: gestures, facial expressions and body language are signs by which they reveal themselves to each other. Joy, anxiety, and suffering can all be communicated in silence – indeed it provides them with a particularly powerful mode of expression. Silence, then, gives rise to even more active communication, requiring sensitivity and a capacity to listen that often makes manifest the true measure and nature of the relationships involved. When messages and information are plentiful, silence becomes essential if we are to distinguish what is important from what is insignificant or secondary. Deeper reflection helps us to discover the links between events that at first sight seem unconnected, to make evaluations, to analyze messages; this makes it possible to share thoughtful and relevant opinions, giving rise to an authentic body of shared knowledge. For this to happen, it is necessary to develop an appropriate environment, a kind of ‘eco-system’ that maintains a just equilibrium between silence, words, images and sounds. 3rd segment: The process of communication nowadays is largely fueled by questions in search of answers. Search engines and social networks have become the starting point of communication for many people who are seeking advice, ideas, information and answers. In our time, the internet is becoming ever more a forum for questions and answers – indeed, people today are frequently bombarded with answers to questions they have never asked and to needs of which they were unaware. If we are to recognize and focus upon the truly important questions, then silence is a precious commodity that enables us to exercise proper discernment in the face of the surcharge of stimuli and data that we receive. Amid the complexity and diversity of the world of communications, however, many people find themselves confronted with the ultimate questions of human existence: Who am I? What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope? It is important to affirm those who ask these questions, and to open up the possibility of a profound dialogue, by means of words and interchange, but also through the call to silent reflection, something that is often more eloquent than a hasty answer and permits seekers to reach into the depths of their being and open themselves to the path towards knowledge that God has inscribed in human hearts. Ultimately, this constant flow of questions demonstrates the restlessness of human beings, ceaselessly searching for truths, of greater or lesser import, that can offer meaning and hope to their lives. Men and women cannot rest content with a superficial and unquestioning exchange of skeptical opinions and experiences of life – all of us are in search of truth and we share this profound yearning today more than ever: “When people exchange information, they are already sharing themselves, their view of the world, their hopes, their ideals” (Message for the 2011 World Day of Communications ). Attention should be paid to the various types of websites, applications and social networks which can help people today to find time for reflection and authentic questioning, as well as making space for silence and occasions for prayer, meditation or sharing of the word of God. In concise phrases, often no longer than a verse from the Bible, profound thoughts can be communicated, as long as those taking part in the conversation do not neglect to cultivate their own inner lives. It is hardly surprising that different religious traditions consider solitude and silence as privileged states which help people to rediscover themselves and that Truth which gives meaning to all things. The God of biblical revelation speaks also without words: “As the Cross of Christ demonstrates, God also speaks by his silence. The silence of God, the experience of the distance of the almighty Father, is a decisive stage in the earthly journey of the Son of God, the incarnate Word …. God’s silence prolongs his earlier words. In these moments of darkness, he speaks through the mystery of his silence”(Verbum Domini ,21). The eloquence of God’s love, lived to the point of the supreme gift, speaks in the silence of the Cross. After Christ’s death there is a great silence over the earth, and on Holy Saturday, when “the King sleeps and God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages”(cf. Office of Readings, Holy Saturday), God’s voice resounds, filled with love for humanity. If God speaks to us even in silence, we in turn discover in silence the possibility of speaking with God and about God. “We need that silence which becomes contemplation, which introduces us into God’s silence and brings us to the point where the Word, the redeeming Word, is born” (Homily, Eucharistic Celebration with Members of the International Theological Commission , 6 October 2006). In speaking of God’s grandeur, our language will always prove inadequate and must make space for silent contemplation. Out of such contemplation springs forth, with all its inner power, the urgent sense of mission, the compelling obligation “to communicate that which we have seen and heard” so that all may be in communion with God (1 Jn 1:3). Silent contemplation immerses us in the source of that Love who directs us towards our neighbours so that we may feel their suffering and offer them the light of Christ, his message of life and his saving gift of the fullness of love. In silent contemplation, then, the eternal Word, through whom the world was created, becomes ever more powerfully present and we become aware of the plan of salvation that God is accomplishing throughout our history by word and deed. As the Second Vatican Council reminds us, divine revelation is fulfilled by “deeds and words having an inner unity: the deeds wrought by God in the history of salvation manifest and confirm the teaching and realities signified by the words, while the words proclaim the deeds and clarify the mystery contained in them”(Dei Verbum ,2).This plan of salvation culminates in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the mediator and the fullness of all revelation. He has made known to us the true face of God the Father and by his Cross and Resurrection has brought us from the slavery of sin and death to the freedom of the children of God. The fundamental question of the meaning of human existence finds in the mystery of Christ an answer capable of bringing peace to the restless human heart. The Church’s mission springs from this mystery; and it is this mystery which impels Christians to become heralds of hope and salvation, witnesses of that love which promotes human dignity and builds justice and peace. Word and silence: learning to communicate is learning to listen and contemplate as well as speak. This is especially important for those engaged in the task of evangelization: both silence and word are essential elements, integral to the Church’s work of communication for the sake of a renewed proclamation of Christ in today’s world. To Mary, whose silence “listens to the Word and causes it to blossom”(Private Prayer at the Holy House , Loreto, 1 September 2007), I entrust all the work of evangelization which the Church undertakes through the means of social communication.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Timothy Gallagher, OMV Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Ignatian Spirituality and Discerning God’s Will Summary of today’s show: How do you know what God’s will is for your life? How do you know if you did God’s will today? Fr. Timothy Gallagher, OMV, joins Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to discuss Ignatian spirituality, and especially the daily Examen prayer and discerning the will of God. Discernment is not a technique and examen isn’t a test. They are both parts of a relationship with God. Also, what kind of input should your spouse have in your discernment? 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show. He said Fr. Chris must often hear from seminarians how can they know what God wants them to do in their lives either each day or for their whole lives. Fr. Chris said Fr. Tim Gallagher’s books have been very useful for diocesan priests and seminarians. Every day before lunch, for instance, they pray Fr. Gallagher’s Examen Prayer. Scot said we recently got news that Bishop Arthur Kennedy will be taking a new role in the archdiocese and that Msgr. James Moroney, already a professor, will become rector. Fr. Chris said there is a mix of sadness among the seminarians at Bishop Kennedy leaving, because of the great work he has done in the seminary forming priests, seminarians and laypeople in the faith, and joy at seeing Msgr. Moroney as his replacement. He can’t think of a better replacement to continue Bishop Kennedy’s work. Fr. Chris said Msgr. Moroney is well known throughout the Church, especially for his work traveling around the country to talk about the new translation of the Roman Missal. Fr. Chris said with today’s gift, we will have a greater insight at the end of the show about what prayer looks like. 2nd segment: Scot welcomes Fr. Timothy Gallagher to the show, an Oblate of the Virgin Mary. Scot asked how an OMV has become an expert in Ignatian spirituality. Fr. Tim said the founder of the order, Venerable Bruno Lanteri, met a Jesuit priest as a diocesan seminarian and took him as his spiritual director. He became convinced of the power of the Ignatian spiritual exercises to change hearts and help dedicate their lives to Him. He decided that since the Jesuits have so much to do in the Church, he decided that his order would focus on Ignatian spirituality. Scot said the OMV came to Boston in 1976, including maintaining St. Clement’s Eucharistic Shrine in Boston, which is very active and unofficially a student and young adult parish. They have St. Francis Chapel in the Prudential Center Mall, which offers Masses and confession throughout the day. They run St. St. Joseph Retreat House in Milton, which has been becoming very active. Fr. Tim said when he was a senior in high school there came a point of great clarity that God wanted him to become a priest. He researched many orders and the diocesan seminary before coming across the OMV. He was attracted to their Marian nature, growing up in a family with great Marian devotion. Also that the order was based in Rome and he would be living in Rome. Fr. Chris asked what is the most important element of his work as an Oblate. Fr. Tim said his own work is very Ignatian. Having written the books, people ask him to come speak all the time. Fr. Tim described St. Ignatius. Until he was 30, he very worldly. He was CAtholic, but his ambitions were very worldly. When he was 30 his legs were wounded in battle and spent a lot of time convalescing. His only reading material was a life of Christ and stories of the lives of saints and he won over by the heroism he encountered. He had a radical change in his life. 3rd segment: Scot said a key to Ignatian prayer is the daily examen. Fr. Tim said St. Therese talks about a moment of her total conversion on Christmas night when she was 15 years old. She’d become nervous, scrupulous, and prone to tears after the death of her mother and her sister going off to the convent. They had just returned from midnight Mass and her other sister had prepared a gift for Therese, shoes filled with gifts in the fireplace. Her father, who didn’t know she could hear, said, “Thankfully that will be the last year for this.” Therese is struck to the heart, but then didn’t cry, came into the room and never shed nervous dramatic tears for the rest of her life. That was her moment of total conversion. Fr. Tim said without prayer nothing happens, but we also need reflection on the spiritual experience that happens when we prayer. That’s when we learn. The examen prayer brings a reflection on experience of the day so we can live the next day more focused on where God is really leading us. We daily need to ask God’s forgiveness each day, but in addition to the times we have been less than what God has wanted, God has also been active in other ways in our day. Fr. Chris said there’s five steps. The first is becoming aware of God’s presence. How do we become aware of God’s presence in the hubbub of life. Fr. Tim quoted Soren Kierkegaard who said his prescription for the ills of the world is silence. We have to create silence, search for silence, even in small moments. It is the atmosphere the permits the rest to happen. Prayer is a relationship, an encounter between two persons. We become aware of God. We lift up our heart and consider how God is looking upon me, the love that is there, the desire for communion. Rather than jump into prayer, start by becoming aware of God’s presence. if we being prayer relationally knowing we are loved, then the examen is not a heavy dark examination, but being with someone who loves me. Fr. Chris said the next step is to have gratitude for the day God has given us. How can we be grateful in the midst of pain or suffering? Fr. Tim said to see the gifts that have been there throughout the day, even the small ones. He said people who have had suffering in their lives have an exercises where they gradually begin looking for the things for which they were grateful, starting with the smallest things and eventually coming to knowing that it’s in the end that God loves me. At this point something will change in my heart. It will be different when I look at the darkness, anger or heaviness in life. Fr. Chris said the examen prayer builds on itself each day. How does the examen prayer prepare us for tomorrow? Fr. Tim said he remembers walking into breakfast one day and seeing a member of his community he hadn’t seen in a while. He recalled some resistance to renewing a relationship with this man who had been difficult. There was one chair and he sat in it but remained silent. When he sat down later that day for his examen, he knew he needed to look at it. He knew he’d not lived it with a Christ-centered love. Many years, he’s grateful for that examen, because there is new closeness with that community member. So much happens over the course of a day, there is a difference between reacting and doing. This takes courage to practice this as a daily discipline. It’s not easy as a culture to stop and review daily life, because we have a sneaking suspicion we’re going to get a spiritual report card with a D on it. To stop the flow of life takes courage. If we have the courage of Mary Magdalene who stooped down on Easter Sunday to peer into the darkness, it can be lifechanging. 4th segment: Scot said the book “Discerning the Will of God” might be the best place for listeners to start. Fr. Tim talked about the difference between asking God’s will in particular situations in daily life, between good and bad or even between equally good and moral options, and the bigger vocational questions like marriage, children, priesthood. Fr. Tim said discernment doesn’t happen in a vacuum nor is it a technique. It’s a relationship. If I want to discern more clearly, the way to begin is to grow in my relationship with God. Make the Eucharist at the center of discernment. Go to daily Mass if you can. Spend time before the Blessed Sacrament in adoration. In his book, he recounts the stories from many different people and it’s remarkable how many of them said their discernment included going to daily Mass. Then start reading Scripture. Listen to the Word of God. Find a good spiritual director or retreat director. Create the context in which we can begin to hear God’s word more clearly. Fr. Chris said he still encounters people who are petrified of Scripture. Where should those people start? Fr. Tim suggested approaching Scripture throug hthe daily Mass. He said the monthly Magnificat is a good resource, even if you can’t make it to Mass, because it also has resources. Any good Catholic bookstore will have other devotional prayer aids like that. This is why he wrote the two other books: “An Ignatian Introduction to Prayer: Scriptural Reflections According to the Spiritual Exercises” and “Meditation and Contemplation: An Ignatian Guide to Praying with Scripture”. Scot asked how one can determine that it is God leading me to a choose, not just my own preference? Fr. Tim said, first, we presume some kind of spiritual guidance. Then, Ignatius says one way to know is when God makes it clear to us without a doubt. A second way is to be attentive to spiritual consolation. He remembers a Jesuit who told him that when he was discerning married life or the Jesuit priesthood, how he would feel a soothing calmness while praying in a particular Jesuit chapel. Scot asked how we should handle our spouse’s input in our discernment? Fr. Tim said if God has called me to the married life and my spouse is giving me input on my life’s decisions, I really need to be open to whatever light God is giving me through that relationship, because that relationship is so central. But very important, both husband and wife should be discerning. He knows a couple who end every day in a daily examen together. This is the ideal and this the heart of conjugal spirituality. Fr. Gallagher will be giving a seminar on the discernment of spirits at St. Clement’s, Boston, on January 28-29. Contact Carol at 617-266-5999 x130 or . Fr. Gallagher’s schedule is . To schedule an Ignatian retreat, visit the…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Cardinal Seán, Fr. Matt Williams, Sr. Olga Yaqob and more Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: 2012 March for Life Summary of today’s show: More than 500 Boston pilgrims have traveled to Washington, DC, for the 39th annual March for Life today. On today’s show, Scot Landry was joined by Fr. Matt Williams, Sr. Olga Yaqob, and a number of pilgrims, including Cardinal Seán O’Malley to talk about their experiences so far and what they expect to see when they began marching this afternoon. You will be inspired and energized by the joy and hope in the youth who join us on air today. 1st segment: Scot said we are recording this around lunchtime with pilgrims at the March for Life in Washington, DC. Scot welcomed Sr. Olga and Fr. Matt Williams. Fr. Matt’s office at Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults organized this pilgrimage. Fr. Matt said it has gone remarkably well. They tell the pilgrims that this is a pilgrimage, not a vacation, and we never complain about anything on a pilgrimage. The nature of pilgrimage is God calling you out of your home to a place for a specific purpose, in this case to bear witness to the gift of human life. When you’re on pilgrimage, you’re called to a deeper life of prayer, charity, and sacrifice. There will be moments of inconvenience, including buses breaking down, snow delaying trips, video equipment breaking down. But it teaches that sacrifice and suffering has an intrinsic value and part of life is suffering. He said it’s been wonderful with lots of opportunity to offer up. Scot said there are 500 young people on three tracks: Middle School, High School and Young Adults. Sr. Olga said she and her community are traveling with the young adults, including 25 from Boston University, but also from many different parishes and professional careers. Scot said this morning the pilgrims had Mass this morning with Cardinal Seán at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart, where the cardinal served when he was first ordained. Fr. Matt said after lunch they will travel to the March where they will walk to the Supreme Court, where they will break down into small groups to pray the Divine Mercy chaplet for our country, asking for God’s mercy on our country for not valuing human life and for ourselves for the times we have not spoken out. From there, the middle schoolers will go back to the hotel for dinner and a youth night. The high schoolers will go to a nearby parish in Landover, Maryland, for a pizza gathering (There’s about 350 of them), and then a talk, group processing, and Eucharistic adoration and confession. In their experience, this adoration is the most powerful event of the whole weekend, because they have put their faith into action and seen the body of Christ together and are now praying. The young adults will be getting on buses back to Boston. On Tuesday, the youth will gather with Cardinal Seán for Mass. Sr. Olga said the highlight of her trip so far was the National Prayer Vigil for Life at the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception last night. Just the opening procession was 45 minutes long with all the seminarians, priests, bishops, and cardinals. The young adults were amazed by the youthfulness of our Church and the strength of the Church in America. To see hundreds of young seminarians was inspiring to see that side of the Church. There were thousands of young people sitting everywhere, including on the floor and all the way out the doors into the rain, without any complaining. Sr. Olga said on Saturday, in the snow, it took them 7 hours to get the New York but there were no complaints. Scot said last night more than 22,000 crowded into the upper and lower church of the Basilica. 2nd segment: Joining us are Kevin Ouellette and Darcy Gilbert. Kevin belongs to St. Clements’ Young Adult Group. He said the group is called Pure in Heart, which meets for Mass and rosary and a talk every Thursday night, focused on chastity, sanctity of human life and Theology of the Body. Darcy is a member of St. Mary of the Angels Parish. She said the Mass last night was incredible. They had to get there 4 hours ahead of time and even then they did not get a pew to sit in. She repeated that the procession was incredible and as happy as the pilgrims were to see them, you could see the joy in their faces at the immense crowd. She said it’s the face of the Church, the hope of the Church. They are John Paul II’s generation, a generation of peace and hope, coming back to the Church with joy. Fr. Matt asked Darcy what message seeing all those seminarians and priests gives to the young people? She said it confronts the young people with the whether God is calling them to a vocation to the priesthood or religious life. Fr. Matt said seeing all those seminarians shows how God calls all kinds of men to the priesthood, a cross-section of our society, a bunch of normal men. Sr. Olga said it was beautiful to see the Cardinal Seán saying he was impressed by so many young people, including parents with families, including small children and babies. She said it is a witness to life. Scot said both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict said at World Youth Days that the young are not just the future of the Church, they are the present. Scot said Kevin attended a different Mass last night in the Diocese of Arlington, Va., which included music by Bob Rice and Matt Maher. Kevin said he was struck by how prayerful the huge crowd at the rally was. It was a time for prayer. Hearing them pray drew them deeper into the March for Life and thinking of the weekend not as the pilgrims doing something for the cause, but that God is doing something through them. Scot asked Darcy what sights and sounds have surprised her so far. She has been amazed at the numbers of buses and how far people have traveled: Texas, South Carolina and further. She said the Basilica was beautiful, being her first time there. Kevin said he didn’t know what to expect from the March for Life, although the pro-life cause has been important to him. He’s loved getting to know more young adults in the Archdiocese who share his beliefs and who he can be himself with, sharing what’s been most important to him in his life. 3rd segment: Joining us now is Amy Asher, a senior at Boston University, who is a leader of the pro-life group at the school. Amy said BU is a secular university and their pro-life group is secular, although most of the students are Catholic. They have a Planned Parenthood clinic right in the middle of their urban campus, so on Saturdays many of them pray in front of the clinic. They also raise money through fundraisers for pro-life charities. Scot said this is Amy’s fourth March for Life. He asked her how her appreciation for the March has grown each year. She said her first year on the March, she didn’t know much about the pro-life movement, so her first exposure to the March was mostly about the size of the movement, and in subsequent years, her understanding of the message has been the real growth for her. Scot asked Amy what she told her fellow BU students to prepare them. She said it’s a hard sell to her students because they are missing the first Monday of classes, so it is a real sacrifice to stand up for life. Fr. Matt said it’s clear that abortion is a sensitive and volatile issue in society. He asked Amy what it’s like to be a leader in the pro-life movement on campus and what motivates her to persevere? Amy said she comes from a Catholic family and went to Catholic schools so being at BU was the first real challenge to her faith. An awakening occurred the first time she wore a pro-life shirt to class and realized people were actually glaring at her. Now she’s sees it as an opportunity to have a conversation with others, to educate them about abortion, giving them information they may have never heard. Sr. Olga said BU Right to Life provides resources and help for teenagers in crisis. She said there are girls on campus who choose abortion because they have no other option, so they want to provide that option. They organize baby showers for the young women to show that there are people who love them and support them. Sr. Olga said the Gospel for the Mass was the Good Samaritan reading and Cardinal Sean said pro-lifers must have courage and love like the Good Samaritan. She sees that in students like Amy who are witnesses for life on those college campuses, especially secular campuses. She gives credit to students who come from every campus around the country. 4th segment: Joining us now is Isabella Bushko from St. Mary in Holliston and Jane Richard, a sponsor from the Presentation of Mary Academy. Scot asked Jane about the pilgrims from the school. She said they have 29 students, juniors and seniors. It’s been a great experience, especially last night with Matt Maher and she said the fruit spills over to her youth ministry work back home. Scot asked Isabella about her experience. She said the bus ride was very long, but they prayed the whole time. She came on the March for Life because many of her friends back home are all pro-choice, even the Christian ones. Not being able to vote to change society, this is her way to accomplish something. Scot asked Jane about recruiting students to come on the pilgrimage. She said the seniors who came last year talk it up a lot and so they do most of the recruiting. Isabella said her favorite part of the March for Life so far has been the Masses, including the priests and Cardinal and the music. The Cardinal brought a good connection between the Gospel and the March. Jane said her highlights for the pilgrimage is always the Masses. ALso the sincerity, joy, and depth of spirituality with the all the priests and seminarians, plus the camaraderie feeling like a big archdiocesan family. Fr. Matt said last night in Arlington diocese, Bishop Loverde couldn’t be there because he’s in Rome, but there were 3,500 young people there. One of the Bishop Loverde’s priests did the homily and spoke about hope and how the young people bring hope. He talked about how the Berlin Wall came down in his lifetime and yet 10 years before that it would have been inconceivable that the wall would come down so soon. He said when Pope John Paul II went to Poland he brought them hope and inspired them, which ultimately led to the fall of Communism in eastern Europe. Fr. Matt asked Isabella what she will take away from the weekend that stresses the virtue of hope. She said will take away the respect of life with her, because so often there is so little respect for life among her peers. Sr. Olga asked Isabella how she feels coming and seeing 350 high schoolers from her own archdiocese with her. Isabella said it gives her hope and she doesn’t feel alone. It’s empowering. 5th segment: Joining us now is William Martell on the middle school track. He said is having a lot of fun. He is in eighth grade and attends Msgr. Haddad Middle School in Needham. He said this is the second March for Life, two years ago. William said the concert last night with Matt Maher and the Mass and adoration were the best part of the pilgrimage so far. Scot asked him what it’s like to see the young adults and college students there. It’s makes him feel better to see all the people just a few years older than him who believe the same thing. He said yesterday they took a tour of some of the sights in Washington, DC, including the monuments and memorials on the Mall. They also took a tour of the Basilica. He said when they were there, it was almost full already. All the Boston pilgrims are wearing the same sweatshirts and they had a lot of people cheer them. Scot welcomed Cardinal Seán to the show. He has a perfect attendance at the March for Life over 39 years. He asked him why it’s important for him to go every year. Cardinal Seán said as American Catholics we have an obligation to help undo that tragic decision 39 years ago and one of the ways is to come to the seat of government and witness to the Gospel of Life. He’s encouraged to see more young people every year and they aren’t going away. They will keep coming until children are protected under the law. Scot asked how the March is different. Cardinal Seán said in the beginning it was virtually a Catholic event and over the years more and more people of goodwill from other faith traditions have joined. The number of young people has grown and grown as well. Cardinal Seán said in his homily this morning that he spoke about the Good Samaritan and how difficult it is to stand up for life. They are there to make God’s love and mercy present and listen to the silent scream of that unborn child, like the man half-dead on the road to Jericho. A lot of people don’t want to see. The Good Samaritan saw and was moved to see, so we have to see and have God’s love and pity in our hearts. Scot said it takes courage to be the Good Samaritan and to be a witness to life. Cardinal Seán said the Good Samaritan could have been accused of being the thief, but overcame that fear for his own safety because of his desire to serve. In a world where political correctness doesn’t tolerate being pro-life, we will be criticized and pilloried and so it takes courage to stand up to that criticism. Coming to Washington and being with hundreds of thousands who share the conviction that every human being is precious in God’s eyes. Cardinal Seán said St. Paul was converted and repented of his previous hardness of heart and became an apostle who lays down his life in his witness to the faith. He said Dr. Bernard Nathanson who was a prolific abortionist heard the silent scream and converted to pro-life and the Catholic faith. Scot thanked Cardinal Seán for joining us today.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Maria Bianco of the Metropolitan Tribunal for the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Maria Bianco, a judge in the Metropolitan Tribunal Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell are joined by one of Fr. Mark’s colleagues on the Metropolitan Tribunal, Maria Bianco, a judge on the Tribunal. She is a native of Argentina, speaks four languages, writes poetry, has a degree in psychology, and has practiced both civil and canon law in the US and Argentina. Maria provides the office both with a native Spanish speaker who understands Latin American culture and can assist the many natives of those countries, but also a heart that understands the spiritual, pastoral, emotional, and therapeutic dimensions of the work of the Tribunal, primarily with those seeking marriage-related assistance. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Mark talked about the Patriots-Ravens game this weekend and gave their predictions. Scot said 34-20 Patriots, while Fr. Mark said the Patriots will score in the 30s. Fr. Mark is going to Baltimore next week and hopes everyone there will be sad. They then discussed Fr. Mark’s classes he’s teaching at St. John Seminary. He’s teaching a course called Marriage and Family to the third-year seminarians. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcomed Maria Bianco, a judge on the Metropolitan Tribunal. Scot said she is the first person from Argentina on the show. He asked her what her childhood was like. Maria said she grew up on a farm near a small town. She lived there until she was 5 and was sent to a Catholic school in a nearby town. She still owns the farm which produces soybeans and cattle. She always knew she’d want to keep the farm, but also knew she had to find her own way in the world. Social and political matters were prominent in her family life and the call to serve the Church came later. She first worked as a civil lawyer in family law. In Argentina, there were many people who were divorced and couldn’t get remarried in the Church, so she decided to study canon law to help them with the annulment process. Maria has three children of her own. Fr. Mark said she also studied psychology. Maria said she needed to do this while working in family law in order to help the people who came to her with all their family problems. Maria said the divorce rate in Argentina is similar to the Boston area’s. But at the time she was practicing law, divorce was only recently legalized and there was a rush of pent-up demand to seek divorces. Scot asked her why she came to the United States. She worked with the Metropolitan Tribunal at the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires and she learned that tribunals in the US were much faster at resolving annulments, so she wanted to come to see how it works here. She also wanted to have an international experience and knew of an Argentinean working as a judge at the Boston tribunal. That’s how she came. Scot said she’s been here 10 years now. What has kept here? Maria said it’s the group of people she has met in the Tribunal and because she has learned a lot. She also finds the US to be much safer than Argentina because of the civil upheaval and corruption in society. Scot asked Maria the best part of her job. She said it’s the feeling of serving others. In civil law, you are also serving others, but in canon law, you go beyond the ordinary matters of life because canon law concerns eternal life. Fr. Mark said Maria has helped so many because she speaks Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and English. Her language skills connect so many people in the Archdiocese of different cultures to the Church. She also provides connections to tribunals throughout Latin America, which is necessary because when immigrants from those countries seek annulments or other cases they must get documentation from their dioceses of origin. Maria said for Latin Americans, Catholicism isn’t just about faith, it’s about culture and traditions, so to be denied the sacraments is very painful, so to have a resolution in each case is rewarding for her personally. Some of these are very poor people who don’t fit in with society in general, but are looking for a place for themselves in the Church. Fr. Mark said it’s not just understanding language, but understanding the culture, sometimes knowing what the people are really asking. 3rd segment: Scot asked Maria what a canonical court judge does compared to a civil court judge. She said you have to be very patient and make people feel comfortable. It’s not about determining child support or fighting for child custody. Instead they are asking about feelings or past history, which can be terrible. Scot asked Maria what information she’s trying to gather from the people. Maria said she tries to make contact with the person and they make contact with her. She tries just to be an observer. She asks for permission to allow her to be “under their skin”, to feel their feelings. She is not actually judging the person or their behavior or past or why the marriage failed or what they did wrong. Fr. Mark said this is why Maria is so valuable to him because he would have answered the question differently, by entering the technical and talking about invalidity. But Maria thinks first of people’s feelings and caring for them and this is why she balances the office. Scot asked how many different cases she’s working at any one time. She tries to concentrate on one case at a time, although there many be many waiting. As for how long it takes, the law requires the first part of the case be completed in one year and the second part in six months. But they also sometimes have to contact tribunals in other dioceses, and sometimes that takes a long time. Or they have to interview witnesses several times or consult expert witnesses or some other consideration and so it can end up taking longer. Maria said they need to approach the process in an interdisciplinary manner. Yes, they consider the law, but they also have to consider pastoral issues and psychological issues. The priest gives support to the people involved, but the tribunal does too. Fr. Mark said every divorce is wound that people carry around with them, and even for those who don’t get the nullity, they leave them healed in some way. Scot asked Maria what the biggest misconception people have about the process. Maria said it’s about money. People think that it requires a lot of money to go through the process. Fr. Mark said there is a filing fee and a second larger fee, but no one who has difficulty paying is required to pay. He said some people think rich people can buy a favorable declaration of nullity, but that’s untrue. The judge doesn’t see anything about how much the people have paid or whether they have. Scot asked what keeps someone away from starting the process that they would like to educate people about? Maria said if she puts herself in their place, she thinks many people don’t do it because of the emotional requirements. They have to confront in themselves what went wrong in the marriage. She said a woman from Guatemala met with her yesterday and she was afraid what her husband would do to her. He is in jail, but will be free in a few months, and so she doesn’t know how to deal with that. When people see the questions they will be asked, they don’t know how to answer. This is why they need to work harder with those who are involved in the process to give the emotional support people need and sometimes even therapeutic support. Fr. Mark said there is also a misconception that the children are illegitimate, but that’s not true. Scot said he was surprised that Maria is also a poet. She has written two books of poetry in Spanish. She doesn’t know how she began, but it was about 12 years old. It was a sort of therapy. Each time she writes, sometimes it’s a way of working out something she’s thinking about or expressing her feelings about nature or something else in her life. Fr. Mark said Maria is a civil lawyer, a canon lawyer, an expert on the family, a mother, a grandmother, and a poet. She is a Renaissance woman. Scot said Mariah has helped him to appreciate the human dimension of the work of the Tribunal. Her books are “Trepando la Llanura” and “El Canto de la Piedra”. Here is one of the poems: Spanish De niña, en el río perdí la luna. Se me escapó en las arrugas del agua y quise atrapar el agua y se me escurrió de las manos Y en gotas del rocío volví la tristeza canto hice surco la frente se me secaron los labios. Nunca alcancé la luna: el río no detuvo su marcha. Y quedaron lágrimas. Y una a una resbalan otra vez. Otra vez. English (rough translation) As a girl in the river lost the moon. It slipped into the water wrinkles and I wanted to catch the water and it slipped out from my hands And in dewdrops I turned my sorrow song I furrow the brow I dried my lips. I never reached the Moon: the river did not stop its march. And there were tears. And one by one slipping again. Again. 4th segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. The word of the LORD came to Jonah, saying: “Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you.” So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh, according to the LORD’S bidding. Now Nineveh was an enormously large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed, “ when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth. When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them; he did not carry it out. Second Reading for Sunday, January 20, 2012, Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (1 Corinthians 7:29-31) I tell you, brothers and sisters, the time is running out. From now on, let those having wives act as not having them, those weeping as not weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning, those using the world as not using it fully. For the world in its present form is passing away. Gospel for Sunday, January 20, 2012, Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Mark 1:14-20) After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Then they abandoned their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him. Scot said this is Jesus’ first homily in the Gospels. He said that it’s a big deal that one of the first things Jesus says is “Repent”. Maria said she wonders why Christ chose that environment and those men for his first homily. She thinks there is a subtle message here that Christ is asking us for that same simplicity that he was experiencing in that place. It can be tempting to make everything about the call of Christ too complex, but we have to keep this simplicity in our lives. We have to pray to be given the strength to find this simplicity. Fr. Mark thought of the power of repentance and belief. He said you can see Jonah who doesn’t want to go to Nineveh, who pouted and tried to flee. But then he goes into this very rich city, preaches once, and they believe him instantly. Jesus begins his ministry with the same message and power. We’re still called by the same message today but there’s still a lot of Jonah in us, unable to believe it radically like John the Baptist. Scot asked Maria what she thought of Jesus calling fishermen as his first disciples. She said it was because of the simplicity of their souls. They were able to respond as a child to his call to follow and believe. Maybe they didn’t understand the second part of the call, that they would become fishers of men, but they responded anyway. Fr. Mark said there’s something real and down to earth about Peter. He’s real and human. Jesus picking fishermen showed us the way to be disciples as ourselves. Scot said we are also all called to be fishers of men in the Church. Five out of six baptized Catholics in the archdiocese don’t come to church. One of the reasons is because the one in the six doesn’t invite them. Fr. Mark said another reason is because people they’re not in good standing with the Church and the work of the Tribunal is to help bring about healing for those people. Scot noted that the March for Life is this weekend and asked for prayers for all those who will be traveling to Washington, DC, and that their voices will bring about a conversion in our society.…
Today’s host(s): Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: New Vicar for New Evangelization, new rector for seminary; global abortion genocide of girls; Supreme Court ruling favors religious freedom; local baker puts charity first Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Susan Abbott review the headlines of the week with Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy, including the big news that Cardinal Seán has asked Bishop Arthur Kennedy to be the new Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization and Msgr. James Moroney to be the new rector of St. John’s Seminary; also this week Fr. Roger’s hard-hitting editorial on the global genocide of girls, the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding the ministerial exception, and a local baker who puts Catholic charity first and foremost by providing bread for the poor in a unique way. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Susan back to the show and noted she had car trouble this morning. They discussed how we often fail to appreciate the miracle of our cars that help us in our commute. Susan said this week the religious education office is working with new catechetical leaders to see how they’re doing in their first year. They’re also doing some pastoral planning sessions. Scot said there are three rounds of consultations going on and religious education teachers went through round 1 this past week. Scot said this week, priests are getting a glimpse at draft groups of parish clusters. He emphasized that the materials shared at those consultations become available the afternoon of the meetings at . He encouraged listeners to go the documents and also repeated that everything is in draft stage right now, just to get feedback. Susan also asked everyone to keep this process in prayer. Scot said today Cardinal Seán is announcing a new vicar for the New Evangelization and a new rector for St. John’s Seminary and that’s our first story after the break. 2nd segment: Scot and Susan welcome Fr. Roger and Gregory back to the show. Scot said this week’s Pilot has a big headline. Bishop Arthur Kennedy has been appointed Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization as of July 1 and Msgr. James Moroney has been named to replace him as rector of St. John Seminary. Scot said Bishop Kennedy was ordained a bishop for Boston on September 14, 2010. At the time it was expected a replacement as rector would be named. He’s done a great job expanding enrollment at the seminary bringing it from 25 seminarians to a full-enrollment of more than 100. It’s not clear yet what Bishop Kennedy will do, but Scot’s sense is that he will oversee a lot of the Year of Faith activities and oversee efforts to strengthen evangelization efforts in parishes. Susan said this is great news and pointed out that he is also a native son of West Roxbury. She said she has worked with Bishop Kennedy with her work at the Master of Arts in Ministry program and Theological Institute for the New Evangelization at St. John’s. As sad as she might be to see him leave the seminary, the appointment of Msgr. Moroney takes away the sadness. Scot said one Bishop Kennedy’s responsibilities will be to oversee expansion of TINE. Fr. Roger said Bishop Kennedy has done an extraordinary job in just five years. Cardinal Sean, who has placed a premium on seminarian formation, has taken a spectacular rector and put him in a place to lead formation of the laity and shows how important this task is to Cardinal Sean. It underscores the priority that Cardinal Seán is giving to this initiative for new evangelization. Fr. Roger said if Cardinal Seán had done a nationwide search for a replacement rector, everyone would have picked Msgr. Moroney. He said everyone expected Msgr. Moroney would be a bishop by now, but thanks to the bishop of Worcester, where he’s a priest, for giving him to the archdiocese for this task. Msgr. Moroney has been traveling the world educating priests and laity on the new translation of the Mass. He said bishops of other dioceses will be willing to send their seminarians to St. John’s based on Msgr. Moroney’s leadership because they will be happy to have their new priests be like Msgr. Moroney. Fr. Roger said this bolsters Cardinal Seán’s hope that St. John’s will be a regional seminary. Scot clarified Msgr. Moroney is a priest of the neighboring diocese of Worcester. He said Msgr. Moroney had been serving as a professor at St. John’s for liturgy. He’s served on a many international commissions and has run the US bishops’ conference’s secretariat for liturgy for a dozen years. Susan said she is thrilled and echoes everything Fr. Roger said. She added that he’s brilliant, humorous, and self-deprecating and often has people at conferences and talks enthralled. Scot recommended listeners go to CatholicTV.com and watch Msgr. Moroney’s program called “New and Eternal Word” on the new translation and then each week he has short reflections of each Sunday’s prayers of the Mass. 3rd segment: Scot said in this week’s Anchor, looking toward the 39th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, Fr. Roger wrote an editorial on the pro-choice genocide of baby girls. On Sunday, we mark the 39th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision that with its companion Doe v. Bolton made abortion legal in the United States for all nine months of pregnancy. These revolutionary decisions have since been celebrated by radical feminist groups as a milestone advance in the cause of women’s freedom and rights, not just in the United States but internationally. The decisions, they argued, give women control over their destiny by giving them control over their bodies and whatever was in their bodies. They saved women’s lives, they maintained, by preventing deaths in the ubiquitous “back alleys” by coat-hanger-wielding pseudo-doctors. The euphemisms they employed tried to claim that what was growing in them wasn’t human life: at worst, the ‘fetus’ was akin to a parasite or a wart; at most it was merely “potential” human life. The whole moniker of “freedom of choice” always scrupulously avoided mentioning a direct object to specify and morally qualify what one was actually choosing. Over the course of the last four decades, however, the various pro-choice mendacities, exaggerations, and euphemisms have all been exposed. Dr. Bernard Nathanson, once one of the most notorious abortion doctors in the country before his conversion from the grisly practice and to Catholicism, testified how wildly the pro-choice movement inflated and outright invented claims of maternal deaths in botched back alley abortions. “Jane Roe” herself, whose real name is Norma McCorvey, testified that her whole case was based on the lie that she had been raped and couldn’t receive an abortion. Advances in embryology and in technology have made abundantly clear that what grows within a woman is clearly a human being at the very stages of existence all adult human beings have traversed. And as the discipline of demography has gotten more advanced and the pro-choice mentality has metastasized, the direct object of the “fiction of choice” has become increasingly apparent. Not only has it been exposed that the choice of abortion is the decision to end the life of a developing human being, but increasing numbers across the globe, the choice has resulted in a disproportionate slaughter of baby girls. Scot said Fr. Roger then goes on to provide some of the stats on gender-selection abortions and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis abortions. Fr. Roger said it’s become apparent that pro-choice is the slaughter of young women, as opposed to be ing pro-women as pro-choicers claim. Across the world, there is a gap of 160 million girls across the world. Based on the statistical averages and biology, there should be 160 million more girls in the world today, which is mainly attributable to abortion. In China, rather than there being an expected 106 girls to every 100 boys, there are 120 boys for every 100 girls and in Beijing it’s more than 200 boys for every 100 girls. There are 21 countries with unnatural levels of boys in their populations. What will happen in the future when these boys can’t get married as adults. Violence will rise, sexual trafficking and exploitation, pornography will all increase. Even in the US, lawmakers have introduced a bill to ban testing in the womb to determine sex or race in order to perform abortion in order to protect unborn girls, but the so-called pro-woman pro-choice groups have come out in opposition to the law. Scot said abortion is more important than protecting women for these groups. Susan said as a member of Feminists for Life, this is the biggest lie that has ever been sold to women. they have bought the lie that abortion is a right and this is for their good. Scientifically, no one doubts whether this is human life. Now the question is whose life takes precedence and that’s the slippery slope. She remembers before legalization of abortion people claimed that there would be no slippery slope to sex selection abortions or the like. Scot said science is on the side of the pro-life community. It reveals the lies and it clearly says abortion is business in this country and those behind it will do anything to protect it. Scot said to Greg that people will object to the editorial for using words like genocide and feticide. Greg said to call it anything less would fall into the trap of euphemisms and softening the truth. He points out that this isn’t us imposing our personal choice or morality on others. He noted that the CIA had a report a few years ago that one of the biggest problems facing the world in the future is the imbalance of men. This isn’t a moral statement, but a national security judgment. Scot said to Fr. Roger that he ends his editorial by warning that eugenics is coming to the US through pre-implantation genetic diagnosis in which people can select for certain traits in their children including gender. What happens is that they manufacture human beings in the laboratory then examine the embryos for their genes and discard, i.e. kill or freeze the rest. Couples are flying in from all over the world to do this in the United States because it’s already illegal in other countries. This is the pro-choice mentality taken to the extreme, that we should be able to choose everything about our children and if we don’t like them we can throw them out like so much wasted food. Pro-lifers have long described the many ways the pro-choice movement hurts individual women as well as the cause of women overall. It’s now becoming clear that the pro-choice mentality is disproportionately snuffing out the future of hundreds of millions of women more than the carnage of men, creating a global disparity in sex ratio that leads sober analysts to predict that the surplus of unmarried males in sexually unbalanced societies will hurt women in various other ways: through augmenting the demand for prostitution, kidnapping and female trafficking. When are those who claim to speak for the good of women going to recognize that abortion is bad for women, bad for baby girls, and bad for all of society? Scot said also before the Supreme Court recently was a case that challenged the ministerial exception, a principle in law which allows religious groups to hire and fire based on religious beliefs. Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, called it “a great day for the First Amendment.” In a statement issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Lori said the ruling makes clear “the historical and constitutional importance of keeping internal church affairs off limits to the government — because whoever chooses the minister chooses the message.” Greg said the case doesn’t directly affect the other methods of infringement of religious liberty that have been in the news lately, like regulations requiring health insurance plans to cover contraceptives. But the Court did say that religious groups have freedom in employment by saying that government can’t mandate how people of faith practice that faith. Had they ruled otherwise, the government could have said the Church must ordain women because the current policy is discriminatory and other similar complaints. This case involved a Michigan Lutheran school teacher who was fired after she threatened to sue the school under a disabilities law. The school said she should have used the Lutheran synod’s internal appeals process. Fr. Roger said any Catholic who wants religious freedom needs to sit up and pay attention to the Obama administration’s infringements on that freedom. It is no longer just intolerant of us, but is actively trying to shut down our ability to police what we do and follow our internal policies. He noted that this was a unanimous decision, including the four justices appointed by Clinton and Obama who agreed that the administrations efforts in this case were ludicrous. 4th segment: Scot said this Saturday there will be a transitional deacon ordained in the Diocese of Fall River and six men will be ordained at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross at 10am. Fr. Roger said they will be deacons until they are ordained priests. In Boston this year the priestly ordination is the end of June and Fall River’s Jason Brilhante will be ordained in early June. He said that it is significant that they are ordained deacons in that they will always remain deacons even after being ordained priests. Also in the Anchor this week is a story about LaVallee’s Bakery Distributors in Waltham that provides free bread to the needy. CEO Andy LaVallee said: “We run our company on two real basic values that came out of Pope Benedict’s encyclical, ‘Charity in Truth’, and that is stewardship is a gift from God and that it’s something we’re only in possession of, so what we do with it is important,” LaVallee said. “We feel like it’s a real moral responsibility as a Catholic to do certain things for the community. So we need to take care of some of the Catholic-based food pantries and charities in the area.” Susan said just the fact that he is aware of and familiar with the encyclical is remarkable. The story notes that as you walk into the facility is that there is a painting of Pope Benedict prominently displayed. they also point out that they don’t give away stale bread. “If you go to the St. Francis House in Boston, they have a very small kitchen area but they manage to feed about 1,200 people a day,” he said. “If you walk out the back door of the kitchen, it’s adjacent to a well-known five-star hotel. On Thanksgiving Day if you went to this particular hotel you would have seen breads from LaVallee’s set up on all the tables from every country around the world. Just next door inside St. Francis House, the homeless were being served the same exact breads. There’s a symbol here: we could just as well give St. Francis House our stale bread, but that wouldn’t be showing respect and dignity for all people. To me, it’s important to give of the same resources and the same products.” Greg said it has struck him and wants to reprint it in the Pilot. He noted a quote at the end of the article: “We’ve succeeded ever since we embraced these two strong biblical truths: stewardship and servant leadership,” he said. “If you’re going to continue to manage your company based on spreadsheets and not developing and helping people around you - your employees, your customers and the community - then you’re going to go through life with an accumulation of wealth, but what good is it? The real goodness is what you can do for other people because it’s more Christ-like, it’s what God did for us.” Fr. Roger said he met him at a Christmas party at a mutual friend’s home and they talked about his program and how other businesses are joining him. From there he asked if they would be able to get some of that charity at his parish, St. Anthony of Padua in New Bedford. Greg also pointed out the front-page Pilot story on the Martin Luther King, Jr., Day commemoration at St. Katharine Drexel in Boston and recommended listeners read it.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Fr. Brian Flynn, Pastor of St. Mary Parish, Lynn; Carl DiMaiti, Principal of St. Mary High School; Andrea Alberti and Chris Carmody, campus ministers and religious education teachers; Helio Neto, Cristian Abarca, Megan Stacey, and Amy Donovan, students Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: St. Mary High School, Lynn, and the March for Life Summary of today’s show: The annual March for Life in Washington, DC, is coming up this week and again the Archdiocese is sending busloads of pilgrims, including more than 100 from St. Mary High School in Lynn. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams talk to the pastor, Fr. Brian Flynn; the principal, Carl DiMaiti; religion teachers Andrea Alberti and Chris Carmody; and four students, Helio Neto, Cristian Abarca, Megan Stacey, and Amy Donovan, about their experience of the March, how those experiences affect their school, how they prepare for months—including before-school meetings each week—for the March, and how they petitioned the local media to give at least as much attention to 400,000 people from all walks of life Marching for Life in DC as they do to a few dozen Occupying Boston’s Dewey Square. 1st segment: Scot said Fr. Matt must be the Catholic Church’s expert on Tim Tebow. Last week, he gave a few interviews on the Patriots vs. the Broncos football game and Bronco’s quarterback Tim Tebow, with his very public witness of faith. They discussed how we all have the responsibility for handing on the witness of the faith. Fr. Matt said he can be an example of living the witness of your faith. They discussed LIFT on Tuesday night, which included Trent Horn, Respect Life director for the Diocese of Phoenix. They’ve been discussing the dignity of the human person. This month’s topic was abortion and next month is physician-assisted suicide. Scot said next week will be 39 years since the Roe v. Wade decision and many people gather in Washington, DC, to mark that occasion. Fr. Matt said he’s attended for many years now and the Office for the New Evangelization organizes pilgrimages of youth to attend. It is one of the most powerful and inspiring things that they do each year, to watch what happens to them in this experience, including a deepening of their life in Christ and wanting to witnesses to that. Fr. Matt said St. Mary, Lynn, is bringing 103 people to the March. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Flynn, Carl DiMaiti, and Andrea Alberti in a remote studio in Lynn. He asked Carl how many people are coming from St. Mary’s High School in Lynn and why it’s such a big deal in Lynn. Carl said it starts with the leadership of the school, including the head of school, the pastor, and the campus ministers. He said they take great pride in being the top high school in the archdiocese. Scot asked Fr. Flynn what the March for Life means to him. He said it’s great to participate with so many students. Last year was his first at St. Mary’s and when he saw how many students were going and how important it was for them that he go, he went. The school and especially the pro-life aspect is the part of the parish assignment that makes him so happy and blessed to be at St. Mary’s. Fr. Matt said he’s had the privilege of being a priest-chaplain on their bus and he’s found the teens to be well-prepared and understanding how this is a pilgrimage which includes sacrifice. He asked Andrea how they help the students prepare. She said Chris Carmody coordinates the pilgrimage and they start preparation three months ahead. The students commit to two meetings a week, at 7:15 am for one and after school for another. They pray and then have a theme, which this year was martyrdom and dying to self. They are also talking about being called by name, as John Paul II said, and that each pilgrim matters. Scot asked Carl who does the recruiting of the students for the March. He said Andrea and Chris play a key role and the faculty is on board and supporting it. The teachers have to arrange for the kids to be out of school for three days. When the teens come back and share their experience, it ignites and enthusiasm for next year. It’s one of the biggest events of the year. Fr. Brian said this March is a big piece of what goes on St. Mary’s but it’s only a piece of it. What leads to going to the March is what happens the rest of the year in the four years they attend the high school. They have a foundation created for them in their faith. Scot asked how many students go each of their years at the school. Andrea said about 90% of the students who go, go every year. When they ask the teens what they loved the most, it’s always those opportunities for adoration or other experiences of Christ’s presence. Their experience of being a unique unrepeatable soul with a mission and a purpose who is loved is the biggest benefit of the pilgrimage. She said last year’s homily at a Mass after the pilgrimage by Fr. Brian gave them new energy and excitement. Fr. Brian said last year he was struck by the small blurbs in the newspapers and other media about the March, when he’d seen 400,000 people, including so many teens, take part. So during the Mass, he passed out his newspapers in the church to show the kids that nothing was in them about it. He asked them how they felt about it and they decided that their voices were not being heard. He said this was a challenge to them, in their voices not being heard in so many ways because they are counter-cultural. Andrea said they could write to the media and ask them to give better coverage in the future. Carl said it’s a great way to combine various academic lessons, including persuasive writing skills. Fr. Matt said to Fr. Brian that a number of young men from the school have attended St. Andrew Dinners with Cardinal Seán, to check out the seminary, and asked if this was connected to this pilgrimage. Fr. Brian said it is because it leads them to think about things they might not have thought about otherwise, including what else God might be calling them to do. 3rd segment: It’s time to announce this week’s winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prizes this week are 2 books by Danny Abramowicz, Peter Herbeck, Curtis Martin, and Brian Patrick: and . This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Geraldine DiBenedetto from Malden, MA. Congratulation, Geraldine! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot asked Helio about his letter he wrote to local media. He read the letter on air, in which he talked about how 400,000 people should media coverage, comparing that to the Occupy movement, which got so much more coverage. A person will get on the front-page for murder, but the millions of murders of innocents and the protests by people against get ignored. Scot said he liked how he compared what happens at the March to the Occupy movement. Helio said he hasn’t received a response yet and he’s hoping the media will cover the March. Amy Donovan then read her letter. She said her aim is to save lives lost in abortion and to help the mothers who make this choice. She said it’s not about changing people’s minds, but about standing up what they believe. She asked the media not to ignore the 400,000 voices. Fr. Matt said he liked how she noted 500 young people who stand up for what they believe in and that’s what’s newsworthy, even if the media disagree with what they believe. He asked her how many times she’s been. Amy said she went last year and it was a great experience. The March was breathtaking, seeing all the people together marching for the same principle. Fr. Matt said it’s a beautiful realization when you realize you are not alone in your belief, not to mention seeing how big the Church is, you realize what it is to realize what it’s like to be One Body in Christ. Fr. Matt asked Chris’s reaction reading these letters. He said it’s rewarding to know the students realize that this isn’t an excuse to get out of school, but that they see the purpose of the trip and value the unrepeatable souls that are lost in abortion. He said it’s great to read the letters and see the students react. It’s easy to get caught up in the logistics of the trip, so the letters help to remind him of the true purpose of the trip. Helio said he went on last year’s trip and the highlight was seeing the hundreds of thousands of people, when you can’t see a beginning or end to the crowd. Fr. Matt asked Amy what the preparation for this trip was like compared to last year. Since it’s her second trip, she’s taken a leadership role to help those who are going for the first time to prepare and knowing what to expect has gotten her very excited for this trip. Fr. Matt mentioned Tim Tebow and how his open faith draws positive and negative reactions. He asked them what it’s like for them in their relationships with everyone in their circles for them to stand up for life. Amy said while others may think she’s wasting her time, but she feels supported by the St. Mary’s community. Sometimes people are shocked because she is pro-life and she just repeats to them that everyone should be given a chance to live and stands firm in that. Scot asked Helio about reactions he gets to going on the March. He said most people he know are pro-life but even those who don’t agree, respect him for it. 5th segment: Scot welcomed Meghan and Cristian to the show. He asked Meghan to read her letter. She wrote about her inalienable rights and how those rights have been infringed by being denied to certain groups. She stands pro-life to fight such injustices. As participant in the March for Life, her presence and voice have been ignored. Scot complimented her on how she infused her patriotism with her pro-life stance. she said as an American and a Catholic that those should go together. Fr. Matt asked Meghan how this year’s March for Life will be different from her first one last year. Meghan said with each year she changes a lot and she knows that while it’s the same message and same basic action, it will be an entirely different experience and effect on her. Scot asked her how she shares that voice she speaks of with friends and others. Meghan said even within her family, she had to educate them about abortion or the Gospel of Life that the Church teaches and by getting involved with it more herself, it’s helped them to understand it’s importance for them and for others at her school. Even with her friends, when she’s not specifically talking about her beliefs, she makes it apparent through her actions. Scot asked Cristian to read his letter. Cristian wrote that he thought the March was too big to go unnoticed, but when he came back he was disappointed to see how little coverage it got. The medias more attention to 20,000 watching a basketball game, but not to 400,000 marching in Washington, DC. Scot said he was struck by Cristian’s words about how he is walking not just for himself, but for all those who have no one to speak for themselves. Andrea said she sees the students come to understanding of why God made them and how God loves them. Scot asked Cristian about how Andrea recognizes how much he has grown and changed. Cristian gave credit to Andrea and Chris for their teaching and leading in classes. Andrea said participating in the Thirty Hour Famine that they do during the Easter Triduum helped her to focus on her faith and on trying to become a saint. 6th segments: Scot asked Chris about the New Evangelization and how he sees these students as the protagonists of it. Chris said he sees them bringing the message of Christ to everyone, including faculty and staff and families. They even bring some of their parents back to the Church. Scot asked Andrea what they’re doing in the religion department that makes the students want to live their faith. Andrea remembered in her job interview that the principal said “We are uncompromisingly Catholic.” That’s a big part of it. In the religion department, they took on the new framework from the US Bishops’ Conference which focuses on a relationship with Christ. Fr. Matt said Andrea and Chris mentor young people in the life of the faith. He said Fr. Brian’s comment that the pilgrimage is part of a whole framework of what they do to form young people and asked how they do that. Chris said it’s not just the religion department but the whole faculty. They build them up in every area, through relationships, and that allows them to witness to them. They witness to them in sports and other extracurricular activity. Andrea said every Tuesday at 7:15am there are 50 to 100 students gather for prayer before school, which inspires the teachers. Scot asked what leadership responsibilities they ask of students who have been on the March. Chris said they ask them to be mentors and witnesses to the younger students. They get up and give a witness before all the others to help prepare others for each step on the pilgrimage. Chris said when they come back from the pilgrimage you see a new desire for Christ and a new interest in doing their best in all areas of their life.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Year of Faith Summary of today’s show: Pope Benedict XVI has declared a Year of Faith to begin in October that will encourage all Catholics to a greater understanding of what they believe and what the Catholic faith teaches. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor prepare for the Year of Faith by reviewing the Holy Father’s apostolic letter Porta Fidei, introducing the Year, as well as the recommendations from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on how dioceses, parishes, and religious communities can make the Year of Faith a great success and make it spiritually fruitful for the entire Church. They include the Top Ten list of suggestions for both parishes and dioceses. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chris back to the show. On Saturday, many of the 4th year seminarians will be ordained to the transitional diaconate at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Some from other dioceses will be ordained in their cathedrals as well. They will serve as deacons in their parishes until the end of June. The ordination to the priesthood is later this year because Deacon Eric Bennett will be coming back from Rome then to join his classmates for ordination. They also have the St. Andrew Dinners as well, which brings young men, mostly high school age, to the seminary for a holy hour, dinner, and some talks to give the young men an experience of the seminary and to see that the seminarians are normal guys like them. Scot and Fr. Chris discussed the football playoffs and the prospects for the Patriots this weekend. Fr. Chris also talked about the upcoming March for Life coming up next Monday. Many seminarians go down for them. Scot said we will have a special show tomorrow, traveling up to St. Mary High School in Lynn, which is sending about 100 students, to interview some of the students and adult leaders. Today’s topic is the Year of Faith that Pope Benedict has declared for the year beginning in October 2012. 2nd segment: Scot said they would be discussing the Pope’s document Porta Fidei, a letter issued last October 11, which begins: The “door of faith” (Acts 14:27) is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into his Church. It is possible to cross that threshold when the word of God is proclaimed and the heart allows itself to be shaped by transforming grace. To enter through that door is to set out on a journey that lasts a lifetime. It begins with baptism (cf. Rom 6:4), through which we can address God as Father, and it ends with the passage through death to eternal life, fruit of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, whose will it was, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, to draw those who believe in him into his own glory (cf. Jn 17:22). To profess faith in the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is to believe in one God who is Love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8): the Father, who in the fullness of time sent his Son for our salvation; Jesus Christ, who in the mystery of his death and resurrection redeemed the world; the Holy Spirit, who leads the Church across the centuries as we await the Lord’s glorious return. Ever since the start of my ministry as Successor of Peter, I have spoken of the need to rediscover the journey of faith so as to shed ever clearer light on the joy and renewed enthusiasm of the encounter with Christ. During the homily at the Mass marking the inauguration of my pontificate I said: “The Church as a whole and all her Pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the One who gives us life, and life in abundance.”[1] It often happens that Christians are more concerned for the social, cultural and political consequences of their commitment, continuing to think of the faith as a self-evident presupposition for life in society. In reality, not only can this presupposition no longer be taken for granted, but it is often openly denied.[2] Whereas in the past it was possible to recognize a unitary cultural matrix, broadly accepted in its appeal to the content of the faith and the values inspired by it, today this no longer seems to be the case in large swathes of society, because of a profound crisis of faith that has affected many people. We cannot accept that salt should become tasteless or the light be kept hidden (cf. Mt 5:13-16). The people of today can still experience the need to go to the well, like the Samaritan woman, in order to hear Jesus, who invites us to believe in him and to draw upon the source of living water welling up within him (cf. Jn 4:14). We must rediscover a taste for feeding ourselves on the word of God, faithfully handed down by the Church, and on the bread of life, offered as sustenance for his disciples (cf. Jn 6:51). Indeed, the teaching of Jesus still resounds in our day with the same power: “Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life” (Jn 6:27). The question posed by his listeners is the same that we ask today: “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” (Jn 6:28). We know Jesus’ reply: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (Jn 6:29). Belief in Jesus Christ, then, is the way to arrive definitively at salvation. In the light of all this, I have decided to announce a Year of Faith. It will begin on 11 October 2012, the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and it will end on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, on 24 November 2013. The starting date of 11 October 2012 also marks the twentieth anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a text promulgated by my Predecessor, Blessed John Paul II,[3] with a view to illustrating for all the faithful the power and beauty of the faith. This document, an authentic fruit of the Second Vatican Council, was requested by the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops in 1985 as an instrument at the service of catechesis[4] and it was produced in collaboration with all the bishops of the Catholic Church. Moreover, the theme of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops that I have convoked for October 2012 is “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith”. This will be a good opportunity to usher the whole Church into a time of particular reflection and rediscovery of the faith. It is not the first time that the Church has been called to celebrate a Year of Faith. My venerable Predecessor the Servant of God Paul VI announced one in 1967, to commemorate the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul on the 19th centenary of their supreme act of witness. He thought of it as a solemn moment for the whole Church to make “an authentic and sincere profession of the same faith”; moreover, he wanted this to be confirmed in a way that was “individual and collective, free and conscious, inward and outward, humble and frank”.[5] He thought that in this way the whole Church could reappropriate “exact knowledge of the faith, so as to reinvigorate it, purify it, confirm it, and confess it”.[6] The great upheavals of that year made even more evident the need for a celebration of this kind. It concluded with the Credo of the People of God,[7] intended to show how much the essential content that for centuries has formed the heritage of all believers needs to be confirmed, understood and explored ever anew, so as to bear consistent witness in historical circumstances very different from those of the past. The name Porta Fideo comes from the first few words of the document in Latin, “the door of faith” We need to let people know that the door of faith is always open and invite them to walk through. Fr. Chris said he was brought back to Rome in the four major basilicas, each of which has a Holy Door, which is opened every 25 years during the Jubilee Years. There are blessings that come through walking through those Holy Doors, but there is also blessings and richness that come from walking through the doors of our church. We come to faith but asking the Lord to give us faith, by using what we have allowing it to prosper and grow in our lives. Scot said the Year of Faith’s timing is the anniversary of Vatican II and the introduction of the Catechism. Pope Benedict says of this timing: It seemed to me that timing the launch of the Year of Faith to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council would provide a good opportunity to help people understand that the texts bequeathed by the Council Fathers, in the words of Blessed John Paul II, “have lost nothing of their value or brilliance. They need to be read correctly, to be widely known and taken to heart as important and normative texts of the Magisterium, within the Church’s Tradition … I feel more than ever in duty bound to point to the Council as the great grace bestowed on the Church in the twentieth century: there we find a sure compass by which to take our bearings in the century now beginning.” Scot said the Holy Father is emphasizing that Vatican II is underappreciated now just 50 years on, that councils aren’t fully appreciated until decades or a century or more have passed. Fr. Chris said he loves to teach the course on ecclesiology because students appreciate learning about what saints, theologians, bishops and more have taught about the Church. He suggested one of the best Vatican II documents is Lumen Gentium, which deals specifically with the Church. He notes also that the Holy Father specifically mentions the Catechism of the Catholic Church, because there is the basic teachings of our faith, along with the beauty and goodness of our faith, and ultimately Christ. Scot said the holy Father wants us to encounter Christ through the Vatican II documents and the Catechism. We can prepare for the Year of Faith by reading those, in small doses, a few pages at a time, perhaps some of the Scripture referenced in what you read as well. Fr. Chris said the Catechism is a rich resource. It’s like a dessert, you don’t have too much of a rich things. Take it in small doses. Start with a topic you’re interested in: marriage and family, confession, or the life of prayer. Scot said the holy Father promises: Today as in the past, he sends us through the highways of the world to proclaim his Gospel to all the peoples of the earth (cf. Mt 28:19). Through his love, Jesus Christ attracts to himself the people of every generation: in every age he convokes the Church, entrusting her with the proclamation of the Gospel by a mandate that is ever new. Today too, there is a need for stronger ecclesial commitment to new evangelization in order to rediscover the joy of believing and the enthusiasm for communicating the faith. In rediscovering his love day by day, the missionary commitment of believers attains force and vigour that can never fade away. Faith grows when it is lived as an experience of love received and when it is communicated as an experience of grace and joy. It makes us fruitful, because it expands our hearts in hope and enables us to bear life-giving witness: indeed, it opens the hearts and minds of those who listen to respond to the Lord’s invitation to adhere to his word and become his disciples. Believers, so Saint Augustine tells us, “strengthen themselves by believing”. Fr. Chris said this is exercising the muscle of faith in order to have it grow and bear fruit. Faith without charity bears no fruit, while charity without faith would be a sentiment constantly at the mercy of doubt. Faith and charity each require the other, in such a way that each allows the other to set out along its respective path. Indeed, many Christians dedicate their lives with love to those who are lonely, marginalized or excluded, as to those who are the first with a claim on our attention and the most important for us to support, because it is in them that the reflection of Christ’s own face is seen. Through faith, we can recognize the face of the risen Lord in those who ask for our love. “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). These words are a warning that must not be forgotten and a perennial invitation to return the love by which he takes care of us. It is faith that enables us to recognize Christ and it is his love that impels us to assist him whenever he becomes our neighbour along the journey of life. Supported by faith, let us look with hope at our commitment in the world, as we await “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet 3:13; cf. Rev 21:1). Scot said the work of the Church is to know Jesus Christ and love him back, and to be able to practice our acts of charity and love the way Jesus wants us to. Christian charity and secular charity might look the same, but in the hearts of those who practice them, they are not the same. Fr. Chris said when we recognize who Christ is, that he is a gift, it can only prompt us to make a gift of our life to Christ as a mom, dad, priest, etc. 3rd segment: Scot said the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith also issued recommendations on the implementation of the Year of Faith at three levels: the Universal Church, bishops’ conferences and dioceses, and parishes and families. The list includes 10 items. The first is to read and meditate upon Pope Benedict’s letter Porta Fidei. Fr. Chris noted listeners today are doing that. It helps readers to consider how they can grow in faith. The second recommendation is to intensify the celebration of the faith in the liturgy, especially in the Eucharist. The Holy Faith wants to ensure that the liturgy is prayed in the way that people live it. Fr. Chris said maybe arrive to Mass a little early to prepare yourself and quiet self before Mass. Maybe don’t leave before the closing prayer and give self completely to the liturgy. Bring to the Eucharist those things things affecting us, including the blessings and sufferings of the week, and say, Lord, I am giving these to you. And make ourselves attentive to the Lord’s Word being proclaimed. Scot added that we should understand we’re not passive spectators at church, but respond to prayer with vigor. Also think through how your children and others are watching what we do, so do everything with intention, like receiving Communion. Third, priests should devote greater attention to the study of the documents of Vatican Council II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, drawing from them resources for the pastoral care of their parishes – catechesis, preaching, Sacramental preparation. Fr. Chris said it reminds priests that they have a sacred role as teacher and if they’re going to teach the faith, then they need to be able to articulate. Fr. Chris said every time he looks at the documents of Vatican II, something new catches his attention. Just because you’ve read it before doesn’t mean the Holy Spirit isn’t going to inspire you with something new. Fourth, Catechists should hold more firmly to the doctrinal richness of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and, under the direction of their pastors. Scot said all good catechesis starts with the Catechism. Put all lessons in the proper context of the teaching of the Church. Have a fresh reading of the Catechism in order to be able to respond to questions about the faith. Fr. Chris said the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization offers a whole certificate program that focuses primarily on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Fifth, It is hoped that there will be a renewed commitment in parishes to the distribution of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and of other resources appropriate for families, which are true domestic churches and the primary setting for the transmission of the faith. This can be done appropriately during home blessings, baptisms, confirmations, and marriages. It emphasizes that families shouldn’t be outsourcing the faith formation to religious education classes. Fr. Chris said most of the catechism is readily accessible to the average reader and it helps unpack the truth, beauty, and goodness of our faith. He has a friend who said the Catechism certificate revolutionized how he practices his faith. Sixth, The promotion of missions and other popular programs in parishes and in the workplace can help the faithful to rediscover the gift of Baptismal faith and the task of giving witness, knowing that the Christian vocation “by its very nature is also a vocation to the apostolate.” Scot said parish missions used to be a very big deal in parishes and it would be a good for parishes to make a commitment of three or four nights in a row. Fr. Chris called it a parish retreat and opportunity to grow in the faith and to remind us of our faith and reenergize us. He encouraged listeners to approach their pastors to ask for them. Seven addresses religious communities to work toward the new evangelization; Eight, contemplative communities, during the Year of Faith, should pray specifically for the renewal of the faith among the People of God and for a new impulse for its transmission to the young; and Nine, Associations and Ecclesial Movements are invited to promote specific initiatives which, through the contribution of their proper charism and in collaboration with their local Pastors, will contribute to the wider experience of the Year of Faith. Tenth, All of the faithful, called to renew the gift of faith, should try to communicate their own experience of faith and charity[35] to their brothers and sisters of other religions, with those who do not believe, and with those who are just indifferent. In this way, it is hoped that the entire Christian people will begin a kind of mission toward those with whom they live and work, knowing that they “have welcomed the news of salvation which is meant for every man.” Fr. Chris said faith is never lived in a vacuum, but is instead shared and offered to others. He said Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn’s book says that from the first sin of Adam and Eve to the present day, wherever sin is, it’s a result of a lack of faith. Where faith abounds, sin decreases. 4th segment: Scot mentioned the diocesan recommendations, starting with “It is hoped that each particular Church would have a celebration of the opening of the Year of Faith and a solemn conclusion to it, in which to “profess our faith in the Risen Lord in our cathedrals and in the churches of the whole world.”” Fr. Chris said it calls the people of the diocese together. Every diocese in the world is asked to do this, which showcases our universal nature. We’re all connected together in this beautiful faith, rooted in the Eucharist. Second, each diocese would organize a study day on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. How many people have read the Catechism substantially? And if so, how many have done so recently? Fr. Chris said the Daughters of St. Paul edition includes the Scripture passages referenced connected to the Catechism. It helps priests preparing for Mass to reference the Catechism. Third, it encourages each bishop to write a pastoral letter on the topic of faith, reminding them of the importance of the Second Vatican Council and the Catechism. Scot said Cardinal Seán will probably write one of his own. Fr. Chris said it helps the Church in Boston to reflect on what we should all be considering together. Fourth, it is hoped that in each Diocese, under the leadership of the Bishop, catechetical events will be organized, especially for the youth and those searching for a sense of life, helping them to discover the beauty of ecclesial faith, promoting encounters with meaningful witnesses to the faith. Scot said do a youth event with a goal of teaching what the Church believes through witnesses. Fr. Chris said the Church is again saying the young people are the future of our Church. We need to help them encounter Christ because once you encounter Him there is no turning back. Fifth, each diocese should review the reception of Vatican II and the Catechism in its own life and mission, particularly in the realm of catechesis. Fr. Chris said so many people want to quote Vatican II until you ask them to show you where it is in the text. The more we can all look at what the documents actually teach, the better off we’ll all be. When we teach the truth, it’s attractive. Anything less isn’t worth hanging your soul on. If we can proclaim it convincingly, there’d be no stopping us. Scot said he guess less than 5,000 people in this diocese have read the Catechism or documents of Vatican II. his hope is that number would multiply by several times so that most people who are passionate about their faith will be able to pass it on to others. Fr. Chris said faith is an investment. The more fully you give yourself to it, the more fully you will reap the rewards. Sixth, The continuing education of the clergy can be focused during this Year of Faith on the documents of Vatican Council II and on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, treating such themes as “the proclamation of the Risen Christ”, “the Church - sacrament of salvation”, “the mission of evangelization in the world today”, “faith and disbelief”, “faith, ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue”, “faith and eternal life”, “the hermeneutic of reform in continuity” and “the Catechism in ordinary pastoral care.” Seventh, Bishops are invited to organize penitential celebrations, particularly during Lent like The Light Is On For You, in which all can ask for God’s forgiveness, especially for sins against faith. This Year also provides an appropriate occasion in which all can approach the Sacrament of Penance with greater faith and more frequently. Fr. Chris said sins against the faith could include just saying I don’t believe anymore. Faith is not an emotion. It’s a choice we have to make. There is also a sin of presumption, that presumes on God’s mercy that we will get to heaven no matter what. Eight encourages a renewed creative dialogue between faith and reason in the academic and artistic communities. Nine promotes encounters with those persons who, “while not claiming to have the gift of faith, are nevertheless sincerely searching for the ultimate meaning and definitive truth of their lives and of the world”. Ten encourages greater attention to Catholic schools, especially through the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the YouCat.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Terry Donilon, Secretary for Communications and Public Affairs of the Archdiocese of Boston Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Terry Donilon, spokesman for Cardinal Seán, and the Church in the news Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell have a conversation with Terry Donilon, the secretary for communications and public affairs for the Archdiocese and the official spokesman for Cardinal Seán, who outlines his path from growing up in Rhode Island through majoring in theater in college to working for a number of Rhode Island politicians as press aide and spokesman. Terry also talks about how he left a good job as spokesman for Shaw’s to come work for Cardinal Seán in some of the Archdiocese’s darkest days and reflects on some of the biggest stories he’s dealt with in his position. Scot, Fr. Mark, and Terry discuss whether the media is biased against the Church and then predict what will be the big stories related to the Church in 2012. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Mark talked about the busy week in the Pastoral Center, without about 1,000 guests total coming in to talk about pastoral planning in the Archdiocese. Fr. Mark said we have to work out these things to have the best plan for the Archdiocese going forward. Scot said one of the big differences in the Church from his days working in the private sector is that the Church has a consultative decision-making process, even though the decision is ultimately the Cardinal’s. Fr. Mark said the Cardinal’s personality is that he likes to hear from everyone. People said the website is being built to receive feedback from people. Scot said yesterday was the Presbyteral Council meeting. Fr. Mark has a particular role on the council as judicial vicar. They discussed pastoral planning and physician-assisted suicide. They also talked about ways parishes can collaborate. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcome Terry Donilon to the show. Scot said Terry has served in a variety of public relations jobs in both private sector, politics, and now the Church. Terry said his parents were both intimately involved in government and politics. They were 4 kids and his father was former head of Providence school committee and his mother was a head of a union. Scot said was a theater major in college and was heading to theater education. Terry said working in the theater prepared him well for working with the media in Boston. It opened him up in terms of communicating and having a broad background. Terry talked about singing before a legendary liturgical choir director. Terry said he wasn’t as musically inclined as his siblings, but his freshman year at Emerson College, he had to take a semester off due to illness and listened to lots of singing baritones. He went back to college and got the lead in a musical. Many of his classmates have jobs in theater and entertainment today, including several on Broadway. Scot said he can’t do justice to Terry’s voice. It’s a powerful voice. Terry said he’s sung at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In 1996, he sang for Pope John Paul II in Rome. Terry worked in radio coming out of college, and worked in Providence. He met Providence Major Joe Paolino, who became a friend and brought him on staff. He went on to work for Governor Bruce Sundland and a congressman. He thinks it’s important to instill in his own kids the importance of politics and public affairs. Scot said he’s served pro-life Democrats. Bob Weygand was a pro-life Democrat who lost the senate race in 2000 against Republican Lincoln Chaffee. Terry said he grew tired of the political mindset after a while. He said it’s more fun to be on this side of politics. He’s been encouraged to put his name on a ballot, but he thinks running for office changes you. It’s rare to find someone like New Hampshire Republican Ovid Lamontagne who doesn’t get changed. Terry said it’s a fascinating and important world, but the people involved are often insulated from the world outside politics. Scot emphasized that it’s important to get beyond the slogans and understand what exactly the issue are. Scot asked Terry what it was like to work with Shaw’s. Terry said it was a time of growth for Shaw’s, opening stores and growing jobs. Supermarkets are job creators and an economic engine. They can totally transform a town. He said many towns are centered around these companies in their midst. Terry asked himself how he got from Shaw’s to the Archdiocese. He’s always been involved in the Church, it’s always been important to him. He’s sung in church for more than 20 years. In December 2004, he was considering what he’s going to be doing the rest of his life. Five months later, he was working for the Archdiocese. If you’re willing open yourself up to the Lord, he will lead you. Scot noted that the Archdiocese was going through a difficult time then, with the abuse crisis and reconfiguration. Many of his friends told him he was crazy to take the job, but they understood it was the right move for him because of his backgrounds. His daughter, who was a teen at the time, asked him why he wanted t go work with the old, stodgy institution. He said the leadership had a made a commitment to make things better and they have. He thinks it can be difficult to work here, but at the end of the day, we’re better off today than we were in 2004. He said the Church is a rock in people’s lives despite the tumult and they cling to it. Fr. Mark said when critical decisions are made by the Cardinal and his advisors, they do so with the best intention to do what’s right and just. Terry said there are days when he wants to go crazy when he sees what some people write, but then he steps back and considers how to help the cardinal carve through the onslaught. When the history of Cardinal Seán is written, it will say he met his objective of healing the Archdiocese of Boston. 3rd segment: Looking back over his time here, Terry said the top story is how Cardinal Seán has been committed to helping survivors of sexual abuse with healing and reconciliation, as well as bolster the morale of priests and laity. Other stories included financial transparency and solvency. The archdiocese was losing about $15 million per year on its budget. Terry said the Cardinal is very handy with budgets and numbers. He dealt with it decisively and forthrightly. Terry said the Cardinal opened the Archdiocese’s books more than any other diocese in the country. Terry said with Pastoral Planning, the cardinal has been working on this for a long time. The cardinal is taking an organic approach. Part of the approach is to bring more people back to Mass and so he wants to get the media to pay attention to stories like Catholics Come Home. Scot asked about the perception that the media is biased against the Church. Terry said he doesn’t think the editors and reporters look for ways to attack the Church. Instead, we have a highly charged political environment with a very liberal community and high-power educational and cultural and industry organizations. This creates friction with the Church. For the most part, they have repaired a relationship with the media that was damaged, which damage including a lack of trust on the part of the public too. They repair the media relationship in order to get the message out. He said these are human beings doing this work. Obviously, at the high level they disagree with us on many issues, but we can’t give up our position because we are willing to step out and speak on the issues. Fr. Mark when do you have to react defensively and when do you let it go. Terry said it’s a judgment call. He said he has a wide lens of what’s out there short term and long term. When someone attacks the Cardinal and the church in a slanderous and damaging way that damages what the Church stands for, they take the reporters and media to task for what they have done wrong. But he’s built a mutual respect in a way that we have fewer of those moments. For the most part, we get fair and balanced coverage. We’re a very large organization in this area. We are the second-largest social service organization in the state. We educate many, many children. Take those away we’d all be paying higher taxes and perhaps receive lower quality services. Terry said the media look at us and say that we have a big footprint in the Commonwealth. Terry said when he first started 20 years ago, there were no blogs, no email, no smartphones and news was generated once per day. Now the news cycle is measured in minutes. It’s important to have a strong message and strong message and stay true to who you are. In this archdiocese, we have a great leader who heals, rebuilds, returns trusts, and brought back credibility. Scot said media organizations are under tremendous financial pressures. He asked how that affects the coverage of the Church when stories about scandal can sell papers or get ratings. Terry said the state of the media is that they are in a state of survival. We’re seeing them change how they do things. He doesn’t think that the newsroom thinks about cranking up stories to sell papers. Most credible papers and TV stations take their jobs seriously. But there’s a lot of experienced reporters that have left the industry and there’s a new inexperienced group that will take time to educate. Fr. Mark said sometimes it’s frustrating to see the headlines are unbalanced while the story is good. Terry said the headlines can often drive what the rest of the media report. Terry said the reporters in Boston for the most part do well in not ambushing you. Fr. Mark also commented on the soundbite being taken from a long interview. Terry said people often read the Globe and Herald editorial pages and wonder how we can say that’s fair coverage. Terry pointed out that editorial writers and newsroom reporters don’t influence each other on a daily basis; there’s competition there between them. Scot asked what will be the big stories will be in 2012. Terry said the upcoming consistory will be a big one and the 10th anniversary of the Dallas charter in June as well as the pastoral planning in the archdiocese. He thinks it will be a year of great growth for the Archdiocese. He thinks the big issue pushed by the cardinal and other Mass. bishops will be the assisted suicide ballot question. What we’re learning is that the bishops have the right message and we have a right and a track record of involving ourselves in these big issues. The Church has a history of having a place in the debate. 4th segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the LORD where the ark of God was. The LORD called to Samuel, who answered, “Here I am.” Samuel ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.” “I did not call you, ” Eli said. “Go back to sleep.” So he went back to sleep. Again the LORD called Samuel, who rose and went to Eli. “Here I am, ” he said. “You called me.” But Eli answered, “I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep.” At that time Samuel was not familiar with the LORD, because the LORD had not revealed anything to him as yet. The LORD called Samuel again, for the third time. Getting up and going to Eli, he said, “Here I am. You called me.” Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the youth. So he said to Samuel, “Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” When Samuel went to sleep in his place, the LORD came and revealed his presence, calling out as before, “Samuel, Samuel!” Samuel answered, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect. John was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” - which translated means Teacher -, “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where Jesus was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” - which is translated Christ -. Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Cephas” - which is translated Peter. Scot said both readings are about callings. Shouldn’t we able be saying, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” We’re creating the space so we can hear him speak to us. In the Gospel, it reminds him that if it wasn’t for Andrew finding Jesus and bringing Peter to him, we wouldn’t have the first among the apostles, Peter our first Pope. Fr. Mark said we see Andrew three times in the Gospel of John. Here he meets Jesus and then goes to bring Peter to him. At the feeding of the 5000, Andrew brings the boy with loaves and fishes to Jesus. Later on he brings some Greeks to Jesus. The first time, he brings his family to Jesus, then he brings a youth, then he brings a Gentile. Scot said Andrew didn’t have to do all the convincing. For us, we can say we don’t have to do all the convincing. We have to bring them to Jesus and let Jesus do the convincing. Fr. Mark pointed out how St. John the Baptist sends his disciples to follow Jesus. The first words of Jesus in the Gospel of John are here, which is “Come and see.” Scot said when people have questions about the Church, we can say, “Come and see.” Come to Mass with me, share this life with us and you will see. Fr. Mark said these readings tell us that we invite the Lord to speak to us and hear the Lord say to us, Come and see. Scot said the Catholic Church is where we have met Jesus Christ and so come and see where he is.…
Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Vocations Awareness Week; March for Life; New Cardinals; Fr. Barron’s persons of the year Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Susan Abbott discuss the news of the week with Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy, including Vocations Awareness week, especially how parents can promote vocations by teaching their children to pray and how all can hear their vocational call more clearly by making a habit of prayer. Also, more youth than ever are heading to the annual March for Life, while those who can’t go are gearing up for a record-breaking number of Holy Hours for Life; 22 new cardinals for the Church, including two Americans; a national conference for deaf Catholics to be held in Boston; and Fr. Robert Barron’s persons of the year in response to a dubious choice by the National Catholic Reporter. 1st segment: Scot and Susan commented on the bad weather in Boston today and whether it would have been better to have the freezing, pelting rain or blowing snow. Scot said various groups in the Archdiocese are coming into the Pastoral Center to talk about Pastoral Planning. Susan said they are difficult conversations, especially with the fear of the unknown, but everyone acknowledges that we can’t have business as usual. 2nd segment: Scot and Susan welcomed Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry to the show. Scot said this week is National Vocation Awareness Week, starting this past Monday to Saturday. He said the Church’s takes this week seriously, not just for priestly vocation shortages, but also for the decline in the number of marriages. Susan said she is thrilled that they are looking at the whole of vocations, not just priesthood. Fr. Roger Landry in his editorial in the Anchor this week discusses the vocation of the baptized. Susan said it’s a challenge in this day and age of iPods and earbuds to hear the call of God. She recommended a video from Grassroots Films called “Fishers of Men”. Scot quoted St. Louis Archbishop Robert J. Carlson, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations from the CNS story: “Through a culture of vocation in families, parishes, schools and dioceses, Catholics can nurture an environment of discipleship, commitment to daily prayer, spiritual conversion, growth in virtue, participation in the sacraments and service in community,” the archbishop said. “Without this environment, promoting vocations becomes simply recruitment. We believe we have much more to offer our young people.” Greg commented on how formation in the Christian family, learning to pray, being involved in the sacramental life of the Church, and seeing their parents live the vocation of marriage are foundational for vocations for priesthood. Scot said in 1997, the vocation awareness week was moved to coincide with the Feast of Baptism of the Lord. Fr. Roger said everything in our life flows from the call we receive at our baptism. The Greek word for Church, ecclesia, means the assembly of those who are called. Scot said that in Fr. Roger’s editorial he wrote about the great decrease in the number of sacramental marriages in the Church. Normally when we hear the expression “vocations crisis” we think of the diminishing numbers of priests or religious. The expression is also now commonly being used to refer to the crisis in the understanding of the vocation to the Sacrament of Marriage: not only is the number of sacramental marriages way down and the percentages of divorce, cohabitation and civil unions way up, but many Catholics seem to be incognizant that marriage is a true calling by God, not just a consequence of ephemeral sexual or emotional attraction. Susan said she was struck by what Fr. Roger wrote about a common habit of prayer, where most people who even bother to pray just a few words at the end of the day, is a habit of conversation that wouldn’t be able to even sustain a marriage. He remarked on the number of people who come to confession tell him that they don’t pray every day, and the people who come to confession are those with a higher level of practice of the faith. He said it’s a matter of priorities. We find time to eat and we even find time to watch TV, but we squeeze God in after all the other things we think are more important. Scot said part of being a good parent is teaching kids how to pray. Greg said he and his wife pray with all the kids every night before bed. They start them from the youngest age and it’s not optional for any of them. They attend Mass Saturday evening so they also pray together every Sunday morning around the table, reciting the Psalms of Morning Prayer and reading a Scripture, usually the Gospel of the day. Then they have a dialogue about what they’ve read. Susan said as a catechist and parent, she recalls teaching other parents to pray when she worked in the parish. They encouraged them to start with grace before meals, even with older kids, and to bless their children every night before bed. The parents really responded to that. Once parents get used to it, it makes such a difference in the family’s lives. Scot said it’s very important for the Dads to be involved. Greg said when his kids come to him for help or advice, he encourages them to think about what God would want them to do in this circumstance. Fr. Roger said the key is to be consistent in prayer, praying even on days when we don’t feel like it. If we pray when we don’t feel the Lord speaking to us, then we won’t be praying when we would be able to hear him. He recalled that his parents praying every day, even when he didn’t feel like it, gave him the foundation to be able to pray on his own when he got to college. Scot aid Fr. Roger’s editorial emphasized the importance of listening to God’s voice, not just talking the whole time. Fr. Roger said the person should just be conscious that God is there, perhaps to pray at the beginning saying that. Then to praise, thank, bless, ask, and offer penance. Finally, then to be quiet and listen to how God might speak to our heart. He said adults don’t do well with this naturally, but kids seem to understand how God responds to us. When we quiet our imaginations and our senses, the Lord enlightens us with insights. 3rd segment: Scot said the cover story in the Pilot this week is that almost 500 youth from Boston are planning to go to the March for Life in Washington DC on January 22. They will be involved in several events over the course of a few days. Greg said this is a full multi-day pilgrimage, including opportunities to be with Cardinal Seán. Since they began this trip as a pilgrimage for life about 4 years ago, the numbers have increased every year. It’s as close to World Youth Day as you can get without going to an actual World Youth Day. Scot said some estimates for this year is that between 400,000 and 900,000 will attend the March for Life. Susan recalled going to the first March for Life 39 years ago. Fr. Roger said in the years he’s taken youth to the March for Life, he’s seen the transformations among youth. Many who went on the trip on a lark, came back changed into pro-life advocates. He would take them to the Holocaust Museum to see what man’s inhumanity to man looked like on an unrestrained scale. At the Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, they would experience Mass among a sea of their peers enthusiastic for their faith. Scot said many parishes in the archdiocese are hold Holy Hours for Life, as co-sponsored by the group Deacons for Life and the Pro-Life Office. A record number of 203 parishes will be holding the Holy Hours. Call 508-651-1900 for more information. 4th segment: Last Friday, Pope Benedict XVI named 22 new cardinals to be elevated at a consistory planned for February 18. The two from the United States are Archbishop Edwin O’Brien and Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York. Both men were rectors of the Pontifical North American College. “This is not about Timothy Dolan,” the New York cardinal-designate said. “This is an honor from the Holy Father to the Archdiocese of New York. … It’s as if Pope Benedict is putting the red hat on top of the Empire State Building, or the Statue of Liberty, or on home plate at Yankee Stadium.” Greg said his wife is a Mets fan and might take exception to that characterization. He said it makes him think to when Cardinal Seán came to Boston and people speculated on when he would be named cardinal and when it happened there was a sense that the Holy Father had deemed Boston worthy again. Scot said it is an honor for the city and the people. He said in 2006 when Cardinal Seán was named in February ahead of the March consistory, there was a large group from Massachusetts at the audience, including Scot and Fr. Roger’s parents as well as people from the Fall River diocese where the cardinal was bishop before, who cheered loudly and unexpectedly. Fr. Roger said he’s thrilled for both Dolan and O’Brien. Archbishop Dolan was the rector of the Pontifical North American College when he was a seminarian there. Archbishop O’Brien saved the NAC, which was a wreck when he came. He hopes they will continue to serve as examples of what priests need to do as images of Christ. Scot said while about 500 people came from Boston when Cardinal Seán was elevated, he expects that New York will have an unprecedented number of pilgrims to come to the consistory to celebrate. Scot noted that in other news, there is a national conference for deaf Catholics in Boston starting on January 13. They will be looking at what Boston is doing in terms of deaf ministry, including Fr. Sean Carey, assistant director of the deaf apostolate and one of only nine deaf priests in the US. Cardinal Seán will celebrate a Mass for all the attendees at Sacred Heart Church in Newton, which has a weekly American Sign Language Mass. Scot said there is an obituary in this week’s Pilot for Fr. Nicholas Driscoll, who was ordained in 1969 and grew up in Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury. Scot said there is also an announcement in this week’s bulletin that Fr. John M. Sullivan will become the new pastor of St. Margaret in Burlington, leaving St. Mary of the Annunciation in Melrose. Also in this week’s Pilot is a column by nationally known priest Fr. Robert Barron about the persecution of Christians worldwide. He notes that Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world. Seventy-five percent of those killed for religious reasons throughout the world are Christians. At the end he writes: And this leads me to declare persecuted Christians as people of the year. At this point, I will make a confession. This reflection was prompted by a piece published by the editors of the National Catholic Reporter. In their lead article, they declared Sister Elizabeth Johnson, a theologian from Fordham University, as the “person of the year” in the Catholic Church. What was the reason for this designation? Sister Johnson, they explained, had been unfairly “persecuted” by the bishops of the United States who dared to question the theological integrity of one of her many books. The bishops did not excommunicate Sister Johnson, or strip her of her teaching position or declare her not to be a Catholic theologian. They simply were critical of aspects of one of her books. And for this, a tenured professor at Fordham, a woman lionized by the academic establishment, is declared a persecuted victim. Give me a break. The nineteen-seventies era narrative of brave progressive theologian fighting against the repressive church is tired and utterly un-illuminating. Far more compelling is the story of the truly brave souls who are risking livelihood, life, and limb in order to declare their faith in Jesus Christ. Fr. Roger said he wishes he could have written this piece as Fr. Barron did so well. Susan and Greg both found it to be great. Scot recommended Fr. Barron’s great miniseries, which is available on DVD, as well as EWTN and local PBS stations, called “Catholicism”.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Father Paco Anzoategui, Pastor of St. Stephen in Framingham and Director of the Spanish Apostolate Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Fr. Paco Anzoategui and Hispanic ministry in Boston Summary of today’s show: Fr. Paco Anzoategui joins Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams to talk about his journey from Mazatlan, Mexico, to the priesthood in the Archdiocese of Boston and how he credits the Blessed Mother for his vocation in a direct way. Fr. Paco also discusses Hispanic ministry in the Archdiocese and the US, including the trend of the growing Hispanic majority, plus why some Hispanics leave the Catholic Church for Evangelical churches, and how to make one parish family that includes both English- and Spanish-speaking communities. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Matt Williams back from a month off from the show. Last week he was a the Theology of the Body institute in Pennsylvania. He heard Dr. Janet Smith, an expert on Catholic teaching on human sexuality. The institute’s mission is helping people understand Bl. John Paul’s Theology of Body, which is all about love. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Paco to the show. Scot said Fr. Paco is both a pastor and director of the Spanish apostolate. He asked him to share his background. He grew up in Mazatlan, Mexico, in a very Catholic family. That was the origin of his vocation. He went to Catholic schools his whole life, most of them in a Xaverian missionary school. The missionary zeal appealed to him in high school, but he didn’t think of being a priest. But he was finishing high school in 1979 when Pope John Paul came to Mexico. This made such an impact on his life and that of all Mexicans, especially when he addressed the young people of Mexico as the hope of the world. Something happened to him then and he couldn’t stop thinking about those words. The Lord made clear to him that he was being called to be a priest. He became a Xaverian priest in 1988. He studied for the priesthood in the United States. He came to the run by the Xaverians. He was quickly found by the bishops and inserted into the Spanish apostolates. He was incardinated as a diocesan priest in 2004. He lived there for his first 9 years of his priesthood. It’s especially beautiful because of the walking rosary and at Christmas they put up many lights. Scot asked Fr. Paco to explain the process of incardination. Fr. Paco said it’s a canonical process by which a man who is already a priest becomes part of a diocese at the request and agreement of both the superior of the religious congregation and the local bishop. It lasts for five years. He was first assigned to St. John the Baptist in Peabody, and the pastor at the time was Msgr. John McDonough. At the end of the five years, he was incardinated. He was sent then to St. Patrick in Lawrence for two years and then to St. Rose of Lima in Chelsea. Now he’s in St. Stephen in Framingham. All those parishes have large Spanish-speaking populations. His entire priesthood, he’s been assigned to multicultural parishes. Fr. Matt asked Fr. Paco about his great devotion to Our Lady. Fr. Paco said if he’s a priest today, it’s because of Our Lady. Growing up in Mexico, the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe is very prevalent. He grew up with that devotion. He remembers at the end of high school as he considered the priesthood, he was afraid he wasn’t qualified. One day he prayed in church and was led to a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe where he consecrated himself to her at that moment if the call to vocation was true. He has since had amazing confirmation that she was listening to his prayer. He was ordained in the Marian Year of 1988 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on the Feast of the Annunciation. He had lost his parents and sister six months before his ordination and his devotion to Our Lady kept him going. As he walked down the aisle of the church and saw the statue of the Immaculate Conception, he felt Our Lady telling him that she brought him to this moment. Then his first assignment was Our Lady of Fatima shrine. At the important moments of his life, she was there. He tries to spread devotion to her everywhere because she always finds a way to keep us close to her son. Scot asked if Mexicans are particularly close to Mary because of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Fr. Paco said Mexico may be 95% Catholic but 100% Guadalupano. Even the non-Catholics have picture of Guadalupe in their homes and cars. He remembers his mother praying the Angelus at noontime every day and praying the rosary. Scot asked if Spanish speakers in Peabody, Lawrence, and Chelsea came from the same places. Fr. Paco said St. John the Baptist had a young Hispanic community when he arrived at the time. The community was mostly Dominicans and some Puerto Ricans. In Lawrence, they were majority Dominican again. But in Chelsea it was mainly Central American—Salvadoran and Guatemalan. In Framingham, it’s also Central American, but also Colombian, Mexican, and Cuban. 3rd segment: Scot asked about St. Stephen Parish. Fr. Paco said he is in team ministry with Fr. Albert Stankard. The majority of the community is Hispanic. They get close to 700 people for Mass on Sunday. They are trying to integrate the two components of the parish, so they are one parish family. They have made great progress to bring the community together. Every year they have a Family Day, bringing dishes from their cultural background. They also have a parish picnic. During Holy Week, they have bilingual services together. When people pray together and see the same love for the Lord and Our Lady, it transforms people. Scot said when he travels to Rome, he loves to see the universality of the Church and the richness of all the cultures within the Church. He said in the history of the Archdiocese, we’ve solved the immigrant Catholic problem in different ways. We used to build a different parish for each language group. Today, we try to integrate communities into one. This helps prevent the necessity of closing parishes in the future when the language need has gone away. Fr. Paco said one thing that helped a lot was working with the staff to convey the spirituality of integration. They found people of both Anglo and Hispanic backgrounds for parish council and other ministries. It’s only when you bring two groups to the same level, that both feel that the other is not favored, that they can become integrated. One way to do that is to make sure that you don’t do everything separately. Over time, it conveys a powerful message to the parish: This is who we are and we’re going to celebrate who we are. We are not threatened by each other. We are family. They also do bilingual bulletins and have worship aids that are bilingual. So they all hold the same hymnal and look at the same bulletin, even if they are looking at different languages on the page. When people see each other during worship, during social events there’s a willingness to reach out and get to know each other better. Fr. Matt asked about the youth groups for different languages. Fr. Paco said they have two groups for different age groups. Anglo youth are often younger than the youth involved in Hispanic youth group. He added that in the youth group, the children are usually second generation and are very comfortable in English. Many even want to take religious education in English. This makes it easier for the young people to bridge the cultures. 4th segment: It’s time to announce this week’s winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prizes this week are two audio CDs by Catholic theologian and educator Jeff Cavins: “Are You Happy?” and “How to Simplify Your Life”. In “Are You Happy?”, Jeff notes that everyone wants to be happy, this seems so obvious that it hardly needs mentioning. But what is the secret to happiness? We all want to be happy, but how do we achieve it? To answer these crucial questions, Jeff asks a more fundamental one: “What is it in your life that you are continuously desiring and seeing?” Answering this question is the key to understanding what will truly make you happy. For “How to Simplify Your Life”, Jeff observes the chaos of modern life: got to get it, got to see it, got to have it, got to be it; deadlines, commitments, the things I need to do, whether for work or family. How can you navigate though the stress and strife? “Just simplify,” Jeff says. But don’t just buy a weekly planner or listen to an Anthony Robbins “success” tape or read Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. As Jeff points out, simplicity is not an external but an inner struggle. In this inspiring presentation, you will learn practical ways to separate the wheat from the chaff in your life; to stop organizing the frantic and urgent calls in your life and answer the one true call to right relationship with Christ. As Jeff notes, we live in a world filled with worry, and this worry translates into excessive activity that “burns out” many in our culture. Discover discernment tools to help you clear away the internal and external clutter in your life, and learn the keys to true success, joy, and peace. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Debra Michalski from Somerset, MA. Congratulation, Debra! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: Scot said many statistics say that most of the growth of the Church in the US is due to Hispanics. For Catholics under 35, a majority are Hispanic. This trend is likely to continue in this direction. Fr. Paco said according to the latest US Census, there about 50 million Hispanics in the US and about 68% are believed to be Catholic. By 2025, it’s believed that Hispanics will be the majority of Catholics in the US. Hispanics come to this country mainly with a Catholic heritage. Protestantism doesn’t have a large footprint in Latin America, although even that’s been growing. He noted that the 15% of Hispanics in the US who are Evangelical has been doubled in the past 10 years. He said some of the younger generations are being assimilated into the dominant culture. More important than maintaining their culture, they need to maintain their faith. They need to help them have an encounter with Jesus that transforms them. Fr. Matt asked why they’re leaving and why are they going to Evangelicalism? Fr. Paco said there isn’t one answer. One reason is that Hispanics in general are seeking to be in community. Sometimes the policies in some US churches don’t make it easy for them to get the sacraments, especially since the policies in their own countries were less rigorous. For example, to receive confirmation they need to go through a formation program in the US, even if they know their own faith very well. If someone moves a lot, they can’t complete a long program. This is particularly acute for migrant farm workers. Fr. Paco said we need to be accommodating. We need to be more welcoming and not to be so precise in everything. Not that we don’t need regulations, but that we have to look at the particular circumstances and be flexible. Because this is what they find in the Evangelical churches. They find a welcome and a sense of community. For Hispanic people, the church is their second home and the priest is like their father, and if they don’t find that in the Catholic parish, they will find it elsewhere. Fr. Paco said 80% of Hispanics in the US find the Catholic Church very welcoming. Scot said storefront churches are specifically targeting immigrants by using very Catholic-like symbolism to encourage them to come and check out their church. Fr. Paco in many parishes with Spanish Masses, they don’t offer anything beyond the Mass. Cardinal Seán has said he wants parishes with Spanish ministry, they must offer more. Hispanics want Bible studies, charismatic groups, Marian groups, and youth groups. That connects people to their parish more. Scot said 37 of the 291 parishes in the Archdiocese have at least one Mass in Spanish. How does the Apostolate coordinate and connect those parishes? Fr. Paco said his office offers services to respond to the needs of each of the parishes. They provide programs that bring people together rather than multiplying efforts. They also try to find Spanish-speaking priests and other lay pastoral ministers for parishes. He also said so many of the priests who have served part of their priesthood in the St. James Society in Latin America come back speaking Spanish and knowing much more of the culture. This means that priests are available to provide the sacraments. Fr. Paco said he has seen a growth in the Spanish-speaking diaconate and lay leadership programs, including catechists. They are doing well for the near future. As for priests, they are counting on so many priests who should be retired already. Fr. Paco said the charismatic movement has been a part of his spirituality and he has found it appeals to more than just Hispanics. People who follow the spirituality helps people to grow in their faith and grow more excited about it. They have prayer group Mondays in English and Fridays in Spanish. Fr. Matt said he met Fr. Paco while he was in seminary at a healing service and asked him to explain healing ministry. Fr. Paco said it happens within the context of the charismatic renewal ministry. It comes from the miracles of Jesus and brings them closer to people, with the message that Jesus is alive and continuing to heal people today. When people open up to the power of the Holy Spirit, he’s seen miracles. He noted that it’s distinct from the Sacrament of the Sick. Everyone can come forward and receive prayers of healing.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Willy Raymond, National Director of Family Theater Productions Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Family Theater Productions Summary of today’s show: Family Theater Productions wants to bring faith and family values back to Hollywood and Fr. Willy Raymond, national director of the ministry, talks to Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor about some of the ways they’re doing that, including an annual student film festival, faith-based outreach to the entertainment industry, and creating original productions. Fr. Willy also shares some stories about celebrity encounters, including meeting Patriots QB Tom Brady on his wedding day. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chris O’Connor back to the show after a month off. Fr. Chris said Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. He traveled in the footsteps of St. Paul, going to Istanbul, Turkey, and Ephesus, near Izmir, Turkey. He recalled the Letter to the Ephesians and was in the amphitheater where St. Paul would have spoken. They also visited St. John the Evangelist’s church there and Catholic tradition is that the Blessed Mother lived with St. John there until she was assumed into heaven. He was able to pray in St. John’s house there. Fr. Chris thinks that Ephesus is where she was assumed into heaven. As early as 451 AD, the Church documents refer to Ephesus as the final earthly home for Mary. Fr. Chris said being in a Muslim country was very interesting. He visited the Blue Mosque. He said the only Turkish he learned was, “Let me out of this cab immediately.” The men have returned to St. John Seminary. Archbishop Alfred Hughes, who was a rector of the seminary and was most recently in New Orleans, is leading a retreat for the men today. Scot said Archbishop Hughes confirmed him and his brother when he was an auxiliary bishop here. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Fr. Willy Raymond to the show. Fr. Willy is in Hollywood, California, but was born in Old Town, Maine. There were 12 siblings and they spoke French primarily at home. His father was a lumberjack. His mother never learned to speak English. He grew up in a close-knit parish community and it was the social center of their lives and they used to pray the Rosary every night in French. He owes a lot of his vocation to the priests and sisters of his parish. He’s now a member of the Congregation of the Holy Cross. They’re known for Notre Dame University and Father Peyton. Fr. Willy said the pastor had encouraged a lot of the boys to go to college in New Brunswick, Canada, and he won a scholarship to go. The Holy Cross Fathers operated that school. He pointed out that they are not Congregation of the Holy Cross, but Congregation of Holy Cross, because their founder was from a place called Holy Cross. The charism of the Holy Cross Fathers is somewhat eclectic but somewhat family-centered. The order was founded after the French Revolution and the founder, Bl. Basil Moreau, aw the family as the foundation on which to rebuild the Church. He modeled them on the Holy Family and the charism is unity for the mission and the virtue is complete trust in divine providence and zeal for the mission. They wanted to reach young people to educate both their mind and heart. They also seek to help out in parishes wherever they are located. Scot said many people know Fr. Peyton for “the family that prays together, stays together” and promoting the Rosary. He was born in County Mayo, Ireland, as one of 9 children. They ended up in Scranton, PA, and he was working as a janitor. He heard a parish mission by a Holy Cross priest and felt called to a priestly vocation so he went to Notre Dame. When Fr. Willy was eight or nine years old, he became an altar server, which every Catholic boy wanted to be at the time. When he went to the university, it was not to enter the seminary, but to get an education. In his sophomore year, the prefect of studies told him that if he was thinking of entering seminary, he had to decide whether to apply then. He took the test, was accepted, and the next year went off to the seminary in Montreal. But then changed his mind and wanted to go to the Holy Cross Fathers instead and then went to Stonehill to the seminary there. Fr. Peyton’s drive to promote the rosary came from a miraculous healing from tuberculosis through the intercession of the Blessed Mother. He wanted to promote a devotion to her and found that he could do so more widely through radio and television. So he came out to Hollywood convinced that the glue of the family is prayer. 3rd segment: Scot asked for an overview of the types of projects that Family Theater Productions has done. Fr. Willy said they are evangelizing the culture through the mass media through programs that entertain, educate, and inspire the family. they do everything through that lens. In radio, Fr. Peyton broadcast a half-hour radio drama nationally. The network agreed as long as there was a Hollywood actor involved each week. They were able to do it 22 years until 1969. The first program featured Jimmy Stewart. Fr. Peyton came to know many stars, including James Dean who got his first screen credit through Family Theater Productions. They have a list of the celebrities who worked with Family Theater over the years. Scot read some names from the list which includes stars from the past and present. Fr. Willy said after John Paul II issued his letter on the Rosary, they wanted to find a fresh way to introduce the rosary to a new generation. They asked young people what would make the rosary helpful to their spiritual life. They came up with Rosary Stars praying the rosary. It’s available at . The Angelus Student Film Festival is for college students and the theme is exploring respect for the dignity of the human person. Last year, they had over 500 submissions. They weed about 80% of them in the first round. They have blue-ribbon committees that select winners in documentary, animation, and live action categories. A prior overall winner last year also won an Oscar. The film was “God of Love” by Luke Matheny. Fr. Willy said many of these students will end up in Hollywood as key figures and they want to engage with them early to encourage them to make true works of art, to make what is true and beautiful and good. Fr. Willy believes that Hollywood can change, especially through prayer. Every day at Family Theater, they have Mass and the rosary for the conversion of Hollywood, to use these incredibly powerful communication tools to shape a culture open to life and the Good News. Scot asked how Hollywood is changing to be more friendly to family-friendly and faith-friendly films. Fr. Willy said this year, there are several films, like Hugo and The Artist, that deal with serious issues and do it well. There are a lot of films that wouldn’t have been made 10 years ago. He credits the Passion of the Christ for convincing a lot of people that religion is something that the public will come and see if it is well done and isn’t trivialized. He said most of the truly successful small-budget films are films we could take our whole family to see. Fr. Chris said there’s a fascination in media and the culture with faith. He cited the example of Tim Tebow, who some are rooting for and others are rooting to fail. HE then asked what stars today are good role models. Fr. Willy said some Eduardo Verastegui is a noble figure for sacrificing part of his career to put his faith and our Lord first. Matthew Marsden is another, Jim Caviezel too, who is in a successful TV series, Person of Interest. Martin Sheen is another faith-filled Catholic, who just made the movie The Way. He named Patricia Heaton from Everybody Loves Raymond and the current show, The Middle. There are also a lot of writers and producers who are less well-known but very serious about their faith. Fr. Willy noted Boston native Mark Wahlberg who has a checkered past, but goes to daily Mass now. Fr. Chris said he read an interview with Wahlberg in Time magazine where he said the most important thing to teach his children is the faith. Fr. Willy brought up Tom Brady, who lives in his parish, St. Monica’s. He told the story of meeting Tom Brady in the sacristy of the church during Tom’s wedding. He noted that Tom’s grandmother prays the rosary for him and that Gisele’s family was involved in the Sao Paolo Rosary rally. They then discussed rooting for Tim Tebow or Tom Brady. Fr. Willy said he also celebrates Mass for the Dodgers when they’re at home, but he still roots for the Red Sox. 4th segment: They discussed which came first, St. Monica parish or the name of the town, Santa Monica. Fr. Willy said the town was named first by Blessed Junipero Serra. Fr. Willy said Family Theater’s archives have the whole Life of Christ filmed by Fr. Peyton in the 1950s in Spain. They have a number of documentaries filmed over the years and are in the middle of producing a series of dramas intended for teens for catechetical purposes. They are also located right on Sunset Boulevard, so they have an outreach to young Catholics, mainly through an open house called Prayer and Pasta, which includes prayer, meal, and a speaker or film and discussion. They also have a Bible study and holy hour every week for people in the industry. They have an RCIA program and they are also discussing Fr. Barron’s Catholicism series. Fr. Chris noted the new series coming out this spring called Faith Bowl. Fr. Willy said it was filmed last year with Vin Scully as the host and five-time All Star baseball player Mike Sweeney. Fr Willy talked in an aside about how difficult it can be for professional athletes to go to Sunday Mass. For Faith Bowl IV, Mike and his dad were interviewed about their faith life and then a young woman, Kristen Sheehan, who runs the program Play Like a Champion Today out of Notre Dame. This promotes that faith and morals and virtue should be integrated into sports. They are now working on Faith Bowl V, hoping to get NFL players on board.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr. John Currie, Pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Holbrook Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Reflections on 10th anniversary of the sexual abuse crisis Summary of today’s show: Today, the feast of the Epiphany, marks the 10th anniversary of the the first major new stories of the clergy sexual abuse crisis in Boston that started a process of coming to terms, of seeking forgiveness, and of rebuilding trust. Scot Landry sits down with Cardinal Seán O’Malley to discuss the somber anniversary and reflect on the past and future. The Scot talks with Fr. Mark O’Connell and Fr. John Currie their thoughts on the Cardinal’s remarks, their own reflections on the anniversary, how the crisis has affected them as priests over the past decade, how it has affected other Catholics, and the path forward for the Church and society. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Mark discussed that January 6 is the Feast of the Epiphany, although we celebrate it liturgically on Sunday. Scot welcomed Fr. John Currie. Scot today marks the 10th anniversary of the breaking of the clergy sex-abuse crisis in Boston when the Globe published the first accounts of predatory priests who had been moved around after accusations. Cardinal Sean has marked this anniversary by re-committing the Church to providing a safe environment for in the Church. He has done many media interviews. He also sat down with Scot for a pre-recorded interview which we will hear now. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Cardinal Sean O’Malley to the show. Ten years ago the sexual abuse scandal became the dominant topic in the Church and society for 2002. He marked it with a letter to the community. Cardinal Seán said it was important to remember these events so we don’t ever go back in the future. We need to express contrition and sorrow, and assure people that going forward we will do everything we can to make our churches and schools as safe as possible for children. Scot said one of the messages was to survivors. Cardinal Seán said if it had not been for the victims who’d been willing to come forward and tell the stories and the media that publicized it so much, we might still have been in a state of denial. Their courage was an important part of the change that was initiated. We are grateful to them and hope they have found some healing and reconciliation. Scot noted the Cardinal came to Boston in 2003 and prioritized our resources for protection of children. Since then 300,000 children have received safe environment training and because of that, 575 children came forward to trusted persons to disclose abuse by someone in their life. the Church has tried to respond in a way not only that we are doing everything possible, but that there is a good that people now know the signs of abuse and come forward. The Cardinal said an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The archdiocese does 60,000 background checks per year which also contributes to a safer environment. But this wouldn’t be possible without the support and work and volunteered time of thousands of people who have helped put these policies in place. In his letters this week, Cardinal Sean acknowledged the difficulties faced by priests and one of the reasons we have such safe environments now is because of the leadership of priests. Cardinal Sean added that parishioners have also been leaders too. In his reflections document, he noted that the media helped us to deal with this problem, but going forward he asked media and other institutions to help contextualize the abuse. The John Jay Report noted that most of the abuse took place decades ago, where the media coverage often presented it as new allegations from the present or that it was a particularly Catholic problem. Cardinal Seán said he does believe that clerical sexual abuse is worse than other kids of abuse, because of the spiritual wound it inflicts beyond the psychological or emotional damage that is done. In society, most sexual abuse happens within families. We’ve always said we stand ready to work with other organizations and institutions to make our society in general a safer place because sexual abuse is rampant in our society. There’s a certain amount of denial because it’s so unpleasant but unless we do talk about we won’t be able to overcome it. He finished his reflections by saying that we can never conclude that the crisis is solved. Our commitment is to continue the screening and education and every year we bring in outside auditors who study what we’re doing and tell us how well we’re doing in implementing our policies of child protection. It’s important to continue to monitor how we’re doing so we don’t become complacent. He wants to assure those most affected that we want to help them to find their way home for those who have been alienated by these horrible mistakes of the past. We renew our prayers for healing and renew our commitment to work with all people of good will to make society safe for everyone, especially our children. 3rd segment: Back in the studio, Scot asked Fr. Mark his reaction to the interview. Fr. Mark said ever since Cardinal Seán has come to Boston, we’ve been on a path of healing. He remembers in Cardinal Sean’s installation homily in which he said the victims of abuse are the wounds in the side of Christ. Fr. Currie said he wanted to begin speaking on behalf of priests and bishops to say he’s sorry for the abuse they suffered. His intention is to join our God in making all things new for everyone. The Spirit has brought us to a new moment in the life of the Church. Referencing the wounds in the body of Christ, he’s been talking with people recently about the last 10 years and they characterize it as a time of opening old wounds. But they’re not old wounds; they’re still new wounds. But we can heal them with hope. What he has seen in many ways over the last 10 years, soon after the revelations and the undeniable truth of children by priests was evident, he began meeting victims and survivors and family members. The horror they were discussing and reading about was incarnate before him. It motivated him at the time to reach out to the newly created office that serves victims to volunteer. He continues to work with them. He wanted to be the face of the Church to people, to sit and listen. Scot said some people have wondered whether it’s appropriate to mark this anniversary the way Cardinal Seán has, by sitting down with the media to talk about the way forward. Some think it’s just reopening old wounds. Fr. John said that for some it’s so painful. Many people lived a lifetime never believing the Church would cross this boundary and to admit it to themselves, it really rattled their faith, what they were taught and led to believe. At 50, 60, 70 years old, it’s hard to comprehend and it’s quite natural for them not to want to talk about it any more. But for others, we need to continue pondering and contemplating what happened and how it happened. This is the point we’re at now in the crisis. The Church should be commended for policies and procedures, but we are moving into a new period of contemplation. Scot said in his conversations with people, there’s a recognition of how difficult it is to talk about. He believes this will be with us the rest of our lives. But there has been some good that has come out of this, like he mentioned in the interview with Cardinal Seán. Fr. Mark said another quote that helped him came from Bishop Irwin who said, “This is not the darkest hour. The darkest hour was when these things were hidden. Now is a better day. It’s still horrible, but it’s better.” Fr. Mark was working in the chancery during those days as a canon lawyer and for 10 years has been working to clean up the mess and fix the problems. A time like this makes you reflect on the wider issues. He’s been working so hard on the problem that he hadn’t had time to pause and think about the long term. Scot said the compelling argument for marking this anniversary is to make sure the awareness of this is still high. Anyone who read the papers over the past couple of months know that this is a problem in many places. His prayer for the next decade is that the program we developed in the Church get better and get implemented in dioceses around the world and in all sectors of society. So many Catholics have said the media was out to get the Church, but the media was out to expose hypocrisy and mismanagement in order to protect the children. The fight was that we would walk to the talk as a Church. Fr. John said he liked the way the Cardinal characterized the spiritual dimension of the sexual abuse of children by priests. HE doesn’t think that most people understand the depth of the pain of the survivors and their families. The priest violated the one thing they were supposed to respect, nurture, and cherish: the soul’s relationship with God. Many nights he’s sat up thinking about it, crying. Most priests are committed to correcting this egregious wrong. The spiritual hurts and pains violated that innocence and purity. Fr. Mark said every priest has the experience of an altar server or child approaching him and there’s so much trust, and you think to yourself that some sick priest violated this. It’s horrifying. Maybe doctors or other professions experience the same thing. Families trust the priest and the kids look up to them and to violate that is a disgusting thing. Scot said the Cardinal in his letter did speak to priests. A large part of the healing has been by faithful priests, who themselves are struggling to make sense of it. Besides survivors and their families, the next most affected group was the priests. Fr. John said 10 years later, the experience particularly though meeting many victims and families, have stripped away from his thoughts a lot of hindrances to faithful priesthood. The whole culture of clericalism was rampant. It was such an enabling factor. Many abusers knew how to manipulate it. The Church took refuge in it. But it was one of the most damaging contributive factors. So 10 years later, after praying and wrestling with it, it’s one thing he hopes and prays that he’s not contributing to, but instead lifting up a faithful, humble, kind, Christ-like priesthood, rooted in the Eucharist and the command of Jesus when he washed the feet of his disciples. He hopes that’s what he’s demonstrating. Scot said many priests have responded by trying to be the holiest, most caring, most generous priest they can be. That’s the only response they can make. You can’t take away the pain or memories of the survivors. He said it’s been tough for all Catholics, but the response has been to just be the best Catholic you can be and that’s the only way you can deal with it. Fr. Mark said every priest and layperson dealt with it in their own way. Many priest felt they were tainted unfairly. But sharing in the priesthood of Christ means your brother did this to a child. However, he is not someone who won’t wear his clerical collar. If someone expresses their anger and pain, he takes it the best he can. Scot quoted Cardinal Seán’s letter about the Roman collar as a sign of suspicion. Fr. John said he’s felt that suspicion, but he said he always felt that the right thing to do was to always remain present among the people. He’s taken the shouts and anger and even had people spit on him. His response was to offer remorse and love and to beg people to join in healing the Church and most of all those who were most abused. Fr. Mark said he’s also had mockery and screaming. What also hurts is not just those who were abused, but also the many who left the Church because of it. For some it was just an excuse, others will come back, but for many they lost their faith. It’s the mission of every Catholic to make invitations ask them to come back. To tell them that we’re less without you and better with you. Fr. John said the number of people even in the worst of time who came up to him to assure him that they trust was touching. It led to many honest conversations with people about what was going on. Fr. Mark said it surprised him that the Holy Father’s Year of the Priest was so very healing. They needed that. Scot said Cardinal Seán’s letter ended with acknowledgment of people who walked away from the Church out of disgust. The Church didn’t live up to the standard. Cardinal Seán wrote: God made us to know, love and serve him and wants us to love and care for each other. As Catholics we do this best when we are united around the altar for Mass each Sunday. It is our prayer that by seeing the response of the Church, and by viewing the issue in its proper context, all those who have been away will return to join with us, to make the Church stronger and always a safe place for all people. This past decade has been difficult for the Church. Yet, we are transformed by the experience and the mission endures. Please pray for continued healing for all those impacted and join with us as we strive to bring the light of Christ’s healing, love and hope to the world. Fr. Mark said he’s trying to clean up many of these cases and working on healing is as much a part of his job as it was 10 years ago. He’s still personally committed as much as he ever was. Fr. John said he hopes the Church continues to do what she has been doing and he will continue to work with Barbara Thorp’s office. He’s learned the lesson of humility in the face of difficulty and challenges and wants to help the Church insert that into healing for the future. 4th segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Brothers and sisters: You have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for your benefit, namely, that the mystery was made known to me by revelation. It was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet: And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel.” Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage.” After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way. Scot noted that the Magi were not Jews and that this was one way that God signaled that Jesus was coming to save all people. Fr. John said Herod completely missed it. He was threatened in a political sense. Fr. John remembered a Carmelite nun telling him that anyone who meets Jesus with an open heart never leaves unchanged for the better. The Magi went with an open heart, but Herod’s heart was closed and that’s why he was troubled. Scot said some scholars speculate that it took two years for the Magi to travel to Bethlehem and this is why Herod ordered the massacre of all boys under the age of two. Fr. Mark said the Magi may have had an original plan to go back and tell Herod, but they went home by another way and were perhaps changed in that way. Fr. Mark commented on the word epiphany, where you think one thing and your mind and life is changed. Scot said it’s not lost on him that the revelations of the Boston Globe started on Epiphany. God brought good out of this bad news by exposing the sickness. Fr. Mark said anyone listening who is in a dark place, the epiphany they should hear is that Christ can change your life. If you approach Christ with an open heart, you can go home by another way. Scot said while the Magi brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, our gift is ourselves. Fr. John said God’s gift he gives us the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Scot noted that the stars that guide us today are the tabernacle lamp and the light on top of the confessional box, both of which lead us to healing.…
Today’s host(s): Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Tenth anniversary of abuse crisis; Romney’s pro-life record defended; Santorum’s near-win; physician-assisted suicide; new head of ex-Anglican ordinariate Summary of today’s show: In our first news show of the year, Scot Landry and Susan Abbott talk with Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy about the 10th anniversary of the major eruption of the clergy sex-abuse crisis in Boston, touching on an extensive interview with Cardinal Seán in the Pilot; Pro-life and pro-family leaders in Massachusetts defending Mitt Romney’s record; Rick Santorum’s surprising surge in the Iowa caucuses; the appointment of a leader for the new Ordinariate in the US for ex-Anglicans; and more. 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show and caught with Susan from her Christmas break. Scot said there’s been a lot of media coverage of the church this week and Cardinal Seán has conducted a number of one-on-one interviews talking about he 10 years since Epiphany in 2002 when it was revealed in the pages of the Boston Globe about John Geoghan and how he was assigned to several parishes after being accused of abuse. Susan said she remembers exactly where she was sitting in her kitchen when she read that article. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Roger and Gregory to the show. He said Antonio Enrique, editor of The Pilot, did perhaps the most detailed interview with the Cardinal, along with several other stories on this anniversary. Greg said it’s a monumental anniversary which has so much meaning for so many. they wanted to give it the coverage it deserves. The interview with the Cardinal tried to delve a little deeper than the letters, but also to cover how he went to Fall River in the 90s during the Fr. Porter case and then what we should do moving forward. Scot said some people are questioning why we are marking this anniversary this way and Antonio asked the Cardinal about it: I think that the commitment of the archdiocese to work for the protection of children is an ongoing commitment. Often times we memorialize the tragic events in history so that they will not happen again. I think that this is one of those kinds of things. Susan said the Cardinal is on target that this is an ongoing commitment and this is a tragic event that needs to be memorialized. Greg said they have received a lot of feedback over the years asking them to stop printing about it in the Catholic newspaper, but they reply that this is a reality that we have to face up to and deal with as a Church. Scot said there are twelve interview questions in the transcript. Fr. Roger said he was struck by the Cardinal’s candor with a direct answer to a question about whether Cardinal Law should have resigned. Fr. Roger said like Americans won’t forget December 7 or 9/11, Catholics should not forget January 6, where we beg God’s mercy and mark the day with reparations. He encouraged listeners to fast in reparation for the pain of the victims and for the harm done to the Church by this scandal. We need to beg the Lord to draw good out of evil and lead us from darkness to light. Scot quoted a question of the Cardinal: “Ten years after the scandal broke in Boston, how do you explain the actions, or inactions, of Church officials who did not act swiftly when credible accusations of abuse were reported, often repeatedly?” The Cardinal responded: As we say, hindsight is always better than foresight. In today’s world we have an awareness of the great harm that is done to victims of child abuse. In the past, I fear, that was not the case. People did not realize how profound the harm was that was visited upon children. The harm, I think, was compounded when the perpetrator was a priest because of the identification of the priest with God, with the sacred, and, therefore, besides the psychological damage it also did grave spiritual damage. Then lists many other reasons as well: But I think there was a lot of ignorance of these kinds of things. It became clear to me that, in the case of Father Porter, the bishop at the time, every time there was a complaint, he sent him to a mental health facility and there the psychologists were telling the bishop that he was cured, that he could be returned to (ministry) - absurd things - but at the time even the psychologists were giving that kind of advice. So I think all that contributed to the terrible decisions that were made. There was also an exaggerated fear of scandal and trying to protect the institution. And I think, too, just in the culture at the time there was a lot of denial of this problem. People did not speak of these kinds of things - ever - even though it was like the elephant in the middle of the living room. I think Wl see reflections of that in the reporting on the case in Pennsylvania, where people just didn’t want to deal with it, didn’t want to face it. Even though they saw it, they were denying it. There was an unwillingness to grapple with the ugliness of this problem. Scot said it’s still ugly today, but the Cardinal as much as any bishop in the Church,. has spent the last 15 to 20 years of his life meeting with survivors of abuse and helping now his third diocese overcome these problems. Greg said in 2002 the Pilot made a special issue when the crisis first broke, trying to get a handle on what this meant. He recalled that until March, people thought this was one horrible case that came to light and it would pass, but then it became clear it was not an isolated incident. Even then people were already saying these same things about there being a great ignorance about these matters in the past. Greg said society has come a long way and we need to keep this in its historical perspective. These things didn’t all occur ten years ago. Ten years ago, the tragedies that occurred mainly in the 60s, 70s, and 80s were brought to light at one moment. Scot said seeing the progress made in the past 10 years makes him proud. We’ve trained 300,000 children and 175,000 adults in safe environment education. He said 575 young people have come forward to reveal that they’re being abused by someone in their life. Susan recalled how the archdiocese brought together people of various disciplines to form a special committee to bring together materials to provide training for the children and adults. Susan said in the Office for Religious Education they went through a lot of displaced anger because they found their office under attack for promoting the implementation of safety programs for children. Scot said the Cardinal in his letter asked the media and other organizations to contextualize the abuse, by not treating every instance of abuse as if it was a present occurrence and by giving special emphasis to abuse in the Catholic Church and not giving regard to the problem that this is a societal problem. Fr. Roger said for priests, when all these abuses were treated as if they just happened, were subjected to many indignities and suspicions. The Church needs to be treated just like any other institution when accusations of these kinds come up. Fr. Roger said the fact that those with secular mindsets treat the Church differently is an implied recognition that the Church should be held to a higher standard, the standard applied by Christ. Scot said these wounds are still raw for victims and their families, all priests in a particular way, and all laity. We should pray for everyone who will go through a difficult time this week. 3rd segment: Scot said anyone who’s seen the TV this week know that the US presidential primary season is in full swing. He said many critics of former Mass. governor Mitt Romney have alleged that he wasn’t a strong defender of life or family issues in Massachusetts. Nine leaders in pro-life and pro-family matters in Massachusetts have come out to set the record straight about Romney. Fr. Roger said his reaction is that the defense was too strong. Romney’s record in Mass. was mixed and they should have just combatted lies. He would like to hear Romney explain what he thinks he didn’t do enough. On same-sex marriage, Fr. Roger thinks Romney should have refused to order city clerks to issue marriage licenses and bring about a constitutional crisis over the ability of the Supreme Judicial Court to order same-sex marriage. On the other hand, he did do a lot of the pro-life, pro-family message and could have done more. Susan said before Fr. Roger just spoke, she would have trusted the signatories to this letters based on her knowledge of their reputations. The signatories included “Raymond L. Flynn and Mary Ann Glendon, both former U.S. Ambassadors to the Holy See, as well as the former executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, Gerald D. D’Avolio.” Scot said one of the things that came out of the Iowa caucuses was that Rick Santorum, a pro-life Catholic, did so well in the voting, ending up within eight votes of Romney. Greg said Santorum appealed to the Christian conservatism of Iowa in a particular way and his defense of the family. While Greg personally would like to see Santorum become president, he thinks the voters of New Hampshire may not respond in a similar way and may not become the GOP nominee. But the fact that he came so close in Iowa shows that there’s a thirst for the pro-life, pro-family message that isn’t being supported by other candidates. Scot said he’s never seen Rick Santorum ever dilute his conservatism on the pro-life issue. He asked Fr. Roger if Santorum will hear criticism of his pro-life views during the primary. Fr. Roger said Santorum will be cast as an extremist because he doesn’t include a rape or incest exception for abortion. He may receive flask for statements from those supportive of the gay agenda reacting to his views of the gay agenda as harmful to America. Also from the Pilot this week is an obituary of Fr. Thomas Fleming, who was ordained in 1959. He served as Army chaplain in Vietnam, Korea, and Germany during the Vietnam conflict. In the Anchor, Fr. Roger said there will be a lot of focus on the Church’s teaching on physician-assisted suicide. The Anchor noted that the Mass. Medical Society came out now in opposition to the practice and they wanted to be sure Catholics knew that Massachusetts doctors were not in favor of this proposed law. Also in the Pilot is a story about the forming of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, which encompasses the United States for ex-Anglican parishes that become Catholic. It’s like a diocese in function and is based in Houston. The first ordinary, who is not a Catholic bishop, is a former Episcopalian bishop. Scot noted that Fr. Jeffrey Steenson is not a bishop, and doesn’t have the power to ordain, but in most other respects has the same powers as a bishop. Greg pointed out he’s not eligible to be a bishop because he’s married. Fr. Roger said it’s part of Pope Benedict’s response to Christ’s prayer that “all would be one” and reuniting Christians under one Church.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Sr. Emi Magnificat and Sr. Christine of the Daughters of St. Paul Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Daughters of St. Paul Summary of today’s show: The Daughters of St. Paul proclaim the Gospel in every medium available from printed books to films and TV to music to ebooks, apps, and websites. Scot Landry interviews Sr. Christine and Sr. Emi Magnificat about the mission of the Daughters of St. Paul, whose American headquarters are right here in the Boston area; their paths to the vocations in the order; and the story of the order’s founder, Bl. James Alberione. 1st segment: Scot recounted that yesterday the show did not broadcast over WQOM due to technical difficulties, but it is available on our website. This week is a big anniversary as well. He also noted that Friday, January 6, we mark 10 years since the first publication of major revelations concerning clergy sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston. Cardinal Seán is marking that anniversary with perhaps the most significant rounds of media interviews he has done since coming to the Archdiocese. Links to those are below. He’s also conducted other interviews that will be published in the coming days as well in the National Catholic Report, the Pilot. This Friday, January 6, Cardinal Seán will be on The Good Catholic Life. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Sr. Christine and Sr. Emi to the show. He said he’s somewhat embarrassed that he hasn’t had the Daughters of St. Paul on the show before now. Sr. Christine said the Daughters were started specifically to work in media. They started in Italy and worked in books and other print, then radio and eventually TV, movies, cassettes, CDs, DVDs, websites, ebooks, and smartphone apps. Scot said if St. Paul himself were evangelizing today, he’d been on radio and TV and Twitter and Facebook. Sr. Emi said Bl. James Alberione, their founder, said that was their mission, to be like St. Paul. She said St. Paul was so convinced of the love of Christ that he wanted to give his life proclaiming the Gospel. that spirit impels the daughters today. Sr. Christine said Bl. James started with a group of men he wanted to train to be the media apostles of the 20th century. In 1915 he founded the Daughters of St. Paul because he thought women should be evangelizers. They should be there as mothers and sisters of the church to spread God’s word in that manner, but also through personal contact. They do that in the media centers and at conferences and wherever they encounter people. The witness of their vocation and vows is the first proclamation of their mission and the mission flows from that. In 1932, Sr. Paula Cordero was sent from Italy to New York to start a foundation. She went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and put a medal of St. Paul behind the bishop’s chair to pray for the intercession of St. Paul with the cardinal. Cardinal Cushing invited them to Boston to start their novitiate here and there American headquarters is in Jamaica Plain. Sr. Emi said about 60 sisters live in Jamaica Plain, including the novitiate, provincial government, bindery, and the sisters who work at the Dedham book center. She said the novitiate stage is the first entrance into the community and occurs after about two years of postulancy. At the end of the 2 years of novitiate, they take first vows and then about5 years later, they take perpetual vows. Sr. Christine said there are 2,500 sisters in 32 nations. She said in Africa, there are many books printed and many book centers. Each country works in the predominant media needed in that society. In Italy they are the major religious publisher. Near the Vatican they have a multi-language bookstore. From Boston, they record radio programs that air in the US and Latin America. Six months ago, they started a Spanish and Portuguese initiative where they are working on distribution of books in those languages throughout the US. Sr. Emi said the book centers sell all of the Daughters’ own books and music, but also any materials they think will help others. Every book center also has a chapel with the Blessed Sacrament. Sr. Christine said it’s a 50/50 ratio of Pauline books versus other publishers. They are looking forward to receiving new daily Missals for the new translation of the Mass. The bookstore in Dedham is on Route 1 across from Legacy Place. There is a beautiful little chapel there. They look to serve people any way they can so if they don’t have a book, they will suggest another one. They have many CDs and many Catholic DVDs. They will be soon adding St. Paul DVDs. Sr. Christine spoke of some of the books they publish. They have weekly meetings to determine what manuscripts will be accepted. They have the book printed by an outside company. They warehouse the books in Jamaica Plain and do the marketing and sales from there as well. They also ship orders from Boston. Many of the senior sisters do the packaging of books and sets. They don’t have retired sisters; everyone does what they can. Sr. Christine said that while their books are available on Amazon.com, it provides more support to them if people buy them directly from their website or book centers. They have a Facebook presence too, especially for their choir. They do two CDs per year and have many concert performances around Christmas. They have their music on iTunes as well for downloading to iPods and iPhones. Sr. Emi said all their new books they hope to make available as ebooks in addition to bringing their popular older titles to ebook. The whole province is also working to reach out more to Catholic schools with book fairs in the schools. They also have new apps for iPhones, including a Rosary app, a Missal app, Saint of the Day, and the Mass Explained app. Sr. Christine said Jaymie Stuart Wolfe wrote a booklet about the new translation of the Mass and it was so popular that they turned it into an app. Sr. Emi said they have an app for healing psalms and prayers. It accompanies people throughout the day in prayer. 3rd segment: It’s time to announce this week’s winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prizes this week are and . This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Kathleen Sullivan from Cohasset, MA. Congratulation, Kathleen! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot asked Sr. Emi how she came to be a Daughter of St. Paul. She said as a sophomore in high school, she encountered the Daughters’ website which inspired her. She had an aunt who had worked with the Daughters for many years in Japan. The order has a program for high schools to come to Boston for a week in the summer to get to know the community. That’s when she felt at home with the sisters and was attracted to their way of life. She was so impressed by how the prayer of the sisters fit so well with their mission of proclaiming the Gospel. Because they are always looking to the new forms of media, their mission will never grow old. Scot asked her to talk about her aunt. Sr. Emi said she expressed the joy she felt in working with the sisters. Discovering her vocation as a Daughter of St. Paul was not a “being struck by lightning” moment, but something she became aware of over a longer period of time. Right now, she’s working in much of the bookkeeping and computer operations work. She’s also served in St. Louis, Honolulu and Texas, but now lives in Boston. Sr. Christine said she joined the Daughters in 1964 at 17 years old. She went to Catholic school only for first grade, but it made a big impression on her. She told God at 6 years old she would be a nun. She had another love as well: TV and movies. As she grew older, especially during high school, the call waned a bit, but she told God that if He showed her an order that works in show business she would join. So she encountered a book that said the Daughters of St. Paul work in show business. She encountered the congregation right in the middle of her senior year of high school. Sr. Christine said she made a second “Yes” to God in her mid-30s when she came through difficulties and uncertainties and knew that this was truly where God had called her. Sr. Christine said her attraction was the apostolate. The Sisters talked about living in community, the challenges of different personalities, but also the joys of getting to know each other, their different cultures and backgrounds. Sr. Emi said they often have fun together. Sr. Christine said they have a movie night every Saturday, they play board games together, they play games like scavenger hunts. They have space and place for recreation and relaxation. Sr. Emi said 6 temporary professed sisters and two of them are in Rome in preparation for final vows. There is one novice and five postulants. Sr. Christine said they have come-and-see weeks and weekends. An interested woman would meet with a sister, then come and live with the sisters for a time. Sr. Christine said she’s been friends with Marianne Luthin, director of the archdiocesan pro-life office, and for the last 4 years has been helping in the office for several hours a week. She helps with Women Affirming Life, which includes two prayer breakfasts per year with speakers. She mentioned the archdiocesan Holy Hours for Life coming up on January 22. 5th segment: Scot said he recently heard a presentation on Bl. James Alberione, who founded five religious congregations, including the Daughters of St. Paul. Sr. Emi said he grew up on a farm in Italy. She told a story of how he illuminated his family’s planting the farm by holding up a lamp and that became a metaphor for him for his life’s mission. Scot said on the Daughters’ website there are photos of Bl. James behind a film camera directing a movie. Sr. Christine said his motto was “Ever onwards, Daughters of St. Paul.” He was always pushing onwards. He always wanted to read the news of the day in order to pray with the news of the day. The co-founder of the order was Mother Thecla. He invited her to share with him in his dream of establishing the Pauline orders. Sr. Christine said she was a holy quiet soul. Her role was to take the feminine branch and to see them grow. She sent many of the missionaries from the orders throughout the world. She has been declared Servant of God. Sr. Emi said BL. James was kicked out of the first seminary he was in and was admitted to a second seminary on probation. It was then that he was given the great grace of his mission from God.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Danielle Bean, editor-in-chief of Catholic Digest and co-host of CatholicTV’s The Gist Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Danielle Bean, Catholic Digest, TheGist, and Faith and Family Live Summary of today’s show: Danielle Bean is a homeschooling mother of eight, author of three books, editor-in-chief of America’s largest Catholic publication, a well-known blogger, and now the co-host of CatholicTV’s The Gist, an all-new talk show for women. Whew! Scot Landry talks to Danielle about being the queen of all Catholic media, how she juggles her responsibilities, and her vision for serving Catholic women and their families by offering inspiration, support and community. 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to 2012 and he wished everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We start the new year with a great guest, Danielle Bean. He also noted that Friday, January 6, we mark 10 years since the first publication of major revelations concerning clergy sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston. Cardinal Seán is marking that anniversary with perhaps the most significant rounds of media interviews he has done since coming to the Archdiocese. Links to those are below. He’s also conducted other interviews that will be published in the coming days as well in the National Catholic Report, the Pilot. This Friday, January 6, Cardinal Seán will be on The Good Catholic Life. [ 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Danielle Bean to the show. He noted that she is a very busy mom living her Catholic faith. He asked her about her new TV show on Catholic TV called The Gist. She said it’s an opportunity for Catholic women to have a new voice in Catholic television. It’s Catholic women talking to one another about the topics they care about: family lives, faith lives, balancing schedules, balancing work and family life. Scot said this month’s CatholicTV magazine said Danielle posed the idea for the show to Fr. Robert Reed this past summer. In her work on Faith and Family magazine helped her to understand what Catholic women need from media to serve them as whole persons. Her goal for The Gist was to do something similar to Faith and Family in television form, offering women what they care about from a Catholic perspective. Scot asked Danielle how the Gist will compare with shows like the View. Danielle said those shows are popular because they meet a need. Women like to communicate with one another and talk. Women respond to a talk show of women sharing and connecting. But those shows appeal to less admirable qualities. The Gist will help them encourage and build up one another, to share their struggles and triumphs from a Catholic perspective. Danielle said recording the show never felt awkward. She said her co-hosts are Carolee McGrath and Rachel Balducci and they have a real connection to one another because they share their core values. Danielle said each show takes up two different topics, balancing deeper topics and lighters ones, plus interviews, including recent TGCL guest Lisa Hendey. They will also do brief review segments, sharing ideas and products they find useful in their lives. Scot noted that Lino Rulli will also be on the show, as well as Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez talking about their new movie The Way, and later this month author Fr. Jim Martin. Scot said doing TGCL has been wonderful to get to know new people both as guests but also to develop new relationships with the co-hosts. Danielle said a big part of what they do as Catholic women in the Church is to support one another, and sometimes that comes in the form of knowing that someone out there who shares your values, shares your circumstances. Scot said Danielle has worked in print, online, and radio. What’s it like to learn to do TV? She said it’s been fun and she went into it hoping to learn alot. She’s found a lot of great energy. She credited CatholicTV for the great shows they’re making. She said it’s also been humbling. She said watching the taping of This Is Day, she remarked to Rachel how much fun TV is. Scot said Helen Lee and Bonnie Rodgers were on TGCL before Christmas and talked about the social media component of the show. Danielle said she and Rachel have been active online for many years and it felt natural to do stuff online for the show. They’ve already built up a where they will include poll questions and ask viewers their opinions on the topics they take up. She hopes to get that feedback on a regular basis and incorporate it into future shows. During the premiere tomorrow they will host a live chat on Faith and Family Live to talk about the show as it airs. The show will air on Wednesday morning at 10:30am with numerous rebroadcasts throughout the week or on-demand at CatholicTV.com. 3rd segment: Scot said Danielle is also beginning the new year with new responsibilities as editor-in-chief of Catholic Digest. He asked her about the new position. Scot said he was surprised to hear that it’s the number one Catholic publication in the US. Danielle said she came into the position sort of sideways. She was editor of Faith and Family magazine for years and it was purchased last year by Bayard, the company that owns Catholic Digest. They made the decision not to publish Faith and Family in its current form. (She emphasized that the website is continuing.) Faith and Family will be combined into Catholic Digest and the Digest will re-launch in March with a new look and a larger format of 6x9. It will have a new contemporary look. They want to create a magazine that will be attractive to the core of their audience, which is Catholic women. It will be more visually appealing. She hopes to bring the visual appeal of Faith and Family to Catholic Digest. It’s a broader audience than Faith and Family. She’s been looking for a balance between the old content and the new and is looking forward to the March re-launch, speaking to a new audience and being respectful to its 75 year tradition of publishing. Scot said said it publishes 11 times per year. Danielle said the magazine reaches about half a million people, including issues in parishes. They are looking to build the subscriber base and trying to find a right balance with providing content for free online. They will provide 9 regular issues and 2 special issues that will ship simultaneously with regular issues. They hope to give added value for the subscriptions. Danielle said Catholic Digest will even less a news magazine and more a lifestyle magazine and will include the kind of content you can’t get online. She wants people to be inspired but she also wants it to be a tool for Catholic living. She wants to the pages of the magazine to reflect community and practical support. Scot said other magazines called Digest often have shorter articles or abridged articles from elsewhere. Is that what Catholic Digest will be like? Danielle said they talked about possibly changing the name of the magazine to address this question, but they kept it because it the number-one recognized Catholic publication name. She said reprints were part of Catholic Digest history, but that’s not the plan for the future. Her focus is on providing fresh and relevant content from contemporary writers. Scot talked about the way the Catholic Digest website is organized. He said there’s a lot of content available there on a wide range if subjects. Scot said he was impressed by how broad the content is. It shows that living the Catholic faith isn’t just about praying, but it’s about embedding our faith into all aspects of life. Danielle said her goal is to serve the whole person. This is what the Church does for us. 4th segment: Scot said Faith and Family Live is a very strong community that built up around Faith and Family magazine. He asked how that developed and why is it important to continue when Faith and Family ends as an independent entity. Danielle said it goes back to the days when she started her own blog in 2004 and she said gathered a following of Catholic women who would have weekly conversations on whatever was on their minds. When she took on the role of editor of Faith and Family, she convinced them to create a beautiful website that fosters the same sort of community. The look and feel is expressive of the kind of community they have built there. They managed to grow the site through promotion in the magazine and other ways. On a daily basis, the cadre of bloggers who contribute regularly post on topics of interest, but they also do a daily coffee talk where it’s freeform discussion on various topics. Early on they discussed that access to one another was the most valuable commodity they could offer. The greatest resource was the community of Catholic women online, not just the writers for Faith and Family. Scot said one of the comments he often heard at the Boston Catholic Men’s and Women’s Conferences was being present with other people like themselves and Faith and Family Live is one of those conferences every day. Danielle said she’s often heard from women who say the best part is just not feeling alone. Many women don’t have someone they can talk to about their faith and family life. For those living their faith counter to the culture, they often feel isolated from everyone else. You don’t want to feel constantly on the defensive or so alone. Scot said someone could bring up a question about NFP in an environment they can feel is safe, unlike a random gathering of friends or neighbors. It’s a private and perhaps anonymous forum for asking questions and getting answers. Danielle acknowledged that the Internet can be a difficult place to keep charity and they have struggled with the comments, but they don’t want to forbid anonymous comments because of that very reason. Scot said all the supportive comments show how much Catholics care for one another and anyone looking for help. Danielle said it’s like the holy Father says, which is we want to give the Internet a soul. Danielle said you don’t have to register or provide personal information to comment on the site. But you can also join the free online community by registering. 5th segment: Scot said Danielle has written three books, , , and . My Cup of Tea was the first book and it included some reworked columns from when she was a columnist at National Catholic Register, but also some new essays sharing in a very real way what the day to day living of the Catholic life looked like from her perspective. After that book was published, she started a website to promote the book and through the blog she started to get lots of request from women from advice. She heard a lot of the same questions over and over from women who were struggling and looking for help. From that came the idea for Mom to Mom. She tried to do it with humor and honesty from her own experience. Scot said parenting without a sense of humor is very challenging. Sharing the moments of humor with first-time moms and others who are struggling can expose them to deep and profound joy. As the mother of eight children she has a lot of experience and many moments to share. Being a writer, especially a daily blog, gives her a perspective to step back and see the bigger picture. It’s easy to get lost in the day to day drudgery, so it’s important to step back and see what a high calling it is. She remembers early on in her writing career, she was at home and fell down some stairs and at the bottom lay there and thought, This will make a great column. This is part of that perspective. Small Steps was a project she worked on with her friend Elizabeth Foss. They had the idea that they like the daily support from a book that gives them guidance to inspire and encourage and support in a practical way.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry, Fr. Mark O’Connell, and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Sr. Olga Yaqob, Servant Mother of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth Today’s topics: Christmas Gospels and The Incarnation Summary of today’s show: We prepare for Christmas as Scot Landry, Fr. Mark O’Connell, Susan Abbott, and Sr. Olga Yaqob consider the four different Gospel readings and reflect how each one illuminates a different message of Christmas and the Incarnation of Christ. Our panel then discusses the meaning of Christ being born as a baby in the most humble circumstances and then growing up in obscurity for 30 years in preparation for just 3 years of public ministry. Finally, they look at the first heralds of Christ, the humble shepherds who dropped everything to adore and then proclaim the Messiah, and encourage us all to take the opportunity this Christmas to make Christ our top priority and to proclaim him fearlessly and with enthusiasm. 1st segment: Scot said this is the last broadcast prior to Christmas and next week we’ll have a series of Best Of programs. Scot welcomed Sr. Olga to show. Fr. Mark said he will be celebrating a vigil Mass on Saturday and then Sunday morning, but he’s celebrating midnight Mass for his parents in their home with his family. Susan will be celebrating with her family at her daughters’ home. Sr. Olga said her sisters will go to nursing homes and then feed the homeless and see the families of the young women. Scot said his family will travel on Christmas Eve to his brother’s parish, where Fr. Roger will celebrate Mass and then they will all have a Christmas Eve meal. On Christmas morning they will go to Mass at their home parish where his daughter sings in the choir. Scot said there are many who will also experience sadness on Christmas if they’ve lost a loved one recently and we will pray for them. Scot said we will look at the Mass readings for Christmas and then reflect on the meaning of Christmas. At the end of the program, we will discuss some of our favorite Christmas hymns. 2nd segment: Scot said there are four different Christmas liturgies from which readings come. One is the vigil Mass, the midnight Mass, the Mass at dawn, and Mass during the day. We will hear the four Gospels. Fr. Mark points out that if someone goes to the same Mass every year they only hear one of these Gospels. This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus. In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. Scot said there’s so much richness in these readings and so many characters in these readings: infant Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds. He asked Fr. Mark to reflect. He said we have accounts from Matthew, Luke, and John, which shows the variety. The full version of Matthew has the complete lineage, placing Jesus in his historical context. Luke tells the story focusing on the shepherds, Jesus coming to common people. John has high language and his audience was both Jew and Greek. Susan said in St. John what strikes her is that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome. There is so much darkness and division in the world today. In Paul we hear a lot about hope. We have to hang onto hope and she sees hope in this line of this Gospel. Sr. Olga said she loves the Gospel of Luke and always wonder through the heart of Mary and Joseph how they felt in that moment when they first saw the birth of the Son of God. She wonders what happens in the heart of priests what happens when they first consecrate and it becomes the Son of God. For her, Incarnation is in the heart of the Christmas season. As a campus minister, she saw how the students would get excited when famous people came to campus. Do we pause and think about the special guest who we are celebrating this season. “Blessed be the Lord, the God os Israel, He has come to set his people free.” It is overwhelming to think about the beauty of the Incarnation. Scot said what he didn’t fully appreciate growing up until he heard his brother preach about it a couple of years ago was what the setting was really like for Jesus. He was laid to sleep in a place where the animals ate from. It wasn’t a pleasant scene. Scot read from Fr. Roger’s homily. Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Son of David, the one who will reign forever, is not born in a palace, but in rock-hewn animal stable. Rather than having a floor of marble, he had dirt. Instead of a throne or a princely crib, he was placed in a trough from which animals were accustomed to eat. Rather than being clothed in fine royal linens, he was wrapped in poor swaddling clothes. Rather than the perfumes and incense common to middle-eastern homes, he was surrounded by the smells of animals and what they leave behind. So often we can sentimentalize and romanticize the scene in Bethlehem by gazing at the gorgeous figurines in our beautiful Christmas crèches, but then we would miss the incredible humility of God, who divested himself of all majesty to be born in such poverty that by his poverty we might indeed become rich (cf. 2 Cor 8:9). Moreover, as we know, his birth was just the beginning of this shockingly humble life. He, through whom all things were made, would be hunted down by assassins while he still nursed, be an illegal immigrant in Egypt before he could walk, and a quiet boy, teenager and young simple carpenter in Nazareth until his hour had come. When his hour did come, he would take off his humble robes, cover himself with a towel and wash our feet. Then he would be betrayed by one of his closest followers, framed by the leaders of the people he had formed for centuries, be less wanted than the murderer Barabbas, and hammered to a Cross between two thieves by soldiers he had formed in their mothers’ wombs. As Archbishop Sheen used to say, he was born in a stranger’s cave and buried in a stranger’s grave. Jesus’ life was one of tremendous embarrassment and the homily goes on to explain why God took on such humility. This was His choice. Pope Benedict talked a few years ago why St. Francis created the living creche so that we could visually come to terms what it must have been like on that Christmas morning. Fr. Roger’s homily is very strong in its imagery. This is how the shepherds saw him. Fr. Mark said St. John couldn’t show that poverty. It was high language and people who come to Mass only on Christmas Day don’t get the sights and sounds of the stable. John was speaking to the Greeks and the Jews and beautifully speaks to them with the Word. All Jews have respect for the Word. All Jews would know of the power of God’s Word throughout history. The Greeks had the same idea of Logos, a divine word. John could bring them both into the story. We go into the heavens with John and come down the stable with Luke. Susan said the tension and balance of these readings is that they are so familiar, which can give comfort, but we can also take them for granted. She encourages people to pick a word or a phrase and then put yourself into the scene, using your imagination of what you see, hear, taste, and touch. Who are the characters? If I were there, who would I be? Sr. Olga said she always prays and ask for the grace to be with the shepherds. It’s amazing they were chosen to be the first to see the newborn Savior. She prays to be able to see him through their eyes. As we read in the Scripture, it was at night. We get so busy and noisy and crowded that there is no time to pause and reflect on that silent night to hear with the shepherd to hear and see the signs. Fr. Mark has preached in the past on his favorite rendition of Matthew’s Gospel on Christmas. When he was a seminarian, he was assigned as a chaplain to St. Elizabeth’s hospital. On a hot day in July, he was told to speak to an old man in his bed. He was so still at first he though the man was dead. He asked Fr. Mark to read the story of the birth of Jesus. He had to scream the story of Jesus’ birth to the nearly deaf man on a hot day in July. His homily is that there’s something about this story that it needs to be screamed from the rooftops. Susan said it is indeed Good News to be proclaimed. Scot said he thinks of the angels telling the shepherds, Do not be afraid. The shepherds then dropped everything they were doing. They made it their top priority to visit Jesus, even leaving behind their flocks. They were prepared for the Messiah, but perhaps not for a child born in a manger. They took this gift of being the first witnesses and went out and witnessed to others. Those they encountered were amazed, not just by the story, but by their great enthusiasm. How are we the shepherds today? We should have the same priority as the shepherds to encounter Christ at Christmas and then proclaim it to everyone. What will be our conversation at Christmas dinner? Will we talk about the NBA season or about Christ? 3rd segment: Scot said the Sr. Olga that one of her favorite topics to speak about is the Incarnation and she spoke at the WQOM conference on being missionaries of the Incarnation. Christmas is often misunderstood that we are just celebrating the birth of the Savior. Sr. Olga said we can’t just stop at celebrating the birth of someone who came 2000 years ago. Christ came to reconcile us to himself, to redeem us, to free us. He came for each one of us. If we don’t take this message of Incarnation beyond just celebrating the birthday of the Lord, we are missing the mission of the Messiah. We have to take Christmas to examine how much his coming to the world to dwell among us has changed us, to be redeemed and live in the heart of the Word? How am I changed spiritually? We have to examine our personal journey with the Lord? And what am I doing with this changed in me caused by this personal journey? For those for whom Christmas is a time of sadness because of broken relationships or death or poverty, the message of the Incarnation is that you are still loved, whether you are in prison, a nursing home, a hospital, a shelter or a big cathedral, it’s the same God, the same Love who came to dwell with us. Scot said his kids ask great questions and he often responds, “Because can do whatever he wants.” But they ask why Jesus came into the world as a baby and why did he live for 30 of his 33 years doing ordinary things? He chose this way. Scot said one reason may be that our response to babies brings out the best in us. Even a crying baby makes us want to pick him up and comfort him. He chose to take on human flesh in this way and what is our response? We should have a response to Christ as a new baby entering our home. If a new baby came to our homes this Christmas, we would gather around and appreciate him. This encourages us to appreciate all that God brings to us and treat him with the same love and attention as a new baby. Fr. Mark said during those 30 years Jesus saw the lilies of the field, he observed the shepherds, he watched the sparrows, learned how to work, to share in our lives. Jesus born as a baby and growing up with a mother and father is a gift of God that he truly became man. He didn’t just take on human appearance. Susan said she has a piece of art in a Christmas card. It’s set in a city and shows a woman in a window of an apartment building, waving at a truck pulling up outside which says on the outside, “Joseph and Sons Carpenters”. Jesus was a little boy who grew up with his parents. His mother taught him his prayers and he lived an ordinary life and by doing that he lifts up our ordinary lives and makes them holy. Scot said not only does he take on our flesh, remaining fully human and fully divine, he also raises us up to communion with God in our flesh. It shows us the way and helps connect us in a deeper way with God. Sr. Olga said when she hears people say they believe in God but have been away from church for awhile and it’s impossible to go back now, she says just go and read the nativity and reflect on the way he came. It’s a sign that I am your God and I am the God of the second chance. He spoke through many signs and miracles and prophets and people walked away from him so he came as a man in an impossible way—virgin birth as a baby among animals—to make us his children. Because of him who reconciled us to himself, he allowed us to call God our father. For anyone who’s been away for any reason, it’s a great opportunity to come back. Fr. Mark said we have an opportunity this Christmas to start conversations at Mass because of the new Missal. Instead of staring at the person next to you in the pew and being annoyed that they don’t know the right words. We could turn to the people next to us before Mass and introduce them to the new prayers in a pew card or missal. Someone can get a positive experience of being helped and welcomed. Scot said in Pope John Paul II’s last Christmas homily, he wanted to draw the specific connection between the Incarnation and the Eucharist, which is Jesus’ ongoing Incarnation to us. Our churches swell at Christmas. It’s wonderful all these people are here and let’s pray us that they stay with us. Or there’s the resentful attitude when you can’t get a seat in church and there’s so much traffic. Let us all pray that those who come to Mass because of the human interaction they encounter. It’s important we approach everyone who comes with the same love as we would approach the newborn savior. Sr. Olga said we become what we eat. If God dwells among us, we have the opportunity to receive this God who became human every day if we choose. We can become one with the person who came to be one with us, to be his love, mercy, and kindness in every place we go. This is living the mission of the Incarnation. As we each experience this Christmas season, we have to take this impossible way of loving to the people around us. The most difficult thing that has torn humanity apart is anger. We need to reflect on reconciliation. He came to reconcile us to himself and if that is Jesus’ main purpose, then we need to reflect on areas we need to reconcile with in ourselves and with others. This is the heart of Christmas. 4th segment: A roundup of everyone’s favorite Christmas hymns. Rick Heil’s favorite Christmas hymn os “Silent Night”. Fr. Mark’s is “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming.” Susan’s is Handel’s “Messiah”, even though its an Easter song, but have parts related to the nativity. Sr. Olga’s favorite is “Joy to the World”, because nothing else brings us joy than that God came to love us. Scot’s is “O Holy Night”, because it begins softly and ramps up the emotion.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Christmas message from Cardinal Seán and Bishop Coleman; Profile of Cardinal Seán in the Boston Herald; Pastoral letter for undocumented immigrants; the famous musical Fr. Pat; New pastor; New saints Summary of today’s show: In our last news show of the year, Scot Landry, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy discuss Cardinal Seán’s Christmas message that will air on Vatican Radio, as well Bishop George Coleman’s message to the Fall River diocese; a laudatory front-page profile of Cardinal Seán in the Boston Herald; a pastoral letter from Hispanic bishops of the US to undocumented immigrants; the famous musical Fr. Pat from La Salette who’s celebrating 40 years of ministry; a new pastor for Catholics in Townsend; and miracles to make new American saints. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Roger and Greg to show and noted how today is the first day of winter, but it’s 53 degrees outside. He asked Fr. Roger how his Christmas planning is going and whether it’s easier for priests when Christmas is on a Sunday. Greg talked about Christmas traditions for his family, which is a blended family of both Cuban traditions and New England traditions. Scot and Fr. Roger talked about their family gathering in New Bedford at Fr. Roger’s church on Christmas Eve. 2nd segment: Scot said Cardinal Seán recorded a Christmas message for the world to air on Vatican Radio. WQOM listeners get a preview of the message today. [Cardinal Seán’s Christmas message to air on Vatican Radio across the world] This is Cardinal Seán O’Malley from the Archdiocese of Boston. At Christmas our God comes to us as a humble pilgrim in search of hospitality. Nourished by the bread of life that comes to us from the manger, let us open our hearts in welcome to this Divine Humble Pilgrim, to the Lord Jesus. By reaching out with compassion and loving care we can give Him hospitality as he comes to us disguised in the hungry, the homeless, the mentally ill, the imprisoned, the stranger, the immigrant. Jesus came to reveal the merciful face of the father: the poor, the sick, the marginalized were the protagonists of His Gospel. It is our task to be the merciful face of Christ - as the Father sent me, so I send you Jesus tells us. He does not send us alone but with our brothers and sisters whose faith and solidarity sustains us. And He gives us the spiritual food of His Body and Blood in the Eucharist. At Christmas we come to the manger to see the Baby Pictures and rejoice as we look at our Family Album. But our faith tells us that Christ born at Bethlehem 2000 years ago is still, Emmanuel, God with us. He comes to offer us His friendship and love and to invite us to a life of discipleship in His Church. At Bethlehem the Shepherds were filled with joy and wonder and were anxious to share that joy with others. Knowing the Lord, carries with it an obligation to make Him known and loved. Christmas is the feast of the Child, the Christ child, our God who made Himself small to be close to us. Jesus says in the Gospel- Unless you become like a little child you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. God came to us in the humility and simplicity of a little baby—God’s love in face of a child, always new, always fresh, that never tires of loving us, of giving us another chance. We can go to Him only in the humility and simplicity of a child. Children have a sense of trust in their parents - God wants us to have that trust in Him and in His love. At Christmas we are able to catch a glimpse of the face of God and His love. When we discover His love, we discover who we are. Merry Christmas to all of you who are listening. Scot said he was struck how we can describe Jesus by serving those who come disguised as the poor, the hungry, the ill, the immigrant. Greg was thinking of how in the Old Testament God would show himself as a cloud with thunder and lightning that terrified the people who said they didn’t want to see him. So instead God came in a form that wouldn’t terrify us, but is a sign of meekness. Scot said at Christmas, God talks on flesh to show us his love. His face is that of a baby. Fr. Roger said it is a remarkable sign. The child wrapped in swaddinling clothes is a very ordinary sign for the extraordinary Lord to appear in. Pope Benedict talked a few years ago about this translation confusion about what the angels say to the shepherds. What is the good will they t alk about? It’s not just peace to those of us who are Christian. It is God’s good will and our good will comes in response to God’s good will by imitating that humility of God by going out in serving all the rest, not to be afraid to be poor or immersed in the lowest human reality to continue to serve Christ’s mission of lifting up others. We need to become like children. We need to abbreviate ourselves like a God abbreviated himself in a child. Scot said a few weeks ago he trashed a slam-piece in the Boston Herald against the Church, but today, Joe Fitzgerald has a really good profile of the Cardinal. He talks about his Christmas traditions growing up in eastern Ohio. “My father always waited until Christmas Eve to get our tree because he wanted us to be excited when we got up,” he recalled, smiling. “He and my uncle Ed would go to get it together. Ed was our bachelor uncle, the fun uncle, the one who’d set up our electric trains. “By Christmas Eve, of course, the trees were pretty well picked over, so sometimes they’d have to buy two, then drill holes into one in order to stick in replacement branches.” The absurdity of that story made him laugh. “Then we’d all go to my grandmother’s house for dinner, all the uncles, aunts and cousins, an all-day affair where we’d sing carols before heading off to Mass together. I came from a very faith-filled family.” […] It meant telling his parents, Ted and Mary Louise, of the path he had chosen to follow. “Their reaction was a blessing to me. They said, ‘That’s great. Try it! And then if you decide it isn’t for you, you can always come home.’ They wanted me to know I had their support one way or the other, which was a wonderful attitude. You don’t want to be so enthusiastic that a kid feels he can’t turn back.” For O’Malley, there was no turning back. “I never had any doubts.” The cardinal then talked about his work in Washington, DC, among Spanish-speaking immigrants in the turbulent Sixties and Seventies. And at the end of the article: “And I guess that’s the message I’d most want to give others this Christmas, that we have a loving and all-powerful God who wants us to feel how close He is to us. “That would be it; I’d love us all to catch just a glimpse of the love He has for us.’ Fr. Roger said Joe Fitzgerald is one of the best columnists in New England. He’s always written sympathetically of believers and has always been on the side of the mission of Christ in the world. Despite his Irish last name, he is Protestant but is very fair and friendly to Catholics. Greg said the editors could have buried the column, but they made it a front-page headline. Greg said most people’s only exposure to the Cardinal is a soundbite in the news or his policy decisions, but very few people actually know the man. It brings to a wide audience a picture of this man who comes from a background of faith and has a very normal background and upbringing. Scot said Bishop George Coleman of the Diocese of Fall River also has a Christmas message in The Anchor this week. Dear friends in Christ, This holy season provides me the opportunity once again to share with each and every one of you the Good News that God has become man and is born among us. Of course, Our Lord’s Nativity is an event that happened long ago. The basic story is surely familiar to all of you: the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus, the Son of God, in Bethlehem more than 2.000 years ago. Christ entered the world not as a conquering king at the head of an army in a mighty show of power, but as a defenseless child, born in poverty. The first Christmas can seem like an occurrence from a long time ago that once took place in a faraway land. Yet, it is an event which happens even today and which can speak to all of us again. The birth of a child is always a momentous occasion which fills all people with hope. But, this Child was no ordinary infant; for, Hc was the Son of God. And, when He takes on our human flesh with all its weaknesses, He reveals in Himself and in the power of the Holy Spirit, the true nature of humanity, the true worth of all human life, and the dignity of every person. We cannot, however; overlook the challenges that face us today: a slow economy, unemployment and underemployment, addictions and drugs, crime and violence, wars, and a morbid fascination with darkness. We bring all these troubles to Christ. We offer them to Him. We ask Him to transform them for us and to turn them into something life-giving. As our Holy Father Benedict XVI assures us, the birth of Christ has the power to change the world, “for it bas the power to choose hearts, to enlighten minds, and to strengthen Wills? (homily at Mass in Manger’s Square in Bethlehem, May 13,209). At Christmas, Jesus calls us to be witnesses of His victory over sin, death, and sadness. Therefore,let nil men and women, believers and non-believers, but especially all Christians, rejoice at the birth of Christ, which brings a divine light into the world now and forever. May the Infant Jesus bless you and your families with the peace and joy of this holy season. Scot reiterated that Christians must rejoice at the joy of Christmas and be joyful witnesses. Greg said earlier in the letter he spoke about the idea that we can easily think of the coming of Christ as something that happened 2,000 years ago, but Christ can be born in our heart at any time. We need his help to overcome his sin and so we need his presence to be born in us. Scot noted how he said that we need to bring our troubles to Christ and ask him to transform them. Fr. Roger said “Jesus” means God saves. “Emmanuel” means God with us. We’re not alone in facing our challenges. We have the one who conquered sin and death on our side. He may not take them away, but he will help us not to be overcome by them. It’s time to announce this week’s winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prizes this week are “Let Us Adore Him”, a music CD of traditional Christmas hymns by the Dady Brothers and Friends; by Fr. Dave Pivonka, and , also by Fr. Pivonka. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Richard Grande from Concord, MA. Congratulation, Richard! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 3rd segment: Scot said earlier this week a group of US Hispanic bishops wrote a pastoral letter to undocumented immigrants in the US. Fr. Roger said a lot of immigrants feel totally abandoned, like the wandering Holy Family in Bethlehem, who are told there’s no room for them in our country. The bishops said regardless of their legal status, they have a home in the Catholic Church and they will be welcomed with open arms. The bishops noted that they are sometimes scapegoated for some of the economic issues facing our country. Fr. Roger said it was an unprecedented of the 33 Latino bishops in the US. It doesn’t mean that immigration laws aren’t important, but that we need to have our eyes open that beyond the legal issues and real concerns for safe borders, we do need to look at those in our country as people beloved by God. Scot noted statistics that show that there are more low-income jobs than those willing to take them in the US, but there are only about 70,000 visas available for immigrants who would want these jobs. Greg said the bishops are advocating for a rational immigration reform. Fr. Roger said immigration isn’t just an issue to be solved. It’s our brothers and sisters who need to know the love of God. 4th segment: Last Saturday, the Women Affirming Life breakfast saw record numbers. Increasingly, women are bringing their own young daughters to the breakfast to begin preparing them to take up the battle for life. Scot said having women leading the pro-life side disproves the argument that legal abortion is a necessary right for women. “That so many Catholics come together and so readily share their values through this event is a sign of hope not only for the Pro-Life movement but for the Catholic Church as well,” said Marianne Luthin, director of the Archdiocese of BostOn Pro-Life Office, which oversees WALI. The primary speaker was Sister Maris Stella Karalekas of the Sisters of Life religious order, which is dedicated to pro-life work. Fr. Roger said they not only care for women in crisis pregnancy but also taking the message out to the world and educating people about pro-life. Moving to a new topic, he reviewed an article in the Pilot about the new CatholicTV show for women called “The Gist”. Scot talked about the hosts and the audience it’s aimed at. He noted that we talked about it at length on . Greg talked about how the show can be a good outreach to young mothers who might have drifted away from Church and discover it on cable TV. In the Anchor this week is a profile of Fr. Pat of the LaSalette Shrine in Attleboro and his 40 years of musical ministry. He does two concerts a day during Advent at the shrine which is famous for its Christmas lights and displays. He’s had a busy year traveling to India and cutting new CDs. He has a beautiful gift of using music to connect the faith to where people are in their faith today. Scot said in the Pilot this week are some new priest assignments announced, including Fr. Jeremy St. Martin who has been made pastor of St. John the Evangelist in Townsend, and leaving his ministry as coordinator of deaf Catholic ministry in the archdiocese. Scot said Townsend is the farthest corner of the Archdiocese. Greg said he always shows a special preference for Townsend and Ashby when covering stories about events there because of how far they are. Scot said there is an article about Mother Marianne Cope, who ministered alongside St. Damien of Molokai among the lepers. Scot said she was named Servant of God only in 2003, beatified in 2005, and will be canonized soon, which is very quick. Fr. Roger said there were many miracles attributed to Bl. Marianne. He also noted that Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha will also be canonized. It’s very exciting for our country, which has only 10 saints so far. As far as they are aware, she is the first American laywoman who will be a saint.…
1 The Good Catholic Life #0205: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 1:00:00
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1:00:00Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Bonnie Rodgers, Director of Public Relations, Marketing and Programming, and Helen Lee, Manager of Social Media and VoD, of CatholicTV Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Christmas at CatholicTV and new programs in the new year Summary of today’s show: Every year, CatholicTV becomes ChristmasTV for three days starting Christmas Eve. Bonnie Rodgers and Helen Lee from CatholicTV join Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams to talk about all the great programming on tap for the holiday as well as the new shows on tap for the new year, including The Gist, a new talk show for women. They also discuss CatholicTV’s ubiquitous presence in new media and how they’re using every possible medium to spread the message. Plus all their favorite CatholicTV shows. What’s your favorite? 1st segment: Scot explained why The Good Catholic Life did not air live on 1060AM yesterday because of difficulties at the network in Buffalo, but listeners can listen to it online on our site and it will air again next Tuesday, December 27. Fr. Matt said he loves the Christmas season, including driving around and seeing all the lights decorating homes. He will celebrating Masses at St. Joseph in Holbrook, where he lives. For his family, their celebration will center around liturgies. His family gets together on the day after Christmas for a memorial Mass for all the deceased members of his family. His grandmother died many years ago on December 26 and it’s become a tradition ever since. Scot mentioned that tonight is the night for , when every church and chapel in the archdiocese will be open 6:30-8pm for confessions. If you’re looking for a parish, go to . Fr. Matt talked about why we need to go to confession especially before Christmas as we prepare to welcome Christ. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Bonnie Rodgers and Helen Lee. He asked Bonnie what brought her to CatholicTV. She’s been there for 4 years. She met General Manager Jay Fadden in the Masters of Arts in Ministry program at St. John Seminary. She was working for Verizon at the time, then got early retirement from her job. Jay hired her first as part-time in marketing and now she’s been there four years full-time overseeing public relations, marketing and programming. She said those three aspects really connect together. Helen started at CatholicTV about 4 months ago. She oversees all social media: Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and manages video-on-demand resources. Scot said CatholicTV is trying to reach people in their 20s like her. Helen majored in college in new media communications and theology, so she was looking to do something like this when she graduated. Twenty-somethings are in those media and that’s where they are. She’s in the Facebook newsfeeds of many of her Catholic friends from Fordham University now. Scot asked Bonnie all the ways people can get CatholicTV, in addition to cable TV. Bonnie said they want to be wherever people are consuming media. They want to be on every platform, but they want to design for the particular platform. They’re on Twitter, articulating the faith in 140 characters or less. There is YouTube, where they tailor their work for the format. They include both soundbites and segments as well as full programs. They’re on Facebook as well. They are now available throughout the country on cable and Sky Angel IPTV. Scot said you can watch the content at CatholicTV.com. And a small widget can be placed on any website or blog so people can watch the programming on other websites. Bonnie said a diocese in Ohio was using content from CatholicTV for faith formation via DVDs on cable access television. But they adapted it for CatholicTVjr and the whole diocese started using it. They introduced it to the bishops at the US bishops meeting and they’re having dioceses ask them to tailor it to their purposes. Scot asked how many people watch the programs on other platforms other than TV. Bonnie said it’s hard to quantify how many are there, but she loves the stories. She encountered a man in New Jersey once who stopped her and knew her from the daily Mass. He’d watched every day from Afghanistan on his iPod and remembered seeing her do the readings. They are now in a little more than 11 million homes via cable. They do see a big spike in viewership on Sunday for the Mass from the University of Notre Dame and the Mass from the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Scot said “Going My Way” is a funny program that interviews priests and makes them sing songs and do other bits. Bonnie said the premise is to show priests are normal people and having a good time. When she first started at CatholicTV, she thought the show was pretty hokey, but they get so many calls for the show that love it. One man called who had been in RCIA and was getting discouraged at the “Church of No”, but he saw the priests on Going My Way and how much fun they were having and he decided he wanted to be part of a church like that. It’s a sing-a-long show with priests from anywhere in the world they can get them. Fr. Matt said he was on the show in 2008, just before July 4 and just before World Youth Day Sydney. He remembers saying he didn’t know what to sing, because he’s not much of a singer. He sang patriotic songs and so now it airs every year before July 4. Scot asked if Going My Way is the most popular show. Bonnie said absolutely. The show has a great following from young to old. She said Stephen Colbert’s Comedy Central show “The Colbert Report” once featured it and called Fr. Chris Hickey, the host, the modern Merv Griffin. Bonnie said there are just about 30 people now working at CatholicTV, so everybody pitches in to carry off all the programming. Scot said he notices that people spend their whole careers at CatholicTV, there’s a lot of loyalty among the employees. Bonnie said there’s a great ability to attract people, especially those in technical fields. Part of the attraction is that with such a small crew, people can try their hand at many disciplines. 3rd segment: Scot said Christmas is a big deal at CatholicTV because of all the special programming. Bonnie said they turn into ChristmasTV starting with Christmas with midnight Mass from the Vatican. Many of the shows do special Christmas editions. Fr. Reed and Jay also do special reflections. There are also many programs of music including choirs from the Vatican. They have some movies and cartoons about St. Nicholas. It goes for three days. Scot said people love to watch the homily of the Holy Father on TV. Bonnie said the midnight Mass is so beautiful, as well as Masses from the Basilica of the Saxcred Heart at Notre Dame, and the National Shrine. Scot said there are 61,000 fans of CatholicTV on Facebook. Helen said online they plan to post many different video reflections and soundbites on YouTube and Facebook. They also had a musical group last week. Fr. Matt asked how many follow them on Twitter. She said about 12,000. He said he’s amazed how many young people are moving from Facebook to Twitter. Helen said the Twitter users are very active, retweeting their content. He asked how to use Facebook and Twitter to evangelize. Helen said she’s lucky at CatholicTV to have the daily Mass to pull from the homilies and other good messages from shows. She also uses her theology background to create messages to reconnect people to the faith as they go through their day. She said when there are big events that CatholicTV covers during the work day, she tries to tweet excerpts for those who are at work and can’t watch. Helen noted that many of the followers on Facebook and Twitter aren’t even from this country and communicate in other messages. Scot said that Facebook and Twitter users skew young, but aren’t only young. Helen said there are many followers on Facebook who are 35-50 who are vocal and a lot of younger followers who are pretty quiet. Bonnie said at the National Catholic Youth Congress they had over 700 kids like them on Facebook and told them that while they don’t post much there, they do read it. 4th segment: Scot said it seems like CatholicTV is always launching new programs. He asked about the new program launching in January called The Gist. Bonnie said the hosts are Danielle Bean, editor of Catholic Digest, Rachell Balducci, author of How Do You Tuck in A Superhero, and Carolee McGrath from Springfield. They will talk about anything and everything of their faith. They’ve recorded their first six episodes already. They drive home that our faith is a lived one. Scot asked if it’s a Catholic version of the View. Bonnie said it’s like that where talk about current events, issues of life, and anything else through a Catholic lens. They talk about managing their families and raising kids, for example. It launches January 3. It will have five or six air times. One of the toughest things about coming up with a new show is the new show title. They were excited that Helen was able to grab the name on Facebook and other social media. Danielle and Rachel are very into social media while Carolee is just into media. Scot said Rachel was on one of our early shows and it was a very funny episode. Her blog is chronicling raising her six boys and one daughter. Helen said user-generated content will be important for the Gist. They started weeks ago on Facebook and Twitter with polls and questions to get real-world feedback from women to feed the discussion on the show. Scot said on Thanksgiving they launched “Mass Confusion”, the first Catholic sitcom. Bonnie said there’s been a lot of great feedback. It was created by Greg and Jennifer Willits from Georgia. She noted that Georgia has the fastest growing Catholic population. She said they’ve created other great content that CatholicTV has used in the past. Scot said the Willitses co-host a daily radio show on SiriusXM’s The Catholic Channel. It was big departure for them to do completely scripted TV. It’s also a very expensive show to produce because of the number of people involved. But the appreciation and response was so great that they are looking at how to make it work if they can. Fr. Matt asked about the premise of the show. It features two Catholic families, the other played by Mac and Katherine Barron, and the first show is about a birthday party for Jennifer and some confusion over a pregnancy. Scot said it’s about real life and family. He said he saw it at the Catholic New Media Celebration in October and the crowd of 200 people laughed boisterously. He said it’s family friendly. There’s nothing you’d be unhappy about your kids watching, even though the quality is as good or better than what you see on network TV. Scot said entertainment is part of CatholicTV’s mission. We’re Catholics that love to laugh, to express joy, to take our faith seriously, but not to take ourselves seriously. Bonnie spoke of another show called House+Home where Fr. Reed goes into a home to meet a family and they take over the house for the day. With Mass Confusion, they took over the Willitses house for several days. Helen said people can watch it on YouTube, on Verizon on Demand, or on the CatholicTV website. 5th segment: Scot asked about programming that comes from other Catholic dioceses. While they are part of the Archdiocese of Boston, they are also America’s Catholic TV Network. Diocese of Trenton produces a youth program called , which has won Emmy Awards and Gabriel Awards. Diocese of Springfield, Diocese of Rockville Centre, and Diocese of Brooklyn produce shows too. Diocese of Worcester does a show with Bishop McManus. Scot asked Helen about her favorite program. She said she likes Mysteries of the Church and Seventh Street Theater. It’s not a Catholic TV show, but it’s a theater troupe that put on faith-inspired shows. Scot said one of his favorites is Catholic Destinations with Kevin Nelson. They have gone to many cathedrals and shrines around the country and in some other nations. He’s also enjoyed House+Home, including seeing how families integrate the faith into their lives. Bonnie said Mysteries of the Church is from the Diocese of Brooklyn and it’s as good as any Discovery Channel show. Scot asked about Way of Beauty. It was shot on Thomas More College and it has high-production values. It looks at how art expresses our faith. Helen said ClearVoice is a Catholic magazine show that helps people be informed about what’s going on in the Church all around the world. Scot said Wow: The CatholicTV Challenge is now going into its 10th or 11th season. It’s a game show for kids which quizzes them on their faith. Bonnie said people call from all over about how great it is. Catechists tell them that they use the show to teach their classes. Scot said his kids love the competition aspect, but it also leads to discussion about the faith. We’ve Got To Talk with Fr. Dan O’Connell has been on the air for over 20 years. Bonnie said he brings energy and love to that show. It’s the longest-running program, outside of the Mass. He gets into all kinds of situations with the show and brings the same energy. The Spotlight features Fr. Chip Hines and Fr. Bill Kelly doing movie reviews. Scot said it’s a wonderful program that takes movies seriously. It’s time to announce this week’s winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prizes this week are “Let Us Adore Him”, a music CD of traditional Christmas hymns by the Dady Brothers and Friends; by Fr. Dave Pivonka, and , also by Fr. Pivonka. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Richard Grande from Concord, MA. Congratulation, Richard! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Bishop Arthur Kennedy, Auxiliary Bishop of Boston and Rector of St. John Seminary Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Bishop Profile: Bishop Arthur Kennedy Summary of today’s show: Bishop Arthur Kennedy, rector of St. John Seminary, just celebrated 45 years in the priesthood. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor discuss with Bishop Kennedy his recent ad limina visit with Pope Benedict in Rome; his childhood in West Roxbury; his formation and ordination in Rome in 1966; and the many years he spent in academia, teaching the Catholic faith to university students. They also talk about bishop Kennedy’s favorite author, Flannery O’Connor, and his assessment of the young people he’s confirmed throughout the Archdiocese since his ordination as bishop last year. 1st segment: Scot asked Fr. Chris how he celebrates Christmas now that the seminary is not in session. Fr. Chris said he will be helping out at St. John in Winthrop and Sacred Heart in East Boston, which are close together but unique. St. John is a typical suburban parish and Sacred Heart is a melting pot of the city with several ethnic groups living there. He will celebrate the 4pm and 6pm Christmas Eve Masses. On Christmas, he will spend it with his family at his sister’s home in Stoughton. Scot said his family will travel to New Bedford where his brother Roger is pastor of St. Anthony Parish. They will attend 4pm Mass and then have a dinner after in the rectory. On Christmas Day they go to the 9am at St. Agnes in Arlington, where his daughter sings in the children’s choir. They will gather with both sides of his family afterward. Fr. Chris said it’s easier on pastors when Christmas is on a Sunday because they don’t have to double up on Masses. He said he hopes people who come back for Christmas for the first time since the new translation came into effect will find it edifying. Also, this Wednesday, all the church and chapels of the Archdiocese will have confessions available from 6pm to 8:30pm as part of . You can find a church at . 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Bishop Kennedy to the show. Scot said he was ordained to the priesthood on December 17, 1966 and is celebrating 45 years in the priesthood. Bishop Kennedy thanked Scot and said it’s a good time to be rector because it shows the young men the life of the priesthood can be remarkably rewarding and filled with the mystery of God. What God does in us is what we really celebrate in this 45th anniversary. On September 14, 2010, Bishop Kennedy and Bishop Peter Uglietto were ordained bishops for Boston. They recently met with all the bishops of New England with Pope Benedict for his first ad limina visit. It’s a pilgrimage to the tombs of the apostles, first of all, so they celebrated Mass at the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul as well as Bl. John Paul II. They also met with the Holy Father for about 40 minutes and they each spoke to him about some aspect of the work of the new Evangelization. Bishop Kennedy talked about the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization that they have undertaken at St. John Seminary. The Holy Father emphasized how all evangelization begins with catechesis. They then met with various Vatican offices, including the new council for the New Evangelization, where they were very excited about TINE for their work. He also met with the Congregation for Education ad Seminaries. They talked about the New Evangelization too, especially how they train and form lay people and how that relationship affects how they form and train seminarians. They also talked about getting permission to have a pontifical degree at St. John’ Seminary. Scot asked what is a pontifical degree. Bishop Kennedy said it is based on a system worked out by the Vatican on what is required for coursework. It includes a special ordering of coursework and provides the opportunity for a seminarian being able to go for further study to have a leg up than he otherwise might. Scot said it seems like the holy Father is particularly interested in talking about the New Evangelization in these meetings with bishops. Bishop Kennedy noted the Holy Father is dedicated to seeing this become a major dimension of his papacy because this was his focus for many years in his own academic work. New Evangelization re-opens the light that is so dangerously closed off by many of the dark elements in modern culture. Scot asked how the Pope seems to be doing as a man in his mid-80s. Bishop Kennedy said he looked quite frail when he saw him in September. He’d been told by his doctors to lose weight and he’d obviously done so. He looked tired; this was after World Youth Day in Spain and just before his trip to Germany. He was more invigorated when they saw him November, but still quite frail. Fr. Chris asked what else he sees as his legacy in his papacy. Bishop Kennedy said the way he’s been able to bring into the life of the Church that its development is always organic. It doesn’t bounce around by rejecting things of the past, but integrates new things in to the structure of the life of the Church. The way he was able to bring in an understanding of the Second Vatican Council as a continuation of the Church’s life. Scot said he’s often viewed Pope Benedict’s heart is tied to the renewal of the Liturgy because how we pray informs our faith. Bishop Kennedy said he guided the development of the new translation into English. 3rd segment: Scot said Bishop Kennedy grew up here in Boston and asked him how he first heard the call to the priesthood. Bishop Kennedy said he grew up in West Roxbury and Holy Name was his home parish. Msgr. Charles Finn was the pastor and four more priests lived there. He said the laypeople were very involved in the parish. The laity were the ones who made all the details of life go: Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, bands, choirs, athletic teams, etc. There was a culture and form within that culture he had a sense of vocation. The unity between the priests and laity was extraordinary. He saw how holy laypeople could be and dedicated to prayer and prayed not just for themselves but for others. They had many vocations from that parish when he was growing up. The Archdiocese had a program—which he’s reinstating—called the St. Botolph Guild. St. Botolph’s name is the origin of the name Boston: St. Botolph’s Town. He’s the patron saint of the city of Boston. The guild were boys and young men interested in the priesthood who went once a month to the seminary for a holy hour, reflection, and meeting the seminarians. They learned the seminarians were just like themselves. His family was very close to the Church as well. He went to Boston Latin School for high school where he studied Latin, Greek, French and German as well as other subjects so he had a very good engagement entry into a broad world of interests. Scot asked him about not attending a Catholic high school. Bishop Kennedy said there was no Catholic high school near them at the time. He studied for seminary at St. John Seminary and then at the Pontifical North American College, and was ordained in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. At the time, they had one telephone call per year back home on Christmas Day, so all communications were by letter. Thus the planning for the ordination was complicated as 34 people came with his family. The ordination took place at the Altar of the Chair, which is the altar behind the main high altar in the center of the basilica. He celebrated his first Mass at the Basilica of St. Clements, which had been under the care of Cardinal O’Connell. Holy Name parish’s apse had been copied from the basilica so the artwork and design was quite familiar to him. He served in several parishes and then went for further studies after which he has spent the bulk of his time in academic work. He worked at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. He said it was a very Catholic place, but even those who were not Catholic were still very devout. He spent eight years helping at one parish and 22 years in another parish in downtown St. Paul. The academic world was something he’d begun to enjoy even when he was in high school. He was interested in theology and how it helps us understand all of the dimensions of the mystery of Christ. So he taught theology to undergraduate students. Many of them came from small farm towns and were the first in their families to go to college. There was a greater sense of nature from students who grew up on farms. He said when you’re sitting on a tractor all day, there’s a lot of time for contemplation of the universe and one’s place in it. He started courses that linked theology to other social sciences, like literature and philosopher and more. They created a Catholic studies program, which has become very successful. It links the Catholic life of prayer, service to the Church, and a life of charity. It’s amazing how many vocations have come from students in that program. It was the first program of its type in the country and became the model for many others. Fr. Chris said Bishop Kennedy is known for his love of Flannery O’Connor, the souther Catholic writer. He said she had an amazing vision from the time she was about 18. She saw the great difficulty between faith and culture. In her world the Christians were principally not Catholic. She had a great sense that the grace of God works by allowing all of those who are informed by the Gospel to be able to recognize their place and their dignity and be drawn closer and closer to understanding the darkness of the world and their need for redemption. Her stories are always about redemption, how people resist redemption or find it only after great suffering. She is completely unsentimental. She recognizes that grace is a very difficult reality because it faces difficult things. Sometimes you show the reality of grace by showing what life is like when it is absent. She had a sense of the darkness that was coming, even back in the 50s when every thought things were fine. She saw the decline of education. She had a great spiritual sense of self. At 19, she wrote in a spiritual journal: “Go must be in everything I write.” As far as he can see, she fulfilled that command right until her early death at the age of 39 from Lupus. He would recommend people who want to start reading her books to start with the collection of her short stories called “”. Scot said Bishop Kennedy earlier said the Catholic studies program he started tried to link Catholicism with other disciplines and there were a number of vocations that came from it. Does he think that those two are related? Bishop Kennedy thinks it opens one’s imagination to possibilities that might be closed off by the culture. It’s a terrific entire sense of the human community and the mystical Body of the Church. It’s exactly the way the Church was engaged in education for centuries. It’s only in the last decades that we’ve divided up these areas of education. The integrity allows young people to see how faith takes nothing away, but gives them a whole new way of being human. Scot asked how he implements it at St. John’s. Bishop Kennedy said they’ve established a summer reading program, including for example, books on economics so they can relate to people’s concerns; history books like those of the Catholic historian Christopher Dawson. Bishop Kennedy said Dawson made him realize that when faith is lived by Catholic people in society, they transform everything else. They change economics and education, for example. Dawson said we hadn’t linked our knowledge of theology with our knowledge of history. For example, the great churches are prayers in stone. It’s part of what they do at St. John’s. They do it through human formation and spiritual formation. 4th segment: Scot noted that Bishop Kennedy in June 2010, Cardinal Sean invited then-Fr. Kennedy and then-Fr. Uglietto to a meeting and told them that the Holy Father wanted to make them bishops. What was it like? Bishop Kennedy said at the time Cardinal Sean was heading to the US bishops meeting in Washington, DC, and they’d been talking about talking to bishops there about the seminary. So he got a phone call asking him to come meet the cardinal The Cardinal said there’s good news and Bishop Kennedy asked, “Oh, do you have some bishops who are going to send some men to St. John’s Seminary.” The cardinal said, “Oh no, the holy Father has named you an auxiliary bishop of Boston.” He replied, “What?” So Bishop Kennedy wasn’t able to tell anyone for a long time and then had to write a letter—you have to make a formal response to the Holy Father’s request—which he did after much prayer and fasting. The ordination Mass saw many bishops come from around the country on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. After the ordination, you walk down through the Church and give your blessing to all the people and he saw the enthusiasm of the people in the full cathedral. They don’t know him, but the enthusiasm is that the Church continues to have those offices and places and people who will continue to carry on the mission of the Church. the enthusiasm is about the Church and that was the most wonderful part for him. Fr. Chris said Bishop Kennedy travels around the diocese and performs many confirmations. What has he learned about the youth of the archdiocese? Bishop Kennedy has them write to him before he goes to the confirmations. He asks them to tell him the name they’ve chosen for confirmation; the sponsor and why they chose that person—many of the young people say the sponsor is a model of Christian fidelity; and what do they understand by the Mass. From those questions that he gives his reflections from the homily. He quotes from the letters and talks to the family members about what their children are saying. He then talks about how the young people have to become models themselves. He’s been impressed by the catechetical preparation in many parishes. In some parishes, it’s been so good that the young people ask to be able to continue to meet as a class with the pastor and catechists. It’s important because it can seem that confirmation is a graduation from Church, but it’s really the exact opposite case. So he talks to them about Pope Benedict’s talk to the students in England and Wales. He said it’s unusual for anyone to talk to all of the children in England, Scotland, and Wales, never mind the Pope. He told them that he was there for the beatification of Bl. Newman. He told them that they all have to consider becoming saints so they need to think about what a saint is how they would become one. Confirmation is one of the steps to becoming a saint. Scot said when he hears bishops talk about confirmation, there is a lot of variety. Cardinal Sean likes to talk about marriage, not knowing for how many of them this will be their last homily before they approach their pastor to get married in the church. He tries to help prepare them for their next sacrament. Scot said he loves Bishop Kennedy makes them reflect before coming forward for the sacrament. Scot said he’s always been fascinated that bishops get to pick on quote from Scripture and make it their episcopal motto. He’s often thought if he tried to boil down his life to one phrase, what would it be? Bishop Kennedy picked, “Ut cognoscant te”, which translates as “That they may know you.” Cardinal Cushing had the same motto. It’s from John 17:3. Bishop Kennedy picked it because it’s first in the Book of Wisdom in the Old Testament. It is the way he’s spent his life as a pastor and a teacher, helping people to know Christ. It also gives an historical link back to Boston. Scot said Cardinal Cushing built so many churches and schools, that this motto is in about a third of the buildings in the Archdiocese on his coat of arms. Scot asked if there’s anything in his first 15 months as a bishop that has surprised him. Bishop Kennedy said he’s been amazed by how many letters he’s received from former students who recall something he’s taught them or his presence at some event and the gratitude that comes back to him. It reminds him of the way in which when you live your life according to charity and sacrifice, that God’s work is taking place in others and you have no idea. It’s the hiddenness of God’s redemption. Fr. Chris said on behalf of St. John Seminary how blessed they are to have Bishop Kennedy lead them and impressed by his kindness and generosity and intellect. Bishop Kennedy said for a long time he’s tried to link faith to culture and he’s trying to help the seminarians do that by giving them a greater sense of the faith they’ll see in the young people they’ll be serving in the parishes. People are waiting for these men to come be faithful spiritual fathers in the future. Scot noted that St. John Seminary is now full like it wasn’t before he came. He thanked Bishop Kennedy for the work that benefits all of us.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Bishop Robert F. Hennessey, Auxiliary Bishop of Boston for the Central Region and Fr. David Barnes, Pastor of St. Mary, Star of the Sea, Parish in Beverly, MA Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Confession and Preparing for Christmas Summary of today’s show: Bishop Robert F. Henneseey and Fr. David Barnes discuss with Scot Landry the importance of Confession as a spiritual preparation for Christmas and on this Wednesday, the Archdiocese’s The Light Is On For You program makes every church and chapel available for Confessions that evening. Many of the myths and misconceptions of Confession are debunked and the wonderful spiritual benefits are revealed. Also, other ways to use this last week of Advent to make the best preparation for Christmas and the Incarnation of Christ. 1st segment: Scot said we hear a lot in Advent to prepare the way of the Lord. One good way to do that is to make a good holy confession between now and christmas. This Wednesday, every church and chapel in the Archdiocese will be open from 6:30pm to 8pm as part of . The recalled the anniversary of Bishop Hennessey’s ordination to the episcopate on last Monday, December 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. He’s been a bishop for five years. Scot said he meets many people as a bishop, but only sees them once. Bishop Hennessey said as a bishop you don’t have the same relationship with people as you did when you were a pastor. He loves going out to the parishes and doing confirmations, but he does miss life in a parish. Fr. David was the youngest pastor in the Archdiocese when he became pastor of St. Mary Star of the Sea and he was parochial vicar before that and has been there 12 years. Bishop Hennessy said when he was pastor at Most Holy Redeemer in East Boston, he did more than 400 baptism a year and he still has people come up to him and say he baptized them. He said East Boston has been a gateway for newly arriving immigrants. Fr. David said he does about 75 in his own very large parish. Scot said Cardinal Seán launched The Light Is On For You during Lent 2010. It is occurring just one Wednesday this Advent on Wednesday, December 21. Bishop Hennessey said a lot of priests said during Advent that they would spend a lot of time preparing people for the new missal and wouldn’t have as much time preaching on confession, plus one of the Wednesday’s would be the vigil of the Immaculate Conception. Scot encouraged listeners to go to for resources on preparing for confession. He asked how Fr. David was encouraging people to come to confession. He said he preaches about confession quite a bit and blogs on it and writes in the parish bulletin. The kids at the parish school have also gone to confession and hopefully they’re encouraging their parents. He said the more you talk about it and offer it, the more people will come to it. He notices that most of the people who come to confession to him now are under 40. The more you offer it and the more people know you’re waiting, the more they will come. He said for a long time people thought you didn’t need to come anymore. Bishop Hennessey said he remembers in the second grade, Sr. Marie Patrick asking them why Jesus came as a little baby. She said he did so because nobody is afraid of a baby. During Advent, people who say they are afraid to go to confession, that God won’t forgive them, it’s important to remember that God doesn’t want us to fear him. Scot said we often picture God as a strong judgmental father, but Scot likes to remember the father of the prodigal son who races out to embrace his son and has a celebration to welcome the son home. It’s the priest’s role to be that loving father. Fr. David said in the parables Jesus said there is more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over 99 who don’t need to repentant. Bishop hennessey said when we stand before God, it’s natural to be afraid, like Mary before Gabriel and the shepherds before the choir of angels, but Jesus came into the world to save us, not condemn us. Scot said sometimes people forget the prayers and feel like they don’t know how to go to confession, but all priests are willing to help someone through the process. Fr. David said that it’s music to their ears because that’s the person who needs to go the most. Scot said some people might be embarrassed by their sins and voicing their sins is intimidating. Bishop Hennessey said the success of The Light Is On For You is that people can go anywhere and not be recognized. Scot said he also likes the anonymity of the confessional box. He likes that he doesn’t have to look someone in the eye so he can pray with his eyes closed. Fr. David said it’s nice for people to see others also going to confession at the same time of all sorts and walks of life. Bishop Hennessey said a priest doesn’t want to yell at someone and drive them away. Regarding sins that people think are too big, Bishop Hennessey said it is impossible for us to commit a sin God can’t forgive. For people who think they will confess something that will shock the priest, Fr. David said anyone who’s been a priest more than a week can’t be shocked. The confessional is not a place of punishment; it’s a place to receive the peace and love of Christ. Bishop Hennessey said when someone says it’s been a long time, the priest thinks that’s music to his ears. It’s a great thing to experience. Bishop Hennessey said when they started the program a couple of priests were reluctant to do it, but after Lent they called him and said it was worth it because they had heard confessions of people who had been away for a long time. Scot said having heard many thousands of confessions in his life for Bishop Hennessy to be a witness to the grace must be one of the joys of the priesthood. Fr. David said it’s a privilege. He said the best thing is a long line of confessions. It’s exhausting, but this is what being a priest is all about. Bishop Hennessey said when he gives a penance and they say “Is that all?”, he explains no penance can pay back the debt of the sin, we can’t make up for our sins. But it is an act that says we are willing to try to make some reparation and to start off on the right path. 2nd segment: Scot said Fr. David wrote about the Sacrament of Confession on his blog last Wednesday and one passage struck him: If you are particularly embarrassed about some sin or another, just say it. Usually, sins of the flesh are the ones that are most embarrassing. What is so amazing is how these sins appear to exercise such power over a person and then, the moment a person confesses them, they realize that the power of these sins evaporates. Sexual sins embarrass people into not confessing. But confessing these sins deprives the sins of all of their imaginary power. To this end, let me say that the priest hearing confessions has heard the words, “adultery, fornication, homosexual activity, pornography, and masturbation” before. Unless you happen to be the first person ever to go to confession to that priest, you are not going to tell him anything he hasn’t already heard many times. What struck Scot about this is the power that some sins have over because we feel shame and guilt and we’re not willing to ask forgiveness, even if it’s a sin that keeps rearing its ugly head with us. Fr. David said he thinks it’s St. John Vianney who said first the Devil comes and whispers in one ear that this sin isn’t the biggest deal in the world so don’t worry, then whispers in the other ear, now yo’ve done and God will never forgive you. Scot said Fr. Larry Richards often says to men that they should just say “I’ve been impure with…” and every priest will know what you mean. But the grace you will feel and forgiveness will be multiples of grace over the embarrassment. Bishop Hennessey said a lot of healing comes when you can just voice the sins. That’s when people feel that great sense of relief. Scot quoted Fr. David’s blog: “Remember, priests go to confession too. We know what it is like to be on the other side of the screen.” Fr. David said the priest is the first to need God’s mercy and to be a good minister of mercy he must go to confession too. He says people are often surprised to hear that priests need to go to confession. Bishop Hennessey suggests people go to confession at least once per month. He recalls a retired priest kneeling down next to a young priest going to confession and it was a beautiful image. Scot said his friend Andreas Widmer tells the story of a priest who had fallen on hard times in Rome and became homeless. A priest going into an audience with Pope John Paul II noticed the homeless priest on the streets outside the Vatican and so he told the Holy Father about it. After the audience the Holy Father sought out the homeless priest and had him brought to dinner and at the end of dinner, the Holy Father knelt before the homeless priest and asked him to hear his confession. Bishop Hennessey said a former cardinal of New York would mention going to confession the previous week in almost every homily. When priests remind the people in the pew that priests go to confession, it’s good for them. Fr. David said the present archbishop of New York says he slips into a pew at a random church in New York for confession. Scot said every time he goes to confession at St. Anthony Shrine in downtown Boston, he sees a priest waiting already. Scot tends to go at 6:30am at St. Anthony’s. It’s moving to him that Archbishop Dolan might show up at any church in New York to ask a priest to hear his confession. Bishop Hennessey said there used to be a chapel just for priests to go to confession. Fr. David also wrote: “After you’ve confessed all of your sins, let the priest know that you are done. A lot of people say something like, “For these and for all of my sins, I am truly sorry.” This helps the priest to know that you have finished confessing.” Scot said he never realized how important this is. Fr. David said often people are holding the hardest sin until the end and he doesn’t want to cut them off. Scot said he likes to get the big one out of the way first. Fr. David said people who have been involved with an abortion carry that burden with them for decades. Sometimes they go on living a Catholic on appearances only because they’re so ashamed and bothered by the sin. He wants them to know that they should never be afraid. He said you almost always know immediately when someone is coming to confess that sin. Bishop Hennessey said the father of the prodigal son was waiting for his son and Jesus is waiting for people to give them that forgiveness. Scot emphasized that to find a parish in the Archdiocese, go to . 3rd segment: Scot said Bishop Hennessey said he came to the show today in order to tell his Christmas story. He was told a story of girl going home to tell her grandmother that she was in the Christmas pageant. She said she was going to be the star, she would have the most important role. So the grandma told her friends to come see her granddaughter be Mary. But during the pageant, the granddaughter was nowhere to be seen until the star came in wordlessly to lead the shepherds to the manger and then came back to bring in the magi. It turns out she was literally the star of the pageant. The little girl told her grandmother that it was the most important role because she brought everyone to the baby Jesus. Scot said this week is the easiest week to invite people to come back to the Church. Be one of the people that rejoices at the the full pews and that you can’t get your regular pew because so many people are there. Bishop Hennessey said he was just a meeting that told him that in the Central Region Mass attendance is going up. Scot about other ways to prepare for Christmas in the last few days of Advent. Bishop Hennessey said it aggravates him to see new stories of people shopping on Christmas Eve as if they didn’t know Christmas was coming. If we’re not ready when we know the day and time, how will we be ready when we don’t know the day and time, either of our own death or the second coming of Christ. He said we tend to wait until the last minute. We can make last preparations this week, but to take a real look at ourselves and not kid ourselves. We need to make ourselves ready. Fr. David said they just set up the rather large nativity set in his parish and you inevitably hear the question of where is Jesus. He said he reflects that without Christ the manger is empty. Now matter how much stuff we have in our life, no matter how many relationships, if Christ isn’t there, it is a great emptiness. Bishop Hennessey said in all that preparation, on Christmas God wants to give us a gift, His Son. He pictures the Blessed Mother herself saying, “I have him right here in my arms for you.” He’s seen so much charity over the past few weeks, but with all the gifts we want to give to others, and God wants to give us his son. Fr. David said we are born with a great desire for happiness. God tells us his son is the answer to that desire, but everything is competing for that. Stores spend months telling us if we buy these as gifts, we’ll be happy, but the lie is exposed when on the day after Christmas the sales start because we’re still not happy. Scot asked people to create a list this week of things that will help us to grow closer to Christ this Christmas. He advised people to reflect on the Gospels of the nativity narratives this week before Mass. Christmas isn’t just about gifts and isn’t just about family or even about the birth of a baby. That baby is God himself. Bishop Hennessey said on the top of that list is to go to Confession this Wednesday at any parish or chapel. Scot asked Fr. David if they always do confessions at the school before Christmas. He said they do it before Christmas and Easter. He said it’s so important because he wants the kids to remember the rest of their lives that they can go to confession when they commit sin. They will also remember that the priests didn’t yell at them, but offered only forgiveness. Bishop Hennessey will be at St. Peter’s in South Boston at the vigil on Christmas. He will be at the cloistered convent at Midnight Mass. Fr. David said he will have Masses at St. Mary’s and St. Margaret’s in Beverly Farms.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr Bryan Parrish, Assistant Vicar for Administration and Special Assistant to the Vicar General. Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Fr. Bryan Parrish Summary of today’s show: In another of our occasional series of profiles of priests of the Archdiocese of Boston, Fr. Bryan Parrish relates the story of his vocation, including how the words of Pope John Paul II on Boston Common ignited the spark of his vocational call, then showcases the series of parish assignments that encompass the broad diversity of the Archdiocese. Listeners will also learn the correct way to pronounce “Quincy” and leanr about Fr. Bryan’s family connection to a beloved South Shore institution. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Mark caught up on the the week in the Pastoral Center, including the employee Advent party, where reserved parking spots are given out to lucky employees by lottery. They also had the Presbyteral Council yesterday. They are about 50 priests who give advice to Cardinal Seán on important matters. Yesterday they discussed pastoral planning, how the archdiocese will respond to an assisted suicide referendum next November, and the progress of the improved financial relationship model. Fr. Mark noted that there are representatives from each of the 20 vicariates that make up the Archdiocese and those priests are encouraged to go back and report to their fellow priests in their vicariate. Fr. Mark is also closing out the seminary year for his canon law classes. 2nd segment: Fr. Bryan Parrish grew up in Canton, Mass., and he heard the call to the priesthood at the end of high school. It was not a gradual call and came out of the blue, in a sense. He attended Xaverian High School in Westwood from 1976 to 1980. His parents were daily communicants and their faith was very much a part of his life. Going to Xaverian was a deepening of his faith and getting to know a couple of the priests who were chaplains, including then-Father Richard Malone, who is now Bishop Malone of Portland, Maine. Pope John Paul II came to Boston during Fr. Bryan’s senior year and when he spoke on Boston Common, Fr. Bryan had not been looking at the priesthood. He’d been thinking of studying engineering. But he preached his homily to young people, including the phrase “Follow Christ”. This beautiful line in his homily challenged young people: “Whatever you make of your lives, let it reflect the love of Christ.” The phrase stayed with him through his senior year. It was also a difficult time for his family, because his sister had been diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma and for the first time in his life had to pray for someone. At the end of March, his senior year, it all just came together and he felt the Lord was calling him to the seminary to explore the priesthood in a more concrete and direct way. His parents were a little unsettled at first, because he hadn’t talked about it. He feels blessed that he didn’t go through any serious questioning of whether he should stay in the seminary. Fr. Mark said he knew Fr. Bryan’s brother, Mark, because they played hockey together. Fr. Mark said he also was a patron of Fr. Bryan’s family business, Crescent Ridge Dairy in Sharon, well known in the area for its ice cream. Fr. Bryan said his whole family was very supportive all along the way. 3rd segment: Fr. Bryan’s first parish was St. Mary’s in Quincy. Fr. Bryan corrected Scot’s pronunciation of Quincy (said with a Z sound, not S sound). Fr. Bryan said the pastor had only been there five days when Fr. Bryan arrived at 25 years old. Fr. Mark and Fr. Bryan both worked in a parish in Quincy together when Fr. Mark was a deacon and Fr. Bryan was a seminarian. From Quincy, Fr. Bryan went to St. Paul, Wellesley. He was there for six years. It was a very different community, very affluent in the MetroWest. The pastor was Msgr. Joe Lind. It was an experience of growing in ways he hadn’t previously. He was able to experience the colleges nearby, but specifically Babson which had a relationship with the surrounding parish priests to offer an 8pm Sunday Mass with the college students. He had a great experience meeting students from all over. His parishioners were very interesting too, many of them from outside Massachusetts or other countries. During the three years previous to the new millennium, families in the parishes would welcome in others to their home where one of the priests would celebrate Mass for those gathered. Fr. Bryan also served St. Mary in Plymouth, which Father Bryan said was America’s Hometown. It was a blessed 7 years. When he came to St. Mary’s as pastor, it needed a lift after having gone through some difficult times. There were challenges in terms of ethic communities: Portuguese and Italian, and being an older community. There were families and young people in the parish, but not involved. He met people with a great love of the church. He had to adapt to the culture and learn that just because someone was yelling at you didn’t mean they were mad at you, and may even like you. He was there from 2000-2007. The Brazilian community brought lots of life and over time, the parish came alive. Those initial years were very difficult for all parishes, including 9/11, the abuse crisis, and the reconfiguration in the Archdiocese, which all brought the parish closer together. Every Monday night at St. Mary’s, the Brazilian community celebrates Mass with a Brazilian priest in the Archdiocese. They certainly know how to pray and sing and have a good time. In Plymouth, Fr. Bryan was a Vicar Forane, who organized the priests of the vicariate, a regional grouping of parishes. They came together on a regular basis to collaborate and discuss issues. He noted that he was a young vicar forane compared to the other pastors, so having a certain influence with regard to assisting the regional bishop was awkward at first. That area of the diocese has a good number of great senior and retired priests who either live in their own homes or assist at local parishes and he invited them to the gatherings of the vicariate. They also got together for socializing and priestly fraternity. He then moved to Holy Family in Duxbury, succeeding Msgr. Glynn who was there for 24 years. They built a new church in 1988 and it was founded in 1946. Fr. Bryan was only there for just three years. He had known Holy Family because it was in his vicariate and knew Msgr. Glynn, who is close to 90 years old but is still active. Scot said for priests who serve in a one-parish town, which Duxbury is, everyone comes together as one community instead of there being any kind of intra-town rivalries like in the bigger communities. Fr. Bryan said Holy Family connected more directly with the community of Duxbury than other places. There were some tragedies of young deaths during his time there and the community and parish came together beautifully at the time. Fr. Bryan said he also welcomed a newly ordained priest to holy Family, Fr. Sean Maher, which was a new experience for Fr. Bryan. He was proud of the parish which was very welcoming. That parish experienced a priest ordained in 1947 and a priest just ordained in 2008 at the same time. Just a few years into his assignment, Fr. Bryan was called by the then-vicar general, Fr. Rich Erikson, to come help him in the Pastoral Center. Scot asked him what it was like to leave the pastoral parish ministry to enter a more administrative job. Fr. Bryan said it is an adjustment. The rhythm of parish life which he’d lived for 20 years was an adjustment. He feels like he’s into the flow now. He’s experienced that he has brought his pastoral parish experiences into his new role. The experiences he had in parish life have very much formed and shaped his decisions and ministry in administration. Fr. Bryan’s sister had recommended that he read Pope Benedict’s homily at Pope John Paul’s funeral and he spoke at one point with regard to pastoral ministry and how John Paul brought his parish experiences into his future ministry as Pope. He’s grateful to bring his parish experiences into his present life. Fr. Bryan said he assists on the weekends at St. Gerard’s in Canton, which was not his home parish in Canton. Fr. Mark said this is a different kind of priestly work, but it’s still parish work. At the end of the day, it’s still ministry and their hearts are still those of parish priests. Scot said Fr. Erikson always said the word administration has “ministry” in it and it can be holy work. Fr. Bryan said in a sense now the Archdiocese is his parish. 4th segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. Scot said there’s so much richness in the world, including that God sending angels into the world. Fr. Bryan noted God’s faithfulness in light of his promises in the Old Testament. The First Reading is the promise to King David that his house will live forever. Also, Mary is the model disciple for us to follow in our lives as she was faithful to what God asked of us. Scot said he loves the line: “For you have found favor with God.” That’s God’s message to all of us by the gift of our life and our baptism. Fr. Mark said Mary is a bit questioned by the angel. He said Zechariah is visited by the angel and is struck mute when he questions him, but that’s because he should have known better because it had happened before. What happened to Mary was unique in all of history. “For nothing is impossible for God”. Fr. Bryan said Advent is a season of hope and these are beautiful words of hope that encourage and support us. Fr. Mark said hopefully all of us will in some way say to God, “Let it be done according to your word.” Scot said the message of turning everything we have over to God like Mary reminds us to be open to God leading us.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Tim Tebow; Pope going to Cuba, Mexico; Death of Cardinal Foley; Miracles for Sheen, Cope Summary of today’s show: Why do the secularists hate Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow so much? Because his public Christian faith confronts the deeply held knowledge of the existence of God they try to deny, conclude Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy, as the consider this question and other news of the week, including Pope Benedict’s announcement of visits to Cuba and Mexico next year; the death of Cardinal John Foley, the “voice of Christmas”; and discussion of miracles attributed to the intercession of Archbishop Fulton Sheen and Blessed Marianne Cope, which could advance their causes of canonization. 1st segment: Scot and Susan discussed how we are in the homestretch to Christmas with the momentum building toward the feast. Susan said there was a workshop at St. Michael, Bedford, on religious education for children with disabilities. They plan to do more workshops on the subject in the spring. They work with the parents to bring the kids into the mainstream of religious education. Scot and Susan previewed our first story today on Denver Bronco’s quarterback Tim Tebow and his public practice of his Christian faith, including the controversy over it. 2nd segment: Scot it’s fascinating to turn on the secular sports and talk shows and hear that everyone wants to talk about Tim Tebow. Tebow has led the Broncos to a 7-1 record since he took over the team and many of his wins have been “miraculous”. Some people have been turned off by his wearing his faith on his sleeve. Fr. Michael Harrington gave a homily this week in which he asked whether as Christians we’re all supposed to wear our faith on our sleeves. Scot said Tebow doesn’t throw the God or Jesus around cheaply. Fr. Roger wrote an editorial this week in The Anchor on why secularists despise Tim Tebow. Fr. Roger said secularists are those who live as if God doesn’t exist and they don’t want to be confronted with the reality of faith in their own interactions. This is why there is an effort to eliminate Christmas from mention in favor of Holidays, for example. Tim Tebow isn’t like some athletes who clearly isn’t living a relationship with Jesus, but thanks God at the end of a win. Tebow spends his time off volunteering in hospitals and going on the missions. Tim Tebow is clearly a sign of contradiction, which is why he’s considered a controversial figure. People trying to reject Tebow are rejecting him not as a football player, but as a Christian. Tebow thanks Jesus for vitories and defeats, for his teammates, for his career, and so on. Scot said NFL Films miked Tim Tebow for last week’s game and last night they aired some of the excerpts. During the game, on the sideline, Tebow is humming Christian hymns under his breath. And when one of his receivers dropped a critical pass, he goes to the receiver and encourages him and tells him he will succeed for the rest of the game. And he did. Scot asked Susan why people despise him for his Christianity. Susan said it sounds like he is a product of a faith-filled home. Maybe people dislike him because he holds a mirror up to us and makes us feel bad about how we’re living our lives. There have been other athletes, including Mohammed Ali who gave praise to Allah, who were public in their expressions of faith. Scot noted that Tim Tebow’s mom had been told to abort Tim in the womb because he wouldn’t be healthy. She refused based on her faith, and now he’s known for how tough he plays the position of quarterback. Prior to entering the NFL, he and his mom made a Super Bowl commercial with the pro-life message. Greg said it strikes him that a generation or two ago, this wouldn’t be all that unusual to see a public figure living his faith. He said it confronts people in their lives and decisions. Modern secularists are going against the small spark inside all of us that knows that God exists and Tebow’s example reminds them of that. Greg noted how his wife will be out with their ten children at the supermarket who will start talking to her out of the blue, either to criticize her for family size or making an apology for how many children they had. They have been confronted by that reality. Scot said Tebow isn’t imposing his Christianity on anybody. It’s not contrived. It’s just who he is. He just exudes his faith. It makes us consider how much we wear our faith publicly. The militant secularists are trying to impose on us to take our faith out of public view and then trying to say that guys like Tim Tebow are trying to impose their faith on the rest of us. Scot asked Fr. Roger why the war on Christmas is bigger now in 2011 than ever before. Fr. Roger said there’s now some fight back from the religious. The Obama administration and its lack of appreciation for religious freedom is waking a sleeping bear. We’re tired of it and we’re not going to take it any more. Fr. Roger said when he was in kindergarten, some kids often picked on the smart kids. We’re seeing a similar immaturity in our society, which defines virtues as sins. Many secularists see Christianity as harmful and if Tim Tebow becomes popular it can do damage to that perception. He asked why people are so fascinated by Tebow’s “miraculous” fourth-quarter comebacks. People want to know if God is helping Tim Tebow because he’s a good Christian; If so, what does it mean for me if I’m not a good Christian. People are rooting for him to fail because if he continues to succeed, it lifts up a mirror on their own conscience. Scot said obviously God is not rooting for the Denver Broncos. He can intervene in anything if it fulfills his divine plan, but it’s not because someone prays for their team to win. Fr. Roger said God responds to prayer like parents respond to kids. Kids may ask for something silly and the parents may say okay if it’s not essential and there’s no reason not to. God could allow Tim Tebow to win, but remember that Christ died on Good Friday. That would have seemed like defeat in human eyes, but it fulfilled God’s plan. It might be God’s plan to let Tim Tebow show through humility and defeat the greater Christian virtue. That said, his faith clearly has an impact on his work on the football field. He never gives up on the field and believes that all things are possible, that you can steal victory from the jaws of defeat. And his character supports and encourages his teammates. Nobody criticizes Derek Jeter for his philandering, but they do criticize Tebow for his virginity. 3rd segment: Scot said Pope Benedict XVI has confirmed he’ll be traveling to Cuba and Mexico at the end of 2012. Greg’s wife comes from Cuba. Scot said he’s sure the Holy Father wants his trip lead to greater freedom like Pope John Paul’s visit a decade ago did. Greg said many Americans don’t know much about Cuba, despite it being 90 miles from the US coast. The poverty of the people is amazing and they have undergone a lot of suffering. In addition, with an official push for atheism, many young Cubans don’t have and have a great yearning for God. The Holy Father will be visiting the national shrine of Our Lady of El Cobre, which is a national symbol of unity for Cubans. The Church has also played a huge role in helping people meet their basic needs, especially through Catholic Charities. The Pope will be there at the end of March. In Mexico, the Holy Father will go to Leon, northwest of Mexico City, but not Mexico City itself. Fr. Roger said some speculation is that Vatican officials were afraid of the health impact of the high altitudes in Mexico City on the Holy Father. However, he thinks the Holy Father is trying to go to a place that isn’t typically associated with the practice of the faith to show the message of the Incarnation in this hemisphere. In the heart of a modern city, a secular metropolis, Christ comes to save. It puts into image the message of Pope Benedict. He will be there on the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25. Scot said another story in the Anchor is about the Blackstone Valley Catholic Youth Choir with 19 eight-to-fifteen year olds, who sing traditional hymns mainly at St. Brendan’s in Bellingham, but also at other parishes. Fr. Roger said there is a new movement to help kids recognize that they are heirs to the incredible beauty of traditional Latin chant, which is part of the Church’s liturgy going back for 1,600 years. Fr. Roger said at a parish in Sugarland, TX, he visited, they had a kindergartener choir singing Gregorian chant and it was amazing how much they enjoyed it and how well they sang it. One child said she loved it because they weren’t just singing it together, but with hundreds of saints who have sung it before them and it made her feel more Catholic. Fr. Roger encouraged parents to read the story and see if they can help their own kids open up to this incredible spiritual treasury. The director of the choir is Michael Olbash. Susan said he is well-respected in this area and nationally as a music director. susan said this is evidence of the product of good catechesis. Scot asked Fr. Roger’s reaction to Cardinal John Foley’s death, who served for many years in the Vatican as the “voice of Christmas” and the head of the Council for Social Communications. Fr. Roger said he was an incredible Christian and a theologian. Fr. Roger remembered when he was in Rome for his first Christmas at seminary that Cardinal Foley took the time to learn their names and then mention them by name during the broadcast of the Mass. He remembered going out to lunch with the Cardinal by happenstance on Fr. Roger’s birthday and then never forgot that date and would call him every year on his birthday. That’s the kind of Christian gentleman Cardinal Foley was. Greg said he met the cardinal at the Catholic Press Association a few years ago, where he met with many of the members of the press. He was a great communicator. He had a unique skill set. He was once editor of a diocesan newspaper and addressed the association as a peer, acknowledging the challenges of being a communicator within the Church, sometimes delivering tough news with love. Scot said it’s a significant loss for the Church when a cardinal dies. In the US we have 17 cardinals, about half of them retired. Susan said the National Association of Catechetical Media Professionals has also marked the passing of Cardinal Foley. She said NBC NEws, the night he died, Brian Williams said NBC has lost a good friend and that Midnight Mass would never be the same. She said Cardinal Foley was visionary for communications in the Church. 4th segment: Scot said the cause for the canonization of Archbishop Fulton Sheen had a major milestone when testimony and evidence in the investigation of a miracle has been sent to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The miracle involved a woman who had a devotion to Sheen and when her baby was born without a heartbeat, she prayed to Sheen, and 61 minutes later his heart was beating. The investigators look for any medical explanation and if not, that would advance Sheen closer to canonization. Greg said many people nationally are looking for his canonization. If we’re looking for evidence that God is alive and working in people’s lives, these miracles are clear evidence for it. This child with no heartbeat for an hour had no brain damage and is perfectly healthy and normal. Susan said the miracles point to nothing but the Lord. It’s not because the mother was particularly holy and thus deserved a prayer more than others. It’s because God wanted this particular miracle to happen. Blessed Marianne Cope’s miracle has been approved. She worked with St. Damien of Molokai in Hawaii. Greg said he was recently in Honolulu for a couple of days, where he learned much more about the work on Molokai with the lepers. This work was a sign of seeing Christ in the other. No one would go near them, but she did this for 30 years out of the love of Christ. The last milestone for canonization is approval by Pope Benedict XVI and setting a date. Scot said in this week’s Pilot there is an article by Msgr. Deeley, the vicar general, on the blessing of priests for all of us.There is also another article by Joe D’Arrigo, executive director of the clergy funds, which reflect on how we can remember the senior priests who served us well during the Christmas collection.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Stephen and Kari Colella and Mary Finnigan from Archdiocese of Boston Marriage Ministries and the Transformed in Love marriage preparation program Links from today’s show: / Today’s topics: Transformed in Love marriage preparation program Summary of today’s show: Statistics tells us that there is a marriage crisis in our society. Cardinal Sean and the Marriage Ministry Office of the Archdicoese of Boston have responded with a new marriage preparation program called “Transformed in Love” that provides both the practical human skills and the spiritual foundation and formation that every couple needs to have a successful marriage today. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams are joined on our 200th show by Stephen and Kari Colella and Mary Finnigan to talk about what makes Transformed in Love different and how couples who’ve experienced it are giving glowing testimonials. 1st segment: Scot said it’s our 200th show on The Good Catholic Life and Fr. Matt said it’s great to be on Wednesdays because it’s always a milestone show. Fr. Matt said he’s been getting ready this week for the March for Life pilgrimage in January as well as the New Year’s Eve Young Adult Mass and gathering in the North End with Cardinal Seán. Information on both are available at . 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Steve, Kari, and Mary to the show. He asked Kari to give background on Transformed in Love. She said they started developing it in 2006 and have been running marriage preparation programs with it in 2009. Mary said there are some new topics and areas in this program, by reconnecting people with their faith including reconciliation, a teaching Mass, and a discussion of salvation history. Kari said they spent a lot of time doing research and working with people to find the needs for people preparing for marriage today, as well as deacons and priests helping prepare people. A key element that came up was the role that faith plays in individual lives and as a couple to strengthen marriages, as well as the practical skills they can provide. There was a lot more substantive explanation of marriage, plus they maintained the traditional witness talks from married couples. Mary said the response has been positive. There have been comments like “I’ve never heard this before” or “I went through Catholic school and never heard this before” or “This is more relevant than I thought it would be.” They are connecting and reenergizing interest in the faith. Fr. Matt said several years ago, the cardinal called together a committee to study marriage and was chaired by Kari. They were asked to study how they could strengthen marriage in the archdiocese. One recommendation was educating people about marriage prior to engagement, often as children, and giving the tools for marriage; helping engaged couples prepare for marriage (this is where the committee wanted to focus resources); and helping couples in their relationship after marriage. They are looking how to adapt the marriage preparation program for young people before engagement and married couples after marriage. They are seeking to standardize the program through the archdiocese so that everyone knows what to expect and everyone gets the same high level of preparation. Scot said Catholics divorce about the same rate as non-Catholics. Kari said it is sobering to see those statistics. Research says communications are important to head off divorce. We also have to have the vision and commitment to understand where we’re going as well as spiritual practices to help us grow in virtue and love. People are thirsty for the vision and to love well. Scot asked Steve how those human skills get worked into the program. Steve said when he was first married to Kari, he thought Kari was the luckiest girl in the world, but in the past 15 years he’s realized he’s the luckiest guy in the world. He said even those with the strongest backgrounds need these skills. He said this program has helped their own marriage grow. When you link the natural and supernatural, you start lining up those virtues and see and feel the growth in your spouse and yourself that becomes unstoppable when sharing that love with others. Scot said the Catholic Church tries to form the whole person whether it’s seminary or other formation. Formation for marriage is not just spiritual formation, but also the human formation of skills and how we merge all of our family background, our emotions, our history, our abilities and weaknesses. Kari said they talk about the importance of forgiveness, to be attentive to God’s presence, serving others in our family and community. They talk about the different types of love: attraction, friendship, romantic love, and selfless love, choosing to be loving even when we might not feel it. Choosing to be loving. Being mature in love. Scot noted that agape is God’s self-sacrificing, very active love. We are called to be self-giving, where the world tells us that it’s all about “me”. It can bring us together when a couple sees one spouse give up so much out of love with one another. Steve said Transformed in Love has been well-designed to build one topic upon another. John Paul II said our greatest strengths can be in our differences, not just our similarities. When you realize that communication styles can be different but compatible, that can lead to joy in life, not conflict. It can be difficult, but joyful and hopeful as a real witness of marriage. Fr. Matt said most couples coming into see the priest when engaged are just checking off a box of what they need to do. Kari said this program welcomes everyone, both Catholic and someone marrying a Catholic, but the program starts with self-knowledge and the human skills, then moves to expectations and communications in general. Communication includes effective talking skills, effective listening, and effective checking. The key skill is listening. In a conversation, we’re often thinking of what we want to say next rather than focus on what the person is saying. They focus on empathy: What is this like for them in their experience, not for me in my experience. Using everything I know about my spouse, what is it like for her. The checking is determining whether I am hearing correctly, not necessarily agreeing with what they’re saying. Steve said the checking phase gives a pause in the conversation. Mary said checking is not just parroting back; it’s trying to get at the feeling that’s being expressed. Identifying the underlying issue. Steve says intimacy grows when you have to say something back to your spouse and you realize the effect of your words and actions. Fr. Matt said it’s a virtue that needs to be built. He said people can start judging other people; throwing unfair comments, and hitting below the belt. Kari said this skills don’t come naturally. They have to be practiced and the couple grows in them together, to be transformed in love. 3rd segment: It’s time to announce this week’s winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prizes this week are “We Celebrate Christmas: the Birth of Jesus” children’s music CD by the Celebrate Jesus Singers; PC game for Windows XP; and a World Mission children’s rosary. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Edward and Robin Kuczynski from North Billerica, MA. Congratulation, Edward and Robin! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot said 25 years ago in the Archdiocese, there were 12,000 marriages recorded in all the parishes. Fast-forward to today and there were only 3,700 were married in Catholic churches last year. That number propelled Cardinal Sean’s desire to look at marriage preparation. Kari said back in 2007, CARA did a study of the post-millennial generation. They had the highest rate of any generation to say marriage is whatever the couple say it is, but they also say marriage is a lifelong commitment and that divorce is too easy. Kari said this is a contradiction and one of the things they try to do in the program is education on marriage by talking about it as a natural institution—which pre-dates even the Catholic Church, and as a Christian institution. What added layer of meaning is there when two Christians marry? We want to articulate the value of marrying in the church. They look at the canons on marriage and then they do a diagram overview of the Faith to explain what a sacrament is and why we have them. When they started with marriage as a sacrament, they found the couples didn’t have the foundation to build on. Steve said one of the comments they get over and over is that diagram works, whether they are active Catholic, inactive Catholics, or even Protestant, because it gives a common language to talk about marriage. Scot said another part of the program looks at the promises made in marriage and then spiritual practices in marriage, being part of a faith community and more. He said Fr. Matt has talked about the teaching Mass before. Fr. Matt said it ties in perfectly to where they place it in the flow of topics. In it they tour the church and the various parts of it, then the structure of the Mass and the various prayers and parts. The priest explains what the prayers mean as he celebrates the Mass. The next section is called Marital Sexuality: A Divine Design. Mary said the placement of this topic was just as intentional because they’ve laid all the groundwork. They come from Holy Communion to talk about the marital act as an experience of holy communion between the spouses. What is the divine design of the act? Scot said society has cheapened it to make it about self-pleasure, when it should be about self-giving. Mary said they look at the practical aspects of what roles the spouse plays in the fertility of the couple. It isn’t just the men who are surprised about fertility, but the women too. They then look at the science of natural family planning and what it means in the marriage relationship. They also hear a couple discuss the challenges, the benefits, and the difference it makes, especially compared to artificial contraception. Mary said studies show the benefit of natural family planning, even in a lower divorce rate. They also discuss infertility and how the Church responds to the condition. They also discuss adoption. At the end of the section, they challenge them if they haven’t been living chastely to do so until the wedding and if they are living together to live apart. Fr. Matt said natural family planning is not the rhythm method. Mary said NFP identifies fertility signs in the woman’s cycle, including fertility monitors that identify hormones in urine. They are also developing iPhone and Android apps to help with charting that will be coming out in 2012. Kari said they survey the couples coming in and leaving the program. Coming in 37% say they know what NFP is and what the Church’s teaching. When they leave, 70% say they will consider using NFP, while 81% say they understand the Church’s teaching. Kari said they provide them with resources to follow up on this on their own and with their priest or deacon. Scot said the other topics include family life, maintaining priorities, finances, and marriage enrichment programs. In 2012, they have three programs scheduled. See their . They are also publishing the curriculum and there is interest in other dioceses to use it. They are providing training to help implement. For married couples looking to enrich their marriage, they might want to become part of a Transformed in Love team. Their website also has links to other programs on enrichment.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Marianne Luthin, Director of the Archdiocese of Boston Pro-Life Office Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Project Rachel Boston Summary of today’s show: Marianne Luthin talks with Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor about Project Rachel, an outreach ministry of hope and healing to men and women hurting from past abortions. Project Rachel Boston was one of two diocesan programs highlighted at the recent US bishops’ conference meeting as examples of the need to spread this ministry nationwide, helping women who often say, “God can forgive me, but I can’t forgive myself.” 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chris back to the show. It’s the end of the semester at St. John Seminary. They had their big December 8 celebration on the Feast of Immaculate Conception. Bishop John D’Arcy,retired bishop of South Bend and and former faculty at St. John’s gave a reflection to the men on his priesthood. He said they should be aware of the beauty and dignity of the priesthood and live that with vigor and a desire for holiness. Fr. Chris said Bishop D’Arcy is on fire for the Lord and has a great gift with a real shepherd’s heart. Fr. Chris said the seminarians are now finishing up work and getting ready to head home to be with their families. Fr. Chris said he is looking forward to this weekend for the Patriots-Broncos games which pits Tom Brady against Tim Tebow, who is very well-known as a devout Christian who talks about his faith. Scot said are criticizing Tebow for being willing to talk about his faith and being willing to live it,. 2nd segment: Scot said it must have an honor for Marianne to go down to Washington last month to do a press conference on behalf of the bishops about Project Rachel. She said three cardinals did a joint presentation to all the US bishops on Project Rachel, including Cardinal Seán, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston, and Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, DC. The Project Rachel programs in Boston and Washington were being profiled and the hope is those programs can provide assistance and training to other dioceses who want to start one. Marianne said the program is named after the Old Testament matriarch Rachel. In the book of Jeremiah, Rachel weeps for her children who are no more. The Lord comes to her and says to her to cease her cries of mourning because there is hope and healing. Marianne said an important part of the Scripture is that no matter how many tears Rachel shed or how many years, she couldn’t heal herself. On the healing that came from God made it possible. Marianne said Project Rachel began in Boston in 1985, one of the first in the US. They started it with a full-year of prayer, every day a parish praying for it. The project cares for women who’ve had an abortion and all those who might have participated in the abortion. It provides retreats for women and men seeking wholeness and healing. Every woman’s story is unique and so they begin wherever they can in that healing process. Many women come in after many years after seeing a brochure. Other women are younger and the wound is fresh. The women range in age from teen all the way to elderly. Marianne said it is all completely confidential. No one knows where the retreats will be and they don’t even publish the list of priests who are involved. Scot said the Mass of Remembrance for miscarried children that we profiled a month ago showed that many parents don’t talk about the pain of miscarriage for years after. Marianne said a vast majority of women don’t talk about the abortion after. Where would you talk about it? Very seldom is there an opportunity to talk about personal experience because it is taboo. Much of what we know about post-abortion healing we learned from helping people deal with miscarriage and the very profound grief. Even up until recently, the medical community didn’t talk about miscarriage, never mind abortion. Fr. Chris said many women have a difficult time forgiving themselves. The late Cardinal John O’Connor said we fall into a trap when we fail to recognize that the Cross is infinitely more powerful than any sin we’ve committed and that there is a loving God ready to forgive us. Marianne said women sometimes say, “God can forgive me, but I can’t forgive myself.” 3rd segment: In October, the Pilot published five first-person accounts of women who’ve been on Project Rachel retreats. Marianne said Project Rachel provides a confidential support group that meets monthly with a Scripture theme or healing theme. Last summer, the women talked about letting other women know there’s a safe place to come for hope and healing. Several wanted to write their testimonies but doing it anonymously. The Pilot agreed to the idea. My personal journey of healing began after six long years of the most deafeningly silent pain. Six years of the heaviest regret. Just as profound as my deep need to turn back the clock was my triumphant return to who I once was, thanks solely to Project Rachel. I remember during those dark years, I would wake up each morning, and for a few brief seconds, all was well. Then I would remember what I had done. The grief was all-consuming. But, like so many other women, I kept it locked inside. I had accepted my fate. I was unforgivable. The enormity of what I had done actually made my steps heavier. Even my shoulders hung lower. I cried alone almost daily. For brief periods I could take my mind off of it. Sometimes I would even forget long enough to try and enjoy a comedy at the movies, but then mid-laughter I’d remember and my laughing would stop because, well, I didn’t deserve to laugh. Growing up in a Catholic family that attended Mass every Sunday, I never expected that I, of all people, would be in this situation. I convinced myself that I had committed an unforgivable act. I felt utterly alone. I desperately needed to connect with other women who were suffering as I was, and I longed to be the woman I used to be. And then one fateful Sunday morning during Mass, my husband handed me a church bulletin, pointing out the words on the back: “Project Rachel — a program for post-abortion healing through the archdiocese.” I couldn’t believe my eyes. It took me several months to muster up the nerve to call. I had done a fine job of beating myself up for years and I certainly didn’t need the person on the other end of the phone to make me feel any worse. But, when I finally called, it was not like that at all. The voice on the other end was warm and full of hope for me. My journey of healing began on that day that I made that phone call. Thanks to Project Rachel, I am me again. The retreat allowed me the opportunity to experience God’s love and forgiveness — something I had decided I was not worthy of. Little did I know that God was there, all along, offering me his love. Project Rachel literally lit the path for me. From the moment I arrived at the retreat house, the warmth of God’s love engulfed me. Furthermore, I was able to connect with other women who knew the despair that I knew, and we were able to experience the joy of receiving the gifts of hope and healing together. I actually feel lighter. The power of forgiveness is life altering. I am happy again, and the people whom I love sense that. I will always regret my decision, and I will continue to carry my quiet secret with me. It has become a part of who I am, but it no longer defines who I am. Fr. Chris said it captures many of the points talked about here: the sense of hopelessness that she is unforgivable; the idea of the Evil One convincing us our sins are indeed unforgivable, yet we know in the fiber of our beings that this is why Christ came in to the world, to forgive our sins, to reconcile us to one another. Scot said it was amazing that it takes several months to work up the courage to make the phone call after deciding to find out more about this ministry. Marianne said women will call when they are ready to accept God’s healing. Many women will say they couldn’t make the call until some time after picking up the brochure. But at some point the grace breaks through. she said the Number One referral source for Project Rachel is the parish bulletin. Women don’t want to pick up a brochure because people will notice, but the parish bulletin is more anonymous. Marianne said the first phone call a woman makes to Project Rachel is a conversation, not counseling. They know why the woman is calling so they don’t have to have that awkward part of the conversation. Having the retreat going on gives an excuse to call. Fr. Chris said his advice to anyone experiencing a need for confessing abortion is to go in and ask Father to help them to make their confession. Don’t hold back because you don’t know how to start confessing it. Scot asked about Project Rachel’s format. Marianne said it’s held in a place that’s not too big and without other groups there at the same time. It’s primarily a one-day Saturday retreat because so many women can’t get away for a whole weekend. The purpose of the retreat is to provide an an opportunity for the women to have a healing encounter with God. There is sacramental reconciliation, adoration, private prayer and reflections. It concludes with a Mass. Attendance is limited to 10 participants. If you go higher than that, they’re concerned women may not have the time to get all they can out of the day. The next Come to the Healing Waters retreat is January 21. They can find out more by calling the helpline 508-651-310 or send email to . 4th segment: Marianne said the Living Well post-retreat support group assists women with ongoing help and a place to talk with people they can trust after going on the Come to the Waters of Healing retreat. They found after the retreats that many of the women wanted to grow in the spiritual life and many of the women didn’t have anyone in their circles to help them grow spiritually. It helps them to live out their Catholic faith. This is why parishes are such an important part of the continuing work of Project Rachel. Scot asked for advice for someone who knows someone hurting from abortion and wants to help. Marianne said to trust your instincts and rely on the Holy Spirit. They can call the Project Rachel line for help and advice. Marianne said she has a list of parish bulletin editors who are particularly committed to Project Rachel. If pastors know it’s important, they will pass the word on. Some volunteers also make calls from their office to parishes. Scot suggested a man can bring it up to the parish secretary or pastor. Marianne said one of the most effective arguments is the numbers: nearly one in 3 women in the United States will have an abortion in her lifetime and it’s the same proportion for self-identified Catholic women as for non-Catholic. Marianne added that there is an incredibly dedicated network of priests across the Archdiocese providing assistance to women and men who are suffering after abortion.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Kevin Wells and Jen Schiller Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Kevin Wells discusses his book Burst. Summary of today’s show: Scot, Jen Schiller, and Kevin Wells discuss Kevin's moving book Burst: A Story of God's Grace when Life Falls Apart, in which Kevin details how his faith helped him through various medical and family traumas. 1st segment: Scot opened the show by wishing all the listeners a happy feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe today, and thanked WQOM for a great conference this past Saturday at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. Scot welcomed Jen to the show. Jen said she got Kevin's book from friends several months ago. She explained that she knew Kevin from Loyola University, and was very excited to read Burst. Jen said the themes of hope and enduring suffering with faith was inspiring to her, and that his message and witness could be a great example for everyone. Scot commented that Kevin's story is very much what a "Good Catholic Life" is about - not every day is bliss, but we persevere with help from God. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Kevin Wells to the show, and asked him to detail what happened on January 2nd, 2009. Kevin explained that it was a typical night when he was 41, but as soon as he put his head down to go to sleep, it felt like someone had put a tomahawk into the back of his head. A line of arteries and veins had burst in his brain, and his brain was bleeding. By the grace of God he didn't die instantly, as many people with similar bursts do. Kevin said he remembers the EMTs picking him up gently and walking him to the ambulance - the thought that he might not recover crossed his mind then. After undergoing emergency surgery, he spent a long time in the intensive care unit in the hospital. Kevin continued and said that he was mostly lucid after the surgery, as the main impairment was balance and motor function. He remembers vividly a horrid set of hallucinations of demons taunting him and even of his daughter drowning in the ceiling. Kevin said he had just gotten back from a Jesuit retreat, and had been a regular attendee. He said the Ignatian contemplation helped him battle through the time in the hospital bed. He said the method he followed was to take a scripture passage and continually visualize and meditate on being present in the passage. Kevin explained that the passage he focused on most was being in the upper room and picturing Jesus wash the feet of his Apostles. The tenderness and care with which Jesus did this, even when he was about to die, was comforting to Kevin. Another mental picture of Jesus' hand on his head helped Kevin offer up the pain and suffering he was going through. Jen said she was struck by the part of the book where he described these exercises, and what a remarkable gift it is that Kevin has good memory and can put this faith into words to share with everyone else. Jen commented that reading through the book it is obvious a miracle happened in his life. Kevin agreed, saying there's no formula for everyone to deal with pain - we must simply place ourselves in Christ's hands in hopeful surrender and know he will tend to our needs. Kevin said when we unite our pain with Jesus, God's graces flow strongly. Jen mentioned that Kevin wrote in the book that sometimes he struggled to feel God's presence, but that he also wrote in retrospect that "...I'd would be back to my old self in a year or so, yet that really wasn't the point, it would have been a shame if it was." Kevin commented that he thinks it's false theology to say we shouldn't suffer - Easter wouldn't have happened without the Cross a few days prior. We need to embrace the Catholic view of suffering, Kevin said - pain is part of life, and all we can do is call on God in a childlike way and ask Him to hold on to us. Scot commented that sometimes when we get so busy, we miss God getting our attention - sometimes an encounter that sets us back or a door that gets slammed in our face can be God's way of telling us to slow down and listen to Him. Those moments of suffering can help us redirect ourselves through God's grace, Scot said, and we know that through the testimony of the saints and modern-day situations like Kevin's. Kevin agreed - God doesn't send us suffering for His amusement or to torture us, but rather to serve monumental purpose in our lives. 3rd segment: Scot said he was struck throughout the book by Kevin's relationship with his uncle, Monsignor Tom Wells (known throughout the book simply as "Tommy"). Kevin explained that Tommy was a massive presence in the area, had more friends than anyone else he know, and that the Cardinal would shift from parish to parish because he know Tommy could fix any problem. Kevin said Tommy was a happy ambassador of spreading the Catholic faith. Then tragedy struck - a man walked into Tommy's rectory on an evening in 2000, and stabbed him to death. Defense attorneys tried to defame Tommy by saying that the murderer had an inappropriate relationship with Monsignor Wells. Kevin said that they all knew that they had to put the anguish and shock into God's hands. Jen mentioned a portion of the book said that the family decided to gather as a group and pray the rosary at the courthouse. Kevin said that they invited the murderer's family, and said a rosary with his mother at one point - they refused to turn angry. The murderer was sentenced to 42 years at the end of the trial. Scot asked Kevin to describe a powerful story from the book where Tommy helped Kevin and his wife through their problems with infertility. Originally, Kevin's wife wanted to use IVF, in opposition to Catholic teaching. They went to meet with Tommy, who told them that they had to embrace the cross of infertility, unite the pain to Jesus' suffering, and they would find peace. Kevin said their lives were changed - his wife understood that she needed to give it up to God and Kevin understood his wife's pain. The meeting was only two days before his murder - his last weekly column in his parish bulletin, published just after the murder, was on the cross of infertility. It was a final gift to Kevin and his wife from Tommy, and showed them that God would be their strength throughout the adoption process. 4th segment: Scot mentioned that one thing in the book that moved him was the description of the sacrificial love of the birth mothers of their three adopted children. Kevin agreed, and said it was a pain but a beautiful pain that results in a new life. Each time they went to adopt, Kevin would see the birth mothers hand their child to his wife - the tears are uncontrollable on both sides. Kevin said he knows for a fact that each of the birth mothers, after the heroic act of offering their child up for adoption, there is a peace that God gives them. Scot wrapped up the show by asking Kevin how he is doing - Kevin said he has a relatively clean bill of health and, while he does have some occasional balance problems, God has been good to him. He has been back to work and writing for 2 years now, and things are back to normal. Scot asked Kevin to share what he tells people when they contact him about their own suffering - Kevin said he recommends prayer, reflection, and more prayer. A lot of people have seen that graces can be revealed in darkness, he continued, and that graces are hidden where we least expect them sometimes.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr. Mitch Pacwa and Brian Patrick, speakers at the 2011 WQOM 1st Anniversary Conference Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Brian Patrick, WQOM Conference, Sunday readings Summary of today’s show: Scot and Fr. Mark welcome two of the speakers at this weekend’s WQOM 1st Anniversary Conference in Lowell, Fr. Mitch Pacwa of EWTN and Brian Patrick of the Son Rise Morning Show on WQOM. They discuss the value and importance of Catholic conferences, especially during Advent, to enliven the faith and prepare for Christmas as well as to grow in fellowship with other Catholics. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Mark talked about their week, including Friday’s Mass of blessing for the new community of women with Sister Olga at the Cathedral. There about 800 people coming. Fr. Mark said Sr. Olga is a very well-known and memorable person who has touched the lives of many people. Scot said on Saturday, more than 1,000 people will join WQOM in celebrating the first anniversary of Catholic radio in Boston at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. Scot said he loves conferences. He was very involved in the Catholic Men’s and Women’s Conferences in the past and will be the emcee tomorrow. Tickets will be available at the door. It runs from 9am-5pm and will end with a Mass with Cardinal Seán for Gaudete Sunday. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcomed Brian Patrick to the show. Scot said WQOM listeners wake up each day to learn about the Catholic faith listening to the Son Rise Morning Show, which originates out of Cincinnati. Scot asked Brian why it’s good for Catholics to come to a conference in Advent or Lent. Brian said on Saturday he will talk about Advent as a time for a new beginning. The season of Advent is the beginning of the Church year. Especially with the new Mass translation, it’s a new beginning even more this year. Fr. Mark asked how a conference can touch a person individually. Brian said he starts by preparing his own soul for the coming of Christ and then sharing with others his passion for Christ. Brian said he was away from his faith for many years, but he came back to Christ on his knees and realized that the Lord loved him through all those years and gave him a new beginning. Now he gets to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with people all over the world every day. So he will share his own experience and those attending will share their stories with one another. When we can share what we’re going through, it prompts us along the journey. Scot said Brian said Advent is a great time to slow down, but the Christmas shopping frenzy can take us out of it. Scot said he likes an Advent retreat as a way t o step back and not get caught up in that to marvel at the Incarnation. This conference can help make Christmas more special. Brian said the culture wants us to buy in to the idea that we need to make sure the retailers have a good Christmas. But Christmas is focusing on Jesus who comes to us in the Nativity. He loves to give Christmas gifts, but he keeps them personal and simple and refuses to buy into the prevalent idea. Thank God for Catholic media that reminds us of the true reason for Advent and Christmas. Scot said the conference will be a chance to say thank you to The Good Catholic Life listeners. Brian said he loves meeting his listeners. Each morning he thinks of talking to one person because it’s a personal meeting. To see the faces and meet the personalities, he then begins to picture them personally. Brian said they are privileged to have a 24-hour adoration chapel in the building where Son Rise Morning Show is broadcast each day. Fr. Mark asked Brian if he could think of a time when a conference has truly borne fruit. Brian said with the Crossing the Goal team he has attended many men’s conferences and he has been moved by the fact that men and women are coming back to the reconciliation. He is moved to tears at men’s conference to see lines of men going to confession to dozens of priests giving up their days to give the sacrament. Eucharistic adoration is a big part of the conferences too and to see 1,000 men on their knees adoring Christ is moving. Brian said invitation is key. We are called as disciples to invite our brothers and sisters to come back to Church. And when we invite them, we have to be willing to hear yes or no. Inviting someone to a conference opens the door to inviting them back to the Church .He encouraged everyone to invite at least one other person to come. Brian said Dr. Ray Guarendi uses humor to get our attention for a powerful message. He and his wife have adopted 10 children, some special needs. He’s extremely funny and entertaining. There is a powerful message there. Fr. Mitch, too, is a brilliant teacher who speaks several language with a way of sharing the faith at a level that everyone can understand. EWTN first picked up the Son Rise Morning Show about 3 years ago. The show started 4 years ago and Sacred Heart Radio in Cincinnati started 10 years ago. He said getting on the Boston radio market last year was great and he’s very grateful. Brian said last time he was in Boston he had the best seafood meal ever at Anthony’s Pier 4. Fr. Mark asked Brian for his recommendation to the hosts of The Good Catholic Life to keep it fresh and always new. Brian said our faith is always fresh and new and there are so many wonderful people out there. He learns every day from the people he talks to on a regular basis, that he has on the show all the time. Always remember what’s old is new. We are a universal Church that includes the faithful of all time so he advises to tap into this immense treasure of faith and wisdom. Son Rise Morning Show is on the air every weekday from 6-8am on WQOM. 3rd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Mitch Pacwa to the show. He hosts several EWTN TV shows and is a speaker at the WQOM conference in Lowell this weekend. Scot asked Fr. Mitch why it’s important to attend Catholic conferences in the seasons of Advent and Lent. Fr. Mitch said in recent years people have not been well-catechized and don’t know enough about their Catholic faith. These are opportunities to help people know more about what’s going on in their faith. In his experience, people know their Catholic faith when they hear, but don’t know how to put it into words. We live in a time when it’s important to be able to explain the faith. There is a significant amount of anti-Catholicism. We have a number of people who dislike God and the Catholic Church, in particular. We need to be able to put our faith into words to give them an answer. In 1 Peter, chapter 3, We should always be ready with a reason for our hope in Jesus Christ. Many in our culture do not have a lot of hope. The Catholic faith is there to give a reason for hope. Scot said, going to large Catholic conferences, one can feel it’s tough to live the faith in daily life and seeing hundreds or thousands of like-minded Catholics at these events can inspire us and transform us and energize us to transform society. Fr. Mitch said some who try to discourage us from having faith often assume we won’t be able to meet with each other, know each other, and find out the cool things that are happening in the faith. We need to help each other find out we’re not alone. Scot said Fr. Mitch has led pilgrimages to the Holy Land and trying to put ourselves in the mindset of Nazareth can help us deepen our faith. Fr. Mitch said he has taken 55 groups of pilgrims to the Holy Land and he has found that you realize that the facts of our salvation did not occur in some theme park, but in a concrete place where life goes on and there are people still living close to the land. He has had the experience of pilgrims saying to him that when they go home and hear the Gospel read, suddenly it all comes to life. That is a very positive experience. Scot said St. John Baptist was always asking us to be ready for the coming of Christ. Fr. Mitch’s talk on Saturday is titled “Prepare the Way for Christ.” Fr. Mitch said one of the things he’s doing now is getting ready for the Year of Faith next October as declared by Pope Benedict. He would like to talk about the important role of faith. Faith is not just a psychological state; it’s a commitment to the person of Christ. We are in need of hearing Jesus ask us to make the act of faith in him. The more you read the Gospel, the more he evokes a response of faith (or in some cases, a rejection of faith). Scot said one of his favorite Scriptures is “Who do you say that I am?” Who do we say Jesus is during this Advent in 2011? Fr. Mitch said what we respond with is a statement of faith. If we have faith in the fullness of what he revealed about himself then our act of faith means … In the Baltimore Catechism asks “Why did God make me?” The answer is the ultimate answer to life: “God made me to know, love, and serve him, in this life and to be happy with him in the next.” That is why we exist. So many people are running from one experience to the next where they’re trying to find relief from pain or fleeting moments of pleasure, where they don’t have an overview of the purpose of life. Our faith in God tells us he is there to give us that overview. He is why we exist. Scot asked Fr. Mitch what it’s like for him, where he has a very large audience, to come to a conference and meet people in person who watch his show or listen to his radio shows. Fr. Mitch said it’s great to get to meet the people and get their reactions. When he comes back from conferences, he’s often thinking of the individuals he’s met. He just came back from vacation in Texas and met some people who have an apostolate in a high-security prison and they told him how the prisoners listen to EWTN radio and 92 of the prisoners are presently in RCIA. It helps him to think and be sensitive to a group he doesn’t think about unless he goes out and meets folks, to talk to them about their experience. Fr. Mitch knows he now needs to do a shout out to them to let them know that we’re thinking about and praying for them. Scot said prison can be a fertile time for people to meet Christ again or for the first and begin a lifetime of ongoing conversion. Scot said this conference is also a celebration of one year of Catholic radio in Boston. He asked Fr. Mitch why Catholic radio is doing so much good. Fr. Mitch said radio is a great medium in the daytime when people are at work or driving. Once, when he was in Seattle, a person had seen a bumper sticker for Catholic radio while he was driving on his way to commit suicide. He tuned into the station, it changed his life and he became a Catholic. This is just one story. He’s heard others about women changing their minds about having abortions and others like that. For most people it helps their faith, but for some it saves their lives. It is an incredible privilege to be part of this medium. 4th segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God. I rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul; for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation and wrapped me in a mantle of justice, like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem, like a bride bedecked with her jewels. As the earth brings forth its plants, and a garden makes its growth spring up, so will the Lord GOD make justice and praise spring up before all the nations. Brothers and sisters: Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances. Test everything; retain what is good. Refrain from every kind of evil. May the God of peace make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will also accomplish it. A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. And this is the testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him to ask him, “Who are you?” He admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Christ.” So they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?” He said: “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘make straight the way of the Lord,’” as Isaiah the prophet said.” Some Pharisees were also sent. They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. Scot said this Sunday is Gaudete Sunday, which is driven by the second reading. Scot said Gaudete is Latin for “Rejoice”. Priests will wear rose-colored garments. Fr. Mark said he doesn’t know why they wear, but all he knows is we don’t call them pink. St. Paul tells us that God’s will is to rejoice, pray, and always give thanks. Fr. Mark said the first reading is split in two: In the first half, the anointed one speaks and in the second, Zion responds. Our response can’t help but be rejoicing. He said seminarians are often told, if you’re going to preach the redemption, look redeemed. Scot said we should respond with rejoicing in the Lord. In my God is the joy of my soul. Joy is the hope of knowing that God loves and protects us and gives us what we need. Advent prepares us this third Sunday by focusing on joy. In Advent we think about the first coming of Jesus as the nativity and the second coming at the end of time. In those times, we rest in the hope of God’s desire to pour out his love for us. Fr. Mark pointed out a third coming of Jesus, his coming in a new way at this Christmas. Scot said we’re not called as adults to be blind in our faith, but we should ask and delve deep and ask questions. Scot said in the Gospel people ask John the Baptist who he is and he responds by saying who he is not. Then he identifies himself by quoting Moses. We are John-like because we can point others to Christ and get out of the way.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Immaculate Conception, pastoral plan, Holy Father’s address to US bishops, Rhode Island’s “holiday tree” Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Susan Abbott gathered with Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy on this Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception to discuss the news of the week, including the meaning of the feast day; a follow-up on the priests’ convocation Monday on pastoral planning in the archdiocese; the Holy Father’s ad limina address to US bishops on the need to preach with new freshness about our faith; the importance of good Catholic families to evangelization; a kerfuffle over a “holiday tree” in Rhode Island; and mourning two dear colleagues who have passed away. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Susan, Gregory, and Fr. Roger to the show. Today is the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and a holy day of obligation. Fr. Roger preached on various depictions of the Blessed Mother in his parish, St. Anthony in New Bedford and what they teach about Our Lady. The Immaculate Conception has been celebrated in the parish for 100 years because the parish was dedicated in 1912. He said Bishop Dooher came from Boston to give an Advent reflection to priests in the Diocese of Fall River. The grace of God shines through Mary to radiate upon us and to defeat Satan as prophesied in the book of Genesis. Scot said the Immaculate Conception is the patronal feast of the United States and on Monday is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Scot said it’s often confused that we’re celebrating today the conception of Jesus, but we’re really celebrating the conception of Mary. In 9 months, on September 8, we will celebrate Mary’s birth. 2nd segment: Scot said the front-page headline in the Pilot discusses the Pastoral planning that has begun in the archdiocese. Greg said since we already discussed some of the details of the pastoral plan last week. On Monday, the cardinal brought it before the priests of the archdiocese to get their feedback. He said they chose to have the reporter not be in the room in order to respect the cardinal’s desire to have an open discussion with the priests. Greg said the priests were able to give their instant feedback en masse through electronic voting. The important message was that this is the beginning of a conversation and if any priest wants to make any more comments in private, they will be welcome. Scot noted that the trial question for the priests, in order to teach them how to use the electronic voting, asked them their favorite sports teams. Number one was Red Sox at 32% and number 2 was the Patriots at 30% and the third choice was none of the above at 17%. The rest of the voting will be made public in the future as data is compiled by the Office for Pastoral Planning. Susan said the prospect of the pastoral plan is exciting and scary. She’s been asking people to pray that whatever God wills for the archdiocese, we will cooperate with. She noted that the proposal for Pastoral Service Teams, includes lay ecclesial ministers which includes all kinds of roles within the parish. Fr. Roger said in the diocese of Fall River at the day of recollection for priests, they looked to Boston and were blown away by the scope of the proposal and the response to what is coming down the road, being proactive instead of reactive. It creates a new circumstance where the Church will not just maintain at a barebones level, but create structures to allow us to do it as well as we possibly can in the midst of a decade or two when we will have far fewer priests than we need. It’s incredibly bold and inspires them in Fall River. They believe it will become a model for dioceses across the country. Scot said the Pastoral Planning Commission has asked every Catholic in the Archdiocese to read the proposal documents and listen to three videos of addresses by Cardinal Seán, Msgr. Bill Fay, and Fr. Jack Ahern at . 3rd segment: Scot said last week the Holy Father met with the US bishops from Region 2, which is mostly New York. The Pope will meet with 15 different groups of US bishops over the next year and he will give five addresses that apply to all the bishops of the US. Fr. Roger said the Holy Father indicated that he will preach about the New Evangelization, preaching with a new freshness about our faith. But first we need interior renewal before we can renew the world. This talk was about the interior renewal, starting with the clergy sex abuse scandal. This has brought us to recognize our profound need for conversion and our response to that may bring our entire society to conversion because this kid of abuse is not isolated to the Church. Scot said the key message was that in the Church we need to walk what we preach. Susan said on retreat last weekend she studied the program for the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization. If we’re evangelizing ourselves, then outward evangelization will be a natural flow. Fr. Roger said believers are best by troubling questions and cynicism every day that comes from a society that seems to have lost its roots. This leads to a quiet attrition and people just drift away from the faith. We need to start to put the connection back together between faith and life. Marriage needs to be reconnected to God. We can’t pretend God is absent from the way we legislate. All Catholic institutions need to help make this connection, from universities down to nurseries. He implies that teaching of the full Gospel has occurred in past decades. Scot said there’s an article in the Pilot this week about Fr. Benedict Groeschel’s address to a dinner at St. Thomas More College. He said he never experienced hostility to the faith at any secular school, but at some Catholic colleges and institutions he found more hostility to the faith. Greg said that some institutions have chosen to go the path of least resistance. Fr. Roger said the Holy Father talked about the new translation of the Roman Missal and how the Mass is the source and summit of the Christian life. The Catechism describe that faith and life go together, that we pray as we live and live as we pray. Once we lose the sense of the sacredness of the Mass, then we lose the sense of the sacredness of all human life. Once the Mass is marginalized, then Christ and his salvation is marginalized. Pope Benedict said a weakened sense of the meaning of Christian worship inevitably leads to a weakened witness of the faith. Scot said one of the main efforts of the Holy Father has been to reinvigorate our celebration of the Mass. Susan said the new translation has focused us so much on the liturgy and how we pray. Scot said the Holy Father has said the new evangelization depends on the domestic church, the Catholic household. “In our time, as in times past, the eclipse of God, the spread of ideologies contrary to the family and the degradation of sexual ethics are intertwined,” he added. “And just as the eclipse of God and the crisis of the family are linked, so the New Evangelization is inseparable from the Christian family.” … “The family founded on the Sacrament of Matrimony is a particular realization of the Church, saved and saving, evangelized and evangelizing community,” the Pope said. He explained that just like the Church, the Catholic family is also called to “welcome, radiate and show the world the love and the presence of Christ.” Scot said that’s one of the reasons Cardinal Seán in his pastoral letter encouraged families to come to Mass together and pray together. Greg said for the majority of people, the seed of faith grows in the home. Even if the kids are sent to Catholic school, but there is no living the faith at home, it’s much more difficult for them to grow in their faith. If they live it at home, then they see what they learn in Catholic school or religious education being lived out. Scot said we should never outsource the teaching of the faith of our children. Susan said when the children experience it at home, they recognize what the catechist is teaching them because they’ve lived it. Scot said the Holy Father suggests that a week for the family could be added to the Catholic calendar like we celebrate Catholic schools week. Fr. Roger said it’s good we have Mother’s Day and Father’s Day to focus on these vocations in our society, but we don’t have a similar focus on the family. We could have a week to pray for the family, celebrate it, and beg God’s mercy for those families in need. 4th segment: Scot said about a week ago there was a story about criticism of the Rhode Island governor’s decision to call the 17-foot tree in the statehouse a holiday tree, making a big deal over it. The governor made pointed remarks about the critics and both Bishop Tobin and those who gave the tree to the state had some very good responses. Fr. Roger said that Gov. Chaffee, in trying not to offend people by saying Christmas, is then offending Christians by being insensitive to Christian concerns. “Governor Chafee’s decision to avoid the word Christmas at the statehouse ceremony is most disheartening and divisive,” Bishop Tobin said in a statement Nov. 29. “It is sad that such a secular spirit has swept over our state. The governor’s decision ignores long-held American traditions and is an affront to the faith of many citizens,” the bishop said. “For the sake of peace and harmony in our state at this special time of the year, I respectfully encourage the governor to reconsider his decision to use the word Christmas in the state observance.” … The son of the donor of the statehouse blue spruce said he was disappointed that the governor has “removed the word Christmas” in describing the tree. “We provide him with a Christmas tree,” said Timothy Leyden. “It came from Big John Leyden’s Christmas Tree Farm. It is not a holiday tree. We don’t sell holiday trees.” Scot said that it seems like a basic affront to faith. He said we should just celebrate all of the holidays in December. No Christian is offended by Jews celebrating Hannukah. Hopefully, the people of Rhode Island will let Gov. Chaffee know they will not stand for this trampling of Christmas. Scot and Susan noted that Christmas is a federal holiday and even the secularists take the day off. Moving on, Scot said we mourn the passing of two people close to those on the show. In this week’s Pilot is the obituary for Joan McAllister who worked for the Pilot for more than 30 years. Greg said she was the institutional memory of the Pilot and the Archdiocese. We also mourn the passing of Fr. James McCune last night. He served in many parishes, including 17 years at St. John the Evangelist in Canton, as cardinal’s secretary and master of ceremonies during the visit of Pope John Paul II to Boston in 1978. Later, he was Director of the Office of Senior Priests. Scot and Susan and Fr. Roger shared memories of Fr. McCune. They also congratulated Bishop Peter Libasci who was installed as Bishop of Manchester, NH, today. Our colleague George Martell took photos and posted them on our .…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Dr. Ray Guarendi, Carol Pirillo, and Christopher Harding Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Pastoring three parishes, Dr. Ray Guarendi, Cards Behind Bars Summary of today’s show: It’s a feast of topics today. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams continue the discussion of the proposed pastoral plan for the Archdiocese of Boston presented to priests on Monday, by listening to a talk given by Fr. Jack Ahern on lessons learned pastoring three parishes. Then Scot welcomes Dr. Ray Guarendi, host of his own show on WQOM and one of the presenters at this Saturday’s WQOM conference in Lowell. Finally, Scot talks with Chris Harding and Carol Pirillo of the Cards Behind Bars ministry, which provides Christmas cards to prisoners to send to their families. 1st segment: Scot said to Fr. Matt that not only is it the beginning of Advent with the new Roman Missal translation, the God of This City tour last week, a Priests’ Convocation on Monday, a Sister Olga’s new religious community on Friday, and the WQOM conference on Saturday. Fr. Matt recapped the God of This City tour which had over 2,000 people take part over four nights. Friday evening was the culminating event at the Cathedral. They had five priests for confession and all night long the line was over 20 to 30 people deep. Some priests heard confessions for over 4 hours. It shows the need for more priests, but it also shows how the tour brings people to a deeper relationship with the Lord. Scot will begin today with a continuation of the conversation about this past Monday’s priest convocation. Among the speakers on Monday was Fr. Jack Ahern, about what it is like to be the first pastor in the Archdiocese to serve three parishes at once as pastor. His reflections moved the priests who were present. Fr. Jack Ahern: On his first day in Dorchester, following Mass, the lector asked to speak to him. He asked Fr. Jack why the cardinal would send a liberal elite to their parish. He said he must be liberal elite because he’s from Brookline and the Boston Globe likes him. It went down from there. There were painful decisions related to hiring and firing staff, adjusting the schedules and programs for each of the three parishes. Most people recognized the need for change, but the vocal minority made life difficult sometimes. One woman had Bishop Hennessey on speed-dial and called him at least once per week. Scot said when a pastor takes on three parishes you meet it with everything you have and most people embrace the priest and the change necessary. Fr. Matt said in a new assignment you expect to be welcomed with open arms. He suspects it was complicated by the changes that had already occurred in Dorchester. He said it’s difficult for the priest too because you want to shepherd these people and to experience this right at the beginning puts you on your heels. You can lose perspective in that the vocal minority can monopolize your attention. Scot said Fr. Jack was speaking to the concerns of the priests in the room who had not pastored more than one parish at a time. Fr. Jack delineated the challenges they would face. Fr. Jack: It hasn’t been easy, but it’s true for all the priests. For himself and his vicars, they have sometimes shown up at the right time but the wrong church for Mass. The schedules don’t always allow them to be together as one in all activities. It’s an adjustment for the parishioners who do not understand why you cannot be present. Combining programs and celebrations is a slow process. The most difficult adjustment for the priests is that the parishioners are used to seeing their priests each and every week. They would sometimes not see one of the priests for one or two weeks. At times he feels like an absentee father. He misses the intimacies involved in being pastor of one parish. Scot said a key point was the challenge for priests who miss seeing the same people every day or every week when they serve multiple communities. Fr. Matt said what father isn’t present for his family? It’s ingrained in us from a natural level. Fr. Matt said it beckons us to consider Jesus as an itinerant preacher, who never stayed in one place for very long. It’s a greater sacrifice of self for the priest. Scot reiterated that the future pastoral plan is a proposal right now in which all will be asked to give their feedback before Cardinal Seán makes a final decision. The current proposal is for a Pastoral Service Team of one pastor and one or more parochial vicars and assistants to serve two or three parishes. Fr. Jack: Unable to be present with one parish week in and week out, without the intimacy for the parish priest, it’s not easy to move into. The one consolation that has come his way is that he’s been graced with a deeper intimacy with Jesus. Scot said Fr. Jack has relied more on Jesus to balance the demands of three parishes which has given him great joy and peace. Fr. Matt said that God can never be outdone in generosity. Scot said Cardinal Seán and the commission recognize that its better for priests to live in community. Fr. Jack: Regarding living with priests, Fr. Doc Conway who works with Fr. Jack has come to recognize the joy of living with other priests, having served his last few assignments alone. Fr. Jack said he’s having the time of his life and the other two priests who live with him are too, which makes an incredible difference for the parishes and their own lives as well. Fr. Matt said there is a rich sharing between three men of such different ages and backgrounds. Fr. Doc is older, Fr. Jack is in about his mid-50s, and Fr. Huy is newly ordained. He said there’s so much a young priest can learn from older priests when they live with them. Scot said when he encounters Fr. Jack, who not only serves in a community that has gone through rough times, but serves three parishes, he is struck by how joy-filled he is. Fr. Jack: As of today, there are 26 situations where priests and pastoral staffs are responsible for multiple parishes and more with multiple worship sites. This proposal recognizes that reality and calls us to get ahead of the curve in such a way that together with him we can bring more energy and life to our parishes, provide a greater sense of stability to the people, and do the work of Christ with the people in new creative and life-giving ways. The future is unknown, but as we move forward in the power of the Holy Spirit we do so with great confidence that great things will happen. Scot said that was the conclusion of Fr. Jack’s address. Fr. Matt said we have to shift from maintenance to mission. Cardinal Sean is moving us to intentionally live mission and be about the work of evangelization. The new structure will allow priests to be shepherds of the community. Scot encouraged everyone to go to Planning2012.org and read the documents and watch the videos and then give feedback when it’s requested. 2nd segment: It’s time to announce this week’s winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prizes this week are , A CD of Christmas music; a $15 gift card; a box of Chocolate Butter Nut Much, made by the Nuns of Mount Saint Mary Abbey, whose candy is available from . This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Gerard Hubbard from Braintree, MA. Congratulation, Gerard! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 3rd segment: Scot welcomed Dr. Ray Guarendi to the show. He will be a speaker at the WQOM conference on Saturday. Scot asked him last time he was in Boston. Dr. Ray used to be a regular guest on a morning TV show on Channel 7. Scot asked him why Catholic radio is such a wonderful tool of evangelization. Dr. Ray said it’s because it works and works for so little money. Radio is everywhere and you can listen to it whatever you’re doing. It’s very inexpensive compared to TV. You can acquire new listeners just by scraping them up as they run up and down the dial. Dr. Ray’s show is heard throughout the US and even people around the world will send him emails, having listened to his show via the computer. He’s also on SiriusXM satellite radio’s channel 130, the Catholic Channel. Dr. Ray’s talk on Saturday will be called, “Laughter: The Sanity of the Family.” Dr. Ray promised attendees will laugh and will leave standing stronger in their faith. They will feel more confident in their authority and less nervous as parents. Scot said Dr. Ray has spoken in about 2,000 venues. Why is it important for people to come and hear the presentations versus just listening on the radio. Dr. Ray said people tell him he’s very different in person than on the radio. On the air he’s limited by the topics and callers. when first asked to do Catholic radio, he said No because he was so busy with his live speaking. What happened was he tried it on a trial basis and was so moved by the power of radio to bring people back to the faith and change lives, that he said he couldn’t refuse. He will be bringing his books and tapes to sell. He notes that in most conferences people wait to hear him before buying his materials. But at Catholic conferences people will buy his books and tapes first. 4th segment: Scot welcomed Chris Harding and Carol Pirillo from the Cards Behind Bars ministry. Scot said Carol has been involved in the ministry since 1978 and Chris has been involved for the past four years. Chris said prisoners are so disempowered, especially around Christmas, and parents couldn’t make cards for children or friends. They have been working chaplains to make available excess cards from donations to prisoners. Chris said we have to remember Christ’s words that we are to visit the imprisoned as a period of trial and regeneration. It’s incumbent upon everyone to put Christ back in Christmas to make these cards available and make them feel again like citizens and good parents. Scot asked what standards they have for the Christmas cards? Chris said they encourage people to, in their parishes, to get donations of Christmas cards. A large majority are unused cards sent by religious orders soliciting donations. But what they really look for are people to shop after Christmas, especially Spanish language cards, for cards that will be heavily discounted. Chris suggested people call him at 617-282-3521 or via the link at the top of this page. Carol said she’s collected more than 8,000 cards over the years. They give each man 10 cards. Most of them men have no access to cards and they couldn’t afford to buy them even if they were available. In the past, the prisoners have swapped contraband in order to get their access to cards. Chris said it makes prisoners feel like valuable citizens and part of the greater Catholic community. Scot said it nurtures the relationships that can keep them out of prison when their time is up. Scot said most Catholic households receive a number of unsolicited cards at their home and buying discounted cards is a low-cost way to be thoughtful to those who have far less than we have. The Letter to the Hebrews tells us to be mindful of the imprisoned and be with them as if we were imprisoned with them. Scot reminded listeners that tomorrow is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and a holy day of obligation. There will be Masses tonight, tomorrow morning and even tomorrow evening in most parishes. Fr. Matt said Friday is the deadline for anyone who wants to go on the youth and young adult pilgrimage to the March for Life. There are tracks for middle school, high school, and young adults. They will stay for varying lengths of time in DC. Register at . Last year more than 300 went and this year they’re anticipating more than 400 so they need to make plans for travel and accommodations.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Msgr. William Fay, pastor of St. Columbkille, Brighton, and co-chair of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Archdiocesan Priests Convocation on Pastoral Planning Summary of today’s show: On December 5, Cardinal Seán and members of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission opened up a consultation process with almost 400 priests of the Archdiocese of Boston, discussing how best to organize the parishes in the archdiocese for evangelization and mission-effectiveness in the years to come. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor welcome Msgr. William Fay, co-chair of the commission, to discuss the convocation and the proposal presented to the priests, which includes grouping parishes and assigning Pastoral Service Teams to them. Later, Scot and Fr. Chris listen to and comment on Cardinal Seán’s remarks at the convocation, including his five mission initiatives and four points he wished to make to priests about the proposal. 1st segment: Scot said today we would review yesterday’s convocation with priests, led by Cardinal Seán, Msgr. William Fay, and Fr. Jack Ahern, to give an idea of the direction the Archdiocese might head in the coming years. Scot welcomed Msgr. Fay back to the show. Scot said a lot has been written in the media in anticipation of the meeting. Msgr. Fay said pastoral planning is about reinvigorating ourselves for evangelization in the archdiocese. Attendance in the sacramental life of the Church is under 16%, which isn’t good for us or those who are not attending. Parishes are struggling for resources and we need to give them a boost. Evangelization takes place in the parishes and we need to energize the staffs by bringing economies of scale to eliminate redundancies. The key idea is Pastoral Service Teams, which would have one pastor for two or more parishes. He’d have a parochial vicar or two, a deacon, pastoral associates, catechists and more. They would look at what it means to do this outreach. These teams would sit down with the members of the parish pastoral council and finance council to develop a plan for the good life in communion for the parish. Scot said this is just the beginning of a consultation, not the presentation of what we’re going to do. It’s the result of months of effort of the pastoral planning commission. He said there’s been misreporting that this is just a new way to close parishes, but it’s not. Over the past two decades about 160 parishes have closed in the archdiocese and we don’t want to close any more going forward. Scot asked how the life of the parishioner would change as a result of this initiative. Msgr. Fay said hopefully they become more engaged and involved in their parish and become excited about their faith. The Church begins in the life of the family and for the Eucharist they come together in the life of the parish. Once we get people to to see what the life of faith is about, we hope they will make a commitment to bring other people into that life with Christ. So they shouldn’t expect much external change in the parish, but they will find some change within themselves and working more collaboratively with each other and nearby parishes. Fr. Chris asked how this plan is different from mergers or closures. Msgr. Fay said when you close a parish, the life of the parish comes to an end and it’s a kind of death. The plan is not to close parishes, but to bring them together in greater relationship with each other by having a pastor assigned to two or three parishes. He becomes responsible for the spiritual life of the parishes and their material existence as well. He is not assigned to a collaborative but to parishes and the parishes are bonded through the pastor in a new relationship. It is hoped that the parishes will then grow to have just one pastoral council, one finance council, and other aspects of unity. He said we’ve been wanting to turn around this downward turn for 20 years by closing parishes. Once we realize that the lack of resources is a lack of evangelization then the whole thing turns and we focus on the 84% who are not living their faith actively. Scot said a lot of our parishes don’t have anyone charged with helping form adults in the faith or young adults of youth. While many parishes have directors of religious education, if you bring the resources of two or three parishes together then there is more of a full complement of resources to assist the pastor to do all we are called to do as a church. Msgr. Fay said over the past couple of years he’s been trying to start an evangelization commission going on his parish council but he’s had no response. But when changed it from evangelization to outreach, people suddenly got involved and came up with all kinds of good ideas. Fr. Chris said there is talk of 125 teams. Why that number? Msgr. Fay said this is a work that has been going on for more than 1 year. We already have collaboratives in the Archdiocese, which are subsets of regions and vicariates. The commission took the work that had been done grouping parishes and looked at them in terms of certain criteria and finding what would be logical in terms of groupings. It became obvious that it would be closer to 125 than 75 or 225. Fr. Chris asked about the content of the commission. Msgr. Fay said Deacon Chuck Clough was asked by Cardinal Seánalong with himself to coordinate. A priest was chosen from each region, plus Bishop Peter Uglietto to represent the auxiliary bishops. Deacon Acampora from Swampscott was selected along with two religious sisters and a group of laity. (The .) Scot said people fear change and especially fear that it is too top-down, too centralized, that it won’t take into account the particulars of Catholic communities affected. He said that’s not the case here. There is emphasis on a local pastoral plan developed by the parishes themselves. Msgr. Fay said the purpose of the archdiocesan effort is to get parishes and collaboratives to start doing more pastoral planning. The Pastoral Service Team will be responsible for making this work, for strengthening the celebration of the Eucharist, the preaching, the music; educating people in faith formation, children, young adults, adults; outreach to neighboring parishes and those within the collaborative. That local plan will also look at the resources of the particular parish, its assets and how best to use them for evangelization. All these plans will be given to the Cardinal for approval and then become the mission plan for the archdioceses. Scot said one-size does not fit all and there will be great diversity in how to carry out the pastoral priorities the Cardinal has outlined. There are five initiatives and the purpose and end is to pay attention what they are doing at the local level and modify appropriately. Fr. Chris said yesterday’s meeting was also historical because the priests used a special remote control to vote on matters as the day progressed. Msgr. Fay said he has received positive feedback, including 25-40 emails from priests around the archdiocese who are heartened by what happened. He said 392 priests were registered for the meeting. It was clear that the priests liked the voting. He said by the end of the meeting the priests were very interested in using the devices. Scot said the types of questions asked of the priests included how willing they might be to pastor a PST or whether they thought the pastoral team model took us in the right direction. The answers allowed Cardinal Seán and the commission to understand whether the priests believed they were on the right track and the immediate feedback was that they do think so. Msgr. Fay said he hoped everyone realized that this is the first part of proposal and consultation and through the spring everyone in the archdiocese will be able to give their opinion. He said the priests answered the question on whether this was the right direction with a yes by an overwhelming two-thirds or more. Fr. Chris said Msgr. Fay articulated clearly that there is a plan before us that needs some language in it so we have something to talk about and wrestle with. Msgr. Fay said that while this proposal is very clear, it’s not a done deal. They made it so that there could be a fruitful conversation. Scot asked why it was important for the commission to hear from the priests first and what other types of consultation will take place. The cardinal had to go to the priests first because of the sacramental bond with them. They extend his ministry throughout the archdiocese. Msgr. Fay said the deacons also share in that apostolic ministry, but they will also reach out to pastoral associates, catechists and the laity throughout the archdiocese. They’re looking to do this in the second half of January, February and March. Scot described the website that has been prepared with the documents from yesterday as well as videos of three talks, by Cardinal Seán, Msgr. Fay, and Fr. Jack Ahern. Msgr. Fay said the intent is to have a fully transparent process and we all have a stake in it. Every baptized person shares in the mission of the Church. It’s important for them to see what is being proposed and look at it from their perspective and advise the archbishop in how to move forward. What we need are people who want to build the Church, not just to be critical of it. Msgr. Fay said this is a very exciting and grace-filled time of opportunity. We’ve lived through challenging times, not just in the past decade, but throughout the history of the Church. He thinks the attitude, talent, and energy of the people bode well for the future of the Church in Boston. 2nd segment: Scot said there were three addresses yesterday. The Cardinal gave about a 30-minute address in which he framed the entire discussion. from on . Scot will play two parts of the address and react to them. In the first, the cardinal outlines his mission initiatives: Our evangelization efforts in the Archdiocese of Boston will be rooted in and accomplished through five “mission initiatives” to which I commit the Archdiocese and myself today. The first initiative is becoming a Church that more readily and actively welcomes every man, woman and child to conversion of life in Christ Jesus. Everyone is welcome in the Church, because the Lord offers his gift of salvation to all. Let us each accept and help others to accept the radical and transformative call to conversion of life that is offered to us by Jesus Christ. The second mission initiative is strengthening our parishes as primary communities of faith, communities that have the worthy celebration of the Eucharist as the “source and summit” of parochial life. The third mission initiative is growing the Church through this work of evangelization. Currently less than 20% of our baptized Catholics are attending Mass each Sunday. We need to change this in a dramatic way and we need to begin doing it now. The fourth mission initiative is developing excellence in faith formation for Catholics of all ages. Our people thirst for greater catechesis in the faith. We need to marshal, strengthen and make more available the great resources we have to satisfy that thirst. The fifth mission initiative is re-energizing pastoral leadership. I am deeply aware of how challenging these past ten years have been for you, my brother priests, and how thin you have been stretched. I hope that our work together today indicates clearly to you that I am very much aware of the burden that you carry, committed to discovering ways to lessen the load, and very desirous of supporting and strengthening your love of the priesthood. Scot said we haven’t talked enough about how the Cardinal agreed with his closest advisors on five mission initiatives and received feedback from across the archdiocese on them. The first is becoming a Church that more readily and actively welcomes every man, woman and child to conversion of life in Christ Jesus. Conversion is so important and we are all called to ongoing conversion to grow in holiness. Fr. Chris said if we’re going to welcome others and bring them to the faith, then we have to live lives marked by holiness. It requires conversion of person in the Church in order to go out and reach others. There’s nothing more beautiful than the Catholic faith when it’s lived to its fullest. Scot said secondly everyone is welcome in the Church. Cardinal Seán says the Church is hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints. There’s nobody in the Church that doesn’t need to convert themselves. Fr. Chris said we are sinners on the road to holiness. The second mission initiative is strengthening parishes as primary communities of faith. Scot said because we experience our faith the most in parishes, then parishes need the resources to help us grow in our faith. So many parishes don’t have the resources for adult faith formation and many of us didn’t learn our faith as well should have in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. That’s one of the ways to grow to meet objective number 1. Fr. Chris said there’s more we can do even with our young in religious education, we need to inspire others to find the one thing worth dying for in our faith. We need to articular for ourselves what we believe so people will respond to it. Scot said a good habit to begin with is to read one or two pages of the Catechism every night. The third initiative is growing the Church through evangelization. To often we have looked inward and not looked outward. All of us coming to Church needs to better identify those we know who are missing out on the sacramental life and invite them to share in what we have. We are all called to be fishers of men, not keepers of an aquarium. We can’t be content with just those in the pews; we have to be out actively looking. The fourth is developing excellence in faith formation for all ages. There is a general sense our parishes do youth formation well, but not so much for teens or young adults or adults. He wants every parish to have those programs. The fifth is re-energizing pastoral leadership by restructuring how people work with one another. Fr. Chris said if the plan goes through, we will see fewer pastors and more parochial vicars. Fr. Jack Ahern emphasized the beautiful gift of priests living together in community, supporting each other. With one pastor and a team serving three parishes, you will see best practices become shared practices. In the next clip, Cardinal Seán gives four overarching points: Without getting into the detail of the proposal, I want to say four things about it and your ministry as parish priests. First, the proposal does not present a plan for the global closure or merging of parishes. This is not 2004. I am very happy about that. The closing of a parish, however necessary, always involves heartbreak. In the proposal before us, any discussion about the closure or merging of parishes will be initiated at the local level, in the pastoral collaborative. Moreover, by stepping away from closure and merging, the proposal puts the brakes on the large-scale downsizing of the Archdiocese that we have been engaged in since the early nineties – and well it should. A Church that is committed to a New Evangelization and to re-energizing its clergy, lay faithful and parishes is looking at life and not death, growth and not decline. Second, the success of this proposal turns on the success of the PST, the Parish Service Team. While every PST will have a pastor who is ultimately responsible for the spiritual and material good of a pastoral collaborative, the success of the ministry that takes place within a collaborative will be effected and measured by the respectful and enthusiastic collaboration of every member of the PST. I encourage you as clergy to call forth the religious and the lay faithful of the Archdiocese to the highest level of collaboration in your ministry that the Church recommends. Third, with the possible introduction of approximately 125 pastoral collaboratives in this proposal, we face a new reality. Priests who have been living alone in a single-parish ministry would have the opportunity to live together. I want to encourage that. I say this not because I am a religious and consider community life normative. I say it, because my twenty-seven years as a diocesan bishop has taught me that the life of the parish priest can be a very lonely thing. You know that better than I do. By sacred ordination, you belong to “an intimate sacramental brotherhood” (PO 8). I exhort you to use the new opportunities provided by this proposal to choose ways to strengthen and reinvigorate the holy brotherhood that is yours in Christ. Fourth, the biggest question I have heard raised about this proposal is: “There’s a lot involved in this. What kind of support can we expect from the Archbishop and the Pastoral Center?” I want to go on record today as saying to you that I and the staff of the Archdiocese will do whatever it takes to make this work. No doubt, there will be anticipated and unanticipated challenges. We will meet them, one by one, as they arise and try to do this in an organic way, taking the time needed to do this well. Implementation must be slow, deliberate and mission driven. Scot said it was great to hear the Cardinal summarize what he has received from the planning commission in four points. First, it doesn’t present a plan for global closing of parishes. Some have agendas that want to say this is about closing parishes. However, local planning might result in the people deciding themselves to close unneeded buildings or worship sites. But it won’t be done centrally. Fr. Chris said the Msgr. Fay referenced that this isn’t a merger or closure, because if a greater number priests are ordained and people come back, then we will need those churches. It’s a practical plan bringing people to work together for the good of the Church in that area. People will energize their community and bring the Church alive there. Scot said the second point is that we need to take collaboration to the next level. We need to get out act together to provide all the ministries we need. The third is that he wants priests to live with brother priests, that too many live alone. It’s helpful to priests to have others to share life with, to talk to each day, to share struggles joys and victories and defeats, to share a meal together, to pray with. These are crucial to good holy and healthy priestly life. The fourth point is that the Cardinal knows that the planning process will put a lot of work on parishes and that the Pastoral Center staff will go through a lot of work to reorganize themselves to best complement what is happening on the local level. Fr. Chris said the cardinal was clear that he will stand behind the plan when it is implemented. All of these key addresses and documents are available at .…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Mother Maureen, Sr. Evelyn, Sr. Katy, Sr. Janice, and Sr. Evelyn of Mount Saint Mary Abbey, Wrentham, Mass. Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Trappist nuns who make world-famous chocolate Summary of today’s show: They say it’s the best kept secret in New England and along a quiet, tree-lined road in the rural town of Wrentham sits an unassuming monastery of contemplative women who make chocolate beloved around the world. Scot Landry goes on location to Mount Saint Mary’s Abbey, where the Trappist nuns support their way of life by making and selling Trappistine Quality Candy (perfect for Christmas gifts!) and practice the Cistercian life of liturgy, labor, and lectio divina. Join us on a rare behind-the-scenes look at life in a place where life moves at a different pace. 1st segment: St. Mary Abbey in Wrentham is the first abbey of Cistercian abbey of nuns in the United States. We are on location in Wrentham to share with you their way of life and show Mother Maureen, Sister Katy and Sister Evelyn join us today. Scot asked Mother Maureen about the origins of the Cistercians. The order was founded in 1098 by Benedictines living in a culture that didn’t allow for the full expression of the Benedictine way of life. These monks missed the manual labor as well as the solitude and prayer that comes with less involvement in secular affairs. So they went off into the thick woods of France with the Church’s blessing to work the land and find a purer balance of the Benedictine way of life: Liturgy, labor, and lectio divina. This way of life took off like wildfire. Scot said at some point the Cistercians underwent a reform which resulted in the Trappists, formally called the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance. Mother Maureen said the order looked back to its roots which helped it to survive difficult times, including the French revolution. Scot said there are other Cistercians abbeys in the US, including 12 for women. Sr. Katy said there is usually a monastery of nuns located near a monastery of women. The Abbey in Spencer, Mass., was already here and then Cardinal Cushing in 1949 asked for the sisters to come from Ireland to found this monastery. The numbers grew very quickly and they began to make foundations elsewhere. The first was in Iowa and the second in Arizona and third in West Virginia. Scot said they take a vow of stability. They promise to stay in the abbey for the rest of their life. Sr. Katy said the exception is if they make a new foundation, but if they come it’s their intention to stay in the community until death. It’s a blessing to have that continuation. It’s a little bit of heaven because we believe after death we will be together forever. She said they never get bored with one another because they’re always changing. Scot said there are 45 nuns in this monastery. Sr. Katy said they’re starting to see young women come to visit again. They don’t like to take them too young because the life is quite radical and so they would like them to have some maturity. Mother Maureen said about 1/4 of the nuns are from New England and 1/4 from the rest of the United States and since the 1990s they’ve had many more from overseas, so about 1/4 are from 10 different countries. And if they count the ones in the cemetery, about 1/4 are from New York state. She said there are more monasteries of men than women and there are some countries with Cistercian monasteries for men, but not women, so women who are interested in the monastic spirituality in the life will seek out the community. Scot said when they make a vow of stability to this community, they are leaving behind their country and they are discerning God’s will that this community is where they will stay the rest of their days. She said when you have people from a number of cultures living together, it relativizes the culture and brings you to the essence of religious life. Scot asked how the diversity of background adds to the life. Sr. Katy said they are gifted and blessed to have so many cultures involved here. God has a wonderful sense of humor and a wonderful treasure he gives to us not just in accepting the other, but in being accepted and being able to live together. You come for one reason: to live for God. Other reasons can include the life of prayer, the life of work, the life of community, but in the end when everything else falls away, the one thing you have left is God. That is proven when you have so many people from so many cultures. Scot said when you live a life of stability with a very regimented schedule, that might not appeal to someone coming from a busy life. He asked Sr. Evelyn as the novice mistress how she helps seekers to adjust to the life of the abbey. She said when someone does come, most of the time they’re very grateful for the simple life and they say to themselves they don’t know how they dealt with the old way. Most who come have already started to live a prayer life outside and have had to give up a lot of their activities so when they come they plunge in. After a while, when you have a routine, you start to live within and the adventure is really within. You realize that God is really the adventure, because he’s speaking to you in this quiet life. Scot asked Mother Maureen how she discerned her vocation. She said her father gave her the book the by Thomas Merton when she was 15. Her dad loved Dorothy Day, who played a big part in Merton’s life. When she finished the book, she realized that it was a mirror of a desire she didn’t know she’d had. When she told her dad, he said it wasn’t why he gave her the book, but it was too late. It was a seed that grew in her. Scot asked Sr. Katy about her vocation. Her parents were very supportive of what she wanted to do in her life. She’d been in an another order for a number of years before coming to the Trappistines. As a little girl she’d wanted to be a sister, but that got put on the shelf during high school. As she came to graduation she felt God pulling her in this direction. She also tried nursing and entered the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul and was with them for years. That community would often go to a nearby men’s monastery for Mass and prayers and felt a growing call for the solitude that was there and the vocation came from deep within and there was nothing to do but follow it. She loved the Daughters of Charity, this was the right move to make. She’s never regretted it. Sr. Evelyn is Scottish and came to Canada with no intention of entering a monastery. She got the call as she left Scotland. She desired to love God as much as she could and she went around to all kinds of other active orders, but she had a desire for the contemplative life. The person helping her thought she was too extroverted for contemplative life. The book that really struck her was the book She was told that she should go to America rather than stay in Canada because she didn’t speak French. She finally came to the abbey and the day she walked in the door,she knew she was home. Scot asked her how an extrovert can live a life of silence every day. She said the silence was what attracted her because the silence helps her to pray. She’s a talker, but what she really loves most is the silence. 2nd segment: Scot said life in the abbey is about Liturgy, Lectio Divina, and Labor. The liturgical life includes seven times of prayer each day. Mother Maureen said St. Benedict loved the phrase from the Psalm, seven times a day I have praised you. The figurative meaning is giving the life wholly in praise. They rise before dawn, at 3:20am, to begin the day with prayer. This is key to Cistercian spirituality, rising in the night to meet with God. All the activities of the community revolve around those hours of prayer, so each part of the day is blessed by liturgical praise. Scot asked the other times during the day they pray the Divine Office. Mother Maureen said Morning Prayer is a 6:30, followed by Mass. They have three little hours and then a solemn evening hour of Vespers and then Compline at 7:15 at which time they go to sleep. All the prayers are in the chapel in community, except the Ninth Hour, at noon, which is prayed wherever they are working. Scot asked Sr. Katy about Lectio. She said Lectio Divina is one of the most important aspects of their life. It includes Scripture reading. It feeds the heart and soul. It’s different from reading a book to study or for pleasure. It goes to the heart and it’s never finished and can never be replaced by anything else. You carry the word or phrase you receive throughout the day and comes back to you as they day goes on. Some sisters use the readings from daily Mass for Lectio. Not everyone uses the same readings. Scot said his sense is that it’s deep, slow, and short reading. Not a chapter in a book, but a paragraph or sentence. Sr. Katy said it’s important to read it slowly and several times. A word might catch you or a phrase and it’s important to stay with that. Sometimes nothing comes and that’s okay too. God can speak in the silence. Scot asked for what they could tell listeners to integrate it into their own prayer lives. She suggested setting aside a particular time of day, perhaps in the morning. Don’t feel you need to read something in its entirety, take it slow. Read it over and over again. Try to carry it with you throughout the day. Scot asked Sr. Evelyn why Labor is such important part of the life of a Cistercian nun. She said part of their life is to live by the labor of their hands. They’ve chosen that they want to live by their labor and take care of their own needs. Different aspects of life have different labors. There is a prayer in work that reveals what’s going on in your heart. You are in prayer, you are in one place. When you’re in work, it reveals the depth of character, especially when things don’t go well. Being able to see work as a gift and to offer your whole heart in your work can amplify the prayer before or after that. Scot asked what forms of labor there are at the abbey. In addition to candy making, there is the office work they do. They have a flock of sheep to care for and groundskeeping and building maintenance. There is plenty of cooking, housework, and taking care of the sick in the infirmary. They have a bindery and a shoe shop as well. Scot asked Mother Maureen if the sisters rotate among the jobs or stay at one job. She said they do try to have a balance of detachment and using people’s gifts. Some of the work is more technical so a person who has work like that, like actually cooking or treasurer has to have certain skills. It varies, some keep their jobs longer than others. There is a common good and a personal good and they try their best to balance those. Scot asked Sr. Katy how a woman might want to discern whether this is the way of life for them. Sr. Katy would invite them to a monastic weekend, which they offer twice per year. It gives them an overview and closeup view of the way they live. If the woman and the community feel it might be prudent for them, they invite them back to live in the guest house for about a week. The next step is for them to come inside and live with them for up to six weeks. After that would be acceptance into the order as a postulant. She said she makes clear that their number one work is prayer. They don’t work in schools or hospitals. 3rd segment: Scot welcomed Sr. Janice, who oversees the business operations of Trappistine Candy. He said we’ve learned that labor is one of the ways the nuns grow in their faith. He asked her about the candy business here. She said they make a variety of candy and offer them in various combination. Their bestseller is butternut munch in milk chocolate and dark chocolate. They also make several kinds of fudge. They also make milk and ark chocolate squares. Scot asked what makes it unique. Sr. Janice it’s made with love and prayers and when they make it they remember those who supply them with the goods to make it or support them by purchasing it because it supports their life and vocations. People can buy it at the gift store, but they can also purchase it online. Sr. Janice said their candy has gone to every continent, but Antarctica. The bulk of their business is domestic and have many customers who use their candy for gift-giving. Some people from far away have heard about them and found them online and just buy the candy. If people wanted to order the candy, they can go to or call 1-866-549-8929. They sell well more than 1,000 orders at Christmas. Scot said it’s obviously well more than 1,000 by the humble look on Sr. Janice’s face. Scot asked her what the one thing about she wanted to share about their candy. She said the sisters have a contest to see which state purchases the most candy: It’s usually Massachusetts or New York. New York won once, but Massachusetts has carried the pennant for the past 40 years. 4th segment: Scot welcomed Sr. Pamela and she is the new media expert in the abbey. He asked how embracing new media is part of their work. She handles the website and Facebook page for the abbey. She also troubleshoots anything in the monastery as well. They had their first website back in the 1990s, as soon as it was possible. It’s been important for their work, not just for vocations, but also for supporting the general Catholic population. They have visitors from all over the world and there’s a general hunger among people to find the authentic Christian life. It has helped with vocations. If the website wasn’t there they would think the sisters out of touch. She said, if used properly and with discretion, Facebook is a way to evangelize. They use it to reach not just family and friends, but all people interested in their life. She often posts about events and photos. She posts prayer requests, summaries of homilies, and the like. People sometimes submit prayer requests through the Facebook page and through a form on their website. Scot said they also have a Flickr.com page and there are a lot of photos from recent events at the Abbey. Sr. Pamela said they just opened it this summer. As a Mac user she had been using a .Mac account, but since that is closing, she’s moved to Flickr. Scot said being able to communicate with the outside world connects what they do here in the community with the universal Church. She said when people do come here to visit they often comment on that connection. Mother Maureen finished by saying that every Christian has a call to reflect the life of Jesus in some way, but no person or group can exhaust the mystery of Jesus. They are called to express the love of Christ in their life of community. Each person’s journey in their prayer life is uncharted, but it is all about entering into the heart of Christ and his prayer.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Sr. Olga Yaqob and Susan Horne Today’s topics: Mary, A Woman of Advent Summary of today’s show: For the Mother of Christ, Advent was not a time of Christmas shopping and baking, but the difficult last month of pregnancy made more difficult by a donkey-back ride through hard lands to a strange town to give birth in a stable to the Son of God. How can Mary’s experience of Advent enrich our own experience now? Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell are joined by Sr. Olga Yaqob and Susan Horne to consider Mary as the Woman of Advent in joyful expectation and anticipation with “immensity cloistered in thy dear womb”, as the poet John Donne said. 1st segment: Fr. Mark talked about his experience of the new translation of the Mass. He said it takes him back to when he was first ordained when he had to very carefully read every word and pay attention to pages. He said it also surprised him the first time he heard “And with your spirit”. He doesn’t feel that he’s praying the Mass yet. He’s achieving validity, but it will take some time to get comfortable enough to enter into deep prayer. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcomed back Sr. Olga and Susan Horne. Sr. Olga said the Holy Family and Nazareth in Christmas are close to her heart as one of the new community of women, the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth. Susan is a director of religious education at St. Joseph, Needham. She’s also a student in the Masters of Arts in Ministry program at the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization and a student of Fr. Mark. Susan is new in her job as DRE and Scot asked her what it’s like to be DRE at one of the largest parishes in the Archdiocese. She’s surprised by the variety of tasks she has to do and the variety of people she encounters and has gotten to know in the parish. These are about 900 students in religious education students in the parish. Scot said Sr. Olga has a special devotion to the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph. Her new community os Daughters of Mary of Nazareth and her new convent is St. Joseph’s Convent. It was her idea to enter into the season of Advent by examining it through Mary’s eyes and later this month, through St. Joseph’s eyes. Sr. Olga said we have seen Christmas as a season of joy and celebration, even a season of adoration, like the Magi coming to adore the Christ Child. We get a glimpse of what Mary and Joseph truly lived in their experience. As a woman, knowing many women who have had babies, she wonders how Mary lived those last few weeks before giving birth to the Son of God, praying and anticipating and thinking of her son as the hope of her people, Israel. She felt a sense of responsibility. Sr. Olga said there is so much too learn from her in these last weeks of Advent. Susan said in pregnancy, in the last month, you begin nesting, preparing the home and the nursery. Susan thinks of Mary having to leave the nest and go someplace foreign to her to have the baby. Scot said each of his three children came after their due date like 705 of firstborns. In that time after the due date, there is the expectant hope for the child. “Come on already.” At the same time, the Israelites waited a thousand years for their Messiah, like expectant parents themselves. Sr. Olga said with her own mother, she learned from her how to receive Communion with the motherly desire waiting to hold her child. With a young woman she was with who gave birth, as soon as the baby was born, the woman wanted to hold the baby and just to touch his skin. When she goes to Communion, she longs to touch Christ and to receive him. Mary helps her to remain in Communion with Christ. She asks Mary to help her receive Jesus through Mary’s Immaculate Heart. Fr. Mark recalled a quote from John Donne: : Nativity Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb, Now leaves His well-belov’d imprisonment, There He hath made Himself to His intent Weak enough, now into the world to come; But O, for thee, for Him, hath the inn no room? Yet lay Him in this stall, and from the Orient, Stars and wise men will travel to prevent The effect of Herod’s jealous general doom. Seest thou, my soul, with thy faith’s eyes, how He Which fills all place, yet none holds Him, doth lie? Was not His pity towards thee wondrous high, That would have need to be pitied by thee? Kiss Him, and with Him into Egypt go, With His kind mother, who partakes thy woe. Susan thought of expectant wonder. What will this baby bring? As the baby grows within, the mother wonders, what will this person become like? Fr. Mark always enjoys the first Sunday after First Communion to see how the children continue to receive Christ with such wonder and reverence. 3rd segment: Fr. Mark began the segment by reading the John Donne poem. He loves the first line, but the last line gives him pause to think of how it must have hurt her to know Herod pursued her son and how other children were dying by Herod’s hand. Sr. Olga said what was the feeling of Mary that right after the experience of the Annunciatiomn, the angel departed from her and never appeared to her again. Instead the angel only appeared to Joseph, telling him to marry Mary, to take her and Jesus to Egypt, then to come back to Israel. She said Mary never questioned Joseph, to ask why the angel only appeared to him. She was obedient. then think of her traveling nine months pregnant through a desert to Bethlehem. She suffered and continued to suffer through Christ’s passion. Scot said the preparations for your first child are out of control. He went to the hospital a month before the birth and meet all the possible doctors who will be on call, you practice the route, you pack the go bag, you know the phone tree you will call. But here’s the Blessed Mother who doesn’t know where she will give birth.She and Joseph were just looking for a place to lay down after a long journey. Susan said we don’t often think of the day to day elements of Mary’s journeys that help women live their lives as Christian women even better. Meditating on Mary’s life helps her to deal with difficult situations. As a mother, the last thing you want is for your child to be endangered or suffering. She would take the place of her child on the cross. So Mary must have held this pain inside her, knowing this was God’s plan for her family. Fr. Mark told a story of a parish’s Christmas pageant. One boy wanted to be Joseph, but was made innkeeper #2 instead and that made him upset. So when Mary and Joseph came to him, he said, “Sure we have room, come on in.” Connecting to the idea of having no place to give birth while carrying the Son of God, that must have been awful for Mary and Joseph. Scot said Advent helps us to prepare for Christ’s coming in our lives and to prepare for His Second Coming, buy it also teaches us how to deal with waiting for something in our lives. 4th segment: Scot asked Sr. Olga how we can become a living Nativity. She said that we need to be that “inn” for Mary and Jesus. We see people around us who need help, a smile, a word of encouragement, or other simple things. Those little gestures are like making an inn for Jesus, making room for Mary. She is present in every person and we are called to see him in one another. You don’t need to study theology or be a leader in the Church. We are all called to be that living Nativity in the world in those daily simple acts of kindness and charity and sincere love. There are further actions we can do: There are people who cannot afford to celebrate Christmas, or a father or mother are serving overseas, or a parent is in the hospital and can’t do Christmas shopping. We can become that living Nativity to people around us. Sr. Olga said a lot of it is being that living example. susan said one thing that helps her is trying to see another person or situation the way God sees it because we don’t know what’s in the heart of someone. It’s easy to judge. We need to see and hear with the eyes and ears of God. Scot said Archbishop Timothy Dolan wrote a book of Advent reflections, . Scot read a passage from the book, relating people in waiting in anticipation of a difficult situation, that this is Advent for them. Sr. Olga said the book has helped her to pray with Mary and live her ministry through Mary in the service to the people around her. He rexample is in her docile willingness, her belief, and her faith. It’s amazing she went through that. From the moment of the Annunciation to the first miracle of Cana was almost 30 years and almost her whole life was Advent, waiting for the Messiah to come into His own. Susan said in the midst of all the stress and work of preparing for Christmas we should recall the Blessed Mother’s example in turning over all her stress and worries to God. We can offer up those tasks, the extra things were doing above and beyond normal life, to God as an Advent sacrifice. Scot said he often prays for the gift of patience. It’s so easy to grow impatient and how we respond to it is through God’s grace. Sr. Olga said she learned from Mary that patience is the fruit of trust in God. If I trust in God, I will remember that God gave his only begotten Son to us, When we worry, we have to remember to trust in his plan that what is meant for you will come to you. Do we think that the one who gave us his only begotten Son will hold anything back from us? 5th segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins. A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken. Go up on to a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! Here comes with power the Lord GOD, who rules by his strong arm; here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey. And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Scot said so much of the spiritual is being “all in” for God and here John the Baptist is all in for God. You couldn’t help but notice the messenger sent ahead of his Son. Sr. Olga said what she likes about St. John here is knowing his mission in preparing the way. Often in ministry, we can say, it’s my mission, but John knows he’s just here to lead others to Jesus. He’s full of fiery zeal, but also profound humility. Susan said he also does it with great joy, right from the moment in Elizabeth’s womb when he leaped at hearing Mary’s greeting. Fr. Mark talked about the two aspects of God in the image of his arm. It’s a strong arm, but it also holds the lamb. St. John is a bit crazy, but he’s incredibly strong and bold. He’s completely committed. He hasn’t forgotten what Isaiah’s time was like and how the people lived by Isaiah’s promise. He wants to proclaim it to the world until Christ comes, then he steps back and lets Christ take the center stage. Scot asked how we make straight the paths to prepare for the coming of Christ into our own hearts. As John the Baptist was baptizing people in the Jordan, they were acknowledging their sins. So we make straight the way for Jesus into our hearts, we go to Confession. Sr. Olga asks Mary to help her prepare the way and her heart to bring Christ in. During Advent, Sr. Olga also tries to console Mary in the week’s before giving birth, for her what she went through in the last weeks. Offer sacrifices, prayer, and fasting to console the heart of Mary. Susan said John the Baptist and Mary didn’t feel worthy to receive Christ, but we welcome him. Scot mentioned the Pilot article about the new community Cardinal Seán asked Sr. Olga to found and the Mass coming up next week at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. She extends an invitation to everyone in the Archdiocese to come, because she like John the Baptist she has a fiery zeal for Christ in her heart and wants to prepare the way for the people of our Archdiocese to know how alive the Church is in our youth.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today’s show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Pastoral Planning in the Archdiocese; the new Roman Missal; new Nuncio in Ireland Summary of today’s show: You’ve seen the headlines about pastoral planning in the Archdiocese of Boston. Now get the real scoop. Scot Landry and Susan Abbott and regular guests Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry discuss the proposal for restructuring the way parishes are served in the Archdiocese that was leaked to the media ahead of Monday’s priestly convocation, countering the agenda-driven critics in the secular press. They also talk about how the adjustment to the new translation of the Roman Missal went in parishes this past Sunday with priests having to do the most adjusting; that the new papal nuncio to Ireland was Pope Benedict’s “go-to” man at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and that Catholic school enrollment in the Archdiocese is up for the first time since the 90s. 1st segment: Scot said Susan starts a retreat tonight in Narragansett, RI. Diocesan leaders of religious education will be examining the working document for the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization for how it affects the work they do as well as personally. Fr. Roger Landry said the document is called the liniamenta. This is the first part of the Synod, a framework which is sent out to all bishops and they respond to it. From that an instrumentum laboris is constructed and will be what the synod works from. Finally, they will Scot said to Gregory Tracy that he just returned from a trip to Guam where a friend who is the godfather of one of his children was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Agana, Guam. While he was from East Boston, his work with the Neo-Catechumenal Way led him to seminary for Guam. The story is in this week’s Pilot. It’s a beautiful country where most of the people are Catholic and they were treated to great hospitality. 2nd segment: Scot said the local coverage in the newspapers today of pastoral planning in the Archdiocese included some headlines biased toward critics. Scot said the planning documents were sent out to priests yesterday morning and some people shared them with the media, breaking an embargo that had been in place. Scot asked Greg about the beginning of the consultation phase being started right now. Greg said on Monday, the priests of the archdiocese will be gathering with the cardinal to give their feedback on the proposal. Greg pointed out that the proposal only changes how services are rendered in the parishes, not to suppress or merge them. Instead, parish service teams would serve more than one parish and create economies of scale. Scot said after the crisis of 2002, the archdiocese went into survival mode in 2004 with closing parishes to husband resources. Then for the last several years we’ve been in maintenance mode where we haven’t be structured to advance our mission of evangelization and bringing Christ to people and bringing them back to Mass. The changes would provide more resources for missions, streamlining for efficiency. Susan said she was dismayed that the documents were leaked and that it was a breach of trust. She first heard about it on the radio last night on the way home. The story quoted Msgr. William Fay, co-chair of the pastoral planning commission. He said crisis management is not sustainable. He also said a repeat of broad parish closures is not an option and neither is the status quo. Scot said it’s the most significant initiative in the archdiocese of ver the next five years. Msgr. Fay will be on the show on Tuesday to talk about pastoral planning. Listeners can email questions for Msgr. Fay to Fr. Roger said most significant in all this is the projections for the number of priests in the diocese in the future. He said something must be done because there won’t be enough priests to do what we do now. He said he was pleased to see the ingenuity of the structure they are proposing for the parish service teams. If they are set up today, then when the real losses occur they will be at full speed and able to maintain things until the increasing numbers of vocations today reverse the current trends. Scot said the real problem we’re experiencing a loss of vocations to priesthood, marriage, and religious life is the lack of people going to Mass. And so we move from maintenance to mission by putting resources toward going to people and encouraging them to come back. Cardinal Seán doesn’t think closing parishes will work. We need to restructure for how we manage our overall resources. Greg said this restructuring is only part of a larger plan to create greater outreach and evangelization. The first step is to ensure the parishes are on a firm foundation because the parishes are where evangelization takes place. It’s where people will go. Scot said Cardinal Sean has established five strategic priorities, including becoming a church that more readily and actively welcomes people to conversion of Christ; strengthening parishes as the primary community of faith; growing the Church through evangelization; developing excellence in faith formation for Catholics of all ages; re-energizing pastoral leadership, not just the priests, but also lay leaders in parishes. Susan said something has to change. We are killing our priests with all that they are being burdened with. Setting these five priorities gives us a road map. Scot added that the secular news organizations quote critics and people with agendas and you’re going to hear that this is about closing more parishes for money and that this is a spin job on behalf of the Church to sugarcoat it. That’s misleading and causing confusion. It’s a lie. This is really about becoming a Church that evangelizes and knows our faith better than we’re currently doing it. Scot said people are doing heroic work today with resources they have, but everyone working in the Church knows we can reallocate our resources to better serve our missions. We can become a stronger Church through this. Susan said she likes Msgr. Fay’s quote at the end of the WBUR story: Borre says he expects the plan will also lead to a number of appeals to the Vatican to stop parish closings. But the archdiocese’s Monsignor William Fay disputes that the plan would close more churches. “Anybody who chooses to spin that in that direction is, I think, more interested in confusing people than helping them,” Fay said. She said people need to wait and read the original documents when they become available on Tuesday during the broader period of consultation . Scot said the plan is that the Cardinal’s address to the priests and Msgr. Fay’s address will be recorded and put on a website for anyone to see. Fr. Roger said of Borre’s comments that they were telling that he doesn’t understand what the Vatican is doing with regard to parish closings. Borre is trying to spin it for his own agenda.Fr. Roger said it wouldn’t be shocking if some of those parish service teams decided to sell some parish buildings to reinvest in the parishes and because those buildings wouldn’t be needed. Those decisions wouldn’t be coming from the top down, but would come from the parishes themselves. He wouldn’t be shocked if there were fewer worship sites in the Archdiocese in 10 years, but it won’t be any as low as 125. Scot said there is a strong hope and plan that focusing more on mission will result in more people coming to church and so there might be more buildings, not fewer. 3rd segment: The page one story in the Pilot this week was how the adjustment to the new Roman Missal went this week. Greg said the broad response was that with all the preparation, there was still a lot of “And also with you” at the beginning of Mass, but by the end people were beginning to get it. Scot said Fr. Philip Conroy was quoted on how much preparation was required for the priests on their use of the missal and finding where everything was. Susan said she noticed at the noon Mass at the Pastoral Center that there was a sense that we’re all in this together. She said whatever negative feelings people might have had going into it, there is now a sense that we’re going to be fine. In the Anchor, many parishioners are quoted as loving the new translation. Fr. Roger said he sent three reporters out to get feedback. He was surprised that almost every was positive. As a priest, his closest experience to this weekend was his first Holy Week celebrating the Masses in German. He’s celebrated Mass 5,600 times according to the old translation and even from as young as 6 he’d memorized the prayers of the Mass, so now he has to concentrate on reading the book to make sure he prays the correct words. It’s going to take a lot of time for the priests especially. Fr. Roger added that the prayers are incredibly beautiful. On Monday, he prayed the preface for the dedication of a church on its anniversary and he almost paused to consider its beauty. As part of his morning holy hour, he’s starting to meditate on the prayers of the Mass before he has to pray it later. Scot said it’s a good time to subscribe to a daily Missal with the prayers of the Mass to use them for meditation. 4th segment: Scot said the Holy Father has appointed a new nuncio or papal representative to Ireland. Rather than choose someone from the diplomatic service, the Holy Father chose someone who worked with him at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Msgr. Charlie Brown is from New York originally. Fr. Roger said the Irish people will like him. He’s very bright who graduated from Notre Dame and Oxford and got a doctorate in Rome at Sant’Anselmo. Many thought he would have become a papal secretary. He didn’t just work with Cardinal Ratzinger; he was the go-to guy for him. Fr. Roger has known him for some years. Pope Benedict has clearly selected him for Ireland because he wanted someone he trusted very much in Ireland because after the clergy sex abuse scandals there, they needed the right guy. The Vatican diplomatic service didn’t have enough native English speakers to choose from, plus his experience at the CDF gives him familiarity with the scandal. Fr. Roger said the Church’s diplomacy is not like regular national diplomacy because first they are sent diplomats for Christ. A restructuring of the diocese of Ireland is widely expected and he will have a role. Scot said there is an article in the Pilot about the founding of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth religious community at the request of Cardinal Sean. There will be a Mass of Blessing at Holy Cross Cathedral on December 9 at 5:30pm. Greg said this is part of Cardinal Seán’s push for a new evangelization. Anyone who knows Sr. Olga knows her great love for Christ and wonderful spirit, which should be a great foundation for this community. Another story in the Pilot is that Catholic school enrollment in the Archdiocese of Boston is up for the first time since the 90s. Susan said a couple of schools are profiled in the article, discussing how they have accomplished this by reflecting their communities and providing unique services. Another article in the Pilot was an obituary for Fr. Edward Gillis, who died one week shy of his 90th birthday. In the Anchor this week, there is an article about a new transgender law passed by the Mass. Legislature at the 11th hour. It was stripped of the worst aspects, such as giving people who consider themselves transgender access to any bathroom they chose. But we could still have transgenders filing lawsuits for discrimination in hiring or housing or other areas. The transgender community is trying to get the American Psychiatric Association to stop calling it a mental illness. There will be a consequence for society if we stop treating these disorders and try to normalize them. Fr. Roger said we want to make sure thye don’t suffer harassment for their psychological illness, but we shouldn’t try to normalize these illnesses.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Brother Rahl Bunsa, General Superior of the Brotherhood of Hope Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: Advent with the Brotherhood of Hope Summary of today’s show: Put away your Christmas music for now and keep Advent in the season with “A Season of Hope”, a CD of Advent music from the Brotherhood of Hope. Br. Rahl Bunsa talks with Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams about Advent as the season of hope in the Coming of Christ to restore creation to what it was intended to be and to prepare our own hearts to receive Christ ourselves. Enjoy what may be the only musical album of purely Advent music for sale anywhere and enter into the season. There’s time enough for Christmas music once Christmas is here. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Matt discussed the first two nights of the God of This City tour this week. He said the tour has grown bigger and bigger each year they’ve done it. (Our recent show on is available for listening online or to download.) He described the talks on the two nights. Fr. Matt also mentioned that George Martell is telling the story of God of This City through photos on the Archdiocesan . 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Br. Rahl to the show. He said getting into the Advent season usually starts with listening to the Advent CD. Scot said church music helps you enter into the liturgical CDs. He asked why the Brotherhood made their first CD about Advent. Br. Rahl said Advent was their favorite season of the year, because of the theme of hope. But also they noticed that everyone had Christmas music, but not Advent music and yet there is so much very rich Advent music. Scot said his oldest son gets very upset when he hears Christmas music too early. He asks himself why can’t we all wait until Christmas? As Catholics we shouldn’t jump the gun on Christmas. Advent is rich in messages for us and can enrich our spiritual life and deepen our longing for Jesus. Br. Rahl said our parents and grandparents would not have decorated their homes until Christmas Eve and would have used Advent to prepare with Advent calendars and the like. Br. Rahl said of hope that all virtues are to grow in us and with hope, we are to grow in our confident expectation that Christ will come again in glory. And not just a future reality of the second coming of Christ, but also that the many promises of God in Scripture will be fulfilled, like the promise that as we grow in prayer, we will grow closer to God. Scot asked what the difference is between hope and optimism or a positive nature. Br. Rahl said it’s the difference between natural hope and supernatural hope. Supernatural hope is attached the supernatural nature of God, regarding his promises and what he has said. Fr. Matt said he loves the idea of preparing for Christ. In praying the new prayers of the revised Roman Missal this week, he was struck by the opening prayer that asked God to strengthen our resolve to go out to meet him at His coming, equipped with righteous deeds. He said our society has a lot of fear at the coming of Christ, but Christians want Christ to come and save us. It’s a hope-filled calling, that the Lord is faithful to his promises. He is unconditionally faithful. Fr. Matt said many people are turning to pharmaceuticals because they are not living in hope. Br. Rahl said a traditional acclamation of hope is the Greek word Maranatha, which means “Come!” Scot said there’s a nice quote in the CD cover that refers to the two-fold expectation of the coming of Christ. We prepare for the general coming of Christ at the end of time, and we also prepare for our own encounter with Christ at the end of our own lives. The first song on the CD is . Scot then read his favorite verse from the song. Br. Rahl said it was the first song on the CD because of the exuberance and joy of the song. When people think of Advent, they wanted people to think of the joy of the season. He said the range of the music is everything from contemporary to chant to gospel to regular church hymns. They also had one-third of the songs as ones they wrote, one-third as traditional songs, and then one-third of traditional songs with new accompaniment. 3rd segment: Scot said he learned reading through the prayer booklet with the lyrics from the CD that in Lift up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates, “heads” refers to the tops of the gates. Br. Rahl said he wanted to point out that they had professional musicians in the studio backing up the guitar and voices. Scot said of the hymn Lift Up Your Heads that the widening of the gates for the Savior of the world reminds us of the immensity of the Coming of Christ. So we should “widen” our hearts. Br. Rahl said we can pray to ask the Lord to deepen my heart, deepen my love for you. He also suggested entering into the Church’s liturgy ever more deeply and going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation to experience the Lord’s rich forgiveness. Meditating on Scriptures is a great preparation. Many of the songs are direct or indirect references to Scripture. He suggested praying to the Lord to teach us to see his vision and the things of heaven before the things of this world. Fr. Matt said we’re reminded how quickly time passes us by. In the midst of it, we are reminded of our mortality which then points us to our destiny and the things of eternal life. Prayer refocuses us so we remember we were made for more than this earth. Br. Rahl said the booklet for the CD was made to help people with their prayer life. It has meditations, catechesis, background, and lyrics to pray along with. The next song is “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”. It is the most popular Advent hymn and perhaps the only one most people can name. It’s from the 9th century and people have been singing it for 1,000 years. The song on the CD transitions to another song called “Watchman, Tell Us of the Night”, which is the reference in the Scripture to the watchman looking for the coming of the king and the song is a dialogue between a traveler and the watchman. Scot said “Emmanuel” means “God with us”. We heard a clip from the second half of the song. Br. Rahl said 10% of the net proceeds of this CD are donated to The Village of Hope, an HIV orphanage in Tanzania, Africa, while the remainder supports the Brotherhood’s work in campus ministry in Boston, New Jersey and Florida. 4th segment: It’s time to announce this week’s winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prizes this week are *, PC game for Windows XP, and a $15 gift card. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Debbie & Chuck Papalia from North Andover, MA. Congratulation, Debbie and Chuck! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: Scot said we heard a clip from “Revelation Canticle” which is the last song of the CD, which he said is his favorite. Br. Rahl said it comes from the Book of Revelation and has a particularly celebratory and victorious tone to it. He said when Christ defeats Satan and the last enemy, Death, he will raise the dead to new life. Four verse from Revelation make up the entire song, from Revelations chapters 11 and 12. Scot said when you get a song like this stuck in your head, it leads to praying throughout the day. Br. Rahl said he once heard from a religious sister that when she needs to grow in confidence in certain situations, she listens to the song “I am Confident and Unafraid.” They put Scripture to good music in order to get Scripture into people’s hearts and minds. Fr. Matt recalled a monsignor he knew who said he once heard that a person becomes the song they sing. when we worship God, it changes our focus and our attitude and the environment around us. When you have beautiful lyrics tied into Scripture and Tradition, it gives a way to focus on what is really true and lifegiving. Br. Rahl said he once heard from someone at the BBC who played their CD on BBC radio and told them it was a big hit. Many parents tell him that their kids enjoy the music too and even soothes troublesome children. It’s good for anyone seeking to get into Advent and mature into the Lord. He said he hasn’t seen any other exclusively Advent CD for sale. He thinks it’s because often Christmas overshadows Advent and it’s a short season and people don’t have as long of a chance to enter into it. Br. Rahl said most of the songs were a regular part of the Brotherhood’s prayer life long before the CD was recorded. In order to get the prayer booklet that comes with the CD, you must order the CD, but it’s also available through and . Scot asked Br. Rahl why they included Alma Redemptoris Mater out of all CDs. They wanted to invoke the assistance of Mary under her title of Our Lady of Hope. She brought forth the Word and pondered the Word of God. Fr. Matt said God is always faithful to his promises and in Advent we the Magnificat and the Canticle of Zechariah which proclaim God’s fidelity. These both point to hope. Br. Rahl said what he loves about Advent is that in the midst of the sadness of the world, the Lord will return and we long for that day. Advent is a season for longing for Christ to restore creation to what it was intended to be. For those interested in bulk orders, contact the Brotherhood directly via their website.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Richard Clancy, Director of Campus Ministry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Mary Doorley, Vice President of Development for Boston Catholic Development Services Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: The Cardinal’s Christmas Letter benefits the Office for Campus Ministry Summary of today’s show: Cardinal Seán’s annual Christmas letter customarily urges end-of-the-year support for one archdiocesan ministry and this year he’s asking for help for College Campus Ministry. With 23 colleges and 250,000 students in the Boston area, Fr. Richard Clancy and his fellow campus ministers are bringing Christ to population that is most missing from our parishes and yet are those seeking the truths that Church has to offer. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor are joined by Fr. Clancy and Mary Doorley of Boston Catholic Development Services to talk about engaging in effective campus ministry with limited resources and how even small donations can make a big difference in the life of young people and the future of the Church. 1st segment: Scot discussed with Fr. Chris the new translation of the Roman Missal and how it went for him this weekend. The idea of celebrating a Mass that is both new and still the same was disconcerting. He had the altar server stand next to him the whole time with the Missal. Today, he concelebrated Mass at the seminary and he found himself slipping back into the old, familiar ways, but he believes over time this will be beautiful for the Church. He said the men at Norfolk Prison last night were prepared and raring to go. He said it will be daunting in the seminary because the only group more critical than priests are seminarians because they know every rubric. Fr. Chris said priests also have the added burden of finding their way around the new Missal and so it will be a time of getting reacquainted. He also wished Scot a happy new year with this first week of Advent marking the beginning of the liturgical year. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Mary Doorley and Fr. Clancy to the show. Fr. Clancy has been in campus ministry for 15-1/2 years and he’s been director for 10 years. He grew up in Woburn and was always involved in his parish. St. Anthony. He worked in the rectory, helped the custodian with the grounds, was an altar server and lector. His parents were a good example as we was so involved with the church. He always considered it as a child, but it was when he went to college that it came to the fore. He attended Merrimack College and was very involved in alternative spring breaks and retreats. There were Augustinian brothers who influenced him. Mary said she’s worked at the Archdiocese since the beginning of September. She grew up in a family whose parish the center of their life. That was in Pittsburgh. She has worked in fundraising with many Catholic organizations over the past 25 years. Fr. Chris said he is ecstatic about the Cardinal’s Christmas Letter benefiting campus ministry this year because many of the men in the seminary now started their vocational journey through campus ministry at local colleges. Scot asked Fr. Clancy about campus ministry in the Archdiocese of Boston. He said there are 250,000 students in the Boston area. He added that they have different relationships with different schools. For example, most Catholic colleges provide their own campus ministry and then assist with resources and facilities. At private schools like MIT, many of the resources are partly provided by the archdiocese and partly provided by alumni and donors. At state schools and some private schools, the donations from donors and alumni are the sole support. Scot read a list of colleges and universities that have a Catholic presence on campus. Fr. Clancy said many of these schools used to be mainly for commuters, like Suffolk, Merrimack, or Northeastern. Now most colleges are residential and that increases the dependence on campus ministry even if the overall numbers aren’t that much higher. He said where there are residence halls there is a need for the presence of the Church to aid the students where they are not receiving ministry from their home parishes. There was a discussion of Newman Centers and campus ministry offices and chapels. Fr. Clancy said each school has a different way of relating to campus ministry. At Boston University, for example, they have their own building. In other schools, they might literally have just a table and a chair. Scot said Mary has put together a brochure to accompany Cardinal Seán’s letter, which has various statistics on campus ministry. He noted that 25% of adults under 30 claim no religious affiliation. Mary said we do need to be present on college campuses as well as to celebrate the good things that are happening in campus ministry. She said she’s been amazed by what she hears is happening there. She hopes people will look at the pamphlet they will receive this week. The brochure also talks about how campus ministry can be helped with relatively small funds. For instance, just $5,000 can take 40 students for a weekend-long retreat at the Franciscan Guest House in Kennebunkport, Maine. Fr. Chris said this is the way the Church can reach out and connect to this generation. When he’s in parishes, he notes that this age group is the one that’s missing, age 18 to 25 or 30. 3rd segment: Scot asked Fr. Clancy what works to connect with young people with their Catholic faith. He said first, you have to build a local community of students, staff, and faculty around the Eucharist. They emphasize the sacramental life of the Church. Everything comes from the Eucharist and returns to it. He said they are on the front lines of evangelization. It is outreach. Campus ministers talk about constructive loitering. Walking around in a Roman collar brings attention. Set up a table and train students to be welcoming and inviting. They then provide ways for students to connect with the Church in addition to Mass. Campus ministry is not just an extension of youth ministry. There is an intellectual component and they want to know. They want documents and experts. There is also a desire to meet other Catholics. Fr. Clancy said more than 50% of young adults are marrying people of other faiths, so it’s exciting for them to see people meeting their spouses in the Catholic centers and going on to leadership in parishes. Something else that works for many students is service by putting their faith into action. They are generous, idealistic and want to make a difference in the world. He sees more and more students volunteering after graduation. Scot said he’s heard constructive loitering described as ministry of presence. He said it’s important that students see a Catholic presence so they might be prompted to ask the big questions, such as why am I here, what does God want me to do? Fr. Clancy said he goes through papal encyclicals and has bible studies and to see them making connections and see the lights go on in their eyes is inspiring. Their faith was their parents’ faith and now it’s becoming their own. He said it’s a lot like being a parent. It’s not just dramatic moments. The foundation for those moments is laid on a daily basis. He told the story of a friend who was a producer for the Oprah Winfrey show. They sent a terminally ill woman on a whirlwind tour with her only daughter, but the daughter said her most important memory was a quiet time in the middle of the night together. This is the important basis for the dramatic times. Fr. Clancy said when you look back, you don’t remember the programs so much as the relationships you had. Fr. Chris said the Church has the truth and the truth is attractive. Young people are adept at sniffing out hypocrisy and untruth, so when we are faithful to the Church’s teaching that is very attractive. He said some of his seminarians spoke so highly of a particular priest as a model for the priesthood. He said his secret was to preach the truth, prayed with them, and celebrated the Mass and that inspired many priestly vocations. Fr. Clancy said there are wonderful and dedicated campus ministers throughout the archdiocese, who work hard and even pay for a lot out of their own pockets. He said they don’t create cults of personality around the campus minister. It’s all about the Lord. They have many opportunities to be with the Lord, to pray, to receive the sacraments. It’s about leading them to Christ and then getting out of the way. Mary said in talking with many college and university public affairs’ office she has found that they value the work of campus ministry and how it enriches campus life. Fr. Chris asked Fr. Clancy for his recommendations to parents of students going off to college on getting them connected to campus ministry. Fr. Clancy said the tricky part is that students have to make their own decisions to go to Mass and get involved. The parents can pray, set a good example, and continually encourage. He said Mass attendance on campus is about what it is in the general society. He said when they come home, encourage them in their faith, take them to penance services et al, and let them know that it’s important to them that the student continue to practice his faith. Scot said over the past five years, Cardinal Seán has used his Christmas letter to encourage extra support for a particular ministry and this year it’s campus ministry. One of the new initiatives is FOCUS, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, which take newly graduated students who commit to two years of service and send them to campus ministries to work with students about their own ages. This program costs money and so far they have received funding from a foundation. More funding will allow them to expand this ministry. He notes that many of the campus ministers have to take a part-time job to supplement their income. A full-time campus minister makes $35,000 per year. On vast state universities they have one full-time person and that’s just not enough. We need boots on the ground to meet students and we need visibility. Fr. Clancy said the Brotherhood of Hope have been a gift to the Archdiocese with a great charism. They have a new ministry with an outreach to the smaller colleges in the Northeastern University area and collaborating with ministry at Emmanuel College and some of the neighboring parishes. 4th segment: Scot asked Mary about what Cardinal Seán has written in his letter. Mary said the Cardinal asked those who receive the letter to prayerfully consider their giving to the Catholic Appeal and if they have given to the Appeal, to think about giving a little bit extra. Giving to the campus ministry has a wide and immediate impact. Scot quoted from the Cardinal’s letter: In the course of the academic year, this office reaches out to tens of thousands of young adults at critical points along their faith journey through the work of lay ministers, religious, priests, and brothers. During a time of life when many young people drift away from the Church, campus ministers serve the student population by instilling a love of the faith in their hearts and minds. Through campus ministry, students are provided the celebration of the Eucharist and the sacrament of reconciliation, invited to consider their vocation in life, including the possibility of priesthood or religious life, and their overall educational experience is enriched. This Christmas, I invite you to invest in the future of our faith by making a gift to the Office for Campus Ministry. Gifts to this year’s Christmas campaign will support the Office for Campus Ministry and its programs, helping to ensure sound spiritual formation and prayerful encouragement for the next generation of Catholic leaders. Scot said it’s not just the financial contributions that the letter provides, but also leads to more prayers and an awareness of the many college students who come to our area every year and how we can be an example of Christ’s love to them. Fr. Clancy said his office doesn’t have a lot of resources and nearly every dollar they get is spent on student services. People from all over the country and all over the world send their children to these colleges and the parents entrust their children to them. Parents contact him individually, asking for him to watch out for their students. There is an obligation on us as an Archdiocese because people are sending their children to Boston to go to school and we have to take it as a call from the Lord to care for and be responsible for these students so that when they go home, they kept the faith and it has grown. Mary talked about some of the ministries that can be expanded with contributions. For instance, $75 provides sacramental wine and hosts for one month of weekly student Masses at one college. $100 pays for one Catholic fellowship activity like a spaghetti dinner or pizza. Fr. Clancy said you have to have food at every gathering to get the students to come. Mary said $500 per campus will pay for the purchase or repair of vestments, altar cloths, chalices, and other sacramental items. Scot said gifts from this campaign can also help coordinate helping students to go to the annual March for Life or to World Youth Day. Fr. Clancy said the community that is built is first and foremost. Fr. Clancy thanked Cardinal Sean and all the people in the development office for their help for his ministry. Scot said to donate online go to .…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Dr Edward Sri and Fr Brian Mahoney For links from today’s show, see our show notes page on http://thegoodcatholiclife.com. Today’s topics: The New Roman Missal at yesterday's Mass celebrations Summary of today’s show: Scot said he loves new stuff at the start of the show today - and as Catholics we have a double dose of new stuff these last few days. Yesterday not only marks the start of the new liturgical year, but the implementation of the New Roman Missal - a change in translation of our Mass parts - as well. Scot is joined today by Fr Brian Mahoney, Pastor of St Francis of Assisi parish in Dracut, Dr Edward Sri, Provost and professor of Scripture at the Augustine Institute, and regular Thursday co-host Susan Abbott to discuss all these new things, and analyze the changes that every Catholic heard and spoke at yesterday's Mass. 1st segment: Scot welcomed all the listeners back and welcomed today's guests: Fr Brian Mahoney, Dr Edward Sri, and Susan Abbott. Scot asked Dr Sri what he thought the biggest changes to Catholics in the pews were with yesterday's implementation of the New Roman Missal. Dr Sri said it was exciting for him - he went to the Saturday night evening Mass to hear it first. His Church in Denver provided both pew cards and a screen for people to follow along with the new words and responses. As much as he had prepared for it, Dr Sri said he stumbled a few times, even messed up the second reply of "And with your spirit!" (leading to much teasing from his kids). He continued and said that the biggest change was the Creed, but he was pleasantly surprised to hear people following along well and not stumbling too often. Dr Sri said it will probably take a while before we instinctively say "And with your spirit" as a response, but it will happen eventually. Susan shared that at St Theresa's in West Roxbury the Sunday morning Mass at 10:30, the pastor encouraged people to follow along on the pew cards or in their missalette - everyone had something in their hands to keep themselves on the same page. Scot reflected that he and Fr Brian had only known the "old" translation that we used up until last week, and how interesting it was to hear a new one. Fr Brian commented that he thought things went very well at his parish. He attended all the Masses to conclude a series on the new missal that he has been running in the parish for the last few weeks. Everyone at Sunday Mass was saying "And with your spirit," but at daily Mass this morning it seemed some people forgot! Scot commented that many Catholics seem to remember those few little words the most. Dr Sri explained that he views the Latin text of the Mass as a great carrier of our Tradition, and the English reflection of that Latin should do the same. In this case, "and with your spirit" is reflecting the words of St Paul in his letters, but also the significance of the history of the exchange. In the past, Dr Sri said, people said "The Lord be with you" as an invocation of power or to empower people who needed God's help - Moses, Joshua, Gideon, even Mary heard these words. Now when we hear them in the Mass, Dr Sri continued, we should remember that we are called to do something daunting that we couldn't do on our own - encounter God in his Word and in the Eucharist. When the priest says "The Lord be with you," he's almost saying "get ready!" In the same vein, "And also with you" is not supposed to be a "right back at you, Father" response, but rather asking God to bless the identity of the priest - the spirit changed by Ordination that enables him to offer the Mass. When we say "And with your spirit," we are asking God to come upon the priest's spirit as he offers the sacrifice of the Mass. Scot read a quote from Cardinal Burke that said the new prayers were more beautiful and might encourage more Catholics to think about what they are praying. Scot asked Fr Brian which of the new prayers he finds the most beautiful. Fr Brian said the way many of the opening prayers have been re-written express a richer texture that offers more to reflect on. Fr Brian continued and said that his favorite new piece was in Eucharistic Prayer III after the Holy Holy, that we recapture Scripture where the priest says "from the rising of the sun to it's setting" - a direct reference to Malachi. Susan commented that her favorite new change is the lineLord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed," which was contained in this morning's Gospel as well. Fr Brian commented that in the old St Joseph Missal for the Tridentine Mass translates the line the exact same way. Susan continued and said that people who grew up with that Missal or have been away from the Church for a very long time may see some familiar text in the new translation. Scot asked Dr Sri what elements he found most beautiful in the new translation. Dr Sri replied that one of his personal favorites is when the priest holds up the Host and used to say "Blessed are those who are called to His supper," but now says "Blessed are those who are called to the Supper of the Lamb." Dr Sri said he loves it because of the Biblical background of the prayer, which is much of what his work entails - that line is almost a direct quote from Revelation 19:9 where St John has the vision of the Heavenly Liturgy. Scot asked Dr Sri what he thought the best resources to learn more and appreciate more what we pray throughout the liturgy. Dr Sri replied that his book and website are one, and the USCCB's website is a great resource as well. This is a great moment, he continued, to catechize on the Mass like never before. The change in translation will make people more open to learning about what we believe and what the Mass is really all about - and we can easily do this by focusing on the prayers. Dr Sri said that at his presentations around the country he's been surprised by the happiness of Catholics to learn about what the prayers mean and why they're worded the way they are instead of just going through the motions of a Mass. Susan said the Archdiocese has a great website dedicated to the topic, and LifeTeen produced videos aimed at teens as well. Scot noted it's interesting how people process the changes - having followed the changes for the last few months he said he expected people who weren't as in tune with the changes to be asking about the new words. He said that in his subset two things were mentioned the most - the praying of "I believe" instead of "We believe" in the Creed, and saying "the chalice of my blood" instead of "the cup of my blood." Dr Sri and Fr Brian noted that the "I believe" is a long tradition that emphasizes personal belief before the communal belief. The word chalice emphasizes the reverence we have for Jesus' blood made present on the altar. 2nd segment: Fr Brian went back to the "I believe" opening to the creed, and explained it was originally a "heretic detector" of sorts. People who believed in various heresies that conflicted with the creed would refuse to say it - it was how the community at the time knew they needed to counsel and pray with some of their members and whether or not they were in communion with the Church teachings. Fr Brian said that the "I" is still appropriate because as individuals we speak the truth of the Church as both yourself and the singular, unified voice of the Church as well. Fr Brian said it felt odd to pray the new prayers in one sense - he had the old Eucharistic prayers memorized. Having a prayer that isn't completely changed can be tricky, and falling into the old pattern was difficult sometimes. Even though he had studied all the prayers before this weekend, Fr Brian said he still forgot the blessing for the deacon before proclaiming the Gospel and had to fall back on the old one. He said with all of this, it'll take some time to get used to the new flow. Susan commented that Msgr Dennis Sheehan said in a presentation to the Pastoral Center staff last month that the priests have a lot of changes to deal with and will need some time and prayer to adjust. Scot remarked on the clarity of the verbs in the new missal, and that they have more powerful meaning and content for reflection. He read part of Eucharistic prayer II before the Holy Holy and compared the versions: Old Version: Father, it is our duty and our salvation always and everywhere to give you thanks through your beloved Son, Jesus Christ. He is the Word through whom you made the universe, the Savior you sent to redeem us. By the power of the Holy Spirit, he took flesh and was born of the VirginMary. For our sake he opened his arms on the cross; he put an end to death and revealed the resurrection. In this he fulfilled your will and won for you a holy people. And so we join the angels and the saints in proclaiming your glory as we say... New Version: It is truly right and just, our duty and salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Father most holy, through your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, yourWord through whom you made all things, whom you sent as our Savior and Redeemer, incarnate by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin. Fulfilling your will and gaining for you a holy people, he stretched out his hands as he endured his Passion, so as to break the bonds of death and manifest the resurrection. And so, with the Angels and all the Saints we declare your glory, as with one voice we acclaim... Fr Brian said that overall, the new language is much more poetic, but may feel odd to people at first because it's not language we're used to hearing, thinking, or speaking in every day. It's not necessarily an obstacle, he continued, but a challenge for people to overcome. Susan said that the translation is a good "teachable moment" -for example, anyone can be born, but only Jesus could be incarnate of the Holy Spirit. Fr Brian discussed that, in reality, Christmas is a celebration of the revelation or manifestation of the Incarnation, which we celebrate on March 25th with the Annunciation - Jesus was fully human and fully divine from the time he was first in Mary's womb, not just when he was born on Christmas day. Fr Brian said that a good way that he is preparing to use the new texts is to pray over them every day - something he did in the past with the daily prayers and readings, but will now expand to include some of the other prayers the priest says in the new translation. The big part, Fr Brian said, is that he knows what it's about - none of it is theologically new, just semantically new. He said he trusts the Spirit to help him and his congregation to be patient when he messes up. We all have to be patient with ourselves and the community, Fr Brian said, and be comfortable with being uncomfortable for a bit while we all adjust. Susan said that while we may not be as comfortable with the new texts in the next few years as we have gotten with the old texts, it will eventually happen with time and patience. People will catch on pretty quickly, she said. Scot said one of the last changes he noticed was a simple word change - "the fountain of all holiness" in the old translation, and "the fount of all holiness" in the new. Scot continued and said that it is a great example of how the new text teaches the faith. A fountain showers on you, all you have to do is get near it and you'll get wet, and you can be very passive. God as a fount of holiness reminds us that we have to actively seek out the source of holiness to experience his blessing. Fr Brian said that in Eucharistic prayer there are two times where the priest calls down the Holy Spirit - once over the gifts before the words of institution, and once after upon the people. This second "epiclesis" is a beautiful change as well: Old Version: Look with favor on your Church's offering, and see the Victim whose death has reconciled us to yourself. Grant that we, who are nourished by his body and blood, may be filled with his Holy Spirit, and become one body, one spirit in Christ. New version: Look, we pray, upon the oblation of your Church, and, recognizing the sacrificial Victim by whose death you willed to reconcile us to yourself, grant that we, who are nourished by the Body and Blood of your Son and filled with his Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ. This small tweaking unites us even more closely to the sacrificial element of the Mass, Fr Brian said - something that was always there, but is more prevalent in the new translation than before. Susan concluded by saying that she loved the options for the dismissal rite - "Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord" or "Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life." She said that she hopes our priests will take these two powerful dismissals as an option.…
Today we bring you an encore presentation of Scot Landry’s interview of Fr. Jonathan Gaspar, Priest-Secretary to Cardinal Seán O’Malley and Director of the Archdiocesan Office for Worship, and Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth, Executive Director of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL). As we approach the first widespread use of the new translation of the Roman Missal in English this coming Sunday, Scot discusses with Fr. Gaspar and Msgr. Wadsworth the important questions: Why are the prayers of the Mass changing? What are they changing to? How will it affect how we sing at Mass? Is it taking us back to the Middle Ages? All these questions and more will be answered as Scot Landry is joined by Fr. Jonathan Gaspar of the Archdiocese’s Office of Worship and Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth of the International Committee on English in the Liturgy, which was largely responsible for this new translation of the Roman Missal. Complete shownotes for this episode may be found at .…
Happy Thanksgiving! Today we bring you an encore presentation of Scot Landry’s interview with Jim and Terry Orcutt, founders of My Brother’s Keeper, and Jack Shaughnessy Sr. of Shaughnessy and Ahern Hauling and Rigging, about My Brother’s Keeper, a volunteer ministry providing assistance in southeastern Massachusetts. Jim and Terry share with Scot the story of how they started My Brother’s Keeper, a mission to provide furniture and food to the needy in southeastern Massachusetts while preserving dignity and sharing the love of Christ. Jack Shaughnessy, a benefactor of My Brother’s Keeper, also discusses what inspires him about their charity and why he’s involved. Complete shownotes may be found on the .…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Jon Niven and Heather Flynn of LIFT Ministries Links from today’s show: Today’s topics: LIFT Ministries and the God of This City tour Summary of today’s show: LIFT Ministries and the God of This City tour present Catholics of all ages with a beautiful and contemplative experience of Eucharistic adoration coupled with energetic and contemporary music and talented and prayerful speakers. While LIFT occurs each month at Fontbonne Academy, for Advent the God of This City tour brings LIFT to all five regions of the archdiocese. Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams are joined by Jon Niven and Heather Flynn to talk about the birth of LIFT five years ago at St. Mary parish in Dedham, how it has grown and matured, and how it continues to reach ever wider audiences of people seeking to encounter the Lord in an uplifting environment of praise that complements their experience of the Eucharist at Mass. 1st segment: Scot asked Fr. Matt about the Jesus in the North End event last Friday evening. It’s a monthly gathering of young adults. They start at 7:30 with Eucharistic adoration until 8:45pm. It’s at St. Leonard’s in the North End of Boston. Some stand outside the church inviting people to come in and say a prayer. They’ve been doing these for 3 years. For the first time in 3 years, the Fire Department showed up to have them put out the little fire they light every month in front of the church. Next time, Fr. Matt said they’ll just put up loads of incense smoke. Scot asked Fr. Matt if he’s prepared for the new English-language translation of the prayers of the Mass. He said he’s ready for them. They’re so much more beautiful and richer. The connections with Scripture are beautiful. He’s look forward to it elevating his own prayer life. He noted that Fr. Shawn Carey, who works in the Pastoral Center, is a deaf priest and he was involved in creating the signs in Sign Language for the new prayers of the Mass. Fr. Matt is looking forward to today’s show because he is closely involved in LIFT Ministries and the God of This City tour. 2nd segment: Scot asked Heather Flynn what inspired the start of Lift Ministries five years. Heather and Jon were both working in the Life Teen program at St. Mary’s in Dedham. She’d been feeling God’s calling to expand her ministry beyond the parish and she’s had a love for praise and worship music that she shared with Jon, who was music director for Life Teen at St. Mary’s. They’d heard about a ministry in Louisiana, called Door, that’s similar to Lift. Jon Niven said Lift nights begin with some praise and worship. Then they have a speaker come in, whether a local lay person, a priest, a bishop, or national personality, to speak on a theme. Then there is time for Eucharistic adoration followed by more praise and worship. Jon said the contemporary praise and worship music makes it unique in the Church. He said they’re not changing the Church or her teaching and traditions, but instead are using the means of the culture to say, “Hey, we’re here.” Heather said on an average night it’s about 300 people, but they’ve had up to 800 people. What makes it unique is that while they’re geared to teens and young adults, they do get all ages. Fr. Matt said when Heather and Jon first came to him, as parochial vicar at St. Mary’s, Jon had also gone to Phoenix to see some similar such programs. They approached him at the end of a long day when he was exhausted from work, they told him their idea for a young adult outreach. His first reaction was “Don’t we already do that?” because he was so busy. He “yucked” their “wow”, but Heather in her great charity said they would take him out for lunch another day. He told them he didn’t want to do any of the administrative or planning work, but just wanted to show up and do priestly things. So when he walked in to the first event, he was expecting a garage band. But instead he was impressed by their professionalism. Heather said the goal of Lift nights is to give people an experience of being in heaven, because that’s what worship is. So everything they do in the backdrops and lights and props is trying to give people and experience of what it might be like to be in heaven. Scot said seeing everything done in a first-class professional and beautiful way leads people to that experience of heaven. Fr. Matt said environment helps you realize that there is something special going on here. He said the aspect of praise and worship music comes from our Jewish tradition and the Psalms. They used cymbals and stringed instruments with singing and dancing in the Temple. Those who are in the presence of God are singing unto the Lord and worshipping him. It’s singing hymns of love to the Lord. It starts with praise that is upbeat and then worship takes you into a heart of God. This isn’t liturgy, but it is a form of prayer that ultimately leads you into deeper communion with the Lord, another way of entering into the stillness of God’s love for us. Scot asked Jon what he’s hoping to do so the music leads people to Christ without distracting them from prayer. Jon said the most important thing is to get out of the way. Too many worship leaders try to force worship. Step back an let God shine. From a technical standpoint, it’s simple. There’s nothing complex musically to distract, especially during adoration. As musicians they step back. Scot asked Heather how you prepare an auditorium like one at Fontbonne Academy as a suitable place for adoration. She said they do them in a series over three months with a particular topic. If the topic is the Blessed Mother, they bring in a statue of Mary and flowers, for instance. As we go to break, we hear a clip from Jon’s 2008 album, “Show the World.” 3rd segment: Fr. Matt said Lift for some is an initial outreach to introduce some to the Lord as well as an opportunity for those who already know the Lord to go deeper in relationship with him. Fr. Matt said if you listen to Jon’s music or Matt Maher, the words are beautiful, theologically and scripturally based, help you to prayer, and in a musical setting that appeals to all ages, but particularly young people. He said they are committed to bringing in wonderful dynamic Catholic speakers who break open the Lord’s Word. From there they move into Eucharistic adoration. One of three things happen: they could be in complete silence, Fr. Matt could lead them in prayer, or Jon could play a hymn. Some people want silence. Others aren’t comfortable with silence and need something to help lead them. The mix of prayers helps people to enter into a comfortable attitude of prayer. They aren’t rocking out to music, but praising God in a more traditional manner. Heather said the theme of the most recent season was “Get a Life.” The first night talked about how to surrender our lives to Christ, the tools the Church gives us to help us do that, and how do we listen to God and discern what he’s calling us to. Starting in January will be a series of right to life issues. The Cardinal will be speaking in February. Fr. Matt said this will act as a precursor to the March for Life, which the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults sponsors for youth from Boston. Fr. Matt said they are focusing on respect life issues is partly because of the push to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Massachusetts. He wants to focus young people on this defense of the dignity of human life. Scot asked Jon how Lift has changed in the past 5 years. He said in the beginning they were enthusiastic but didn’t know what they were doing yet. Over the course of five years, they’ve slowed down and started to let the Lord lead, like in choices of music that fit the theme or being in the moment of adoration. They have grown and learned to listen. Also as a band, they’ve learned they’re not just a band. They are called to reflect Christ’s light, so they take the focus off of themselves and re-focus it on Christ. Heather said there are some people who’ve gone to almost every single Lift, but every month they also get a bunch of people raising their hands to show they were new. Scot said George Martell takes photos of each night and posts them on . Scot asked why it complements going to Sunday Mass. Fr. Matt said people who tend to go to Eucharistic adoration and develop a love for it, they start going to Mass more than once per week. There is a concern out there that too much adoration puts an unbalanced focus on adoration above receiving communion, but that’s not Fr. Matt’s experience. He said adoration gives an opportunity for silence to reflect on Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, where there isn’t that much silence during the Mass for that reflection. That experience helps people to go to Mass with greater fervor. He said there at least tow men who have entered seminarian after becoming regulars at Lift. They know at least several converts to the faith as well. Scot recalled Jon saying that he’s learned over 5 years to slow down more. However, Mass moves on at a fast clip and you’re already anticipating the next step. Heather said they help people to get a taste of what Lift is like through the video on their website, but it’s hard to convey the experience without experiencing it for yourself. Fr. Matt said you’re walking into an environment of faith, a room filled with people who came to pray, which can have a big impression on someone who’s not yet practicing their faith with fervor. He said in sports, the home team feeds off the fervor of the fans. After the next segment, we’ll hear a clip from Jon’s new song, “Glory to God Forever” which is the theme song for this year’s God of This City tour. 4th segment: It’s time to announce this week’s winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is CD with Study Guide and Workbook by Fr. Robert Barron. Join Father Robert Barron for this engaging presentation concerning the Seven Deadly Sins, those great spiritual blocks that inhibit our flourishing in relationship wtih God and one another. Based on Dante’s writings, the seven deadly sins correspond to the seven stories of Dante’s Mt. Purgatory. Pride, envy, anger, sloth, gluttony, avarice and lust are all presented as patterns of dysfunction within us that lead to unhappiness. Father Barron tells us how to counteract these seven sinful patterns through a conscious process of opposition, which are the Seven Lively Virtues. The Seven Lively Virtues offer antidotes to each sin and help set us on the right path to healing and happiness. This CD can be used for personal reflection and examination of conscience or in a class or group setting, followed by discussion or meditation, using the Study Guide and Workbook. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is John & Mary Rose Sullivan from Woburn, MA. Congratulation, John and Mary Rose! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: the God of This City tour will take place all next week, Monday, November 28 to Friday, December 2, in a different place each night. The God of This City tour evolved out of Lift and is a collaboration between Lift and Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults. Jon said the first year of God of This City was a song by Matt Maher. Last year was “Our God”. You want the song to be scripturally relevant and true and energetic. The song reminds him to slow down and give it all to God. Scot asked what’s different about God of This City. Heather said it’s pretty much Lift on the road around the Archdiocese. They already do some events of Lift on the road when they’re invited to parishes and schools. The main difference is they’re in churches and so the logistics is a little different. Fr. Matt said they saw that Lift has met with much success and has been a great blessing, but they often hear people say it’s so hard for people to get to Fontbonne Academy in Milton on a Tuesday night. The tour gives them a chance to go to the five regions of the archdiocese. But it’s also a recognition that it’s a powerful ministry that can reinvigorate the faith of everyone. They don’t say who the audience for Lift of God of this City is so everyone comes. Fr. Matt said Pope John Paul II said our parishes must become an all-pervading climate of prayer. On Monday, they will be in St. Mary’s in Dedham with Fr. Matt as speaker whose theme is “Enthroned in Heaven”. On Tuesday, they will be at All Saints in Haverhill where Fr. John Capuci will speak on “Enthroned in the Hearts of His Saints”. On Wednesday at St. Bernadette in Randolph, John Bettinelli will speak on “Enthroned on the Altar”. On Thursday at St. Agnes in Reading, Sr. Florencia Silva will speak on “Enthroned in Our Hearts”. On Friday, Sr. Olga Yaqob will speak at the cathedral on “Enthroned in our Lives”. Heather said they do get some people who go to all five events. She said anyone who goes to all five events, she’ll give them a free t-shirt. Scot asked about the topics which all reference “enthroning.” Fr. Matt said enthroning refers to a king and it marks the beginning of his reign. Jesus is enthroned in heaven, not because of his domination, but because of his humility and self-emptying. He is enthroned in heaven because of his obedience to his Father and all of heaven bows in worship to the Lord. The second night connects to confession. That leads to the Eucharist on the third night. And from there it’s the lives of the saints and the last night, Sr. Olga will talks about bringing Christ enthroned out into the world. This is a preparation for Advent. Jon said leading people who may have not prayed this way involves patience and being willing to teach the people. Jon said the benefit of this style of music is that it’s catchy and very singable so people pick it up very easily. Scot asked about putting up the big screens and setting up the environment in a church. Heather said they visit each parish and figure out how to make it all work and how to do so respectfully. Fr. Matt said they have a great reverence for these as liturgical space and houses of worship. They’re not there to take away from the beauty or meaning of the space, but to help people pray in. Fr. Matt said they also offer confession from 8-9 pm each night. Scot said he tells his friends that if they feel awkward going to confession with their own parish priest, big events like God of This City offer a good opportunity to find a priest you don’t know. Fr. Matt said if you can only come to one night, go to the Friday night at the cathedral.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Janet Benestad, Secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization of the Archdiocese of Boston Today’s topics: Cardinal Seán’s Pastoral Letter on Sunday Mass participation Summary of today’s show: Cardinal Seán O’Malley has issued a major pastoral letter on the importance of Sunday Mass participation. Scot Landry, Fr. Chris O’Connor, and Janet Benestad devote an hour to discussing this very personal message from the Cardinal’s heart, which is also filled with intimate pastoral advice and practical suggestions for priests, parish staff, and parents, such the revival of monthly coffee hours after Mass and a link to a Mass times website for travelers. 1st segment: Scot said St. John’s Seminary had their big seminary dinner last night, giving thanks for everyone who is a part of that family. The seminarians were heading out to be with family and friends for the holiday. The Master’s in Ministry Formation and TINE had a concert over the weekend to pray for deceased loved ones and people sponsor particular songs in memory of the deceased. He said Bishop Hennessey told them that one of the things happening in the Archdiocese that Pope Benedict particularly wanted to know about during their ad limina visit earlier this month was the work of the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization. He asked for them to send materials to Rome to learn more about it. Fr. Chris and Scot talked about the transition to the new translation of the Mass coming up on Sunday. Priests will have to get used to reading the prayers from the books just as much as the parishioners. Next Monday will discuss how the first Sunday goes. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcomed Janet Benestad to the show. Scot said the Pastoral Letter is the Cardinal’s second this year. The first was on the Feast of Pentecost and this version is longer than the first by far. Scot said the letter begins by referring to the Thanksgiving holiday and what we put up with to attend that family celebration. Janet said it’s a very personal letter where the Cardinal reminisces about his own childhood and events of his life. She said we work very hard to come together, even if the food isn’t as great as we want it to be or the conversation won’t be as great as it could be. But we do it because it would be unthinkable to be apart from these people. The same is true of the Mass. When we’re away from the Mass, we start to feel disconnected from the Church, our parish, and the Eucharist. Scot said it’s not the same when a member of the family isn’t there on Thanksgiving, and it’s the same when our brothers and sisters in Christ aren’t present at the Eucharist, a Greek word which means Thanksgiving. Fr. Chris said St. Paul speaks of this; when a member of the Body of Christ is missing, the Body is lacking. The next section is called “Jesus’ Eager Desire— Do This in Remembrance of Me”. The Thanksgiving meal of our Catholic family occurs every Sunday. The word Eucharist comes from the Greek word εὐχαριστία (eucharistia), which literally means “thanksgiving.” Jesus Himself instituted this family tradition on the night before He died. When He gathered the disciples in the Upper Room for the Last Supper, He told them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover meal with you.”1 He taught them the importance of humble service through washing their feet.2 Then He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and through His divine power transformed it into His own body, blood, soul and divinity. He told them, “Whoever eats this bread and drinks this blood will have eternal life.” 3 He then instructed them to, “Do this in memory of me.” 4 Since that day almost 2,000 years ago, the Church has carried out Jesus’ command. As Catholics, we pray in so many ways, but Jesus told us to pray this way. This is the prayer he most wants from us. Janet said all the grace we receive flows through the Eucharist. All the grace of the work we do flows toward the Eucharist. In that section, Cardinal Seán speaks to those who might feel disconnected. If you feel spiritual, not religious, then this is for you: You recognize your hunger for God, you feel your need for the Eucharist. Please know God hungers for you. Fr. Chris the Catechism tells us the Eucharist is the apex of prayer. He is truck when Christ asks the apostles, do you believe? And they reply, where else can we go? He recalls Elizabeth Ann Seton, who converted from Episcopalian. She would pray in an Episcopal church, but would be physically oriented toward the Catholic Church where the tabernacle lamp was burning. Scot the Cardinal goes on to talk about the unhealthy individualism in the practice of Catholic faith. But Christian discipleship is never a solo flight; it is a lifelong family pilgrimage. At the heart of that adventure is the Eucharistic banquet where the Last Supper and Calvary become present. … Some people say, “Mass is boring” or “I don’t get anything out of it” or “I pray in my own way.” Consider for a moment how parents would feel if their children said similar things about the family celebration of Thanksgiving or a birthday party. “I don’t get anything out of the celebration” or “it’s boring” or “I’ll celebrate your birthday in my own way.” We would feel disappointed, incomplete, and certainly hopeful that the family would be fully reunited at the next gathering. Similarly, Jesus’ eager desire is to have us all present each Sunday for His thanksgiving meal. Scot said when asks his parents what they want for birthdays or holidays, they tell him all they want is for everyone to be together. It reminds him how deeply how much his parents love their kids and grandkids. Janet said in her family, they always manage to get together, but one of her children last year was in Iraq for all major holidays and they all miss him when he’s not there. St. Therese said she learned to love the Mass from watching her father’s face at Mass. She loves to take her grandkids to Mass and see them experience the beauty of the Eucharist. These gifts are the most important gift we give to our children. Fr. Chris said a father was telling him that he brought his 4-year-old to Mass and after seeing the father genuflect before entering the pew, insisted that they both do the same thing together. Fr. Chris likes the words the Cardinal chose: Do this in remembrance in memory of me. On Veteran’s Day we remembered the men and women who have sacrificed for the sake of freedom. How much more has Christ sacrificed for us and how much more we should remember it. Speaking of freedom, the Cardinal asks us not to take for granted the gift of the Sunday Mass. Scot once calculated that within 15 miles of his home in Belmont, there are more than 100 Catholic churches and more than 500 Masses every Sunday. Cardinal Seán recalls Roman martyrs who risked death to go to Mass and who said, “Without Sunday, we cannot live.” He then recounts the people throughout the world today who risk their lives to go to Mass on Sunday. Fr. Chris said St. Augustine said, the sacraments signify what they effect. It means that what we see happening is actually happening. When we receive the Body and Blood of Christ, it is the Lord nourishing and sustaining us. Without God, nothing happens. With God, all things are possible. The Cardinal ends this section thus: Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta often spoke about how precious each Mass is. Frequently she would instruct newly ordained priests to “celebrate each Mass as if it is your first Mass, your last Mass and your only Mass.” In other words, she implored priests never to take the celebration of the Mass for granted and let it become routine. I ask the same of every Catholic in the archdiocese. Just as we should be grateful for each day God grants us, let us anticipate and participate in each Mass as if it could be our last or our only Mass. Let us never take for granted the wonder that is the encounter we have with God each Sunday that we celebrate the Eucharist together. Scot said this is one of his favorite paragraphs in the letter. It’s like a splash of cold water in the face. There have been times he’s attended Mass when it wasn’t like the first or last Mass he’s ever participated in. Janet said she thought about it last Sunday, asking herself how that would affect how she participated. In the Eucharist, Christ is closer to us than we are to ourselves. Fr. Chris said Christ thirsts for souls. Through the Eucharist, Christ communes with us: “We have received and we have been received” in the Eucharist. 3rd segment: In the next section of the letter, the Cardinal explains the nine reasons Catholic give for coming to Mass: We desire to respond to God’s love “God so loved the world that He sent His only son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”9 Jesus’ love for us led Him to offer Himself on the cross for our salvation. The same saving love of Jesus leads Him to continue to give Himself through the gift of the Eucharist. The word “love” in English, particularly today, has been stripped of much of its beauty and meaning. It often is reduced to a “feeling.” In Greek, there are seven words for love and the word for the love God has for us, agape, connotes action, a self-gift. The love we want to have for God is a self-gift in return, of our time, energy, worries, hopes and joy. The Mass is the best place to thank God for the gifts besides Himself that He gives us — especially life, family, friends, faith and love. Scot said we come to Mass because we desire to respond to the love God has had for us. Janet said when we look at the story of the 10 commandments, God says to do these things because “I love you.” This notion of agape as the highest form of love is what we respond to. We desire to encounter Christ in the most profound way possible The Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy explains that Christ is present to us in four ways during the celebration of Mass: (1) in the community celebrating; (2) in the Word proclaimed; (3) in the priest presiding; and (4) in the Eucharist. Fr. Chris said Jesus says he is the vine and we are the branches. We graft ourselves to the vine. We pray in the Mass for forgiveness and to be brought together in Christ. In the second way, Fr. Chris encourages people to pray before the Mass to ask God to bring us deeper into his mystery through his Word that is preached. Then recognizing that when the priest celebrates the liturgy, he is in the person of Christ. This is why he says, “Do this in memory of me.” When the priest says that he is reciting the words of Christ, but he is also giving up his own life for the community, leading them closer to God. Finally, he notes that tabernacles often have images of the pelican piercing its breast to feed the young, based on an ancient myth. Christ becomes the Bread of Life that nourishes us. By encountering Jesus in these four ways, there is no more profound way to encounter God. Scot said there is a hunger ingrained in us to meet God in heaven, but the best way short of heaven is meeting him in the Mass. With regard to Christ being present in the community, it means God is present in everyone. Fr. Chris we talk about the Church on a journey to heaven. It is both human and divine. Some people reject the Church because of scandal or the sins of individuals, but just as the cross is a stumbling block for many (how could the Lord die on the cross?), the fact that Christ dwells in the community and we are called to be his hands, feet, and mouth. Scandal overshadows Christ’s indwelling. We desire to gather and pray with our parish family The celebration of Mass has horizontal and vertical dimensions. We desire to strengthen our particular family We desire to witness to our faith and provide a living legacy to our children and grandchildren Janet said Cardinal Sean makes the observation that he didn’t need to bring the apostles all together for the Last Supper. Our presence to each other is the fullest expression of our Christian identity. He reminds parents that they are to be the first and best teachers in the faith for our children. Janet said she liked the story of the teacher who said she grew up in a family where going to Mass together was as optional as breathing. It wasn’t imposed. It just was. “To miss Mass is to stop breathing; it is the sure path to a spiritual asphyxiation.” Children are always watching their parents and grandparents. We form our young people by the way we participate in the Mass. Children who see that their parents get to Church early to pray before Mass will want to imitate them. Children who observe parents and other adults reverently receive the Eucharist will more readily realize that the Eucharist truly is the Body and Blood of Christ. The example of parents is an essential part of preparation for receiving First Holy Communion. Children who hear from their parents how much, and why, they love Mass will be less inclined to compare Mass to television and consider it “boring.” Scot thinks that last is a very strong line. It strikes him as his kids love to watch TV and play video games. Without trying to differentiate Mass, sometimes we come to Mass expecting to be entertained. Fr. Chris said God is worthy of praise and thanksgiving. Everything we see is total gift from God and we remind our children to be thankful for his blessings. Similarly, for families to stop throughout the week, bringing their sadnesses and hopes and prayers to the eucharist and energize them and bring them together, what more could we do? At the end of the day, God will only ask us how great a Christian were we? We desire to be transformed by Christ’s sacramental grace We desire to participate in Jesus’ victory over death and the salvation of the world We desire a foretaste of Heaven Sports fans in Boston over the past decade have had the good fortune to celebrate many championships. Our victory parades have been incredible gatherings. No sports fan in the nation would deny that Boston knows how to celebrate victory. Wouldn’t it be great if others said that about us for the way that we celebrated the biggest victory of all — Jesus’ victory over death? Janet said she happened to be at Fenway Park on Father’s Day when the Bruins came to celebrate the Stanley Cup with the Red Sox and she said if we could celebrate the Mass with the same energy and enthusiasm as she saw that day, how wonderful would it be? We desire to follow God’s loving guidance and to commit to deepening our relationship with God Cardinal Sean talks here about honoring the third commandment to honor the Sabbath. Fr. Chris said the commandments are not suggestions. This is God’s word: Keep holy the Sabbath and remember the need to rest and give God praise. The Eucharist allows is to thank the most important person in our life and give gratitude to him for the blessings he bestows on us. 4th segment: The next section of the letter is addressed to particular groups. The first is to Catholics who’ve been away from Mass. My dear brothers and sisters: please know that we miss you, we love you, and we hope you will rejoin our Catholic family for our Sunday Mass. Some of you have drifted away from the Church and have been waiting for a good time to return. I pray that you will consider this the time to join us on our faith journey toward Heaven. … Some of you have made a choice to stop coming to Church because you have been hurt by the actions of someone in the Church or because of a difficulty with a Church teaching. From my first day as Archbishop of Boston and perhaps for the rest of my days, I will always be asking the forgiveness of all those who have been hurt by the actions, or inaction, of people and leaders in the Church. Please do not let those experiences and memories separate you from the love of Christ and of our Catholic family and prevent you from receiving the grace of the sacraments. Scot said this comes from the deepest recesses of Cardinal Seán’s heart. Janet recalled that during the launch of Catholics Come Home that Cardinal Seán said that if people aren’t in the Church, he can’t have conversations with them about that which hurt them or that which they disagreed with. It’s a better conversation when we are receiving the Eucharist together because it brings us into communion. He addresses priests and then parish staffs and parish councils. He’s very practical, asking them to put MassTimes.org in the parish bulletin in the summer for those traveling on vacation to take Christ with us. Please make lists of those we want to invite. Parish record books and censuses can be helpful. We certainly want to reach out to people who have baptized their children, brought them for First Communion and Confirmation, enrolled children in religious education, been recently married, attended funeral liturgies, and those who in the past used offertory envelopes. Please plan a major neighborhood outreach, perhaps as a prelude to a parish mission, day of recollection, or evening of prayer. … Please discuss with your receptionists, greeters, ushers, volunteers, ministry leaders and parish staff members the best practices of hospitality toward newcomers and the skills needed to invite, engage and involve parishioners in your parish life. … Ride-sharing programs can become a more important ministry at most parishes. There are many Catholics who would be grateful for a ride to and from Mass and for the company of a friendly fellow parishioner. … Coffee receptions after Masses at least monthly, weekly if possible, have been shown to deepen the sense of community. Fr. Chris said it’s best practices being put forward by the Cardinal Seán. It’s not just 10,000-foot theology, but boots-on-the-ground practice. It shows it’s not just the priest’s responsibility, but each of us has a role and a part to play. When the body is healthy and vibrant, it can’t help but attract people to it. Janet said the Cardinal also speaks very directly to parents. Your good example of faithfulness to Sunday Mass, prayer and moral decency preaches more eloquently than the homily of any priest. When children see that their parents love Sunday Mass they likewise will grow to love it too. Too often parents “come for the kids” and kids come because “Mom and Dad brought me.” Articulate to your children your love for Jesus, why you attend Sunday Mass as a family and why their instruction in the faith in school or at CCD is one of the most important gifts you can give them. I ask that you live Sunday as the Lord’s Day, a day that includes Holy Mass, religious instruction, leisure activities, a family meal, spiritual readings, and acts of charity. She said it’s a beautiful passage and encouragement, especially for young families. Cardinal Seán is calling us back to remember Sunday as the Lord’s day. The Cardinal concludes with the story of the disciples on the Road to Emmaus who rushed to tell the world that Jesus had been risen. Let us all do what those two disciples on the road to Emmaus did. Let us rush to tell the world that Christ is alive and eagerly desires our family to gather at the Lord’s Table to experience God’s love, to discover our identity as Catholics and to fulfill our mission together. Let us proclaim that we desire to live each Sunday with the Lord and with each other in the supreme prayer of the Church, the Eucharist, our Thanksgiving celebration.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Recipients of the 2011 Cheverus Awards Joan Fawls, St Mary of the Hills, Milton Frances X. Hogan, Massachusetts Catholic Conference Frank McCarthy, St Rita, Lowell Chester & Patricia Morrill, St Richard, Danvers Benoit Thibault, St Augustine, Andover Brother Daniel Walters, OSB, Glastonbury Abbey Ann Casey, St Marguerite d’Youville, Dracut Linda Newell, Our Lady, Star of the Sea, Marblehead Mary Therese Ferraris, St Jude, Norfolk Deacon Michael J. Markham, Our Lady of Grace, Pepperell, along with Fr. Paul Ring Eileen Simmons, Our Lady of Grace, Pepperell Deacon A.J. Constantino, Sacred Heart, East Boston Thomas Maloney, St. Ann, West Bridgewater Today’s topics: 2011 Cheverus Awards Summary of today’s show: The Good Catholic Life was live at Holy Cross Cathedral on Sunday to bring you 13 stories of some of the 97 unsung heroes of the parishes of the Archdiocese who received the Cheverus Award from Cardinal Seán. What’s remarkable about them is how unremarkable the stories are in one way: These humble people acknowledged that there are many more just like them in their parishes, doing the same work of living out the Gospel in the world. They are the Body of Christ in the world and on this Solemnity of Christ the King, they emerged from the shadows for a brief moment of recognition on behalf of all those they represent. 1st segment: Scot said yesterday at Holy Cross Cathedral was a special ceremony in which Cardinal Seán awarded 96 Cheverus Medals to recipients who were recognized for their service to the Catholic community. Established in 2008, in conjunction with the archdiocese’s bicentennial celebration, the Cheverus Award is named after the first Bishop of Boston, Jean-Louis Lefebvre de Cheverus. Bishop Cheverus led the diocese from 1808 until his return to his native France in 1824. The award is given to lay people, deacons and religious in parishes and other archdiocesan ministries for their service to the Church and the people of God. Recipients are nominated by pastors, regional bishops and the central ministries of the archdiocese. Cardinal O’Malley also chooses some of the recipients personally. Scot and Rick interviewed 13 of the recipients at the end the ceremony and those recordings will be played.. Scot welcomes Joan Fawls of St. Mary of the Hills, Milton. Her children all attended the parish school and she become involved through the PTO. She’s also involved in a food program that brings desserts to residents of a homeless shelter. She’s been running it for about 7 years. She was humbled to be selected from among so many who work so hard. She said it’s an easy program to run, she has the gift of organization. She loves running it. This was Joan’s first time to the cathedral and she said it was very lovely. Scot welcomes Fran Hogan, a Boston attorney and volunteer who has served the pro-life committee of the Mass. Catholic Conference. She said she was shocked to be given the award. She chairs the pro-life and family life subcommittee and she’s dealing with many issues in the public arena, including assisted suicide. She said there are many euphemisms in use. For example, the Hemlock Society has changed its name to Compassion in Choice. Massachusetts is seen as a testbed because of its large medical community. She is a member of Immaculate Conception Parish in Everett. In her day job, she is a real estate attorney. Scot said the Cheverus Awards work by having each diocese nominating one person every three years. Scot said St. Rita’s in Lowell nominated Frank McCarthy. Frank has been a member his entire life, being baptized there and getting married there. His main involvement is in religious education and RCIA. The ministry has helped his own faith. He said he learns more by preparing to teach it. He said he couldn’t understand why he was chosen for the award because so many are deserving of it. Scot asked why St. Rita’s is a shrine. The church was originally St. Columba, but because of a number of miracles attributed to St. Rita’s the name was changed in 1924. He’s experienced healing through the intercession of St. Rita. In 1987, he was sick and his wife attended a healing service where she prayed for him and at the same moment he was healed. Scot said of the 97 recipients were two couples, including Chester and Patricia Morrell of St. Richard, Danvers. Patricia said it’s wonderful to win with her husband. Patricia said her husband was on active duty for 30 years, but together they were lectors, eucharistic ministers, they cleaned the church, took kids on retreats for many years. Someone needed to do it, so they just did it. The moved to Danvers from Lynn in 1973. They are celebrating 61 years married this year. Patricia said she missed the original announcement of their award an only found out they were getting it two weeks ago. Scot and Rick talked about the importance of unsung heroes in the parish like Chester and Patricia. Rick said it’s nice that yesterday was a day to thank the people who don’t often get thanked. Scot welcomed Benoit Thibault from St. Augustine, Andover. He’s been a member of the parish for 21 years. He’s originally from Montreal. He’s involved with Franciscan brothers, Lazarus House, Cor Unum, Pregnancy Care, men’s ministry, and religious education. He’s retired and so he has time to do these things. Scot said the Gospel readings were about the corporal works of mercy and that is a list that matches those works of mercy. Every Tuesday, he goes to Cor Unum to feed the homeless. There are many more from the parish who are involved in the ministries of the parish. Scot said pastors tell him how difficult it is to select one person to nominate. Scot said he met Benoit in Legatus, a society for Catholic businessmen. Benoit worked his whole career in the lumber business. Scot said most of the awards were given to lay men and women, but each of the five auxiliary bishops were able to nominate a religious brother or sister and a deacon. Scot now interviews Br. Daniel Walters from Glastonbury Abbey. He’s been there since 1973. The abbey is a Benedictine monastery. They first came to Hingham in 1954 from Wisconsin. There is a retreat house, conference center, and bookstore. They also do some outreach in the community, including local parishes and soup kitchens. There are only nine monks now so there are a lot of laypeople involved. He’s from Quincy and after reading Thomas Merton, he became interested in the monastic life. Scot said Benedictines are known for liturgy and this is a big week in the liturgy with the change in the missal. They’ve been helping people prepare for the changes. The abbey offers retreats for individuals or groups, for many different themes and other faith traditions. Rick said the theme we see in the interviews is that these people at the cathedral are taking to heart the words of this past Sunday’s Gospel, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. They are out there literally feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the imprisoned and more. Two of the 13 interviewees told Scot they know his mom, including Ann Casey of St Marguerite d’Youville, Dracut. Ann said she works one day a week in the parish office recording sacraments. She’s also in charge of bereavement luncheons, CORI checks, bulletin inserts, and other administrative work. She’s been a part of the parish since about 1974. Scot said when he was young it was called St. Theresa’s church. Scot said it was originally combined with St. Francis in Dracut and now shares a pastor with St. Rita in Lowell. Scot has many positive memories of the parish from growing up. Scot is joined by Linda Newell, Our Lady, Star of the Sea in Marblehead. She’s been a parishioner there for about 32 years. She coordinates the Christian service programs, both outreach and within the parish. She also helps with communion ministry and she’s a lector. They are currently doing a giving tree which provides Christmas gifts for those who would not otherwise have them. They will gather about 1,000 gifts. She found out she was getting the ward from Fr. Steele. She was surprised and humbled and the award made her think of all the wonderful people of the parish who do so much. Scot said that is a common reaction among recipients because they recognize how many are involved in building up the parishes. Scot said this was the first-time they had used the new mobile studio for remote recording and he was worried that the choir practicing before the ceremony would drown out the interviews, but it turned out to be a nice backdrop for them. Scot welcomed Mary Therese Ferraris, St Jude, Norfolk, immediately after the ceremony. She was surprised to be notified she was getting the award. She’s receiving it on behalf of a lot of people. She was director of religious education for 26 years in that parish. She’s now educating the children of some of her first students. She said it’s wonderful to be recognized by Cardinal Seán for helping to build up the Church. Scot said many recipients are involved in religious education for young people. She said she does it for the children. Seeing those happy faces each year makes it worth it. Scot welcomed Deacon Michael J. Markham, Our Lady of Grace, Pepperell, along with Fr. Paul Ring. Michael said it’s an opportunity to remember all the people who have influenced his faith over the years, from his first religious education teacher to his family to his pastors and to his wife. Scot said to Fr. Ring that it must be agonizing to be able to send in one or two names to be recognized. Fr. Ring said Fr. Arthur Coyle submitted Deacon Mike’s name, but for the lay leadership of the parish it took a lot of time to finally settle on Eileen Simmons. Scot welcomed Eileen Simmons. She taught second grade CCD for many years, preparing them for First Communion. She also worked in Legion of Mary and was a Eucharistic Minister for 25 years. In the Legion, they would go out to visit people’s homes and pray the rosary with them. She said she knew Scot’s mom very well. She said it’s nice to run into children of the people she taught when they were in second grade. She said she was very nervous to receive the honor from Cardinal Seán. She said said the whole parish is so supportive and she’s received many congratulations from parishioners. Many of her friends and family members were present. She has 7 daughters, 19 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. In the studio, Scot said it was very moving to be in the presence of a woman who has done so much for the Church over decades. Scot welcomed Deacon A.J. Constantino from Sacred Heart Parish, East Boston. Scot said it’s a very diverse parish. They celebrate Mass in English, Italian, and Vietnamese. Each community is actually growing. It’s a very active parish school family. The Vietnamese youth are thriving. They merged with Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in East Boston and the Italian community has become a vibrant part of the parish. His wife, Betty, also a recipient of the Cheverus Award. He said part of the diaconate is that it’s a husband and wife ministry. His wife and daughter are as active in the parish as he is. Betty is the parish youth minister and is involved in the daily activities of the parish. He grew up in a family where the family life centered around the parish life and when he dated, he looked for someone who’s family life was like his, so it’s natural to be part of a parish community. The deacons are selected by the regional bishops and he was selected by Bishop Hennessey. Deacon Constantino said he loves being a deacon. Scot welcomed Thomas Maloney of St. Ann, West Bridgewater. Thomas has been a parishioner for 16 years. He’s on the finance council, is a eucharistic minister, and helps with eucharistic adoration. He often goes to the Pastoral Center for noon Mass on his vacations. He was honored to receive the letter from the Cardinal’s office and he was caught off-guard by it. He never expected it. He was awed by being in the cathedral and then walking up to receive the award from the cardinal was amazing. Thomas said we need to give back to the church what God has given to us. Pastors are often alone and need the help of many to help the parish thrive. He said the CCD program offer the biggest bang for the buck, the highest return on the investment. For those who don’t think they know enough about their faith to teach, they can start by being a teacher’s aide, get some training and eventually end up teaching. Scot said it’s a wonderful way to learn the faith. Scot read the complete of those who received the award, available at the . Scot said it was wonderful to see all the priests who were also there, overjoyed to celebrate the hard work of their parishioners.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Msgr. Francis Strahan, Pastor of St. Bridget Parish in Framingham Today’s topics: Pastor Profile: Msgr. Francis Strahan Summary of today’s show: One of the legendary priests of the Archdiocese of Boston, Msgr. Francis Strahan, talks with Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell about his 52 years in the priesthood, including 18 years teaching future priests to sing at the seminary and 28 years as pastor of one of the largest parishes, St. Bridget in Framingham. Msgr. Strahan also recalls the experience of leading an archdiocesan choir for Pope John Paul II’s Mass on Boston Common in 1979 (and why the choir ended up dyed red), and how on a later trip to Rome, the Holy Father acted as a music critic for Monsignor’s musical performance. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Mark back to the show and they discussed the end of the liturgical year and Fr. Mark’s busy day. It’s also the last weekend with the old translation of the Missal we use for Mass. Scot said it’s also the weekend for the Cheverus Awards at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Sunday at 3pm. They are the unsung heroes of the archdiocese. Scot said one of the legends from within the presbyterate of the archdiocese is Msgr. Francis Strahan. Fr. Mark said all the priests look up to him. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcomed Msgr. to the show. His hometown is Everett, which he calls the Riviera of the East. He’s been a priest for 52 years now. He first heard the call by being inspired by the priests of his parish as well as a nun who taught music. Fr. Bill O’Neill was a great influence. In those days, there were 4 priests in the rectory. Msgr. said his parents were talented musicians and there was always music in his home. They sang a lot in Mass in those days, with singing throughout the Mass even during the prayers of the priest. He spent two years at Boston College and then moved to the seminary. In the seminary, he was in the choir. He eventually did some cantoring and really enjoyed that. After ordination, he was assigned to St. James the Greater Parish in Boston. He was invited to formally study music at the New England Conservatory so he could eventually teach it at the seminary. The parish was in Chinatown and the theater district and garment district, and they had a lot of city ministry to workers downtown. His degree at the conservatory was in voice and conducting and theory. Msgr. Strahan taught full-time at the seminary for 18 years. He said it was a challenge, especially in the late 60s to 70s, with the change of the Mass from Latin to English. Most of the men were very dedicated to the learning. Those who sang in the choir still say that it was an enjoyable time. The Christmas choir was half men who couldn’t almost sing and half who could sing very well. Msgr. Russell Davis was the one who recruited Msgr. Strahan to replace him teaching music at the seminary. Davis had been at the seminary for 18 years himself. Msgr. Strahan taught at both St. John and Blessed John XXIII seminaries. Scot asked Msgr. Strahan how he worked with a seminarian who wasn’t a good singer. Msgr. said he told the men who felt they couldn’t sing that everyone has one note and you could sing any prayer with that one note. Scot noted how he’s heard priests who sung the whole Mass, who didn’t have good voices, but yet it was prayerful and sounded beautiful. Msgr. said when the priest sings the consecration, even with one note, the whole church becomes silent. 3rd segment: The segment began with a soundbite from Pope John Paul II during his visit to Boston in 1979. Msgr. Strahan built a choir of 350 people for the papal Mass. Msgr. said at first they weren’t sure the pope would be coming to Mass to celebrate a Mass. when they found there would be a Mass, they started to think about a choir. They had just had the funeral Mass for Cardinal Wright in August when they heard about the papal visit coming in just six weeks. They had many more than 350 people who wanted to take part. They rehearsed twice a week at St. John Seminary. People would come from business trips in New Jersey for the rehearsal and then drive back to New Jersey. On Boston Common, they had a great sound system and choir stands. Msgr. said the Secret Service people were very impressive and he appreciated working with them. They said their job was made easier by the fact that this was a friendly crowd that would love them. At the cathedral on that same day, the St. Paul’s boy’s choir performed for the Holy Father. While they waited for the Pope at the Common, the choir lead the crowd in song, until the Holy Father appeared and the crowd roared so loud they drowned out the choir. They entitled the Mass: the Mass of Christ the Redeemer of Man. Msgr. Strahan wrote the Mass with some help for accompaniment of orchestra. They sang the Mass in the pouring, driving, windswept rain. They had to give up the instrumental accompaniments because of the rain. Everyone who wore the red choir robes ended up dyed red underneath. One of the songs they didn’t get to sing at the Mass was “Simon, son of John.” Fr. Mark said every priest wants to hear Msgr. sing it. For years it was sung at every priest’s funeral. It comes from the three times Jesus asked Peter if he loved him. It is based on the same tune as the Salve Regina. Fr. Mark said Msgr. still sings it at every priest gathering. The song was eventually sung in Rome when Cardinal Law was made a cardinal at an audience for the people from Boston. He was asked at the last minute to sing it as a prayer with Pope John Paul II. As he ended the song, his voice cracked a little., but he hoped no one noticed. After he sang, the Pope greeted everyone and when he came to him, said, “Nice voice. Too bad about that last note.” Msgr. said of his parish that it’s a great place with lots of people of all ages helping out. He’s grateful for the parish’s food pantry because so many people are in need these days. He’s been at the parish for 28 years now. He said it’s a joy to marry a young couple and to look out and see the parents that he married many years ago. He’s privileged to be part of that cycle. Scot said for many people in that parish the only pastor they’ve ever had is Msgr. Strahan. In their mental conception of the Catholic faith, Msgr. would figure prominently in their faith. He noted how often he sees himself in pictures in the homes of parishioners he visits. 4th segment: Scot said Msgr. Strahan also serves on many committees and ministries on the archdiocesan level. Scot got to know him as chair of the board of the Catholic Foundation. Msgr. said he’s also served as chair of the liturgical commission and the music committee. He’s also been on the pastor’s advisory committee of the Catholic Appeal, working with priests to help them with the work in their parishes. Scot said St. Bridget in Framingham is always one of the top parishes in giving to the Appeal. It’s not only active in Framingham, but goes beyond to help the Church throughout the Archdiocese. Msgr. said each week, 5% of the collection goes out to other organizations that need help. Fr. Mark asked Msgr. how feels about the new changes to the Roman Missal. Msgr. said the only challenges in 1972 wasn’t the change in language, but the change in music. There weren’t many hymns, for instance. With this new change, there are numerous textual changes. He’s given five evening sessions in his parish to show that there’s a certain fidelity to the Latin text behind the changes. He thinks it will still be difficult for people to stop saying the same words they’ve been saying for years. Msgr. said it will also be difficult to sing the changed texts. Msgr. said the choir at St. Bridget’s is a good group of singers, but isn’t a big group because the choir loft isn’t very large. They’ve been working on some new Masses with the coming changes. 5th segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Scot said this is the Gospel for the Feast of Christ the King and the Gospel talks about service. It is the corporal works of mercy, the key ways we’re to love from Sunday to Sunday. Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker Movement said we love God to the extent to the amount we love the person we like the least. The reason you see Christ in a person is because they’ve been made in the image and likeness of Him. Fr. Mark these good people Jesus is talking to don’t remember helping someone. They don’t remember because it became just part of who they are. At the beginning it’s a conscious act, but after a while it becomes unconscious because that’s who we are. Scot said there will be those who fail the test as well. Msgr. said there can be a complacency that sets in. He said there will be those who hear the Gospel and ask how they can serve the needs of others, but for those who are physically unable, their prayer is part of serving. Fr. Mark said Cardinal Sean’s new pastoral letter challenges us to invite others to Sunday Mass and that’s another work of mercy. Scot said Cardinal Sean says as an archdiocese we’ve done very well at the corporal works of mercy, but we haven’t done as well at the spiritual works of mercy, like Msgr. just said. It’s through the transformation of receiving the Eucharist, it’s much more natural to do all the corporal works of mercy.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Antonio Enrique, editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese. Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: US bishops’ meeting; Ordinariate for Anglicans; Cardinal Seán’s pastoral letter Summary of today’s show: Scot Landry and Susan Abbott were joined by Fr. Roger Landry and Antonio Enrique to discuss the news of the week, including Cardinal Seán has issued a pastoral letter asking for more participation in Sunday Mass; the US bishops met this week and religious freedom was a major topic; big developments for Anglicans and Episcopalians wishing to enter the Church en masse; a clarion call from Archbishop Dolan for bishops to model passionate love for Christ; the Marian Medal awards in Fall River; and other local stories 1st segment: Scot welcomed Susan back to the show. She said last night she was in Brighton for a workshop at the catechetical certificate course with parish catechists. She also did a workshop at Sacred Heart in Kingston this morning with catechists on the South Shore. 2nd segment: Scot and Susan welcome Antonio Enrique and Fr. Roger Landry back to the show. Scot said the US bishops have two annual gatherings, one in June and a second in November and the latter is in Baltimore. One of the main addresses this year was by Bishop Lori who is the chair of a new ad-hoc committee on religious liberty. Fr. Roger said the US bishops have prioritized religious freedom. Bishop Lori gave a clarion call for why this is important to everything Catholic. There is a notion among secularists is that they’re doing us a favor by allowing us to practice our faith in our churches on Sunday and object to us when we want to live our faith in public. Not only have they worked in the courts to force us to take up their notion of marriage, for instance, and then force Catholic adoption agencies to give children to same-sex couples and force Catholic public clerks to give out marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Bishop Lori put it all in one document why this is important. It all happens through the courts and legislatures and executive offices of our government and we all have to understand duty to object to this curtailing of our religious freedom. Secularists are saying freedom of religion is freedom to worship as opposed to freedom to live your faith in the public square. What they want to allow is a militant secularism. Bishop Lori named 10 bishops to his ad-hoc committee and ten others as well, including John Garvey, president of Catholic University of America, and Mary Ann Glendon of Harvard Law and former US ambassador to the Vatican. Scot said one-third of committee chairs of the USCCB are elected each year and Cardinal Seán was elected to be chairman of the bishops; Pro-Life Committee, one of the most important committees. Antonio said the pro-life cause is very near and dear to Cardinal Seán. It is great news for Boston and great news for him. The new chairmen-elect will become chairs of those committee next year and will spend this year preparing for leadership. The bishop elected to head this committee is usually one of the American cardinals, which gives greater prominence to the office and the work they’re doing. Cardinals will also get more headlines in the secular media. Fr. Roger is excited about this appointment because Cardinal Seán is a great homilist and will be the celebrant at the annual Mass at the March for Life in Washington, DC, each year. Also this coincides with the push for legalizing euthanasia in Massachusetts. Also announced was a new Ordinariate, which is essentially a national diocese for Anglicans who want to become Catholic as complete communities. The only other ordinariate in the US is the Archdiocese for Military Services. There is a an Ordinariate for Anglicans in the United Kingdom which just began. Susan said her own parish has a priest who is a former Episcopal priest who came into the Church as an individual. Fr. Roger said it shows Pope Benedict’s desire for Christian unity and creating a bridge for reunification who separated along with Henry VIII in the 16th century. Many Anglicans recognize that as the Anglican Communion has gotten further from Scripture and orthodox Christianity, they recognize that there was no longer any hope of bringing the Anglican structure back to the Church, so they are coming back on their own. Anglican faithful, priests, and bishops desire unity and recognize that the whole Anglican communion won’t be coming back. Cardinal Wuerl said we will welcome Episcopalian and Anglican brothers and sisters back into the Church with open arms. The Ordinariate will be erected on January 12. Whoever is named to lead the Ordinariate will be named at that point as well as the see or central city where it will be located. Antonio said in the case of this ordinariate does not have to be a bishop. It can be a priest, either one who is already Catholic or who came from the Anglican Communion several years ago. He said many Catholics look at this development with joy and hope because it helps to fulfill Christ’s prayer that all will be one. Scot said there were three keynote addresses at the bishops’ meeting, that by Bishop Lori, another by Bishop Rhoades on defending marriage, and by Archbishop Timothy Dolan as the new leader of the bishops’ conference. Archbishop Dolan gave a clarion call to renew our evangelization and be passionately in love with Christ. Susan said the archbishop said we need prophets, not programs. Jesus prefers saints, not solutions. This is similar to what Pope John Paul II said in . Susan said the opening of the article was impressive where the Archbishop said the Church has wounds like Christ did from the scandals of the past few years. Scot said the archbishop was blunt about an effort from within the Church from Catholics who want to separate Christ from the Church. That’s people who want to be spiritual, not religious. They want faith on their terms, not those from Jesus. Dolan talks about the chilling statistics from the people in the Church who prefer a Christ without the Church, the King without the kingdom, the Father with children as long as I am the only child. Dolan said if this doesn’t causes bishops to shudder, he doesn’t know what will. Antonio said the Church is trying to address this by trying to recreate the way we pass the faith on to the next generation. How do we educate our children? How do families live their faith? It will take more than one generation to reverse the situation we’re in today. Antonio’s own experience readying parents for the baptism of their children finds their knowledge of their faith to be abysmal. He challenged his brother bishops whether people would say that they themselves are passionately in love with Christ. Bishops are under a microscope with regard to the condition of the Church and the bishops need to model the behaviors they want to see in their people. He gave a talk to energize the bishops and through them all of us in the Church. Squabbles and fighting can be a negative influence on people thinking about coming into the Church. 3rd segment: , a pastoral letter from Cardinal Sean Scot said this isa compelling title because Jesus is eager to see us there. The primary Jesus asked us to praise and worship him is to come together in the Eucharist. Fr. Roger said the expression “eager desire” comes from St. Luke’s account of the Last Supper where he said he eagerly desired that moment for them to be together. Fr. Roger said many can say they love God, but love means sacrificing for the one we love. It’s Jesus who asks us to come to Mass, not just the Church or our mothers. He wants us at Mass more than all the mothers in the world want their children to be with them at Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. That’s the overall theme of the pastoral letter. Scot said it’s a 9,300 word letter and very comprehensive. Susan said the beginning of the letter where the Cardinal relates it to Thanksgiving touched her. There are also practical suggestions about families bringing children to Mass. Susan said the US bishops have a website with similar suggestions at . Susan said the whole topic of attending Mass came up at her workshop last night and people were saying there’s nothing wrong with having an obligation to come to Mass. Scot said the Cardinal shares an anecdote: Imagine if a wife, celebrating an anniversary dinner with her husband, told him that she accepted the dinner invitation only to “fulfill an obligation.” How would you feel to be on the receiving end of that message? In the same way, Christ loves us and wants us to come not just out of obligation, but also out of love. Better to come out of obligation than not come at all, but it’s best to come out of love. Antonio said he was very happy to see the flow of the letter, which is very pastoral. It’s not a theological treatise. He was also touched by the section which talks about passing on the faith to children. Recently I attended a dinner at which the principal of one of our local Catholic high schools was being honored. In his remarks he said: “I grew up in a family where going to Mass on Sunday was about as optional as breathing.” Many of us in the audience could identify with those words — it was not a matter of authoritarian parents or social pressure, but rather a sense of how important the Sunday Eucharist was for our family identity and survival. To miss Mass is to stop breathing; it is the sure path to a spiritual asphyxiation. Antonio said if we don’t have this experience of the love of God creates a vacuum in our lives. Mass helps us to live our life in its fullness. Fr. Roger said the letter is broken into two parts. The first is our desire to meet with the Lord’s own desire to meet us. The cardinal is trying to fire up our love for the Lord to meet his great love. The section has nine different ways we can respond to the Lord’s letter. The second part has practical ways that all of us can take this eager desire of Jesus and try to bring us all back together. The practical insights in this part will be read by the faithful throughout the world. Compared to Pope Benedict’s , which is very theological, this is full of practical ways to spread the gift of the Eucharist. He particularly liked the call to priests to have more explanatory Masses that explain how and why we do what we do at Mass. 4th segment: In the Anchor this week is an article about the 43rd annual Marian Medal awards in the Diocese of Fall River. One of the people who was to receive the award and was interviewed for an article in the newspaper later died. He will still receive the medal, but Fr. Roger said his comments were a great summation of those who receive these awards which honor and reward those who are devoted to service of the Church. Scot said the Cheverus awards for the Archdiocese of Boston to be given out this coming Sunday at the cathedral were inspired the Marian Medals. Another story is that the Vatican has upheld the sale of St. Jeremiah Church in Framingham to the Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese in the US, which effectively ends the vigil by members of the former parish. The people who had been fighting to keep the parish have decided to give up their fight after the final Vatican appeal. Scot said Immaculate Conception Parish in Weymouth has been producing a TV show on local cable access for 19 years. Susan said she will appear on the show very soon. In the Anchor, there is an explanation of the funeral rite. Janet Benestad writes a column in this week’s Pilot about how people are being misled to sign a petition which is in favor of physician-assisted suicide. Scot called to the attention listeners the death of Fr. Kenneth McAskill who was a pastor for 18 years in Somerville and then 18 years in Medford in addition to a number of other priests. There’s also a profile in the Pilot continuing to look at the bishops of Boston and this week it’s on Cardinal Humberto Medeiros. Fr. Roger summarized his editorial in this week’s Anchor on Archbishop Charles Chaput’s address in Worcester last week, which looks at how religious freedom has eroded in our country mainly because Christians have been lukewarm in their faith and not living it to the fullest. The response to it needs to be a new flame of faith in love. He wanted Church leaders to help the young to get to know their faith by people who are on fire in their parishes and families and form them to take the fire of their love out into the public square.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry, Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Teresa Tomeo, radio host and author of the new book, “Extreme Makeover”, and Danielle Olsen, Mission Coordinator of the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults Today’s topics: The messages women hear in the media and the message the Church has for them Summary of today’s show: Women have been subjected to intense and conflicting media messages on body image, promiscuity, and personal choice. Teresa Tomeo, author of the new book Extreme Makeover, and Danielle Olsen, talk with Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams about the Church’s alternative message for women, a message that has been consistent and proven correct over the past half-century. Teresa advocates that women detoxify from the media onslaught and embrace the beautiful truths that God wishes to share with them through the church. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Matt back to the show. He said his office has been doing some research based on a synod for the new evangelization coming up next year. One of the areas the bishops will discuss is media and culture. Danielle said these issues affect even the middle school girls she sometimes works with. Teresa Tomeo is on from 9-10am Monday-Friday on WQOM. Scot welcomed her to the show. Teresa’s been on the air for 9 years. Extreme Makeover is Teresa’s third book. She discusses the mixed messages that come at women through the media that confuses them. She wants women to know that they’re not crazy or alone and that the Catholic Church is the best place for a woman to be, but it has the message for women that recognizes their inherent dignity. She also blows the lid off of topics like abortion, contraception, and other issues for women. It first started for Teresa when she lost a big job as a TV anchor, after having sacrificed her family and her relationship with God. It had become her identity. So when she lost her job, she had nothing. It was heartbreaking because the industry she had sacrificed for wasn’t there for her. It’s difficult to come to the point of realizing you’ve been doing everything wrong. It’s a long process. It started her examining what she was investing her time in. It took 5 to 7 years before she decided to walk away because she didn’t know much about her faith. This was back in the 1970s where she didn’t have a lot of opportunities to learn more. God doesn’t give you the whole picture at once. It’s a detoxification process where you have to peel the onion layers back slowly. Scot quoted a segment from the book. He said with the amount of media we consume, it’s almost impossible to avoid the messages they contain. HE asked why so much of the media advances these messages of abortion, contraception, promiscuity and more. Teresa said it’s an example of groupthink. So many of the people in the media are not religious and they come from similar colleges where much of this is taught as the norm. It goes back to the Sixties, which saw the birth of all these movement undermining traditional morality. They put bondage out there and sold it as freedom. The feminists sold a new bill of goods to women. The Church has been an advocate for women, including Blessed John Paul, who said the new freedom of women has been taken too far. Fr. Matt remembered coming back from World Youth Day 2000 in Rome where millions of youth came together with the Holy Father. Yet when he came back, the local media showed a small photo with “Pope meets with young people” even though it was one of the largest gatherings of humanity in the world. How does the Church begin to address and deal with this tsunami of the culture of death. Teresa said we keep challenging and raising the bar. We have to offer professional media from a Catholic perspective. It’s good solid professional discussion and content. We have to be involved and submit story ideas to the media. Engage them in a Christ-like manner and not let them get away with it. On the topic of pro-choice, Teresa said it’s a cop-out. Is it ever safe, legal and rare to kill anyone? When Roe v. Wade happened, it became legal overnight. There was no effort to regulate it. The abortions moved from underground to Main Street. How is this rare? All kinds of problems like depression or eating disorders and other health problems are associated with abortion, so how can this be called safe? You don’t even have to be an ob-gyn to be an abortionist. Scot said Teresa cites statistics in her book that 64% of women felt pressured to have an abortion and had no choice. Most of the women are there because they’re in a desperate situation. Teresa said many women tell it was not a choice, but a desperate move. 2nd segment: Scot said women are sold a lie about sexual promiscuity and contraception that it will bring them happiness. Teresa said in , Pope Paul VI made predictions about the effects of contraception has come true. Contraception is so physically damaging to women that promises of freedom for women is a lie. Stopping menstruation is not natural. Contraception also affects a woman psychologically, making them think they need to be sexually available to anyone. Scot asked if Danielle has seen this in her ministry with young women. Danielle said she has worked with many young women who enter into a detoxification phase when they realize how many lies they see. Pope Paul VI made a number of predictions in Humanae Vitae in 1968 about the fallout from contraception. All of them have come true. There is an attendant fallout in the media with how women are portrayed in media, especially pornography. She has decided that Satan particularly hates women. Throughout Scripture, there is a constant battle between Satan and women, from Eve to Mary to the Church. She uses secular research to show that the Church has always been right on these issues. God has a plan, not to hurt you or squash your fun, but to help you live your life. Fr. Matt said sin doesn’t make us happy. You’d think people would know that by experience. These things we talk about today don’t make us happy. Teresa said it’s amazing to her how many people are not paying attention to what their children are consuming. These are people coming to her talks who are evidently somewhat invested in this. Scot noted that the fruits of sexual promiscuity issues are numerous. There are two ways to live your life: by the culture and ending up on depression medication; or by the Church’s teaching which frees us from sin. We have a different view of freedom, that which helps us live our God-given potential. Teresa said most parents know the concept of saying No to a child when necessary because in the end it will be better for the child, even though for the moment no one is happy with the resulting tantrum. Yet adults don’t realize this applies to them. One thing Teresa says women need to do is to leave behind the culture’s idea of what it means to be a beautiful woman. She used to think she needed to be extremely thin. Instead they should embrace the Church’s image of what a beautiful woman is. Teresa said there were two women on a popular dancing show who are not heavy, but curvy because they’re athletic, yet the media is calling them heavy. The Church’s idea of beauty is from the inside out, not that they can’t be beautiful on the outside. Part of detoxifying is seeing yourself how God sees you, first and foremost as a daughter of the King. You are created in the image and likeness of God. God likes you where you are, but he also doesn’t want to leave you there. He wants you to have the abundant life of John 10:10. Women also have the idea that God doesn’t see them as equals to men. Teresa pointed out that Jesus has very important conversations with the women of Scripture. The women were with him at the most important times and were the ones to stick by him. 3rd segment: It’s time to announce this week’s winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prizes this week are by Jimmy Akin, and The Bible Answer Man Debate: Akin vs. White. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is J. Garry & Michele Hebert. Congratulation, Garry & Michele! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Teresa said one of the ways to see ourselves as God sees us is to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Teresa compares it to getting a facial. She also talked about the importance of silence for peace and for hearing God speak to us. We can’t hear him if we cover up his voice with all kinds of media noise. It’s very important to be affirming when talking to people who are in this culture. You have to be loving because you never know the pain they’re in or where they’re coming from. Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. There’s no sin too great for God’s mercy. Teresa said she’s coming at this with such passion because she’s lived this stuff, she’s been there, she’s had the mindset. So now she can encourage them to consider those things which she eventually considered that changed her mind. She had to gradually come to an understanding and that you have to help others gradually. Scot asked Danielle what’s the best way to take the teachings of the Church to young women. The best way is by being in relationship with them. For her it was the witness of the women living out the teachings of the Church. You can’t teach unless you are in relationship with them and understanding their hearts.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Robert Spitzer, SJ, president of the Magis Institute and Spitzer Center for Ethical Leadership Today’s topics: Ten principles of logic and reason to address life issues Summary of today’s show: Want to win an argument against legalized abortion or assisted suicide with someone who doesn’t buy your religious morality? Fr. Robert Spitzer, SJ, discusses his Ten Universal Principles with Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor and shows how the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade violated basic logic, ethics, and commonsense in its decisions. If you weren’t convinced before, you will be after this very quick, one-hour discussion. 1st segment: Scot said we ask how we deal life issues today are there reasonable principles that guide our actions? How should our society address them? That’s our topic today as we welcome Fr. Robert Spitzer, former president of Gonzaga University and author of the book “Ten Universal Principles”. Scot said as a pro-lifer he learned a lot from this book to help him articulate why Roe v. Wade was terrible on even just the logical and ethical level. Scot said today’s show might change the opinion of someone who says they are personally opposed to abortion, but publicly pro-choice. As we prepare for the battle against assisted suicide in Massachusetts, we will address how to approach that topic with these universal principles. 2nd segment: Father Robert Spitzer, S.J., is a philosopher, educator, author and former President of Gonzaga University. He is founder and President of the Magis Institute, an organization dedicated to public education on the relationship among the disciplines of physics, philosophy, reason, and faith. He is the head of the Ethics and Performance Institute, which delivers web-based ethics education to corporations and individuals. He also is President of the Spitzer Center of Ethical Leadership, which delivers similar curricula to non-profit organizations. Father Spitzer’s other books include Healing the Culture and Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life. Scot welcomed Fr. Spitzer to the program. He asked Father why he wanted to write this book. Fr. Spitzer said there was a real need to get a comprehensive philosophy of the pro-life movement. They built it around ten principles so that when people accepted the principles they couldn’t have it both ways. They either accepted the principles and accepted the pro-life idea or they rejected the principles and accepted all kinds of awful things. It makes a case against abortion based on ethics and logic, not just religious morality. The principles are in three categories. Three principles of reason, three principles of ethics, and three principles of justice and natural rights and a fundamental principle of identity and culture. Scot said he learned form the book that we don’t get all of our rights from the Constitution. Fr. Spitzer said the whole idea of a natural right come from Francisco Suarez, SJ, in the 17th century, who showed that if justice is to be fulfilled, then everybody is owed a right to life, to freedom or liberty, and a right to property. The notion of the inalienable right is that they come to us from our Creator and the only criterion to fulfill to have these rights is to be a human being. No government gives these rights and so no government can take them away. John Locke discovered Suarez’s works and incorporated that into his work. Thomas Jefferson incorporated Locke’s work into the Declaration of Independence, which says we hold these truths to be self-evident, that every person is endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. The Constitutional rights are declared rights, but the right to life is undeclared and we have it by our very nature. This is the foundation for our government, but also for the United Nations’ Declaration of the Universal Rights of All Human Beings. The minute the courts declared that the right to life of unborn human beings to be taken away, they undermined their own duty to uphold those inalienable rights. Because Jefferson recognized that the rights were inalienable, the founding fathers didn’t include this in the Constitution. Fr. Spitzer said the Federalists were scared to include any rights in the Constitution because they were worried it would give the government the ability to take them away, even thought they were not from the government. All laws and even justice depends on these three inalienable rights to be protected. The rights form the foundation of justice. Justice is the foundation of the law. The law is the foundation of government. The right to pursuit of happiness or right to property depends on rights to life and liberty. Right to liberty depends on right to life. Fr. Spitzer said the necessity criterion is an objective criterion. Any right which is necessary for the foundation of another right. If the right to life is necessary for the very possibility for the right to liberty, then the right to life must be fundamental and ranked higher than the right to liberty. If you’re dead, then the right to liberty is irrelevant. To say the woman’s right to liberty is more important than the child’s right to life is to ignore that right to life is a necessity for the right to liberty. The clarity criterion would say that the woman is more clearly a person than the unborn child, but it’s not a necessity criterion. Clarity is not objective. What is clear to one person can be unclear to another, so it’s subjective. The Dred Scott decision held that black people’s liberty rights were subordinate to white people’s property rights, but this was a clear violation of the necessity criterion. Fr. Chris asked how you would teach these to friends. Fr. Spitzer said we should start with the principles of reasons and then the ethical rule that one should avoid unnecessary harm. Killing people who don’t need to be killed is really an unnecessary harm and if you’re in doubt at all as to the identity of the person, then you should not kill. The Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that you can do harm when in doubt. By the Court’s own admission, they were in doubt. Fr. Spitzer is working on a four-year curriculum for high school students on these same principles. They are available at . This would be a good choice for homeschoolers and schools alike. They apply the principles to two major issues, slavery and abortion. Scot said he appreciated that Father took the words from the Dred Scott and Roe v. Wade decisions and showed how wrong the logic and the application of ethics and the Constitution were. He highlighted some of the flawed reasoning in Dred Scott: The question is simply this: can a negro whose ancestors were imported into this country and sold as slaves become a member of the political community formed and brought into existence by the Constitution of the United States, and as such become entitled to all the rights, and privileges, and immunities, guarantied by that instrument to the citizen, one of which rights is the privilege of suing in a court of the United States in the cases specified in the Constitution? Fr. Spitzer said nothing was learned in Roe v. Wade from the flawed reasoning in Dred Scott. The Constitution can only declare extrinsic rights. Inalienable rights belong to people by their nature. But the Supreme Court simply forgot about inalienable rights. There’ also a very elemental logical error in both decisions: negating the antecedent: If there’s rain outside, then I know there’s water vapor out there. Water vapor is a cause of rain. If it’s not raining, does it mean there’s no water vapor outside? No, it could be humid. The only answer can be “I don’t know.” If we know for sure the Constitution declares people have rights, then we know they have rights. But if the Constitution says nothing about the rights of black people, does it mean they don’t have rights? The only answer is “don’t know” when examining only the Constitution. Roe v. Wade did this again. 3rd segment: Scot noted that the Supreme Court corrected Dred Scott, but in the early 1970s, they didn’t learn from their mistakes with Roe v. Wade. If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant’s case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the Amendment. The appellant conceded as much on reargument. [Footnote 51] On the other hand, the appellee conceded on reargument [Footnote 52] that no case could be cited that holds that a fetus is a person within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. … All this, together with our observation, supra, that, throughout the major portion of the 19th century, prevailing legal abortion practices were far freer than they are today, persuades us that the word “person,” as used in the Fourteenth Amendment, does not include the unborn. … Texas urges that, apart from the Fourteenth Amendment, life begins at conception and is present throughout pregnancy, and that, therefore, the State has a compelling interest in protecting that life from and after conception. We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man’s knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer. Scot said the logic here is very flawed. Fr. Spitzer said you can see right away the same negating the antecedent. They were looking in the 14th amendment if the unborn were included among persons, which of course they weren’t. You can’t characterize silence as agreement. Scot pointed out the Constitution doesn’t mention every possible description of categories of persons who might have rights. Just because it doesn’t mention immigrants, for example, it doesn’t mean it’s open season on them. Fr. Spitzer said it’s a common principle in the law that you can’t construe silence to mean agreement or disagreement. Fr. Spitzer said the second real problem is that the Supreme Court decides in the absence of consensus, they’re going to allow them to kill people. They acknowledge that if the unborn is a person, the case for abortion collapses. Again, for example, if there was uncertainty to whether immigrants were persons. The Constitution doesn’t mention them. Some theologians say that while they’re human beings, they’re not persons. Same with some biologists. So at the end of the day, they say go out and kill immigrants. It is a huge violation of the principle of first doing no harm. Fr. Spitzer going back in the 1600s, person was always defined in the law as a human being. There is no exception. The Supreme Court itself had precedent that give the fetus inheritance and other rights as a person under the law. The distinction between personhood and human being is specious. The zygote contains the entire human genome, is absolutely unique, and is a living organism. This living organism will into a grown adult. No one denies this human existence. Since when is there a distinction between human existence and personhood? Only when it comes to abortion. Fr. Spitzer said the majority in the decision just plain got it wrong. The only thing they got right was that if the personhood could be established, then the 14th amendment applies to them. Scot said they then separate personhood into different trimesters, treating this human life differently using these arbitrary distinctions. Fr. Spitzer said there is a principle that descended from the controversy over the enslavement and killing of Indians in the New World in the 16th century. People wanted to enslave or kill the Indians. A Dominican Spaniard, Las Casas, debated the principle in the Spanish courts against Sepulveda. The argument was that since they were “savages” and subhuman and not fully actualized, they could be enslaved or killed. Las Casas said it was ridiculous. He said they were catching up fast in culture and society and it was only a matter of time before they reached the same level of intellectual and societal potential. Their level of potential is an accident of history. One should look only at the full human potential. The degree of development that the fetus has reached is being counted as determinative of their humanity. Are they less human because they haven’t gotten to the third trimester. Of course not. They had the full human genome and full human potential as a zygote. They are called subhuman for an historical accident, because of the level of development they reached at a particular point in time. Las Casas asked what’s the consequence of this fallacy? It’s a violation of the principle of nonmaleficance on a grand scale. It will do an immense amount of unnecessary harm. Fr. Chris said this is important as we begin a fight in the Commonwealth against the legalization of assisted suicide. Even though the unborn cannot speak for themselves, this is not a natural condition of their right to life. Roe v. Wade imposes an undue burden on one group in order to give a new freedom to another group. Fr. Spitzer said people say about assisted suicide is that it’s no one’s business but the person who wants to die. But the courts have to see if there are effects of assisted suicide on other groups besides those who want to end their own life. What about the person in the hospital whose relatives pressure the person to commit suicide so as not to burden them? That pressure to die doesn’t exist until euthanasia is legalized. Fr. Spitzer has identified six categories of people who would be affected by legalized assisted suicide and they are included in his book.…
WQOM has provided us with ten tickets to the WQOM Conference on Saturday, December 10th, 2011. Scot announced that all interested in winning a pair of tickets should send an email to LIVE@thegoodcatholiclife.com before midnight on November 14th. We will give away a pair of tickets every day this week, so tune in for your chance to win! Scot was also proud to announce that Cardinal Sean O'Malley has been elected chair of the Pro Life Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Please say a prayer for Cardinal Sean that he may lead the committee to fruitful works. Today we bring you an encore presentation of an interview Scot and Fr. Matt conducted with Fr Roderick Vonhögen in June. Fr Roderick's varied experience and entertaining yet moving vocation story is always worth another listen. The shownotes are available on the We hope you enjoyed this encore presentation.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Jonathan Gaspar, Priest-Secretary to Cardinal Seán O’Malley and Director of the Archdiocesan Office for Worship, and Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth, Executive Director of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) Today’s topics: The new translation of the Roman Missal Summary of today’s show: On the First Sunday of Advent at the end of November, the Church in the United States will mark a historic moment where the texts of the Mass we celebrate each day will change. Why are they changing? What are they changing too? How will it affect how we sing at Mass? Is it taking usback to the Middle Ages? All these questions and more will be answered as Scot Landry is joined by Fr. Jonathan Gaspar of the Archdiocese’s Office of Worship and Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth of the International Committee on English in the Liturgy, which was largely responsible for this new translation of the Roman Missal. 1st segment: Scot said the first Sunday of Advent this year marks a momentous occasion in the history of the Church, because we will begin praying the liturgy in new ways that will help us deep the sense of reverence and the sacred. One of the worldwide experts on these changes is with us. The ICEL has a major task to help creation translations that are faithful to the original Latin texts of the Church’s liturgical texts. Msgr. Wadsworth said ICEL is a commission of 11 bishops who represent the territories of the world where the Mass is celebrated in English: the US, Canada, Ireland, England & Wales, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, and South Africa. ICEL is responsible for all of the liturgical texts, including those for the Mass. It started its work even during the Second Vatican Council, translating texts at the time. It’s a collaboration of 11 bishops’ conferences, which have responsible for the liturgical texts in their countries, and ICEL provides assistance to them. ICEL was originally funded by an initial contribution from the 11 conferences, and since that time it collects copyrights on the liturgical texts from the publishing of the books containing the works. It enables them to subsidize the production of liturgical books in poorer areas. Msgr. said the staff of the permanent secretariat which is located in Washington, DC, is 5 people, with collaborators all over the world. Msgr. said when there’s a text to be translated from Latin, they have a base translation by a person authorized by the Church to undertake the work. They have linguistic ability as well as a theological background. Their first draft goes to a committee of four bishops who have those same gifts and they assess the translation line by line and word by word. From them, the text goes to the 11 bishops of the ICEL board, who meet at least once per year. At that point the text, which is called the Green Book, goes to the individual bishops conferences and all of those bishops study and reflect on the text and consult anybody they want to help them. All of that comes back to the ICEL offices and they apply them to the text. On the large-scale, the Church has given general guidelines, which were mostly issued in 2001. And then more specific guidelines have been issued in the Ratio Translationis for the English language, which are the specific considerations which have to be born in mind when translating into English. What the bishops are often able to identify are those things which might be insensitive in relation to their own territory. English is a worldwide language, but it’s used differently in different places. Scot asked how they balance the concerns between countries and bishops. Msgr. said they balance the universal with the local. The liturgy belongs to everyone and there is a single English text for everyone to have. Because the character of the text is more formal than the English we use today, that’s the level in which English is used throughout the world. Ultimately, the text is established by a process of voting. There has to be a greater than two-thirds majority of the bishops for a text to be established. After all the amendments and suggestions have been applied, it is called the Grey Book. The bishops then vote on it. That establishes the text, which goes back to the Congregation for Divine Worship in Rome who needs to authorize the text for publication and implementation. The text is voted up or down in its entirety. The Congregation, assisted by the Vox Clara committee which helps the Congregation with anything in English, can amend the text as they see fit at any stage of the process because they have overall authority over liturgy in the Church. The first version of the current Latin missal came after the Vatican Council in 1969 and the English was published in 1973. In 2001, new guidelines for translation were issued and the updated version of the Latin missal in 2002. So it’s taken about 10 years to implement the translation of the new Roman Missal in English. Scot asked how many languages the Latin is translated into. Monsignor thought it was in the hundreds of languages. In addition to the 11 members of ICEL, there are more than 20 that use the English liturgies even though English isn’t the main spoken language of the place. Monsignor said it’s the work of many hands. The Liturgy is the center of our life as a Church and so great care must be taken in every step of the process. 2nd segment: Monsignor said when the current translation was implemented in 1973 and it was thought there would be a revision done pretty quickly, within 5 or 10 years, but it’s taken 40 years. Scot asked why they thought a revision would be needed.It was because it was our first experience of vernacular liturgy instead of Latin. We’re still very young in our experience of that. In the 1980s, ICEL surveyed people on what they expected from a revision. First, they thought the present translation doesn’t convey all of the content of meaning of the original Latin text. Second, there is an absence of the special vocabulary we use in speaking about our faith that convey so many important concepts. Third, it was thought the language we use in everyday language was not suited to use in liturgy. Monsignor himself has experienced this moving from the United Kingdom to the United States. The difference is language is diminished by using more formal language, such as we would use in poetry or literature. This is a style of language we share across the world. Fr. Jonathan said he compares it to the new renovated apse at St. John’s Seminary. Father said he had been at the seminary for eight years and they had a beautiful painting over the apse of the chapel that depicts the Pentecost scene. Just this past summer, that painting was restored and removed years of smoke damage from candles and incense. Now when you look at it, you see not only St. Peter, but also the keys in his hands. By analogy that’s what the new translation is giving us. The old translation gives us the big picture, we see Peter. But in the new translation we see Peter in 3D. All of the imagery the Church gives us is restored in this text. Scot asked if the absence of vocabulary was because of the quickness or the desire to make it as colloquial as possible. Monsignor said it was a little of both. The old translation was completed in just about 2 short years from beginning to end. The guidelines issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship at the time favored a more conversational style of English. There has been a change in the translation approach. The cumulative effect is that ideas that are very important in the liturgy are lessened, so now we are expanding some of those concepts in the new translation. Scot asked about the new words that may be unfamiliar to some Catholics. Monsignor said we have a lifetime to plumb the riches of the liturgy and catechesis can help us to deepen our appreciation for these mysteries. Scot asked why the new translation will be more beautiful? Monsignor said one of the characteristics of the original Latin texts is that they’re beautiful themselves. Many of them date back nearly two millennia. The new guidelines instruct that when translating, the beauty of the form and structure of the original texts must be respected. Fr. Jonathan commented on the new translation of the Gloria: “We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory.” Some might say that’s just a wordier way of saying what we’ve been saying along: “We worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory.” Monsignor said in the old version all the repetition that is found in the Latin text is suppressed. Repetition is a device in poetry that brings greater emphasis and as you say it, the rhythm of the text is evident. There is music within words and one of the great aspects that has guided this process has been to make that music more evident. Often the bishops of the committee asked to sing the prayer to consider it. These are living, breathing texts for living celebrations of the liturgy. Scot asked why it’s central that the liturgy not only be spoken, but that we bring back more sacred singing in the Mass? Monsignor said the liturgy is something we do together, it’s not a private prayer. It’s a form of worship that envelops the whole of the church and singing is a way we united our voices and we give a heightened expression to the something that is really important. The beauty of the chant is to call to mind the contemplative, where the whole intention is to draw us in more deeply to the reality of that moment of the Mass and music is a more powerful way to do that. Music unites truth and beauty. Scot said the first time he’s seen a priest sing the Mass it was beautiful, even though he just had a good voice. Fr. Jonathan said it’s not just for musicians. To hear someone who doesn’t have a trained voice do so is beautiful. St. Augustine said, “Only the love sings.” When we sing, we put our praise of God into song, not because we have good voices, but what we’re called to express in our worship, which is the praise and love of our Father through the liturgy. 3rd segment: Scot said there’s been a lot of focus on the different responses that the congregation will be saying. Monsignor said the greatest amount of change is in the prayers said by the priest. All of the prayers that change each day and the prayers of the Eucharistic Prayer have changed, but we will be drawn into those prayers as we hear them over and over. Monsignor said there are 10 Eucharistic Prayers in the Roman Missal, the four main ones and then six for particular needs and reconciliation. they’ve all been set to music in both a simple and solemn tone. This version of the missal will have more music than any previous version. This is music that is not the hymns, but all the chants for the order of the Mass. It is all Gregorian chant. This doesn’t supplant all other forms of music, but it belongs to the whole Church and is a form of music we will share with all parts of the world that worship in English. Special chants for particular times of the year are included, including Holy Week, Palm Sunday, the Triduum. Scot said the words of the Gloria are changing. Does that mean all of the sung Glorias that people sing now will go away? Monsignor said each national conference of bishops has issued guidelines to help composers through this transition. In the case of settings of the Mass that are already familiar, they have mostly been revised to bring them into conformity. A certain bit of flexibility is allowed, but there is a move away from paraphrase. Fr. Jonathan said he has many hopes with regard to how the new translation affects the music of the Mass. It’s the first time we’ve received one musical setting of the Mass that he hopes will become common. On a local level, in the 289 parishes of the Archdiocese, there are many beautiful settings of the Mass are sung and many he would never be able to sing with because he hasn’t heard them before. One setting means it’s one we can all know and sing and pray together. It doesn’t exclude other settings from publishers, but the chant in this missal is very beautiful. He’s had reports from music directors who had been skeptical that to their surprise the people are responding to the chants and that even the children are singing them and loving them. Scot asked why Gregorian chant is recommended so strongly versus more contemporary music. Monsignor said the chant has three qualities that make it special: First, it’s universal that belongs to everyone in the Church and doesn’t have a direct secular equivalent. Second, it is thus very spiritual music. It doesn’t bear the mark of changing styles in music, it’s timeless. Often people find it attractive because it can’t be placed in any particular time period. Third, it bear repetition. If we sing it every day, it doesn’t get stale. Many of the current styles are appropriate for instrumental accompaniment and large groups of singers, whereas they are not appropriate for weekdays and smaller congregations. Fr. Jonathan said a lot of musicians ask if they can use an organ with the chants, he says it’s okay to help them in the beginning, but ideally Gregorian chant puts the emphasis on the word that is being sung. The musicians also say they don’t know how to sing chant, but he points to the example of the children’s choirs. If you put a line in front of them, even in Latin, the children pick it up very easily. You don’t need special training in chant. He’s hoping to offer workshops on chant in the upcoming year. 4th segment: Scot mentioned some criticisms of the new translation. Some say it brings us back to the Middle Ages. Monsignor said this is just not true. The texts of the Mass go back to first millennium, but the current translation is well-translated and faithful. What about some of the new words feeling clunkier, like consubstantial in the creed. Fr. Jonathan said there’s a whole theological language we’re going to notice and it’s very precise, especially with regard to the relationships within the Trinity. It’s going to require catechesis and is a wonderful opportunity for priests and deacons to preach on Sundays about our liturgical texts, which is one of our main sources of our preaching in the Mass. It begins the first Sunday of Advent but is a work of catechesis that continues in years to come. Some people say it will be hard to implement on the parish level. Monsignor said the Church is very resourceful with many men and women of great gifts that will be brought into play. We’re continually invited to greater and more active participation in the liturgy and this is the opportunity to assess our experience of the liturgy and dare to do things differently. What about the claim we’ll be praying more Latin? Fr. Jonathan said we’ve always had the option to pray in Latin, which is the official language of the Church. This new translation from Latin into English. It does not require more Latin being sung, but it wouldn’t be a bad thing to hear the original Latin melodic line to give people a sense of the long history we have as Catholics. What about the fact that two-thirds of people on Christmas for whom this will be new? Monsignor said the experience of the liturgy once it’s implemented will carry people along. It’s important to address the Christmas phenomenon. It’s important for them to know that the Church they belong to is a living reality that is changing and growing. The Church will be extending an invitation to everyone who comes to Christmas to be more actively and consciously engaged in the life of the Church. For some people who aren’t involved in the Church may be unsettled at first, but it might sharpen the invitation for them to rejoin us on a regular basis. Fr. Jonathan said the biggest misconception was that this text somehow came to us from a committee of one or two in the Vatican. Monsignor effectively rebutted that claim. So many faithful people, including the bishops and the thousands who assisted them, produced a text that really reflects the work of many hands. Monsignor encouraged everyone to joyfully receive this gift from the Church. Apart from expressing all the truths of the faith we believe, it’s the most powerful way we receive grace from God to become holy. We sing in the middle of the Mass, “holy, holy, holy,” and the purpose of the Mass is to help us become what we sing.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Ad limina visit; Assisi prayer; US: beacon of hope; Cheverus awards Summary of today’s show: In this week’s roundup of the news, Scot Landry and Susan Abbott are joined once again by Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy to discuss the New England bishops’ ad limina visit to Rome; the gathering for peace by the world’s religious leaders in Assisi, Italy; the papal nuncio’s admiration for the US as a beacon of hope; the Cheverus Awards for unsung heroes in the pews of the Archdiocese of Boston; new pastors and priests who who’ve died; a collection for retired religious sisters; the Pope on nihilism; and the 100th anniversary of Boston’s first cardinal. 1st segment: Susan started the week with a meeting in Worcester with the Catholic school superintendents of New England and religious education leaders to discuss the upcoming National Catholic Education Association in Boston in Spring. She also met with her religious education counterparts for New England to discuss their collaborative work. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Roger and Greg to the show. Fr. Roger wished his goddaughter Ally, who happens to be Scot’s daughter, a happy eighth birthday. The big story is that the bishops of the US region 1, which includes all of New England, have been meeting with the Holy Father. Usually there is a lot of news and releases related to these kinds of meetings and there hasn’t been much this time. Greg said the ad limina is usually about every 5 years, but these bishops haven’t been in 7 years and it’s the first time meeting with Pope Benedict. They report on the status of their diocese, meet with the Pope, and meet with various Vatican officials. They receive the Holy Father’s concerns and encouragement for their dioceses and to share their own concerns. This is the first group of US bishops for this round of ad limina visits by the American bishops. One of the public events chronicled in the Pilot is how they kicked off the visit with Mass at the tomb of St. Peter in the Vatican. Susan said the excerpts of Cardinal Seán’s homily say he spoke about how Jesus didn’t select Peter for his intellectual capacity or organizational skills or fundraising capacity, but only asked if he loved the Lord. Fr. Roger said he was surprised there wasn’t a papal address during the ad limina. John Paul gave an address for each of the regions as they visited. Normally that’s what drives the news cycle, when he responds to what he has received from the bishops. We’ll have to wait until our bishops return to find out the results. 3rd segment: Fr. Roger dedicated his editorial this week “path to peace” on the topic of Pope Benedict’s remarks at the Assisi interfaith meeting on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the first such meeting. Pope Benedict contextualized what the religious leaders were doing 25 years ago, by noting the fall of the Berlin Wall a few years later and he said that interreligious prayer for peace brought peace to that part of the world. He also talked of the threats to peace that threaten the world today: terrorism, especially that which is religiously motivated—not just Muslims either—as well as the violence that is done through the absence of God in places with a lack of religious freedom. Pope Benedict said we also see it in the scourge of drug use, which is an expression of the degeneration of the desire for human happiness into a craving that is exploited. Pope Benedict brought these up so that all religious people could combat these problems throughout the world. Susan said one of the hungers in the human heart is for peace. She remembers the 1986 Assisi gathering and a discussion that we weren’t coming together to pray for peace, but we were coming together to pray for peace in our own traditions. Greg said the absence of religion can be the greatest barrier to peace. Fr. Roger said it’s often agreed that St. Francis of Assisi is universally considered a saint. He’s also known as a reconciler, even going to Egypt to meet the Saladin to ask for peace. 4th segment: The new nuncio to the US is Archbishop Vigano who called the youth of this country a beacon of hope to the world. He arrives here on Saturday. “Europe has become an ‘old continent,’ but the United States has a youth that is brilliant and enthusiastic. I hope to be able to work with them in my new position,” he said.” Susan said it’s wonderful that he sees us as a young country that is also setting the trend in ways that he hopes will spread through the world. Scot said the Archbishop said it’s wonderful how in the US there are many communities that come together to form one country. We can take the melting pot of the US for granted, but Greg said we need to remember how in European countries that there is less diversity of culture and community. The Archbishop loves science and is interested in the intersection of science and faith. Fr. Roger said the archbishop sees in science the fingerprints of God. Fr. Roger recalled his own work in biotechnology before entering seminary and how often he saw the order of creation that points to God. The US is the real cutting edge of bioethical discussion because we have so much scientific research and someone so interested in that intersection would find the US a fascinating bioethical laboratory. The archbishop hinted that he will concentrate on religious freedom issues, especially conscience freedoms for people of faith working in science-related areas. Fr. Roger said the US bishops have formed a new committee on religious freedom to counter the recent attacks on human dignity and religious freedom. Susan asked if there’s a term for nuncios, and Fr. Roger said it’s indefinite. It’s also traditional for bishops to offer their resignation on their 75th birthday although the Pope could ask him to continue on. 5th segment: An article in the Pilot this week lists the 97 Cheverus award recipients. The Cheverus award was implemented by Cardinal Seán in 2008 to recognize parishioners who give service to their parish and the archdiocese over a long period of time. Susan noted that she knows many of this year’s recipients, including her brother-in-law, Arthur Abbott. One third of the parishes nominate a parishioner each year. The awards are given on November 20 during a service at Holy Cross cathedral at 3pm. Greg said pastors of the recipients are unanimous in their effusive appreciation of the people who serve quietly in parishes. The Cheverus award is modeled on the Marian award that Cardinal Seán gave out when he was bishop of Fall River. Fr. Roger said the recipients are often people who don’t often get many thanks or much credit for what they do. It’s very moving. It’s tough for the pastor to single out one person to be awarded each year. Fr. Roger implemented a yearly award in his own parish in which parishioners nominate from among their fellow congregants those who should be recognized for their service. Also on November 20, there will be a collection taken up for the retired religious sisters. Because so many of the current sisters entered religious life in the 40s and 50s, but they weren’t able to enter the Social Security system until the 1970s and so they have meager means to support themselves, especially as there a fewer younger sisters to continue supporting them. 6th segment: Sister Susan Frederick who has been president of Presentation of Mary Academy in Methuen for the past eight years has recently been appointed a member of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary General Council. Susan said it was very touching in the article to read the comments sister’s students. The sadness of her leaving is tempered by the excitement of the new chapter in her life. She is Methuen native and has been a religious sister for 30 years. Also announced this week, Fr. Thomas Mahoney who was Catholic Chaplain at Mass. General has been named Pastor of St. Joseph, Belmont, as of December 8. Also in Salem, St. Thomas the Apostle had been pastored by Fr. John Sheridan, who is also the Pastor of St. James in Salem, but will now be pastored by Fr. John MacInnis, who remains Pastor of St. John the Baptist in Peabody. Scot mentioned three obituaries in the Pilot this week for Fr. Arthur DiPietro, Fr. Charles Weber, and Fr. Francis Regan. 7th segment: Scot said on Sunday the Holy Father spoke during the Angelus how the removal of Christ from our lives will cause us to fall backward to darkness. The world is plagued by nihilism which affects so many young people. Fr. Roger said nihilism means an attitude that nothing matters, that there is nothing beyond what we see and the world doesn’t have any meaning. Many people have a practical nihilism in which they act is if there is no meaning beyond the gratification of the immediate moment. Fr. Roger said tonight he is heading out to hear an address from Archbishop Charles Chaput speak on the future of the Church in the United States. He will be speaking at Assumption College in Worcester at 7pm in Hagan Hall. It is open to the public. Greg noted that tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of the elevation of Boston’s first cardinal, Cardinal William O’Connell to the College of Cardinals.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Lorna DesRoses of the Office for Black Catholics, Fr. Gerald Osterman, pastor of Immaculate Conception, Everett, and St. Katharine Drexel in Roxbury, and Judge Antonette Leoney Today’s topics: The Bishop James Healy Award Dinner and award recipients Summary of today’s show: Each year, the Office for Black Catholics celebrates members of the community who demonstrate strong, effective leadership and Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams sit down with the honorees this year, Fr. Gerald Osterman and Judge Antoinette Leoney, and Loran DesRoses from the office to talk about the awards and the particular concerns of the black Catholic community in Boston. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Matt back to the show. There was a last night and the speaker was Oscar Rivera, a middle-school youth minister who graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville. Oscar did some rap music and talked about the theme of “Get a Life” and being authentic with God. Fr. Matt also gathered with other graduates of the Good Leaders, Good Shepherds program of the . It included priests from around New England. The program helps priests with tools to be a more effective leader. Cardinal Seán is being honored by the Catholic Leadership on Friday. Scot said the Bishop Healy and Robert Ruffin Awards will be awarded at a gala on November 19. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Lorna DesRoses of the Office for Black Catholics and Fr. Gerry Osterman, pastor of St. Katharine Drexel in Roxbury and Immaculate Conception in Everett, as well as Judge Antonette Leoney. This is the 19th presentation of the Bishop Healy Award and the 9th presentation of the Ruffin Award. The Healy award remembers Bishop James Augustine Healy, the first African-American bishop in the US. He was born in Georgia in 1830 to an Irish farmer and a black slave. All of their children received their education out of the south. Three became priests. One of them was president of Georgetown. Lorna said Healy is controversial because he never publicly acknowledged his African-American heritage. He was a vicar general of the Archdiocese of Boston and a bishop of Portland, Maine. The award is given to a Catholic who exemplifies their faith in the community. Judge Leoney is the recipient of the award this year. She is a member of St. Katharine Drexel Parish and is involved in the Archdiocesan Black Catholic Choir. She is very involved in her parish. She is also an associate justice of the Massachusetts District Circuit Court. Judge Leoney said she is extremely humbled by this award. When she was told she was selected to receive the award, she was speechless. She said there are others who are more worthy than her and Lorna challenged her to tell her who they are. She has been singing in church for more than 20 years. Fr. Osterman said beautiful music lifts our hearts in liturgy and he said the judge helps him in his own chant during the Mass. He said the choir sends everyone home with lifted hearts. He said it is a great honor to have a parishioner to receive the Healy Award. He was overjoyed when Judge Leoney was recently appointed to the bench and now with this award. Fr., Matt asked her about her work as a judge and how her faith shapes her work. Judge Leoney said every day she thanks the Lord and says, “But for the grace of God, go I.” She sees so many people in bad circumstances and how throughout her personal life and professional life that Jesus has been the center of her life, helping to remain centered. There are days when she leaves work completely exhausted by the stories of the people who come before her and without Jesus as the center of her life, it would be difficult to do what she does. Before going on the bench, she was a federal prosecutor for 20 years and she started her day the same way. She comes from a modest background herself and is able to empathize and sympathize, even for people who have done wrong and she must sentence to jail time. She has been judge since September 10, 2010. Scot asked her what it was like to from in front of the bench to behind it. Judge Leoney said one of the reasons she became a prosecutor was her overwhelming desire to bring justice for people. In her heart and mind, her first priority is to get it right the first time. Having been a prosecutor for 20 years, she sometimes has a desire to jump down from the bench and do it herself. 3rd segment: The Robert Leo Ruffin Award is named after a prominent black Catholic of the 19th century who was involved in the . the award is given to those who serve in the black Catholic community and are dedicated to education, service, and the eradication of racial injustice. It is not awarded every year. Previous recipients include Fr. Patrick Waldron and Sr. Mary Hart. She said Fr. Gerry was selected by Cardinal Seán for his work in the parishes, with the St. Boniface Haiti Foundation, and the founding of the for girls in the Roxbury/Dorchester area. Fr. Gerry said he was surprised, honored, and humbled. Judge Leoney said Fr. Gerry is a pastor of two very different parishes that are geographically very separate, in addition to all his other work. She said doesn’t know where he gets the time and energy to do all he does, but every time he ministers, he does it well. He’s been involved in ministry in Roxbury and Dorchester for many years. Scot asked Fr. Gerry about being pastor of two parishes that are not contiguous. Fr. Gerry had been in the parish in Roxbury for 12 years and had been gone 10 years so it was a homecoming for him. It was difficult the first week, logistically, but it got easier as he fell into a routine. It takes about an hour to get from Everett to St. Katharine during the week, but he makes good use of the time. Making the journey is worthwhile because at the end of the journey is a warm and loving community of people who make him feel welcome. He began the . He’d been going to Haiti for about 30 years and they have a hospital in Haiti about 30 miles south of Port au Prince. The work there began as healthcare, but it’s moved into education. They are building a school in the area now. He said that nearly two years after the earthquake there isn’t much rebuilding yet, although the rubble has mainly been cleared. While much money has been pledged to Haiti, a lot of money has not yet been given. Oversight and building codes have slowed things down. He thinks it will be 20 years before Haiti recovers from the earthquake. Many Haitians are still homeless and living in tents and other temporary shelter. The Mother Caroline Academy in Dorchester is one of about 60 of them around the country based on the same all-girls model. It’s grades 5 through 8. They’re in school from 7:30am to 8:30pm with a break for supper at home. It’s like a private academy except they sleep at home. It becomes a family and the teachers are volunteers for up to three years. Fr. Matt asked how his current inner city ministry is different from his previous assignments in suburbia. Fr. Gerry’s first assignment was in the suburb of Wayland. He said it’s not all that different. The Gospel is the same. People may come from all different backgrounds and there is a lot of violence people live with every day which affects everyone and was usually connected to drugs. That made people from outside fearful of the community, but those who lived inside were mainly families in difficult circumstances who had the same hopes and desires as every one outside the city. He said St. Katharine Drexel is 90% black, and that’s a term he uses intentionally. It includes African-American, English-speaking Caribbean (most Haitians go to St. Angela’s in Mattapan), and Africans who are mainly Nigerian. He said the people blend easily among the different backgrounds. 4th segment: It’s time to announce this week’s winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prizes this week are , by Eugene Gan, and , by Fr. James A .Wehner. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Jean Chevry from Cambridge, MA. Congratulation, Jean! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: Lorna said people interested in tickets for the dinner can call 617-746-5810 or go to Scot asked Judge Leoney what people should know about Roxbury. She said they should know it is a community of beautiful people of deep faith, whatever the faith. There are wonderful things going on for young people, both within and outside of the churches. It’s also a very diverse community of African-Americans, Africans, Haitians, Cape Verdeans, Asians, Jamaicans, and Caucasians. She encouraged people to come visit and even patronize the restaurants. Fr. Gerry said the greater Catholic community is victimized by the press when it comes to the inner city because they only receive one side of the story. He said he often found reporters camped in the neighborhood waiting for something to happen and almost disappointed when it didn’t happen. They never tell the story of good young people who aren’t in trouble. he said the Church’s role is to make people more comfortable with being part of the community. Scot asked Fr. Gerry how he reaches out to the unchurched or lapsed Catholics in Roxbury. He said the Mass attendance is about the same percentage as the rest of the Archdiocese. he said there are many activities that bring people to the church hall, even if there aren’t formal programs. He said music is a very important draw for people. Fr. Matt recalled attending the Nigerian Mass as a seminarian and remembered the music and the liveliness and the appearance of the people. The Bishop Healy Award Dinner is going to be at Lantana’s in Randolph on November 19 at 6pm. Everyone is welcome to purchase a ticket and come to celebrate both Judge Leoney and Fr. Osterman and the black Catholic community.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Joshua Phelps, Associate Director of the Office of Pastoral Planning for the Archdiocese of Boston Today’s topics: Cardinal Seán on “The Eucharist: The Center of Catholic Life” Summary of today’s show: In a speech that goes from Papua New Guinea to Flannery O’Connor, Cardinal Seán O’Malley says we have a crisis of absenteeism from Sunday Mass and calls for a renewed vigor from disciples to invite Catholics to return to the Eucharist. Scot Landry, Fr. Chris O’Connor, and Joshua Phelps consider the Cardinal’s recent speech at Boston College and unpack its implications for the Church today as we face this crisis. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chris back to the show. He also welcomed Joshua Phelps back to the show. Two weeks ago, Cardinal Seán gave an address called “The Eucharist: The Center of Catholic Life” to members of the Boston College community as part of their Church in the 21st Century program. The Cardinal begins by telling a story, which he often does in talks and homilies. When I was in the seminary, our Provincial, Fr. Victor, wrote a letter to Rome in which he said that our mission in Puerto Rico was flourishing and that our Province was prepared to take on a second mission. He said that he wanted the most difficult mission in the world. The response was lightening quick saying that we should open a mission in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. The guardian, Fr. Fermin Schmidt, from the Capuchin College in Washington was named the first Bishop and friars were sent. Three of my classmates went. It was reported back to us that when the friars landed in a field, the natives who had never seen Europeans or an airplane were quite curious. They asked if the plane was a male or a female. They said if it was a female they wanted an egg. Many years later a young friar I ordained who was working in Papua New Guinea came to see me on his home visit. He had glorious pictures of smiling natives, with bones in their noses, feathers in their hair and little else in the way of clothing. He announced proudly, “This is my parish council.” I was particularly intrigued because one of my own pastors had just told me that his parishioners were not ready for a parish council. In the same vein, at World Youth Day in Cologne, Pope Benedict addressed the Bishops of Germany at the seminary. He referred to his native country, Germany “as a mission land.” This is true for so many places in the Western World including our own beloved country, where secularism and de-Christianization are gaining ground. The Holy Father said, “So many people do not know God. They do know Christ. There is a new form of paganism, and it is not enough for us to strive to preserve the existing flock.” We need to find new ways of bringing the Gospel to the contemporary world, of proclaiming Christ anew and of implanting the faith. As Pope Benedict said, we are not here just for “the existing flock.” We must be a missionary Church. Fr. Chris said it’s a reminder to everyone that every single member of the church is called to be a missionary by virtue of their baptism. The cardinal sets up a contrast between Papua New Guinea and the United States. It’s a reminder to us that there needs to be a missionary spirit in all of us and a return to radically proclaiming the Gospel. The fact that Pope Benedict this past year opened a new Holy See office for the New Evangelization, which means not simply evangelization to far-reaching missionary lands, but to Europe and the United States where Christianity is almost taken for granted. Scot said it’s to re-evangelize those who have been baptized Catholics. Scot said you don’t think of Boston as a place where a new form of paganism is gaining ground. Most people would think of Boston as very Catholic. Josh said Boston is very culturally Catholic. He said people often think of the new evangelization as new methods, it’s really about a new target of evangelization. While people may have heard the name of Jesus, they may not have heard the message of Christ in a while. Scot said the when the Holy Father talks about the New Evangelization, he says the content of our effort is not a bunch of information about theChurch, it’s the person of Christ. If you’re not receiving Christ in the Eucharist every Sunday, you’re not in deep relationship with him. Fr. Chris said the Cardinal will mention being part of the family, part of the vine. He said Pope Benedict uses the image of stained glass windows: from the outside you can’t experience their beauty. You must come into the Church to see the beauty. Similarly, in order to know and love Christ, you have to be part of his body, which is the Church. Josh said the image of the Papua New Guinea parish council, it is a picture of zeal for building up the kingdom of God in our communities. It’s no surprise that people who get Jesus, get the Church. Our task is to turn consumers into disciples and disciple-makers. We need to prepare men and women who witness to the faith and to not send people into the witness protection program. As the U.S. Bishops wrote in : “Every Catholic can be a minister of welcome, reconciliation, and understanding to those who have stopped practicing the faith. In the new millennium, business as usual is not enough. We must be a team of missionaries, moving from a maintenance mode to a missionary one. Scot said we talk a lot in the Church about moving from maintenance to mission. Fr. Chris said we can get comfortable with the status quo, forgetting that our churches should be overflowing with people. During Mass, when he sees out the open doors of the church and sees car driving past, he often wonders if they know what is happening in the church. He prays for greater recognition of the importance of the Eucharist to the world. The cardinal often tells priests and seminarians that they are called to be fishers of men, not keepers of the aquarium, seeking out disciples. Josh said the new paganism is shorthand for many of the things people are placing as foremost in their lives, including consumerism and materialism. We see how popular holidays become for the trappings, not for the meaning they have. The Church is not offering entertainment, but an encounter with the divine. Scot said he thinks the consumers as “what do I get?” where the disciple asks “How do I give? How do I respond to what I have received?” True disciples seek to give away what they have received. We must ask ourselves, what does it mean to live in a culture of unbelief - a culture which does not even know it does not believe because it still lives on the residue of Christian civilization? As has expressed it so well: “the church exists today as resident aliens, an adventurous colony in a society of unbelief. As a society of unbelief, Western culture is devoid of the sense of journey, of adventure, because it lacks belief in much more than the cultivation of an ever shrinking horizon of self-preservation and self expression.” Scot said the message is that the Church used to be the primary culture in which Massachusetts once operated, where most people were Catholic and if not Catholic, at least faithful religious believers. Now we are aliens in this culture. Fr. Chris said the Christian is the salmon swimming upstream against the currents of secularism. He’s reminded how some people recently tried to organize a public rosary on public property in Upton, the town’s initial response was to deny that right. As Catholics we can’t be abrasive about our faith, but we need a confidence about our faith, that what we believe is true. Scot quoted Archbishop Timothy Dolan that Catholic belief is proposed, not imposed. Too often militant secularists take the solitary example of the angry or extreme Catholic and say that’s how all Catholics are. The way we present our faith as an invitation than if it’s imposed. Josh said there’s a reason why the Church talks about the family as the domestic church. It’s virtually impossible to be a parent without being generous. you see how much you receive in being generous to your children. How said it is to think that there is a Western society that loses sight of life as a journey. The Eucharist is where you get the food for that journey. Scot said there is a growing hedonism in society, which seeks pleasure as the greatest good and pain as the greatest evil. Raising kids isn’t easy and difficult, even though there is much love. Hedonists only want pleasure without pain. They view others for what they can give, not because they have inherent value. 2nd segment: Scot picked up where he left off in the Cardinal’s talk: To be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ in the Catholic Church is much more than a head trip. It is a way of life together, the whole person is engaged in the process. Education for this journey must therefore be experiential, personal, engaging and life-giving. We learn discipleship the way we learn a language, by being part of a community that speaks that language. Our young Catholics must be mentored in the faith by others, either peers or older Catholics who are walking the walk. Scot said he’d never heard that way to pick up faith is like the way we pick up language. Fr. Chris said Christ called us to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, and soul. You don’t learn a language by yourself. It takes a community. Similarly, it takes a community to raise us in faith. It takes apostles, priests, religious educators, parents, and neighbors. Confirmation sponsors are often those in their lives who witnessed to them in the faith and became good examples. Blessed John XXIII has a great quote: “Lord, let me live my life in such a way that when people see me they say, if this is the servant, how much greater must the master be?” The Holy Father describes the university’s privileged task to unite the two orders of reality that too frequently tend to be placed in opposition as though they were antithetical: “the search for truth, and the certainty of already knowing the font of truth.” The Catholic community needs our institutions of higher learning to be venues of evangelization and faith formation. In the past there is often been the presumption that young people come to our universities fully catechized and initiated into the life of the Catholic community; and therefore, the best way to serve them was to expose them to a highly speculative theology and to present the Church’s Magisterium as simply another option. Today I hope it is obvious to all of us that young Catholics often lack a sound catechetical formation. I am comforted that when I meet with the six presidents of Catholic colleges in the archdiocese, they all assure me that although there is much religious illiteracy, they have never experienced a generation more open to the faith. Therefore I urge all of our Catholic colleges and universities to provide our Catholic students with the opportunity to learn about their faith and to receive a sound catechetical formation, that presents the church’s teachings and traditions enthusiastically and accurately. Nothing is sadder than when in our own institutions, those who have the responsibility of teaching the rich theology of our church present the Magisterium in a dismissive and condescending way and fail to recognize the profound philosophical and theological traditions that are part of the treasury of Catholicism. Josh said he was someone who came to college lukewarm in his faith and graduated with a greater zeal, so it is possible to go through the university and come to a greater experience of Christ. His conversion came in a class that walked him through an explanation of the Catechism of the Church and it was the farthest thing from a dry experience. Scot asked Fr. Chris to explain what the Magisterium is: The Pope and the bishops who share the teaching, governing, and sanctifying role in the Church as handed down from the apostles. Scot said we trust that the Holy Spirit preserves the teaching of the Church in the areas of faith and morals, so we know who to follow when there is a dispute over what is true. Fr. Chris reminds the academic community that true theology is revealing to people in new ways the same truth that has been with us as a received from Christ. The Cardinal makes it clear that the search for the Truth and the knowledge that Christ is the Truth is not a contradiction or opposed. He said the bishops are conservators of the faith, to protect the flock from any error that will lead us astray in our faith and keep the faith conserved. The Church doesn’t change with the times because what Christ gave us will always remain the same, even if we express it differently at times. As your pastor I wish to share with you the deep concern expressed so often by our priests, deacons, religious and lay leaders; namely, the crisis of absenteeism at the Sunday Eucharist. This needs to be one of the focal points of pastoral concern for all who love our church. Our Catholic colleges have the unique opportunity and I daresay a responsibility to address this problem. The Pew Study has indicated that it is in the late teens and early 20s that young Catholics will make those commitments and decisions that will affect their practice of the faith for the rest of their lives. That is precisely the demographic which is in our universities and in the military service. As an archdiocese we have tried to dedicate as many resources as possible to this demographic. We probably send more priests to be chaplains in the armed services than any other diocese in the United States - and we have sent very fine priests. I am told that there could be almost a half-million university students within the Archdiocese of Boston with a large percentage of them are Catholic. The last two years we have brought the “F.O.C.U.S. Ministry” to work in two of the universities, and our university chaplains are working very hard to make the church present on the campuses. As I am sure is the case here at BC. Scot said the Cardinal describes this as a crisis of absenteeism. Josh said in his work in pastoral planning they are discovering that people who graduate from Catholic colleges with ministry degrees aren’t going to work in parishes because they have received the personal formation during their college years to live their faith actively. Scot has always viewed people not going to Mass as an active choice. Fr. Chris said absenteeism is an active choice, not being present at some place where you should be present. This idea of absenteeism shows us that we have brothers and sisters who are absent from Mass. It is partly the responsibility of those who are present to be the missionary inviting others to come back and show them how essential Mass is. Josh said a friend who regularly skipped Mass was told that he was actively hurting the community by being absent. We build up the body of Christ by our presence. The Cardinal then shares stories of people who say why they come to Mass. When I was a seminarian, I remember reading an article in the newspaper, an interview with Flannery O’Connor, about what it was like to grow up Catholic in the South. Obviously there were very very few Catholics in those days and many prejudices against them. In this interview Flannery O’Connor talks about her best friend who was a little Baptist girl. Flannery often invited her to accompany her to mass. Finally the little girl got permission from her mom to go to Mass with Flannery one Sunday. Flannery could not wait for the Mass to be over so she could ask her little friend: “did you like it, did you like it?” The little girl said: “WOW. You Catholics really have something special. The sermon was so boring, the music was lousy, the priest mumbled the prayers in a language nobody could understand, and all those people were there!” Obviously they were not there to be entertained. I’m sure that most of them were probably there because they couldn’t live without the Sunday Mass.” Fr. Chris said , the Vietnamese cardinal who was imprisoned by the Communists for many years and was tortured, regularly celebrated Mass from memory with a little scrap of bread and a little drop of wine in his hand. He said, “The Eucharist is our energy. Lights can’t work without electricity. Cars don’t run without gasoline. Why then should the Catholic without receiving the Eucharist expect to be able to function and live the way Christ is calling him.” He added another quote from Flannery O’Connor in a letter to an agnostic friend: “If the Eucharist ain’t the Body and Blood of Christ, to hell with it.” The truth is that the Catholic Church sprang up around the Eucharist. Christ commanded us, “do this in memory of me.” Ever since, we have been doing this: celebrating his Eucharist, changing bread and wine into his body and blood so that the good Shepherd can continue to feed his flock. I was pleased that this year on World Mission Sunday by chance the Gospel was the great commandment of love. I fear that often when we think of Christian charity we think only of feeding the hungry, caring for the sick and elderly, providing for the homeless and the poor. But if we truly love our neighbor we will likewise be very concerned that many people are spiritually homeless, spiritually hungry, spiritually imprisoned and spiritually sick. The church exists to evangelize, to announce the good news of God’s love and his desire that we follow him as part of his people. Discipleship is never a solo flight, but rather an adventure we live together. And at the heart of that adventure is the Eucharistic banquet where Calvary and the Last Supper become present in our lives and history. Scot said the Cardinal has often said we do a good job in Boston with the corporal works of mercy, but from a spiritual standpoint do we pray as much as we should and invite others to partake of the Eucharist, or are we too shy to say something as simple, “Would you like to come to Mass with me Sunday?” Josh said the statistics said Catholics are more generous with their money than non-Catholics in Boston, but from a spiritual viewpoint, participation in Mass is declining at about 3% per year. Scot said there are so many activities that Catholics do that connect them with Christ, but there’s only one he said to do in memory of him: The Mass. He thinks of all the people who are “spiritual, but not religious”, which means they want to pray in their own way, not the way Jesus asked us to pray. Fr. Chris said when one member of the Body of Christ is absent, the whole body suffers so it is essential that all come to the Eucharist. Typically we think of the Eucharist as that which sends us out to do the corporal works of mercy, but the Cardinal reminds us that it’s not enough to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, but we have to have a personal relationship with Christ. How can you give what you do not have? 3rd segment: In a society that is so highly individualistic, described in Professor Putnam’s Bowling Alone, where each successive generation of Americans spends more time alone, eating alone, living alone, spending hours alone before television or computer screen, we must communicate that discipleship means being part of Jesus’ family, part of the community. In a culture that is addicted to entertainment some Christian churches have turned themselves into entertainment centers. In the Eucharist we have something much more important than entertainment, we have love taken to the extreme. Our God has made a gift of himself to us as he invites us to wash each other’s feet and to make a gift of our lives to God and to others. Love taken to the extreme is the Eucharist. The Mass unites Calvary, heaven, and all of us taken together. Josh said as a parent he sometimes think of what he would do for his children and we too are children of God. Scot said the fact that the Christian life is a family adventure. Too many people are depriving themselves of so many graces that come from being part of this family and this sacrament. Fr. Chris said the typical parish church shows the richness and diversity of our faith in all the different kinds of people and what brings us together is nothing but the love of Jesus Christ himself. In talking about the washing of feet, the Cardinal is referring to Holy thursday where he washed the feet of the apostles, reminding us to serve our neighbor. We have to be connected with one another in order to be connected to God. It also shows that connection between charity and the Eucharist. Today people speak much about diversity. I don’t think there is another organization in the world that is as diverse as the Catholic Church. As some pundit once said about the church, “here comes everybody”. In reality we are over 1 billion Catholics in the world today and we come in all sizes shapes and colors, and we’re all the Church. In the archdiocese, and here at BC, more and more are arriving from all over the globe. Many of them are Catholics and we want them to feel a part of our home despite the differences of language or custom. At the Eucharist all the barriers and frontiers that divide us melt away and we’re forged into a new solidarity, a new identity in the Body of Christ. Josh said we experience that melting away of barriers every day in Boston. The Catholic community in Brockton is a great example of this, where people come from various backgrounds to worship together. For us, each Sunday is the day of the Resurrection. On that first Easter, Jesus appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The disciples were confused, hurt, full of fear and doubts. They were trying to determine what to make of Jesus death and the empty tomb. They discuss these developments with Jesus whom they did not recognize. When they reached the village they asked Jesus to stay with them. St. Luke says when they arrived at Emmaus, Jesus made as if he were going to continue on his journey. It was only the insistent invitation of the two disciples that brought Jesus to their table. I think that’s a very important detail of this Gospel. The Lord does not force himself on us, he likes to be invited into our lives. When they sat down for the evening meal, Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it and began to give it to them. At that point, the disciples recognize Jesus. Suddenly Jesus vanished but the bread remains. Then the disciples immediately return to Jerusalem to tell the apostles that Jesus had truly risen and appeared to them. We too live in times where many people are confused hurt and full of fear. Jesus wants to meet us in the same way he met the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Like them, we will recognize Jesus and encounter him most profoundly in the breaking of the bread at Mass. The Eucharist is the fulfillment of Jesus promise’ to be with us until the end of time. I pray that our love for the Mass and our Eucharistic amazement will increase so that our hearts will be burning within us when we hear the Sacred Scriptures proclaimed and observe the breaking of the bread. Let us do what those two disciples on the road to Emmaus did. Let us rush to tell the world that Christ is alive and that our family must gather at the Lord’s Table to experience God love, to learn our own identity and to fill our mission together. Let us say to the world: we have seen the Lord and we have recognized Him in the breaking of the bread. Scot said he loves the Emmaus story. We empathize with the disciples who were left despondent. Fr. Chris said he loves there’s a little bit of sarcasm in the man who says to Jesus, you must be the only one in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard the news. It’s in the breaking of the bread, the offering of the Eucharist, that they recognize Christ. We have to stop on our road to recognize him in the breaking of the bread and then to go out to evangelize others. Scot said it’s important for us to express to those around us that Jesus Christ is real. Josh said the disciples were dejected, they thought it was all over. It wasn’t a rational process that convinced them otherwise, but the power of the Eucharist. Scot emphasized that this wasn’t a parable, but a historical event. Jesus chose to make himself known in the breaking of the bread so we would know the best way to encounter to him. The Cardinal gave this address as a precursor to a pastoral letter he will be issuing within the next few weeks on the topic of attendance at Sunday Mass.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Lisa Hendey, Editor of CatholicMom.com and bestselling author Today’s topics: Author Lisa Hendey and resources for Catholic moms Summary of today’s show: Catholic moms, this show is for you. Scot welcomes Lisa Hendey, founder of CatholicMom.com and author of two books, “A Handbook for Catholic Moms” and “A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms”, which are great resources for mothers of all ages who are looking to connect with other Catholic moms, for resources for forming their kids in the faith, and for ways to spiritually nourish and refresh themselves. 1st segment: Scot said many listeners of The Good Catholic Life are Catholic moms. Today’s show is for you. Our guest is Lisa Hendey who founded for CatholicMom.com and has authored several books intended for Catholic moms. He said he also began to appreciate what his own wife, a Catholic mom, does in her role in their family. Scot welcomed Lisa to the show. He asked her how she got involved in online evangelization. Back in 1999, her kid’s Catholic school was looking for a volunteer webmaster and she volunteered. She’s since become the parish webmaster. After a little experience, she decided to start CatholicMom.com. She was looking for support from other Catholic moms, since her husband had not yet become Catholic, she was struggling to lead her family in faith. Scot said Lisa has said it took a while for her to become comfortable with being a Catholic mom after having had a career outside the home. Lisa said it’s been amazing to see the ministry of CatholicMom.com grow up. She gives and receives from that community and the website has gone beyond her own dreams of what it could be. It’s no w a team effort with over 120 volunteer contributors and members of the community come from all over the world. Scot said he was impressed by the site’s Sunday Gospel activities. As a dad, he’s struggled with what to do for his kids during the Mass and he’s found the publications to be helpful. He said CatholicMom.com also provides some free resources as well. Every week they use the Liturgy of the Word to create free activities related to that, all as downloadable pages. They even have resources for religious education and catechists. Lisa said about half of the people using the resources are homeschoolers and half are catechists in parishes using them instead of traditional religious education curricula, even from as far away as South American and Africa. Another popular part of the site is the blogs where they have writers all the ay from new moms, pregnant moms, all the way to grandmothers. They also have a few dads and deacons as well. They cover topics all the way from adoption to just regular parenting. There also many more sections with fun activities, music, and more. Lisa’s hope is that it’s a magazine format. Woman can come to discover new music or find a good movie. They also get prayer request through the prayer line on a daily basis. Scot asked if Lisa can quantify the growth of CatholicMom.com. She remembers when the site first started that seeing the number of hits go up by 100 was a big deal. Now they get visitors from all 50 states and 160 countries. It’s a successful site for a one-person operation run out of her home. Lisa said she is shocked and humbled at the growth and reach of the site and the plans they have for the future, especially as someone who started without skills and training in this area. Scot said it’s a lesson for all of us that sometimes God wants to lead us in a different direction in our life. Scot recalls how fruitful it was when he responded to a bulletin announcement after college to teach 7th grade parish religious education. Scot noted Lisa’s husband, Greg, wasn’t Catholic but they met at Notre Dame. Lisa said he’s always been supportive of her faith, but being exposed to his search has been an opportunity for her to ask questions about her faith herself and to understand what she wanted their domestic church to look like. Lisa said she never wanted Greg to convert just to make her happy, but to do it only for the right reasons. She’s always hearing from men and women who are in situations where there is sort of dynamic. She advises them to never stop praying for their spouse and even if they never enter into full communion with the Church, never to judge them or stop loving them. St. Monica is a great example of being faithful that God had a plan for their life. 2nd segment: Scot said he likes practical books that go to some level of depth but synthesize so many topics into a format that you can enjoy in one book. Handbook for Catholic Moms breaks down the information into 4 area: heart, mind, body and soul. He said the book talks about how Catholic woman can become “soul sisters” with other Catholic women. Lisa said it’s part of the larger theme encouraging women to care for themselves. Many women give and give, but don’t take the time they should to care for themselves spiritually. Women are wired in a special way to enjoy companionship with one another. Her spiritual nourishment comes from girlfriends she can get together with in person as well as true friendships she has developed online. Having friends to talk with and pray with when things come up in life. Scot said when Lisa moved to Fresno, she didn’t know many people so she looked to get involved in various organizations. She moved there with just her oldest son while her husband stayed behind in LA to wrap up affairs. She called the library and other community organizations to find something to do that would get her out of the house and get an opportunity to interact with others. She also looked for service opportunities where you’re sure to interact with others who have some of the same values. In the book, Lisa talks about trying to find a vibrant parish with a great Catholic environment where the liturgies are beautiful and the parish is welcoming. She said at first she was waiting for a sense of community to happen to her, but she realized she needed to make it happen by going to the parish and getting involved in a ministry. Scot said the more we give, the more we get. So many of our parishes are not all we hope for, but it will get better if parishioners step forward to fill the gaps. Talk to the pastor or parish staff and offer to start a ministry or join one. Often they’re yearning for people to offer to help. Scot said he liked the chapter on time management for moms, which begins with offering first fruits to God at the beginning of the day and making the rest of the day go better from that. Lisa said the times she’s least organized and doesn’t take the time to pray makes her days worse, not better. So she needs to take time for God when she’s the busiest. Moms look at the work they do for their families and need to be good stewards of the time God has given. Lisa said a standing prayer ritual in her house was to do morning prayer in the car on the way to school. They set the tone for the day and remember intentions for friends and family ask for intercession of guardian angels. Taking that routine of prayer and pausing for formal times during the day is an opportunity to be in conversation with God who loves us so much. Scot said he loved her idea to ask children during morning prayer if there’s anything they would like the parent to pray for during the day. Lisa said she’s found that when you ask this particular question you hear all kinds of things that they won’t share if you just ask them how their day is going. Lisa has been gratified at the response to the book. She loves hearing from women who’ve read the book and tell her that it has encouraged and helped them. 3rd segment: Now talking about “A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms”. Scot read a quote from Fr. James Martin, SJ about the book: “Every time a Catholic mother asks me what author she should read, I have a ready answer: Lisa Hendey. Her latest book is one that every mother (and father, son, and daughter too) will find accessible, inviting, and above all, useful.” Scot asked how Lisa settled on 52 of the thousands of saints to profile. She said it was difficult but they wanted to have one for each week for moms to meditate on. One of the saints is St. Katharine Drexel and Lisa wrote about how she fostered a spirit of tolerance. Lisa said she tried to carry over the same fourfold scheme from the previous book and St. Katharine was a “heart” saint. She was a pioneer in fostering the spirit of tolerance in an age when racial diversity was not as broadly accepted. Each chapter has biographical info and some lessons from their life that correspond with the theme of the chapter and a little bit of wisdom from the saint. Then each day of the week there is a daily Scripture passage and brief reflection. Throughout the 52 weeks, it covers all of the Catholic virtues. Lisa said the book is indexed in different ways to read it different ways, front to back; by the liturgical year; by the patronage of the saint; and so on. She said she also included some practical activities for the family. Another saint is St. Zita of Luca on the topic of diligence to domestic tasks. She lived in the 13th century in Italy and was a domestic servant to a wealthy family. Even in her busy life, she found time to help others. It reminds moms that they don’t have to be missionaries in Africa to do good in the world and that through diligence and frugality they can be good stewards of resources and allow the family to give back to others. Doing daily tasks with diligence and as an act of love can make them into holy acts, not just a chore. Another saint is St. Josephine Bakhita, who died in Darfur, Sudan in 1949. She was enslaved as a young girl and eventually ended up with a family in Venice, Italy. She was sent to school with the Daughters of Charity and entered the order. She is the patron of the victims of human trafficking. For Lisa, she’s also a patron in her own life of the difficult things that enslave her, those things to which she find physical or emotional addiction. So many people who deal with addiction find an enlightenment in their life like St. Josephine’s. Scot said there also male saints in the book. St. Andre Bessette is recently canonized. He came from a poor family and was orphaned young. He was the porter at a monastery in Montreal, , because he was deemed to illiterate to be a priest. He’s credited with many miraculous healings there. Scot said praying through this book for a year can help us teach our kids that heroes are not athletes and actors, but these holy men and women of God.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s topics: Catholic bashing in the media; Ad limina visits; WQOM and Station of the Cross fund drive; Sunday’s Gospel readings Summary of today’s show: Be vigilant and ready to give a reason for your faith, say Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell on today’s show, when they look at a front-page article in the local papers that give many anti-Catholic critics an opportunity to take potshots at the Church. Be ready and vigilant is also the theme of this Sunday’s Gospel, where we will hear about the groom who comes when he’s not expected, which tells us how Christ will come for us at the end of our lives. Will we be ready or will we be left thinking we still had time to be better Christians? 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Mark back to the show. Fr. Mark is flying to Virginia this weekend where one of his assistants is getting married tomorrow. Scot said Cardinal Seán and the auxiliary bishops of Boston are in Rome this week for their ad limina visit, which is periodic visit to the Vatican to update the Holy Father on what’s going on in the diocese and he relates his particular concerns. Scot said each ministry gives lists of statistics and a report to be presented to Rome. Fr. Mark said the last ad limina was in 2004, but at the time Cardinal Seán was brand-new in Boston and didn’t present a report. Scot said the ad limina visit before that Cardinal Seán was bishop of Fall River and he brought some of the Fall River priests and seminarians, including Scot’s brother Fr. Roger Landry, to a visit with Pope John Paul II in Castel Gandolfo. Scot said Pope Benedict does these visits a little differently from Pope John Paul, and doesn’t do many one-on-one meetings with bishops. So perhaps they don’t have the opportunity to bring others with them. Scot said the Holy Father’s address to the bishops of New England should be significant because they are the first group of American bishops to see him in this round of ad limina visits. The last time he addressed the US on such a large-scale was when he visited the US in 2008. Fr. Mark said in addition to the Holy Father, the bishops will meet with officials of the various Vatican congregations and councils. They will talk about many of the issues in the dioceses as well as sharing lived experiences with the Roman officials. Scot said the bishops also bring all the prayers and intentions of the people of the local dioceses to the shrines and churches of the apostles, saints, and martyrs. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings programming like The Good Catholic Life, please go to 2nd segment: Scot told Fr. Mark that today’s Boston Herald had a front-page article on today’s 80th birthday of Cardinal Bernard Law, former archbishop of Boston who now lives in Rome. Scot said when you read all the comments in the article you find much Catholic bashing and that’s why it’s so important to have Catholic media. You can’t get a fair shake in the secular media. Fr. Mark said it’s not that we don’t deserve some of the criticism of the Church, but after a while it becomes too much. He said he sees a lot of errors in the reporting. The bishops in Boston aren’t going to Rome at this time for Cardinal Law’s birthday as some report, nor were the bishops of Boston summoned to Rome as if it were unusual. Fr. Mark said every single occasion is an opportunity to bash us. Scot said when the coverage is so one-sided, common sense says that they’re doing it to take shots at the Church. When the Herald devotes its front page to the Church, it gives a cue to the rest of the media in Boston. Scot noted we are called to forgive. The Herald has given a new forum for everyone to vent their spleen again in the comment section of the website and it gets under his skin. Catholic media gives us a chance to hear the news without being subjected to it. Fr. Mark said this seems to be over the top as an opportunity spew their venom. He also pointed out that the 80th birthday of a cardinal is significant because it means he’s no longer eligible to vote in a conclave for a pope. He also steps down from all his positions in the Vatican congregations where serves. Scot said he heard a lot of anti-Catholic stuff on some of the sports radio station, not about Cardinal Law, but about Catholics in general. If it were about any other group, it would be rejected as totally inappropriate, but as a Catholic community we haven’t said “You’ve gone too far.” It’s important we all say that this is wrong and start holding the media accountable. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. 3rd segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’ But he said in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Scot said it’s well-known reading and he wonders if we understand the customs as well as those 2,000 years ago would. The groom would go to the brides home and they would all then process back to the groom’s home where the ceremony would take place. But the message is we need to be ready for Jesus to come for us. Jesus will be coming for us and will we be ready when he does? Will we have our lives in order or will we be like those who think there’s always time to get ready. There’s some things you can’t “borrow” like someone else’s personal holiness and readiness for Jesus. Fr. Mark said Matthew is writing to a community that’s saying, “I thought Jesus was coming.” The Second Reading for Sunday has Paul saying the same thing about being ready. The danger is in growing complacent. He said it applies to the Catholic bashing: Are we ready to defend our faith? Scot said don’t take for granted that there’s always time for confession. Every Saturday there’ opportunity for confession at most parishes. In the cities, there are chapels that have confessions every day. Fr. Mark said we don’t want to be “Some day” Catholics: “Some day, I’m going to say more prayers, go to the sacraments, and so on.” Break for Fund Drive Appeal.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, Executive Editor of the Anchor, the newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River Today’s topics: Assisted suicide, 7 billion people, WQOM and Station of the Cross fund drive Summary of today’s show: Birth, death, and birth were the watchwords today as Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Fr. Roger Landry—live in the studio for the first time—discussed the news of the day, including the birth of Susan’s newest grandson, November as religious education month, Cardinal Seán’s strong call to leadership against physician-assisted suicide by medical professionals at the annual White Mass; and the implications of the 7 billionth child born in the world (not Susan’s grandson as far as we know). 1st segment: Scot welcomed Susan back to the show. She was away last week visiting her newest grandson in California. Last night she was at Immaculate Conception Parish in Weymouth which has a Catholics Come Home committee continuing the work of the program. She spoke on reconciliation. Scot said it’s also the first time that Fr. Roger Landry is live in the studio after eight months coming via Skype. Scot said this week in the Pilot there is a special section on religious education. Susan wrote an article on November as religious education month. In order to read all the parish programs which may meet weekly or biweekly, they have a whole month dedicated to celebrating the good work done in parishes. Susan said religious education encompasses everything from baptism through adult faith formation. Scot said there are 400 parish religious education leaders, 12,000 catechists, and over 115,000 children in religious education. Fr. Roger said Jesus once said the greatest in the kingdom of heaven are those who keep his commandments and teach others to do the same. Our catechists are the greatest in the Church because of the example they set and the leadership they provide. The seeds they plant are seeds that will change the world. Scot said he was a substitute catechist in his own parish this past week. Susan said faith begins in the home, but it can be daunting to parents whose own formation is not as solid as they want it to be. But the first step is just being at Mass with the children, even if the parents have to split going to Mass if an infant must stay at home. The best thing you can do for your kids is to give them a relationship with Jesus Christ rooted in the sacraments of the Church. Scot said those parents who don’t have a strong faith formation can supplement it by listening to Catholic radio. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings programming like The Good Catholic Life, please go to 2nd segment: Scot said Cardinal Seán had strong words about physician-assisted suicide when addressing doctors and other healthcare workers last weekend at the White Mass at Holy Cross Cathedral. Fr. Roger said the Cardinal is looking to medical personnel to take the lead in rejecting efforts to legalize assisted suicide. The Cardinal cited many scary statistics from Oregon, where it was legalized. It’s not just those who are terminally ill who are affected. When society says some suicide is okay, we start to see a rise in teen suicides and suicides by people who are not terminally ill. Scot said the cardinal understands the treasure of the vocation of the physician. He’s calling them to be both Catholic and physicians and calling them to honor their Hyppocratic oath which says “first, do no harm.” Susan said assisted suicide is a false compassion. She said advocates want depression to be re-defined so it would not be an obstacle to prescription of lethal drugs. Scot added that there is an effort to rename suicide to “aid in dying”. Scot said the petitioners are asking people to sign a petition to “help elderly people who are sick”. It’s dishonest and manipulative. Scot said it’s important to have Catholic radio to be able to disseminate this information. Scot said even if you sign your name to the petition under false pretenses you can’t have your name removed. It’s permanent. Fr. Roger said there are people who don’t understand the meaning of suffering or death and so when they see someone suffering from terminal illness they have no means to understand what good can come of it. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. 3rd segment: Scot said another new story this week is the birth of the 7 billionth person. he said the real story is that half of the countries in the world aren’t even having enough children to replace themselves and that population is soon going to go into a precipitous decline. Fr. Roger said this story is a litmus test for us. If we responded with horror, those people are looking at life as a leech sucking up resources as opposed to a joy to be celebrated. He said that Vladimir Putin has set a holiday in Russia for couples to stay home and conceive children because that country’s population rate is slow. Fr. Roger said the sustainable population rate is 2.1 children per family. He highlighted how 18 European countries are reporting more deaths than births, how in a generation people will not know brothers, sisters, aunts, or uncles because of so many only children. Many European countries will become predominantly Muslim because Christians aren’t having children. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. It’s time to announce this week’s winner of the WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is by Fr. James Martin, SJ, and Read Me or Rue It by Fr. Paul O’Sullivan, OP. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Ruth Casey from Roslindale, MA. Congratulation, Ruth! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program.…
1 The Good Catholic Life #0170: Wednesday, November 2, 2011 1:00:02
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1:00:02Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s topics: All Souls Day; Ad limina visits; WQOM and Station of the Cross fund drive Summary of today’s show: Are you praying for all the faithful souls in Purgatory today? Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams talk about All Souls Day and the Catholic approach to death. They also discuss all the bishops of New England going to Rome this week for their ad limina visits (andwhat does “ad limina” mean anyway?). Finally, we begin the WQOM Fall Fund Drive today. Will you consider supporting Catholic radio in Boston? 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Matt back to the show. He said All Souls Day and All Saints Day are some of his favorite holy days. Fr. Matt said this is for all the Christian deceased to be remembered in our prayers. Fr. Matt recalled St. Augustine’s homily about the death of his mother St. Monica and how she told him that all she wanted of them after her death was to remember her at the altars of the Lord. Scot said we as a Catholic family, those on earth and in purgatory and in heaven, have bonds between us and we all need to pray for one another. Scot said today’s Mass readings are so uplifting, especially the Gospel from John: Jesus said to the crowds: “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.” Fr. Matt said the focus on the reading is the resurrection and Christ’s victory over death. He said the first part of the passage is important for us to understand why we pray for the dead. The reality of purgatory is for us to be purified of ourselves. We don’t do it “My Way”, we do it God’s way. Purgatory is a gift and a mercy of God, but not something we want to aim for. We know from the mystics that in purgatory we see the presence of God, but don’t experience. It’s like smelling the most awesome meal, but unable to eat it. You know you will be with God in heaven someday, but can’t be with him yet. That is suffering. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. To support the work of WQOM and The Station of the Cross, which brings programming like The Good Catholic Life, please go to 2nd segment: Scot said the Anchor newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River has an editorial this week on how we confront death and fear of death. Scot recalled how his Uncle Sonny faced death and how he brought a joy to his family even as he approached the end. Fr. Matt said it’s beautiful to be with someone who is prepared for death at the end. It’s so peaceful and beautiful as he’s entering into a new life. Fr. Matt observed that popular culture acknowledges the existence of heaven and hell, so the question for the culture is who decides where people go. Scot then talked about how he talks to his own children about heaven and the afterlife and how we prepare ourselves for eternal life. We have to be present at Mass, be involved in adult faith formation to know our faith. Break for Fund Drive Appeal. 3rd segment:Scot said the bishops of Region 1 of the US Bishops conference are in Rome this week for their ‘ad limina’ visit. That is short for ‘ad limina apostolorum’,which means “at the threshold of the apostles”. They meet with Vatican curial officials and Pope Benedict XVI to discuss what’s going on in their dioceses, bring their concerns to Rome, and bring back the concerns of the Holy Father. They also pray for us in a special way. Fr. Matt said Rome is one of the most beautiful cities of the world with a rich spiritual history. Everywhere you turn, you find a new church with the tombs of apostles and martyrs and other saints or some other amazing element of our faith. He said having Pope Benedict as a such a holy man of God adds to that beauty of Rome.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Domenico Bettinelli and Mother Olga Yaqob Today’s topics: Our favorite saints; WQOM 1st anniversary Summary of today’s show: Who is your favorite saint? On this All Saints’ Day, Dom Bettinelli and Mother Olga join Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor to talk about some of their favorite saints, including a saint who died at the hands of the Nazis, a saint who was a mother and wife, saints who were young siblings, and a saint who was a college student who came from a wealthy and influential family. They also discussed the one year anniversary of WQOM in Boston, which began broadcasting with the Mass on Nov. 1, 2010. 1st segment: Scot welcomes Fr. Chris on All Saints Day. Today is also the one-year anniversary of WQOM in Boston. Fr. Chris said he was at Sacred Hearts in Malden at the Cheverus grammar school for the All Saints Day Mass. He went through some of the many saints that the kids are familiar and remind them that we’re all called to holiness. Their pastor, Fr. Dan Hickey, has been the pastor there for 26 years. The Cheverus school is an urban school and is very multicultural. It is named for Boston’s first bishop. Cheverus is also the name of the award given to lay leaders in the archdiocese by Cardinal Seán on the Feast of Christ the King. Fr. Chris said at the seminary the new tomb marker has been installed for Cardinal O’Connell after his grave was moved. He’s sure that the cardinal will receive many new prayers now that he’s located right next to the seminary instead of up on the hill and out of the way where he used to be. He was moved in mid-July and the marker has just been installed. Cardinal Seán will lead a formal service marking the move. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Dom and Mother Olga to the show. Scot introduced a recording of Cardinal Seán’s remarks during the inaugural Mass for WQOM last All Saints Day at Holy Cross Cathedral. Scot said it was a momentous day. It was appropriate that the first words on air were those of the Mass. Scot said he has heard form many people who tell him how much the station has become a part of their daily life. Fr. Chris said he hears from prisoners in the Massachusetts prison system who listen to WQOM for inspiration and catechesis. Mother Olga said she also heard from a number of people as she travels around the area who say they heard her on this show. A mom told her she sits in the car while doing errands waiting for the last few minutes of the show to finish to hear it all. Dom said he has heard from people who say that WQOM has been an integral part of their conversion to the Catholic faith. Scot sent his thanks to the people of the Station of the Cross network who started WQOM and 24-hour Catholic radio in Boston. 3rd segment: Mother Olga said many of her students at Boston University where she was a campus chaplain had a devotion to Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, especially young men. Scot asked Fr. Chris how many of the men entering seminary have devotions to Bl. Pier Giorgio. Fr. Chris said walking the corridors of the seminary, you see many photos of Bl. Pier Giorgio, as well as St. George and St. Michael. 4th segment: Scot said Mother Olga wanted to offer St. Rita of Cascia as an example for moms. She was a holy wife and holy mother. She had a difficult life with suffering, but she was faithful to the Lord and to her family. She was born in Italy in 1386. She had wanted to become a religious sister, but her parents arranged a marriage for her and she obeyed. It was a difficult marriage because her husband was not devout or faithful. He was violent and mistreated her. They had two boys and she was dedicated to them and taught them to respect their father, to love him and pray for him. She prayed for her husband’s conversion everyday. At the end of his life, he was touched by her goodness and charity and had changed his heart. Unfortunately, he was murdered by enemies he had made. Her sons swore vengeance, but St. Rita prayed they would forgive them. After some time, the boys got sick and died. St. Rita approached the Augustinian order and entered the convent at age 36. She lived in the convent for 40 years. She is the patron saint of impossible cases. She was able to bring reconciliation between her husband’s enemies and her husband’s families. She canonized in 1900. Scot said many saints have difficult lives and people who are having difficulty in life can look to her. St. Rita’s shrine in Lowell is dedicated to her and the shrine is known for miracles through her intercession. 5th segment: Mother Olga said St. Rita is depicted as having been pierced by a throne because she asked Christ if she could feel the suffering of just one thorn to console Christ in his suffering. Mother Olga also has saints for children in Blessed Jacinta and Francisco Marto of Fatima. She said one day she was teaching students at Boston University about various Marian apparitions. Some children talked about Our Lady of Fatima as their favorite apparition because Our Lady talked to children like them. They were two of the three shepherd children, 10 and 11 years old, at Fatima. They are the two youngest non-martyr blessed or saints in the Church. Mother Olga told a story of how Mother Teresa used to say that sainthood is a duty we should pursue so she never demurred when people called her a living saint. When the angel appeared to the children in 1917, he taught the children several prayers that we all continue to pray today. The children at the urging of the angel began to offer small sacrifices for others for the salvation of souls. Francisco, the day before he died, asked the parish priest to bring him his First Communion. After that, Jacinta died a few months later. If children can do that, how much more can we feel responsible for the conversion of souls and sinners? They died of the influenza epidemic. Scot said they never would have known the whole world would know their story, yet they woke each day asking how they could live each day to make it holy. Mother Olga said saints truly live the Gospel where it’s no longer about me, but about God and his people. These two children teach us this example: they did it all for God and for our Lady. We are all responsible to be part of God’s plan to spread his Gospel. Fr. Chris said to see these two children in their holiness is inspiring. Scot said Fr. Mark O’Connell in his homily at Mass today said when we look in the mirror and see ourselves in all our quirkiness, we see someone called to be a saint. Cardinal Seán said in last year’s All Saints’ Day Mass that we are all called to be saints, because to be a saint is to be truly human. Andreas Widmer, a friend of the show and frequent guest, called John Paul II one of the most human persons he ever met and someone who is truly real. Fr. Chris said saints come in all shapes and styles and colors and we can find someone who appeals to us and to whom we can pray for intercession at the wedding banquet of the Lamb of God in heaven. 6th segment: Scot said one of Fr. Chris’ favorite saints is St. Maximilian Kolbe. The Franciscan church where Kolbe worked for many years is a little bronze marker that reads “Here would pray daily John Paul II” when he was a professor at the university. John Paul canonized him in 1982. He is the patron saint of prisoners, journalists, and people working in the pro-life movement. John Paul called him the patron of our difficult century. He was a missionary in Japan for a while, but he is most known for his work during World War II. He saved many Jews from the concentration camps, but he was himself sent to Auschwitz. In order to discourage prisoners from escaping, they would line up others and would choose one in 10 to kill. During one of these decimations, a father of 10 was pulled from the line and he cried out “My wife, my children.” Maximilian offered to take his place. As soon as he was placed in the starvation bunker, he started to sing hymns to Mary. He would not die, so the Nazis eventually injected him with acid to kill. At his canonization in 1982 in St. Peter’s Square, the family of the man whose life he saved were present. Fr. Chris said Kolbe teaches us that if we seek holiness there is no better person to turn to than the Blessed Mother. We pray for her intercession now and at the hour of our death, whenever that will be. Kolbe also teaches us through his sacrifice how essential it is. most of us won’t give the ultimate sacrifice as Kolbe did, but the way we sacrifice for our families, we sacrifice to care for the poor, we sacrifice to be with the Lord is an essential part of sanctity. His life is also a source of hope. When you visit Auschwitz and see the organized evil it represents, but visit his cell and see the candle burning brightly there, you realize that evil never wins ultimately. Scot said remembers when Kolbe stepped forward he said, “I am a Catholic priest. I will take his place.” He was a Catholic first, he believes in sacrificing for others. And as a priest, he learned to model his life on Christ, to be in persona Christi. There are times in our lives when we get a chance to sacrifice for us. We should think in our head: “I am a Catholic. Let me….” Mother Olga said the surest way to heaven is to turn to Mary, because no one knows or is as close to Jesus than her. All the great saints have a strong devotion to our Lady which led them closer to Jesus. The saints teach us faithfulness in that present moment and the greater reward waiting for us in heaven. St. Therese of Lisieux said we are called to live ordinary lives with extraordinary love. Scot said it’s important we don’t see the saints as just historical figures. It’s important for parents to introduce them to our saints as heroes to model their lives on. If we don’t, they will model their lives after some movie actor or musician or athlete. Fr. Chris is reminded of St. Paul who called us to finish the race. We are all on the race to heave. He said St. Theresa of Avila once prayed, “Lord, save me from those long-faced saints.” If we know Christ, there has got to be some joy in our life. Scot said as we introduce our selves and our kids to saints, we can look at the liturgical calendar and learn a little bit about saints online: NewAdvent.com, even Wikipedia.org.…
1 Program #0168 for Monday, October 31, 2011: St William Tewksbury Eucharistic Adoration Chapel 56:34
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr John Hanley OMI, Eileen Wood, and Tim Francis Today's topics: St William's Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel, the Real Presence, science versus faith Summary of today's show: The Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is something all Catholics should know and rejoice in - St William Parish is teaching Tewksbury parishioners about the it through their Perpetual Adoration Chapel. Today we focus on the events leading up to the 5th anniversary celebration of the Chapel. Fr John Hanley, who started the Chapel; Eileen Wood, who helps run the Chapel now; and Tim Francis, who will be speaking in two weeks join Scot for a discussion on how spending time with Jesus in the Eucharist can enhance our faith lives. 1st segment: Scot started the show by wishing everyone a happy Halloween, that it be safe and a good preparation for All Saints Day tomorrow. Today is also the last day to pre-register at a lower price for the WQOM Catholic Conference on Saturday December 10th. The conference will feature Brian Patrick, Fr Mitch Pacwa, Dr Ray Guarendi, Cardinal Sean, and Sister Olga Yaqob. Scot also reminded everyone that tomorrow is All Saints Day, a Holy Day of Obligation. Scot also announced that a special Mass for All Soul's Day will take place on WQOM at 2pm with Cardinal Sean. He concluded the segment by asking for prayerful support of The Station of the Cross Fund Drive that will be this week on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Your prayers and generosity help keep WQOM on the air. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Fr John and Eileen to the program. Eileen is a parishioner at St William's in Tewksbury, and Fr John just completed 8 years as pastor at the parish. Fr John explained that when he arrived at St William's in 2003, the three previous priests had been transferred out at the same time. The popularity of adoration was rising due to ACTS retreats and other events, so he brought up the idea of a perpetual adoration chapel to the Parish Council to build on their Tuesday all-day and Friday overnight adoration programs. The Council prepared for the next 8 months to start the program - getting volunteers, making the physical space, and organizing the logistics. The decision was made to open the Chapel on the feast of Christ the King. Scot emphasized that there are only five or six perpetual chapels in the Archdiocese, making it even harder for St William's to launch it. Fr John said they recruited friends and family from the parish and all over the greater Lowell area. Eileen was involved from the beginning, having helped organize previous adoration programs. Eileen said that about 80 to 85% of the adorers are parishioners at St William. Scot asked what times are the hardest to fill - Eileen said surprisingly it isn't the middle of the night or early morning, but weekend afternoons when people might have to give up family events or travel. She said that the very first call she got when they announced the schedule was a man who wanted to reserve Thursday morning at 3am! Scot asked about the profile of the people who come in late - Fr Hanley said that some people like to wake up early, but many are late shift workers who may come at the end of their work day. Scot asked what preparations and education the Council did to recruit volunteers. Eileen said they published a long series of bulletin inserts to answer questions about what perpetual adoration is, what people do during adoration, why adoration is important, and more. One parishioner, Eileen continued, was touched by the comparison of adoration to having a private audience with your favorite celebrity. Scot observed that having a regularly scheduled appointment with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament can help lead to a more structured and regular prayer life too. Fr John agreed, and added that people tell him they get a sense of peace when they come to adore. Sometimes the silence and mediation or praying the rosary helps them bring their problems to the Lord, he said. Eileen said that praying in front of the Eucharist has helped her grow in her faith, but that she also hears from people who say that adoring helps them be better in their jobs. Scot said when Adoration Boston launched, they had subway ads that showed the sun as "Rays for Body," but the Eucharist in a monstrance as "Rays for the Soul." Fr Hanley said that Blessed Mother Theresa once answered the question of what she did in adoration by saying "I look at Jesus, and Jesus looks at me." Scot asked about what the fruits to the parish are from the adoration chapel. Eileen said that the community became more devoted, retreats were more full, and the parish became more of a family. She said that sometimes Catholic parishes don't follow suit of our other Christian brothers and sisters in that regard - the combination of the retreat program makes everyone more close. Fr John agreed with Eileen, and added that the community came together in their beliefs for everyone, not just those who participated in the adoration ministry. Eileen said that the adorers are everyone from high school students whose parents carpool to adoration to older parishioners and religious education students. Fr John said the biggest surprise for him was how easy it was to get late night and early morning adorers to sign up! 3rd segment: Scot asked Eileen to give an overview of the three main events that St William's is hosting to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the adoration chapel. The first event is the Vatican International Exhibit on Eucharistic Miracles - a large display of Church-approved Eucharistic miracles throughout the world. The exhibit will be in the lower church from November 12th to November 20th from 8am to 8pm. After Masses on the weekend, there will be a children's level story reading so that children can learn about the miracles on their level as well. The exhibit has 159 panels featuring many maps, pictures, and information about the miracles. The second event on November 14th, 15th, and 16th features speaker Tim Francis. Eileen said that the event will be run like a parish mission - Tim will be speaking about both Eucharistic and other miracles that science has verified but cannot explain. The third event is on Saturday, November 19th with Jesse Romero from 8am to 6:15pm, including lunch, the Angelus, chaplet of Divine Mercy, and Mass at 4pm. Jesse will be speaking at an all-day event, covering topics such as what Christ the King should mean to all of us, how to deal with loved ones leaving the Church, and the importance of the Eucharist in our lives. Eileen stressed that the events are open to all, not just to St William's parishioners. 4th segment: Tim Francis joined Scot, Fr John, and Eileen by phone. Tim said that his talks are aimed to be an evangelization opportunity to bring people back to the Eucharist - the source and summit of our Catholic faith. He said he plans to talk about several miracles that drew atheist and agnostic scientists to be faithful Catholics. Scot noted that Tim welcomes people to be skeptical of what he is saying, as long as they are not closed minded. Tim explained that asking concrete and intelligent questions are a healthy part of being skeptical, and a natural part of human curiosity. He explained that, even though information about Katya Rivas has been made very public, the people who dismiss it without watching video footage or reading the reports are not being skeptical, they just refuse to open their mind to listen to the facts. Tim and Scot talked about Tim's background - Tim said that his sales background tainted him a bit against following anything that had emotion involved. It caused him to fall away from the Church, but after his mother's death he started to come back. Tim continued, saying that the information that he will be discussing at St William's is what made him come back - the factual validation of the faith gave him the confidence he needed to make a connection with God. Fr John said that we are a sacramental people - we believe in things beyond what we can see. Our entire sacramental life is based on trusting that God is in action in our world, Fr John continued, and that miracles are God's way of reminding us that He is with us. Scot asked Tim to share an example of what he will be sharing in Tewksbury later this month. Tim said that he'll be 43 in December, and his father will be 75. When his father grew up, they didn't question their faith - for his father's generation, it's very odd that people need proof or question their faith. Tim gave the opinion that the culture of today is a very "see to believe" one. The greatest miracle we know, Tim continued, is the miracle that happens every day on the altar - when a priest consecrates a host and it becomes Jesus. If we truly appreciated this miracle, we'd be in the Church early, late, all the time on our knees worshiping. Tim related the story of a priest who was doubting the ability of God to work through him to consecrate - when he was celebrating Mass, the host turned to heart tissue and started to bleed. Tim said that before he came back to the Church, he and his wife were very caught up in the world. He said that understanding the treasure of the Eucharist has made him more compassionate and loving towards his wife and family, and to everyone around him. He said it's very important that the Eucharist, what we call the sacrament of love, turned into heart tissue in this miracle. Scot said that Pope Benedict notes that many people in society try to pit science and faith against each other - contradicting that God gave us science to support our belief in Him. If we pursue science without preconceived ideas, Scot continued, we can see God's work in all disciplines and lead us to the truth of God's love for us. Tim said much of his information sidesteps traditional arguments about God with scientists - going right to the facts of the miracles. How, for instance, can a plaster statue of Jesus bleed or weep? Science doesn't have an answer, Tim continued, and that's where faith takes over.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Msgr. Dennis Sheehan, parochial vicar of Our Lady, Help of Christians, Newton, and associate director of the Office of Worship and Spiritual Life Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Msgr. Dennis Sheehan Summary of today’s show: If there’s a priest in the Archdiocese of Boston who’s worn more hats than Msgr. Dennis Sheehan, we want to meet him. Scot and Fr. Chip talk with Msgr. Sheehan about his many assignments from the Pontifical North American Seminary in Rome to Blessed John XXIII National Seminary to the Pontifical Josephinum in Columbus. After his days leading his seminaries, he stays with the student theme in shepherding St. Paul’s in Cambridge, which includes the Harvard Catholic Student Association. Today, Msgr. Sheehan provides leadership at the presbyteral council and in the archdiocesan Office for Worship. Also, on today’s show, Scot andFr. Chip discuss this Sunday’s Gospel reading and tell us why we can call our priests father. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chip Hines back to the show as a substitute co-host for Fr. Mark O’Connell. Fr. Chip is often in the Pastoral Center on Fridays for meetings of the Clergy Personnel Board. He represents priests who were ordained in the 2000s. The board advises Cardinal Seán on appointments of priests. Scot and Fr. Chip talked about Game Six of the World Series, one of the best World Series games ever. Scot said he talked with his kids about what it was like as a Red Sox fan in 1986 to watch the ball roll through Bill Buckner’s legs in that Game Six. Both agreed that the Cardinals will likely win tonight, although they’re sympathetic to the Texas Rangers and their fans. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Msgr. Sheehan to the show. He’s know the monsignor since he was pastor at St. Paul’s in Cambridge in the mid-1990s when Scot was graduating college. Msgr. said he was a parochial vicar at Sacred Heart in East Boston when he was first ordained. He also taught at Emmanuel College and was campus chaplain at Suffolk U at the same time. Msgr. said he studied at the North American College in Rome in Latin so he didn’t have enough Italian to be fluent at Sacred Heart. He was actually present in St. Peter’s during the opening of the Second Vatican Council. He went back to Rome on the seminary faculty in 1969. He was director of liturgy and went to San Anselmo at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute and studied nights while teaching the subject during the day. He taught at the seminary for four years. Scot said in that time, helping to form future priests in a liturgy they didn’t grow up praying, must have been a challenge. Msgr. said the liturgy was for the first time in the vernacular and celebrating the liturgy was an art in the making in those days. There were no books to consult at the time. While there he oversaw the sabbatical program for priests at the North American College, soon after it had started. Msgr. said it was a post-Vatican II enterprise, that priests had to get caught in the areas that the Church was entering. He said it was a work in the making. It included 35 priests every spring and fall from all over the United States, including American missionaries who had returned home. Hearing all the lecturers who came in to address the priests was like getting a second graduate degree. Scot said the program continues today and our own former vicar general, Fr. Richard Erikson, is there now. Msgr. said the rule of thumb was that a priest would not be admitted until he had been ordained 15 years. He said being in Rome itself was part of the formational experience. They would visit not just ruins and museums, but also meet those running various Vatican offices. They even used to take the priests to Geneva for meetings at the World Council of Churches. Today, they take the priests to the Holy Land. Fr. Chip asked how his experience in the 60s with the liturgy is helping him with the revised translations of the Roman Missal coming up. Msgr. said people should listen as the English had adopted a new style of rhetoric. He said during November, the priests of the Archdiocese will have a series of programs where they will be introduced to the rhetorical styles and new emphases of the Roman Missal. He said the current emphasis is on text, but 40 years ago they would have talked more about presence and body language and leadership. Now, they can assume much of that is known. He said one of his current topics is making liturgy a prayer for the priest. Msgr. said he hopes that the preparation doesn’t end with the First Sunday of Advent, that everyone will continue to use these revised texts as a basis for catechesis, and even richer still when people are using. 3rd segment: Scot said Msgr. has also been involved in other seminary formation. He was appointed as rector of Pope John XXIII National Seminary in Weston. At the time, he was younger than some of the seminarians he was helping prepare. (The seminary prepares men who are older and for whom the priesthood is generally a second vocation.) He said preparing men for priesthood is one of the most grace-filled experiences for every priest. Msgr. said back in the 1980s, the “older” priest was generally younger than today. They had a cut-off age of about 55, but now it’s considerably older with men in their 70s studying. The seminary attracts men from all over the country. After about six years, he was asked to be rector of the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. Msgr. said he thought by now that there was a plot to keep him out of the archdiocese. He said the Josephinum was founded in the 19th century forming primarily German-speaking or German-descent priests and he showed up on St. Patrick’s Day as an Irish rector of the seminary. Up until the 1940s, the house language at the Josephinum was German, with the object of providing German priests. In the 1960s, the mission moved to providing priests for missionary dioceses, especially Spanish-speaking. It is called Pontifical because it is governed by the Vatican. He said the history of the relationship between German-speaking Catholics and the rest of the Church in US is very interesting. The governance by the Vatican was meant to protect and preserve the German character of the seminary. He returned to the archdiocese as director of the Office of Worship in Boston and was administrator of St. Jeanne Parish in Newton. Many of those people are now at his current parish of Our Lady Help of Christians. His work in the Office for Worship was mainly concerned with laypeople, especially musicians, for leadership roles in ministry, including lectors and Eucharistic ministers. From there, he was assigned to St. Paul’s in Cambridge, which is a territorial parish, the Harvard-Radcliffe campus ministry, and the Archdiocesan Boys Choir School. Msgr. said it was probably the most interesting ministry in the archdiocese, but it was also tremendously challenging. He was there for 11 years. He said the ministry at Harvard alone included hundreds of Catholics. He said the choir school is a middle school that accepts musically and intellectually talented young people and it makes a singular impact on a young boy and can change the direction of his whole life. Scot said when he was a student at Harvard he bragged about the beauty of the liturgy at St. Paul’s. He said the homilies were longer than at most places. He felt it was more instructional and people wanted good preaching. Fr. Chip remarked on the regimentation of the altar servers at St. Paul’s with a quality he hasn’t seen since his seminary days. Msgr. said everyone should experience a Sunday Mass at St. Paul’s to see the full-range of how liturgy can be celebrated. Scot said being surrounded on all sides by Harvard university can be a great challenge. Msgr. said the students are amazingly responsible to outreach from the Church. Active Catholics at Harvard are committed and intelligent and they nourish and build up one another. Scot said Msgr. now wears many hats. One of his jobs is as chaplain of the Order of Malta. Msgr. said it is one of the oldest religious orders in the Church today and there are still 60 professed knights who live in religious life. The order in the Middle ages protected the Holy Land and took care of the sick. The charism of the order today is the care of the sick poor. A characteristic outreach of theirs was their response to the earthquake in Haiti a couple of years ago. For example, they took a small hospital they sponsor and enlarged it to accommodate many more patients. The American knights also take about 500 sick people to Lourdes on pilgrimage every year. It’s not just a social group, but they are a working group that embraces both men and women in membership. Msgr. said he’s been on the Lourdes pilgrimage about six times so far. He said you can see the heart of the order in the pilgrimage, but the work of the order is so much greater. Msgr. also works as moderator of the presbyteral council. His job is to keep the meeting on schedule and on topic. The council is a gathering of priests representative of the whole archdiocese with Cardinal Seán and the vicar general. Fr. Chip asked if it’s like herding cats, but Msgr. said it’s like watching cats get in line. Scot said his experience is that the feedback from the priests is extremely frank and open and helps shape the way we take initiatives forward. Most of the members will talk about the issues discussed with other priests and the people back in the vicariates to bring their concerns back with them. They also share the concerns of the council with the people they meet. Msgr. pointed out that the advisory board is more than just giving advice, but is very influential. 4th segment: Now as we do every week at this time, we will consider the Mass readings for this Sunday, specifically the Gospel reading. Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’ As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Scot said this is a strongly worded Gospel. We most often see Jesus get angry at those who practice hypocrisy, especially among the Pharisees and Scribes. When he tells the people to do as they tell you, but not what they do, he’s saying they’re hypocrites. Scot said hypocrisy in the way we live our faith turns people off. He saw the Pharisees leading people away from an authentic faith to a cultural faith. Fr. Chip said Jesus uses the style of exaggeration in Hebrew to make a point. He points a heavy emphasis to make it understood that hypocrisy is not to be tolerated at all. Scot said Fr. James Martin, SJ, just came out with a book related to the humor related to our faith and said a lot of Jesus’ stories were meant to be funny through exaggeration. Fr. Chip said that people would have been laughing at the exaggerations of widening phylacteries and lengthening tassels. Fr. Chip said priests struggle with being authentic because they can’t give the impression of hypocrisy. For example, he’d love to have a Cadillac Escalade, but it would give the wrong impression about the life of simplicity he needs to live as a priest. Scot said it applies to all of us. We should talk the talk and walk the walk. Fr. Chip said we have to look at Scripture through the eyes of our time, in addition to the times it was written. Scot said it is often misunderstood when Jesus says don’t be called rabbi, master, or father. Is this saying priests shouldn’t be called father? No. Jesus is telling the Pharisees not to be a cult of personality where people are making idols of the man, but they should be directing people to follow our Father in heaven. Fr. Chip said on the first day of seminary, they tell the seminarians that if they’re in it for prestige and a cult of personality, they’re in the wrong place. He thinks of priests who do good work, but get caught up in themselves and their own following. One of Scot’s favorite authors today is Fr. Robert Barron with his new TV series and book, “Catholicism”. One thing he says is that people misunderstand Jesus as being meek. In this scene, think of how confrontational Jesus is in this situation and how shocking his words were.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Vatican thoughts on financial crisis; Pope in Assisi; World Mission Sunday and Bl. John Paul Saturday; Profile of Cushing; Project Rachel Summary of today’s show: What is the authority of a Vatican document? It depends on what you mean by “Vatican”. Scot, Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy discuss the recent economic paper released by a pontifical council that’s making waves, not least for its comparison of Church teaching to Occupy Wall Street. They also consider Pope Benedict’s visit to Assisi today for the 20th anniversary of an interreligious peace meeting at which the Holy Father spoke in no uncertain terms about the responsibility of religions for violence done in their name. CLoser to home, Cardinal Sean celebrated World Mission Sunday and the first feast of Blessed John Paul this past weekend at Holy Cross Cathedral. Two series continued in the pages of the Pilot with a profile of the storied Cardinal Richard Cushing and an anonymous memoir of a woman who sought healing through Project Rachel. Finally, we remembered the oldest and longest-serving priest in the Archdiocese, Fr. Paul R. Francis, who died this week. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Greg and Fr. Roger back to the show. They talked about a trip that Greg and his wife took last week to Mexico for their 20th wedding anniversary. Fr. Roger has been busy leading clergy retreats in Pennsylvania and Arizona in recent weeks. He’s been doing these retreats in many places over the past few years. He preached on Pope John Paul’s Theology of Body, which is intended to help priests as they counsel and work with married couples. 2nd segment: Scot said the first story is about a document published this week by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Fr. Roger said the document is significant as a study document by Catholic leaders, but it does not have the authority of papal encyclical or a teaching of the Magisterium. It’ intended to help us reflect on the moral issues involved in our examination of economic issues. It tries to applies Church teaching to economic issues, but it’s up to us to put it in its context. Scot said the document said there usually needs to be a mechanism that fosters the common good in global economic transactions. While it may suggest a global financial authority. This has met some criticism, including some who say it shows the Vatican is out of touch. Greg said the sentiment in the Brumley’s article may be harsh—the Church wants the poor to be protected from the unfettered effects of capitalism—in practical terms this is an idea that won’t be possible. Scot said Cardinal Turkson of the Pontifical Council said that those who are part of Occupy Wall Street and the Vatican agree in that financial institutions should be held accountable. Fr. Roger said it surprise him that the Vatican has discerned what Occupy WallStreet is about when those in the movement themselves don’t know. Scot noted that said that people don’t distinguish the different types of pronouncements from the Vatican: When people reach the conclusion that the Vatican is talking nonsense, they do not ordinarily distinguish between the sound fundamental principles of Church teaching and the questionable economic analysis that follows. Nor do they make fine distinctions on the different levels of Church teaching authority. They conclude simply that the Vatican talks nonsense. So by reaching beyond their field of expertise, Vatican officials undermine their own teaching authority. Scot added that Occupy Wall Street in this country cannot be separated from partisan politics and so using it as an example of a broad-based movement would be off-base. Fr. Roger said that Cardinal Turkson is from Africa and has experience of multinational companies coming into the continent and taking advantage of the poor, however his experience should also tell him that turning to governments to control such things is fraught with the danger of corruption and exacerbating the problem. Scot turned to Assisi, Italy, where the Holy Father is meeting with 200 leaders of world religions for the 20th anniversary of an interreligious meeting for peace that Pope John Paul II called for the first in the mid-1980s. Pope Benedict called out the danger of the use of religion as a means of violence against those who do not hold to that religion. He also said militant secularism is also attacking religion as if it brings only violence. He said that militant secularism—especially in the form of socialism and fascism—have racked up a higher body count than all religious wars. At the the same time, he asked for forgiveness for the times the Church has been involved in religious violence. Pope Benedict also brought to the gathering some atheists who want peace in order to have them help the entire movement ensure that religion is always for the good of the human person. The meeting was held in Assisi because St. Francis is acknowledged by all in his sanctity and that he is still 800 years later an agent for peace worldwide. 3rd segment: Scot said this past Sunday was World Mission Sunday and Cardinal Seán celebrated Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross which included people of many languages and cultures. Cardinal Seán’s homily touched on the physical and spiritual needs of the poorest in the world, and living the Great Commission of the Gospel of St. Matthew. Fr. Roger said he calls his own parishioners in New Bedford to the new evangelization. If we’ve come to experience the depth of Christ’s love, we’re going to want to share him with others. On Saturday, the Cardinal Seán also celebrated a special Mass, this one for the Adopt-a-Priest Apostolate on the occasion of the first feast of Blessed John Paul II. He quoted Loretta Gallagher who leads the effort who assured everyone that there’s no need to start a pen pal relationship with the priest, they just need to pray for them. For those who want to adopt one of the remaining priests available, go to . After the Mass, papal biographer George Weigel spoke about John Paul’s life. One topic he discussed was that Pope John Paul witnessed to the Gospel to more people in person than anyone else in the history of the world through his many mission trips. He also talked about how keeping Christianity in the culture is important. He noted that the Polish state survived being subsumed by the Soviets though the people’s preservation of their language, literature, and way of life. 4th segment: Scot said this week is the third in a series of profiles on the bishops of Boston. This week it’s Cardinal Richard Cushing. Scot said he was surprised by some of the facts he learned, including that he was once thrown out of a school in South Boston and that he enlisted in the military but was given a medical discharge. Greg said he enjoys writing these articles because he learns so much about the bishops that he didn’t know, even for Cardinal Cushing, who is one of the most storied of our bishops. Fr. Roger said Cardinal Cushing had a strong missionary spirit that reminds him of St. Philip Neri. He said Cushing was probably frustrated when he was told he was’t going to the missions but was staying in the Society of the Propagation of the Faith, but when he became Archbishop that missionary spirit led to the founding of the St. James Society which has sent many priests to the missions. Scot also noted that this week’s Pilot includes another installment in a series of anonymous columns from Project Rachel written by a woman who had an abortion and later came to know the peace and healing of God’s mercy. He recommended those who want more information to go to the or call 508-651-3100. Greg noted how each of the profiles show how different each experience is for the women involved, but yet there are similarities including the external pressures they felt and the lack of choice they thought they had that forced them into this course of action. Fr. Roger said he often hears from people who tell him that they’ve done something they think God won’t forgive them for. He said it’s a wonderful experience to help them discover God’s love and mercy and forgiveness. Scot said that earlier this week the oldest and longest ordained priest in the archdiocese, Fr. Paul R. Francis, has died and his funeral was celebrated this week by Cardinal Seán.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Kyle Hamilton, Terry Poplava, Aaron Winn, and Eileen Herrington of Our Sunday Visitor Today’s topics: How Our Sunday Visitor serves parishes today, including good parish websites Summary of today’s show: Scot and Fr. Matt are joined by Kyle Hamilton, Terry Poplava, and Aaron Winn to discuss how Our Sunday Visitor has been serving Catholic parishes for 100 years in various areas of communications, including most recently providing excellent parish websites that are easy to create and maintain, adhere to best practices, and don’t cost a lot of money. They also talked about how the Archdiocese has partnered with Our Sunday Visitor to create a special package of content and visual designs for Boston parishes. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Matt back to the show. Fr. Matt had the honor of concelebrating at the funeral Mass of the priest who baptized him as a child. Fr. Francis would have celebrated 70 years as a priest in December. Also, the Mass for the feast day of Bl. John Paul II at the Cathedral was beautiful and George Weigel gave an excellent talk on the Holy Father. Weigel talked about how his biographies of John Paul were used in the beatification process. About 1,000 people attended. They don’t yet have a family for all of the priests in the archdiocese for the adopt-a-priest prayer apostolate just yet so anyone interested should go to the site. Today at the Pastoral Center we had many parish staff come to hear about creating excellent parish websites. The goal was to expose people to best practices for websites. Scot highlighted the work of our own Karla Goncalves in assessing 243 parish websites on 68 different characteristics. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Terry Poplava from Our Sunday Visitor and Aaron Winn from OSV’s Radius Webtools to the show. Terry said OSV works with thousands of parishes nationwide. They help parishes communicate with parishes in a way that creates involvement and engagement. They help with printed media like bulletins and offertory envelopes and with electronic media like email and websites. They wanted to offer a full package of different channels a parish can use and work with them create consistency across their messages. Aaron said little has changed with the fundamentals of communication so what makes a great website is the same as making great print media. The content of the message is the most important thing you do want to communicate. Sometimes churches put things on their website that people aren’t looking for. People want Mass times, for example, but not so interested in mission statements. Scot said in Boston 16% of our parishes don’t have websites. Nationwide that would translate to thousands of parishes and thousands more would have a poor website that doesn’t communicate that the parish is a place people want to be involved. Terry said as a Church we should be better about communications. But parishes have limited time and money and skills for this area. Parish leaders may not realize how much easier it has become to have a website. They need to put the right amount of emphasis on the importance of websites. Scot asked Aaron what makes Radius easier to use. Aaron said it has one interface to do everything on your website, not separate tools for email and blogs and calendar and so on. He gave the example of a complicated remote control or getting in a rental car and not knowing how to make anything work. That’s bad user interface. Radius’s user interface has a lot of thought behind it that it just works. It saves minutes and even hours in maintaining the website. Fr. Matt asked whether parishes have staff or volunteers who maintain the site. Terry said it’s a mix, but less often is it a staff member. Those who have a staff member dedicated to maintaining the website will have a better website. Sometimes volunteers can leave or aren’t on message. Scot describes the parish website as the virtual front door to the church and if someone came down the street and found graffiti on the building, trash on the steps, overgrown weeds, and an old sign, they might pass by. It’s the same thing for the website that looks like it’s not been updated in years. It shows the parish doesn’t take communications with its parishioners seriously. Scot asked Aaron how long it takes for a parish to get a new website. Aaron said it takes a week or two. With Radius they can have a new website in place within 15 minutes. The technology is in place to move quickly. Realistically, it takes a couple of weeks to make all the decisions, like what domain name to choose, what visual design to use, what content to post. 3rd segment: Aaron said parishioners are generally looking for practical information, like Mass times or maps and directions or staff contact. Also, not just times, but also expectations of what they’ll find. For those who might be returning to the Church, there’s trepidation in what they should expect: dress code, what is expected of kids, etc. Also interactivity: contact forms, blogs, downloadable forms. Ability to sign up for things, learn more about the faith, photos of the community, online calendars. Scot asked what OSV suggests for how parish websites can reach out to people who are new to parish or to the Church or the town they’re in. Terry referred back to the virtual front door. The first thing someone who moves to an area will first go to the parish website. Too often they don’t even have the parish address on the website. To help bring people back in, he suggests a very prominent section that asks “Are you to new?” and provides information to them in these areas. Scot suggested two parishes using Radius Webtools as examples of the Webtools in action: How much time is the parish spending on maintaining the sites. Aaron said they might have worked on these daily for the first few weeks, but now they could be updating once per week. Because there is a lot of dynamic content that updates itself, the website stays fresh without requiring a lot of manual interfacing. Terry said St. Anne’s is focused on stewardship and they have a whole section of their website on the topic. As for St. Patrick’s, they wanted to appeal an Asian demographic and that is part of why they chose the the visual design they did. For thou shalt nots for parishes, Aaron said don’t bite off more than you chew. Both of these parishes put in a lot of attention on the top two pages with great images, but as you go deeper there is more text. They focus attention on the first pages you see. Thou shalt not focus on your own mindset: In the Church we understand the things we can assume, but we can’t assume people outside our parish understand our jargon or insider lingo. Ask someone from outside the site, maybe a non-Catholic, read it for clarity. Don’t use background music because it can startle or disturb the web user. Be careful in the use of Flash, because it doesn’t work well with some mobile devices. Aaron said we tend to gravitate to the newest technology, but it can take the place of good communication. Scot said Pilot New Media of the Archdiocese has partnered with Radius Webtools to offer a special package of visual designs and content templates to our parishes that meets all the goals of best practices we implement in Boston and integrates the ease of use of Radius. Terry said he loves that Boston has paid a lot of attention to the kinds of information about learning the faith and being welcoming to people interested in the Church. The goal is to drive very fine websites to all of the websites in the country, whether OSV provides them or not. OSV wants to serve the Church. They believe their products can help parishes get the best information and convey the best information and engage parishioners in the life of the Church. They hope to help parishes amplify some of things they do through printed materials in ways that you can do in print and that can be updated regularly. Scot said Pope Benedict has encouraged everyone in the Church to embrace the digital continent. “Without fear we must set sail on the digital sea, facing into the deep with the same passion that has governed the ship of the Church for two thousand years…[W]e want to qualify ourselves by living in the digital world with a believer’s heart, helping to give a soul to the Internet’s incessant flow of communication.” Scot said giving a soul to the internet is an important part of why we want to encourage parishes to go online. Fr. Matt said if we want to hunt ducks, we have to go where the ducks are. This is where people are communicating and finding out about all aspects of life. 4th segment: It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is and . This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is David Walsh from Roslindale, MA. Congratulation, David! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: Scot welcomed Kyle Hamilton to the show. Kyle is president of Our Sunday Visitor’s offertory solutions. Fr. John Francis Noll founded Our Sunday Visitor in 1912. At the time there was a lot of anti-Catholic sentiment and Fr. Noll wanted to respond to the attacks. He even offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who could prove the claims being made against the Church. In 1912, he started a newsletter and wrote a book communicating the basics of the faith. In the early 1920s, he borrowed the idea from Protestants of replacing pew tithes with offertory envelopes. About 10,000 parishes now use OSV envelopes and other services and there are about 18,000 parishes in the United States. Fr. Noll ended up being an archbishop in Indiana. Terry said Fr. Noll was pretty feisty in defending the faith. Today, OSV is about bringing your Catholic faith to life in every medium in ways that the average Catholic can understand. Scot said OSV’s book publishing is amazing, He toured the warehouse in Indiana and couldn’t believe how many books he saw. The Our Sunday Visitor national newspaper is the largest Catholic newspaper in the country. Scot contributed to the OSV book . Fr. Matt asked about the relationship to the diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend today. Kyle said the bishop is always the de facto chairman of the board, although OSV is an independent 501(c)3. Fr. Matt asked how much the mission of the Church informs the direction of OSV. He thinks they are living the work of the new evangelization. How does it inform how they work there on a daily basis. Terry said they are passionate about they do. OSV takes it’s net profits and gives them all to the OSV Institute which has an independent board that decides where to make grants that support the mission of the Church. It’s deeply ingrained in the culture of OSV. Scot said he sees OSV as being the same league as the Knights of Columbus in the impact they have on the Church in the United States. Scot was struck by OSV’s giving through the Institute. In 2011 so far they’ve made grants totaling more than $2.5 million. They focus on catechesis and stewardship in their grant giving. The gifts average about $20,000. They constitute seed money for specific projects. Terry said he particularly favors the support for the University of Notre Dame for a Masters degree in religious education for DREs to attend even part-time. OSV also provides materials to military bases all around the world through the Military Archdiocese. Scot said OSV Offertory Solutions helps enhance offertory, improve communications, and fosters vibrant community. They help parishes create an engagement with people, to help them find out where they fit into the ministries of the parish. Scot asked what it would look like if a parish signed up for all of OSV communications tools. Terry said they could be receiving books, the many pamphlets that provide short synopses on many topics, offertory solutions, which depends on parish communications. They often include communications from pastor and pamphlets in the mailings for the offertory envelopes. They could a parish website, an increased offertory program, a focused welcome back program for Catholics at Christmas and Easter. They can help with quarterly or monthly newsletters and state-of-the-parish reports. Scot asked Terry about the percentage of Catholics who participate in online offertory. Terry said it’s about 12% now and growing significantly. Some parishes reach 50% or more. They find that those who switch often give up to 30% or more because it’s a conscious gift and because they don’t miss giving when they are away.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. David Cavanagh, a priest of Opus Dei and postulator for the cause of Servant of God Fr. Joseph Muzquiz Today’s topics: Opus Dei and the cause for the canonization of Fr. Joseph Muzquiz Summary of today’s show: Fr. David Cavanagh reveals to Scot and Fr. Chris how he came to be a priest of Opus Dei as a hockey player at Harvard, a little more about what Opus Dei is about, and his work as postulator for the cause of canonization of Fr. Joseph Muzquiz, an Opus Dei priest who ministered and died in Boston. 1st segment: Fr. Chris had the St. John’s seminary alumni gathering this past weekend and over 100 priests were there along with Cardinal Seán and Bishops Kennedy and Uglietto. It’s good for the seminarians to see the men already in service and for the priests to be inspired by the young men coming to help them. They gathered at 5pm for a holy hour then a cocktail hour and dinner. One of the fourth-year men gives a presentation to welcome these men home. Two seminarians also provided musical entertainment on the flute and violin and Irish music. Last night, Fr. Chris visited Norfolk state prison and the inmates were excited to hear that today’s guests is a priest of Opus Dei. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcomed Fr. David Cavanagh who is based at the Elmbrook Center in Harvard Square. He is in the Pastoral Center today for Fr. Joseph Muzquiz’s cause for canonization, but first Scot asked him about growing up in the area. Fr. David and his brother Joe went to Harvard as hockey players, partying as hard as they studied. They met the priests at the Elmbrook Center at Harvard and they were attracted by the fact that they never were told that there was anything wrong with playing hockey. They were told to do it well, which meant that if you’re going to do it well, then do it all for the Lord. It was appealing because it wasn’t pulling them out of what they loved to do. Scot said Opus Dei calls us to holiness in our everyday life, whatever we do every day. There is a path to holiness in every secondary or particular vocations. Unless you find God in the every day, you’ll never find him, said St. Josemaria Escriva. God blesses and uses our everyday experiences to spread the Gospel. Fr. David said his brother later reflected that it was obvious the reason they were good at hockey was so they could end up where they did in life. Fr. David had been intending to be married and it was only at the end of law school that someone asked him if God was calling him to celibacy within the apostolate as a layman. Suddenly, so much became clear and he knew it was true. Later, some of the men living as a numerary, as a celibate within Opus Dei, are called to priesthood. Fr. Chris asked Fr. David about his primary work. Fr. David said he celebrates the sacraments first and everything flows from that. He makes himself available for that. He spends a lot of time hearing confessions, giving spiritual direction to everyone, whether or not they are Opus Dei. He also preaches on retreats. Scot said he thinks of other groups within the Church, like the Franciscans at Arch Street, he thinks of the particular gifts they provide to the Archdiocese. For Opus Dei, he thinks of the help they give to people through spiritual direction, taking their faith to the next level. He helps people to see God’s signs that He provides for them and helps them to see what they might have missed. Fr. Chris asked about St. Josemaria, the founder of Opus Dei. He was called to start Opus Dei by living it himself, not just writing down some principles. He came from an ordinary family who went through some hard times: siblings who died, impoverishment. He was later able to see that he was being brought through it to understand what he was later to teach. Fr. David recommended some new books on his life, including He had a strong temperament and he had to learn how to use it for the good. If all of his gifts were left undirected, he could have gone down a very different path. If we put it all at God’s service, he will direct it all to the good and show us how he wants us to use them for his glory. Scot noted how broad and diverse the members of Opus Dei are. It’s almost a response to the idea that faithful practice of Catholicism is only for priests and religious. The retreats offered by Opus Dei for men and women and young people at Arnold Hall in Pembroke are open to all, not just Opus Dei. They are open to college students and teens and priests as well. The website has much information about the retreats and programs. 3rd segment: Fr. David is postulator of the cause of canonization for Fr. Joseph Muzquiz here in Boston. Fr. David knew Fr. Muzquiz who was sent to the US from Spain in 1949 as the first priests of Opus Dei in this country. They cam with nothing, not even knowledge of English. He went back to Rome in 1961, having solidly established it. He later returned to the US in 1976 to head up Opus Dei until 1980 and then did pastoral work in Boston until he died in 1983. Fr. David met him in 1976. He learned later that when Fr. Muzquiz came back to Boston he was the one who asked why no one had asked him if he’d considered celibacy. Fr. David went to Rome to study in 1982 and that was the last time he saw him. When you were in his presence, he was so absorbed in you, that’s what stood out. Scot said that seems to be held in common among many saints, including Mother Teresa and John Paul. They would be totally absorbed in the person they were with in the moment. It must be like the way the Heavenly Father would be with us, but on an infinitely smaller scale. What about Fr. Muzquiz showed he practiced heroic virtues in the everyday things of his life. Fr. David said his holiness isn’t because he was a priest or one of the first Opus Dei priests in this country. Holiness is the willingness one moment at a time to speak to God with my deeds and actions and where he’s put me to let him work through me. the saints help us to lead us through the moments of history to see the reality of the presence of God that is beneath everything. Fr. Chris said what Fr. David has learned that helped him personally in this process. Fr. David said seeing the humble struggle of Fr. Muzquiz helps you focus on the freedom we have to “let it be done unto us” as opposed to trying to have control of everything. Fr. Chris said in the Cathedral in Los Angeles he is struck by the tapestries that show the saints as real, living human beings and it recalls for us that each of us is called to be a saint. Seeing a contemporary of ours being considered for these honors recalls the richness of the spiritual and its call to holiness for ordinary men and women like us. Fr. David said we all have our own gifts and Fr. Muzquiz had a tremendous capacity for work, but the beautiful thing was that he never imposed that same driven sense of work on others. He was solicitous of the situation of others and never demanded others work like him. Scot said many saints had strong personalities. What were the strong elements of Fr. Muzquiz’s personality that makes you say he was a real guy and a real good priest and that’s what made him such an example. Fr. David said when you were with him, he would give simple advice. He wasn’t a gifted preacher, but what he said stuck with you afterwards. You would be tempted to say, “I know this” until you tried to live it and realized how hard it was. He was someone who knew the Lord very well and had immense trust in the Lord in even difficult situations. He spent a lot of time making himself available to priests without imposing, but being of service to them. Fr. Chris asked if there were points in Fr. Muzquiz life where he embraced the suffering of the cross. Fr. David said it wasn’t in big dramatic things, but like most of us in the martyrdom of one day at a time. It emerges like a mosaic of his life across the decades. He was reliable in all of these things because he operated of love, not because was particularly fastidious or punctual. 4th segment: Scot asked Fr. David about the different stages of canonization. Fr. Muzquiz is now a Servant of God. Fr. David said it begins with people approaching the local bishop to ask if this person’s life is worth investigating. Then the diocese has a preliminary look at whether the persona has reputation for sanctity and whether the person’s intercession was efficacious and whether holding them up for canonization would advance the mission of the Church. If so, they submit a petition for an official cause. Once that permission is received, the person is called a Servant of God. Now they take testimony of eyewitness, people who actually knew him. This all occurs as the diocesan phase. The Tribunal hears this testimony. Then the postulator writes a biography, annotated to the record prepared with thousands of pages of documentation and the person’s writings. This biography, called the positio, and all the evidence is sent to Rome to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. He would be declared Venerable if he’s determined to have lived a life of heroic virtue. To be beatified, there has to be a first-class miracle. This is God speaking, compared to all that is previous which is the voice of the people. To be a miracle, there is no human explanation possible for this. many doctors say that when they go to Rome to testify to a miracle, they have never faced a cross-examination like it. To be canonized, there must be a second first-class miracle. Scot said even if it’s a miraculous healing, but there could be a scientific explanation, that’s not enough. This is why people are encouraged to pray to those who are in the process. Fr. David said people should pray to Fr. Muzquiz because we can see his hand moving in the ordinary things of life. If God is willing to show Fr. Muzquiz as an example, then it’s a win-win. If people believe they have a miracle through Fr. Muzquiz’s intercession, they can email . Fr. David also encouraged people to download from the home page of Opus Dei. The prayer for private devotion is: God, you helped your servant Joseph work with generosity and simplicity. He spread the message of sanctity in secular life to many people, teaching them to find joy and peace in their daily life. Help me to seek first the kingdom of God, by sanctifying my everyday work and dedicating myself generously to the salvation of souls. Glorify your servant Joseph, and through his intercession, grant me the favor I ask of you. Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Greg Wayland, reporter for New England Cable News (NECN) Today’s topics: Greg Wayland, local reporter and practicing Catholic Summary of today’s show: Greg Wayland joins Scot to talk about his two decades of experience as a print and broadcast journalism, including reporting at several local Boston news outlets, as well as how he brings his Catholic faith into his reporting as well as the newsroom, not to present a bias in favor of the Church, but to ensure accurate reporting. 1st segment: Scot said today we will hear from a Catholic who works in secular media. Greg Wayland will be familiar to our listeners, having worked in television news in New England for two decades. His work at NECN allows him to work on longer stories on diverse topics. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Greg to the show. Greg said he’s been at New England Cable News (NECN) since May, 1998. He’s moved around a lot. Prior to that he was at 7, 4, and 12 in Providence. He’s also worked in Florida, starting in Fort Myers in 1979. There are a lot of Boston retirees in that area. At the time he arrived there it was among the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country. The television market was small, but now it’s a large and glitzy market. Boston is still among the biggest local TV markets, ranked number 6. New York’s local TV market is a little more national in focus. People come to work in Boston TV to stay as a destination. He began his career at the Boston Globe in print journalism. He had been in the Army during the Korean War, and when he came out he was interested in journalism and could write, so he got a job running copy at 25 years old. That worked into the possibility of doing freelance stories and then he moved to the Dedham Daily Transcript as a reporter. Greg grew up in St. Anne’s in Dorchester and won an award for oratory throughout the archdiocese in high school. Meanwhile his brothers all worked in broadcast journalism, mostly in sales and behind the scenes, and when he was in his early 30’s he decided to take the jump. At the time it seemed a little more glamorous, but later found out it was just as challenging as print. Scot asked the difference between print journalism and TV journalism. Greg said although newspapers are facing tough times, they’re still the medium of record and set the direction of the news for the day. When a reporter covers an event, all he has is his notebook and sits through the event without worrying about images. He’s usually writing for a later edition. TV news has images and words to worry about with shorter deadlines. It’s also a different type of writing: fewer words, but using the pictures to tell the story. But now newspaper reporters are carrying photos and video cameras for the web, plus writing shorter versions of their long stories for web use too. And TV reporters are now writing for their websites too. It’s called convergence. Scot asked Greg how much of the final story is him shaping the final version of the story. Does he shape the visuals and words? How much are other people involved in the newsroom? Greg said it’s a collaborative effort. He does have a considerable amount of say in the visuals. The camera man can take direction, but they usually know what they need to get too. Greg may ask for a specific shot for something he will write about later. When they get back, some reporters have to shoot, write, and edit. Greg doesn’t have to do that; he sits with an editor, logs everything he hopes to put in the story, and they drop in the soundbites. They meld it together in collaboration under tight deadlines. Scot asked how much of his assignments come from the assignment desk versus generating the stories himself. Greg said every station has editorial meetings in the morning and afternoon. They are asked for their ideas, but there’s always a certain group of stories that need to be covered, from stuff that happened overnight or showed up in the Globe or Herald. Ninety percent is dictated by the exigencies of the daily news, but the reporter is always expected to give input, to say whether it will work or not, or to suggest stories. There’s also heavy emphasis on breaking news or spot news, which TV news covers faster than newspapers. It’s very competitive and can be things like fires or bank robberies. Scot has seen changes in emphases in local news, including more breaking news and more weather news. He’s see more entertainment news, which drives higher ratings. NECN is in a slightly different spot than the network affiliates in Boston. Greg said there’s always been a tension in news, including in newspapers, between the sensational and trendy versus the solid, institutional news. A newscast has to be a mix of both, because people demand both. Regarding weather, Greg said in the 24 hour news cycle, people do watch weather. The ratings always spike during the weather. Weather coverage is more sophisticated as well as are the people covering it. As for entertainment, we’ve grown into a celebrity culture where the foibles of celebrities are in demand. News directors think it’s what people want and there’s evidence it is what people want. However, Greg said NECN has remained a serious news source. They’ve undergone an ownership change but they remain solid. Greg said he has a light-hearted feature on Thursday nights, so he’s happy to get a chance to break from the news. Scot noted his wife who grew up in Mexico thinks New Englanders are wimpy when it comes to the weather because of the perception based on how sensational weather coverage is. Scot said it also tells him how news coverage shapes the culture. The way we think about life, what we value, what we think is important is often shaped in newsrooms that decide what is relevant in the news. 3rd segment: Scot asked Greg, as a Catholic journalist, how we hear the media is biased against Catholicism, what are his reflections on that idea. Greg said every reporter brings to the job his own values and principles. He said he’s often perceived in the broad media an anti-Catholic bias, but among his own colleagues he encounters a great curiosity about Catholicism as well as a benign ignorance. It often leaves him relying on his own formation in the faith to answer these questions. There’s a regrettable lack of understanding of the Church about what the Church is all about, even including his Catholic colleagues. Often they have negative impressions of their own faith because of their experiences. All through the sex abuse crisis in Boston, he wouldn’t have been anyplace else as a reporter. He wanted to make sure that his reporting was balanced and to influence others reporting. He was told that when his reporting was reviewed that they didn’t see any bias against or in favor of the Church. He did have one circumstance where he made a mistake in his reporting that led to one of the lawyers accusing him of bias. But it was the lack of true understanding of what the Church is about. People have lost an understanding of the Church as mystical body of Christ and have reduced the Church to an institution that serves the poor. Scot said it’s wonderful to have someone who understands this can have a voice in the newsroom, to make sure that the stories are right. Greg pointed out that bias can be conscious or unconscious, so you just strive for objectivity on the surface. He also strives to avoiding simple errors that lead to accusations of bias. Scot said in his own experience, giving interviews to the media, is a wonderful tool to get the word out to Catholics who might not be attending Mass. It’s a powerful tool to tell our story. Greg said he proposed a story once on the anniversary of Humanae Vitae, on human life, including birth control and abortion and other life issues. He had the time and leeway to make the Church’s position crystal clear, including things people would not necessarily know. He even brought in topics like natural family planning. Scot asked him about some his other favorite stories he’s covered. Greg said he likes stories about people. He once covered the US bishops’ conference in DC after the sex abuse scandal broke. He got a sit-down interview with Cardinal Law at the time, as well as Cardinal George of Chicago. After that he was sent to cover the Pope in 2008 in New York City. One of the greatest stories he covered was when Pope John Paul II was dying. He was sent at the last-minute to cover the death and funeral. As soon as they arrived, they got news that the Pope had died. They did live-shots through the night, going 17 hours straight. He covered 9/11, days after the event happened. It was both horrible and memorable, but also inspirational to see the people pulling together in New York. 4th segment: Scot asked Greg about the way people responded to John Paul’s death in Rome. People stood in a line more than a mile long to see the body of the Pope lying in state. He talked to many people in line, including people who’d come by bus and train from across Europe, sleeping in the streets, even whole families. When he came back, his colleagues told him that they understood better now. Of course, as life returns to normal, you still see those old biases and that’s where you have to continue to be a witness. Scot said when the archdiocese launched The Light Is On For You, the only local reporter to cover the opening Mass was Greg. He was able to explain the sacrament of reconciliation and its context in addition to interviewing Cardinal Sean. Scot said he has no doubt that story helped Catholics realize their need to go confession. Scot said we’re blessed to have someone who’s informed in the faith to tell that story. Greg said well before the crisis here in Boston, he wanted to cover the story of the decline in the Church, people not going to Mass, the teaching of the faith drying up. The most influential institution in the world losing its grip in the US. He never got a chance to do that story before the scandal broke, but in the end he was able to do the stories on John Paul’s death and the visit of Pope Benedict. One of the biggest crises in the Church is the low participation of Catholics in their faith and the decline of religion and faith generally. Scot asked Greg how he sees the diminishment and what prescription he might offer as something to think about. When he was working in Tampa, he and a Jewish colleague went into the morning meeting and the colleague suggested that covering the introduction of the new Catechism is an important story. It can seem consequential to cover the Church for people outside the Church. He said it’s important to sanctify your daily work and be a good example in your own life. By those means, you can turn people around one at a time. He had an acquaintance who was a lifelong Catholic ask him it was required to go to Mass every Sunday. There’s been a huge dropoff in knowledge of the faith since Vatican II. Scot said we haven’t done the job as the Church to explain what is expected of Catholics with regard to going to Mass. We haven’t shown the joy that comes from regular practice of the faith. Greg did a story on the revival of the Traditional Latin Mass in Boston and he found great interest in the story among his colleagues and viewers. He’s found that celebration of the Mass since Vatican II has not been as consistent in many places and it even drove him away for a time. Scot said as we pray, we believe and so how we celebrate the Mass is key to how we live our faith.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Brian Patrick of the Son Rise Morning Show and Maria Bain, general manager of WQOM Today’s topics: WQOM; Prepare the Way Conference; Brian Patrick Summary of today’s show: Maria Bain, general manager of WQOM, returns to the show to talk about the first anniversary of Boston’s Catholic radio station and to encourage listeners to attend the Prepare the Way Conference in Lowell on Dec. 10. Then Brian Patrick, host of the Son Rise Morning Show on WQOM, joins Scot and Fr. Mark to talk about the value of such conferences in Advent as a way to prepare for Christmas. Finally, Fr. Mark and Scot, as they do each week, discuss the Sunday readings with a particularly powerful Gospel this week. 1st segment: Scot asked Fr. Mark about attending the Canon Law Society of America meeting in Jacksonville, FLorida, last week. He said there was a tropical storm hanging over the city last week, but the convention was good. He said the theme was the rights of the faithful and the rights of the Church in canon law. He said more than 300 people attended. Scot said these conventions are great for ongoing learning and ensuring they are on top of their game. Scot said yesterday afternoon the Stanley Cup at the Pastoral Center on Thursday as part of the finish of the bet between Cardinal Sean and Archbishop Miller on the NHL championship series. Fr. Mark grew up in Canada and was a hockey-mad kid, so getting a photo with the cup with his brother was a big deal. He remarked on the humongous championship ring worn by one of the Bruins staff. Scot said George Martell took a neat photo of Cardinal Sean with his episcopal ring next to the Bruin ring and a Patriots Super Bowl ring worn by Frank Mendes of the Pastoral Center staff. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcomed Marian Bain to the show. He said she had an exciting week last week at the EWTN radio conference. She was able to meet many of the people from around the world working in Catholic radio. There are 15,000 AM/FM radio stations, 1,500 of which are Protestant and only 200 Catholics ones. Only 16 years ago, there 7 Catholic radio stations. Scot said the annual fund drive for the station is very important for keeping it on the air. This is coming up on November 5. The theme is “Go forth for the new evangelization.” Scot said he helped kick off a new Catholic radio station last month in Worcester. He said then it’s up to all us who benefit from the station to keep it going. Maria said the fund drive provides 75% of the operating costs. She thanked listeners for their continued generosity as well all the priest in the archdiocese who have allowed them to give parish presentations and get the word out about Catholic radio. Maria said the goal for this year’s fund drive is $300,000. She asked listeners for their prayers. On December 10 in the Lowell Memorai Auditorium, there will be a Catholic conference, called Prepare the Way, sponsored by the Stations of the Cross, which will feature Dr. Ray Guarendi, Brian Patrick, Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Sr. Olga Yaqob, and Cardinal Sean, who will celebrate Mass. There will be lots of opportunities during the day, including meeting all the speakers. Scot said he’s looking forward to thanking everyone who listens to the show in person. Tickets can be purchased on the or by calling 877-888-6279. Those who receive the newsletter can also find an order form inside this month’s edition. Scot said their’s an early-bird discount for tickets ordered before October 31. Maria thanked all the listeners for all their letters and calls saying how WQOM has been changing their lives. 3rd segment: Scot and Fr. Mark welcomed Brian Patrick to the show. Scot said WQOM listeners wake up each day to learn about the Catholic faith listening to the Son Rise Morning Show, which originates out of Cincinnati. Scot asked Brian why it’s good for Catholics to come to a conference in Advent or Lent. Brian said on December 10 he will talk about Advent as a time for a new beginning. The season of Advent is the beginning of the Church year. Especially with the new Mass translation, it’s a new beginning even more this year. Fr. Mark asked how a conference can touch a persona individually. Brian said he starts by preparing his own soul for the coming of Christ and then sharing with others his passion for Christ. Brian said he was away from his faith for many years, but he came back to Christ on his knees and realized that the Lord loved him through all those years and gave him a new beginning. Now he gets to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with people all over the world every day. So he will share his own experience and those attending will share their stories with one another. When we can share what we’re going through, it prompts us along the journey. Scot said Brian said Advent is a great time to slow down, but the Christmas shopping frenzy can take us out of it. Scot said he likes an Advent retreat as a way t o step back and not get caught up in that to marvel at the Incarnation. This conference can help make Christmas more special. Brian said the culture wants us to buy in to the idea that we need to make sure the retailers have a good Christmas. But Christmas is focusing on Jesus who comes to us in the Nativity. He loves to give Christmas gifts, but he keeps them personal and simple and refuses to buy into the prevalent idea. Thank God for Catholic media that reminds us of the true reason for Advent and Christmas. Scot said the conference will be a chance to say thank you to The Good Catholic Life listeners. Brian said he loves meeting his listeners. Each morning he thinks of talking to one person because it’s a personal meeting. To see the faces and meet the personalities, he then begins to picture them personally. Brian said they are privileged to have a 24-hour adoration chapel in the building where Son Rise Morning Show is broadcast each day. Fr. Mark asked Brian if he could think of a time when a conference has truly borne fruit. Brian said with the Crossing the Goal team he has attended many men’s conferences and he has been moved by the fact that men and women are coming back to the reconciliation. He is moved to tears at men’s conference to see lines of men going to confession to dozens of priests giving up their days to give the sacrament. Eucharistic adoration is a big part of the conferences too and to see 1,000 men on their knees adoring Christ is moving. Brian said invitation is key. We are called as disciples to invite our brothers and sisters to come back to Church. And when we invite them, we have to be willing to hear yes or no. Inviting someone to a conference opens the door to inviting them back to the Church .He encouraged everyone to invite at least one other person to come. Brian said Dr. Ray Guarendi uses humor to get our attention for a powerful message. He and his wife have adopted 10 children, some special needs. He’s extremely funny and entertaining. There is a powerful message there. Fr. Mitch, too, is a brilliant teacher who speaks several language with a way of sharing the faith at a level that everyone can understand. EWTN first picked up the Son Rise Morning Show about 3 years ago. The show started 4 years ago and Sacred Heart Radio in Cincinnati started 10 years ago. He said getting on the Boston radio market last year was great and he’s very grateful. Brian said last time he was in Boston he had the best seafood meal ever at Anthony’s Pier 4. Fr. Mark asked Brian for his recommendation to the hosts of The Good Catholic Life to keep it fresh and always new. Brian said our faith is always fresh and new and there are so many wonderful people out there. He learns every day from the people he talks to on a regular basis, that he has on the show all the time. Always remember what’s old is new. We are a universal Church that includes the faithful of all time so he advises to tap into this immense treasure of faith and wisdom. Son Rise Morning Show is on the air every weekday from 6-8am on WQOM. 4th segment: Now as we do each week at this time, we will hear the Gospel reading for this coming Sunday’s Mass and then consider its meaning for us. Thus says the LORD: “You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans. “If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people, you shall not act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest from him. If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset; for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body. What else has he to sleep in? If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate.” When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” Scot said the Old Testament had 613 commands given by God, not just the 10 Commandments. Jesus then boiled it all down to the two commandments. One key element is that there’s an order and priority. It comes first that we love God. Fr. Mark said Jews would understand this as the Shema, especially every one of Jesus’ time: “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength. Take to heart these words which I command you today. Keep repeating them to your children. Recite them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up.Bind them on your arm as a sign* and let them be as a pendant on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) And when Jesus added the second part about loving the neighbor, it would have stood out to everyone hearing it. Scot said sometimes we hear the second part of this command from Jesus as the priority. People serve others but don’t put the vertical relationship with God as number one. Maybe they don’t pray every day or attend Sunday Mass, even while they say that they’re a good person who is good to others. There’s a proper ordering of things and the proper order matters. Fr. Mark asked what does it really mean to love God with all your heart? With all your soul? With all your mind? Think of all the things you think about during the day. Are some of the ways we use our brain not loving God? Are some of the ways we use our heart not loving God? Scot said there are many times when he feels stressed in making a decision and he realizes he hasn’t involved God in that decision. God wants to help us in all the big issues and small issues too. Many Catholics come to church every Sunday, but they aren’t dedicating the 167 hours of the rest of the week to God as well. Fr. Mark said we are all responsible for leaving good fruit on this earth. He was reading a homily the other day by Fr. Francis Duffy at the funeral of Fr. Mychal Judge, the NYFD chaplain who died at 9/11. He said: “We come to bury Mike Judge’s body but not his spirit. We come to bury his mind but not his dreams. We come to bury his voice but not his message. We come to bury his hands but not his good works. We come to bury his heart but not his love. Never his love.” Fr. Mark said he hopes someone can say the same of him someday. Scot said in the second part, there were some people who thought they were being faithful just being fulfilling the law with respect to God. God wants us to love our neighbors because every neighbor is created in God’s image. Fr. Mark said Jesus shows us how to reflect God’s love by loving others without counting the cost. Love isn’t just a feeling, but it’s self-sacrifice.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Antonio Enrique, editor of The Pilot, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston; and Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: New nuncio for US; Year of Faith; human trafficking; IntegrityRestored.com Summary of today’s show: Antonio Enrique from The Pilot and Fr. Roger Landry from The Anchor join Scot and Susan to discuss the news of the week, including the appointment of a new papal nuncio to the US, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, known for management skills in the Vatican City-State; the announcement of a Year of Faith by Pope Benedict; the Mass. bishops asking the state Legislature to take action on a human trafficking bill; the Obama administration revoking a contract with the US bishops’ migrant services agency to provide care for trafficking victims because they won’t promote contraception and abortion; a new website that helps Catholic men who are addicted to pornography; and Cardinal Sean joining the circus… for a day. 1st segment: Scot welcomes Susan back the show. He asked her about the confirmation preparation training program, which has been taking place in many locations across the archdiocese. The focus of the workshops was revisiting the theology of confirmation and how do parish confirmation programs for teens align with it. It included a presentation by Fr. Jonathan Gaspar, co-director of the Office for Worship and Spiritual Life, on the theology of confirmation. Scot and Susan discussed their hope that confirmation will be more than just a graduation from religious education or graduation from going to church. Susan said she also met with members of the Brazilian community religious education community at the initiative of Fr. Michael Harrington of the Office for Cultural Diversity. They assessed the needs of the fast-growing community and discussed their future needs. Scot said he’s heard there are as many Portuguese-speaking Catholics in the Archdiocese as there are Spanish speakers. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Antonio and Fr. Roger to the show. He asked Antonio about the appointment of Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano as the new nuncio to the US. Antonio said Vigano was previously the secretary-general of the Vatican City Governorate. Scot asked his sense from his friends in Rome on he appointment. Fr. Roger said Americans will like his management style because he brought many American management best practices to the Vatican, which was controversial in Rome. It streamlined operations and saved 25% on the cost of running the Vatican without cutting any budgets, in part by cutting out “friend-of-a-friend” contracts and deals with vendors to the Vatican. Fr. Roger wondered what criteria Vigano will be favoring in his recommendations on new bishops for the US, whether it will be management ability or more pastoral sensibilities or more likely some combination of both. Scot and Susan discussed the role of the nuncio as the papal representative to both the Church in the US, but also to the government of the US. Scot and Antonio discussed that Vigano said he has big shoes to fill in replacing Archbishop Sambi who died in the middle of the summer. They agreed that in this case it is true as Sambi was much loved in the US. Antonio knew Sambi over many years, back to when Sambi was the Pope’s representative in the Holy Land, a very difficult role. He was very down to earth, very cordial, and had a strong sense of humor. Scot said Pope Benedict declared a Year of Faith to begin October 11, 2012 through the Feast of Christ the King in November of the next year. Fr. Roger said the Pope chose the Year of Faith to begin during a Synod of Bishops in Rome next October on the topic of the New Evangelization. In order to pass on the faith, we need to know it and love and Pope Benedict knows most of us in the faith need a brush-up on our faith. October 11, 2012 is the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and the Feast of Christ the King is the end of the liturgical year, which focuses us on eternity. Scot said both Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul II have dedicated their papacies to the correct implementation of Vatican II. Susan said until there is another ecumenical council in the Church we will continue to revisit and focus on this council, the most recent. Susan asked Fr. Roger if he thinks that the apostolic letter Porta Fidei (“Gate of Faith”) is the third in the Pope’s series so far of the two encyclicals on Hope and Love. Fr. Roger said we can expect before the end of the year a teaching from the Pope that will help us prepare for this year of faith. Scot asked Antonio what it says that the Pope is basing some of his hopes for the Church on the work of the new evangelical and missionary lay movements in the Church. Antonio said the Church needs to adapt in every generation to the needs of the people. John Paul II saw in these new movements the role of being able to bring the Good News to this new world we live in that doesn’t take for granted the truths of the faith. When you have a Christian culture, you can assume that people understand the context of faith. But when the culture becomes post-Christian, people need a more fundamental experience of their faith and the new movements help people witness the faith and have a personal experience of the faith through the members of the movements. They can show how lives can change through the experience of the faith. Scot asked Fr. Roger about all the themed Years we’ve been seeing over the past decade or so: Year of the Rosary, Year for Priests, Year of St. Paul, etc. Fr. Roger said Pope John Paul brought this custom from his native Poland where the Church often focused on a particular topic. Pope Benedict continued that tradition. Fr. Roger wishes we had a special theme every year, even on the diocesan level. He said Pope Benedict is seeing across the world where people are taking for granted what they think they know about the faith based on a few teachings from the Catechism. But we need a deeper relationship with Christ to ground that faith and bring us deeper. 3rd segment: Scot said the Mass. bishops just urged the passage of antihuman trafficking legislation in Massachusetts. Antonio said both the Mass. House and Senate passed two separate bills on this issue. Trafficking is a tremendous problem for people who are often not free to make their own choices, including young people caught up in gangs, women in prostitutions, and illegal immigrants who end up as virtual slaves. The bills were passed in June and the bishops are urging that the work on the bills be completed in this session and not forgotten. Scot read from the bishops’ letter, including a request to make sure criminal penalties are imposed. Sen. Mark Montigny, chair of the committee that dealt with the bill, welcomed the bishops’ statement. Susan said the Sisters of St. Joseph in Boston have been working with this issue of human trafficking and have a lot of information on the topic on their Scot suggested that people could call their state senator and state representative to have them push this bill forward. In related news out of Washington, DC, an agency of the US Catholic bishops was denied further federal grants to help trafficking victims because the Obama administration said they weren’t promoting abortion and contraception to the women they were helping. The Migrant and Refugee Services agency has been on the forefront of the work to help victims of trafficking, but now that contract has gone to companies that weren’t even qualified to engage in this work. Fr. Roger said this shows how the Obama administration militantly pushes abortion and contraception even when doing so hurts the people that are supposed to be helped. Scot said it shows how when a pro-abortion administration comes into office in the US that the abortion ideology becomes so fundamental to policy. He said this is bullying against pro-lifers. This administration doesn’t allow people of faith to do their service to society in ways that are compatible with their faith. Antonio said Catholics need to make their voices hear. Scot said this happened because of a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union in 2009 saying this failure to force Catholics to support abortion was a violation of the separation of church and state. Susan said this prejudice is outrageous, especially when we are working so well for the solution of the problem that is supposed to be addressed, the care of victims of trafficking. Anotnio noted that the US bishops have created an office to monitor the issue of religious freedom in the US. There seems to be an unwritten rule in the Obama administration: ABC, Anyone but Catholics. Scot said we talk about this now because it’s the infancy of an oppressive secularist attitude in this country. He recalled the haunting poem from Nazi Germany: First they came for the communists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me. Susan added the quote from Edmund Burke, “All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing.” 4th segment: In the Anchor this week is an article on the website IntegrityRestored.com, which helps people who have porn addiction. Fr. Roger said porn addiction affects so many people, including men, women, and young people. It’s one of the most difficult addictions from which to be freed. Psychologists said it’s much more addictive than even what happens with cocaine. Fr. Roger said it’s not often talked about in the Church. We need to talk about not just the harm it causes, but also the resources available to help people. He showed a video in his parish that showed how it causes harm to marriages and other relationships. He said this new websites is by Dr. Peter Kliponis, who was one of the US bishops’ experts on this topic for helping people with this addiction. Fr. Roger said when he found out about this website he wanted to promote it. The website has many eye-popping statistics on this website: There are 4.2 million pornographic websites There are 420 million pornographic web pages There are 68 million daily pornographic search engine requests – Google, 25% of all search engine requests There are 4.5 billion average daily pornographic emails There are 100,000 child porn websites worldwide Men admitting to accessing pornography at work: 20% U.S. adults who regularly visit Internet pornography websites: 40 million Christians who said pornography is a major problem in the home: 47% Adults admitting to Internet pornography addiction: 10% Scot said he’s also seen a statistic that 70% of male college students view pornography at least weekly. How does that affect how they view women on campus? What are colleges doing to stop it? This new website offers great tools for overcoming this addiction. Susan said she was shocked to see that the largest population of Internet pornography users are 12-17 year olds. How does this affect the formation of their view of women throughout the rest of their life? Scot said it makes him wonder how these boys will look at his own daughter. Antonio noted the perniciousness of Internet porn because you don’t have to go outside the home to find it. He said he teaches his own children about modesty and chastity and treating others with dignity. The only way to really solve this is person to person, one at a time, in families. He noted that porn destroys the ability to relate to another person. It is most prevalent in the years when young people are supposed to be learning how to relate to others, preparing for marriage and family life. In the Anchor article, Pope John Paul is quoted as saying that the opposite of love isn’t hate, but objectifying someone else, treating them as an object. Kliponis said there is hope for healing and recovery. It isn’t easy, but it happens. Scot ran quickly through local stories, including a $1.2 million gift from the Mosakowski Family Foundation to support Catholic schools on the North Shore. He also noted a Pilot story about Cardinal Sean visiting the Ringling Bros. circus in Boston. Susan said the are fantastic. The national chaplain for circus folk is Fr. Gerry Hogan, a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston. There is also a continuation of the series from Project Rachel, and the appointment of a new pastor of St. Therese parish in Billerica. Fr. Roger pointed out in the Anchor an article about parishes preparing for the first Feast Day of Blessed John Paul II on Saturday. Antonio pointed out the ongoing series about the bishops of Boston, with its second installment this week.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Fr. Dan Hennessey, Director of Vocations for the Archdiocese of Boston Today’s topics: Serra Club of Boston, the Adopt-a-Priest ministry, and Blessed John Paul’s Feast Day Summary of today’s show: Fr. Dan Hennessey, director of vocations, talks with Scot and Fr. Matt about one of the biggest events in boston this fall, the Mass in recognition of the Adopt-a-Priest Apostolate of the Serra Club on the Feast Day of Blessed John Paul II. They talk about the fruits of families that adopt a priest in prayer for a year for both the priest himself and the families as they create a culture of vocations in their home. Scot, Fr. Matt, and Fr. Dan also discuss Bl. John Paul’s radical discipleship that inspired many vocations to the priesthood, religious life, and marriage and look forward to papal biographer George Weigel’s talk on Saturday on Bl John Paul as a saint for our times. 1st segment: Scot asked Fr. Matt about the LIFT series that continued last night. The series is called “Get a Life”. And the God of This City tour is taking place Nov 28 through Dec 2. This past Sunday, he was at St. Patrick’s on Stoneham for a wedding of friends who both serve work in ministries with youth and in parishes. Fr. Matt was the key to them meeting each other when he asked them both to volunteer on a particular retreat. The wedding itself had seven priests to concelebrate and they were two very faith-filled young people who made it a particularly beautiful wedding ceremony. Their witness and faith were palpable. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Dan to the show. Fr. Dan said the Vocations Office focuses primarily on the vocation to the diocesan priesthood and often sponsors gatherings to bring together young men who might consider the vocation of the priesthood. He said the Adopt-a-Priest apostolate is a ministry of the Serra CLub of Boston, which is part of the Serra Clubs internationally. It is named for Bl. Junipero Serra, a famed missionary who founded many of the California missions. The adopt-a-priest apostolate creates a booklet for each Boston diocesan priest with a photo, name, ordination date, and birthday, seals them up and distributes them to willing families which pledge to pray for the priests. Fr. Dan said priests tell him how the people are praying sometimes contact the priests and a relationship is sometimes formed. Every year, the assignments change. This Saturday’s Mass happens to fall on the feast day of Blessed John Paul II as declared by Pope Benedict earlier this year. This is the first celebration of this feast. Following the Mass at the Cathedral of the holy Cross on Saturday at 10am will be a talk by George Weigel, noted scholar and autobiographer of John Paul II. Fr. Dan pointed out that it doesn’t have to be families who adopt a priest. They are asked to pray on a daily basis, perhaps offer a Mass for the priest or say the rosary for them. Even make spiritual sacrifices. Scot said his family has participated in the adopt-a-priest apostolate. Two years ago, Scot’s family was assigned Msgr. Bob Deeley, who was serving in Rome. Scot sent him a letter saying that his family was praying for him. It’s a wonderful thing within a family with young kids to create a culture of vocations, to help them think about not only what they want to be when they grow, but what God wants them to be. One way to do so is to pray regularly for a priest. It helps create awareness of the beauty of the vocation to the priesthood and religious life. Fr. Matt said praying for priests helps strengthen the married couple to understand their own call to holiness as well as their own children. Fr. Dan said it helps the family put a context on their own vocation, to understand the give and take between and all vocation. He makes a point of saying in his preaching that all vocations are good. If you follow what God desires of you, it will bring you joy and fulfillment. Fr. Dan said he was on Boston Common in 1979 when Pope John Paul II visited Boston. He said John Paul’s talk is on YouTube in which he called people to follow Christ, which was the message of John Paul. When we follow Christ, Christ reveals Man to himself. John Paul was the inspiration for so many priests in their vocations, but also religious sisters and married couples. His Theology of the Body aided so many married couples to live their vocation of marriage more fully. Fr. Dan said he was so excited when he found out the Mass on Saturday would be on the same day as the Feast Day for Bl. John Paul II. Scot said on of the reasons we have 70+ seminarians in Boston is the work of the Serra Club. Fr. Dan said the club has Mass once per month, on the third Saturday morning, at St. Mary in Waltham. The club was brought back to Boston during the Year for Priests. It was a gift to Cardinal Sean from the many people who wanted to re-found the club. 3rd segment: This Mass on Saturday is for Bl. John Paul II and it is the first time it will be celebrated in the Archdiocese of Boston. It can be a wonderful gathering for anyone inspired by John Paul II. Fr. Dan said it’s significant because we can recognize the holiness in his life. Many people are hoping he will be canonized soon ad we’re all very happy when we look at his life and see his life of holiness, despite the struggles he faced. He’s a witness to hope, as George Weigel called him. He’s also a witness to the priesthood. There are many people in the world who may not know a priest very well, but there’s something about John Paul that even though he was often physically distant, people felt close to him. Scot said he was the most authentic human being and the most human person. Fr. Matt said he lived an authentic life. Young people saw that. They gathered in immense numbers for World Youth Day and they felt close to him. Even as he would drive by crowds of thousands, they felt he was looking at them. Fr. Matt said in his homily for the Mass of Beatification, Pope Benedict recalled that John Paul intoned in his first solemn Mass in St. Peter’s he called for us to open wide the doors to Christ. Scot asked what will be different about this Mass. Fr. Dan said the Archdiocesan Boy’s Choir will provide the music, one of the best boys’ choir schools in the country. Cardinal Sean will be the celebrant and homilist. Scot said the prayers are specific to the celebration of the Feast, including the opening prayer for the Mass. O God, who are rich in mercy and who willed that the Blessed John Paul II should preside as Pope over your universal Church, grant, we pray, that instructed by his teaching, we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ, the sole Redeemer of mankind. Who lives and reigns. It recalls in the words of opening our hearts John Paul’s call to open wide the doors to Christ. Fr. Dan said when someone is beatified, the Church creates the Mass texts, including the opening prayers and brings together Mass texts from particular Masses, including in this case, the Mass for Pastors and Popes. Fr. Dan said in the Office for Readings which priests pray there also particular texts for John Paul on October 22. Out of all the millions of words he composed, the Office of Readings chose his first words as Pope when he appeared on the balcony in the Apostolic Palace after being elected Pope in 1978. Fr. Dan said the Mass is for everyone, not just those in the adopt-a-priest apostolate. 4th segment: It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly WQOM Benefactor Raffle. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: Scot said one of the best books about Pope John Paul II is “Witness to Hope” by George Weigel. He was selected personally by Pope John Paul II. There is no greater authority in the United States on the life of the Holy Father. Fr. Dan said Weigel always gives an interesting talk and will answer questions and sign books after. Scot said Weigel says that John Paul was a radical Christian disciple, who takes his faith seriously, who was all in. You never felt like you were in the presence of a CEO or corporate leader, but he always felt like a pastor. Fr. Matt said when he met Pope John Paul in 1999, as a seminarian on pilgrimage to Rome, they were able to attend daily Mass with him. He’ll never forget coming into the chapel and seeing the Holy Father already kneeling in deep contemplative prayer and feeling that he was in the presence of a man who was closely united to God. Scot said one of the top moments of his life was taking his one-year-old son and wife to Rome and meeting Pope John Paul at an audience. As the Holy Father moved along through the crowd, the Holy Father took Scot’s son and gave him a kiss. You could see the Holy Father paused as he saw the baby, praying for the young person before him. Fr. Dan wondered how many people in the world have stories like that and knows many people do. He recalled during World Youth Day in Rome in 2000 being in the field of Tor Vergata and thinking how he felt like he was alone with the Holy Father and he was speaking right to him. One of the reasons he’s looking forward to the Mass on Saturday was John Paul’s love for Divine Mercy. He believes the message of Divine Mercy came just when we most needed it and it comes through the priesthood, especially through the confessional, but also through baptism and the Eucharist. It is through the priesthood that God gives us himself, not just abstractly, but through the instrumentality of the priesthood, which is an irrevocable and indispensable for the Church. Scot said George Weigel earlier this year tried to sum up the life of John Paul II in a . One of the things he hoped that people would remember was John Paul’s love for the Divine Mercy devotion. The second thing I hope the Church holds onto, as it enrolls John Paul II among the blessed, is the significance of the date of his beatification: Divine Mercy Sunday. John Paul’s fondness for the Divine Mercy devotion, and his designation of the Octave of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday, struck some as a Polish imposition on a universal Church. Those who thought this were mistaken. John Paul II had an acute sense of the gaping holes that had been torn in the moral and spiritual fabric of humanity by the murderous cruelties of the 20th century. A century that began with a robust human confidence in the future had ended with a thick fog of cynicism hanging over the western world. As he wrote in his striking 2003 apostolic letter, “The Church in Europe,” Christianity’s historic heartland (and, by extension, the entire western world) was beset by guilt over what it had done in two world wars and the Cold War, at Auschwitz and in the Gulag, through the Ukrainian hunger famine and the communist persecution of the Church. But having abandoned the God of the Bible, it had nowhere to turn to confess this guilt, seek absolution, and find forgiveness. That, John Paul II was convinced, was why the face of the merciful Father had been turned toward the world now. The insight came from Poland; the need was universal. That was why he created “Divine Mercy Sunday.” That is why we should remember that he was beatified on that day. The show ended by restating that all are invited to the Mass for the Adopt-A-Priest Apostolate on the Feast Day of Bl. John Paul II at 10:00 on Saturday in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, followed by a talk by George Weigel.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Kathy Greenlar Sexton and Fr. Peter Gori from St. Augustine Parish, Andover, Mass. Today’s topics: Memorial Mass for Miscarried Children and their Families Summary of today’s show: Scot and Fr. Chris talk with Kathy Greenlar Sexton and Fr. Peter Gori about the difficult topic of miscarried and stillborn children; the anger and spiritual questions that many parents experience; and the unique ministry that St. Augustine Parish in Andover offers through an annual Memorial Mass for Miscarried Children and their Families. During the show, Kathy discusses her five miscarriages and the pain and anger she felt even when she didn’t know where to turn for spiritual consolation and when the healthcare professionals didn’t have any to offer. Fr. Peter also offers words of hope in what the Church truly teaches about the children who die during pregnancy and the healing offered to the grieving. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chris back to the show. The sad news is that St. John’s Seminary’s softball team lost their game versus Blessed John XXIII National Seminary in Weston. They compared the loss to the collapse of the Boston Red Sox. Fr. Chris will have to report the loss to the alumni during their annual dinner on Friday night. It’s a wonderful night for the priests who serve throughout New England to come back to be examples for the seminarians and who leave encouraged by the future prospects for the Church. Scot said the seminary has been open since 1884. Fr. Chris estimated that there have been more than 900 priests who are currently alumni and they are expecting 100 to come to the dinner. Fr. Chris mentioned this evening that the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization at St. John Seminary is having an open house this evening at St. Gabriel Church across from St. Elizabeth’s hospital in Brighton. This is for anyone thinking of taking a degree program to learn and grow in their faith. Scot said today’s show topic is the Church’s response and our response for those who lose a child to miscarriage. One in 5 people experience this sad situation themselves. This year for the second time, St. Augustine Parish is offering a Memorial Mass for Miscarried Children and their Families on Saturday, November 5, 9:30am. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcomed Fr. Peter Gori, pastor of St. Augustine in Andover, and Kathy Greenlar Sexton, a parishioner, to the show. Scot said Fr. Peter was an associate pastor at St. Augustine in the 1980s. He was there from 1988 to 1993 after his doctoral studies in Rome. He also serves on the Metropolitan Tribunal as a canon lawyer. Kathy said she and her husband Sean grew up in the area. And after living in Chicago for a number of years they returned to the area, specifically the Merrimack Valley where many of their family live. Fr. Peter said it’s a big and busy parish, especially with the number of children. They have 1,200 children in religious education and 440 in the parochial school. Kathy started in broadcast television and worked with high-tech companies in marketing. She was part of the founding team of the Altavista search engine. She has worked with top websites since then to help them grow their businesses on the web. Kathy said it was a lot of fun working at the beginning of the Web. Kathy has suffered through five miscarriages. When she came to St. Augustine, she asked Fr. Peter to start a public remembrance. Scot asked her how she began this apostolate. She said when they moved to Chicago, she was pregnant, but they were devastated when they lost that child. They’ve had five pregnancies and five miscarriages. Their experience is not unlike others in the same situation with the extreme grieving process and issues of anger, resentment, and loss. With each miscarriage those feelings deepened along with the physical issues that went along with and the emotional issues of depression. It was difficult dealing with Mother’s Day and the question about whether she had children. Then there were the spiritual issues of where are her children and being angry at God. She researched these questions online and asked questions of her priest and found no consistent answers. She found a lot of pain and questions from other women like herself who didn’t know where to turn. She went to a healing service at St. Marie’s in Manchester, NH, and one woman praying over stopped mid-prayer and told her the Lord wanted her to name her children. That process was cathartic. It turned the child from something abstract into a human being. and then the last miscarriage, her parish priest invited them to come down on a Saturday morning and remember those children. Fr. Michael Hobson, then at St. Agnes in Middleton, had a Mass in remembrance of those five children for Kathy and her family and it was very cathartic. Once she went through the healing process, she could feel the healing and being lifted up. When they moved to St. Augustine parish, she asked how she could bring that healing experience to others. She also through that it was a great way to show people who we respect life from conception. So she figured out who is the woman in the parish who gets everything done. She reached out to her and they brought the idea to Fr. Peter. They had the first Mass last year and the conversations with people has convinced her to try to get the word out about this. People are challenged spiritually and emotionally by this experience and people could benefit from this healing. Scot said he sees how they were experiencing a lot of emotion, but not connected to the liturgical life of the Church. Losing a child five times without the liturgical rites of the Church to help us grieve along with the love of our community and family is a challenge. Scot said he is also struck by the question of “where is my baby” and the theological questions. The power of naming the baby is key to personalizing him. Scot asked Fr. Peter what is the Church’s teaching on where the child is after miscarriage. He said the Church teaches life begins at conception and everyone of these entities is a human being whatever the medical terms are applied to him or her at each stage of development. If they die prematurely through miscarriage or being stillborn, we believe that person is enveloped completely in God’s love. God welcomes each and everyone of these children into the fullness of his life in heaven. Scot said it’s appropriate to pray to the children, believing that they are present before God just like the saints. Fr. Peter said they collect cards during the Mass with the names of the children and bring them to a convent of Poor Clare nuns who pray for them during November. One woman said they should pray to the children, asking for their prayers. Scot asked about the Mass itself. Fr. Peter said they invite people in and give them a copy of the program and let them sit where they are comfortable. The lighting is subdued with gentle music in order to create a prayerful atmosphere. Fr. Peter then explains how the Mass will unfold. It will begin in the usual way. After the Liturgy of the Word and the homily, they invite those present to bring forward a card with the child’s name or to give the child a name if they haven’t done so yet. They bring it up during the Presentation of the Gifts and place it in the hands of one of the priests. The priests place it in a basket. Then the Mass continues as usual. Scot said since Roe v. Wade there’s been a devaluation of human life in the womb, creating euphemisms for the baby. He asked Kathy when she did the naming of the children and what advice she might have for moms and dads who lost children or even just found out they’re pregnant, the benefits of naming the child. Kathy said during the medical procedures, they refer to the baby as a fetus and they use very technical terms. She was rushed through the medical process and didn’t have time to think about the spiritual implications. She was still thinking about her child dying and didn’t have time to think about the spiritual questions. Only later did she start second0-guessing herself. The process of naming the children personalized each one of them and gave her someone to think about. The medical process de-personalizes and the naming process humanizes. It allowed her to envelop all the emotions at a human level. Scot said one of the comparisons is to losing a mom or dad in the hospital, but then you get a chaplain brought to you to help you deal with it. But with a miscarriage, there isn’t the same care to bring in the deeper connections of our relationship with God. Kathy said her first two miscarriages while she was working with an obstetrician who was very much into her emotional well-being, but the medical personnel weren’t believers and seemed cold. She asked for a priest, but was told no one was available and they said they would pray over the remains. The third and fourth miscarriage, she was seeing a specialist for high-rick pregnancy and felt there was more care for her. Yet even here, they were still very cold. She woke up in the middle of the procedure and saw everything. They didn’t bring her a priest despite her request and the child was going to the pathology lab whatever her wishes. The questions that haunt her about her decisions and actions are similar to those of other women who’ve experienced it. Another woman told her that she had a miscarriage 25 years ago and was so angry at God that she never went back to church. That motivated Kathy to help people and provide honor to the children and healing to the families. Fr. Chris asked Kathy about the dad’s experience in all this. She said that her husband Sean feels loss, but it’s different than her own. But he had the hopes and dreams of those children too. His arms are as empty and aching on Father’s Day as hers is on Mother’s Day. Dads suffer too. The Mass of Remembrance is for mothers and fathers and families. One man came to the Mass last year to honor a brother who died many years ago. Fr. Chris said in dealing with teens and working with youth groups, sometimes it comes up that they want to talk about a brother or sister, either stillborn or miscarriage. It’s often a teen who will relate a story of great sadness where you had no sense that this is a cross the whole family has been carrying. Kathy said she’s unusual in her desire to talk about this. Most people won’t talk about it. You’re expected to get on with your life. People have said it to her, but she has felt deep loss through the loss of a child. You can’t just forget. Scot said you can trick your body, we need to grieve physiologically. Society has a fear of talking about death. 3rd segment: Scot asked if its possible or appropriate to ask the healthcare provider to receive the remains to bury the child. Kathy said in hindsight it’s absolutely appropriate. She thinks they should bring in the pastor to help this process. There’s a lot of confusion and there’s a challenge in that the medical community is programmed to follow particular procedures and when we express our faith in particular not everyone will be supportive of that. It’s okay to get help from the pastor. You also don’t need to do something right away, but take time to figure out what’s best for you and your family. Fr. Peter said it is appropriate to ask for a funeral Mass for a miscarried or stillborn child. His experience is most people want a more private ceremony. Sometimes, the remains are not available due to the medical staff not taking steps to ensure they are. Fr. Peter said every pastor needs to want to be able to provide pastoral support in this area, but needs to do so with a lot of gentleness. As a celibate male, he can’t know exactly what this is like for the mother or father. He needs to reverence the whole experience and tread softly, whether it was recent or long ago. Scot asked if it’s appropriate to have the memorial Masses. Fr. Peter said it can be good for some, but the communal aspect of this Memorial Mass they’re planning does more by bringing people together. That experience of being understood is a big part of why it contributes to the healing of people. It is not shameful or secret or lonely. You need to bring the painfulness of this together to help people in the healing process. Fr. Chris said each couple is so unique and different. As newly ordained priest, he was present with a couple as they buried twin daughters. It was difficult to explain this sad mystery to them, but they anted and need the Church. The Church needs to be a part of this. This mother visited regularly the cemetery and asked the children to pray for her. Fr. Peter said in many Catholic cemeteries there is a specially designated place for the interment of children, especially the stillborn. The traditional arrangements of a funeral could be an added burden, so special accommodations are often made. Scot said too often it’s difficult to talk about this experience with people who have not experienced it. He asked Kathy what people who live too far from Andover to attend this Mass can do in their own parish. She said the most effort is to call the pastor and get on his schedule. She said Fr. Peter really thought through the liturgy and the service is very moving. Anyone who feels they want a similar service in their parish should call their own pastor. She’s sure their pastor will bring the same love and caring into a Mass of Remembrance for them. But if anyone can make the trek to Andover, they will be welcomed with open arms and they could perhaps take some of what they’re doing back to their own parish. Scot made clear that this Mass is open to everyone. Anyone who is at a point in their healing to attend a Mass in remembrance of the children should come. Fr. Chris made sure to note that no one would be put on the spot. They are coming to be consoled. Fr. Peter pointed out that presenting the names to the Poor Clares extends the prayerful support of the Catholic community so that it is ongoing. It shows how the Poor Clares continue to pray for all of us. Scot asked Kathy for advice to those who are angry at God. She said anger is a natural part of the healing process. It shows that you have a relationship with God; just don’t stay stuck there. Once she thought of it that way, she felt the healing that helped her move forward. Fr. Peter said for someone to admit they are angry with God is an important step. It’s good to know that no matter how big my anger, God’s love is bigger. Fr. Chris said saying “I’m angry” is 90% of the healing process and the other 10% is inviting the Lord in with his healing and consolation. The Blessed Mother is another person to turn to for her intercession. She saw her own Son suffer so terribly and stayed at the foot of the cross. She is a wonderful intercessor and advocate. Kathy said moms and dads need to forgive themselves for any decisions they made that they might regret even if it wasn’t a mistake in itself. The Lord will take care of us and our children. Pray for the healing and forgive yourself. Scot said one of the main objectives of the Mass is to honor and provide healing. Kathy also honors her children by hanging Christmas stockings for them, by remembering them on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. She said she still feels the loss and it’s natural to continue to feel loss and experience sadness. Kathy and Sean are now the proud parents of a 6-week-old adopted son, Declan Joseph.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Sr. Olga Yaqob Today’s topics: Sr. Olga Yaqob, foundress of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth order Summary of today’s show: Sr. Olga Yaqob joins Scot and shares with him her story of growing up in Iraq as an Assyrian Christian; her growing pull toward the Catholic Church; how she started a movement of love in response to war, including ministering to prisoners in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison; started the first order of religious women in the Assyrian Church in 700 years; came to Boston and eventually entered full communion with the Catholic Church; served as campus chaplain at Boston University; and was asked by Cardinal Sean to form the first new religious order of women in Boston in 45 years. 1st segment: Scot started by recalling that 33 years ago yesterday was the anniversary of the election of Pope John Paul II. Scot said joining us today on the show is Sr. Olga Yaqob, who is founding the first new religious order in Boston in five decades. Scot said Sr. Olga was living in Iraq in 1978 and was not part of the Roman Catholic Church, but was Assyrian Christian. She became a Roman Catholic much later. Sr. Olga said John Paul was part of her faith journey. She remembers the day he died. Earlier that year she’d started the full process of coming into full communion with the Church. He had inspired her desire to convert. She feels he’s with her even more now that he’s in heaven. Sister pointed out that Assyrian Christians are not in communion with Rome, while the Chaldean Catholics are. She grew up in northern Iraq, near Kirkuk, until she finished high school. Part of her ministry in Iraq was helping the victims of the first Persian Gulf War. Sr. Olga said her vocation was influenced by the suffering of her people. She was born in 1966 and has seen four wars: the war with Iran, first Gulf War, the 12 years of the embargo, and the second Gulf War. she was struck by the pain and despair of young people, who would say that it didn’t matter if they went to school because they would die anyway. She wanted to give them hope by bringing them out to the streets of Kirkuk and Baghdad to see the pain of others, to make a difference for them and help them see a hope for the future. Sr. Olga said the Assyrian church does not religious sisters, but it was the example of the Blessed Mother that called her to the religious life.She grew up desiring to be set aside for the Lord, just like the liturgical items in the church. Her neighbors in her town were Catholic and she asked them why they went to Mass every day and they said it was because they were Catholic. They then introduced her to the rosary, to religious sisters, and to the presence of the Eucharist in the church. She told her father she wanted to become a religious sister and live next to the “red light” of the tabernacle lamp. She moved to Baghdad at one point. In high school, she saw so many dying in the Iran-Iraq War, she wanted to serve. She knew that Assyrians had not had religious sisters in 700 years until she became the first in 1995. So before that she went to the Patriarch and asked him if she could start a lay movement of young people serving others, called “Love Your Neighbor”. She said it was amazing to see Muslim young men and women join the movement too. It included Catholics and Assyrians as well. One of the prisons where Sr. Olga ministered was the infamous Abu Ghraib prison. She served prisoners there for seven years, including both criminals and political prisoners. She even walked with prisoners who were being taken for execution. She noted that there was no official prison chaplaincy so it was a special grace for her to be able to do that. She said the fact that the movement was a lay movement of people from all religions providing food and medication for everyone equally was the reason they gave her permission to work there. Sister said she walked with the death row inmates nearly every week, too many, and it stays with her. She began to study Islam in order to talk with the prisoners on their own religious terms. 2nd segment: Scot asked Sr. Olga about Muslim beliefs of the afterlife. Sr. Olga said there is a lot of emphasis on doing good in this life to determine where you will end up. Many of the prisoners focused on their misdeeds and believed that they would definitely be punished. They did not believe in the possibility of mercy and forgiveness. One prisoner told her that he couldn’t understand why she cared for them when even their own families had cut them off. She told him that she did it for Christ because he loves them and wants to extend his mercy to them. Scot said Christians may take for granted how loving God is to us with all the sacraments to bring us into right relationship with God. He is infinitely loving and merciful to us. She said the example of their witness was a powerful example of the love of Christ to many in Baghdad. In 2000 she moved from Iraq to the United States. She said it was due to Pope John Paul II and his love for the people of Iraq. He had encouraged religious orders to go to Rome and so two Jesuits from Boston and two Salesians went to Iraq for 1999-2000 to teach at the seminary, and John Paul said that whoever reached summa cum laude would go to Rome with a full scholarship. Sister Olga was studying there, still not a Catholic, but she won. She was going to refuse it in favor of one of the seminarians, but the two Jesuits thought it was so big that a woman who was not Catholic and suffered so much for her education (four years of philosophy and tow years of theology), they asked the order to give her a full scholarship to Boston College. She arrived in 2001 without knowing English. She started learning English at Boston University, which a strong program for international students to learn English. Spent two years learning English. Then she entered the Masters program at BC in the fall of 2003. Even while she was still not proficient in English, she was asked to be a spiritual director by a young woman. She had to respond in her broken English that it would be better to find an American. She responded, “I didn’t choose you because you would understand my English, but that you understand my heart.” At the time she was living with the Sisters of Charity. While she couldn’t convert to Catholicism in Iraq, she did practice Catholic devotions, including consecration to the Sacred Heart, praying the rosary, attending Mass. Her parents did not approve and she was even beaten for it. In 2003, when the war started, she went back to see the religious order she started. She was told she had to go back to finish her schooling and was told that when she was done she had to come back either fully Assyrian or give up her order. She decided to approach Cardinal Sean and she had to join an Eastern-rite church in communion with Rome to continue as a religious sister. Finally, when she fully entered the Church as a Roman Catholic, she did so on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Mother, September 8, 2005. 3rd segment: After entering the Church, Cardinal Seán asked her to serve as campus minister at Boston University. When she was studying at BC, she had to do a field education component and was allowed to volunteer there for 2 years and after being received into the Church began full-time ministry. She said it was a very special place for her. She had many nicknames, including “Blue Lightning” and “Flying Nun” and “Sister Hug”, but her favorite was that all the kids would call her “Mother”. Every Mother’s Day she would receive gifts from the students she ministered to. Her official title was Catholic chaplain at the Newman Center, but her ministry was to bring Christ to all the students. The highlight was being with the students every day. The Newman Center is at the center of the BU campus, which made her available to give a hug or talk with them or give them a smile. Walking around campus, being there on move-in day, attending weddings, being godmother for children of students and even for students who came into the Church. She’s also been there in times of tragedy, when students have died on campus, to console faculty and staff and students. She was overwhelmed by the generosity of the university and the student community when it was announced that she would be living. They gave her many beautiful farewells. Scot said some of his favorite photos were the service trips with students, going on spring break with them to help in various places, including one trip to Honduras. She recalled visiting Appalachia with students and experiencing the regional dialect. She heard women saying “Howdy” to one another and she expressed surprise at hearing so many women with the same name: “Howdy!” The students she was with got great laughs at hearing her confusion. But now she really loves the Southern accent. 4th segment: Scot said Sr. Olga will soon be Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart now that Cardinal Sean has asked her to start the new religious order Daughters of Mary of Nazareth. She has just moved into her new convent, St. Joseph Convent, in Newton. She said Cardinal Sean first invited her to consider this 3 years ago. She said it’s a big responsibility she doesn’t take lightly. The theme of annunciation continues to be part of her journey. She finds it difficult that she didn’t grow up in this culture and doesn’t understand their background so how could she be a mother to the young women who join her order? But she turns to St. Joseph who must have wondered how he, a simple carpenter, could be a father to the Son of God. She doesn’t want to just bring sisters to the Church, but holy sisters for the Church. To do so takes a lot of sacrifice. She said the new convent is rented and even the furniture has been donated as well as all the household goods. She is reliant on so much generosity. Parents and children, priests and seminarians have all been helping in so many ways. Scot said it has been a hope of Cardinal Sean to found a new order of religious order of women for years. Cardinal Sean said he hopes and prays that order will serve to promote the New Evangelization called for by Pope John Paul II. Sr. Olga said the main focus will be to live the life of Nazareth, to live in daily intimacy with Jesus just like Mary and Joseph and to bring his presence to others. Jesus lived in Nazareth for 28 years. The order will contemplative and apostolic at the same time. They will focus on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Evangelization is to be the living witness, the living sanctuary and its a call for everyone today. It could be through Catholic media, through healthcare, through every day work. Scot said six to eight women are in discernment to enter the order when the rule of life gets accepted by Cardinal Seán. She had a retreat for discerning women in May for six women and another 10 are signed up for another retreat coming up. They are all very devout young women. Some of them have a lot of student loans so it will take some time for those to enter. Six are expected to entered right away and the others in the spring. They will take the usual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and she has asked Cardinal Sean for a fourth vow of a public consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Scot said if someone wanted to offer a donation to further her work, they can make out a check to the Convent of St. Joseph and send it to Sr. Olga Yaqob, Pastoral Center of the Archdiocese of Boston, 66 Brooks Drive, Braintree, MA 02184.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Sister Bridget Haase, OSU, spirituality coordinator of The Boston Home, and a former missionary to Appalachia , by Sister Bridget Haase Today’s topics: The amazing 50 years of ministry of Sr. Bridget Haase, OSU Summary of today’s show: Ursuline Sr. Bridget Haase sits down with Scot and Fr. Chip and, in her charming New Orleans accent, shows them why she’s known as a master storyteller, as she weaves stories of her 50 years in religious life, from Appalachia to the Sudan to Boston, where she now serves The Boston Home and is co-host of a weekly radio show with her brother, Fr. Albert. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chip back to the show and noted that Fr. Chip has a new assignment as pastor of two parishes. He is still pastor of St. Mary in Wrentham and is now pastor of St. Martha in Plainville as well. He is grateful to the Cardinal for his confidence in him. Scot noted that Martha and Mary in Scripture had two personalities (the sisters, of course), and asked if they had two personalities as parishes. Fr. Chip admitted that St. Mary is named after Our Lady and the people probably wouldn’t like to re-dedicate the parish. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Sr. Bridget to the show. She is celebrating 52 years of religious life as an Ursuline nun and in January she will celebrate 50 years after her final profession. Sister was born and raised in New Orleans, but she says people always think she has a Boston accent. She said when you love New Orleans, she’ll love you right back. Plus everybody is family. If you see a neighbor in the store, you’ll call them Aunt or Uncle and you’ll go up and give them a kiss. When she was 4 years old, she went to Ursuline Academy in junior kindergarten and she met her first nun. At first she was scared by the nun’s habit, but then she was so kind to her that she stayed at the academy throughout schooling and then entered the order after graduation. She first experienced the calling to the religious life during a mandatory retreat in her senior year. She remembers coming into a conference room where there was a huge crucifix and hearing a talk by a priest. He called the girls to attention and asked them what they’ve done for Jesus, what are they doing for him, and what will they do for him. The first two answers were “nothing” and on the third, her heart opened and heard a question in her heart asking her to be a nun. She agreed and she became an Ursuline. There was never any doubt in her after that point. She received a college degree at the College of New Rochelle and began teaching. She was assigned to first grade in Kirkwood, Missouri. There were 40 children and not even room for a desk. That was in 1965. It was an experience in which she saw the children as a gift from God. It was very hard, but it all worked out. Fr. Chip asked her if she misses it and she said she misses it terribly. Before she dies, she has a plan to go into first grade classes and be Sister Storyteller and tell stories of Catholic values. Scot asked Sr. Bridget was led her to serve in Appalachia in eastern Kentucky. She’s discovered that God comes in surprises and disguises and He always has something up the Divine Sleeve. She was watching a program with Charles Kuralt on Christmas in Appalachia. She had the same experience like with the Cross: “Would you go there?” So she went to her superiors. She did the research on where she would go and then for two summers she went to Bible camps. After that she asked to go full-time. Many people had never even seen a Catholic before, but they were welcoming. Sr. Bridget and another sister ended up living in a small shed heated by a coal stove with an outhouse. No electricity, no indoor plumbing. But everybody lived that way. They lived next door to a gentleman, Bird Bradley, who became a spiritual mentor. One day she came home from school and found he had lined the outhouse with squirrel skin fur from squirrels he’d trapped. He said it was to keep them warm in the outhouse on cold days. Another time, he was sitting under a tree and Sister asked him if he ever got lonely. He looked shocked and said, “When a man has a stout chair, a good chew of tobacco, and knows that he has God on his side, how can a man be lonely?” When we are in touch and focused on God, how can we be lonely. Years later, as she was preparing to go to another mission, she asked him what she would do if he died while she was gone. He said, “Don’t go crying. I’ll be setting purty up on top of the hill. But look here” and touched his arm “this is where I live now, but when I die I will be in a new house and there will always be room for you there.” Sr. Bridget in her five years in Appalachia came to know that we are all of us children of God. After Appalachia, Sister served in Sudan and Senegal and Mexico. Sister said she’s learned that God cares for us, but we absolutely have to care for one another. Sometimes we are God’s answer to someone else’s prayer. We have to do the little things with great loves. Nothing is inconsequential, everything matters. Everybody she meets reflects God, whether in Boston or Senegal or Sudan or Appalachia. You don’t have to go somewhere else to find God, He is all around us in everyone we meet. Fr. Chip asked her how she came to Boston. Sister said she had a dream in which she had a bus ticket and didn’t know where it was going to. She later realized that she wanted to be near her mother in her last years. Her mother was living in New Hampshire with her sister and so she asked her superior to live with the Ursuline community in Boston. They had a wonderful 4 years together until her mother began the long journey of Alzheimers. Scot noted the Ursuline sisters were among the first religious orders in Boston. The first convent was in Charlestown, and was burned down in anti-Catholic riots. They later opened a convent near Boston Common and then in Dedham. 3rd segment: Scot said Sr. Bridget has a weekly radio show with her brother, Albert, who is a Franciscan priest. It’s called “Spirit and Life” and it’s on the Relevant Radio network. Relevant Radio approached them as the first brother/sister priest/nun radio show. They’ve had about 96 shows so far. They take spiritual issues from our Catholic faith and ask what it means for the 21st century. They start each show with 5 minutes of chat they call “Bayou Banter”. They then talk 26 minutes with no commercials. It airs on Saturday and repeats throughout the weekend. The full schedule is on the Relevant Radio website and you can listen online. Scot said he first heard about Sister Bridget when he saw her book “Generous Faith: Stories to Inspire Abundant Living”, from which all the royalties go to the care of the elderly sisters of her order. She decided before she had 50 years of vows that she wanted to thank God for everything people have given her life because they way they lived inspired her. So she decided to tell their stories. She tells the stories of her mother’s Alzheimer’s and her father’s suicide. She told one of the stories from the book. She was feeling down and out one time and decided to make a retreat at the Genesis Retreat Center in Westfield, Mass. She had planned everything she wanted God to do for her on the retreat. She took the train and then buses to Springfield. She’s sitting on the bus and encountered a homeless man. She tried to look inconspicuous because she didn’t want an encounter with him. He got up and offered her a peppermint from his pocket. She refused nicely, but felt bad about it. As she was getting off the bus, she heard him yell at her, “Miss, you’re looking good, real good.” She got off the bus with a dance in her step and a song in her heart. That homeless man cared for her. It’s a witness that God never abandons us. The power of being noticed and receiving a word of encouragement. If we live in the moment, in divine care, and in the eyes of other people (the book’s three divisions), we have abundant living, knowing we are blessed by God. Jesus came that we might have life and have it in the full. Not material abundance necessarily. Fr. Chip asked who inspires her now. Sister Bridget said the Boston Home where she is spirituality coordinator. There are 96 residents, adults paralyzed with degenerative neurological disease, ages 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s. Some have only very little mobility, in motorized chairs, moving only by sipping and blowing into a straw or with a single-finger of mobility. She’s learned to live in the moment and in the day. All we have is this day and this moment and our attitude is everything. She doesn’t find it depressing there because she’s always learning about courage and the power of the human spirit. Sister said she remembers Karen, who has since died, who came to her every day for six years and always said the same thing. She was totally paralyzed, but she would always say with great difficulty, “God is so good.” She almost died with those words on her lips. Scot said so many of us can talk an encyclopedia about God, but this one simple sentence sums up everything: “God is so good.” Sister said we have it all in our heads, but it has gotten to our heart. But Karen’s disease took all that from her head and all she had was in her heart. One of the residents came to her and he had a terrible cold. He asked her to wipe his nose. When she finished, he said he was sorry to have to ask. She asked, “Would you have done it for me?” and he said, “In a heartbeat.” That’s the washing of the feet. 4th segment: Now as we do each week at this time, we will hear the Gospel reading for this coming Sunday’s Mass and then consider its meaning for us. The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech. They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion, for you do not regard a person’s status. Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” Knowing their malice, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that pays the census tax.” Then they handed him the Roman coin. He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” They replied, “Caesar’s.” At that he said to them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” Scot said this is one of the more memorable images of Jesus, evading the verbal traps set by the Pharisees. If Jesus had answered yes or no, he would have offended some group, but he transcended the situation. Sister said people sometimes mix up the message, that if only we follow God we will be promised material abundance. Scot said Jesus was very blunt and direct, calling the Pharisees hypocrites and calling out their real motives. Fr. Chip said the genius of Jesus is being able to turn a yes or no question back on them. We could preach this one Gospel passage our whole lives. Scot said we have responsibilities to be a good neighbor and citizen, but we also have to be a good member of the Church. We need to do both, although our duty to God comes first. We need to understand what we need to return to God. If we’re a success, we need to remember that everything is a gift, a grace, and a blessing. Sister said we don’t do good, but that God does good through us. To God be the glory. give to God what belongs to God and that is everything you do and desire. Give your heart to God first. Scot said it’s not a fundraising pitch; it’s not about money. Give your heart, mind, soul and life back to God. Sister said sometimes we have to ask ourselves, to reflect on what belongs to God in our own lives. Scot noted that sometimes the word is render and now it is re-pay. Fr. Chip said we can’t really re-pay to Jesus what we owe him, so we try. How do we re-pay to God? Go to Mass. Jesus told us to celebrate the Mass in community. Then celebrate it with your all. Bring all your cares and worries and offer them to him, then give him praise and worship. Fr. Chip said we should give of ourselves to the parish, the people you’re in community with. We start with Mass and then are sent forward into the world to bring it to other people.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Death of the oldest pastor; retirement plans; $1 million for Catholic schools; Project Rachel; Episcopalian converts; assault on religion; the bishops of Boston Summary of today’s show: Greg Tracy joins Scot and Susan to discuss the news of the week in the Pilot and the Anchor newspapers, including a new retirement offering for archdiocesan employees; the death of the Archdiocese’s oldest pastor at 96; a $1 million gift for Catholic schools; another Project Rachel testimonial; Episcopalian converts coming into the Church en masse; the federal government’s assault on freedom of religion; interesting statistics on abortion rates; and A new series on the bishops of Boston. 1st segment: Scot asked Susan how her four-day week is going and she said a four-day week after a three-day weekend is just like having a six-day week to catch up. The religious education office has been having workshops all over the archdiocese to train parish leaders to do confirmation preparation. The goal is to ensure that parish confirmation preparation is uniformly high quality. Susan also shared the Joseph Anthony Abbott, her grandson, was born today to her son and daughter-in-law in Los Angeles. Another grandchild is due on February 4, which would make 8. Scot also wished his niece, Molly McDermott, a happy 5th birthday. 2nd segment: Scot said a big story in the Pilot this week is that 3,000 archdiocesan employees in the Pastoral Center and in parishes and schools will have a new 401(k) plan. While employees have a pension plan, younger employees will have a smaller payout at retirement and putting some away for themselves now is a good idea. Greg said a large readership of The Pilot are those who work for the Archdiocese and so it’s a significant story. The reality is that the Archdiocese began the switch from a traditional pension plan to a 401(k). Most organizations have made the switch because they have become very expensive as people are living longer and Social Security isn’t expect to cover everyone in the future. So the Archdiocese has selected a new model for retirement. There is currently a 403b plan, which is similar to a 401k, which was additional voluntary contributions, but did not include contributions from the employer and the 403b was spread over all kinds of vendors and plans. The 401k has all the benefits of the 403b but is much more portable and well-known. Scot noted the obituary in this week’s Pilot for Msgr. Stanislaus Sypek who died this week at age 96 and was still an active pastor, not retired. He was ordained in 1943. They reviewed his long career of service to the Church. Also, Fr. Clyde Leonard died this week at 84. He was ordained in 1964 at 37 years old. That was unusual at the time. Fr. John Connelly, pastor of Sacred Heart, Newton, is the oldest serving pastor at 89 years old. The State Street Foundation made a large gift to the Campaign for Catholic Schools of $1 million for the benefit of Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy in Dorchester and Mattapan. Greg attended the press conference and noted that the kids from the school will remember their whole lives how the people in the State Street Bank building cared for them enough to support their education. The State Street CEO said it’s an investment in the community. A good educated workforce benefits the entire business community. Catholic education has an immense success rate and is a good place to invest. Scot noted how the former mayor of Los Angeles has begun a campaign to raise $100 million for Catholic schools there. Scot also noted the preparation for the Lenten launch of the “Why Catholic” program that follows up the Arise program. It is a 4-year journey through the Catechism, with 4 twelve-week sessions. It encourages small-group formation, which helps build community within parishes. 3rd segment: Scot said over the past few weeks the Pilot has published moving anonymous testimonials from women who’ve had abortions and received healing through the Project Rachel program. Susan said it’s beautiful testimony, not just to the love of God, but also to the work of our Pro-life Office. Scot said it hit him in the gut to hear how she said she felt unlovable and unforgivable by God. Scot noted that Bishop Hennessey says in the Light Is On For You videos that nothing you have ever done is too big for God to forgive. Greg said it was striking to see how the woman’s mother, who pressured her daughter to get an abortion, was herself reconciled to God as well. 4th segment: Scot said Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, DC, received an entire Episcopalian community into the Church, including their pastor who is beginning his formal studies toward ordination. This is seen as a precursor to the declaration of an Ordinariate in the US, which is somewhat equivalent to a diocese covering the whole country. In the past, Episcopalians who converted to Catholicism have had the pastoral provision that allowed them to use a particular Anglican-use liturgy that preserves the traditions of their faith while incorporating them into Catholic belief and practice. Greg said these incorporations have happened in bits and pieces, but in 2009, Pope Benedict formalized the process by which entire communities can enter the Church together. In the military services, there’s been a push to have chaplains officiate at same-sex marriages. Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Military Archdiocese said this won’t happen with Catholic chaplains or Catholic chapels, but other chaplains are concerned. The Archbishop said the federal Defense of Marriage Act should prevent such impositions on chaplains in federal service. Scot said Fr. Roger Landry wrote his editorial in the Anchor this week on Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s recent list of five ways that the federal government is mounting an assault on religious freedom, including mandates for insurance to pay for contraception, sterilization, and abortion; forcing the bishop Migration and Refugees Services to provide “reproductive services” in order to continue to receive government contracts; pressure on Catholic Relief Services in a similar vein internationally; the Justice Department attacking the Defense of Marriage Act as bigotry; the Obama administration taking a position against the “ministerial exception” before the Supreme Court; and a push to redefine marriage in the states with pressure from above. Scot said people often tell Catholics not to impose their faith on others, but that’s exactly what’s happening in the other direction. He said people need to be vocal in order to not give the impression that the majority agree with these impositions. Another article shows that married women are much less likely to have abortions. The abortion rate among cohabitating women was 59 percent, formerly married and not cohabitating was 31.8 percent, women who never married and not cohabitating was 28.1 percent, and wives was 7.7 percent. In cohabitation, the future of the couple is uncertain and this it’s hard to be able to welcome new life with generosity. Greg said there’s been a societal shift in that marriage is no longer about family, but it’s just about love and romance. They are part of it, but not the complete picture. Scot said there is a new series of articles on the bishops of Boston, starting with Bishop John Cheverus from his birth in France. Greg said the 100th anniversary of Cardinal O’Connell becoming Boston’s first cardinal comes up on November 11 and was the motivation for this series.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Jaymie Stuart Wolfe, Associate Editor of Children’s Books at Pauline Books and Media Today’s topics: Jaymie Stuart Wolfe Summary of today’s show: Jaymie Stuart Wolfe talks with Scot and Fr. Matt about her years of ministry in the Church, including being a columnist for the Pilot and now working as an editor at Pauline Books and Media. They also discussed her new books that make the words of the Popes more accessible, especially to youth and young adults, and another that explains the Mass for children, including the new translation coming up in Advent. 1st segment: Scot said Fr. Matt is in Maine today on a retreat and is joining the show via the phone. He was in Chicago last weekend for the baptism of a friend’s daughter. He was able to play tourist in Chicago as well and to be part of his friend’s family’s life. On retreat, he’s been doing some spiritual reading by a Carmelite priest called “,” about St. Therese of Lisieux. He explains the spiritual context of St. Therese from the French Revolution to Jansenism in France. At the time, there was a lot of focus on God’s justice without focusing on the mercy of God. Therese looks at it from the perspective of the childlike way and the love by which God sends his son Jesus. A child is completely open to allowing himself to be loved as God loves him. They are so open to receiving God’s love. For Therese, the Sacred Heart devotion was not once per month, but every day. She has four new books, one she edited, , and co-edited , “Adoring Jesus with the Holy Father”, “Honoring Mary with the Holy Father”, “Praying with the Holy Father”. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Jaymie Stuart Wolfe to the show. Scot asked about all the many ways she has served the Church. She came into the Church in her senior year of college. She said she read her way out of evangelical Protestantism. She hit the bottom of evangelical ecclesiology and discovered the Church. She got involved in work in the Church through having children (she has 8 and 5 grandchildren) and getting involved in the pro-life movement. She’s done spiritual concerts of music, writing, speaking, and many others. She also has a longtime column in the Pilot, starting in 1995. She had just had a baby in November, right after finishing her first book, and then a week later a priest connected to the Pilot asked her to write a column. Scot said that’s about 26 columns per year and hundreds of columns since then. She’s enjoyed writing how family life leads you deeper into faith. She’s enjoyed how her life changes because a child enters in. Her kids bring all of their variety and diversity of interests into her own life and enriched it. And then she sees how God’s call everyone differently. One of her daughter spent the summer working with the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta. She is now a student at the University of Dallas. Prior to her role at the Daughters of St. Paul, Jaymie was faith formation director and music minister at St. Maria Goretti parish in Lynnfield. She said most adult Catholics have faith at a level of 8 or 10 or 12 years old. They’ve progressed in all other aspects of their life, but their faith life hasn’t matured. Much of that comes from not understanding why we do the things we do. Also, that being Catholic is not about a few hours on a Sunday morning, but a call to life. Baptism is not an event but a calling to a life, an identity. For most people who graduate from CCD when they’re confirmed, they will never know everything about faith. Theology is not basketweaving. But the beauty of the faith is that once you’re in a relationship with Jesus, you have a reason to learn about him for the rest of your life. 3rd segment: Jaymie said for people wanting to learn more about their faith, they should start with the Bible, and specifically the Gospels. Start with the life of Jesus and listen to what he says and does and the integrity that what he says is what he does. What brought Jaymie into the Church was Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church from Vatican II. Scot recommended the book by Edward Sri. Jaymie also told people to challenge God to prove himself to you, to talk to you in a way that you can hear his voice. He will speak to you in a language you will understand: art, music, liturgy, a conversation with a friend. Scot asked Fr. Matt what he tells to those who ask where to start. Fr. Matt concurred with starting with the Gospel of Matthew, to ask God to guide as you read. He also recommended the , the new catechism for youth commissioned by Pope Benedict XVI and distributed at World Youth Day. There are many online resources, including those from the Daughters of St. Paul at Pauline.org. Scot asked Jaymie about the “…with the Holy Father” books, which break the Holy Father’s words down into bite-sized bits on the same topics. Jaymie said there are lots of gems in the Pope’s words, but it can be difficult to wade through all of the theological language to get to the nuggets. Jaymie said she was inspired by wanting to have her kids be able to listen to the Holy Father and understand him. She took her family to New York in 2008 to see Pope Benedict at Yankee Stadium. Everyone was thrilled, but they couldn’t tell you what they heard and if they went to look at the writings online, all the brilliant words were somewhat inaccessible to the average person. So they approached the Vatican and asked if they could take the words of the Pope and bring them to a level that a 10 to 14-year-old could understand. The Daughters didn’t expect to get approval but they didn’t. Jaymie said the three books covered the writings of 19 different popes. She read everything from every pope on the Vatican website that was available in English. It took her about a month. Many of the encyclicals that are very heavy have beautiful prayers at the end of them or speeches at audiences or gatherings. She said she got a whole new appreciation for Pope Pius XII, who was pope during World War II. It was how he wrote about Mary and the Scriptures and how he approached his daunting task of leading the Church in a challenging time. Scot asked why they chose selections of about 100 words at a time. Jaymie said you don’t want to crowd prayer. That’s about the attention span of a reader. She read a sample of one of the selections. Fr. Matt said the books are listed as for young adults, but “young” can have a broad definition. Young can be a new Catholic or even just someone who doesn’t want to stumble over difficult words. 4th segment: It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is The Battle for the Family DVD by Peter Herbeck and , by Michaelann Martin. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Carmela Tringali from Medford, MA. Congratulation, Carmela! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: The Mass Explained for Kids has sold 10,000 copies already in just a few weeks. Scot said it’s not just about the new translation of the Mass, but it explains what we’re doing. Jaymie said it has the liturgical text on one page with color-coordinated explanations on the facing page. She said 75% of Catholics don’t know that the translation is changing on the first Sunday of Advent. It’s an unprecedented opportunity to learn about the Mass and understand what is happening in the Church on Sunday in the central prayer of our faith. Scot said imagine going to a football game and not knowing what’s going on. Jaymie gave an example of the beginning of the Mass where we will now respond to the priest: “And with your spirit.” It’s very inexpensive at $1.99 and they’re also creating a smartphone app version as well.…
Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Dr. Karen Bohlin, Head of the Montrose School and author of the book “Building Character in Schools” Today’s topics: Raising children of virtue Summary of today’s show: Dr. Karen Bohlin talks with Scot and Fr. Chris about raising children of virtue, strong character, and great intellectual vigor, including the girls who attend the independent Catholic school she leads, Montrose School in Medfield, Mass. 1st segment: Scot asked Fr. Chris what he did on his 3-day weekend. He went to Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, to catch up with priest-friends in the area. Scot said he loves to visit DC, especially the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. Fr. Chris said they went to Mass at the basilica and Bishop Loverde of Arlington, VA, happened to be leading a pilgrimage to the basilica on Sunday. He said he also visited the new Martin Luther King monument in DC. He found some of the quotes by MLK were indicative of the virtues they will be discussing today. Scot said his family went to Maine for a soccer tournament and they went to Mass in a parish up there. There happened to be an elderly woman entering the Church at that Mass and so his kids could see the woman receive First Communion and Confirmation and they had many questions afterward. Fr. Chris said it’s wonderful to welcome someone new to our faith community. He was speaking to someone today who’s running an RCIA program in a parish and so it’s a good time to ask a parish if you’re interested because now is the time that such programs begin. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Dr. Bohlin back to the show. She was on previously talking about the movie “There Be Dragons”. Scot asked about her background before coming to the Montrose School. Karen said she started as an English teacher and drama coach at the Montrose School. She found herself involved in Boston Public Schools and teacher education. She received her doctorate at Boston University and worked at the Center for the Advancement of Ethics and Character, working with school departments around the country and even advising the White House. Scot said ethics and character education were not a big component of higher education before the big financial scandals of the beginning of the century. BU’s Center was among the first to bring it into teacher education and curricula. They form teachers to prepare them for their moral responsibilities. Karen said she also taught undergraduates at BU and was quite happy there, but was asked to consider the position of the Head of School at Montrose. She knew if she moved from a research institute to a school, she would be working directly with students and parents and alumnae. She would be able to work with families and educators over time to go more deeply into transforming young lives. Scot said while both jobs are in education, they’re very different roles in research versus running a school. She has been able to see several generations of students come through the school. They just celebrated their 30th anniversary at Montrose. It was founded by a group of parents and educators, including several Harvard Business School grads looking for a school for their daughters with good liberal arts education that didn’t compromise either the faith or the intellectual tradition of the Church. They wanted a strong mentoring program in character and leadership formation, especially for girls at the critical age of middle school years. They wanted to prepare girls to go to any size school or college and enter any professional field. They have many accomplished alumnae, including authors like Suzanne La Fleur, an author of young adult books. Karen noted that in the seventies there was a lot of educational experimentation and so the founders wanted to restore the traditional core of excellent college preparation and a solid religious education program. Scot said the school is in Medfield now. The school opened in Brookline in the old Cardinal Cushing College, then to Westwood, then to Natick and the old St. Patrick’s elementary school for 10 years. Just 5 years ago they moved to the old Bayer Pharmaceuticals building in Medfield. They have 190 students today. Scot said there’s still a demand for single-sex education, particularly for girls. He asked how many parents choose Montrose because they want their daughters to be formed by strong women leaders in a good peer environment. Karen said it’s also that research shows that girl learn differently from boys. Particularly in middle schools, girls have a capacity to move at a faster pace, especially in math and science. Boys also learn better in a single-sex environment. It allows students to be unafraid to speak up in class and to be confident. Studies show that girls tend to be timid and stand behind boys in science classes, for example. Fr. Chris said modeling virtue is important and asked how they form the staff. Karen said virtue is caught, more than taught. The faculty is committed to the forming the whole person. In professional development workshops, they spend a lot of time studying adolescent character development and asking themselves are they walking the talk. When she meets with graduating seniors, she asks them if they think the school is walking the talk, are they living up their mission and values. Fr. Chris asked what some of the routines and rituals of the school are. Karen said there are many traditions that form the core of life at the school. They have a speakers series to bring in someone whose story inspires the girls. This year with the faculty they read Victor Frankl’s of his experience in the Nazi concentration camps, and Mitch Albom’s to consider how one approaches the end of life. They are developing vision and a long-distance perspective, to overcome the day-to-day fears and worries and stresses. The Mass helps them disconnect from those daily stresses. There is a daily period called “Enrichment” and the girls are allowed to choose to attend Mass or go to a quiet reading room (no magazines, no homework). The time out allows them to re-focus on what matters most. Karen said graduates always say they feel more shored up in their faith because of the environment in which they’re learning. They can articulate not just the reasons and philosophical underpinnings of the Church’s teachings, but they live it as well. She said they teach college level philosophy to juniors and seniors and she hears from graduates how they use what they’ve learned in college and even in graduate school. Philosophy opens their minds especially since the faculties engage them using the Socratic method. 3rd segment: Scot asked what the faculty of Montrose School hope their graduates are going to be at age 18. Karen said they first consider that everyone is a work in progress. They’re not aiming for perfectionism. The goal is to learn how to pick themselves up and move forward. They have a document on their website called : Well-Cultivated Faith Strength Of Character Far-Reaching Vision Scot said they are all appealing to him as a dad of a young girl. He asked what differentiates Montrose from other strong academic, Catholic schools for girls. Karen said they have a commitment to integrity and constantly knitting these three elements together through mentoring and a rapport between the faculty and the girls that last well past graduation. One of the alumn worked for a large architectural firm after college and was confronted with an ethical debate. She was able to re-direct the discussion at the meeting and a senior employee asked her where she graduated from college. She said it wasn’t college, but high school. Scot said in talking with other parents, they ask where savings for future education be deployed: junior high and high school or college? Karen said she has been in both higher education and now grade schools. When she taught in college she could tell the difference between those students who had the foundation to adjust to college and those who were lost, not just academically but also in campus life. They need to know why it matters to have virtues, why the decisions they make with their time are important. Fr. Chris wondered if the girls are evangelizing their parents as well. Karen said many parents have told her that they’ve begun to take their faith seriously because of the education their daughter was receiving. The faculty offer a faith enrichment program to the parents. Scot said the school notes that education is the primary responsibility of the parents and the school is there to support. How do the parents get involved? Karen said the parents meet with faculty twice per year, to meet their adviser twice per year and to be in touch whenever they have questions or concerns. The school offers seminars and lectures to the parents on adolescence as well. The upper school students have a with a series of virtues that are discussed: Virtue: Topic: Accountability: Big picture, Looking outside yourself Modesty: Facebook, Between guys & girls Perseverance: Goal Setting Courage: Master of the universe, Do it now! Leadership: Communicating & Listening Skills; Making Choices Diligence: Leading to maturity, Helping others Hope: Life Portrait Speaker Bernice Lerner Hospitality: Interpersonal Skills, Persuasive speaking Understanding: Stress management, Thinking of others Reflection: Beginning again Respect: Body image, Self-respect Friendship: Avoiding destructive decisions Patience: With self, With others Perseverance: Purposeful action, planning Generosity: With family (service deed) Simplicity: Pop Culture Humility: Using God-given talents for good of others Justice: Obeying authority, Making decisions Loyalty: Values systems in friendships Karen said the students talk with their advisers about how they can grow in these virtues. They bring older students to talk to the middle school girls to discuss how to make them living. Karen said it’s important that they don’t look at them as behaviors, but as parts of our character. Fr. Chris said the virtuous person responds to virtue with virtue. The person full of vice sees virtue as not living up to themselves. Chastity is seen as prudery for example. Karen said they try to make it attractive, not hit them over the head. The teens don’t want to feel like they’re on a behavior modification program. they want to know that respect makes them a more attractive friend. When they see it lived, it comes more compelling. Virtue comes from a Greek word meaning strength. It’s a good disposition of mind, heart, and action. It’s an internal strength. Measures of success are external accomplishments. They can be short-lived and may not satisfy. A person of virtue can be poor or wealthy, but they have dispositions that allow them to live in the happiest way possible. Karen said it’s the little things that form the foundation of bigger change. Rudy Guiliani cleaned up New York first by fixing broken windows and then crime rates followed. Scot noted that Karen co-authored a book called “Building Character in Schools”. We hear a lot of schools say they teach good values, while Montrose educates and forms for good virtues. Karen said values can be good or bad. Virtues are good. Psychologists tell us that we need good habits and dispositions. Virtues are more objective and part of who we are. Values are more external. People can resist values because whose values are they. Scot asked how you make good character a priority in your home? Karen said you have to choose your battles and determine what matters most. The children also need to feel needed and vital. Stake a claim so that children can say that in their house they can say the three things that matter most. Scot asked how people can find more about Montrose. The school will have an open house this Sunday, Oct 16, from 2-4pm and there will be another open house on Sunday, Nov 3, 7-9 pm.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Collin Raye, multi-platinum country music star and spokesman for for the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network Today’s topics: Collin Raye, national spokesman for Terri Schiavo’s Life Summary of today’s show: Multi-platinum country music star Collin Raye talks with Scot about his conversion to Catholicism as a young, musician seeking truth as well as his experiences as a husband and then a grandfather seeing loved ones on life support that led to his decision to become a spokesman for the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network. 1st segment: Scot said issues concerning human life are coming to the forefront in Massachusetts, especially with a new ballot initiative on assisted suicide. As Christians, we need to be clear and informed on these issues. Our guest, Collin Raye, is a multi-platinum country music artist who recently joined the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network as National Spokesman. 2nd segment: Scot said he’s been a fan since the early 1990s when he was living in Cincinnati. Collin said he never really fit in with the country music scene because he didn’t wear a cowboy hat and his style was more pop and ballads. But he has tried to put out songs that have some meaning to it. He thanked God for his ability to make hits of songs that have something positive to say about life. Scot said the song “What if Jesus Came Back Like That” made his look at every person he met on the street in a new way, because Christ comes to us in distressing disguise sometimes. Collin said even for songs he didn’t write himself, his mission was to find songs that he could sing from the heart. His first hit came out when he was 30, but he was working in music since he was 15 in many rough places. He made a commitment to the Lord in those years that he would always strive to build up the Kingdom of God and give him glory. While he would sometimes stray from the path and get caught up in pride, he would catch himself and recognize that the Enemy was at work in him. Collin said music is one of the most powerful tools given by God to worship Him (which was the original purpose of God) and to bring healing and clarity, sometimes clarity for things which Christians already know. When “What is Jesus Came Back” came out, some people criticized him for saying Jesus could come back as anything other than the Lord in glory. Scot said one of Cardinal Sean’s favorite stories is of how a demented person entered New York Cardinal Spellman’s office years ago and the cardinal got a call from his secretary saying a man claiming to be Jesus was there and asked what to do. The cardinal said, “Look busy.” Scot asked Collin if other country music stars would find it odd for him to step out on a controversial issue like those represented by the Life & Hope Network, including euthanasia and assisted suicide. Collin said publicists and others would tell him to not speak out or be controversial, but he was always a square peg in a round hole, speaking out on things. They always wanted him to go out there for “safe” charities, like cancer research. He was always sure that he wasn’t trying to milk his celebrity for publicity. People in the industry are probably saying that his current position is understandable. Collin said he doesn’t understand why euthanasia and assisted suicide are controversial because it seems so apparent what is right. He’s had family members who were on life-sustaining equipment and their situation turned out differently because they didn’t have a Michael Schindler trying to unplug. Collin said he never expected God to use him, but that’s pretty much what the apostles said about themselves. 3rd segment: Scot asked Collin to share his own story of how his wife in 1985 when she was 6th months pregnant, she had a cardiac arrest and simultaneous stroke. She was dead for 20 minutes. She ended up in a coma for 9 weeks. He reminded us that Terri was never in a coma, but was awake the whole time. His wife, however, was in a full-blown coma. Doctors said she wouldn’t make and the boy wasn’t going to make. But Connie, his wife, and his son, Jacob, are both alive and well today. But that first week, he was already hearing from social workers and doctors about the need to institutionalize her. Then a few weeks later, they started hearing that as the husband he could pull the plug. “Do you want to keep her like this” and “What are you doing to her?” He realized that as a husband of three years, her parents had absolutely no say so in any decision. Obviously, he refused all those offers. She woke up eight weeks later and had to re-learn everything, including walk and talk and eat. He noted that Terri Schiavo was awake the whole time over the course of years. He doesn’t understand people say he had a right. Michael Schiavo didn’t have a right to state-sanctioned murder. He said the case is still relevant because it’s a microcosm of something that’s occurring every single day in America. Scot said he’s sure it’s getting worse because of the pressures of health care costs and with the new Obama health care regulations putting even more pressure to ration health care. He said people couch it in terms like, “Are you sure you want to keep her suffering?” This must be happening even more considering the state of society today. Collin said over 1,000 families have contacted the Life & Hope Network for help. The network is attorneys and doctors committed to life and fighting for life. Those in the situation similar to Terri’s family now have help and guidance in 47 out of the 50 states so far. Collin said Obamacare is so much more than health care. Members of Congress themselves said they didn’t even read it. Government now has control over who gets healthcare. Now it won’t even be family members making these decisions, but bureaucrats. This isn’t about extraordinary care, keeping heart and lungs pumping. Terri and Connie and Jacob were all on feeding tubes. Collin had a granddaughter who died in 2010 from neurological condition who was on a feeding tube. That’s just food and water. Terri was starved and dehydrated to death over the course of 14 days. We would never tolerate a murderer on death row being starved to death. Scot said Terri was even able to speak. It should have been obvious to everyone. Collin recommended that everyone read the Schindler family’s book that show how everyone in St. Petersburg, including government officials mistreated the family. It reminds him of the Third Reich and how it slowly started to dispose of people that it saw as flawed and a burden on society, including the sick and Down syndrome children. They even did it under the guise of compassion, saying they were taking them off the hospitals, but instead gassing them. Scot said it makes assumptions on the value of people based on how productive they are. He pointed out that the organizations pushing assisted suicide in Massachusetts are called “Call to Compassion” and “Death with Dignity” which are euphemisms. They claim that the right to life comes from the state, not from God. We can’t give that right to anyone but God, including families. Once you place that right anywhere else, you open to the door to insurance companies, doctors, governments, and anyone else. Collin said some would say comparing it to the Nazis is too much, but he is saying that the principles behind it is the same. It is wrong to hand over that control to anyone else. Even if he didn’t believe in God, he would still see it as wrong, because it’s just logical. Call a spade, a spade. If the other side is so sure of themselves that what they’re doing is right, then call it what it is, like Planned Parenthood and abortion. Scot said if we went back to the early 1960s and told them that more than 55 million babies had been aborted in this country since 1973 and we allowed husbands to put their wives to death and that doctors were participating in people’s early deaths, most people would think we were crazy. Collin noted that John F. Kennedy would be rolling in his grave if he knew our country had devolved to this point. JFK wasn’t about government control of life and as a Catholic he would reject all of this. Scot added that in his inaugural address he emphasized that our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness came from God, not the state. Collin said we can’t let someone else decide whether we can live or die. It’s easy to say it’s okay for someone else when we’re walking around healthy, but if we have an ailment or accident and are cognitively impaired, it is very different. It’s easy to say we’d be okay with it when we’re healthy, but when we’re laying there sick, it can different. Collin said Terri’s mom asked her to say she wanted to live and even though she made sounds that sounded like it, the government didn’t give it credence. Shouldn’t any reasonable doubt have been enough. He said it wasn’t government-assisted suicide, it was government-sanctioned murder. No one knows when that person wants to die. His own granddaughter could do nothing for herself, but she did smile at them. And he’s known other children with similar neurological ailments who could smile, yet some people say that their lives aren’t worth living. Scot said regardless of her condition, she was a gift to her family, the presence of JEsus in their lives, opening their hearts to God. Collin said what would Mother Teresa have done. She would have cared for that person until her natural death. God allows suffering and there is a value in suffering. How do we know that Terri laying there isn’t paying a spiritual bill for someone else who needs spiritual help? God hears our prayers every time we ask, but He doesn’t always heal every ailment because He has a plan. Collin said his own granddaughter was so precious and perfect, she wasn’t made for this world. When she had done everything God had called her to do in this life, He called her home. Collin rejects those who say that ailments can be cured only if you prayed enough. God can answer prayer. He has a new inspirational CD coming out in a few weeks with a song called “I Don’t Always Get What I want, I Get What I Need”. 4th segment: The reason that song, “I Think About You”, appealed to Collin was that he’s an over-the-top dad when it comes to his kids. (They’re 28 and 25 now.) That song is about how men look at women, even in an innocent way. We all quietly, privately notice a pretty girl and check her out. He’d never heard someone in a song remind everyone that this is someone’s baby girl. It wasn’t a big statement, just that we all do this and when he sees it happen, it makes him think of his baby daughter. He was shocked it was as popular as it was, he thought people would be offended. It affirms his belief that the majority of people in this country are good people who want to do the right thing. Scot noted that Collin was a convert to Catholicism in his early 20s. He was raised in northeast Texas, Texarkana. It was very much in the Bible Belt with 20 Baptist churches for every Catholic parish. He grew up Southern Baptist and knows his Bible and is grateful for that upbringing. He always felt there was something more though. He felt like something was wrong with the common Protestant doctrine of “Once saved, always saved.” He felt like conversion should be something that happens every day. Being Christian was a tough proposition but the doctrine made it seem kind of easy. In his early 20s he was looking for a church to fit him better, but none of the Protestant churches were enough. But there was a couple who kept coming to his shows and he saw their crucifixes. He finally asked them if he could go to Mass with them and he went. He walked into the church and felt an overwhelming blessed heaviness in the air that he’d never experienced before. Other churches of his experience were nice pleasant meeting halls, but this had a peace that he found out later was the Presence of Jesus Christ in the tabernacle. That’s all it took for him to want to learn more and took instruction over the next few months. Every time he was presented with a Catholic doctrine, he would ask “Where is it in the Bible” and he would be shown where, much to his surprise. He is very grateful for finding his Catholic faith. He has a new album coming out at the end of October called “Through It All His Love Remains”, and will be available at Catholic bookstores and on Amazon and iTunes. Find out more about Collin Raye at his…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr Mark O'Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr John Sassani, Pastor of Our Lady Help of Christians Parish in Newton Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Fr John Sassani; the importance of a healthy prayer life, this Sunday's Mass readings Summary of today’s show: Fr John discusses his vocation story and past assignments with Scot Fr Mark, as well as the new high school forming next year in Newtown. The group also discusses the readings for this Sunday, the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Father Mark to the show, and said it felt like they had been together all day. They discussed that the Cardinal's Cabinet had met today, as is the custom on the first Friday of every month. Scot said they covered many important topics, especially a discussion of how to follow up on the Catholics Come Home campaign and continue to increase Mass attendance. Fr Mark added that with the wide variety of people that make up the cabinet, it adds a great wealth of opinion to the discussions. Scot mentioned that the Cardinal could not be present at the meeting but will get a full report - Cardinal Sean was at the funeral Mass for Msgr Stanlislaus Sypek this morning. Fr Mark pointed out that Msgr Sypek was still a pastor at 96 years of age - showing his legendary dedication. Scot said that people of the Archdiocese may remember Msgr Sypek from his work at St Adalbert parish and as a professor at Emmanuel College and Boston College. 2nd segment: Fr John Sassani joined Fr Mark and Scot on the show. Scot asked Fr John to describe how he heard the calling to the priesthood. Fr John explained that when he was in the 2nd grade, Fr Dick Little came to Swampscott as a new priest, and caught Fr John's attention and had great influence on his life. Fr John also said that the Sisters of St Joseph, who taught at his school, gave him a sense of what was important in their lives and how their vocations affected it. He attended St John's Prep in Danvers, and entered St John Seminary College Division when he was done with high school. He would speak with his dad, who had been a seminarian for several years in New York, and supported him greatly through his seminary years. Scot asked Fr John what things his parents did to create a culture of vocation and openness to a priestly vocation. Fr John said that his parents were people of great faith - even if they didn't say prayers before dinner every night, their faith came into play every day of their lives. Scot asked Fr John to speak about his early priestly assignments, the first of which was at Sacred Heart in Roslindale. Fr John said that while he had requested a parish north of Boston, as a second or third priest and without a school, he was sent south of Boston to Roslindale as the sixth priest and a large, thriving school. He said that being in Roslindale gave him a wide variety of experiences with different people over the three years he was there, until he was asked to do graduate studies in liturgy in Rome. Fr John said that he spent a year there, but it wasn't a good match, so he came home and served at St John's in Winthrop. Fr John continued that St John's was a great place to be and had a solid history and active parishioners. After Winthrop, Fr John was assigned to the Office of Spiritual Development along with Msgr Dennis Sheehan. They also managed St Jean's, a small parish in Newton. Fr John explained that the Office of Spiritual Development was founded by Bishop D'Arcy to help parishes renew themselves in a spiritual way. He worked during the academic year, and spent his summers at Creighton University studying spirituality. It was at this time that he and Maryann McLaughlin created the "Meeting Christ in Prayer" program, which eventually was published by Loyola Press. Scot asked Fr John what was involved with spiritual renewal at the parishes. Fr John said all of it was rooted in prayer - the sessions were about helping people experience personal prayer in a communal setting. Small group and large group sessions would follow in the parishes. Fr John explained that Meeting Christ in Prayer was an opportunity provided by the Cardinal to encourage small-group spiritual renewal leading into the year 2000. Fr John said that the goal of the program was to deepen the faith in the parish, but to instill the desire to continue growth in prayer and faith lives instead of a momentary renewal. Sometimes, Fr John said, we think other people pray better than we do, but are still willing to learn to pray better. Prayer should come to be second nature to us - we are made for God, so having a connection with Him is something everyone can do, not just monks and nuns. Fr Mark said he was struck by the thought that people think other people pray better - he said we need to remember that we are all called to our own personal relationship with God. Fr John agreed that the personal relationship is a major theme in Christian spiritual life. We are invited to work with God's grace to become the person he wants us to be through prayer, moral decisions, and our everyday relationships. Mostly though, Fr John continued, it's through knowing that God desires a relationship for us and knows who He wants us to be. Scot asked Fr John for a few thoughts about how people can pray better. Fr John said people don't take enough time to be relaxed in order to pray - most of us are used to prayers that we learned or memorized. Those are fine, Fr John said, but we need to take a few silent seconds to prepare for them. Scot and Fr John discussed that a good second step is to say what you want to say to God, and then listen for God's response. Sometimes, Fr John said, it may be a deliberate thought that comes into his head that wasn't there a moment before, other times it is being challenged by someone or something in our lives. Fr John also said that we need to develop confidence in our faith lives about our tangible experiences with God. Fr John said the last thing was to stay for a specific period of time every day in prayer, even if you think you're finished - whether it be an hour or just five minutes, having time set aside for God is important. 3rd segment: Scot asked Fr John about his transition from one of the smaller parishes of the Archdiocese (St Theresa's in Sherburn) to one of the larger parishes, Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton where he is the parish. Fr John said it was a big difference, but the neighborhood nature of the parish, active outreach, and great location made the transition great. Fr Mark noted that the parish was also beautifully renovated - Fr John agreed, and said that the open sanctuary and the Baptismal pool make it a very hospitable and welcoming environment. Scot said that Our Lady's has one of the most involved parish communities in the Archdiocese. Fr John said that one of the things the ministries offer is not just service to the larger community, but an opportunity for people to feel connected to the parish community as well. He explained that new parishioners are encouraged to find a ministry that they want to contribute to and become excited by, because it will not only be ministry being done by more people, but people in the parish getting to know one another in a deeper way. Fr John described the Bereavement Ministry that met just last night - a group of 40 people who volunteer to help families of deceased parish members plan funeral liturgies and provide support in prayer. Scot mentioned that the parish roster holds over 20 zip codes at Our Lady's, a real testament to how connected the parishioners feel they are. Some parishes seem to be very good at building a community, Scot noted, and asked Fr John what things Our Lady's does to promote this feeling. Fr John said the core of the parish being a neighborhood parish and the family nature and closeness of fellow parishioners has carried through to a hospitable community. He also said that the location of the Church and Fr Walter's reputation for welcoming people helped as well. Fr Mark noted that some people are shocked by the community - he said that at times it seems some Catholics want to go to Mass but not be talked to! Fr John said that while the welcome is appropriate and heartfelt, it's never coercive. Scot said that last week there was an announcement that Mount Saint Joseph Academy and Trinity High School will be merging, a significant moment for Our Lady's and the Catholic Community in Newton. Fr John said it was a pastoral challenge to help people along with the transition, but ultimately will allow both schools to continue providing a financially stable and academically rigorous education to the communities. Fr John said that when the announcement was made to the students, some of the young people started asking for a retreat with the students from the other school so they could start the process of integration and get to know people. Fr John said that he felt it was a clear sign that the new enterprise, while not pain-free, is full of hope and desire in the new purpose. 4th segment: Scot read the first reading from Isaiah, and Fr. Mark read the Gospel, from Matthew. Readings for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time. First Reading: Isaiah 25:6-10a On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face; the reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken. On that day it will be said: "Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! This is the LORD for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!" For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain. Second Reading: Philipians 4:12-14, 19-20 Brothers and sisters: I know how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I can do all things in him who strengthens me. Still, it was kind of you to share in my distress. My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father, glory forever and ever. Amen. Gospel Reading: Matthew 22:1-14 Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. A second time he sent other servants, saying, "Tell those invited: "Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast."' Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.' The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests, he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. The king said to him, 'My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?' But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.' Many are invited, but few are chosen." Scot noted that Jesus often described Heaven as a banquet in parables, as in this Gospel reading. We all get an invite to Heaven, but we don't always receive it, and sometimes might even put to death the people sent to invite us. Fr John agreed, saying that Jesus is giving us a glimpse into the goal of Salvation History with this parable - there is the eternal feast in Heaven, but also many feasts on Earth that we are invited to as well. Fr John also noted that the king in the parable invites people a second time - very much like how we are inviting our brothers and sisters to come back to the faith. Fr Mark pointed out that there are people, like the man who wore the wrong garment, that are present at the feast but not totally into it. There are people who think they are going to Heaven, Fr Mark said, because they are walking a certain line, but there are parts of their life that are completely inconsistent. God is constantly inviting us in this life, he continued, to come back to Him. Scot said the end of the Gospel might be misunderstood as fashion advice - it may point to the lesson that we cannot just show up at the Heavenly banquet unprepared and have God accept us anyways. One of the ways we can prepare, Scot concluded, is to take part in the sacraments and receive those graces.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Antonio Enrique, editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Life issues; Capital punishment; New Roman Missal; Faithful Citizenship Summary of today’s show: Scot and Susan consider the news of the day with Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy, including Respect Life Sunday; federal efforts to undermine New Hampshire’s defunding of Planned Parenthood; renewed emphasis on Catholic teaching on the death penalty; an explanation of why the words of the Mass are changing from one of the chief architects of the change; the adopt-a-priest prayer apostolate; the US bishops’ guidance on faithful citizenship; and the death of the archbishop who wore combat boots. 1st segment: Scot said the Catholic Media Secretariat gathered with Cardinal Seán this morning to pray for the success of media evangelization. Susan said the Cardinal spoke beautifully of All Souls Day marking the first anniversary of WQOM. This past Sunday was Respect Life Sunday. Also Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth, leader of the international committee on English in the Liturgy that provides the new translations of the Roman Missal was in Boston last week. Plus other local and national news stories. 2nd segment: Scot said Respect Life Sunday was marked by a Mass at the Cathedral with Bishop Hennessey this past Sunday. He said the protection of life was not first among equals of issues; it is first. He also called for consistency on this issue. Susan said he emphasized how God is merciful. Scot said Bishop Henessey is an apostle of the confessional. After the Mass was a 5-kilometer walk from Boston Common as a fundraiser for pro-life causes. Greg said he noticed this year that pro-life expanded beyond abortion to many new threats to life on many fronts, including assisted suicide. Fr. Roger said his parishioners who went to the walk were buoyed by seeing that they are not alone in the pro-life witness. They noted the push for assisted suicide in the Commonwealth. With abortion, we’re trying to push back a law legalizing abortion, but with assisted suicide we’re trying to prevent it in the first place, which is always easier. Scot said there were 4 speakers on Boston Common, including 18-year-old Sean Harrington. Scot said another story concerns New Hampshire’s attempt to end government funding of PLanned Parenthood in the state. In return, the Obama administration is undermining the authority of the local executive council to parcel out federal funding by mandating it directly to Planned Parenthood. Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary for health and human services, and President Obama are trampling on the rights of taxpayers and states. Fr. Roger said they are not championing choice, but are championing abortion. In the Pilot this week is a second column in the Project Rachel series of anonymous testimonials from women who’ve had abortion and received assistance in post-abortion healing. Scot said it’s some of the most powerful writing he’s seen in the Pilot. Susan said this woman’s statement that as an 18-year-old rape victim, she didn’t think she had a choice or didn’t deserve to have a baby was very chilling. 3rd segment: Scot said one of the many aspects of being pro-life is our stance on capital punishment. While the Catechism is not unilaterally opposed to capital punishment, do we need to be putting people to death in this day and age. Greg said it deals with this issue of capital punishment because while the Church has historically supported capital punishment, that thinking has evolved over the years so that the death penalty is not the best option. Our methods of incarceration have changed so that the case that we need to put someone to death to protect society has been mostly defused. Scot read the Church’s teaching that is in the Catechism: 2258 “Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being.”56 2267 The traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude, presupposing full ascertainment of the identity and responsibility of the offender, recourse to the death penalty, when this is the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor. “If, instead, bloodless means are sufficient to defend against the aggressor and to protect the safety of persons, public authority should limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person. “Today, in fact, given the means at the State’s disposal to effectively repress crime by rendering inoffensive the one who has committed it, without depriving him definitively of the possibility of redeeming himself, cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender ‘today … are very rare, if not practically non-existent.’[John Paul II, Evangelium vitae 56.] Fr. Roger said what drives support for death penalty in the US, even among Catholics, is a sense that the justice system doesn’t result in justice all the time. For example, stories of criminals getting off on a technicality or being released after light sentences. He said if we’re able to have a life sentence really mean a life sentence, then support for the death penalty will go down. He said there is a frustration among pro-lifers of a conflation of abortion, euthanasia, and death penalty. Abortion and euthanasia are always wrong, while the death penalty has even been used by the Church. In the First World, the need for the death penalty has been reduced almost to nihility. But there are cases, such as perhaps in cases of men like Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein, where having them living even with a life sentence would allow them to continue their depredations through others. Scot said it does seem that while it’s a different issue from abortion, too often people who are anti-abortion but are pro-death penalty—with language that is based on revenge—that it opens up pro-lifers to accusations of hypocrisy. 4th segment: Scot said Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth, executive director of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, which oversaw the 10-year effort to re-translate the Roman Missal, was in Boston last week. He said 75% of Catholics still don’t know that we will be changing the words of Mass as of November 27. Susan said in her parish they’ve been practicing some of the new responses in Mass. Msgr. Wadsworth anticipated some who would say the translation is now more formal by saying that the English-language missal will be used in 11 countries where the formal form of English is more common while causal English is very different. therefore, perhaps we use the more elevated language to make it more uniform and approachable. Greg said there are moments in life where there should be more ceremony and more solemnity in order to have greater gravity and reverence. Msgr. said the Mass will be richer and more beautiful as we adjust to these changes. Fr. Roger said it will help us to appreciate God’s majesty more through the poetic structure of the language. When we read Shakespeare, there is an awe of what it says. The same way we will have a sense of awe. People will also be able to see the clarity between what we hear in the prayers of the Mass and the words of sacred Scripture. The words of the Mass will now more accurately reflect the biblical verses from which they come. Scot also noted that the Serra Club announced its third annual adopt-a-priest Mass. The Serra Club lets people volunteer to pray for a particular Boston priest for a whole year. The Mass will be celebrated at the Cathedral on October 22 at 10am with Cardinal Seán. The Mass will be for the Feast Day Mass for Blessed John Paul II and papal biographer George Weigel will also speak. Scot said another article in the Pilot is a profile of the 13 men who recently were ordained permanent deacons. The article lists their varied occupations and family situations. For the first time, Cardinal Seán has given the deacons both a primary parish assignment and a secondary assignment with one of the central ministries. On another story about “youth across the world armed with Mary’s Rosary this October” in the Anchor, Fr. Roger noted that October is traditionally the month of the Rosary. This based on the historic Battle of Lepanto centuries ago in which the Rosary prayer was a key to victory over the Turks who were attempting to invade Europe. 5th segment: Fr. Roger said the new CatholicVote app lets citizens contact their representative and senators and where the stand on issues. It comes from the same programmers who created the “Confession” app. Scot said the US bishops have re-issued the document “Faithful Citizenship,” which they issued in 2007, but with a new introduction by Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York. Susan said the new introduction re-emphasizes that there is a hierarchy of issues that Catholics must consider. Fr. Roger said re-issuing the document helps Catholics study this document anew instead of getting the message that somehow the Church’s teachings have changed. It’s an opportunity to really educate our consciences so we do everything in the name of the Lord. Scot noted that Archbishop Hannan, the nation’s third-oldest living bishop, died in New Orleans last week. He was the eulogist at John F. Kennedy’s funeral. Greg recalled meeting the Archbishop a couple of years ago. He noted that the archbishop was a paratrooper in World War II and did a lot to help New Orleans rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Martin Doman, Assistant Director of Campus Ministry at Ave Maria University Today’s topics: Martin Doman, Catholic praise and worship music leader Summary of today’s show: On our 150th show, Martin Doman talks with Scot and Fr. Matt about his ministry as a Eucharistic praise and worship leader, his experience of writing and performing Catholic music, including “St. Patrick’s Breastplate”, the theme song for The Good Catholic Life; and his advice as a campus minister for parents looking at Catholic colleges for their children. 1st segment: Scot said we celebrated our 150th show since we started on Ash Wednesday. Scot said he’s learned so much about his faith and its tough to believe it’s been that many. We’ve profiled more than 75 priests and had about 200 guests. Scot said he’s not sick of his own voice yet. Just today Scot received a card from a listener who sent his condolences after Scot mentioned his uncle who had passed away. Fr. Matt said last Thursday he spoke to the first-year men discerning the diaconate. He spoke on living out your baptismal call. His cousin Brian was married on Saturday and it was a joy to be able to celebrate the sacrament with them. Scot said our guest today has had perfect attendance on the show. Martin Doman wrote the music we use as the theme for our show. It’s called St. Patrick’s Breastplate. Fr. Matt said he’s known Martin when he was worship leader for the Steubenville East youth conference. 2nd segment: Scot asked Martin what it was like to move from his native Pennsylvania to FLorida at Ave Maria. He said it was a big change for someone so used to winter. He said the university is surrounded by a brand-new town that is inhabited mostly by Catholics and it’s a great environment for his kids to grow up in. On their block alone, there are 40 or 50 kids their ages. Martin has been involved in leading Eucharistic worship for at least a decade. Scot asked him how he got started in this life. Martin said in high school he was exposed to the charismatic renewal and heard someone lead prayer in music. In his college years at Franciscan University of Steubenville, he decided that playing music at Mass was the path was God calling him to. Fr. Matt said he encountered Martin at Steubenville East in Attleboro. Martin was involved there for nine years starting in 1998. He got involved in conferences when he was in school in Steubenville when the music leader Jim Cowan asked him to be part of his band. He did well and so they asked him to lead the music himself at the Boston-area youth conference. Scot asked him to explain Eucharistic praise and worship and place it in context. He said praise and worship means just praying with music and that has it roots in Hebrew worship. So it’s praying with music, participating in song. St. Augustine mentions praise music very clearly in his writings. Eucharistic praise and worship means to worship the Lord with music in His presence during Adoration or during Mass. Scot said he used to think that Adoration just had the opening and closing hymns with silence in between, until he heard Martin play during Adoration at the Men’s and Women’s Conferences where he would sometimes pick quietly during prayer. Martin said the rite for adoration allows for music during adoration. He plays quiet and meditative music. The words of the music he uses draw out our personal relationship with God. There is emotion in that relationship, not unlike the emotion found in the Psalms. It’s the same kind of communication. The words of the song and music life the spirit. St. Augustine said he who sings, prays twice. Fr. Matt said upbeat praise music can lead to more solemn worship as the Holy Spirit fills the place and you experience the deeper presence of God. The twofold action of liturgy is the people of God participating in worship are offering blessings to God and God in turn sanctifies his people. When you enter into worship, including the words of music, the Holy Spirit starts pouring out on people in a way that leads to a silence where you just want to be. Martin said the goal of praise and worship is silence where nothing more needs to be said. At the end of the conversation where you feel like God is ministering to you and you enter silence. It’s not awkward silence, it’s a pregnant silence. In our media-saturated culture, we need that silence and that music helps our brains to slow down to focus on the Eucharist and enter silence. Fr. Matt said he often sees Martin “calls an audible” while on his knees and playing the guitar during Adoration. Martin likened it to surfing where you have to adapt to the wave. He is very open to what God is saying to him, where He is leading. All of us are called to follow the promptings of the Spirit. We’re not all called to be prophets like John the Baptist or Elijah, but we are called to be priest, prophet, and king in a sense. For Martin he feels an external prompting. For example, if he plans to start with O Salutaris, the traditional hymn for adoration, then O Come Let Us Adore Him, and then enter into silence. Perhaps he’s planning on playing a particular song and suddenly a different song comes into his head and he may feel like he needs to play that one now. If he’s looking for another song to play and he feels no prompting, he may take that to mean he’s supposed to be silent. Martin said he’s learned from the Charismatic renewal that you need to always be listening to the Lord in your prayer or daily life and when you do it can have powerful effects. 3rd segment: Scot noted the song we just heard is called “Legacy”. Martin wrote it to help us celebrated the bicentennial of the Archdiocese of Boston in 2008. Scot said 7 years ago he was encouraged to ask Martin Doman to lead worship for the Boston Men’s and Women’s Conferences, but all he’d heard was that he’d been a music leader for youth. But he later learned that Eucharistic praise and worship can help many people. Martin said singing praises to God is universal. It’s not tied to a particular age group. But the style of music is contemporary so it naturally appeals to a younger audience. Yet as prayer it is universal. In terms of the style, a lot of the songs he plays break the mold of one genre. He worked a t a Pennsylvania parish for several years and there was one coarse, crusty and blunt elderly man who once came up to him to tell him to play a hymn in the book. It turned out to be a beautiful song although it was older. A lot of these old hymns that were lost after Vatican II were simple intimate prayer songs between God and people. These hymns were so important and personal to another generation so he likes to blend these older hymns in among the newer ones. They bring out that universal thirst for God. Scot said there has been a rich patrimony of hymns built up over 2,000 years, but Martin also writes new hymns. He asked Martin what it’s like to put prayers in music. Martin said there’s a rich tradition in our Church and he mines the prayers. He suggested the Manual of Prayers as a good resource because it contains many of the great prayers of our Church. Fr. Matt asked Martin what song he wants to be remembered for? Martin said after awhile everything you do is just an attempt to capture the beauty of God, but fail to do so completely. He loves St. Patrick’s Breastplate. He said if someone asked him to play the one song he wants to play, it would be “My Desire” from his new CD. 4th segment: It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly WQOM Benefactor Raffle. In honor of St. Therese, whose feast was this past week, our prize this week is “”, by Fr. Stephane Joseph Piat, OFM. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Anne Magnus from Reading, MA. Congratulation, Anne! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: Scot asked Martin to give listeners his advice for parents choosing a good Catholic college for their kids. Martin said people typically think Notre Dame or Georgetown, but some colleges have come under fire for not being as Catholic as they used to be. He attended and works now at . Parents should look for a good education that prepares the student for life, not just for a job. College is pivotal for the life of a person in terms of life-changing decisions and so you need to given them a good foundation. The academic has to be good, with a curriculum that forms the whole person. They should also look at the student life on campus. The best measure of catholicity is whether the students are living the faith on campus. The peer pressure is positive toward living authentically. They don’t have to be weird religious nuts, just cool kids who love God. He said at Ave Maria, he’s come to know the faculty well and they really look at the foundations of the classics and where the Church’s gifts come from. There’s also a powerful sense of faith that’s not in your faith. Scot asked what the faith life is like there and what makes it distinctive. Martin said it’s not so much distinct from Steubenville. There’s definitely a sense of deep reverence there. The location creates a different lifestyle. It’s a relatively new college, but they have a student population that comes from all over. They are attracted by being in Florida, but also by the academics and faith environment. Fr. Matt said he’s seen so many kids leave solid Catholic high school youth ministry to come back from college deflated by the hedonism they encountered at college, even at the best Catholic colleges and by the anti-Catholicism they encounter in the classroom. Then the campus ministry is often not strong in countering the tsunami of challenges to their faith. He said he tells students considering a particular school to check out the campus ministry as a way to gauge how they feel about the school and see how it will help them in school. At Ave Maria, they’d find opportunities to grow deeper in faith and to be converted. Scot said to consider whether students graduating from the school have a concept of a personal vocation. Martin said at Ave Maria they have a weekly program to talk about vocations, all of them, not just marriage. We have to look at our vocation as a call to holiness.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): James Driscoll, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference Today’s topics: The Massachusetts Catholic Conference Summary of today’s show: Jim Driscoll, who became executive director of the Mass. Catholic Conference just a few months ago, appears on the show for the first time to talk with Scot and Fr. Chris about his background, the work of the body that represents the 4 Mass. dioceses on Beacon Hill, and the hot button issues of assisted suicide and casino gambling that he’s had to address right out of the gate. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chris back to the show. He was at Boston University this past weekend with the college students and Fr. John McLaughlin, the new campus chaplain. They went on retreat in Wells, Maine, at the Franciscan retreat center. Several of the faculty went up to hear confessions of the students. Scot said Fr. McLaughlin most recently served as vocations director for the Military Archdiocese. He’s filling the big shoes of Sr. Olga Yaqob and the Brotherhood of Hope at BU. Fr. Chris said he’s building on a great legacy with young people who are on fire for their faith. Fr. Chris always asks him how many vocations he’s got for St. John Seminary. They are the source of many vocations to the priesthood. Scot said the seminary is planning a big alumni gathering on October 21 with the seminarians. The seminarians serve the meals and give some of the entertainment. It’s a great day for the alumni to see the future Church and for the seminarians to see those who are serving in the parishes they will serve some day. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcome James Driscoll to the show. Scot asked Jim about his family and background. His family attends St. Mary of the Nativity in Scituate and have been there since 1985. He has four children, all girls. Three of them have graduated college, all of them at Boston College. The last is a junior in high school. Jim went to Providence College and got a law degree at Suffolk. Jim is the black sheep in his family, being the one who didn’t go to Boston College. He was a probation officer in the district court while attending law school at night. Jim used to work for state government in several roles. He worked for the state Lottery Commission as the assistant general counsel and then the general counsel. After that he was general counsel at the state auditor’s office until this past spring when he came to the Mass. Catholic Conference. Jim said he loves his faith and take a lot of pride in working with the Knights of Columbus council he belongs to. For many years, he oversaw the community pool that the Knights ran. All the profits went to the good works of the Knights of Columbus. Jim took the job because it was time to make a change in his career; he’d been working in state government since law school. He’d been acquaintances with Ed Saunders, the previous executive director of the conference, and he found Ed’s job to be fascinating. Then Ed passed away suddenly last year. After getting past the shock of his death, Jim decided to see if it was the right fit for him. Gerry D’Avolio was Ed’s predecessor and he was interim director after Ed’s passing. Gerry’s assistance was invaluable. Jim’s first day of work was when the mariatalks.com website controversy broke and Gerry helped him with that. Gerry also introduced him around to the various representatives and senators on Beacon Hill. The Mass. Catholic Conference represents all the dioceses in the state: Boston, Fall River, Worcester, and Springfield. Jim said most states have Catholic conferences, about 37 or 38 of them. He went to the first meeting of all the directors back in July. They discuss national issues facing all of them as well as some local matters. Jim said four people work for the Mass. Catholic Conference, including himself: Peter McNulty, who just came in as the associate director of planning and research; Kathy Davis, who handles many of the social justice and education issue; and Kathy Magno, the jack of all trades who runs the office. 3rd segment: The Mass. Catholic Conference was established in 1969 to represent the Church and the 4 bishops primarily at the State house, so that the Church can keep informed in what is going on in the Legislature and weigh in on the particular bills and petitions when appropriate. They work closely with the bishops and their staff on what issues to focus on. Scot said it’s being the voice for the Massachusetts bishops among the legislators, helping them understand what we believe as Catholics. Jim said he has decided to do is to make the rounds at the State House to meet as many senators and reps as he can. Fr. Chris pointed out that the Church is concerned with the common good of all, not just Catholics. He asked how Jim responds to those who say the Church shouldn’t be involved in politics? Jim said as an attorney he understand the separation of church and state. But many of the issues affect your faith and you have to speak up regardless of your particular faith and the separation of church and state. Scot said his understanding of the clause about separation of church and state was not to favor a particular religion, but it’s been pushed to exclude all faith from the public square. Jim’s response is to disagree and say that the people in the pews need someone to speak on their behalf at the legislature. Scot asked the climate among legislators in terms of wanting to hear from the Catholic Church. Jim said as you get to know the legislators, you know which ones to approach on different issues, who is receptive to social issues and who is receptive on life issues. Fr. Chris said our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values and he is proud of our tradition in the stances we’ve taken on proclaiming the dignity of the human person and that the media comes to the Church to be the voice of those who stand for life. They want to hear what the Church has to say because the Church is serving not just Catholic beliefs, but also the common good. It’s a great day to go up to the Legislature and even get a meeting with a staff aide, who gets excited about a position and want to pass the information on to their boss. The Church has a lot of relevance on Beacon Hill. Jim spends most of his time interacting with the Legislative branch, but on occasion they do include the Executive branch, the governor’s office, in letters they write. Scot asked if they do any local work or if it’s primarily on the state level. Jim said they do sometimes get calls on local issues, but they are usually passed along to the various dioceses. Scot asked how they get the word out about Catholic teaching on relevant issues. He said they want to educate both legislators and Catholics on the issues. Jim said they post as much information as they can on their website. (Jim wanted to let everyone know that they’re designing a new user-friendly website. Should be ready about late November.) They also communicate through the Catholic newspapers in the four dioceses. He met with the Pilot recently on how to get more information to the Pilot more expeditiously. They are also constantly writing to the various legislators and the governor. Scot said sometimes the Mass. Catholic Conference will publish bulletin inserts and parish announcements on various big issues. Jim said it will happen with the assisted suicide petition. 4th segment: Scot said a frequent topic on the show over the past month is the assisted suicide ballot initiative proposed by various groups. The Church’s position is that every suicide is a tragedy. The Mass. bishops want to be very aggressive on educating the people and legislators on this issue. Jim said the bishops have spoken out against assisted suicide in a press release issued on the day of the ballot initiative. The bishops have appointed a steering committee to come up with a plan to get the word out and bring together those who agree with us and let people know what it means and how it affects families. Fr. Chris asked what is being pushed here. Jim said the bishops want to say that very life is precious from conception to natural death. The proponents call this choice and compassion, to have the choice to end lives under certain circumstances. They claim that there are safeguards to prevent the vulnerable from being taken advantage of. Scot said it sounds like the language of the pro-abortion industry: Don’t let anyone else have a say in how you live your life, not religion or anyone else. Almost any objection we would have, they’ve tried to address it by saying that people won’t be pressured, they have to have all kinds of signatures, there’s a waiting period. But as we’ve seen in other states that have passed this kind of legislation, suicide goes up after passage of the law. In Oregon, it’s the second leading cause of death of young people now, and suicide is 35% higher than the national average. Passing this legislation brings suicide to the forefront. Your 5-year-old today or 8-year-old today, when they have the worst day of their life when their 20 years old, this kind of bill that devalues life makes it more likely that they’ll consider suicide. Fr. Chris said God is viewed as threat to our freedom and autonomy, but it really comes down to who is the author of life, us or God? We are given a great gift by God. Fr. Chris said he’s shocked that we are even discussing this issue. How cheap life has become. A kay part is the down the stream consequences when you pass something like this and you devalue human life. The pro-assisted suicide forces make it all about the individual and don’t think of the common good. Scot said the initiative needs 69,000 signatures before early December. They passed the first stage in the first week of September. The Attorney General is not taking a position by certifying the petition. It’s just her constitutional duty to certify whether the initiative has followed the rules. The next stage is that petitions are printed and the proponents have to get 69,911 certified signatures, which is 3% of the voters who voted in the last governor’s race. They will attempt to get far more than that in case some come back as not valid. Scot said bulletin announcements will start appearing in parish bulletins this weekend making people aware that they may be approached to sign the petitions. Hopefully Catholics won’t sign the petition even if approached by a friend or neighbor. People need to be aware of what they are signing when approached. Other petitions have also been certified so other signatures may be requested. After they get the signatures, the petition is filed with the Legislature the first week in January. T he Legislature has until the middle of May to act or not act on the petition. They could enact it into law, but Jim doesn’t think they will do so. If not, then the proponents have to get 100,000 more signatures and if they do, it will appear on the November 2012 ballot. Scot said we can expect to see television ads from proponents and could be one of the larger issues discussed in Massachusetts over the next year. The proponents are well-funded. Fr. Chris asked if many legislators are behind this. Jim said it’s tough to say because it’s still early. He said there’s a separate piece of legislation that gets filed every year that mirrors this petition and that hasn’t moved out of committee. He doesn’t think legislators have focused on this yet. Jim said he hopes to send a message to proponents loud and clear that Massachusetts residents will have a resounding No to assisted suicide no matter when this is brought forward. It will take a good education effort from not just the Church but also disability groups and senior citizens’ groups. Fr. Chris asked the strategy to say this isn’t really about “compassion” and “dignity” as proponents claim. Jim said you have to expose what the definition of “compassion” really is, which in this case is ending someone’s life. It’s going to be a long-term plan that they develop. Scot said the best way t combat the euphemisms is to call them what they are. Cardinal Seán said at the Red Mass that we can’t let our citizens be seduced and that these words disguise the sheer brutality of helping people kill themselves. It’s blunt but honest and shows how proponents are being manipulative. Jim suggested those who want to read the Cardinal’s homily can read it at their . 5th segment: Scot said Jim has recently testified on Beacon Hill about gambling bills before the Legislature. Jim’s background at the Lottery commission gives him a unique perspective and authority on the issue. Jim said he joined a large coalition at the State House after the House voted and before the Senate took up the bill. When it comes to expand gambling beyond the Lottery and bingo, he got a chance firsthand over the years to see the downside what gambling can do to people. The Lottery has about 7,000 agents in local stores. They paid the Lottery their take of the sales, minus their 5% profit and if that didn’t happen, they would be called into the Lottery commission for a hearing. Jim was one of the hearing officers. He heard on a consistent basis that one of the major reasons people couldn’t pay their bills was because either employees of the stores were getting hooked on buying tickets or family members in family-run stores were. He saw families torn apart by gambling. Fr. Chris said the Church has no problem with an occasional ticket, but when you’re gambling above and beyond your means, then it because a justice issue because you can no longer care for your family, which tugs at the fabric of society. Scot said he lies what the bishops said in their statement: While the Catholic Church views gambling as a legitimate form of entertainment when done in moderation, the gaming legislation opens the door to a new form of predatory gaming which threatens the moral fabric of our society. We are concerned that the Commonwealth’s reliance on gambling revenue continues to escalate. This reliance upon an unstable form of revenue, which has been shrinking in other states, would depend upon those who are addicted to gambling, many of whom are already among the ranks of the poorest in the community. We’re desperate for new forms of revenue in the commonwealth, but the $1.5 billion in tax revenues will come from taxpayers losing billions of dollars in these predatory casinos. Jim said the people who can least afford to play are those who will be playing. Looking at the casinos in Connecticut shows drug use is up, people are losing money. Scot said studies show that crime goes up around casinos when they open, not just the obvious ones related to needing more money, but also crimes like rape. Scot asked hypothetically how much would people pay to decrease rape by 21% or other violent crimes by similar amounts. But if these casinos open, these crime rates are likely to go up by these amounts while also sucking up billions of dollars from people in the community. Jim goes back to what it will do the family and remembers stories of people stealing from their family because they can’t get away from the addiction. Scot said it appears there’s a deal on this between the governor, the speaker of the House, and senate president. Is there anything we can do at this point? Jim said it looks like there is a deal although no one has said so publicly. The House passed this bill in one day, which is unbelievable given its complexity. The Senate version has more than 180 amendments, mostly filed by opponents. In last year’s bill, there was a breakdown between the governor and the speak on slot machines, but this year it seems like there’s an agreement. Scot said it’s shameful that no one in the key leadership positions sees that expanding predatory gambling is the wrong thing to do. Jim said it will create construction jobs in the short time. Scot said legalized prostitution would create jobs, but are these the right types of jobs? It’s the same in this case.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Andrew Small, OMI, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States; and Fr. Rodney Copp, Archdiocesan Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Boston Today’s topics: Pontifical Mission Societies and World Mission Sunday Summary of today’s show: Fr. Andrew Small, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, and Fr. Rodney Kopp, Boston director, talk to Scot about World Mission Sunday and how the societies provide support for the Church in 1,100 mission dioceses worldwide; how the US went from being a major recipient of aid to being the largest donor in two centuries; and how the “pagan babies” served by the societies years ago still need our generous assistance today. 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show. In three weeks, we will celebrate World Mission Sunday. Scot welcomed Fr. Rodney Kopp and Fr. Andrew Small. Scot said Cardinal Richard Cushing once served as Pontifical Missions director in Boston. Fr. Small’s predecessor was Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Fr. Small said it is awesome. Fr. Small has served in many roles in the US. Scot asked him what he has learned new about the missions since being appointed last spring. Fr. Small said this country was a recipient of great gifts supporting the missions in the US back the 18th century. When faith is planted and watered and grown is bound to spread. It never stops surprising him how generous people are to the missions. Fr. Kopp has been in his role since June, 2010. He’s been surprised by the incredible complexity of the the work with regards to the numbers of diocese they serve and how many dioceses are represented by missionaries coming to ask for support. He also had not known of how much support the archdiocese has provided to the missions over the years, being one of the leading dioceses in the US. Boston is the birthplace of Maryknoll, 100 years ago this year, and the the Missionary Society of St. James the Apostle, founded by Cardinal Cushing. Scot said the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) have a long history of service in the missions. He asked Fr. Small if that was why he entered the missions. Fr. Small said he was born in Liverpool, England, to Irish parents. He came to the US in 1988 to study and got to know many Oblates in Lowell. The second-to-last Sunday in October was always World Missions Sunday. This is the mission of the whole Church and in his boyhood parish where there were OMI priests, on that Sunday they would build igloos to represent their work among the Eskimos/Inuit people. They serve the people who live beyond the end of the asphalt roads. Fr. Small served for a year in Brazil. The OMI in Brazil were asked to serve in a time when they were still mission dependent, i.e. dependent on missionaries. The Church in Brazil is strong in faith, but still having a hard time providing catechists and the sacraments to the people. He served outside Rio de Janeiro near some of the infamous favelas, but among very generous and joyful people. What he learned was that in the drive for progress, the little people are being left behind, especially in faith. The OMIs go to these little people so they are not left unserved, including immigrant communities. There is great hope in the missions, but these people are getting left behind economically, both in our country and around the world. The OMI have as many seminarians as they did in the 60s, but they are in new places like Africa and Asia. If we are missionary, we are energized as a Church. If we lose that global focus, we turn in on ourselves. Fr. Kopp said when we heard vocation years ago, we thought of priests and religious, but every baptized Catholic has a vocation which is intimately bound up with the command in Matthew to serve all nations, whether through prayer, contributions, or actually going there. Scott asked what we can do to stay connected to Catholics across the world. Fr. Kopp said people should be aware of what’s going on in the media, including Catholic media. Become members of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith and receive the member magazine. He encourages everyone to join them at the cathedral at 11:30 on World Mission Sunday for Mass with Cardinal Seán. Why is World Mission Sunday the second-to-last Sunday of October? It’s always been that Sunday. 2nd segment: In addition to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, he three other mission societies are Society of St. Peter the Apostle (raises funds for priests and religious), Holy Childhood Association (for children), and Missionary Union of Priests & Religious (provides theological support). As pontifical societies they are tied to the Holy Father. They are in the diocese, they are apart from the diocese. They approach people in the name of the holy Father to ask for support. The local societies report to the national office and from there to the Vatican congregation for the propagation of the faith. In 2010, 27% of the entire support that goes to the 1,100 mission dioceses comes from the United States. We do have a history and a culture of giving and supporting one another. In the beginning of the mission societies, the United States was an equivalent beneficiary of missionary funds. On World Mission Sunday in the US, it raises about $18 million. Scot said in addition to the World Mission Sunday, there are also missionaries who go into parishes to ask for support. Fr. Kopp said they provide even more funds to missions, as well as provide specific information on particular missionary activity. Fr. Small said when you have a missionary from India tell you about her work and the people she serves, it tends to elicit more donations. They also receive tremendous donations from those who want to leave a lasting legacy through a donation in their last will & testament. He pointed out that overhead is just 3 or 4% and the rest goes right into the pockets of missionaries who need it. The Holy Childhood Association is working in Africa where there is a massive drought and famine. The Church is always at the sharp end of human crisis in the world and people ‘s gifts recognize. Donations can be made to . Fr. Small said the difference between charity and Catholic charity is that you are making a difference for the whole person with eternal consequences. For someone who is provided with AIDS drugs, you can also help them understand the ultimate meaning of their lives. You have to give people the whole package. 3rd segment: Scot asked how the money from the collection gets to the missionaries. Fr. Kopp said the parish writes a check to the local Propagation of the Faith and all those 291 checks are collected. They hope that it can all be gathered within a couple of weeks. Last year, it was about $300,000 or $400,000. The national office collects all the checks from the 175+ dioceses in the United States. They total it all up and notify the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. They put it together with what they get from all the other major giving countries. The staff in Rome look at the needs in the 1,100 mission dioceses around the world as well as the request from the 190+ national mission society directors, and put together a proposal for each project. Then all of the national mission societies come together and go through each proposed project, see the special circumstances involved, and then vote on them. Then they disburse the funds. The money doesn’t go out from Rome, but they get a letter to tell them where to send the money in order to maintain accountability. Recipient dioceses send a letter to explain how the funds were spent. Fr. Small said the democratic process is amazing. Even though the US gives so much, it gets one vote among many. The US doesn’t get to tell other people who to run their own Church. Sometimes there is haggling and frustration in the debate, but it’s because the need is so great. Fr. Small said the bishop is the father of the diocese and so when he makes a request it gets special consideration. One request from each diocese must come from a religious community. Fr. Kopp said he can see what can be accomplished by looking around at the archdiocese to see how it has grown from a mission diocese. 4th segment: World Mission Sunday will be celebrated at the cathedral as well by Cardinal Seán and missionary priests and bishops in the Archdiocese. The Mass is offered for the repose of the souls of missionaries who died in the field over the past year. They also bless and distribute mission rosaries, asking people to pray for the missions. This was created by Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Many missionary groups are invited to join in the Mass. In the intercessions and readings, they use different languages to represent the Church’s diversity. Cardinal Seán was in the Diocese of Fall River for 12 years before being in Boston. When he was in Capuchin formation, he had planned to go to the missions, but instead he was asked to go to Washington, DC. Yet he still has missionary DNA. Fr. Small said he worked with Cardinal Seán at the bishops’ conference on Latin America and traveled with him to Haiti after the earthquake last year. They recalled together how children used to be asked to save pennies for “pagan babies”, as a way to help them. Fr. Small points out that some of them grew up to be priests, nuns, and lay catechists and still need our help today as the pillars of Catholic communities in mission lands. Scot said it wasn’t just about conversion but about helping them because they were in need. Fr. Kopp said today they still do this work in the Holy Childhood Association, educating children about kids like themselves in need around the world. Fr. Small said we can’t take for granted that Jesus will be proclaimed in every age. We have to do our part, like our parents and grandparents did. We should claim our heritage in the good will caring for others, person to person, a world away. Fr. Kopp said he hopes on World Mission Sunday to equal or exceed the $450,00 collected last year in Boston.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Greg Willits, host of The Catholics Next Door radio show Today’s topics: Catholic new media from The Catholics Next Door Summary of today’s show: Greg Willits, a pioneer in Catholic new media, talks with Scot about hosting a nationally broadcast Catholic radio show, The Catholics Next Door, with his wife, Jennifer, revealing the real life of a normal Catholic family each day on the air; the gathering of Catholic new media fans and professionals alike in Kansas City this weekend for the Catholic New Media Conference; how the Church, in its lay and ordained members, need to be patrons of the new media, supporting this work of evangelization that is vital to our future; and the new Catholic sitcom Greg and Jennifer filmed in their home for CatholicTV. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Greg Willits. Scot said Greg was one of the founders of the Star Quest Production Network and three years ago they started the Catholic New Media Celebration. Last year, the CNMC was in Boston and this weekend it’s in Kansas City. Greg said the Holy Spirit has been leading many people from around the world into Catholic new media. It’s been appropriate to gather people in all aspects of new media: blogging, podcasting, social networking. People are so spread out, and when they bring everyone together there is a synergy and excitement and inspiration to see first hand the clarion call to go out and evangelize the world, using whatever technology have. Greg and Jennifer used to podcast from a studio they built in their closet. Fr. Roderick Vonhogen was podcasting from his rectory in the Netherlands, but they were working in isolation. SQPN and the CNMC bring people together to check in and support each other and help one another. Every year, they see it become more professional, while there also remains room for those who just want to get started. Scot said he experienced hope during last year’s CNMC, meeting the pioneers in Catholic new medias and seeing how it’s all working. Scot asked Greg where he thinks we’re at by the Church. Greg said there’s been a study that shows a low percentage of Catholics consuming new media, but Greg thinks they may have looked at the wrong study group. Greg said we have a long way to go anyway compared to the other Protestant churches and the Mormons and their online presence. Greg said the big sore spot is where the money to do this is coming from. The talent is there and the desire is there, as evidenced by the people coming from all over for the CNMC. People are very interested, but there’s no funding to help people to continue to do this and the funding is going to the people who have the right connections. Greg said he and his wife Jennifer were working full-time on SQPN, but there wasn’t a full-time salary there. He has a family to feed. He doesn’t like to talk about money, but it has to be talked about. People may not be using new media because they don’t know it’s there. For them to know it’s there, there needs to be money. People need to be told where to go for the content and how to get it. If we want Catholic new media to succeed in the next 5 to 10 years, we need to identify realistic ways of funding this. The Church has been known for centuries as a patron of the arts. Michelangelo was a full-time artist being supported by the Church. Today’s podcasters are artists who should be supported by the Church, not just the institution, but also laypeople. Someone could set up a foundation to support new media. Find a way to support people so they can make it their full-time jobs. When Greg and Jennifer left SQPN to go to the Catholic Channel for their radio show, part of the reason was because of the need for job with benefits. Scot said before he started working in Catholic media at the Archdiocese, he didn’t know much about new media. Greg said he’s been a fan of the Archdiocese’s new media work. Scot said there are people looking to the Archdiocese, but they’re looking for ways to identify funding. Benefactors can come to the Church and say they want to fund new media whether inside the diocese or individually. In he past year, the Church has really started to forcefully embrace new media. In the US, last November, Bishop Ron Herzog gave a compelling address to the US bishops to tell them that this isn’t a fad that should be a normal part of diocesan communications. Greg said he also said that if the Church does not exist online, then in 10 years the Church will not exist for teens today. That should shake us to our core. Scot said many US bishops said it’s very important based on that talk. But it didn’t create a sense of urgency such that it needs to be included in a diocesan budget. Bishops needs to be committed to expanding new media presence, but that takes one or two budget cycles. We need to 3 to 5 years to really measure whether dioceses worked to change things. The more that dioceses try things and lay Catholics live their vocation through new media. Greg said the speakers at the CNMC this weekend will include Sr. Anne Flanagan of the Daughters of St. Paul, known as the “nunblogger”, talking about evangelization online. Also Sean Patrick Lovett, director of the Vatican’s FM radio station. On Friday, there is a separate day of workshops beneficial to people and dioceses that are curious about how to get started in new media. One talk will address whether gadgets and gizmos to help people conduct ministry. But they will address the overall message that technology is great, but more importantly we need to be better catechized and share the Gospel with ever more people and bring them closer to God. A goal will be to create community and opportunity for networking. Greg said so much of new media has been like playing darts with a blindfold on. So much is happening so quickly, but if he has found that if they hadn’t been experimenting with new media services they would have missed it. There will be a next Twitter and a next Facebook and we have to ready to embrace them. For so many years there was one type of Catholic media: constant catechesis. People can turn on EWTN and learn something about their faith. But they discovered in Catholic new media a huge desire for a social component to feel like a companion on a spiritual journey. One of the most frequent things Greg hears is that listening to them is like sitting down and getting to know someone in the next pew. They are laos told it’s edifying to hear someone express both the joys and struggles of living the Catholic faith. People often feel a sense of isolation in trying to live out their faith. Through podcasts and blogs, people now feel that connection. Scot said with the expansion of Catholic new media and Catholic radio, people can now hear the voices of others living their faith. Through blogs and social media, people can read about those struggles. Those struggles aren’t new, but they can feel like they’re the only ones. Interested people can watch many of the events live streaming online at . On Twitter, they will use hashtag #cnmc11. Last year, everyone was using Twitter with the hashtag to send out key passages and bits of information and staying connected even when they weren’t in a particular session. 2nd segment: Scot told Greg he was pleased to see that The Catholiocs Next Door runs 1-4pm Monday-Friday on Sirius XM and doesn’t conflict with The Good Catholic Life. Greg said it’s been a blessing for him and Jennifer to be on Sirius XM over the past three years. It’s been an unexpected benefit is just how much married couples appreciate hearing another married couple. They don’t candy-coat it. Some days on the air, they even have arguments. They’ve even been able share great news with people, including the announcement of their next child last week. But that also allowed them to talk on the air about the real concerns it brings up, like how they best take care of their children and rearrange their lives to accommodate the next one. They are showing how they are treating their marriage as seriously as God wants them to and being a witness to the openness to life. He feels like he’s constantly falling down as a Catholic, but also showing how God lifts him up time and again. Scot said it’s a gift to the Church to be able to be open about their lives. He asked how he makes sure it doesn’t weaken their family by being on the air five times a week. Greg and Jennifer said they were realistic from the beginning about the need to put their families first even as they share so much of their lives and families. There is much that they keep to themselves. They commit to making time just for each other. They place the sacramental life of their family first. They will even “call an audible” and take a day off when they need it. They have a new book coming out in the Spring called “The Catholics Next Door: Adventures in Imperfect Living”. They write about the aspects of their Catholic faith that are the most important things to them, what they have the most interest in. One chapter is on how they came to a deeper understanding of the Eucharist. Another chapter is about TV watching and entertainment and how they find good entertainment. Should be out last week of March or first week of April from Servant Publications. Greg and Jennifer started Rosary Army in 2003. It was the Year of the Rosary declared by Pope John Paul II. He started making all-twine rosaries and giving them away. He’s not exactly a crafty guy and people don’t think of him as a crafter. He found over that year that there were a lot of people affected by the rosary. They started the website RosaryArmy.com to encourage other people to begin making them, creating kits and instructions. They also offered to give away rosaries to anyone who wanted them. People make the rosaries and send them to Greg and Jennifer who send them back out. Greg said from the beginning that they would trust Jesus they would everything they need to have them and for eight years they have. Rosary Army will have big exciting news at the beginning of 2012. It was also the genesis of the Willitses’ first podcast. Scot asked the significance of using twine and not other expensive materials. In 2002, he went to confession and saw the priest holding a single-decade knotted rosary. About two months later, at work, suddenly he remembered the rosary. He found instructions on how to make one and it was very difficult to find them and the materials. The great thing about the knotted rosaries (which have a metal crucifix at the recommendation of Pope John Paul II), is that they’re inexpensive and can be made anymore. It’s also a great evangelistic tool to start a conversation with someone about it. Their motto is Make them, Pray them, Give them away. They estimated a few years ago that Rosary Army has given away several million rosaries. Greg and his mom have a competition. His record is 13 minutes. But he can make one now in about 20-30 minutes. Scot said he has a lot of relatives who love to knit and this could be an activity people like that can do to reintroduce people to the power of prayer. Scot said there’s a new CatholicTV sitcom that the Willitses have created along with CatholicTV called “Mass Confusion.” Greg had the idea for the show last year before the CNMC and he ambushed Fr. Bob Reed at the CNMC with it. They created along with their friends Mac and Katharine Barron who do the Catholic in a Small Town podcast. Fr. Reed loved the idea and so the Willitses and Barrons put together a pilot script. He noted that it goes back to the funding issue. There’s no way to do this series without funding. They filmed it last June in their own home with a crew from CatholicTV. They wanted to make a show for families that wasn’t cheesy, but wasn’t inappropriate. It was shot in a style similar to The Office of Modern Family. It’s like a scripted reality show, but completely fictional. The storyline is that it’s somebody’s birthday, the guys go to the beer store with the babies, and the wives stay home and someone might be pregnant. It premieres on Thanksgiving on CatholicTV at 8pm. Greg estimated it would cost $1 million to do a full season of the show with a full-time cast and crew. If it doesn’t happen, maybe it will motivate someone else to take chances and risks and to have fun. Catholicism is fun. 3rd segment: Now, as we do every week, we look forward to this coming Sunday’s Mass readings to help us prepare to celebrate together. Let me now sing of my friend, my friend’s song concerning his vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside; he spaded it, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest vines; within it he built a watchtower, and hewed out a wine press. Then he looked for the crop of grapes, but what it yielded was wild grapes. Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard: What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done? Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? Now, I will let you know what I mean to do with my vineyard: take away its hedge, give it to grazing, break through its wall, let it be trampled! Yes, I will make it a ruin: it shall not be pruned or hoed, but overgrown with thorns and briers; I will command the clouds not to send rain upon it. The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his cherished plant; he looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed! for justice, but hark, the outcry! Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” They answered him, “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.” Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes? Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” Scot said it’s not the most optimistic Sunday readings. Fr. Mark said it’s an interesting pairing. Clearly Jesus was hearkening back to Isaiah. Scot said the people weren’t producing any fruit and not seeing themselves as stewards of the land, but owners of the land. In a historical perspective, this is Israel in the Old Covenant and the New Covenant in God’s Church. Jesus’ death and resurrection restored our relationship with God. We should reflect on how we are stewards of God’s gifts to us. Few of us work in vineyards, but we all working the vineyard of the Lord with our God-given gifts. Do we look at them as gifts or do we look at everything I am and that I have as something that is mine and because of me? If we act as stewards of all those things, it gets us closer to being the type of person God’s wants us to be. Fr. Mark said there are many levels of audiences being addressed. The first level is the Pharisees and Sadduccees who will have Jesus crucified. Then Matthew is speaking to the early Church community which is dealing with the incorporation of Gentiles into what had previously been a mainly Jewish movement; is the Church for the Jews or the Gentiles or both? There’s a new thing that is neither Jew nor Gentile in Christ. In today’s age, so many people want to kill the voice of Jesus in society and our lives. They want to eliminate this voice is fouling up our plans to live life as we please. We have to keep the voice of JEsus alive by planting seeds of vocations and bear fruit. Scot said we have to consider how our society has embraced or rejected the cornerstone, which is Jesus, and how have we embraced or rejected Jesus? If we’ve rejected our entire lives until, we can make a decision to chart a new path from this day forward, possibly through the graces of the sacrament of confession. We begin a new relationship with Jesus to last a lifetime, in this life and the next. We can think about time as God’s gift to us and spend more of it in his presence all day; our talents and gifts as gifts of God and putting them at the service of others and the Church; and our money and possessions and asking how God wants me to spend my wealth, how he wants us to be generous. The answers can be different at different phases of our lives, but we need to be consider the questions. God always answers that request for direction and discernment. Fr. Mark said we all use our talents and plant the seeds, but the other message is that we will still be rejected y others. Sometimes we’re called to preach or work, but even so we will fall flat on our face or be rejected. God knows that, but still he keeps sending workers. Scot said we’re not the first or the last that it will happen to. Jesus himself was rejected as were 10 of the original 12 apostles. Our job isn’t to measure the results of trying to bring the faith to others. Our job is to try and then try again in faith, believing God wants us to bring the faith to others. Fr. Mark said when he was in seminary, he was sent to visit a patient, who kicked him out and didn’t want to see him, but the guy in the next bed said, hey I’ll see you.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, Managing Editor of the Pilot; Father Roger Landry, Executive Editor of The Anchor. Summary of Today's Show: Scot is joined by the Thursday roundtable and discusses a new Catholic-themed movie, a fundraiser for teens by teens in Weston, Respect Life Sunday, and more. 1st Segment: Scot and Susan lamented the Red Sox collapse last night - but moved on quickly in order to not be too depressing! Susan asked Scot what's been going on with him. Scot said it was a busy week in the Pastoral Center, with a visit from Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth from the International Commission on English in the Liturgy and presentations. Scot said he is also headed to Kansas City tomorrow for the Catholic New Media Conference organized by the Star Quest Production Network. He continued and said he was disappointed that he signed up for the conference before he knew this weekend was also the CatholicTV telethon - it is the first time in a long time that he hasn't been able to participate. Susan agreed that CatholicTV was an important part of evangelization in the Archdiocese. Scot said he participated in the launch of a new Catholic radio station - 1230AM, WNEB in Worcester this past Sunday - a station called Emmanuel Radio. 2nd Segment: Scot started out by discussing a new movie from Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen called The Way - a story about an ancient Catholic pilgrimage called the Camino de Santiago (or "Camino" for short). Scot commented that he hadn't know until the premier screening that Martin Sheen took his last name after Bishop Fulton Sheen. Greg said everyone asks him what he thought of the film - overall, Greg said, he thought it was a good movie. Many movies have a religious theme, he continued, but start with the end and fill in the gaps. He said The Way, on it's own merits and with a secular point of view, was still a good character-driven music. Scot agreed it was a good movie for both Catholic and secular audiences. Scot took a minute to congratulate the occasional fill-in cohost on The Good Catholic Life, Father Chip Hines, on his recent appointment to St Martha parish in Plainville. He had been serving as the administrator at that parish. Scot brought up a story in the Pilot about students in Weston are using social media to help fundraise for the Cor Unum meal center in Lawrence. Greg said that the fundraiser, entitled "Feeding Frenzy," is special because it is particularly geared towards teens and students to help feed other teens and youth. Greg highlighted that the Cor Unum meal center is different from a standard soup kitchen because it not only serves 3 meals a day, but serves them sit-down style - not in a cafeteria line. Greg said the goal is to raise about $25,000 to help fund the meal center. Scot highlighted two great stories in the Pilot with pictures this week - one about the Celebration of the Priesthood dinner last Thursday, and one about the Blessed John XXIII Lawn Party. Both events were very successful, Scot continued, and raised money for senior priests and the seminary respectively. The last piece of local news Scot brought up was the combination of two Catholic high schools - Trinity Catholic Academy in Newtown and Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Brighton - to form a new high school named Saint Joseph's Preparatory High School. The new school will be located on the current campus of Mount Saint Joseph Academy and serve a co-ed student body of approximately 400 students. 3rd Segment: Scot reminded everyone that it is Respect Life Sunday this coming Sunday. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, chair of the USCCB committee on Pro-Life activities spoke persuasively about threats to life, Scot said. “The unborn child, the aging parent who some call a ‘burden’ on our medical system, the allegedly ‘excess’ embryo in the fertility clinic, the person with a disability, the cognitively impaired accident victim who needs assistance in receiving food and water to live—each today is at risk of being dismissed as a ‘life unworthy of life’,” Cardinal DiNardo said. Scot said he thought it was good that the Cardinal was so specific about the precarious life situations that need help from all people of good will, not just Catholics. Susan said that the focus on Respect Life Sunday is sometimes just on the abortion issue, but she agreed that Cardinal DiNardo reminded us we need to consider the "womb to tomb" fight for life. Scot said that Bishop Robert Hennessey will celebrate a Respect Life Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross at 11:30am on Sunday, followed by the Mass Citizens for Life Respect Life Walk at 1:30pm. Fr Roger said that the walk is an important way to energize the community to think about pro-life issues, especially because of all the protestors who remind us that our views aren't always held by others. Scot highlighted another testimonial from a participant in Project Rachel, a ministry in the Archdiocese of Boston that helps women who have had abortions seek healing. Greg said that it is sad that more people haven't heard about Project Rachel and the wonderful work they do, and that the Pilot will be publishing a series of letters from participants every week throughout the month of October. Susan said that the retreats are a one day event, but the work that goes on is a blessing to the Church and to the women who participate. Scot brought up that Fr Roger's editorial in the Anchor this week is entitled "A Commonwealth of Kevorkians, or Good Samaritans?" Fr Roger said he was trying to give an echo for the readers in Fall River of Cardinal Sean's comments at the Red Mass in Boston last weekend about the attempted legalization of assisted suicide in Massachusetts. Fr Roger continued, saying that the editorial is a herald call for people to make them aware that the issue is again on it's way. He said we need to have a campaign to educate citizens to prepare them for the possibility that the initiative may make it to the ballot next November; a campaign that will inform citizens to talk to their coworkers and family about the value of life. Fr Roger said that we need to acknowledge that we can never help someone commit suicide - Scot added that if someone is on a bridge thinking about jumping, we would never consider pushing them off - we'd always try to talk them down. Scot reminded everyone that all suicide is a tragedy. 4th Segment: Scot and Father Roger opened the segment by discussing Pope Benedict's addresses to the German people this past week. Scot said he imagined it was an important trip for the Pope, who is trying to fight against secularization in his home country. Fr Roger said the first and most important thing Pope Benedict did was help German Catholics remember that the Church is not just a society of individual people, but a real communion of inter-related people giving witness to God's own love for us. Fr Roger said that the Pope seemed to be speaking out against institutionalism, something we need to hear in the United States as well. Fr Roger continued and said that Pope Benedict was also emphasizing an ecumenical spirit with a visit to Martin Luther's birthplace and talking about Luther's search for God - Fr Roger said that every one of us as Catholic Christians need to continually have the same hunger for God within our Church. Lastly, Fr Roger said the Pope wanted secular Germans to remember they always need to be grounded in truth. Susan said that a message she took from the Pope's visit was that "where there is God, there is a future." Susan also said she was surprised at a comment from CNS that the Pope was connecting on a high level - she said it isn't a surprise to her as the Pope is a renowned academic. Scot said his favorite quote from the Pope's addresses was emphasizing that a new strategy was not needed to re-evangelize people, but rather seeking total transparency. Scot concluded the show by discussing a blunt letter from Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York to President Obama about the administration's positions on gay marriage. Scot read a short passage from the letter: That is why it is particularly upsetting, Mr. President, when your Administration, through the various court documents, pronouncements and policies identified in the attached analysis, attributes to those who support DOMA a motivation rooted in prejudice and bias. It is especially wrong and unfair to equate opposition to redefining marriage with either intentional or willfully ignorant racial discrimination, as your Administration insists on doing. Scot emphasized that the Archbishop is trying to call the President out about failure to follow campaign promises about the meaning and value of marriage and the family. Father Roger concluded the show by saying that Archbishop Dolan has "taken the gloves off" - in the past, the bishops have been very courteous, but that the President's distancing from promises should make citizens reflect whether or not he represents their views on the issue.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Andreas Widmer, CEO of the Seven Fund and author of “The Pope and the CEO” Today’s topics: The new book “The Pope & The CEO: John Paul II’s Leadership Lessons to a Young Swiss Guard” Summary of today’s show: Andreas Widmer returns to talk with Scot and Fr. Matt about his new book, “The Pope & The CEO: John Paul II’s Leadership Lessons to a Young Swiss Guard,” and its goal of helping people find their three levels of vocation in life and live them with success in a truly integrated way. The book offers practical exercises for discernment as well as anecdotes from John Paul’s life that act as a guide to living a life balanced among work, play, prayer, exercise, and all that is good. 1st segment: Scot said Fr. Matt has been participating in a pre-cana workshop and class, including leading the couples in a teaching Mass. Fr. Matt said the program is called Transformed in Love and was created by Kari Colella of the Marriage Office. Last night, there were about 25 couples and they broke open to the Mass to help them appreciate what goes on. The Mass has so many signs and symbols that many people don’t know exactly what is going on. He gave the why behind the what. Everything we do in the Mass comes from Scripture and from the Tradition of the Church. So, what’s the significance of incense and stained glass and other parts of the Mass. He gave an analogy of going to the Patriots game. People show 3 hours early and they get filled with the “spirits” in preparation. If you go to Mass 15 minutes early, you’re guaranteed to get a parking spot and you prepare by getting filed with the Spirit. At the football game, you smell hot dogs and other food. At the Mass, you smell incense. In the stadium, you have retired jerseys of great players of the past. In the Mass, you see pictures and statues of the saints. At Gillette Stadium you see the Lombardi trophies. At Mass, you see the ultimate trophy of the Cross of Jesus Christ. The 50-yard line is the central focus of the stadium and the altar is the central focus of the Church. In football, the fans are the 12th player and actively participating without playing the game. In the Mass, the congregation joins in united with the priest in active participation of the prayer of the Mass. And so on. Scot said the difference is that no one says going to the football game is boring because they understand what’s happening, while people say Mass is boring partly because they don’t know why we do what we do. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Andreas back to the show. He said Andreas is a two-time CEO, first for a consulting company and now as CEO of the Seven Fund, which seeks to find entrepreneurial solutions to poverty. Andreas said he credits his return to seriously practicing his faith to Pope John Paul II when he was a 20-year-old Swiss Guard. It came about through meeting him as an individual. Andreas said John Paul was the most fully human person he’d ever met in his life. Often people think that Popes or saints are something unachievable. In fact, he was a real down-to-earth human person. He could be joyful, angry, laughing, pensive and he could pray. John Paul had a very manly handshake. Scot said Andreas didn’t realize all the lessons of John Paul when he was 20, but only came to realize them as he reflected on them through his life. Andreas said he found his faith as a Swiss Guard, but faith is something that never is, but is always becoming. It’s a dynamic process of two steps forward and one step back. As a Swiss Guard he had a lot of time to pray, and then when he went into business and got married, his faith waned a bit and became a sort of Sunday Catholic. His business ethics were separate from his Catholic beliefs. Andreas said if you go through life without being integrated, without being the same person in every situation, it becomes very complicated and it’s a downward spiral. Andreas said he’s lived a blessed life with a lot of privilege. He grew up in a wonderful family in Switzerland and then became a Swiss Guard, came to the United States, went to school here, and was part of so many great companies. When John Paul died, he was on a business trip to London. He changed his flight and flew to Rome. The next day, he saw John Paul’s body in the papal palace with special access to the hall as a former Swiss Guard. As he stood there and prayed for him, Andreas asked the Lord “who am I that I have such privilege.” He sensed the Lord telling him, “Yes, you have this privilege. Now what are you going to do with it?” The Lord gives a gift and then asks what we’re going to do with it. So he decided to witness to it. Scot said before writing the book, Andreas has given many speeches on the topic. Andreas said many of the talks were among friends and friendly audiences and people always asked him if he had the talk in writing. He’d always pushed writing away, but after John Paul died he resolved to proclaim it to a wide audience. Fr. Matt asked what contributes to the compartmentalization of faith? Andreas said it’s easy to say, “It’s just business.” And the lessons of Scripture can be hard for most people to apply them today. This is why Pope John Paul canonized and beatified so many people, to give us examples. Can you be a Christian and run a profitable company? Most of the world says No. But living according to God’s law and truth naturally results in fruitfulness and profit in some form. Scot said he spent some time after graduating from Harvard writing case studies and one of them was about Harvard Business School itself. In an interview with Ken Case, he asked him how he could balance being Dean of the Business School with being a father and husband. He said it’s much easier if you say you have lines that you draw, that you make particularly important aspects of life top priority. If you’re clear on that, people respect you as a person with principles and values in life. Andreas said in our culture there is a latent dualism, which comes from the distinction between physical and spiritual. There shouldn’t be a distinction because we are enfleshed spirits. We are as much a body as a spirit. Likewise, there is a dualism about business and charity or that everything is a zero-sum game in which you have to lose in order for me to win. But business can be a win-win situation. 3rd segment: Scot said Andreas’ book has been endorsed by Cardinal Peter Turkson and Cardinal Raymond Burke and the foreword has been written by George Weigel. He asked Andreas how a Catholic businessman should understand their three levels of vocation. Andreas said the three levels include the universal vocation of every person to glorify God, do his will, and go to heaven; to become saints. The primary vocation is the rough framework in which you pursue this, such as priesthood, marriage, religious life, the single life, and so on. The there’s the secondary vocation, which is what the first half of the book is about, to help you find your secondary vocation. In order to be happy, you must pursue all of these vocations. A hammer can be a doorstop, but it’s never going to be what it was made to be. God has created each person to be unique among all other people ever created with opportunities, challenges, skills and talents. Then God asks that person what he will do for God in response. Andreas said the book offers exercises in the book and on his website that will help you both find or fine-tune your vocation. Once you find that out on those three levels, it gives you priorities in your life. One of the difficulties of life is that we are bombarded with other people’s priorities, which distracts you from living out your vocation and doing what you were meant to do. Andreas said we are made for holiness, but we are called to do this in our own unique fashion. This comes to you through prayer and by reviewing your life. He guides you through how God is talking to you, sometimes through reading Scripture. In the book there is a whole section on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius that helps fine tune. He clarifies that God is not an authoritarian dictator. He’s like the coach who chose you for the team because he knows you have all the talents and skills to perform. But he then trains you through difficult practices. Fr. Matt said he borrowed from Andreas’ book in his homily last night in telling the couples that they are each a unique unrepeatable gift and their fiancés are the most profound way that God was telling them that He loves them.He encouraged them to see in their vocation to marriage that they have a unique unrepeatable project in that other person in their marriage to journey together. We are meant to make a gift of ourselves to our spouse. Our primary vocation is our path to sainthood. If we want to be as happy as we have been designed to be it will be through your spouse. Andreas in the book proposes some provocative questions, and sometimes the pace of life is such that we don’t reflect on those important questions. Andreas said one of the sections encourages writing down an articulated plan for life. Pope John Paul, at every one of his birthdays, he went through his last will and testament by meditating on it. It was a spiritual testament about himself, how he wanted to affect the world, and what he wanted to leave behind. Andreas often says to start by exploring your strengths. For many people it’s easier to love their neighbor than themselves and the exercises of the book help you to discover yourself through Truth. Truth doesn’t lie to you. A lie is whatever doesn’t lead you to heaven. By writing all these things down, he hopes the book will be a small contribution to finding that Truth that leads to heaven. Scot said when people examine themselves, they think the list of flaws would outnumber their strengths. But for everyone listening to the show, the gifts and blessings section would be so much longer than the list of flaws. Fr. Matt said Aristotle said the unexamined life is not worth living. Andreas said people are sometimes wary of finding that truth. Many people’s first experience of authority is through flawed parents. But we need to get rid of the shackles of such memory in order to discover the love of God. We have to tease out which of our images of God comes from the examples of our earthly leaders. We sometimes think of God like we remember our parents making us do things we didn’t want to do. But God made us for bliss and happiness by living in his truth. 4th segment: It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is the “Let’s Talk” series of books for teens by Ken Ogorek and “Once Upon a Time - Rosary Activity Set” for children by Holy Cross Family Ministries. This week’s winner is Kelly McCormack. Congratulations, Kelly! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: Scot said Andreas modeled all these lessons on the life and leadership of John Paul II. The second half of the book could be titled, being a servant-leader, especially in business. Andreas said he covers servant-leadership because when you find your vocation, you become a leader. You lead other people to God and living their lives to the fullest. When you know your goals, you become a leader by fully living who you’re meant to be. Being a servant-leader has a lot to do with living a balanced life. You can’t give if you haven’t received. You can’t work if you haven’t relaxed. A key aspect is moderation in all things. Andreas said John Paul lived a balance life, like when he would sneak out to go skiing in the mountains in order to relax from work. John Paul would plan his entire day to include work, prayer, exercise, sleep, and pleasure. For example, John Paul loved the circus and heard that a Russian circus was in Rome. He asked them to come to a Wednesday general audience, which was politically problematic because relations with the USSR were poor. He embraced the performers and enjoyed it so much and relations with the USSR were never the same after that. It was his joy and desire for a balanced life that led to this outcome. One day, he received an invitation as a friendly gesture from his primary school class to a class reunion. They received a letter back from him personally, saying he was sorry he couldn’t come, so he invited them to have their reunion in his dining room. Some would say it’s not important, but it’s important to plan your personal life and entertainment with as much earnestness and diligence with goals as with your public life and prayer life. Andreas challenged people to take the time to reach out to God, even if you’re angry with God. Make contact with him. That’s the first step. Then examine your vocation and within your vocation, your priorities, goals, and achievements. John Paul famously said when you work, you shouldn’t just make more, you should become more. How does your work help you become more?…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s topics: Pope Benedict’s visit to Germany Summary of today’s show: Scot and Fr. Chris read two very different addresses from Pope Benedict XVI in his visit to Germany last week, to the Parliament and to young people. To Parliament he called them to remember that the root of law is a respect for human rights and dignity born out of the natural law. To young people, he called them to live as saints, joy-filled and reflecting the light of Christ; not dour, boring, and naïve caricatures of unhappy and unsmiling and far apart from us. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Chris talked about the ailing Red Sox and whether more prayers in New England are going up to God for them. They also discussed how the seminarians at St. John Seminary get involved in sports. Fr. Chris said they have formed four intramural teams and will compete for the Rector’s Bowl. He said it’s important because exercise clears our heads and helps us to think and pray better. It’s also good competitive spirit and fosters community. In October, they also have a softball tournament versus the seminarians at Blessed John XXIII Seminary, who the St. John’s seminarians affectionately call the Relics. There was also recently the Family Day at St. John’s. Fr. Chris celebrated the Mass and saw how prayer works. Seven or eight years ago there were just 28 men and today there are more than 80. At this family day, the refectory was filled with family of all kinds. Scot said most priests describe their family experience as their first seminary, which makes it so difficult for the men whose parents aren’t supportive of their vocation. Scot said Pope Benedict went home to his native Germany over the past half-week. He’s been writing for years about the crises of Europe losing its Christian roots. Scot thinks it’s a highlight for the Pope to be able to go to his homeland and address these issues. Fr. Chris said Pope Benedict carried important messages back with him. Scot noted that Pope John Paul’s first return to Poland after his election was described as nine days that changed the world. Perhaps this is Pope Benedict’s five days that changed Europe. 2nd segment: Scot said the Pope’s most significant address in Germany was reflections on law to the German Parliament. Scot said he was pushing back against any kind of secularism that tries to minimize the importance or place of faith in society. At this moment I turn to you, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, not least as your fellow-countryman who for all his life has been conscious of close links to his origins, and has followed the affairs of his native Germany with keen interest. But the invitation to give this address was extended to me as Pope, as the Bishop of Rome, who bears the highest responsibility for Catholic Christianity. Fr. Chris said the Pope made clear that he is coming as the Vicar of Christ, St. Peter’s successor, and he had something to share with the leaders of this powerful nation. Scot said Americans can imagine the Pope standing in the well of the House in Congress addressing the same audience as the State of the Union. He began with a reflection from the Book of Kings: In the First Book of the Kings, it is recounted that God invited the young King Solomon, on his accession to the throne, to make a request. What will the young ruler ask for at this important moment? Success – wealth – long life – destruction of his enemies? He chooses none of these things. Instead, he asks for a listening heart so that he may govern God’s people, and discern between good and evil (cf. 1 Kg 3:9). Through this story, the Bible wants to tell us what should ultimately matter for a politician. His fundamental criterion and the motivation for his work as a politician must not be success, and certainly not material gain. Politics must be a striving for justice, and hence it has to establish the fundamental preconditions for peace. Naturally a politician will seek success, without which he would have no opportunity for effective political action at all. Yet success is subordinated to the criterion of justice, to the will to do what is right, and to the understanding of what is right. Success can also be seductive and thus can open up the path towards the falsification of what is right, towards the destruction of justice. “Without justice – what else is the State but a great band of robbers?”, as Saint Augustine once said. We Germans know from our own experience that these words are no empty spectre. We have seen how power became divorced from right, how power opposed right and crushed it, so that the State became an instrument for destroying right – a highly organized band of robbers, capable of threatening the whole world and driving it to the edge of the abyss. To serve right and to fight against the dominion of wrong is and remains the fundamental task of the politician. At a moment in history when man has acquired previously inconceivable power, this task takes on a particular urgency. Man can destroy the world. He can manipulate himself. He can, so to speak, make human beings and he can deny them their humanity. How do we recognize what is right? How can we discern between good and evil, between what is truly right and what may appear right? Even now, Solomon’s request remains the decisive issue facing politicians and politics today. How do we determine what is right from what appears right? What is the foundation of law? Fr. Chris said you can see where Pope Benedict is going already. There are three major arguments in philosophy: Truth vs. opinion, nature vs. convention, appearance vs. reality. Those are the arguments Pope Benedict is setting up here. Scot also noted that the Holy Father references the evil of the Nazis that Germans remain very aware of. He also said so clearly: Man can destroy the world and manipulate humanity. Fr. Chris said Pope Benedict is making clear to politicians that their role is not to do what is expedient or popular but to do the common good by upholding the dignity of every human person. For most of the matters that need to be regulated by law, the support of the majority can serve as a sufficient criterion. Yet it is evident that for the fundamental issues of law, in which the dignity of man and of humanity is at stake, the majority principle is not enough: everyone in a position of responsibility must personally seek out the criteria to be followed when framing laws. For most laws, the sense of the majority is a fine basis for what makes a good law. But on the fundamental issues of life and the dignity of the human person, majority rule is not sufficient. Fr. Chris said the truth must prevail, even if everyone is doing something other than the truth. Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Fides et Ratio makes it clear that truth is not built on consensus. Every person has a conscience and if it’s properly formed and working, then it can lead us to the truth. Scot said our Declaration of Independence affirms that we have inalienable rights that come from God, not the state. How do we recognize what is right? In history, systems of law have almost always been based on religion: decisions regarding what was to be lawful among men were taken with reference to the divinity. Unlike other great religions, Christianity has never proposed a revealed law to the State and to society, that is to say a juridical order derived from revelation. Scot said the Pope is comparing it to Sharia law in Muslim societies, where civil law is religious law. Christianity has never proposed that. Fr. Chris said Christianity proclaims the truth and leaves the creation of laws to politicians. Instead, it has pointed to nature and reason as the true sources of law (common sense) – and to the harmony of objective and subjective reason, which naturally presupposes that both spheres are rooted in the creative reason of God. Christian theologians thereby aligned themselves with a philosophical and juridical movement that began to take shape in the second century B.C. In the first half of that century, the social natural law developed by the Stoic philosophers came into contact with leading teachers of Roman Law.[2] Through this encounter, the juridical culture of the West was born, which was and is of key significance for the juridical culture of mankind. This pre-Christian marriage between law and philosophy opened up the path that led via the Christian Middle Ages and the juridical developments of the Age of Enlightenment all the way to the Declaration of Human Rights and to our German Basic Law of 1949, with which our nation committed itself to “inviolable and inalienable human rights as the foundation of every human community, and of peace and justice in the world”. Fr. Chris said he is making clear that law has to involve reason and has to be explained to people in ways they can understand. If it’s not explainable to people or violating the common good, it creates chaos and tension within the community. Scot said advocacy of human rights doesn’t just have its basis in Christian theology, but in natural law which predates the Church. 3rd segment: Scot said Pope Benedict is so forceful on this issue, not just because he thinks it undermines Christianity, but that it will also destroy society as a whole. The idea of natural law is today viewed as a specifically Catholic doctrine, not worth bringing into the discussion in a non-Catholic environment, so that one feels almost ashamed even to mention the term. Scot said for almost two millennia, when the Church taught something that came through common sense and the natural law, it was never seen as specifically Catholic. Now secularists claim that any reference to natural law is code for Christianity. Pope Benedict is drawing a clear distinction. Fr. Chris said so many people tell us to leave our faith at the door to the public square, but Pope Benedict says natural law is beyond religion. Scot said natural is based on “nature”. Scot gave the example that saying traditional nuclear families are ideal for raising children is natural law, not Christian theology. Let me outline briefly how this situation arose. Fundamentally it is because of the idea that an unbridgeable gulf exists between “is” and “ought”. An “ought” can never follow from an “is”, because the two are situated on completely different planes. Scot said “is” is how things are and “ought” is how things should be. Fr. Chris said what is (truth) versus how man takes it (convention). Scot said the “ought” is what are our values and where do we want to go as a society. When there is no objective values to build on, how can any decision stand? There are always belief systems in place in the public square and today it’s often atheism that’s antagonistic toward any theistic belief system. Fr. Chris said Cardinal Seán recently said in the early Church we fought over big theological ideas. Today we find ourselves battling against ideas over what it means to be human and what it means to be free. The Holy Father talks about positivism, a philosophy that says we don’t need God, but that man will always be better and do good. [T]he positivist understanding of nature has come to be almost universally accepted. If nature – in the words of Hans Kelsen – is viewed as “an aggregate of objective data linked together in terms of cause and effect”, then indeed no ethical indication of any kind can be derived from it. Fr. Chris said this way of thinking claims that people do bad things because they are hardwired for it and we just need to find the right chemical to fix it. A positivist conception of nature as purely functional, as the natural sciences consider it to be, is incapable of producing any bridge to ethics and law, but once again yields only functional answers. The same also applies to reason, according to the positivist understanding that is widely held to be the only genuinely scientific one. Anything that is not verifiable or falsifiable, according to this understanding, does not belong to the realm of reason strictly understood. Hence ethics and religion must be assigned to the subjective field, and they remain extraneous to the realm of reason in the strict sense of the word. Where positivist reason dominates the field to the exclusion of all else – and that is broadly the case in our public mindset – then the classical sources of knowledge for ethics and law are excluded. This is a dramatic situation which affects everyone, and on which a public debate is necessary. Indeed, an essential goal of this address is to issue an urgent invitation to launch one. Scot said the Holy Father seeing the roots of how thinking develops over time, the foundations of what makes us what we are will undergo fundamental deterioration if we don’t discuss how reason goes into making good law in these democracies. Fr. Chris noted that it was Nietzche’s philosophy of the Super Man that influenced Hitler to launch the Third Reich. Marxism and Nietzchism are positivist philosophies that see Christianity and all religion as the enemy. Positivists say to live now in this life because their is no afterlife. At this point Europe’s cultural heritage ought to come to our assistance. The conviction that there is a Creator God is what gave rise to the idea of human rights, the idea of the equality of all people before the law, the recognition of the inviolability of human dignity in every single person and the awareness of people’s responsibility for their actions. Our cultural memory is shaped by these rational insights. To ignore it or dismiss it as a thing of the past would be to dismember our culture totally and to rob it of its completeness. The culture of Europe arose from the encounter between Jerusalem, Athens and Rome – from the encounter between Israel’s monotheism, the philosophical reason of the Greeks and Roman law. This three-way encounter has shaped the inner identity of Europe. In the awareness of man’s responsibility before God and in the acknowledgment of the inviolable dignity of every single human person, it has established criteria of law: it is these criteria that we are called to defend at this moment in our history. He has called Europe to defend those criteria. The idea that God created us gave rise to the concept of human rights and inviolable dignity before the law. Fr. Chris said we live in positivism where we go along and forget where we came from, the principles that formed our nation-states. He’s saying Don’t forget your roots, who made you, and where you come from. Pope John Paul in Fides et Ratio said, Reason and faith are the two lungs of one body and both are essential to every human person, because both have come from God. Scot said the Church doesn’t tell us just to blindly accept teaching, but to internalize it and think it through, asking God’s help so we can embrace the teaching because it’s true, not just because someone in authority says so. Fr. Chris said our faith can withstand any approach of reason. It’s a natural part of reason to come to understanding. 4th segment: Scot said Pope Benedict’s address to the youth has garnered the most attention in the Catholic world. Dear friends, again and again the very notion of saints has been caricatured and distorted, as if to be holy meant to be remote from the world, naive and joyless. Often it is thought that a saint has to be someone with great ascetic and moral achievements, who might well be revered, but could never be imitated in our own lives. How false and discouraging this opinion is! There is no saint, apart from the Blessed Virgin Mary, who has not also known sin, who has never fallen. Dear friends, Christ is not so much interested in how often in our lives we stumble and fall, as in how often with his help we pick ourselves up again. He does not demand glittering achievements, but he wants his light to shine in you. He does not call you because you are good and perfect, but because he is good and he wants to make you his friends. Yes, you are the light of the world because Jesus is your light. You are Christians – not because you do special and extraordinary things, but because he, Christ, is your life, our life. You are holy, we are holy, if we allow his grace to work in us. Scot said this address is extremely down to earth in comparison. It’s a wonderful, warm address that we’re all called to be saints and tells us how to live holiness by letting Christ shine through and joy-filled, in the world and connected, not boring and naïve. Fr. Chris said he captures sanctity. We’re called to be saints, which means to enjoy the beatific vision in heaven with God our Father. Every saint has a past and every sinner a future. Pope Benedict reminds us of the great mercy of Christ. Scot said many modern saints, including those might be canonized at some point, in their biographies you see them desire to tell the whole story, warts and all, to show how often they turned back to the mercy of God. The saint knows they don’t fall less than others; they just recognize that God picks them up each time. Fr. Chris recalls in the biography of St. Therese of Lisieux how there was a sister in the convent who drove her crazy, but she showed so much love to the nun that she believed that Therese loved her best. Saints are called to take the hand of the Lord, cling to it and walk as He does. Dear friends, this evening as we gather in prayer around the one Lord, we sense the truth of Christ’s saying that the city built on a hilltop cannot remain hidden. This gathering shines in more ways than one – in the glow of innumerable lights, in the radiance of so many young people who believe in Christ. A candle can only give light if it lets itself be consumed by the flame. It would remain useless if its wax failed to nourish the fire. Allow Christ to burn in you, even at the cost of sacrifice and renunciation. Do not be afraid that you might lose something and, so to speak, emerge empty-handed at the end. Have the courage to apply your talents and gifts for God’s kingdom and to give yourselves – like candlewax – so that the Lord can light up the darkness through you. Dare to be glowing saints, in whose eyes and hearts the love of Christ beams and who thus bring light to the world. I am confident that you and many other young people here in Germany are lamps of hope that do not remain hidden. “You are the light of the world”. Where God is, there is a future! Amen. Scot said Pope Benedict would say the same to all of us: Dare to be saints. Fr. Chris said don’t be afraid to make sacrifices and renunciations. We can never outdo God in his generosity, love and goodness. All He asks is that we live in him and follow him. Scot said the crisis of faith in the Church is because we don’t have enough saints, average everyday person who turns to God each day asks to be his vessel. With just a few saints in Boston we would change the perception of the Church in society. Scot noted how so many people at the Celebration of the Priesthood last week said that priests’ holiness have inspired them to live a deeper faith.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Edward Riley and Mrs. Lynn Kenn from the World Apostolate of Fatima Today’s topics: World Apostolate of Fatima and the National Pilgrim Statue Summary of today’s show: Fr. Ed Riley and Lynn Kenn of the world Apostolate of Fatima tell Scot about the Pilgrimage of Prayer throughout the Archdiocese in October of the National Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima. Each day in October, the statue blessed by Pope Paul VI, one of only five in the world, will be in a different parish. They also discussed the apparitions of Our Lady in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917 and the prayer requests she made of the world that the Church encourages us to heed even today. 1st segment: Scot said starting this Saturday, October 1 and for the whole month of October, there is a statue that will be traveling among schools and parishes in the Archdiocese. Throughout the month, thousands of people will gather during these evenings to hear Our Lady’s messages to us. He welcomed Fr. Edward Riley, the chaplain to the World Apostolate of Fatima, and Lynn Kenn, who has been involved with the World Apostolate for 32 years. At the time, as a young mother, she saw the problems of the world around her and while she wanted to do something for her children, as a mother she didn’t have time to go out and be an activist. But saw a the visit of a National Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima at a parish and that event made her realize that prayer and the messages of Fatima were the answer. That is why today, she is encouraging all to attend the pilgrimage of prayer for the month of October. Scot said the World Apostolate of Fatima is sometimes known as the Blue Army. It was established around World War II as a response to the Soviet Red Army. Our Lady at Fatima warned of the dangers of the Soviet Union. Scot asked Lynn to summarize the messages of Fatima. She said there were 6 apparitions of Mary to three children in Fatima, Portugal, in May 1917, at the beginning of World War I. Pope Benedict XV started a novena to Our Lady for world peace on May 5 and Our Lady appeared to the children on May 13, 1917 as an answer to the prayer. Our Lady asked the children each time she appeared to pray the rosary every day. She encouraged daily prayer of the rosary as the heart of her message. She asked for the conversion of sinners and she asked for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart. Pope John Paul II completed that consecration in 1984 and the demise of Communion in Russia followed. In 1981, on May 13, the anniversary of the first apparition, Pope John Paul II was shot in St. Peter’s Square and it impelled him to find out more about Fatima. In 1929, the consecration of Russia was not done by all the bishops of the world as she asked, and so John Paul got all the bishops together again in 1984. Pope John Paul II took the bullet that struck him that day and brought to Fatima and had it placed in the crown of the statue of Our Lady there. The National Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima will travel throughout the archdiocese in October, stopping in at least 5 parishes in each region of the Archdiocese. The statue was given to the US by the bishop of Fatima in 1967. 2nd segment: This particular statue was blessed by Pope Paul VI during his visit to Fatima. It comes to Boston about every 5 years. Lynn said they start planning a year in advance. Fr. Riley had written to Cardinal Sean in January for permission and then alerted all the auxiliary bishops. Then they started preparing in March, dividing the diocese by region among the board members of the local chapter. The board members set up a committee in each region and then worked to place the statue throughout the regions so that everyone has a chance to be able to go. Fr. Riley is on the staff of St. John Seminary now, but previously was pastor in Holbrook. He said many people are thirsting and hungering. We are a material society, so we are looking for things that affect our senses. The Church went through a phase of removing objects from churches, but people are returning to older devotions to give them something to hold or touch or see or smell. The beautiful images take you beyond the image into deeper prayer and that’s the wisdom of having this image travel throughout the Archdiocese as the personification of Our Mother who loves us. If we don’t see someone and communicate with them, we can forget them. This statue reminds us that we have a God of love who wants us to turn back to him. Scot noted that there are many Catholics of Portuguese descent and many parishes with Our Lady of Fatima statues. Fr. Riley said this particular statue was blessed by Pope Paul VI, one of only five that were sent throughout the world. The US needed to understand the love of the Gospel and that our blessed Mother has a particular role in fulfilling God’s will for us. We are hungering for truth and peace. It took the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II for the Church to take seriously this message given to children in Fatima. Scot said more than one million and maybe even more than 10 million have prayed in front of this statue. Lynn said the evenings of prayer are left up to the pastor, but they suggest they begin about 7pm or 7:30pm, starting with Benediction, crowning of the statue, rosary, then a talk by the Custodian of the Pilgrim Statue (a person who travels throughout the country with the statue, cares for it, and gives talks with it). People bring sacramentals and the Custodian touches them to the statue. People also submit prayer petitions in a petition box and the Custodian carries them from parish to parish. Anyone is welcome to come to any of the evenings of prayer. Scot read the list of parishes and dates where the statue will be in October. 3rd segment: Fr. Ed said there also some private events, not that they’re exclusive. On October 7, Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, they will celebrate a children’s Eucharistic holy hour at Holy Cross Cathedral. This is a worldwide phenomenon. About 450 children, mostly around 5th grade, will be coming from both Catholic schools and homeschooling families. They pray the prayers that St. Michael the Archangel taught to the children of Fatima. At the end, when they process the statue out of the church, the children will wave white handkerchief. This event is closed to the public to ensure that children will be close to the Blessed Mother. On October 20, they will have a private session at St. John Seminary for the seminarians to pray before the statue. Scot said October 13 was the last public apparition of Our Lady in Fatima in 1917. About 100,000 people saw the miracle of the sun. Fr. Ed said throughout the apparitions, Our Lady said she would confirm on behalf of the children that the apparitions were real. The muddy rain-drenched area was dried instantly by the sun appearing to come close to the apparition site. Our Lady then appeared as Our Lady of Fatima and with St. Joseph and the Child Jesus. She also appeared as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. Fr. Ed said we gather to pray the rosary to pray for peace in our world. No other promise has been made for bringing peace to the world. 4th segment: Scot said Our Lady in Fatima asked us to consecrate ourselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Lynn said the Apostolate has put together some requirements for membership. One is to pray the Rosary everyday. The second is to be of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel by a priest. During the pilgrimage tour, people can be enrolled in the brown scapular as a sign of personal consecration to Our Lady. She also asked for the . It’s part of the promise by the Mother of God to provide all the graces necessary salvation at the end of your life if for five consecutive first Saturdays you fulfill the requirements of the devotion. Fr. Ed said the rosary is accessible to everyone, even little children. The First Saturdays are numbered five because it is reparation for sins, particularly five sins of blasphemy against her, her images, her name, her holy initiatives, and leading children away from God. Scot said the Church doesn’t usually go to the lengths of promoting apparitions and associated devotions, so it shows how important Fatima is to the Church.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr. Michael Harrington, Director of the Office of Outreach and Cultural Diversity Today’s topics: Celebration of the Priesthood dinner; Priest Profile: Fr. Michael Harrington Summary of today’s show: Fr. Michael Harrington discusses with Scot and Fr. Mark the 2011 Celebration of the Priesthood dinner, a moving opportunity for the people of the Archdiocese to express their appreciation for all that their priests do and are for them; Also, Fr. Harrington’s vocation story; how priestly vocations have grown rapidly in the years he’s been working with the Vocation Office; and the readings for Mass this Sunday. 1st segment: Scot noted that at the Red Mass, Cardinal Sean gave a great homily on assisted suicide that got a lot of national press. Fr. Mark said Chief Justice Rapoza also gave a powerful talk on St. Thomas More to the Catholic Lawyers Guild. Both stories and talks are in the Pilot this week. Fr. Mark said Justice Rapoza quoted G.K. Chesterton as a great model for what was going on at the time (the 1920s) and will be an even greater model for 100 years from then. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Harrington to the show. He said 1,110 people were at the Celebration of the Priesthood dinner at the World Trade Center in Boston last night. He said he was happy to see so many people turn out to support priests and encourage them in their ministry. Fr. Mike said it was good to see so much support for priests. Scot said it was announced that the dinner raised over $1 million plus another $150,000 over the next few years to benefit the Clergy Funds for priests’ medical and retirement needs. Scot said the spirit of the night was wonderful. Fr. Mike said each presenter was so positive and highlighted how the priests of this archdiocese had done so much for them in their lives. Fr. Mike said one of the speakers, Chris Boyle, went through a list of the priests who have connected with him through his young life. He is a 7th and 8th grade theology teacher at Catholic Memorial. When Fr. Mike speaks about vocations in parishes, he encourages people to think about the many places and ways that priests have had a positive impact in their lives: marriages, baptisms, confessions, when people were sick, etc. It helps us to realize how much the priesthood means to us as Catholics. Scot said Cardinal Sean gave a very strong address. He related how a five-year-old boy once told him that he is the “communion guy” and said that it’s true that all priests are the Communion guy. Fr. Bob Reed of CatholicTV was the host of the evening. Scot said Joe D’Arrigo, executive director of the Clergy Funds, Some stats, for every 1 active priest we have, there are 10 retired priests. They also shared some charts data on the last four years of work on the Clergy Funds. Four years ago, there was a prediction the funds would run out by the end of 2011, but now the expenses for the funds have been cut without cutting benefits and revenues have been raised. They went from a $10 million deficit to a break-even budget. Fr. Mark said he wasn’t at the event because he was teaching, but he wanted to give kudos to Joe D’Arrigo. A few years ago, Fr. Mark was running the Clergy Funds, but confesses most of the priests who ran it didn’t have the expertise to do so, so he’s very grateful to Joe. Fr. Mike added that Joe is here for nothing but to serve the priests of the archdiocese. Scot said everyone who were involved did a very great job. The highlight of the night was an eight-minute video highlighting the work of some of our priests: The priests in the video were Fr. Mark Murphy, Fr. Richard Clancy, Fr. Jack Ahern, and Fr. Joseph Fagan. Scot said one of the moving parts was hearing Fr. Clancy choke up when he said it mattered in his life for people to take a few minutes and write the priest a note to thank him. the dinner started in the Year of the Priest as a way to thank priests not just for what they do, but for who they are in this special vocation in the Church. He encouraged listeners to think about saying thank you to their priest at church this Sunday. Scot emphasized that none of the priests go to the dinner to be celebrated personally, but it does make a difference to be thanked en masse. 3rd segment: Fr. Mike said he had great role models in the priesthood growing up. He had a well-known pastor, Msgr. John Carroll, who was a great witness to him. Then he had Fr. Bill Schmidt as a pastor at St. John’s in Swampscott, who had a special way of ministering to young people. Fr. Mike said he didn’t develop much of a sense of a personal vocation in his high school or college years. He said he didn’t consider his vocation very much at all. But after college, he realized he was living his life for himself and so he started to see how he could live for others. He started to teach religious education in his parish and seek out other young adults active in their faith. In his early 20s, he started to ask for the first time what God wants him to do in his life. He started to walk more closely with the Lord and as he did so the idea of the priesthood started to come clearer. Little by little, God worked on him to understand his ways are greater than our ways. He entered seminary at age 27 in 1994. In his class, he was one of the younger guys, but today men are averaging younger when they enter. After ordination, his only parish assignment so far was St. Paul in Wellesley. He said he had great priest examples there and couldn’t have asked for better pastors. The Cardinal called Fr. Mike into diocesan service in 2005 as assistant vocation director. He loved his work in the parish and he had a lot of great projects on the horizon. His term was coming to an end, but he had been told he would stay on a little longer. Then he had an unexpected call to come meet with the Cardinal. It was a surprise, but he wanted to do whatever God called him to do. It was tough to leave the parish, but he was committed to whatever the Cardinal thought best. Scot said Cardinal Sean had made a commitment to having two full-time priests in vocations office and that has born fruit with more than 70 young men in the seminary right now. It requires a lot of time and effort to create a culture of vocations. Fr. Mike said their work is only done in collaboration with all the priests of the archdiocese under the leadership of Cardinal Sean. The Cardinal sets the tone. Fr. Mike said recently there were only 27 men in residence at St. John Seminary. Today there are over 80 men in residence and more than 120 studying there total for several dioceses. Today 70 of them are studying for the archdiocese when just a few years ago there were only 45. Fr. Mike said they do many type of outreach to help men to consider what God is calling them to. They try to help them ask the question what God wants. We are so focused on what we want to be, but we need to help young people approach the much greater question. Scot said Cardinal Sean, Fr. Mike, and Fr. Dan Hennessey all rely heavily on prayer to grow vocations and are constantly asking everyone to pray for vocations. Fr. mike said Jesus gave the instruction: “Beg the Master of the harvest for more workers in the harvest.” Prayer is at the heart of vocations. They sometimes ask religious orders to pray for young men who are discerning; they have holy hours for vocations. Many parishes have prayers for vocations during Mass. Fr. Mark asked how vocations are growing in ethnic communities. Fr. Mike said they just ordained a young man from the Korean community and two more are in the seminary. They are not a huge community so having three men is an outsized contribution. They have had vocations from the Vietnamese community and other communities are beginning vocations programs. Scot asked for a profile of the types of men in the seminary and where they’re coming from. Fr. Mike said most of the new men are in their 20s. They have three men who are 45. They have more men studying at Blessed John XXIII Seminary in the last few years. Most of the young men are just out of college. The work being done on college campuses are paying off in vocations. Several men come from Boston University. Three men were associated with the Life Teen ministry at St. Mary’s in Dedham. Fr. Mark said there used to be a seminary college for men about 18 years old. Fr. Mark said they’ve accepted two men just out of high school this year. They go to a formation house in Providence and will either attend Providence College or another one in Rhode Island. They’re also seeing more young men discerning a vocation in high school. Scot said on October 22, there is a big gathering put on by the Serra Club. They are having a Mass of Blessed John Paul II at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross at 10am in recognition of the Adopt-a-Priest apostolate. October 22 is the feast day of Bl. John Paul II. George Weigel will give a talk after the Mass. Scot said adopt-a-priest is a prayer apostolate. The Serra Club asks people to volunteer to pray for a particular priest every day for a year. Scot said two years ago his family was randomly assigned Msgr. Bob Deeley, our new vicar general. When he was assigned to be vicar general and Scot’s new boss, his kids said they should pray for him even more now. Fr. Mike said the Serra Club does a lot of work helping with vocations. They are having an altar server appreciation Mass soon that the Serra Club will be assiting with. 4th segment: Now, as we do every week, we look forward to this coming Sunday’s Mass readings to help us prepare to celebrate together. Thus says the LORD: You say, “The LORD’s way is not fair!” Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair? When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies, it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die. But if he turns from the wickedness he has committed, he does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life; since he has turned away from all the sins that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: “What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ He said in reply, ‘I will not, ’ but afterwards changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, ‘Yes, sir, ‘but did not go. Which of the two did his father’s will?” They answered, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.” Scot said imagine being on the receiving end of that admonition from Jesus. Fr. Mike said the Lord’s way is not always easy, but it’s a far cry from saying the Lord’s way is not fair. Fr. Mark said Ezekiel is writing to a community who thinks that the bad things happening to them is because of their ancestors sins, but Ezekiel said it’s their own sins that are the cause. In the Gospel, the better thing is to say yes and do it, but we give more credit to the guy who thinks about the consequences and changes his mind. We’re given fair warning by God to make the right decision. Scot said the reading brings to mind the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He had a friend who described it as hitting the reset button. Scot said he’s been both of these guys in the Gospel. in the spiritual life, it’s the ongoing conversion to conform our hearts, minds, and will to God that leads to the right way. Fr. Mike said we can all relate to the claim the Lord’s way isn’t fair. Even the saints in Scripture have said that, but they recognized that it’s not the Lord who abandoned us, but we who abandoned the Lord. Fr. Mark said he assumes Fr. Mike sees these two paths among the men who are discerning. Fr. Mike said God often calls us to expand our love, which can be hard at first. Scot wonders who is the analagous “tax collectors and prostitutes” of today that we might reject based on their past or surface appearances. It’s easy to claim we won’t be pharisaical, but we have to seriously examine whether we are being prideful or whether we really are that open to God’s will. We have to constantly examine our hearts to ensure we are open to everyone who God might be calling to follow him.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Antonio Enrique, editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Cardinal speaks out on assisted suicide; 13 permanent deacons ordained; Fr. Roger’s editorial; Mass. bishops on casino gambling Summary of today’s show: Scot and Susan discuss the news of the week with Antonio Enrique and Greg Tracy of The Pilot, including Cardinal Seán’s homily at last Sunday’s Red Mass for the Boston Catholic Lawyers Guild in which he spoke strongly against an assisted-suicide ballot initiative in Massachusetts; the ordination of 13 permanent deacons for Boston and Cardinal Seán’s admonition for them to care for their wives, in particular; Fr. Roger Landry’s newest editorial on preventing innocent priests from becoming collateral damage to false accusations; and the Massachusetts bishops’ statement on casino gambling in the state. 1st segment: Scot wished Susan a happy birthday today. She’s been working this week, getting ready for the new religious education year. They had a workshop for new catechetical leaders yesterday. Last Sunday was Catechetical Sunday. 150 catechists gathered on that Sunday at St. Rose of Lima parish in Chelsea. Last night she attended the Bl. John XXIII National Seminary’s annual lawn party. She said it was encouraging and hopeful to see these men who have second vocations. They’ve had such diverse paths to the seminary. Two seminarians spoke and did a great job. She said there was such hope. Last night, Scot went to a screening of the new movie “The Way”, starring Martin Sheen and directed by Emilio Estevez, his son. It’s about a man who makes a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compestela in Spain. Tonight is the Celebration of the Priesthood dinner where 1,000 people gather to honor priests and raise money for the Clergy Funds to benefit the medical and retirement needs of the priests of the Archdiocese of Boston. This is the third year for the dinner. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Gregory and Antonio to the show. He said the Cardinal had a significant homily at the Red Mass this past Sunday at the Cathedral where he addressed the Boston Catholic Lawyers Guild. Greg said the Cardinal took the occasion of the Mass to speak out strongly against an assisted suicide petition initiative in Massachusetts. He dealt with a rational argument against assisted suicide, which should persuade even those who don’t subscribe to Christian morality that it’s wrong. He noted that where assisted suicide is legal, suicide rates as a whole go up. In many cases, people end up seeing suicide as the only option and even receive the message that it’s inconsiderate not to take it. The Cardinal said: A decade after Oregon’s law allowing physician assisted suicide took effect, suicide had become the leading cause of “injury death” in Oregon and the second leading cause of death among those between 15 and 34 years of age. The suicide rate in Oregon was in decline until legalizing physician assisted suicide. The suicide rate has been rising since 2000 and by 2007 was already 35% higher than the national average –without counting physician assisted suicides of seriously ill patients which Oregon law does not allow to be counted as suicides and without counting 1,000 failed attempted suicides each year. We hope that the citizens of the commonwealth will not be seduced by the language: dignity, mercy and compassion which are used to disguise the sheer brutality of helping some kill themselves. A vote for physician assisted suicide is a vote for suicide. Scot had never seen the stats, even though they don’t surprise him. Susan said the homily is so rich, you could talk about it for the whole hour. Susan said assisted suicide tells us that you don’t have to worry about working through a problem. Earlier this week, many in the Pastoral Center attended a national webinar on assisted suicide by the National Catholic Partnership on Disability. Their site has more startling statistics. Scot said his favorite part of the homily is: When Satan tempted Jesus in the desert he based his arguments on passages from the Old Testament, which has given rise to the saying that even the devil can quote Scripture. Ironically those who advocate a strict separation of Church and State often quote Jesus words: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Ceasar’s and to God the things that are God’s”. What they often mean by that is “Let’s lock God in the sacristy and let Caesar call all the shots.” That can be very perilous, especially if Caesar happens to be a blood thirsty ideologue who likes to throw people to the lions. Scot said assisted suicide opens up the possibility for some bureaucrat to decide which lives are inconvenient or expensive and should be terminated. It also leads people to feel like they should just kill themselves off. Antonio said it creates two kinds of human beings: those who deserve to live and those who don’t. It creates a burden on someone to make them feel like a burden. We are supposed to be the guardians of our brothers and sisters. But we could be saying life isn’t worth living unless you have a particular quality of life. He noted that in the Netherlands where assisted suicide is legal, the amount of money devoted to palliative care (reducing suffering) has been decreased with the expectation that people should kill themselves instead. The Cardinal also said: In the eyes of the world those who are in the last stages of life are somehow diminished in their humanity and should be eliminated. We must see them through God’s eyes and recognize that each and every person is created in his image and likeness and that we are all connected to God and to each other. We are our brothers keeper and our sister’s helper. Cain who forgot he was his brother’s keeper ended up becoming his executioner. “Thou shall not kill” is God’s law and it is written in our hearts by our Creator. We are call upon to defend the Gospel of life with courage and resolve. Your very profession [the legal profession] invests all of you with an even greater responsibility to ensure that our laws are just and that they protect the weak. The Cardinal made both a natural law argument and a scriptural one. He ended by saying don’t forget we’re Catholics and we treasure life. Greg said the Cardinal also quotes Pope Benedict XVI as saying that natural law and faith go hand in hand and we need to see these things through the eyes of faith, to defend the weakest and poorest. The Cardinal particularly mentioned that it is the role of those in the legal profession to defend the weak and poor who need just defense the most. Antonio said its important that emphasize to non-Catholics that this is not just a religious ideal, but that it’s a universal morality, like the argument against murder. Scot said the Cardinal also said the foundational principles of our country is that our human rights come from God, not government. Our Country’s democracy is based on the conviction that human rights come from God. The Declaration of Independence states that we are endowed by our Creator with the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In declaring this nation independence the signers of the Declaration stated that the rights cited in their claim were not simply a matter of opinion or even of belief. Rather they were God given rights that could not be taken away by any person or any government. These rights are self evident and those words were unanimously adopted. On this moral foundation, America has staked its claim for liberty. Why would we want a government that didn’t protect our right to life? Susan noted that the Cardinal then said that American Catholics weren’t trying to establish a theocracy. We are simply seeking to protect the morality of country. 3rd segment: Scot named the 13 permanent deacons ordained for the Archdiocese last Saturday. He said the Cardinal had some interesting remarks for the men in his homily. Greg said the Cardinal emphasized that deacon means “servant”. He added that deacons should never be high-maintenance. Susan said two of the deacons have connection to the religious education office and they are wonderful men. Susan liked his words: “Receive the Giospel of Christ, whose herald you have become. Believe what you read, teach what you believe and practice what you teach.” Scot said one of his favorite lines in the homily, reminding the men that deacons cannot marry if their wife dies and so the cardinal admonished them to “take good care of your wives,” to great laughter from the congregation. Antonio appreciated how the cardinal implored them to remember that they have particular obligations of service and they must continue to also serve their wives and families. Scot noted that two of the altar servers were the sons of Deacon Chris Connelly and were able to be part of the ordination ceremony. Deacon Dan Burns of the Permanent Diaconate Office said he felt like a father marrying off 13 of his children on one day. 4th segment: Last week, they discussed the first of a two-part series of editorials by Fr. Roger Landry in The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese. The editorials talk about balancing justice for children who have been abused and protection of those who have not with the justice due to innocent priests, whether accused unjustly or not accused. This week, Fr. Roger focuses on one practical balancing act by Cardinal Sean in August in releasing the names of priests who had been publicly accused in Boston. On August 25, Cardinal Sean O’Malley released the names of 159 priests from the Archdiocese of Boston who were found guilty by Church or state of sexually abusing a child, laicized before or after having been accused, publicly accused of sexually abusing a child (while Church proceedings still need to be completed) or deceased after having been publicly accused of sexually abusing minors but against whom criminal or canonical proceedings were not completed. Cardinal O’Malley intentionally did not release the names of living or deceased clergy against whom allegations have not been made public, a move that has brought intense criticism from some victims’ groups. Scot noted that you need the wisdom of Solomon to strike the right balance. The pendulum has swung from not protecting the rights of the accuser to not protecting the rights of the accuser. Antonio said he was still new at the Pilot in 2002 when the crisis first broke. He believes the Church has done more than any other institution to fix this problem and restore trust. Hopefully there can be found better ways of dealing with these problems. No one can dispute that there are very few new cases today. Some in the Church today — including some victims’ rights groups — seem to have become desensitized to the harm of false accusations against Church leaders in an analogous way to how many were once insensitive to the evil and harm of the sexual abuse of minors. False accusations, some victims’ advocates say, are relatively rare; in the United States, historically less than ten percent of accusations have been demonstrated to be false. When someone is accused, they imply, there’s a 90% chance that he or she is guilty, and therefore the good obtained by releasing all names outweighs the evil that might come to a few. Such proportionalistic reasoning, however, fails to consider adequately the harm done to the ten percent or more who are falsely accused of something as hideous as child abuse. No one would ever want to see the reputation of a living or deceased father, mother, beloved teacher, coach, athlete, actor, president or other public official destroyed by the actual or posthumous reporting of an untrue allegation of sexually abusing kids. A good reputation earned by a lifetime of virtue should never be able to be annihilated simply by the bringing of an accusation, because the accusation may be false or frivolous; with people we care about, we would justly demand that before such an allegation be publicized it would need to be substantiated. The same principle of fairness must reign within the Church. This isn’t a lack of sensitivity or concern for victims of sexual abuse, but a just principle to prevent making another class of victims. Some in our society have begun to awaken to the reality of false accusations of the sexual abuse of minors and the often irreparable harm that comes through them. In a powerful June 15 Boston Globe article entitled “Collateral Damage,” columnist Brian McGrory wrote about the case of Boston priest Fr. Charles Murphy, who was falsely accused not once but twice of sexual abuse. Scot said Fr. Murphy “died of a broken heart.” Susan said she knew people who were heartbroken for Fr. Murphy when he was accused twice. She said she doesn’t know the answer here, but it seems the presumption of innocence is being trumped by concerns for child safety. She said it seems we should find a better way. A quicker process would seem to be the way to fix it. As the Church prepares in 2012 to mark the tenth anniversary of public part of the sexual abuse crisis and the Church’s response to it in Dallas, it is time for Church faithful and leaders to begin to achieve a yet unrealized Solomonic balance between the rights of accusers and accused. This will ensure that in the Church’s understandable zeal to bring healing to those who have suffered sexual abuse and prevent children from suffering similar harm in the future, we not lump the good in with the bad by treating all accusations, both true and calumnious, as worthy of publication until at least a minimal standard of veracity and substantiation has been established. Antonio said the fear of scandal was what brought us to the scandal in the first place. The Church even in the 90s tried to fix this problem to avoid scandal when it became public. Unfortunately, it created this explosion despite the good intentions behind it. In order to solve these problems, the Church settled with victims but required them to be quiet about it. He noted that after 1993, priests who had credible accusations were not put back into parishes. Nevertheless when it did become public, trust was shattered. Maybe as we approach the 10th anniversary and people regain confidence that the Church is not hiding anything, we can modify our approach. Scot said with 10 years experience we should see how unfair it is for a press release to go out on any accusation, no matter how credible. In some places in the world, it’s not just the priest’s reputation which would be in danger, but his very life. Susan noted that there is difference between transparency and trumpets. 5th segment: Scot, Susan, and Antonio discussed the details of the Mass. bishop statement on casino gambling legislation. Susan noted with humor that the bishops spent some time distinguishing between bingo and casino gambling, but it is true that people lose much more at casinos than in church bingo. Scot said he was startled by the crime statistics about how violent crime rises in a 50-mile radius around casinos when they open. Naturally, the state is searching for new ways to increase revenue and create jobs aimed at meeting these difficult challenges and to bring about economic stimuli. However, expanded gambling in the form of slot parlors and casinos is an illusory solution to this complicated problem. If anything, expanded, predatory gambling will only add to the need for state assistance in the Commonwealth. The gambling industry can threaten local business and change the entire make-up of communities. If Massachusetts were to pass the proposed gambling legislation and open the door for casinos and slot parlors in our state, it could diminish our rich heritage and history as a Commonwealth. There is too much at stake for Massachusetts to open the door to expanded gambling.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Br. Rahl Bunsa, General Superior of the Brotherhood of Hope, and Fr. Ted Psemeneki Today’s topics: The Brotherhood of Hope Summary of today’s show: Br. Rahl and Br. Ted of the Brotherhood of Hope sit down with Scot and Fr. Matt to tell them about their small religious order’s very big mission in Catholic campus ministry in Boston that reaches out to more than 60,000 Catholic college students across the city. They also play selections from the Brotherhood’s music CDs and discuss a TV show produced by the Brotherhood called “Hope on Campus”. 1st segment: Scot welcomed back Fr. Matt. He offered him a congratulations on his Name Day because today is the Feast of St. Matthew the Apostle. Fr. Matt said he loves the . It’s a beautiful interplay of darkness and light, with Matthew being called out of the darkness and into the light. Jesus’ finger in the painting recalls the image of God’s finger touching Adam’s in Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. Fr. Matt said the consolation of Matthew a sinner being called by God is that God knows what he’s getting into when he calls us. It’s not our qualifications that concern God, but who we are. Scot said his uncle, Frank Cluff of Lowell, died last night at 73. He was able to spend time with him last night and was inspired by this holy man prepare for death. He told Scot’s brother, Fr. Roger Landry, to tell others in his funeral homily to encourage people not to fear death. Scot related his story that 21 years ago his uncle was within days of death because he couldn’t get a kidney transplant. He had coffee with a friend and told him it might be their last opportunity to be together. That afternoon, the friend’s 21-year-old son died in a car accident and it turned out his son was a perfect match for the kidney. May the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace. Today’s guests are from the Brotherhood of Hope, who specialize in campus ministry across the country, and a new citywide campus ministry they’ll be starting at Cardinal Sean’s urging. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Br. Rahl and Br. Ted. He said Br. Rahl was one of the first members of the order when it began 31 years ago. It started out of lay communities in Michigan and New Jersey. There were five brothers at first in 1980 and now there are a little more than 20. Their main work is in campus ministry, but also men’s ministry, youth work, service trips to Tanzania, and some seminary work. Br. Rahl first encountered the Brotherhood when he was studying at Seton Hall University. He was impressed at how they were just good guys to be around. He had just discerned that God wasn’t calling him to the priesthood and he had thought God was calling him to marriage. But a brother asked him to consider this call. Scot said even growing up in a very Catholic community, you don’t encounter religious brothers as often as you see religious sisters, unless you are connected to particular ministries, like schools. Br. Rahl said in the beginning the order created a painting company to support itself. The men had to shift from their secular jobs to other kinds of jobs as they transitioned to full-time ministry. Their first applied ministry was as campus ministry at Rutgers. Br. Rahl said Br. Ted was among the first new members to come from Rutgers. Br. Ted was an engineering student at Rutgers. Since high school, he’d been attending church on his own. By his sophomore year, he’d connected to the Brotherhood and experienced a life change and the indwelling of Christ within him. A certain loneliness was gone. He’d never felt a calling to the priesthood, but on a visit to a monastery he felt God’s call. One of the brothers told him that he’d been waiting for God to give Br. Ted a call and that gave him the confidence. Fr. Matt noted that they are the first group of consecrated brothers on the radio show. He asked them to explain what a consecrated brother is. Br. Ted said we look at Jesus who became our brother to us so we could be adopted by the Father. They imitate Christ the brother who came to lead people to the Father and to be adopted. Br. Rahl added that in imitating JEsus, they take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience and then live in community with a common mission together, like Jesus and the Apostles. That’s in the nature of a brotherhood. Scot noted that it’s their presence in the Church and commitment to the vows in the community is itself a sign of the new evangelization. It is a sign to the world. Scot asked them to explain the difference between Hope and an optimism or natural hope. Br. Rahl said the theological virtue of hope means that through the indwelling presence of Christ we receive through baptism, Hope recasts the whole of reality so we understand the truth of God’s promises as heaven-focused, but earth-rooted. When we intercede for one another or bring the Gospel to others, that’s an exercise of the virtue of hope. Scot described their logo, which incorporates a cross and anchor. Br. Ted said their hope is anchored in heaven and gives a confident expectation of heaven. There is also an M to signify Mary at the foot of the cross. Br. Rahl said while they were ministering at Rutgers, they received an invitation from the bishop in Tallahassee to minister at Florida State University, which is their largest campus ministry. Later, during an impromptu visit by Cardinal Bernard Law who happened to stop by their house he got to know them. In 1995 they were asked to come up to Boston where they did some ministries. In 2000, they started at Boston University and in 2005, at Northeastern University. They live at St. Catherine of Genoa in Somerville. Nine of them live there. So currently they are ministering at Florida State, Rutgers, and Northeastern. Scot first encountered the Brotherhood of Hope through their Advent retreats for men. Those men Scot met there became the team that organized the Boston Catholic Mens’ Conferences. He asked them how they felt the call to focus their ministry on campus ministry. Br. Rahl said many of the brothers experienced their call to holiness while at college and it seemed to make sense to minister to young people at a critical point in their lives. They see very encouraging fruit in campus ministry. 3rd segment: It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is and , both by Danny Abramowicz, Peter Herbeck, Curtis Martin and Brian Patrick. This week’s winner is Joanne and Robert Massey from Chelmsford, MA. Congratulations, Joanne and Robert! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot noted that Br. Ted wrote and performed the song just played during the break. Br. Ted said the Brotherhood of Hope creates Advent music CDs because no one really creates Advent music CDs. Advent is a natural topic for the Brotherhood because of Advent’s relation to hope. Scot noted that Br. Rahl just completed 11 years of ministry at Boston University. Cardinal Seán asked the Brotherhood to expand their ministry to cover many more campuses in Boston through a new initiative called H.U.B. (Hope for Undergraduates in Boston), based at Northeastern University, but reaching out to 60,000 Catholic college students. Br. Rahl said they have seen so much fruit from their campus ministry over the past 11 years at both BU and Northeastern that Cardinal Seán to expand their ministry to schools which don’t have the resources for campus ministry, like Wentworth, Mass. College of Pharmacy, Berklee, Wheelock, Simmons and many more. Br. Rahl said they are just beginning their program. It’s going to be an organic process. They are working with students to train them to reach out to their peers, to lead Bible studies, to invite others to Mass. Over the next year, they will be working to get to know administrators and staff at these schools as well. He’s encouraged the Cardinal has confidence in them and asked for prayers from listeners in their work. Fr. Matt said he’s heard people say that a critical area of focus for the Church is college campus ministry because it is crucial for the Church to connect people at that age to connect with the life of the Church. He asked what challenges the Brotherhood is facing on campuses now. Br. Ted said it’s a key time to be reaching out to an age group that is mature enough to make good decisions while they’re making lifelong decisions. On one hand they have time, but on the other they’re busy, so that’s the first challenge. There are also a lot of options for students. When a freshman settles in, they are bombarded by all that they can get involved with: clubs, sports, and other organizations, most of which demand far less than the Church does. Br. Ted said they have come to realize that they have to challenge the students and ask something of them, to make it seem worthwhile through sacrifice and hard work. The students are also bombarded by a lot influences, including sex and drugs and drinking. Sometimes, the universities don’t help with those issues. Many of the students are lonely or depressed or stressed for the first time. Scot asked how many of the students involved with the Brotherhood connect with them right away versus those who come along later. Br. Ted said there is a good mix of how people come to them. If people come and get involved early, they tend to stick it through. Br. Rahl said many of them, as their relationship with Christ deepens, they want to tell their friends and start inviting them to programs. The Brotherhood create experiences that connect with what’s going on on campus. For example, they have intramural sports teams that compete with other campus organizations. Br. Ted said they offer card and games nights, minor competitions, lots of food (barbecues and dinners), but the primary end is to bring them to Mass. They also do a Wednesday night gathering called A New Life with prayer and a talk to challenge them in their faith. Br. Rahl told a story of a Texas Hold-Em tournament where one of the students who wasn’t Catholic, but was a good card player, won and eventually has become very involved in his faith and inviting others to be involved. Scot asked them how they minister to students in the midst of a hook-up culture. Br. Ted said he sees even good Catholic church-going students who live a double life, involved both kinds of culture. They try to teach them about self-control and not objectifying others. Br. Rahl said as they connect with Christ it becomes more than just growing in natural virtue, but also in the Gospel virtues. He said one of the universities they work at offers a yearly sex week, which promotes the hook-up culture. The Brotherhood provides a counter-culture and encourages the students that they don’t have to be slaves to it. Br. Ted notes that it’s not all on the brothers, but that the students who are already living the life of faith and are the best witnesses for Christian love and chastity. Scot noted that the Brotherhood of Hope is mainly supported through donations of those who want to make an impact on college campuses. People can make donations at their website at . CatholicTV also came to the Brotherhood of Hope a few years ago to film a 13-part series called Hope on Campus. People can watch the shows right from their website.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Robert O’Grady, Managing Director of the Pilot Catholic Directory Today’s topics: The Appointment of Bishops, specifically Bishop Peter Libasci to Manchester, NH Summary of today’s show: Fr. Robert O’Grady discusses with Scot and Fr. Chris yesterday’s appointment of Bishop Peter Libasci as the 10th bishop of the Diocese of Manchester and then they talk about just how a priest or bishop’s name ends up on the Pope’s desk for appointment to the high office in the Church and just what role the bishop plays in the life of the Church. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chris. He went tomato picking this weekend in New Hampshire with many of the parishioners from Sacred Heart Parish in East Boston, who were mainly Italian. They brought 160 pounds of tomatoes back with them. It was a great experience for a city kid. These tomatoes will be canned and will last until next September. He also attended the ordination of 13 permanent deacons for the archdiocese at the cathedral. He was impressed by the number of priests who came to show how they’ve already established great relationships with the priests of the archdiocese. Cardinal Sean joked that there’s nothing worse than a high maintenance deacon. He also reminded them that when their wives die, they will remain celibate for the rest of their lives so he told them to take very, very good care of their wives. The new deacons are David A. Brooks, Christopher Z. Connelly, Paul David Coughlin, Joseph Bryère Guerrier, Geoffrey W. Higgins, Joseph J. Hopgood, Cheonil Kim, Paul Michael Kline, Howard C. League, Vincent James Leo, Timothy John Maher, Thomas L.P. O’Donnell, Jr., and Kevin J. Winn. Scot said his mom attended the first Mass for one of the deacons at her parish in Lowell. Fr. Chris said that the 13 men have gone to 13 very different parishes throughout the Archdiocese and are already involved in very good work. Today, on the show, Fr. Robert O’Grady will talk with Scot and Fr. Chris about the process of appointing new bishops, especially the appointment yesterday of Bishop Peter Libasci for Manchester, New Hampshire. His installation Mass will be on December 8. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Fr. O’Grady to the show. Scot said bishops’ appointments are announced at noon Rome time, which is 6am here. Bishop Libasci was auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, in Long Island. He was a priest for his whole career, a parochial vicar and pastor. He said he was surpsied to be named bishop the first time. He’s very low-key and humble and self-effacing. He’s also biritual, which means that he has permission to celebrate the Liturgy in the Ruthenian Byzantine rite of the Catholic Church as well as the Latin-rite. He’s also been the vicar of the eastern region of Long Island, which includes the Hamptons and the North Fork, the wealthiest and toniest part of the Long Island. However, Bishop Libasci said the area includes many blue-collar towns and Indian reservations, so it’s not just the rich and powerful. Someone noted he had twice as many people in his region as he will have in his new diocese. Bishop Libasci is the 10th bishop of Manchester. He was introduced by his predecessor Bishop McCormack. Scot said it’s good to know that Bishop McCormack hasn’t lost his Boston accent after 13 years in New Hampshire and the Long Island accent of Bishop Libasci will take some getting used to. Scot said he likes the passion he heard in his first reactions as he drove up to his new home. Scot said you can’t help but be impressed by the beauty of New Hampshire as God’s country. But also the description of the mills as a place where people spent so many of their lives, seeking a better life for their families. Fr. Chris said he captured both sides of New Hampshires, places of work where so many Catholic supported their families and the natural beauty. You can tell it will be an important part of his ministry to ensure that the faith continues to pass on. Fr. Bob said they also have St. Anselm’s College, a top Catholic college, and Dartmouth, one of the Ivy League, which brings great variety to the diocese, which he wouldn’t have had on eastern Long Island. Manchester has 90 full parishes as well as missions, totally 126 worship sites. There are 86 active diocesan priests. Also many religious, including the Benedictines of St. Anselm. The total Catholic population is about 300,000 Catholics. Scot noted in his , the bishop started by saying: When in 2007, I was told that I was chosen to be an Auxiliary Bishop for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, I was overwhelmed at the thought that anyone knew that I even existed. And now, four years later, I have been called, yet again, but now to be the Bishop and Shepherd of the Church, the Household of Faith in, what will be for me a new home, a new family, a new beginning in Grace. Fr. Chris said this is the first chance the people of New Hampshire to encounter their new shepherd. He also noted that the bishop quoted the Baltimore Catechism on why God created us. He made a clear point that the tradition of our faith needs to be passed on by parishes and families. After his prepared remarks, Bishop Libasci took some questions from the local press. (See the video above) He started by responding to the challenges he sees as the bishop of Manchester. He said his first challenge is to listen and learn. Scot said that it’s remarkable humility. By hearing he will come to know what the Catholic community sees as their challenges. Fr. O’Grady said a bishop usually gives a new pastor the advice to not make any big changes for a year. Bishop Libasci is saying the same thing; he has to learn what it is he’s inheriting, what he has responsibility for. Scot said the parishioners need to know that he loves them, that he knows them, before they will follow his lead. The great leaders are those who people want to follow and who they trust. Fr. Chris said he’s also echoing Lumen Gentium from Vatican II where bishops are told to consult with the laity to know their needs and concerns and the laity need to let the bishop know their needs and concerns. He was also asked at the press conference how he plans to continue the healing process from the sexual abuse crisis. Scot said he takes away from his response that Bishop Libasci cares for all those affected, not just the victims, but also the innocent priests and the people in the pews. Fr. Chris said you could hear compassion in his voice and a desire not to run from the question. He said, Together, we will work through this. Fr. Chris said you can’t have extraordinary expectations right off the bat. Fr. O’Grady said he noticed that after the press conference he went to a Catholic high school, a food bank, and a convent of religious sisters, then a dinner with priests of the diocese. He went to get a flavor of the diocese right away. 3rd segment: Scot said the appointment of bishops is a long process. It starts with the surfacing of names. There are ecclesiastical provinces throughout the country. There will be one metropolitan archdiocese, which here is Boston, and then suffragan dioceses, which in New England are Portland, Manchester, Burlington, Bridgeport, Hartford, Fall River, Springfield, Worcester, and Providence. Once per year the bishops meet to discuss priests who would be worthy bishops. Before that bishops can consult within their diocese for those names. By canon law, they are required to do that one on one with others, not in group meetings, in order to maintain confidentiality and so that those whose names are considered and not appointed aren’t embarrassed by that. Fr. O’Grady said a bishop told him that it was amazing how the names which were submitted individually seemed to come up so often. At the provincial meeting, there is a secret and confidential discussion of the names as well as which offices they’d be good at, like diocesan bishop or auxiliary bishop. An auxiliary might have a particular language gift or a talent in a particular ministry. So often it’s a need that motivates. In a diocesan bishops’ case, they agree on a list of three names, called a terna, which is sent to the nuncio in Washington, DC, who modifies the lists or submits as is to the Congregation of Bishops, which does the same, and then it goes to the Pope who can select from the list or choose someone else. Fr. Chris said that with the death of Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the nuncio in the US, who died this past summer, the work of selecting names would generally stop. Scot said the work in the particular case of Manchester would have been completed at the nuncio’s level some time ago. Bishop McCormack had submitted his resignation 13 months ago which would have initiated the process. At each stage of the process, they consult with those who might know the priest, ask for feedback confidentially. The nuncio will sometimes consult with other bishops. Scot said that since Bishop Libasci wasn’t in our province, his name would not have been on the list sent from the provincial meeting. Fr. Chris said this a historic moment for New England because this is the first diocesan bishop Pope Benedict has picked here in New England. It shows what Pope Benedict is looking for here in this region. Pope Benedict has been appointing as bishops good parish priests who’ve stood the test of time, as opposed to say, seminary rectors or canon lawyers. Scot added they’re not just pastoral administrators, but good evangelizers who can truly lead. Scot said also consulted are previous bishops of the diocese being filled, the president of the bishops conference, and for archdioceses, all the bishops of the country. They also send out confidential questionnaires to 20 or 30 people who would know the prospective bishop. Fr. O’Grady said those who fill out the questionnaire aren’t even supposed to say they’ve seen it. It would include parish staffs who’ve worked with him, other priests who know him, and those work in the diocese. Scot said someone might know he’s a great priest, but they know he just wouldn’t be a great bishop for whatever reason. Scot said at every stage of the process there is a terna, a list of three names: from the province, from the nuncio, from the Congregation of Bishops. Fr. O’Grady said there’s a long tradition of the terna. He also said that the notion of the Holy Father appointing all the bishops of the world directly is only about 150 years old. Before that they were elected, like the Pope is now, and sometimes were selected by royalty. Fr. O’Grady said Bishop John Carroll, the first bishop in the US, was elected by the priests of the diocese, which included the whole US and was only about 12 or 13 priests. Fr. Chris said even today the Holy See does consult with governments before appointing bishops. Fr. O’Grady said Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Military Archdiocese recently went to Argentina to visit with the administrator of the military archdiocese there. They haven’t been without a bishop for three or four years because the Argentine government has approval over the bishop for the military chaplaincy. He said when Cardinal O’Connell was made archbishop in Boston, in 1904 the bishops of the province sent a terna of three names to the nuncio, two bishops and a priest who were protégés of Archbishop Williams. But then Cardinal O’Connell was appointed instead. He noted that it shows why confidentiality is important because now everyone will question why O’Connell was appointed and the others weren’t. Scot said we talk about this because the bishops are the successors of the apostles and so much in a diocese occurs because a bishop says it’s so. Bad bishops can do tremendous harm to a diocese and good bishops can do tremendous good. Scot asked Fr. Chris to explain the three elements of the Office of Bishop. There is the teaching role. It is the bishops’ job to ensure the truths of the faith are passed on. Vatican II calls them conservators of the faith. They need to conserve the tradition. The second task is the sanctifying office. Priests are in a sense auxiliaries to the bishop. In the early Church, it was the bishop who administered all the sacraments and who knew the faithful by name. As the Church grew it became impossible for the bishop to do it all alone, but even today priests share in the ministry of their bishop. It is the sacraments that the bishop sanctifies the people and helps them to become holy. The third office is governance. As shepherd and head, it is the bishops’ job to ensure the Church runs well and is administered well. A part of that is the selection of pastors for parishes and those who will run agencies and ministries. The bishop ultimately makes the decisions yea or nay on the many missions of the diocese. Fr. O’Grady said in the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the bishop receives the fullness of Holy Orders. Priests are ordained twice, to diaconate and to priesthood. The bishop is The priest in the diocese and has the fullness of his office. Fr. O’Grady quoted Pope John Paul II who said you can’t do one of the three offices with the others: you can’t govern without teaching, you can’t sanctify without governing.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Michael Medas, Director of Clergy Personnel Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Fr. Michael Medas; How a priest gets assignments Summary of today’s show: Fr. Michael Medas shares with Scot his many and varied assignments, from parishes to deaf ministry to military chaplaincy and now the clergy personnel office. Fr. Medas also explained the detailed 48-step process that goes into assigning a priest to a parish. 1st segment: Today’s guest is Fr. Michael Medas of the Clergy Personnel Office. We’ll be discussing how priests get assigned to new positions and who gives input to the assignments. But first, Scot offered congratulations to the 13 new permanent deacons ordained by Cardinal Seán at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Saturday. Deacons Jim Leo and Kevin Wynn were our guests on The Good Catholic Life a few weeks ago. Photos of the ordination are at . Fr. Medas’ office also assigns deacons as well as priests. It’s an exciting time for his office, he said. Scot said most of the deacons participated in their first Masses on Sunday along with their first homilies. Fr. Medas said a key element of the diaconate is the ministry of preaching. Fr. Michael was ordained in 1988. Scot asked him how he came to discern the call to priesthood. Fr. Michael said is experience of the call was unique. When he first entered the seminary after high school, he found many of his fellow seminarians mentioned a priest who said something in their life or saw a particular quality in them in the context of the Church. A number of his classmates mentioned the influence of religious sisters in their schools. But for Fr. Michael, it was a quiet experience. His family would go to Mass and he would feel a quiet attraction to the ministry of the priest. He was thinking of law enforcement or a medical vocation at the time, but a quiet voice told him maybe priesthood was possible for him. He entered the seminary thinking they were going to kick him out. There was a priest his parish, Fr. Bill Shea, OMI, who gave a homily once about having dinner with a married friend who’d wondered whether he should have considered the priesthood. At the time, he thought that he didn’t want to look back in his old age wondering if he should have considered the priesthood. So he entered the seminary, still planning on another career, waiting for them to decide he should leave. Fr. Michael said his time in the seminary was divided into undergraduate and graduate years and he finally discerned that calling at the end of his undergrad years. It was still a quiet confirmation, a feeling that it felt right and fit him. It was still very challenging to be conformed to God’s heart, mind, and will, but it still felt comfortable. Fr. Michael grew up in Bridgewater and it at the time it was still quite rural with many dairy farms. It was a small town with good family values. Two aspects of the parish that influenced him was the great preaching at Masses that helped him understand that Christ is present in the Eucharist. It is interesting to him that so many who are responding to vocational calls today, that the Eucharist was so central to them. They also had First Friday devotions with Eucharistic exposition all day. As altar servers, they were called to participate. He said the core of what called him to ask if this was what God was asking him to do, was that he had such a great understanding that the Eucharist is Jesus. He knew that whenever he was seeking Christ, he could find him in the Eucharist. As a priest, he wants to continue to share it as gently and firmly as those parish priests. 2nd segment: Fr. Michael’s first assignment was at St. Patrick’s in Watertown, which had many older folks who built the parish and continued to support it. It had a grammar school and high school. Also, being close to Boston, it was a Catholic parish where younger people working in Boston started to locate. Scot said it’s a beautiful big church and still going strong. CatholicTV has its headquarters in the former convent right behind the parish. Fr. Michael said part of our Catholic life is how older members can share faith with the newer folks, while newer folks share energy and vibrancy with the older folks. After that, Fr. Michael went to St. Theresa Parish in Billerica. It is a very vibrant family community. There were 2,000 kids just in religious education alone. There were 3,000 people at Mass every weekend. He recalls how the traditions of the faith were passed on within families from one generation to the next. In 1994, he was invited to prepare himself through study to lead the Office of the Deaf Apostolate. The Clergy Personnel office had sent out a survey to priests listing a series of non-parish ministries to see if they’d be interested. Fr. Michael checked off deaf ministry. When Fr. Michael was in the last four years of seminary, the deaf community came to the seminary with the hopes of attracting the interest of some future priest to work with them. He remembers sitting in the back of the chapel and the Scripture was proclaimed. A seminarian read the Word and a deaf person sat next to him signing the Word. He thought to himself that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us in the signing. We have a different access to understand God’s Word. After meeting with a priest in 1994 who worked in the deaf apostolate, he prayed about God’s will for him. Fr. Michael went to in DC to learn American Sign Language. It is a university specifically for deaf people. It is a place where the language is learn, but also the culture of the deaf is experienced. He earned a degree in social work there and then led the Deaf Apostolate for close to a decade. On the weekends when he celebrated Mass for hearing communities, he’d lose his voice because he stopped using it during the week serving deaf Catholics. He would travel more than 450 miles per week visiting deaf people throughout the Archdiocese, helping them with pastoral needs. Scopt said Fr. Sean Carey is the only deaf priest in the Archdiocese and when he celebrates Mass, it helps Scot to appreciate the Mass more. Fr. Michael shared a story of Fr. Shawn’s vocation. He had been with the deaf community praying for a vocation from the deaf Catholic community. They had received a statue of Our Lady from the Archdiocese and each family in the deaf community would bring that statue home and pray every evening at dinner time that God would send them such a vocation. About two years later, Sean Carey stepped forward. Fr. Michael said God can call anybody because it’s not about the individual, but it’s about God’s ability to work around our sinfulness and weakness. If you hear the Word of God calling you to discernment, it can be a quiet call not a lightning bolt. He said as a priest learning sign, celebrating Mass, he has to consider carefully what the Church means by the words of the Mass as well as the words as themselves. It was a deepening of the understanding of Mass and it also slowed him down in celebrating the Mass. It was a great gift. He still celebrates Mass in American Sign Language about once per month. It’s not always with the deaf community. Often if he goes to Mass with a lot of kids, he will pray the Eucharist prayer in Sign. Many children today learn some signs in school and at home so it’s somewhat familiar and they are often intrigued. After the deaf apostolate, he was assigned to chaplaincy with the Air Force Reserves and then the Air National Guard. Fr. Michael said there’s an even greater shortage of priests within the military communities. There is a sacrifice for a diocese to send a priest to the military, but they are serving people from our own communities who are already serving us in dangerous, life-threatening jobs. Scot said the Archdiocese of Boston has always been a leader in encouraging priests to consider military service. Fr. Michael said many years the bishop of the military archdiocese asked the dioceses to pledge 3% of their priests to the chaplaincy. When people are in harm’s way, they want the comfort of the sacraments, especially the comfort of Jesus in the Eucharist. He served at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford. He also served at the National Security Agency, Maguire AFB in New Jersey, and the Air Force Academy. He has served at the academy for three summers now. He said he wishes every American could meet the young men and women who attend the academy. The chapel there seats 350-400 people and overflows when they come for a time of prayer, seeking to serve their country in the context of serving God. In some ways, his reserve service takes up his regular vacation time. The obligation is two weeks anytime during the year, particularly during the summer, and two days per month. When he finished a prior assignment to the one he is in now, he thought he’d be going back to parish ministry and so he switched to the Air National Guard so that he would have more stability. His ANG assignment is actually in Rhode Island because if their need for a chaplain in North Smithfield, Rhode Island. Prior to this assignment, Fr. Michael was Director of Pastoral Formation at St. John Seminary. He said it was a privileged moment in his seminary formation to just be in the seminary, but then to be called back, knowing how important seminary formation is for the lives of parishioners. He was pleased to have some role in that, particularly in pastoral formation, to help the men develop their skills for the parish. 3rd segment: One of the most important duties of a bishop is to prayerfully discern the assignment of priests to parishes. Fr. Michael coordinates the process that provides the options for Cardinal Seán to choose from. Scot said Fr. Michael’s predecessor, Fr. Bob Deehan, once made a presentation that listed 48 steps for assigning a priest. He was shocked at how detailed the the process was. Fr. Michael has been in the job for a little more than a year. Scot asked for an overview of the process. Fr. Michael said the people in his office give great assistance and play an important role, especially Ruth Cox who has been in the office many years and knows every priest. When a parish becomes open, the Cardinal makes an announcement in the Pilot that the present pastor is leaving the parish and moving to a new assignment. The Personnel office contacts the old pastor to create a parish profile, including all the projects, goals, and hopes of the parish for now and the future as well as the current state of the parish. At the same time, priests of the Archdiocese would be bringing the assignment to prayer and putting their name forward to be considered. Within two to three weeks, Fr. Michael will respond to contacts from interested priests and give them the results of the parish profile. The priests will also be in touch with the outgoing pastor. Scot asked if others could nominate priest they think will be good for the parish. Fr. Michael said parishioners do give their input through the parish profile compiled by the outgoing pastor. Another priest can nominate a priest by telling Fr. Michael why a particular priest would be a great fit. Occasionally, a pastor will invite Fr. Michael to meet with the parish pastoral council or parishioners to speak to them in person. It puts people’s names and voices behind the parish profile. Scot said regional bishops assist Cardinal Seán with relationships with pastors and vicars forane, pastors within those regions who also work with the bishops. Fr. Michael said the bishops and vicars are helpful for considering the needs of a particular town or region or parish cluster when assigning a pastor. Once the process has begun and the Clergy Personnel Board— nine priests who are elected by ordination years and are responsible for knowing the priests in their year-groups— meets and considers those who’ve written in, those whose names have been put in, and every single priest in the Archdiocese. They consider the profile and have lots of discussion, discernment, and prayer. They come up with a list of names for the Cardinal, but first they bring the list to the regional bishop for him to weigh in. They always try to have a list of three names of priests who would be a good next fit. As the Cardinal reviews the three names, Fr. Michael explains the strengths of the three men. Scot asked when nominated priests find out they’ve been nominated. Fr. Michael said when a priest nominates another, Fr. Michael tells him he should talk to that priest so that when Cardinal Seán asks the priest to be the next pastor, it won’t be a surprise and if there’s a reason not to become pastor they will know it ahead of time. Scot said Cardinal Seán sometimes chooses a name that wasn’t on the list, but for the most part the Cardinal is understanding of the process of all the work that goes into compiling the list. There’s so much work into understanding the parish and the priests who’ve applied. But the Cardinal is the bishop and the Cardinal has the grace of his office for the Lord to work. There may also be particulars that the Cardinal knows as the bishop, that others might not. Fr. Michael said the Cardinal has a personnel board too with the vicar general, Fr. Michael, and the secretary of pastoral life and leadership. At the end of the meeting, Fr. Michael’s task is to call the priest that Cardinal Seán has selected. If the priest didn’t know he was being considered, very often he wants to speak to his spiritual director first. There’s a respectfulness on the part of Cardinal Seán for God’s working in the priest’s life. If he accepts the assignment, then it all starts all over again if the priest was already a pastor. Scot said typically there’s a couple of months before the pastor takes on the new assignment in order to allow him to wrap up his previous ministry and for the new parish to prepare. Fr. Michael’s office also assigns parochial vicars to prepare them to be pastors someday. How many assignments should a young priest have before becoming a pastor. They hope for two assignments of 3 years apiece. The first assignment they are transitioning from seminary, living with a pastor. In the second assignment they learn how to be a pastor. But today, they are finding that even within 4 years or in one recent case, less than 4 years, they are becoming pastors. Some pastors are particularly good at forming parochial vicars and being mentors. The younger priest sees from his mentor how to live out his priesthood. Scot said many priests today are second-vocation priests ordained after a long professional career. They still need to transition to the priesthood, to stop seeing things through his old profession and to see it through the eyes of his priesthood.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Honorable Maura Doyle, Supreme Judicial Court Clerk for Suffolk County, and Carolyn Carideo Today’s topics: The Catholic Lawyers Guild and the annual Red Mass Summary of today’s show: Scot is surrounded by lawyers as he and Fr. Mark welcome the Honorable Maura Doyle and Carolyn Carideo for a frank and humorous discussion of the Catholic Lawyer’s Guild, living as a Catholic lawyer in Massachusetts, and the annual Red Mass for lawyers at the Cathedral this Sunday. Also, looking at this Sunday’s Mass readings on forgiveness and the parable of the workers in the vineyard. 1st segment: Scot said Fr. Mark is the judicial vicar for the Archdiocese, but he’s also chaplain of the Catholic Lawyer’s Guild as the vicar. This weekend, the Guild has a big event. The highlight of their year is the Red Mass, which is this Sunday with Cardinal Seán at the cathedral. Scot asked Fr. Mark what similarities there are between canon law and civil law. Fr. Mark said the philosophy of law is the same everywhere and comes to the seeking of justice. But the differences between canon and civil law are very great, including the rigidity of sentencing. Where the highest law in canon law is the salvation of souls, it allows a lot of flexibility in application. We see similarities in situations where canon law is trying to do the same things as civil law, like in the governing of property. Scot said a great aspect of our country is that we are a country of laws and a people who respect the law. In eastern Massachusetts, we also have many Catholic lawyers. Our guests today are Maura Doyle and Carolyn Carideo, one an experienced lawyer and a newer lawyer. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Maura Doyle, who is clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court in Suffolk County, and Carolyn Carideo. Maura has been involved with the guild for about 20 years. The guild started around 1987. Scot asked Maura about her experience and title. She said she is the Trial Court Clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court. It’s the oldest court of continuous existence in the Western Hemisphere and was created in 1692. It was created for the purpose of traveling to Salem to deal with the witch trials, and after it became involved in those trials they acquitted or overturned every case. This trial court had jurisdiction over the entire state for capital cases. The Clerk is an elected position and has been that way since the mid-1800s. At the time the court was becoming so busy hearing capital cases throughout the state that the State created a new superior court with jurisdiction over all capital cases, although the supreme judicial court could still hear murder cases. Prior to her service at the Supreme judicial court, she was a trial lawyer for 11 years in the federal court. She was also an adjunct faculty at Suffolk University. Carolyn has been practicing law since 2007. In 2003, after working in various industries, she went back to school for law at night at Suffolk University. She practices real estate law. She works in a family-owned real estate business. Scot asked how many of her classmates got into real estate or property law. She said not many and even she had been wary to jump out on her own in 2007 and stayed with her current job. Maura is Carolyn’s aunt and godmother and performed the swearing-in when Carolyn became an officer of the court and a member of the bar. Maura gave special attention to Carolyn at the swearing-in above all the others who were present and getting sworn in to Carolyn’s embarrassment. Maura said 3,000 people pass the bar in Massachusetts because of all the law schools. This November, Maura will have reached 30,000 lawyers sworn in during her career. Maura said the practice of law is an honorable profession, one of only three that require an oath (doctors, lawyers, and theologians), and she is troubled when she sees young lawyers minimize the accomplishment and profession. Fr. Mark said the Catholic Lawyers Guild has had a series of article in the Pilot. Two weeks ago, it was on the in which it was argued that the morality of the juror depends on that oath. You cannot separate religion from the oath. Maura said the is the oldest in the US: I (repeat the name) solemnly swear that I will do no falsehood, nor consent to the doing of any in court; I will not wittingly or willingly promote or sue any false, groundless or unlawful suit, nor give aid or consent to the same; I will delay no man for lucre or malice; but I will conduct myself in the office of an attorney within the courts according to the best of my knowledge and discretion, and with all good fidelity as well to the courts as my clients. So help me God. Maura said everyone present is required to stand during the oath because it is what you become at that moment, not something you do for a living. She said there was an effort recently to make the oath politically correct so she said no. Every lawyer going back to 1686 has made this oath. Scot noted that a few give the many a bad name and people have a generally bad idea of lawyers. What does she tell young lawyers? Maura said the Honorable Frank O’Connor would tell the new lawyers that everyone has a joke about lawyers, but everyone would also say that they want to get rid of every lawyer but one—their own. People associate lawyers with litigiousness of society, but they also do so much more than that. They advocate for the voiceless, mend relationships, try to achieve justice, help people put the pieces of their lives back together. 3rd segment: Scot asked Carolyn why Catholic lawyers should become members of the guild. She said a lot of what you might think of as your lawyer-self might make it impossible to be both. But your faith affects all of your life, including being an attorney. Even if its something that’s been fallen away from, learning to embrace their Catholicism will bring them peace and help them find the justice they’ve been trained to seek. It’s also a source of wisdom and community among people who’ve been living the same sort of life. Being Catholic is in your bones. It wouldn’t define you as apart from your peers. But if you embrace it, it can make you a better lawyer. Fr. Mark said the speaker at their banquet was John Garvey, now president of Catholic University of America. He said if you don’t bring the principles of your Catholic faith to your life as a lawyer, what are you bringing? What are you basing your morality on? Maura said she’s found newer lawyers today are very impressed with themselves. They don’t realize that civility and professionalism are important. Courtesy, respect, and civility are part of the Golden Rule. It’s important and society has often forgotten a lot of the manners and professional courtesies. A word should be your bond, but newer lawyers won’t take the word, but want it in writing to use against you later. Scot said hopefully being a Catholic makes you a better lawyer or whatever profession. Carolyn said the lawyers are also fighting against a lot of the ways TV shows and movies portray lawyers. In reality, most lawyers, even those on opposite sides of cases, have a fraternity and are friendly to one another. Maura said in the oath ceremony, she stresses that they are to be peacemakers, not hired guns. Abraham Lincoln that a lawyer, as a peacemaker, has a superior opportunity to be a good man. Scot asked who can join the Catholic Lawyers Guild. Anyone from law school students to the most experienced lawyers can join. There isn’t a formal program yet for new laws, but there’s a wealth of experience among the membership. Fr. Mark said it’s not formal mentoring, but they do have more experienced lawyers reaching out to new lawyers serving in a high-powered work environment. As a chaplain, Fr. Mark attends Board of Directors meetings and represents the cardinal to them and ensures they remain authentically Catholic. On the Saturday of Palm Sunday each year, they have a day of reflection for the Guild. Maura said they also have a Spring lecture, and in the last couple of years it’s been at the John Adams Courthouse. It can be a variety of topics. Recently, it was a canon lawyer who spoke on the history of the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite, which fascinated the civil lawyers. This year was Billy Bulger talking about his new book on John Michael Curley. Maura said young lawyers have a hard time transitioning on how to live their faith within their professions without compartmentalizing them. She said it needs to be brought to their attention that there is a crossover because the laws and rights are predicated on the 10 Commandments. All of those things emanate from religious belief. Some young lawyers don’t see that. Fr. Mark said it’s good to see the judges and lawyers and new lawyers on a level playing field talking about their faith. 4th segment: Scot said this Sunday is the Red Mass, a gathering of lawyers with Cardinal Seán as celebrant. It’s at 11:30 at the Cathedral. Fr. Mark said the Mass is an ancient custom and many of the dioceses in the US have Red Masses. The biggest one is in Washington and the 9 Supreme Court justices attend, the 5 Catholics and the 4 non-Catholics as well. That’s where Cardinal Seán came to appreciate the Red Mass. The Red Mass is called that because of the vestments. It goes back to ancient times when lawyers wore red. Doctors have the White Mass. Cardinal Seán always gives a “be proud to bring your faith to work” homily. After the Mass is a banquet at the Seaport Hotel about 1pm where Chief Justice Philip Rapoza will speak. Tickets for the reception are still available at the door or they can be purchased online. Chief Justice Rapoza of the Appeals Court is a very devout Catholic, Maura said. He is Chief Justice of the Interim Appellate Court in Massachusetts. The Interim Appellate Court was created in 1972 to lessen the amount of appeals on the Supreme Judicial Court. He’s been a judge at several levels and became Chief Justice of the court in 2006. At one point he was also a special judge appointed by the United Nations to an international criminal court for crimes against humanity in the island-nation of East Timor, a former province of Indonesia. They’ve had some great speakers over the years: Helen Alvare, Justice Antonin Scalia, Gov. Casey of Pennsylvania and more. 5th segment: Now, as we do every week, we look forward to this coming Sunday’s Mass readings to help us prepare to celebrate together. Seek the LORD while he may be found, call him while he is near. Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked his thoughts; let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts. Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o’clock, the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ So they went off. And he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o’clock, the landowner found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’ He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Scot asked Carolyn what jumps out to her from these. She said it seems no contracts were signed. But really, what she sees is that we need to mind our own business and not worry about what the next guy is doing. Don’t be trying to be a better Catholic than the next guy. Have your own path and mind your own faith. When you focus away from your own self, you can go astray. Maura said in the first reading it’s the idea of forgiveness that jumps out. In practicing law, just because you have an opposing counsel, they are not the enemy. You need to have forgiveness for those who oppose you. Also, don’t point out the speck in your brother’s eye, when you have a log in your own. In these days, there’s a lot of self-centeredness. Everyone thinks they’re being taken advantage of. There’s also a minimalism where people think they could have done less to get the same wage. Work is not just a burden but is a service. The parable is about how God acted and we should rejoice because God has been generous to those who have lately received his grace. Fr. Mark said God gives the answer to the Gospel in the first reading. It’s the idea of what God thinks is fair. God’s idea of fairness is God treating everyone equally. The guy who waits until 5 to get work is the weakest and least capable. But God treats them with as much respect as the strongest and most capable. Scot said in reading the parable putting ourselves in each of the roles can be revealing. If you’re the last one picked, you’re anguishing over being able to provide for your family. It teaches us to be generous and grateful.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Religious womens’ jubilee; bishops mobilize against contraception; Protecting priests; incardination and the case of Fr. Pavone Summary of today’s show: Scot and Susan discuss the news of the week with Greg and Fr. Roger including the dispute between Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life and his bishop; the US bishops mobilizing Catholics against violation of conscience in healthcare legislation; Fr. Roger’s editorial on protecting priests from false accusations; and women religious in Boston celebrating jubilees and over 5,000 years of combined service to the Church. 1st segment: Scot caught up with Susan this Thursday. She’s off and running with the new school year and so has religious education. This Sunday is Catechetical Sunday and most parishes will begin their programs on Sunday. Parish catechists are frontline apostles, as John Paul II called them. Scot said every parish needs more catechists and listeners should consider helping out. 2nd segment: Scot and Susan welcome Greg and Fr. Roger. Scot said the centerfold in this week’s Pilot is about religious sisters who are celebrating their jubilee anniversaries. Greg said it’s a joyous celebration to celebrate their 25th, 50th, 60th, and even 75th anniversaries of religious life. All combined all these women have given more than 5,000 years of service! The Mass took place at St. Theresa of Avila in West Roxbury, which is Susan’s parish. She said it’s a wonderful celebration. The oldest jubilarian was Sister Declan Sullivan, 93, at 75 years of service and she said it was one of the most beautiful celebrations she’s had. Bishop Dooher celebrated the Mass and praised the sisters for their service and witness. He also connected the celebration to the commemoration of 9/11 which occurred on the same day. Sister Sean Mayer of the Daughters of St. Paul was the youngest at 45 with 25 years of service. She entered the order at 14 and professed at 20. Fr. Roger said in an age where so few make commitments and where those who do don’t keep their word, these women who’ve kept these commitments are a sign of fidelity and what God is saying to us through them about the great mystery of their vocation and God’s great faithfulness to them. It is a sign that God calls each of us in our own way and their vocations are signs to us of our own eternal vocation to be with God in heaven. The Pilot article on Friday will have a complete list of the names of the jubilarians. 3rd segment: The US bishops are asking all Catholics to mobilize to contact Congress and the Dept of Health and human Services to guard our consciences on issues of contraception. Greg said the new healthcare reform law pushed by the Obama administration, health care plans must cover the abortifacient morning-after pill and contraceptives. While there is a conscience protection clause in the regulations, it is so narrowly written that Catholic hospitals, schools, and charities would be required to pay for these drugs and sterilizations. There is a public comment period for these regulations that expires at the end of this month. The bishops are urging people to register their objections at . Susan said we have a moral obligation to act and to let our elected officials know how we feel about this. She noted that antibiotics aren’t being made free or children’s vitamins, but these morally objectionable drugs and services are. Scot said parish bulletin announcements have been sent to parishes. Greg said that if these rules get passed, church organizations may be forced to stop offering health care benefits to employees and their families. Fr. Roger said as Christians we have to vote. He said not to worry about exactly how you word your objection because they’re just adding up Yeas and Nays. Congress is also considering a Respect for Conscience Act that would require all federal agencies to include respect for conscience in their actions and regulations. 4th segment: Scot said on the front page of the Anchor this week is a story about the incardination of Fr. Andrew Johnson, a religious order priest who is becoming a diocesan priest. Fr. Roger said incardination means you belong to a diocese or religious institute or congregation. When Fr. Johnson, he was ordained into the Cistercian Order. Fr. Roger was incardinated as a priest of Fall River. Incardination is a process of moving between dioceses or between a diocese and religious order. Fr. Johnson, with the permission of his religious order, has discerned becoming a parish priest of Fall River. He is currently serving as a hospital chaplain. Scot and Susan recalled that in 2009 Fr. Ken Cannon was incardinated in the Archdiocese of Boston at a Mass at the Pastoral Center as Cardinal Seán recounted in his . Related to incardinations, Fr. Frank Pavone is a priest of the Diocese of Amarillo, Texas, but was originally was a priest of the Archdiocese of New York. He moved to Texas at the invitation of the previous bishop to start a pro-life priests’ group, but now the current bishop, Bishop Zurek, has asked Fr. Pavone to leave Priests for Life and return to the diocese. Bishop Zurek’s letter was strongly worded and accused Fr. Pavone of having an inflated ego and questioning the finances of . Greg said he was unaware of having seen any other public letter that was this strongly worded. He said it recalls the recent situation regarding Fr. Corapi. He did not the statement correctly saying that there cannot be a freelance priest. A priest must answer to a bishop or a religious order. He believes Bishop Zurek is trying to reassert his authority over a priest who has become a freelancer. Scot said Fr. Pavone’s response letter was respectful and responded to many of the issues raised in the bishops’ letter. Fr. Pavone has been focused on providing priestly leadership throughout his priesthood at the urging of bishops like Cardinal John O’Connor of New York. Among Bishop Zurek’s points was that Priests for Life raises $10 million per year without oversight. Fr. Pavone countered that a board of bishops oversees the organization. Fr. Roger said it’s terrible is being played out in public. He doesn’t think there is a more articulate pro-life advocate in the US and he is able to write credible and original weekly columns on this issue throughout the year. Fr. Pavone moved to Amarillo to found a religious order of pro-life priests, but that didn’t happen for various reasons. So he is still a parish priest under obedience to his bishop. Fr. Roger said it’s very unfortunate to have this compared to other celebrity priests who’ve had scandals because even Bishop Zurek’s letter doesn’t allege actual wrongdoing on the part of Fr. Pavone. Fr. Roger pointed out that the Bishop does have a right to ensure that Fr. Pavone is on the up and up with regard to his personal finances because he has a duty to shepherd his soul. The bishop may have gone overboard in his language, but Fr. Pavone has to remember that he is a priest of the diocese. Fr. Roger guesses that Fr. Pavone will eventually incardinate somewhere else under a bishop who will respect his desire to engage in pro-life ministry full-time. Susan said the bishop’s letter was very harshly worded. As is often the cause, the real loser in this is the Church’s work for the unborn. She said the CNS story says Fr. Pavone doesn’t get a salary but that Priests for Life pay for his housing expenses (about $2,000 per month) and his expenses in working for Priests for Life. Scot said some people are trying to tie this to the Corapi situation of a couple of months ago, but there is nothing to compare this with that case or of the previous case of . 5th segment: Scot encouraged listeners to remember the telethon is coming up and asked them to tune in. Fr. Roger write an editorial in this week’s Anchor about a priest in Niagara Falls who was extorted by a drug addict who demanded money in exchange for not filing a false accusation of abuse. Fr. Roger said the priest eventually gave him all his savings, maxed out his credit, borrowed from friends, and even took money from the parish to pay off this man. It came to $90,000. Fr. Roger asked why a priest would feel so vulnerable to a false accusation from a drug addict with so many credibility problems. The answer is that any accusation, no matter how outlandish, sets in motion a series of protocols that aren’t actually in the letter of Church policy but that treat any accusation as credible. At the moment of an accusation, a priest has to leave his ministry, move out of the rectory, stop wearing his clerical clothes, and endure a press release about it. He said in many ways the same injustices that occurred prior to 2002 are now being foisted on priests. In both cases, it wasn’t the policies but a lack of adherence to policies in place. Another point is that it takes so long for these investigations and trials to occur in the Church that it leaves priests in limbo and sometimes they never resume their priestly ministry. Susan asked how long it takes to decide if an accusation is credible. We need to balance protection of the innocent victim of abuse with the protection of the innocent victim of false accusation. How can we speed up the process so these men won’t have their reputations and priestly ministries suspended. Scot said some priests say two wrongs don’t make a right. Greg agreed that the process drags slowly even though some cases are immediately not credible. On the other hand, he is torn. He started working at the Pilot just as the scandal in Boston broke and he saw how the trust of the people was broken. It’s a very difficult call to make. Fr. Roger has some ideas how to defend the full rights of accusers and the accused, to remove guilty priests as fast as possible and return innocent priests. First, there needs to be a real preliminary investigation when an accusation comes in by someone who is competent and trained to determine whether it is a truly credible and plausible accusation. Many times priests are just told they’ve been accused and not given the details of what he’s accused of. Second, a priest who maintains his innocence should be entitled to a speedy investigation by both civil authorities and ecclesiastical review board. There’s no excuse for a priest accused in 2002 to not have an answer to his circumstance today. We need to have the same outrage for false accusations of innocent priests who are hung out to dry just as we had for the abuse of children and the lack of response by the Church. Third, everything must be done to protect the reputation of a priest who has been accused but not convicted or admitted guilt. Scot said he hears similar comments from priests all the time. He said priests recognize that the pendulum needed to swing back to protection of children, but it’s swung too far.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s topics: Understanding and embracing the Cross of Christ Summary of today’s show: On this Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, Scot and Fr. Matt confront the scandal of the Cross, explain how and why Catholics embrace the Cross of Christ as a sign of ultimate love, talk a little about the history of the feast day as well as why our cathedral in Boston is dedicated to the Cross, and then considers the prayers and readings from today’s Mass for the feast. 1st segment: Scot and Fr. Matt will talk about the power and scandal and confusion of the Cross of Christ because today is the Feast of the Exaltations of the Cross, which is important in Boston because our Cathedral is dedicated to the Holy Cross. Fr. Matt told Scot that his office has been working over the past week to plan out their schedule for the next year for youth ministry and young adult ministry. He said it’s important to step back and evaluate, to consider what you do well and what you don’t do well, to look at what they have done over the past year. Especially in youth ministry, you need to do more than just pull out what you did last year and do it again. The Holy Spirit evangelizes each generation in a new way. 2nd segment: Today we honor the holy cross by which Christ redeemed the world. Veneration of the cross began in the 4th century after the discovery of the relics of the Cross by St. Helen, mother of Emperor Constantine, on September 14, 326. In the Western Church the feast came into prominence in the seventh century — after 629, when the Byzantine emperor Heraclitus restored the Holy Cross to Jerusalem, after defeating the Persians who had stolen it. The cross is the primary symbol of our faith. Fr. Matt said we find the cross everywhere in our society, and it is the power of God made manifest, the manifestation of his love. The sacraments bring the power of the cross into the moment of grace it confers. The first prayer we learn is the Sign of the Cross. During baptism, the baby or adult is baptized with water in the Sign of the Cross. In confirmation, the oil is place on the forehead in the Sign of the Cross. And so on through the sacraments. Scot said the YouCat, a new catechism intended for youth in a question and answer format. The Cross on which Jesus, although innocent, was cruelly innocent was the place of utmost degradation and abandonment,. He chose the Cross to bear the sin of the world and bring the world back to God. God could not show his love more forcibly than allowing his son to be nailed to the cross for us. Crucifixion was the most shameful form of execution in Roman times and God entered into the most abysmal suffering of those times. Fr. Matt talked about how Jesus became a curse to redeem his people on the cross. The cross was considered to be a curse and those crucified on it to be cursed. So Christi who is sinless became cursed on behalf of all of us sinners. He was willing to suffer the most painful form of death to show us that he is the true Lamb of God willing to take away all our sins. Fr. Matt said you often realize how much faith is a gift and it takes humility to receive that gift. Fr. Matt told a story from tradition that when the Persians returned the Cross, the Emperor Heraclius carried the Cross back into Jerusalem on his back. He was clothed in costly garments and jewels. But at the foot of Calvary, he couldn’t pass onto the hill. So the bishop of Jerusalem told him that in his costly garments he was far from resembling Jesus. So the Emperor changed into penitential garb and was able to carry it to the top of the hill. In order to conform our lives to the cross, we need humility. Scot noted that Jesus told us that we have to pick up our cross to follow him as well in order to be his disciple. That’s challenging in this culture where we look at self-denial as a big deal. Fr. Matt said the saints are always reflecting on the cross, which teaches us by their witness. They always meditate on the wounds of Christ as a sign of the love of Christ. Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ: “If you carry your cross joyfully, it will soon carry you.” Fr. Matt said Andrea Alberti often preaches the cross to the teens she ministers to and says, “Who doesn’t respond to love?” Evangelization always begins with love. From the love we have in ourselves, we have to introduce others to the love of Jesus. She tells them, “How much are you worth? The Precious Blood of Jesus.” Fr. Matt said the movie The Passion of The Christ was an accurate and shocking portrayal of the crucifixion of Jesus and just what he went through. Scot remembers Jim Caviezel, the actor who portrayed Jesus, talking at the Boston Catholic Mens and Womens Conference about how, even with special effects and protection, how much he suffered himself. And then he understood that Jesus suffered more than just physically, but also mentally as he considered the sins of all of us that he was carrying. In the scene where Jesus falls with the cross at his mother’s feet, you see Jesus close his eyes and hug the cross. Why? Because Jesus knew that this was the means by which he would gain for all of us eternal life with the heavenly Father. It’s a reaffirmation of his mission and why he came. Scot said on Good Friday, the central part of the service on that day is the procession where we all venerate the cross. We can venerate the cross each day as well. 3rd segment: It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is and , both by Danny Abramowicz, Peter Herbeck, Curtis Martin and Brian Patrick. This week’s winner is Christopher Dolan from Seekonk, MA. Congratulations, Christopher! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Here in the Archdiocese of Boston, the mother church is the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and it was a significant choice when the earliest priests in Boston recommended to the Bishop of Baltimore that New England’s mother church be named after the Holy Cross. Fr. Matt thinks of the thousands of priests who have been ordained in the current cathedral and all the beautiful liturgies over the past century plus, including funeral of our bishops and Holy Week liturgies. The current cathedral was inaugurated in 1875 on the Feast of Immaculate Conception, replacing the original cathedral downtown on Franklin Street. At the time, the South End was much more rural. The cathedral is longer than a football field and 12 stories high. Scot recommends listeners visit this beautiful church. Fr. Matt said for those who haven’t seen the giant churches in Europe, they will be struck by the size of it compared to other churches in the US. In St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, on the floor of the church, there are plaques in the floor marking the size of other churches in the world compared to St. Peter’s. Holy Cross is one of the churches listed in comparison. Fr. Matt said as you come down the main aisle, on the right, you see the stained glass window of St. Helen discovering the Cross in Jerusalem. Scot said there is richness in meditating on the cross in our lives, especially when doing so in the Cathedral on this feast. He said the North Transept window allows one to meditate on the resurrection of Christ and on the South side is the exaltation of the cross. In the Blessed Sacrament chapel, up until about a year ago there was a relic of the True Cross there. It was stolen about a year ago, and later returned. It is planned that it will be put back when it can be better secured. 5th segment: Scot quotes the YouCat: “Why are we expected to accept suffering our lives” and accept the cross of Jesus? Why does God permit suffering? Christians should not seek suffering, but when confronted by it, it can become meaningful for us when united with the sufferings of Christ. Human suffering becomes united with redeeming love of Christ. Fr. Matt said that if he had the answers to why there is suffering, he would write a book and make a lot of money. There is no single answer to say why anything happens for a particular reason. We have to look at the cross of Jesus Christ. There is a God who did not remain distant and removed from our human condition, but rather emptied himself, taking the form of a slave and giving himself up to be pierced for our sins. He paid a debt he didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay. He notes that the Holy Father writes to people in suffering that he is “spiritually close” to them. Now imagine how God is even closer to us when we are suffering. If God’s posture is to be close to us, why would he send us evil to drive us away from him? By offering up a prayer for others, to offer up our suffering for the sake of others, not only changes other, it changes ourselves, because it purifies us and helps us to avoid becoming bitter and inward-turning. Scot said one of the challenging questions is why suffering is not doled evenly. Some seem to suffer more. We are told that in the challenges we face, God will give us the grace to deal with them as long as we ask. Fr. Matt said we all know people whose suffering seems to be ongoing and continuous. We look to the Cross and the saints would rejoice in their sufferings. They would say that the Lord loves them more deeply that the Lord allowed them to share more deeply of his suffering. Every single one of us, no matter how much suffering we have, have to consider why we are here on this earth and what is our ultimate destiny. Scot quoted the hymn, “Lift High the Cross”: “Lift High the Cross, the Love of Christ proclaim, until all the world proclaim his holy name!” They then considered the prayers of the Mass today. Scot suggested that listeners take the opportunity to venerate the cross in their home tonight and embrace the cross that redeemed the world.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Jeremy St. Martin, Director of the Archdiocese of Boston’s Deaf Apostolate, and John Hunt, Executive Director of Legatus International Today’s topics: Fr. Jeremy St. Martin and his ministry to deaf Catholics; Legatus’ ministry to Catholic CEOs and their spouses Summary of today’s show: Fr. Jeremy St. Martin tells Scot and Fr. Chris about how he came to the priesthood and the unexpected call to minister to the deaf; as well as all the ways that the Deaf Apostolate works to allow the hearing-impaired to take part fully in the life of the Church. Also, John Hunt of Legatus discusses their ministry to Catholic business executives that recognizes their unique contributions and impact on the culture. 1st segment: Scot asked Fr. Chris how St. John Seminary memorialized September 11. Fr. Chris said they had a beautiful Mass wit the amazing Scriptures for this past Sunday which challenge all of us in the area of forgiveness. Fr. Chris said he was in Washington, DC, on 9/11/01 and he was reminded of the same clear, blu skies. He reflect on praying for the victims and their families. He was also reminded of all the many people who responded to help. He saw at St. Anthony’s Shrine this past weekend that they had a photo of Fr. Mychal Judge, the Franciscan priest who was a NY fire chaplain who died during the response to the attacks. Scot noted that his kids asked why we still talk about it if it happened 10 years ago? He told them that we don’t want to forget, not just the evil acts, but also the heroism as well as the lesson to live life to fullest and enjoy the many blessings God has given us. Fr. Chris also said he was at Sacred Heart Parish in East Boston for a Portuguese festival of the Holy Spirit where the children receive a special blessing. Scot said one of the 23 languages the Mass is celebrated in at the Archdiocese of Boston is American Sign Language. Fr. Jeremy St. Martin is the director of the Deaf Apostolate. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Fr. Jeremy St. Martin to the show. Scot asked him how God planted the seed that led to his ordination. Fr. Jeremy said his parents became very active in the Church when he was about 6 or 7 years old. The change he saw in his parents profoundly affected him at that time. He recalls going to a new parish at the time and he wasn’t too impressed by what he saw, although when his grandparents came with them, that caught his attention. While his mother and her mother-in-law were as different as could be, he saw them change in their relationship to one another during the Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass. This was his first experience of the Mass and he was intrigued by what was happening. As time went on, he became an altar server and got to know the elderly priest who was serving the parish in Little Compton, Rhode Island. Seeing the devotion and simple joy of the old priest, Fr. Jeremy at the time wondered if that’s what God was calling him to. As he went to college, it became harder to continue to practice his faith. He had two friends who were the first in his group of friends to fall in love together and he remembered seeing them together after Mass one Sunday and realizing that they would one day be married and have children. And as he thought about it, he wondered who would baptize the children and it occurred to him that it might be him. A priest once said you have to see if you have the Health, Holiness, Head, and Heart. You don’t have to be perfect in every way, but you have to be doing okay with all of them. Heart in particular is a desire for the salvation of souls. The priest then said people considering vocations should get a regular confessor. Fr. Jeremy was still discerning at this time. The confessor didn’t say anything in any of their meetings for a whole year, and at the end of the year, Fr. Jeremy confronted him and asked him what he thought. He finally told him that he thought he’d be a great priest. Fr. Jeremy looked at many different religious orders because he thought he’d need that community, but he discovered in the Archdiocese of Boston that there is in fact a lot of fraternal support among the priests. He heard that you have to grow where you are planted, and having lived in Boston many years, he entered St. John’s Seminary. Scot asked Fr. Jeremy what led him to want to serve deaf Catholics. He was ordained in 2002 and was assigned to St. Cecilia’s in Ashland. Three years in to the assignment, the pastor told him that the archdiocese called and they wanted him to start studying for the last two years of his assignment. They wanted him to study to serve the deaf. This came out of left field. He had never had any deaf friends or family and didn’t know any sign language. But now he was to become the new director of the deaf apostolate, including providing assistance to a deaf seminarian in formation, now Fr. Shawn Carey, the first deaf priest for the Archdiocese of Boston. Of course, Fr. Jeremy said Yes, but he did ask why him and he was told there was no one else and he was naturally expressive, which helps with being a deaf interpreter. IT also needs to be someone who is creative because deaf ministry is very different from regular parish ministry because there isn’t a lot of institutional experience in the archdiocese. Fr. Chris said Fr. Jeremy was an undergrad at Mass. College of Art and Design and majored in applying new technology to the arts. It had a heavy emphasis on the performing arts. His training could help him manage the stage at an opera, for example, with all the technical requirements. It helped him prepare to stand before a crowd and present himself in public without being overly shy. Fr. Chris said Fr. Jeremy is often seen on CatholicTV, signing for the Cardinal or other people at major events and Masses. He asked Fr. Jeremy the greatest joys of serving the deaf community. It is seeing the community have the Gospel take root in them and share it with each other. Many of them had never heard the saving mysteries of the faith because of the isolation. At World Youth Day, they coordinated with deaf ministries throughout Canada and the US to go together to Madrid and WYD brings young deaf people from all over the world together and meet each other. It was an enormous amount of work for both the leaders and the pilgrims. They often had to be go through extra obstacles, like arriving early for special screening. It’s also the case that many of the deaf have other physical challenges as well. In the end, one of the young people said that they felt like a member of the Body of Christ. For a deaf person to say that is even more surprising given that it is a Christian idiom and very abstract. Scot said Fr. Jeremy signs with such joy and it’s clear he loves this ministry. It’s helped Scot to appreciate this ministry and how much effort they take to include everyone. Fr. Shawn Carey signs the Mass when he celebrates it at the Pastoral Center. It’s amazing how the God’s will gets expressed through the bishop as the ministry seems a good fit with Fr. Jeremy’s skills and temperament. 3rd segment: Scot asked about the activities of the deaf apostolate. Sacred Heart in Newton has a Mass in sign language every Sunday at 10:30 and on holy days. Fr. Chris said in regards to the directions for celebrating the Mass, sometimes they say the priest should “audibly say” something. He asked how that works. In canon law, there is a canon that goes back to the First Council of Orange that said deaf people can exchange marriage vows in clear sign, so it was a recognition that sign language is a true language in which sacramental grace can be conveyed. There’s also another canon which says a deaf person can request an interpreter in confession which is interesting regarding the seal of confession. It recognizes that they are real professionals capable of being discrete. So what the Church asks of deaf ministries is that they take the responsibility for making up for what is lacking for a person who is deaf because the ordinary situation of the Church is set up for the hearing. Fr. Jeremy said some direction for Mass (“rubric”) have the priest say things inaudibly, doesn’t say it, or says it audibly. Deaf ministry proclaims that which needs to be proclaimed to those who can’t hear in ways that they can hear. Scot said it’s interesting to observe Fr. Carey and see how clear it is what he is doing and praying at the same time that hearing priests would be praying aloud. It is a different form of language and communication, but it is indeed language and communication. It’s not unlike attending Mass in another country and hearing the Mass prayed in a different language there. Fr. Jeremy said the apostolate also provides hospital coverage for the whole archdiocese, providing ministry to the sick and dying as well as to the deaf families and friends. They also provide assistance in weddings and funerals, even if it’s just for those who are attending and deaf. They also provide marriage preparation and RCIA, which is a big need because many deaf people couldn’t find good access to catechetical formation early in life. They also work with deaf youth. A full list of their ministries is on their website as well as many videos in which many blogs are provided in American Sign Language. 4th segment: Joining us from Ave Maria, Florida, is John Hunt of Legatus. Scot asked him about the organization as an outreach to Catholic business executives. It is celebrating its 25th anniversary year. It was founded by Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino’s Pizza, after a meeting with Pope John Paul II where he felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to assist in helping the laity to drive the new evangelization of the 21st century. He immediately founded the organization upon his return to the US. He saw the value of the role of business leaders in the life of the Church. They are in a unique position to have an impact for good on the culture and specifically on those who are employed them and their families, people they do business with, and their customers. Scot said John was a business CEO before working for Legatus. John said he was invited to join by a member who thought he and his wife would enjoy the monthly get-togethers. He had no idea what to expect before attending an event. The typical gathering includes the Rosary, the Mass, dinner, and a speaker. John said business people approach the issues of the marketplace and the Church in a highly structured and ordered way as they approach their business decisions, so when they are together with others of like mind who are serving the Church, you realize you are in friendly company with people in a unique position to do good for society. John said there is a sense of camaraderie. One may think of a Legatus chapter as something like a support group, in the best sense of the word. They are people who want to do the right thing and are reinforced in that desire by those they surround themselves with at their gatherings. Personally, he’s been strengthened in his faith by the example he’s seen in his own Chicago chapter and as executive director. There are 75 chapters in the US and outside the country. There are about 2,000 CEO members and in most cases their spouses. Spouses are full members along with their husbands or wives, so there are about 4,000 members. They hope to grow the organization by about 50% over the next few years. Scot said there Legatus chapter in Boston, in Providence, and in Western Mass. that meets in the Springfield area. The Boston chapter’s next meeting is September 28 and Lou Lataif, a former executive of Ford Motor Company and a professor at Boston University. The meeting will be at the Pastoral Center in Braintree at 5:30pm. John said Lou Lataif is a longtime friend and will be a good kickoff speaker for Legatus. He said the Boston schedule through next year includes Tom Monaghan; John Garvey, president of Catholic University of America; George Weigel; Michael Novak; Tom Peterson of Catholics Come Home; Tim Flanagan of Catholic Leadership Institute; Archbishop Tim Broglio of the Military Archdiocese; and Cardinal Seán. John said interested people should take a look at Legatus as a way to enhance the CEO and their spouse’s faith life. Interested people can call 781-369-5048 or send an email to .…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Paul Blanchette and Michael Strong of Pilot Bulletins and Pilot Printing Today’s topics: The parish bulletin as communications tool Summary of today’s show: The parish bulletin is the primary communications vehicle for the church connecting to parishioners. Paul Blanchette and Mike Strong of Pilot Bulletins discuss with Scot how Pilot Bulletins began 10 years ago as ParishComm, their vision for serving the church through their livelihood, and how ParishComm was acquired by the Archdiocese of Boston just one year ago. Also, Scot, Mike, and Paul give their predictions for tonight’s Patriots-Dolphins game and the Patriots season. 1st segment: Scot said one year on September 9, the Archdiocese of Boston purchased a bulletin-printing business called ParishComm that served about 45 parishes mainly in the North Shore and Merrimack Valley. In the past year, they have expanded their service to more than 200 parishes in their printing services and more than 60 who have their bulletins printed every week. Scot welcomed Paul and Mike to the show. Scot said Paul was on the show previously with Fr. Martin Hyatt of the St. Basil’s Cursillo retreat center and Cursillo was integral to the founding of ParishComm. Paul was working in medical sales previously and wanted to find some way to serve the Church. At the same time, he had a friend who developed some parish management software called Church Mouse and Paul started representing the software locally. He found that even though parishes loved the idea, they usually said they couldn’t afford it and would need to have it donated. Then they found that parish bulletin printing generated a lot of revenue that didn’t make its way to the parish and so they determined to sell the bulletin sponsorships and print the bulletins to fund the parish software. The software became ParishSoft, which is perhaps the leading Catholic parish management software. Paul celebrated the 10th anniversary of starting ParishComm, which happened to be 9/11/01. Paul was in Detroit that day with the man he was working with on the software project. Paul’s son was working in New York at the time and was on the phone with him when the second plane hit the Twin Towers. They had been planning to sign the legal papers to start their business, but that didn’t happen. After two days, Paul and an associate rented a car to drive back to Boston. Meanwhile, in the intervening 10 years, the man he was starting the business with, David Rosenberg, has since become a priest of the Diocese of Lansing. At first, there wasn’t a plan to print the bulletins themselves, but eventually they printed it themselves. Paul made his first sale in October 2001 of $354 for an advertising contract. His first church was his home parish, St. Mary in Georgetown. They installed computers and software and used the parish as the testbed. The first year they made $24,000. In their second year, they got their second church. What was difficult was that they were just a couple of guys with a fledgling business and an idea, so they trusted him. They were outsourcing the product and didn’t have control of the printing. It was printed in Michigan and a bad storm could prevent a parish from having its bulletin. So Paul looked into digital printing and the quality was so much better because they could print in vivid color. But that meant lots of infrastructure costs for printers. It was difficult to get past the old habits of parish bulletins, especially getting them to use new covers every week to be attractive and to use the bulletin as a news instrument rather than just a service directory. Digital printing uses large machines that look like office copiers and have the same general functions of a color laser printer in the office. They are different from the more traditional color offset printers, but the quality is similar. Michael said he’s been involved in printing and publishing since the late 1970s after high school, with a detour through military service and working in restaurants. He lived his Cursillo in 2000 and was working at the time in high-end college textbooks on a contract basis. He connected to Paul through Cursillo and was attracted to working in a faithful Catholic environment. Mike continued to work on a contract basis for the Daughters of St. Paul. Mike never expected to be able to work in a place that contribute in some small way for the parish to evangelize with such a high-quality product. It’s satisfying to know that someone might bring a bulletin home that gets picked up and brings them back to church. Paul said ParishComm was a family business to begin with: Paul, his wife Christine, his son Stephen, plus a couple of guys he met on Cursillo. But it was through involvement in St. Basil’s that he found people who needed work and they hired people to help. 2nd segment: Scot said one year ago, after conversation between Paul and Scot, they decided it would be in everyone’s best interest for the Archdiocese of Boston, through Boston Catholic Television Center, Inc., to buy ParishComm. Cardinal Seán determined that it would be helpful to parishes to raise the bar on the quality of bulletins. Paul said there have been 15 new parishes added in the past year and there are 47 more who would like to come on board when their old bulletin printing contracts expire. Every parish is different and Paul goes out to all the parishes to find out what they need and what they’d like. Scot said Cardinal Seán was interested in having a communication tool like the bulletin that reaches more Catholics every week than any other of our communications tools. 300,000 people go to Mass every week and most pick up a bulletin. Scot said pastors tell him that fewer bulletins end up in the parking lot or on the floor because the quality is higher and people want to bring it home. Mike proofs every bulletin every week. Scot asked what is the most frequent content he sees. Mike said he sees parishes put in calendars of everything going on in the parish. He said parishes also take advantage of the full-color glossy covers with provided artwork relevant to the current week’s Gospel or the time of the year. Many parishes used 9/11-related covers this week. Mike said about 35,000 bulletins are printed in a two-day span at the Pastoral Center. That’s about 20% of all parish bulletins in the Archdiocese. Scot asked Paul why he was interested in becoming part of a broader archdiocesan communications effort. Paul said he came to understand that we’re called to do more than make a buck for a living. He realized that there’s plenty of work to do in your own backyard and while they were very strong in the North Shore where they were based, they were looking to expand. Now they’re growing rapidly on the South Shore and even beyond the Archdiocese. Scot said new bulletins are being printed in the last couple of months for Boston University Catholic Community, St. Joseph in Kingston, St. Albert the Great in Weymouth, St. Thomas Aquinas in Bridgewater, Sacred Heart and Our Lady of the Assumption in East Boston, St. Ann in Neponset, and Our Lady of Lourdes in Jamaica Plain. That’s a lot for just a couple of months. Paul often goes to a parish for the first week of the bulletin. He sees people wowed by the cover and then they see how the bulletin’s content has changed to become more informative. Paul said the sponsors love the bulletins because the color ads project their brands better, so now it’s not just a donation to the local parish, but it’s a way of supporting their business to.. 3rd segment: Scot said with the acquisition of ParishComm, there was a deliberate decision to create both Pilot Bulletins and Pilot Printing, as a way to help parishes with all their printing needs. Mike said because of the 35,000 bulletins, the volume of work allows the per unit cost of printing to be much lower so they can offer printing to ministries at a much lower cost than through traditional printers, like Staples for 500 flyers. Scot said he was shocked to see the prices most parishes were paying at third-party vendors, even with a little bit of income for Pilot Printing. Mike said they can offer parishes printing in color what they’re paying for black and white at Staples. They also do lots of flyers and it’s not just for parishes that print their bulletins. If they can save the parish $100 for a print job, that $100 can be spent on pizza for the youth group for example. Scot asked Paul about any unusual printing offerings. Paul said they can print banners of all shapes and sizes for very reasonable prices and put just about anything on them. He said its stunning. Scot said many parishes through the archdiocese have had Catholics Come Home banners printed by Pilot Printing. Mike said he talked to a deacon who had ordered a banner of the same kind from someone else and paid $350 instead of the $89 that Pilot Printing was charging. He said the most frequently ordered items are pew cards, flyers, and posters. He just printed 1,000 posters and 1,000 postcards for Lift Ministries. They also print business cards, magnets, and just about anything else. There’s a video showing behind the scenes of Pilot Bulletin. Mike is also involved in a charity called . In 1998 Mike’s friend died of a brain tumor. The following year he rode the Pan-Mass Challenge,and after that started the Par4theCure Golf Tournament and then started the black-tie golf-themed Golf Ball at the Harvard Club. They’ve donated more than $350,000 to brain tumor research over the years. Pilot Printing does all the printing of course. Scot said there’s a mutual benefit for Pilot Printing where some donors have decided to use Pilot Printing. 4th segment: Scot, Mike, and Paul talked the New England Patriots season opening today and their predictions for tonight and the season. Paul predicted Patriots win tonight 31-21 and they are in the Super Bowl. Mike said tonight the Patriots win 24-10 and their record is 13-3. Scot said Miami is difficult for the Patriots, while Miami lost a lot of home games last year. Scot thinks it will be a close game with a 4th quarter nailbiter. He picked 24-21 and said for the season will be 11-5. Scot thinks last year’s 14-2 record won’t be repeated because the Jets, Bills, and Dolphins will be stronger teams this year. They also have a tough road schedule. Paul predicts 12-4. 5th segment: Scot said many of the people working with Pilot Bulletins and Printing have been involved in Cursillo. Paul said he and his wife Christine have sponsored about 50 people over the past 20 years of being involved with Cursillo. Paul said being able to have his children go through Cursillo in their twenties made such a difference for them which Paul didn’t benefit from until his forties. Cursillo is a three-day experience where a sponsor brings you to a retreat center. The experience removes any of the distractions of life to help them let go and start to live the moment and to really hear what the people who are sharing with them are saying about their live an the difference God has made for them. Scot said Mike has been cooking for the Cursillo retreats since December 2000, just a few months since living his own Cursillo. Mike points out that it’s not just for those estranged from the Church. While some, like him, hadn’t been to church for years, many are people who are already devout. Mike has sponsored several of the Daughters of St. Paul on the retreats. Priests have told him that they didn’t truly living their priesthood until going on a Cursillo after 40 years since ordination. To find out more, go to the…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Msgr. Robert Deeley, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for the Archdiocese of Boston Today’s topics: Meeting the new vicar general of the Archdiocese of Boston Summary of today’s show: Msgr. Robert Deeley, the new vicar general of the archdiocese, recounts his path to the priesthood, his service in Boston and in Rome, his experience working with Cardinal Ratzinger and what it was like to see him elected pope; and how his experience and perspective on the universal Church will help him as a vicar general in Boston. Also this Sunday’s Mass readings and their special relevance to the 10th anniversary of 9/11. 1st segment: Scot said Fr. Mark just got back from his retreat this week. He said he was in Duxbury at Miramar Retreat Center and Fr. Robert Rivers was the retreat leader. Fr. Mark also teaches canon law at St. John Seminary and he was happy to see how full the seminary is now. Scot said he spent some time at the seminary at the end of last weekend. In the last five or six years it went from being half-full to now being space constrained. Fr. Mark said in addition to the diocesan seminarians, there are many others from religious orders as well. Scot said The Good Catholic Life is celebrating its six month anniversary. We began on Ash Wednesday and the time has flown by. He said he has learned a lot about his faith. Also one year ago today, the Archdiocese purchased ParishComm which became Pilot Bulletins and Pilot Printing, which serve the archdiocese. Finally, Scot said his friend Tim Van Damm, who’s been on the show and who works for the College of St. Mary Magdalene in New Hampshire, got engaged last night. Fr. Mark noted that Pilot Printing helps not just parishes, but also the ministries in the Pastoral Center. He’s also happy to celebrate the vocation of marriage. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Msgr. Deeley to the show and gave his congratulations for the six month anniversary. Over the past few weeks he’s found the show to be valuable to local Catholics. Scot asked him how Catholic education K-12 made a difference in his life. He said it was a marvelous education at Sacred Heart in Watertown and at Matignon High. The sister of St. Joseph were able to educate, motivate, and form the students and give them a vision of the future. They also nurtured and encouraged his vocation so that he entered seminary after high school. Fr. Mark asked if any of his teachers have contacted him since he became vicar general. Sr. Zita taught him in 7th grade and is still alive today. Scot asked Msgr. Deeley’s family. One of his brothers is a priest and other worked for the archdiocese. Msgr. Deeley said the Church was part of their lives as kids. His parents were immigrants from Ireland and took strength from their involvement in the life of the parish and the Church. They grew up as altar servers, were involved in parish activities, and CYO. He later was able to be a lector and other activities of that nature. He said he felt a kind of call to priesthood in about the second or third grade. There was something about priesthood that attracted him, but he put it out of his head in high school until he was a junior in high school when Msgr. John Kelty encouraged him to think about. His parents were very supportive of his choice, but encouraged him to do what he thought was the right thing for him. The same for his younger brother as well. Fr. Mark and Msgr. Deeley reminisced about their experience of Msgr. Kelty, including times when each of them lived with him in a parish as priests. During seminary, Msgr. Deeley received a prestigious scholarship to study philosophy at Catholic University and that study in the way of thinking systematically was an extremely important part of his education. It was a key preparation for his later work as a canon lawyer. After that he entered theological studies and then went to seminary in Rome. His first assignment was at St. Bartholomew in Needham under Msgr. Robert Kickham. He had been in charge of the Holy Name Societies in the archdiocese. He had just arrived at the parish as pastor. It was a wonderful time for Msgr. Deeley to learn from mistakes and mature as a priest. He is the uncle of Fr. Robert Kickham, who is one of Cardinal Seán’s priest-secretaries. Then he became secretary of the tribunal and lived at Mary Immaculate in Newton with Fr. Mike Doocey. He had taught for many years in Catholic schools and had a great love for young people and was a wonderful and dedicated pastor. 3rd segment: After his service at the tribunal, including 10 years as judicial vicar, he spent five years as pastor of St. Ann’s in Wollaston. Msgr. Deeley is grateful he had the opportunity to be a pastor and Wollaston was a great place to be. They did some wonderful pastoral planning and had a superb school. He was there from about 1999 to 2004 and was pastor during the abuse crisis and the Reconfiguration experience. He said they were all shocked by the revelations that were coming out and relied on the parish council members who were so committed to the Church and over the next year they worked to heal and understand and move forward. To be part of that community was a grace through that experience. Scot asked if he was surprised to be sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome to work on cases of clergy accused of abuse. Then-Archbishop Seán asked him to take the assignment and he agreed, knowing he had the ability and skills to provide assistance. He intended it to be for 18 months, but it was 7 years ago. He worked alongside Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was prefect of the Congregation. He was instrumental in changing his status from temporary loan to a more permanent member of the congregation. Before Msgr. Deeley came home for his first Christmas, he encountered Cardinal Ratzinger who told him he needed to be back home in his parish for Christmas. After that Christmas vocation, he submitted a requested list of American canonists, but he was asked by the cardinal why he wasn’t on the list. Although he was too old according to the requirements to serve in the Roman Curia, Cardinal Ratzinger waived the requirements. Fr. Mark said Msgr. Deeley was in Boston when it was a Boston problem; went to Rome when it was an American problem; and was there when it was a worldwide problem. What is our reason for hope? Msgr. Deeley said our faith gives us hope in the meaning and message that Jesus gives our lives. “The Almighty God cares for each of us and watches over us and no matter what evil we find in the world—including in the Church—God continues to watch over us now and for all eternity., Why wouldn’t we have hope?” Despite working on the tribunal for so long and dealing with so many failed marriages, he still believes in marriage. In the same way, he still believes in the priesthood and his own priesthood. Fr. Mark said another sign of hope was a man he knew who was an investigator of the crimes of abuse who was around so many good priests and other Catholics that he became Catholic himself. Msgr. Deeley pointed out that it is naïve to assume that abuse of children is a problem exclusive to the Church. It is a problem that is very much in our society. It is not exclusive to America or the English-speaking world. Going back to his time in Rome, Scot asked Msgr. Deeley what it was like for him to find out that Cardinal Ratzinger had become Pope Benedict XVI. Msgr. said on April 16, 2005, just a few days before the election, following the death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, the cardinal hadn’t been in the office of much, but that day was his birthday and so he came by the office after noon. The conclave was scheduled to begin that Monday. During that birthday meeting, the cardinal’s voice from all the talking he’d been doing. He’d work in six languages simultaneously and summarizing for all who spoke those languages. Afterward, one of Msgr. Deeley’s colleagues said, “Robert, next time we see him, he will be Pope.” On Tuesday, there was one ballot and suddenly everyone rushed to the piazza and they were all ecstatic at his election. Msgr. said he was reading something recently by John Paul II and reminded him of how much continuity there is in the teaching between the two popes. Indeed, it’s not just his intelligence that got him elected, but the cardinals saw in Pope Benedict the heart of a good priest. That’s why when he was brought to knowledge of the abuse crisis that he reacted as he did as cardinal and pope. He saw the harm that had been done and moved to correct the problem and do what he could to help those who had been harmed. 4th segment: Scot said the vicar genera;’s job is so broad and he’s described it as the office where all the problems in the archdiocese land and his job is to handle them before they land on the cardinal’s desk. Msgr. Deeley said he is only starting and can describe it as the Church describes it, but it does involve a lot of problem solving. The role of the vicar general is to make it possible for the cardinal to be an effective leader of the archdiocese. If we can help him with the governance of the archdiocese and help him arrive at solutions to the problems he encounters, then that is what we do. Fr. Mark asked the difference between vicar general and moderator of the curia. The moderator coordinates the work of the pastoral center and those who work in central ministries of the archdiocese. The vicar general helps in the governance of the archdiocese, with regard to matters that affect the whole archdiocese, not just the agencies in the pastoral center. Scot said often the vicar general is a leading pastor or auxiliary bishop and believes that Msgr. Deeley was chosen by Cardinal Seán for his experience in the universal Church. What experience does Msgr. Deeley bring from that perspective? He said we need to learn from the universal Church. First, we have to consider evangelization. We have the wonderful message of Jesus Christ and the commission to invite others to become part of that. In parts of the world in Africa and Asia, that effort is tremendous and having tremendous results. We can get caught up in the problems in our American cultural, but in many parts of the world, the wonder and beauty of the Gospel is being proclaimed and taught. We need to learn from that here in the US and reinvigorate the Church from our own proclamation of the Gospel. Cardinal Seán’s pastoral letter on evangelization is a wonderful instrument for that, particularly because he says all we have to do is be Catholic, live our faith, and answer questions from our Catholic faith. Fr. Mark said pastors are very anxious to see what Msgr. Deeley is going to do and how he will coordinate between parishes and central ministries. Msgr. Deeley said he plans to go out about the archdiocese to meet priests and pastoral associates as the opportunities present themselves. Scot said with the change of a bishop or vicar general, people think things will change a lot. Msgr. Deeley said the role of the vicar general is to assist Cardinal Seán with his vision of the archdiocese and his job is to do that. Scot mentioned Cardinal Seán’s priorities during his time in Boston with evangelization as central focus. Msgr. Deeley said we have a message to proclaim to bring Christ to others through our lives. Msgr. Deeley said he knows how painful pastoral planning can be, having experienced it as a pastor in 2004, and he has great confidence in the pastoral planning office and the committee gathered by Cardinal Seán. They are clear on the reality that we have to d address the issues presenting themselves to the archdiocese with regard to priestly numbers, demographics, and Mass attendance. 5th segment: Now, as we do every week, we look forward to this coming Sunday’s Mass readings to help us prepare to celebrate together. Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight. The vengeful will suffer the LORD’s vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail. Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven. Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the LORD? Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself, can he seek pardon for his own sins? If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins? Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin! Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor; remember the Most High’s covenant, and overlook faults. Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.” Scot said the fact that these readings occur on September 11 and they have to do a lot with forgiveness challenges us. Msgr. Deeley said the Gospel especially comes within a series of readings about how we deal with each other in the Church. Forgiveness is an extremely important part of how we are going to be able to live with one another. It is difficult but it is the way in which we come to know God’s mercy and grow in God’s mercy for ourselves. Forgiveness does not mean forgetting. We cannot forget what happened on 9/11, but we have to move forward. Being angry is harmful to us because it ties us up in a way that makes it impossible to act. These readings tell us to let go in order to forgive. Fr. Mark pointed out the difference between righteous anger and the sing of anger, which wants vengeance. He notes that in the story of Cain and Abel, someone asks for vengeance seventy seven times over. Jesus turns that on its heads and commands forgiveness 77 times. Scot said some biblical scholars look at 77 times as meaning infinite. We are called to forgive infinitely. In the Our Father, the only conditional statement is when we ask for forgiveness as we forgive others. What a challenge it must be to forgive for those who were affected by 9/11. But Jesus can bring good. After Good Friday, there is Easter and after 9/11, God brings grace. Noting the first reading, Fr. Mark said we are called to let go of wrath and anger. On Sunday, Msgr. Deeley will be celebrating Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, commemorating 9/11. Scot said Catholics should commemorate by praying hard for those who were hurt by the events of 9/11, for first responders, for government leaders,and for protection from that kind of evil. Scot thanked Msgr. Deeley for being on the show and asked listeners to pray for him as he begins his tenure as vicar general.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: 9/11 anniversary; Msgr. Robert Deeley; assisted suicide petition; Catholic school year starts; Archbishop Chaput’s installation Summary of today’s show: Gregory Tracy and Susan Abbott discuss the news of the week with Scot, including this week’s anniversary of 9/11 and Catholic reflections on the events and their aftermath; an extensive Pilot interview with Msgr. RObert Deeley, the new vicar general; an assisted suicide ballot initiative; the always promising beginning of the Catholic school year; and the homily of Archbishop Charles Chaput at his installation Mass in Philadelphia. 1st segment: Scot noted that today is the birthday of the Blessed Mother. Fr. Sean Carey, the only priest of the archdiocese who is deaf, celebrated the 12:05 pm Mass at the Pastoral Center for this feast. Susan Abbott said she had a workshop today for a total of more than 100 people on the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. 2nd segment: Scot noted that Fr. Roger Landry is traveling, but welcomed Greg Tracy to the show. He said that there’s an article in the Pilot this week which excerpts remarks from in which the Cardinal reflects on the events and aftermath of 9/11. He starts by describing where he was when he heard about the attacks, at a meeting of the US bishops’ conference. They went immediately across the street to the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception for a Mass for the victims. Then he told the story of how he tried to get back to Fall River from Washington, DC. He eventually rented a car with some others. Scot said Cardinal Sean reflects that 9/11 reflected the best and worst of who we are as humanity and also that we all came together to pray. Susan said in her parish they put a notice on the parish website for a prayer service that evening and people began coming back every night to pray. Susan said they had people come to RCIA and other adult formation because of their experience of 9/11. Fr. Roger in his editorial reflected on the lessons of 9/11. The events reawakened most Americans to four fundamental realities in the world: of evil in the world; that death comes for us all; the heroism of first responders and others who risked their lives; and the reality of God. He refers to the Imitation of Christ and its advice: “In every deed and every thought, act as if you die this day.” It helps to bring us back to our roots and our purpose in this life. Susan quoted a famous line that the Devil’s biggest trick is to convince us that he or evil doesn’t exist. But she also went to the Prologue of the Gospel of John that the Light shines in the darkness and darkness has not overcome it. Fr. Roger’s ends with: Some, succumbing to the perennial temptation about why God doesn’t stop all evil, asked where God was on 9/11. Fr. James Martin, SJ, responded that on 9/11 God was offering us a parable. As he was ministering to the wounded at a Manhattan hospital, Fr. Martin looked around at the rescue workers and realized, “God is like the firefighter who rushes into a burning building to save someone. That’s how much God loves us. And I saw this love expressed in the great charity of all the rescue workers who gathered at the American Golgotha.” Fr. Roger said that the Ground Zero Cross is a sign that evil doesn’t have the last word. He ends by suggesting the most fitting way to mark the anniversary is to pray: “… prayer for our country, that we may be strong, courageous and persevering in our opposition to terrorism and other evils; for all our civil leaders and those who are on the front lines in protecting us in the military, police departments, intelligence services and homeland security; for all those who lost loved ones ten years ago; for the salvation of all those who had died; and for the conversion of the terrorists and the cultures that spawn them. And we should make this prayer silently as individuals, as we will at 1 pm on Sunday with Church bells tolling throughout the land. We should make it with our families at home, in living rooms and perhaps exceptionally before television sets. And we should make it in our Churches where we enter into the mystery both of the Cross and of the Resurrection for which the Cross is the prelude.” The Pilot this week reprints the editorial from the newspaper on September 14, 2001, written by Msgr. Peter Conley, who was the editor-in-chief at the time. The current editor, Antonio Enrique, started with the Pilot that very day, 9/11. They reprinted the editorial because it captures the fear and outrage, but also prophetically outlined the issues that our country would have to grapple with from that time. Scot quoted the editorial which noted that Americans were too complacent in their security before these attacks. But Msgr. Conley also ended by saying, “Evil must be named and confronted for what it is — the opposite of a God Who is love.” 3rd segment: Scot said on September 1, Msgr. Robert Deeley began his service to the Archdiocese as vicar general. In this week’s Pilot, Msgr. Deeley gives a lengthy interview on his background, his early assignments in the Archdiocese, and then his work in Rome. He also spoke of his hopes and vision for his service and assessed the situation of the Archdiocese today. Greg said he was most interested by Msgr. Deeley’s background and upbringing because it gave him a sense of him as a person beyond his curriculum vitae as a priest from the early 1990s on. Greg said he felt he was immensely grounded with a wide breadth of experience in parishes, in the chancery, and working in the Curia in Rome. He also was struck by how much he spoke about evangelization and how he sees that as a central part of his mission. Scot said Msgr. Deeley has had three different stints in Rome: as a seminarian; studying canon law; and then for eight years working for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Susan said she was struck by his sense of the universality of the Church, especially from his time in Rome. He later said Boston is not unique and the issues we’re dealing with are shared by other people. She was also touched by his sense of obedience and fidelity. When he was aksed by Cardinal Sean, there was no other answer but to say Yes, out of fidelity to his promise. Scot said no young priest seeks to be a vicar general. Some priests may aspire to become a bishop, but a vicar general deals with every problem in the diocese before it lands on the bishop’s desk. He said he has been moved by Msgr. Deeley’s faith in the one week since he’s been in the Pastoral Center. Susan said we haven’t changed our goals as a Church, to bring the faith to those who do not know it and to encourage and form those who do. Scot also noted that one question asked him whether he was thinking of significant changes. Msgr. Deeley said he will meet with those work for the Church and priests, but it’s really Cardinal Sean who sets the direction. On Pastoral Planning, he said one of the problems of Reconfiguration in 2004 was the swiftness with which it was done. He said the current committee working on pastoral planning is very good and while these things can be painful, he believes people need to be heard and have the ability to enter into the process. Greg said one of his favorites quotes of the whole interview was that now he’d accepted the position, he told the Lord, “Now it’s up to you to give me the strength.” Greg said there will be even more content in the online version that will be available on PilotCatholicNews.com on Friday. 4th segment: Scot said that yesterday Attorney General Martha Coakley certified a ballot initiative in support of the so-called Massachusetts Death with Dignity Act. The Mass. bishops want to form and inform about the inherent evil in assisted suicide as well as worse results. The bishops say in a statement: “We cannot allow for the possibility that government agencies or insurance companies will have an influence on the decision as to whether or not a person’s life is worthy of being sustained.” Greg said this petition is not unexpected and both the Anchor and the Pilot have been writing about this in recent weeks. He thinks the bishops will come out very strongly on this issue because of the slippery slope. He said the bishops quote their 1995 statement: “For once a society allows one individual to take the life of another based on their private standards of what constitutes a life worth living, even when there is mutual agreement, there can be no safe or sure way to contain its possible consequences.” Greg said evil is always presented as a good by its proponents. They phrase this as the need to “help” someone to die. But once you don’t have a right to life, you don’t have a right to anything. Scot said polls show that across the US, whatever their political affiliation or ideology, people don’t trust government, but laws like this would give the power of life and death to third parties. Proponents have used euphemisms to put a little bit of frosting on an evil cake. Susan said you just have to look at other countries that have preceded us down the slippery slope to see where we are going and to see how basic rights have been lost. She encouraged listeners to see the US bishops’ website for more resources. Scot encouraged all to inform their representatives of their views on this issue. Moving on to other topics, the Pilot has an article on the beginning of the school year for Catholic years. The Archdiocese’s school has 42,000+ students, making it the second-largest school system in the Commonwealth after Boston. Superintendent Mary Grassa-O’Neill talks in the article that they have been working with school principals and to help schools develop their Catholicity, academic achievement, and fiscal strength. In addition, Boston College is working with the Archdiocese to help develop a technology strategy for Catholic schools. Just concluded moments ago was the installation Mass of Archbishop Charles Chaput as archbishop of Philadelphia. Scot said it is the most significant appointment of a bishop in recent years because of the problems in Philadelphia right now. He quoted the archbishop’s homily: A married friend told me last week that getting together for today reminded him of planning for a very, very, very big wedding. He was being humorous, but he was actually more accurate than he knew. The relationship of a bishop and his local Church — his diocese — is very close to a marriage. The ring I wear is a symbol of every bishop’s love for his Church. And a bishop’s marriage to the local Church reminds me, and all of us who serve you as bishops, that a bishop is called to love his Church with all his heart, just as Christ loved her and gave his life for her. Of course, my appointment to Philadelphia is an arranged marriage, and the Holy Father is the matchmaker. … In the Church, we believe that the Holy Spirit guides the decisions of the Holy Father. And the results are always joyful if we commit our wills to cooperating with God’s plan. For any marriage to work, two things need to happen. People need to fall in love, and together they need to be fruitful. That’s what we need to dedicate ourselves to today – to love one another and be fruitful together for the new evangelization. Greg noted that the archbishop said the good news is that arranged marriages are statistically as likely to last as other marriages. He also said that in arranged marriages the couple come to know each other and then love each other. This is a response to any question asking why the Holy Father would send Archbishop Chaput to Philadelphia despite having no previous connection to eastern Pennsylvania. Scot also quoted the homily: My dear brother bishops, it’s crucial for those of us who are bishops not simply to look like bishops but to truly be bishops. He ended the homily thus: This Church in Philadelphia faces very serious challenges these days. There’s no quick fix to problems that are so difficult, and none of us here today, except the Lord Himself, is a miracle worker. But it’s important to remember and to believe the Church is not defined by her failures. And you and I are not defined by our critics or by those who dislike us. What we do in the coming months and years to respond to these challenges – that will define who we really are. And in engaging that work, we need to be Catholics first, and always. Jesus Christ is the center of our lives, and the Church is our mother and teacher. Everything we do should flow from that. … Whatever my weaknesses (and they’re many) and whatever my lacks (and they’re many too), no bishop will give more of himself than I will to renewing this great Church. No bishop will try harder to help persons who have been hurt by the sins of the past. And no bishop will work harder to strengthen and encourage our priests, and restore the hearts of our people. And everything I’ve learned in my 24 years as a bishop and 41 years as a priest, and everything I have, I will give to this ministry, because all of you — the people of God entrusted to my care — deserve it, and I love you. Scot said this is why he has so many fans across the country who look to him for guidance and clarity even though he’s never been their bishop. He noted that Cardinal Sean and Archbishop Chaput were seminary classmates as well. 5th segment:…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Kathy Reda Today’s topics: The vocation of the consecrated virgin Summary of today’s show: Kathy Reda reveals to Scot and Fr. Matt the story of her vocation as a consecrated virgin, one of less than 350 in the United States; how her hospital co-workers handled the news that she was being betrothed to Jesus; and how her counter-cultural witness points to eternity every day in her profession as a nurse. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Matt back to the show after being away for nearly a month. They talked on air when Fr. Matt was in Madrid for World Youth Day. He asked Scot is he has rapped the Rosary with his kids yet, referring to our 100th show with Joe Melendrez, the Rosary rapper. The last week has been one of recuperation for Fr. Matt. Scot said it’s a big day at his house today with all three kids starting school, including his youngest who started kindergarten. Fr. Matt said it’s hard to believe the summer went so quickly and the start of the school year is like the beginning of a new year for youth ministry. Scot agreed that much of everything that happens in the Church either follows the liturgical year or the academic year. Fr. Matt shared a very profound experience during the World Youth Day vigil in Madrid with the lightning storm that hit the field of 1.5 million people. At one point, the Holy Father’s aides asked him if he wanted to end the ceremony early, but the Holy Father refused and asked them to stick it out. Then he asked the pilgrims to pray and soon the rain stopped. Then he invited the pilgrims into the silence and 1.5 million rowdy pilgrims went silent for six minutes of adoration. The next day he blessed the pilgrim crosses given to each participant and asked them to be witnesses to Christ. Fr. Matt asked listeners to pray for pilgrims to be able to live that World Youth Day witness. Today, we’ll be talking with Kathy Reda about the little-known vocation of consecrated virginity. Typically, consecrated life is religious brothers and sisters, hermits, secular institutes, societies of apostolic life, and consecrated virgins. Most of these aren’t well known to most Catholics and we plan to profile some of them. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Matt welcomed Kathy Reda back to the show. She was on the show in early April talking about the Eucharistic Congress. Scot read a from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. “From apostolic times Christian virgins, called by the Lord to cling only to him with greater freedom of heart, body, and spirit, have decided with the Church’s approval to live in a state of virginity ‘for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven.’ [Mt 19:12 ; cf. 1 Cor 7:34-36.] “‘Virgins who, committed to the holy plan of following Christ more closely, are consecrated to God by the diocesan bishop according to the approved liturgical rite, are betrothed mystically to Christ, the Son of God, and are dedicated to the service of the Church.’ By this solemn rite (Consecratio virginum), the virgin is ‘constituted … a sacred person, a transcendent sign of the Church’s love for Christ, and an eschatological image of this heavenly Bride of Christ and of the life to come.’” “‘As with other forms of consecrated life,’ the order of virgins establishes the woman living in the world (or the nun) in prayer, penance, service of her brethren, and apostolic activity, according to the state of life and spiritual gifts given to her. Consecrated virgins can form themselves into associations to observe their commitment more faithfully….” Scot said Kathy discerned many different vocations in the Church before coming to consecrated virginity. Kathy said there are 12 of them in the Archdiocese of Boston, 350 in the US, and under 3,000 in the world. Growing up she went to Mass every Sunday, taught CCD, and was involved in CYO. Her family was very involved in St. Mary parish, Dedham. Her mother had an untimely death in 1991 and she grew angry at God and didn’t go to Mass for six years. In 1997, Life Teen youth ministry started at her parish and a woman in the parish started inviting her to be involved but she refused. For four months she asked her to go and finally one Sunday when her car wouldn’t start, the woman gave her a ride on the condition she attend the Mass. She was amazed at what she experienced and started going. On Palm Sunday, during a dramatic re-enactment of the Passion, she was suddenly struck by the reality of Christ dying on the cross for her and she started crying. From then, she got involved in Life Teen and as she shared faith with the kids, she came to know Christ better and better. At first, she didn’t even know what adoration was but it became a powerful part of her prayer life, hearing Christ speak to her in the silence. Scot asked Kathy at what she started to feel called to a religious vocation. She said she always thought she was called to marriage and family, but as she prayed more she began to pray for God’s will for her. As she looked around at religious orders, none of them appealed to her or seemed to speak to an inner voice. She eventually found out about consecrated virginity. She met with a consecrated virgin and it really spoke to her. What about the life of a consecrated virgin attracted her to this particular vocation in the Church? Because she also love being a nurse, she didn’t have to give that up. Consecrated virgins live and work in the world. Fr. Matt asked how being a nurse is part of her vocational journey. Kathy said anything you do in life is a calling. God puts on your heart what he has planned for you. For nursing, you want to be there for people and help them. She knew her whole life she wanted to be a nurse. Fr. Matt noted she gave up something in giving up marriage, but now has a relationship with Christ with Him at the center of her life. Fr. Matt said he’s known Kathy for many years and he sees being a nurse in her DNA. Consecrated virginity informs being a nurse and makes it greater. Kathy said the people she works with just don’t understand consecrated virginity. They often claim she won’t be fulfilled without a sexual relationship, but she replies that she knows many people who are and who aren’t fulfilled. This isn’t a sacrifice for her. She lives with Jesus in that, as a consecrated virgin, she can ask her bishop to allow her to have a chapel in her house with the Blessed Sacrament reserved. This fulfills her in the way that others are fulfilled by marriage. Kathy fell in love God, but it’s a unique way compared to how others love God. It is a more spousal type of love. In the rite of consecration, the virgin wears a wedding gown and marital imagery is a large part of the vocation. She becomes betrothed to Christ. Kathy said Christ is always present to her in a particular way that she is called to be his. 3rd segment: It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is by Frederick Marks and by Patrick Coffin. This week’s winner is Denise Chmielinski from Ashland, MA. Congratulations Denise! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 4th segment: Scot said the rite of consecration is very beautiful. He asked about the promises made in the rite. Kathy said they promise to live a chaste and holy life, to pray the Divine Office, to attend daily Mass, to spend a lot of time in prayer for others, and to remain unmarried and without children. They aren’t promise obedience or poverty because they support themselves with their own jobs. Scot noted all Catholics are called to chastity within their state in life, while consecrated virgins are called to celibacy. Scot asked how difficult it is to live such a witness in a hyper-sexualized society? Kathy said at first even she was squeamish about telling everyone she was becoming a consecrated virgin. Her co-workers have asked every possible question about it and they just don’t get it at all. Fr. Matt said Kathy is living the eternal marriage feast of the Lamb of God, as depicted in Scripture, and she’s living it now while we will be living it in eternity. The consecrated virgin is a living sign of something that points to something beyond ourselves. Kathy said the reaction to her announcement of her ceremony was, first, “What?” and then, “That’s kind of cool.” One Jewish doctor at work, when she told him she was marrying Jesus, he said, “I knew you’d marry the top of the class and marry a Jew.” BEhind her back, she’s heard people wondering if she knows what she’s doing. Scot said our society confuses pleasure and happiness. People have a problem understanding vocations in the Church that involve a commitment to chastity because they think happiness depends on unbridled pleasure. Fr. Matt said a common theme among young adults who won’t be committed to one another in marriage and then eventually kind of back into it, rather than considering from the beginning whether God has a plan for them to journey together in this life and into the next. They are so caught up in the moment, they don’t step back to look at the wider ideal that God has a plan for our lives. Kathy said she doesn’t wake up every day acknowledging she won’t have kids or a husband. She just is who she is. She lives in the presence of Christ and through the sacraments she stays connected to Christ. It feeds who she is. Kathy gets up at 5am to pray before work. She’ll often work a shift that begins at 7am. If she has an 8-hour shift she attends Mass after work, but if she does have 12-hour shift, she won’t be able to go that day. As a consecrated virgin, she doesn’t live in community so Scot asked who her “community” is. Kathy said the community of her parish as well as another consecrated virgin she meets with monthly. Annually, she attends a retreat in Chicago for a national meeting of consecrated virgins. 5th segment: Kathy said being a consecrated virgin is a very joyful life. She encouraged all to pray and ask God to reveal what He is calling them to. It is a grace and honor to be His spouse. When you are completely his and can live for him, it makes the path clear. Fr. Matt asked whether Kathy is lonely or how she deals with questions of what happens when she dies. She recalled Psalm 60: “My Lord, my happiness lies in you alone.” God provides in this life and the next. Kathy said we have to get the word out, especially to priests, so they can share it as an option with those who are discerning God’s will for them.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Derek Borek, spiritual director at St. John Seminary * [St. John Seminary](http://www.sjs.edu) * [Program of Priestly Formation, USCCB](http://www.usccb.org/vocations/ProgramforPriestlyFormation.pdf) * [Pastores Dabo Vobis](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_25031992_pastores-dabo-vobis_en.html) **Today's topics:** What is spiritual direction? Is it for everyone? **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Derek Borek joins Scot and Fr. Chris to talk about his work as spiritual director at St. John Seminary; to explain what spiritual direction is; how it is not just for priests and religious, but for all Christians seeking to deepen their relationship with the Lord; and how to go about finding a spiritual director. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Chris back to the show and asked him how his Fourth of July weekend was. They had a Mass at the seminary and Fr. Chris discovered that there are particular prayers for Independence Day. The Church acknowledges the good and prays for areas of growth. The prayers talk more about the nation and the work of the Holy Spirit uniting us together. Fr. Chris noted how people of diverse backgrounds are brought together on Independence Day. Scot said it was amazing how diverse the crowd was at Walden Pond in Concord, people speaking 10 or more languages. Growing up in Lowell, Scot heard from his Cambodian and Loatian classmates how precious America is to them. Fr. Chris was able to watch the fireworks from the roof of the rectory at Sacred Heart in East Boston. Scot watched the fireworks from Cambridge. Fr. Chris is getting ready to celebrate a Mass for the Missionaries of Charity on Thursday. They run a day camp for 50 or 50 young people, teaching them about the faith and Mother Teresa. The sisters provide a set of eyes and ears for the kids during the summer while their parents are working. Scot noted that today is his parents' 42nd anniversary. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Borek to the show. He asked him how came to his vocation. He hadn't really thought about the priesthood growing up. In high school, he was greatly influenced by a Protestant friend with whom he discussed faith. He challenged Fr. Derek about what he really believed. So he questioned what he believed and it was in college that he started to sense God's calling to the priesthood. He had a friend die suddenly in an accident and that made him step back and take stock. He became attentive to God's presence in his life. At U. Mass Lowell, he got involved in campus ministry and the chaplains had a great influence on him. After graduating he went to the seminary. Fr. Derek grew up in Quincy and went to public school all his life. There is a diversity in the seminarians who come from public and Catholic schools. His decision to enter seminary was a practical decision. While he'd felt the call for 4 years, he had been resistant. He had no loans to pay off, had no girlfriend, didn't have a job, or grad school lined, so he decided to take the chance and explore the option. Over the next five years, he grew in relationship with the Lord. Like many seminarians, he did not know for sure he had a vocation to the priesthood, but he was willing to discern that in the seminary. Seminary formation helps a man come to a greater understanding of the life and responsibilities of the priest and the best place to learn that is in the seminary. Fr. Chris said the faculty's job is to help men figure out what God wants them to do. Discernment comes from God, from the men, and from the Church and if all three are saying that there is a call, then there is a clear indication. That's an important part of the whole process. The men don't sign their life away by walking in the door. Fr. Chris said a seminarian told him that he wished every Christian man could enter the seminary because even if they don't become a priest they are formed in Christian virtue and gain the tools that would make them great fathers and husbands if not priests. His background helps him remember that men in spiritual direction will have uncertainties and he shouldn't impose on them a sense that they need to have it all figured out. **3rd segment:** In talk about spiritual formation, there are two different fora: the external forum and internal forum. The internal forum contains spiritual direction and it allows confidentiality because it is just between the spiritual director and the seminarian. External forum deals with aspects of formation that would be manifested in his demeanor, public person, and academics. Spiritual directions concerns the inner man. It also pre-supposes a life of prayer. The spiritual director is the third person in a conversation the person is having with the Lord. It's not telling a man what to do, but primarily being attentive to the movement of the Spirit and helping understand more clearly what the Lord is saying to him, particularly the question of what is his vocation. Fr. Chris recalls having people come to spiritual direction, not knowing why they are there, and then as they talk revealing where the Lord is in their life. The spiritual director helps put the pieces on the table and discern where the Lord is active in their lives. It's not just for seminarians. As they are ordained, the men are encouraged to find a spiritual director to keep them honest and accountable and to help direct the prayer life. Fr. Derek said the spiritual director is for discussing the seminarian's relationship with the Lord in a deeper way than they might talk with a formation director. For example, on the issue of celibacy, as the man considers the reality of forgoing marriage and family life, it can have so many effects on the man as he copes with that idea. Or difficulties with academics or relationships with people around him that he feels discussing more confidentially. But first and foremost what's going on in his prayer life. The Sacrament of Reconciliation can be part of spiritual direction, but it's up to the seminarian. That would be ideal, because the relationship allows the director to advise in the most intimate details of life. But it's important that each seminarian be able to choose his confessor. There is training to become a spiritual director. Fr. Derek went to a three-week program at the Institute for Priestly Formation. There were lectures coupled with role-playing as both directee and director. He found it nerve-wracking when they had to role-play before the class. The spiritual director begins the session with prayer, either led by himself or the directee. The latter allows something to come up for discussion from the prayer. Then he allows the seminarian to bring up what he sees as needing to be discussed and then they go from there. If there's something from a past session that needs to be followed up, then Fr. Derek will bring it up. In some sense, it is really the Holy Spirit who directs. Scot said in Confession a priest can't bring up previous confessed sins and ask how the penitent is doing it. In spiritual direction they definitely can bring up issues that come up in spiritual direction. The confidentiality is not the same as the seal of the confessional. If it's working well, the seminarian will see improvement in his own life of grace. If he's committed to his life of prayer, he will grow in knowledge of God, in the life of charity and virtue. Fr. Chris said it is a privileged position for him to see the hand of God working in other's lives. Fr. Derek said when you can the Lord at work in another's life, it helps him to appreciate the ways the Lord works in his own life as well. This was his second year at St. John's. In his first year, he was the Dean of Men, working primarily in the external forum. In two years, he's seen the two difference fora. As a spiritual director, he's been able to get to know a number of the men even better. He's able to see in a more specific manner how the Lord is at work in the lives of these men. It's different than seeing it in the external aspects of their lives. It's another thing to see it at work in their hearts. He has been admitted to a mystery, which is an awesome experience. Fr. Chris said he can only see the external signs of the man's attitudes, but Fr. Derek can see what others cannot. Fr. Chris said the faculty votes on every man that goes through the seminary and make recommendations to their bishops. Fr. Derek does not vote and makes separate recommendations. Fr. Derek said he helps the men warm up to spiritual direction by helping them understand it's a safe environment to talk. He is himself very guarded and careful in opening up to people. **4th segment:** Scot said spiritual direction isn't just for seminarians or priests, but it's a helpful tool for everyone to grow in holiness. Fr. Derek said spiritual direction in the seminary is focused first on discerning vocation to the priesthood and all other aspects that fall under that. But spiritual direction in general is helping someone to grow in intimacy with the Lord. It's for anyone seeking that deeper intimacy. It is a means of helping someone stay accountable to spending that time in prayer and being attentive to where God is active in their life. Fr. Derek began spiritual direction in college and his first spiritual director was a woman religious. In a sense, it's just like what seminarians: an extra pairs of ears to help you determine what the Lord is calling you to and to see the Lord's presence in your life. There priests and religious and even lay spiritual directors. It's about finding the person with whom you'd feel comfortable talking to about the movement in your heart. They should be a holy person who can help. The directee brings their experiences in prayer and receives in seeing God's hand in it. Fr. Chris has many lay people studying at the seminary in the Master of Arts in Ministry or the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization who are required to attend spiritual direction. These people will themselves be offering spiritual direction, even informally, when they return to their parishes, so it is important that they experience it themselves. It's also important for them to be sure they are doing what they're doing for the right reasons. People going through major life changes or struggles are prime candidates for spiritual direction. Fr. Derek said in the major moments of life, we can be more attentive. It's difficult in the ordinariness of life to realize we need to grow more and more in holiness and to be more attentive. They encourage seminarians every day to make an examination of conscience to recognize the blessings they've received and to see the ways God was active in their life and then to be attentive to ways that they were not open to His grace. Spiritual direction takes that one step further, and instead of one day looks at larger parts of their life. Fr. Chris said in his own spiritual direction, he feels like about 75% of the time it's more like coaching him where he needs to improve or reaffirm what he already knows. But there are other moments that are grace0filled where the spiritual director can open the eyes up to a whole new vista that he hadn't even considered. **5th segment:** Scot asked how someone would find a good spiritual director for themselves. Fr. Derek said they should look for someone who is themselves in tune with the Lord, with an active prayer life, and is growing in virtue as well. First, go to the pastor. HE might not be able to provide spiritual direction himself, but he would be a good resource to point you to someone who would be able to direct you. Or a religious community might be able to offer someone who can be a spiritual director. Fr. Chris noted the Oblates at the Shrine of St. Joseph in Lowell and the Franciscans at Arch Street in Boston. He said the person must be comfortable with the spiritual director and the relationship has to be based on trust and respect. Sometimes, you might need a new spiritual director to take you in the new directions you need to go. A good spiritual director will recognize it themselves and take that step first. Fr. Derek said the asks the directee to make a commitment of six meetings and at the end of those meeting they will reevaluate and determine whether this is something that is going to work from both perspectives. Each person needs to have a thick skin to recognize whether the direction is going to work. Scot said it sounds like the best way is to ask people in the faith you trust. Maybe you can take it to prayer and ask God to reveal where to go for a spiritual director.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Dr. John Garvey, president of Catholic University of America, and Domenico Bettinelli, creative director of the Office for New Media of the Archdiocese of Boston * [Catholic University of America](http://www.cua.edu) * [Office for New Media](http://www.pilotnewmedia.com) **Today's topics:** Catholics in new media; Catholic University of America **Summary of today's show:** Dom Bettinelli joins Scot to talk about new media and how the Church and all Catholics should engage the "digital continent," then Scot and John Garvey, president of Catholic University of America, discuss the link between virtue and the intellectual life and how that resulted in a decision to have single-sex dorms only. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes everyone to the show on this Independence Day holiday. He said Pope Benedict has focused in his recent addresses for World Communications Day on the need for each of us in the Catholic Church to embrace the "digital continent." That will be today's primary topic. He will also interview Dr. John Garvey on his first year as president of the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, as well as his recent decision to make all dorms at the university single sex. Scot welcomed Dom Bettinelli to the show. He's usually behind the scenes of the show, making these shownotes and maintaining the website, but now he's in front of the mike. * ["Social media: Friend or Foe, Google or Hornswoggle," presented by Bishop Ronald Herzog at the US bishops, Fall 2010](http://www.usccb.org/meetings/2010Fall/2010-address-social-media.shtml) * [Pope Benedict's message for the 43rd World Communications Day](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20090124_43rd-world-communications-day_en.html) * [Pope Benedict's message for the 44th World Communications Day](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20100124_44th-world-communications-day_en.html) * [Pope Benedict's message for the 45th World Communications Day](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20110124_45th-world-communications-day_en.html) * [Address by Pope Benedict to the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, 2009](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2009/october/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20091029_pccs_en.html) * [Address by Pope Benedict to the Congress on "Digital Witnesses: Faces and Languages in a Cross-Media Age," 2010](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2010/april/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20100424_testimoni-digitali_en.html) * [Address by Pope Benedict to the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, 2011](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2011/february/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20110228_pccs_en.html) Ever since Scot has known Dom, which predates their working together, Dom has been one of the pioneers within the Boston archdiocese for the embracing of new technologies in terms of blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. Dom said is interest in the technology for using it to communicate the faith goes back many years to when he was a child. He was on the leading edge of the Internet and there's been something exciting about connecting to people far and wide throughout the world, to be present to one another even when not physically present. Dom's wife Melanie is also very involved in new media. Scot asked if they met online. They met at Mass during the sign of peace. Dom set up Melanie's first website when they were dating. It was a way for her to communicate with her students when she was teaching at Salem State College. Now he refers to her as the famous blogger in the family with a wide audience. Her blog is at [The Wine Dark Sea](http://www.thewinedarksea.com), which is a reference from Homer--the Greek, not the cartoon character. Scot and Dom will be looking at a document delivered by Bishop Ron Herzog of Alexandria, Louisiana, to his brother bishops at the meeting of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) last November on social media. He got the bishops up to speed on both the technology and why every diocese should embrace it. He also articulated that people who embrace this new form of communication are on a digital continent. Dom said when the Holy Father refers to it as a digital continent he's connecting to the Church's history of evangelization, when the apostles and later Christians spread out the world with the Gospel. This is yet another part of the new world. It's a new place to bring the faith. Bishop Herzog said: >Pope Benedict XVI calls the world of social media a Digital Continent, with natives, immigrants, and even missionaries. He encourages Catholics, especially our priests, to approach this culture of 140 characters and virtual friendships as a great opportunity for evangelization. We are asked to respect the culture of these Twitterers and Facebookers, and to engage on their terms to bring Christ into their “brave new world.” Dom said the natives are anyone under the age of 25, who have grown up without ever knowing a world without the Internet, without email, without instant worldwide communication. Maybe other older people who've been living in this world on a daily basis for years. The immigrants might be anyone else who've seen the Internet, like our parents and grandparents, who use the Internet now to stay connected with family and friends and to be informed and entertained. The missionaries should be all Christians. Pope Benedict is clear about bringing Christ to the Internet, to be Christ for people because the Internet can be a vast wasteland. There's a lot of emptiness. You can see the yearning and even hostility toward faith. **2nd segment:** Bishop Herzog begins his address with: >I often hear people, both in my work and in my circle of friends, who dismiss social media as frivolous and shallow. Who can blame them? > >Twittering. >Status updates. >Blogs. >The very words used by the practitioners seem to beg for ridicule. Their light-hearted twisting of the language suggests that these are the latest fad in a culture that picks up and drops fads quicker than the time it takes me to figure out my cell phone bill. I am here today to suggest that you should not allow yourselves to be fooled by its appearance. Social media is proving itself to be a force with which to be reckoned. If not, the church may be facing as great a challenge as that of the Protestant Reformation. >That sounds like more hyperbole, doesn’t it? But the numbers are compelling. There are more than 750 million Facebook users, bigger than every country but China and India. Bishop Herzog is addressing his brother bishops, most of whom are in their 50s, 60s, and 70s; only a handful of them are in their 40s. Only a handful embrace new media. Dom said it's good he's trying to put them in terms they can grasp. It's easy in this world of consumerism, of a fad a minute, to dismiss this as something that will be here today and gone tomorrow, replaced by some shiny new distraction. But this is a fundamental sea change in communication. This is as big of a change in society as the Industrial Revolution, as Pope Benedict says. It changes everything. The Church has to embrace if we don't want to end up with another problem as big as the Protestant reformation when the Church was slow to embrace the change of communications caused by the printing press. This is something we need to be a leader in. The Church has to be a leader in communications because the Church has the most important message. Scot asked why this is truly a revolution. Dom said it changes the relationship among institutions and individuals. In the past, you get your newspaper from a big corporation with lots of reporters and editors and photographers who hand it to you and it has an authority to it. Then the individual consumes it. It's a one-to-many conversation. With the Internet all those barriers are gone. Anyone can set up a website or start a podcast. Everyone can use Twitter and Facebook. It doesn't cost much money to start these things. You can set up a nice blog for free. A podcast requires a little technical gear and some costs, but compared to starting up a newspaper or magazine or radio station or TV station, it's nothing. The expectations people have are very different. People expect a dialogue with the institutions and organizations they interact with. Some companies already get this. If went on Twitter today and complained publicly about Comcast, you would get a Twitter response from someone who worked for Comcast asking how they can help. People expect an immediacy of response. As the keeper of the Archdiocesan Twitter account, Dom has tried to do some of this. For example, there was someone from the West Coast who went on Twitter and said he needed help from a Catholic in the Boston area to get a priest to visit someone in the hospital. He'd said that it seemed there weren't any priests willing to help someone, which obviously wasn't true. Dom knew that it just had to be a breakdown in communications of some sort. He jumped in and asked how the archdiocese could help. Long story, short: They did get a priest in to see this lady and the guy went from being hostile toward the Catholic Church to being really appreciative and complimentary to what Dom was doing. It was a simple thing, but it goes to what people expect in this one-to-one dialogue. Scot said Bishop Herzog and Pope Benedict talk about how this is a different culture. This is how people receive information, it's how they exchange information, and it's the way they form their ideas about what's going in current events or how the teachings of Jesus Christ as relevant to them. Bishop Herzog writes: >One of the greatest challenges of this culture to the Catholic Church is its egalitarianism. Anyone can create a blog; everyone’s opinion is valid. And if a question or contradiction is posted, the digital natives expect a response and something resembling a conversation. We can choose not to enter into that cultural mindset, but we do so at great peril to the Church’s credibility and approachability in the minds of the natives, those who are growing up in this new culture. This is a new form of pastoral ministry. It may not be the platform we were seeking, but it is an opportunity of such magnitude that we should consider carefully the consequences of disregarding it. He's trying to say to his brother bishops that this isn't a fad, but that this is the way people communicate. The Church needs to embrace it and they need to do it well. That doesn't mean just the bishop has to have a Twitter account, but that he needs to champion and help promote an attitude among everyone working for the Church and every Catholic in the pew to share their faith and information about what they're doing in this way. Dom said it's also not just about links to press releases. It's about being present, having a ministry of presence on the Internet. His caution on egalitarianism is well taken because there can be a sense where every voice on the Internet is as authoritative as the next. Who do I believe, where do I turn for the truth? This is why we need the authoritative voices of the bishop and his appointed ministers online to be that authoritative voice for the Church. Bishop Herzog gave an example of the USCCB's Facebook page which can highlight the power of social media, which can be an inspiration for a parish, a diocese, or a ministry. >The USCCB started a community on Facebook last August. There are now 25,000 ‘fans’ associated with that community. Every day, USCCB staff provides at least four items of information to those 25,000 people: the daily Scripture readings, news releases, links to information on our marriage and vocation websites, and other information. Furthermore, if those 25,000 are like the average profile of a Facebook user, they have 130 friends, or contacts, on Facebook. With one click they can share the information they receive from USCCB. If only 10 percent of the USCCB fans share what they receive from USCCB, we are reaching 325,000 people. Multiple times a day. All it costs us is staff time. Scot said it's the most efficient way of communicating with large numbers of people that we've ever had. Dom said there's no printing costs, no paper, no ink, no trucks to deliver it. Facebook carries the freight. All it takes is a little time. The Archdiocese has a Facebook page: [Facebook.com/BostonCatholic](http://www.Facebook.com/BostonCatholic). We do something similar. There is a priest of day to pray for, Scripture readings of the day, and any interesting news stories that have something to do with the faith in Boston. People link to them and click on them, they love to see their priests' names up there. There's a connection that people have, an identity is created with the Church that they might not otherwise have. People in the Boston area have an identity with the parish especially. This gives them a connection with the Church of Boston, the Archdiocese. It widens the scope a bit. **3rd segment:** Scot asked what the Archdiocese of Boston is doing in social media and how people can connect with it. If you have a Facebook account, go to Facebook.com and search for Boston Catholic or Archdiocese of Boston or go directly to [Facebook.com/BostonCatholic](http://www.Facebook.com/BostonCatholic), click "Like" and become one of the 1,300-plus people who like the Archdiocese. There's no obligation on the user's part. Items from the Archdiocese will show up in your news stream automatically and you can share them with your other Facebook friends, just like Bishop Herzog was talking. There's also Facebook pages for [The Pilot](http://www.Facebook.com/TheBostonPilot) and [CatholicTV](http://www.facebook.com/catholictv) and [this program](http://www.facebook.com/thegoodcatholiclife). Scot asked what's the advantage of liking those pages. One benefit is that it helps promote the good works of those ministries. For The Good Catholic Life, they would see a link to the day's show, including shownotes and a downloadable podcast, photos. The Pilot posts links to articles throughout the day and so readers don't have to wait until the end of the week to see the latest news. Twitter is for very short messages with links to particular stories. The Archdiocese's account is [Twitter.com/BostonCatholic](http://www.twitter.com/BostonCatholic), but CatholicTV, the Pilot, and The Good Catholic Life also have them. Twitter is a different medium. Dom said Facebook has a lot of other stuff going on, but Twitter is focused on that communication. It's also a broadcast medium in which anyone can see what's written. You don't have to be a member or follower to see. But if you do follow you get the messages automatically. But you would join because you want to communicate directly with someone. A lot of people like to "retweet" which is the equivalent of forwarding, the interesting things you read. Dom said if you really want to be entertained, follow Bishop Chris Coyne on Twitter [(@bishopcoyne)](http://twitter.com/#!/bishopcoyne), who's originally from Boston but is now an auxiliary in Indianapolis. He's one of the most amazing bishop-tweeters out there. He gets it. If you want to see what a bishop can do on Twitter, you should follow him. His tweets from when he was at the Indianapolis 500 to give the invocation were priceless. Scot said beyond Facebook and Twitter are blogs and certainly many people know about [Cardinal Seán's Blog](http://www.cardinalseansblog.com), but there are other priests who have blogs. They're a great way to learn about issues, usually in depth. Dom said there are several kinds of blogs, including newsy ones that discuss what's topical, including blogs by canon lawyers and priests who blog about the liturgy and Catholic fathering, blogs about being a great Catholic moms. There's an amazing diversity of intellect and experience. As a Catholic dad, he enjoys reading Catholic moms. The Archdiocese also posts videos on [Youtube](http://www.youtube.com/BostonCatholic) and [Vimeo](http://www.vimeo.com/BostonCatholic). Whenever they use a visual medium, Dom puts it on Youtube and Vimeo. Vimeo has a bit better presentation and technology, while YouTube is just ubiquitous, everywhere. This summer, the Office for New Media is going to Madrid for World Youth Day with the Boston pilgrimage and will be covering the event at [WYDMadridBoston.com](http://www.wydmadridboston.com), where there will be videos, photos, blog posts everyday, following the pilgrims, helping people follow along. Video will be priceless for that because it will be posted within moments of the events taking place in some cases. Scot said the great photo-sharing site is Flickr.com and the Archdiocese's site there is [Flickr.com/BostonCatholic](http://www.flickr.com/BostonCatholic), where George Martell's photos of archdiocesan events are put. Dom said they have some great technology that allows photos to be transmitted instantaneously from George's cameras to Flickr from wherever he is, in real-time. Scot said there's tremendous technology and the archdiocese is trying to use every possible means, often through Dom's fingers on some sort of mobile device or computer keyboard. **4th segment:** Scot welcomes John Garvey to the program. This past week he completed his first year as president of CUA. John said it's flown by and it's been wonderful for him and his family. * [John Garvey's inauguration address as president of Catholic University of America, "Intellect and Virtue: The Idea of a Catholic University"](http://president.cua.edu/inauguration/GarveyInaugurationAddress.cfm) * ["Ending coed dorms at CUA mostly hailed," Washington Times, 6/16/11](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jun/16/ending-coed-dorms-at-cua-mostly-hailed/?page=all) It's been a completely new experience, even though he and his wife have worked at universities for whole adult lives. He was recently dean of Boston College Law School where the students were mostly older and he'd forgotten what a lot of growing up people do between college and law school. Those six or eight years make a big difference in the interests of the students and the focus of the institution. Scot noted he'd spent a lot of time at Catholic colleges, at University of Notre Dame and BC Law School, but Catholic University is a special kind of Catholic educational institution. John said CUA was begun toward the end of the 19th century as a graduate school o provide higher education to students, many of them priests and religious,who'd mainly been educated in seminaries. The focus on research and graduate education was somewhat unique in America at the time. The university began undergraduate education in the 20th century and they're focusing on it more and more, especially as the role of the laity in the Church has grown since Vatican II. CUA is known as the national Catholic university of the US, founded by the US bishops with the approval of the Holy See. Scot asked how that influences the type of education a student receives compared to other Catholic universities. John said the pontifical faculties of the university means they have a well-known school of theology and the only school of canon law in the United States. They also have pontifical faculties in the school of philosophy. That means they're supervised not just by their professional organizations, but also by the Congregation for Catholic Education in Rome. Another difference is the focus on the Catholic character of the institution. The board of directors comprises about 50 people, 24 of whom are clerical and 18 are all of the cardinals in active service and a dozen bishops from around the US. That board has kept the focus on the mission of the university in service to the Catholic Church. The third difference is the quality of the student life. It's not something they've always done well. They've even faced a challenge in doing it, unlike many of the Catholic universities, which themselves were founded by religious orders which imprinted their particular charisms on the life of the university. Because CUA is the university of the whole Church, they haven't had and they've had to figure out who to do student life in their own and in the past decade they've invited the Conventual Franciscans to help with student life and that has improved things. Scot said Garvey's inauguration was this past January, 2011, and he said Cardinal Seán told Scot that it was one of the best he'd heard in a long time and posted it on his blog. Scot said he think Cardinal Seán liked it because it made the connection between intellect and virtue. Catholic colleges have to help form a more virtuous person. John said his own interest in it arose from the education they got for their own children at Catholic schools. They were concerned when they went to college that they'd learn not just academics, but also how to grow in their commitment to virtue in their own lives. As the president of a Catholic university, he reflects parents may be looking for in his school as well. He thinks it's part of the mission of a Catholic university to concern itself with the development of virtue as well as intellect. **5th segment:** Scot said recently John write an op-ed for the [Wall Street Journal](http://www.opinionjournal.com/public/page/0_0_WP_2600_NewsReel.html?baseDocId=SB20001424052702303745304576361630636338492), where he put the words he shared at his inaugural into practice by making a decision that the dorms at CUA will go back to single sex starting this fall. John does think it's an appropriate signal to send to young people about the kinds of relationships they should have. It's what they would want for their own sons and daughters. He's been surprised at the level of interest in this decision. There have been a number of events on the topic of his inaugural address and at a conference in February, they heard from some young scholars who gave papers on the rates of "hooking up" and binge drinking on college campuses and how these activities took place at higher rates in coed dorms than in single-sex dorms. Scot said some listeners might be surprised that its the norm that larger Catholic universities have coed dorms. What has led to that trend? Will this swing the pendulum back? John said in 30 years we went from single-sex dorms to coed dorms, which is bound up in a lot of changes in society. Part of it was due to the changes brought by Title IX bringing more equality to women in many areas they did not, which he says was good. Changing to coed dorms was kind of just caught up in that rush to change. He said it's good for young men and women to get to know one another in college, so he's not calling for a change back to single-sex education. John said the reaction has been positive on the whole. He's found about 75% of people in favor, but of course there will always be some who are unhappy. This weekend, parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston will be taking up a collection for Catholic University of America. John said there's no diocese in America as generous as the Archdiocese of Boston to CUA. Every dollar raised is given back as scholarship aid to students from those dioceses and parishes. Scot said many contributors may not have attended CUA, but all Catholics should feel part of the mission. Having a Catholic university in Washington, DC, is important for all of us. John said they also continue to educate the future leadership of the Catholic Church as well. It's remarkable how many bishops and priests come through CUA for their higher education. But also the future lay leaders in Catholic colleges, high schools, and parishes as well. For the next year, CUA is conducting strategic planning for the next 10 years. They're already looking for a focus on undergraduate education to improve it. They also want to improve their fundraising, to make it more on par with what other Catholic universities are doing.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Jay Finelli, Pastor of the Church of the Holy Ghost in Tiverton, Rhode Island * [Church of the Holy Ghost, Tiverton, Rhode Island](http://www.holyghostcc.org/) * [iPadre](http://www.ipadre.net/) * [iPadre TV](http://www.ipadre.tv/) * [SQPN](http://www.sqpn.com) * [Steaming Priest](http://www.steamingpriest.com/) **Today's topics:** Fr. Jay Finelli, priest of the Diocese of Providence and the iPadre podcasting priest **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Jay Finelli **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Mark back to the show. They discussed Fr. Mark's plans for the weekend and Scot shared his plans. His family is beginning a new family tradition with a sleepover in his brother's yard with all the kids. Scot's not big on the idea of sleeping outside. Scot asked Fr. Mark about the close of the fiscal year for the Metropolitan Tribunal. Today marks Fr. Mark working in the central administration for the past 10 years. He never imagined in seminary that he work so long outside of a parish. Two-thirds of his priesthood, 14 of 21 years, have been outside of parish ministry (including four years of canon law studies.) Today's guest, Fr. Jay Finelli, has a particular ministry, in addition to his parish work, working in podcasting and on the Internet. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark welcomed Fr. Jay to the show. Fr. Jay is based in Tiverton, Rhode Island, which borders the Diocese of Fall River and he knows Scot's brother, Fr. Roger Landry in New Bedford. His parish is much closer to the Diocese of Fall River's cathedral than his own Diocese of Providence's cathedral. Fr. Jay was ordained in 1992. Before that, he went to Mass a child because his parents too him. He had friends who were involved in the charismatic renewal and when he got involved he started going to daily Mass. He started to think about becoming a deacon, then started to feel the tug of the priesthood. This was when he was about 18 years old. He waited about 3 years to begin the formal process of discernment. He'd gone into junior college and studying science, but then he decided to apply to the seminary in his diocese. At first they didn't think he would do well at the diocesan seminary academically. He went to Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell Connecticut. He met Franciscans from Kennebunk, Maine, and joined them for 7 years. When the Iron Curtain fell, the order decided to move to Lithuania, which he didn't want to do, so he left the community and went back to Providence, where he was incardinated. The Franciscans sent him to St. John Seminary and he graduated in 1991. He went to St. Matthew's in Cranston, Rhode Island. It was a big change to go from a large house of men his age to a rectory with just a couple of priests. After a year, he went to St. Gregory the Great, in Warwick, then St. Kevin in Warwick, which had the largest parochial school in the diocese. From there he went to the largest Portuguese-speaking parish in the diocese, St. Francis Xavier. The people there were on fire. At daily Mass, the singing of the people would blow off the roof. He doesn't know Portuguese, but he would read the prayers in Portuguese and he had a translator for the Gospel and his homily. In his current parish, there's still a sizable contingent of people of Portuguese background. Holy Ghost in Tiverton was his first pastorate and he's been there for 9 years. Scot asked him what it's like to have been there for 9 years, to see half-generation of family development there. It's awesome to baptize a child and then to give them First Communion a few years later. It gives him a new perspective. His first seminarian was 13 years old when Fr. Jay arrived and now he's just graduated from Providence College and is heading to Rome for seminary. He considers him his first "son." Scot asked what it's like to have someone he mentored to choose to enter the seminary. Fr. Jay said priests look at parishes as their family. It's moving to see how he's come a long way. It's powerful to see God's graces working in a young man's life. Fr. Mark said he was in seminary with Fr. Jay at the same time, with two years difference. He said the rector at the time used the same image when talking about being a priest. Don't think your celibacy is without fruitfulness is what he used to say. Fr. Jay said the last ordination from that parish was 70 years ago. He believes that if you don't give priests to the church, then you don't deserve one and that's for the whole church. Many people in the parish felt that the young man would become a priest. They are all proud of him. His acceptance of a call in today's counter-cultural world let's people say that if he's willing to do it with all the crises and the world's attitudes to the Church then there's something real and tangible to the life they've chosen. **3rd segment:** Scot said both recent Holy Fathers have frequently written about the need for the Church to be present in new media, especially priests. Fr. Jay has long embraced this as part of his ministry. Fr. Jay originally got into web design back in 1995. He knew that the Internet was the future. One of the first websites he built was for the Diocese of Providence and his parish at the time. They wanted to do a radio talk show, but the technology wasn't there. But later he learned about podcasting and had to learn how to do it. He knew that if we want to reach the people we have to go out where they are. If he could do online TV or radio, it would be another opportunity to reach. When he hard Fr. Roderick Vonhögen, he knew it could be done. He started his podcast in September 2005. He know has 228 episodes of iPadre. Sometimes it's difficult to do with all that a pastor has to do, but he feels the Holy Spirit calling him. A podcast records a radio show and puts it online. They can then subscribe to it and download it to their computer or an iPhone. His theme is "Catholic life and then some." He integrates all of his interests in life. He brings in every aspect of his life, including soundseeing tours of places he visits. The listener can't see what Fr. Jay is seeing, but Fr. Jay describes it and the listener can use their imagination. He recalls Fr. Roderick's soundseeing tours in St. Peter's Square when Pope John Paul was dying and you're crying along with them as they speak. He finds some people go back to his very first program and start listening. But his general topics include interviews with people from across the country or around the world. He even records on his vacations or while engaging in his hobby with live steam railroading. Fr. Jay said a reporter from the local TV station was even on his show once discussing Pope Benedict celebrating Mass ad orientem (where the Pope celebrates Mass facing in the same direction as the people.) Recently, Fr. Jay has been doing episodes on the upcoming new translation of the Roman Missal that's going into effect this coming Advent. He talks about why there's a new translation, that there's nothing to be afraid of. His podcast can reach anyone in the world who has an Internet connection. He streams all of his Masses from the parish (like a live TV broadcast over the Internet), and he had been wondering if anyone was watching. Then he got an email from a disabled man in Saskatchewan who said it was the only Mass he could get. If you go to iPadre.TV, the camera is on live 24/7 showing the adoration chapel and altar of the church. He knows people who do holy hours in front of the computer. Scot asked how he would compare ministering to people in front of him, who he can see and touch, from ministering to people online. You can't get to know people as close as you can in a parish, but there is a community online. There is a need for it not just to be an online community. He was contacted by a lawyer in Texas who traveled to Rhode Island to learn how to podcast about his profession and his faith. They had built a friendship online. Fr. Jay is a member of the Star Quest Production Network (SQPN). They all went to a conference in California and even though he hadn't met them before, they knew each other in a way. Scot said there aren't many priests who have embraced this kind of ministry because they are not familiar with the technology. He said their call is to preach the Gospel everywhere. It's an opportunity for priests. He knows some priests who aren't comfortable with technology, but it's important not to be frightened by it. He thinks it's important for every pastor to find someone in the parish to help them. Fr. Mark said at a recent gathering of priests, everyone had the breviary on their iPhone or iPad. No one had a book. Fr. Jay said every parish should have a website that is dynamic and updated; that has Mass times; that introduces the pastor. Then you can get help to start a Twitter or Facebook profile. He's had people come to his parish because of his podcast. He's also heard people say they've returned to confession or Mass or to have their marriages validated or even to convert to the faith. He knows his ministry isn't just in Tiverton. Pope Benedict knows this too, that priests can touch many souls in many places. On Tuesday, Pope Benedict tweeted using an iPad at the Vatican. Cardinal Sean has a blog and uses a Kindle and just got an iPhone. Scot said Cardinal Sean isn't a technology geek, but appreciates it as age 67. So even a priest in his 50s can do the same, to embrace websites, to build community online. Fr. Jay is inspired by the Cardinal's blog because it shows he's crossed the border of what's safe. Other bishops have been inspired it. He was the first cardinal to have a blog. The name iPadre.net wasn't difficult to get but he thought about it a lot. As a Mac fan, he liked the connection with iPod. **4th segment:** Now, as we do every week, we look forward to this coming sunday's Mass readings to help us prepare to celebrate together. * [Gospel for Sunday, July 3, 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 11:25-30)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/070311.shtml#gospel) >At that time Jesus exclaimed: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” >“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” Scot said it's really two different Gospels: the first part is about praise, the second is about how we are invited to come to Jesus. Fr. Jay said it is a call to intimacy. God wants us to know him, not to be distant friends. St. Therese of Lisieux had that intimacy, was a down-to-earth simple friend who knew the Lord. Also, it's about laying down the burdens we all have, to come to Him to be refreshed. Fr. Mark said the first part of the Gospel, where God reveals this to little ones, we know we are to be like children. Sometimes we over-think religion. It's not astrophysics. Fr. Soper, who was on a few weeks ago, said a scientist can think about the origins of the universe, but he can't ask why. A scientists can get so stuck on science, that he can't know what children know about God. Scot asked why Jesus is praising His Father for hiding these things? First, he wants us to be humble, like St. Therese, to be simple, straightforward, trusting and obedient. He doesn't want us to be arrogant, to be know-it-alls. He exalts those who are humble as the way to know theFather. Fr. Jay said a friend tells him, "No brains, no blockages." He said priests sometimes are so educated that they let it get in the way of their relationship with the Lord. Fr. Mark said he once preached on the yoke in the Gospel. He said, "It may be light, but it's still a yoke." Religion is not pill that makes you happy. At the end of the Mass, a couple told him that he ruined their favorite Gospel. The subtlety of the yoke is what's important. Scot said we should have a simple faith and then secondly, Jesus qualifies the invitation: All who labor. He wants us to work at life and to work at our faith. He's not saying come to Him and there won't be any burden, but that He'll provide the rest. At some point, Jesus carries the weight with us. In the spiritual life, Jesus helps carry our yoke, but at some point in faith development, we grow by carrying some of His yoke, the cross, by embracing the cross. Fr. Jay said sometimes we carry the yoke of someone we know who is suffering. Fr. Mark said classically understood, a good yoke fits the particular beast, which Jesus would know as a carpenter. So our yoke is something we can carry with Jesus. Scot asked what rest Jesus is talking about. Fr. Jay said it's a spiritual rest. Peace is not a lack of conflict, but being one with the Lord. Fr. Mark agreed. It's not just the rest of eternal life. There's a peacefulness of knowing God's will. Fr. Mark has a peacefulness in his 10 years of ministry, even with the difficult times, because he knows it's what God wants him to do. Fr. Jay said that while in this life we all have a cross, Jesus says His yoke is easy and the burden is light. Maybe if we had a bigger cross, we couldn't bear it. But we don't carry our cross alone. Scot said the more we love like Jesus, the more we become humble of heart. The more we know about God the lighter the burden.…
**Listen to the show:** [Subscribe for free in iTunes](http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-good-catholic-life/id425362545) **Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Antonio Enrique, Editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, Executive Editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. **Today's topics:** Pope Benedict's 60th anniversary of ordination, he launches a Vatican news website with a tweet, and appoints a new archbishop of Milan; Fr. Roger's editorial on the Church's pastoral care of those with same-sex attraction; the US bishops issue a document on assisted suicide **Summary of today's show:** Scot and Susan are joined by Fr. Roger Landry and Antonio Enrique to discuss the news of the week, including Pope Benedict's 60 years as a priest; an historic papal tweet to launch a new website; a significant appointment of an archbishop; Fr. Roger's editorial on what being "welcoming" really means; and the US bishops' new policy on assisted suicide. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Susan back to the show. They noted that Cardinal Seán gave Pastoral Center employees Friday off for the long weeked. The end of June is busy at the Pastoral Center to end the fiscal year and finish programs before the height of the summer period. This week, because the Pilot is on its two-week hiatus, news stories are from the Anchor and from Catholic News Service. Also, Greg Tracy is on vacation so his boss, Antonio Enrique, is here in his place. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Roger and Antonio to the show. Scot said it's great to have Antonio to have on the show finally. He's been the editor of the Pilot for 10 years. His first week was the week of September 11, 2001. The newspaper's offices were downtown in Boston. It was quite a hectic time as they reported on the events in relation to the Church. One of the big stories this week was Pope Benedict celebrating his 60th year as a priest. He gave a homily as the Mass of Sts. Peter and Paul where reflected on his 60 years. Fr. Roger celebrated his 12th anniversary on Sunday and he can't imagine how rich the experience of 5 times that many years would be. The Pope almost never preaches on the first person singular in his homilies. He recalls being frightened at his ordination when he realized Jesus would be using his own very being to forgive sins and bring the Body of Christ to others, that he was immersed in wonderment at being a priest and this continues to today. He also talked about what friendship with the Lord means and led a public examination of conscience by asking us whether we make the commitment back to Jesus that Jesus makes to us. He also applied the image of how great wine is made with sunshine and rain and crushing of grapes and fermenting to his own experiences in life of joy and suffering. * ["Pope marks 60 years as a priest, bestows palliums on archbishops," CNS, 6/29/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102591.htm) Scot was struck by the Pope saying that this calling of the priest to friendship with God is "so awe-inspiring that one can feel daunted as the decades go by amid so many experiences of one's own frailty and his inexhaustible goodness," he said. Susan noted that the Holy Father connected the pallium that was being imposed upon new archbishops at the Mass with this Sunday's Gospel on the yoke of Christ. * ["Papal tweet launches news portal," Zenit, 6/28/11](http://www.zenit.org/article-32956?l=english) * ["Vatican to launch web portal that streamlines print, TV, online news," CNS, 6/27/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102562.htm) * [News.Va](http://www.news.va/en) On Tuesday, Pope Benedict launched a new News site for the Vatican. Antonio said he is happy to see the Vatican embracing the new media, that now everyone is online, not just young people. That the Pope launched the site personally shows the importance he attaches to this. * [The historic Papal tweet](http://twitter.com/#!/news_va_en/status/85740997933404160) >"Dear Friends, I just launched http://t.co/fVHpS9y Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI" Scot said it was very powerful that the Pope did this on an iPad with a tweet. Susan said we have to give credit to Cardinal Seán for being at the forefront of this. She also noted how the Pope has said he wants to be present wherever the people are found. Fr. Roger said the Vatican is trying to integrate the separate departments in television, radio, a news service, its website, the Fides missionary news agency and more, and you used to need an expert Vaticanologist to find these things. It used to be that when the Pope traveled over the weekend, you didn't read his homilies until Tuesday. Now, the speeches will be available immediately, including PDF copies of L'Osservatore Romano, radio stories, video, and other forms. Pope Benedict for the last several years in his World Day of Communications messages has been calling the whole Church to evangelize in the new media, particularly priests. Pope Benedict is leading the way. * ["Pope names Cardinal Scola to head Archdiocese of Milan," CNS, 6/28/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20110628.htm) The Pope also made a significant appointment in the new archbishop of Milan, one of the five most important dioceses in the world. It's one of the largest dioceses in the world and almost every archbishop of Milan is considered a possibility to become next Pope. Cardinal Angelo Scola was the Patriarch of Venice previously. Antonio said Scola is very forward-looking. He's very interested in Christian-Muslim dialogue. He's been a personal friend of the Holy Father for many years. Antonio said it's significant that Cardinal Scola goes back to Milan. He's from Milan, but wasn't ordained for that archdiocese because the archbishop at the time did not like the Communion and Liberation movement that Cardinal Scola belonged to then. Fr. Roger studied under Cardinal Scola in Rome. He had three courses with him at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family at the Lateran University. He was incredibly brilliant but a terrible teacher, Fr. Roger said. His sentences would go on and on. Yet absolutely brilliant and a tremendous interpreter of the theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar and John Paul II, especially his theology of the body. He's a great theologian in his own right. He's an incredible personal and dynamic man. He always treats others with great attention. **3rd segment:** St. Cecilia Parish in Boston has been in the news lately with regard to a Mass that had been planned for gay pride month in Boston. Fr. Roger wrote an editorial in the Anchor about how the Church cares for those with same-sex attraction. * ["Toward the True Pastoral Care of Those with Same-Sex Attractions," Fr. Roger Landry, The Anchor, 7/1/11](http://catholicpreaching.com/index.php?content=articles&articles=20110701anchor) Fr. Roger wrote that the Church calls for authentic welcome of those with this attraction, but that doesn't mean just making them feel at ease, but offering the great gifts of the sacrament of cleansing through conversion in confession. He said there's been a great calumny against the Church that the Church doesn't love people with same-sex attraction because we ask them to leave the gay culture behind. We're not loving and serving people if we don't offer them the truth and Christ's authentic love. He said one of the issues facing the whole Church is whether so-called welcome Masses really welcome people or encourages dissent from the Church. Antonio said the Church's teaching is clear so it's hard to understand why it's so often misunderstood. The Church welcomes everybody already, but the Church is about conversion, about where we are and where Christ wants us to be, leaving what is wrong and embracing what is right. When we try to say that people don't need to change, we are not encouraging them to embrace Christ, but to continue a destructive lifestyle. Christianity is about happiness, and that happiness is found in being in conformity with the mind and will of Christ. Susan said parishes are already welcoming and open to all who want to come to Christ. But they are also teaching the truths of the Catholic faith, because people have a right to the truths of the faith. Scot said sometimes "welcoming" is used by some people who have an agenda that is in contradiction to the objectives of the Church and the truths of the faith. Fr. Roger said he was moved by someone in a Globe article who said she suffered more for "coming out" as a Catholic than she did for "coming out" as someone with same-sex attraction. Being Catholic is much more likely to result in discrimination in some circles. He said some parishes give a wink and a nod to Catholic teaching and promise that people with unrepentant sin need never worry about being made to feel uncomfortable. **4th segment:** Scot said at their June meeting, the US bishops' conference approved their first document on physician-assisted suicide. * ["Bishops approve first major statement on physician-assisted suicide," CNS, 6/16/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102416.htm) * ["To Live Each Day with Dignity: US Bishops' Policy Statement on Assisted Suicide," USCCB, 6/16/11](http://www.usccb.org/toliveeachday/) Cardinal DiNardo of Houston was the chair of the bishops' pro-life committee and had much to say on the topic. >"With expanded funding from wealthy donors, assisted suicide proponents have renewed their aggressive nationwide campaign through legislation, litigation and public advertising, targeting states they see as most susceptible to their message," the document says. "If they succeed, society will undergo a radical change." It specifically criticizes the former Hemlock Society, "whose very name reminded people of the harsh reality of death by poison," for changing its name to Compassion & Choices. "Plain speaking is needed to strip away this veneer and uncover what is at stake, for this agenda promotes neither free choice nor compassion," the policy statement says. This shows the power of words. They chose a name that gives the impression that they are about life, not about death. Susan said bravo to the bishops for a document that is very much needed. She said she'd recently been to a eugenics exhibit at Harvard University. It shows how the Nazis worked to create an "ideal society". She said assisted suicide is part of that slippery slope. She could picture an argument for ending life "compassionately" in order to save money for causes like books for kids to make it sound good. The head of the Compassion & Choices responded: "While we respect religious instruction to those of the Catholic faith, we find it unacceptable to impose the teachings of one religion on everyone in a pluralistic society. We believe end-of-life care should follow the patient's values and beliefs, and good medical practice, but not be restricted against the patient's will by Catholic Church doctrine." Cardinal DiNardo responded that true compassion is to bring assistance to people. Also, the Church needs to be in the public square because it's one of the few institutions defending the poor, needy, and suffering against these threats against the dignity of the human person. Society turns people into objects, but the Church upholds people's God-given dignity and right to life. Scot's favorite quote from the document: A society that devalues some human's lives, by hastening and facilitating their deaths, will ultimately lose their respect for their other rights and freedoms. Fr. Roger said its was encouraging that the language of the document is direct and practical and forthright. Cardinal DiNardo said clearly that if we don't do this, people will die. As we've seen in the Netherlands where assisted suicide is legal, it's not just people at the very end of terminal illness who seek suicide, but even teens who are heartbroken killing themselves under this law. And when we say some lives are less worthy, we can say "your" life is less worthy. We move from voluntary assisted suicide move to "involuntary" assisted suicide and incredible pressure is put to bear on the ill to kill themselves for the convenience of others. The movement for assisted suicide is pushing this issue in many places, including Massachusetts. Fr. Roger encourages all Catholics to read this brief document so they can have informed conversations with family and friends when it come up. Scot's second favorite quote from the document: > The founders of our country declared that each human being has certain inalienable rights that government must protect. It is no accident that they named life before liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Life itself is a basic human good, the condition for enjoying all other goods on this earth. Therefore the right to life is the most basic human right. Other valued rights—the right to vote, to freedom of speech, or to equal protection under law—lose their foundation if life itself can be destroyed with impunity. Also in the Anchor this week is a story about a movement to strip Medicare funding from abortion providers at the state level. Susan recommended stories on our own Sr. Olga Yaqob, who is starting a new religious order in Boston. Scot said it's uncommon for a bishop to ask a religious sister to start a religious order, as Cardinal Seán has done here. * ["With zeal for humility, she brings a new order to town," Boston Globe, 6/26/11](http://articles.boston.com/2011-06-26/news/29706472_1_new-order-archdiocese-religious-order) * ["Iraqi sister founding religious order to serve Boston's spiritually poor," CNA, 6/23/11](http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/iraqi-sister-founding-religious-order-to-serve-bostons-spiritually-poor/) * ["BU chaplain selected to start new order of nuns," Boston Herald, 6/20/11](http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1346645) Antonio noted that the Pope has advanced several causes for sainthood, including those from his native Spain from the Spanish Civil War. Antonio's own parents and grandparents lived through this time in which people were murdered for their faith, including thousands of priests and religious. He said we cannot forget this because it shows that this can happen anywhere. Spain itself was a very Catholic country that respected people's rights and it all changed so quickly. * ["Pope advances sainthood causes, including priest killed by Nazis," CNS, 6/27/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20110627.htm)…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roderick Vonhögen, founder and CEO of the Star Quest Production Network * [SQPN](http://www.sqpn.com) * [Catholic New Media Celebration](http://cnmc.sqpn.com) * [Catholic Media Guild](http://www.catholicmediaguild.com/) * [Father Roderick on Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/FatherRoderick) **Today's topics:** Dutch priest Fr. Roderick Vonhögen, a leader in Catholic new media, on his vocation as a priest and media evangelist **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Roderick Vonhögen, a Dutch priest who is a leader in Catholic new media, joined Scot and Fr. Matt to discuss how he discerned his vocation to the priesthood as a Dutch teen at Lourdes, and how Star Wars and the isolation of his first pastoral assignment led to the creation of the premier Catholic new media apostolate in the world, SQPN. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Matt back to the show. Fr. Matt said this past weekend he was in Billerica for a young adult retreat, "Life is Good in the Holy Spirit" and then on Monday for the youth harbor cruise. The retreat is about moving deeper into the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we received at baptism and confirmation. In the middle of July they have their [Witness to Truth](http://www.one4boston.org/witness-to-truth) high school leadership institute and in August the [Witness to Hope](http://www.one4boston.org/witness-to-hope) middle school leadership institute. Institute is a misnomer because it's really a lot of fun. It's about getting to meet peers from all over the Archdiocese while going deeper into their faith. For the high school institute, they marry Steven Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" to elements of the faith. Today is the 60th anniversary of Pope Benedict's ordination and in Rome is the special celebration of the imposition of the pallium on new archbishops of the past year. Today is also Cardinal Seán's birthday. Wish him happy birthday tonight at the Cathedral during a Holy Hour in honor of Pope Benedict's ordination. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Matt welcome Fr. Roderick Vonhögen to show. He is a priest of the Archdiocese of Utrecht, the Netherlands and CEO of SQPN. Some of our listeners may have met Fr. Roderick last year at the Catholic New Media Celebration here in Boston. Scot asked him about his journey to the priesthood. He never thought of himself as a priest as a child. He didn't think of it as a glamorous or exciting life. He wanted to travel the world and experience new things. He's always worked in media. As a child, he and his brother bought one of the first consumer computers on the market. When he was about 17 years old, he was one of the few young people going to church on Sundays and remembered fierce debates with his classmates. At the time, Pope John Paul II came to visit the Netherlands and it was a disastrous visit because, basically, he wasn't welcomed. The criticism of the Church made him ask, if the Church was so outdated, why had it lasted for 2,000 years. So he started to study his faith and began to see the beauty and truth of the Church.He began to conclude that if faith was so important, he started to feel the pull of prayer and didn't know how to do it. His father gave him an abbreviated version of the Breviary and he began to pray during the day. That's when God saw the door open and Fr. Roderick felt God pulling him. He began to ask God to show him that God is real in order for his life to be changed and God took that invitation. His parents became concerned he was praying so much because it was so atypical. His parents were regular parishioners, but they were not welcoming to the idea of the priesthood for him because it was so counter-cultural. They did send him on a weeklong youth conference at Lourdes, France, and that was such an amazing experience, kind of like world Youth Day. There were 50,000 youth there and he finally found lots of young people like him. He was also introduced to Eucharistic Adoration there. He met many young priests, which he'd never seen. During that pilgrimage, he realized God wanted something from him, although he still had not thought of the priesthood. So he began to pray to Mary at the grotto in Lourdes and asked her to tell him. He told her that he would not leave until he got an answer. Around 2am, it suddenly dawned on him that he was to become a priest. There was no doubt in his mind. So he went home to tell his parents and they were shocked. From that day on, he had to continually convince his parents he was serious and it wasn't just wacky idea from France that would go away. They sent him to their parish priest for whom he had an immense respect. The priest told him that if he had to choose again he wouldn't have become a priest and said it wasn't a good life. Fr. Roderick was shocked and felt sorry for him, but it didn't change his mind. Since then other priests have confirmed him in his vocation. Since that experience in the grotto, he's never had a doubt. Scot said in his life, he's also been very direct in his prayer when seeking God's will in difficult decisions. He's also found that God has always answered his prayer in those circumstances. Fr. Roderick said God never lets you down, even if the answer is not always what you expect. Fr. Matt said it's amazing that when you give God that time in prayer, He does speak to us in that perseverance. God delights when we come before Him in that way. Fr. Roderick said Mary played a significant role in his faith. She was the go-to person in his faith because he was a complete newbie in faith. Even the idea of praying to God was difficult. But praying to Mary felt so easy because she's a mother and she knows how children behave and misbehave sometimes. He felt she could bring him closer to her Son.After all she was Jesus' own teacher and guide. Fr. Matt pointed out how John Paul in his pontificate always pointed us to Mary, to go through her to Jesus. He asked how Mary helped him grow in his priesthood. Fr. Roderick said in his media work, Mary is his guide. She literally carried Jesus to the world in her pregnancy and at the wedding at Cana she was there to mediate the situation and bring people to Christ. In his media work, he tries to model that work in a Marian way. His job is to bring people into contact with Jesus. When he records a show or writes a blog post, he's doing what Mary has done, bringing people to Jesus. **3rd segment:** Scot said Fr. Roderick helps lead the Church in new media. He asked Fr. Roderick why he went into this work. Fr. Roderick said it goes back to his first pastoral assignment as a priest when he was assigned to a small, remote Dutch village. It was such a different life for him as someone who grew up in a city. There were little means of communication with the outside world and he felt very isolated from the world. At about that time, the Internet was becoming popular and he had been used to working with it at the university. So he got an early dial-up connection and started to notice that there was a huge community of Star Wars fan, which had been an ongoing passion of his. He'd felt like Luke Skywalker, stuck in a little village, dreaming of going out into the world. At the time George Lucas was working on the Star Wars prequels and he started to blog about it. He got many visitors to his website, up to 40,000 per day. Then people knew he was a priest so people began to ask him questions about faith related to Star Wars and he started doing pre-catechesis. He eventually got invited by Lucasfilm to go to San Francisco to visit their studios. And at a convention of fans, people recognized him as the Star Wars priest and he learned that people returned to their faith because of their contact with him. Scot said Pope Benedict has encouraged Catholics to move into the "digital continent" and use the elements of the culture to bring Christ to people. Fr. Roderick said you often just need a spark to kindle the faith. After his assignment ended in that village, his bishop sent him to Rome to study for doctorate in theology. While there, he encountered some people doing media training at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and he was told he could do a second study in social communications for free. After two or three weeks, he felt suddenly that this is what he needed to do. He was learning how to engage people and how to reach people who are not Catholic. His bishop gave him permission to change from his theology doctorate to just social communications. After 2 years he returned to the Netherlands in the village of Amersfoort, where he has 10 churches. That's when he discovered podcasting, which is like radio, but you could download it over the Internet to your computer or iPod (or when they became available years after, iPhones). at the time he received an invitation from the Vatican to speak at a conference on Church and the media. While he was there, he decided to record a podcast of Pope John Paul to show the conference how you could make one so easily. But while he was there, John Paul became sick and was rushed to the hospital. On a reflex, he jumped in a cab to the hospital and began recording an audio diary of those days. He put that online and within a couple of days he had thousands of listeners around the world. People asked him to tour Roman sights and explain them so he began doing that. After John Paul recovered, he returned home. But not long after, John Paul fell sick again and Fr. Roderick wanted to be in Rome at that moment when the Pope needed. He was in St. Peter's Square the night John Paul died and was continuously recording as it happened. This was unlike anything that was being done in the regular media. He was a priest giving his personal take on the events, not a reporter doing a stand up. He was also there during the conclave when Pope Benedict XVI was elected. That was the beginning of SQPN. Scot asked him what it was like for him when he heard Pope Benedict's name announced after the election. Fr. Roderick remembers how excited he was to hear Cardinal Ratzinger's name announced. He recalls being able to get inside the Vatican before the conclave to interview the cardinals. So he went in where the priests were allowed to go to concelebrate Mass at noon and then was standing in the place where the cardinals gathered during their lunch. He met Cardinal Lustiger of Paris and Cardinal Ratzinger was there and said at the time saying that he could be standing in the presence of the next Pope. Because Fr. Roderick has a responsibility to his parish, he needed to make other kinds of programs than travelogues to draw people into the life of the Church. So he went back to his roots in the Star Wars blog, and thought about audio programs on topics like Star Wars and J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and even Harry Potter, which was controversial at the time. He saw how he could use those topics to talk about the Catholic symbols and themes within those works. He called the first series, The Secrets of Harry Potter, and immediately had a huge audience. Just a few years ago, Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code was all the rage and then his book Angels and Demons became a movie too, so he decided to expose the ridiculousness within those books. He went to Rome for one day, starting at 6am, and went to all the places described in Dan Brown's books and told the real story of them. He made thirteen or fourteen episodes of an hour each. He called it the Secrets of Angels and Demons. Apple put that series on the front page of the iTunes store as a recommended pick and he had 50,000 people who'd never listened to what he'd done before. Many of them came into other programs and became part of the SQPN community. He's heard from many people who started listening to his first episodes of Harry Potter and Angels and Demons who have since converted with their whole families to the Catholic faith. **4th segment:** It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week is a copy of the EWTN DVD [Crossing the Goal: Our Father](http://www.ewtnreligiouscatalogue.com/CROSSING+THE+GOAL+OUR+FATHER+-+DVD/cid=534/page_no=1/edp_no=18645/shop.axd/ProductDetails), featuring Danny Abramowicz. This week’s winner is **David Kirby from Lynn**. Congratulations David! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit [WQOM.org](http://www.WQOM.org). For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. **5th segment:** Scot asked how many programs Fr. Roderick has done and how many he's currently doing. Fr. Roderick said on the weekends he's busy celebrating Mass at all his parishes. During the week, he has three different jobs in media. In addition to the podcasting, he has a television show on Catholic life in the Netherlands and a radio show, both in Dutch. On the other days, he does his podcasts, including the Break, in which he talks about anything he's passionate about, including movies, TV, computers, and more. He produces two Tolkien-based shows, including the Secrets of Middle-Earth where he talks with co-hosts about the writing of Tolkien while they "walk" around in the online game about Middle-Earth. He also has a show about the production of the two movies about the Hobbit called Secrets of the Hobbit. He also does a show about an online game called Farmville, where they talk about any Christian themes that come about as they also talk about the game itself. They start with something that's popular in modern culture, and do the show with faithful Catholics, and by an invisible process that Catholic identity comes across. They build a friendship with the audience, which is the cornerstone of evangelization. If you trust someone, you trust the faith and ideals of someone. He does a show called Health and Holiness, combining the topic of becoming fit physically and spiritually. It started when he started training to run a marathon. the Catholic approach to health concerns all aspects of life, including the spiritual. We're called to become saints, so the show is a progress report on the work to become a saint. Fr. Matt asked how priests and parishes could better utilize new media to reach out and better evangelize their communities. Fr. Roderick said it's the same advice Pope Benedict gave when he encouraged priests not to think of new media as something not for them. We need to give a heart and a soul to the Internet. You don't have to force yourself to learn all kinds of technology that aren't you. The moist important thing is to be out in the social networks as a priest in a personal way to help people, to be with them, and to share their life with the people. He's found his own parishioners who might be old and not tech-savvy and they connect with the personal life he shares with them. Young people are looking for models of identification. They need to see the personal face of the Church in the priest and if they see a priest concerned.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Edward Riley, Director of Pastoral Formation and Dean of Men at St. John Seminary * [St. John Seminary](http://www.sjs.edu) * [World Apostolate of Fatima](http://www.wafusa.org/) * [Home School Ministry of the Archdiocese](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/HomeSchoolMinistry.aspx) **Today's topics:** Fr. Ed Riley's vocation story and ministry to the seminarians of the Archdiocese and many more **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Ed Riley shared with Scot and Fr. Chris how his path to the priesthood took him through Appalachia, and what his various duties entail, including Dean of Men and Director of Pastoral Formation at St. John Seminary and the Master of Arts in Ministry and Cardinal Seán's liaison to home schooling families **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chris back to the show. Fr. Chris went to Omaha this week to the Institute for Priestly Formation. There are now 175 seminarians spending 10 weeks in Omaha, where's not much to do but pray and reflect. There are 7 or 8 men from Boston there. Fr. Chris mentioned the terrible Midwestern flooding affecting the area. They studied all four pillars of formation: spiritual, intellectual, pastoral, and human. Cardinal Sean is very keen on this program because it integrates the four pillars. The men come back excited that they learned to pray with Ignatian spirituality, which is helpful for diocesan priests who are active in the world, as well as the camaraderie with the 175 men from all over the United States. He's also hoping to welcome 21 new men to the seminary this fall. It looks great for the seminary and the archdiocese. Scot wanted to go back to "praying like St. Ignatius". Fr. Chris said it's going deeper with the Scripture, taking a passage, praying with it, reflecting on it, imagining yourself in the scene, and then asking what the Lord is saying to you. In the seminary they are so busy, that it was great to be able to share time with the seminarians one on one in Omaha. Fr. Ed Riley is on the program today, and he is the Dean of Men. His job is to "crack the whip" and make sure the men are doing what they should be doing when they should be doing it and being "bad cop" to Fr. Chris' "good cop." **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Fr. Ed. Scot asked him how he first experienced God's calling to the priesthood. He didn't hear until his late 20s, when he was living in Kentucky, working with a diocesan priest establishing the Christian Appalachian Project. He witnessed his life as a priest, his desire to serve, his love for the people. That was Fr. Ed's encouragement. In hindsight, he realizes the Lord had been calling him for a long time. After college, Fr. Ed was an accountant at a top five firm. He graduated from Boston College in 1984, he worked for Arthur Anderson. He had great opportunities for a career, but after 6 years, he realized something was missing, that there should be something more. He went to the parochial vicar at his own parish at St. John's, Wellesley, Fr. Joe Driscoll, and asked him about it. Fr. Driscoll told him to pray actively and to listen, and then he said he should try to hear the voice of the Lord. He felt the Lord calling him to work with young people so he went to work in Franciscan Children's Hospital. In the late 1980s, he was laid off from his job and so he became more involved at Franciscan Children's Hospital as a full-time volunteer. He says he never knew how many Catholics worked at his firm until he was leaving although he had worked with them for years. A lot of them were active Catholics in their parishes, but it never came up until he was leaving and it came up that he was going to be a volunteer. After a year, he felt his call was to help disabled adults get into the workforce. This was at the time that the Americans with Disability Act was coming into force. He decided to spend some time away and then come back and work for disabled adults. His sister went to Kentucky on spring break and so he decided to spend three weeks in Appalachia helping out. But then he stayed for six weeks because so much was going on there. On the last weekend of his trip, he met the founder of the Christian Appalachian Project who asked him if he was going to stay for a year-long commitment. He came back to Boston, but then he felt called to go back to Kentucky and so he went back to work directly for this priest for three years, starting up local Catholic communities. Father was encouraging to him to enter the priesthood, but Fr. Ed felt called to stay. But it was on the last year of his volunteer work that he really felt the call to return to Boston for the priesthood. Fr. Chris said we often think of the missions as being in a faraway place, but Fr. Ed worked in Kentucky. Western Kentucky is very Catholic. One of the first five dioceses in the US was Bardstown, which is now Louisville. The 50 counties of Eastern Kentucky in the Appalachian foothills are very poor. One-third of 1 percent are Catholic in Eastern Kentucky. There are more Catholics in India and Pakistan as a percentage. There are many Christians there, but they don't have the Church. The total square mile of the parish of the priest he knows in Eastern Kentucky is 800 square miles. One of his previous parishes was the size of the state of Rhode Island. **3rd segment:** Fr. Ed was ordained on May 27, 2000. He was assigned to St. Catherine of Siena in Norwood, one of the largest and most active in Boston. There is something special about your first parish, but it's a wonderful parish of faith-filled families and a parochial school. He arrived there at the same time with two other priests: the pastor, Msgr. Cornelius McRae, Fr. John Currie, and Fr. Ed. They had a wonderful experience. Every day they could, they prayed morning prayer together. They found the town of Norwood to be very open to the life of the Church and worked well with the parish. His next assignment was in 2005 and was assigned to Immaculate Conception in Weymouth, another large parish. He had asked to be assigned wherever he was needed. He was there for two years in Weymouth, where there were five parishes and three elementary schools. Then he was assigned to St. Joseph, Holbrook, as pastor. There's a big difference between being a parochial vicar and pastor. It's much smaller than Norwood, but still very good faith-filled families. They have an elementary school and he loved being part of the school when he was there. He got the call to St. John's Seminary after two years. He had thought that he would be at St. Joseph's for at least 6 years and perhaps a second-year term. It was a harder transition. He remembers praying the day before he got the call that he prayed to turn over His entire life to God, whatever he wants. Fr. Ed said the people make you the priest you become. Parishioners deserve a lot of the credit for helping priests becoming who they are. His work in the parish helps him now as he works with seminarians preparing them. His primary responsibility is to assign seminarians for their pastoral assignments and to help them, along with their on-site supervisor, to help them grow. The men share their work with him and he encourages them. What he loves most about being a priest is being able to celebrate the sacraments. This last weekend, he helped out at St. Paul Parish in Hamilton and it was a joy and privilege. He loved the celebrations to experience family, community, and grace coming together. **4th segment:** Fr Ed is also the Dean of Men. It's like the Dean of Students at a university. He works with the men on day to day functions. He coordinates illness and absences. There's a lot of scheduling items for the whole community. He sees it as a role like being a father to them. He equates it to what his brothers do for their families or provincials do for their religious communities. He helps them work around some of the snags. When a seminarian has an issue, Fr. Ed is the first call he makes. Sometimes it's Fr. Ed making the call to the seminarian. It's an opportunity for growth. Fr. Chris said when men have gone to the hospital, Fr. Ed is the man on the scene. The Dean of Men is about having a well-functioning house. Anytime 100 men live under one roof, there will always be issues. He looks out for the common good. As Formation Director of Pastoral Ministries, he starts the year by meeting the men, finding out their skills, what they like, and where they need growth. Then he looks at apostolates where they can be assigned: parishes, nursing homes, prisons, and other ministries. He follows up with their on-site supervisors. The supervisors meet with the men to make sure they are integrating their experiences: what are they learning, how did that touch their spiritual life? Fr. Ed's work is to help them see their own personal growth toward ordination. About 50 percent of the pastoral assignments are in parishes. The men have pastoral assignments for five of the six summers they are at the seminary. Most of the men in the early years are familiar with the parish setting when they come in so they get assigned to the institutional settings to give them more experiences. When they are in their later assignments, they get parish assignments. Near the end of the seminary, they get two years in one parish to give them more time to experience the life of the parish. During the school year, they spend their weekends in the parish. The men are evaluated twice per year on their pastoral assignments. Those evaluations by the supervisors are used in the overall evaluation of the seminarians toward ordination. You can see a lot of gifts and talents in their pastoral assignments that you wouldn't see inside the seminary walls. Fr. Chris said that at ordination Cardinal Seán asks the seminary rector if they have inquired among the people whether the determine these men worthy. That's where these evaluations come in. Fr. Ed said he gives credit to a lot of the seminarians for their willingness to experience these opportunities for growth. Many of them came to the seminary after having been accomplished in life and now they place themselves often in a more subservient position than they were used to. **5th segment:** In addition to his other roles, Fr. Ed is also Cardinal Seán's representative to Catholic homeschoolers, is involved with the World Apostolate for Fatima, works with the Master in Ministry program. He also works with the Master's in Ministry program, helping lay students with their pastoral formation, which is two years of field education. They are assigned by their choice to a ministry and he works with them and their supervisor. They work 4-5 hours per work in these assignments. It's different because he's not choosing the assignments, but he does have to approve it as engaging their intellectual, spiritual, pastoral and human formation. As spiritual director to homeschooling families, he is the contact for families who need help from the Archdiocese and he gives support to them. There are literally thousands of families in the Archdiocese that homeschool. He finds a lot of the families are very faith-filled. they integrate faith into regular academics. He works with a couple of communities of homeschooling for holy hours once per month. For someone who wants to find out more about the homeschooling, go to [BostonCatholic.org](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/HomeSchoolMinistry.aspx) and connect with Fr. Ed. He's also the uncle to 30 nieces and nephews under the age of 15. They complement his ability to be a better priest. It means a lot to have brothers and sisters who are raising their children in the faith. His father also inspires him in his faith.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Father Paul O'Brien, Pastor of St. Patrick Parish, Lawrence * [St. Patrick Parish, Lawrence](http://www.saintpatrickparish.com) * [Cor Unum](http://www.corunummealcenter.org/) * [Labels Are For Jars](http://www.labelsareforjars.org/index.html ) * [Lawrence Catholic Academy](http://www.lawrencecatholicacademy.org/) * ["Scenes from A Parish" PBS documentary](http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/scenes-from-a-parish/film.html) **Today's topics:** The work of Fr. Paul O'Brien in one of the poorest city in Massachusetts **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Paul O'Brien joins Scot Landry to discuss the work of the Church in Lawrence, the poorest city in Massachusetts, providing innovative and successful answers to the problems plaguing the community, including the Cor Unum Meal Center, the Labels Are For Jars program, and Lawrence Catholic Academy. **1st segment:** Scot said Cardinal Seán in his pastoral letter this month praised the Church in Boston for how she does the corporal works of mercy and encouraged the Church to do better at the spiritual works of mercy. Scot said St. Patrick Parish in Lawrence is one of the best examples. He welcomed Fr. Paul O'Brien, pastor for the parish, to the show. Scot noted that Fr. Paul was ordained in 1991, 20 years ago last week. Fr. Paul said he experienced the call to the priesthood out of the blue at a Mass during his freshman year in college. He believes God had been calling him, but he wasn't paying attention. He heard the call specifically to the diocesan priesthood, despite he had grown up in a Jesuit parish. Starting from that Mass, for the next couple of years, the feeling didn't go away and he knew it was a real call. By the end of college, he decided to enter seminary to discern. He went to St. John's Seminary for one year of pre-theology and then to the Pontifical North American College for five years in Rome. Fr. Paul said he received a good education in theology and philosophy. The formation program allowed him to serve in Rome and then in different parts of the world during the long summer breaks. He did in-depth pastoral work in different settings. He worked in Calcutta with Mother Teresa, in Hungary with her sisters, and in East Germany. He was able to visit many other places and understood how God's kingdom unfolds in places than Boston. Mother Teresa's view of the world has affected his priesthood very profoundly. She knew him and his limitations very well, and Fr. Paul said she helped him to break through selfishness and see people the way Christ sees them. Fr. Paul attended Mt Alvernia Academy in Chestnut Hill, which was the best Catholic education. He attended public and secular schools from then. That education was the formational foundation for his early life. Fr. Paul said his call was unusual compared to his peers in seminary. He believes they had better skills at listening to God in prayer, as opposed to talking at God. He has a Scripture-based spirituality, which allows him to reflect on the Word of God and sit in his presence, to ask Him what He is saying to Him. He does hear God speaking to him about himself and the world through Scripture. **2nd segment:** Fr. Paul said his first assignment was in Concord, Mass., at St. Bernard's Parish. He was Secretary for Pastoral Services of the Archdiocese for 3 years in 1996 and administrator of St. Lawrence Parish in Chestnut Hill. He also lived at St. James in Chinatown. He became Pastor at St. Patrick in Lawrence 10 years ago. When at the Archdiocese he also planned Pilgrimage 2000 in the year 2000, which began with an event at Foxboro Stadium and ended with an event at Fenway Park. His current assignment is in Lawrence, the economically poorest community in Massachusetts. It's 70% Hispanic. About 75% of children are born to women who are not married. The average per capita income is $16,000 and a third of people live below the poverty line. About 80% speak a language other than English at home. More than 50% were born outside the United States. Lawrence also has a high cost of housing so much of their money is going to pay for a home. When he arrived at St. Patrick's they had a large food pantry run by the St. Vincent de Paul. They delivered bags of families to hundreds of people per month. He said people may be working two or three jobs, but don't make enough to pay for housing, utilities, and food. About 75% of kids are at risk for hunger, which means that they don't necessarily know where the next meal is coming from. When it comes to a choice between housing, heat, and food, the food is the first thing that goes. People spend their money on cheap, non-nutritious food so they have the highest rate of obese and overweight kids. He decided to attack hunger in a different way. People from the parish had put together a Thanksgiving lunch for some homeless people living in the neighborhood's streets. They wanted to figure out a way to feed them every day with nutritious and adequate food. They believed their must be a way to find enough food in this country to feed these people. It's harder to solve the breakdown of the family, violence in the city, or bad education than it is to feed them. If people are hungry, how can you solve the weightier problems. They approached everyone working on the problem of hunger in Lawrence and learned that everyone thought much had to be done than was being done by all the various charitable groups. They decided that they could only approach the solution by building a dedicated building for a permanent space to feed people every day. Because they had no money, they planned what they would do if money was no object. They planned to serve the best restaurant-quality meals, they would serve the meals, they would have a beautiful atmosphere, there would be nice music playing. They ended up with all of that plus a mammoth kitchen to serve as many meals as needed. When you don't have enough food, it's a spiritually demeaning reality. They want to provide an experience that uplifts their dignity. Their philosophy has been that people who have the least should have the very best in every way in every form of love. They had remarkable success with planning and fundraising. When they would sit down with people and communicate the reality of Lawrence's hunger and then show their solution, a high percentage of people would say, "How can we help?" Within two years they raised almost $1million. From that Thanksgiving dinner to the opening of Cor Unum was five years, but it seems to be very quick. **3rd segment:** Cor Unum has served more than 775,000 people since September 2006. They serve breakfast and dinner 365 days per year. They serve more than 200,000 meals per year. They have partnerships with the Greater Boston Food Banks as well as wholesale and retail food distributors who give them their excess at little or no cost. They spend about $25,000 per year on food to produce 200,000 meals, about a dime per meal. They have one paid employee and rely on volunteers for everything else. The total budget was $215,000 last year, about $1 per meal. It shows that there's no excuse for hunger in this country. They have about 600 regular volunteers and thousands who come through in a one-shot experience. They need a couple dozen per day. They need servers, buspeople, food servers, and cooks. There is something for everyone in the family to do. Summer is their busiest season because all the kids who rely on public school meals for their primary nutrition through the year aren't getting them. Plus volunteers take vacation, so they have the highest number of meals served and the least number of volunteers. They are looking for summer volunteers to just come in with no orientation needed. Call 978-688-8900 or go to the website. The dining room seats 80 or 90 at a time and the seating operates just like a restaurant. After the meal, they give them food to take with them as a takeout. They found if you serve a robust breakfast and dinner and give them something to take with them, that suffices and allows them to prepare for dinner in the middle of the day. Some people rely on them every day, including the disabled, senior citizens, addicts. Most of their people are working folks so they get more people at the beginning and end of the month. As people get to the end of each paycheck, they come in for meals. They also see families who will be there for a while, get on their feet, get in trouble again and come back. Cor Unum provides a safety net. Cor Unum means "one heart." It's a predominantly Spanish speaking neighborhood. If they had used a Spanish name, there is residual reacism in the community. So they chose Latin as a neutral ground. The one heart shows that they are one in Christ. One way that Cor Unum is funded is the Labels are For Jars program. It's a non-profit organization that Fr. Paul started. The aim was to raise money from outside Lawrence. They designed t-shirts with images of labels on jelly jars with labels that are looked-down upon. They say things like addict, ex-con, etc. The shirts allow people to start a conversation. The shirts come in a collection jar which is intended to allow you to collect money. A filled jar should be about $100. They expanded to hats and baseball shirts with Red Sox players' names on them. They've made $3 million in profit since 2004. The biggest jar return they've had is $300,000. Some jars had $5,000. It covers most of the operating expenses of Cor Unum. They've set up a network through the US of people working very actively to fund Cor Unum. People have started to come to them during the recession, because they want to help people who are hurting. It is predominantly youth oriented. They find that kids communicate good things like this to adults very actively. **4th segment:** Lawrence Catholic Academy was formed one year ago through the merger of St. Patrick's School and Our Lady of Good Counsel's school in Methuen. Fr. Paul said they should have done this a decade ago. Rather than see Catholic education decline, they've seen it grow. Our Lady of Good Counsel was going to close because there weren't enough students. They decided to stop the closing and be ambitious about Catholic education in Lawrence. It has a nursery school through Grade 8 and they hope to make it the best predominantly Spanish-speaking school in America. The school has a greater enrollment than the two previous schools combined and all of their grade levels are full. They have been able to re-hire all of the old faculty. They've taken steps ahead in curriculum. They also have a very talented board helping them move the school ahead. They have every reason to hope that they will solve all of the big problems that they recognized. Fr. Paul said if you are not shooting for the very best, how can you expect positive results. It's very important for it be as rigorously Catholic as possible. The previous schools had high Catholic identity. They have more women religious teaching in the school than any school in the archdiocese. They still face the challenges of any community where there is not enough Catholic practice in families. This year, 46% of the kids in the school are Hispanic and about 40% are Anglo. That mirrors the makeup of South Lawrence. None of the curriculum is taught in Spanish. Their kids learn English with no problems if they start at nursery school even if they only speak Spanish at home. It's much harder by the time they get to middle school and don't have good language skills. Fr. Paul said Catholic schools are not allowed to take the MCAS standardized tests because it would allow them to compare academic achievement directly with public schools. From an academic standpoint, 100% of middle school students graduate to high school. Many attend the very best private schools in the Merrimac Valley. For those who attend vocation schools, they get the best eduction to prepare them. Fr. Paul says Lawrence public schools have the highest drop-out levels. It's not a problem with the teachers and they have the best facilities funded by the state. But the public schools cannot battle with the inner-city gang culture. A Catholic school has a God-centered culture that embraces the whole family, and is based on God's truth and not opinion. A public school teacher says it's important for the kid to succeed in life, the kid will respond that it's her opinion. In the Catholic school, they would be told it's God's opinion and He wants the very best of their life. The culture led by God leads to a successful academic experience. Lawrence has 4-times the teen pregnancy rate of the state average. The Catholic school's pregnancy rate has been zero. That's a concrete example of the life choices the kids make day-by-day, and how they make very different choices. Scot said listeners should experience Cor Unum and it will make them proud to be a Catholic in Massachusetts. He encouraged everyone to sign up to volunteer.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Daniel Hennessey, Director of the Office of Vocations for the Archdiocese of Boston * [Office of Vocations](http://www.vocationsboston.org) **Today's topics:** Fr. Dan Hennessey and the work of the Vocations Office; Feast of Corpus Christi Mass readings **Summary of today's show:** Scot and Fr. Mark talk with Fr. Dan Hennessey about his call to the priesthood, his work as director of vocations, what it was like to be ordained at the height of the sex-abuse scandal, and the incredible number of men entering seminary in the fall. Also, a discussion of the Mass readings for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi on Sunday. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Mark back to the show. Fr. Mark said he's been running all week so it's good to have this time to pause and talk about bigger issues. There's lots happening at the Tribunal, trying to conclude the fiscal year on June 30. There have been many meetings including Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, Presbyteral Council, the Cardinal's Cabinet, and there's been very good attendance. Today, there's another priest of the archdiocese to talk about his call to the priesthood and his ministry. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark welcome Fr. Dan to the show. Fr. Dan was one of the first broadcasts of The Good Catholic Life and he there wasn't enough time to talk about his journey to the priesthood. He grew up in Andover and went to St. Michael Parish in North Andover. He went o Central Catholic high school in Lawrence. He went to Merrimac College for a couple of years, but left halfway through to figure out what he wanted to do. He eventually went back and got a degree in biochemistry. He worked for a year and then entered St. John's Seminary. Scot asked him when he first experienced a call to the priesthood. Fr. Dan said it wasn't until high school or college that he realized that he'd been thinking about since he was a young boy. He clearly recalls the first time he thought about it during a First Friday Mass in the 3rd grade. Fr. Mark asked where were the angels from on high telling him what to do. Fr. Dan said obviously it doesn't happen in most circumstances. The majority of the men in seminary go in and are not sure God is calling them. They think God may be calling and go in to discern whether that is true. Fr. Dan didn't become convinced that it was his vocation until the second or third year in the seminary. He said he didn't have any particular priest as a role model. It was his parents' example in their love for the Eucharist and the sacraments and their teaching him to listen to God calling him. As he was discerning entering the seminary after college, he did have a couple of priests who did give him good guidance. One encouraged him to pray as the most important step. Scot noted that Augustinians served in his high school and college. Did Fr. Dan always know he would enter the diocesan priesthood or did he consider the religious life? He said he didn't understand the distinctions at the time and so he just went to a parish priest who directed him to the vocations director for the Archdiocese. Fr. Mark pointed out that while they planned to be parish priests as diocesan priests, they are not in parishes. Fr. Dan said he still gets to be in parishes very often, which is a blessing. Fr. Dan was ordained May 25, 2002, just as the scandal broke. Fr. Dan said it was interesting to be ordained that year. It required the men in seminary and being newly ordained to reiterate that they have a true appreciation for the priesthood. He was also struck by the idea of the priest as an instrument of healing and reconciliation. Before his present assignment, he was at St. Bridget's in South Boston. About three months after that, he also gained the responsibility for FGate of Heaven in South Boston. He was there for two years and moved to the Vocations' Office half-time. The next year he went to the Vocations Office full-time. Scot asked what it's like to be a priest in South Boston, a very Irish area. Scot noted that St. Bridget's and Gate of Heaven are beautiful churches. Fr. Dan said it was a beautiful experience. Having grown up north of Boston, being in South Boston seemed so far away but felt at home. The people were very welcoming to him. The churches themselves are very beautiful. He also loved celebrating Mass with the schoolkids and loved spending time in the schools with the kids. **3rd segment:** Scot asked Fr. Dan how he reacted when he was asked by Cardinal Seán to begin his ministry in the vocations office. He immediately thought he needed to pray for the grace to do this ministry. As soon as he became vocations director, being Irish and Catholic, he felt personally responsible for the vocations crisis in the archdiocese. Once he calmed down, he realized that vocations is something that everyone in the archdiocese needs to be encouraging. Fr. Mark asked if he felt responsible for numbers. Fr. Dan said that at first, yes, he was concerned, but only until people warned him against playing the numbers game. He needs to find the men that are being called and leave that up to God. However, whenever he meets with priests, one of the first questions they ask is how many guys we have. We have to pray that the men who are being called will respond generously to the call from God. Scot asks Fr. Dan how he knows he's doing a good job; having a good year. The way he measures his work is the sense that the men who are applying and entering are ready for formation and to discern. Many priests have friends who were in the seminary, but left. The purpose of the seminary is not just to pump out priests, as much as allowing the men to discern whether they are being called. Fr. Mark pointed out that you don't have to be perfect to go to the seminary. Fr. Mark asked where is the best place to find men and what age of men. At one time, it was Catholic high schools exclusively. Today, most of them men entering the seminary are not in the college seminary--there are just a few today--but the majority are entering after having finished undergraduate schooling and some may even have graduate degrees and worked for a little time. There's a pre-theology program for men who enter the seminary to earn a bachelor's of philosophy to prepare them for formation in theology. Most the men entering now are in the mid-twenties. To find the men God is calling, he goes where a lot of the young faithful Catholic men are, including college campuses. They have an annual retreat for men that has many college-age men. Scot asked what qualities Fr. Dan looks for to determine if this person is ready and is a good candidate to enter the seminary. Fr. Dan said he's looking for good Catholic men, primarily, and among them men who have some indications in their life that they've been called. So they're looking for a man of prayer, of integrity, who's wholesome, has a strong faith, devotion to the Eucharist, devotion to the Virgin Mary, has lived a life of service, worked in the Church in some way, etc. Scot asked how much should the man should be praying? Do they ask them not to have a girlfriend for a certain period of time before entering the seminary? Fr. Dan said all seminarians are expected to be living a life of chaste celibacy. Even the man who's thinking about the priesthood, while it's good for a man to date in general, he should have a period of one to two years where he's not dating at all. The question of the prayer life is a tough one. It's best to look at it as a friendship with Christ that the man is developing. Each person can be at a different stage, but men entering the seminary pray each day; they generally have a devotion to the Blessed Mother; most go to Eucharistic adoration; they encourage them to go to daily Mass. The Eucharist and the priesthood is inseparable so a man considering the priesthood should feel like he's drawn to the altar. How many men are in formation for the priesthood and how can the audience help promote a culture of vocations? This year there have been 58 men studying at various stages, with six having been ordained this year. This coming September, there be somewhere between 15 and 20 new men entering. That should put the Archdiocese somewhere over 70 total. He takes no credit because if tomorrow half of them decide they're not being called, he's not taking the blame. To promote a culture of vocations, people should pray. When we ask, God does answer us. It's the job of parents and grandparents and godparents to help the children to know what desires of them. They should actively encourage young men (and older men too) to ask what God desires, not just what they want. Scot said Catholics shouldn't ask kids, "What do you want to be when you grow up," but instead "What does God want you to be when you grow up". This helps beyond priestly vocations, but helps children think about their relationship with God. Fr. Mark pointed out that parents and grandparents and godparents should also be helping their daughters discern the religious life. **5th segment:** Scot asked Fr. Dan about an even this coming Wed, June 29 at the Cathedral at 7pm: A holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Pope Benedict's ordination. The US bishops requested that all the diocese in the US do a holy hour or even a 40-hour devotion. The Cathedral is 1400 Washington Street in the South End of Boston. Wednesday is the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul. It's also Cardinal Seán's birthday. Now, as we do every week, we look forward to this coming sunday's Mass readings to help us prepare to celebrate together. This week if the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ. * [1st Reading for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/062611.shtml#reading1) >Moses said to the people: "Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was your intention to keep his commandments. He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does one live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD. > >"Do not forget the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery; who guided you through the vast and terrible desert with its saraph serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers." * [2nd Reading for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/062611.shtml#reading2) >Brothers and sisters: The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. * [Gospel for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (John 6:51-58)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/062611.shtml#gospel) >Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." > >The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." Fr. Dan said the first thing that comes to mind is how the Lord still comes to be with us as the Bread of Life at every Mass, The priesthood is a vocation that is indispensable and irreplaceable. As a priest, it's a mystery and beautiful to be a minister at the altar. Scot said as Catholics we want to be as close to Jesus as possible and the way to be closest to Him is in the consuming of the Eucharist. As a husband and wife become one, so too we become one When the Gospel says "eat", the original Greek says Jesus said we were to literally gnaw on His flesh. To literally consumer Him. It was kind of Him to come to us under the appearance of bread and wine. Fr. Mark said this is why the people who hear Jesus don't get it and are turned away by it. But Jesus doesn't explain it; He repeats it over and over. He means what He's saying literally. Scot said transubstantiation means the God keeps the appearance of bread and wine (taste, smell, feel), but changes the substance into the Body and Blood of Jesus. In the Old Testament, it says the Jews were not to consumer the blood of animals, but God gave them the manna in the desert to feed them. God feeds us the new manna of Christ and because it is Blood, it shows that a new era has begun. Fr. Dan notes that Jesus says we will have life. Today, people are looking for life, joy, and happiness. The life that God wants for us is in the Church. When we go to Mass, we receive Him, and He fills us with life. Scot said this is why the show is called The Good Catholic Life because if we follow the Life in the Church, it will be a good happy life. Fr. Mark said the first reading underlines the word "remember" and tells us not to "forget". That's a big theme in the Old Testament that the Lord remembers and the people always forget, which causes their exile. The Eucharist is a memorial that helps all generations of Christians to remember the Paschal mystery as a reality. Bring the moment of paschal mystery to every mont of our life. Scot said statistics show us that there are many Catholics who don't understand or believe that Christ is present in the Eucharist. Scot said part of this is because of the way that we who do believe receive Christ. The way we go up to Communion, the way the priest celebrates Mass can have an impact on how young children appreciate that this is Jesus' Body and Blood. Scot said someone may experience Mass only once and it will be how we receive the Eucharist that influences them into believing. It could be how we approach the Eucharist that influences our children's faith as adults.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. **Today's topics:** Fr. John Corapi; Cardinal Sean on St. Cecilia's confusion; praying for more local saints; adoration as a remedy **Summary of today's show:** Scot and Susan Abbott talk with Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy about Cardinal Seán's latest statement on the controversy at St. Cecilia's parish in Boston; Fr. John Corapi's decision to leave active priestly ministry; a call for more devotion to local potential saints; and Pope Benedict's remedy for secularism and idolatry. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Susan back to the show. This past weekend, Susan was able to spend time with her son, his wife, and their baby who were in town visiting. They're expecting again in October and she'll go out to visit them. She has four children, six grandchildren with one on the way. She's also teaching a course on catechetical methods in West Concord that ends tonight. It's a great group of people, she said. Scot said the end of June is a busy time at the Pastoral Center, with a lot of regular committees meeting for the last over the summer. The Presbyteral Council met today with a discussion of the results of the Catholics Come Home campaign. **2nd segment:**vScot welcomes Fr. Roger and Gregory back to the program. Fr. john Corapi is one of the most recognized priests in the United States. He has decided to end his priestly ministry. Gregory was quite surprised. He first heard about it in Corapi's YouTube video. He expressed a lot of frustration at the investigation of allegations against him would take too long, that certain people in the Church wanted him gone. Scot said it was certainly his decision to stop exercising his priestly ministry. * ["Fr. Corapi announces he's leaving the priesthood," CNA/EWTN News, 6/18/11](http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/fr.-corapi-announces-hes-leaving-the-priesthood/) * ["Order 'saddened' by Father Corapi's decision to leave priesthood," The Pilot, 6/23/11](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13476) * ["Fr. Corapi's Bombshell," CNA/EWTN News, 6/20/11](http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/father-corapis-bombshell/) Susan said she knows he has a large ministry and many people credit him for their return to the faith. She was concerned that stories said the process of clearing his name was too sluggish. She knows of other priests under investigation in Boston who have lingered for years while investigations of allegations proceeded. Many waited for years while their innocence was proven. Scot was surprised that Corapi only waited for 3 months before quitting. He was stunned because he too had heard so much about Corapi's influence on people's faith. Fr. Roger said he was saddened and was moved to pray for him. He said that Fr. Corapu is violating many of the pricniples that attracted people to his ministry in the first place, including his strong masculine approach to the Christian life, manning up in difficult circumstances. When the going's getting tough, he's leaving the greatest gift that he has. The Father Corapi that so many people know would never have given up his vocation. It's a sure sign of spiritual desolation. He said that priests under investigation often don't want to get back just their name, but also to be able to minister with their people with the sacraments. Fr. Corapi said that this part of his priesthood was only 10 percent of his ministry in recent years, which is already a sign of problems. It's akin to a husband in a divorce saying that because it's taking too long, he's abandoning his kids. Scot said Corapi's superiors in the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity had said that they asked him to return to live with them in community. Corapi has lived alone in Montana, far from the community in Texas. Scot noted that Cardinal Seán says that discipleship is lived in community. Even diocesan priests have other priests that they surround themselves with. If you don't have close peers surrounding you, able to correct your destructive decisions, then you are in danger of throwing away all that Fr. Corapi has. Gregory said the quickness of the decision makes one wonder whether the loss of public affirmation that he might have become used to played a part as well as the financial loss of the sales of books and tapes for his ministry. Scot said he started to see his primary ministry wasn't the sacraments, but his public preaching and teaching. Fr. Roger pointed out that there's a difference between public teaching and priestly preaching. Priestly preaching is intimately connected with the Liturgy of the Word. Part of what made Corapi's speaking so powerful were the black clerical clothes he wore that showed him as an "alter Christus" (another Christ). He hopes that the collective power of all our prayers, together with the Holy Spirit, will bring him back from the precipice. Scot said [he interviewed Corapi](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=12973) just weeks before he was put on leave in the Pilot in preparation for a then-planned conference in Boston. He found him extremely articulate on the Gospel. He was a great friend to the Station of the Cross, donating his speaking at conferences in 2009 and the planned conference this year. **3rd segment:** Cardinal Seán published a statement in this week's Pilot about the recent events in St. Cecilia's Church in Boston. * Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley issued the following statement June 22, in response to recent events at St. Cecilia Church in Boston. >The philosophical and political agenda of Gay Pride in relation to marriage and sexual morality is incompatible with the Church's teachings. For that reason, Father Unni rescheduled a Mass of welcome for all his parishioners to a time that would not associate the Mass with the Gay Pride agenda. >I realize that Catholics who have same-sex attractions are often criticized by their friends for coming to Mass and that the parents and friends of homosexual members of our Church are distressed that their loved ones feel rejected by their Church. We want all baptized Catholics to come to Mass and be part of our community, but we cannot compromise the teaching of the Church rooted in Scripture and tradition. >We hope that all Catholics will come to experience the love of Christ in our community and that in that love they will find the courage and strength to embrace the cross that is part of the life of discipleship. >It is regrettable that there has been so much confusion about this matter. I hope the [statement on my blog of last week](http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/2011/06/17/stanley-cup-champions/) and [The Pilot editorial](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13449) "A teachable moment" will help people to understand the Church's teaching. We must be a community that reflects both the love and the truth of the Gospel. Gregory said the Cardinal here is trying to underscore the Church's teaching on the love for all people, while not everything they do may be acceptable. His impression is that the Cardinal is hoping to dispel the confusion that continues to swirl around this issue. Scot said the request of the archdiocese was always to postpone the Mass so it wouldn't be confused with the Gay Pride events in June. The Mass is open to all, but is extended in a particular way to people with same-sex attraction. That isn't undermining the Church's teaching because all are called to return to Christ, with all their burdens. Scot said his last sentence brings the Catholic community together. There is a sense out there that if we're truly a welcoming Church, shouldn't we welcome everyone, almost with no standards; while others are saying we have to preach the Catechism strongly. Fr. Roger said love and truth always go together. In order for charity to be loving, it must be grounded in the truth. We can't just be grounded in sentiment and efforts not to offend people. Fr. Roger said one of the concerns of critics of the Mass was that excerpts from Fr. Unni's preaching didn't seem to be adhering to the fullness of the Gospel. He encouraged Fr. Unni to clarify his preaching. The impression for some people is that the gay idea of sexuality is being celebrated as opposed to sacrifice of the Mass. * ["Bishops urged to fight war of words to defend traditional marriage," The Pilot/CNS, 6/21/11](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13472) Scot said at the recent US bishops' meeting in Seattle, there was a discussion of the use of language when defending marriage. Bishop Salvatore Cordileone said the words "human rights" and "hate" are being misused, that there's a manipulation of language. >"To be considered and labeled a 'bigot' or 'discriminator' by the government and by law has serious implications for the religious liberty of both institutions and individuals and their freedom of conscience," he said. "The video will seek to demythologize popular claims and call attention to what is really at stake." He also said there is an attempt to make it seem that same-sex marriage is inevitable. >"The good news is often undermined or covered over, but the facts remain," he said. "The myth of the inevitability of same-sex 'marriage' remains just that -- a myth." Fr. Roger said Bishop Cordileone is a real leader in the movement to defend marriage. He's very positive about culture and clear in his teaching. He's very strong in noting that in 31 of the 32 places where people have been allowed to vote about changing the definition of marriage, it has been roundly defeated. The only way it has passed is either by elites in the judicial system or elites in the legislatures who are heavily lobbied by special interests. There is a conspiracy between some of the media, the gay lobby, and other proponents of gay marriage. Susan said words are important. She recently went to an exhibit on eugenics experiments in Nazi Europe and it was clear to her how words were used to advance horrific things. She also said the Church has to find better ways to get her message out, without relying on the mainstream media. Gregory said in Massachusetts we've had a front-row seat to this issue. The gay rights lobby has been effective in using this language of human rights. He recalls Dwight Duncan gave an interview during the marriage debate in Massachusetts. He said marriage by itself is not a right. The state can restrict marriage, for example between siblings. The state doesn't care if people love each other. The state intervenes in this issue because it has an interest in the stability of marriage for the sake of family and a stable society. Civil marriage gives an incentive to families to raise the next generation in a beneficial manner. **4th segment:** In both the Pilot and the Anchor this week is a syndicated column by Dwight Duncan, an attorney and professor, saying that there needs to be local saints, citing recent news about local causes for canonization. * [Holy Cross Family Ministries](http://www.hcfm.org/) * [Fr. Peyton's cause for canonization](http://www.hcfm.org/en/FatherPeyton/CauseforSainthood.aspx) * ["Cause of canonization opens for Opus Dei priest," The Pilot, 6/10/11](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13423) Duncan notes a number of local people with reputations for holiness and encourages people to pray to them for any needs in hopes of a miracle that would advance a cause. He ends his column by saying that we can learn from them and if we obtain a miracle we gain, but they are also highlighted as witnesses to Christ. Fr. Roger said only God can work miracles, but as we see in the Acts of the Apostles, He often does it through human agency. Sometimes while they are alive, but if God grants a miracle through praying to someone who is died, we take it as a sign from God that He wants other people to pray to that person and that He is lifting them up as an example to emulate. Fr. Roger notes that in Italy he remembers the thousands of saints, which contrasts with our small number. He also notes that we live in a celebrity culture, and our saints are the ultimate celebrities. They are the ones we should make our heroes and role models in the eternal hall of fame. It's a sign that holiness is possible in Massachusetts and miracles can happen in Massachusetts. Susan said she is quite devoted to Fr. Peyton, whose cause is moving forward, partly because of his promotion of the rosary. He also founded the Family Theater Productions back in 1947 and she has used many of the productions for teens. The article notes the completion of the local investigation of his cause. Moving on to other topics, Gregory noted that the annual hiatus of the Pilot for the next two weeks. While the paper is not printing, the offices will be open. They are not going on vacation, but instead as a small organization they need some time to catch up on important tasks like computer upgrades and other work that can't take place. They don't have much downtime otherwise. He also mentioned a recent story about a graduate from a local Catholic student who will serve as national leader for Students Against Destructive Decisions. Fr. Roger's editorial this week also talks about Pope Benedict's radical remedy against secularism and idolatry: Adoration. Not just once in a while, but a life that adores the Lord in practical existence. If we recognize that Jesus is truly in the Eucharist and He is in a church nearby us, and all we do to respond to the King of Kings presence is to see him for an hour on Sunday, that's living practically as if He's not present in our life. Thirty years ago, Pope Benedict described Corpus Christi processions in his hometown and how all the families would decorate all their houses and the road. The entire military arsenal in the town was brought out and fired into the air. His father explained to him that such displays are made for a head of state and Jesus Christ is the ultimate head of state. Fr. Roger said if you'd make the effort to see the President of the United States, then make the effort to go out to visit Christ in a Eucharistic procession. * [Holy Hour in honor of Pope Benedict XVI's 60th anniversary of ordination](http://vocationsboston.org/NewsDetails.aspx?ID=94)…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Chip Hines, Pastor of St. Mary Parish, Wrentham, and co-host of CatholicTV's "Spotlight" * [St. Thomas More](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14689c.htm) * [St. John Fisher](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08462b.htm) **Today's topics:** St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher **Summary of today's show:** Scot, Fr. Matt, and Fr. Chip Hines commemorate the feast day of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher by discussing their martyrdom, especially in light of the movie of More's life, "A Man for All Seasons." They also discuss how More shows Catholics today how to be authentic witness with regard to politics and public life. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Matt back to the show. Fr. Matt is preparing a young adult retreat this weekend at St. Thecla's in Billerica called "Life is Good in the Holy Spirit." The young adults always come back strengthened in their faith. There are specific talks that build up to praying for the release of the Holy Spirit in a new way in their life. They also have Adoration, Mass, Confession, small group discussion, and plenty of fellowship. There are about 12 different team members running the weekend. On today's show, this is the feast of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, Catholics who were beheaded for standing up for the Catholic faith against King Henry VIII, who was leading the Church of England away from the Church. Thomas More is one of Scot's favorite saints. Fr. Matt said they help us to understand what it's like to live as a Catholic in this world. Scot said the 1966 movie "A Man for All Seasons" is a good way to enter into the life of St. Thomas More. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chip back to the show. He's been very busy at St. Mary in Wrentham with preparations for parish activities throughout the summer. With regard to the movie "A Man for All Seasons", Fr. Chip said that it's in his top-five movies of all time. It's a classic and there's nothing bad you can say about this movie. It's engaging with great performances. Scot said St. Thomas More was being pressured by King Henry VIII to accede to his wishes, to say that he was the supreme head of the church in England, and not the Pope. Many other leaders in England knuckled under to the pressure, but St. Thomas More resisted because of his faith. He is a model of courage under adversity. Fr. Chip said if you want to show this value to somebody, this movie is a perfect example. Thomas More did not waver in the end. Fr. Chip said he did not become heroic overnight, but throughout his whole life, while this movie gives a snippet of that. It's a great image of what it means to be a Catholic in public life.. The movie starts a few years before he became chancellor of England. He was a tremendous intellect and a lawyer. Fr. Matt said he loved his family and was a devoted father. He was deeply faith-filled and wasn't afraid to let that affect his professional life. He was a judge who had a reputation for efficiency in adjudicating cases. Fr. Chip said he was known for his honesty as well. He couldn't be bribed. Leading a heroic Catholic life, you need to be true to yourself and your faith and to God. He was a prolific writer as well. Fr. Chip said being a good father figure was important to him. He even insisted that his daughters receive a good classical education. He was born in 1477 and died on July 6, 1535, beheaded at the order of King Henry VIII. St. John Fisher was martyred on June 22, 1535. He was a bishop, the only one who did not sign the oath that King Henry VIII was demanding. They were beatified on the same day and canonized on the same day. They are heroes for standing up for their faith in the face of intense pressure. **3rd segment:** Scot said "A Man for All Seasons" was one of the first movies on virtue and courage he'd seen. Fr. Chip said the movie opens with a scene of a message being brought to St. Thomas More. It's beautifully filmed so the viewer feels like they're on the river. It sets the scene for what's coming up. When you think about our lives today with instant communication, this was like the instant message of the 14th century. Fr. Chip said it's a fun movie as well as having a great message. It won Best Movie and Best Actor at the Oscars in 1966. In this first scene, Thomas More is asked to visit with Cardinal Wolsey, the chancellor of England at the time. Wolsey wanted to ask More how he can help the king have an heir. The king had already had a dispensation from the Pope to marry his cousin, but she did not produce a son so he wanted to divorce her to marry another woman. The cardinal was presented with the problem of trying to satisfy the king's demand which was in conflict with Church teaching. Thomas More was clear that this wasn't their business, but was up to the Holy Father. There is a character called Richard Rich, a young man who wanted desperately to receive a position in the law with Thomas More. He eventually succeeded Thomas More as chancellor. Fr. Matt said the character is fascinating. More can see his strengths and weaknesses, how he could be tempted in greed or lust for power and seduced by his own intellect. More tried to encourage him into a field where he could be safe from such temptations and where he could live virtuously. Ultimately, Rich ends up joining More's nemesis, Cromwell, and tells the lie that becomes the false evidence that convicts More of being disloyal to the throne. Scot said More sensed Rich's potential as well as the danger of keeping him around, yet he still tried to mentor him and help him find his true vocation. Scot compared it to how Jesus knew Judas would betray him, yet kept him close and tried to form him so He could forgive him. More loved Rich loved him like a second father to the young man. Fr. Chip said in the actor's performance you can see More's love and respect for Rich and how he saw the danger in his path. You see people like this in your own life, people who are traveling on a bad path and won't respond to your prompting to go another direction. Fr. Matt said More was really being a friend to him. So often we hear that people will go along with what someone wants to do because that's being their friend, when friendship considers what's really good for him. It invites us to consider how important it is to be a good friend and to mentor, especially young people, in the faith, to help them discover the gifts that they have and encourage them in that direction. And not to be afraid to say that we don't think this is not a good direction, speaking in love. Fast-forwarding in the movie, upon Wolsey's death, the king appoints Thomas More as his new chancellor. The heat on the chancellor to find a way for the king to divorce his wife and re-marry is turned up on Thomas. He tries to stay as distant from it as possible, until Henry comes to visit him. Fr. Chip said Henry is trying to use his friendship with More to convince him of the need to accede to the king's desire. That unwavering faith in what the Church says is pretty adamant and strong in his personality and shown well through the actor's performance. It becomes a battle of the wills and More isn't the one to blink. He's very careful not to say something that will result him in being beheaded. King Henry knows that in all of England, Thomas More is respected for his integrity and honesty. And it's because of that reputation that the king wants More's support so that the people will be have confidence that the king is doing the right thing. The queen, Catherine, is not unpopular so the king wanted to win their support first. More was between an all-powerful king as well as his well-meaning family who did not understand his strong stance, on the one hand, and his unwavering commitment to truth, integrity, and his faith on the other. All these years later, More retains the respect of people and is known for his honesty. Fr. Matt said he is authentic which happens when the outward appearance matches up with the who I am in the interior life. Catholics are called to be witnesses by the way we live our lives with authenticity and integrity. You can take away many things from a man, but you can't take away his witness. He can give it away, however. It takes great courage to live that witness. **4th segment:** It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week is a copy of the 2 audio CD set [How Mary & the Rosary Can Change Your Life](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1932927131/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=1932927131), by Marcellino D'Ambrosio. This week’s winner is **Brian & Marcia Kean from West Roxbury, Mass**. Congratulations Brian and Marcia! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit [WQOM.org](http://www.WQOM.org). For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. **5th segment:** Scot said More talks in the movie about the important role of conscience: When leaders forsake their private conscience in their public duties, they lead their countries on a short route to chaos. Fr. Matt said the conscience is the place where the Lord speaks to the soul and the Lord informs the conscience to make decisions in light of God's plan for how He made the world to be. We need to have informed consciences when it comes to moral issues. It's not just our conscience, but an informed conscience. The Church's teachings are formed in rationality. Fr. Chip said people in public life today will say, I'm personally opposed, but I can't impose my conscience on someone else. But they're not imposing. The conscience is informed by the truth, so why wouldn't you spread the truth as opposed to spreading a lie. Scot said the Holy Father has said that if your conscience rooted in the truth is not heeded, then someone else's conscience is being imposed on you. Private conscience is rooted and based on principles. St. Thomas More is saying that a government official needs to have a well-rooted private conscience in order to lead and do their public duties. If they're not rooted and instead put their fingers in the wind to do what's popular, he says they are leading their country by a short route to chaos. Public officials aren't elected just to vote on what the majority of their constituents want, but are elected because of their proper judgment and formation. We elect them in order to trust them to get into the details that we can't in the rest of society and apply their good judgment, virtue, and values. Fr. Chip said our system of government has turned into a system of polls and where people want us to go this day. To find corruption, all you have to see is three speakers of the House in the Mass. Legislature in a row convicted of felonies. What's wrong with this picture? We keep sending the same sorts of people back to office and get the same result. Scot said we, as voters, have allowed our system of government to be dumbed down. Politicians legislate by polls, because we as voters have allowed them to. There is a lot less expected of candidates in races, probably because we're a soundbite media and because the voters have stopped demanding substance. Voters need to reward people for taking ethical stands, even if we disagree with them because we want people of true value and principle in office even if we agree with them only 80% or 90% of the time. Fr. Matt said it reflects the lack of appreciation by voters for virtuous leadership. Politicians are a reflection of ourselves as a country. If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. It takes courage to consistently stand for something. Thomas More was a man of authenticity. The king went to Thomas More because the people were watching him and saw him as a man if integrity. His lack of support hindered the king's goals. Fr. Chip said voters have to decide if the current system is what we want for the future. He'd rather stand with someone who stood for something rather than someone wavering in the wind. Scot said More had a discussion with his future son-in-law, who pleaded with More to circumvent the law in order to fix the ills he saw in society. More asked him if he would cut down every law in England to get at the "devil" and the son-in-law said he would. And More said, And when the last law is cut down and the devil turns on you at last, where will you hide? This country is planted thick with laws and if you cut them down, do you think you'd stand upright in the winds that would buffet you? "Yes, I'd give the devil the benefit of the law for my own safety's sake." Scot said most elected officials respect that we have a system of laws and if you don't like the way things are, you change the law through the legislature and normal protocols. But recent examples of the undermining of the law include same-sex marriage in Massachusetts where the law was not changed legislatively, but through the courts and the voters weren't given a chance to vote on it. Also, when Mass. voters have passed tax reforms in referenda, they were ignored. And when the Defense of Marriage Act was passed nationally, President Obama instructed the Justice Department not to advocate to defend the law. There might be times when we're on the side where the law doesn't benefit us and if we encourage people on our side to ignore the rule of law, it's to our own peril. It's troubling when laws get circumvented either through the judiciary overstepping their bounds or the executive not enforcing the laws. Fr. Chip said it's also troubling when those in power change the rules to stay in power and people who wish to serve can't beat them in elections so keep having the same people over and over again. We have a judiciary that constantly oversteps its bounds and the Founding Fathers put the checks and balances in place for a reason. We see those checks and balances break down in the past decade and cowardice in the legislature, where they wouldn't stand up and let the people be heard. Thomas More would not have stood for that. Fr. Matt said it also speaks of the need for a new evangelization. The Church has to continue to find ways to help people whose hearts have grown cold in the faith. People are being more evangelized by the gospel of the culture than the Gospel of the Jesus Christ. It calls for the Church to reclaim her prophetic role of teaching, preaching, witnessing and evangelizing. Scot said in the state of New York the legalization of gay marriage is before the state legislature and Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York has spoken up on the Church's views and many folks have been attacking him from all sides. He has spoken the truth with courage and joviality and certainly it can't be comfortable for anyone to read headlines calling him a bigot. Scot said there's no one better at articulating the Church's teachings in the public sphere with the right tone and emphasis. Yet he still takes a beating in the press. **6th segment:** In the end, Thomas More is martyred. Fr. Matt said the word comes from Greek and it means "witness." They are witnesses by the shedding of their blood. They are willing to die for their belief in Christ. More was willing to die rather than compromise his faith in the Lord or be a false witness. Fr. Matt said it shows that faith is messy. St. Paul was a real men dealing with persecution, but we can forget that with a cursory reading of his letters. It's not easy to live for Christ in the world. Fr. Chip said we have a sanitized idea of Christianity. We see saints with halos in pictures and think everything is great, but we forget that they struggled heroically for the faith. Maybe we don't talk about it enough. People who show heroic witness need to be exalted. Scot said Americans of today don't often encounter persecution for our faith, but there are martyrs around the world all the time. Just this year, there have been martyrs in Pakistan, Ivory Coast, Iraq, Egypt, Indonesia, and more. Fr. Chip he hears people say they couldn't make it to Mass because the parking lot was full, yet people in Latin America will walk miles to go to Sunday Mass, even if they can once per month. Previous generations of American Catholics have suffered white martyrdom, which is suffering for the faith, but not physical violence. Fr. Matt said we endure martyrdom because we love Jesus, He's worth dying for or even just losing our reputations. We need to pray for courage to live our faith intentionally. And my witness has an overflowing effect on other people because others see us living our faith. Scot said St. Thomas was able to have this courage because he was a man of prayer. Fr. Chip said Thomas' final words were, "I was the king's good servant, but God's first." We need to remember that in our own lives. To be in service to God first. More even forgave the executioner and told him to do his duty.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Sister Marian Batho, Delegate for Religious of the Archdiocese of Boston * [Sisters of Saint Joseph](http://www.csjboston.org/) * [Delegate for Religious office](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/DelegateForReligious.aspx) * ["Journeying Together: Congregations of Women and Men Religious in the Archdiocese of Boston 1808-2008"](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/uploadedFiles/BostonCatholicorg/Offices_And_Services/Offices/Sub_Pages/Vocations/Journeying_Together.pdf) * [NRVC/CARA 2009 Study on Recent Vocations to Religious Life](http://nrvc.net/study_overview/?return_url=study_overview) **Today's topics:** The contribution of religious orders to the Archdiocese of Boston **Summary of today's show:** Sr. Marian Batho joined Scot and Fr. Chris to discuss the link between the health of religious communities and the health of the Church. Also how one discerns a call to religious life, her work as Delegate for Religious in Boston, the history of religious orders in Boston, the Sisters of St. Joseph, and the future of religious communities. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Chris back to the show. Today marks the first day of summer. Tomorrow, Fr. Chris is heading to Omaha to Creighton University to visit with seminarians spending time this summer at an institute for priestly formation. They are learning [Ignatian spirituality](http://ignatianspirituality.com/). Scot noted that EWTN's program [Faith and Culture](http://www.ewtn.com/series/shows/faithAndCulture/faithAndCulture.html) with Colleen Carroll Campbell was at St. John's Seminary over the weekend filming about 10 episodes with local Bostonians. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcomed Sr. Marian to the show. Scot asked her about call to the religious life. From when she was 8 years old, she began to think about being a sister. She liked to go into the chapels of religious communities in her neighborhood, including Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and the Columban Sisters. She went to Boston public schools, but for college went to Regis College, which is run by the Sisters of St. Joseph and she fell in love with the order. Their commitment to the students touched her. She's loved classical music since she was a child and her music teacher, Sr. Margaret William McCarthy, was instrumental in helping her in college. She was a witness of love for her vocation. Several years after graduating, Sr. Marian entered the Sisters of St. Joseph. In between, she was engaged to be married, but she felt God call her to a different path. She also had a Master's degree in finance before entering religious life. She had been on a career track through the financial services industry, particularly insurance. But in 1976, she entered religious life. Fr. Chris said Sr. Marian also works as the Cardinal's representative to the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council as well as assisting couples with marriage preparation in a local parish. She said she finds it a great blessing to work in the Pastoral Center and work for the Archdiocese for nearly 14 years. She's been the Delegate for Religious for almost 10 years and is able to meet with men and women religious nearly every day, which continues to inspire her. The Archdiocesan Pastoral Council is a consultative body to Cardinal Seán. It's like a parish's pastoral council. Cardinal Seán meets with them to seek their advice on various pastoral issues facing the Archdiocese. It includes two pastors, two deacons, a religious sister, a religious brother, and lay representatives from the various regions of the archdiocese as recommended by local pastors. As Delegate for Religious, Sr. Marian is liaison between Cardinal Seán and over 2,000 religious in Boston, as well as consecrated virgins, hermits, and men and women in discernment. She calls herself the vocation concierge. Sr. Marian gets four or five calls per month from people looking for more information. Throughout the year they have informational events. The signs of a religious vocation including having a life of prayer; they're participating in the parish and attending Mass at least weekly or even daily as much as possible; and involved in parish activities. She also looks at their interests because religious orders are involved in many apostolic works as well as orders that are contemplative. She will then help arrange a meeting with the order. Contemplative communities live in cloisters, in their monasteries, leaving only for necessary reasons, living a life predominantly of prayer. An apostolic community is involved in a variety of activities, like education, healthcare, or social justice. Generally speaking, the timeframe for final profession as a religious is between 9 and 10 years. Most communities now have a live-in experience prior to entrance. First, they get to know the community, joining them for prayer and meals. They look for a good match between the person and the community. Then they are invited to enter the community as postulant in a period of testing for one or two years. Then they enter novitiate for two years. The first year is a canonical novitiate with intense prayer and study on the community, theology, Scripture, prayer, and vows. The second year is an apostolic year where they experience the work of the community. At the end of the novitiate, the candidate asks to make first profession and the community decides whether they continue to be a good fit. Between 3 and 6 years later they make a final profession. Sr. Marian said community life is essential to religious life. The three evangelical counsels are poverty, chastity, and obedience are lived within community. Fr. Chris asked about her order's devotion to St. Joseph. Sr. Marian said her order's constitution says, "We look to Joseph as our model of justice, gentleness and humility, extending a cordial charity to all." She noted that Joseph never speaks in the Scriptures and the order tries to imitate the hidden life of Joseph in humility and care for those in need. The Sisters of St. Joseph are most known for education. They have Fontbonne Academy, Mt. St. Joseph, Walnut Park, Regis College, Bethany Hills School, and the Literacy Connection, which offers services to immigrants. They also have Bethany Healthcare Center. The Sisters also work with other communities to open a safe house for victims of human trafficking. **3rd segment:** Scot said three years ago as part of the Archdiocesan bicentennial year, a number of religious orders got together to publish a book, "Journeying Together" on the history of religious communities in the archdiocese. The book includes 125 orders of men and women. Sr. Marian said you can see the pastoral needs evolving in the Archdiocese of Boston and the evolving pastoral priorities of each Archbishop. She calls it a beautiful love story and usually gives it to discerning men and women to read. She wrote in the foreword to the book: >The following pages represent a wonderful Love Story. They speak of courageous founders, faith-filled major superiors, and devoted religious who responded generously to the invitation to come to Boston. Concerned for the pastoral care of a large immigrant population, and trusting in the providence of God, religious communities built schools, hospitals and social service agencies. Their legacy for the next 200 years is that with God all things are possible. Scot recalled the first religious sisters in the Archdiocese, the Ursuline Sisters, who had their school in Charlestown burned down by anti-Catholics. Sr. Marian noted that the orders came to Boston with limited resources and were able to build a great legacy with God's providence. Scot said it took great trust by the religious to found these institutions like schools or hospitals and believe that people would support them. Sr. Marian said it speaks of the importance of community. Praying together and living together helped the seeds of religious life blossom in Boston. When people come together as a team or community, marvelous and wonderful things happen. Scot said what made Boston stand out for the growth of the Archdiocese was the new life that religious communities breathed into Boston. Cardinal Seán in his recent pastoral letter noted that new life and growth of religious orders that will spur new growth of the Church in Boston for the future. As goes religious orders in Boston, so goes the Church as a whole. Fr. Chris asked Sr. Marian what the three Evangelical Counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience mean. Sr. Marian said to sum it up, it means that my life is not about me. In the vow of poverty, they profess that all they have belongs to the community and they own it in common. They trust the community will let them receive what they need. In the vow of obedience, they try to respond every day to the will of God as Mary and Joseph did with an enthusiastic, unqualified Yes. In chastity, it means that God is their primary relationship, which allows them to be available in all circumstances. Cardinal Seán says the vows are an antidote to the ills of society: materialism, individualism, and licentiousness. Scot said the reliance of the religious on the community deepens the bonds between them. Sr. Marian said it also affirms that what we have is not for ourselves, but to be shared. For 2010, the Boston Catholic Directory reports 1800 religious women, 500 religious priests, and about 100 religious men. That contrasts with the late 60s': More than 6,000 women, over 1,000 priests, and almost 300 men. Scot asked which era is the norm? Are we in a shortage today or was that an unusual bounty? Sr. Marian said there were many reasons for those large numbers and maybe we will never have those large numbers again. But she believes that God continues to call and while there maybe disappointment at the small number of people opting for religious life, the CARA study of religious life shows that there are many young men and women considering religious life. Sr. Marian said her concern is that we're not talking about religious life. She often hears from people considering religious life is that no one has ever invited them to consider it. Sr. Marian said the life of the Sisters of St. Joseph is inspiring and overwhelming to see the children learning in their schools, to see communities grow. Fr. Chris asked what advice she would give to parents to encourage religious vocations. She said they need to find out more about religious communities. She thinks there should be come-and-see events for families. In addition to discouragement that sometimes comes from parents, it can also come from peers. Scot said parents shouldn't necessarily ask "What do *you* want to be?", but instead ask, "What you think *God* wants you to be?" Parents can have plans and hopes for their kids, but children are a gift from God and a Catholic parent knows that a child's ultimate happiness is in their children doing what God wants them to do. He plants the seed in their minds, by pointing out priests and religious they might know and wanting to emulate them. Sr. Marian said we also have to talk about the importance of prayer and faith sharing because the language can be foreign if the family isn't praying in the home. She thinks that's where the gap is. She recalls Sr. Mary Johnson of Emmanuel College who said young people are desperately searching for what religious communities offer while the communities look for new members. They need to find ways to bridge that gap. At a recent discernment meeting, they had younger members of the communities talk about their call and she could feel the atmosphere in the room change as people began to consider God might be calling them. Teaching young people to pray can help the vocational crisis. God hasn't stopped calling. More people need to start listening. If we teach people to pray, the vocations will come as people learn to hear His voice. **4th segment:** Scot asked Sr. Marian what we have to look forward to in religious life over the next 200 years. She said God will continue to call. Bishops in our history have called religious orders forth to serve ministries and pastoral needs in the archdiocese. With Cardinal Seán's new pastoral letter on evangelization, it is a new moment for orders that are here to re-engage, for orders to come to Boston, and for new orders to form. Scot asked Sr. Marian the best way for people to re-connect with religious who have been instrumental in their lives: teachers who have taught them, for example. Anyone trying to re-connect with them can call Sr. Marian and she can try to make the connection. There are also listings of religious sisters, brothers, and diocesan priests, which are kept up-to-date. There will be more discernment weekends in the fall and then in February and April of 2012.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Jim Stenson, author and educator * [Jim's website: ParentLeadership.com](http://www.parentleadership.com) * [Father, The Family Protector](http://www.scepterpublishers.org/product/index.php?FULL=297) **Today's topics:** Being a successful husband and father; raising children **A summary of today's show:** Jim Stenson talks with Scot on the day after Father's Day about the qualities of the successful father and husband gleaned from his decades of serving and observing families, including the 4 ways that a dad's role is that of protector and the 12 pieces of essential advice for fathers. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes author and educator Jim Stenson to the show. Scot was surprised while reading Jim's books to learn that Jim is not a father himself, but he's captured so much wisdom in terms of what makes successful fathers and husbands. Jim has been a numerary member of Opus Dei since he was 18 years old and has helped started two schools, one in Washington DC and another in Chicago. He was director of the school in Chicago for 12 years. One of the principles of schools that Opus Dei tries to foster is that the people who benefit the most from the schools is the parents because parents do most of the work in raising the children. Their job is to reinforce what the parents do at home. He became interested in the dynamics of the family and has studied hundreds of families. Over the years he found in families do a good job in that they raised adults, not children. What he learned, he put into his books and into his talks to parents. He's been giving conferences since 1989 all over the world. He's written three books. His website is parentleadership.com. Jim started when he saw so many social changes take place in the family over the last several decades. For example, the father works outside the family and the children almost never see him. He saw this as a significant fact. What he tried to do was learn as much as he could and provide a job description. Increasingly he saw the role of the father as very important and misunderstood. A lot of fathers weren't sure of what their role is in their family. Too often children see their father come home and veg out in front of the TV or the computer and there's not much interaction. There isn't much to emulate. Children learn character and virtues by imitating people they admire. You don't teach virtue with lectures and talks, but by example. People in the learned wisdom by watching the father be active around the house or the farm or the shop or workshop or other family business. Too often kids just see their father in his leisure time. Jim said the less the father does to provide leadership in his family, the more the burden falls on the mother and if she works outside the home then there's a vacuum in the children's formation. Formation is everything you say and do so your children don't grow up to be the selfish heathens they were when they were very small kids. The role of the father as Jim sees it is that of a protector. The more the family is aware of that, they more they respect him and the more they learn from him. The father protects in four ways: 1. Physical: Children feel safe when the father is around. He's the strongest one in the family. Children sense that daddy loves them and his strength is their strength. 2. He protects the family against destitution. He puts his power up against problems in one profession or another. 3. He protects his wife from the arrogance and aggressive of his children, particularly in two stages of life-- from ages 2 to 5 and then later 13 to 15. The kids can be very disrespectful to their mother. His role is to step in. The wife creates the moral tone and the father enforces it. She's my wife, not just your mother. Nobody ever treats my wife with disrespect. I am honored to be her protector and that is my role from God. He's told high school boys that God has given them strength of arms, a deep voice, a beard to drive away anyone who threatens your loved ones, starting with your wife. 4. He forms their judgment and conscience, especially as entering adolescence so they can later protect themselves. Above all, integrity. Kids have to learn it. The kids see the father as expert in the world outside the family. Integrity is related to integer. It means unity. Unity of intention, word, and action. We mean what we say, we say what we mean, and we keep our word. We do not lie and we keep our promises. **2nd segment:** Talking about a father's unity of life. What makes someone successful on the job can translate to success in family. Success is the full of use of one's powers to the betterment of others. People who succeed most in business have a real clear sense of focus on the future and they get along well with people. They are known as having integrity and professionalism. A man who is successful in business has a clear vision of where his business is heading in 10 or 15 years. He looks for strengths in people and coordinates those strengths toward a team's collective endeavors. He doesn't care about weaknesses, but only what they can contribute. The team can mask weakness. He is service-oriented; he wants his people to be better as a consequence of doing their job. He is also concerned for details now while looking to the future. He doesn't waste time. He is conscious of his authority and sees it as a means of serving others. He knows that no ideal becomes reality without sacrificial effort. Every father who is serious about his job knows these things at least indirectly. Scot said he learned in business school that it's easy for men to focus so much of their mind on work because it's so tangible and measurable. But it's more difficult at home because how your kids are doing, how your wife is doing is less tangible and harder to see. There are ways to measure the tangible effects of raising the kids. Are your kids doing more and more without being told? Do they have eyes for the needs around them? Do they keep their word? Do they admit when they're wrong? Is honesty important in their upbringing? Are they behaving more and more like conscientious responsible adults? Scot said one of his favorite definitions of leadership is behaving in a way that other people want to follow you. It's important that parents lead in the home because kids need heroes to look up. Ideally parents would be their primary heroes in life. Jim said leaders have joiners, not followers. Children will follow someone who knows what he's doing, is confident, and is active. In your home, establish rules and standards. Start the rules with "we": We clean up after ourselves. We put things away when we're finished using. Say please, thank you, I'm sorry, I give your word. We don't return a car with less than a quarter tank of gas. We worship God as a family to thank Him for everything. This means that the father lives by the same rules and the children see him doing that. He's making it clear that the family is a team. Especially in a big family, all the children feel needed. The children make clear to the children that they take of the needs and the children take care of the wants. If they want something, they have to get a job to make money and buy it. Scot said good leaders in business set a vision. A good fatherly leader puts his wife first. Jim said that's part of his vocation from God. Children's attitudes toward each parent mirrors the parents' attitudes toward each other. When the wife treats her husband as the hero in the family, the kids respect him. Never belittle the husband in front of the children. He must have their respect. Part of the respect we have from other people is our reputation. It is part of the wife's job to settle her husband's reputation in the family. For example, husband and wife make decisions for the children together. The father makes clear to the children that the mother is the boss here. She's here to enforce the quality control in the house. If they mess around too much with mom, they face dad's wrath. **3rd segment:** One of the roles of parents is the religious formation of children. One way to measure being a successful Catholic dad is whether you can pass on the joys of the Catholic faith to them. Jim said children's concepts of God have much to do with their relationship with their father. They see God as someone who is powerful, strong, loving, forgiving. Everything God is, is what Dad is. The father needs to be active in his own interior life towards God. He has to have a personal friendship with Jesus Christ. Sanctity doesn't mean performing miracles. It means being a friend of Jesus and being open to whatever he asks of us. It would be natural to lead your children to that same friendship. Scot said when the father takes an active role in his faith, then it tends to take into the next generation, both with boys and girls, than if they view Catholic faith as just their mother's faith. The children expect the mother to have a stronger religious sense, because they naturally see her as mystery. Men tend to be problem solvers. One of the great secrets of married life is that men worry more than women. This is why they need friends. When a father makes it clear that his best friend is God, it shows it's not a matter of weakness turning to God. It's true for other values as well: If the father is a reader, the children are readers. If the father's interested in art and the culture, the kids are too. This pattern seems to come from the father. Fathers should take an interest in catechetical instruction. Make it clear it's not just study to pass a test. Tell them about he great sacrifices of those throughout the ages who passed on the faith. Make it clear that they will have to pass the faith on to their own children someday. The children need to think strategically. Scot said many grandparents lament that their grandkids aren't being raised in the faith. How do we avoid that same lament? Scot said Jim has taught him to make it clear that he wants his kids to know the faith so they can teach it to others. It raises the bar on how much time he spends in formation with the kids. Jim said in grandparents' generations they depended too much on institutions outside the family to educate the children. children internalize what the parents take seriously. Children won't remember the details of what you teach them, but they will remember what's important to you. Every Catholic parent should homeschool their children in the faith. Jim said psychologists have found t hat when the family sits around the table, their attention is mostly toward the father. He's the center of attention so the father can lead them all in prayer. The main prayer in the family is thanksgiving to God. In some families, the youngest children will say the prayers; they are the one who came most recently from heaven. Ask your children for prayers in important occasions. Children can't contribute much to family life, but you can tell them that their prayers are powerful and mean a lot. Make visits to the Blessed Sacrament; to have a devotion. Tell your kids: you pray for me, I'll pray for you. They associate dad with a loving relationship with God. They'll see how his strength and confidence in life came from his relationship with God. Scot said if we don't help them find heroes in the saints, they will find heroes in athletes, musicians, and actors. Jim said it's a fact that teens especially are not looking for rules to live by, but a life to imitate. That's why they watch adults so closely. Hollywood and media put up images of people who are glamorous and entertaining. Because of that, make clear to them that we are all descended from heroic people: grandparents and those before them. Also our favorite saints who stood up for the faith or did tremendous things with their lives. Teach them to be open to whatever God is calling you to. The finest way that children can honor their parents is to live by their principles. God commands us to honor our father and mother and so we can internalize their principles and religious values; to live by them all our lives. To honor me, live by what I'm teaching you. **4th segment:** One of Scot's favorite pieces of Jim's writing is a document called ["Advice for Fathers"](http://parentleadership.com/fathers.html). It has 12 things that fathers can do as a kind of examination of conscience: Don't neglect your wife. Make sure everyone understands that wife is Number 1 in the family. He knows one husband who brings home flowers every Friday to his wife to show her how grateful he is to her, but also to let kids know how much he appreciates her. Don't underestimate your children. Have high ambitions for them. Think of them as young men and women. Parents often don't think far enough ahead: what are my children going to be life in 20 years? Start looking for their positive features, which are sometimes the obverse of what annoys you. Don't treat teenagers like large children. Children grow, but teenagers change. They change remarkably, especially girls. That's the age they most need their father. Sons are looking for leadership from their dad. They are adults who have everything but experience. When teens ask, Why don't you trust me? Tell them, we trust your integrity and your good intention. We have to mistrust for now, temporarily, your judgment because you don't have enough experience. In a few years, you will have that experience. Don't ever tell your teens that the high-school years are the best part of their lives. Because it's not true. They constantly make mistakes, get into trouble. 90% of their problems is from bad judgment, not malice. Every part of life is enjoyable. It's all a matter of attitude. Life is an adventure. If you tell teens it's the best years, they will groan. Come down to your children's level, but don't stay there. Listen to them. Be patient with them. Don't become another child in the house. Don't let them treat you like an older sibling. Bring them up to your level. Get them to think like adults. Part of the father's role is to say your mother has taught you right and wrong in the family and it will be true in the outside world. Turning teaching of the family into lifetime ethics. Don't forget to praise your children and be specific about. Praise effort, not just success. You want them to try. We don't belittle people who try. We tend to specific about blame and vague about praise. Don't praise children for what comes from God--good looks, etc--but praise them for attitudes and behavior you want them to repeat.…
Full show notes for today's program will be available on Monday. Thank you for your patience. Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Father Mark O'Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr. Joseph Mozer, Judge at the Metropolitan Tribunal for the Archdiocese of Boston Today’s topics: Fr. Mozer, his work at the Metropolitan Tribunal; misconceptions about Declarations of Nullity; the Gospel readings for The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. A summary of today’s show: Scot and Father Mark O'Connell 1st segment: Scot and Father Mark welcomed Msgr. Robert P. Deeley as the new Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia as of September 1st. Before Msgr. Deeley went to work in Rome, he worked in the Metropolitan Tribunal here in the Archdiocese of Boston. Father Mark said that having Canonical training will be a good influence on Msgr. Deeley's leadership style in such a key office to the Archdiocese. Father Mark also highlighted that having good connections in Rome and a worldwide perspective on the Catholic Church will be a great help to Boston. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Father Joseph Mozer, a Canon lawyer and Judge in the Metropolitan Tribunal. Father Joe explained that he first heard the call to be a priest in his teens, reenforced by time spent with the Neumann Club and Catholic Center at UMass Amherst. He explained his membership in what was nicknamed the "CCC" - the "Confused Catholics Club," made up of students who were considering vocations in to the religious life, working as a volunteer, and to the married life. Father Joe said that experiencing his own parents' divorce, declaration of nullity, and remarriage helps him understand the situations that he works with in the Tribunal, as well as his outside work with Catholic Engaged Encounter. 3rd segment: Father Joe spoke about his work with Catholic Engaged Encounter, a program that prepares couples for marriage. The program uses techniques from the Marriage Encounter program, especially one called dialoguing that encourages discussion between the couple about issues they may face in the future of their relationship. Father Joe said he became involved in the program when he attended a weekend to more accurately recommend it to couples asking him about marriage preparation programs. Scot also highlighted Father Joe's favorite hobby - motorcycle riding. Father Joe explained that he first started riding as a family activity with his mother and stepfather, and enjoyed it so much that he got his own bike. He was at Bike Week in Laconia, New Hampshire on Wednesday and said that riding is his favorite way to de-stress and enjoy the road. He rides his motorcycle to work at the Pastoral Center when weather permits. Scot asked Father Mark about his hobbies, and Father Mark said he goes golfing and enjoys spending time with his friend Father Soper. Scot asked Father Joe to describe what is commonly known as an Annulment, but is known in the Church as a declaration of nullity. Father Joe explained that the crux of a valid marriage is the willingness and ability of both spouses to enter into the partnership of the whole of life that the Church understands as marriage. He explained that a Judge in the Tribunal reviews evidence presented in Declaration of Nullity cases to determine whether a marriage is valid. 4th segment: Father Mark, Father Joe, and Scot discussed the Old Testament and Gospel readings for this upcoming Sunday. Old Testament (First Reading) for Trinity Sunday (Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9)Early in the morning Moses went up to Mount SinaiAs the LORD had commanded him,taking along the two stone tablets. Having come down in a cloud, the LORD stood with Moses thereand proclaimed his name, "LORD."Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out,"The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God,slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity."Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship.Then he said, "If I find favor with you, O Lord,do come along in our company.This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins,and receive us as your own." Gospel reading for Trinity Sunday (John 3:16-18) God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,so that everyone who believes in him might not perishbut might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,but that the world might be saved through him.Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. Fr. Mark's quote from Romano Guardini's "Prayers from Theology": In Christ, the depth of the hidden life of God is disclosed to us. His being, speaking and doing are completely filled with the reality of the Holy One. But from that reality emerge living figures: the Father in his omnipotence and goodness; the Son in his truth and redeeming love; and between them the selfless, the creating, the Spirit. It is a mystery that passes all understanding; and the danger of objecting to it is great. But I do not want a God who abides by the limits of my own though and how is fashioned after my own depicting. I want the real God, and know that he must exceed the bounds of my thoughts. Therefore I believe in your mystery, living God, and Christ, who cannot lie, bears witness to it. If I wish to share a common intimacy, then I must turn to other people; but, however close we may be, and however deep our love, we are always apart. You, however, find your "other" within yourself. In your own depths you hold eternal converse. In your own richness takes place the everlasting giving and receiving of love. O God, I believe in your triune life. For your sake I believe in it, since this mystery covers your truth. If it is once surrendered, your image fades in the world. But for our sake, too, I believe in it, O God, for the peace of your eternal life must become our dwelling. We are your children, O Father; your brothers and sisters, O Son of God, Jesus Christ; and you, Holy Spirit, are our friend and teacher. That is the eternal life that was ordained for us. Our hope goes out to it. Preserve me, O God, from the light ever being extinguished which shines so distantly and yet with such holiness across to me. Amen.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. **Today's topics:** New vicar general for Boston; St. Cecilia, Boston, controversy; crisis in Fatherhood; Catholic U returns to single-sex dorms **A summary of today's show:** Our usual Thursday panel discusses the Bruins' winning the Stanley Cup; Msgr. Bob Deeley's appointment as vicar general and moderator of the curia; the controversy at St. Cecilia's in Boston and homosexuality; crisis in fatherhood; and single-sex dorms at Catholic U. **1st segment:** Scot admits staying up too late for the Bruins win in the Stanley Cup. He welcomes Fr. Roger Landry, Susan Abbott, and Gregory Tracy to the show. Scot said it's amazing to him that with all the talk of a Patriots dynasty that now they have the longest drought of championships in Boston sports. Fr. Roger said he watched the game with the whole communion of saints. Fr. Roger said Bruins goalie is one of the best athletes to listen to and watch. He's un-cliched, gives everything he's thinking, doesn't say the typical things athletes will. Susan said she had a class in Concord and was convinced no one would show, but people did come. She did ask anyone in the class who could keep up with the score to keep everyone in the loop. The panel reminisced on great moments from the game. Scot is looking forward to the Bruins rolling rally on Saturday and has promised his kids they could go. **2nd segment:** On Tuesday, Cardinal Seán announced that he is naming a new vicar general and moderator of the curia. Msgr. Robert P. Deeley has been serving for the last 7 years in the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Before that he was a pastor in Quincy and judicial vicar for the archdiocese. Our current vicar general, Fr. Richard Erickson, will be granted a sabbatical in Rome, after which he will return to Boston for a new assignment. * [Archdiocesan press release on appointment of new vicar general](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Utility/News-And-Press/Content.aspx?id=20726) * [2005 Pilot profile of Msgr. Deeley on his appointment to the Vatican](http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=1757) * [Canon Law Society of America](http://www.clsa.org/) Fr. Roger knows Msgr. Deeley. He first met him many years when the Mass. Catholic Conference brought some priests together for a program to defend marriage against the re-defintions that were being attempted. He was very impressed by his clear thinking, his hard work, and how thoroughly imbued with the teaching of the Church he is. He's also very funny. He also has a skill set for the tasks of vicar general that complements the skill set of the Cardinal. Susan took a semester course in canon law with Msgr. Deeley when she was working in a parish. She echoed Fr. Roger's comments. She's sad to see Fr. Rich leave, but thrilled for his new opportunity. Scot said the appointment of vicar general is a big deal. Gregory said vicar general and moderator of the curia is a long title. Both titles are important. The vicar general is someone empowered by the local bishop, the Ordinary, to fulfill his mandates for a particular purpose. All of the auxiliary bishops are vicars general too. The moderator of the curia oversees the central administration of the archdiocese. He is the real intermediary between the bishop and those who work for him. Scot said he has a personal connection with Msgr. Deeley. The local Serra organization has an Adopt-a-Priest program for families to be assigned priests to pray for every day. The assignments are random and Msgr. Deeley was assigned to Scot's family and they have been praying for him already. Fr. Roger said the vicar general of a large archdiocese like Boston often has to take on more work when the archbishop is asked to do even more work outside the archdiocese by the Pope. It's an important appointment for Cardinal Seán. Msgr. Deeley is past president of the Canon Law Society of America and his work in Rome has been involved with dealing with priests who have abused children. He is a national expert on this matter, which will be very good for Boston which has been dealing with this issue. Fr. Rich Erickson celebrates his 5th anniversary as vicar general and moderator of the curia in Boston today. **3rd segment:** Scot said about a week ago it was learned that there was going to be a Mass at St. Cecilia's parish in Boston to celebrate Gay Pride Month. Cardinal Seán and his team talked to the pastor to ensure that there was no misunderstanding that the Church was promoting Gay Pride. That became a cause celebre in local and national media. * The Pilot's editorial on the St. Cecilia's matter will be available on their site on Friday morning. * ["The Mass That Wasn't," Boston Globe editorial, 6/14/11](http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2011/06/14/the_mass_that_wasnt/) * ["For one priest, the choice is clear," Boston Globe, 6/14/11](http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/06/14/priest_defends_inclusion_of_gays_lesbians/) Scot said the Pilot this week will have about the longest editorial ever published in the paper, entitled "A Teachable Moment." Gregory said once the news of the Mass being canceled was made public, there was a lot of confusion over what the Church actually teaches on homosexual inclinations and the promotion of the gay lifestyle. The Church does not discriminate against those with same-sex attraction, and all are welcome in the Church. However, the Church also teaches that while an attraction itself is not sinful, acting on that attraction is. All are called to chastity outside of marriage. Those acts should not be promoted or celebrated outside of the Church. Fr. Roger clarified that it's not just sacramental marriage, but all natural marriages for those who are not baptized Christians too. He was struck by hearing the common refrain that it's "important that others accept me as I am" or that "Jesus would accept me as I am." Jesus made us male and female and who we are as male and female is important. Part of the problem is that for those with same-sex attraction their sexual attraction is often placed at a very high level of their consciousness. It becomes part of their identity. Fr. Roger said when you put out the welcome mat, but don't also present the fullness of the goodness of the Church's teaching is not really presenting the whole truth, the Good News, and being welcoming. We need to have the confidence to be able to say that this particular activity is contrary to your good, contrary to God's plans for you. He also made a distinction between same-sex attraction and the gay culture. Gay means out of the closet. It doesn't mean that the person acknowledges same-sex attraction as disordered. He noted that these gay pride parades include anti-Catholic behavior and simulated sexual acts in a parade on city streets. These can be seen in a simple Google search for photos. Scot countered the Globe's editorial that claimed that Jesus would have held this Mass. He said the common view of love is that soft view of love, not the tough love of discipline, a parent who says no to a child because he loves him and wants what is best for him. Fr. Roger adds that Jesus loved the woman caught in adultery and saved her from stoning, but also told her to sin no more. He also told us that if our hand causes us to sin, to cut it off. He did not shy away from calling us out of sin. Gregory said often the understanding of sin is incomplete. Sin is not just an arbitrary rule that defines something that annoys God. Instead, sin leads to death and destruction and the rules are the way that God tells us of the dangers of sin. Susan said it all goes back to that we are made in the image and likeness of God. Everything God created is good, but when God created man and woman, as male and female, it was "very good." Scot said almost everything you need to know about Church teaching on this issue will be found in the Pilot editorial, available tomorrow. Also, Scot made a commitment that Catholic teaching will always be shared in its fullness on The Good Catholic Life. **4th segment:** In the Anchor this week, the editorial is titled, "Responding to the Crisis in Fatherhood." It links Trinity Sunday with Father's Day and God's fatherhood with human fatherhood. * [Zenit story on Cardinal Ratzinger's address in Palermo, Sicily, on the crisis of fatherhood, 3/15/00](http://www.studiobrien.com/reflections/cardinal-ratzinger-fatherhood-and-apocalypse.html) Fr. Roger said Trinity Sunday often focuses on God the Father's role in the Trinity. Cardinal Ratzinger said in 2000 in Palermo, Sicily, that the crisis of fatherhood is the most important element threatening man in his humanity. Fatherhood is not just a biological act. Fr. Roger often finds that those who come from broken homes often find it difficult to relate to God as Father, which results in many other societal problems. Many sociologists have pointed out the serious consequences of so many kids growing up without children: poverty, violence, teen pregnancy, and more. The Church needs to help fathers recognize the great mission they have. Human fatherhood comes from God the Father. We also have to understand how God relates to Jesus, His Son, and to all His children. 10 points revealed about fatherhood that Jesus reveals to us from God the Father: 1. The Father take delight in His children. 2. The Father loves unconditionally. 3. The Father cares about every one of His children. 4. The Father is generous. 5. The Father is observant. 6. The Father teaches those who are docile. 7. The Father is merciful. 8. The Father disciples out of love. 9. The Father works. 10. The Father wants to share life to the full with His children. The editorial substantiates each one of those points with Scripture. Scot said it's a good list for fathers to look at how well they are doing. Gregory said it took him five kids before he fully understood a father's mission and duty toward his children. Susan noted how poorly fathers are portrayed in the media. She also noted the awesome job that single mothers do. Scot said Jim Stenson, a local Bostonian who often speaks on fatherhood, will be on The Good Catholic Life on Monday to talk about the job description of a Catholic father. Jim Stenson says, Your job as a parent, not just a dad, is to raise an adult, not just a kid. **5th segment:** A few days ago, the president of Catholic University of America, John Garvey, wrote an editorial in the Wall Street Journal, that he would try to address binge drinking and the culture of sexual hookups by going back to single-sex dorms. * ["Why We're Going to Single-Sex Dorms," John Garvey, president of CUA in the Wall Street Journal, 6/13/11](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304432304576369843592242356.html?mod=googlenews_wsj) He acknowledges that it will be financially costly and difficult to re-balance the student body to have enough space for everyone in the available dorm rooms. He said there's a tie between virtue and the intellectual life. Scot was surprised that so many Catholic colleges don't have single-sex dorms, but was also pleasantly surprised by the general acclaim for the idea. Susan noted the statistics in the article that talked about the costs of the current culture, including depression for women who have multiple partners, health issues, and the like. Fr. Roger said those who would be happy about this are college kids who want to drink and hookup. Everyone else should be happy. Quoting Garvey: >My wife and I have sent five children to college and our youngest just graduated. Like many parents, we encouraged them to study hard and spend time in a country where people don't speak English. Like all parents, we worried about the kind of people they would grow up to be. > >We may have been a little unusual in thinking it was the college's responsibility to worry about that too. Fr. Roger hopes many Catholic parents will look to Catholic University now and that other Catholic colleges will follow suit.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Michael Harrington, director of Office of Outreach and Cultural Diversity; Lorna DesRoses, director of Black Catholic Ministries; Maria Bain, station manager of WQOM * [Office of Outreach and Cultural Diversity](http://catholicculturaldiversity.com/) * [Deaf Apostolate of the Archdiocese of Boston](http://catholicculturaldiversity.com/) * [Catholic Family Festival](http://catholicculturaldiversity.com/catholicfamilyfestival/) **Today's topics:** Office of Outreach and Cultural Diversity; Catholic Family Festival; WQOM updates **A summary of today's show:** Fr. Mike Harrington and Lorna DesRoses tell Scot and Fr. Matt about the cultural diversity of Boston (for example, there are 27 different ethnic groups in the archdiocese; the largest Brazilian community outside Brazil is in Boston) as well as the upcoming Catholic Family Festival on June 25. Marian Bain also updates on the latest news from WQOM. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes back Fr. Mat, who is returning from Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, where he was visiting a friend who knew from seminary. He entered more deeply into the Cajun experience. On the last night of his trip, they went out to dinner where he tried turtle soup and fried alligator, all of which he thought was very good. Fr. Matt said the final game of the Stanley Cup is tonight and he has a wager with the head of youth ministry in the Archdiocese of Vancouver. Fr. Matt is wagering New England clam chowder and baked beans and they're offering British Columbia smoked salmon and some Canadian bacon. Cardinal Seán and Archbishop Miller also have a wager. Fr. Matt said his friend's child was baptized Sunday on the Feast of Pentecost, which couldn't have been better timing. The night before they went to a Cajun festival with music and dancing. His friend told him about [Charlene Richard](http://www.charlenerichard.net/), who died in 1959 from Leukemia, who is called the Little Cajun saint. She offered all of her suffering for others and was known for being devoted to the Blessed Mother. There have been miracles attributed to prayers said at her tomb. Fr. Matt said they visited the tomb to sing and praise God. As they prayed, a wind kicked up to cool them off the rest of the evening from the 99-degree, 100-percent humidity weather. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Mike and Lorna to the show. Scot said the Office of Cultural Diversity is the broadest ministry in the Pastoral Center. Fr. Mike said they do outreach to 27 different ethnic communities throughout the Archdiocese, from very large communities like Brazilians to very small like Japanese and some Middle Eastern. Lorna said Mass is celebrated in more than 25 different languages each Sunday. Fr. Mike started in the office last year and Lorna has worked in the office for 7 years. Scot said there are many ministries in the archdiocese that reach out to people just in English and Fr. Mike's small staff offers the same services to 27 different communities. Fr. Mike said there are rewards and joys in reaching out to these communities, which are not on the fringe, but are at the heart of the life of the Church in this archdiocese. As an example, he works with 16 different Brazilian communities to connect them to marriage prep, youth and young adult events, conferences, sacramental preparations, Masses in their languages, and other ways. On June 25, the Office is hosting the Catholic Family Festival at Malden Catholic High School from noon to 7pm. It will include a cultural gala involving 14 communities performing and singing. There will be time for families to let their kids play in various games. There will be a procession of nations, Mass with Cardinal Seán, and a international food festival. Fr. Mike said the cultural gala will honor Blessed Pope John Paul II through native song and dance from Brazil, Kenya, Vietnam, and all other parts of the world that the Holy Father went out to visit throughout his pontificate. Lorna points out that the next day is the Feast of Corpus Christi in which we are One Body. Scot said in his parish where he grew up in Lowell, it was mostly French Canadian with a few Irish. He went back a few years ago to a reunion and there's now an African community which brought new life and amazing music and joy. It's all very Catholic but different from what he's used to. Fr. Mike said seeing this vitality in worship is new to him and exciting. Lorna said it's wonderful to worship with, say, the Kenyan community praying in Swahili. At the food festival, some of the food will include Korean barbecue, Haitian yellow cake, East African chapati bread, Brazilian fish stew, and much more. For those who find it too adventurous, they will also have some hamburgers and hot dogs. **3rd segment:** Scot said there is no cost to attend the festival. Fr. Mike said there is a suggested donation of $10 for individual, $20 for families, but it is absolutely free. This is made possible because of Malden Catholic High School's generosity in donating the facility. This is the first Catholic family festival that is designed to reach out to culturally diverse families. There are many young people in these communities, which makes Fr. Mike particularly excited. Fr. Matt asked Fr. Mike why he has a passion for family festivals. When he first got involved in 2005, the Archdiocese was in a difficult time. At the time he was a state chaplain to the Mass. Knights of Columbus, and he wanted to do something for families. With the Men's and Women's Conferences starting at the same time, this was good news building up the Church in Boston. Many people said it was the first time they could go to a Catholic event as a family. Over the years, he's seen the fruits in people becoming more involved in their parishes. He hopes that ethnic groups will feel a greater part of the Archdiocese. Scot noted that many adults get energized by seeing young Catholics getting involved and having hope in the Church. Fr. Mike said a few years ago they had a relic of St. Paul at the festival and many young people prayed before it. A woman said to Fr. Mike she was very moved to see young people the age of her grandkids praying. There will be a youth festival after the family day and they will ask all youth and the young at heart to stay to pray and sing together. Scot said the cultural diversity will be akin to what Fr. Matt will see at World Youth in Madrid this summer. Fr. Mike said he's been to five World Youth Days and he's slept in many fields. Fr. Mike's been reviewing many videos of John Paul at WYD and seeing the energy and vitality. Part of what he wants to do is bring that energy and vitality to the archdiocese. Fr. Matt asked Fr. Mike and Lorna what's the recipe for finding all these faith-filled Catholics in these communities. Lorna said there are some commonalities in these various communities. She sees families bringing their children to Mass with them, passing on their faith. The young adults want to be part of their community. Fr. Mike said he sees a real desire to experience the love of God. The importance is presence. Often it took visiting the communities four or five times to really enter into and become part of these communities. The Mass with Cardinal Seán will be in English, but different choirs will sing in difference languages. There will a procession of the nations leading into the Mass, each group carrying an image of the Blessed Mother that is special to each community. A bishop from Uganda will be there. There will be 30-35 priests of various communities present and all priests are welcome. Fr. Mike said they can accommodate more than 1,100 people at the Mass. **4th segment:** Scot asked Lorna about some of the larger communities they serve. The largest community is the Brazilian, with 16 parishes where they worship. Vietnamese is another large community with 11 parishes. There are eight parishes with Haitian communities. She said the second language within the Archdiocese is not Spanish, but Portuguese, even though 36 parishes have Spanish Masses. Boston has the largest community of Brazilians outside of Brazil in the world. It is the same for Uganda and Cape Verde. Fr. Mike said communities have emerged here because those of their own community have found work and a welcome in the faith. Fr. Matt asked how many Portuguese-speaking priests we have in the archdiocese. Fr. Mike said there aren't enough priests who speak the language and they often have priests from Brazil, the Azores, and Portugal to help make up the gap. There are three seminarians who are Brazilian as well. The communities love Cardinal Seán and it's mutual. He comes alive around them. He speaks seven languages and speaks to many of them in their own language. Some have told Fr. Mike that they owe the life of their community to Cardinal Seán. Lorna said the Haitian Creole community in Boston is the third-largest outside of Haiti (Miami is #1 and New York is #2). They have been present here since the 1970s. The largest community is at St. Angela's in Mattapan and also at Brockton's Christ the King. The communities are found throughout the archdiocese. Fr. Mike said he is tremendously excited by these burgeoning communities. Any given Sunday at these communities the churches are packed to overflowing. Every Sunday is like Easter. **5th segment:** It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week is a copy of the book [Saints of the Bible: Exploring Scripture with Holy Men and Women](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592763170/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=1592763170), by Theresa Doyle-Nelson. This inspirational collection of 48 Biblical personalities recognized as saints by the Church includes both the famous and less well-known. Each entry features the saint's feast day and patronage, a key Scripture, reflection, and additional Scripture verses. This week’s winner is **Casey Curtin from Waltham, Mass**. Congratulations Casey! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit [WQOM.org](http://www.wqom.org). For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. Scot welcomes Maria Bain back to the program. She says she's met many wonderful Catholics in Boston during her various parish presentations throughout the Archdiocese. Scot said many of us hear great responses from listeners about the value of Catholic radio in Boston. Maria said many listeners call the station to ask questions and to thank them. She shared a letter from a listener who thanked the station for changing their lives, bringing her family back to God. Scot said the voice mail at The Good Catholic Life also receives calls from listeners who want to express their joy at having the show. 617-410-6277. Scot said one of the testimonials we have heard is from Jack Shaughnessy, who has been a very big supporter of the Church's work in the Archdiocese of Boston. Fr. Matt said we have to be out there making the message of the Gospel heard to give people an opportunity to receive the gift of faith. This is an opportunity to proclaim friendship with Jesus and the joy of faith. Scot asked Maria how the spring fund drive went. The goal was $300,000. Right now they're still show about $70,000. To donate, go to WQOM.org or contact Maria directly for a pledge or donation. Scot often points out to people that the Archdiocese does not own WQOM nor does it fund the station. The Station of the Cross is a private ministry based in upstate New York that took the risk to start a station in Boston at Cardinal Seán's invitation. They are 100% donor funded. Maria has been traveling all over the Archdiocese to present at parishes. She thanks everyone who has welcomed WQOM. If a listener wants her to present at their parish, please give her a call. She relies on the invitation of the pastor, so a parishioner would work with the pastor to bring Maria to the parish. * Maria J. Bain, Station Manager, 617-916-5531, [mariab@wqom.org](mailto:mariab@wqom.org) Maria said the station is also looking for the donation of about 1,200 square feet of office space a little closer to Boston than their current location in Framingham. Anyone who has a lead on some space, should contact Maria.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor. Today’s guest(s): Dom Bettinelli and George Martell of Pilot New Media, reporting live from Madrid. Today’s topics: World Youth Day - Madrid 2011 Summary of today’s show: Scot and Fr. Chris discuss the events pilgrims for the Archdiocese of Boston have attended so far at World Youth Day with Dom Bettinelli and George Martell. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chris back to the show, as it has been a few weeks since they have been on the air together. Fr. Chris described his travels with family to Rome - even that he did the same tour of Rome twice with two groups. He said it was great to return to the tomb of Blessed John Paul II at the Vatican and celebrate Mass at the tomb. Fr. Chris also said he climbed the cupola of the Basilica twice, distributing the blisters evenly across both sides of his feet. He continued and described his further trip to Holland. Fr. Chris asked Scot about his vacation. Scot detailed that he and his family visited relatives in Seattle, and that he enjoyed the outdoors and the greeness of the Pacific Northwest. The family visited two great waterfalls and climbed part of Mt. Rainier, and the temperatures were in the low 70s and comfortable. Scot said visiting the Space Needle and attending a Mariners game were highlights of the trip as well. Scot said another highlight was taking his family to a different church for three Sundays in a row. He said it was a great teaching experience for his children about the universality of the Catholic church, even when small details like songs or holding hands during the Our Father are different. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Dom Bettinelli and George Martell live from Madrid via Skype. Dom explained that although it was 35 degrees (which sounds like parka weather), it was in Celsius - temperatures have been between 95 and 100 degrees in Madrid so far. Dom and George said there were almost 500 total pilgrims from the Archdiocese. About 350 pilgrims are traveling with the official Office of New Evangelization team, and the rest are from various parishes throughout the Archdiocese and from Boston University. George said it was a lot of fun to experience World Youth Day firsthand and show the incredible experience that the youth are having through his pictures. Scot and Dom discussed that the vast majority of the pilgrims from the Boston area have probably not been outside the country before except possibly to Canada or the Caribbean - he said at some times it can be overwhelming for the pilgrims but group leaders help the youth overcome that. Scot remarked how much older European landmarks are - Dom replied that some of the everyday parish churches in Madrid are older than the United States itself! Fr. Chris observed that it must take a lot of planning to keep such a large group together and under control. Dom said the planning and management from the ONE team has been great and spot on. Scot then asked about the trip the pilgrims took to Avila. Dom explained that most of the groups came on Sunday and went to the medieval walled town of Avila and went to Mass in the Monastery of San Jose, the first Monastery formed after St. Theresa of Avila worked to re-form the Carmelite order. Fr. Chris highlighted that the World Youth Day this year is "Rooted and Built Up in Jesus Christ, Firm in the Faith," from Colossians 2:7: So, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, rooted in him and built upon him and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Dom said that the overwhelming experiences of World Youth Day are the universality of the Church and also the youthfulness of the Church. He said none of the pilgrims in Madrid have any embarrassment about literally proclaiming their faith at the top of their lungs - a great example to many youth who are used to our culture here where that public enthusiasm about faith is discouraged. Scot asked George to describe what it was like to take photos in places with such rich history. George said it was hard to fathom and put into words the respect with which everything is cared for and what an awesome experience it was to have the opportunity to take pictures in the churches. Scot, George, and Dom discussed Cardinal Seán's short lecture on the history of Toledo before a Mass there. Dom said Cardinal Seán told the pilgrims that Toledo was historically a place where Muslims, Christians, and Jews always got along - a city of unity. Dom said the town still has that peaceful feeling even today. 3rd segment: Scot asked George and Dom to describe the interactions that the Boston youth are having with the youth from all around the world. George reiterated that there is no shyness about faith in public - and that it was exciting to see the youth from Boston become more comfortable expressing themselves. He said he hopes this comfort will help them grow closer to God by the end of the week. Dom said that youth are encouraged to bring trinkets with them to trade, and that there is a very interesting bargaining going on between youth all over the world. He also said gear with American flags is very popular among the crowds. Both Dom and George remarked how easily the youth got along. Dom said in Toledo a group from Boston University started playing music outside the Cathedral, and were very quickly joined by a group from South Africa with tribal drums and singers from Sicily and New York - showing the true universality of the crowd. Scot asked Dom about the Boston group being able to pray with people from other countries. Dom said the prayer so far with other groups has been much more spontaneous so far, but there will be much more opportunity now that the official events of World Youth Day have begun. Dom said it was an amazing experience to see the people from Madrid gravitate towards the energy of the youth. Fr. Chris asked Dom to speak about the opening Mass for World Youth Day, which featured the Archbishop of Madrid, 800 other Archbishops and Cardinals, 8,000 priests, and 500,000 attendees. Dom explained that people who have been to a Papal Mass before would be familiar with the tight quarters but prayerful atmosphere of the opening Mass. He continued that even though you may not speak the same language as the person on your right or left, you still have the language of faith and the universal form of the Mass. He said the crowds would be like combining a Patriots victory parade and the Boston Pops 4th of July Concert at the Hatshell and closing Commonwealth Ave and Storrow Drive in Boston. Dom said a highlight of the Mass was the blessing of a reliquary of Blessed Pope John Paul II that contained some of his blood. Fr. Chris also noted the youth all got a religious medal with and many other items in a welcome backpack kit. 4th segment: Scot started the segment by noting that many of the priests of his generation point to a World Youth Day as a spark to their vocational call. Fr. Chris agreed, saying that World Youth Day can help people to see the need for the priesthood and to see that they are not alone - they have the support of many brothers and sisters across the world. Scot added that Spain, a previously very Catholic country, now has a population that is 25% atheist. Fr. Chris said Pope Benedict has said that Europe is afloat without roots, and must get back to Judeo-Christian principals if it is to survive. Scot asked Dom if the growing secularization was noticeable in Madrid. Dom said there have been some low-visibility small protests against government support of World Youth Day, as well as graffiti here and there. He said he thinks the secularization in that area seemed to be much like it is in the USA - less hostile and more apathetic. Scot emphasized that we often infantilize the youth of the Church, and that World Youth Days show that youth are the present of the Church as well as the future. Dom said that as the group walks around, he thinks to himself "who might be getting that vocational spark in the next few days and influence the Church in the future?" Scot explained the main reason Dom and George are in Madrid is to capture video, audio, and other media that can help people in Boston experience some of the pilgrimage to Madrid. Dom said their primary goal is to bring the people of the Archdiocese along with the pilgrimage virtually through the website, blog posts, pictures, Facebook posts and tweets. Dom went on to say that while there have been a few hiccups, the computer equipment they use is unique for a small group and has performed flawlessly to let them share experiences over the internet. Fr. Chris said he can't wait for Pope Benedict to get to World Youth Day to see what messages he has for the youth gathered there. Dom said the differences between Blessed Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict have been small but important - Pope Benedict emphasizes more silence and meditation and time for silent prayer, while Blessed Pope John Paul II seemed to emphasize the joyous (and sometimes loud) expressions of faith. Scot said that, in philosophical terms, Blessed Pope John Paul II was a phenomenologist and valued the event and experience nature of World Youth Day; whereas Pope Benedict sees his role as more like John the Baptist's, pointing and leading towards Christ. Scot asked George to compare the experience of being a photojournalist in the United States with the experience he is having now taking photos at World Youth Day. George answered that the thing striking him the most is the overtly visual universality of the Church. George said one of his favorite photos so far was a young boy with his head back, yelling about his love for his faith. Fr. Chris agreed that the joy experienced is incredible on these types of pilgrimages. George said he looks forward to showing with pictures how the faith of the pilgrims will grow over the week. Scot said that up until the opening Mass a few hours ago, it's been a "pregame" for World Youth Day. Dom said that over the new few days the youth from the Boston will attend several catachetical sessions, a "Theology on Tap" event, Stations of the Cross with Pope Benedict in the streets of Madrid, a Mass at the Basilica of St Francis, Eucharistic Adoration, and the closing Mass with the Pope on Sunday morning.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Antonio Enrique, Editor of the Pilot newspaper, and Fr. Carlos Flor, parochial vicar at Immaculate Conception Parish, Revere. * [Neocatechumenal Way](http://www.camminoneocatecumenale.it/new/default.asp?lang=en) * [Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the members of the Neocatehumenal Way, January 2011](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2011/january/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20110117_cammino-neocatec_en.html) * [Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the members of the Neocatehumenal Way, January 2006](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/january/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060112_neocatecumenali_en.html) **Today's topics:** The Neocatechumenal Way **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Carlos Flor and Antonio Enrique shared with Scot their experience of life in the Neocatechumenal Way, a new movement in the Church that allows people to find the love of God in the midst of their busy lives and to become part of a loving community. **1st segment:** Scot said in Cardinal Seán's pastoral letter on Pentecost on evangelization, he addressed the topic of new communities. * [Cardinal's Seán's pastoral letter on A New Pentecost](http://bostoncatholic.org/pentecostletter) >After the Second Vatican Council, the Church has witnessed an outpouring of the Holy Spirit through the blossoming of new movements and ecclesial communities. They bring great vitality to the life of the Church. They are a sign of great hope for the Church in the new millennium. >The Church in every generation is both old and new. Throughout the centuries we have seen the great blessing of so many new religious orders, reform movements and lay associations that responded to the needs of a particular era. Today, many of the new movements and communities are showing great success in communicating a deep spirituality to their members in the context of small, close-knit communities. They energize their people to be evangelizers who bring the Good News they have received to those around them. Without those forces of renewal, the Church can sometimes become too focused on maintenance and the internal aspects of pastoral work. >Many of these small groups and communities are already present in the archdiocese: Cursillo, Charismatic Renewal, Communion and Liberation, Opus Dei, Focolare, Communities of Saint Egidio, The Neocatechumenal Way, ARISE, The Legion of Mary and others. Throughout the years I have known them and experienced firsthand the fruits of Christian life that sprout from their activity, including strengthening of family life, openness to life, and vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Scot welcomed Fr. Carlos Flor, who attended a Redemptoris Mater seminary and is now a priest in the archdiocese, and Antonio Enrique, who came from Spain as a missionary family of the Neocatechumenal Way and is now the editor of The Pilot. He gave a brief history of the Way. * [DECREE OF THE PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR THE LAITY: APPROVAL OF THE STATUTES OF NEOCATECHUMENAL WAY "AD EXPERIMENTUM"](http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/laity/documents/rc_pc_laity_doc_20020701_cammino-neocatecumenale_en.html) >The Neocatechumenal Way began in 1964 in the slums of Palomeras Altas, Madrid, through the work of Mr Francisco (Kiko) Argüello and Ms Carmen Hernández who, at the request of the poor with whom they were living, began to proclaim to them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As time passed, this kerygma was embodied in a catechetical synthesis, founded on the tripod: "Word of God-Liturgy-Community", that seeks to lead people to fraternal communion and mature faith. This new catechetical experience, born in the wake of the renewal inspired by the Second Vatican Council, attracted the keen interest of Archbishop Casimiro Morcillo, then Archbishop of Madrid, who encouraged the initiators of the Way to spread it to the parishes who asked for it. This experience of evangelization thus spread gradually through the Archdiocese of Madrid and to other Spanish dioceses. In 1968, the initiators of the Neocatechumenal Way arrived in Rome and settled in the Borghetto Latino. With the permission of Cardinal Angelo Dell'Acqua, then Vicar General of His Holiness for the city and district of Rome, the first catechesis began in the parish of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament and the Canadian Martyrs. Since then, the Way has continued to spread to dioceses around the world and even to mission countries. Scot asked Antonio how he first encountered the Neocatechumenal Way. He encountered them in his last year of high school when he had experienced a crisis of faith. He had decided that the Church was not for him, that the Church was imposing on people to prevent them from living a happy life. Also, in Spain, it was common for people to think that the Church was the reason for political problems. But he also recalls being very lonely at the time. A priest invited him to a catechesis. The priest said, If you are happy don't come, but if you feel a need or emptiness in your life, please come and see. Fr. Carlos said his parents found the Neocatechumenal Way when he was 9. His parents were going through a crisis in their marriage and the pastor invited them to the catechesis that was offered in the parish. The parents got involved and it helped them very much and their marriage was saved. In his teen years, he had his personal struggles and he worked hard because he wanted to be a doctor. He was living very much in the world, going to the disco, involved in sports, trying to have fun. But he found himself insecure and unhappy and rebellious. He was preparing to enter medical school but was unhappy. So he entered the Way through a catechesis, and he received a gift from God in realizing that the Church is his Mother and a community, not just someone who wants him to feel bad, when he wants to feel good. Then he was invited to attend the first World Youth Day in Rome in 1984. He discovered the beauty of being Catholic and of the Church and what the Lord was doing in other people's lives. He played the guitar in the community and that kept him involved because he liked the attention. But little by little, the Lord began to open his eyes to his own sin and his potential. He learned that his failings didn't come from others, like his family or others, but from within. After 7 years in the Way and another World Youth Day, this one in Czestechowa, Poland, in 1991 he felt the call to enter the seminary. Scot said Cardinal Pell at World Youth Day in 2008 estimated that about one-third of those attending were part of the Neocatechumenal Way. At World Youth Days, the Way has vocational meetings where thousands of young people come forward to respond to a vocational call. That was Fr. Carlos' experience and almost all the young men who stood up with him in Poland are still priests today. Fr. Carlos said his vocation is not just his personal decision, but the result of 7 years walking with his community, struggling with faith and accepting the grace of God. Seeing so many people in need of an experience of the Neocatechumenal Way touched him because he wanted to serve the Church out of gratitude for saving his life and for how his parents' marriage was saved. Scot said there are 87 Redemptoris Mater seminaries in the Church that are the fruit of the Neocatechumenal Way. Seminarians from the Way put themselves in the hands of the Way to be sent to any of the seminaries anywhere in the world. The community has vocation centers for young men who are interested in the priesthood to help the discernment process then they go to the vocational meetings where they accept to be trained in any place in the world and to say they have a desire to serve in the Church anywhere in the world. The names are chosen by lottery and Fr. Carlos was sent to Newark. The bishop of that diocese has authority over the priest and can assign the priest in his own diocese or can release him to missionary service. Fr. Carlos was released to service in Boston. He now can be re-assigned to another place anywhere in the world. **2nd segment:** Scot asked Antonio about the catechesis of the Neocatechumenal Way. He said the catechesis is a time when the Church presents the faith to anyone who will listen. Nothing is expected. Anyone can go, especially those who are far away from the Church. It is a place in the parish where people who are estranged from the Church can come back. It is a period in which the Word of God is presented to the people and people are encouraged to relate to the love of God and are told that whatever has happened in their lives, God has a plan for them, a beautiful plan. God wants to work for them in their lives. At the center is the kerygma, the announcement of the Good News. That Good News is that Christ came to save us. Antonio said because of temptation we are constantly being pulled away from God, but the catechesis says God wants to bring us back to him. God never forces anyone to love him. If we accept his love we become free, but if we reject God we become slaves to sin. This announcement of the Good News makes people realize that there may be a different way of living. The fact of difficulties in life suddenly is on a different level because if you put the kingdom of God first, everything else will be given you, as Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. Not that problems will go away, but that you will be happy in all situations of life. Antonio said he always grew up trying to be good so that God would love him. But he realized that he couldn't be good, that he kept sinning. But in the catechesis he heard that God loves you the way you are, not that he wants you to stay the way you are. The Neocatechumenal Way is a space where the grace of God can be heard in the midst of so much noise which makes it difficult to hear God. The catechesis makes a space of silence to hear God. They bring the good news that God loves you the way you. Scot asked Fr. Carlos why they call it the Neocatechumenal Way, as a post-baptismal or adult catechesis. Fr. Carlos said it is an itinerary of Christian formation so that people who are called to belong to a community in this way will enter into a process that will be a number of years in the form of a catechumenate of the Church. It is a way to rediscover the riches of our baptism. In the early Church when adults would approach the Christian community and ask to be received into the Church, the Church would invite these people to enter t he catechumenate, a special time for them to discover the love of God, to know themselves, and to have conversion. If at the end of this time, there were signs of real conversion, then that person was brought to baptism. Today, when many people are already baptized, but they are living as if they are pagan, the catechumenate is a new catechumenate. They follow the same steps as the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) as they do in parishes, but the difference while RCIA is done over a small period of time (in order to bring them to baptism rapidly), the neo-catechumenate is done over a much longer time. Scot noted that many people notice that many new converts through RCIA know the faith better than those who have been Catholic all their life. It is a gift to have this path of adult catechumenate. Antonio said Pope Paul VI is the one who named the Neocatechumanal Way. There were questions at the time whether there could be a catechumenate for those who are already baptized. Paul VI said it's not important when the catechemunate occurs, before or after baptism. It just needs to be done. Antonio said 50 years the culture of society would help you maintain the faith, but today those walls of society have come down. We are surrounded by a society that tells us to reject the elements of the Christian culture that we used to have around us. So we need to rebuild the Catholic culture to help us to live the realities of the Church. It's very difficult to do this in very big groups in the Church. If you can create an environment where people can get to know each other very well in all their strengths and weaknesses, then you are supported and growth can happen. The Neocatechumenal Way creates a space where people can grow in the faith, can be welcomed, where no questions are asked, where people must be good before they can enter. If you allow God's grace to happen, then it will change you. Scot noted a Gallup poll said that one of the best indicators of whether someone remains strongly rooted in their church is whether they have close friends there. **3rd segment:** Scot quoted Pope Benedict's comments on the Neocatechumenal Way earlier this year. * ["Pope sends 200 Neo-Catechumenal Families out on Mission" (1/17/11)](http://visnews-en.blogspot.com/2011/01/pope-sends-200-neo-catechumenal.html) >"For more than forty years the Neo-Catechumenal Way has been contributing to the revitalisation and consolidation of Christian initiation in dioceses and parishes, favouring a gradual but radical rediscovery of the riches of Baptism, helping people to savour divine life, the heavenly life which the Lord inaugurated with His incarnation, when He came among us and was born like one of us". >"Over the last few years the process of drawing up the Statues of the Neo-Catechumenal Way has reached a fruitful conclusion and, following an appropriate experimental period, they received definitive approval in June 2008. Another important step was made in recent days with the approval, by the competent dicasteries of the Holy See, of the 'Catechetical Directory of the Neo-Catechumenal Way'. >"With these seals of ecclesial approval", the Pope added, "the Lord today confirms this precious tool which is the Way and again entrusts it to you so that, in filial obedience to the Holy See and the pastors of the Church, you may contribute with renewed energy and ardour to the radical and joyful rediscovery of the gift of Baptism, and offer your own original contribution to the cause of new evangelisation. The Church has recognised in the Neo-Catechumenal Way a particular gift created by the Holy Spirit. As such it naturally tends to insert itself into the harmony of the ecclesial Body. In this light I exhort you always to seek profound communion with pastors, and with all members of the particular Churches, and of the very different ecclesial contexts in which you are called to work. Fraternal communion between the disciples of Jesus is, in fact, the first and greatest witness to the name of Jesus Christ". Scot asked Fr. Carlos how these small groups form in parishes. Fr. Carlos said a pastor sees the need of the lost sheep, especially those who are far from the Church, and so he forms a catechesis, which starts with a team from the Neocatechumenal Way from another parish. There are 15 talks that include a strong call to conversion and a proclamation of the kerygma. They include the message that God loves you, that Christ wants to give you his Spirit to know that your life is not a mistake and that God has a plan for you. The catechesis slowly leads people to the conviction that they want the Spirit of Christ in them to create hope in them and bring them to eternal life. Gradually the desire to the deepen the faith grows and then they invite them on a weekend retreat, which teaches them the fundamental importance of the Eucharist and show them the Way, which is the Sermon on the Mount. The people are invited to participate in a community of the Neocatechumenal Way, which forms in the parish, led by the pastor and in communion with the catechists entrusted the pastoral care of the community. The community works on a tripod: celebration of the Word of God celebrated on Wednesday, the Eucharist celebrated by the community on Saturday, and then a monthly meeting to share experience and life together. In the community, people learn to read Scripture and to read it in light of their life, they learn the importance of the roles of community, and the Eucharist becomes the heart of the community. Fr. Carlos said for him what helped him the most was the brothers and sisters of the community, who helped realize he was not alone on the journey. In the beginning, there re many walls between people, but over the years the barriers between people come down and they share more and more of their lives. Scot said the Way is in 87 countries, there are 750 communities in the US, and in the Archdiocese there are 15-20. Scot asked Antonio how he and his family came to the US. They were members of the Neocatechumenal Way in Spain and families can enter the missions where they are sent out to dioceses where they are welcomed and take part in the creation of new communities. Antonio said this was the idea of Pope John Paul II in his call for a new evangelization of Europe. Originally they were sent to northern Europe where it was Christian but not very Catholic. The first families were sent to northern Norway. Antonio said the Neocatechumenal Way would not be here today without the work and advocacy of Blessed John Paul II. He said he met his wife in the community, they got married, and started having children. They learned in the community that if you let God lead your life, you will experience God's eternal life and the love of God. At a certain point they heard a call to present themselves for the mission and let others discern whether they were truly being called. They offered for four consecutive years and nothing happened so they bought a house. At that point they entered in the lottery and they were sent to Boston. Cardinal Law had requested two families for the Archdiocese. They had 7 children at the time and have had 4 more since then. Scot said Cardinal Law didn't call him to be the editor of the Pilot. Just wanted them to be a presence of living the faith in East Boston. There was no job waiting for him here and he wasn't an employee of the Archdiocese. He left his job as a manager at General Electric in Spain and came here. When they first arrived, they lived in a closed convent. He didn't have a job for several months and eventually got work for the state. From there, after several other stops, he eventually became editor of the Pilot. Fr. Carlos said people who want to know more can contact him at Immaculate Conception Church in Revere and he will help people find a community. A pastor who is interested in founding a community in his parish can also talk to Fr. Carlos. Antonio said any parish with a community can see the amazing fruits of these communities in the parish.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR, author of the book "Fatima for Today" * ["Fatima for Today: The Urgent Marian Message of Hope"](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1586175238/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=1586175238) **Today's topics:** The apparitions and message at Fatima **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Andrew Apostoli joins Scot to discuss his new book and the message of Our Lady at Fatima, her message of hope, and how we can live the message today in order to fulfill her requests and promises. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Andrew Apostoli. He is a member of the Community of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. He was ordained a priest by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen in 1967. He has been active in teaching, preaching retreats and parish missions, and in giving spiritual direction. He is an adjunct faculty member of Saint Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie, Yonkers, New York. In his community, he has served as Community Servant and Novice Director. He was instrumental in 1988 in helping to found the Community of the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal. Currently, he is serving as a Vice-Postulator for the Cause of Canonization for Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. Father Andrew has been active over the years producing different TV series for EWTN. He has also been giving talks on various spiritual topics, many of which are available as videos, DVD’s, CD’s, and tapes. Scot asked him when he became interested in teaching people more about Fatima. He knew from when he was a young boy, having seen the popular film in the early 50s. The message was brought to 3 children, which fascinated him at the time. It also stuck with him that our Lady was asking us for specific things. He's tried to keep up with the requests of our Lady in his personal life, including daily Rosary and the 5 First Saturdays devotion. He started making that devotion since his time in high school seminary. Scot asked him what his hope was in writing this book? He had submitted another manuscript to Ignatius Press that was on the works of mercy. They said they would publish the book, but they also wanted a book for them on Fatima. He had helped them with a movie they were distributing called ["The Thirteenth Day."](http://www.the13thday.com/) His goal was to show the role of Mary from Scripture and the great saints, how they depicted the role of Mary in the spiritual warfare of today. He also wanted to show the meaning of the angel's apparition to the children at Fatima. His message was to instill in them a desire to pray for souls. He also wanted to present the 6 Marian apparitions at Fatima and the apparitions asking for the Five Saturdays devotion and the consecration of Russia. The three children were visited by the Angel of Peace three times. Scot wondered if this was the only major apparition site where the visionaries were prepared by an angel. Fr. Apostoli isn't sure if there were others like this. One of the beautiful part of the angel's message was to challenge them to be generous in making sacrifices. He told Lucia to make a sacrifice of anything for the conversion of sinners and peace in the world. The last apparition of the angel focused on the Eucharist and instilled them a love for the Eucharist. The angels instill in them also a desire to make sacrifices. Mary's first apparition asked them if they would accept suffering for the sake of the world and they answered without hesitation. The angel also taught them the pardon prayer: >My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love Thee! I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love Thee. Amen. The world was about to be inundated by movements that denied God and hated religion. So we need faith and Our Lady had us pray for faith and to adore God. So many do not adore God, but instead adore anything else. There many today who are also broken by despair and have no hope. So many young people commit suicide as if there is nothing to live for.Even in the midst of our sufferings, we need to bear the cross of Jesus for the redemption of the world. Finally, the prayer prays for love. When life has no love, a person's life is truly empty. Our Lady came to warn us about these things and the prayer taught these virtues we need to focus on in our daily lives. Scot said it seems to be a program of different types of prayer: intercessory prayer, praying through sufferings, prayer for reparations, and more. Scot thinks reparation is de-emphasized today and wondered if Portugal was like that then as well. Fr. Apostoli said that while Portugal was Catholic, the government was controlled by the anti-Catholic Masons who tried to stamp out faith. The message of Fatima is clearly still relevant. Pope John Paul II said Fatima is more important now than it was in 1917 because secularism is spreading throughout the world. That is the concern Pope Benedict has expressed in his call for the new evangelization. The message of Fatima is crucial to our times, if we're going to hold on the family, to life and its sacredness, we need to put Mary's message into practice. We can say for sure that it will work. People just need to put it into practice. **2nd segment:** Scot asked Fr. Apostoli to give an overview of the events of Fatima. There were three apparitions of the angel starting in 1916. Pope Benedict XV was reigning at the time and World War I was just beginning. The Pope tried to prevent war, and asked for a novena for peace to the Blessed Mother. The 8th day of novena was May 13, 1917, and on that day the Portuguese children, Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia saw an apparition of a beautiful lady who said she came from heaven. She asked the children if they were willing to suffer for the sake of souls. She asked them to pray the Rosary to stop wars, bring peace, and stop sin. The children asked about two girls they knew who had died recently. Our Lady said one of the girls was in heaven, but the other would be in Purgatory until the end of the world. The message is clear: avoid purgatory. All the messages were on the 13th of the month, except in August. In July, Our Lady told Francisco and Jacinta they would die young and go to heaven and that Lucia would live a long life. Our Lady gave the children 3 secrets. The first one dealt with a vision of hell. She showed them hell in order for us to know that hell is real. Hell is real and we need to live as if it is real in order to avoid it. The children prayed zealously that no one would go to hell. This was when Our Lady taught the children the decade prayer. She predicted that if people prayed, the first World War would end and there would be peace, but if not, there would come a greater war. She told the children that if there was an unknown light in the sky that the greater world would not be avoided. That sign came in 1939. She also predicted the rise of the Soviet Union, famines, persecutions of the Church, and the suffering of the Holy Father. She said two things would prevent the spread of Communism in the world: Five First Saturdays devotion and consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart. She said she would come again to reveal what needed to be done. In 1925, Our Lady returned in a vision to Sr. Lucia. (Jacinta and Francisco were already dead.) She appeared with the Christ Child and her heart was encircled by fire. She said to go to confession, receive Communion, say the rosary and spend 15 minutes in prayer with the intention of her immaculate heart on five first Saturdays, then the person would receive the graces at the end of their life. The third secret in that July was that she saved us from fires that would have engulfed the whole world. This could have been the Cuban Missile Crisis or when the Soviets were building a massive new nuclear missile that exploded in an accident. Then the children saw in the vision a line of people led by a bishop in white climbing a mountain. He kneels in front of the crucifix. As he prayers, he is shot and he dies. After that, the people in the vision, representing all the millions of people who had died in the 20th century, martyred for their faith, had their blood joined to the Blood of Christ on the Cross. Pope John Paul II had an attempt on his life on May 13, 1981, on the anniversary of the first apparition of the Blessed Mother to the children. The assassin was Mehmet Ali Agca and he later told the Pope that whoever's feast if was must have saved him. Scot said it said an invisible hand must have guided the bullet. The bullet ricocheted throughout his chest and missed every vital organ. He also lost 4-1/2 pints of blood and almost died. Later, John Paul said Mary gave him back his life. In gratitude, he carried out the consecration of Russia in 1984. He had wanted to do it in 1982, but someone at the Vatican failed to send the letters to the world's bishops in order to do the consecration in union with him. In 1984, they received the letters in time and more than 90% of bishops did the consecration. The bullet was placed in the statue of Our Lady in the Fatima shrine. And within a year of the consecration, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union, the man who would bring an end to the Soviet Union. **3rd segment:** In August 1917, the crowds were getting large. In June there were 50. In July, there were about 5,000. In August, there were more than 19,000. The anti-Catholic government of Portugal wanted to stop it. The local administrator tricked the children. He told the children he would take the children to the apparition site, but instead he took them to a prison in the district capital for two or three days. While they were in the prison, the administrator tried to get them to declare they had made up the apparitions and they had to tell him the secrets of the Blessed Mother. He even threatened to boil them in oil, but each of them refused. They were willing to give their lives for Jesus. The children ended up praying the rosary with the prisoners. When they finally got home, on the 19th of August, Lucia and Francisco were about a half-mile from the home and Lucia sensed the Blessed Mother was there. They sent for Jacinta. In September, about 35,000 people came to see the children. The kids asked the Blessed Mother about money people were giving and she said to use it to build a chapel after the messages end. She said they would see her three times in October and that St. joseph and the Christ Child would come and bless the world. In October, there was an estimated 55,000 people and another 20,000 people in the surrounding five people. All of these people saw the miracle of the sun that the Blessed Mother had promised. The sun danced across the sky and gave off different rays of color. It had rained for two days such that the ground was soaking wet. Many of them people there were extreme skeptics, including secularists and journalists. At the end, the sun seemed to detach from the sky and hurl itself toward the earth. After the miracle, everything was completely dry and the earth was itself dry. It was that miracle that gave Fatima it's stamp of authenticity because so many had seen the sign. The Church was able to give a quick approval to the supernatural happenings there. Scot said Our Lady identified herself as Our Lady of the Rosary. In all six apparitions she talked about the importance of praying the Rosary as a powerful weapon against evil and for the conversion of souls. Fr. Apostoli said the Rosary brings peace to the soul and brings us close to Jesus because not only are they about Mary, but about Jesus. The Rosary was a compendium of Catholic belief and spirituality reflecting on the life of Jesus so we can imitate him. Mary gave ti the seal of approval by promoting it. This is why the Rosary has become such a treasured prayer for Catholics. People who pray it feel the sense of Mary's presence. Five steps to promote Fatima: * live good Christian lives * pray daily, especially the Rosary * observe the Five First Saturday devotions * make sacrifices for the conversion * spread the message to others Our Lady told us what was going to happen in the 20th Century and we can see the effects of the vl in the world today. Mary told us these would happen, but she gave us the answer. Her last words to the children were to ask the people to stop offending God.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams **Today's guest(s):** Artie Boyle * [Part 1 of the interview with Artie Boyle on The Good Catholic Life](http://www.thegoodcatholiclife.com/2011/08/10/program-0110-for-wednesday-august-10-2011-artie-boyle-part-1/) **Today's topics:** Artie Boyle's miraculous experience in Medjugorje, Part 2 of 2 **Summary of today's show:** Artie Boyle, a father of 13, tells Scot and Fr. Matt how he was diagnosed with cancer at age 44, how it drove him to prayer and deeper faith, and how he came to travel to a little town in the Balkans called Medjugorje where the Blessed Mother is said to have been appearing to six people since the 1980s where he sought both physical and spiritual healing. **1st segment:** Scot said this is a two-part series with Artie Boyle. SCot told Fr. Matt that they'd left off the day before with Artie coming down the mountain in Medjugorje convinced that he was healed of the cancer he'd been diagnosed with. Fr. Matt is reminded of the story in the Gospel of the healing of the paralytic. The paralytic's friends tore open the roof and lowered the man down to Jesus. When Jesus saw the faith of the man and his friends, he told the man his sins were forgiven and then healed. Fr. Matt said Artie's wife, Judy, and friends, Kevin and Robbie, are like a trinity who were praying with him and for him. Artie said the paralytic man's story is close to him because he believes he would not have been healed had Kevin and Robbie not decided to drop everything and go to Medjugorje with him. Kevin runs the largest HVAC company in New England and Robbie is the president of a huge commercial real-estate company. They are very busy men and they dropped everything in an instant to take their friend to Medjugorje. Scot said they had faith that if they took Artie there, that he would be healed. As the trip went on, Artie learned many things to come back and teach others. He knows many people don't receive physical healing, although they receive spiritual healing. When he came off the mountain, they went to Apparition Hill, the place where the visionaries first saw the Blessed Mother. It was dark by now and when he got to the top of the hill, he laid down prostrate on the ground, looking up at the stars, praying, and in a state of peace. He believes that after confession, he didn't sin at all for the next couple of days, which he knows is almost impossible for him. Laying there, looking up at God, Artie asked God to take him now because he was ready. Later, their guide took them to meet Fr. Jozo, who was the original pastor of Medjugorje. He didn't believe the visionaries at first, but the Blessed Mother later appeared to him as well and he became the protector of the children against the Communist regime. He was jailed for 18 months. Artie said there's lots of politics in the Church in the area and he was not allowed to go back to Medjugorje, so pilgrims would go out to his new church to hear him speak. Fr. Jozo was very tough on Americans and their way of life, especially, and it was difficult to listen to him. Fr. Jozo's translator, Nancy, was a Croatian by birth who studied in Canada. She had married while there, but had moved back to Medjugorje. Artie recalls he was the only non-priest to be prayed over by Fr. Jozo, in addition to his friend Robbie, who received an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Nancy told them to see her before they left because she wanted to talk to them As they were getting ready to leave they saw that Fr. Ed McDonough happened to be there at the same time. Fr. McDonough had had an accident and Artie and Robbie ended up taking him to a hospital and they never got Nancy's address. But on the day they were leaving Medjugorje, an Irish nurse who had been there with them and asked them if they wanted to go see Nancy. They sat in the courtyard with many others and Nancy and her husband, Patrick, and then after everyone left she prayed and said to Artie, "You need to forgive." He couldn't imagine what she was talking about, but then she said, "You need to forgive your mother and father." His parents had just divorced after 44 years of marriage, but he'd never told her that. He burst into tears even though he'd never realized he need to forgive. He learned two valuable lessons in Medjugorje. First, he learned that God wants all of us to be well and to be healed. In order for us to be healed, we need to be an open vessel for the Holy Spirit to come in and the only way we can do that is by going to confession and by forgiving everybody and anybody, to hold nothing back. Sometimes we need to pray for the grace to know what we need to forgive. The men were ready to leave Medjugorje at this point. His wife, Judy, was at a cookout with Fr. Arthur Calter, one of the priests from his parish. As Judy got up to leave, they asked her where she was going. She said, "I have to go pickup my husband. He was just healed in Medjugorje." The three wives picked them up at the airport and they were heading out to see a priest who was going to pray over them. Before they left, Artie had seen the miracle of sun, which is a phenomenon in which the sun appears to dance in the sky. They wanted to see the miracle here in Boston, so they decided to stop the car and pray the rosary. Their wives felt bad for them because they thought they were going to be disappointed. As the men prayed, they all saw the miracle. This has happened many times since then in many places. Artie saw it as a way to share the experience with their wives. Artie had asked his entire family to be present when he got home, including his parents and siblings and all their kids. He brought his father in front oft he whole family and forgave him for divorcing their mother. His mother wasn't happy with it and he felt like he was called to do this in a public way. Two days later, he went in for a CT scan and they told him he wasn't breathing right and he got excited. He went back to the Mass. General and went up to the surgeon with the films. Normally when the doctor calls you in to deliver bad news, he's sitting behind the desk. This time, the doctor was standing on the threshold, and told him that the tumors were gone. The large tumor disappeared and the other two had shrunk to insignificant size. The thoracic surgeon, the urologist, and the oncologist all got together and on September 14, the feast of the triumph of the cross, instead of having his right lung cut out, he was playing golf with his friend, Kevin. Artie believes that those two little nodules are reminders. He prays more and more fervently and with more understanding now. Since then, Artie has met Ivan Dragicevic, one of the six visionaries of Medjugorje at a prayer meeting at St. John's in Quincy. Artie tried to get to know him, but Ivan left first. Artie's story appeared on the front-page of the Boston Globe on Christmas Day. Ivan then called the house and invited Artie to be present during one of his apparitions and they have since become very close. One or two years later, they were able to remove the remaining nodules [laparoscopically])http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laparoscopic_surgery), instead of having to remove his lung in the surgery. Ivan told him that the Blessed Mother would be in the operating room with him and that Jesus's hands would be the hands of the surgeon. He had the surgery done and it went without a glitch. The tumors were found to be renal cancer cells, which should have been growing, but had done nothing in all that time. As of his last tests, Artie's right lung looks perfectly normal and healthy. Jesus had continued to heal him and he has had zero evidence of cancer in his body. He hasn't been back in many years because he told his oncologist that Jesus healed so he didn't need the tests. The oncologist told him he's right, that the barium and other materials involved in the tests were probably doing more harm to him, and told him he'd "graduated from the school of oncology" and very few people ever do. **2nd segment:** Scot said many people don't receive the same kind of healing that Artie did. He asked Artie why he thinks so many don't receive physical healings even they pray for it. Why did God choose Artie? Artie said he may never know why God chose to heal him physically. In Medjugorje, one of the messages of the apparitions asks people to start prayer groups, and so they have a prayer group that meets every Thursday night at St. Paul's in Hingham at 7:15pm. The purpose was to pray the rosary and the chaplet of Divine Mercy. They will sometimes have the celebration of Mass. It is a rosary of people asking God for something, whether physical healing or other assistance, but through their prayer many people are made ready to come before God. They have seen thousands of people who have been healed, as well. Artie believes he's been healed not just to convey the message of forgiveness and confession to the world (because he's made a promise to speak wherever and whenever he's been asked), but also to lead others to prayer. The healing wasn't just for Artie, but to tell people that Jesus is active today healing people. He's preaching always and sometimes uses words. He has a large family and they know that people are always looking at them, wondering how they do it, so he knows they have to be a good example. Fr. Matt says through the prayer group they are pointing people toward heaven, which has always been the Blessed Mother's message at every apparition. Our decisions on this earth have eternal consequences. In the midst of people's hardships, God has raised up Artie's family to show that while no one ever wants suffering, it ultimately points to the God who can heal and wants us to be with him in heaven forever where there is no more tears. While we want to pray for healing, we need to pray for healing of the soul as well. The inward healing has an effect on the physical well-being because we are both body and soul. Artie said Jesus used his own body to heal him. He believes that in Medjugorje that he entered such a state of peace and prayer that his immune system rebooted itself and killed the cancer. That never would have happened had he not been praying and been in a state of peace. You can't know God if you're constantly on the go and receiving constant stimulation. Fr. Matt reminded Artie that he said he used to be afraid of Jesus. How did he go from there to Jesus being his brother, friend, and savior. Artie said as a kid there was always an image of Jesus being rough and tough and mean toward sin, while the Blessed Mother was always loving. But through hearing about Jesus in the confessional, reading Scripture, and prayer, he has been drawn much closer to Jesus. Scot said the practice of confession throughout the Church is not what it used to be. What has Artie learned about confession? Artie said outside of Mass, confession is the most powerful sacrament. You have to find a priest you're comfortable with and you can have a heart-to-heart conversation with him. He has the wisdom and understanding of Jesus Christ through the sacrament. He often goes to St. Anthony Shrine in Boston where confession starts at 6:30am. Scot often goes before work because it's easy to find a place to park at that time of the day. Artie used to go during the workday and was amazed at how many people would go. Part of that experience is grace, which you can never get through going to a therapist. A lot of the priests at the shrine can give get great advice, but its the grace that is most important. Artie said in Medjugorje priests can be found hearing confessions everywhere, not just in the church, because the demand is so great. Fr. Matt said Our Lady comes as Queen of Peace, helping us find peace not just in the world, but in our families and our lives. We don't have peace because we've shut God out and confession lets him back in. Confession opens the door to the closet of skeletons we shut years ago and cleans it out. Then after we've been forgiven, then we have to forgive those we hold grudges against. Fr. Matt said many people don't realize that anger and unforgiveness is a spiritual cancer. Artie said a friend was sick with cancer and he told his story to him and he went to confession. A couple of weeks before he died, Artie was with him and the phone rang. The friend looked at the caller ID and threw the phone on the bed in disgust. He said it was his father and he didn't want to talk to him. Artie said don't you understand after everything I've said that you need to forgive him, but he never did. He died a very painful death. Scot recalled that Artie said after feeling the physical healing in Medjugorje that he also felt free of sin. Artie said it was the most incredible feeling he'll ever have and hasn't experienced it since. It's even more than being in love and having 13 kids. It gave him a glimpse of what heaven must be like. He wanted to thank Jesus so much, that he just continued to pray and pray. Our Lady says, Pray until pray becomes joy. If you want to get better at prayer, pray more. Scot said perhaps people find prayer boring because they don't pray from the heart. When Artie first went to Mission Church for a healing Mass, he was desperate. He gave himself over to God. There was no "Why me?" and no animosity, just trust in God. He talked to God as a friend in the same sort of language you'd use with a close friend. Fr. Matt noted Artie called himself a convenient Catholic before his diagnosis, one who went to Mass on Sundays as a duty. He asked how often we say the Apostle's Creed or other prayers of the Mass and don't reflect on the words we are praying. Do we really intend the words we are saying. Fr. Matt said it's important to go to Mass early. If we go to a Patriots' game, we go three hours early to tailgate and get filled with the "spirits." We talk about the game and the players and what we expect. We become mentally prepared to enter the football game. But when it comes to Mass, we show up late, we're not prepared, and we're rushed. Fr. Matt said he often needs time to transition from one thing to another. That's why getting to Mass even five minutes early, so you can sit with God and ask what you need to pray for and to put yourself in the presence of God. Scot asked how many kids would show up for their child's First Communion five minutes late. No, they'd be prepared, they'd show up early, they'd invite family, they'd bu ya new suit or dress for the child. But it's the same Jesus they will receive at the second, third, and subsequent Communions. He often thinks about how he should go to Mass as if it's his first Mass, his only Mass, and last Mass. We're not called to be spectators at church. We're called to pray every prayer with intensity. Artie said most people don't recognize the great gift of Mass. We shouldn't look at it as just an obligation. When he speaks with Ivan, they pray two mysteries of the rosary, they have Mass, then Ivan speaks and Artie speaks. It's four hours long and people leave filled with the Holy Spirit. But people leave Sunday Mass upset if it's more than 45 minutes. The reason is because people aren't spending *enough* time there. **3rd segment:** Scot asked Artie what he physically experienced when he forgave his parents. In the confessional, he experienced pure joy. When he forgave his father, he gave forgave all the anger and angst he'd been feeling inside because of it. When we're holding on to a grudge, we're hurting ourselves and keeping ourselves from Jesus. When they were first married, Artie and Judy would argue, but Judy decided to stop telling him what to do and instead to pray. They both changed through the prayer and that's a form of forgiveness. Scot said we all want forgiveness from God, but recall that Our Father joins together "forgive us our trespasses" with "as we forgive those who trespass against us." Fr. Matt said forgiveness brings peace and joy. The opposite is true as well. Scot said there active apparitions and healings in Medjugorje going on now, but the Church's relationship to Medjugorje is different than those with Fatima or Lourdes. He asked Artie and Fr. Matt to reflect on how we're to respond to stories about it. Fr. Matt said a commission created by the Vatican is still investigating the legitimacy of the apparitions. There have been different quotes that have been attributed to Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI that have been positive. There has not been formal approval, because that can only come after the apparitions end to ensure that they are all compatible with faith and morals. The Church doesn't say we are prohibited from visiting there. Dioceses and parishes are not supposed to sponsor official pilgrimages there because of the potential of confusion. But private pilgrimages can have priests accompany them to provide the sacraments. Artie tells people to look at the fruits. Medjugorje has been going on since June 25, 1981. He personally knows 18 priests who received their vocations at Medjugorje. There have been millions of Eucharists received and confessions heard there. Pope John Paul II when asked about Medjugorje said, "Are they going to confession? Are they going to Mass?"…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams **Today's guest(s):** Artie Boyle **Today's topics:** Artie Boyle's miraculous experience in Medjugorje, Part 1 of 2 **Summary of today's show:** Artie Boyle, a father of 13, tells Scot and Fr. Matt how he was diagnosed with cancer at age 44, how it drove him to prayer and deeper faith, and how he came to travel to a little town in the Balkans called Medjugorje where the Blessed Mother is said to have been appearing to six people since the 1980s where he sought both physical and spiritual healing. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Matt to the show. Today's guest, Artie Boyle, will talk about how he was healed by Jesus during a visit to the village of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Hercegovina, where the Blessed Mother is said to have been appearing since the 1980s. Medjugorje has had a big effect on Fr. Matt's own vocation. Fr. Matt said the Feast oft he Assumption is one of his favorite Marian feast days. Medjugorje invokes a love and peace in Fr. Matt because it was the impetus of his reversion to the Catholic faith and the seeds of his vocation. He first went in 1991 and he has been back 9 times. Fr. Matt's father was invited to Medjugorje by the priest-chaplain at Children's Hospital where he worked. That was the seed of his own deeper relationship with the Blessed Mother and he began to pray the rosary more and read the book [" Medjugorje: The Message"](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0035G054M/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=B0035G054M) by Wayne Weible. He chronicles his journey there and is one of the first books about Medjugorje. Fr. Matt's dad decided that the whole family should go together and he announced that the summer when Fr. Matt was 17 that the family vacation would be this trip. His father told him that this was an experience that Fr. Matt needed to have. God honors our free will and he wants us to choose him freely. When he went, over the course of the week, his hardened heart was softened. In MEdjugorje, you are inserted into an atmosphere of prayer .If nothing else, the place is marked by the sacraments and an expectant faith that God is going to do something. You start to experience the love of God through Our Lady. By the end of the week, he was on his knees praying the rosary. But it wasn't until 1994 when he went back at 20 years old and God flipped his world upside down through the experience of confession and he got a sense of his vocation. During that confession, it hits him that God loves him uniquely and personally. And that all his sins have affected this God who desires nothing but good for him. Fr. Matt started weeping. Through that, he said to the priest that he didn't know what to do with his life. He said he thought he might have a calling (despite having a girlfriend of two years). From that point forward he started a journey and three years later he entered the seminary. He been back to Medjugorje three times as a priest. Scot has stories of spiritual and physical healing at Medjugorje for people who have traveled there with an expectant faith. Fr. Matt said while he was at seminary he knew at least three or four other men who were there because of an experience at Medjugorje. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Matt welcomed Artie Boyle to the show. Artie works in the Boston Catholic Development Services, helping with the Campaign for Catholic Schools. He started working for the Archdiocese in December 2009. Scot said working in development was a phenomenal experience for him, especially meeting people throughout the Archdiocese. Artie said he has seen many people who have been alienated by events over the past 10 or 50 years are starting to come back and desire to help build up the Church and the faith. Artie and his wife were married at a young age in 1974. He and his wife Judy left school and they didn't have a job to fall back on so they were in God's hands. Artie said he was a convenient Catholic at the time, going to church on Sundays and trying to raise the children in the faith. That was pretty much the only sacrament he participated in. He went to Mass an obligation and not really knowing what was going on. He didn't know until he went to Medjugorje at 44 years old. When you know, it changes your whole outlook and it makes him excited about the Mass and the Word of God. He and his wife have 13 children. Their second child, Artie, was autistic and it was very difficult for 19-year-old. They didn't believe people who told them they couldn't have more kids. Their eight child, Joseph Anthony, died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. It was the most traumatic thing to happen to them and still is. Their next child was Julianne and since all the other 7 children had been present when Joseph died, Judy decided that they should be present in the delivery room when she had the next child. All the kids were silent the minute the hard labor hit. Two of the children are married. One has eight children and the other has seven. The kids have all done well. Artie is a Special Olympics gold medal winner, another is a doctor, his son Brian plays in the NHL, Brendan has an MBA, and they're all doing well. They're very proud and it's all a gift from God. He said Judy is the key because she is powerful in her faith. The men in the family are the leaders of the home and the women are the heart. He's convinced that if he doesn't lead in prayer, it will all fall apart. Scot said research shows that when a father is active in passing on the faith, both boys and girls are much more likely to be active in their faith as adults. Artie said Our Lady has asked men to pray the rosary with the family for a reason, to bring the family together and bring peace to the faith. He can discuss things with his kids after prayer that he wouldn't be able to otherwise. Fr. Matt said when the family prays together, you might think everyone would react this it's taking away from recreational time. The irony is that the sacrifice creates a recreation among the family that most parents would give their right arm to have. His experience is that when his family would gather for prayer, they would have the best conversations. This was the family bonding time. Artie said their prayer time is not just rote prayer of the rosary, but it's also conversation. Family conversation is prayer time. Their prayer time has evolved into a fire pit time. They have a fire pit in the backyard and every Sunday night, everyone from the oldest to the youngest want to gather around the fire pit and talk. It's not mindless recreation; they love to sit around and talk with their parents. That evolved from the prayer time. **3rd segment:** Scot said in the late 90's was when Artie first was told he had cancer. Artie said he's always been very active and has been an avid golfer, but at the time he couldn't play four holes of golf without having to stop. He would feel a burning inside that was so intense he had to stop. The doctors found he was anemic, which is very unusual for a man. He had more tests and they found he had [Barrett's sophagus](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002128/). He was put on medication and told to come back in a month. A month later he'd lost 45 pounds and his face looked gray and sunken. The doctor said the medicine hadn't taken effect yet and sent him to stay on it for another month. Had he done that he wouldn't be here today. Instead, Judy called Mass. General Hospital and they said they could see Artie in a month. So she started to pray. She sat down at the kitchen table to pray and the doorbell rang. A good friend who lives a couple hundred miles away happened to be in the neighborhood. His sister worked at the Mass. General; he made a call and they had an appointment for two days later. The doctors gave him a battery of tests and found nothing. They sent him to a hematologist who did a bunch of tests and found nothing. They scheduled a CT scan at an offsite facility. The technicians told him all he had to do was lie down on the table and hold his breath, but then they said he hadn't been holding his breath properly and they'd need to take more tests. They said the results would be results would be read the next day so they headed home. Something pulled him to his doctor's office and as he arrived the doctor's secretary called and said the doctor needed to see him. When he went in, the doctor was waiting for him, sat him down, and told him he had renal cell carcinoma, cancer of the kidney. It's the most intense thing he's ever been told. He immediately began to wonder how much time he had left, who would take care of his 13 kids, how is his wife going to do this by herself, who will teach the boys how to play catch, who will be there for the girls when the boys come around for the prom and all that sort of stuff. The doctor tried to prescribe a tranquilizer right then and there, but Artie said No. He was scheduled for an oncologist immediately and he went right to his office. He sat there for several hours with his head in his hands, but when he started to look around the room he saw that there were people worse off than him. He believed he could beat the cancer, but not once did he think of God. The doctor finally called him in and brought up the CT pictures of the tumor as big as his fist sitting on his kidney. The spleen and the lymph nodes were also infected. The next morning he went with Judy to see the urologist. The surgeon explained that it would an ugly surgery and gave them the details of how bad it would. Judy was silent the whole time and later he learned that Judy was praying and rebuking everything that the doctor was saying. Surgery was schedule for Dec 9, 1999. In the 21 days before, many things happened to them. James 5:14-16 says, "Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint (him) with oil in the name of the Lord,and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven." They took it literally and went to every priest they could find, every healing Mass there was. Judy and her sister put his name on the Novena to St. Anthony and put them in the backs of many of the churches on the South Shore. December 8 is the feast of the Immaculate Conception and there was an all-night prayer vigil into the day of his surgery. One of the most profound healing Masses happened after work one day with Fr. Ed McDonough at the Mission Church in Boston. Judy picked him up in the car and he heard a fascinating story about [St. Faustina](http://thedivinemercy.org/message/stfaustina/) and the chaplet of Divine Mercy. When he got to the Mission Church, he prayed with his whole heart for the first time in his life. As he was praying, he felt something physically strike him in the chest. It knocked him backwards. After that, Fr. McDonough prayed over him and the gray cancer color of his skin disappeared right before everyone's eyes. The next day, he had his blood tested and he was back to normal, which was a scientific impossibility. Then his wife received a call from a stranger who said they'd been praying to the novena for Artie and who also said they'd lost a relic several months before and found it recently. It was a relic of St. Faustina and they wanted Artie to have it. Meanwhile, as they had been driving to Mission Church, Judy had told Artie that she thought he should wear a [Miraculous Medal](http://www.amm.org/aboutus/medal.asp). Artie had never worn jewelry, never mind religious jewelry. But when they got back to his car that he'd left at work, they found Miraculous Medal on a man's chain on the passenger seat, even though Artie knows his car door had been locked. Today this day they share the medal with people in need. Artie realized that God was trying to get through to him. Faith was clearly the key ingredient in his healing. There are many people of faith out there and Artie believes in the power of prayer. It was a tough surgery for Artie because it was a new anesthesiologist and he woke up at the end without proper pain medication and writhing in pain. However, the good news was that the pancreatic surgeon wasn't needed. A membrane had grown between the tumor and the pancreas, protecting the pancreas. So now the pancreas sits where the kidney was. The pathology report two or three weeks later from the doctor said they had got it all and he would live a normal life. Artie's reaction was to thank Jesus and ask Him what Artie could do in thanksgiving. He didn't hear anything, so he didn't do anything and went right back into the rat race. He went back three months later and there was nothing, but eight months later they found three tumors in his right lung. The cancer had metastasized and metastatic renal cell cancer has no cure. No chemotherapy, no radiation, and nothing works but extraction. They went to a thoracic surgeon, along with their medical school student daughter and her medical school student husband. Artie was petrified of going back into surgery and depression and anxiety set in. He was told he had a 5% chance of survival, but surgery was his only hope. **4th segment:** It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. This week's prize is [Rediscover Catholicism: A Spiritual Guide to Living with Passion & Purpose](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0984131892/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=0984131892) by Matthew Kelly. This week's winner is **Katherine Knapp from Sherborn, MA**. Congratulations Katherine! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit [WQOM.org](http://www.WQOM.org). For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. **5th segment:** The surgery was scheduled for September 14, 2000, which happens to be the feast of the triumph of the Cross. It also was his brother-in-law Kevin's birthday. Artie and Judy talked to Kevin and his wife, Rita, who is Judy's sister. The next day Kevin played golf with another good friend of theirs, Robby. Kevin told him the story of Artie's illness and Robby spent the 18 holes telling him the story of Medjugorje. Kevin told Artie about Medjugorje and Artie said his daughter had given Judy the book,"Medjugorje: The Message" about ten years earlier, and eve though Judy had tried to read the messages of Our Lady at Medjugorje to him, it was inevitably while Artie was watching sports and it went in one ear and out the other. Within one week, Kevin, Robby, and Artie were on their way to Medjugorje in a little village in Bosnia-Hercegovina to be there September 4-10. Artie kept a journal and was inspired to write in that he was going to Medjugorje to see the Blessed Mother and be healed and although he wasn't necessarily going to see her, he knew that he would be touched by her in some way. Faith is the confident assurance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things yet unseen. He had written that confident assurance and he would receive the evidence. As Artie was flying across the Atlantic, Judy had taken their 5-year-old son, Nick, to a nondemoninational Bible study. Nick went in with the other kids and when they came out, she asked Nick what he learned. Nick said, "Luke 5:13, Be not afraid, your prayer has been heard." Later in the week, they heard Luke 1:37, "Nothing is impossible with God." Two things Judy needed to hear while her husband was halfway across the world. She believed from that moment that Artie would be healed. They arrived in Medjugorje and felt that it was a place of supernatural village. It was a tiny village and they'd even brought suitcases of food and water because they'd had no idea what they would experience. The food and water turned out to be fine. They stayed in a family's home. They went to the church and the first they did was go to confession, the first time for any of them in 15 years. He kind of just blew thought it as an obligation. Then they went into Mass. At Masses in Medjugorje, they pray the rosary first in many languages. But when they sing between the decades, they sing with such conviction that your soul is lifted into heaven. They met their guide after Mass who was supposed to take them to Viska, one of the six visionaries of Medjugorje, whose usual task is to pray over the sick. Unfortunately, the guide told them that Viska had to go to Rome to visit a sick friend and she wouldn't be able to pray with him. It was disappointing, but they were in Medjugorje. After Mass, the next day he was still anxious, but felt so much peace. They went to buy something nice for their wives at a little jewelry store. He had bought 5 rosary bead bracelets for his daughters and was looking at 5 gold chains and crosses for his sons and though they were expensive, he realized that if he could spend the money he did on golf and hockey and other recreational activity for himself, he could spend it on Jesus. As the thought entered his head, there was commotion immediately to his left and Viska was suddenly standing next to him. She had missed her plane the night before and she had happened to stop in the store. The guide excitedly came over to explain who Artie was and she put her hands on him to pray. The heat that came from his body started making the others with him sweat. They left there to climb up [Mt. Krizevac](http://pilgrimage.medjugorje.com/pilgrimage-to-medjugorje/84-cross-mountain.html) or Cross Mountain. In 1933, the villagers built a 33-ton cross on the mountain that overlooks the entire valley. The mountain is so craggy and the brush so thick that it's almost impossible to ascend, but the villagers were able to build this cross. Artie and the guys wanted to go up there to pray. They passed St. James Church on the way and they felt called to return to make a better confession. To this day, the priest in that confessional, an English priest who now serves in the missions in Peru, remains a dear friend. In the confessional, the priest explained to him that the Eucharist is the most powerful medicine we have on earth, to take Jesus into his body as often as possible, and ask Jesus to heal him. He told Artie that when he returns home, to live his life as a witness. Leaving the confessional, he realized that his anxiety and depression were gone and that he had gone to Medjugorje not for a physical healing but a spiritual healing. Scot said Jesus often healed people spiritually, before healing physically. Artie said confession is not an option. It is a sacrament that gives us a grace that allows us to walk in the light of Christ. They then went to the mountain. As they climbed, he felt a pain in his lung that he could put a finger on and he said to himself that it was getting worse. It was raining at the time and they'd been told it was too dangerous to climb. At the top of the mountain, they were alone and praying for healing. Artie said he went to Medjugorje in love with the Blessed Mother and afraid of Jesus. Once he was there he fell in love with Jesus and the Blessed Mother took her place. He's not sure why he was afraid of Jesus, but he knew the Blessed Mother would love him no matter what, just like any mother would. But then he realized that Jesus did love him over there. Scot is struck by the fact that Artie wasn't alone over there, but was with his friends. They took a picture at the top of the mountain of the three of them standing together overlooking the valley. In the photo, there appears to be an image of Jesus or the Blessed Mother standing behind them with their arms extended. He saw it as a gift for them. They managed to find their way down the rain-slicked mountain and Artie called his wife and asked her to schedule another CT scan before they cut out his lung. She called the doctor and the doctor's secretary left him a voicemail saying, "We know you're in Medjugorje, we know why you're there. The fact is you have cancer and it's not going to disappear. We're going to go ahead with the surgery." So Judy got another doctor. They later found out his parents had gone to Medjugorje and he had a picture from Medjugorje on his office wall. As he left Medjugorje, Artie was convinced he was healed as were Kevin and Robby. The family at home were not yet convinced. On Thursday, Part 2 of our conversation with Artie Boyle.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Richard Ely, Director of Gift Planning for the Catholic Community Fund of the Archdiocese of Boston * [Catholic Legacy Society](http://www.catholiclegacysociety.org) **Today's topics:** End of life planning as a way to pass on your values and render unto God **Summary of today's show:** Richard Ely joins Scot to discuss estate planning as a way to leave not just a financial legacy to support charity, but also as a spiritual exercise to pass on your values to the next generation, continue the work of corporal and spiritual works of mercy after our death and be a good steward of God's gifts. **1st segment:** Scot read the Gospel passage form Luke about rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar's and render to God what is God's and explained that to render is to give back. Scot welcomed Richard Ely to the show. How long has Richard been helping institutions and individuals applying the logic of estate planning to charitable giving. Scot said in the Catholic context, how we put together and estate plan, it's an indication of our values, to pass on our spiritual legacy in addition to a financial legacy. In many cases, people treat their secular world as separate from our relationship with God, but to the extent that we can recognize that they aren't separate makes our lives easier. Scot said knowing the laws and regulations about our civil obligations is rendering unto Caesar. Richard said this has always been a meaningful Scripture passage for him. We tend to think that if we have good things, it's due to our own hard work, but if something bad happens God is punishing us. But the reality is that everything we have are all gifts from God. We have many ways we can render unto God our gifts, including non-monetary talents like leadership, organizational ability, skills with hands, and so on. Scot recalled a story from our show with Jim Orcutt from My Brother's Keeper who told Scot about a woman who had nothing left but an apple, but gave thanks to God for what she had. We are blessed with so much, not just material things. When we try to take an inventory of our gifts, it's amazing how grateful you can be. Just writing the names of all the people you love on a piece of paper as part of an inventory of your gifts in a formal estate planning situation can be extremely rewarding. Richard said, it's important to be grateful for the gifts from God. **2nd segment:** Richard has initiated the Catholic Legacy Society, which helps Catholics benefit the Church through their estates for decades, if not centuries. Scot asked Richard what the Church asks of us, when she asks us to be good stewards. We must receive God's gifts gratefully. We must also cherish and tend those gifts in a responsible and accountable manner. Then we must share those gifts in justice and love. That's not necessarily a fundraising pitch. It could be sharing those gifts wit hthe family. The fourth element is returning those gifts to the Lord with increase. * [Stewardship: A Disciple's Response (USCCB)](http://www.usccb.org/stewardship/) Scot said God has given us unique gifts. No two people in the world have ever received the same compilation of gifts from God. We're called to appreciate those gifts as well. Richard said it's a recognition and mind-shift. It's one thing to look at an IRA or house and know how much work when into acquiring those assets and to think, "I did that; nobody gave me that." But it's another thing to understand that those are gifts from God. That's an important shift of thinking. * Psalm 116:12 >How can I repay the LORD for all the good done for me? Scot noted a verse from Psalm 116 he often sees on the wall of his parish church. We as Christians have been given an infinitely powerful gift of our own creation and our life. The only response to the love behind that gift is to love him back. God doesn't just want money for the Church, but to give that love to others. The next component is to cherish and tend those gifts. Richard said cherish occurs several times in Scripture in the context of family, friends, and life. We don't just understand that these are gifts from God, but we embrace them like we embrace our friends and family. It's more than just gratitude. Tending them responsibly and with accountability is a big part. There are people who misuse their gifts or fail to use them. But if we cherish the gifts, it's easier to tend in a responsible and accountable manner. In a gift planning context, tending means having the documents in order for the rendering to Caesar and rendering to God. If you fail to provide for the legal requirements, then the state steps in and makes decisions that have nothing to do with your own values or desires and obligation to cherish and tend. Scot said he loves that the Church's teaching includes the word "cherish," which is to love so tenderly, just like a parent with a newborn infant. All of our gifts are given to us like our children to cherish and tend as if they were like our children to be raised. The third component is sharing them in justice and love with others. Richard noted the parable of Jesus about not putting your light under a bushel basket. We can get self-indulgent and selfish about gifts, but this is an exhortation to share. Sometimes this is financial sharing to charities and the Church, but we also are called to do what we can to help family and friends. In fact, God may be calling us to share with our family primarily. Scot said of the things were are called to share, money is way down the list after our own life, our love, our family. Richard said the mind-shift that occurs in our being mindful, cherishing, and tending brings us to naturally sharing. The fourth component is returning the gifts we have tended with increase to God. Richard said this is the richest component of all of them. We end up with all of the discrete pieces of life, as in being spread out all over the table as it were. This component is about summing it up so that we have a sense of our life as a whole. Who am I and what am I, ultimately? A husband, father, property owner, a Christian, and so on. Scot said returning with increase is doing everything I can so that others understand that I truly believe I am Catholic, that my family is stronger. At the end of my life, try every day to make my family, my friends stronger and better for my having been among them. Richard said this process is a wonderful occasion for turning our lives around. We need to do this for the state anyway, so why don't we use this as an opportunity for a better, deeper relationship with God. **3rd segment:** Scot asked how to put all this into practice with later-life planning. Richard said is the endpoint of our life here, but is an entry life into eternal life with God. So in many ways we are defined by our death. So death too can be a gift. So what do I do know to render unto Caesar and satisfy the requirements of the state? So this is where he starts talking about a will, a trust perhaps, a durable power of attorney, and a health-care proxy. Scot said we have to beware of thinking about this forever, studying it, talking about it, but failing to finally follow through before death. Richard has heard of cases where the completely drawn will is sitting on someone's desk unsigned when they die. So the state says that you have left no direction for the disposition of your property and so the state then decides based on the law, which is usually in a manner that the person would not have wanted. Richard said it's also important to keep these documents up to date, reflecting the gifts you have now as opposed to what you had 15 years ago. Scot said you can hire an attorney or estate planner, but there are even software packages that you use and then consult with an expert later. Scot said through proper planning, whatever age you are, you can make plans not just for death,but for life. Richard said you can plan for death, but you can also plan how you can live until the end of life. There are stories of older people who get ill and become isolated and even start to despair. So how can we live until the end of life? Another situation is when we are alive, but no longer able to make decisions for ourselves: mental illness, dementia, comas, or paralysis, for example. Scot said health-care proxy and durable power of attorney are important in these cases. Scot said it's important to have a conversation with the person named in these documents as the proxy and attorney so they know your values and so they will do this as a gift back to you. Richard said there's a common situation of an older husband or wife and one of the two have a severe case of dementia. While the other spouse works to care for the first, they eventually decide they can no longer for them and decide to sell the house and move into assisted living. But they find one needs the signature of the other to sell and now needs to go before the court to declare them the guardian for the other. A durable power of attorney circumvents that obstacle. The health-care proxy will never be needed for many people who just die, but many people will linger. Richard noted his own circumstance when his mother had a stroke and he was called upon to make a decision on whether to take extraordinary steps to prolong her life. He didn't want to make a decision to cause her to die, but they knew she didn't want to be kept alive way longer than she would have wanted. Fortunately, she had a health-care proxy that had clear instructions. If not and Richard and his sister disagreed on what to do, it could have been very messy. Scot said the proxy can be a gift to the survivors to keep them from being put in a bad situation. There was no question of their legal authority to make health-care decisions for their mother. To have one person to be able to speak to the doctors can be very useful. Richard has co-written a book with Patricia Steward called "The Health Care Decision Guide for Catholics." A second edition will be coming out soon. **4th segment:** Richard said the example of Pope John Paul II in the end of his life was very inspiring. As the end of his life unfolded, he showed how to live until the moment that you die. The spiritual part of preparing for death includes that understanding that we don't know when that will be. Thus we have to be prepared both relationally (forgiving others) and legally. Scot said our documents reflect our response to God's love. Scot said it's important for us to leave instructions about our death and burial. He related a story of a neighbor who was a daily communicant, his children had left the faith, but because he didn't make provisions for it, he didn't get a Catholic funeral. Richard said it's important for people to make preparations for receiving the Sacrament of the Sick. Many people still have the misconception that it's only received when you're at death's door. Scot brought up the concept of ethical wills, where we transfer our values, not just our valuables. It comes from the Jewish tradition, Jacob talking to his 12 sons who became the 12 tribes of Israel, as well as Jesus' last discourse to the 12 apostles, conveying to them the essence of his ministry. Rich's own ethical will instructs his sons to take care of their mother, to stay in touch with the rest of the family, that he's proud of them; all kinds of things that you want to say. Others will say that education is important or other philosophical ideas. This is a key component is returning with increase to the Lord. All the documents are squared away, your understanding of your relationship with God is there, so now the ethical will is a place to sum it all up and pass that on. Grandparents shouldn't miss an opportunity to write a love letter to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren before their old enough to really appreciate what they have to say to them. Richard said anyone who does genealogy recognizes that when you go back a few generations, you know what people did, but not what they were about. People can find out more about end of life planning by going to [CatholicLegacySociety.org](http://www.catholiclegacysociety.org) or [email](mailto:rely@rcab.org) or call Richard at 627-779-3702. He often does presentations at parishes, especially for pastoral councils and finance councils.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, Pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Parish, New Bedford, and Executive Editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River * [St. Anthony of Padua Parish, New Bedford](http://www.saintanthonynewbedford.com/) **Today's topics:** The Church's teachings on the Blessed Virgin Mary **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Roger Landry joins his brother Scot to discuss what the Church believes and teaches about Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and how best to prepare for the upcoming Feast of the Assumption. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed his brother, Fr. Roger Landry, to show to discuss the role of Mary in the economy of salvation. Fr. Roger has led retreats called the School of Mary on the teachings of the Church on Mary. Fr. Roger said he took the term School of Mary from Bl. John Paul II. HE spoke about entering into a school of Mary, just as Jesus would have been in a school at the feet of Mary. It also refers to the school of the Rosary which teaches us in meditations on Mary. John Paul II wrote an encyclical called [Redemptoris Mater](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031987_redemptoris-mater_en.html) in which he asked the Church to look to Mary as a model for the faith. >The Mother of the Redeemer has a precise place in the plan of salvation, for "when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'" (Gal. 4:4-6) Scot asked what is the blessed Mother's role in the economy of salvation, God's plan to save us all. Fr. Roger said the first point is her free Yes to God's proposal made through the Archangel Gabriel, which set into motion God's plan of salvation. This allowed Christ to take on our human flesh in order to provide expiation for our sins through His flesh and open up the gates to heaven. The second point is the third annunciation of the Cross. The first was Gabriel's and the second was when Simeon told her her own heart would be pierced. The third is when Christ said to her to behold her son, John (and through him all of us), and to all of us. By her prayers and intercession, by her example, and by her continuing to hand on to us her Son, our savior. The Catechism begins talking about Mary by calling her the Mother of the Church. Why is it significant that she is our mother? Fr. Roger said we all need spiritual mothers. Most of us have learned our faith from our mothers. Mothers have a particular genius for handing on the faith to their children. Also, Jesus came from heaven to found a family. We have a father, Jesus is our brother, and no better person has existed who has heard the Word and put it into practice than Mary. Jesus said his mother and brothers and sisters are those who hear the Word and put it into practice. Scot said the Church has proclaimed two dogmas about Mary. The first is the Immaculate Conception, which means she was preserved from sin. * [Immaculate Conception](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Conception) * [Assumption](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assumption_of_Mary) the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed in 1854 and the Assumption in 1950. This doesn't mean they were invented then, but that they were conclusively stated at the time. Immaculate Conception was debated. It was universally acknowledged that she did not choose to sin but was she preserved from Original Sin. The dogma said that when God gave Mary a soul at conception, she was preserved from sin. Fr. Roger explained Original Sin. Adam and Eve had supernatural and preternatural gifts, which we lost when they freely disobeyed the Lord and squandered our inheritance. The Immaculate Conception says Mary was conceived *with* these gifts. This was the complicated question theologians asked: How did this happen? Blessed Duns Scotus spoke of prevenient grace, it comes before. What Jesus did on the cross was an eternal act outside of time, in that it's effects were felt throughout time before and after. She was conceived without Original Sin and the ultimate effect of Original Sin is to be born without the preternatural and supernatural gifts. At baptism, we are put back in the state of grace although we still have some of the effects of sin. Both Jesus and his Mother would have felt temptation (Scripture says Jesus was tempted), buy they are able to say no to all temptation. **2nd segment:** Scot asked Fr. Roger what we learned about Mary during the Annunciation. He said we learned first that she was immaculately conceived. The Archangel uses a word that means "you who have been filled with grace." To be filled with grace means to be filled with God in such a way that there is no room in which God isn't present. This is implicit testimony to her Immaculate Conception. Then he says, The Lord is with you. They were already in communion. St. Athanasius said before she conceived Jesus in her womb, she conceived him in her heart. Then she was afraid, with a sense of awe that God was calling her to something she is not worthy of. She confessed that she is a virgin. She would know how babies were conceived, but she had already made a vow to remain a virgin in her marriage. And in the end, she said Let it be done to me, which changed the world. Her full cooperation with the Lord was the beginning of our redemption. After conceiving Jesus, she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth. We see what a woman of charity and faith that Mary is. She went in haste because the Archangel had her told that Elizabeth, who was quite old, would need assistance. Newly pregnant Mary traveled through mountainous and rough country because she loved and because she totally believed everything she'd been told. Elizabeth said in the Holy Spirit that she was totally blessed because of her faith and that Mary was carrying her Lord within her, even though Mary would only have been pregnant a few days. Mary then exclaimed the famous [Magnificat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnificat). Mary exclaims that her existence is full of God. >My soul glorifies the Lord, * my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour. He looks on his servant in her lowliness; * henceforth all ages will call me blessed. The Almighty works marvels for me. * Holy his name! His mercy is from age to age, * on those who fear him. He puts forth his arm in strength * and scatters the proud-hearted. He casts the mighty from their thrones * and raises the lowly. He fills the starving with good things, * sends the rich away empty. He protects Israel, his servant, * remembering his mercy, the mercy promised to our fathers, * to Abraham and his sons for ever. Scot said Pope John Paul II talked about the visitation as the highest expression and inspiration of the feminine genius, in the way Mary responded by putting motherhood and service as her primary vocation in life. Fr. Roger said the expression feminine genius is receiving a lot of theological study. Pope John Paul II was describing a maternity in a woman that loves and other teaches them to love. A woman gives love first by receiving it and receiving it is capable of sharing it. Mary received Love himself and couldn't keep it to herself. Mary just learned she was to be mother of the messiah and her first thought is to go to Elizabeth. Men do not have this genius because they are more selfish. **3rd segment:** Mary provides a lot of guidance on how we are to be Christians in the episode from Scripture of the Wedding feast of Cana. The scene is a wedding where no one notices that they are out of wine except Mary because she is one who loves and those who love pay attention to details of others. The Jewish wedding feast would be an eight day feast and if you ran out of wine, it would be a huge embarrassment for the family and the couple. So she went to her Son and told him. She didn't twist his arm or ask for anything. Saints and theologians have debated his next words: "What's this to you and to me." She tells the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." These are her last words in Scripture. A lot of time we don't recognize that we are ourselves are running on empty. Fr. Roger imagines Mary in heaven standing at the side of Jesus, asking Him to take care of those who need grace as she notices their needs. She takes our prayers to Him and He answers. The young servants can also be an inspiration. They had to take small leather pouches of about a gallon to fill 180 gallons of water in the jugs, filled all the way to the brim. Would that we would respond with as much enthusiasm to Mary's message to us. Scot said Mary was assumed into heaven and then crowned as queen of heaven where she intercedes for us. The Assumption was a tradition in the Church from the beginning. We know from history that while the burial spots of Jesus and all saints were venerated, there was no known burial place for her. The Assumption was defined as God taking Mary's soul and body into heaven, preserving her immaculately conceived body from the corruption due to sin and death through Original Sin. Heaven is not a retirement where we sit a leisure. Pope John Paul said that for Mary to reign in heaven is for her to continue to serve, just as Jesus the King continues to serve and govern. She continues to love us. On her deathbed, St. Therese the Little Flower said she wanted to spend her time in heaven doing good on earth. That's what Mary does. How does her assumption and coronation in heaven help us to know what our destiny is? Fr. Roger said Mary is the fulfillment of the human vocation to be with God in heaven forever. Her assumption shows that the human body is sacred and a temple of the Holy Spirit. We're called body and soul to heaven one day to rejoice fully human with God and all the saints as long as continue to say fiat to Jesus. Hopefully, we when get to heaven, by God's grace, that we will spend our time in heaven praying for our kids and grandkids and descendants until the Second Coming.This is supposed to begin now on earth, not waiting to start until we die. The best way to prepare for heaven is to start doing this now. **4th segment:** Scot said the Fr. Roger that most people know that Pope John Paul II's motto was Totus Tuus. What is the total translation of the phrase that this is just the first few words of. Fr. Roger said when John Paul was a young man working in a factory, he was a little suspicious of Marian devotion because felt some went overboard that even raised her over her Son. But a fellow worker introduced John Paul to St. Louis de Montfort who created a prayer of Total Consecration to Mary. It started with "totus tuus." >"Totus tuus ego sum, et omnia mea tua sunt. Accipio te in mea omnia. Praebe mihi cor tuum, Maria." ("I belong entirely to you, and all that I have is yours. I take you for my all. O Mary, give me your heart") * [St. Louis de Montfort's Total Consecration](http://www.saintlouisdemontfort.com/consecration.cfm) John Paul II would pray this prayer every day. Mary had said at Fatima that the solution to the problems of the 20th century was consecration to Mary's heart, to her purity, to the way she would treasure the message of the Word. John Paul could say "Be not afraid," because he'd given himself to her totally and trusted totally. The Lord wants us to consecrate ourselves to him through Mary, living in our own being Mary's total consecration to the Lord so we can live and extend salvation, just as Mary did before us. Scot asked why the Church teaches that Jesus wants us to go through Mary. Fr. Roger said there was no reason for Jesus to be conceived as an embryo, but could have come as an adult. He chose to come into the world through Mary as God's plan throughout all eternity. Why would he change now? In this way, we are not intimidated because Mary is not intimidating. Mary is not trying to be a hero. Jesus praises Mary not just because she is a blood relation, but because of her spiritual relationship to Him. Mary hears the Word of God and puts it into practice. She teaches us how to be a better Christian. **5th segment:** Scot asked Fr. Roger about Marian apparitions, why she is appearing, and how we should receive these messages. Fr. Roger said we need to be alert that Satan can try to fool us. Catholics need to be judicious and not be gullible when it comes to every report of an apparition. Mary always comes down with God's permission not to teach us anything new, but to understand anew what has already been revealed. In Guadalupe, Mary gave a message through Juan Diego for the whole nascent Church in the Americas. That she appeared as a mestiza, a woman of European and native heritage, is something that helped the evangelization of our continents. In Lourdes, Mary revealed herself as the Immaculate Conception. It was a great means for the whole Church to reflect on the dogma that had just been defined. Fatima was a call to repentance, that we need to get with it in term of her Son's teaching. As Catholics we don't *need* to listen to private revelation. Public revelation ended with the death of the last Apostle. But we need to hear the echoes of public revelation should be sought in the private revelation. We need to evaluate these reported apparitions with our common sense. These message can be great assists for us as we live the message of the Gospel in our lives today. Scot asked about the miracles at apparition sites. Fr. Roger said we see Jesus' miracles in the Gospels and the greatest are not the physical healings, but they were always a prelude to the deeper miracle of spiritual conversion. The reason for the miracles might be for us to have confidence in the message of Lourdes and to draw people to that place in order to have deeper spiritual miracles take place in us. Fr. Roger said as we prepare for the Assumption, it is a time for preparation. We could pray the Rosary or pray it with greater devotion, to recall Michaelangelo's depiction of the Last Judgment in which the Rosary was used literally to lift souls into heaven.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Peter Loro Bambu, a priest from the Archdiocese of Juba, South Sudan * [Sudan Catholic Bishops' Conference](http://www.eglisesoudan.org/eaccueil.htm) * [CIA World Factbook on South Sudan](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/od.html) **Today's topics:** The Catholic Church in the new country of South Sudan in Africa **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Peter Loro, a priest of the new country of South Sudan, tells Scot of the extreme poverty of his country and the difficult conditions they have endured over the past 50 years. Yet he also considers himself blessed because of the astounding faith of the people. **1st segment:** Scot introduced today's topic of the Church in South Sudan. He said perhaps no group of Catholics has suffered more than the Catholics in the new Republic of South Sudan. The country gained its independence on July 9. Fr. Peter said the independence came as a result of a long struggle. It was a colony of Britain until 1956. Then the political and economic power was held by the Arab majority in the north of the country of Sudan. The south, which was mainly Christian and animist, was subjected to a lot of suffering. In 1947, the people of southern Sudan had been asked whether they wanted to be one country or to be separate. In 1955, the people of southern Sudan decided to choose to be free, but there were many difficulties. All the power, including the country's resources, were held in the north. The north resisted the separation which brought civil war until 1972. Then there was 10 years of relative peace and in 1983, the president of the country abrogated the peace agreement and declared the country an Islamic country. Civil war began again. The fighting lasted for 22 years until another peace agreement in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2005. In that agreement, southern Sudan was again given the choose to split or remain as one country. Last January, the people voted overwhelmingly to separate. Fr. Peter said they were at war for 38 years out of the 55 years of independence since colonial times, because they refused to be second-class citizens in their own land. Scot asked Fr. Peter if religion was the primary reason for the fighting. Fr. Peter said in the south they are mainly Christian African versus the mainly Arabic Islamic north, but they were also treated poorly. Fr. Peter's own family was separated by the war. Many of them had to run to Uganda when war broke out. Those left behind were separated as well. He fled to northern Sudan with his brother and the rest of his immediate family stayed behind. both of his brothers were killed in the war. Today, they are still re-grouping. Almost all families in southern Sudan were affected in one way or another. Fr. Peter said about 2 millions people died in the 22 years of Sudan since 1983. Most of them died as a result of direct fighting, but a number also died as the consequences of the war. Scot said South Sudan has a population of 8 to 9 million. Fr. Peter said the government of northern Sudan tried to say that there were only 5 million before the referendum on independence. Scot asked if many South Sudanese have returned since July 9. Fr. Peter said even before the referendum, millions of people were returning to South Sudan because they knew they were going to cast their own votes for freedom. Now the key towns and villages are overpopulated from all the refugees returning. Fr. Peter said he went to seminary at 14 years old and became a priest in December 1996. He has been a priest for 14 years and 7 months serving in very difficult situations. He has served in war and hates war. He says to his people now to live in peace. Scot asked him what it's like to be a priest in his country. When Fr. Peter was ordained, he was assigned to a rural parish. He stayed for three weeks and then the parish priest traveled abroad and never returned. He had to assume the role of pastor. The people looked to the priest for everything: money, food, clothing, school tuition. But he had none of that because he came from a background as poor as they are. He stayed there for two years. He also had to travel miles throughout the parish to reach people, and didn't have a car. The best he could do was ride a motorcycle. From there, he was sent to another parish in August 1999, even further from the city of Juba. There was no home for a priest to live. He was living in a military camp, traveling via canoe to villages and military camps along the Nile River. He did that for three years. When he left, he left behind a church and a school. Scot asked Fr. Peter to tell him about the hunger of the people of South Sudan. He said the people lived on less than 1 dollar per day, which can provide one meal per day. He said to have one meal in a day for these people would be a grace from God. And when he says a "meal", it would not even be considered a meal in the United States. Most people cannot afford even that. People are forced to choose between food and shelter and education for their children. Many people choose the very basics just to survive. **2nd segment:** Scot asked Fr. Peter about the Archdiocese of Juba. Juba is the capital of the new Republic. It has been there since the colonial years. The Archdiocese has 11 parishes at the moment and they're setting up 7 more parishes. Fr. Peter said the largest parish is St. Mary Immaculate Parish. They have 103 chapels. It is the size of the state of Rhode Island. They have just two priests. The priests must travel miles and miles to reach the chapels over under developed roads. He said the Archdiocese is just too large. * [Statistics on the Archdiocese of Juba](http://catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/djuba.html) Fr. Peter said there are 54 active priests. There are also two bishops, Archbishop Paulino Lukudu Loro and Auxiliary Bishop Santo Loku Pio Doggale. Because of the great distances, the chapels have lay catechists who prepare the people for the visits by the priests. In a year, a chapel might see a priest six times. They have not just Mass, but the priest administers the sacraments and stays for a couple of days to see how the community is doing. Scot asked how the priests are supported. Fr. Peter said the priests' families don't have the resources to help them. The archdiocese is even poorer because it serves an even bigger family. The parishes ask for help from the priests instead of the other way. So the priests go on foot to the chapels because they don't have the resources, even for buses. Scot said it sounds like the people are poor, the Church is poor, and the country is poor. The people often have to walk miles to celebrate Mass and even then only get to Mass a few times a year if they live in a rural area. Fr. Peter said the Mass is the consolation of the people. The priest brings the message of Christ and of love to them. when Fr. Peter went to villages for the first time, he would encounter 14 year old children who had never seen a priest and others who had never seen a black priest. The people move not only your sense of faith, but also show what humanity is all about. Sometimes the people had to overcome great obstacles as they travel to Mass. Some would even been killed by land mines or maimed. Some children are kidnapped on the journey, often on their way to their First Holy Communion. Yet they place an immense value on the practice of the faith. They are willing to risk their lives and limbs for the sake of receiving the Eucharist and the other sacraments. Scot said in the US we can take it for granted how it easy it is to get to church. He asked Fr. Peter what it's like for him to share these stories with Americans, who can easily take their faith for granted. When he celebrated the first Mass at Fr. Roger Landry's parish of St. Anthony, New Bedford. He was shocked at the big and beautiful church was so empty. If the church was in a village back home, it wouldn't be big enough to contain all the people who would come for prayer. He sees in the US that the sense of faith is lost. Perhaps people have other "gods". But in the Archdiocese of Juba, the truth of the Catholic faith and the sense of faith is so valued. Even though the people of South Sudan are so poor, they are in a better situation than most American Catholics because they know and love God so much. Scot asked how the people of America can help the priests. Fr. Peter said the Church in South Sudan is the home of the people because the Church brings education and medical care and the basic necessities. He said a single priest can make a big difference to many people, and if he doesn't have even enough to support his own basic needs, then they can't help the people. He said there is a need for the Catholics of the US to support the priests of South Sudan to provide spiritual and pastoral services to the people. If they cannot travel to the villages scattered throughout their parishes, they cannot bring Christ and the Gospel to the people. He recommends if people want to help financially that they can send contributions to Fr. Roger Landry at St. Anthony of Padua Parish, New Bedford, MA and he will ensure that the money will be sent to Fr. Peter. **3rd segment:** Scot asked Fr. Peter how South Sudan is trying ti build itself as a new country. Fr. Peter said the infrastructure of the country was virtually destroyed during the civil war, civil, government, and Church. They are starting from nothing as a country and a church. Before the war, most of the villages had churches and schools built by missionaries, but the war destroyed them all. As a Church, they have a duty to rebuild the churches and schools. This requires money. Much more than that, they need to build the people. They don't have a sense of culture, of peace, or of human rights. The people need to learn what it means to have peace and liberty and what it means to have rules that guide a people for a healthy and good life. They need doctors, mechanical engineers, and not just foreigners who will come, but their own people to be trained. They need qualified priests, who get further training and formation after seminary. He said the government has public schools, but they are not as effective as the Catholic schools. Scot said he has read that South Sudan has one of the highest percentages of infant mortality and of maternal mortality, dying during childbirth. Fr. Peter said in many of the villages, they don't even midwives. Fr. Peter said there are plans to welcome foreigners who wish to come and help with their specialized skills, including doctors and others. Fr. Peter said the United States has been most helpful to South Sudan and has been the driving force that has resulted in the independence of South Sudan. He thanked the people of America for this. He said many American organizations are also working in South Sudan, including [Catholic Relief Services](http://www.crs.org). They have helped enormously in education, health, and building capacity. They have suffered with the Sudanese and even died with them. He is grateful in addition to the workers to the people who have donated to CRS from their own means. Fr. Peter himself is a beneficiary of CRS' work because it funded his theological education. His bishop paid for him to go to the north for advanced theology studies and he was supported by this money from the bishop. And the money came from foreign donations, including some from Catholic Relief Services. Scot said when the second collection for Catholic Relief Services is taken up this year, he hopes the people of the Archdiocese of Boston will recall the voice of Fr. Peter and and the suffering of our Catholic brothers and sisters in other parts of the world. Fr. Peter asked the people of America to pray for the people of South Sudan. He asked them to pray for a meaningful peace and freedom and independence for South Sudan and that the people of South Sudan to know that they were not alone in their days of struggle, but that they received assistance from their American brothers and sisters. They should pray for a greater communion among people, so that they come to know Christ and see Christ in their neighbor. Fr. Peter will be in the US for another month and then he will go back to Rome for a time and then back to South Sudan. He hopes to become a parish priest, which will make him the happiest, to be with the people who need him.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. **Today's topics:** St. John Vianney; contraceptive mandate; immigrants' contributions to US; the Knights' new priorities; the new euthanasia push **Summary of today's show:** Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry join Scot to discuss the news of the week, including Houston's Cardinal DiNardo's statement on the proposed religious exemption from a federal contraception mandate; Archbishop Gomez's remarks on the contributions of Catholic immigrants to the US; the four new initiatives of the Knights of Columbus, including the purchase of the John Paul II Cultural Center; and Fr. Roger's editorial on euthanasia. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Roger and Greg back to the show. Susan is off this week. Scot said today is an important day in the Church's calendar for priests because it is St. John Vianney's priest. He asked why the Church has singled out this one priest to be the patron saint of priest. Fr. Roger said he showed proper priestly priorities. When he went to Ars, France, it was dead spiritually and he prayed daily in his church for 10 years asking God to convert his people and spent 18 hours per day in the confessional. There was a lot of sin in his town when he arrived, but at the end people who came to Ars were amazed at the holiness of the people of Ars. He was not a gifted man in human measurement. He was kicked out of seminary three times for his academic deficiencies, but he shows that you don't have to be as smart as Pope John Paul to be a good priest. * [St John Vianney](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Vianney) Greg said St. John Vianney really came into his consciousness when his relic came to Boston. It was available for veneration and he saw many people come to visit with him during the Year of the Priest. He was a man of deep, fundamental faith, not necessarily learned or a scholar, but truly one who has inspired millions through his humble Christian life. Scot said he's like Tom Brady, nobody's first pick, but on his way to the Hall of Fame. Scot asked everyone to pray for all priests today. **2nd segment:** Scot said earlier this week, the Department of Health and human Services proposed a religious exemption for the mandate on all new health insurance plans to include coverage of contraception. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston said this exemption is way too narrow. For example, Catholic Charities would have to only employ Catholics and stop serving non-Catholics. * ["Cardinal criticizes contraceptive mandate, calls exemption too narrow," CNS, 8/3/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1103049.htm) * ["USCCB: HHS Mandate for Contraceptive and Abortifacient Drugs Violates Conscience Rights"](http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2011/11-154.shtml) * [Full text of Cardinal DiNardo's letter](http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/religious-liberty/upload/respect-for-rights-of-conscience-act-cardinal-dinardo-letter-to-congress-hr1179-07-22-11.pdf) Greg said this follows up recent coverage on this issue. As part of the new federal health mandate, "preventative" care must be provided free of charge and contraception is considered preventative care. Planned Parenthood has said there is an "epidemic" of unplanned pregnancy, but pregnancy is not a disease. HHS issued the regulations that include the abortifacient morning-after pill and sterilizations. Greg read the religious exemption in the regulations: >Employers "that: (1) has the inculcation of religious values as its purpose; (2) primarily employs persons who share its religious tenets; (3) primarily serves persons who share its religious tenets; and (4) is a nonprofit organization." This would not include Catholic schools, hospitals, and social service agencies. While HHS said the language is taken from existing state regulations, many state regulations simply don't cover health insurance plans provided by religious employers. Federal law does not provide the same exemption. Scot said the cardinal said Catholics aren't alone in objecting to these mandates. >Cardinal DiNardo added: “Catholics are not alone in conscientiously objecting to this mandate. The drugs that Americans would be forced to subsidize under the new rule include Ella, which was approved by the FDA as an ‘emergency contraceptive’ but can act like the abortion drug RU-486. It can abort an established pregnancy weeks after conception. The pro-life majority of Americans – Catholics and others – would be outraged to learn that their premiums must be used for this purpose.” >“HHS says the intent of its ‘preventive services’ mandate is to help ‘stop health problems before they start,’ said Cardinal DiNardo. “But pregnancy is not a disease, and children are not a ‘health problem’ – they are the next generation of Americans.” >“It’s now more vital than ever that Congress pass the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act to close the gaps in conscience protection in the new health care reform act, so employers and employees alike will have the freedom to choose health plans in accordance with their deeply held moral and religious beliefs.” Scot said one of his biggest concerns about the Obama universal healthcare plan was how sweeping the changes to health care would be. Fr. Roger said a big concern here is that it says that taxpayers need to pay for abortifacient pills, even before we talk about religious exemptions and conscientious objection. He said for a long time the strategy of the Church was too lax because it sought just exemptions for the Church rather than saying that the principle itself of violating the consciences of all Americans by forcing them to pay for abortifacients, contraceptives, and sterilization. They're forcing their immorality on all Americans. Are we going to stand up and say enough is enough. **3rd segment:** Scot said the Anchor this week has an article called "When children are immigrants" about a recent forum in the Fall River diocese to discuss the support of children who are immigrants, especially those born to undocumented parents. Fr. Roger said the issue of immigration policy is shown in relief when we look at how we treat the kids. He recalled an immigration raid in New Bedford a few years ago in which parents were rounded up and sent off to Texas while the kids were still in school. When first- and second-graders returned home, their parents and cousins and aunts and uncles were nowhere to be found and it was up to the Catholic churches to find and take care of these kids. Often these kids are exploited in the underground system they find themselves and they are denied full legal representation and advocacy in our government system. Scot said immigrants are too often dehumanized by those opposed to some kinds of immigration, especially when their own parents were themselves immigrants. Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles is himself an immigrant from Mexico and recently spoke on immigration. * ["Archbishop Gomez: immigrations helps recover Christian origins of America," CNA, 8/2/11](http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/archbishop-gomez-immigration-helps-recover-christian-origins-of-america/) Greg said the archbishop was speaking on the important role of Hispanic immigrants in the nation. He said we have a too-New England-centric view, but "long before the Boston Tea Party, Catholic missionaries were naming this countries rivers, mountains, and lakes for Catholic saints." Catholics were here for many decades before the first immigrants on the Eastern seaboard. Scot said he liked that Archbishop Gomez said: >While the New England-focused American history tells the story of “great men” like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and also of “great documents” like the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, it is not the entire story. >“When we forget our country’s roots in the Hispanic-Catholic mission to the new world, we end up with distorted ideas about our national identity,” Archbishop Gomez said. “We end up with the idea that Americans are descended from only white Europeans and that our culture is based only on the individualism, work ethic and rule of law that we inherited from our Anglo-Protestant forebears.” >The “whole story” about America starts in the 1520s in Florida and in the 1540s in California. This story also centers on New Spain and teaches that “before this land had a name its inhabitants were being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.” Fr. Roger said Gomez has seen this firsthand and now presides over a church with more than 5 million immigrants. He is thrilled that the archbishop has become a spokesman for the entire Church on immigration and becoming a voice for the voiceless on this issue. He agrees that the notion of our history is too New England-centric. >The archbishop said that although America was founded by Christians, it has become home to “an amazing diversity” of cultures and religions that flourishes “precisely because our nation’s founders had a Christian vision of the human person, freedom and truth.” >But America is changing because of globalization, threats from abroad, and internal cultural forces. >“We have an elite culture — in government, the media and academia — that is openly hostile to religious faith,” he continued. “America is becoming a fundamentally different country. It is time for all of us to recognize this — no matter what our position is on the political issue of immigration.” Greg said it is true that there is a creeping secularism in America's elites and it is significant to him that these immigrants are coming here with a strong faith. Those most active in our Church with growing families are Hispanic. He noted that Europe is also experiencing massive immigration, but these communities are not integrating into society and hold values different from the historical values of Europe. In the United States, immigrants from Central America want to become part of our society and hold the same Christian values. Fr. Roger said the HHS mandate is a clear example of the elite openly hostile to religious faith. They do not want to accord us a right to say this is wrong. He noted that the US State Department has re-defined the right to religious belief to the right to worship; i.e. the right to attend a church, not a right to live out our faith the rest of the week. He said Archbishop Gomez speaks not just to immigration, but also the xenophobia of those who don't want those with a great religious faith to come in and renew our country. **4th segment:** Scot said the Knights of COlumbus are having their annual meeting in Denver this week. They have 1.8 million members and donated more than $150 million to Catholic causes and more than 70 million volunteer hours. The Knights also give a lot of support to the Vatican. they announced four new initiatives this year. The first is a disaster-response fund to help local councils become second-responders in providing food, clothing, and shelter in response to disasters. They are are setting up an outreach for children in Africa. The third is supporting vocations and Catholic chaplaincy in the military. And fourth the Knights are purchasing the John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington and expanding it to encompass the whole 500year history of Catholic culture in North America. * ["Supreme Knight Announces New Initiatives for Knights"](http://www.kofc.org/un/en/news/releases/detail/new_initiatives_08032011.html) * ["Knights of Columbus Plan Shrine to Blessed John Paul II in Washington, DC"](http://www.kofc.org/un/en/news/releases/detail/jpii_shrine.html) * ["Preserving Blessed John Paul's Legacy," Annual Report of the Supreme Knight 2011](http://www.kofc.org/un/en/conv/2011/skreport/jp2.html) * [John Paul II Cultural Center](http://jp2cf.org/_index.php) Fr. Roger said Cardinal Adam Maida, the former archbishop of Detroit, was the leader in getting this started back in the 90s. It is a first-rate museum, but suffered from low attendance. Fr. Roger think the Knights will draw far more people there. He's very excited that there's a resolution for the center. The Archdiocese of Detroit has been trying to find a buyer for several years. A women's religious order in Michigan had tried to buy it, but that fell through. He said Catholics need a museum in the City of Museums. Greg said it's the Knights coming to the rescue once again. They have such a love for the Church and that's why the Church goes to them when there's a special need. The Knights have provided such critical support to the Archdiocese of Boston in the recent past. Greg admits he's walked by the JP2 Center many times, often because he's in town on other business and never seemed to make it inside. With the extra visibility that the Knights bring to it, especially if they make it a centerpiece of other activity there, it will draw much larger crowds. Scot said when Supreme Knight Carl Anderson was on The Good Catholic Life back in April he was much more excited about the time the Knights gave in volunteerism than the money they give. Scot said he's especially happy about the second-responder program. Fr. Roger launched a Knights of Columbus council in his parish a few years ago. He said it forms men into strong men of the Church and of their families. It calls them clearly to live up to chivalrous heroism. The Knights have four pillars, one of which is service of community. In north New Bedford, they've been very active in the community especially for disabled and deceased veterans, programs for youth, Marian pilgrimages, pro-life activity in and around New Bedford including supporting crisis pregnancy centers. The Knights overall are getting stronger in both numbers but also the quality of the men and organization. Scot said the Knights of Columbus annual gathering is important in the life of the Church, especially since so many bishops from around the US gather to express their gratitude for all the Knights do, including Cardinal Seán and Bishop Hennessey. Some of the addresses given at the meeting are available at [CatholicTV](http://www.catholictv.com), which has been covering it live. **5th segment:** Scot wanted to follow up that the reason the Knights can give so much to Catholic causes is because they provide life insurance to Catholics and because so many men join. * [Massachusetts State Council Knights of Columbus](http://massachusettsstatekofc.org/) Fr. Roger said in June the US bishops had a pastoral letter on living each day with dignity and he had not had a chance to work closely with that letter to explain it. Also Dr. Jack Kevorkian died in early June which focused attention again on the idea that killing those with terminal illness is compassionate. The bishops said that there is a movement to pass laws in certain places where they think it will be easier to set a precedent for killing people with terminal illnesses and other debilitating and chronic diseases. Economic arguments about health care costs are often cited. The US bishops are ahead of the curve. There are only two states in the US that have passed referenda allowing assisted suicide, but there is a growing movement to push the ides of "dying with dignity" through euthanasia. Fr. Roger quoted the bishops: >“The sufferings caused by chronic or terminal illness are often severe,” the bishops wrote. “They cry out for our compassion, a word whose root meaning is to ‘suffer with’ another person. True compassion alleviates suffering while maintaining solidarity with those who suffer. It does not put lethal drugs in their hands and abandon them to their suicidal impulses, or to the self-serving motives of others who may want them dead. It helps vulnerable people with their problems instead of treating them as the problem.” * ["Pressured to Die: Euthanasia push continues," Zenit, 7/17/11](http://www.zenit.org/article-33090?l=english) * ["Living and Dying with Dignity," Fr. Roger Landry, The Anchor, 8/5/11](http://catholicpreaching.com/index.php?content=articles&articles=20110805anchor) * ["US Bishops approve statement on physician-assisted suicide," EWTN News/Catholic World News, 6/17/11](http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=113955) Greg notes that in Europe this issue has progressed much further than here, even to the point where the decision to kill the victim has been undertaken by others, including doctors and family members. Fr. Roger noted also in the Anchor this week that the Fall River diocese had a pro-life boot camp. The last abortion clinic in the diocese is in Attleboro and they're working to put them out of business. The boot camp gathered about 35 young people to teach them how to be advocates for life and then be witnesses themselves, including praying outside the abortion clinic. Greg pointed a story about Bishop Elias Chacour from Haifa, Israel, visiting Boston recently and being interviewed by the Pilot about the state of Christians in the Holy Land. Scot pointed out a story about the parishioners of St. Evangelist in East Bridgewater reaching out to youth.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Jim and Terry Orcutt, founders of My Brother's Keeper, and Jack Shaughnessy Sr. of Shaughnessy and Ahern Hauling and Rigging * [My Brother's Keeper](http://www.mybrotherskeeper.org/) * ["As it celebrates it's 20th year, My Brother's Keeper bids farewell to founders," by Vicki-Ann Downing, Brockton Enterprise (6/9/08)](http://www.wickedlocal.com/easton/news/x902824572/As-it-celebrates-its-20th-year-My-Brother-s-Keeper-bids-farewell-to-founders) * ["College students learn to give of selves," by Michael Quinlan, Patriot Ledger (12/11/99)](College students learn to give of selves) * ["The hard lives of the needy made easier," by Beverly Beckham, Boston Herald (9/11/98)](http://www.mybrotherskeeper.org/News_and_Press_Full_Stories.htm#needy) **Today's topics:** My Brother's Keeper, a volunteer ministry providing assistance in southeastern Massachusetts **Summary of today's show:** **1st segment:** Scot said the corporal works of mercy and the spiritual works of mercy are essential elements of our faith. He is inspired by ministries that integrate the corporal and spiritual works together. One such ministry is My Brother's Keeper in the Brockton and Easton area. Scot welcomed Jim and Terry Orcutt and Jack Shaughnessy to the show. Jack had asked Scot on our first show to have Jim and Terry on the show. Jack said it's an extraordinary all-volunteer ministry. Most of the volunteers are students at local Catholic high schools and colleges. Jack had read about a young woman at Stonehill College who was assigned to My Brother's Keeper as part of her social service requirement and she spent two weeks there. Part of My Brother's Keeper's ministry delivers household furniture to people who often have none at all. They give furniture that is secondhand but looks like new to people who are often living in small apartments in the poorer parts of Brockton and who are sleeping on the floors of their apartments because they can't afford anything more than rent. When they deliver the furniture, the people are often so very grateful, but Jim tells them, "Don't thank us. We're only the delivery people." They then give the recipients a small crucifix for their home. The young woman after spending two weeks there literally had her whole life turned around. Scot asked how the idea for My Brother's Keeper came about. Terry said she and Jim had lived a Cursillo retreat weekend in the late 80s and after that weekend, they saw a movie about a mom who lost her job and struggled to find a place to live and ended up having to give up her daughter to foster care. They were so touched by it that they wanted to do something. They saw the empty bedroom their grown son had just vacated and thought that this was all the woman needed. So they made a covenant with the Lord that they would do what He asked of them. Jim said the promise said to God that they wanted to bring their love and hope to people, but they didn't know what to do and they asked him to guide them. They had a desire and a willingness, but that isn't getting the job done without action. At the time they were both working in low-paying jobs in a rented house. They made up flyers on 8.5x11 paper with "We collect things for homeless people." They started to get calls from people who had material to donate and they would pick them up with their car and store them in their cellar. Their philosophy is that if you work for the Lord you should take your work seriously, but not yourself. They had to laugh at themselves because they eventually realized they had no one to give the material to, so they looked up homeless shelters and started making contacts in the area. He finally had someone tell him that she had an apartment but no furniture and that's how they started. There's a danger of over-thinking things. Jim said he tells t heir college student volunteers that there's only three things that we need for God to do great things through us: A desire to serve God and people in his name; a willingness to prioritize that desire; and to act. The ministry has grown overtime and God has provided as they grew. When they started they had an '85 Cavalier with roof racks, their cellar, and Jim and Terry. God provided "sufficient unto their needs." In the past 23 years they've been in several locations, but now they're in a state-of-the-art, 15,000-square-foot, brand-new building built in 2002 with private funds adjacent to Stonehill College; a fleet of five trucks; a staff of 6; and 2,000 volunteers, 450 of whom are student volunteers. Most of the student volunteers come from private schools and upper-middle class and affluent homes. One of Jim's own grandkids who just graduated high school has never seen the kind of conditions some of their recipients live in: peeling paint, cockroaches, garbage in the driveway, cramped triple-decker apartments. They spend a great deal of time with experiential learning. Sometimes the kids ask how the adults spend so much time on the students. Jim says its because this generation will be the leaders of society in 20 years and they want to be able to make the decisions about the poor from their experiences, not just academics or intellectual exercises. Terry said it's often devastating for the students to walk into some of these homes for the first time; to see them with not a single piece of furniture. They often talk about how their bedrooms at home are bigger than the whole apartment and how sad it is that the little kids are running around indoors in the winter with coats on because there is no heat and the ovens are open to keep them warm. They see how excited the kids get over a new bed or having a refrigerator full of food. The students get to know the people that are served and become friends with them. They realize that they are ordinary people just like them. Terry said there all types of people who call for help; battered women, men who've lost jobs. She had one woman who called and said they had nothing in their apartment. In talking with her, she heard that all they had was a small mattress on the floor. They itemized a list of all they would need. In the middle of the call, they got cut off and she never called Terry back. Terry got very concerned so they loaded up the truck with everything. The woman was overwhelmed that they came anyway. When Jim plugged in the fridge it didn't work and he apologized and said they would bring another, but the woman said she had been too embarrassed to tell them that she didn't have electricity. Jim asked her how she was eating. She said the man who lived upstairs would run a cord down the stairs and she borrowed a microwave and that's how she fed her children. So Jim and Terry called the electric company and arranged to have her bill taken care of. The woman called and said to Terry that the night before they came with her furniture, their electricity was disconnected and she took her girls out onto the porch and all they had to eat was an apple. She cut the apple in quarters, gave them all a piece, and taught them to sing Alleluia to the Lord. And when the truck came the next morning, she told the kids that the Lord heard their prayer. Scot said to Jack that we often think of poverty as something over in Africa or somewhere else. While Jack had a hard upbringing himself, was he shocked to see the depths of poverty we have in cities like Brockton? Jack said he is shocked and dismayed to see how close it is to us. Jack said he attended Boston College high School and there he learned how to become a man for others. It is mandatory today for all their students to get involved in ministries such as My Brother's Keeper. Jack said even towns that are considered to be affluent have dozens of deliveries from My Brother's Keeper. **2nd segment:** Scot said to Jim that he was moved earlier this week to read on their website their policies. * My Brother's Keeper shall have no prerequisites for service. No one seeking assistance shall be required to justify their need or provide any information, e.g., an income statement. * Each person that we have the privilege of serving will be presented a crucifix as a gift for their home, and the following message shall be conveyed: * "We're just the delivery people, this is the person who sent you the furniture." * If the crucifix is declined for a stated religious reason, e.g., "No thank you, I'm Jewish," our reply should be: "No problem ... whoever your God is ... that's who sent you the furniture." * All My Brother's Keeper vehicles shall be unmarked so as to protect the privacy and dignity of those whom we are given the privilege of serving. Jim said all of their policies emanated from situations that came about that they knew would come up again. The policies give them a consistent way of dealing with the situation. Jim said they aren't trained ministers and so these policies come from their experience in the mission. The mission of the organization is the reason why it exists. He said too often you see many organizations with long, involved mission statements that even the president of the organization would have trouble repeating to you. The mission has to be memorable such that everyone knows what it is. The mission of My Brother's Keeper emanates from Jim and Terry's promise to God: "My Brother's Keeper is a ministry of volunteers whose mission is to bring the love and hope of Jesus Christ to those it serves." It occurred to them to figure out who they should be serving, but it dawned on them that in all the Gospel miracles Jesus never once asked a question of the people before he healed or otherwise served them. So they resolved to do it like Jesus did. From that came the policy of no prerequisites for service; no questions asked. It's the most controversial policy for new volunteers. They get questions about whether people take advantage of that. Jim said there's no system that can't be circumvented. But that's the good news: Because of the mission. Keep your eye on the ball. They exist to bring love and hope of Jesus Christ to those they serve. Who needs their mission more than the guy who would sell a kitchen set for $25 to buy drugs? If the price of giving the guy a crucifix and telling him that God loves him is the cost of a cheap kitchen set that they never run out of, then that's a cheap price. Jesus said you don't send a doctor for well people, but for sick people. This becomes the policy people embrace the most and that they love. Jim is constantly inspired by the faith of the people he serves. He saw it growing up, watching his mother serving the elderly lady who lived downstairs from them who had nothing. Jim said they recently served a grandmother who was living in a furnished room. Her daughter had gone to prison for dealing drugs so she went to court to ask for custody of her two grandchildren. The judge said she had to get an apartment and she got one in a bad area. She contacted My Brother's Keeper and they outfitted her completely. When he gave her the crucifix and told her, "This is the person who sent you the furniture," she said to him, "Oh yes, he's always been very good to me." Jim thought about it all the way home. What would he be saying if he'd had to sleep on the floor for a month with his two grandchildren. He'd be asking God why he'd forsaken him. Three months later, Jim heard she'd moved to a new apartment and she need a full bed. Jim brought her the bed and while he was there a neighbor told him what had happened to the old bed. Tw months after the first delivery, a young girl with a new baby had moved from shelter into the apartment above her. The girl had nothing so the woman gave her the bed. Scot noted a brochure from My Brother's Keeper that says, "We carry furniture and food. We deliver hope." Some of the other policies of My Brother's Keeper are that they don't take any state of federal funding so they can continue to give people the crucifix as part of the ministry. They don't sell anything or take any money for services. "My Brother’s Keeper shall not accumulate money beyond what is necessary to ensure its ability to meet the annual operating expenses of the ministry. All surplus funds must be spent promptly on goods and services for those we serve for Christ or as part of the tithing program. Each day of service at My Brother's Keeper shall begin and end in community prayer— i.e., intentions of those we serve as well as those we serve with, a stating of the mission, and the Our Father to help us remain focused on our mission and mindful of the privilege of service. All staff, volunteers, and visitors will be invited to participate." Terry remains going on a delivery to a single dad with three girls and he needed furniture. On the way to the delivery, they'd received a call from a guy who wanted to put signs on all the trucks to label who they are. They showed up to the house and all the neighborhood kids gathered round to see what was going on. While they were doing this delivery they realized it wasn't a good idea to put their name on the trucks because it would embarrass the kids for everyone to know they are receiving charity. Scot said to Jack that they receive donations of furniture, but it has to be in very good shape because this is a gift from Jesus. Jack said the reason is because they want to treat every person with dignity and love and respect. The furniture must look like new. **3rd segment:** Scot asked how they deliver food to the hungry and the Christmas program. Jim said they have basic services in addition to the furniture. They pick up furniture in about 35 towns and deliver in 25 of them. They deliver the food mainly in the greater Brockton area. They do about 1,000 furniture deliveries per year and about 3,500 food deliveries. They give out a great food order worth about $117, including the normal staples, fresh milk, juice, eggs, meats, and fresh vegetables. It probably covers at least a week's supply. The main component of the ministry is the delivery. They are going to people who have no way of getting the furniture or food. They serve many elderly, veterans, single moms without a car. They started in 1988 and incorporated in 1990. In that year they started a Christmas program because they were hearing from people who needed assistance at Christmas and for one reason or another couldn't meet the requirements of similar programs elsewhere. The first year they provided gifts and food for 14 families in Brockton. Every year that has grown in both the people served and the people who volunteer. Last year, they provided all-new gifts and food to 2,774 families in 74 towns. And every gift and package was delivered to each home by their volunteers. Under the operating policies, it is integral and important to them that whatever service they provide, it is done in such a way that the recipient understands that what they are receiving is not coming from My Brother's Keeper, but from Jesus Christ. With the furniture, they provide the crucifix with the message: "This is the man who sent it." In every food box, there is a picture of Jesus Christ, which is deliberately shaded so he could be white, black, Hispanic or Asian, and the message says, "I hear your prayers. I have not forgotten you." At Christmas, they print 50,000 small tags, each with a child's name and each with picture of the Nativity scene that says, Happy Birthday, Jesus." Every one will understand that what they receive comes from God. Scot asked Terry how they manage Christmas gifts to more than 10,000 children and adults. Terry said the 2,000 volunteers actually "shop" for the gifts within the facility among items that have been donated, and MBK also buys what they need. They also have many parishes that have giving trees and they donate the gifts to them. Volunteers distribute the gifts with their own cards. It is very organized and very spirit-filled. The night after Thanksgiving, at 7pm they have a Mass with more than 700 people at MBK's facility. Then they set up the facility as Santa's Workshop. She said they start each day in prayer and end it in prayer. At Christmas the closing prayer is around 8pm and they read Noel Henry's "Alleluia to the Lord", they shut off all the lights, and start their prayer while gazing on a Nativity scene. Jim said the Christmas season is amazing for what it provides to both those they serve and the volunteers. He said parents are looking for meaningful opportunities to show their children how to serve God and hear what he's calling us to do. Grandparents, parents, and children of all ages come together to serve wrapping presents together as family. No one got more excited than the kids. Each volunteer family is given a particular recipient family to shop for, with specific genders and ages. A teenage girl can get gifts for a teenage girl. They feel needed and like that they have a specific contribution to make to someone. The student who Jack talked about said she couldn't believe that growing up in Easton, she didn't know such poverty was right next door to her. She received what parents all want our kids to have: a deep appreciation for how fortunate they are. He said he tells the student volunteers that the only difference between them and the people they're serving is the family they were born into. Scot read the My Brother's Keeper prayer: >Lord... >When I have food, Help me to remember the hungry. >When I lie in my bed, Help me to remember those who sleep on the floor. >When I have a warm home, Help me to remember the homeless. >When I have work, Help me to remember those without jobs. >When I experience the joy of giving to my children, >Help me to remember the agony of those who must watch their children go without. >By remembering, Help me to destroy my indifference and arouse my compassion. >Make me concerned enough to act in your name, to help those who cry out to you for that which I so often take for granted. Jack said it is a magnificent summation of the mission of My Brother's Keeper. He said people may not realize the actual joy of the person who gets involved with the mission by giving their time, talent, or treasure. God loves a cheerful giver and there's no limit to the blessings God will give to a cheerful giver. Scot said we can never outdo God's generosity in return. **4th segment:** It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week is a series of 5 CD’s from the Mary Foundation: * Seven Secrets of the Eucharist by Vinny Flynn; * The Mass Explained by Fr. Larry Richards; * Marriage and the Eucharist by Christopher West; * The Eucharist Explained by Richard May; and * The Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet on CD and two boxes of Chocolate Butter Nut Munch – one milk chocolate and one dark chocolate -- made by the Nuns of Mount Saint Mary’s Abbey in Wrentham, MA. This week’s winner is **Kristin & Doug Seed from Salem, NH.** Congratulations Kristin and Doug! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit [WQOM.org](http://www.WQOM.org). For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. **5th segment:** Scot asked Jim the best way for people to get involved. Jim said individuals, schools, parishes, organizations, and companies can find out more by coming down to the facility and see. Contact them at 508-238-5712 and let them know you're interested about learning more and arrange to come down as an individual or group for a tour of the facility or discuss the various volunteer opportunities. If you're not able to come down, visit the website and see the many ways to be involved, even if you can't be present physically. Most importantly, pray for them for God's guidance first and foremost and for God to continue to bless them. Serving people goes beyond obligation or responsibility. It is a privilege. Since the Book of Samuel, God has asked "Who can I send?" and when he gives the answer, he sees you. Terry said there families that have been recipients of assistance who now give back either through donations or working on the various deliveries. Jack has been a financial assist to My Brother's Keeper. He said it's an all-volunteer organization and much of the facility is built with contributions from volunteers. Everything they do advances Christ's work on earth. When you get involved, you are moved.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Chris Carmody, Religion Teacher at St. Mary High School, Lynn, and Youth Minister Coordinator at Immaculate Conception Church, Salem * [Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium](http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html) **Today's topics:** Vatican II document Lumen Gentium **Summary of today's show:** Chris Carmody joins Scot and Fr. Chris to discuss the 2nd Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, and its groundbreaking look inward that helped the Church address the modern world in new ways and opened up a new understanding of the laity's role in the Church. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Chris back to the show and said they've been planning to discuss the various documents of the Second Vatican Council and today they will be discussing Lumen Gentium, the dogmatic constitution on the Church in the World. Fr. Chris said this is the constitution for the Church and Pope John Paul and OPope Benedict have always referred to this document on a regular basis. Unlike all the other councils in the Church, this was the first that wasn't called to address a heresy or combat a schism. It was called to take a look at where the Church has been and where it is heading. Pope John XXIII said, "Let's open the windows and let in the fresh air." There was no other agenda. Scot said there were 21 coun cils in the history of the Church and the previous one was Vatican I in the 1870s. Fr. Chris said the Vatican Council was a continuity and a renewal. It was designed to capture who we are and what we are about. He also noted that Pope John Paul and Pope Benedict were young scholars at the Second Vatican Council and had key roles in shaping the council. Fr. Chris said the Church has occasionally called all the bishops of the world together in ecumenical council. He said some scholars said this may have been the first truly ecumenical council with bishops from all over the world contributing for the first time. More than 2,600 bishops were at the council, as well as other experts and observers from other Christian denominations. Scot noted that most of the meetings took place inside St. Peter's Square with all the thousands of attendees during all these meetings. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomed Chris back to the show. Before Easter, he was on the show to talk about the Hunger for Justice pilgrimage for youth on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. He's been studying in the Masters of Arts in Ministry and will be transferring to the Masters of Arts in Theological Studies at the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization. He has always loved studying theology from his days as an undergrad at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He found the course on Vatican II to be valuable because he'd never had a chance to read through the documents themselves. Scot asked about the context of Vatican II. Fr. Chris said Pope John XXIII was originally seen as a bridge between popes and a quiet keeper of the Vatican. But he said he felt moved by the Holy Spirit to call this council. He sent out to all of the bishops of the world a blank slate and asked what they should be talking about. From that came all of these documents which began discussions at the Vatican lasting many years addressing important issues. Scot said 16 documents were the product of Vatican II. It opened in 1962 and closed in 1965 with four separate sessions. Four documents were constitutions: divine revelation, on the Church, on the Church in the modern world, and on the sacred liturgy. There were 9 decrees and three declarations on various topics. Fr. Chris said the constitution is the backbone that sets the scope for how we're going to proceed. The declaration makes a statement on a topic, what it is and why it's important. Lumen Gentium (Light of the World), on the Church, was the Church looking inward. Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope), the Church in the World, looks at the Church's interaction with the world. The former is dogmatic, t he latter is pastoral. Chris said before we can talk to anyone else, we need to look at who we are and that's why the Church looked internally before addressing our interaction externally. Fr. Chris said Lumen Gentium is the key document of Vatican II because it defines the Church. The other documents are in some way leading back to the Church, and so their root is in Lumen Gentium. Lumen Gentium is broken up into eight sections: the mystery of the Church, the People of God, on the hierarchical structure of the Church and in particular on the Episcopate, the Laity, the universal call to holiness, religious, the nature of the pilgrim church, and the Blessed Mother. **3rd segment:** Scot said Cardinal Cushing represented the Archdiocese of Boston at Vatican II. Fr. Chris said he was instrumental in the piece on ecumenism and interreligious dialogue. Scot said one of the key themes is that of unity. Chris said it comes from the creed that we are one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Within our unity, we show the unity of Christ to the world: bishops in union together and with the pope and the people in unity with their bishop. Fr. Chris said we are made in the image of God and Pope Benedict emphasizes that a key term of Vatican II is communion. God is three persons in one nature and we need to image that unity among each other. Scot recalls the image of Christianity as a team sport. We're not called to be individuals in the Church nor is the Church to be isolated from the world. We're called to be in relation, but we should be a sign of unity with each other in the kingdom of God on earth. Fr. Chris said the Mass is where we find God's Word, God's sacrament among us, and God's marching orders to us. Scot said Lumen Gentium tried to answer what is the Catholic Church in relation to the church that Jesus founded: Is it entirely the Church he founded? Chris said they concluded that we are the Church that Christ founded, but we're still working toward that goal in our unity. The document says the true Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church. Fr. Chris said because Christ has promised to never abandon the Church, we believe that the fullness of the Church as founded by Christ, resides in the Catholic Church, and that's where we will find holiness. Before Vatican II, some said there was no way to be saved without being a baptized and active Catholic. Fr. Chris said there are possibilities for people outside of the Church to be saved, but if you know the Church to be the fullness of salvation, then you have an obligation to give yourself to the Church and be part of the Church. Scot said the document tried to broaden the description of the Church beyond the visible and institutional. Vatican II said it also invisible. Chris said the Church is also the People of God and the Mystical Body of Christ. When we are out in the world, we are the Church, even when we are not inside the building. There is no one description that encompasses the fullness of the Church. Fr. Chris said when you look through a diamond, you see it through different prisms or angles. How do you describe a mountain to someone who's never seen one? The idea of the People of God shows that the Church is a pilgrim Church on the way to salvation. All of the members of the Church are sanctified and made holy. Scot said the document seems to endorse that there are many descriptions of the Church; that people can approach the Church with different ideas. Chris said Lumen Gentium talks about the Church as being pilgrim. The Church on earth is in communion with the Church in heaven. We are always with each other; we are not alone on the journey to heaven. **4th segment:** One of the goals of the document was to define the roles within the Church. One of those definitions looked at the relationship between the Pope and the bishops and the tension of the pope's authority versus the bishop's collegiality. Fr. Chris said the document reminds us that we're a hierarchical church. It starts with the the great reverence and respect for the Pope. He stands in the person of Christ in a primary way. He shares the teaching authority of the Church with the bishops. Vatican II recognized that each bishop has the fullness of the priesthood. A priest preaches because he shares in his bishop's ministry. Vatican II affirmed very carefully that if you're looking for the Church, look to the unity in the local diocese between bishop, priests, and laity. The parish is just a microcosm of the diocese. The bishops share a collegiality with the Pope. They are not the Pope's lieutenants. They have a primacy in their dioceses as the unifier and governor and teacher. Scot said the permanent diaconate was re-established after Vatican II and articulated in Lumen Gentium. Chris said he was surprised when he learned that there was a long period in Church history when the permanent diaconate was not part of the Church. The deacons are a great resource for the Church. Scot said Vatican II envisioned that it would be mission countries with priest shortages that would embrace this ministry, but it was Western nations that now have the most deacons. Their roles in the Church were outlined including preaching and administering certain sacraments. > It is the duty of the deacon, according as it shall have been assigned to him by competent authority, to administer baptism solemnly, to be custodian and dispenser of the Eucharist, to assist at and bless marriages in the name of the Church, to bring Viaticum to the dying, to read the Sacred Scripture to the faithful, to instruct and exhort the people, to preside over the worship and prayer of the faithful, to administer sacramentals, to officiate at funeral and burial services. Chris said one of his favorite parts is when the Church addresses the youth. The Church is ever-young despite being one of the oldest institutions in the world. >By the power of the Gospel He makes the Church keep the freshness of youth. Fr. Chris said the Church is often defined by oppositions: old and young, holy and sinful, priests and laity. No one term ever describes the Church, but must always encompass "both/and". Too many of us get into the mindset that the building is the church, but the Church is the People of God, from the Pope to the newest baptized person. Not just the laity or just the clergy, but all of us. Chris said Lumen Gentium says the "laity is here understood to mean all the faithful except those in holy orders and those in the state of religious life specially approved by the Church." They are those who live out the Christian life in the world. >[B]y their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God. They live in the world, that is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations. They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their existence is woven. They are called there by God that by exercising their proper function and led by the spirit of the Gospel they may work for the sanctification of the world from within as a leaven. In this way they may make Christ known to others, especially by the testimony of a life resplendent in faith, hope and charity. Therefore, since they are tightly bound up in all types of temporal affairs it is their special task to order and to throw light upon these affairs in such a way that they may come into being and then continually increase according to Christ to the praise of the Creator and the Redeemer. It is through baptism that all Christians share in the priesthood of Christ, in his role of prophet, and in his kingship. Scot said this priesthood means anyone who sacrifices on behalf of God. We are all called to preach, to teach, and to sanctify, in a certain way. The laity teach by witnessing in the world, they are sanctified by their prayers for one another. It's not just religious and clergy who are called to holiness, but all are. Scot said this section of Lumen Gentium was innovative and is what St. Josemaria Escriva preached. Chris said we are called to be "perfect as your Father is perfect." He finds it the hardest teaching. People believe that perfection is impossible. >In order that the faithful may reach this perfection, they must use their strength accordingly as they have received it, as a gift from Christ. They must follow in His footsteps and conform themselves to His image seeking the will of the Father in all things. They must devote themselves with all their being to the glory of God and the service of their neighbor. Fr. Chris said the Church is not a museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners. We're all on the road to holiness. But it is right that we're called to holiness because it is friendship with God and ultimate friendship with God is heaven where we gaze on the face of the Father. We say the Church is holy because Christ promised that he would never abandon the Church to make sure that what the Church teaches is true. If what the Church teaches isn't true, then Christ would be a liar. Fr. Chris emphasized the role of the Holy Spirit in the Church, animating the Church and convicting us in both our faith and in our sinfulness. The council fathers emphasized the Holy Spirit in each of our lives. **5th segment:** In this segment, we'll talk about the Blessed Mother. There was some discussion at the council about whether there should be a separate document on the Blessed Mother. Fr. Chris said we have to emphasize the role of Mary's life in each Catholic's life, but we can't overemphasize her above the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And since there was n't a document on the Persons of the Trinity, they didn't think there should be a separate one for her. Chris said the document says Mary is the perfection and model of the Church. She is what we are working toward and she is a sure source of our hope. Scot said the role of Mary was key in the discussions in ecumenism. Fr. Chris said the Church tells us we cannot compromise the truth to please someone else and Mary is an essential element of our faith. Mary is at the two moments of the institution of the Church: At the foot of the cross where the blood and water from Christ's side and Jesus gives Mary to John, representing us; and at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descends on the apostles. Scot said the document clarifies that Mary is our intercessor who goes to her Son to mediate our prayers. Chris said when we honor Mary, she is making known the Son to us. Her mediation doesn't remove Christ's mediation on our behalf. Fr. Chris said she is a powerful intercessor. The mother goes to her Son and begs for us. We can count on our supernatural mother being with us and to guide us through life. Next year will be the 50th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II and we will continue to revisit the documents of Vatican II between now and then.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Brandon Vogt, author of the book "The Church and New Media" * ["The Church and New Media"](http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=pilo0e-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=1592760333) * [The Church and New Media website and blog](http://www.churchandnewmedia.com) * [Brandon's blog, The Thin Veil](http://www.thinveil.net) * [Computers for Kids in Kenya](http://donate.crs.org/computerskenya) **Today's topics:** The new book "The Church and New Media" **Summary of today's show:** Brandon Vogt joins Scot to discuss his new book, "The Church and New Media," which features 12 contributors who write about how the Church can best take advantage of the new communications technologies and the culture of the Internet to spread the Gospel of Christ on the "digital continent" **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Brandon to the show. He asked how the idea for the book came about. There are 12 different chapter authors. Scot is impressed that he's only 25 years old. Brandon said his whole 24th year of life was devoted to considering the lives of Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Therese of Lisieux and how much they accomplished in their short lives. So he felt free to reach for this book. He's also considering how much of a revolution in communication we're having in society and he found that the Church is stuck in the middle of this huge tidal shift. He also noticed a lot of individual Catholics as well as apostolates and ministries using modern technologies very effectively and faithfully. Finally, he noticed that the majority of the Church is doing a poor job, especially compared to Protestants and other religions. We're about a half decade behind the secular world too. A lot of people are becoming interested but don't know where to start. As a 25 year old, he didn't think he could write expertly on these topics, so he set out to target a number of experts in their fields to write, including Scot Landry, who wrote on new media in the diocese. Scot said the Church is sometimes accused of being a couple years behind, and so Scot was overjoyed to see someone doing a project like this and [Our Sunday Visitor](http://www.osv.com/) to being involved. Brandon said OSV was enthusiastically supportive of the idea. The thought it would reach many people. Each of the contributors to the book have a huge social media platform that they can use to promote the book to their readers and followers. He also wanted the book to affect official Church communications structures in parishes and dioceses, and OSV is very well-connected in that realm. Brandon is a convert to Catholicism and Scot has a theory that the Holy Spirit is working to encourage converts to our faith to help lead us and contribute their passion that led them to the Church. Brandon has noticed a lot of the most passionate and excited Catholics tend to be converts because every single one of them chose it. They sought it out and wrestled with the reasons not to be Catholic and ultimately chose the Church. Brandon was born and raised Presbyterian and received all the basic instruction, but it never really hit home for him. He never really committed to him. When he went to college in 2004, on the first Sunday at University of Florida in Tallahassee, he decided to choose whatever church was closest to his dorm in order to satisfy his obligation. That one was Methodist and it changed him in a very deep way and discovered the presence of Jesus, a love of Scripture, the presence of the Holy Spirit. At the same time, his girlfriend since high school was Catholic and when they started to discuss marriage after college, they started to talk about what church they should attend. So he started to research Catholicism and discovered the campus ministry called [Brotherhood of Hope](http://www.brotherhoodofhope.org/), based in Somerville, but with a ministry at the University of Florida. He met with a brother from the order every week for a year to discuss Catholicism. He found Brother Jason was eerily like him: raised Protestant; studying science; joining the same Methodist campus ministry; and exploring Catholicism his senior year in college. He had walked the same path before him. Brandon went through RCIA and entered the Church at Easter 2008. He even had 30-40 people from the Methodist campus ministry come to the Easter vigil to celebrate his journey. He's only been Catholic for three years. Back in May 2011, he was invited as part of a group of 150 bloggers from around the world to go to a special meeting at the Vatican. He was also able to attend the beatification of Pope John Paul II. He found himself wondering how in the world he got to the point of sitting literally on the roof of the Vatican and writing this book. Jennifer Fulwiler wrote the second chapter of the book in the book on how blogging and the community of Catholic blogs led her from atheism to Catholicism. Cardinal Seán said about her: >It was especially uplifting to read Jennifer Fulwiler's account in Chapter 2 of how Catholic blogs helped lead her from atheism to the Truth of the Catholic faith through the information and friendships she found as a young mother online. Let us pray that many other "Jennifer Fulwilers" will be led to experience the saving love of Jesus Christ through the Church's embracing and living on this digital continent. * [Jen Fulwiler's blog, "Conversion Diary"](http://www.conversiondiary.com) Scot is inspired how new media allowed Jennifer to encounter a community of Catholics who she would never have encountered otherwise in her daily life. She had started a blog as an atheist challenging Christianity and people came to her blog's comment boxes and started conversations with her. Those commenters pointed her to good resources countering the arguments made by her atheist friends. Brandon said the anonymity of the Internet can be a huge boon for someone learning about the faith because they can do so with a stigma or being ostracized. People can explore Catholicism through the safety of anonymous commenting on blogs. He added that the Internet enables you to find a true representation of what a religion presents itself as. He said it's common for Protestants to build Catholic straw-men which claim Catholics believe things they don't really, such as worshipping Mary. Now it's all available online. **2nd segment:** Scot said it was common a few years ago for some people to say that new media and the Internet are a fad, but that's been proven false. Brandon said the statistics are overwhelming. [Facebook](http://www.facebook.com) has over 750 million users around the world. Pew Research Center just released a study that [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com) sees 350 billion tweets every day. (Twitter is a 140-character messaging service and a tweet is one message from a user, maybe a quote, a link to an article, a comment on a piece of news.) Brandon said Pope Benedict XVI is one of the most perceptive on new media in the Church, calling it a new digital continent. If Facebook were a country, it would be the third-largest in the world after China and India. Brandon said on [YouTube.com](http://www.youtube.com), 2 billions of videos are watched every day and every minute 24 hours of new video is uploaded. Scot said in the first chapter, Fr. Bob Barron writes that posting his videos on YouTube allow him to interact with secularists. * [Fr. Robert Barron, Word on Fire](http://wordonfire.org/) Fr. Barron has posted more than 200 videos on YouTube and received more than 1 million views. His organization has done some research and found the most likely viewer is a 20-something male who has no religious background. Fr Barron asks where else he could have an audience of such young men. Fr. Barron writes about the YouTube heresies, cataloging what he encounters in comments on his videos: A skewed understanding of who God is; a mythical being; all religions are the same; and Religion's relationships on science and on violence Fr. Barron said we need to understand the environment in which we're participating. Marcel Lejeune is one of the campus ministers at Texas A&M, one of the largest Catholic campus ministries. He writes in the third chapter about connecting to young adults. New media turns out to be the ideal way to connect with the missing demographic in the Church. * [Texas A&M Catholic campus ministry](http://aggiecatholic.org/) He also writes about their innovative method of connecting with a very transient group of people, college students, using [Flocknote](http://www.flocknote.com). * [An innovative way to register parishioners](http://marysaggies.blogspot.com/2010/09/why-we-asked-our-parishioners-to-bring.html) Flocknote allows people only to receive information that they want in the forms they want: email, Facebook, text messaging. Flocknote is a product created by another book contributor, Matthew Warner, who writes about new media in the parish. Texas A&M's Catholic campus ministry average eight students entering the priesthood and religious life as well as the thousands who return to parishes as laypeople who have strong formation. **3rd segment:**The second section of the book talks about how new media is used in formation. [Mark Shea](http://markshea.blogspot.com/) writes about the dangers and benefits of blogs. [Fr. Dwight Longenecker](http://www.dwightlongenecker.com/) writes about what's really important and the danger of online apologetics: >...I am not convinced that many souls are won by argument. It is famously said about apologetics that you can win an argument and lose a soul. The apologetics on my blog are woven into a much bigger picture of Catholicism. I want the reader to glimpse the power and the glory of the Catholic Church, but I also want them to glimpse the humanity and humor of being Catholic. In other words, I want them to glimpse the art of being Catholic — not just the argument for being Catholic. * [Jonathan Sullivan's review of the book](http://catholictechtalk.com/blog/2011/07/16/book-review-the-church-and-new-media-by-brandon-vogt/) Scot said it's true of all ministry, not just new media. Brandon would nuance it by saying that there are some people are indeed looking for arguments *for* the Catholic Church. But it is true that arguing for the sake being right never wins anyone into the loving, accepting, inclusive world of the Church. When you're vitriolic and angry, it doesn't convey the love of Christ. Fr. Longenecker writes with humor and reverence, charity and truth. Brandon said blogging is a medium made for current events and commenting on what's going on the world. He notes that blogging is egalitarian so that everyone online can have the same voice as, no matter where they are or their economic background. It allows people who to break news and for people to gather around and talk about it. What bloggers like Mark Shea and Fr. Longenecker do is bring the Church into the story, to bring the Church's teaching to bear and allow a conversation to take place. Scot writes in Chapter 7 about new media in the diocese, especially what we do in the Archdiocese of Boston. He believes that what we have in Boston is as great as anywhere. He said [CatholicTV.com](http://www.catholictv.com) is the best place anywhere to view Catholic video content. The [Pilot's website](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) has won awards. Our diocesan website, [BostonCatholic.org](http://www.bostoncatholic.org), is widely recognized for being a great website, especially in its faith formation content. Brandon said it's obvious to him that the Archdiocese of Boston is a model for dioceses across the world in new media, including smartphone apps and other initiatives. In the next chapter, Matt Warner shared what parishes can do in new media. He has his hands on the pulse of online Catholicism and he's very practical. He's the founder of Flocknote. He's also looked at what's working and not working in parish websites. For example, a parish looking to use these social media tools, start a blog, revamp a website and want to connect with people not attending church, this chapter provides many answers. New media builds community and these chapters, including Lisa Hendey's chapter, recognize this. Scot said Matthew encourages parishes to form a qualified digital communications council and that's also a way for young people to get involved in the parish. These are the people who know how to reach the people aren't in the parish right now. The ideal member of the council would be college graduates looking to get involved in the Church and these people would also be the future leaders of the parish. Brandon said this is his generation and he sees the problems and tensions on both sides. The young adult demographic is the most difficult to reach and yet the most engaged in new media. New media is a movement of God to give us these tools at a specific time in Church history. Both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict have said the same. By inviting young people to participate in the structure of the church, you're connecting them to the structure of the Church. Also, many young men and women who come to religious vocations say that their vocations began with being involved with the parish in a way like this. Brandon ends his introduction by saying the Church is not just the institutional Church, but is every Catholic. Will the Church remain silent in the digital sphere? >The world is waiting and listening in the virtual sphere. Will the Church remain silent, or will her voice be proclaimed from the rooftops (and the laptops)? Will she plunge the message of Christ into Facebook feeds, blog posts, podcasts, and text messages, or will she be digitally impotent? Brandon said new media is already being harnessed for all kinds of purposes, some of it inimical to the Church and her message. The Church needs to begin to use this tool. The printing press was used to undermine the Church because the Church did not at first see the utility of the press to spread her message. Scot mentioned Lisa Hendey's chapter on her website at [CatholicMom.com](http://www.catholicmom.com), a community of Catholic moms sharing their lives with one another. Tom Peters of [American Papist](http://catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php?show=papist), writing about how new media can encourage Catholic activism. Brandon said CatholicMom.com is a digital front porch for moms around the world to discuss what it means to be a Catholic mom today for moms who might not otherwise have a way to connect with other Catholic moms they can relate to. Many of the moms find themselves feel isolated without other Catholic moms with the same values and outlook. Tom Peters writes about how new media can be used to promote the Catholic social teaching of the Church. In his blog, he rallies his readers to take action on political or social issues in the news. They call representatives and other leaders, send letters, and make a real impact. In the final chapter, Sean Carney, founder of [40 Days for Life](http://www.40daysforlife.com/blog/), the world's largest pro-life movement, where thousands of people pray for an end to abortion. They were able to organize this movement globally using new media.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's topics:** A look back at our first 100 shows; Scot's and Fr. Mark's stories; Sunday's Gospel readings **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Mark shared with Scot his own vocation story, which called the most boring we've heard, as well as the reasons why he pronounces "out" funny and how he came to be a canon lawyer. Scot and Fr. Mark then reflected on the first 100 episodes of the show, how Scot came to be host, and his own time as a seminarian before becoming a husband and father. Finally, a reflection on thisSunday's Mass readings. **1st segment:** Scot told Fr. Mark that today is his last week on theshow for the next two weeks while he's on vacation. We have taped shows for the next 10 shows, including Artie Boyle talking about Medjurgorje; Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR, on Fatima; Fr. Roger Landry on Catholic Marian beliefs; Fr. Peter Loro from South Sudan; Jim and Terry Orcutt from My Brother's Keeper; and some more. There will be a live news show next Thursday. Scot wished a happy birthday to Sr. Olga Yaqob, who is founding a new religious order in the Archdiocese at the request of Cardinal Seán. Fr. Mark said this Monday he will be participating in the golf tournament at St. John's Seminary. He wasn't going to go, but Kathleen Heck at the seminary sent him a personalized top-10 list of reasons why he should go. Look for more information on the tournament at [St. John's Seminary's website](http://www.sjs.edu). Scot said it's inspiring to see prioests out and having fun in an event that really provides good support to the seminary. **2nd segment:** Scot asked Fr. Mark about growing up in Toronto, Canada, until he was 12. His father is from St. Mark's Parish in Dorchester and his mother is from St. Theresa's parish in Watertown. His father was a university librarian and he was head of research at Widener Library at Harvard, the second-largest library in the US. That's where his father met his mother when she was working for a professor and he sent her to the library to get a book. There was a brand-new university in Toronto called York University. His father was offered a job and went to create a brand-new library from scratch. That library now has more than 1 million books. Fr. Mark was born there and grew up playing hockey. He moved to the US on July 4, 1976. They moved to Dover where he attended high school and then he attended Boston College, where his father had become the college's librarian. His father created the Thomas P. O'Neill Library and then the Burns Special Collection library at Boston College. On his eighteenth birthday, he was sitting on the porch in the back yard of his parents' house and thinking that he had no idea what to do with his life. He had a thought that if he could do anything, he'd like to be a priest. Fr. Mark's uncle was a priest and his father's uncle was a priest too, and they were happy priests and a good example of the priesthood. He had the thought that he'd like to be a priest and wanted to God call him, then thought that maybe this is the call. So he decided to live his life as if he was called. In his years at St. John Seminary, he had no doubts that he was going to be a priest and has never doubted since then. An altar boy once asked him, if he could be something other than a priest what would he be. Fr. Mark said that he couldn't be anything else because being a priest is his identity. It is who he was created to be. After ordination 21 years ago, he was first assigned to St. Barbara's in Woburn for five years with Fr. Vin Malone who is still pastor there. He served at St. Mary in Danvers and Salem State College. Bishop William Murphy, then the vicar general, asked him to make an appointment to see him and Fr. Mark thought he was in trouble. It turned out that the the bishop wanted him to attend school to become a canon lawyer. He was asked to attend Santa Croce Seminary in Rome. Scot asked him why he thought he was chosen, and he thought it was because he was loyal and open and willing to work for the Church. The hardest part was that all the classes were in Italian with a Spanish accent and grammar because all the teachers were from Spain. Despite studying Italian for the summer, his first class he understood only two words: *Molto importante*. Very important. There was another student in the class named Jim Snow, who took his notes in English. So for the first month that's how he got by in class. Suddenly in one class, he understood. He eventually defended his doctoral dissertation in Italian. The dissertation was written on one paragraph of one canon out of 1752 canons. He'd been advised to make the subject as narrow as possible. After coming back to Rome, he spent 7 years as the assistant to the moderator of the curia for canonical affairs. He worked in the old chancery in Brighton and Bishop Murphy was his boss. He served under Bishop Edyvean, Bishop Lennon, and then Father Erickson before moving to the tribunal. He spent a lot of his time on the abuse crisis and closing parishes in addition to the usual tasks of dispensations and reviewing books for imprimaturs. Those 7 years were perhaps the most difficult 7 years in the history of the Archdiocese. He always tried to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. He and Fr. Robert Kickham are the only two left in the pastoral center who were here throughout those events and they provide the institutional memory. In 2007, he became judicial vicar running the metropolitan tribunal. He also teaches canon law at the seminary and is vice-chancellor. He's also chaplain of the Catholic lawyers' guild and liturgical master of ceremonies for Bishop Walter Edyvean. * [Catholic Lawyers Guild of Boston](http://www.clgb.org/) The Catholic Lawyers Guild goes back 800 years in Catholic history and they sponsor the annual Red Mass for the opening of the judicial year every year. They are Catholic judges and lawyers who network together and try to nourish their faith in the midst of this very interesting Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He's served Bishop Edyvean as master of ceremonies for 10 years and counts him as a close friend. **3rd segment:** The idea for The Good Catholic Life came from Cardinal Seán after the inaugural Mass for WQOM on November 1, 2010. He said it would be great to have a local show. Scot started talking with Jim Wright, owner of The Station of the Cross network. At first, Jim wasn't so sure about it because so often local shows are the equivalent of local cable access, but he remained open to the idea. Over the next several weeks, they continued to talk about it. Scot had a background in college working on sports radio. Fr. Mark said Scot has an ability to talk about anything. He recalled one show where Fr. Phelan of Holy Cross Family Ministries and when the remote feed dropped, Scot picked up from there, but Fr. Mark was paying attention to what producer Rick Heil was doing and when Scot threw it to Fr. Mark, he had to admit he wasn't listening. Scot said live radio is exhilarating. He's also learned so much about our faith in the 115 hours of radio that we've recorded. Scot spends several hours before each show preparing and that's helped him to learn so much more about the local Church. There have been 135 guests including 45 priests and bishops and a handful of religious sisters. He noted inspiring stories of My Brother's Keeper in Brockton and Easton or Cor Unum Meal Center in Lawrence or the dozens of inspiring vocation stories of priests and religious. He realizes that God has called each of us in unique ways. He's learned so much more about many ministries, now knowing more than just their name. Fr. Mark said going over the Sunday reading is appreciated by the listeners to go over the readings before the Sunday Mass. He noted that Scot was a seminarian once and he has a gift of preaching. Scot said he entered the seminary acknowledging a 50/50 chance of having an authentic call to the priesthood and being generous to God with his life. Fr. Mark noted that Scot and his brother Fr. Roger were featured in a book about seminarians at the Pontifical North American College. An Associated Press reporter who had worked in Rome for many years but wasn't Catholic wanted to find out more about so many "normal" guys giving up careers and entering the priesthood. It included profiles of six men in their first year at the seminary. Scot said it made them somewhat one-dimensional, but it's still a good read. Fr. Mark said he read the book before he went to Rome and Scot said many of the seminarians there have read the book before going to the college. Scot said living in Rome is phenomenal experience of the Church. Fr. Mark said it is interesting how God called Scot instead to marriage and family and ultimately to serving the Church. **4th segment:** * [First Reading for July 31, 2011, Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Isaiah 55:1-3)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/073111.shtml#reading1) >Thus says the LORD: All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David. * [Second Reading for July 31, 2011, Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Romans 8:35, 37-39)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/073111.shtml#reading2) >Brothers and sisters: What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. * [Gospel for July 31, 2011, Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 14:13-21)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/073111.shtml#gospel) >When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” Then he said, “Bring them here to me, ” and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over— twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children. Scot said for the first time in several weeks we don't have a parable, but instead Jesus performing one of his most powerful miracles for perhaps 12,000 to 15,000 people. How phenomenal it must have been for them to be there. But it starts with Jesus hearing of the death of his cousin John the Baptist. How sad he must have been, but how caring he must have been to see those who hungered not just for food but for him. Fr. Mark said to notice that Jesus is disturbed in that deserted place, so he heals them and cares for them./ Afterward, Jesus goes back to the deserted place. That's a lesson for all the busy people who have a hard time to find that deserted place to pray. For mothers and fathers, it can be difficult to find a quiet place to pray uninterrupted or for busy working people. Jesus shows us how not to let the distraction that is good to prevent us from going back to prayer every time. Scot notes that Jesus could have created food from nothing. But he used the meager gifts of the multitude to create abundance to feed them all. It's easy to feel inadequate to say that it's all on me, but we turn to God and say all things are possible in Him. We bring what we have and God makes it happen. St. Peter doesn't meet the job description for the best possible pope, but God uses what we have and multiplies it. Fr. Mark noted that Fr. Paul O'Brien saw a huge need in Lawrence and created the Cor Unum program that feeds huge numbers of people every day. Fr. Paul didn't do it himself, but he offered what little they had and God multiplied it. Not only have they served 600,000 meals, but other dioceses have come to see it as a model for what they could do in their dioceses. Think of the five people who only had a loaf of bread for themselves to eat, but they gave it up in faith to Jesus for their friends and neighbors. Fr. Mark in all 102 shows, we have so many people who did the same thing, saying I can offer this and let God make something beautiful with it. From the first reading, an ancient symbol of God's love is the fountain and God's love is like the water that is everlasting and always flowing.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. **Today's topics:** Archbishop Sambi dies; Cardinal O'Connell moves; the Orange Crystal Cathedral **Summary of today's show:** Our usual Thursday panel discussed the news of the week, including the unexpected death of Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the apostolic nuncio to the United States; the reinterment of the remains of Cardinal William O'Connell on the grounds of St. John Seminary; the Dicoese of Orange's bid to buy the famed Crystal Cathedral; and more. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Susan to show and she related her work week. On Monday she took the day off and went to see the Chihuly exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts. Next week Susan joins with her counterparts in diocesan religious education in Springfield next week. Scot said we'll talk about the death of Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Pope's representative to the United States, who was in Boston a couple of months ago at the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary. **2nd segment:** The apostolic nuncio has two essential roles: To be the pope's diplomatic representative to the US government and to be the Pope's voice on world affairs in Washington, DC; and to be part of the selection of new bishops of the United States. He surveys dioceses' for their needs and polls bishops for lists of capable priests. He then prepares a ranked list of candidates to the Congregation for the Bishops in Rome. Fr. Roger said Archbishop Sambi has been known in the US for cutting down the wait down for a new bishop to be appointed. Previously it would take two years or more for a new bishop. Archbishop Sambi cut that down in manby cases to less than a half year. * ["Archbishop Sambi, US nuncio since early 2006, dies at age 73", Catholic News Service (7/28/11)](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102991.htm) * ["Dolan: US church had 'highest respect, deepest affection' for nuncio", CNS (7/28/11)](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102989.htm) Fr. Roger said he was a man of great joy whose joy came from knowing Jesus personally. Scot then introduced Archbishop Sambi's words to the Redemptoris Mater fundraising dinner about Cardinal Seán. Susan read Cardinal Seán's statement on the death of Archbishop Sambi: >“Archbishop Pietro Sambi represented the Holy Father with distinction and great skill through his service as the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States. He was an engaging and dedicated leader who had great love for a deep commitment to the Catholic faithful of our country. The Archbishop was a good and holy man and he will be greatly missed. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother we pray for Archbishop Sambi, that he be welcomed to eternal life with our Heavenly Father." Scot said Greg had time to spend with the Archbishop at the Redemptoris Mater dinner. His impressions of the archbishop were that he possessed a lot of diplomatic skills; he immediately made a connection with people he met. He was greatly loved and there are so many people issuing statements about how beloved he was. The Archbishop had lung surgery several weeks ago. It had also been rumored that he was going to be getting a new assignment in Italy, but on July 26, his office put out a request for prayers and then he died last evening. Fr. Roger said the Archbishop set a new standard for the interaction of a nuncio with the bishops of a country. Normally, the address of the nuncio at a bishops' conference meeting are pro forma and somewhat vaguely worded, but when Archbishop Sambi spoke at the bishops' conference or at installations of bishop, he had something to say that deserved to be heard and that made bishops pay attention. His ongoing legacy will be in the bishops he helped elevate in the episcopacy, especially among the young priests they cultivated for higher office in the Church. His model for new bishops was to select pastors for dioceses other than their own. In the past, the new bishops were often priests who worked in chanceries or were bishops' secretaries. But his most lasting legacy will be all the Masses he celebrated and sacraments he performed. **3rd segment:** Yesterday, the archdiocese announced that the remains of William Cardinal O'Connell had been moved and reinterred from the grounds of the former chancery to the grounds of the seminary. His will when he died was that he hoped to be close to the seminary. As part of the sale of the chancery property to Boston College, the college had asked the archdiocese to work with the Cardinal's family to have the remains moved to a suitable place. Over the last week, his remains were moved from a hill to the courtyard at St. John's Seminary close to the entrance to the chapel in the seminary. Cardinal O'Connell built that seminary and the cardinal's residence as a way of showing that Irish Catholics had really arrived in Boston. * ["For cardinal, a new final resting place", Boston Globe (7/28/11)](http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/07/28/a_new_final_resting_place_for_bostons_first_cardinal/) Greg said it's been a contentious process over quite a long time. the property that the mausoleum was on wasn't obviously a final resting place of a cardinal. But when Cardinal Seán sold his own residence and the grounds of the chancery to Boston College, the college stipulated that the body should be moved. At first it was proposed to move him to the grounds of St. Sebastian's school, which he helped found in Needham. But the family wanted to stay true to his wishes to stay close to the seminary. Public ceremonies surrounding the interment are planned for later. Scot noted that mausoleum wasn't well visited and it wasn't in good shape near the end. The cardinal has got his wish to be near the seminary. During the cardinal's tenure, the Archdiocese experienced massive expansion of religious, priests, and parishes. The Catholic Church came into its own in Boston. Fr. Roger said his legacy is that he fought hard for Catholics to receive their civil rights in Boston and was one of the most consequential Catholic statesman in the 20th century. He was also a the rector of the Pontifical North American College and returning to the US helped fight the unique heresy of Americanism which held that we didn't need God's help. Fr. Roger said he often prayed for Cardinal O'Connell when he was the seminary, because of stories that the cardinal also had some scandal surrounding his governance of the Church in Boston. Another story in the Pilot this week is a story about Sr. Alice Gagne, 92 years old, who was among 13 siblings, five of whom were in the same religious order, the Gray Nun order. Greg said the sisters have a tradition of a wake that is a time of remembrance and reflection on her life. At the wake, a copy of the order's constitution, a crucifix, and red rose were placed on the casket, in keeping with the Grey Nun traditions. The constitutions signifies their way of life, the cross reflects the reality of life's burdens, and the rose represents service performed with love. Greg said the French Canadian family emigrated to Woonsocket, RI and raised the children with joy and with a love for Christ. Fr. Roger said the story makes him think of St. Therese of Lisieux, whose own family gave five daughters to religious life. The inheritance of the Gagne family must be great in heaven. **4th segment:** Scot said it was announced this week that the Diocese of Orange in Southern California, the seventh-largest in the United States, made a $50 million bid for the Crystal Cathedral complex that had been built by television preacher Dr. Robert Schuller. Scot he recalls from his youth seeing it on TV occasionally and thinking of what a beautiful building it is. * ["Orange Diocese bids $50 million to buy Crystal Cathedral complex", CNS (7/26/11)](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13596) Scot said some folks are asking why we're building a Protestant church. Others don't like the look of it, that it isn't traditional. The reality is that the diocese needs a new cathedral in a fast-growing Church. A new cathedral in the US costs upwards of $100 million or more so this would not be a bad deal at $50 million. Susan said the story fascinates her , but she tends to be a bit more traditional when it comes to worship spaces. She said the story of Crystal Cathedral Ministries is interesting and the story of how the church was built on the location of a drive-in theatre. The building has 10,000 pieces of glass, can seat 2,700 and can accommodate up to 1,000 musicians. Greg thinks it does make for a grand and open space that allows one to see all of nature surrounding, even though it may not be his own cup of tea. Fr. Roger said the renovations to make it suitable for Catholic worship would be important. He noted that the early Church often took the pagan buildings of Rome and converted them for Catholic worship. The Church has always converted buildings for use in celebrating the sacraments. He said the Crystal Cathedral is already a destination for people to see and now they would be able to visit with Jesus inside. It is a munificent building, which means it's a spectacular work for the glory of God. Finally, it is a symbol of the transparency which is a virtue that people wish for the Church these days. Scot also noted that it comes with a lot of land that could be developed for a lot of good purposes for the Church in Orange. **5th segment:** Scot introduced the "lightning round" by asking Greg about which article he wanted to point out. He likes the article on how Pope Benedict has advocated the benefit of silence and solemnity at World Youth Day. In the past it has often become like a rock concert, based on an idea that young people always want high energy. Yet young people often want a time of prayer and adoration of Christ. * ["US Bishops named to lead WYD English-language catechetical sessions", CNS (7/26/11)](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13597) Susan liked the story about the eight US bishops named to lead World Youth Day catechetical sessions, including Cardinal Seán. She said it ties in with what Greg said about silence, and how Cardinal Seán often says we live in an age addicted to entertainment. Cardinal Seán has a sense of the busyness of the world. He will speak on the gift of our Catholic faith, how to build a relationship with Christ, and how each of us is called to a mission. Fr. Roger pointed out the Pope's words on the terrible violence in Norway this past week. The Pope said we have to build a world which abandons the path of violence in order to score some political points. Scot noted a story a new uniform payroll and pension system for the whole archdiocese, including parishes, saves nearly every parish money and provides a real 401k for employees in the archdiocese.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams **Today's guest(s):** Joe Melendrez, Catholic rap musician * [RosaryRap.com](http://www.rosaryrap.com) **Today's topics:** Ministry of Catholic rapper Joe Melendrez and the Rosary Rap **Summary of today's show:** Joe Melendrez joined Scot and Fr. Matt to talk about how he came to develop the Rosary Rap, the prayer set to a hip hop beat; and the unique way in which Joe used 1,000 burritos to bring Christ to his community and engage in a ministry of presence and a Eucharistic experience in a meal. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Matt back to the show. Youth ministry heats up in the summer and this past weekend Franciscan Unviersity hosted Steubenville East youth conference at the University of Rhode Island. Three thousands teens were there for speakers, music, Mass, Adoration, and Confession. They hear a strong emphasis on Jesus' love for them and there is a strong promotion of the sacraments. Every 5 minutes 20 kids went through the confessionals. On Monday night, they hosted the annual high school harbor cruise in Boston Harbor with 300+ high school students. It's meant to be an outreach event with lots of social interaction and a message from a high school teen who talked about the priesthood and the importance of living the faith. They had Eucharistic Adoration on the boat. On the top deck they had music and dancing and on the bottom deck they had adoration. Fr. Matt thinks about one-third went through the chapel for a prayer. Last night they went to the Red Sox game, which was a beautiful evening and a great game. All of the World Youth Day organizers were able to attend and see the game from the rooftop terrace seats. Scot said Kate Zabriskie who works in the chancellor's office suggested that he get Joe Melendrez, the rosary rapper, on the show. Scot also noted that this is The Good Catholic Life's 100th show. **2nd segment:** The segment began with a decade of the Rosary being rapped by Joe. Scot asked Joe about his background. He grew up in San Antonio and went to the University of Dayton. Joe said his parents have always been supportive of his dreams. When he was 15 he went on a retreat that he had an experience of God that he believed to be a calling of some kind. He looked for ways to bring God to others in service and helping on retreats. Scot asked him when he first thought about praying through rap. Joe said he loves all kinds of music. A lot of people stop at the bad word, but Joe sees beyond the profanity in which the big-time rappers express themselves. He started by writing poems to girls he liked, then to writing about the way his days were going, and suddenly it occurred to him to start freestyle raps as prayer, while in his car, for example. Scot noted that it is an axiom in the Church that singing is praying twice. Joe said that Tupac Shakur wrote once that he was aware that his gift was from God. So Joe knows that he is gifted from God and he wants to express himself. He wants to be in tune with the Holy Spirit in order to glorify God with that creative act. On one retreat when he was about 16, he was asked to teach the other kids how to pray the Rosary and he decided to try it through rap. One of the retreat leaders encouraged him to record a rosary rap CD. Fr. Matt said rapping prayerm ust count for 2.5 times praying. He asked Joe how old he is and Joe said he is 25. Fr. Matt asked him what music he grew up listening to and he said he's loved all kind of music. He recalls the first rap CD he had was by Sean Coombs (P. Diddy) and the CD opened with a prayer and in another CD he made a song about Jesus being his best friend. That made Joe ask why Jesus couldn't be his best friend. Fr. Matt said it's a powerful witness when you have these superstars pointing to Christ. It's powerful when he can elevate the culture with the Gospel. For a leadership retreat they did soon, they made a song parody of the popular song, The Dougy, called The Jesus Dougy. Joe said it's essential to connect culture to the Gospel. They have to constantly adapt. Songs on the radio are changing each month; are we doing that ourselves? We maintain our traditions and teachings, but do we adapt to the changing culture? Make good music first and after they like the music, they notice it's about Jesus. * \"Get Live\" by Joe Melendrez * \"Resurrection\" by Joe Melendrez * [The album "Fully Alive" by Joe Melendrez on iTunes](http://itunes.apple.com/album/fully-alive/id432427756?ign-mpt=uo%3D2) **3rd segment:** Scot said he was inspired by reading about how Joe won the Chipotle burrito contest and what he wrote to win the contest and how he used the thousands of burritos he won to have conversations about God. Joe had a chance to study at Chamanade University in Hawaii and while there a friend told him how sharing a meal with a someone can be a Eucharistic experience. Chipotle is a Mexican burrito chain. They had an essay contest about what they did over their summer vacation and connect it to Chipotle. He wrote that he was trying to write raps and had writer's block and after he ate a Chipotle burrito and was inspired to write a song called "Gotta Get It Now." He won the contest and won 3 burritos a day for a year and four 20-burrito parties. "With great power comes great responsibility" so he saw this as a sign of God providing food so he could have these Eucharistic experiences with people. Joe said his first meal was with a friend where they came up with a format: talk about their university, with a relationship, with something in their faith now, and their future aspirations and dreams. They would cover all these topics in one-hour's time at A Chipotle, like a mini-retreat. He started inviting random people on campus. People thought they were on Candid Camera, but out of that year he missed only about 30 days of Chipotle because he was either in a city without a Chipotle or it was a holiday. Fr. Matt asked him how he came out of a comfort zone to bear witness to Christ in this way. Joe said he spent a lot of his faith journey searching on his own so he combined it with his enjoyment of being with people. He didn't get a lot of rejections, mainly because it was a college, the students were often hungry, and the kids enjoyed Chipotle. They also threw a homeless burrito party during Lent. He put flyers up around town and Chipotle gave them an extra 20 burritos. The homeless people would come in and Joe and his friends would sit down with them and talk with them too. Fr. Matt said he loves how Joe combines evangelization with service. He feeds them physical food and feeds them Jesus. Scot asked him how the people at Chipotle responded to Joe's decision to use his prize this way. The company gave him a special metal card that he was to show at any Chipotle. He had Chipotle burritos at many places around the country. He thinks they probably didn't expect him to really come every day. **4th segment:** It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week is ["Rediscover Catholicism"](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0984131892/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=0984131892) by Matthew Kelly. This week's winner is **Ann Marise Jaboin from Salem, MA**. Congratulations Ann Marise! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit [WQOM.org](http://www.WQOM.org). For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. **5th segment:** Scot said Joe is known nationwide for this rap and asked him how he got the idea to go national. Joe said like anything else he prayed about it and he knew that it would be known by its fruit. If the fruit is good, then it will succeed. In the rap, he raps an introduction, he raps the mystery, and then raps the prayer. He started with a demo version that he played for friends. He was encouraged to make a professional recording, but he experienced many obstacles. He prayed that if it is God's will that it succeed. That night he received a call from a friend who said his youth group loved it and he took that as a sign from God. After that everything came together. Scot asked him about resistance to rap as a form of music for prayer. Joe said it is merely a means of expressing words and those words can be good or bad. The rosary is a universal prayer and it is for all generations. Joe said it's not difficult for people to learn how to rap the Rosary. It's not difficult to pray the Rosary, but when you think about it, it blows your mind to realize that you are praying with the Mother of God. How many people are praying t he Rosary through rap now? Joe said that he gets Facebook messages and emails from all over, including from soldiers in Iraq who said it was helping them get through. He knows that God only knows how far and wide it will spread. He's heard from elderly people who are praying the Rosary rap. His primary audience is the younger generation ,especially college students. Fr. Matt guess that it really touches the teenage boys and young adult men. Joe thinks back to when he was in high school, if there was someone like him out there doing this then, he would have been inspired sooner to go out and put his faith in action like this. He hopes people will pray the Rosary in other forms as well. Joe said he heard about families praying the Rosary rap together; kids asking their mom to pray the Rosary rap in the car on the way to school; grandparents praying it with their kids. Fr. Matt said he would love to be a fly on the wall when the Landry family is praying the Rosary rap. Joe spoke to the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress' Youth Day. Last year he had 500 people show up for his session. This year 5,000 people showed up to hear his talk: "Hip Hop Prayer: The Revolution." He had a number of Christian hip hop artists came out and performed with him. He also talked about how focusing on one main idea in prayer helps the prayer life. He also talked about focusing on phrase that encapsulates who you are and who you are called to be. For Joe, it is "God's son". Scot said Joe will be performing in Madrid at World Youth Day next month. He will be connecting with a Spanish rapper who is also a Marianist brother and rapping with him at the apostolic nunciature on August 19, the home of the Pope's ambassador to Spain.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry andFr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Deacon Jim Greer, Director of Health Care Ministry and Director of Prison Ministry for the Archdiocese of Boston * [Health Care Ministry](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/HealthCareMinistry.aspx) * [Prison Ministry](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/PrisonMinistry.aspx) * ["'You are not forgotten'; Behind bars, a cardinal's quiet prison ministry," Boston Globe (12/26/10)](http://articles.boston.com/2010-12-26/news/29324428_1_prison-joseph-druce-chaplain) * ["Responsibility, Rehabilitation, and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice," USCCB, 11/15/00](http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/criminal.shtml) **Today's topics:** Prison ministry and healthcare ministry; Important announcement for the Archdiocese **A summary of today's show:** Deacon Jim Greer talks to Scot and Fr. Chris about healthcare ministry and prison ministry within the Archdiocese and their vital roles in fulfilling the corporal works of mercy. Both professional chaplains and volunteers are needed for these important ministries. Also, an announcement today about Cardinal Seán's appointment of a new vicar general for the Archdiocese. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes all to the show and wishes everyone a happy Flag Day. He welcomes back Fr. Chris. Cardinal Seán made an announcement today that Msgr. Robert Deeley will become vicar general and moderator of the curia for the Archdiocese in September. He has been assigned to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith since 2004. He served directly under Cardinal Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI. He's been a pastor in Boston and was previously judicial vicar for the Archdiocese and president of the Canon Law Society of America. * [Cardinal Appoints Rev. Monsignor Robert P. Deeley as next Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for the Archdiocese of Boston](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=20726) * Fr. Richard Erickson has served as vicar general for five years. He received a three-minute standing ovation from the staff today. Prior to this post, he was an Air Force chaplain. Cardinal Seán had asked him to return home to this challenging job. Today's guest, Deacon Jim Greer, says he has not worked closely with Fr. Rich but that they are close because of their shared military background. Fr. Chris said the Archbishop is the Chief Executive Officer and the vicar general is the Chief Operating Officer, who is responsible for how the CEO's vision is implemented. Or from the political viewpoint, he would be the vice president. In any case, he's involved with the nitty-gritty day-to-day running of the archdiocese. He ensures the Cardinal's pastoral plan is implemented. Msgr. Deeley is both vicar general--which means he has the authority to work on behalf of the Cardinal in his name--and he's the moderator of the curia--which means that he coordinates all the departments of the archdiocese's various ministries. Fr. Rich will be going on sabbatical for three months in Rome at the Institute for Continuing Theological Studies at the Pontifical North American College followed by a new assignment in Boston. **2nd segment:** Scot again welcomes Deacon Jim to the show. He asked about how he came to be a permanent deacon. Jim grew up in an Irish-Catholic family with a priest uncle. After high school, he went to the Coast Guard where he slipped away from the faith. After 10- years, he met his wife, who slowly brought him back to the Church. He remembers a mandatory meeting for his son's First Communion, where the priest said if you don't go to Church, how do you expect them to know the faith? That convicted him and he started going back to church. They moved to their present parish, where he became involved. He made a Cursillo weekend, which opened his eyes to serving God. He responded to a bulletin notice about looking into the permanent diaconate. He felt God calling him and his pastor told him to explore the movement of the Holy Spirit. He was ordained in 2006. Deacon Jim said his Cursillo was not like other people's experience. He was on a confirmation retreat a month or two earlier where he had an experience of the Spirit, but didn't understand it until he went on the Cursillo weekend and it became clear to him. He said he was scared to death of the diaconate coursework. He has an undergrad in health care administration, but didn't feel like a good student. He said he wasn't sure he was called to the diaconate right up until Cardinal Sean placed his hands on his head and called down the Holy Spirit on him in ordination. Fr. Chris asked him about the distinction between permanent diaconate and transitional diaconate. Transitional is first set of Holy Orders en route to the priesthood. Permanent deacons are usually married and are not going to become priests. They are able to provide some of the sacraments: baptism, assisting at the altar and preaching, and marriage. The unique aspect of the diaconate, Fr. Chris said, that if his wife were to die, he would remain unmarried after. Fr. Chris said permanent deacons provide a different perspective in the parish and that as we have fewer priests for the people to hear a different homilist at Mass. The restoration of the permanent diaconate is a fruit of the Second Vatican Council. We have several hundred permanent deacons in the archdiocese. Deacon Jim assists at Mass at the Bethany Chapel of the Pastoral Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with many different priests celebrating. Scot asked him what it's like to sing as part of his ministry. Singing the Exsultet at Easter has given him a confidence in singing the chants at Mass. When you sing, you are praying twice. Scot said it should encourage others to hear how everyone can sing, no matter how their voice sounds. **3rd segment:** Deacon Jim first came to work at the Pastoral Center as director of health care ministry. Prior to that he'd worked at Mass. General for about 11 years in administration. He's been able to combine that with his ordained ministry. He said there are 33 chaplains who report directly to the archdiocese with 72 healthcare facilities. The Archdiocese staffs 25 and 25 hire their own. The rest have parish support. There are 4 or 5 priests, 1 deacon, 4 or 5 religious, and the rest are lay members who are board-certified through the National Association of Catholic Chaplains. Every healthcare institution is different, but most chaplains spend their time in prayer or in the presence of those who are sick and in end-of-life issues. They do a lot of ministry with family members, dealing with end-of-life. they do a lot of ministry with the staff, dealing with the trauma they see on the regular basis. Just their presence can bring a calming effect to everyone. Fr. Chris said one of the principal benefits of the priest is the sacrament of the sick. He encourages everyone listening that at any point in sickness is a good time to invite a priest for the sacrament, not to wait just until the end. Deacon Jim said a lot of older people still think of the sacrament as something just for those about to die. But we should take advantage of the healing presence of the Holy Spirit as soon as possible. The chaplains hired by the Archdiocese are in secular hospitals. The Catholic hospitals hire their own. In some hospitals, there are chaplains of multiple faiths and in others the chaplain ministers to all. Deacon Jim said his philosophy is to minister to all of God's people. Scot asked about the formation program. They want to have board-certified chaplains, which means they have to have a Master's degree in theology and four units of clinical pastoral education. One unit is 400 hours working in a facility in bedside ministry, narratives, and more to look at oneself in order to be present to others. They do their studies in many places: Master of Arts in Ministry, Boston College, Boston University, and others. To find out more information about becoming a professional chaplain, go to the [National Association of Catholic Chaplains](http://www.nacc.org/) website. In addition to professional chaplaincy, Deacon Jim thinks parishes should have a ministry to the homebound, to nursing homes, and to assist chaplains in hospitals. They do workshops for parishes around the archdiocese to train people to bring the Eucharist to the homebound. Fr. Chris said seminarians work in several of the hospitals where they encounter people of many faiths and none at all and they get into beautiful conversations as people wrestle with questions of life and death. **4th segment:** He added the coordination of the prison ministry in the archdiocese to his job coordinating health care ministry. During his diaconal formation, he did a summer internship. He begged not to be put into prison ministry because he was scared. He preferred hospitals, especially since he already worked there. When the director of prison ministry, he was asked to look into the needs of the ministry. The first time he went into prison, he was assisting at Mass and the inmates singing sounded like angels singing. It was a beautiful Mass. Then he talked to them and learned that they were not different from him and brought a new appreciation for dignity of the human person. It opened his eyes to a new ministry. Fr. Chris works in prison ministry. His prior pastor, Fr. Tom Conway, was director of prison ministry and he encouraged him to become involved. He was inspired by the prisoners at Walpole prison and meeting men who still treasured rosaries they received from Mother Teresa when she visited them in the prison when she was in Boston. Christ came not for the healthy but for sinners and he sees that there but for the grace of God go I. These are our brothers and sisters. Scot recalled Matthew 25, where Christ called us to visit the imprisoned as a work of mercy by which we will be judged at our last judgment. Deacon Jim said it's amazing to see the faith of the men, to see them receive the Eucharist while in tears. He remembers men crying as they were confirmed by Cardinal Seán and could see they understood what they were undertaking. They know their faith and they take it seriously. Fr. Chris said this radio program and this station is an incredible asset to them. Deacon Jim said the prisons are broken down into 15 state prisons and 7 county jails. There are four or five open positions at the state prisons and none at the county. The prison chaplains are hired by the state or county, so their jobs are mandated by their requirements: AA programs, bible studies, sacramental needs, bringing in priests for Mass, and coordinating volunteers. Without the volunteers, there's no way one person could touch all the people who need to be touched. The volunteers run RCIA programs, Bible studies, or just come to be present with the inmates. Many Catholic colleges have faculty who go into the prisons to teach theology courses and other degree programs. There's a lot that inmates can do to turn their lives around. We're all sinners, although theirs might be public. There is a great desire for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Fr. Chris said society has to get a handle on the drug and alcohol problems that bring men and women to do awful things. When the family breaks down, that's when society breaks down. Scot said prison ministry helps a chaplain get over the stigma of the ex-con. How do we as a Church not stigmatize someone who's made a mistake? Deacon Jim said we have to recognize that these are human beings. They are our brothers and sisters and to understand this, we can volunteer to get to know them. Even just writing letters to inmates helps because some of them have no family. For someone who wants to get involved in a letter ministry, they can contact Deacon Jim and he will coordinate with the various chaplains. Deacon Jim has visited prisons with Cardinal Seán. The cardinal's first ministry was prison ministry and he has a love for the inmates. Part of it is the recognition of the breakdown of family and other social issues. When he walks into the institution, a sense of calm falls. The men and women are thrilled to see him. He'll visit inmates who are in solitary confinement to reassure them of the love that God has for them. The chaplains all report that when he comes he brings out the love of people. They see how he interacts with people with love and inspires others to do the same. He always reminds prisoners that they are part of us, part of the body of Christ. * [Cardinal Seán's blog entry from June 2010 with photos of his visit to MCI Norfolk](http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/2010/06/25/closing-the-year-for-priests/) * [Cardinal Seán's blog entry from July 2007 with photos of his visit to Old Colony Correctional Center](http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/2007/07/20/) * [Cardinal Seán's blog entry from January 2011 from his visit to Old Colony Correctional Center](http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/2011/01/28/marching-for-life-2/) * [Cardinal Seán's blog entry from December 2006 with photos of his visit to MCI Framingham](http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/2006/12/22/leading-up-to-christmas/) * [Cardinal Seán's blog entry from December 2010 with photos of his to MCI Framingham](http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/2010/12/24/) Deacon Jim said it's amazing to see how much the inmates are moved that someone cares enough to come into the prison just to say hello and to share the love of Christ with them.…
Today's show notes are abbreviated due to a family emergency of our webmaster. Please keep him and his family in your prayers. Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Janet Benestad, Secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization for the Archdiocese of Boston; Fr. Stephen Rock, Pastor of St Agnes Parish in Reading Today’s topics: Cardinal Seán's Pastoral Letter, entitled "A New Pentecost: Inviting All to Follow Jesus." A summary of today’s show: Scot Landry, His Eminence Cardinal Seán O'Malley, Father Stephen Rock, and Janet Benestad discuss the pastoral letter released yesterday for Pentecost. The letter addresses what Cardinal Seán 1st Segment: Scot reminded listeners that today is the feast day of St Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of lost items, and wished a happy feast day to all St. Anthony of Padua parishes. Cardinal Seán's pastoral letter, released yesterday on Pentecost Sunday, begins by highlighting that Pentecost is known as the "birthday of the Church" because it was the day that the early followers of Jesus began to proclaim the Gospel, fulfilling Jesus' command to go forth and baptize all nations. Scot explained that a pastoral letter is a method for bishops to guide those in their diocese in aspects of Catholic teaching, worship, or social concerns. Bishops have three responsibilities - to teach, sanctify, and govern the diocese. Issuing a pastoral letter is an important way for bishops to teach their clergy, religious, and lay people in the diocese. Cardinal Seán has written more than a dozen pastoral letters, and this is his first since 2005, and the first he has written translated into multiple languages. 2nd Segment: Cardinal Seán joined Scot via the phone to speak about his pastoral letter. Cardinal Seán said he wanted to write a pastoral letter on evangelization because it is the chief mission of the Church - and to make it clear that the Catholics Come Home initiative was about more than the television advertisements, it is about a continuing campaign to invite people to answer the call to discipleship in the Church. Scot and Cardinal Seán discussed various passages from the letter, including an analogy of a cancer researcher who would feel obligated to share a cure he found - we too should feel obligated to share the best thing we have, our relationship with Jesus, with our neighbors. Pentecost is a good time to speak about evangelization because it was the beginning of the spread of the Good News of Jesus, Cardinal Seán said, and the beginning of the mission of the Church to spread the Gospel. At this time in the Church year, we should remember that Pentecost is where this all began, and that we continue the mission to spread the faith to the next generation of Catholics. Cardinal Seán quoted Pope Paul VI, that the activities of the Church are to announce the kingdom and to invite people to follow the Lord - therefore what we do and say must be part of the work of evangelization. 3rd Segment: Scot started by highlighting that the third section of Cardinal Seán's letter says evangelization starts with each Catholic's ongoing conversion. Janet explained that we can only share what we have received - we must know Jesus to be able to share His love with others. Scot emphasized that Pentecost is not a historical event, it is today - just as Jesus is not just a historical figure, He lives with us today. Father Rock explained the process of the Envision program at St. Agnes parish in Reading. His parish has come together to grow in faith and make a plan of how they will evangelize their community as Catholics. Janet added that the Cardinal asked in his letter for us to focus both on Corporal and Spiritual works of mercy in our evangelization work - using the Latin phrase cur animarum, meaning "care of the soul." 4th Segment: Scot explained that section 6 of the pastoral letter focuses on the parish as the chief venue of evangelization. The parish is the place where most Catholics experience the Church, and has the same duty as the universal Church. Father Rock explained that sometimes we tend to become congregationalist - only seeing the Church as who is in our Catholic community in our local parish. We need to remember that we are here for the whole Church as a universal body. Father Rock said that all it takes to start a new mission in the parish is a few parishioners having a common goal and asking the pastor for his blessing.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** Fr. John Sheridan, pastor of St. James and St. Thomas the Apostle parishes in Salem **Today's topics:** Fr. John Sheridan, the parishes he leads in Salem and Peabody; the Mass readings for Pentecost Sunday **A summary of today's show:** Fr. John Sheridan joined Scot and Fr. Mark to talk about his journey to the priesthood and the experience of being pastor of two very different parishes in Salem as well helping another parish with a merger. Also, they discussed the Mass readings for Pentecost and a very special saint of the day for Scot. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Mark back to the show. Fr. Mark said this week he was excited to be part of the opening of the cause for canonization of Fr. Joseph Muzquiz. His role in this process is vice-chancellor and he notarizes documents for the Archdiocese. He signs many different documents, and this particular day he was the notary for that meeting. He received the Acts, signed them, sealed them, and handed them. Scot said it's must be special to be with a group of people who all knew and lived with someone who may be a saint. Fr. Mark said there were a lot of saintly people in that room as well. Scot welcomes Fr. John Sheridan to the show. Both Fr. John and Fr. Mark attended the clergy convocation yesterday, a gathering of the priests of the archdiocese. Fr. John said it's great to be with so many priests. It was like being at Chrism Mass. It's unusual for all of them to be together and share their stories. It is unusual to gather so many priests from the geographically diverse archdiocese. This meeting was about the new translation of the Mass that will go into effect this Advent. Fr. Mark said Msgr. Jim Moroney is one of the Church's experts on liturgy and he spoke about the Missal. The priests at Fr. Mark's table at the convocation agreed within the first 30-seconds of his talk that this was going to be good. Msgr. Moroney is working on a new series for CatholicTV on the Mass. Fr. Mark asked Scot to have Fr. John on the how during the Stanley Cup finals because he is the biggest Bruins fan. He predicts that the Bruins will win, that they have momentum on their side, and that they have woken up since game 3. Scot said June 10 is his favorite saint's day of the year. He asked Fr. Mark and Fr. John what the special saint of the day is. He said there isn't a St. Scot, but there is a St. Landry, whose feast if June 10. He was a bishop of Paris in the 17th century. There is also a Landry Parish (county) in Louisiana and there is a St. Landry Parish in Opelousas. * [St. Landry of Paris](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landry_of_Paris) * [St. Landry Catholic Church, Opelousas, LA](http://www.stlandrycatholicchurch.org/) **2nd segment:** Fr. John is pastor of two parishes in Salem. Scot asked him what led him to first hear the call and to respond by entering the seminary. Fr. John said he grew up in Newton in a large family with 4 brothers and 4 sisters. He was the eighth of the nine. His parents were extraordinary. He has 19 nieces and nephews and 1 great-niece and 1 great-nephew. Their Catholic faith was part of their everyday life, not just for Sundays. His brothers and sisters are very active in their parishes and active in helping their children to understand what they believe. He was an altar server at his parish Mary Immaculate of Lourdes in Newton Upper Falls. Fr. Bob Connors was a great influence on him. He was struck by the examnples of the laypeople in his parish, who encouraged him to look at his faith as something that is ingrained in everything you do. That's what inspired him to look at his life and see what he could do. Pope John Paul II's visit to Boston in 1979 was the first nudge for him. The Pope's words were written on his heart, especially the call that whatever you do with your life, do something extraordinary. He'd wanted to be a sportswriter before. He says that God didn't take away his calling, just made it bigger. He went to St. Clements Hall at St. John's Seminary College in 1982. Fr. Mark and Fr. John are classmates, but Fr. Mark went to Boston College. When they first met Fr. Mark was struck by Fr. John's joy and passion. He's been ordained for 20 years. He's had many assignments: St. Joseph, Salem; St. Ann, Neponset; Marian High School, Framingham; St. Cecilia, Ashland; St. Matthew, Dorchester; St. Thomas Aquinas, Jamaica Plain; St. Benedict, Somerville; St. James, Salem; St. Thomas the Apostle, Peabody. The Salem-Peabody town line splits St. Thomas church right down the middle. Peabody residents sit on one side and Salem residents on the Salem side. * [St. James Parish, Salem](http://stjamessalem.homestead.com/) * [St. Thomas the Apostle Parish, Salem](http://www.saintthomasparish.net/) Among the joys of his priesthood are the devotion that people have. This is a great time of year for First Communion and Confirmation and he loves to see the look in the eyes of the parents as they see their children receive their sacraments. He has a number of priests who live in his parish rectory, including a hospital chaplain, a senior priest, and a Nigerian priest. Fr. Mark and Fr. John talked about the joy of the priesthood to see the happy kids and be around families. Fr. John said the greatest honor he could ever have is the trust that parents give. He has worked closely with parents in all his assignments. He is pastor of St. James and St. Thomas at the same time. Scot asked him if he feels stretched between the parishes. He said he's grateful for the patience of both parishes. They are less than a mile apart, but very different. St. James is an enormous church and campus, while St. Thomas is small and picturesque. The priests who work with him is an enormous help. Each parish has its own personality and joys and challenges and driving between them helps him to adapt for the parish. Some days he feels very stretched, but other days he's just delighted. St. James also welcomed the community of people who used to be in the parish of St. Joseph in Salem that was closed. He worked for six years at St. Joseph many years ago and when he came to St. James, many of the staff from St. Joseph and people who worked at the parish now work at St. James. Parishioners brought the crucifix from St. Joseph to St. James after St. Joseph closed and on the way over the corpus broke in several places. They put the cross in St. James with the broken corpus to symbolize that they are a broken people and that Christ will heal them. A talented artist put the corpus back together and they placed the crucifix in St. James again to symbolize how the parishes have joined to become one community. * [Photos and story about the crucifix](http://stjamessalem.homestead.com/Crucifix.html) **3rd segment:** Fr. John has had many assignments helping people deal with and adjust to changes. Scot was struck by the different cultures at St. James and St. Thomas and instead of making them similar to make it easier for Fr. John, he adapts himself to each of the parishes. He thought it significant as a way to help parishes deal with change. He works with an extraordinary staff in the parishes. He relies on them for their experience of the communities and their vision for their parishes. The two parishes have different perspectives, understandings, liturgies, even though they are so close. Fr. Mark said some people say that when merging parishes there should be a new pastor, but in his case, he was a familiar presence for the parishes. Fr. John believes the Holy Spirit led him back to Salem. Much of the good from the merger was due to Fr. Larry Rondeau, who had been pastor of St. Joseph's for 24 years. He was willing to let go and let his former parochial vicar run everything. He said Fr. Anselm Nwagbara is from Nigeria and is an extremely holy priest. Fr. Louis Bourgeois is a senior priest who was former pastor of St. Ann in Salem, so people know him as well. Fr. Mark asked Fr. John how he keeps St. Thomas parish from feeling like the minor parish or an afterthought. He builds on what was already there, built up by those who were there before him. He told the staff that he wasn't there to change anything, but to build from where they were at that time. It's the pastor's job is to make sure that the job of the pastor who comes after is easy. He said the people of the parishes have many ministries and people have a remarkable sense of mission. At St. James the focus is on religious education and at St. Thomas the focus is on service. Fr. John had the unfortunate duty to close St. Joseph School at St. James. It was a difficult time, but they got through it by understanding that they were all sad about it like a death in the family, but the family remains. Fr. John said Salem was one of the centers of the abuse crisis and St. James was the bullseye. A filmmaker did a documentary on the abuse that took place there. He went to the opening of the film because he had been personally invited by the filmmaker, but not face to face. He was not the only priest there. It was difficult for him to watch. After the film, there was a question and answer period with the producer and director. The producer claimed that the pastor had been invited but did not show up, but Fr. John stood up and was willing to be recognized as such. Scot said the Church can never forget about the abuse crisis and continually learn from it and continually reach out to victims and their families. It's never going to go away, so we have to lead people through it. **4th segment:** * [First reading for Pentecost Sunday (Acts 2:1-11)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/061211b.shtml#reading1) >When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. > Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.” * [Gospel reading for Pentecost Sunday (John 20:19-23)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/061211b.shtml#gospel) >On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Pentecost is one of the central feast of the Church year. The Apostles, who had been confused and fearful, were empowered with the Holy Spirit to go out and proclaim the Gospel and make disciples of all nations. Fr. John said this Sunday is one his favorite celebrations. People are making all kinds of new beginnings, new possibilities, new opportunities at this time of year. Fr. John recalls that on the feast of the Ascension was the big storm that brought tornadoes to western Mass., and so many went from looking to the sky to rush to help out those stricken by the weather. * [Cardinal Seán's Pastoral Letter on Evangelization: "The New Pentecost"](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/PentecostLetter) Fr. Mark said he got his first look at Cardinal Sean's new pastoral letter called "The New Pentecost": >Pentecost is born out of an intense experience of prayer in union with Mary and with Peter. The experience of Pentecost is one of unity and joy that transcends all ethnic and linguistic differences and is an expression of God’s universal love. He was struck by that first sentence. He'd always thought of Pentecost as something God does, but he thinks now about how Peter and the Apotles prepared for the Holy Spirit with intense prayer. Fr. John makes a connection between the tongues of fire with the fire of the Easter vigil. It is the light given to us at our baptism and we are called to spread that light to others. Fr. Mark said it is something tangible, something you feel. We have to be the new Pentecost, we have to be the new apostles through real, tangible love and feeling, through smells and hearing. We have to use all of these tools to spread the light of Christ. We don't go alone. Whatever good we're able to do is done through grace and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Cardinal Seán also makes a distinction between evangelization and proselytization.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. **Today's topics:** Cardinal Seán's Pastoral Letter on Evangelization, tornado in Springfield, new cause of canonization in Boston, US bishops on assisted suicide **A summary of today's show:** **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Susan back to show. Susan said she's just back from the Sacred Hearts Retreat House in Wareham where she met with New England regional diocesan catechetical directors in a day of reflection. Scot said the Pastoral Center has been busy today because the convocation of the archdiocese's priests has been taking place nearby at Lombardo's in Randolph. Fr. James Moroney addressed them on the changes to the Roman Missal that are coming this Advent. Videos of recent workshops on the changes coming to the Liturgy are available on the archdiocese's website. * [The New Roman Missal at BostonCatholic.org](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/newromanmissal.aspx) **2nd segment:** Scot begins by talking about the Cardinal's new pastoral letter called "The New Pentecost." He asked Fr. Landry to explain pastoral letters. It is meant to help Catholics to approach an issue from the perspective of the Catholic faith. It's a study by the author on a theme that he believes those to whom he's writing it need to react and respond to. This pastoral letter is a response of Cardinal Seán to starting in 1992, Pope John Paul II began calling for a New Evangelization of the Americas on the 500th anniversary of the discovery by European Christians. This calling to a new evangelization is meant to address those 83% of Catholics who don't regularly go to Mass very Sunday as well as those of the other 17% who have not let the Gospel fully impact their lives. Scot asked Gregory what he makes of the Cardinal releasing the document on Pentecost and linking evangelization to Pentecost. The Holy Spirit overshadowed the apostles, converting them from cowering in fear and calling them to go out and proclaim the Good News. We're also called to proclaim the Good News like the apostles did. * [Cardinal Seán's Pastoral Letter on Evangelization](http://www.BostonCatholic.org/Pastoral Letter) (Will be available on Friday, June 10) * ["Church must find more effective ways to evangelize, says pope" CNS, 5/31/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20110531.htm) Susan said that she's this letter as being right up her alley in terms of using in catechesis, formation and religious education and see hiow it's applicable to her ministry. Scot said we're called to evangelize and spread the word to others. He asked Fr. Roger how important it is to make people understand this isn't just the mission of the priests or professional lay ecclesial ministers. Fr. Roger said if we're not bursting forth with the desire to share the Good News with others, we have to wonder if we've fully receive the Gospel and recognize what great news it is. Pope John Paul II said in the encyclical [Mission of the Redeemer](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_07121990_redemptoris-missio_en.html) said 15 times that the work of evangelization is the work of all the disciples of the Lord. Jesus' two great verbs are to "come" to Him, but also to "go" out into the world. Scot said there are 11 sections to the Cardinal's letter. The first one states that Pentecost is the beginning of Evangelization. Then he talks about Catholics Come Home, evangelization as the start of each Catholic's ongoing conversion; evangelization as the primary mission of the Church; the meaning of evangelization; parishes as centers of evangelization; pastoral planning & evangelization; the new Roman Missal as an opportunity for evangelization; new Church movements and communities; immediate steps we can take to evangelize; and Blessed John Paul's oft-stated desire that all may know Jesus. **3rd segment:** Scot recalled the tornadoes in the Springfield diocese last week, the four deaths and more than 200 injuries. The diocese was hit very hard as well. Susan's counterpart, Sister Paul Robelard, said it was just terrifying. The chancery building wasn't damaged, but St. Michael's Resident, a home for retired priests and religious, was damaged. The chapel was ripped out of the middle of the building. The recently restored cathedral high school was also severely damaged. * [Massachusetts diocese seeks prayers, assistance during tornado recovery," The Pilot/CNS, 6/8/11](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13429) There are many people still without homes and it will be a long time getting back on their feet. Scot said in the weeks prior to that was the tornado in Joplin, Missouri. His children, seeing the news, were very fearful and he assured them that we don't get tornadoes in Massachusetts, and now this happens. It left us all feeling vulnerable. Scot asked Gregory's take as a journalist. Gregory said as terrible as the devastation as the Missouri was, it didn't feel so close to home, but many of us know people in Springfield, and especially with those he works with in the diocese there. As important as reporting what happened is reporting the efforts that the diocese is making to assist those in need. Fr. Roger said people should pray. Bishop McDonnell has asked for prayers those who died in the storm, those who lost homes, those who were injured. These are our neighbors in both a literal sense and in a Gospel sense, so we could assist with monetary donations. But we also need to recall that our lives are a gift of God. It's easy to go about our lives and not recall that this could happen to us at any time. We need to be grateful to the Lord for every day he gives us. We need to respond, not with fear, but with gratitude and trust. Also, be ready, because at any time our death could come. Are we ready to face the Lord in our personal judgment? Bishop McDonnell said Catholic Charities is looking for help with immediate needs for household items, toiletries, baby supplies, and monetary donations. * ["Cause of canonization opens for Opus Dei priest," The Pilot, 6/7/11](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13423) On June 2 at the Pastoral Center was the opening of the cause of canonization for Fr. Joseph Muzquiz, a priest of Opus Dei, who brought the movement to the United States. Fr. Roger knows Fr. Dave Kavanaugh, the promoter of the cause and priest of OPus Dei. He said Fr. Kavanaugh told him that Fr. Muzquiz was one of the first three Opus Dei priests ordained in Spain the 1940s. St. Josemaria Escriva had asked Fr. Muzquiz to bring Opus Dei to the US. They first went to Chicago and then came to Boston, coming here literally with nothing, trusting in God. Eventually, the movement has flowered in the United States with many beautiful facilities, chapels, and retreat centers. Fr. Muzquiz was known for his incredible peace and heroic virtue. He lived the real message of Opus Dei, to become holy in the midst of your ordinary activities. You don't have to be a martyr or travel to the end of the earth. He died on June 1, 1983. In order to be canonized, you need two miracles, so they have printed up holy cards with prayers so that people can pray for their own needs and those they love. At this stage, he is called Servant of God and they will now investigate whether he lived the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love to a heroic degree. Gregory said this is the first cause that he has experience with that has opened in Boston. The usual practice is that the cause opens in the diocese where the person died. He said though there were about 150 people present, many of whom knew Muzquiz personally, it was a highly canonical proceeding, with the reading of testimony and the signing of documents. There was a great sense of solemnity and it showed that the process of canonization is not just superfluous, but is very rigorous and much attention to detail is paid. Susan said she's only familiar with the archdiocese's connection to the cause for Blessed John Henry Newman, but that was an investigation of a miracle that occurred here, not the opening of the the cause and investigation. Scot said it was interesting to know about the formal roles in the process: the bishop of the diocese, the postulator of the cause (Fr. Kavanaugh), the episcopal delegate (Bishop Allué), the judicial vicar (Fr. Mark O'Connell), the promoter of justice (Fr. Rodney Kopp), and notaries (Fr. Michael Medas and Fr. Dan Harrington). Now the investigation will take testimony from many people and send that along with many other items of documentation to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican for consideration. They will investigate any possible miracle and perhaps make a recommendation to the Holy Father for beatification. Fr. Roger said those looking for miracles are encouraged to go to St. Joseph Cemetery in West Roxbury to pray at the tomb of Fr. Muzquiz for that miracle. **4th segment:** In the Pilot this week is an obituary for Fr. Thomas Keane, former Air Foorce chaplain and Quincy pastor. In The Anchor this week are the obituaries of Fr. Luis Cardoso and Msgr. Edmund Levesque. Msgr Levesque is Fr. Roger's predecessor at St. Anthony's in New Bedford. When Fr. Levesque arrived in the parish in 1990, he decided to renovate the church, which is a massive church. Because he had no money, he did it himself, erecting scaffolding and washing and painting the ceilings, then sanding and repainting the pews. He started to raise money for the school by cooking the dinner at Bingo every week. He died at he was going up the steps of a church to celebrate Mass. Fr. Luis Cardoso was an immigrant from the Azores and spent his whole priesthood in Fall River ministering to Portuguese Catholics. Also this week, both dioceses celebrated the 25th anniversaries of a number of priests. The Boston priests celebrated Mass together at the Pastoral Center on Wednesday. * List of Archdiocese of Boston priests celebrating their Silver Jubilee: * Fr. Russell Best, St. Patrick, Boston * Fr. James Butler, Senior Priest * Fr. Richard Cannon, St. John the Baptist, Quincy * Fr. Thomas Foley, Episcopal Vicar and Secretary for Parish Life and Leadership * Fr. David Michael, St. Joseph, Needham * Fr. William Minigan, St. Joseph, Malden * Fr. Gabriel Lormeus, St. Mary, Lynn * Fr. Janusz Chmielecki, OFM Conv., Our Lady of Czestochowa, Boston * Fr. Gerard McKeon, SJ, Boston College High School * Fr. Joseph O'Keefe, SJ, St. Mary Hall, Boston College * Fr. Jose Ruisanchez, Opus Dei * Fr. Kevin Sepe, St. Francis of Assisi, Braintree * Fr. Mark Mahoney, St. Rose of Lima, Topsfield * Fr. Albert Faretra, St. Joseph, Belmont * Fr. James Doran, OMV, St. Joseph Retreat House, Milton * List of Diocese of Fall River priests celebrating their Silver Jubilee: * Fr. David Andrade * Fr. Freddie Babiczuk, Jr. * Fr. Thomas Frechette * Fr. Maurice Gauvin Jr. * Fr. Timothy P. Reis Susan said she has worked closely with Fr. Foley and Fr. Mahoney in the central ministries and has worked with many of the other priests as well. Moving on to other news, Fr. Roger said the US bishops when they meet in Seattle next week will be discussing assisted suicide and will be giving us a document on it. In Massachusetts, there is a new movement to promote assisted suicide. It comes as Dr. Jack Kevorkian, advocate of assisted suicide and antagonist of the culture of life, has recently died. He said this will be short enough for most people to read and pass along. * ["Bishops' document on assisted suicide will be first by full conference," CNS, 6/2/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102179.htm) * ["Assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian dies at age 83," The Pilot/CNS, 6/8/11](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13425) Gregory said The Pilot will have an article about Fr. Frank Pavone's recent visit to Hingham and will summarize his talks on the pro-life cause. Also, Fr. Tad Pacholczyk writes this week on the topic of brain death and how to approach the issue from a Catholic perspective. Susan said she's interested in the article in The Pilot on the workshop that was recently held in North Andover on the changes to the Roman Missal. Scot points out the article in the Pilot on the status of the archdiocese's pastoral planning office. He said Msgr. Will Fay was on The Good Catholic Life yesterday to clarify some of the misreporting on pastoral planning in the media recently. The article has direct quotes from Fr. David Couterier from the archdiocese's pastoral planning office that echo Msgr. Fay's comments yesterday.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Msgr. William Fay, pastor of St. Columbkille Parish, Brighton, and co-chair of the Pastoral Planning Commission * [Archdiocesan Office of Pastoral Planning](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/PastoralPlanning.aspx) * [Consultation on Archdiocesan Strategic Priorities](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Offices-And-Services/Office-Detail.aspx?id=16454&pid=1448) * ["Committee to look at future of parishes," The Pilot, 2/11/11](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=12935) * ["Boston Archdiocese considers major reshuffling of parishes," Associated Press, 6/3/11](http://www.patriotledger.com/topstories/x2006832163/Boston-Archdiocese-is-looking-at-a-major-reshuffling-of-parishes) **Today's topics:** The work of the Archdiocese of Boston's pastoral planning commission **A summary of today's show:** Msgr. William Fay updates Scot on the work of the archdiocesan pastoral planning commission, the consultations they're making on the state of the archdiocese today, and what shape their future discussions may take. They also debunk some of the inaccurate representations of their work that have appeared in some media reports. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes all back to the show. He said in every organization, every one gives their input and the leaders makes choices on how to use the resources available. One of Cardinal Seán's efforts over the past few years has been getting the key stakeholders in the archdiocese to answer the question how we can ensure the archdiocese is in good shape in the future. This year, Cardinal Seán appointed Msgr. William Fay and Deacon Chuck Clough to co-chairs of a pastoral planning commission. One the phone is Msgr. Fay. Scot asked him about his path since ordination 27 years ago. Msgr. Fay said he was inspired by a bumber of holy priests. He was born at St. Theresa's in West Roxbury. His first priestly assignment was St. Rita's in Haverhill. He did graduate studies in Washington, DC, and then taught for 14 years at the seminary. In 1995, he was asked to go back to DC to serve at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, eventually as general secretary. He has been pastor at St. Columbkille since 2006. Scot asked him what the general secretary of the USCCB does. Msgr. Fay said at the time there 380 people who worked for the US bishops and dozens of committees. Each of those committees had staff members. It was his responsibility to ensure all the staffs were doing what they were supposed to be doing and following the mandates of the committee. Scot said there aren't many priests whose experience gives them a national view of the work of the Church. Msgr. Fay said it was an amazing opportunity for him to see the Church in the US at work in 195 dioceses and eparchies with some 400 bishops, ordinaries, auxiliaries, and retired. Msgr. Fay said St. Columbkille's was founded in 1871, the cornerstone was laid in 1872, and it was built in 3 years. The first wave of immigrants in the parish were Irish. The next wave was Italians from around the town of Monte Cassino. In the 1960s, there was a wave of immigrants from Cuba and there's been a Spanish Mass celebrated every Sunday since that time. St. Columbkille's school has a unique partnership with Boston College. Msgr. Fay's predecessor as pastor worked with BC to show that they not only excel at college-level education, but could also train people to value education at all levels. They formed a corporation called the Partnership School, and this year they have an enrollment of 300 children. When they started in 2006, they had about 200. The children come from Allston and Brighton and many from struggling families. **2nd segment:** Scot said every organization needs a long-term plan. Msgr. Fay said a pastoral plan for a diocese is like a road map set out for itself. It's not just an answer to problems. You set out for yourself what the purpose and goal of an organization is. For the Church, it's obviously bringing people to communion with Christ. Scot said this commission builds on the work of a pastoral planning committee that met 2005-2007 and the archdiocesan pastoral planning office. Msgr. Fay said there was a synod in Archdiocese in 1988 that created a new pastoral plan. Re-examining that plan hadn't been done since then. When the archdiocese was re-organized in 2004 it became clear that we needed to do that. The committee led by Fr. George Evans made it clear we hadn't been as attentive to planning as we should have been. They laid out the challenges the archdiocese will face and said we need ed to get actively planning in a conscious way. Scot said the Evans committee said that too often in the Church we focus on the here-and-now, instead of putting ourselves in a better position years now as well as focusing on the true mission of the Church. Msgr. Fay said the Evans committee gave the impetus to the reinvigoration of the pastoral planning office, which took a snapshot of what's going on in the archdiocese and started to structure a response to the challenges we face. At a particular place in the process, the Cardinal asked how to take those to the next level and the pastoral planning commission was formed on February 2. Msgr. Fay said the commission includes a mixture of priests, laity, and a religious woman. While the group was familiar with each other, they didn't know each very well, but they have come together and mix well to draw the best out of one another and move forward with a concrete set of recommendations to the Cardinal. Scot said when he was the list, he knew the priests were leaders and the other members were also very strong personalities with different perspectives. He thought that if this committee could come together with a recommendation, then he'd be convinced that this was a recommendation that could be implemented well. Msgr. Fay said the people have a sense that they working for something bigger than themselves. Msgr. Fay said Cardinal Seán asked them to take stock of the resources of the archdiocese, to look at the near and far-term challenges, and put forward recommendations how the resources should be allocated so that more people will drawn into the life of Christ. Scot said it's not just financial resources, but particularly the human resources. Msgr. Fay said back in the 1950s and 60s, we had a Catholic population of 1.8 to 2 million people, 70% of whom were active. This past October, that percentage dropped to 17%. Close to 40% of parishes are struggling financially because they don't have the number of people coming and supporting the parish. There are fewer priests today than we had 40 years ago. Part of the work of planning is not just allocating resources, but proactively strengthening them, like actively bringing people back to the practice of faith, to bring young men to the priesthood. Scot said God isn't calling fewer men to priesthood, fewer men and women to religious life, or fewer men and women to married life; it's just the response is not what it used to be. Msgr. Fay said the model of vocations the Lord used was to go out, recognize who He needed, and tell them, "Follow me." Perhaps we need to go back to that model, "The Church needs you. Come and sacrifice." He suggests going to young men in high school and college and asking them to pray for 30 days for God to tell them whether they are called to the priesthood. If we call the wrong man, then six years of formation in seminary will help him discern that call. Scot said the number of priests available in the future is one factor of pastoral planning. Another is Mass attendance. Also many of our churches aren't where people are living and we've built a lot of churches for particular ethnic groups that aren't there any more. There's a need for greater offertory to support parish staffs taking on the duties that in the past would have been done by priests. Msgr. Fay said another is the drawing of the laity into the work of the Church. All of us has a call to holiness and people who are called to marriage or who discern being called in the single state, have to see how they can be engaged in the work of the Church in such a way that mission of Christ is advanced. It's not just a matter of being receptive, but being active in our vocations. Msgr. Fay said a recent challenge is that the number of lay pastoral associates we have today is not increasing as it should. He said the new [TINE](http://www.tine.org) program will strengthen catechesis, but we have to extend it to the whole lay pastoral associate in the Church. **3rd segment:** Scot referred to an Associated Press story last Friday that said the Archdiocese is considering a major re-shuffle. The sense that Scot is that it portrayed the recommendation of the commission is near final, but that isn't true. It's still in the early consultation stage. They've been consulting with the Presbyteral Council and the Cabinet. The commission has been getting a sense of the direction they should move in with a first step. They have been taking great care with the future. They created a working paper for themselves to react to. they're trying to imagine what the whole parochial life will look like. In the past, the archdiocese looked from the parish level, such as how many parishes we need. But now they're looking at the people serving the parishes and look at them as teams. How ought they ensure the parishes have what they need as they are? Scot said he has found in his experience that in this kind of process you need to consult with a wide group of people, which may lead to people disseminating the information without context. One of the ideas in this working paper is to staff 80-120 pastoral service teams who would each serve 204 parishes. Msgr. Fay wants to make clear this is not a recommendation they're making yet, but they're exploring it. Every parish needs a pastor, but how will we have enough pastors for all the parishes we have. There are 291 parishes. Should we have less, based on the number of pastors we will have? Or is it possible for a pastor to be a pastor of 2 or 3 or 4 parishes, supported by a host of people who would be responsible for the parishes. Some of t he team would be parochial vicars or retired priests or religious or priests in education. There would be deacons, lay associates, catechists and more. They would be responsible for putting together a pastoral plan for their parishes. The key would be to bring the parishes together in a creative way. Perhaps they don't need multiple religious education programs or multiple business managers. It's up to the team to see how best they would work in the parishes. They might even make a recommendation to come together as one parish, not as imposed from above, but coming from among those in the parishes themselves. He emphasized that this is just exploring whether this could work in the Archdiocese of Boston. Scot noted that many of the headlines on the stories were certainly untrue. This is not about consolidating 291 parishes into 80 to 120 parishes. Msgr. Fay said it was about pastoral teams and no parish was envisioned as closing. That number of 80 to 120 was purposefully small as well in order to engender as much discussion as possible. Scot said this is about the way pastoral efforts are realigned, not about realigning parishes. Scot asked what assets and resources would stay at the parish level and what would be the pastoral teams. Msgr. Fay said everything would stay in the parish. You can't say that one parish must forfeit assets to help a parish in the grouping that is struggling. Canon law would not allow it. They're not combining the assets of all the parishes. However, where a parish in the past might have been able to afford a particular staff, maybe three parishes could. Scot said the AP story said the plan addresses a spiral of financial distress, but the approach of the planning commission is mission-based, not a response to a crisis. Msgr. Fay said the question is whether reaching out to people and inviting them to become active Catholics is happening, and how will we step into the future and see the Church continue to grow. Scot said some people are asking whether this pastoral plan will be "Reconfiguraton II," referring to the process back in 2004. How did that inform the process of the pastoral planning commission. Msgr. Fay said the project of 2004 was a kind of downsizing, saying we can't maintain what we have. From the beginning people realized we couldn't have 350+ parishes. The difference today is that they don't want to get caught up in that question. The key issue here is to ask how we're going to bring ourselves together to focus on evangelization and use the resources we have in the future, becoming the prism by which we look forward as opposed to asking how we're going to hang on. He finds it to be optimistic and it gives him hope and enlivens his desire to be a priest here in the future. Scot has found that there is a realization that some of our parishes don't have the resources to be feel alive. No one wants to go to a big church and see it unfilled and doesn't have a pastoral staff to offer ministries. What's our vision of the parish of the future? It's certainly a place that's alive with human resources and financial resources. Many parishes have that in the short-term, but not in the long-term. Many people are not experiencing everything a parish can be. Msgr. Fay said it's their hope that as parishes group there will be real excitement and hope to grow further and become vibrant communities. The key element is the pastoral plan for the future life of the parish by the pastoral team for the life of the parish for 2, 4, and 6 years and more. There will be more than 100 local pastoral plans that tie into the archdiocesan pastoral plan. It won't be one-size-fits-all. **4th segment:** It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week is a copy of the book ["Images of Mary"](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0867163305/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399701&creativeASIN=0867163305) by Fr. Alfred McBride. With insightful historical commentary and beautiful illustrations, Fr. McBride explores ten images of Mary and explains their evolution and influence. He traces her appeal through different eras and different cultures, offering a reflective journey that will help you rediscover the importance of Mary in your relationship with Christ and the Church. This week’s winner is **Aline Clermont from Dracut, MA**. Congratulations Aline! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit [WQOM.org](http://www.WQOM.org). For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. **5th segment:** Scot asked Msgr. Fay what consultations have taken place and what will take place. Msgr. Fay emphasized that the people of the commission are very diverse and representative of bringing the best ideas of the whole archdiocese together. Every month when the presbyteral council meets, the commission provides an update of their work and gets feedback from them. Msgr. Fay has been consulting within his own vicariate (there are five regions in the archdiocese and each of them is broken into 4 vicariates). He brainstorms with the priests of his vicariate. He's also brought their work to the Cardinal's cabinet and they've received positive responses. For the future, ultimately every single parish will have an opportunity to weigh in on this. Then to start talking concretely about the kind of groupings they're talking about. Scot said the work of the commission will require a lot of detail work. What principles might underly a pastoral service team model? Msgr. Fay said they're still thinking about it. It will involve a balance between the groupings' sense of what they need and what the Cardinal thinks will contribute to the future mission of the archdiocese. Obviously the priest personnel board will be vital to this. The pastoral teams will come together in organic ways that the people's talents complement each other. What prayer does he ask of listeners for the work of this commission and pastoral planning? He asks everyone to pray where God wants us to be led as Church and to help us to be willing to let go of the familiar in order to be open to whatever His will may be.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Carlos Suarez from Christ the King, Our Lady of Lourdes, and St. Edith Stein Parishes, Brockton; and Fr. John D'Arpino from St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Bridgewater * [George Martell's photos of the presbyteral ordination Mass](http://www.flickr.com/photos/bostoncatholic/sets/72157626770315180/) * [The Pilot story on the ordination Mass](http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=13386) * [Christ the King, Brockton](http://ctkp.org/) * [Our Lady of Lourdes, Brockton](http://ourladyoflourdes-brockton.com/) * [St. Edith Stein, Brockton](http://stedithsteinparish.org/) * [St. Thomas Aquinas, Bridgewater](http://stthomasaquinas.com/) **Today's topics:** Meeting two of the newest priests in the Archdiocese, Fr. John D'Arpino and Fr. Carlos Suarez **A summary of today's show:** Fr. Carlos Suarez and Fr. John D'Arpino talk with Scot and Fr. Chris about their first weeks as newly ordained priests, their experience of the ordination Mass, celebrating the first Masses, and moving into their new parish assignments. Also, their own journeys of discerning their vocations to the priesthood. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. chris back to the show. He has been looking forward to this show since May 21 when 6 men were ordained for Boston. Fr. Chris has been to other ordinations as well, including the Dioceses of Worcester and Springfield, where men who studied at St. John Seminary will serve. On Friday, they also had a catechetical certificate graduation. The program educate catechists to know more about their faith in order to work in parishes and share the faith. In Scot's experience, when a newly ordained priest is assigned to a parish, it re-energizes that parish. Fr. Chris said it's a reminder that the Church is ever ancient and ever new, always young. On Pentecost, we're reminded that the Holy Spirit re-energizes us. That your first love is your greatest love is true for priests as well: There will be no parish like their first parish. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Fr. Carlos and Fr. John to the show. Scot asked Fr. John what it was like during the ordination ceremony after his years of formation. Fr. John said during the moment when Cardinal Seán asked him to pledge his obedience was a highlight for him. He remembers how peaceful he was during the whole ordination and was able to pray. The one moment that sticks out for him is the prayer that the priest prays during the Lamb of God and he suddenly realized he needed to say it. ALso during the Litany of the Saints, it touched him to think of praying with everyone in the cathedral, but also everyone who has come before. Scot asked what it's like to lay on the floor before the altar during the litany of the Saints. Fr. John said it's a humbling experience to receive those prayers of all the people. We are unworthy, but we accept it as a gift from God. Scot asked Fr. Carlos for his brightest memories of the ceremony. He said the imposition of the hands by all the brother priests was a powerful moment. He felt the communion of the priesthood as each one prayed for him. He felt a fraternity and affection from each of them. Fr. Chris asked Fr. Carlos what he was thinking about as he headed to the cathedral. He said it was overwhelming in prayer to think about all the graces he was receiving from God. The concentration on the logistics of the day helped to put aside the stress and just enter into the Mass. Scot said the closest equivalent for laypeople was their wedding day and many of them have to stress over details. Fr. John said he was lucky that he didn't have to deal logistics. He just had to show up at the cathedral and then the reception. Being on retreat for the week right up to the ordination helped him to focus on the most important part of the day. Fr. Chris said one of Cardinal Seán's gifts is preaching his homilies. Fr. Carlos said the Cardinal capitalized on the news about those who expected the Rapture and end of the world that weekend. He started with some humor, but then talked about how the Mass is a rapturous experience for people. Fr. John said he liked how the Cardinal talked about the upper room, the place of the Last Supper but also where the Apostles and Mary were gathered for Pentecost. It was a reminder that the ordination is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Scot asked Fr. John if there was anything about the ordination that surprised him. He was surprised at the amount of joy from the other priests during the Sign of Peace, even from priests he'd never met. It struck him that they are a family and now brothers in the priesthood. Fr. Carlos said he didn't expect the impact of things, especially during the prayers of consecration, recognizing the awesomeness of the moment,. Fr. John chose Fr. Brian Kiely from St. Patrick, Natick, who was his pastor during his assignment to the parish over the past two year.s It was a recognition of his love for the priesthood and that he is one of the best priests he knows. Fr. Carlos chose Fr. Michael MacEwen from Immaculate Conception, Marlboro, for similar reasons. Fr. Carlos had a lot of family fly into Boston from across the country, which was a great gift for him and a support to him in his vocation. **3rd segment:** SCot asked Fr. Carlos when he first heard his calling to the priesthood. He knew from the time he was six that God was calling him to be a priest. He would come home from Mass and play at being a priest. As he grew up and the immensity of God's calling was daunting and he started to push back. He looked into other interests and other fields of study. Around the end of senior year of high school, his faith life took off. The next year he went on a vocation discernment retreat and there was a great sense of peace and a sense of coming home. He explored both religious life and the diocesan priesthood. He graduated from Boston University in 2003 and entered seminary after. He had initially looked at the Salesian order because of his great love for youth ministry, but God made it clear that He wants him to live it through parish life in the Archdiocese of Boston. The Salesians are great, but it was clear God wasn't placing him there. Fr. Chris asked Fr. John about whether he looked into religious life. Fr. John had been exposed to the Benedictines during college and looked int o that life, but realized that he wasn't called to the monastery. He had a sense of giving back to the Church in Boston, which had given him so much of his faith. His vocation began with serving daily Mass in his parish in Lynn and that's what led him to entering the diocesan priesthood. He attended BC High and the retreat experience they offer there helped him. It's a weekend retreat in which the retreat team shares how God has worked in their life. They are encouraged to bring the prayer experiences of the retreat to the rest of their life. Faith became personal and not just a set of rules. Fr. Carlos did not go to any Catholic schools. Scot asked how attending secular schools helped him. Fr. Carlos said one of the great gifts at BU is the Catholic Center. At a secular university, living Catholicism must be an intentional act. It made the faith come alive. Belonging to a community helped strengthen him in his discernment of his vocation. Fr. Chris asked what other priests have been influential. Fr. John said his first pastor, Fr. Ed Malone, was a model of loving the priesthood and serving the people of the parish. The Jesuit priests at BC HIgh radiated the love of Christ. The monks of St. Anselm College were witness of joy and hope and helped him see Christ in his life. Fr. Carlos said there were many pastors, but the pastor of his parish growing up in East Boston was Fr. John Kilmartin, who died about 1-1/2 years ago. In the midst of his suffering, he served the people with joy. Scot asked about the final years of discernment at the seminary. Fr. Carlos said his first 15 minutes at the seminary led him to ask, What am I doing here. But as the years went by he felt a great joy and peace that he was doing what God called him to do. Fr. John agreed with experience. He found joy in growing into this idea of being father to the people he was serving. Fr. Chris said that there's a saying that every priest has one homily he preaches. Fr. Carlos said the basic message he wants to convey is the message of hope. People are often seeking joy and peace in so many other things. He hopes others find the real peace and joy that God wants. Fr. John said he preaches on the fact that we have hope because God loves us in a personal way. In that love and hope, we can find help and grace through any difficulty. **4th segment:** Fr. John said Cardinal Seán's homily reminded that the priest at Mass is both Priest and Victim. He is the sacrifice and the one who offers the sacrifice. Fr. Carlos said his first Mass was at his home parish at St. Joseph-St. Lazarus in East Boston. Being the celebrant at this altar was a beautiful moment that he's still trying to process even 2 weeks later. He asked Fr. Bob Oliver to preach at his first Mass, who had been his faculty adviser and a professor at St. John's and a role model of the priesthood. Fr. Chris asked Fr. John about his first Mass. He said during the elevation he was struck by how real the moment was, unlike any of the practices Masses he had done. He was blown away to think that he held the Creator of the Universe in his hands. And then after distribution of Communion, sitting back in his chair, to be at peace and be amazed at what just happened. Scot asked what it's like to be the principal celebrant at your first Mass. Fr. John said it's a blur, but he was absolutely present. He was nervous and wanted everything to be right. But he was able to present to it and can now recall it and look back on it. Fr. John said Fr. Peter Fournier, a recently ordained priest from Fall River who is a friend. Scot asked Fr. John about his new assignment. The pastor at St. Thomas Aquinas is new so Fr. John is moving in on June 17. But he did meet some parishioners at the ordination Mass. He was also at freshman orientation at [Bridgewater State University](http://www.bridgew.edu/) yesterday, which is part of his responsibility. Fr. Carlos was assigned to three parishes. He's finished his first week. He's one a 3-week rotation of the parishes each Sunday. He said it's amazing how the Holy Spirit has helped him work in three parishes. He finds the people warm and welcoming. Scot asked him about the sacramental work: He's heard confessions and done anointings and celebrated daily and Sunday Masses. He enjoys meeting people after Mass and getting to know them. Fr. Carlos said there are 4 main languages in his parishes, including English, Cape Verdean Creole, Haitian Creole, and Spanish. Fr. Carlos speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Arabic. He hopes to learn the Creole languages. He's learned that Brockton is a diverse and energetic place, especially among the youth. There is a lot of energy in the parishes. Fr. John said he was thrilled to be able to do college campus ministry. It's a real sign of how important it is to help young people. They're not just the future of the Church; they are the present of the Church. Fr. Chris asked about their favorite saints. Fr. Carlos said [St. John Bosco](http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-john-bosco/) for his zeal for youth and [St. Maximilian Kolbe](http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-maximilian-kolbe/) for his martyrdom in which he gave his life for others. He said he hopes to inspired by the notion of the idea that his life is to be sacrificial on behalf of his people. Fr. John said he is inspired by [St. Ignatius of Loyola](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07639c.htm) for how he was a soldier, but then he was drawn to his faith; St. Maximilian Kolbe, having been to Auschwitz himself and to think of being at the site of martyrdom and to see how Christ animated his priesthood. Fr. Chris said he is inspired by [St. Therese of Lisieux](http://www.sttherese.com/), finding the way to love in all that we do. Loving the Lord and your neighbor in such a way as it's found in the little things we do every day. Also, Bl. John Paul II, is fortitude, courage, and intelligence. And [St. Francis of Assisi](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06221a.htm), in his willingness to give of himself and to point to the beauty of the natural world. **5th segment:** Scot asked Fr. Carlos how he has experienced the Holy Spirit in a new way. Certainly, the celebration of the Mass, but also in his acting as a priest. In his preaching, he sometimes feels that God is working through you to touch someone's life. Scot asked Fr. John what advice he has for men listening to the program who are discerning God's calling. He said that no matter what you are called to there will be challenges and don't be discouraged. Develop a habit of prayer. In listening to God's calling you in your heart through silence and attention, you can be sure it's God calling you and not your own will. How do we try to pray in a busy life? The most important thing to do is to set time aside. If you want to be serious about it, then make the time. Set aside a space in your home that is set apart for prayer. Go to a Church to pray. Read Scripture and ask God to speak to you through it. Fr. Chris spoke of the promises that the priests made, including the gift of celibacy. Fr. John said it's a reminder that it's an image of Christ himself, who lived a life of poverty and obedience and chastity. The priest takes on that image of Christ. It reminds us that in heaven there is no giving and taking in marriage. By being celibate, the priest shows our future in heaven. Fr. Carlos said every vocation requires a sacrifice. In marriage, we pledge exclusivity to one person. In priesthood, the Church is his bride. The people of the church are his spiritual children. That desire is fulfilled through a sacrifice to God. If God is calling you to do something, then he will fulfill you in everything you do. Scot added that praying to God for grace in anything that comes into our life is fruitful. We don't go alone; we have Jesus and the holy Spirit to help fulfill us. Fr. Carlos said we don't have to do it alone. God gives us the grace to live out the vows He's invited us to take. His advice for those discerning their lives is to not be afraid. If God is calling you, then that is what will give you the greatest happiness in life. That is what will most fulfill us. Offer your natural fears to God in prayer and you will see fears settled and joys unfold. Fr. Chris echoed the advice not to be afraid. He said entering the seminary is not making a lifetime commitment. Seminary is for coming and seeing if God is calling you to the priesthood.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Jeffrey Thielman and Fr. Jose Medina from Cristo Rey Boston High School * [Cristo Rey Boston High School](http://www.cristoreyboston.org) * [Cristo Rey Network](http://www.cristoreynetwork.org) * [Jeff Thielman's Arlington School Committee election website](http://www.jeffthielman.com/) * ["More Than A Dream" book website](http://morethanadreambook.com/) * ["More Than A Dream: The Cristo Rey Story; How One School's Vision is Changing the World" on Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0829425764/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0829425764) * Cristo Rey on CBS' "60 Minutes" **Today's topics:** Cristo Rey Boston High School, a new model of Catholic education **A summary of today's show:** Jeff Thielman and Fr. Jose Medina tell Scot about Cristo Rey high school in Boston and its unique model that puts students to work in the corporate world one day per week to give them important life skills and to help them pay for an education they wouldn't be able to afford otherwise. **1st segment:** Scot said Catholic education is one of the Church's most important outreach initiatives, especially to non-Catholic students to help them improve their lives and communities. Today an exciting topic. Cristo Rey has a unique model of secondary education. Joining Scot is Jeffrey Thielman and Fr. Jose Medina. Jeff was a Jesuit Volunteer from 1985 to 1989 in Peru. In 1994, a priest he had worked with there founded Cristo Rey high school in Chicago. The students there work at white collar firms to earn their tuition. In 1997, he visited the school and was hired as development director and worked there for three years. In 2000, a venture capitalist originally from Lowell came to the school and said he wanted to see Cristo Rey schools all over the country. He hired Jeff in 2001 and he oversaw the founding of 24 schools all across the country. In 2008, he moved to working exclusively locally at Cristo Rey Boston. The school started in Cambridge and moved to Boston's Dorchester neighborhood this year. In Boston there are two Cristo Rey schools, Cristo Rey in Boston and Notre Dame in Lawrence, founded in 2004. Chicago has three, Boston has two, and no other diocese has more than one. Fr. Jose taught for a year at North Cambridge Catholic High School, which was the school Cristo Rey Boston was founded from. It was struggling financially and it was converted to Cristo Rey. He and Jeff wrote a feasibility study for the idea. He moved to Washington, DC, and came back 5 years ago and became principal of the local Cristo Rey school. Jeff described what makes Cristo Rey unique. It is the work-study experience. Four students split a full-time entry level job in greater Boston. Every student works five full 8-hour days per month. One student works 9-5 on Tuesday, the next on Wednesday, etc. and they rotate a Monday. The school is organized so that all the freshman have the same work day, and so on, so no one misses a class. They work to make tuition. The family assigns all the earnings to the school. The kind of student they get is one who wants to work hard for a better life. They learn how to work in a team, to be on time, to work hard, to learn. They are a Catholic school. All students take theology, go on retreats, go to Masses. It's a small school. Every student is known by everyone, especially faculty. It's also college prep, preparing every student to go to college. Fr. Jose said they serve low income students exclusively. From the first Cristo Rey school was to serve the students who don't have the resources to go to a Catholic college preparatory school. It is easy to get away from your mission if it can't be measured, so they are committed to a low-income population, which here is 75% of the per capita income of Boston. For a family of four children is $40,000 income. They will also be academically excellent. They see a population in eed of great support and help. When the family doesn't have the means, they need someone who will not just give money, but will support them. They want their children to be better than they are, to be more successful. They know they will need help from someone else. The students play that role for others as well. When the family signs the agreement for the school, they go over what the parents will pay (between $100 and $2,800), what the school will fundraise and what the student will earn ($7,250). The students bring in 60% of the school's budget. They are responsible for their education but they also raise the money for their teachers' jobs. Scot asked Jeff for the demographics. The average income of the current student body is $34,000. Next year, the average income will go even lower. 93% are people of color, 73% are residents of Boston, 30% from Quincy, Braintree, Randolph, Malden, Medford, Saugus, Revere, Lynn. They are young kids with desire and are willing to work hard for a better life. The average student is a grade below where they are academically, i.e. in 8th grade they are doing 7th grade work. They have mandatory remediation for freshman. They have a monthly proficiency exam developed by the teachers. A lot of them score "needs improvement" on the MCAS. But the kids have a burning desire to make it. When they did a feasibility study in 1993, parents came to them and said they want their kids to go to college. 15% are Haitian a little less Cape Verdean; 20% are Latino, and the rest are African-American. A high percentage had parents who were born outside the United States, many were themselves born outside the country. **2nd segment:** Scot said he was never taught basic job and career management skills in high school, but these students are prepared at 14 to be able to go into business and hold their own. Jeff said they're working at 104 companies in Greater Boston. The biggest objection is whether the students will be ready to work. They start a summer training program in June and August. It's a boot camp to learn hard skills--telephones, message taking, email, how to use the Internet, how to make copies--and soft skills--look people in the eye, dress appropriately, show up on time, ask if you don't understand an assignment. They have state of the school addresses to students: number of jobs, amount of money raised, how students were terminated, so they know how their work is important to their own futures. The experience pays the bills and forms them to be fantastic young people. Scot said when they walk into a skyscraper for the first time, they may never have thought they'd work in such a place. Fr. Jose said it's a humbling experience that the kids bring back to the school. Four years ago a student said work is more serious than school, because at work you can only get something wrong once. It gives them a sense of reality, that they need to do their best with precision and accuracy. They always ask the students to ask for more work. That would sound strange in a classroom, but it's expected in the workplace. Fr. Jose said there's been a big change in the teachers coming from the desire and drive and high standards of the students. If the kids criticize teachers, it's because they want to learn more and better. Because they're paying their own way, they are more serious about their education. In heir senior year, they see that they are forming themselves. Jeff said they do entry level work: copying, filing, data entry, inventory, small research projects. In one company, a student is assigned to update the CEO's Christmas mailing list constantly. Some kids help with hospital intake because they're multilingual. Some kids work the front desk reception. At law firms, they run documents to court or other law firms. When the recession hit in 2008, a lot of clerical workers were cut. but the work still needed to be done and Cristo Rey was able to fill those gaps. this whole work makes education relevant. One of the challenges in high school education is making it relevant to kids who could care less. It helps them understand why they're studying all these various subjects; so that one day they can have an important role in business. Relevance is critical in education today. Fr. Jose said in some ways they teach at a more practical level because they want to use the skills immediately in their jobs, but they still offer a more classical education. What matters to the students is that they understand that there is a value in learning as much as in working. Students know that what they are studying affects their lives, even if it's not directly applicable to their jobs. What you learn in school is what is left when you've forgotten everything else: You've learned to think, to sacrifice, to commit, to pay attention, to have curiosity. Students in other schools sometimes think life would be better in a job than in school, but Cristo Rey students have a better perspective. They have the tools to do better in college, which is what makes them different from vocational education. 100% of the students get accepted to four-year colleges. Scot said this is astonishing given how many come in with remedial educational needs. There are 104 corporate sponsors. Scot asked how they benefit besides getting a worker for $29,000 per year. Jeff said the students have to add value to the school through their work. They add value by diversifying the workplace. They are potential future employees or customers or suppliers to these firms. A lot of people who work in Boston live outside the city and don't know it well, just what they hear in the news. Companies are able to do something concrete and tangible for city kids. Sometimes people from the firms get more involved in the school because of that exposure. Jeff said corporate American becomes closer to the center city. Scot asked what kind of feedback do they get from corporate sponsors. Jeff said there's a 90% retention rate, i.e. they renew in the program from year to year. For one thing, these positions usually have high turnover so what Cristo Rey offers is four excited, hard-working students who do the same task for an entire year, stabilizing those positions. **3rd segment:** 60% of the students are CAtholic, but the Catholic identity of the school is primary part of their identity. Fr. Jose said they believe it's important for the school to give students the Catholic theological basis for facing the challenges of the rest of their lives. Even the value of work is at stake. The question of the purpose of life is present from the very beginning. Theology classes give the students a deep understanding of Scripture. In junior year there is a course on world religions to compare and contrast different religions. It helps them understand the root of each student's faith. With the diversity of faiths in the student population, this difference in faiths is enriching for everyone. Fr. Jose sees his mission as helping each student deepen in his own faith. Scot said Pope John Paul talked about work as a gift of God. Jeff said the mission of Cristo Rey is to form people of faith, purpose, and service. They have a call to do something special in life and to serve the world, making it a better place. they reflect on it in retreats and continuously through the year. The learn that there is a dignity to work for everyone in the workplace from janitor to CEO. They understand why having a job and doing a good job is important for a good society. Students often go on to Catholic colleges, especially Jesuit colleges, because of the Jesuit connection. The students who come back report that they feel at home. The sense of community in the school as they grow and sacrifice. They often have to sacrifice sports and other activities in order to be successful. Jeff said the school is now tracking the students after graduation. The class of 2009, 100% started college and 85% went from freshman to sophomore year. Most of the last three years of students felt they were doing well in college and were well prepared. the school finds it important that the students will be well-cared for. They look for colleges with high graduation rates, that offer freshman assistance programs, and more. They research colleges to make sure they're sending them to the right place. For most of the students, they are the first in their families to go to college. The college application process involves the whole family and the school walks them through the entire process, including the whole financial aid package. they don't recommend any family take on more than $8,000 of family contribution to tuition each year. The students bring a maturity with them to college, often greater than any of the other freshman. Jeff said sometimes supervisors give letters of recommendation. He also finds that colleges are impressed by the lists of employers that the students' resumes have. When they go off to college, the students think a lot about their experience and that influences what fields of study they pursue. A lot of kids want to go into healthcare so Jeff is looking for more job opportunities in biotech and healthcare. Jeff said one their graduates is now working at Deloitte, a big financial services firm, in Boston, who worked there when in high school. Some kids decide against a particular career after some experience at a particular kind of job and go into another field instead. **4th segment:** A significant milestone for the school this year was the move from Cambridge to the former St. William's school in Savin Hill in Dorchester. Jeff said it's helped them to get closer to their kids physically. It's also larger and more functional than the old school. If a family wants to find out more is to visit the school. Every applicant spends a half-day at the school. Also visit the school's website. If a corporate sponsor wants to learn more, go to the website, call the school 617-825-2580 and ask for the corporate study office, or get off Exit 15 on the Southeast Expressway right by the Savin Hill MBTA stop. They need 20 new corporate sponsors per year over the next 5 years. They want to place 100% of the students by the first of August. Thirty percent of the operating costs of the school come from fundraising, about $900,000 per year. At the academic signing day each spring, the top 5 students announce where they're going to college at a public event, a ceremony like athletic signing ceremonies. They raise money at that event, but they also accept donations all year long. 49 students are graduating later this week. Two are going into the US Marine Corps and the rest to 4-year colleges. Dr. Mary Grassa-O'Neill, the superintendent of schools in the Archdiocese of Boston, will speak about the commencement. Jeff said they love to have people come visit and people who come find it welcoming and inspiring.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry, Fr. Matt Williams, and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ, president and founder of Ignatius Press * [Ignatius Press](http://www.ignatius.com) * [YouCat](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1586175165/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399701&creativeASIN=1586175165) * On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week, WQOM and the Station of the Cross network are holding their [2011 Spring Fund Drive](https://www.thestationofthecross.com/wqom-spring-fund-drive-2011.html). All donors over $30 will receive a Station of the Cross "Benefactor Card" and are eligible to win great daily and hourly prizes. Consequently, the recorded shows for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as heard on this site and downloaded through iTunes will not include the Spring Fund Drive segments as heard live as they aired. **Today's topics:** The new Catholic catechism called YouCat; the Mass readings for Sunday **A summary of today's show:** Fr. Joseph Fessio tells Scot and Fr. Matt about the origin of the new YouCat youth catechism, which is not a replacement for the universal Catechism, but a formulation addressing the particular concerns of the young in new ways. They also discuss Pope Benedict's very direct and surprising appeal to young people in the foreword to the YouCat. Finally, Scot and Fr. Mark discuss this Sunday's Mass readings. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Mark back to the show. Scot said this is the 62nd broadcast of The Good Catholic Life. He said it's been fun to learn more about his faith, to meet a lot of new people, and to get to know his co-hosts better than he had. Fr. Mark said it's a blessing in his life as well. More and more people come up to him to say they've heard him on the radio. The other week a priest said to him, "I stole something from you that you said on the radio when you were on with Msgr. Connie McCrae." Fr. Mark thinks it's great. Scot thanks WQOM and all its benefactors for allowing him to broadcast The Good Catholic Life every day to the Boston area. Fr. Mark encouraged everyone to spread the good news of The Good Catholic Life, which is unique to Boston and it's always current. Fr. Mark said his parents gather on Fridays to listen faithfully and comment to him about the show. He said his mom corrected him when he referred to something his pastor, Fr. Sepe, cooked for him as slimy. She told him that everything Fr. Sepe cooks is good and he should apologize. Scot's mom also had a strong reaction to the show with Fr. Sepe. He grew up in St. Michael's Parish in Lowell, the same parish Scot grew up in, and Scot had expressed surprise at this because he hadn't known. Scot's mom called him to say, "How could you not Kevin Sepe from St. Michael's? We knew him growing up." **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Matt Williams and Fr. Joseph Fessio to the show. Scot said the YouCat is a new initiative for youth, a catechism designed to be youth-friendly. He asked Fr. Fessio how it's different from other catechisms that are out there in the Church. Fr. Fessio said when the universal [Catechism of the Catholic Church](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385508190/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0385508190) came out, the Holy Father, Bl. John Paul II, in his preface said that this was for the whole Church, but that there would have to be adaptations for different groups and different cultures and so on. This youth catechism is not only done for younger people, but also by younger people, collaborating in the effort. He was in Rome in April for the presentation to the Holy Father of the YouCat in 13 languages so far, and there was a reception that evening put on the Knights of Malta at their world headquarters. Cardinal Schönborn gave a description of how the catechism came about. One of the editors, a mother of six who's a well-known writer in Germany, and one of the young people who was involved were there with Cardinal Schönborn. The cardinal was appointed by Cardinal Ratzinger back in 1987 to help oversee the preparation of the universal Catechism, which came out in the early 90s. But there was felt a need to have something a little shorter with a question and answer format and so they produced later, the [Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1574557203/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217153&creative=399349&creativeASIN=1574557203) and that was presented in Europe in 2005. Cardinal Schönborn was present for that release of the Compendium. At the press conference, a German publisher was there. A woman stood up in the audience and said to the cardinal that the Compendium is wonderful, but she wouldn't buy it for her young children because they can't understand it and she said they should create a catechism for young people. Cardinal Schönborn took that to heart and the German publisher, who was involved with a summer Catholic youth camp, asked if he could take the idea as a subject for the youth camp that summer. They brought in 50 young people--mainly high school and college age--and spent the whole week going over the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Compendium, asking their questions and discussing things they needed to hear about. Then a team of writers--two theologians and two educators--got together for the draft of the new catechism. The next summer they had the same 50 kids back for another week, they went over the draft, took pictures, added elements to the sidebars, and that was what led to the YouCat. So back to what makes it different. While many catechisms are question-and-answer format, it has commentary--all based on the universal catechism--and sidebars with sayings of the saints, lots of graphics, a glossary of terms, and other supplementary materials. Plus the whole graphic layout is very attractive to young people. The only problem they've found is that it's hard to get it into young people's hands, because the old people get it and start looking at it, they get excited about it, and they won't give it to their kids and are reading it themselves. Scot said that he found the quotes in the sidebars to be great. He's never seen a better reference yet. Mother Teresa, St. John Vianney, and various recent Popes. That in itself is tremendous to take into holy hours and pray one of the 527 questions as well as the sidebars and explanations. He asked how the language used is different from the universal catechism to make it more appealing to youth. Fr. Fessio wouldn't say it's dumbed down. After all, it's mainly a group of German kids working on this and they are pretty academically oriented, but it's simplified. It's readable, while challenging. In the preface, the Holy Father said it isn't going to be easy, that there are hard sayings here and complicated things to learn, but it is adapted as much as possible for younger people. Scot said one of the neat parts he found were stick figures at the bottom and as you flip through the pages, they're animated like in a flipbook. The stick figure is in a journey and at the end he's walking with Jesus. Fr. Fessio said that's exactly it and on the last page he jumps out of the book. He's saying, now that we've learned our catechism let's go out and live it. Scot said that aspect alone will be appreciated by some of the youth and hopefully that it encourages them to flip through the pages far more frequently and just stick on a question, stay and read it, and then think about it. **3rd segment:** Young people were very involved in the production of this book. How specifically did they influence what the final product turned out to be? Fr. Fessio said it's based on the four pillars of the Catechism: What we believe, how we worship, how we live, and how we pray. That was a parameter that was given by the nature of the Catechism. But they recognized certain areas--especially sexual morality--that they were particularly interested in and needed to know more about the Church's teaching. They took all the pictures and illustrated it. They picked out all the quotes, which they thought would speak to themselves and other about whatever topics were treated on those pages. That was their main contribution. They also told those writing the catechism when they didn't understand something and needed clarification. Fr. Matt said that it takes into consideration the concerns of today's youth and young adults in a relevant way. He asked Fr. Fessio how he sees that playing itself out in YouCat, especially considering all the different cultures around the world it seeks to address. Fr. Fessio said that was part of the idea of this catechism. The central part, the Church's teachings, would be the same for all countries, but the sidebar quotes and graphics would be done by the young people of those countries and there was a lot of leeway. Interestingly enough, what people found was that in no country--22 so far--did they want to make any substantial changes to the sidebar quotes and commentary. He thinks the Internet has changed our culture in such a way that there is a youth culture that is pretty common around the globe for kids who are pretty well-educated. From that point of view, it doesn't need too much of the adaptation that was planned for it, although it's always possible to do that. In India, they are very excited about it. When Fr. Fessio suggested they get some native Indian youths to participate in inculturating the catechism, they said it wasn't necessary, that they're using to seeing these things. They didn't want to change. Secondly, it's not a book to read from cover to cover. It's more of a reference book and a guide. In fact, Ignatius even did a binding so it looks like a guidebook. They are in the process now of working with [Ascension Press](http://www.ascensionpress.com/shop/Scripts/default.asp) to prepare a confirmation program that would use this YouCat as the central reference for it. He's told that's one area of catechesis that's weak in this country, that is the standard preparation for confirmation. As for young adults, they heard youth ministers say they wanted to prepare a guidebook for their use so that when they meet with young people, they can use YouCat with them. But then Midwest Theological Forum has received requests to prepare a marriage preparation course based on YouCat because a lot of the couples who come in to get married are fairly uncatechized. This can draw them into greater interest in the Church's teaching. Fr. Matt said it does feel like a guide, tremendous resources being able to direct you the saints and other sources. He said he's heard how Ignatius Press is looking to using social media to make this more available to young people. The average young people is engaged in some form of media about eight hours a day. What plans are there to use this in social media? Fr. Fessio said the Italians have put together apps for iPhone and Android--available very soon--that will give one question per day and the answer. They're also going to create Facebook page and other social networking sites where young people can talk about their faith. They're also planning to help train young people to catechize their peers using YouCat. Fr. Fessio thinks this will be a major focal point of catechetics for the next decade or so. **4th segment:** Scot wanted Fr. Fessio's perspective on the Holy Father's powerful foreword to the YouCat. It's one of the more direct pieces that the Holy Father has written in recent years. One of his quotes: >You need to know what you believe. You need to know your faith with that same precision with which an IT specialist knows the inner workings of a computer. You need to understand it like a good musician knows the piece he is playing. Yes, you need to be more deeply rooted in the faith than the generation of your parents so that you can engage the challenges and temptations of this time with strength and determination. Two very powerful analogies, but Scot was struck by his directness about knowing their faith better than their parents. He asked if Fr. Fessio was surprised by this directness? Fr. Fessio said he's never surprised by the Holy Father because he knows he's going to be surprising. He wants to make a slight correction: The Holy Father is very careful. Scot summarized by saying that kids should know more than their parents, but what the Holy Father says they need to be more deeply rooted in their faith than *the generation* of their parents. He's not saying that their parents aren't catechized but gently saying the generation isn't catechized. It's typical of him to have a delicacy or courtesy in the way he expresses these things. He gets the point across but the "iron fist has a velvet glove." Scot said it seems like tougher talk than most poeple expect from the Holy Father, directly challenging the young people to study their faith, in this foreword. Scot hoped that the bold challenge from their father in faith, the Holy Father, will motivate young people to want to pick this up. They probably have not heard this Holy Father challenge them that directly. Fr. Fessio said he was almost shocked too when he read this preface. Another quote: >Study this Catechism with passion and perseverance. Make a sacrifice of your time for it! Study it in the quiet of your room; read it with a friend; form study groups and networks; share with each other on the Internet. By all means continue to talk with each other about your faith. That's very direct! Why did he do that? Fr. Fessio said it's the kind of person he is. Years ago, Fr. Fessio was a student along with then-Fr. Schönborn of then-Fr. Ratzinger at Regensburg, Germany, and that's where Ratzinger met Schönborn and recognized Schönborn's talent and what led to Schönborn becoming a bishop and then being appointed by Ratzinger to be in charge of the catechism itself. They've had a close relationship. Cardinal Schönborn said when he went to the Holy Father with this idea that the woman had proposed , the Holy Father was almost ecstatic and that it was exactly what was needed. He got behind it right from the beginning and put his whole weight behind it. Scot said another quote that stood out to him was: >This Catechism was not written to please you. It will not make life easy for you, because it demands of you a new life. It places before you the Gospel message as the “pearl of great value” (Mt 13:46) for which you must give everything. So I beg you: Study this Catechism with passion and perseverance. It's not written to please the young people. It's a gift to them, that gives them the teachings of the Church and through that come to understand what our destiny is in God's love. Fr. Fessio said we've had two great Holy Fathers in a row and both of them have not been afraid to challenge people. We're blessed to when we see the difficulties and evils in the Church in our time to have two leaders like this, both great intellects that are able to touch people's hearts and able to engage people of all different ages and cultures. Fr. Matt said as one working in youth and young adult ministry in a diocese, you see their passion and love for young people and how they see them as the protagonists of the new evangelization and they express such great hope in them. Quoting Pope Benedict again: >Many people say to me: The youth of today are not interested in this. I disagree, and I am certain that I am right. The youth of today are not as superficial as some think. They want to know what life is really all about. A detective story is exciting because it draws us into the destiny of other men, a destiny that could be ours. This book is exciting because it speaks of our own destiny and so deeply engages every one of us. So I invite you: Study this Catechism! Even at the end where he talks about the prophet Jeremiah and encourages them to see and understand their place in the Church and not to say that they're too young, but they have an important role in the life of the Church now; not to underestimate themselves. Fr. Fessio said both of these popes have had great gifts of intellect and expression. When he speaks you want to listen and you want to go and do what he tells you to do. Scot said the lead-up to the publication of the YouCat was much more understated than the release of the Catechism in the early 90s and even the Compendium after that. Is the word just getting out? Did we want to tie the launch of this to World Youth Day and that's one of the reasons we maty not have heard as much about it as we will? Fr. Fessio said it's a good question and he doesn't know the answer to it. He knows that when Ignatius was asked to be the English-language publisher, he was interested but they thought it was just going to be another catechism for young people. But when they got the German original, with all the graphics and layout, they all got excited about it. The word has come out only because people have gotten to know what it really is and as they see, it's not just another book and another catechism, but something amazing. People are getting excited about it. Ignatius was cautious about it. They only printed 15,000 copies in the first printing, and sold them out in the first week. They did another printing of 10,000 and sold those out. They're printing 20,000 more now. It's catching on. Scot asked Fr. Fessio if there's anything else about the YouCat that listeners should know. He said go to [Ignatius.com](http://www.Ignatius.com) to get it online. **5th segment:** Scot returns with Fr. Mark to discuss the Gospel reading for this coming Sunday. The readings for this week are for the 7th Sunday of Easter. Some parishes in the listening audience will be celebrating the Feast of the Ascension, which was moved from last Thursday in some dioceses. * [First Reading for June 5, Seventh Sunday of Easter (Acts 1:12-14)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/060511c.shtml#reading1) >After Jesus had been taken up to heaven the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. > >When they entered the city they went to the upper room where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. * [Gospel for June 5, Seventh Sunday of Easter (John 17:1-11a)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/060511c.shtml#gospel) >Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began. > >“I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.” Scot said a unifying aspect of these readings is that they're about prayers. When the Apostles return to the upper room, they pray, surrounding the Blessed Mother. Then we read in the Gospel that Jesus Himself prays for each of us. If Jesus prays and the Blessed Mother prays and the Apostles pray together, then it makes Scot want to evaluate how often he prays. He tries to pray every day, but does he make it a central part of his day. It should always be a central part of his day. Fr. Mark said this is a particularly important moment in the Church year. The time between the Ascension and Pentecost. That's when we pray specifically for the coming of the Holy Spirit in a new way in our life. The Apostles and Mary were in that room. They were still troubled--even though they'd seen the Risen Lord and had seen the Ascension. Soon Pentecost comes and the Holy Spirit comes and it relieves that trouble. God begins to work new things in their lives and that happens to us too. Scot said the Gospel readings call us to a deep sense of prayer, not just where we go by a church and sit by the Blessed Sacrament or kneel beside our bed and just ask God for things. The kind of prayer talked about here can involve that, but it involves a really deep relationship, a deep friendship, a deep communion with Jesus. As we saw the Apostles, those who were his friends, they surrounded the Blessed Mother and through her intercession and maternal care, their prayers were deepened because the Blessed Mother helps us know her son. Fr. Mark said it's also a deep discerning prayer. We discern with the Blessed Mother helping us, she intercedes for us. We can go to her for help in discerning where God is calling us. Where are we being asked to go with our life in the Holy Spirit. Scot said the Church universal should be praying that we all receive--collectively and individually--gifts of the Holy Spirit to be more effective at what God calls us to be. We're called to similar things: to share our faith with others, to live our faith the best we can every day. We're also called in a particular to be the best we can be with the blessings and talents God has given to us. Sometimes we're not fully aware how our talents can serve the Church more effectively, our families, our friends, our communities. Praying for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to understand how to utilize our gifts and if we're called to a specific ministry to be gifted even more to carry out that ministry. That's what we should be praying for as we come to Pentecost next Sunday. Fr. Mark said this Gospel gives us what it's all about too. That prayer, that hard work of doing Jesus' will, is about being glorified as Jesus was glorified. There's a beautiful reflection that Jesus gives us about being glorified by the Father. C.S. Lewis wrote a very good essay called ["The Weight of Glory"](http://www.verber.com/mark/xian/weight-of-glory.pdf) in which he tells us the end result is to be child-like in front of God, basking in God's praise. That is the result in that we can meet God face to face in heaven and God is pleased with us because of our good work. He says, "Come in my good and faithful servant." That's what glory is all about. That's why we work and why we pray: to be glorified as Jesus was glorified by the Father. Scot has heard some priests relate that people say, "Father, I'd really like to pray more. I just don't have time." And the priests then ask them how TV they watch, how much of the newspaper do they read. We can always make a decision to spend more time with God. 99.9% of us can find more time for prayer. Through the wisdom in prayer and the communion with our Lord, whatever problems we face, he'll help carry the burdens with us. We focus everyone listening to the show to focus more on prayer this week. Fr. Mark added that you don't start off as a mystic when you want to pray. You start off as a person who struggles with 10 minutes. So give God 10 minutes.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Michael Coren, columnist, television host, and Catholic author * [Michael Coren's website](http://michaelcoren.com/) * "Why Catholics Are Right" * On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week, WQOM and the Station of the Cross network are holding their [2011 Spring Fund Drive](https://www.thestationofthecross.com/wqom-spring-fund-drive-2011.html). All donors over $30 will receive a Station of the Cross "Benefactor Card" and are eligible to win great daily and hourly prizes. Consequently, the recorded shows for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as heard on this site and downloaded through iTunes will not include the Spring Fund Drive segments as heard live as they aired. **Today's topics:** Canadian author Michael Coren and his new book "Why Catholics Are Right" **A summary of today's show:** Michael Coren talks with Scot about the unique claims of the Catholic Church and why the Church is right about every major topic of morality facing our culture today, including contraception, marriage, abortion. Also, why much of what is said about the clergy sex abuse crisis goes beyond what really happened to advance an anti-Catholic agenda. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Michael Coren to the show. He is the host of the "Michael Coren Show" on CTS in Canada and a syndicated columnist in many newspapers and bestselling author of 12 books, including his latest book, "Why Catholics Are Right". Michael said Random House is the publisher, it's available in most good bookstores, a few bad ones, and on Amazon.com. Scot said it's a provocative book, in which Michael takes on almost every attack that's leveled against the Church. Why did he decided to write it? Michael said he could have written the book years ago, because the Church has been the main target for public criticism for some years. He has four children and has seen what they've had to put up with and what he's had to put up with, the things said about the Church that would never be said about other denominations, other organizations. It's fine to criticize the Church for what it does. It's when people know nothing about Catholicism, what we believe and teach, and yet go after us on a daily basis. This ranges from what we hear on the street to alleged educated and informed civilized media, from comedy shows to PBS in-depth news shows. It's unfair. Rather than just running away and pretending, he decided to give it the title and give substance and explain for ordinary people--he's not a theologian--what the Church believes and respond to the attacks, which are always the same attacks over and over again. Intellectual and metaphorical information to attack back with. Scot quoted from the introduction: "I've seldom met someone who dislikes me because of my views on the saints and the papacy, but I've lost jobs in media because of my Catholic belief that, for example, life begins at conception and that marriage can only be between one man and one woman." Does that indicate that Catholic defense on those issues, particularly marriage, artificial contraception, abortion, and the life issues, is really what Catholics need to know to defend in the public square and at the dinner table and at the ball game. Michael said he think so, although one doesn't have to become boring about this. If you're watching a baseball game and suddenly bring up abortion, you're going to lose a lot of friends. What he's saying is that when it does come up, he doesn't people to just feel uncomfortable and change the subject. We do need to come back with a ready defense. What he meant in that passage is that because there are those who have no religious belief that think because we believe in the sanctity of unborn life and that marriage is one man and one woman it makes us fascists and unacceptable, so we need to know some of the arguments, which incidentally aren't really religious. The Catholic Church is the vehicle that represents natural law and logic and rational thought. Arguing for the unborn and that life begins at conception are scientific arguments. We just need to articulate them. Scot notes that Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has an endorsement of the book on the cover. Why did Michael choose the title, "Why Catholics Are Right"? Is that tied to his adult conversion to Catholicism or because it's more provocative? He could have given it a softer title, but we've passed that now. It's not called "Why Catholics Are Right and Everyone Else Should Be Beaten Up." Michael's parents were not Catholic and most of his best friends are not Catholic, but if he believes something to be exclusively true, then obviously other alternatives must be wrong. Some of the kindest words said about the book have been from Jewish and Protestant readers. He had an email from someone who said, "I don't like you and the title of this book is absolutely wrong." Michael responded, "Yes, exactly. You think I'm wrong. I think I'm right. But why is it you think you're entitled to say this and I'm not." What he says in the book is that believes the Church was founded by Christ 2,000 years ago and is the most guaranteed way of us finding salvation and spending eternity with God. If he doesn't share that, it's like a man who's found a cure for cancer, but keeps it to himself. It is indeed a provocative title and it will grab people's attention, but we need to grab people's attention. We need people to realize that we're not this dark force that's always been on the wrong side throughout history. Scot responded that we certainly shouldn't be shy about the truth. We just launched the Catholics Come Home campaign in the Archdiocese of Boston and they have a tremendous commercial called "Epic", which talks about the Catholic Church's contributions to the world over its 2,000 years. Some folks criticized us for being too proud for showing all the things we've done and it's just conveying the facts. **2nd segment:** Scot asked Michael why he chose to have his first chapter address the clergy abuse crisis. Michael said because it's the elephant in the room. If he'd written chapters on history of the Church and other issues, he believes readers would have been waiting the whole time to get to that chapter and while they may have been influenced by other chapters, they could be turned back by this one. So he wanted to get it out of the way right off the bat. He took it head on. He didn't sugar coat it. Michael is the father of four children and non-Catholics think that as Catholics we're trying to hide things. It appalls him and rips away at his very being. But he's showing what *actually* happened, not what people like to think happened. He's not saying that because other people do it that it excuses this, but 2 percent of clergy at most were involved; the average victim was a 14-year-old boy so it's not really pedophilia (the vast majority of victims were boys from 12 to 16); the Church responded generally by saying we're going to move the priest, give him counseling and tell him he mustn't do it again. That seems severely inadequate, but this is what school boards were told at the time, what sports teams were told, what other churches were told. They're not criticized, but the Church is today. The Church is now the safest place for a young person to be today. The numbers now show there are 7 or 8 new cases per year across millions of people. Just look at school boards, just look at the New York City schools just last year. And often because of union influence, these teachers are keeping their jobs. It was horrible, but it says nothing about the Church. It says everything about human nature and why we need a Church. It has nothing to do with celibacy. A normal man who is deprived of a sexual relationship with a woman does not suddenly lust after a 14-year-old boy, he lusts after a grown woman. That is common sense and logic. If it was about celibacy in the priesthood, why would the numbers be higher in the Episcopalian church or in education. The family is still the most dangerous place for sexual abuse of children. Discuss it, criticize, condemn, but at the same time don't pretend the Church is this oasis. Anywhere there is a power dynamic between an adult and a young person, tragically, abuse will occur. Scot said we were touched by the abuse crisis particularly in the Archdiocese of Boston and the chapter helped him to understand what the abuse scandal is *not* about. Michael has already talked about the fact that it is not about pedophilia. It isn't about celibacy. It's also not about the all-male priesthood. Michael said that if a man feels he can no longer be celibate, it's not very difficult for him to dress in street clothes and go find the services of woman and pay for it. Michael said he's not trying to rude or crass, but that's what people do. For a priest to deny everything he ever believed and swore to stand for and abuse a young boy means he already has that perversion in his mind. Nor is he obviously a priest of any sort of standing because even if a man has that perversion as a temptation, to in no way try to resist it. As a married man, Michael is married to a very attractive woman, but it doesn't mean he doesn't notice other attractive women. But he's faithful to his wife because he's taken a vow to be faithful to one woman for the rest of his life. A priest swears to be celibate. It's a difference one or none. You don't have to be a priest, but if you are this is what's required of you. Those churches who have married clergy or ordain women have higher abuse rates. What happened here is that anti-Catholics and very liberal Catholics who were using this to try to change Church teaching. They seemed almost more interested in hurting the Church than in helping the victims. Michael met a victim of abuse who almost brought him to tears. He said to Michael: "If I leave the Church over this, I'm allowing this man to abuse me again. I would be leaving the Church because this evil man acted contrary to all that it teaches. I'm not going to let him do that." He thought it was a beautiful statement. Scot said he also debunks another myth related to the sex abuse crisis, that saying it's just because some homosexual men became priests is also a sweeping generalization. He says, "We should appreciate that sexuality and crime have no rigid connection. Those who abuse, lie, and exploit do so because of their immorality and not because of their sexual preference." Michael said they have gay marriage in Canada and he has taken a lot of shots because marriage is one man and one woman, but he said the vast majority of gay men are appalled at the idea of someone abusing a young boy. We've all probably met priests who are gay, but they are celibate. While the abusers were homosexual, they were homosexual criminals and perverts. It wasn't just homosexuality. We shouldn't alienate people unnecessarily. He wants to state the truth, but wants to make sure that we do it carefully because it's a nuanced position. **3rd segment:** Scot said Michael's book has a quote from former New York Mayor Ed Koch, in which he says the Left is using the abuse crisis to hammer the Church. Michael said fair-minded people outside the Church say the same, particularly in the Jewish community because many Jewish commentators have seen this directed against them. It's liberal Catholics often who are trying to us this to change Church teaching. Many attacks were against Pope Jon Paul. They weren't really about what's going on in the Church, but about bashing the Church and advancing their agenda like ordaining women. The Church can't ordain women; we're here to follow Scripture. In answer to those who say if there were women clergy there would be no abuse, Michael says look at the Episcopalians, look at school, look at the family. It has nothing to do with whether there are women around or not. These horrible abusers looked for the children they were going to abuse, vulnerable kids, unstable families. What Scot liked about the Koch quote was he said: "The reason, I believe, there are constant assaults is that there are many in the media--some Catholics as well as many in the public who object to and are incensed by positions the Church holds," including abortion, marriage, retention of celibacy rules, exclusion of women from the clergy, opposition to birth control measures, and opposition to civil divorce. Michael said we are the one institution standing up to these attacks of decadence and materialism. We're like a mirror held up for them to see their own reflection and they don't like so we have to be smashed. They don't attack some liberal, Protestant denomination. They attack the Roman Catholic Church because we're the people who don't change with the times. Why should we? Truth is truth and not mutable. We say some things are wrong and saying things are wrong in contemporary North America is abhorrent to people. Scot said Michael dedicated an entire chapter to Catholics and life and to the attacks against the Church on abortion. He debunks the myths that outlawing abortion would result in back-alley abortions and the notion that only women can comment on this issue. Michael said Planned Parenthood was founded by a racists who believed in eugenics and social engineering and racial superiority. He speaks on pro-life issues in Canada very often and he has the same arguments constantly. People say, "I wouldn't have an abortion myself but I'm not going to stop someone else." When you push them to answer why they wouldn't, eventually they say it's because it's a life. So then you say, so you won't kill an unborn child, but you won't stop someone else from doing it. Then they just scream and walk away. It's not a religious argument, it's a moral and scientific one. Life begins at conception with unique DNA. There's no other viable alternative to when life begins. A child cannot survive outside the womb, but even a fully born child would be dead if left to himself. Someone hit by a car would die if someone didn't help. An unborn child doesn't look completely like an adult, but a 5-year-old doesn't look like a 30-year-old. It's an irrelevant argument. It's a separate life. A woman has a right to choose all sorts of things, but she doesn't have the right to take an innocent life. Scot said the book takes the word "choice" and says that when there's a choice it's supposed to be a choice between two positive outcomes. In this case, there's really only one. When a rape occurs, we don't say he "chose" to rape. It's not a choice issue, it's a crime. We confuse a crime with a choice. To take a life is wrong. It also assumes there's just the woman involved. There are also three people: the woman, the father, and the unborn child. To choose to kill a child is not a choice at all. It's not the semantics that worry Michael so much, but the notion that choice is involved--and choice is everything in North America--is loaded political language. **4th segment:** In his chapter on Catholics and life, Michael talks about a lot of the practical decisions that are happening when women and the fathers of these babies choose to abort these children that through the ultrasound and other testing seem to have disabilities. As a Church and proponents of life, we need to stand for those babies and Scot knows of 5 friends of his who were encouraged to abort their kids because of the supposed disabilities that they could identify in the womb, and when the babies were born, they were fine. Michael said that even if they're not fine, if they don't live up to the standards of 21st-century expectations, they have a right to live. We live in a society where if you don't a hit album by the time you're 14 you're a failure and your movie career is finished by the time you're 16. We have to change the culture, not kill people. The man who discovered the likely gene for Down Syndrome--because we generally find Down Syndrome during pregnancy-- was someone who believed in life, who thought this was a good thing to prepare the way for them. Now it's used to abort Down Syndrome babies. We could have a world in which we could never see a Down Syndrome person ever again. Imagine how that makes people feel who are Down Syndrome people, their parents. A lot of children are aborted because of gender, race, and disability--black and brown, female, and handicapped. Those people who call themselves left-wing and progressive are obsessed with giving people the ability to kill the handicapped, the black, the brown, the female. That doesn't sound very progressive to Michael. Scot said Michael also takes issue with some of the points of view on population control, particularly in places like Africa for similar reasons. Michael said you often hear people say the world is overpopulated, but it's actually true that entire world's population could fit into Texas with room to spare. Africa is underpopulated, he said. He added that he lives in Canada where there are 30 million people in a vast country which could hold many more. The reason Africa has a problem of food and so on is because we maintain vicious dictators, we sell them arms, we engineer wars there. Communism has destroyed so much when it has a conquered in Africa. Asia has a large population, but if we look at India, it's economic growth rate is 12%. If only North America could have that rate. They have produced the largest middle class in the history of humanity and can feed their population several times over. That isn't an issue. In addition, most European countries are underpopulated. This is not a valid argument. It's a way to give moral substance to abortion. We're greedy in the West. We over-consume. We could easily feed the world's population. It amazes Michael that people who will weep over a puppy or kitten, will blithely support the killing of unborn babies. Scot said he liked how he indicated how the marriage of one man and one woman was deconstructed. Michael said that the four core qualifications for marriage have been: 1. Number (between two people) 2. Gender (between a man and a woman) 3. Age of consent 4. Not too close in terms of bloodlines That's been completely blurred in recent years. Michael says in the chapter, "Anyone who speaks of uncles, aunts, communities and villages raising children have no real understanding of family life. Single-parent families exist and sometimes it is excellent and obvious that the case that not every mother/father family is a success, but to consciously create unbalanced families in which children never enjoy the profound difference between man and woman, mother and father is dangerous social engineering." The social engineering is now underway in Canada and in many places in the United States, including Massachusetts. Michael said that in Canada, if you want to adopt a child and you're a Christian, your chances are very limited because one of the questions asked of you, generally is what would you teach your children about homosexuality. And if you say, to love everyone equally, but also to be aware of sin, there's no way you'll get a child. Michael said there are couples who adopt a child as a fashion statement. He's heard this from gay friends who condemn it because they know some of the people are adopting as a fashion statement. Meanwhile wonderful Christian people are being told they can't have a child because their beliefs are hateful. Catholic adoption agencies in Britain have closed down because they refuse to give children to gay couples. In Canada there are prosecutions under human rights legislation of people who speak out about this. It may not be the former Soviet Union, but it can be very delicate. Last week, they had a commentator on a major sports network in Canada who was fired because he opposed a hockey player who supported same-sex marriage. The company said it wasn't because of that, but all the evidence says that he was fired because he dared to say he disagreed with an athlete. It's not just same-sex marriage, it's the consequences. Now they say, We're not going to let you oppose it. We're going to punish you if you speak out. Scot said one of the major challenges to Catholics and non-Catholics who believe that marriage should be between one man and one woman is we're attacked with the label that we're homophobic and that the Church itself is homophobic. Michael said the term is meaningless because it literally means "disliking someone because they're like yourself." Anyone who hates another person because of their race or gender or sexuality is speaking against Catholic teaching. We do not believe that. There are gay Catholics who are heroes of the Church because they realized that this is not God's teaching. Though they may have this inclination but they accept that they will have to be celibate. He's not downplaying this. He's met those who have left that lifestyle and they can do it. He believes we can be more subtle than the Evangelical approach which is that you can change. Sometimes people can't change, but they can stop acting in a certain way. The Church is complex on this issue. It says that your loved and made in the image of God, but you're more than just your sexuality. For someone to have a relationship based on lust and against the natural law is wrong. It goes against the status quo. It's not about gay people so much. We're told whatever you want to do, its okay. You're fulfilled if you have fun. Go to any university and you'll find most of the perversity doesn't involved gay people. It's hypersexualized kids who because of the use of contraceptives and modern pressures society have turned young women into 19-year-old boys. **5th segment:** Contraception was the life issue where the avalanche of all these other life issues really started. Michael talks about that in his chapter on Catholics and life. He wrote: "It's hardly a surprise that subjects such as contraception and abortion lead to such anger and frustration because they are directly personal and they involve the most intimate and immediate forms of gratification and pleasure. ... The sexual fanatics are those who obsess about sex and believe it to be morally neutral and have no inherent value. The Catholic Church believes that sex is so wonderful that it contains values as well as virtues." Michael said what we call "The Pill" (which is a misnomer because pills make you better; the contraceptive pill alters the body chemistry with unknown consequences for women who starting taking it at 14 and 15 for their entire lives) has links to cancer and depression. Taking something that will stop the body from behaving naturally and normally, how can that be good for anyone? Until 1930 every major Protestant church disagreed with contraception as well and when these churches allowed this to happen it really signaled their decline. We do not believe as Catholics that every act of sex has to lead to a child. We believe that to aggressively prevent the possibility of life occurring is anti-Godly. The Catholic Church teaches a form of family planning that is extremely successful and that empowers the woman. Some women talk about women's liberation, but artificial contraception is really about guys who want something and can use contraception to get it more easily. Since we've had the complete availability of the Pill and the condom, if the argument is that people are happier now, it still wouldn't be right. But look at the statistics: Every year since the Pill and condoms have been easily available we've had increased numbers of STDs, so-called unwanted pregnancies, abortion, sex-linked depression and worse and worse. It was meant to be the dawn of a great new age, a new heaven, but it's become a new hell. Near the end of his book, Scot said Michael saved some of his concluding remarks for hypocrites. He wrote: "To give hypocrites their most descriptive titles--politicians, powerful people, and even ordinary men and women who claim to be Roman Catholic, but behave as if they weren't--being Catholic does have a culture context and while many people struggle and evolve in their Catholic faith, the mere fact of being born of Catholic parents in a Catholic country is not enough. Being Catholic is not the same as being Jewish, for example, in that Judaism has a secular aspect and there are Jewish people who describe themselves as atheists who are still to a large degree accepted within the Jewish community." It's very important to distinguish between Catholics who live their faith from those who claim they're Catholic but they're willing to run from Catholic values and beliefs when it's convenient for them. Michael joked that in Boston we've never had any politicians who've been hypocrites or anything. Michael said you don't have to be a Catholic, but if you're a Catholic, you have to be Catholic. These politicians who claim they are Catholic, but when it comes to politics they have to represent everyone, well they don't apply that to all sorts of issues. They speak from their own opinion over and over again. They're being dishonest. They think that if they're pro-life or speak up in favor of marriage, they careers won't advance. It's so often about sex. They don't say, "I can't represent Catholic teaching on the poor," but when it comes to sexuality they feel they can't offend people. Particularly on the abortion issue, they sellout. It's politicians, but it's other people as well. It's even more true in Canada than in the United States. Most of their prime ministers since the Second World War have been Roman Catholic and yet they have such an anti-Catholic political culture in that country. But in the US, when President Obama was asked about abortion, he said it's above my pay grade and he wasn't pushed on that. What he said was horrible. What he was really saying was that he didn't want to address the issue because it might lose him some votes. When Catholic politicians contradict Catholic teaching on fundamental Catholic issues should be denied the Eucharist, not as a punishment, but because their souls are in danger. If they are receiving the sacraments and they're not in full standing with the Church, if they're denying Catholic teaching, they're in real trouble. There are consequences to this. Any good pastor--a bishop or priest--would say, "I can't do this. You're welcome at Mass but it's something we need to talk about." But people are frightened, particularly in places with a large Catholic population, like Boston. "If I do that, he's a very popular figure, and I could be in trouble." The Roman Catholic hierarchy has some wonderful men in positions of influence, but for some time we've had those who want to be comfortable. Catholics haven't always been accepted in the US, but they want to be comfortable within the American culture. Well, Catholic truth is far more important than being accepted for a while in any culture. Scot said it seems like one of the purposes of the book was to start the conversation on a lot of these issues. Michael ends the book: "Catholicism is as important now as it every was and perhaps even more necessary in a world that appears to prefer confusion to clarity, and to long for feelings instead of facts. All sorts of people have interesting and valuable ideas and deserve to be heard. Catholics particularly so, because Catholics are right." Scot said he thinks that the Catholic perspective in the public square does need to be heard. Michael said there's so little alternative. We face enormous threats outside North America with jihadist Islam and inside with decadence. There is no other institution, no other ideology to save us. Secular humanism won't save us. Liberal ideology won't save us. The Roman Catholic Church has always had the answers, but we do need to articulate them in a way that people can understand and appreciate. He hopes he's done that in this book.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and biographer of Pope John Paul II * [Ethics and Public Policy Center](Ethics and Public Policy Center) * [Archive of George Weigel's syndicated columns](http://www.archden.org/index.cfm/ID/342) * On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week, WQOM and the Station of the Cross network are holding their [2011 Spring Fund Drive](https://www.thestationofthecross.com/wqom-spring-fund-drive-2011.html). All donors over $30 will receive a Station of the Cross "Benefactor Card" and are eligible to win great daily and hourly prizes. Consequently, the recorded shows for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as heard on this site and downloaded through iTunes will not include the Spring Fund Drive segments as heard live as they aired. **Today's topics:** Pope Blessed John Paul II from the "inside" **A summary of today's show:** George Weigel discusses with Scot and Fr. Chris the interior life of Bl. John Paul II, his courage, his Christian discipleship, and devotion to both the Divine Mercy and the Blessed Mother, as well as three surprising things that George learned when writing about the Pope. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chris to the show. Fr. Chris has known George a long time, dating back to when he was studying philosophy at Catholic University of America. He was one of Fr. Chris' parishioners. George is an incredible supporter of the priesthood and how the Church is a gift to the whole world. Scot is excited to get his insights on last month's beatification. Fr. Chris said he has written the definitive biography of John Paul II, showing how the Pope was a son, a factory worker, a priest, a skier, and the full gamut of the man. Scot said this is the 60th broadcast of The Good Catholic Life, and he reflects on the gift that 24/7 Catholic is in the Archdiocese of Boston. Fr. Chris hears about it from parishioners, seminarians, and his fellow faculty at St. John's. He also hears from the men at Norfolk prison where he ministers that it is a great gift to them as well. Scot said since his early days at the Archdiocese in 2006, Cardinal Seán has always talked about evangelization, but in particular on the radio in many languages, including English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Scot thanked WQOM and the Station of the Cross to make English-language Catholic radio possible in Boston. Fr. Chris said the Church has a wonderful message to proclaim and we have to find new ways to reach people constantly, including those who might not be going to church now. Some of Scot's favorite segments are those where he talks to priests and seminarians and he's looking forward to next week's shows where he will talk with the newly ordained priests who were just ordained for the Archdiocese of Boston. The day after the beatification, the radio studio was dedicated to Blessed John Paul II and so he's happy to learn more about Pope John Paul from George Weigel. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome George Weigel to the show. He is the definitive biographer of Blessed Pope John Paul II. John Paul's beatification has been a prime topic of conversation on The Good Catholic Life. One of the statements John Paul made to George was that people often know him only from the "outside". He could truly only be understood from the inside. Scot asked George what are the central aspects of his interior life that defined him as a heroic Christian disciple? George said you saw some of them displayed on the tapestry that was unveiled on the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica during the beatification Mass. It was that twinkle in his eye, a wonderfully natural and warm human being, with a great natural capacity for love, which was amplified by supernatural charity. He had made himself into a kind of channel by which grace poured into the world. Literally millions if not tens of millions who saw and met him felt themselves ennobled by that. Another facet revealed in the tapestry is the white zuchetto (skullcap), which was slightly askew. He was a man of great humility who cared nothing for ecclesiastical finery, who was every bit as much at home in kayaking gear as in papal vestments, and yet who understood he was called to public role which led him to develop a great public voice. George has often said that John Paul II was not a man for whom raising his voice came naturally, but faced by Communist oppression he learned to raise his voice in a distinctive was as a Christian pastor. That's how he empowered people to take back control of their own lives from an oppressive regime under which they were living in Communist Poland. In terms of other human qualities, John Paul II was the most relentlessly curious man George has ever met. He was in no sense interested in looking in the rear-view mirror. He was always interested in looking forward to discern what the Holy Spirit was doing in the Church and the world. He had great pastoral instincts and remembered people and their problems over years and decades. His remarkable energy came out of his intense prayer life. On great public occasions, he would almost withdraw into himself to charge his spiritual batteries, by the power of his own distinctive dialogue with the Lord. The work of the grace of God was palpable in him, and that's why 1.5 million people came to Rome on May 1, to touch that again. Fr. Chris said speaking of those 1.5 million people, George has spent many a summer in Poland doing research for his book, educating the young of America and Europe, about John Paul II and Catholic social teaching. What was the sense from the Polish people who were present for this great event? George said this was in some sense a great validation of the Polish experience in the 20th century, which was very difficult, and in many Poles' minds was redeemed by having raised up this great son of Poland who became such an extraordinary figure in the Church and the world. The challenge for the Church in Poland today is to start looking forward. George published a piece in a Polish magazine the week after the beatification in which he suggested it is now time to internalize the teaching of John Paul II and to move forward and look forward, rather than look backward over their shoulders at this great figure. That's a good message for the Church in the US as well. There are many people who take daily inspiration from John Paul. What he would want us to do is to not look back, but ahead. **3rd segment:** Scot said one of Pope John Paul's virtues was that of courage and his first words as Pope were "Be not afraid." Where did his courage come from? Was it the way his father raised him? The circumstances he dealt with early in life? His deep prayer life? George said it's all of the above. One learns the virtues by imitating virtuous people and he was surrounded by men and women of courage. He had to manifest that courage during the Nazi occupation of Poland. But the courage he exhibited as Pope--and not just the courage to come back from an assassination attempt or to face the drumbeat of dissension and misapprehension, including from inside the Church--the courage to take the Gospel into the world. It took enormous courage to launch the World Youth Days. When he was elected Pope in 1978, 90% of bishops in the developed world were convinced that there was no sense speaking to young people. They lived on a different planet. John Paul believed you could take the Gospel to them. It took courage to take the Gospel to Central and South American in the 1980s, when it was riven by all sorts of false gospels, including liberation theology and national-security states. It took great courage to announce and see through the Great Jubilee of 2000, which most of the Church's leadership was no interested in 1994. He had the insight and courage to see this as absolutely necessary. That's the courage that comes on the far side of Calvary, comes after Good Friday when the answer is given on Easter. It comes through the long pilgrimage of Christian conversion, through the experience of the Cross. It allows one to live not simply without fear, but beyond fear. Fr. Chris said part of the secular media when John Paul was ailing toward the end kept saying that he should retire. Instead he stayed on and taught us a great deal about suffering and death. What would be the central messages from his remaining on as Pope? George said he wouldn't limit that to the secular media. Those at Commonweal, the National Catholic Reporter, and the Tablet were the echo chamber for the ambient culture and were eager to get rid of this guy that they didn't much like themselves. He had a wiser view, that this was an office of paternity and as long as he could exercise that in a distinctive way that's what he was called to do. What he did over the last two months is what George called in his book "The End and the Beginning" the last encyclical. It was his last great teaching moment. He led the world in the great experience of the mystery of the suffering and death of Christ. He showed how suffering can be ennobled by its conformity to the Cross. That was his last great priestly effort and teaching moment. The Church and the world are all the richer for it. There was a sense in Rome on May 1 of people saying thank you for many things, but one of them was that period. Thank you for lifting up the inalienable dignity of the human person. Thank you for confronting the notion that suffering has no meaning. It was a remarkable last pouring out of a priest's self and doing what priests do. **4th segment:** In his syndicated column, George said we can lose the sense that saints are people like us, who by the grace of God lived lives of heroic virtue, a truth of the faith which John Paul II never ceased to remind us. Then he hoped that the Catholic community would remember two things about him: First, that he was a radically converted Christian and disciple, and second, how fond he was of the Divine Mercy devotion. George said it's important to remember that while this man was someone richly given a wide range of natural gifts and while he was also given genuine mystical gifts, none of this would have been received had he not as a young adult made the fundamental decision to pour out his life in service to the truth that Jesus Christ is the answer to the question that is every human life. He was so seized by the truth of God in Christ as a young man, that he decided to pour out his life in that and everything he did from then on as a young priest, as a young scholar, university chaplain, philosopher, literary man, a bishop, father of the Second Vatican Council, statesman, and a Pope was done as a consequence of that discipleship. That's what made all that possible. And while most of the rest of us are not going to be as gifted naturally and even supernaturally, at least in the mystical sense of that, we have all been baptized in the possibility of radical discipleship. That's the point of connection between his life and ours. As far as Divine Mercy goes, John Paul II had a powerful existential sense of the terrible tears that had been torn in the moral fabric of humanity during the 20th century by grotesque and murderous ideologies, by World wars, by failure to understand the sanctity of the human person. All of it was like shredding a great tapestry. That's why he thought that spreading the devotion to Divine Mercy was not a gift for Poland in the mid-1930s alone. It was a gift *through* Poland to the rest of the world. This was the face of God that a guilt-ridden world most needed to see. It needed to see and experience the possibility of repentance, confession, and forgiveness. And that's why he was right to do so. Fr. Chris said both of the biographies are wonderful books. He asked how it is that he came to write them. George said the simple answer is that he decided to do it. In the spring of 1995, he proposed the possibility of a full-scale biography of the Pope to various people in the Holy See. John Paul II indicated in December that he thought it would be a good idea. George was following his own vocational sense, that it needed to be done, that he had a distinctive preparation for it, both in terms of experience and academic training. And it was a great ride for 15 years. He's very grateful for being given the opportunity to do this. Scot asked if he was surprised that the Holy Father wanted a definitive biography written about him and by an American versus by a Pole. George said he didn't think anyone thought it would be definitive until he delivered it. Other people had made attempts and there was a lot of frustration with them, that they just didn't get John Paul. A criticism of Tad Szulc's biography was that it was like someone writing a biography of Michael Jordan who didn't like basketball. You'll get something, but not going to get most of it. George thinks John Paul was interested in having the story told right and he was happy to be able to do it. Fr. Chris asked what surprised him the most in doing the research and writing the books that he never knew before. George said in the newer book, "The End and the Beginning", there was a treasure trove of materials from the Communist secret police that had not been available when researching the first book "Witness to Hope." Those files tell a remarkable story of the Communist war against John Paul II going back 40 years. That's all new material in English. In the broader scheme, the three things he really had no idea of going into the project in 1995 were (1) the importance of his father in his life, (2) the importance of this network of young lay friends that began to form around him in the late 1940s in the evolution of his priesthood and bishopric, people remained friends with him until the end of his life, and (3) the recognition of the absolute centrality of his experience in the Second World War in his life. That was the vocational and human crucible out of which this remarkable personality was formed. You can't get at Wojtyla unless you get at the Polish experience during the Second World War. **5th segment:** Scot recalled the virtues imparted to Karol Wojtyla by his father that stayed with him throughout his life. He asked George about some of Karol's father's virtues and whether he believed there might be a cause for canonization open for him someday. George said he thinks it would be difficult to find records for that now and there's been no cult that he's aware. We don't have beatify or canonize people to say that they are great souls. He thinks John Paul's father was manifestly a great-souled man. The most important thing that young Karol learned from elder Karol is that prayerfulness and manliness go together. They are not antinomies and not opposites. You're not wimpish when you get on your knees to pray or confess. You grow in humanity and your manliness. That and the integrity of the man in raising him. Fr. Chris noted that John Paul's mother died at a young age and that he had a great love for the Blessed Mother. He has been impressed by the great devotion to her by John Paul and the whole Polish people themselves. George said in John Paul's case, while deeply appreciating simple Marian piety, he had a very sophisticated Marian piety. Attempts by various people to read this psychoanalytically, as if his Marian devotion was some sort of substitute for his mother are ridiculous. To try to read his Marian piety as if it's the same as peasants coming to Czestochowa is equally ridiculous. He had a very theologically sophisticated view of Mary's role in the economy of salvation. He learned some of this from the 17th-century French theologian St. Louis de Montfort and a lot of it from Hans Urs von Balthazar, the 20th century Swiss theologian, about Mary's discipleship being the paradigm of all Christian discipleship. That's what John Paul as Pope proposed to the world. That's why he wanted to give us the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, to anchor Marian piety ever more securely in the biblical tradition of the Church and in Christology. Mary's role in the Church is to point us to her Son and in pointing us to her Son, she points us to the Trinity. She's always pointing beyond herself: "Do whatever He tells you" are perhaps not accidentally the last recorded words of our Lady in the New Testament. Fr. Chris said George is working on a new book, "The Station-Churches of Rome." He asked how it's coming and when expects it come out. George said he has just come back from two months in Rome making the entire station-church pilgrimage with his son Stephen and a colleague, Elizabeth Lev, daughter of Mary Ann Glendon, a familiar figure in New England. The book will be out in time for Lent 2013. It will include some marvelous photographs of the station-churches in Rome taken by Stephen; an introduction to the art and architecture of each of these churches, many of which are largely unknown and some of which are simply fabulous; and a commentary on the liturgical texts of the day, both Mass and the Office of Readings of the Liturgy of the Hours. The book will be a way to make the Roman station-church pilgrimage of Lent and Easter Octave in the comfort of your home. Scot said that it's a devotion that the North American College seminarians and priests like to get up for at a very cold 5:30am to get to the station-churches and it's a wonderful way to pray through the season of Lent. Scot thanked George for being on the show. Scot then said to Fr. Chris that it was wonderful to hear about Bl. John Paul II from someone who knows him so well. New today we are starting a new email list that will send a daily email with shownotes and a link to the show to subscribers. Go to the TheGoodCatholicLife.com and click on the link to subscribe or email us at LIVE@thegoodcatholiclife.com. The email will go out about 5:15 or 5:30pm each day.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Janet Benestad, Secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization of the Archdiocese of Boston * ["Go and Make Disciples: A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the United States" (USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis](http://www.usccb.org/evangelization/goandmake/eng.shtml) * []() **Today's topics:** Evangelization as an inward and outward activity **A summary of today's show:** Scot and Fr. Chris talk to Janet Benestad about evangelization and the strategy put forward by the US bishops in their document "Go and Make Disciples". **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chris back to the show. Last Wednesday, Fr. Chris helped with the graduation of the Master of Arts in Ministry program. There were 16 graduates. Bishop Dooher gave the commencement address and he talked about evangelization. He told them that what they learned there, they now have to spread to others. Some of them are working in parishes, one is a Boston Symphony Orchestra member, and another is a chemist. It shows that the work will be done not just in parishes but in homes and places of work. One of the 16 is the hundredth graduate of the program. Laypeople and deacons formed at the heart of the Church. Fr. Chris has also been with the men at Norfolk state prison, who are always listening to the show. Fr. Chris celebrates Mass. Sometimes he will also speak afterward. He will also hear confessions. Scot said there is now a Boston Bruins flag flying outside the Pastoral Center today in honor of the Bruins playing in the Stanley Cup finals against the Vancouver Canucks. Walking through Boston yesterday, he saw a Bruins flag at City Hall and the State House, so he's happy to see it here. Fr. Bryan Parrish, who works in the Pastoral Center, said the flag was donated by one of his parishioners. It's a great time to be a Boston sports fan. Scot pointed out that the flag flies between the Vatican flag and the US flag, temporarily replacing the Massachusetts state flag. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Janet to the program. Janet has been at the archdiocese for several years and before that in the Diocese of Scranton. She started in Scranton 12 years ago in a similar role, overseeing religious education, youth and young adult ministry, prison ministry, hospital ministry, cultural diversity, and more. Her secretariat was reconstituted prior to her joining her team because Cardinal Seán had wanted a new focus on evangelization and faith formation. Janet said both parts are vitally connected. Faith formation helps people come to know Jesus in a systematic, while evangelization is a broader effort. It helps people understand that everything they do is connected in some way to the love of God. Fr. Chris said the great gift of the Eucharist is God's abiding presence. In coming to Eucharist and hearing the Word of God proclaimed we are sustained. We can't give what we don't have and how can we share if we don't know Jesus. Evangelization often has a sour taste in the mouth in our culture. It's too often described as proselytization, which is forcing the faith on others or manipulating. Janet said to be a witness is to not engage in propaganda, but to be a living mystery, to live in such a way that life would not make sense if God did not exist. It is the message of Jesus Christ, given in the Gospel and preached with conviction and all of the power of the Holy Spirit. Scot said Henri Nouwen's definition is "one beggar leading another beggar to the bread." The person who evangelizes doesn't have all the "food", all the answers, but knows the way. You just have to lead people to Christ. Fr. Chris said it complements the idea of the Body of Christ, that there's no one person who can communicate all of the faith to another. This is why we have all the saints, who shared the faith in their own way, just as we do. The word some basic words in our faith. Evangelium means Good News in Latin. We are passing on the Good News handed to us by the Apostles and disciples and successive generations. Janet said in the early days of the Church there were no seminaries, no parochial schools, no Catholic colleges, no CCD. The faith was alive in the people who had experienced it directly from Jesus or the Apostles. We don't keep good news about movies or restaurants or the like to ourselves, but we hesitate to share the most important good news. The Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles on Pentecost and they couldn't help but share the Good News, despite the fear they had been under before that. Scot said if we think we're not capable of being evangelizers, if we need more courage or understanding, we can pray to the Holy Spirit for those gifts. Fr. Chris said another image is the lamplighter. The lamplighter lights one lamppost at a time and soon the whole street is alight. We can be like the lamplighter to our family and friends. About 20 years ago the US Bishops Conference issued a document on evangelization. It says that evangelization is both inward and outward. Janet said in order to evangelize one has to grow deeper in the faith, to pray, to become active in the community. That's the first step of evangelization. The document says one reason for evangelization is so that people can experience the grandeur with which they are made. Fr. Chris quoted John XXIII: The goal for every person is to get to heaven and bring as many people with us as we can. We have to become holy ourselves. People should know we are Christians as soon as they interact with us. Ghandi said he would become a Christian if he ever met one. Scot said God created each of us with a unique set of gifts. Every person ever created has a unique set of gifts and God has an eternal destiny and a purpose for using those gifts. By being connected with that, we will increase our sense of joy and love in this life and the next. **3rd segment:** We witness to Christ by our actions, by willing to talk about it in any way we know, and by asking or inviting people to join with us in our faith. Scot said the outward direction of evangelization comes the great commission of Jesus: Go and make disciples of all nations. This is the name of this document. Janet quoted Fr. Mark O'Connell in a homily saying to children that they can be evangelists. He told them that when they go to school on Monday and talk about their weekends, tell others they went to church. Everyone is called to evangelize. Every person has a story of faith. Tell that story. Articulate it as best you can and then live it in everything you do. Fr. Chris added that forgiveness is an important element. When we forgive it's a response to God's forgiveness for us. All of the components of our live are opportunities to evangelize. How many times is there an opportunity to show God's love and mercy to people we encounter every day. Scot said people tell him they don't evangelize because they fear or have received a hostile reaction. Certainly nearly everyone who has evangelized has received such a reaction at one time or another, even Jesus. Fr. Chris said, looking at TV, people have no problem exposing the craziest, most intimate details of their lives, yet we fear to reveal who we really are. Pope Benedict XVI has established a new pontifical council to promote evangelization. For many years, the Church saw evangelization as going to foreign lands that have not heard the Gospel, but today we have to re-evangelize ourselves. Pope Benedict says every Catholic should buy a catechism and know what it says. The Pope has said we need to use all the forms of media to get the message out. Then build on the things that have worked to spread the good news. Scot asked Janet for ideas to overcome fear of hostility to our witness. First, remember it's not an argument or debate. Lead people to love. Second, listen first before speaking and preach through the actions of your love and concern. When a person leaves the Church, our concern for them does not end at the church door. Our concern for them lasts beyond their hostility. It can be a kind word or gesture and care and charity. Recognize that the person's soul is in a process of conversion. Scot had interviewed Fr. John Corapi and was struck by the humber of men who had come back to their faith because of his talks. Fr. Corapi said it's up to the Holy Spirit to convert. Our job is to invite. Second, pray for the person we're inviting and then praying after the invitation. Third, connect them as much as possible to the Church. Don't stop trying, but don't force ourselves on them. Let them know we really care for them, we want what's best, and we're not pushy. * [Fr. John Corapi interview in The Boston Pilot, 2/18/11](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=12973) Fr. Chris said we have to be able to say, "this is why my faith is so important to me." Be ready to give a defense of our faith in three sentences. What's essential about my faith? Why is it important to me? Scot said God's plan of salvation includes us being a vessel of reconciliation and invitation. Men who think about the priesthood often think of all their flaws that would prevent them from being a good priest. Yet it's our flaws which others could see in us which makes our faith seem accessible. God chooses the weak and makes them strong. **4th segment:** There were several goals in the USCCB document: 1. To bring about in all Catholics such an enthusiasm for their faith that, in living their faith in Jesus, they freely share it with others 2. To invite all people in the United States, whatever their social or cultural background, to hear the message of salvation in Jesus Christ so they may come to join us in the fullness of the Catholic faith. 3. To foster gospel values in our society, promoting the dignity of the human person, the importance of the family, and the common good of our society, so that our nation may continue to be transformed by the saving power of Jesus Christ The first goal includes many programs of renewal and conversion, particularly our rite of Christian initiation programs. Pastors have been telling Janet that people in the parishes are growing deeper in their faith as a result of Catholics Come Home. Scot said this document does a great job at explaining what evangelization in the big picture, to express the goals, and then to get very granular in giving tactics for how every parish and family can experience this renewal. 1. To foster an experience of conversion and renewal in the heart of every believer, leading to a more active living of Catholic life 2. To foster an experience of conversion and renewal in every parish 3. To make the evangelizing dimension of Sunday Eucharist more explicit 4. To foster an appreciation of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist and of all the sacraments, the sacred signs of our Catholic life 5. To foster a greater appreciation of the power of God's Word in our worship 6. To foster an even deeper sense of prayer among our Catholic people 7. To foster a renewed understanding of the faith among Catholics 8. To foster a sense of discipleship among Catholic adults and children 9. To foster active and personal religious experience through participation in small-group and other communal experiences in which the Good News is shared, experienced, and applied to daily life 10. To foster a sense of the domestic church within households in which families, individuals, and groups reside 11. To promote and develop a spirituality for the workplace 12. To foster greater appreciation of cultural and ethnic spirituality Many of these have to do with the Sunday Mass. Fr. Chris said the Mass is one of the principle places we go to be renewed with the Lord. The document talks about encouraging Eucharistic adoration and about sacramental preparation. The Church re-introduces us to our faith in the preparation, even if we've baptized other children already, for example. Scot focused on the suggestions for the domestic church. * cultivation of daily prayer and times of prayer in the home; * establishment of times of family sharing; * home-based rituals shaped by the liturgical year; * formation of groups of parents, families, and households to develop spirituality in the home; and * adaptation of new and meaningful faith practices within the family in view of the decline of family prayer. Janet said some people don't quite know how to live the Christian faith together with their family. Start by praying together as a married couple. Then when children come, pray with them, and get them used to the idea that spiritual life is not something we do in private, but which we do as a community. Scot's brother, Fr. Roger Landry, says his best seminary was the domestic church of his home where he learned so much of his faith. Fr. Chris said he heard about kids who write to the bishop about their confirmation sponsors and how often it's someone in their lives who have witnessed to their faith. It's all the little moments of passing on the faith, taking the opportunities that are there. It takes effort to carve out time for prayer, but how will we know Jesus if we don't. The second goal of the document is "To invite all people in the United States, whatever their social or cultural background, to hear the message of salvation in Jesus Christ so they may come to join us in the fullness of the Catholic faith." Some of the strategies are: 1. To make every Catholic institution, especially our parishes, more welcoming 2. To help every Catholic feel comfortable about sharing his or her faith and inviting people to discover Christ in our Catholic family of believers 3. To develop within families and households the capacity to share the Gospel 4. To equip and empower our active Catholic members to exercise their baptismal call to evangelize 5. To use special times in parish and family life to invite people to faith 6. To cultivate an active core of the baptized to serve as ministers of evangelization in their parishes, dioceses, neighborhoods, workplaces, and homes 7. To effectively invite people to our Church 8. To design programs of outreach for those who have ceased being active in the Church 9. To design programs that reach out in particular ways to those who do not participate in a church community or who seek the fullness of faith Janet said many of our parishes have become more welcoming through Catholics Come Home, creating ministries of welcoming, putting explanatory and welcoming materials in the pews, making the churches more accessible to those who might be uneasy about coming. As institutions become more aware of their Catholic identity, they become better witnesses to a culture that is somewhat hostile to them. Scot said many Catholics leave the Church for evangelical churches because they are welcomed there, by joyful people. There are too many Catholic parishes where someone could attend every week and no one would ever know their name or speak to them. Fr. Chris noted that the Pastoral Center is open every weekday for Mass at noon and on Thursdays for confessions, which is welcoming. Some of the strategies of the third goal are: 1. To involve parishes and local service groups in the needs of their neighborhood 2. To foster the importance of the family 3. To develop groups to explore issues of the workplace and lay spirituality 4. To encourage Catholic witness in the arts and in the American intellectual community 5. To involve every Catholic, on different levels, in areas of public policy 6. To involve the Catholic Church, on every level, in the media 7. To involve Catholics, at every level, in questions of economic systems The Church has a lot to offer the culture. Janet said the document is forward-looking on Catholic social teaching. We respect the dignity of the human person which is a fundamental teaching of our faith. Every Catholic is called to bring to every part of their life the mindset of a Catholic, the Christian idea of society founded for the common good. Fr. Chris recalled Pope Benedict saying even for someone who doesn't believe, it's better to follow the Ten Commandments because everyone's rights will be protected. Scot said the third goal encompasses the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Stephen Rock, pastor of St. Agnes Parish in Reading; Beirne Lovely, General Counsel for the Archdiocese of Boston; Fr. Frank Pavone, Director of Priests for Life; Bill Wise, parishioner at St. Paul Parish in Hingham * [Archdiocese of the Military Services, USA](http://www.milarch.org/site/c.dwJXKgOUJiIaG/b.6287817/k.3DFD/Home__Archdiocese_for_the_Military.htm) **Today's topics:** Memorial Day remembrances by a Vietnam veteran and a former Navy chaplain; Priests for Life **A summary of today's show:** On Memorial Day, Scot talks with Beirne Lovely about his experience as a Marine serving in Vietnam and as a veteran on Memorial Day; with Fr. Frank Pavone about the ministry of Priests for Life and this weekend's appearance at St. Paul, Hingham; and Fr. Stephen Rock, a 34-year Navy chaplain and now pastor of St. Agnes, Reading. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Beirne Lovely, general counsel for the archdiocese and a former Marine, to the show. Scot asked him about his military service. He was commissioned as a Marine officer directly from Dartmouth College in 1967, followed by six months in Marine officer training, and then directly to Vietnam. He was stationed there for 13 months, all of 1968, which was one of the worst years of the war, including the [Tet Offensive](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tet_Offensive). He spent his whole tour up north, including a [Khe Sanh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Khe_Sanh) and the [DMZ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_Demilitarized_Zone). He was very close to the North Vietnamese border, serving as a platoon commander in an infantry company. He became a company commander when his company commander was killed. Scot said his perception of the Marines is that they are the ones who go in first, taking on the most difficult and most life-threatening assignments. Beirne said that was true. The Marine Corps had responsibility for the northern region of South Vietnam so they primarily were facing uniformed, trained [North Vietnamese Army](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_People%27s_Army) soldiers rather than [Viet Cong](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viet_Cong) guerillas, so that's a fair statement. Beirne has been out of active duty with the Marines for 40 years now. What's it like to be a veteran on Memorial Day, remembering all those who have served and given their lives? Beirne said he lost a lot of friends in Vietnams. He arrived in Vietnam on an airplane with about 40 infantry Second Lieutenants and of those about half were killed and virtually all of the rest were wounded, so he has a special memory of service. He spends Memorial Day with other veterans in his hometown of Milton, which has services of recognition of veterans. He's spoken at a number of memorial services. He stays in touch with them year-round. He belongs to a number of veteran organizations to gather and recall the services of others. It's a difficult day in some respects because it reminds him of the friends he's lost as well as the people who served with and under him who were killed. He remains close to a small cadre of friends who he survived with and periodically they gather. Every year they celebrate the Marine Corps birthday on November 10. Boston is famous for its [Marine Corps birthday recognition](http://www.necn.com/11/10/10/US-Marine-Corps-turns-235/landing_newengland.html?blockID=349493&feedID=4206). They have a Marine Corps luncheon with over 2000 at the Hynes Convention Center. It's the biggest gathering of Marines in the country and often the [Commandant](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commandant_of_the_Marine_Corps) or the assistant commandant come and speak. They have a number of Medal of Honor winners who are present. Msgr. John McDonough, a priest of Boston and former Chief of Chaplains for the Air Force (who Scot and Beirne jokingly call "the General") and Fr. Rich Erikson, the vicar general of the Archdiocese and reserve Air Force chaplain, have attended the last couple of years with Beirne. Scot asked Beirne about the message he often delivers about the debt we all owe to those who are willing to give their lives in service to their country, particularly those who have lost their lives. The principle message he tries to send is one of respect and thanks and admiration for those who have served. This past week was recently Armed Forces Day, which honors everyone, living and dead, who have served. Memorial Day is a special time to remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. When he talks to young people, many of them have no idea of this reality and have not experienced this and hopefully never will. But given Iraq and Afghanistan, people are more cognizant. He tries to make them understand that people can have a special calling and sometimes we have to do what we don't like to do. No one likes war, but someone has to fight it. Scot said Beirne served in a time when the respect for the military was low during the War in Vietnam. Beirne said during his last parade at Dartmouth College before graduating, they had to move to the stadium because there were so many protesters. He remembers having eggs thrown at him. Coming back from Vietnam, he recalls spitting at him or looking the other way or yelling at him. Quite a different experience than what troops experience today. He doesn't hesitate to say that he thinks Vietnam was a mistake, but when one is serving in the Armed Forces, you don't challenge your superiors, from the President on down. Scot said we may face some of the same issues today where some don't agree with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which can lead to an attitude towards men and women in uniform. It seems to have gotten better, but Scot's not sure that we still show proper appreciation for those who offer their lives in protection of our country. What's Beirne's sense of how we as a society, particularly in Massachusetts, appreciate our servicemen and women? He thinks we're getting much better at it. He thinks veterans are being accorded the respect that they're due. It's painful for him to watch. He wasn't a big supporter of what we did in Iraq or the strategy in Afghanistan. It's difficult to conceive how the war will be "won". He has friends, whose children are in the service and going back for their third, fourth, or even fifth tours. In a sense, you're waiting for the bubble to burst. Vietnam was somewhat similar. Beirne was at Khe Sanh for 100 days. It was a famous base in a valley that was ill-situated. He remembers taking patrols out every day for 100 days and running into small-arms contact every day without exception and forcing his troops to walk through the densest of brush. Today, the young people are forced to drive on roads which they don't have complete control over and there's no way to combat the improved explosive devices (IED). One of Beirne's jobs, his hardest, was when he came back from Vietnam. He was assigned to Newport naval base as executive officer of the Marine barracks over a couple hundred Marines. His job every fourth day was to make casualty calls to families of Marines who had lost a loved one. He probably did 100 of those over 3-1/2 years. That was the most painful task. There's nothing worse than knocking on the front the door and telling a mother her son is dead. Scot said, they know as soon as they see you. It's a very quick notification in the sense that you have to get it out: "Mr Lovely, I'm sorry to tell you that your son, Charles, was killed two days ago in the Republic of Vietnam serving his country." It just doesn't get any worse than that. After the notification it was his job to follow through and handle the funeral and coordinate the military honors at the funeral. Of all the things that bring him tears, he's not ashamed to say it, is thinking about those people who gave their lives. Scot said, both for our Catholic and non-Catholic listeners, Memorial Day takes on an air of "what cookout are you going to?" using the language of celebration, not thinking of how difficult it is for someone who's made 100 of those calls and lost so many friends. What suggestion does Beirne have for everyone, but especially Catholics? Beirne said he was not the most devout and faithful Catholic when he finished college. But he remembers in Vietnam the role of the chaplain. At Khe Sanh, you had to stay in a trench all the time. They were taking 2,500 rounds per day of heavy artillery. These chaplains were notoriously visible, which gave him a great deal of comfort. His message to people is to pause some time during the day to think about those who have worn the uniform and have made the ultimate sacrifice for their God and their country from their perspective. Scot would add to that to pray for the souls of the faithful departed, particularly those who have served in the military. Something we're very good at in the Church is remembering those who have gone before us. If you happen to encounter someone you know has served, thank them for their service, however short or long it is. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Bill Wise and Fr. Frank Pavone to show. Scot asked Fr. Frank to describe Priests for Life's ministries. He said this is the group's 20th year. They help priests to be more clear, articulate, and effective in proclaiming the Gospel of Life, counseling those who may be tempted to abort, helping those who have had abortions to find forgiveness and peace. * [Priests for Life](http://www.priestsforlife.org/) Their ministry goes beyond what priests are called to do. Priests for Life ministers to the whole pro-life movement, training laypeople in the spirituality of being pro-life, how to defend life; ministering directly to those who've had abortions, via Rachel's Vineyard; operating the Silent No More campaign, in which men and women who've lost children to abortion share their testimony publicly; reaching out to people to exercise their political responsibilities consistent with the Church's teachings; reaching out to African-Americans, led by Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King; and more. * [Missionaries of the Gospel of Life](http://www.priestsforlife.org/missionary/) * [Rachel's Vineyard](http://www.rachelsvineyard.org/) * [Silent No More Awareness campaign](http://www.silentnomoreawareness.org/) * [African-American Outreach](http://www.priestsforlife.org/africanamerican/) * [Fr. Frank Pavone on Twitter](http://twitter.com/frfrankpavone) * [Priests for Life on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/ProLifePage) * [Fr. Pavone's channel on YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/frfrankpavone) Scot asked Fr. Frank what image does he hope that Catholics in the pro-life movement portray. He said the secular media is always trying to portray the extremists, but that isn't what we are as Catholics. Fr. Frank points out that this is a movement that is positive and one of inclusion. It goes against the "[Roe v. Wade](http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0410_0113_ZS.html)" decision, which said that the word "person" does not include the unborn. The pro-life view has open arms, welcoming and nurturing all human life. We say to the society, what Jesus says to us: "I am with you." I do not condemn you. I want to help you to say yes to life, to find solutions to your problems. Scot recalled that Marianne Luthin, pro-life director for the Archdiocese, [described](http://www.thegoodcatholiclife.com/2011/03/18/program-0008-for-friday-march-18-2011/) Boston's Project Rachel retreats and how they bring healing to women who've suffered abortion. He said the Rachel's Vineyard ministry does the same thing. It's important for us to share that it's important to help people both before and after abortion. Fr. Frank said the pro-life movement is a pro-woman movement. Pope John Paul said the pro-life stance is a stance in solidarity with the woman. We say that very clearly. We don't say, Let's love the baby and forget about the mother. They sometimes counsel women who've had as many as 25 abortions. Someone who's gone through something like that and is reconciled to the Church, then other people can say that there's hope for them, even for those involved in other sins. Scot said St. Paul's parish has asked Fr. Frank to speak at all the Masses and lead an evening discussion on June 4 and 5. Bill Wise said he and his wife attended a conference of Catholic CEOs in Naples, Florida, through [Legatus](http://www.legatus.org/). He and his wife knew Fr. Frank from other events, including the National Prayer Breakfast in DC. Fr. Frank had said at the time that he'd met Cardinal Seán last January and how he was so supportive of his ministries. Bill said he was moved by the Holy Spirit to invite Fr. Frank to Hingham. Fr. James Rafferty, the pastor of the parish, graciously extended his invitation and the pro-life committee organized the event. * [St. Paul Parish, Hingham](http://www.stpaulhingham.net/) Fr. Frank was grateful for the invitation and that there was a weekend relatively soon to come visit. He said anyone who wants him or any of the priests who work with him to visit their parish are welcome to contact Priests for Life. There are six priests from various parts of the country who do this work full-time. On Saturday, June 4, 7pm-9pm, Fr. Frank will give an encouragement and signs of progress and victory in the pro-life movement together with a look forward to some key projects and opportunities in the months to come. Then he will listen to the people to hear their impressions, their questions, their concerns. He wants them to feel they got exactly what they need to take the next steps in their ministry. Fr. Frank said it's been at least five years since he's been in the Boston area. Scot asked Bill how many people can be accommodated at St. Paul's for this gathering. Bill said they are prepared to welcome anyone who comes. He said they will see a good representation of the youth of the parish on Saturday night as well. Fr. Frank will be preaching at the 4pm vigil Mass on Saturday and then at the 7am, 9am, and 11am Masses on Sunday. The Saturday night gathering will be tentatively in the St. Paul School hall, or in the church if they need more room. Scot made the point that Priests for Life is not just for priests, but for everyone. Fr. Frank agreed and said the group is there to serve both clergy and laity. Much of their work is directed to people in the pews and people of other denominations as well. This is a matter of life itself and there's nothing more fundamental than that. **3rd segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Rock to show. He's pastor of St. Agnes in Reading and a former Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard chaplain. Scot said he's retired as a military chaplain and asked him about the assignments he's had as a Navy chaplain. Fr. Rock said he served for 34 years, the first 13 in the Reserves and the rest on active duty. He served with the Marines in [Okinawa, Japan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Corps_Base_Camp_Smedley_D._Butler); on board the USS Long Beach out of San Diego, (which was built in Quincy); [Camp LeJeune](http://www.lejeune.usmc.mil/), North Carolina, with the Marines; and then [Naval Air Station Sigonella](http://www.cnic.navy.mil/Sigonella/index.htm) in Sicily, Italy. From there he was called back to Washington to serve as personnel director for chaplains serving the Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard. * ["Fr. Stephen Rock named new pastor in Reading," The Pilot, 4/13/2007](http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=4468) * [St. Agnes Parish, Reading](http://www.st-agnes-reading.org/) Scot asked how many Navy chaplains are there? Fr. Rock said there were 1,100 chaplains around the world, 235 of them active duty priests. That was at the time he left he job in 1996. As he understands it now, there are less than 100 priests on active duty. * ["Chaplains in short supply to minister to the armed forces," Rhode Island Catholic, 2/24/11](http://thericatholic.com/news/detail.html?sub_id=3880) After that job, he assigned himself to the [USS Theodore Roosevelt](http://www.roosevelt.navy.mil/) out of Norfolk, Virginia, an aircraft carrier with 5,000 sailors and Marines on board. From there he went back to the Marines in Okinawa and then around the world again to [Naples, Italy](http://www.cnic.navy.mil/Naples/index.htm), which gave him an opportunity to be in Rome on several occasions. For his last assignment, he returned to New England for the [Coast Guard Academy](http://www.cga.edu/) in New London, Connecticut. He spent 3 great years with those young men and women. Scot asked him what attracted to being a naval chaplain when he was in the seminary. Fr. Rock said his father had a cousin who was a chaplain with the Army Air Corp in World War II and he's sure he heard some of those stories growing up. Also growing up in Boston, he had a great love of the ocean and stories of naval history here. He wanted to be a priest in conjunction with serving the country and traveling and seeing the world. Scot asked what it was like to be a chaplain on the Roosevelt, how it's different from being pastor of a large parish in Reading. Fr. Rock said he was the senior chaplain on the ship with two Protestant chaplains who served under him along with a couple of enlisted personnel. Their role was to provide not only for the religious needs of the men and women onboard, but also the personal needs that are the equivalent of social work. They would handle all the Red Cross messages from the US regarding a death in the family or issues back home. They became pastors for the whole trip. The difference between being a chaplain on the ship and a pastor in a parish is just the uniform. In the parish he has the collar on and on the ship he has the uniform on. Some of the sailors would refer to him as "Captain" (his rank), but most would call him "Chaps" or "Padre" or "Father". It was always a sign of endearment. He wasn't into the rank. He remembers a sailor telling another, "Don't worry about his rank. He couldn't care less about it. He's more interested in being with us." Fr. Rock saw that as the ultimate compliment. His responsibilities as a chaplain extended beyond the Catholics. Fr. Rock said chaplains are responsible to provide religious opportunities for everyone. So of course he would celebrate the Masses, which occurred on the Roosevelt on Saturday night, Sunday morning, and Sunday afternoon. He would also helicopter to other ships in the carrier's task force. There was no Jewish chaplain so he would work with the Jewish community onboard to prepare lay-led services. Before they would deploy, he would connect one of them with a local rabbi for training. They would do the same for all the other faith groups as well. Scot asked if there were big difference between serving with the Navy versus serving with the Marines and serving with the Coast Guard. Fr. Rock said that one interesting difference is that there were more Catholic Marines than there were Catholic sailors. He's heard different explanations, but he doesn't know how to explain it. He said there's a deep desire in people for a better understanding of God, and who more than those putting themselves in harm's way. They want to know there is a God who cares and loves them. That is the same between the services. The chaplains serve as role models and to share with them not only their hardships, but also the love of God and the hope that comes from a relationship with God. Scot asked what it's like to be at sea for long periods. Fr. Rock said it's awesome to see the beauty of God. Being a person of faith, you try to see God everywhere in His creation. At sea, you see the ocean, the clouds, the sunrises and sunsets, and the night sky. Also the animals you find at sea. You get a whole sense of God's creation. In 1987, he was on an [Aegis cruiser](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ticonderoga_class_cruiser) coming out of the Persian Gulf through the Straits of Hormuz about midnight. The Captain told him that they would have Mass that night out on the deck between weapons mounts and they jokingly named it St. [CIWS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_CIWS) of the Sea. It was incredible in terms of the brightness of the stars and the phosphorescence of the ocean so they didn't need any lights for the Mass. The men and women could sense that God was with them in this place in a very special way. It's one of his best memories celebrating Mass at sea. **4th segment:** Scot asked Fr. Rock what is like to be chaplain in the Far East during his two stints at Okinawa for himself the men interacting in a culture different from our own. Fr. Rock said it's a blessing for our military to have assignments around the world because they are put in contact with other cultures and they don't have a choice. When they get there, they can embrace it and go out and discover it, or they just stay on the base. For those that want to learn as much as they can, there's a richness that opens up for them. Fr. Rock was blessed to have a priest in the local diocese, a Capuchin Franciscan from Wisconsin who'd been there since the 1950s. He was a great mentor to all the priests coming through Okinawa and he gave them a view into the local culture that was very Shinto Buddhist but also connected to the Catholic Church. The more Fr. Rock understood Shinto, it was like reading the Old Testament. He remembers being at a ceremony in a town in northern Okinawa called [Nago](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nago,_Okinawa), for the cherry blossom festival, which is a big celebration for Japan. There was a huge banyan tree in the middle of the city, in front of which was an altar covered with fruits and vegetables and other items, like sake. Of course, Fr. Rock didn't understand Japanese, so he just had to go on what he saw was happening. But he watched them chant, beat the drum, and dance around, and then take the food on the altar and throw it up into the tree, and then take the big bottles of sake and pour them on the roots of the tree (which disappointed the Marines he was with). Later on the day, one of his chaplain friends who'd been a missionary in Taiwan before becoming a chaplain said to Fr. Rock that's right out of the Old Testament. Wherever the patriarchs had encountered God in a special way, they would build an altar and offer sacrifice to God in honor of that visit. For the Shinto, in the ceremony they weren't worshipping the tree, but worshipping the gods as they understood them. What they did know is that because the tree was so big and unique in Okinawa, they believed the gods as they understood them must have touched earth in this particular spot. The Franciscan missionary told him that they were able to use much of the folklore to help the people understand Christianity because of the connections to Christian understanding. The more he traveled in Asia and visited Shinto shrines, he saw the devotion of the people at them and their sense of the divine mystery. They had no understanding of it as we do, but they recognized that there was something beyond them. At these places of worship they would be present while we in the West, without our scientific way of thinking and wanting to figure everything out, have lost a lot of the sense of the sacred and the divine. The biggest difficulty for Christianity in that part of the world is the crucifixion. They can't understand the humiliation of the cross. Fr. Rock recalls a book that said the way to the Japanese heart is through the compassion of Christ and the stories of Scripture like the Samaritan woman and the the woman with the hemorrhages. Fr. Rock said it enriched the spiritual lives of those from the West who were able to experience it. Scot asked Fr. Rock how often he brings his experiences in the Navy to his preaching at St. Agnes. He replied that it depends on what's going on. He tries not to tell Navy stories all the time, but there are opportunities to bring his experience to a particular reading. Scot asked him to describe St. Agnes. He said it's a busy parish with a lot going on. They have had a great foundation of faith-building in the parish. They had Fr. Arthur Flynn as pastor for 33 years and they did a lot of great spiritual development at that time. Fr. Rock wants to go from being a good parish to a great parish and move forward, improving their outreach. That's one of the big differences from being a chaplain. On a naval base, you take care of the chapel and maintain things for two or three years or maintain the chaplaincy on a ship, and you move on to another assignment. But now Fr. Rock is close to his fourth anniversary at St. Agnes, which is the longest he's been in one place for the last 25 years. So on the one hand, he could sit back and relax, but on the other, there's so much that needs to be done working with all the parishioners and growing the parish. Something they've took on was the project related to the book, "From Maintenance to Mission," by Fr. Bob Rivers, to be come a church that is mission-oriented. They started the process a year ago and in October they did the parish-wide survey during the homily at Mass. The surveys were sent to the [Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate](http://cara.georgetown.edu/index.html) at Georgetown, who complied the data and put it together in a report. Then they did focus groups which involved about 140 people. In February, they had a listening day at which 175 people came to the church for six hours. They were excited to be able to talk and be heard. Then in March they had a discernment day, trying to narrow down all the ideas of listening day into some practical things they could move forward with. That was another six hour day. They have another one coming up at the beginning of June that they call vision day, to lay out what they will do for the next three years in outreach. It begins a process that is Christ-centered and will be all laid out on Pentecost weekend. Scot said he will have Fr. Rock and some of his parishioners back on the show to talk about this process which could be a model for other parishes. He thanked Fr. Rock for his service to our country and as a priest here in the Archdiocese of Boston. Fr. Rock said Memorial Day is a reminder to us of the sacrifice of all who have gone before us and a good day to remember them, to pray for them, and to thank God for the gifts we have in this country of those who are willingly to go in harm's way on our behalf.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Paul Soper, Pastor of St. Albert the Great Parish, Weymouth * [St. Albert the Great Parish, Weymouth](http://www.atgweymouth.org/) **Today's topics:** How an astrophysicist becomes a priest; helping Catholics cope with reconfiguration; Catholics Come Home; St. Albert the Great Parish **A summary of today's show:** Fr. Paul Soper joins Scot and Fr. Mark to talk about being an astrophysicist who became a parish priest; the remarkable response of a parish to being closed; and how his current parish became an example of helping Catholics come home. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Mark back to the show. Fr. Mark said that as it's Friday of Memorial Day weekend, we might be the only people left in the building. A very special event happened in Fr. Mark's family yesterday. His sister Margaret Mary graduated from Harvard University with a Master's degree and intends to become a teacher in the inner city. It's a great time of year. Scot said Cardinal Seán said at the ordination Mass last weekend that they were holding a rapture party. He used it very cleverly, poking gentle fun at those claiming the end of world would be last week. Fr. Mark was at St. Athanasius in Reading this week for a talk on issues related to the work of the tribunal, especially related to marriages and annulments. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark welcome Fr. Paul Soper to the show. Fr. Paul grew up in St. Jerome's Parish in Weymouth. The pastor when he was a teen was Fr. Dan Quinn, very open and loving man and effusive in his love of God and the Church. One day, he asked Fr. Paul at 15 years old to think about being a priest. Fr. Paul said he wanted to be an astronomer. He made him promise to consider it briefly before doing anything final. Fr. Paul went to college and began to apply for graduate schools, but yet had been feeling something gnawing inside him. He went to St. Paul's, Cambridge, to speak to a priest there about these questions coming up. He thought it was just to honor the promise and put it to rest, but it lead to him deciding this was a serious call. His family was supportive, but probably not very surprised. His parents were very wise and their reaction was wanting to support him if that's what he wants to do. They later told him he was very pleased, but didn't want to influence his decision. Scot asked about those who want to pit science against faith. Fr. Paul has a degree in astrophysics. He asked Fr. Paul how studying science affected his faith. The Psalmist says the heavens proclaim the glory of the Lord. He doesn't look to science to lead him to direct conclusions about God. But go outside on a starry night to observe the immensity of the universe to observe how glorious they are, and yet they are entirely incapable of knowing what they are and why they were created. If he can study the star, and it can lead him to glorifying God because of it, then he's helping it to fulfill its purpose. Fr. Mark said some scientists cannot connect their faith to their livelihood. They can't measure God and so eliminate him from their belief. Fr. Paul said science asks questions about what and how, but is very poor at asking questions about why. The scientific method is harsh, demanding, rigorous and limited. Questions of why are really fundamental questions. They go well with the how questions. For example, the Big Bang can be investigated as to the how, but the why question which goes hand in hand with it, needs to be investigated in the chapel and in prayer and in Scripture and human interrelations. The universe is pulsing with meaning that cannot be investigated by the scientific method. One of the astronauts Pope Benedict spoke with last week said you can't help but pray when considering the fragility and beauty of the earth. Fr. Paul said one of the beautiful unfoldings with human history, with each age new ways have come forward for us to be able to understand our relationship with the Lord. In the 20th and 21st century has brought a deepened understanding of mathematics and physics. Scot said in his own life, when he went from working in marketing to the seminary, they couldn't how someone could go from the "devil's work" to the Church. How did scientists react to his entering the priesthood? Fr. Paul said he was able to continue his work with a team of scientists and they continue to research and publish papers together. He is the only religious person in the group, but they are respectful and intrigued and fascinated by the questions that are raised. One of the men died a couple of months ago and he was a self-described "religious junkie". They would often talk about religion. He was Jewish but he was fascinated by the questions. Fr. Mark said he gets a kick out of the papers Fr. Paul publishes because he can't read them because they are all very scientific. Among the academic credentials mentioned, Fr. Paul's always says St. Albert, Weymouth. Fr. Mark said in seminary that Fr. Paul has never flaunted his intelligence. He is a wonderful man who do anything for anyone, Fr. Mark said, and is his greatest friend. Academically, moving to seminary was a surprising transition, said Fr. Paul. He went from problem sets and computer programs to writing papers and doing lots of reading. He had a close group of friends in college who were very supportive and in the seminary he experienced the same. The best part for him was the community, which has continued to stay in touch. Fr. Mark said Fr. Paul was the only seminarian with a computer at the time. they started out with 42 classmates of whom 21 were ordained, 11 of whom were for Boston. Scot said that rate is not uncommon. Fr. Paul said seminary is a place of discernment, where one discovers whether they have a vocation to the priesthood. There is a particular vocation to being a seminarian as well, which some of the men who left might have had. It is a vocation of hope and is a vocation in and of itself within the Church. One of their classmates who left is now Fr. Tony Medeiros, rector of Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary in Boston. **3rd segment:** Fr. Soper has served in many parishes and at campus ministry at UMass Lowell. He has covered all five regions of the diocese. Most priests stay primarily in one region or another. Fr. Mark said he and Fr. Paul made a commitment that whatever the cardinal asks, they will do. They do not ask for assignments. Scot said that's not unlike Cardinal Seán who's taken on one difficult assignment after another as a bishop. Scot asked him what it's like to serve in many different parishes. Fr. Paul said it's been a great adventure, in part because never having chosen any of them, and so each one is a great surprise. He's grown in each place he's been and he's been happy there, making wonderful friends. In 2004, he was pastor at St. Alphonsus in Beverly and not long after, during Reconfiguration, the parish was designated for closing. Fr. Paul said it was a parish that took the concept of stewardship very seriously. They had wonderful leadership in that. Every Sunday after the prayers of the faithful, the parish would say together the stewardship prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola. >Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess You have given me: I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will. Give me only Your love and Your grace; with these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more. When reconfiguration came and they saw themselves as a small parish surrounded by large parishes, they brought to the committee considering it that they offered to be closed. This occurred after many meetings within the parish. He had come to Beverly from St. Anthony, Revere, and an opportunity had arisen at that parish to build a church in a remote area of the Dominican Republic. The parishioners at St. Alphonsus decided that if they were to close their own parish, that they would go to the Dominican Republic and explore the idea of building a new parish there. They worked with an architect and decided to build a beautiful place, not just something inexpensive and easy to build. They had many parish fundraisers that raised $30,000. They managed to sell every piece of furniture from the rectory for this purpose. They brought many sacred goods, including statues, altar linens, vestments, nativity sets, etc., from Beverly to the new church called San Alfonso, which opened about 8 months after St. Alphonsus closed. They ended up having to carry them up a mountain because the rains prevented the truck from climbing the hill. Scot said it's very far from the common reaction of those whose parishes were closed. Many people were attached to their parishes and wanted to hold one, but this reaction was to become giving. Fr. Paul was very moved by what he saw. On the day they closed the church they had a procession around the church, finishing with the St. Ignatius prayer. There were tears of sorrow, but also tears of sacrificial love. From there he went to Bl. Mother Teresa Parish in Dorchester and the St. Albert in Weymouth. St. Albert also suffered a lot from reconfiguration and gone through a lot of pain. The parish closed for 10 months and the parishioners had stayed and then it reopened. Fr. Paul said when he arrived at St. Albert, Fr. Larry Borges had been taking care of the parish after it had settled into the idea of being opened again and trying to normalize itself. They're maintaining the enthusiasm and zeal of fighting to stay open while doing all the ordinary things a parish does. During the time it was closed, extraordinary lay leadership come forward. The parish continue to function in many ways and those leaders stayed after it reopened. It provides a model for how parishes should function in coming days when priests become to rare to do the things priests don't need to do. Lay leadership brings a depth to parish life even if there were many priests available. Fr. Paul said there is no paid janitor. They have volunteers who take care of that. They have volunteer pastoral associates. They just had a big spring cleanup. Part of that is because they don't have huge financial resources, but they also don't need them because they have an activated lay leadership. Scot said stewardship is giving time, talent, and treasure and time and talent are more important. Fr. Paul said it's healthier for a parish to have people who love the parish to do those things, than to hire someone to do them. Scot said the painful chapter of St. Albert's history was a source for a unique way to launch [Catholics Come Home](http://www,catholicscomehomeboston.org). Fr. Paul said last fall, as they were planning for Christmas, the parish council considered what does a welcoming parish look like. They were already doing many significants part of that. After every daily Mass and Sunday Mass, they would have hospitality in the parish hall. Another aspect of being welcoming would be welcoming to those who were coming for Christmas Masses. The parish council wrote a letter to explore the reasons people might have left the Church and sympathized with those reasons and then told the people that they would be missed. They put the letter in the hands of every person who came to the church on Christmas. They also decided to have Ash Wednesday as a focus for Catholics Come Home and decided to have the church open for 24 hours that day. Well over 1,000 people came through the doors of the church. They had welcoming teams of at least 4, but often many more. As people came through the door, somebody met them, walked them up to where the ashes were being given, talked to them, gave them a prayer card, and invited them to come back on Good Friday. They heard many confessions. Many meetings with people who came through the door, including many would be candidates for RCIA. Fr. Paul said they believe it was a great success. **5th segment:** Each Friday we look forward to the upcoming Sunday's Gospel to reflect on it and prepare for the Sunday homily. * [Gospel for May 29, Sixth Sunday of Easter](http://www.usccb.org/nab/052911.shtml#gospel) >Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” Scot recalls to himself that this is before Pentecost and Apostles must have heard this as a complicated riddle. He finds it moving that Jesus talks about leaving them a second time and He must have known their fear about being "left orphans". Fr. Paul said the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church connects with evangelization. The Spirit is a gift given to the Church, not for the Church, but rather for the world. We weren't given the Spirit not for ourselves. We are to carry the Spirit out to the world. We can be comfortable inside our walls, but we need to move beyond them to bring the Spirit to those places. The disciples at Pentecost never went back to the room in which they had been hiding in fear. They go out into the world. Scot said the first and primary Advocate is Jesus. We should ask prayers of God in the name of Jesus. So he's giving us another Advocate, which is the Holy Spirit. Fr. Mark said this is how God loves us. How do I love God? Fr. Mark thinks of C.S. Lewis in [Mere Christianity](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060652888/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0060652888) who said don't sit there and manufacture feelings. Think of how you would show love to God and go do it. God loves us by giving us the Spirit we can rely on and which is enough for us. The Holy Spirit can answer any question in our heart. Scot said Jesus repeats himself. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments and then says it again at the end that if we love Him we will do it. With repetition, Jesus is driving home the point. How do I love Jesus? Do I keep His commandments? Fr. Paul said Jesus gives us the example of true love. The Commandments are precious and we need to long to follow the commandments. Realistically we do that better sometimes and poorly other times. But Jesus didn't just teach us, didn't just tell us what to do. He also saved us. He died to hold us up when we don't do what He told us to do. Jesus himself is the commandment. He dies for those who won't do what you want them to do. Pope Benedict's first encyclical was "Deus Caritas Est" (God is love). Love is not just a feeling; it's an action. Fr. Mark says you see in Fr. Paul's parishes that by the actions of his parishioners they show love. Loving others is to the good of our enemies ahead of our own good, said Fr. Paul. * [Some of Fr. Soper's scientific papers](http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=%22paul+d.+soper%22&btnG=Search&as_sdt=0%2C22&as_ylo=&as_vis=0) That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. For recordings and photos of today’s show and all previous shows, please visit our website: TheGoodCatholicLife.com. You can also download the app for your iPhone or Android device at WQOM.org to listen to the show wherever you may be. We thank our guest, Father Paul Soper. For our co-host, Father Mark O’Connell, our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli, and George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. **Today's topics:** Ordination; Catholic school closing in Lawrence; the John Jay College report on sexual abuse; the Pope talks to astronauts **A summary of today's show:** Scot, Susan, Fr. Roger, and Gregory discuss the priestly ordination Mass in Boston this past week; misinformation about a Catholic school closing in Lawrence; more analysis of the John Jay College report on the abuse crisis; Pope Benedict talking to astronauts in space; and more. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Susan back to the show. She was in Atlanta this week for the [National Association for Catechetical Media Professionals](http://www.nacmp.org/) meeting. Scot today met in a cabinet meeting in which Msgr. Bill Fay updated Cardinal Seán and the cabinet on the work of a committee considering pastoral planning for the archdiocese. The commission has 17 or 18 members who have been getting to know one another and the hard work that has been done already on pastoral planning in the archdiocese. They are working on getting us from where we are today to where we want to be in 10 years. Msgr. Fay used to be general secretary of the US Bishops Conference and is now pastor at St. Columbkille's in Brighton. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Gregory and Fr. Roger back to the show. The cover story of The Pilot this week is on the ordination Mass this week in which six men were ordained: Rev. John Anthony D’Arpino, Rev. Michael Joseph Farrell, Rev. Kwang Hyun Lee, Rev. Mark William Murphy, Rev. Carlos David Suarez, and Rev. Sean Patrick Hurley, FPO. Gregory said the Mass began and the weather was gloomy and much like March and by the end it was May again with sun and warmth, which was an analogy for the day for these men. Gregory said it's like having six weddings at one time. Instead of one powerful moment, there is six. * [George Martell's photos of the Ordination Mass](http://www.flickr.com/photos/bostoncatholic/sets/72157626770315180/) * [CatholicTV's recorded broadcast of the Mass](http://www.catholictv.com/Priesthood-Ordination-2011.aspx) It was an unusual ceremony in that all the men studied at St. John's. In other years, there can be those from Bl. John XXIII, Redemptoris Mater, or the Pontifical North American College. Susan said the ceremony is so moving and filled with rich imagery and language. Susan pointed out that there are some wonderful ordination photos by George Martell in the public places in the Pastoral Center. Scot was able to watch the rebroadcast of the show because he couldn't attend the Mass and his daughter had commented on how many hugs the newly ordained received from the other priests. His son remarked on how Cardinal Seán kissed their hands. Fr. Roger's ordination anniversary will be later this summer after 12 years in the priesthood and has participated in many ordinations since then. In his own ordination, receiving Christ's peace from so many priests he knew and looked up and who were his heroes was moving. Many of them whispered congratulations to him, calling "Father" for the first time. He now does that for all newly ordained and says a special pray for them. Then Scot played a series of taped comments from the newly ordained themselves recorded at the Mass. They were asked what it's like to be laying prostrate at the altar and what the most poignant moment is for them. They spoke of the power of the Litany of the Saints, to be reminded of the whole Church in heaven and on earth that is praying for them. Fr. Roger talked about what it was like to lay prostrate during the Litany of the Saints at his ordination Mass. He said a priest never forgets that experience. He still remembers the smell of the carpet and the dust on the floor. In the old rite, the man would be covered in a funeral pall to remind him that he was dying to himself and that he was being reborn in Christ. Scot asked him what is the exact moment he becomes a priest and Fr. Roger said there are two parts. The prayer is the form of the sacrament, in which the Holy Spirit is called upon, and then the second moment is when the hands of the bishop are imposed on the man. Just like in the Eucharist you need both the bread and wine and the words of consecration. The hands are the matter and the prayer is the form of the sacrament, to use theological language. Another recording, from Fr. Murphy who said he felt strongly the power of the Holy Spirit when the hands were laid upon him. Susan said it's touching to hear them talk about their experience and speaks to the timelessness of the Church. **3rd segment:** There has been a lot of secular coverage about the closing of the parish school at St. Mary of the Assumption in Lawrence. The pastor decided to close the school and a lot of the families tried to raise money to save the school. They thought if they raised enough it would keep the school afloat. To date they have raised more the $300,000, but the actual debt of the school to the parish and archdiocese exceeds $600,000 and the money is in the form of pledges. It would not begin to repay the debts and would not contribute to sustainability for the parish. Scot said it's sad when there is confusion over who makes the decisions and when anger is misdirected. Susan said no one wins in this situation. This points to how much we cherish our parishes and parish schools. This effort of raising money has been tried in other communities and they have not fared well. Scot said it's tough for him to follow the secular coverage and see how much misinformation is out there. The schools in any inner-city need a lot more money to operate than back in the day when there were religious to staff the schools. In Lawrence, there was a huge effort to consolidate three schools into Lawrence Catholic Academy. For various reasons, St. Mary's chose not to participate. The Catholic School Foundation wanted to help the new academy get a good start and chose not to direct funds to St. Mary's. Without that support, it became unsustainable. The $300,000 pledged might help it for one year, but what would happen in following years. The secular media implied that Cardinal Seán had promised that if the parents had raised $250,000 they would stay open, but that did not happen. In the end, the parish does not want to be on the hook for the debt of the school, nor did the Augustinian order which staffs the school or the archdiocese. Fr. Roger went through a school closing at St. Anthony in New Bedford. He said it was one of the toughest things he had done in his life, closing an institution with such history but was also a beacon of hope for so many kids and families. As Catholics our catholicity needs to be more than our ethnicity or our parochialism. There is still opportunity for Catholic education for these children. Even if the school closes, our Catholic faith will be passed on to the next generation. While we can mourn, the sun still shines for those hoping to receive the great treasure of our faith. Let's not focus on what we're losing, but on what we still have. On May 21, there was a connection between Pope Benedict in the Vatican and the astronauts on the space station. One of the astronauts is Mark Kelly, the husband of US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who was injured in a shooting in January. Gregory said it's a great story, the Pope talking to people out in the heavens. The Pope asked Kelly how this mission can advance the cause of world peace and Kelly answered that the mere fact that this international effort exists shows people can live and work in harmony. The Pope asked astronaut Ron Garan what he could see from space on earth that needed attention. He replied: "To think that this paper-thin layer is all that separates every living thing from the vacuum of space and is all that protects us, is a really sobering thought." Scot said he thought of how marvelous is God's creation, to see it from space. Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori had met with the Holy Father before his trip and in this visit he showed him a coin with the image of the Sistine Chapel painting and Vittori showed off weightlessness by flipping the coin around. Fr. Roger said the other Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli's mother had died a couple of days before and the Holy Father said he was praying for him and asked him how he was coping with this loss. He told the Holy Father that he felt his prayers before and now and that it has been a comfort. The Holy Father had shown himself to be a pastor to these astronauts in space. * [SpaceLaunch News report](http://spacelaunchnews.blogspot.com/2011/05/pope-benedict-blesses-space-station.html): >The Pope spoke in Italian to station astronaut Paolo Nespoli who's mother passed away on May 2, "Dear Paolo, I know that a few days ago your mom left you and in a few days you will come back home and you will not find her waiting for you," the pope said in translated remarks. "We're all close to you. Me too, I have prayed for her. How have you been living through this time of pain on the International Space Station? Do you feel isolated and alone? Or do you feel united amongst ourselves in a community that follows you with attention and affection?" > >The Italian astronaut then responded with fondness to his Holiness, "Holy father, I felt your prayers and everyone's prayers arriving up here," Nespoli replied. "My colleagues on board the station were very close to me at this important time for me, a very intense moment, as well as my brothers and sisters, my uncles, my aunts, my relatives were close to my mom in her last moments. I'm very grateful for this. I felt very far, but also very close. And the thought of feeling all of you near me at this time has been a great relief." **4th segment:** Producer Rick Heil recounted meeting astronaut Ron Garan, who is a fellow graduate of SUNY Oneonta. Fr. Roger's editorial in The Anchor this week analyzes the John Jay College report on the causes and context of the sexual abuse scandal. The secular media often does the most sensationalist reporting and then moves. Fr. Roger this week looked at the first three chapters of the report, which looked at how sexual abuse has occurred in other places in society. Part of the goal is to show that facile explanations such as saying that celibacy was the cause can be debunked. The second chapter looked at the historical context, how abuse peaked between the mid-1960s and 1980s and how there's no single cause for abuse, but that's interesting it peaked during this time. The secular media claimed the Church was trying to blame the Sixties and the sexual revolution, but the report was saying that men in the seminary were not receiving an adequate human formation in their sexuality and when they encountered the changes in society, they began to follow the prevailing winds of society. The third chapter fills in the gaps in the crisis that haven't been studied because it looks at psychology. The report noted that many bishops recommended the abusers go for psychiatric examination and the prevailing view in the field thought these men could be cured. In essence they were overselling their competence and claimed to be doing what history shows us can't be done. We find now that we don't even have reliable predictors of this behavior. Fr. Roger said it helps explains why bishops were a little too credulous with the recommendations of the psychiatric profession. Next week he will focus on the extent to which homosexuality played a role in the crisis. Scot said he's seen that most people want one clear answer to the crisis, but the report says there just isn't one answer. The tendency of the secular media is to oversimplify complex problems. * [The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010](http://usccb.org/mr/causes-and-context.shtml) There's a joint statement from the Daughters of St. Paul and the Archdiocese resolving the disagreement between them over pension funds held by the Archdiocese for lay employees of the Daughters. In The Anchor this week is a story about a bill before the Mass. Legislature that would lower the age of parent consent to 16 for girls to acquire an abortion. * [Joint Statement from the Daughters of St. Paul and the Archdiocese of Boston](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Utility/News-And-Press/Content.aspx?id=20602) * [Mass. Family Institute testimony in opposition to HB629](http://www.mafamily.org/abortion/testimony-in-opposition-to-hb629/808/) Fr. Roger said he also has an article on end of life issues and how to approach these issues from a Catholic perspective. Not only does it ask the right questions, it gives some concise answers. Gregory noted the story on the Catholic Charities spring fundraising event, which raised a record amount. The highlight of the story is the inspiring story of a Dominican immigrant who says she was saved by Catholic Charities. Notre Dame's Father Hesburgh was also honored by Catholic Charities at the dinner. Susan commented on a story by the Archbishop of Dublin who said Catholics are not passing on the faith to young people. He said, "Our parishes are not places where evangelization and catechesis are taking place." He also said "young Irish people are among the most catechized and the least evangelized." The Anchor also has a cover story on the centennial anniversary of St. Anthony Parish in Fall River.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Jay Mello, parochial vicar of St. Patrick Parish in Falmouth and columnist for The Anchor newspaper * [St. Patrick Parish, Falmouth](http://www.stpatricksonline.org/) * [The Anchor, official newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River](http://www.anchornews.org/) * [Fr. Jay Mello's column, "Putting Into the Deep"](http://www.anchornews.org/columns/putting_into_deep_mello/) **Today's topics:** Fr. Jay Mello's vocation story; The Rosary and Marian devotion **A summary of today's show:** Fr. Jay Mello discusses with Scot and Fr. Matt the essential nature of Marian devotion for Catholics, the benefits of the Rosary for union with Christ, and pilgrimages to Marian apparition sites. Also the Scavi tour in St. Peter's Basilica and Where in Europe was Fr. Matt? **1st segment:** Scot welcomes back Fr. Matt to the program after his European pilgrimage and vacation. He traveled with his sister and parents and they prayed a lot for WQOM and its listeners. They only saw rain once on the trip and that was on the drive from Rome to Assisi. Scot sent a shout-out to the graduates of the MAster of Arts in Ministry program and George Martell is taking photos and posting them to the Archdiocese of Boston's Flickr site in real-time. Also in breaking news today, the Daughters of St. Paul and the Archdiocese have worked out an agreement to end a lawsuit over the pension funds held by the Archdiocese on behalf of the lay employees of the religious order. Scot said this topic will be discussed in more detail on tomorrow's The Good Catholic Life. * [Joint Statement from the Archdiocese of Boston and the Daughter of St. Paul](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Utility/News-And-Press/Content.aspx?id=20602) * [Masters of Arts in Ministry at St. John's Seminary](http://www.tineboston.org/mam_index.html) * [Photos from today's MAM graduation](http://www.flickr.com/photos/bostoncatholic/sets/72157626805181396/) We've had several conversations about the Blessed Mother and the Rosary this month because May is dedicated to the Blessed Mother. Fr. Jay Mello, today's guest, has dedicated his columns in The Anchor newspaper this month to the Rosary and we'll discuss the Rosary on today's show. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Matt welcome Fr. Jay to the show. Scot said he and Fr. Jay go way back. Jay was a teenager when Fr. Roger Landry, Scot's brother, was assigned to Fr. Jay's parish. Scot asked him about his vocational journey. Fr. Jay said Bishop Seán of Fall River (now-Cardinal Seán) assigned a series of seminarians to his parish and he was exposed to the idea of a vocation. His family was very involved with the parish and he became involved with the parish community itself. At the end of high school, he was praying on Holy Thursday in Adoration and on Easter Monday morning he met with his pastor to tell him he was ready. That fall he went to Franciscan University of Steubenville for his undergraduate work and then went to the North American College in Rome for his theology. It was in Steubenville that he really learned what it meant to be a Catholic and where he learned what it meant to live in a Christian community; where his faith became real to him. The friends and roommates in Steubenville were some of the best people he knew. Fr. Jay was ordained in 2007. After his ordination he went back to Rome to finish his degree. When he returned he was assigned to St. Julie's parish and then was assigned to Falmouth last year.Serving on Cape Cod is very different. In the summer, the Cape is hopping. There is a summer chapel a mile from the church. On the weekends, they go from 4 weekend Masses to eight. The retired priests from the Archdiocese of Boston living on the Cape give a lot of help. He's been writing the column "Put Out Into the Deep" for a little less than one year. He's inherited the column from Fr. Roger Landry, the current editor of The Anchor. He's dedicated his columns in May to the Rosary. The column itself is about re-awakening those parts of our faith that we have let become too casual, that we won't forget their importance. Many people have rosaries and know what they are, but often they're hanging from their neck or rearview mirror and not being prayed. There's a sentimental attachment to the Rosary or even treating it as a lucky charm. The Rosary provides a great opportunity to contemplate the life of our Lord through the eyes of the Blessed Mother. Fr. Matt said the rosary beads are like an umbilical cord to Mary and through the mysteries of the Rosary we are formed in the womb of Mary to become like her Son, to become like Him. The more you enter into praying the Rosary, the more she's able to help Christ be formed in you. Fr. Jay say we can get too focused on the prayers that we're saying--the Our Fathers and Hail Marys--that we can miss the opportunity to meditate on the mysteries of Christ. In his column, Fr. Jay describes the difference between devotion to Mary and adoration or worship. He said there's often a misconception of our relationship to the Blessed Mother. We worship God alone. The veneration toward our Blessed Mother can equal that. Yet the great role God chose for the Blessed mother is very important for us. Christ establishes a relationship between us and the Blessed Mother at the foot of the Cross. Fr. Matt asked Fr. Jay to share with us what he wrote about Bl. John Paul and his devotion to the Blessed Mother. For him, Mary is not just the first disciple of Christ, she is the most perfect disciple. In his motto, Totus Tuus, in giving ourselves to Mary, she leads us to her son. At the wedding feast at Cana, people who are struggling go to Mary and she doesn't solve the problem, but she sends them to her son. In 2002, the Holy Father gave us the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary. For centuries we had the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious mysteries. He was courageous in adding these mysteries to focus on different moments of Christ's public life. The Joyful mysteries jump from His childhood to the Sorrowful mysteries of the Passion. The 5 Luminous mysteries allow us to see certain moments of Christ's life that help us to see who Christ really is. Scot said the Rosary was a simple way to pray the 150 Psalms and then morphed into praying the Our Father and Hail Marys. Fr. Matt said St. Dominic would preach the power of the Rosary against evil and to keep people united in Christ. The more you keep faithful to praying the Rosary, it keeps you faithful to Christ. One time when Padre Pio was suffering greatly, he asked a confrere to give him his "weapon", and when asked to explain, he said, "My rosary." John Paul II always had a rosary in his hands. The Rosary keeps us united in the life of Christ so as we live in this world we can live in union with Him. **3rd segment:** Fr. Matt said he was just in Rome last week with his family and they caught the overflow of Bl. John Paul's beatification. What stands out is that you can't look at the man without acknowledging his devotion to Mary. In preparing for the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25, he looked at homily by Pope Benedict in 2009. He wrote that the Gospel tells us that from that hour, St. John took his mother Mary to his own home. But the Greek is far richer and could say, He took her into his inner life and his inner being. Fr. Jay said Marian devotion is not an extra. It is an essential part of the Church. It is a way to live out our baptismal promises, by allowing Mary to enter the inner being of who we are. Fr. Matt said in the total consecration according to St. Louis de Montfort, we understand virtue by looking to Mary, who loved her Son perfectly. * ["Preparation for Total Consecration" by St. Louis de Montfort](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0910984107/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0910984107) Scot asked Fr. Matt about the role of Mary in our lives in the present day, appearing in numerous apparitions, many of which have been approved by the Church. During this trip, Fr. Matt was able to go to Lourdes. He said it is a place steeped in prayer. Mary asked St. Bernadette for people to pray the Rosary and to adore the Eucharist and every day in Lourdes there is a Eucharistic procession and then a Rosary procession. Fr. Matt said there many people who come with disabilities seeking God's healing either physically or in giving them strength for their journey. It began when the Blessed Mother appeared to St. Bernadette in 1858 in Lourdes, France. *[Office site of the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France](http://www.lourdes-france.org/index.php?goto_centre=ru&contexte=en&id=405) There was a miraculous spring that spouted during the apparition and there have been 65 scientifically confirmed miraculous healings from those waters, but there have been thousands who claim a miraculous cure. In all this, the Blessed Mother encourages her children to pray the Rosary. Scot asked Fr. Jay why people should make pilgrimages to sites of Marian devotion. Fr. Jay said what he sees at these pilgrim sites are people who return to their faith and to the sacraments. He sees people return to Confession by the thousands. Pilgrimages have a longstanding history in the Church. It's not a vacation or sightseeing tour. It's a time to pray and allow the Lord to workin our lives by visiting places where great saints have lived, worked, and died. **4th segment:** Welcome back. It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week is a copy of Father Leo Patalinghug’s cookbook “[Grace Before Meals](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307717216/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0307717216).” The same Father Leo who defeated Bobby Flay on the Food Network show “Throwdown” helps you make family meals a way of life, showing that mealtime is the perfect setting for discussing the major issues all families face. This week’s winner is Eileen Sheehan from Holliston, Massachusetts. Congratulations Eileen! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit WQOM.org.3 For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. **5th segment:** During his time at the North American College in Rome, Fr. Jay was a guide for the Scavi tour. St. Peter's Basilica was built over the tomb of St. Peter, which was actually discovered in 1939 during an excavation under the basilica. The bones of St. Peter were found in his tomb. The Scavi is not just a museum or an historical site. It's the story of St. Peter and that he gave the tour, by tracing the life of St. Peter in Scripture and then afterward when he traveled to Rome to spread the Gospel and eventually give his life. * [The Scavi](http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Necropolis/Scavi.htm) Fr. Matt said on this trip he was able to take a Scavi tour on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima on May 13. First, it is astonishing to realize that you are walking on the ground of a 1st century necropolis or cemetery of mausoleums. That necropolis was later filled in and Constantine built the first basilica over it. Fr. Jay said St. Peter was buried on the Vatican hillside and Christians would gather at the tomb to venerate his remains for three centuries. The Constantine basilica put a high altar directly above the tomb and over the next 1,500 years successive altars were placed on the same spot so that when the Pope celebrates Mass on that altar, he is doing so directly over the remains of St. Peter. * ["The Bones of St. Peter," by John Evangelist Walsh](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385150393/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0385150393) The best way to get tickets for the tour, go to the North American College's website. But you need to plan 3 to 4 months in advance to get tickets. The tours start about 9 am and occur every 15 minutes, but only 4 or 5 tours a day are in English and only about 15 people per tour. * [North American College's Scavi tour information](http://www.pnac.org/pilgrim-information/scavi-and-vatican-museum-information/) * [Vatican webpage on the Scavi tour](http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/institutions_connected/uffscavi/documents/rc_ic_uffscavi_doc_gen-information_20040112_en.html) * [Virtual tour of the Scavi](http://www.vatican.va/various/basiliche/necropoli/scavi_english.html) **6th segment:** Scot asked Fr. Matt about his trip to Europe with his family. It was an aggressive itinerary that started in Lourdes for a couple of days and praying at the shrine, where they experienced the amazing baths that pilgrims can be immersed in as they pray. Groups from Boston go every year, including a group with the Order of Malta who take people who are ill who go to pray for healing. *[Order of Malta Lourdes pilgrimage](http://www.maltausa.org/lourdes.php) Fr. Matt also traveled to San Giovanni Rotondo where Padre Pio, a Capuchin saint, lived. He lived with the [Stigmata](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14294b.htm) of Christ. He had a great gift of prayer and of confession, being able to read people's hearts. Fr. Matt was able to celebrate Mass at the same altar where Padre Pio received the Stigmata in 1918. He said the crowds were relatively light. * [Shrine of Padre Pio, San Giovanni Rotondo](http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/san-giovanni-rotondo-padre-pio-shrine) He then traveled to [Assisi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisi) to visit the Basilicas of St. Francis and St. Clare. While the basilicas were heavily damaged in earthquakes about 10 years ago, you wouldn't know it today. He was able to pray at the tombs of St. Francis and St. Clare and the cross of San Damiano. Scot said Assisi is one of the most beautiful cities and an excellent example of an ancient European village. * [Basilica of St. Francis, Assisi](http://www.assisionline.com/assisi__162.html) He also went to Lanciano, Italy. It is the location of a Eucharistic miracle where a monk was struggling with his belief in the True Presence of the Lord. During the Mass the Host turned into real flesh and real blood. It remains as living flesh today. Scientists have typed the blood as AB. * [Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano](http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/lanciano.html) They also traveled to Venice, which was an opportunity for a little vacation time but also to visit the [Basilica of St. Mark](http://www.basilicasanmarco.it/eng/index.bsm), where the remains of St. Mark are in the high altar. That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. For recordings and photos of today’s show and all previous shows, please visit our website: TheGoodCatholicLife.com. You can also download the app for your iPhone or Android device at WQOM.org to listen to the show wherever you may be. We thank our guest, Father Jay Mello. For our co-host, Father Matt Williams, our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli, and George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a wonderful evening!…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Fr. David Couturier and Joshua Phelps from the Archdiocese of Boston's Office for Pastoral Planning * [Office of Pastoral Planning, Archdiocese of Boston](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Offices-And-Services/Office-Detail.aspx?id=1448) **Today's topics:** The changing face of parishes **Summary of today's show:** Fr. David Couturier and Joshua Phelps discuss with Scot a national study on the changing face of parishes and how those numbers compare to the situation of the Archdiocese of Boston. **1st segment:** Scot said while the truth of the Catholic faith remains the same, the structures of the Church continue to evolve as it has over the past 2,000 years. Last week, the Center for Applied research in the Apostolate published a study on the changing face of Catholic parishes in the US. Today, we'll look at the study and at how it compares to the Archdiocese of Boston., * ["Report finds fewer priests celebrating more Masses at fewer parishes", CNS, 7/18/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102844.htm) * [The CARA study's website](http://emergingmodels.org/) * [CARA study press release and summary](http://cara.georgetown.edu/NewsandPress/PressReleases/PR071511.pdf) * ["The Changing Face of US Catholic Parishes"](http://www.emergingmodels.org/article.cfm?id=75) Scot welcomed Fr. David Couturier to show. Fr. David said it's an excellent look at a very important question/: where are parishes today, how did they get there, and where will they be in the future? Scot it's great to see hard data about the changes we've been seeing in our own parishes over time. Joshua said the report gives a set of benchmarks by which we can gauge what's going on in the Archdiocese. He thinks there's a big opportunity to talk to people about mission and evangelization. Scot said the study said the number of parishes in the US have declined by 7.1 percent over the past 10 years. Fr. David said in the Archdiocese it's been 22.04% in Boston. Scot said the areas most affected by closures are where there were large numbers of immigrants in places which are highly populated and densely populated at a time when industry demanded large numbers of workers and those industries have decreased. Now the large numbers of immigrants growing the Church are in different places. Scot said the Catholic population has realigned itself, but the parishes and schools have not. Fr. David said the Church in those areas with declines gave the people the ability to move out of the places where they first came by giving them better education and better economic opportunities. Now we can look at the institutions that have been left behind. Scot said most Catholics moved outside the city of Boston and into the suburbs. Fr. David said Boston has a unique relationship to its parishes compared to any other place he's seen. He related a story of a Jewish man who said he lived in St. Brendan's parish. Because people in Boston identify with the local parish, even if they're not Catholic. Scot said the study found that the average parish grew in the number of households and people. The number of people grew by 45% over the past 10 years. The average number of households in Boston parishes are higher, about 43.8% larger. Scot said there is a dense concentration of Catholics in the Northeast, with higher density and more parishes. We have a long history of the Catholic Church in the area. Fr David said this is one of the silver linings of the report. Scot said the study talks about seating capacity utilization (the percentage of spaces in the pews used by parishioners at Mass). In Boston, it's 33%, which means at the average Mass in Boston, about 33% of the seats will be filled. Scot said this is partly because we offer a lot of Masses at our parishes and it's extremely convenient for people on a Sunday morning. Fr. David said we offer more Masses per parish than other other diocese in the country. He said they have just completed a study that shows how many Masses are needed to serve the people of God, and they've found that there is about double the Masses that the Archdiocese needs right now. He said it shows that there's a lot of room to move for parishes to ask what kind of community do we want to be, what kind of liturgies we want to have. Do we want to continue to have liturgies that are 33% full or do we want to have a full Mass with a cross-section of the people of the parish. That will affect how we plan for priests and parishes. Scot said in the past that we have focused on the number of Masses when looking at how to allocate priests, but now as parishioners we can ask whether we want to have fewer Masses that offer a richer experience of the liturgy. A priest who celebrates one or two Masses on Sunday will likely have more energy than a priest who has to celebrate two Masses on Saturday and 3 or 4 on Sunday. Fr. David said we have gotten used to a downsized mentality, and have forgotten the wonderful truth of abundance. once we get back to a notion that we want to see our churches full again, we will receive a blessing. Josh mentioned Good Shepherd Parish in Wayland, where two parishes became one. they had to cut down their Mass schedule and now their experience of Mass has shot through the roof. Going to Mass on Christmas and Easter, by virtue of being packed in the pews, tells us that something special is going on. Scot said there are many benefits when we are worshipping with many people. For example, someone new to the parish will find that it is alive and it is much more likely they'll want to come back. If two-thirds of the pews are empty, it leads to the question about whether it really is a great place. **2nd segment:** The number of worship sites of a typical parish across the country averages 1.3, but this is expected to rise over the 10 years. Fr. David said as dioceses face a chronic vocation shortage, they are deciding how to best use their priests. In Boston we want to keep our churches open as much as possible and so the future will include new arrangements for how to use these worship sites. There are already situations across the Archdiocese where priests are pastoring more than one parish and where parishes have more than one church. It's not about property, it's about evangelization. Scot said our Catholic community transcends parish lines and town lines. Ten percent of parishes in the US have one Sunday Mass, 13% have two, 26% have three, 50% have four or more. 12% have five, 9% have six. The average parish has 3.8 Masses. In the Archdiocese our parishes beat those numbers by a large amount where more than 50% have five or more. Scot said the average number of weekday Masses at parishes across the US is 5.3, but there are 11% have 11 or more weekday Masses. Scot said in Boston we're beginning to see parishes offer schedules of weekday Masses for nearby parishes. Fr. David said they're encouraging parishes to work together to schedule their Masses in cooperation with other parishes in order to offer the Mass to as many people as possible. Fr. David said they are also working with a certain set of parishes to think beyond their own parish boundaries, but to look at the Church in their whole town or city. People are beginning to see that Church is about this two or city, not just their parish. In Boston, all politics is local and all Church is parochial. Joshua said this is where the pragmatic needs of parish boundaries meet with mission. People go to Church to come together in communion to worship Christ. When people begin thinking this way, there become new opportunities for evangelization. Fr. David said if we keep our communities of parochial with the added value of regionalism, then we can share assets and resources across parish boundaries, particularly gifts and talents. Thus parishes can work together to have a youth minister and a business manager and a director of faith formation and all of those ministries for all of God's people in those towns. Many parishes aren't large enough to do it alone, while the parishes working together can do it. In 29% of parishes across the country, Mass is celebrated in a language other than English. In many of them, English is the language of at least one Mass. In the Archdiocese of Boston, this is about the same. Fr. David said we have Mass celebrated in 20 different languages. We are not just one ethnic church with add-ons, but we are very diverse. Scot said people sometimes use the ratio of infant baptism to funerals as a measure of vitality and growth. Nationally, the average ratio is 2 baptisms to every funeral. That's the minimum for growth. In Boston, it's 1.2 to 1. But we have 89% more funerals than the national average, which means that the Church here is more established and it's a lot grayer population. The average infant baptisms: 64 and First Communions: 65. Scot said that tells him that the kids remain in the Church from baptism to First Communion, but the number drops to 51 in confirmations. It gets even worse for marriages (dividing the number of confirmations by two, it would be 25.5) with only 11 per parish. Scot said an Australian study found that many Catholics believe you don't need to go to Sunday Mass to be a good Catholic, but Scot added that many people also believe it doesn't matter if you get married outside of a church, perhaps on a beach or something. Fr. David said we're seeing a long decline in the number of weddings since the late 80s. New York has declined by 70% or more. That has an effect on other vocations as well. Cardinal Seán has focused on the need for evangelization and marriage. Joshua said parishes that have a focus on marriage ministry have higher rates of all the sacraments. **3rd segment:** In terms of parish finances, the national study say the average operating revenue is $609,000. Josh said the Archdiocese is about 6% less than that. Scot was surprised by that because the average offertory is in the mid-300,000s so they must be having other sources of revenue like rent and grand annuals. About half of a parish's income is from sources other than weekly offertory, while nationally about two-thirds of income come from the offertory. Fr. Dvid said fewer Catholics are going to church in Boston than the national average, but Boston is maintaining the same amount of income. That shows that fewer people are bearing the burden and we need to look at that. It's a huge sacrifice. Across the country, it's $9,091. In Boston, it's closer to about $6,000. The average operating expenses nationally are $620,000. Thirty percent are below break-even. In Boston about 57% are above break-even and the rest are below. The typical parish across the country is saving about $70,000 per year. The average parish in Boston is saving about $1,000 per year. A major weekend snowstorm can put a parish in the red. Scot said the average family across the archdiocese gives about $20 while in Boston it's less than that. The smaller the parish, the more people contribute, and the bigger, the less they give. Fr. David said it's a sense of ownership. The smaller the parish, the more that people feel like they have a say in how the money is used, which leads to more giving. Scot said it's much easier in a large group to say that if you don't give, everyone else will give a little more. In a small church, it's easier to say that they're really needed. Fr. David said a big part of the solution would be to move people from seeing themselves as member to seeing themselves as disciples. Joshua said the most successful offertory enhancement programs ask people to get more involved, not for more money. People who are more involved give more. Across the US, 24% have a school and 25% are affiliated with a non-parish school. About 100 of the 291 parishes in Boston are affiliated with a school. Nationally, the number of lay ecclesial ministers is estimated at 38,000, trained and certified performing many of the same duties priests and religious used to. Total parish staff is about 160,000, which includes priests, religious, lay ecclesial leaders, and others. Fr. David said there are 3,500 staff members: deacons, business managers, pastoral associates, youth ministers, and DREs. Some of them are paid and many are not. There are about 100 Master's-level pastoral associates. Joshua said the vision of the future of lay staffing in parishes is someone who coordinates and invites the people of the parish to take ownership of the ministries. Nationally, 93% of parishes have a pastoral council and 97% have a finance council. It's a little lower in Boston. Fr. David said our pastors need to be encouraged to have these groups, especially to help the parish plan for the future. 31% of parishes in the US are in some sort of clustering arrangement. Fr. David said cooperation and collaboration are not dirty words, but are the ways for parishes to work together to evangelize and spread the Word of Christ. Joshua said the culture of pastoral planning is a culture of hope. It's an opportunity. The people they are working with now have an entrepreneurial spirit. We're called to give our best to the Church.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Melissa Squarcia, Senior Communications for the Catholic Leadership Institute * [Catholic Leadership Institute](http://www.catholicleaders.org/) **Today's topics:** Catholic Leadership Institute **Summary of today's show:** Melissa Squarcia joins Scot to talk about the ministry of the Catholic Leadership Institute, which prepares clergy and lay leaders for leadership in the Church as well as assists dioceses in creating a strategic vision and priorities. As priests become pastors sooner after ordination and as they are spread more thin, CLI's programs help them work more efficiently in order to accomplish the ministry goals at the heart of their vocations. **1st segment:** Scot began by asking how we prepare our priests, deacons, and lay leaders for the Church of the 21st century. Parishes keep getting fewer and bigger and priests have more and more asked of them. And they didn't always get the tools to lead in the seminary. The Catholic Leadership Institute is trying to help prepare priests and laity for more effective leadership in the Church and working with bishops and dioceses with strategic planning. Scot welcomed Melissa Squarcia to the show. He asked how she came to CLI. She started about 4 years ago and before that worked for the local NBC affiliate in Philadelphia. They were looking for a communications coordinator to help share the good news about their ministry. CLI is 20 years old this year. Scot said it's amazing what one person inspired in prayer can accomplish. The founder is Tim Flanagan and the co-founder as the late Fr. Charles Pfeffer. Originally they worked with youth and young adults, but as they started looking at where else they could work to assist the Church, they heard priests saying to the young people that they didn't have the time to implement the good ideas. So they started Good Leaders, Good Shepherds, developing a curriculum that meshes the best of corporate leadership training with the teachings of the Church. They started in 2006 and are now in 60 dioceses nationwide, about 1 in every 3 in the US. Scot was impressed that Flanagan, who had a background that included in corporate leadership training, saw the need in the Church and committed to doing something about it. Melissa said the current president Matt Manion left a very lucrative and powerful position to come to CLI to serve the Church. Manion's arrival allowed Flanagan to develop a board of directors, which aids in getting CLI out to a wider audience, including those who can provide support. Flanagan made a 10-year commitment to CLI in the beginning to see where it went. He made a plan and put it into action. If it was meant to be and God would bless it, then 10 years was a good time frame. Now 20 years later, CLI is helping so many leaders in the Church. Melissa said it was also a commitment by an all-volunteer staff that came onboard with Flanagan's vision. There are 26 full-time staff in their main office outside Philadelphia, plus about 30 full- and part-time trainers who travel around the country running leadership training. The full-time trainers travel three out of four weeks per month. The priest-trainers are able to give 3 or 4 days per month. Scot asked how many of the staff are Villanova grads: Melissa said she is, as is Flanagan. Manion has a Master's and there are three or four others who also have some affiliation with the university. Fr. Bill Dickinson joined CLI in 2006 as the organization's National Director for Leadership Development. He's been approved by his bishop to stay with CLI for another 5 years. Flanagan needed a priest to sell the nation's bishops on CLI's offerings and show them how it can be effective for their dioceses. **2nd segment:** Good Leaders, Good Shepherds is the flagship program of CLI and Boston was one of the pilot programs. MElissa said it's meant to help priests find more time and better ways to be a better leader and a good shepherd. Often their time is taken up with administration instead of bringing people the Word and sacraments. CLI says there are more effective ways to manage parishes and their workloads to free them to do what they became priests to do. Priests are called to teach, to sanctify, and to govern, and often governance training is neglected in the seminary. Scot said it's his experience that the seminary tries to teach so much in theology and spiritual life, that there's only so much they can teach in 4-6 years. Plus leadership training is better when they've got a few years of experience already. When they come to GLGS they can have specific issues they want to deal with or specific areas they know they need help with. MElissa said a priest can have a wonderful group of parishioners who are just waiting to be asked to help and GLGS helps him form teams and alliances within the local community to enhance the mission of the parish/ Both GLGS and Tending the Talents have the same six contexts for leadership. The first is self-preparation for leadership, helping the person become more aware of their own leadership tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses are. Melissa said you have to be able to lead yourself first. The DISC profile they use help you increase your strengths and address your weaknesses. * [What is DISC?](http://www.discprofile.com/whatisdisc.htm) Scot said on the GLGS side, they integrate where the priest wants to be in six months, 1 year, and longer and what kind of priest they want to be. MElissa said they often have an idea of who they want to be when they leave seminary and all the pressures overwhelm them and obscure that idea. This helps them get back to the central idea of their priesthood. Scot said the central idea is becoming a priestly leader, not just a regular kind of leader. What makes Catholic leadership for priests and lay leaders different from leadership for corporate leaders? Melissa said the difference is shepherding after the heart of Jesus. The second module or context is leadership of self. Melissa said it includes creating your own vision and purpose statement, and formulating goals to help them accomplish that. It includes health and wellness, greater personal formation, and then more administrative and governance goals. They use the SMART goals concept: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely goals. * [Creating SMART goals](http://www.topachievement.com/smart.html) Melissa said it gives them focus and it puts time frames and parameters around their goals. The next leadership context is Leading in the one to one context. It includes helping a specific staff member get the most out of themselves. Melissa said it is one of the most frequently used contexts in leadership. It looks at their gifts and talents, helping them take the DISC profile, and establishing key responsibility areas and SMART goals. It helps them become more effective, freeing the pastor to serve the parish in a greater capacity because the staff members are able to carry out his vision for the parish in that specific role. Scot said there's often fear around giving constructive criticism and there's a science about this that's passed on by Good Leaders, Good Shepherds. Melissa said that a lot of it is listening. She related a story from one priest who said his director of religious ed noticed the difference that GLGS was making in him, specifically that he now listens to her better when she speaks to him. **3rd segment:** The next context is leadership of teams. A pastor's life often includes staffs and committees. Melissa said it teaches the pastor how to charter, sponsor and give a vision to a team such that he doesn't need to be present for them all the time. Thus they don't have to be at meeting after meeting, but be assured that the team will accomplish the goals and purpose that has been created for them. It includes effective meeting management, recruiting of team/committee members. The idea is that people on the team itself don't feel that the team is pointless. Another aspect of leadership of the team is keeping the teams on track, giving them a timeframe in which to get their job done (and not someone else's job) as well as to prioritize. The priest-leader sets specific goals and time limits for every meeting with an agenda that has specific times to talk about each agenda item. The next context is leadership in the organization or the parish. Scot said a parish is a complex $1-1.5 million organization with a staff of employees, but also thousands of souls who need to be shepherded. Meanwhile many of our pastors are even younger than before, some becoming pastors just five years after ordination. Melissa said they have the priests set a vision for the parish, what this particular parish in this place and time is called to do. Then they whittle it down to all the bits and pieces that can bring the vision to reality. It gives them a context to proclaim to their people so they all know who the parish is serving and what they are called to do and be. Scot said some would ask why would Parish A's vision be difference from Parish B's vision. He would say every parish is different with different cultures, different places, and so on. In one parish, they might prioritize youth ministry. Another might prioritize a period of healing after a merger of two previous parishes. Melissa said every parish is called to lead people to Christ and manifest the Kingdom of God on earth, but every parish will do that in a different way, partly because the gifts and talents in the pews are different from one place to another. The next context is strategic relationships, i.e those organizations that function outside the parish, including soup kitchens or other parishes. For example, a priest asked his parishioners what they dream about to enhance their community and faith life. Many wanted to serve the community with non-Catholics in the area that serve the poor. So they work with nonCatholic churches to serve the poor and partnered with a Catholic parish in Haiti. Scot said the universal Church does not end at the borders of this parish. MElissa said this context helps the parish share the Gospel outside the parish community. Scot said about 40 or 50 priests ion the Archdiocese of Boston have gone through Good Leaders, Good Shepherds. Melissa said there have been about 1,600 priests who are enrolled or graduated including some from Trinidad and Vancouver. How does Tending the Talents differ? Melissa said it's supposed to be complimentary to GLGS. A priest comes back with new leadership tools and the parish staff then goes to Tending the Talents to help them understand the new vision for leadership. They have a lot of the same leadership training, but do it knowing their pastor has already gone through it, which allows it to be anchored with deeper roots and reinforced. They can then also set their own goals and key responsibility areas instead of relying solely on the pastor to do it. **4th segment:** Catholic Leadership Institute also works with bishops to help them with the same types of skills that pastors have received. Melissa said they are talking to the dioceses of Kalamazoo and Laredo to create visions and priorities which will help parishes align themselves with that vision. Scot said his experience is that most leaders have a vision, but they haven't articulated it in a way that helps to align everyone to the direction they need to go. Melissa said it's often about communicating the vision after putting it on paper. Just last week Bishop Bradley in Kalamazoo communicated that vision, which is to serve every person in their region, not just the Catholics. The vision is to be the Catholic voice there and all of the priorities are oriented to that vision. CLI is awarding four recipients an award for Catholic leadership on November 11 in Philadelphia. Cardinal Seán is one of the recipients. Also, Tom Monaghan, founder of Ave Maria University and Domino's Pizza. Previous recipients have included Immaculee Ilibagiza, Matthew Kelly, Raymond Arroyo, Sr. Briege McKenna, Mother Mary Assmumpta, and many others. Much of CLI's revenue comes from tuition for their programs, but any new initiatives or expansion of their work comes from donations. * [Founder's 20/20 Challenge](https://www.catholicleaders.org/donate.aspx)…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines **Today's guest(s):** Fr. George Evans, Pastor of St. Julia Parish, Weston * [St. Julia Parish, Weston](http://www.stjulia.org/) **Today's topics:** Pastor Profile: Fr. George Evans **Summary of today's show:** Fr. George Evans joins Scot and guest co-host Fr. Chip Hines to discuss his journey to the priesthood and his assignments within the archdiocese with specific focus on his time at St. Julia, Weston, working with a parish merger, and on a pastoral planning commission for the archdiocese. Also, a discussion of this Sunday's first reading and Gospel from Mass. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Chip back to show. He is coming in on the tail end of his vacation. He was able to take in a Cape Cod League baseball game and spend time with family. It's a high level of baseball from Division 1 college players. It's also a wonderful family experience. Many of the players will end up in the Major Leagues. Fr. George Evans is today's guest. He's been involved in archdiocesan pastoral planning efforts in recent years and looks forward to where the archdiocese is going in the next 10 to 15 years. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chip welcome Fr. George Evans to the show.He's been pastor at St. Julia's since 2003. Before that he worked for many years at the seminary. He was ordained in 1977 and was assigned to St. James in Wellesley for 4 years, which was a foundation for his priesthood. After that he went to Catholic University of America for 4 years to earn a Doctorate in Sacred Theology. He returned to St. John Seminary as a spiritual director. He helped seminarians to integrate the spiritual life with all areas of their life, but also to be a confidante for the men. He spent 18 years at the seminary and served as interim rector at the seminary for a brief time after Bishop Richard Lennon was reassigned. It was at the time that the college seminary was closed and he worked in 2003 to streamline the seminary's programs. It readied him to be a pastor. He spent 22 years of his priesthood in academia of one sort or another. His own parish growing up was a key part of his desire to be a priest and he tried to always keep parish ministry at the forefront of his mind. He was also very eager to return to parish ministry after the seminary. Fr. Chip said he thinks he would have gleaned a lot of practical experience at the seminary. He came from St. Catherine of Somerville. Scot said it's one of the most beautiful parishes we have. Fr. George went to the grammar school there and Matignon High School. He went to Boston College after that. While there he saw the parish adapt to the call of the Church to advance into the modern age. He took the best aspects of that attitude with him to the seminary and then to his own parish. There was a real sense of planning and reflecting among the faculty of the seminary. There was also a lot of newness as new seminarians came in; as they heard many great homilies from other priests; and as he adapted his seminars and courses on a regular basis to keep them new. Fr. Chip said Fr. George's great strength is the ability to see both sides of an issue, which is why the Cardinal trusts him so and why so many priests go to him as a spiritual director still. Some of his favorite spiritual writers are St. Theresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, Jean-pierre de Cassaude, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Benedict, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Francis de Sales. The latter has a special appeal as a diocesan priest who was working in the Counter-Reformation. He has a love of Church history. It started in grammar school with the Land of Our Lady series, and he became a history major at Boston College. HE taught a history of the Church in Boston at the seminary. It helps him as he works in pastoral planning. A good history of Boston is by Thomas H. O'Connor. More in-depth is the three-volume series by Robert Lord, John Sexton, and Edward Harrington, which goes up to 1944. This gives a good grounding for anyone who wants to talk about the challenges facing the Archdiocese, including discussions of territorial parishes and ethnic parishes. **3rd segment:** There are two churches that make up St. Julia's in Weston. In 2004, during Reconfiguration, St. Joseph Parish in Lincoln would cease to be a parish, but its church building and its territory and parishioners would become part of St. Julia's Parish. They are one community of people in two church buildings. St. julia was founded in 1919 and the church was built in 1921. St. Joseph was founded in 1900 and the church was built in 1904. It was a mission of St. Bernard in Concord until 1944. Merging parishes is a sacrifice across the board, but it results in a greater good for all. Scot said this is going to become more common across the country, where one priest serves one or more parishes with multiple church buildings. Fr. George said the priest and the parish need to keep their eyes on the parish mission: Word, worship, pastoral care, community building. The parish has to consider its own giftedness or lack of gifts that specify how they need to be right now. In his own parish, people are asked to join commissions in the parish to keep alive various areas like evangelization, religious education, liturgy, communications and others. It's hard to get all of those commissions strong, but he tries to bring people in from both towns to keep everyone unified. He does his best to make it inclusive. Fr. Chip said when he was in the seminary and remembers visiting St. Julia's at Christmas time to collect gifts for inner-city kids and the parishes have a long history of charitable works. Both parishes had a long list of charities they contributed to and bringing them all together was sometimes difficult. Scot is struck by how many commissions that St. Julia's has, more than a dozen, and each one has a unique group of people in it, which is different from many other parishes where the same people are involved in everything. Fr. George said people are very busy and when he gathers people together, they're gathering busy people. The challenge is to reach out to young families. Back in 2005, Cardinal Seán formed three big commissions: Youth and young adult formation, pastoral planning, and marriage. Fr. George was chair of the pastoral planning commission, whose mission was to understand all the models bishops across the country use to staff parishes. Fr. George said he was not called to consult very much within the archdiocese, but to look outside at the whole United States. They looked at the situation of many dioceses facing demographic shifts, fewer priests, decaying infrastructure, and falling revenues. They looked at all the people in the parish who are so committed to the Church and making parishes strong. Their report to cardinal suggested what we need to be aware of and what needs to be done, including looking at the data and determining how to proceed. Now there is a fuller commission that is looking at more details and consulting more widely about what we need to do here. They are learning from our own experiences in 2004, what was learned in the 2007 report, and what other dioceses have learned. Scot said the first commission put facts into the normal way we think about things in the Archdiocese: How many priests, deacons, religious, etc. will we have in 2020? They introduced the idea of a culture of planning in the archdiocese. Fr. George said the Church as to be a planning Church. We have to be very reflective, not just in the sense of logistical planning, but planning in the sense that the call that we've received has to take very definite root amidst resources and lack of them and the realities, including the needs of people and the talents that need to be engendered. The culture of plan has to fill the whole Church from the parish level to the inter-parish level, which is somewhat new, to the diocesan level to the universal level. Fr. Chip said the church isn't IBM or UPS. We're dealing with people and their emotions, so when we're planning we have to account for the emotions, and people's attachments to particular places. Fr. George said it can't be just statistics. It has to be about what will help people know, love, and serve God and to do that in a way that will be mission-oriented, in the sense of carrying out Christ's mission. Scot said parishes need to lead us to heaven and it's not the buildings that do that. It's the community of people we sit with in the church or work together with on commissions. It's much easier when you're not sitting in an empty church alone. It takes time to plan, which is why we're looking five to ten years ahead. The title of the 2007 study was "A Church Continually Being Reborn," in the sense that the Holy Spirit is always creating the Church anew. Christ's message touches us in ways that help us deal with a changing world. People tend to get interested in the structural side, but the real heart of it is the mission of Christ. **4th segment:** Now, as we do every week, we look forward to this coming Sunday's Mass readings to help us prepare to celebrate together. * [First Reading for Sunday, July 24, 2011, Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time(1 Kings 3:5, 7-12)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/072411.shtml#reading1) >The LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.” Solomon answered: “O LORD, my God, you have made me, your servant, king to succeed my father David; but I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act. I serve you in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a people so vast that it cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong. For who is able to govern this vast people of yours?” >The LORD was pleased that Solomon made this request. So God said to him: “Because you have asked for this— not for a long life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of your enemies, but for understanding so that you may know what is right— I do as you requested. I give you a heart so wise and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now, and after you there will come no one to equal you.” * [Gospel for Sunday, July 24, 2011, Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 13:44-52)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/072411.shtml#gospel) >Jesus said to his disciples: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. >“Do you understand all these things?” They answered, “Yes.” And he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.” Scot said this is the third week in a row that Jesus speaks of the kingdom of God in parables. Fr. George said the kingdom of God is our truest treasure. Sometimes it's a buried treasure, because we overlook it since we set up other kingdoms. The kingdom is where God's will for justice, love, peace, morality, commitment, and kindness flow. If we set up the kingdom at the center, then it leads to other decisions that lead to righteousness. Scot loves the questions that are asked by God. He poses a question to Solomon and tells him to ask for something. What would we ask for? Would it be the pearl of great price which is the kingdom or Jesus himself, or would we ask for something more material and limited? Fr. Chip said it's a good question to pray about. If we ask for what is good from God, which is to be more conformed to his will, then all these other good things flow from that. We have the opportunity to be like Solomon who was able to deal with enemies, with being wealthy or not, and all the rest. Scot said God does ask us to make a choice every day: whether to put his will first in our lives. Fr. George said the contemplative is the one who sees as God sees and loves as God loves. Being holy is seeing with God's own vision and loving with God's own heart. The kingdom is a way of approaching life that doesn't just take like the way it seems to roll along, but lives life differently. Because of Jesus I see this a little bit differently from how I would see or act if I went with my own instinct or went with the crowd. In the parables we see someone who finds a treasure, who sells their possessions to get what they're looking for. It says to Scot that sometimes we have to give something up in order to get what we really desire, Christ. Maybe it's to pray more, to give up time or leisure, or shed other parts of ourselves along the way. Fr. Chip said sometimes following Christ means giving up a good thing like marriage for priests. Families make sacrifices all the time for children or spouse. The Christian life mirrors that and following Christ means giving up a good thing and taking on something that might be more of a struggle. Yet Christ is there with us through that struggle. Scot said this Gospel tells him that this is an unfair trade where these people think they're getting the bargain of the century even giving up everything. You can't outdo God's generosity. God gave to Solomon more than Solomon asked. Scot said it also tells him that we also have to understand the road map to bring Jesus into our heart. That's probably more prayer and receiving Sacraments more frequently and reading the Scriptures more frequently. We need to place our trust in Christ. Fr. Chip said it's a risk and a leap of faith to trust that Jesus is leading us in the right direction. That's when we better understand what Christ is calling us to do and be. Fr. George said when we pray we need to make sure our prayer is not just a gift of ourselves to God, but also God being seen as who he is: the one who says I love you or console you or challenge you. When we pray we see Jesus who travels with us.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. **Today's topics:** Archbishop Charles Chaput; Transitional deacon ordained; Chinese cardinal in Boston; study of Catholic parishes **Summary of today's show:** Our usual Thursday panel discussed the appointment of Archbishop Charles Chaput to Philadelphia, with Fr. Roger Landry's personal recollection of time spent with the archbishop recently; the unusual timing of the ordination of a transitional deacon for Boston; the visit of a Chinese cardinal to Boston as tensions between the Vatican and China reach an all-time high; and a study of parish life in the United States with some surprising results. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Susan back to the show. The Pilot is back from summer hiatus and The Anchor is now on hiatus this week. The big non-Church news is the weather and specifically the heat. **2nd segment:** Scot and Susan welcome Gregory and Fr. Roger back to the show. The appointment of Archbishop Charles Chaput to Philadelphia is significant. Scot said it is traditionally seen as a cardinalatial see and one of the largest in the US. It's also significant because the archdiocese is in the midst of a major scandal due to revelations concerning clergy priest abuse. Audio excerpt from the press conference: >"Press conferences like this have a formula of humility and gratitude that can sometimes seem like theater. I'm a poor actor. What you see is pretty much what you get. Philadelphia is one of America's truly great cities, rich in history and achievement, with an extraordinary community of Catholic faith that goes back to saints like John Neumann and Katharine Drexel. Many of you will ask me this question, so I will answer it in advance. I don't know why the Holy Father sent me here. But I do trust his heart, and I do believe in his judgment. I know other bishops would have been smarter than I am, or more talented, or more connected to Philadelphia's past. I know that Cardinal Rigali is one of the great churchmen of my lifetime. He has served the Church in Rome, in St. Louis, and here with enormous dedication and in ways I will never be able to duplicate. > >"But I do promise that no bishop will love the people and priests of this local Church more than I will. No bishop will give more of himself than I will. And no bishop will try harder to help persons who have been hurt by the sins of the past, or work harder to strengthen and encourage our priests and renew the hearts of our people. > >There's a lot I *don't* know how to do. But over the years, a great many good people have shown me how to love and how to lead by the generosity of their witness. And everything I've learned, everything I know and have, I will give to this ministry, because all of you -- the people of God -- deserve at least that much." * ["Archbishop Chaput succeeds Cardinal Rigali; Savannah bishop retires", CNS, 7/19/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102854.htm) * [Cardinal Seán's statement on Archbishop Chaput's appointment](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Utility/News-And-Press/Content.aspx?id=21004) * [Archdiocese of Philadelphia](http://archphila.org/home.php) * [Archdiocese of Denver](http://www.archden.org) Susan said his words were very moving. He reinforces his honesty and sincerity and passion with his words about how he will love and work for the people. If she were in Philadelphia, she would be thrilled. Scot said there's no hyperbole in this man, he is what he is. Gregory said the Archbishop is know for being a straight shooter. He was formed in the West: South Dakota and Colorado. So he's got that Western straight-talking manner. Fr. Roger spent some time in Denver recently when Archbishop Chaput invited him to lead a retreat for the priests of Denver. Fr. Roger said he's always been impressed by the archbishop publishing his email address and giving quick responses to people who would email him. Of the past 10 years, Fr. Roger has continued to receive emails from the Archbishop commenting on articles he'd written and encouraging him. At this retreat, he experienced a camaraderie he'd never seen before. Some of the priests told him that every priest knows where he stands with the archbishop. The archbishop is very responsive to requests by his priests, which is hugely important for priestly morale. He does that for anyone who emails him. He spends 10 minutes of every hour answering email. One of Archbishop Chaput's fears in going to Philadelphia is that he won't have the same amount of time for responding to people. Fr. Roger said the priests of Philadelphia are very excited, having heard him preach a clergy day in 2005 and having taught at the seminary in Philadelphia before becoming a bishop. * ["Rise of the Evangelical Catholic Bishops", George Weigel, National Review, 7/20/11](http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/272258/rise-evangelical-catholic-bishops-george-weigel) Scot said George Weigel called the appointment is extremely significant for examining the Holy Father's heart for appointments in the US. Weigel said it is rumored that the Holy Father picked Archbishop Chaput himself rather than relying on the Congregation for Bishops' recommendations and sent the best bishop available to the very troubled Philadelphia archdiocese. Gregory said Chaput has a reputation as a great communicator with very strong leadership skills and who formulates the teachings of the Church in an accessible way. He has a similar charisma to that of Pope John Paul II. That charisma comes from speaking the truth in love. Weigel said: >With the appointment of Charles J. Chaput as archbishop of Philadelphia, the deep reform of the Catholic Church in the United States — the reform that is giving birth to Evangelical Catholicism even as it leaves the old post–Vatican II arguments fading into the rear-view mirror — has been accelerated. Susan said she is in favor of bishops standing up to preach the Gospel, which it seems is what Weigel means. Fr. Roger said John Paul II recognized that every part of the truth is part of the Good News and that the answer to every question is Jesus Christ. Chaput has a similar outlook. That type of boldness comes from a deep prayer life. During that retreat, he got together with Archbishop Chaput for breakfast and he asked him how his usual workday would go. Chaput gets up at 4:30 and prays, then works on various talks he needs to give. About 10am, he goes to his office and starts his meetings and other work for the archdiocese. He begins with prayer and that fuels all his other work. * [Archbishop Chaput talks to the "Denver Catholic Register" about his new appointment](http://www.archden.org/index.cfm/ID/6469) **3rd segment:** This week, the Pilot has a story on the ordination of transitional deacon Eric Bennett at his home parish, St. Patrick, Natick. He is planning to be ordained to the priesthood next summer. Gregory said traditionally transitional deacons are traditionally ordained in January, about 4 months before priestly ordination. But Bennett is studying at the North American College in Rome, and it's normal for them to be ordained when they're home for the summer. He will be ordained with the rest of his classmates in 2012. He was recently featured in the Knights of Columbus magazine, "Columbia". He comes from a large, Catholic family. Susan said Deacon Bennett received a personalized homily from Cardinal Seán. He called Eric to be a "master of prayer, sharing the fruits of your contemplation with those entrusted to your pastoral care." She also noted a quote from his mother, who recalled during the moment when he lay prostrate before the altar that he used to lay on the floor as a toddler in a temper tantrum and how far he has come. Fr. Roger was also a transitional deacon at the North American College in Rome. An advantage is that he could be a deacon for a papal Mass or other bishops in Rome. A disadvantage is that they don't get to serve in parishes every weekend like those in the seminary in the US. Fr. Roger knew Deacon Bennett his first few years in seminary. He admires his love for the priesthood and his docility. When Fr. Roger was at St. John's, he saw young men visiting the chapel in the mornings before their regular prayer time with everyone at the seminary and Bennett was among them. Scot noted that Fr. Kiely, Eric's pastor, said: "When I was watching the cardinal impose hands on Eric, I was thinking this is a great moment for him, but's also terrific moment for the future of the Church in Boston." Eric also said he's receive wonderful support while in seminary. **4th segment:** Scot said earlier this week, Cardinal Joseph Zen visited the Pastoral Center and celebrated Mass. Gregory said he is the retired archbishop of Hong Kong. He's been touring the United States to visit Chinese Catholic communities. He also spread the word about the Church in China. On Monday, he gave an interview to the Pilot as well. He spoke at length about the situation of the Church in China. Gregory talked about the situation of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong and Macau as he experienced it after World Youth Day in Australia. The cardinal spoke about the illicit ordination of three bishops. The Communist Chinese government requires Christians to worship only in state-controlled associations, including the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which eschews any connections to the Vatican or the Pope. Many Catholics worship in illegal, underground churches, following only bishops appointed by the Pope, although the divisions are not hard and fast. Many priests and laypeople, and even bishops, are members of the patriotic association in public, and of the underground Church, in secret. Recently, the association appointed three bishops without the Holy Father's approval. They were validly ordained by other bishops, but it was illicit because it was done without communion with the Pope. So the new bishops are successors of the apostles, but the Vatican said they are not leaders in the Catholic Church because of the illicit nature of the ordinations. * ["Vatican: Latest illicitly ordained Chinese bishop is excommunicated", CNS, 7/18/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102833.htm) It's almost unprecedented for the Chinese to take this step. In the past, the association would choose candidates for bishop and the Vatican would approve, but this time they did not ask the Vatican to approve. Fr. Roger said part of the Good Catholic Life is that every day is a day to pray for the Church in China. In other news, Scot said the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate did a study that found a decline of about 1,900 parishes in the past 15-20 years, resulting in larger parishes, more Masses, fewer priests, more languages at each parish, and more. Susan said the good news is that Catholic population is up, relying upon immigrants entering the Church in the US. * ["Report finds fewer priests celebrating more Masses at fewer parishes", CNS, 7/18/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102844.htm) * [The CARA study's website](http://emergingmodels.org/) * [CARA study press release and summary](http://cara.georgetown.edu/NewsandPress/PressReleases/PR071511.pdf) * ["The Changing Face of US Catholic PArishes"](http://www.emergingmodels.org/article.cfm?id=75) In the Archdiocese of Boston, about 40 percent of parishes don't have enough revenue to meet expenses, but that number across the US is about 30 percent. Gregory said he was interested to see that as a general trend Mass attendance has been declining since the 1960s, over the past decade that percentage has held steady. And as the population increases in the next decade, they see the total number of Catholics grow. Also the number of parishes in the US now is about equal to how many there were in 1968. Fr. Roger said he was happy to see this report done to help us with our pastoral planning. He said we have to confront the reality in the northeast that we don't have as much of a priest shortage as a parish surplus. He said a century ago, we thought ethnicity was more important than catholicity. We built parishes for every language group. Now, because of fewer priestly numbers, we need to consolidate those buildings. In the 1960s we had a baby boom of priests as well and we could build parishes for them to serve in, but now we need to consolidate those resources. He's compared his parish of St. Anthony in New Bedford to these average numbers in the report and he finds northeastern parishes fall very far short of the national numbers on realities such as parish revenues, weekly offertory, and parish staffs.…
Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Father Matt Williams Today's guest(s): Dr. Christian Smith, author and professor of Sociology at Notre Dame University; Stephen Colella, Assistant Director of New Evangelization for Youth and Young Adults Today's topics: Dr Smith's book "How to Go from Being a Good Evangelical to a Committed Catholic in Ninety-Five Difficult Steps", Dr Smith's research with the National Study of Youth and Religion. Summary of Today's Show: 1st segment: Scot asked Fr. Matt about the results of the Witness to Truth retreat last week. Fr. Matt said that the retreat sent 30 teens back into their parish communities on fire and ready to lead their fellow Catholics. He described that the retreat has a bit of leadership feel and some camp feel as well, and challenges youth to go deeper into their faith. Scot explained that the work of Dr. Christian Smith figured heavily in the recommendations of a faith formation committee formed by Cardinal Seán several years ago. Fr. Matt agreed that the research provided by Dr. Smith's books gave the committee many insights and helped them look at remedies to the problems they faced. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Dr. Christian Smith, a Professor of Sociology at Notre Dame University and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society, and Stephen Colella, Assistant Director of the office of New Evangelization for Youth and Young Adults. Dr. Smith described his work with the National Study of Youth and Religion, a research initiative to study the formation and religious beliefs of young people of various faiths. He said the study has been ongoing since 2000, starting with participants ages 13 to 17 and ending in 2020 with a final survey when they are ages 25 to 29. Dr. Smith described that the study, detailed in his book , found a commonality among teens across all religious beliefs and practices, something he calls "moralistic therapeutic deism" or MTD. He says that MTD is a watered-down version of Christianity where youth acknowledge the existence of God but do not have a strong relationship with Him. It is not faithful orthodox teaching, but rather an adaptation of faith to fit their lives. He said the key element of MTD is that the purpose of life is to be happy but that God can keep a distance from life until someone gets in trouble or needs a problem solved. Dr. Smith reiterated that regardless of their denomination or religion, most teenagers fit into the category of having a faith characterized by MTD - they see that their relationship with God is on their terms and not His. Fr. Matt asked Dr. Smith to outline the reasons for the development of MTD. Dr. Smith emphasized that young people tend to get along on religious terms because they share this "religion." He says his research shows that teens drift towards MTD because of a lack of effective catechesis, not having venues to share and discuss their faith, and influence from parents. Parents often get the message that they don't matter anymore once their children are teens, but Dr Smith maintains that they are even more important during teen years. Dr. Smith said that out of all the teenagers, Catholic teenagers were the most disengaged and apathetic; however, when data was normalized to account for the religious influence of parents, Catholic teenagers came out on the same level as other levels. He says this shows statistically that the reason Catholic teens are less involved in Mass and their faith is because their parents are. A combination of factors lead to the decline of parental influence in Catholicism, Dr Smith said, culminating in the fact that Catholics in the 1970s were culturally assimilated. He said that living in the suburbs away from a strongly Catholic community (in a physical way) and the reduction of the importance of the Church with neighbors made Catholics going to Mass on Sunday be just like every other religion in many ways. 3rd segment: Scot asked Dr. Smith to explain some of the follow-up research in his second book, . Dr Smith explained that the youth they started studying were now 18 to 23 years old, and that it was fascinating to see them transitioning out of their teenage years and into a college life and beyond. He said that even though there is an impression that teens at this age are re-evaluating their lives and determining their identities for the future, the majority of teenagers transitioning to young adults are tracked by continuity - that once teens are on a trajectory towards a decline in faith, it takes a strong personal connection or other motivating event to nudge them on a path back to the Church. Dr. Smith went on to explain that parents are a "sticky" effect and continue to affect emerging adults, even after they've left the home. Father Matt asked Dr. Smith if his research showed differences between teens at secular colleges as compared to religious colleges - Dr. Smith said it was difficult to refine different types of universities across the spectrum of religious commitment, but that a college environment with pastoral resources create the conditions for the possibility of a more faithful life. Stephen asked Dr. Smith to explain events that could help emerging adults change their trajectory away from faith - he said people are formed by relationships, and that role models and mentors tend to be what can affect youth the most. A formative relationship with a college professor or someone they build a friendship with can easily knock them off of one trajectory into another. Father Matt asked Dr. Smith where he would invest his resources to create a new system if he had the chance - Dr. Smith said that if he had a chance to start improving this problem, he would start with the parents of young kids by trying to emphasize goal-setting for both their own and their children's faith lives. Scot said that many parents fear they are not knowledgable enough about their faith to teach their kids the faith, so they outsource it to religious education programs or other parents. He also commented that many parents don't explain to their kids why faith is important. Dr. Smith agreed that outsourcing was a problem - he says that many of the parents these days were the first generation not formed as well in the 1970s, so to a significant degree it is not their fault. He went on to say that if the Church wants to rebuild its strength, it needs to focus on parents as well as youth. Dr. Smith also said that many teenagers appreciate when parents share in a simple, down to earth way what faith means to them. Scot commented that when Dr. Smith wrote , he had a chance to learn many things about the Catholic faith. Scot asked him if there was any connection between Dr. Smith's research and his conversion. Dr. Smith said that there was almost no connection - and that the data on Catholics should have pushed him away! He said that he felt it was a sign that he knew all this information about apathetic Catholic youth yet was still attracted to Catholicism. Dr. Smith and his wife were set on a course over many years that eventually led to the fact that the Catholic Church was the true Church, and that Protestantism was not. Scot and Dr. Smith both highlighted that the book was not just for Evangelicals, but is an educational read for Catholics as well and can help us learn more about our faith through a different lens. Step 12 in Dr. Smith's book asks about where the New Testament comes from - Dr. Smith explains in his book that without the Catholic Church, the New Testament would not exist. This forces a logical decision - "…either the Catholic Church's episcopate had a legitimate authority to define the content of New Testament scriptures or it did not have authority." Dr. Smith said that it is difficult to deny the authority of Catholic Bishops after they have provided the basis (the New Testament) of what most non-Catholic Christians believe in. 4th segment: It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prizes this week are a copy of the book by Theresa Doyle-Nelson, and a copy of , a book by Michaelann Martin on how mothers can build relationships with their daughters. This week’s winner is Patricia Ponticelli from Amesbury. Congratulations Patricia! If you would like to be eligible to win in upcoming weeks, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment:Scot asked Dr. Smith to talk about Step 59 - to decide "once and for all that there is something fundamentally and deeply wrong with denominationalism." Dr. Smith explains that splitting off so many denominations makes faith into a consumer commodity - worshipers church-shop and try to find a faith that reflects their existing beliefs. He says it directly violates Jesus' prayer in John 17 asking that his Church be one. Dr. Smith said that sociologists talk about religion in America as a market - each church has a market with a niche, turning believers into consumers. Steven commented that this division also feeds back into MTD, that youth can think of God in their own way and "pull Him off the shelf when they want him." Scot moved on to Step 63, that authority does not mean authoritativeness. Dr. Smith said that in reality, Protestants do have authority, but it varies - it can be the authority of seminary professor, a preacher, a book author, anyone. He said the important part is not the authority itself, but rather who the authority is and what legitimacy the authority has. The Catholic Church has a legitimate account for its authority through the Pope, he said. Stephen asked Dr. Smith what his plans for the future were. Dr. Smith said he sees a need for a book solely on Catholic emerging adults that he will release in a few years that he hopes contributes a lot to the good work of Catholic youth ministries around the country. .…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Brian Benestad, professor of theology at the University of Scranton and author of the book "Church, State, and Society"; and Janet Benestad, Secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization for the Archdiocese of Boston * [University of Scranton](http://www.scranton.edu) * ["Church, State, and Society: An Introduction to Catholic Social Doctrine (Catholic Moral Thought)"](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0813218012/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=0813218012) **Today's topics:** Catholic social doctrine **Summary of today's show:** Brian and Janet Benestad discuss with Scot Catholic social doctrine, being a Catholic in the public square, and how to establish a hierarchy among the various elements of Catholic social teaching. **1st segment:** Scot began by asking what the Church asks of us in the public square, how do we form our consciences, and how do we apply Church teaching to the public square? This will be addressed today by our guests, Brian and Janet Benestad. Scot began by noting today's news that Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has been appointed to become archbishop of Philadelphia. Janet said this is big news. He has been recognized nationally for his leadership in Denver. Scot said Archbishop Chaput has written two books on applying our faith to public life. Brian said Chaput is not afraid to teach the counter-cultural aspects of the Catholic faith today. * ["Render Unto Caesar," Archbishop Charles Chaput](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385522290/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0385522290) * ["Living the Catholic Faith," Archbishop Charles Chaput](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/156955191X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=156955191X) Chaput was a classmate of Cardinal Seán in seminary. They are both Capuchins, studied together, and were ordained on the same day. They were both appointed as bishops at a young age. People have been drawing comparisons between the two. Cardinal Seán was appointed to Boston in its darkest days and Philadelphia is going through similar difficulties today. * [John Allen's interview with Archbishop Chaput in the National Catholic Reporter](http://ncronline.org/news/people/exclusive-interview-archbishop-charles-chaput) The archbishop's installation will be on September 8, 2011 in Philadelphia. **2nd segment:** Janet said she and Brian will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary on September 11. Of course, their 30th anniversary was 9/11/2001 and they were traveling in Europe at the time. They have four children, 3 of them in New England. Two of them are married. They have 4 grandchildren ranging in age from 1 to 7. Their unmarried daughter lives in Rhode Island and teaches at Portsmouth Abbey. Their unmarried son is an Air Force lawyer who recently returned from Iraq. Brian has been a professor of theology at University of Scranton since 1976. In addition to "Church, State, and Society," he's written extensively on Catholic social teaching and bioethics. When they lived in Scranton, Janet started as a parish CCD teacher. In the 1980s, she taught political science, philosophy and history as an adjunct professor. Later, she was hired by the Diocese of Scranton and worked there for 10 years in the area of parish life, which is similar to her work in Boston in faith formation and evangelization. She's been in Boston for a little more than two years. Boston is a much bigger place and very challenging, while very rewarding. Her areas of coverage are much larger as well: healthcare, cultural diversity, and more. Brian and Janet have also taught together at the Master of Arts in Ministry program at St. John Seminary, teaching the Catechetical Certificate. They began when they were first married teaching catechetics at St. Theresa in West Roxbury and after they moved to Scranton, Brian still had Janet's assistance and input on his work. Brian said it's a great gift to teach theology at the university. He would continue to do it even if he were financially independent. Practically all of his work is with undergraduates. He's been on sabbatical this year, finishing up the work for the book. Scot said he was surprised that there weren't many books on the totality of Catholic social doctrine outside of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church . He wanted to help people understand what the Church means by justice. For example, social justice is a new term in the 20th century. People are still trying to figure out what it means. Scot asked the difference between Catholic social doctrine and what is commonly referred to as social justice. Brian said social justice is commonly understood as a set of structures that enable society to pursue the common good. It's not understood as a personal virtue. That's very different from Catholic social tradition which sees justice as a virtue. Social justice is meant to in the same way that St. Thomas Aquinas called communicative justice, which is the virtue that directs all the other virtues. Social justice is all those things that contribute to the common good and meeting people's needs. Catholic social doctrine is based on the dignity of the human person. All else is understood in relation to that. Common good is the sum of all the conditions that enable people or groups to achieve perfection, to achieve your dignity. Dignity is acquired by the way you live. People can act beneath their dignity or in accord with their dignity. If society really supports a marriage and family life, then it helps people realize they need to live a certain way to achieve their dignity. **3rd segment:** Scot said the USCCB lists [seven themes of Catholic social teaching](http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/projects/socialteaching/excerpt.shtml): 1. Life and Dignity of the Human Person 2. Call to Family, Community, and Participation 3. Rights and Responsibilities 4. Option for the Poor and Vulnerable 5. The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers 6. Solidarity 7. Care for God’s Creation Scot said the lists seems to be prioritized. Sacredness of life and dignity of the human person is most important. Some Catholics would advocate that they're all equal so if someone is not supporting the dignity of the human person but supporting the rest, you're doing well, but Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI would disagree. Brian said you can never act against the dignity of the human person. Janet said if we don't recognize the dignity of the human person and their life, then all the rest is irrelevant. The common good depends on all seven, but there might be some play in how to achieve them, but the protection of life can only be achieved in certain narrow ways and violation of that is always wrong. Brian said since 1973, and the Roe v. Wade decision, Catholic politicians have been saying that all of these are equal and if you get 5 out of 7 then you're doing okay. The USCCB says about Life and Dignity of the Human Person: >The Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society. This belief is the foundation of all the principles of our social teaching. In our society, human life is under direct attack from abortion and euthanasia. The value of human life is being threatened by cloning, embryonic stem cell research, and the use of the death penalty. The intentional targeting of civilians in war or terrorist attacks is always wrong. Catholic teaching also calls on us to work to avoid war. Nations must protect the right to life by finding increasingly effective ways to prevent conflicts and resolve them by peaceful means. We believe that every person is precious, that people are more important than things, and that the measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person. Scot surmised that the paragraph itself is written in a prioritized order as well: abortion, euthanasia, cloning, embryonic stem cell research, and then the death penalty. Janet said the bishops have been clear that abortion is preeminent. The bishops have said that if a politician takes a position contrary to the Church's teaching, the bishop will approach him, talk with him, ask him to be in conformity with the Church, and if they still refuse, to refrain from receiving Communion. Pope Benedict XVI, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, [laid out how a Catholic should approach a political candidate](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0403722.htm) who supports abortion. The voter could only vote for a pro-abortion candidate if there was a proportionate reason, but nowhere have the bishops laid out what such a proportionate reason is. Voting for a politician *because* of his pro-abortion stance would be material cooperation with evil, while voting for a pro-abortion politician *in spite of* his stance on abortion because he had another stance that would prevent evil, would be *remote* material cooperation, which means it doesn't take away all the evil of the situation, but reduces some of the culpability for it. Janet said we become responsible when the politician begins to pass laws that will affect society. **4th segment:** Scot said Catholic social teaching is not based on bishops deciding on the Church's political positions in the public square. Brian said the commitment to the Catholic social teaching is rooted in and strengthened by our spiritual lives. It is based on the Deposit of the Faith received from Christ and the Apostles. Scot said we're called to know our faiths and not just listen to various pundits who say one thing or another. We're also facing an increasing demand that the public square should only be influenced by non-faith-related values. We're called to live as practical atheists, not letting our consciences formed by our faith influence us. Brian said this is a country that has always protected religious freedom and we can apply our faith to public issues. We don't impose our views on others. We propose an idea. We make an argument and people don't have to accept it. Janet said we should never be afraid of being excluded from public life for expressing our views. Nobody tells us we can't express our religious views when we say we should take care of the poor. So we have to say that protecting life isn't just our religious belief; it's the truth. Part of our responsibility for being good citizens is being good parents and good teachers and to share the love of Christ. Brian also recommends reading the papal social encyclicals, the documents of Vatican II, and the writings of Aquinas and Augustine on justice.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Brendan O'Connell and Marianne Luthin * [Life Matters TV](http://lifematterstv.com/) * [Pregnancy Help Boston](http://www.pregnancyhelpboston.org) * [Number of Abortions - Abortion Counters](http://www.numberofabortions.com/) **Today's topics:** Life Matters TV **Summary of today's show:** Brendan O'Connell talked with Scot about his widely available cable access program, Life Matters TV, that has had more than 300 episodes and can reach more than 1 million homes in Massachusetts. Marianne Luthin of the Pro-Life Office also discussed the various ministries of the Archdiocese helping women in crisis pregnancy and suffering from having had abortions. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Marianne Luthin, director of the Pro-Life Office, and Brendan O'Connell, host of Life Matters TV, available on Boston cable access television. Marianne was one The Good Catholic Life show #8. Scot asked Brendan how he became involved in pro-life work. Over a 20 year period, starting in business school, he started to see how the public was deceiving the public purposefully and it bothered him. When he was about 35, he started dating a woman who'd had an abortion and got pregnant again. She was in law school and her parents offered to pay for school if she had an abortion. She instead had the child and started dating her when the child was 1-1/2 years old. When he moved back to Boston, he had written to a pro-choice Republican running for office saying that he would never vote for him and he ended up as a Mass. Citizens for Life chapter president. He realized the need to get our voice heard and our message out there. He said there were many people who could be convinced of the value of life. Scot said he often see intentional mischaracterizations of people in the media. Brendan said his show looks at life issue from legal, legislative, biological, political, and spiritual viewpoints. He had no idea when he began that life is being attacked at so many different levels, from the beginning of life to the end of natural life. Around 2050, he said, there is predicted there will be a dramatic decline in world population because of the initiatives against life. He had as a guest recently Don Feder who shared many of these statistics. Scot said there are many efforts our Church takes on life issues, including education through the media. Marianne said Brendan has had her on his program to talk about Project Rachel. Even though it's a secular program, she gets many responses from people who seek out help from the Church. Scot said leadership in the pro-life movement can't be easy. Brendan said he's been ostracized. Sometimes people in your own family won't talk to you. The program is in 1.3 million cable homes. He has realized that other side isn't on television, except through the occasional commercial. He realized that they have nothing to talk about except the process of killing people. He said one aspect that he's covered on the show is the economic impact of abortion, 53 million people in the US who are dead now who would have contributed to the economy. Brendan said the show is a tremendous sacrifice because he often take part-time jobs to support himself. Yet he's been invited to the White House as well. He wants to grow the program throughout New England and nationally. **2nd segment:** Brendan said the program came from wanting to have our voice heard. It was a struggle to get it on in Boston on cable access. They had filled out the application to the local cable access organization, but they couldn't get approved until Mayor Menino's former press secretary helped him get through the bureaucracy. He had a passion for getting the word out to people to change hearts and influence minds. Marianne said it's important to have such programs. We have only about 18% of Catholics in pews on Sunday and if you look at abortion statistics, you see that Catholic women have abortions at the same rate as the rest of the population. Cable access gives them access to the whole population, not just those who come to Church. The show airs in about 130 communities in Massachusetts, which is about 65% of cable viewers in the state. Being on cable access is good because people often are clicking through from local stations to other cable show and pass right by the cable access. By being low on the dial, there's a higher probability that people will click through and see the show. He has a lot of post-abortive women who confide their experiences on the show. He had a guest recently, Melissa Ohden, who survived an abortion. When she turned 14, her older sister was going to have an abortion and the adoptive parents revealed that Melissa was adopted. At 19 she sought her biological parents and 11 years later found out that she was aborted alive and survived a saline-infused abortion. She had many medical problems as an infant, but is fine now. There is a documentary about her, ["A Voice for Life."](http://www.avoiceforlife.com/) She also found out that her mother was coerced into the abortion and was more than 30 weeks into the pregnancy. Marianne said the Pregnancy Help Center in Brighton works every day with women being pressured into abortion and it gets worse in a bad economy. They are often abandoned by the fathers of the babies. If even your parents don't support you, it leaves you in a very difficult situation. That is why the Church's work in pregnancy help is so important. More than 100 parishes across the archdiocese provide assistance in this area. Pregnancy Help is available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese at [PregnancyHelpBoston.org](PregnancyHelpBoston.org) or at 888-771-3914. Scot said 313 episodes of LifeMatters TV is very impressive. Brendan spoke of some of his favorites. He had Fr. Tad Pacholczyk on in 2004 to talk abouit embryonic stem cell research. This has been a frequent topic, including Fr. Kevin Harrington and Fr. Nicanor Austriaco. Mary Ann Glendon was also a guest on the show. He gives her credit for refusing an honor at Notre Dame when President Obama was asked to speak. He's also had Nellie Gray, Ambassador Ray Flynn, and Cardinal Seán. Brendan said Nellie Gray has a unique perspective on abortion, that they should be considered crimes against humanity. She is a key organizer of the March for Life, which brings hundreds of thousands of people every year and get almost no press coverage. How would someone get Life Matters TV on their town local's cable access station? Brendand assumes there would be one pro-life person in each town. Go to the Life Matters TV and become a town sponsor. It costs nothing to become a local sponsor; they just need to be the local person requesting it. They could become involved in raising awareness of the show, especially in their local parishes. Brendan takes care of most of the distribution, although a town or two may require the local sponsor be the one to bring the DVDs into the station. In the top 40 metropolitan areas in Massachusetts, they're all in but about 3 or 4 of them and he'd like to get in those as well. They would also like to get more than one sponsor for each town in case there's someone who moves. **3rd segment:** When we talk about the teachings on the dignity of human life, we should refer to Pope John Paul's encyclical Evangelium Vitae. He talked about the fact that our sense of the dignity of human life is undergoing an eclipse. * [Evangelium Vitae](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae_en.html) In talking about the eclipse of the value of human life, everyone acknowledges there are some things that are very wrong. But the pope points out in abortion and euthanasia, we've got them upside down and our culture calls them human rights. >All this explains, at least in part, how the value of life can today undergo a kind of "eclipse", even though conscience does not cease to point to it as a sacred and inviolable value, as is evident in the tendency to disguise certain crimes against life in its early or final stages by using innocuous medical terms which distract attention from the fact that what is involved is the right to life of an actual human person. The challenge is to break that eclipse. Scot said the debate of the issues uses lots of euphemisms: Who isn't in favor of choice or women's rights? But who suffers more than the women, except for the babies? Marianne said in her work with Project Rachel she sees so much pain. It is a ministry to those who have undergone abortion. Many women have identified their entire adult experience around this pain of abortion. Yet everyone around them have said, "What's the big deal?" The woman is in grief from a loss that is never going to be completely reconciled. Scot said Planned Parenthood and others profit from this pain, sometimes using our tax dollars, and then use that money to market to other women. Scot said some people say that calling ourselves pro-life and not anti-abortion desensitizes people to the evil of abortion. Brendan thinks pro-life is a better term because it's optimistic. In fact, pro-choice as a term was a response to pro-life. They change the language to make it all palatable. Now abortion is only considered after implantation in the womb because Planned Parenthood sells contraception that itself aborts the baby by preventing implantation. Thus women are told it's just contraception and not abortion. The stress on a woman of taking an abortion pill, like RU-486, can even be greater than a surgical abortion. Brendan said research shows that it has a more devastating impact physically and psychologically. The reason is that the women are ingesting the pills themselves and don't have an abortionist to blame in their mind and they then don't have anyone to turn to. Also, it takes 3 or 4 days to work, but once the pill is taken it can't be stopped, which can be agonizing for a woman who changes her mind. Brendan pointed out that the pills also suppress the immune system, which is leading to illness and even death for women who take them. Marianne said the Centers for Disease Control released a study that has shown women dying from RU-486. Nevertheless the FDA approves the pill in the US. Scot said if the drug did not receive so much political support because of abortion, it would never be legal. Brendan also brought that a guest, Dr. Joel Brind, talked about the increase in the number of younger women having breast cancer. Many studies show that there is a real abortion/breast cancer link. Women who've had abortion have a much higher percentage of breast cancer starting ten years out from the abortion. It's primarily abortion of a first pregnancy. The women's breast does not complete development until the first pregnancy and with abortion the development is stopped abruptly and leads to the developing cells becoming cancerous. **4th segment:** Scot asked Marianne about some key initiatives in the pro-life office. The Archdiocese is one of the few US dioceses that runs its own crisis pregnancy center. They also run Project Rachel, a post-abortion ministry for women and men feeling grief and sorrow from an abortion. There is a network of priests who minister to them, they have counselors on call, and they provide a series of retreats. Project Rachel is at [ProjectRachelBoston.com](http://projectrachelboston.com/) or call 508-651-3100. Her office also overviews parish-level respect life education for students as well as parish baby shower programs to help provide support and resources for women who need help continuing their pregnancies. The Catholic Daughters of America every year do a ministry called Pennies for Life, where they collect pennies outside of parishes. They have raised $100,000 from pennies and provide those funds to various pro-life ministries.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Gerry Dorgan, Pastor of St. Mary of the Annunciation Parish in Danvers * [St. Mary of the Annunciation Parish, Danvers](http://stmarychurchdanvers.org/) * ["A day to celebrate Father Dorgan," Danvers Herald, 4/10/08](http://www.wickedlocal.com/danvers/news/lifestyle/religion/x1620715324#axzz1RRfpaqIU ) **Today's topics:** Pastor Profile: Fr. Gerry Dorgan **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Gerry Dorgan joins Scot and Fr. Mark to discuss his 53 years in the priesthood; his 20 years at St. Mary in Danvers; how he ended up teaching in the seminary after just 5 months as a priest; what makes a good homily (hint: not that's short!); and his love of art and art history. Also, this Sunday's Gospel from Mass. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Mark back to the show. He asked how his summer is going at its halfway point. He is starting his vacation this weekend. on today's program, one of Fr. Mark's former pastors, Fr. Jerry Dorgan, will be on the program today. Fr. Mark was at Fr. Dorgan's parish for two years before he was sent to Rome to study canon law. Fr. Mark will always remember how Fr. Dorgan gave him a good sendoff from the parish. Fr. Dorgan was also Fr. Mark's homiletics professor in the seminary. When Fr. Mark presented his first homily to the professor, Fr. Dorgan said it would be a very good children's homily. Unfortunately, Fr. Mark was not writing a children's homily. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark welcomed Fr. Dorgan to the show. He is celebrating 53 years as a priest this year. He has been at St. Mary in Danvers since 1991 and was at the seminary before that. He began his priesthood at St. Margaret Mary in Westwood, but wasn't there long because he was suddenly drafted to Cardinal O'Connell Minor Seminary. He attended graduate school at night and studied English Literature and also taught American history. He was 24 years old, had been ordained for four months, and was suddenly teaching English and history. Fr. Dorgan graduated from St. John Prep at 16 and then attended Holy Cross College. He'd already been thinking about the priesthood and at the end of the year he transferred to the seminary. After ordination he taught at seminaries until being made pastor in 1991. Scot was surprised that Fr. Dorgan has had only three assignments in his priesthood, which is very unusual over such a long period. He also did a religious talk show on WBZ Radio. The year he was ordained, there were 61 in his class. St. Mary's in Danvers is a wonderful parish. They have about 100 people who come to daily Mass to the 7am and 9am Masses. Scot has heard that there is a tradition in the parish that after Sunday Mass, the people kneel after the final song and pray a prayer of thanksgiving. Fr. Mark also heard that the original St. Mary's Church was demolished during the construction of Route 128 and that it was a good thing because the old building in such bad shape. The new church was built by [Gray Architects](http://www.grayarchitects.net), who have built many beautiful churches in the area. In 1998, they built a parochial school. Fr. Dorgan said it is going very well. It is shared with St. Richard of Chichester Parish in Danvers. It was founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph. There is a strong relationship with St. John's Prep. * [St. Mary of the Annunciation School](http://www.smadanvers.org/) * [St. John's Prep](http://www.stjohnsprep.org/) Having taught at the college seminary for many years (St. Clement's Seminary), he had taught many of the priests who serve in the Archdiocese today. Fr. Mark noted that Fr. Dorgan's collection of books took over many rooms at the seminary. Fr. Mark estimated that there were many more than 10,000 volumes. One day he told Fr. Dorgan about a favorite Wyeth painting in the Museum of Fine Arts. So Fr. Dorgan found a book with the image of the painting and gave it to Fr. Mark. He told him he'd been hoping to count down his collection and Fr. Mark said he would need to give away many more books to even make a dent. **3rd segment:** Fr. Dorgan taught homiletics in the seminary. He noted it's never been particularly noted as a strength in the Catholic Church. Scot asked him why it's not one of our strong suits compared to other Christian faiths. Fr. Dorgan said in Protestant churches the primary experience of Sunday worship is the homily while the Liturgy of the Eucharist is of equal importance to the Liturgy of the Word. He thinks it's important for the people to hear God's Word and to love and live it. Scot wonders if the problem is that laypeople encourage shorter homilies or if it's that priests are so busy during the week that they don't put as much preparation into it, especially if people aren't going to appreciate a long homily. Fr. Mark asked how helps a seminarian who is a terrible preacher. Fr. Dorgan said they often just need help determining what the message should be and how to deliver it. He believes that prayer is a key part of preparing a homily. Fr. Mark said Fr. Dorgan would not allow his students to have notes in front of them when preaching. Fr. Dorgan said a man would not read from a paper when on a date with his wife or girlfriend. Scot said he would certainly never do that if he wanted a second date. Fr. Dorgan said a Sunday homily should be 10-12 minutes. If it's well done it doesn't seem very long at all. During the week, he might speak for a minute or two. Scot asked when you have such a diverse audience for the homily, how do you prepare for it to address everyone. Fr. Dorgan said that strictly speaking the Lectionary is the basis of the homily and so the priest studies the readings to determine what it means to him and to the situation of his parish. **4th segment:** Scot noted that Fr. Dorgan also studied art history to teach it in the seminary as well. Fr. Dorgan said he thinks there's a tremendous potential in art history, particularly in Western art where so much of it is religious. He puts reproductions of fine art in his church to expose the congregation to beautiful religious art. A picture is worth 1,000 words. Art in Roman Catholicism is a tremendous part of our tradition. He was not himself an artist, but his family were lovers of art and he went to many art auctions as a child. He has a triptych of the [Annunciation](http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/the_cloisters/annunciation_triptych_merode_altarpiece_robert_campin/objectview.aspx?page=1&sort=6&sortdir=asc&keyword=annunciation&fp=1&dd1=7&dd2=0&vw=1&collID=7&OID=70010727&vT=1&hi=0&ov=0) in the Museum of Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is in the [Cloisters Museum](http://www.metmuseum.org/cloisters/) of the Metropolitan Museum. He is also a big fan of [Albrecht Durer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer). His favorite museum in the world is the Louvre in Paris. He loves [Chartres Cathedral](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartres_Cathedral) outside of Paris. In Italy, Florence is his favorite place for art. When showing art, he prefers reproductions instead of slides. He prefers to be able to see the art in three dimensions as it was intended. There was a discussion of the sacred art in the churches of Boston, especially in churches that have closed. Most of the art has been preserved. Scot noted that Immaculate Conception in Newburyport and St. Mary in Dedham have beautiful art. They also agreed that the two parish in Charlestown and St. Mary in Melrose are also beautiful. Scot added that [St. Anthony of Padua in New Bedford](http://www.saintanthonynewbedford.com/images/virtualtour.html), where his brother is pastor, is the most beautiful church in the United States. The church was built to be the cathedral when the area become a diocese, but it was placed in Fall River instead. Scot said the [Cathedral in Covington, Kentucky](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_Basilica_of_the_Assumption,_Covington) has the largest stained glass window in the United States. **5th segment:** Now, as we do every week, we look forward to this coming Sunday's Mass readings to help us prepare to celebrate together. * [Gospel for Sunday, July 17, Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 13:24-43)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/071711.shtml#gospel) >Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” > >He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.’” > >He spoke to them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.” > >All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world. > >Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.” Fr. Dorgan recalls a professor telling him that great writers have one thing to say. The Bible is a big book and has one thing to say: I'll be with you. I'll be the one who'll be there with you. In exodus 3, the Lord says to Moses to go to Pharaoh to let his people go. The Lord says, "I'll be with you." He does about 130 funerals in his church each year and the people often choose the reading, "If God is with us, who can be against us." The good news is that we do not walk alone. Scot said God is sowing good seed, which is us. Even if we have a small seed of faith, God will make it grow. Mother Teresa going to Calcutta with millions of people in need. Look at the good she did for Calcutta and the entire Church. The weeds are those things in life which take us away from God, which distract us from him. Fr. Mark recalled Mother Teresa said that if you want to feed everyone in the world, start with one. The message of the mustard seed and the yeast is essentially the same. When Fr. Mark was ordained his uncle, Fr Dana Delaney, preached the homily. He said the yeast is the opposite of the bad apple. You plant the yeast and it makes everything grow, whereas one bad apple ruins the barrel. Scot said the last line is almost in-your-face because everyone has ears and so they are all called to hear. Fr. Mark notes that the owner of the field lets wheat and weeds grow together. We give the weeds a chance because they might be wheat in the end. God is patient with us and stays with us in difficult times.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. **Today's topics:** Decision on 8 closed churches, South Sudan, Church teaching on chastity **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Roger and Greg discuss with Scot and Susan the news of the week, including Cardinal Seán's decision on the future of 8 closed churches; the struggles of the Church in the new nation of South Sudan; the Church's teaching on chastity, especially for those with same-sex attraction; new vicars forane for the archdiocese; and more. **1st segment:** Scot told Susan that there is big news in the Archdiocese today with Cardinal Seán making a decision on the fate of eight closed churches. Susan noted that today is the Feast of Bl. Kateri as well as Bastille Day. Scot noted that on yesterday we learned that today is also the Feast of St. Camillus. She also was at CatholicTV this week taping a show with Msgr. James Moroney on liturgy. cot said Msgr. Moroney is one of the world's experts on Catholic liturgy and is teaching at St. John Seminary. He is in high demand to educate people on the upcoming changes to the Roman Missal this Advent. Scot said the Pilot is back this week from its two week hiatus. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Roger and Gregory back to the show. He said Cardinal Seán has announced his decision on eight churches that had appealed closure. Six are being relegated to profane uses and two others for new uses (St. Therese and St. Jeremiah). * ["Cardinal Makes Decisions on Future of Eight Closed Churches," Official statement](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Utility/News-And-Press/Content.aspx?id=20960) * St. James the Great, Wellesley * St. Jeanne D'Arc, Lowell * Star of the Sea, Quincy * Our Lady of Lourdes, Revere * St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Scituate * Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, East Boston * St. Therese, Everett * St. Jeremiah, Framingham Greg said relegation to profane use, but not sordid use. Profane use means not set aside for sacred use; a use other than sacred worship. It clears the way to sell or transfer the property for other purpose. The Planning Office for Urban Affairs, for example, has converted some closed churches to affordable housing. St. Therese will become an oratory of St. Anthony in Everett for use by the Brazilian community. In canon law, a church is a public place open to all; a chapel is a private place of worship; and an oratory is designated for a particular group of Catholics and anyone who is a member of that group are welcome to use the oratory. Fr. Roger added the category of the shrine, which is like a church but doesn't have similar rights in canon law to a church. The pastor of St. Anthony had made a request to the Archdiocese, saying that he had too many Masses each weekend in one church building and needed another. The Brazilian community has grown large enough to warrant another building, but they didn't want the extra overhead of a separate parish, with the need for a parish staff and all the separate issues. Susan asked what a rectorate is. Greg said a rectorate is essentially a parish, except it's under the direct authority of the bishop and not a pastor. In a cathedral, the bishops it the pastor and he appoints a rector to run the cathedral parish. It means that the rectorate doesn't have the same right in canon law that a parish does. Scot said it's big news because many of these churches have had vigils in place since they were closed during Reconfiguration in 2004-2005 with many contentious appeals to re-open the churches. He noted that the parishes have already been canonically suppressed or closed. The church is not synonymous with the parish. The church building's disposition is now being decided. Scot said the funds from any sales of property will go to the archdiocese for the use of any parishes in need. Susan said the sacred objects from the churches will first be offered to welcoming parishes and then to other Catholic parishes. She noted that the stained glass windows in the Bethany Chapel of the Pastoral Center contain many stained glass windows from closed churches. Scot said Cardinal Seán said maintaining these buildings were drawing needed resources from other parishes. >What I have heard from these consultations is that we have reached a point as a community of believers where we must relegate these Church buildings as part of the continuing healing and rebuilding of the Archdiocese. I continue to put my trust and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ to help us come together as one Catholic family, inspired by the Holy Spirit and guided in our principles and commitment to do God’s work. Fr. Roger said the Church has a high standard for the use of sacred buildings because God has been present there in the Eucharist and the worship of God has taken place there. He noted that in other places where it wasn't taken seriously one church was used as a restaurant and then later turned into a place of ill repute. He said the Church isn't taking the sacrifices of those who built the churches lightly. He said the Vatican takes seriously the decision to relegate to profane use. It can't just be to save money or help with organizational matters. It must go beyond to grave reasons. These buildings are holy ground. Scot said Cardinal Seán made the consultation on the churches available to everyone in the Church. He said it's the first time any diocese used an electronic survey to receive responses from people and there were about 400-500 responses for the eight churches. Greg said the Vatican has recently turned its attention to the question of the relegation of churches in other places in the country where there have been closures. In most cases the Vatican has upheld the right of a bishop to suppress a parish, but has taken a more conservative stance on the relegation of churches. He thinks this was kept in mind in the making of this decision in Boston. **3rd segment:** Scot said a big story in the worldwide Catholic Church was the independence day for the new nation of South Sudan on July 9. About 80% of the country are Catholic. The people of South Sudan had suffered great persecution over decades by the Islamic majority in the north. * ["Catholic officials: People of South Sudan will need patience," CNS, 7/11/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102743.htm) * [Fr. Landry's column in his parish bulletin about Fr. Vicentio from South Sudan](http://www.saintanthonynewbedford.com/bulletins/SANB%2007.17.2011.pdf) * ["Independence Day in South Sudan," by Tony Magliano](http://paxchristiusa.org/2011/07/11/sudan-independence-day-in-south-sudan/) This week, Fr. Roger has a priest from the Archdiocese of Juba in South Sudan to preach at his parish. He wrote a letter to the parish and said the Church in that country is at a crossroads. In a country the size of New England, they have just 20 miles of roads. Most of their churches, seminaries, and schools need to be rebuilt. The country needs police departments founded and they need an army to defend their borders. In order for there to be real forgiveness, they need much support. He has suggested to the missionary from Sudan that he preach on what it takes for his people just to get to Mass. Many of them would have to walk 20 miles each way to Mass and they would travel at night to avoid being waylaid by soldiers from Khartoum in the north. They wanted more rosaries so if they were killed on the road their last words would be the Hail Mary. Their Mass would last for hours and hours because it might be the last time they would get together in prayer. They need not just our prayers, but also our financial assistance. Fr. Roger suggested sending a donation to Catholic Relief Services with a memo marking it for use in South Sudan. Fr. Juba wrote in his letter: >Our people are desperate. They have lost everything and are unable to help themselves. Many, particularly the most vulnerable children and the elderly, are dying daily from starvation and curable diseases. We in the Church are the hope for our people. Our clergy, religious catechists and lay leaders are fighting against all odds to keep the flames of faith burning in our country. While burying the dead, supporting the survivors, sheltering the displaced, healing the wounded and broken-hearted, and feeding the orphans and displaced children, widows and the elderly, we continue to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ vigorously, build the Church and consolidate faith in our country. > >We need your help to continue to keep hope alive among our traumatized people. I am therefore appealing to you, our brothers and sisters in faith, to help us in our struggle for survival. Thank you in advance for standing in solidarity with us in our time of need. May our Risen Savior Jesus Christ bless you with the fullness of grace, peace and health! Susan said she was moved by the live broadcasts from South Sudan during independence celebrations, hearing the jubilation of the people in the streets. She was also pleased the Ken Hackett, the retiring president of Catholic Relief Services, was representing Catholics in the US there. (She noted that Hackett was a parishioner at St. Theresa's in West Roxbury.) Fr. Roger said it will take a long time for the Church there to build up its institutions and so he encourages all to make a long-term commitment of prayer and financial resources to South Sudan. He said the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church and they have bled very much there. He expects in the future to have many clergy and religious to come from there. **4th segment:** Scot said Fr. Roger has published his third in a series of editorials in The Anchor on topics related to issues brought up by controversy at St. Cecilia in Boston, which held a Mass devoted to welcoming homosexuals into the Church. * [Fr. Roger's third in a series of editorials on issues raised by situation at St. Cecilia's in Boston](http://catholicpreaching.com/index.php?content=articles&articles=20110715anchor) Fr. Roger's editorial said all are called to chastity in the Church: married, single, priests & religious, and those with same-sex attraction. Fr. Roger said chastity is often confusing to people because they confuse chastity and continence, which is the same as abstinence. He said that chastity is tied to piety as preached by Pope John Paul II. >Piety is the habit that helps us to revere others according to their true dignity, according to the image of God in them. St. Paul wrote to husbands and wives, “Be subordinate to each other out of reverence for Christ” (Eph 5:21, calling them to recognize and revere Christ in each other and mutually lay down their lives for each other out of love for the Lord they recognize dwelling in the other. Linked to piety, chastity helps us to see the other as sacred subject instead of a sexual object, to treat the other with reverence rather than randiness. Susan said t he archdiocese has an office for Respect Life Education that teaches chastity in schools and religious education. Many parishes are adopting a course on theology of the body adapted for teens. Fr. Roger quotes Pope John Paul's theology of the body quite a bit in his editorial. >Blessed Pope John Paul II’s insights help us better to see why all of us in the Church, no matter our state of life, are called to chastity. > >Husbands and wives are called to chastity in their marriage. This means that they reverence the other as a sacred gift, raise their attractions to the level of their spouse’s genuine good (including, obviously, the good of the soul) and see the other as created in God’s image, fully accepting the paternal meaning of a man’s masculinity or the maternal meaning of the woman’s femininity, In simple terms, their love is meant to be holy, not horny. Lusting after each other — what Jesus called “adultery in the heart” — is, therefore, a desecration of the other in one’s intentions. Fr. Roger said those who are unmarried are to reverence others and never take advantage of others for their own gratification. Such relations should only be following a lifelong commitment. We cannot have a consumerist attitude. >Can those with same-sex attractions truly love each other? Absolutely. The Church by no means is condemning those with same-sex attractions to a loveless life; the question is what practices will be consistent with genuine love and the objective good of the people involved. The Church teaches that those of the same-sex can clearly exercise the love of friendship (philia) in which the other becomes like a second self. The Church teaches that they certainly can — and are called to — have true Christian love (agape) toward each other, a willingness to sacrifice themselves and even die to themselves and their pleasures for the other’s true good. But the Church stresses that they need to ensure the romantic attractions (eros) they have for each other do not damage the one they love by opposing or destroying the love of agape and philia. For this they need chastity, which helps them raise their romantic attractions up to the sacred dignity of the person, which is violated by same-sex sexual activity. Those of the same sex are able to love one another, but of the type of philia and agape, which are self-sacrificial. If they have this elove, they will realize that reducing the other to their sexual attraction and mutually using each other destroys friendship and self-sacrificial love. They are called to raise their attractions up to the reverence of each other. Same-sex sexual activity is not consistent with this type of love or the good of the soul. * [Courage](http://couragerc.net/) Fr. Roger said an article in the Anchor updates on the past year of the availability of pro-life Choose Life license plates which has raised $90,000. They need to have 3,000 plates total to abide by Mass. Dept of Motor Vehicles requirements and they are only about two-thirds there. It is a great witness for life and raises money for great causes. A benefactor put up a $100,000 bond for the plates and will lose that bond if they do not reach 3,000 plates. * [Choose Life license plates](http://www.machoose-life.org) Greg said the Cardinal this week has named 20 vicars forane for the Archdiocese. Most people have never heard of the vicariate. The Archdiocese has five regions: Merrimac, South, Central, West, and North. Each of those are divided into four vicariates that cover a couple of towns. The vicar forane is responsible for communication between the bishop and the parishes and visiting the parishes to ensure that sacramental records are being properly maintained and report to the regional bishop. * [List of vicars forane in the Archdiocese of Boston](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/About-The-Archdiocese/Content.aspx?id=11878) Scot said Fr. Dan Sheehan's obituary is in the Pilot this week. He was one of the first priests of the St. James Society in the archdiocese. He said there is also a story about the Vatican asking a retired bishop to visit the Cleveland Diocese where Bishop Robert Lennon is the ordinary, related to the reconfiguration plan there. Bishop Lennon is a former auxiliary bishop and vicar general of Boston. * ["Vatican asks retired US bishop to visit Ohio diocese, assess leadership," Catholic News Service, 7/11/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20110711.htm) The Toledo diocese has asked Catholics not to donate to the Susan G. Komen Foundation because of their support for Planned Parenthood and embryonic stem cell research. * ["Toledo bishop asks Catholic groups to suspend support for Komen fund," Catholic News Service, 7/12/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20110712.htm) Bishop Aquila of Fargo, North Dakota is also asking his brother bishops to consider moving confirmation before first communion. This will be discussed in a future show. * ["Bishop Aquila urges sacrament of confirmation before First Eucharist," by Kevin J. Jones, Catholic News Agency](http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/bishop-aquila-urges-sacrament-of-confirmation-before-first-eucharist/)…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams **Today's guest(s):** Thomas J. Craughwell, author and columnist * ["Saints Preserved: An Encyclopedia of Relics"](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307590739/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0307590739) * ["Saints Behaving Badly, Saints for Every Occasion: 101 of Heaven's Most Powerful Patrons"](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385517203/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0385517203) **Today's topics:** Saints and relics **Summary of today's show:** Tom Craughwell joins Scot and Fr. Matt to talk about ne'er-do-well saints and relics, particularly the surprising history of sin and crime that some saints had before their conversion as well as the long, strange, and confusing history and practice of saints' relics, preserving their bones and possessions for holy veneration. **1st segment:** Fr. Matt joins the show via Skype from St. Thecla Retreat House in Billerica where he's leading the Witness to Truth retreat for high school students. It's an overnight four-day prayer experience and leadership institute. Fr. Matt said the stories of the saints are inspirational to help us step up a bit more in our own lives to become more of the saint we're supposed to be. Today's guest has written several books on saints. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Matt welcome Tom Craughwell to the show. Scot asked him how he became interested in the saints. He's always been interested since he was a kid. He started by reading about them in the books from the school library and has gone to full-on study, examining the original sources and trying to find out what they're really like, what their personalities were like. They were real human beings with all the same characteristics of people like us. In "Saints Behaving Badly", he profiles saints who were gangsters, criminals, and other never-do-wells. People are often surprised because they have a pre-coneived notion that saints were never horribly sinful before conversion and becoming saints. St. Matthew as a tax collector was an extortionist, for example. St. Dismas, the Good Thief, was a criminal his whole life until converting on the cross. It teaches that sainthood is not impossible. Fr. Matt noted the quote that Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. Saints are not angels. They're human beings and they deal with original sin and the inclination to sin. God's grace breaks through to conform their lives to him. It's always God's grace that changes hearts and minds. He asked Tom for a story from his book to capture that idea. Tom thought of [St. Margaret of Cortona](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09653b.htm), an attractive peasant girl in Italy. When she was 13 years old, the 16-year-old baron invited her to become his mistress and she said yes to escape her life. He even told her that he would never marry her. They lived together for nine years and they had a child. One day he went away on a trip and was murdered. The shock of finding his body reminded her that she did not know if he had time to repent before he died and so she was confronted with her own mortality. She turned her back on her old life, cooperated with God's grace, and moved forward. She'd been used to the comfortable life and liked the company of men, but she remained on the path to sainthood. Fr. Matt asked if there's a guiding theme that emerges from the lives of saints who came from great sin. Tom said it varies from one person to the next. Matt Talbot had a terrible problem with alcoholism in 19th century Ireland. His friends were so tired him sponging drinks off of them that they avoided his company, even other alcoholics. That was his turning point. There are so many remarkable ways that God works. You don't know what will spark the conversion moment. But the common thread is that once these sinners realize what they've done, there is the horror that they've offended God and relief at he still loves them. Scot noted that [St. Camillus](http://www.catholic-pages.com/saints/st_camillus.asp) was a card shark and conman. (Tomorrow is the feast day of St. Camillus.) Tom said he was a mercenary in 16th century Italy. He started at 17 years old and picks up all of the vices of the soldiers. Then he learns from his father how to cheat at cards and run cons to support themselves between wars. Then his father fell deathly ill and tells Camillus to get a priest. Camillus was shocked that his hardened sinner father wanted a priest. From then Camillus tried to convert, but he had the path of two steps forward and one step back. He found St. Philip Neri who was his spiritual director. Then the 6'4" 250lb mercenary founded a hospital to care for the indigent sick and has become the patron saint of nurses. **3rd segment:** Tom said a relic is the body of a saint or objects that belonged to the saint (rosaries, clothes, letters). A third-class relic is something that was touched to the body of the saint or perhaps to their tomb. He said the roots of veneration of relics is in the Book of 2nd Kings where a man is revived after his dead body touches the bones of the Prophet Elisha. In Acts of Apostles, objects from St. Paul are touched to the sick who are healed. During the age of the martyrs, Christians worked hard to collect the remains of saints. [St. Polycarp](http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1300), the bishop of Smyrna, was burned by the Romans and the Christians collected his bones and every year on his feast day, the Christians of Smyrna gathered at his sarcophagus and the bishop said Mass on top of it. That began the custom of placing relics in the altars of churches and chapels. The relic in today's altars are typically of the patron saint of the church or chapel and it has to be a first-class relic. In older churches, before Vatican II, the relics will be relics of martyrs for a rock-solid link to the tombs of the martyrs in the catacombs. Today, while martyrs are preferred, there are also relics of other saints. Scot asked Fr. Matt what is the symbolism of the priest kissing the altar before Mass. Fr. Matt said they bow to the altar because it the place of sacrifice and the kissing of the altar is connected first with the sacrifice. Where they kiss is the altar stone, under which the relic is kept. So he thinks it's both venerating the altar of sacrifice and the relics that are there. Priests are called to live sacrificial lives like Christ and every priest is invited to consecrate his priesthood and victimhood to the Lord Jesus. Scot noted that some criticized Catholics for worshipping relics. Tom said St. Jerome and other fathers of the church warned Catholics to remember that saints are not mini-Gods. Only God is worshipped. We venerate or honor saints because they lived heroic lives here on earth and are now glorified in heaven with honors from God. Tom said worship and venerate are not synonyms. Scot also noted that the practice of veneration of saints was ratified again by the Council of Trent after the Protestant Reformation. Tom said the Council of Trent referred to the practice of the movement of saints' bodies from their tombs to place of veneration. >Further, the council insists that "in the invocation of saints the veneration of relics and the sacred use of images, every superstition shall be removed and all filthy lucre abolished." Again, "the visitation of relics must not be by any perverted into revellings and drunkenness." To secure a proper check upon abuses of this kind, "no new miracles are to be acknowledged or new relics recognized unless the bishop of the diocese has taken cognizance and approved thereof." Moreover, the bishop, in all these matters, is directed to obtain accurate information to take council with theologians and pious men, and in cases of doubt or exceptional difficulty to submit the matter to the sentence of the metropolitan and other bishops of the province, "yet so that nothing new, or that previously has not been usual in the Church, shall be resolved on, without having first consulted the Holy See." In the age of the martyrs, on the anniversary of the martyrdom of a local saint, the Christians would go into the catacombs and celebrate Mass either on the sarcophagus or facing the niche in the wall in which the body lay. These people were always living in constant danger of another persecution and so this was a very heroic act. The people did not live in the tombs or hide out from the Romans there, contrary to popular myth. They hid in the mountains or the desert. Tom said except for St. John the Evangelist and the Virgin Mary, for the first few centuries every saint was a martyr. After Constantine liberated the Church in 315, other holy persons were recognized. The Church realized that God manifests his grace in all types of conditions of life. **4th segment:** It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week is a Curtis Martin Book Pack (3 books): ["Made for More"](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934217492/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=1934217492) by Curtis Martin and ["Family Matters"](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1931018146/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=1931018146), by Michaelann and Curtis Martin This week’s winner is **William & Therese Redmond from Scituate**. Congratulations William and Therese! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit [WQOM.org](http://www.WQOM.org). For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. **5th segment:** Scot asked about the relics of Jesus himself. He noted that the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston has a relic of the True Cross. Tom said in 326 AD, St. Helen, mother of Constantine, made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to visit the Holy Sepulchre where Christ's tomb lay. She found three wooden crosses at the site and to determine which was Jesus' they touched an ill person to each one. After identifying the cross, they left a portion in Jerusalem and took the other part back to Rome with her. The provenance of those two portions is so good, that we can be confident of those portions' authenticity. Scot asked how relics are authenticated. In Rome, there is an official source for relics, but what is the process in general. Tom said since the Council of Trent when the Church became sensitive to the abuse of relics, there has been a process of a clearinghouse and authentication. For each new saint, part of the process is to go to the tomb, open it, and move the remains to a shrine where people can come for pilgrimage. At the time, there are church officials who authenticate the process and all the remains,. Fr. Matt asked about the [Shroud of Turin](http://www.shroud.com/). Tom said the evidence for its authenticity goes back and forth, but he keeps coming back to a photograph taken of the shroud that only in the negative showed the image of Christ on it. How could they have done that in 1240, which is the oldest authenticated mention of the shroud. But even if it isn't authentic, it doesn't change the Catholic faith one iota. It'd be nice if it's authentic, but our faith doesn't depend on it. Tom said two places claim to have St. Veronica's veil: St. Peter's in Rome and a little Italian chapel. Tom said in the Middle Ages, copies of the authentic veil were authorized and now they can't tell which was the original and which was the copy. The story of the veil goes back at least to the 4th century. Scot mentioned the [Holy House of Loreto](http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/loreto-holy-house). Fr. Matt visited Loreto, Italy, last month. He noted that many saints have prayed there. It is said to be the place where the Blessed Mother lived and grew up and where the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Blessed Mother. Tom said that since it's off the tourist track , it has a more peaceful nature. The story is that in 1291, when the crusaders were expelled from the Holy Land, angels carried the house from Nazareth to Loreto and a chapel was built over it. While it can't be definitively proved to be the actual house of the Holy Family, the Church says that it cannot be definitively said not to be. Fr. Matt noted that the stones of the house have been identified as coming from Nazareth. Scot asked that if Pope John Paul II is eventually canonized, what is the process for his relics to be made and distributed for veneration. Tom said it's not uncommon in medieval cathedrals to see body parts of saints, but today the Church tends not to dismember the saint. Today they will remove a few bones and break them up for distribution. In John Paul's case, doctors had kept a few vials of his blood and that has been prepared for dissemination to a few places, such as Poland. The days of sending skulls of saints to a different place are over. Tom said in the case of John Paul that it appears he has not decomposed, but there's no definitive answer from Rome. He did note that some people pointed out that popes' bodies are sealed in three different caskets and a stone tomb, which may delay decomposition. throughout history, many saints have been disinterred after 50 or 60 years or more, their bodies were found to be incorrupt and is considered a miracle in the Church. But not every saint is incorrupt and there is no explanation for why some and not others. Fr. Matt noted that St. Bernadette looks stunning more than 150 years later. Scot asked how a Catholic should respond to someone who regards the whole practice as gross and offensive. Tom said that certainly we would not dismember a saint today. What motivated people of then and now is a desire for a physical connection with someone who was holy in this life and is with God in the next. This isn't just a spiritual reality. People even today will gawk and gather around objects like Mary Todd Lincoln's gloves stained with the blood of President Lincoln. It's a natural desire to have a link with someone they deeply admire. He has a book coming out in November on patron saints called "This Saint Will Change Your Life."…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Randy Raus, president of LifeTeen, and Fr. Matt Williams, Director of the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults * [Lifeteen](http://www.lifeteen.com/) * [LIFT](http://www.liftedhigher.com/) **Today's topics:** LifeTeen **Summary of today's show:** Randy Raus and Fr. Matt Williams join Scot and Fr. Chris O'Connor to talk about the LifeTeen ministry; its focus on the Eucharist; its effects on teens, including generating many priestly vocations; how it brings families together in the parish; and how they are helping teens prepare for the new translation of the Roman Missal coming this Advent. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Chris back to the show. He noted Fr. Matt Williams is also on the show as a guest. He said Randy Raus from Lifeteen is in Boston to speak at the Lift Ministries even tonight. Randy said Lifeteen is parish-based youth ministry in 1800 Catholic parishes in 26 countries. Most are in the US. It is Eucharist-centered with a devotion to the Blessed Mother. They lead teens to Christ through a celebration of the liturgy with music and homily geared to young people. After the Mass are Life Nights, catechetical nights. It's a large group setting that takes them out of the classroom setting to interact with their peers to talk about their faith and experience it in prayer. Randy was a parish youth ministry in Marietta, Georgia. He started with 15 kids in his youth group and had built it up to 80 young people when a teen asked him about LifeTeen. The teen said his old parish in Arizona did LifeTeen and the kids in his old parish made Mass the top priority. He realized that they needed to do more to lead teens to Christ in the Mass. The teen kept bugging him until he went on a training conference for LifeTeen and kicked off the ministry with about 300 teens eight months later. It transformed the parish. Fr. Chris asked how the Eucharist and Mary play the primary roles in LifeTeen. Randy said we are seeking to fill the God-shaped hole in our lives. Whatever a teen is facing in their lives, bring them to the Eucharist. That's the centrality of our faith and of LifeTeen. It helps them to focus on Christ and helps them understand the Real Presence in the Eucharist. Once they realize that fact, it changes everything. Allowing the Blessed Mother to intercede for them and lead them to her Son, she points them only to her Son. Scot asked what specific things do they do to make the Real Presence real for them. The key is for the adult leaders, Core members, have to be having encounters with Christ themselves and believing it. It's a contagious environment. You give them space to experience Christ. Fr. Matt's first assignment as a priest was with St. Mary in Dedham which has a LifeTeen ministry. When he first arrived at the parish, the pastor talked to him at length about LifeTeen before anything else. The kids were excited to meet him as their new priest and couldn't wait to meet him. He felt ill equipped at the time, but the kids had a simple witness that led him to go deeper. The joy of his week was celebrating that Mass every week with the kids and their families. Randy said young people bringing their families back to the Church are an unplanned benefit to the ministry. There is a part of LifeTeen now that is called ParentLife. They even see teens bringing their parents on retreat and leading them to Eucharistic adoration. Fr. Matt said he can imagine asking where are all these kids and how do we get them in our church? What is it that gets them in the doors? Randy said young people are relational, so they need someone to look them in the eye and welcome them to Mass. The average young person needs to be asked five or six times. Scot asked if peers or adults are better askers, but Randy said it just has to be somebody authentic and real, who cares enough. Today teens are easier to approach than ever before and open to adults talking to them. Teens do care that their peers are going to be there, but a genuine invite goes a long way. Even before they get in the door, there has to be a sense of hospitality. People greet them at the door, hand them a song sheet, welcome them in. The music uses instruments teens are used to hearing without taking away from the reverence of Mass and done in a quality way so they will sing along. Scot said you hear a lot that Mass is boring. But there's an energy in LifeTeen. How do they get from the former to the latter to appreciate what the Mass really is. Randy said Mass can be a great catechetical experience explaining what's happening. But the LifeNights include specific topics that break open the parts of the liturgy. Also, by going away on retreat or big conference, they experience it in a different way that puts them on fire for being engaged in the liturgy. It's part catechetical and part experiential. Fr. Matt said if everyone else is praying and you're not, then you're the one who stands out. If the community is formed and worshipping, then it encourages others to join in. **2nd segment:** Randy said in his parish they had a 6pm liturgy on Sundays. It was the last chance Mass. They took a Mass of 45 minutes to one that was 1-1/2 hours. Attendance doubled and became standing-room only. It wasn't that people were interested in Mass, but they didn't feel a part of it. And a community developed around it, not just among youth. This happens in parishes around the world. Scot asked how it affects the other Masses of the weekend. Randy said over time people would end up going to that Mass instead of others. It became the most popular and, by the way, had the highest collection. It affected the whole family with families going together and they would schedule their Sundays around this Mass. Fr. Chris said as he interviews young men looking to enter seminary he finds that most of the young men have some connection to LifeTeen and/or Steubenville. Randy said there is a positive interaction in LifeTeen between priests and young people and the young people see priests in a positive light. They also talk to teens about considering vocations in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. The USCCB last year contacted LifeTeen and said they were a major source of vocations within the Church. The USCCB worked with LifeTeen to create a website of parish-based resources. They then surveyed seminarians and found that 49% had attended something connected to lifeTeen and 30% said lifeTeen was the determinant for entering seminary. LifeTeen's goal is to serve the Church however they can. * [USCCB website for vocations](http://www.foryourvocation.org/) * [Franciscan University of Steubenville](http://franciscan.edu/) * [Steubenville Youth Conference](http://franciscanyouth.com/) To implement LifeTeen, it takes the support of the pastor. They need someone dedicated to be a youth minister, volunteer or paid. They need a core team of adults trained to do youth ministry, putting on the LifeNights. They need musicians to learn the music and put on a vibrant liturgy. It's a lot of work, but their experience is that it has an impact on young people and transforms their lives. He said the minimum size of the core team would be five people for a small parish, but ideally you want 10 ore more. You can start with less and add more. Some parishes start with 15 teams and one year later have 75 active teens. The Mass is a community Mass, not just a teen Mass, and it's every Sunday. Of the four weeks of the months they have two catechetical nights, one on an issue and one social night. Scot asked Fr. Matt about his experience celebrating LifeTeen Mass after celebrating more traditional forms of Mass. He said at St. Mary's he had many different kinds of experience: children's choir, adult choir, and LifeTeen. Everyone has a preferred way of worshipping that speaks to them most. For him, he enjoys Christian contemporary music. To have youth and their parents who want to be there and praise God is amazing. There's something about the gift of their youthfulness that lift up the community and has a powerful effect on the whole congregation. Fr. Chris added that LifeTeen is strictly in line with all the General Instructions of the Roman Missal and there's nothing out of the norm. It is line with all of the rubrics. Randy said LifeTeen is obedient to the bishops and all of the liturgical guidelines. They work with the liturgists in the diocese. Randy said they lost four teens from LifeTeen in the Columbine shooting and Archbishop Chaput celebrated the LifeTeen Mass with the parish after the shooting. It wss the most healing experience Randy has ever had. Fr. Chris asked how LifeTeen prepares youth to transition to a more traditional parish Mass as they move on in life to college and beyond. Randy said campus chaplains love to receive LifeTeen students because they are active and involved in ministry. Randy said it's LifeTeen's job to be open to help them be open to all expressions of liturgy and not base their faith on the music at Mass. While music draws teens into the experience, it's youth ministers' role to help them develop that experience of the Eucharist to carry on to the rest of their life. **3rd segment:** Scot asked Randy how LifeTeen is helping teens approach the significant changes in the prayers of Mass that are coming this Advent. Randy said they need to feel like they're ahead of the curve and providing resources to the parishes. They created a resource called "Word for Word," a DVD and workbook that helps explain both at Mass and at Life Nights. Randy said Bishop Ron Herzog of Alexandria ordered copies for every parish to show. The videos are geared for both high school and middle school. Randy said he thinks it will help teens focus more on the liturgy and be a growth opportunity for the whole Church if we don't focus on the negative of change. Fr. Chris said Eucharist adoration plays an important part of LifeTeen. Randy said it is important, but they never make it more important than Mass. They're seeing even middle school students at their camps spending 30 minutes in silent adoration. He had one camper tell him that he feels God is asking him to be a priest because in adoration he finds himself thinking as a priest, not just a teen. He found himself thinking about all the others and hoping they see Christ in the Eucharist as well. LifeTeen is setting a norm. This is the new normal, expecting young people to encounter Christ in this way. Scot asked Randy about Life Nights. Randy said Life Nights are taught from a single person which is different from most religious ed because they have multiple teachers so the message is better controlled. They use the form of the Mass to gather, proclaim, break it open, and send forth. They set an environment for the night. They want the room to be set up specifically for the theme of the night to let teens know that this will be something different from the last time they were. There might be a video to watch or a game that engages them in the night. In the proclamation, they have someone talking, usually with notes provided to them by LifeTeen in language the teens can understand. Scot asked how bigger events outside the parish, like pilgrimages, integrate with parish youth ministry and how important they are. Randy said World Youth Day has some of the biggest impact on teens that they will have in their life. They are parish-based so they have teens come as parish groups to events. LifeTeen will once again be having at the invitation of the Vatican to have a special LifeTeen experience on one of the nights of World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain, in August. They encourage parishes to be active in diocesan youth rallies and they also offer programs for parishes to send teens to. Randy said he is passionate about youth ministry. He can't think of a more important ministry. Studies show that if teens are not active Catholics by the end of high school they don't have a high chance of being active Catholics of adults. He is the father of eight and it's had an enormous impact on his family. His brother was diagnosed with liver cancer and after the diagnosis two of his children approached him on their own and told him that he needed to receive the Eucharist and become Catholic. The week before surgery he converted to Catholicism. He has since died, but he had already developed a relationship with Christ in the Mass and with the Blessed Mother. Fr. Matt has been struck by watching the development of core team members as they become confident in their faith and then seeing young people become triggered in their faith. One of the young people in Fr. Matt's office, Danielle, is the fruit of LifeTeen at St. Mary's. A seminarian from St. Mary's is also the fruit of LifeTeen. He said the culture of the world is strong and we need to building up our college ministry to continue the strong work of parish high school ministry. When they come back they can then find a community of alumni. If someone wants to experience a LifeTeen ministry in the archdiocese: * St. Mary's in Dedham * St. Mary, Hanover * Immaculate Conception, Stoughton * St. Thomas Aquinas, Bridgewater * Holy Family, Rockland * St. Brendan, Bellingham * St. Joseph the Worker, Hanson * Sacred Heart, Weymouth * Sacred Heart, Waltham * St. George, Framingham * St. Patrick, Stoneham * St. Agnes, Reading * St. Patrick, Lowell * St. Monica, Methuen Tonight, Randy Raus will be speaking at Lift about Bl. John Paul II and his call to proclaim so many people as saints. It's not something reserved for the elite, but is something we should all be setting that as our goal. Lift is a monthly gathering on a Tuesday night, 7-9 pm at Fontbonne Academy in Milton. It starts with music by Jon Niven and his band, then a speaker who teaches on the faith, then Eucharistic adoration with time of quiet prayer, led prayer, and some songs, followed by Benediction, more songs, and fellowship after. It is intergenerational and all ages go.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Sr. Mary Corripio and Sr. Marietta Brown of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur * [Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur](http://www.sndden.org/) * [Vocation website](http://www.askansnd.org) **Today's topics:** Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur **Summary of today's show:** Scot and Susan are joined today by Sr. Mary and Sr. Marietta to discuss the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, an international religious order with strong roots in Boston ad a tradition of educating young women and the poor, serving them and bringing them the light of Christ. **1st segment:** Scot welcome Susan back to the show. He noted that she is co-hosting on Monday, not Thursday, because of her fondness for the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. She went to a Notre Dame Sisters high school. The sisters have many schools in Boston and have had a profound effect on the Archdiocese of Boston. Susan said St. Julie, the foundress, had a particular devotion to educating young women, especially poor women. Scot noted that his mom is 65 years old today. She is the number one fan of The Good Catholic Life. Scot welcomed Sr. Mary Corripio and Sr. Marietta Brown. Sr. Marietta grew up in Dorchester, as many Notre Dame sisters have. She went to public school until high school when she went to an SND high school. After school, she joined the Sisters of Notre Dame, which was the only congregation she knew. She attended Emmanuel College, Boston State, and Boston College. She taught in many towns around Boston and then was appointed as a principal in the Midwest then came back for a time. She later spent eight years in South Africa doing teacher training. She now works in a preschool in New Mexico on a Navajo reservation. Reaching out to the poor is one of the founding charisms of the congregation. It is incredible to see how the people remain joyful even in their struggles. Sr. Mary found the SND when she went to college. She grew up in Louisiana and wanted a Catholic women's education like she had in high school. She found Trinity College where she got the call. After college, she went to Japan to teach English for a year. After that, she went to Europe on a pilgrimage to figure out what she wanted to do. She ended up in the town where St. Julie was born in the 18th century. She met the Sisters of Notre Dame in the village and ended up staying there for a weekend. That was the beginning of her life with the order. Her first ministry was to work in the Archdiocese of Boston in the Office of Cultural Diversity. She said working working with immigrants is a big part of the ministry of the order. She now works in the vocations office for the order. In the US, they have five people working in vocation ministry in California, Ohio, New Mexico and the US. **2nd segment:** St. Julie Billiart came from a large family and was a very religious child attending church daily. She was recognized as an extraordinarily spiritual child and received the Eucharist at an earlier age than other children. At one point in her life, her dad was confronted with violence and she was so shocked by the incident that she was paralyzed. Nevertheless, she continued to educate young women in religious instruction from her sick bed. Even after her recovery she continued to impress others with her special faith. She was constantly heard to say in all circumstances, "God is good." When God gave her the vision to found the order, it was through the cross. She saw women in a particular habit joined in prayer around the cross. She saw the cross was not just suffering, but also joy. Sr. Marrietta said the physical cross was making her stronger spiritually because she had a strong trust in God's will. At the time in France, the government was persecuting the Church and she snuck into areas to bring religious instruction despite her handicap and military patrols on the lookout. In the cross we see the will of God. The cross is marking this mission so stay with it and live with it because God will provide. Sr. Mary said she began the novitiate in August 2001 and 9/11 happened one month later. St. Julie used to day that if turmoil happens at the beginning of something, God will bless it. If something happens and it's too easy, then something's wrong, St. Julie used to say. there are diocesan religious orders, there are missionary orders, and there are international orders. Missionary orders make vows and promises to deliberately go out into foreign lands. International orders can go out to foreign lands, but they can also stay in the lands where they were born and raised. Diocesan sisters sometimes go internationally, but they are vowed to the diocese and are expected to stay in the diocese normally. Sr. Mary said each kind has a gift. There's something beautiful about giving back to the community that raised you. There is also the bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth which is also such a good witness. The first SND came to the US in Cincinnati and later to Boston. They started in the North End of Boston and have grown from there, starting schools. Many sisters have worked in parishes across the Archdiocese and are in schools in every region of the archdiocese. Sr. Marietta said when they were founded, they educated young women who were too poor for education. In the Boston area, they kept to the charism very much. The Sisters of St. Joseph educated boys and the SND educated girls. In addition to the schools, the congregational also has universities. Trinity University is in Washington, DC and Emmanuel in Boston. In Africa they have sisters in hospitals and schools in Congo and Nigeria. In Japan, they also have several schools. They are in 15 countries. **3rd segment:** The schools in the local area at which SND now work: 1. Emmanuel College, Boston, MA 2. Notre Dame Montessori School, Dorchester, MA 3. Notre Dame Academy, Hingham, MA 4. Notre Dame Academy, Tyngsboro, MA 5. Notre Dame High School, Lawrence, MA 6. Notre Dame Education Center, Lawrence, MA 7. St. Mary of the Assumption School, Lawrence, MA 8. St. Patrick Elementary School and Education Center, Lowell, MA 9. Notre Dame Education Center, South Boston, MA 10. Julie's Family Learning Program, South Boston, MA 11. Saint Jude Elementary School, Waltham, MA 12. Cuvilly Arts and Earth Center, Ipswich, MA 13. Notre Dame Children's Class, Wenham, MA 14. Bishop Fenwick High School, Peabody, MA 15. Bishop Stang High School, Dartmouth, MA 16. St. Augustine, Andover, MA 17. St. Mary Star of the Sea School, Beverly, MA 18. St. John the Evangelist School, Beverly, MA 19. St. Michael School, Hudson, MA Sr. Marietta said the congregation is also working in the area of human trafficking. they are working to raise awareness and looking to see what they can do as a group. Sr. Mary said there was a collaboration among the various religious congregations in Boston to raise awareness about trafficking, holding symposia twice a year, giving talks at parishes and more. They also now have a safe house for women who have escaped and are trying to establish a new life. Much of the trafficking in Boston is domestic, people forced into either labor or sex exploitation. Recently a young woman was kidnapped by a neighbor and forced into prostitution in hotels around Boston. Young people are lured into a situation and taken advantage of. Sr. Marietta said internationally some families sell a child because they think the child will live the good life in America. The Cristo Rey high school model is one way to target poverty that leads to such desperation. The children get a good education and job experience. In Peru, the sisters live in the neighborhoods of extreme poverty. They are so poor that sometimes the teachers teach without pay. On the Navajo reservation the families are extremely poor as well, even to where they don't even have running water. They can't get rid of their garbage because they have to pay to bring it to the dump. They take their laundry into town because it's cheaper than bringing water to the homes. **4th segment:** Sr. Mary said the postulants and novices are very diverse. They have one woman who was born in Nigeria. Their novice is from Mexico. Another woman entering this year is a doctor from Italy and the other is from Arizona. The average age upon entry is 40. The national novitiate takes place in Cincinnati. The house in Ipwisch is a center for retreats and much of the order's local work. They house provincial offices, congregational offices, to provide a home to the elderly and infirm. Sr. Marietta said miracles take place through the prayer of the sisters living at their house. Susan said the Office for Religious Education often takes directors of religious education to Ipswich for days of recollection and formation. Sr. Mary said Cardinal Cushing was instrumental in helping the Sisters get the property in Ipswich. Scot said the cardinal was one of the biggest builders in the history of the Church in the United States. Sr. Mary said the order's sisters work locally mainly in the poorest areas. Susan recalled that Notre Academy in Roxbury when she went to school covered 16 acres between Duley and Eggleston Squares. She spoke about the sisters who were so formative in her life. The order has 1,600 sisters internationally and 400 of them are here in the Archdiocese.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** Joshua Phelps, Associate Director of Pastoral Planning for the Archdiocese of Boston * [Office of Pastoral Planning, Archdiocese of Boston](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Offices-And-Services/Office-Detail.aspx?id=1448) **Today's topics:** Why Catholics don't attend Mass and why they should **Summary of today's show:** Josh Phelps talks with Scot and Fr. Mark about the work of pastoral planning, part of which is looking at the reasons Catholics give for not attending Sunday Mass every week. Also, our hosts and guest look at this Sunday's Mass readings and how they relate to our need to respond to God's Word by being part of our parish community. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Mark back to the show. Today's show will discuss why people make the decision not to attend Mass. Fr. Mark wondered if when people go on vacation they will bother to go to [MassTimes.org](http://www.masstimes.org) to find a local Mass. Scot welcomed Joshua Phelps to the show. He is a graduate of Boston College and worked previously as a Pastoral Associate at St. Patrick, Watertown before coming to work at the Archdiocese in the Pastoral Planning office. He and his wife have been married for five years and they have two children. A couple of years ago, their family was featured in an episode of the CatholicTV program "House+Home". Josh said it's a surreal experience for people come up to them and say they saw them on TV. Josh worked previously in retail forecasting and moved to pastoral planning. Pastoral planning is a catch-all for helping parishes be the best they can be. It's their hope to help parishes work toward the mission of Christ. When an initiative like Catholics Come Home starts, while it's a project mainly of Faith Formation and Evangelization, it's near and dear to Pastoral Planning because they see the statistics regarding the Church in Boston. They see both the downward trends in some parishes and upward trends in others and then they dig down to find out why the differences are there. Josh said leadership, mission, and vision are incredibly important. Parishes that are seeing increases are those that take Sunday Eucharist very seriously and where people see the Eucharist as a very important part of their lives throughout the week. The mission is to live out the Gospel of Christ and build the kingdom of God in that parish. Parishes that take it seriously are the ones that see growth. Josh recently helped two parishes in Wayland to complete a merger. The parishes themselves initiated the merger between St. Ann and St. Zepherin to form one faith community as Good Shepherd Parish. It was a lot of work by a lot of people. As a result of the merge, people now say to their neighbors, "I didn't know you were Catholic," because went to different parishes. Fr. Mark said the merger isn't complete, but goes on for years. While being in the same town, they are very different communities and it needs leadership like that of the pastor, Fr. Laughlin, to facilitate that. Even though they were so different, they were able to come together in a process that both could embrace through proper planning and setting a reasonable timetable. Scot said parishes with very different cultures can come together fully. As the archdiocese continues to look at pastoral planning, this model will have great import for the future. Josh said every parish starts by asking what is in the best interest of the parish to move forward and thrive. In Wayland, they decided it was to come together as one parish and one community. Across the archdiocese, people are realizing the same thing. Fr. Mark said that in some places they maintain two parishes with one pastor, but it's easier like here where it's just one pastor, one parish council, one pool of money for the budget and so on. One of the most important statistics that Josh's office tracks is Mass attendance, which is an important metric for the pastoral needs of the parish. Catholic speaker Matthew Kelly spends time in one of his talks giving an illustration of the problem with the Mass according to people's claims about why they don't like to go to church. (Just 4 minutes in the beginning of the video below) * [Matthew Kelly's 7 Pillars of Catholicism on YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/user/DynamicCatholic#p/u/4/Syj8XHnClGM) Fr. Mark said he's most of those comments at one time or another in his priesthood. Scot said Kelly says the problem with the Mass is "me" and if we approach the Mass each Sunday with asking God to show us one new thing about how to improve ourselves, it would change everything. Josh said that instead people want to change the user experience as if that would make a difference. Scot said our culture is all about seeking entertainment and we're used to being spectators, but if we want to get the most out of Mass, we need to be an engaged participant by preparing: Reading the Sunday readings ahead of time; keeping a journal to Mass to write down one thing to make myself a better version of me and then to meditate on that throughout the week. Scot said he's never been let down when praying for God to help him to deepen his faith. * ["Catholics Who Have Stopped Going to Mass," Australian Catholic Bishops Conference](http://www.catholicaustralia.com.au/page.php?pg=livingfaith-reasons1) Scot said the Australian bishops conference commissioned a detailed study on why Catholics say they have stopped going to Mass: 1. Mass isn't a priority 2. Crisis of faith 3. Family or household related issues make it difficult 4. Changes to parishes or Mass schedule 5. Don't feel welcome because of their state in life, e.g. divorce or they have small kids. But the most important reason, 32% say, they don't feel it's important to go to Mass to be a good Catholic. Fr. Mark said people start by forgiving themselves and stop going to Confession. Then they decide they can pray on their own and don't need to follow rules that tell them where to pray. Scot said his brother, Fr. Roger Landry, that people who say they are spiritual, but not religious, really mean that they want God on their own terms, whereas a faithful Catholic would say that I want to love God on Jesus' terms. Josh said when he prays at home, he's praying by himself or with his wife and children, but when he's at Mass he's praying with the entire 1-billion person Church and even more if you include the saints in heaven. The Mass is an incredibly important part of our spiritual life. It is spiritual food for our souls. Fr. Mark said our community is less without the full community. The person not only needs the community, but the community needs them. The Church needs the full participation of the community, because without it we are less. Much of our culture is focused on individualism. We don't think of ourselves as part of a community. Scot said God created us to be part of a family and that's what each parish strives to be. Eucharist means "thanksgiving" and Scot's been thinking about how that relates to the American holiday. People will travel across the country on the third Thursday of November, even if they know it won't be the most fun or if it's a big hassle, but there's a sense that we're made to be with our family on that day. Our heavenly Father is like our parents who say all that matters is that the whole family is together on that. Scot said Cardinal Seán is writing a pastoral letter on Sunday Mass attendance and he will write about how much of the factors are within our control. Josh said the Australian study shows that it's no one fact that pushes people out the doors of the Church. In many cases, it just happened over the course of a long period of time. Fr. Mark said he's been impressed by the people who come on the program who see a need in their parishes and participated and made it better rather than just leaving because it wasn't what they wanted at first. Scot said John Paul II described love, not as a feeling, but as a self-gift. Pope Benedict's first encyclical was the God is love. God loved us first and how do we love him back? Not through a feeling, but through an act of the will of a self-gift. Even if we're not active in a ministry, we can give of ourselves on a Sunday morning by witnessing to our community and neighborhood that this is a priority. for one thing, it's a different experience sitting in church that's packed full of people rather than a mostly empty one. Every time we make a choice to go to Mass, it makes a difference to everyone else in that church. Scot said another reason in the study was the Sundays are not distinct any more. Businesses are open, people have to work, people have to do chores, kids' sports are scheduled on Sunday morning. That makes it even more important for the Catholic to show neighbors by our witness that Mass is our priority. Those actions will make someone notice. Archbishop Dolan of New York recently wrote about threats to Sunday Mass. He said in recent years communication technologies have made it easier for us to be distracted and make church just another in a range of options on the weekend. Scot suggested that perhaps as a response it would be fruitful for Catholics to turn off TVs and computers and other distracting devices on Sunday. In his letter, Archbishop Dolan then responded to a lot of the same objections found in the Australian study. * ["Keeping the Lord's Day Holy," Archbishop Timothy Dolan's St. Patrick's Day, 2010, Letter to the Archdiocese of New York](http://blog.archny.org/?p=570) >“Sunday is our only free time together.” (Great, what better way to spend that time than by praying together at Mass). > >“I pray my own way.” (Nice idea. But, odds are, you don’t). > >“The sermon is boring.” (You may have a point). > >“I hate all the changes at Mass.” (see below) > >“I want more changes at Mass.” (see above) > >“Until the church makes some changes in its teaching, I’m staying away.” (But, don’t we go to Mass to ask God to change us, not to tell God how we want Him and His Church to change to suit us?) > > “Everybody there is a hypocrite and always judging me.” (Who’s judging whom here?) > >... and the list goes on. > >And the simple fact remains: the Eucharist is the most beautiful, powerful prayer that we have. To miss it is to miss Jesus — His Word, His people, His presence, His Body and Blood. **2nd segment:** Now, as we do every week, we look forward to this coming Sunday's Mass readings to help us prepare to celebrate together. * [First Reading for Sunday, July 10, 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Isaiah 55:10-11)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/071011.shtml#reading1) >Thus says the LORD: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it. * [Gospel for Sunday, July 10, 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 13:1-23)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/071011.shtml#gospel) >On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.” >The disciples approached him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted, and I heal them. >“But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. >“Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.” Josh said he sees two important aspects of the readings: The seed that is sown, which is the Word of God. The Word is perfect. And then the soil. A farmer would say there's only so much you can do with the rocky ground. He thinks of his own life and how he tries to live the Word of God superficially and he then has to uproot himself and change his life and move to more fertile ground in his life. Fr. Mark said the key is the roots. With regard to today's topic, we need an environment that isn't just a quick high, but creates deep spiritual roots. He related the story of Orpheus, whose music could seduce anyone, but when he stopped playing the people were left worse off, pining away for the music. He said the true test of a teen or college ministry is whether the young people can move on from the interesting, high energy Masses aimed at them and go to a regular Mass and remain fully engaged. Scot said the parable speaks directly to today's topic. The culture is hardened against the Word of God. When people don't understand a Church teaching, they just dismiss it rather than wonder if there might be some truth in that. He said that if we're reaching out to people to help plant the seed, but there needs to be reciprocity from that person. Even if they don't respond right away, we don't stop trying and letting the Holy Spirit work. Josh points out that the sower is actively sowing seeds, not sitting back passively. A parish should not sit back and just say that the doors are open if anyone is interested. A parish should be mission-oriented and entrepreneurial. Fr. Mark said the deep roots he spoke about are built by spending time. We have a responsibility to bear fruit. It's not just about what can I get, but what can I give.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. **Today's topics:** Fr. Roger's 2nd editorial on true pastoral care of those with same-sex attractions; a new priest for Fall River; a silver anniversary for an altar server; Fr. John Corapi **Summary of today's show:** Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry discuss the news of the week with Scot and Susan, including Fr. Roger's latest editorial battling common falsehoods about Catholic teaching on homosexuality; the first ordination of a priest for Fall River in two years; the silver anniversary of a very special altar server; and the troubling facts about Fr. John Corapi. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Susan back to the show asked how her week has been. She's been talking to pastors about new programs they're looking to start and using the slower summer to prepare for September. Today is Scot's anniversary. He and his wife were married in Mexico City 11 years ago and it was one of the first wedding Masses celebrated by his brother, Fr. Roger Landry. **2nd segment:** Scot and Susan welcomed Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry back to the show. Scot said there will be plenty of coverage this week on the Mass that will be held at St. Cecilia's in Boston that has been in the news this week. Fr. Roger has dedicated his editorial in The Anchor in recent weeks to the bigger issues being discussed about the situation at St. Cecilia's. This week's editorial talks about what true Christian love is. * ["Loving in the Truth Those Involved in the Gay Lifestyle", Fr. Roger Landry, editorial, The Anchor, 7/8/11](http://catholicpreaching.com/index.php?content=articles&articles=20110708anchor) Fr. Roger said it's clear that there is a real movement by those who want to have the gay idea of sexuality normalized in America that there are certain principles that go against the Church's teachings with regard to the human person. The Church needs to speak clearly about this to help people understand why and what and avoid confusion. The only adequate response to a person must be love, but it can't be a pale hospitality that doesn't call someone to communion with Christ in truth. He believes this is a critical moment for the Church to respond to moral heresies promoted by members of the gay agenda. He takes up three common falsehoods in this editorial. People said "What would Jesus do?" implying that Jesus would just embrace those in the gay movement without criticism. But Jesus really wants to help those with same-sex attraction to change, just like the woman caught in adultery. He protected her from violence and didn't condemn, but lovingly insisted she leave that lifestyle behind. The second is that the "acceptance" they ask for is on the level of their sexual attractions, but the Church wants to accept someone on the basis of who they are as God made them. True acceptance also involves recognizing that at the deepest level of their being, those with same-sex attractions are made in God’s image and likeness, and ordered ontologically as male or female toward sexual complementarity. Also, some with same-sex attraction don't make a distinction between accepting themselves and accepting their acts. Fr. Roger said we need to say that because we love them, we can't accept their behavior. Scot said this is the same for many of the teachings in the Church. God created us in a certain way and sent His only Son for us and the Holy Spirit to guide the Church to teach on moral matters. Susan said when we don't understand the why behind a teaching, to seek out the why and have a preferential option for the Church's teaching. She said when people stand before a group as a representative of the Church, integrity demands they teach what the Church teaches. Scot said it's natural to project the way we think the Church ought to be, but it's troubling when Catholics believe they know more about what God wants or what Jesus would do than the magisterial authority of the Church. Our core teachings don't change. Susan said we can wrestle with doctrines we don't understand, but we should be glib about refusing them. Gregory said the real challenge is to speak the real truth with love. He said The Pilot tries to bring light into these thorny issues that people don't often understand. When people get a real detailed explanation, they usually come to realize the wisdom of the Church's teaching. Fr. Roger said the third common falsehood is that claim that those opposed to the gay agenda are motivated by homophobia or hatred. It supposes that there would be no reason for someone to oppose redefinition of marriage or approval of some kinds of sexuality other than hatred. From the editorial: >While there’s no dispute that, sadly, in some places real homophobia does exist, ministers to the gay community have a duty not only not to abet this confusion but to disabuse those entrusted to their care from thinking the Church’s teachings on same-sex activities are based on hatred rather than love grounded in truth; they also have the responsibility to remind them that judging others or mendaciously bullying others with epithets about their character are grave sins that those with same-sex attractions are not exempt from committing. Fr. Roger said the tide has turned in society with regard to bullying. In the past, those with same-sex attraction who would be subject to ridicule and discrimination. But now it's Christians who stand up for their faith who are subject to ridicule and even job loss for refusing to accede to a particular agenda or just for being Catholic. He cited a woman in the Boston Globe who said it was more difficult to "come out" as Catholic than it was to come out as lesbian. * ["Toward the True Pastoral Care of Those with Same-Sex Attractions," Fr. Roger Landry, The Anchor, 7/1/11](http://catholicpreaching.com/index.php?content=articles&articles=20110701anchor) Scot noted that there was a bill in California filed this week mandating that history of the gay movement to be taught in all schools with no opt out for parents. In Rhode Island, the governor signed a bill legalizing civil unions. Bishop Tobin of Providence wrote that civil unions cause grave scandal and are grave matter. He said that Catholics may not participate in civil unions. * ["Catholics may not participate in civil unions, R.I. bishop says," CNS, 6/30/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20110630.htm) >Saying that civil unions "promote an unacceptable lifestyle, undermine the faith of the church on holy matrimony, and cause scandal and confusion," Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin reminded Catholics that they may not participate in such ceremonies. "To do so is a very grave violation of the moral law and, thus, seriously sinful," he said in a statement June 30 .... Bishop Tobin said he was "deeply disappointed" at the decision to permit civil unions. "The concept of civil unions is a social experiment that promotes an immoral lifestyle, is a mockery of the institution of marriage as designed by God, undermines the well-being of our families, and poses a threat to religious liberty," he said. Gregory said he recalls people who said during the gay marriage debate in Massachusetts that allowing it would not harm anyone else's marriage. But as we see, it never ends at just allowing it. Instead, it often becomes necessary for all to accept it. For example, schools begin to teach about same-sex couples in their curricula as part of an ongoing agenda to indoctrinate children. Scot noted an Anchor story this week about a series of videos produced by the US Bishops Conference on marriage, including religious liberty and traditional marriage. The aim of the videos is to help educate, catechize, and advocate for a better understanding of the truth that marriage is a permanent, faithful union of one man and one woman. * [Marriage: Unique for A Reason video series from the USCCB](http://www.usccb.org/marriageuniqueforareason/) **3rd segment:** In the Anchor this week, the Diocese of Fall River will ordain Deacon Riley Williams to the priesthood. He will be the first priest ordained for Fall River in two years. Fr. Roger has know him since Riley was in high school. He also attended the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where Fr. Roger went to seminary. He's a convert to the faith who comes from Cape Cod. His first year as a priest will be spent in Rome getting an advanced degree. Fr. Roger said many in Fall River are concerned that they have only 6 seminarians for the diocese. Riley said in the article that his formation was enhanced by St. Francis Xavier Prep School in Hyannis, where the faculty often spoke of the possibilities of a vocation to the priesthood. We all need to promote more priestly vocations in our homes, our schools, and our parishes. It's harder to ask young men to give their lives over to Christ in the Church if the families themselves are not immersed in the Christian life, giving everything over to the Lord. Scot noted that during Reconfiguration in the Archdiocese many were upset their own parishes were closing, but a part of the problem is that there aren't enough priests. It shouldn't be just up to priests to ask young men if they want to go on a vocation retreat, but should be the duty of all Catholics. As Mother Teresa used to say, No priest, no Eucharist. Without the priests we lose most of the sacraments. Scot said another Anchor article talks this week about a man who was born with Down syndrome and started as an altar server when he was 8 years old. He is now celebrating his 25th anniversary as a server. The young man, Eric White, had cancer in his bones and lymphatic system. His family took it to prayer and the next morning he was cancer free. "I prayed and my faith in God cured me," Eric said. >"I like serving Mass," said Eric, who began as an altar server alongside his brother when he was just eight years old. "My brother Bobby taught me everything. I like bringing the chalice to the altar and I also carry the cross and lead the procession at the beginning of Mass." Gregory said the mother's doctor, when she became pregnant with another child after Eric, suggested she abort the child in case he had Down syndrome too. The implication is that Eric was a mistake, that his life was not worth living. Society has come to the notion that if anyone has any suffering that perhaps their lives are not worth living. Susan said her office is encouraging parishes to prepare for religious education with special needs children. St. Francis of Assisi in Braintree recently received an award from the town for their work with special needs children who received First Communion. Fr. Roger also recalled another man with Down syndrome who had been serving at the altar for 40 years in a parish Fr. Roger had served at on Cape Cod. He had a beautiful faith and a great reverence for the Mass. It's the unsung heroes like Eric White who not only make the Church run, but make it shine. **4th segment:** Scot said earlier this week, the news come out that Father John Corapi's religious order, the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity released a statement to respond to some remarks made by Fr. Corapi about the investigation of allegations made against him. The statement wanted to set the record straight. * [Press release concerning Fr. John Corapi from SOLT Regional Priest Servant](http://soltnews.blogspot.com/2011/07/press-release-concerning-fr-john-corapi.html) * ["Order accuses Father Corapi of sexual, financial wrongdoing, falsehoods," CNS, 7/5/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102670.htm) >While SOLT does not typically comment publicly on personnel matters, it recognizes that Fr. John Corapi, through his ministry, has inspired thousands of faithful Catholics, many of whom continue to express their support of him. SOLT also recognizes that Fr. Corapi is now misleading these individuals through his false statements and characterizations. It is for these Catholics that SOLT, by means of this announcement, seeks to set the record straight. Scot said it is a troubling development and he wanted to discuss it because he was a well-known presence on the radio network and he was scheduled to speak at a conference in Boston this summer. Fr. Roger said it is very troubling to see a priest go down the path of open vice. We have to increase our prayers for Fr. Corapi because this is a path that he used to preach to get people away from. For anyone who has been helped by Fr. Corapi needs to return the favor and pray very hard for him. Scot noted that the order has directed him under obedience to return to the community and drop the lawsuit he filed against his accuser. Gregory said that for anyone scandalized by this case, especially those who were helped by him, it doesn't necessarily invalidate everything he said. The truth of the message does not depend on the virtue of the messenger. He has seen people lose their faith when a previously revered priest were removed from ministry after accusations of abuse. If you receive a counterfeit bill, it doesn't mean you shouldn't trust US currency. Susan said she was troubled by the articles and the list of transgressions. She was also troubled that it had to be aired this way because the order felt that it had no other choice.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams **Today's guest(s):** Gabriel Delmonaco, National Director and Vice President for Development of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association in the United States * [Catholic Near East Welfare Association](http://www.cnewa.org) * [CNEWA on Twitter](http://www.twitter/CNEWA) * [CNEWA on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/CNEWA1926) * [Gabriel Delmonaco's blog](http://gabedelmonaco.wordpress.com/) * [Gabriel Delmonaco on Twitter](http://www.twitter,com/GabeDelmonaco) **Today's topics:** The Catholic Near East Welfare Association **Summary of today's show:** Gabriel Delmonaco talks with Scot and Fr. Matt about the work that the Catholic Near East Welfare Association does with Eastern-rite Catholics in North Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia, helping match sponsors who want to help with important projects for small Christian communities that are often in the minority and under pressure in their own countries. CNEWA helps fund healthcare for refugee mothers in Jordan, formation for seminarians in Egypt, schooling for deaf children in Bethlehem, and more, all under the mandate of Pope Benedict XVI. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Matt back to the show and asked him how his holiday weekend was. He spent time at a couple of different family parties and caught up with his family. Scot went to a bunch of cookouts on Friday and Saturday and then took his kids to the Boston fireworks on the Cambridge side of the Charles River. Yesterday, Fr. Matt was on CatholicTV's This is the Day program to promote the upcoming Witness to Truth high school leadership program next week. It's not too late for teens from all over the archdiocese to sign up, meet kids from all over, grow deeper in faith, and learn leadership skills that come from the book "Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers," by Sean Covey. It's coupled with the theological and cardinal virtues. Find out more at [the ONE website](http://www.one4boston.org) or their [Facebook page](http://www.facebook.com/one4boston) **2nd segment:** Scot welcomed Gabriel Delmonaco to the show. He was born in Italy and he worked in the Vatican at the Congregation for the Eastern Churches. They take care of all the Catholic Eastern Churches around the world. In 1999, he came to Boston for a conference organized by Congregation for all the Eastern Churches in the English-speaking world. He met people from the Catholic Near East Welfare Association and was taken with their mission. He told his wife that he wanted to move to New York and work for CNEWA. Scot asked him about the Eastern Churches. Gabriel said there are the Byzantine, Syrian, Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopian/Eritrean and Syro-Malankara. Some of these churches are directly linked to the apostles. Over the centuries there were many divisions in the Church, often over politics. The main division was between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. But over time many of these churches reunited with Rome. They are located primarily in the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. Scot said the Western Church has three or four rites, including the Latin-rite, the Ambrosian-rite (in Milan). What's different in these Eastern churches is the form of the Liturgy, but the commonalities are greater. When we talk about rite that's mainly about how we celebrate liturgy and pray. In the Latin-rite we have the Latin liturgy in both the ordinary (Novus Ordo) and extraordinary (Tridentine) forms. Gabriel said the Catholic Eastern-rites include anywhere that there are Catholic Eastern rite churches, such as in India (Syro-Malabar) or in Ethiopia (Geze). Scot said there is a Geze rite liturgy every Saturday in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Scot said in the Eastern churches, there is one particular congregation that serves the needs similar to the different congregations for the rest of the Church such as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Congregation for the Bishops, etc. In the past, there were departments within each of the other congregations to care for Eastern Churches, but in 1926 all those functions were consolidated into one new congregation. One of the reasons was to give more attention to the churches as they are. The churches felt they were being too Latinized, so a new congregation was created to help them maintain their traditions. **3rd segment:** CNEWA puts together people who want to help with people who are need. Sometimes the needs of Christians in those countries is overwhelming. "It's better to light a candle, than to curse the darkness." They light candles every day, saving one life at a time. Not just those overseas, but also benefactors back in the US. In the Holy Land, Christians are a minority, less than 2%. In Iraq, there were 1 million Christians in 2003. Now, they're less than half that. Christians are fighting to maintain their foothold in their own countries. CNEWA helps them to thrive in their countries. In the West Bank, instead of giving money to families or just reparing churches, instead they put people to work repairing local churches. Sometimes their help comes as medical care. For some people, it's the only health care they get. In a town north of Amman, they provide a clinic for mothers and children and there is no other way for them to get medical care. They serve all faiths, not just Christian. When the clinic was created, before the Dominican Sisters of Catherine of Siena would visit patients, the husbands would accompany their wives and would be the only ones talking to the doctors. When the sisters came to the hospital, this changed the culture and suddenly women could go to the hospitals themselves and talk to the sisters. One of CNEWA's missions is to foster interreligious dialogue. They try to promote the many areas in common among the religions. In October 2007, a group of 100 representatives of Islam presented a document to Pope Benedict explaining all the commonalities between Islam and Christianity. In most of the countries where they work, the Catholic Church is not a "Church of numbers" but a "Church of service". The Catholic community provides so many schools, hospitals, and more that vastly outweighs their proportion of the population. In Jordan, they are serving more than 500,000 Iraqi refugees and 1.9 million Palestinian refugees. They help not just individuals, but also the dioceses. They help form seminarians and sponsor religious novices and postulants. The sponsorship program connects people who want to help with people in need. They sponsor children, religious in formation, and seminarians. They allow correspondence between donors and the sponsored individual. Very strong bonds are formed between them, up to the point where the sponsors see them as their own children, even seminarians as their sons. They work through, with, and for the local Churches as a sign of respect for the people who live there. Twice per year in Rome, there's a meeting of all the agencies working for assistance to Christians in the Near East. They often meet with Pope Benedict. At a recent meeting, he asked Catholics to help those who wish to stay in their home countries above all, but even for those who don't to render all possible assistance. CNEWA's website has specific opportunities with dollar amounts to support individual projects such as a church in Iraq or a rectory in Damascus. American dollars go much further in these countries. A church in Iraq can rebuilt in Iraq for just $15,000. A rectory could be built for $30,000. A hungry family could fed for $2000 a month. **4th segments:** It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week is a Book Pack (3 books): [Made for More](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934217492/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=1934217492) by Curtis Martin; [Spiritual Freedom](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0867168609/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0867168609) by Fr. Dave Pivonka and [Hiking the Camino](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/086716882X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=086716882X), also by Fr. Dave Pivonka This week’s winner is **Robert Romig from Winthrop**. Congratulations Robert! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit [WQOM.org](http://www.WQOM.org). For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. **5th segment:** Every year, through the local bishops they receive thousands of projects and they narrow it down to 200 or. In Bethlehem, the Congregation of the sisters of St. Dorothy have a community for the deaf and mute called Ephatha. Because of interfamily marriage there are many genetic problems that result in deafness. This provides societal shame and the kids aren't sent to schools. The Sisters go from home to home to teach the children, including teaching them how to speak Arabic using some high-tech computer programs. They also teach the kids to lip read. They show them how to make their way around in the city, including crossing streets. The Sisters' devotion is unique. CNEWA supports about 100 of the children each year. At an AIDS clinic in India, Gabriel met a religious sister who carried an HIV-infected man on her back to bathe him each day. Gabriel said the India director of CNEWA proposed $ 2 million worth of projects but they were only able to fund $700,000. They also make ongoing commitments to schools and clinics and hospitals. There is $13 million given directly by donors, another $6 million in wills and bequests, and another $4 million in endowments, so about $25 million total. Scot said it's often difficult to make sense of all the different collections they are asked to support. CNEWA is partly helped by the World Mission Sunday collection during October, but it helps primarily Propagation of the Faith, which takes care of mostly Latin-rite areas. 81% goes to Propaganda of the Faith and 19% goes to the Congregation for the Eastern Churches in Rome. CNEWA funds come directly from donors. Right now, there are bout 50,000 regular donors. The typical donor is a woman on Social Security who is giving from her want to help a Christian in India or the Middle East or North Africa. Their oldest donor is 98 and she has been giving since 1926. Their donors are often invited to travel with Gabriel overseas to visit with those they are helping. Gabriel said his work has affected his faith life. He often thinks of the Scripture: "Whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do it for me." He believes all of their donors receive a gift when they support CNEWA recipients. Scot said we often mistake needs and wants in the United States. there are a lot of projects that CNEWA supports that are for true needs of food, shelter, healthcare, and worship. Gabriel is able to tell his son how life is not as easy for everyone as it is for those of us who live in the developed world. With all the upheaval in the Middle East recently, it is becoming more difficult for those CNEWA serves. Food prices are rocketing upward around the world and projects and families are finding it harder to feed the hungry, for example.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Fr. Jonathan Gaspar, Co-Director of the Office for Worship and Spiritual Life Today’s topics: The new translation of the Roman Missal Summary of today’s show: Scot and Fr. Chris preview the prayers of the new Roman Missal coming to our parish Masses on the First Sunday of Advent, including changes to some very familiar prayers we now pray by heart. Using recordings of some of the prayers being chanted, the panel discuss the rich meanings they hold and reveal. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chris back to the show. Fr. Chris said he’s thrilled to have the seminarians back at St. John Seminary. It’s great to have the chapel full again with a complement of earnest young men. Scot saw it firsthand last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, giving them presentations. It was wonderful to see 83 seminarians all in one place. Fr. Chris said you see the Lord’s hand in each of their lives. Cardinal Sean celebrated the opening Mass where he quoted Pope Benedict at length from his address to Spanish seminarians in Madrid last month. Scot said today is a transition for him and his family, celebrating the end of summer yesterday, and then today the commuting patterns coming into work have changed with everyone back and work and kids back at school. Another major change in the Church will begin at Advent with the new translation of the Roman Missal, but also new chats for Mass that could be sung in parishes this past week. Fr. Gaspar will talk about that today. Fr. Chris said it’s an exciting time. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcomed Fr. Gaspar back to the show. Scot said Fr. Gaspar has several roles, including working on preparing us all in the archdiocese for the upcoming new Roman Missal. Fr. Gaspar said the work began in earnest a year ago to prepare priests and people. On November 27, we will have a new Roman Missal with some changes to the prayers we pray. The Roman Missal is the new term for the book of prayers we use at Mass. That book is currently called the Sacramentary, but it won’t be called that anymore. This is the largest change in the Liturgy since the Second Vatican Council. One of the first things the council did was write a document on the Liturgy. Scot said how we pray informs how we believe. The words of prayers are very significant. Scot said the objective of the new translation was to correct the problem that our English translations did not accurately reflect the Latin texts and we weren’t praying the same thing as Catholics in other languages. The Church always gives us our prayers in Latin and then those are translated into many languages. Fr. Gaspar noted that at World Youth Day in Madrid, Pope Benedict prayed in Spanish and the Spanish responses were more like the Latin than our English ones were. Fr. Gaspa we are not just being faithful to the Latin text, but to what is deeper than the Latin text. The Mass is composed of words that come right from the sacred Scriptures, which are divinely inspired. When the priest says, “The Lord be with you”, the people will respond, “And with your spirit” which comes right from St. Paul’s writings. The people’s response is a direct reference to the priestly consecration at ordination. Fr. Chris said it seems a richer translation, and the US is one of the last places in the English-speaking world to start using the new Missal. In the 1960s, when the Mass was translated from Latin to English, they wanted to make the prayers as easy for people as possible. Scot noted many people want to read the changes in political terms of liberal and conservative, but this is about praying together in one voice. Fr. Chris said we’ve been praying these prayers for a while, and this gives parishes a chance to focus on the liturgy and explain it. Fr. Gaspar said what we’ve been praying in Mass has not changed, but how we express them has changed. He said the Archdiocese has been actively encouraging the people to study the words of the Mass. More than 3,000 people have gone through workshops with the new Missal. The most common concern he hears is that this is a step backward in the church and going back to Latin, but that is not true. In the 2000s the Vatican issued a document called to encourage the translation of the Latin to be more authentic. Scot brought up the example of the Penitiential Rite. Fr. Gaspar said the new translation is more faithful to acknowledging who God really is. So in the Pentitential Act (Confiteor), we will say “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.” When we hurt someone we love, we don’t just say sorry once. If we hurt God the Father who loves us so much, we need to find ways to say I’m sorry: “PLease forgive me. I can’t believe I did that. I’m so sorry.” It’s a litany of sorrow and apologizing. Scot introduced a recording of the Gloria as it is sung in the new translation. (All recordings are available online at the .) Parishes have been given permission to start singing the new parts of the Mass ahead of Advent, including the Gloria. Scot said the new translation of the Gloria has more words than the old translation. The first part praying for “all people of good will” comes right from the Gospel of St. Luke (chapter 2:14), which is faithful to what the Latin is saying. We hope that all people have good will. Fr. Chris said it will take time for us to become re-adjusted to the new prayers, but this is a good opportunity to slow things down and take seriously and ponder the mystery and beauty of the liturgy. Scot said his sense is that the old translation tried to be as efficient as possible, but lost the richness of the language. The next phrase includes “begotten” as a description of Jesus. Fr. Gaspar said this word, like “consubstantial”, may not be familiar to us but they are full of meaning. HE noted in the creed that we now say that Jesus is “one in being with the Father”, but that’s vague. We are all one in being with the Father in a way, but the Son is consubstantial with the Father, of the same substance as the Father. He is not just born of the Father, but is begotten of him. The relationships between the persons of the Trinity are more clearly expressed in theological language. We don’t need to understand all these words the first Sunday of Advent. We can spend years coming to understanding of all these words. Fr. Chris said “begotten” is an essential word: Wars have been fought and heresies declared over the understanding of the word. All of these things have important ramifications for what we believe and its essential we reclaim this language. Scot said with something that is more difficult to understand anyway, more precise language is better. Scot said that one of the bigger changes is to the Creed. Now instead of saying “We believe,” we will now say, “I believe”. By moving to the first person we have to proclaim our own belief, not just more generally the teaching of the Church. Fr. Gaspar said this is one of the most significant changes in the Mass. The Creed isn’t just a personal statement of faith, although it is, but it’s also the statement of faith of the Body of Christ. We have to believe what we are saying with the mystical body of Christ in the Church. When we pray as the one mystical Body of Christ, we are one. There is no division in the Body of Christ. When we are gathered by the Father in the Son, we become one with the Son and that’s why the Eucharist is the most important thing that we can do. We offer the perfect sacrifice that brings the world salvation and we can only do that in person of Christ. Another change is that we now pray about things “visible and invisible” while we will now pray for things “seen and unseen”. While something may be unseen, it may not be invisible. If my wife is not present, she is not invisible. We are reclaiming the reality of creation that there is a spiritual reality that is only seen by God. If the angels aren’t visible to us, they are visible to God. We will also pray that Jesus was “incarnate” of the Virgin Mary. It means that he literally puts on flesh. Now we say he is “born of the Virgin Mary”, but the incarnation of the Christ isn’t on Christmas, but on the Annunciation, when Christ is in the womb of Mary at her Yes to the Holy Spirit. Life begins not on the day of our birth, not on the day we are conceived. Scot introduced the recording of Memorial Acclamation A, which will replace “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.” Scot said one of the texts he will miss the most is this old text. The new text is “We proclaim your death O Lord and profess your resurrection until you come.” It combines several of the old acclamations into one. The verbs proclaim and profess are significant. There is a theological richness to why we proclaim. Fr. Gaspar said the Liturgy is a celebration of the Death of the Lord. Fr. Gaspar said many people, including bishops, are upset at the loss of the old acclamation. This acclamation was never in the Latin missal and was created just for the English-speaking Church. The memorial acclamation is meant to be addressed to Christ and acclaim what He has done for us. The old acclamation is just a recitation of what Christ did, but doesn’t address Christ. The new acclamations include a sense of us in relation to Christ. It is a mystery that includes us in this proclamation. Christ’s death sets us free. Fr. Chris said he is now convinced. He thought he’d miss the old acclamation, but now he’s looking forward to the new ones because of this meaning that Fr. Gaspar has explained. Scot moved on to the Invitation to Communion, which we now know as “This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world…” and the new translation is: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb. (And together with the people he adds once:) Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed. The supper of the Lamb is right from the Book of Revelation, which talks about the ongoing wedding fest of Jesus, the Lamb of God, with his Bride, the Church, and our participation in the Mass is a foretaste of heaven. “Entering under my roof” comes right from Scripture and the prayer of the centurion who prays that Jesus will come and heal his daughter, but tells Jesus that he is not worthy that Jesus should enter under his roof. Jesus sees the faith and the daughter is healed. Scot encouraged listeners to prepare themselves before the First Sunday of Advent with the resources listed here.…
Listen to the show: On this Labor Day, September 5, 2011, we bring you an encore presentation of one of our most popular shows, an interview with Paul Blanchette and Fr. Martin Hyatt, bso, about the Cursillo retreat experience, its origins, its aims, its wonderful fruits, and just what a Cursillo weekend is all about. The shownotes are available on the We hope you enjoy this encore presentation and that you have a wonderful Labor Day.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry, Fr. Mark O’Connell, and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Lino Rulli, author of “Sinner” and host of “The Catholic Guy” Today’s topics: Lino Rulli, the king of all Catholic media Summary of today’s show: Scot, Fr. Mark, and Fr. Chip were joined by Lino Rulli, author of the new book “Sinner” and host of “The Catholic Guy” radio show on SiriusXM satellite radio and talked about the honesty that makes Lino’s presentation of the faith so attractive and just generally laughed for a whole hour together. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Mark and Fr. Chip back to the show. He noted that Fr. Chip has been following Lino on SiriusXM satellite radio for some time. Scot said he’s been giving presentations at St. John’s Seminary over the past few days on human virtues and has been reading Sinner for the past several days at the same time. He welcomed Lino to the show. Lino said he loves Boston even though he’s from Minnesota and lives in New York. He loves the vibe and personality and even the accent. He talked about going to Mass yesterday and running into a guy after who said he used to watch his TV show on CatholicTV and who wanted to talk to him about his problems with the Catholic Church. Scot noted that Archbishop Tim Dolan of New York wrote the foreword to the book and who praised the book for its honesty and humor and boldness. He said “Sinner is a winner.” Scot asked him why he named it “Sinner.” Lino said that when great spiritual leaders write something, they’re so profound and inspirational, but Lino is just a regular who knows the Church has it all figured. He called it Sinner so he could come right out and be honest about who he is right up front, get it out of the way, and then talk about God. Scot asked if titling it Sinner makes it accessible to people who haven’t read a book about Catholicism. Lino said he named it that to disarm people. Lino said even Howard Stern’s producer enjoyed the book even though he says of himself that he doesn’t believe in God. Fr. Chip said Lino wrote three chapters about confession and asked if he’s making confession cool again. Lino said he’s annoyed so many of us went through the 70s, 80s, 90s, and today without talking about the beauty of the sacrament of reconciliation. “We’re offering this beautiful sacrament of reconciliation with God from 3:45 to 4 on Saturday.” In a 10,000-person parish?! How is this not one of the top 3 things you bring up as a Catholic? He told Fr. Chip he’s putting him in the confessional box on Saturday. Fr. Chip said he’s happy to be there. Scot said the third chapter is the impactful for him, that knowing that if Lino can bring this sense of humor to it, then people will be more open to it. He asked how the Catholic Guy Show came about. Lino said he started on TV in 1997 with a small show called Generation Cross that started in Minnesota and then spread to other Catholic channels around the country. He also worked in local Minneapolis TV at the same time. Then he got offered a half-hour radio show called Lino at Large and he decided to try it out. It aired in a bunch of markets around the country for two years until one of the main providers told him he was being let go because younger people listen to Lino and they had an older audience. The guy told him that old people give money and young people didn’t which was strange from a Catholic network that purported to be about evangelization. Lino said that left him mad at God and a bit annoyed and frustrated. The sad thing about Catholic clichés is that they’re true and when a window closes, God opens a new one. A little while later, he heard that Sirius was starting a Catholic channel and was asked if he’d be interested. One of the themes of his book is how he’s constantly getting his way and thus getting in God’s way of what he wants for him. Lino said t he beauty of SiriusXM is that it’s a collaboration with the Archdiocese of New York. SiriusXM isn’t concerned with orthodoxy, but are concerned with the quality. It’s Archbishop Dolan who’s concerned that Lino isn’t a heretic. The Archbishop sets the limits on what he can do as a Catholic radio host, and within that he’s got freedom. Scot asked him what he likes about radio versus TV. Lino said TV has the lights and makeup and production, but what’s he found with radio is that it’s more honest. He would never have written a book called Sinner and been honest if he hadn’t been on radio. He can’t be on air for three hours a day, five days a week without being honest about who he really is. We prefer to show everyone what a good, pious Catholic we are, even if we aren’t. On TV, you can re-shoot or do over, but on the radio it’s live and you expose all your flaws to everyone. It’s just like how we are before God in confession. 2nd segment: Scot said Lino was a a fan of media and comedy growing up in Minnesota. Yet when people didn’t have a vision for Catholic TV for young people, he decided to produce one on secular TV. Lino said he wishes he really did have a plan to integrate his faith, media, and comedy for his life. Lino said he wrote the book for the guy he was 20 years. He loved TV, radio and all media, so he went to college for communications. He got an internship at a local NBC affiliate and got serious about his faith at the same time. He started to think that a good Catholic shouldn’t work in media. He doesn’t know where he got such an idea. He went for a Master’s in theology, but God hounded him. He was living in Italy and came home for a friend’s wedding, and was going to stay in Minnesota for a month doing some temp work. He kept getting job offers in media for various Church organizations. One day someone literally said he should do a TV show for people his age at the time (26) and they offered to pay him for it. Scot asked him how it turned up on a network affiliate. Lino said it was an easy pitch and even though people said no one would watch it, that no young people would be interested in a Catholic TV show, it won two Emmys. Lino said it was like World Youth Day. On the face of it, it shouldn’t work: millions of people in ridiculous conditions, camping out to see the pope, yet it works. Scot noted that the production values of the show were high and higher than we were used to seeing in the Church at the time. Lino said it’s strange that for centuries the Church was a patron of the arts. The Church tells us to create beautiful art and use all our gifts and talents and all the finest resources and materials. This is what we are called and need to be using in the 21st century. One of the reasons it worked was that he was working for the Food Network at the time and they sent him to Italy and they spent an extra week there shooting for his show on the Food Network’s dime. Fr. Mark asked him when he knew it was working and a success. Lino said, “Today.” He said he knows it’s working when he’s goes into a bar and a girl walks up to him and says, “Lino, I love your show even though I was raised Catholic and don’t go to Church anymore.” We’re not called to convert people by the sword, but to invite and show through how we live our Catholicism that it makes our lives wonderful. It’s attractive enough that we don’t have to invite people, they invite themselves. They want what you have in your life. It’s not necessarily that they come back to faith—that’s between them and God. That’s when he went from experiment to success, when people came up to him and said they enjoy the show. If they say they’re not coming back to the Church, he tells them that’s between them and God. Scot said we have a culture that wants people of faith to privatize it and not share it, so young people probably don’t have a lot of peers talking about their faith. Then there’s Lino’s show which shares faith and now people hear Lino’s voice and want to share their faith with him. Lino said part of the honesty of his show and he gets uncomfortable when people share too much that’s too personal. He also doesn’t want to be a role model for sinners with his own failings, but to show them that God will pull them through the tough times. He tells people to end with the good part, don’t just tell the sinning part. If Lino can admit his lust and envy and other sins, then others can do so in confession. Lino said he sent copies of a chapter on prayer and discerning God’s will to his closest friends who happen to work for Howard Stern and their response was to ask him, “Do you pray?” They simply don’t know other people who pray. This Lino guy that they hang out with and go to the bar with and eat out with actually prays. This fascinated them and they asked him all kinds of questions and details about it. People aren’t used to seeing normal people who pray. Scot asked whether it was more difficult to write the book honestly than it is to be honest on the air. Lino said on the air he talks and talks and then goes home without necessarily thinking about who’s listening. But with a book he intentionally writes about things to be honest about and then has to see people reading the book and talking about what he revealed. Fr. Chip loved the chapter about the girl that Lino had wanted to marry but it didn’t work out. Scot asked Lino if he really calls his mother every night at the same time. He said she’s impressed that he calls her every day at 9:55pm. He said he doesn’t have a devotion to the Virgin Mary that he should so at least he has a devotion to his own mom and working up to it. Fr. Chip said in the book his relationship with his dad is different. He and his dad have a different dynamic. When Lino was in junior high, his dad went from being a parole officer to being an organ grinder and wanting Lino to be the monkey. Lino said we call God our Father, but maybe in our families we don’t have the appreciation of our own fathers that we should. Scot asked him if his parents listen every day? Lino said they do, but they don’t bring up what he talks about on the show. He said the rule is that this is what he does for a living and he’s doing his job. Fr. Chip said his mom is on the show all the time and it’s great radio. 3rd segment: Scot said one of his favorite chapters is about when Lino met the pope. Lino said every Italian family has to have a cousin who’s a priest. Lino said he’s got a cousin who’s an archbishop and back in 1999 he got a chance to meet Pope John Paul II. Scot said he’s met him twice and Lino asked if Scot’s Italian, one-upping him. Lino said it’s a cliché to say he’s very holy, but it’s true. Lino said he froze, which is what everyone says. Fr. Mark and Scot agreed that it happened to them to. Scot told the story of the times he met the Pope. The first time he could only reply, Yes, but the second time, with his brother, they wished him happy birthday on behalf of the entire United States and then asked him to pray for their Great-Aunt Gert, which he did at that moment. Lino said he’s now been on-upped by Scot. Almost everyone has a better story of meeting the Pope. When he met the Pope, his big nose got in the way and he didn’t get to kiss the Fisherman’s Ring. Fr. Mark said he Eskimo’d him. Fr. Chip said in the book that Lino wrote about asking a monk about whether he should enter the monastery, but the prior turned him away because he thought Lino would later walk away. Lino still wonders if that was the right thing, whether he might have matured as monk and would have stuck with it. Fr. Chip said he’s always thought Lino might have been heading to the priesthood and he’s glad he’s at least seriously thought about it. Lino said for better or worse if he’d asked that question today to a different religious order they might have been more encouraging and asked him to try it out. Now he’s a neurotic mess and set in his ways so maybe it wouldn’t work today. Scot said reflecting on his life there are events that don’t make sense until you see it in retrospect many years later. Lino said it’s possible that was God’s decision with the Holy Spirit guiding the prior to say No. It could also be God making good from a bad decision by the prior. Scot asked Lino what some of the things he emphasizes about Catholicism for people who want to talk about it. Lino said he speaks honestly about all that is good and bad in the Church. It’s not easy being Catholic, there are plenty of days it’s tough. We all know the stereotypes and it’s not true. He just says what he loves about being Catholic and if they have a different experience, he respects that, but it doesn’t change what he’s doing. The more he emphasizes the positive, the more it’s attractive. Being Catholic is funny and entertaining. He doesn’t focus on the “rules” of Catholicism or the “bad” of Catholicism that people think about it. He focuses on the good. If you focus on the positive, without ignoring the negative, it’s healthy. Scot asked how Lino has changed the focus of what he does over the years as his audience has matured with him. Lino said now he’s 39, he’s not a young adult anymore, but a lot of his heroes in the media who are older are still funny and entertaining and attract people of all ages. But he’s also aware he has to be able to step aside and let young people take over the task of talking to other young people someday.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Beacon Hill’s casino deal; Singing the New Mass translation; Ambassadors of Peace; new policy on altar girls in Phoenix Summary of today’s show: Scot and Susan talk with Fr. Roger and Greg about the news of the week including the arrival of the new vicar general, Msgr. Robert Deeley; the societal costs of the casino bill proposed by Beacon Hill; singing the new Mass translation; a new religious order for Boston; and controversy over a new policy for altar girls in Phoenix. 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show and said to Susan that September 1 snuck up on his this year. Susan said she was sad to see August go. August is the shortest month of the year and February is the longest. Scot said at the Pastoral Center the last week of August is usually slow, but this summer he’s been involved in the Catechetical Certificate of the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization, there’s been various events saying goodbye to Fr. Rich Erikson, the outgoing vicar general, and events welcoming Msgr. Robert Deeley as the new vicar general. Susan said she was moved by the ceremony in which Msgr. Deeley took the Oath of Fidelity and the Profession of Faith, two rituals of the Church for those who hold certain offices in the Church. Scot welcomed Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy to the show. He asked Greg about his experience of the ceremony. Msgr. Deeley had talked about how when he went to theVatican he had three minutes to read all these documents in Latin before signing them, but in this instance he preferred the time to do it right and involve everyone in the Pastoral Center. Fr. Roger said transitional deacons and priests take the oath and profession, as well as pastors and other major responsibilities in the Church. The Church wants to make sure that the person is going to hand on the teaching of the Church, but also to reassure him that he will receive supernatural grace to live up to the demands of the oath and profession. Scot said Msgr. Deeley has been working Rome at the Vatican since 2003, including at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Cardinal Seán invited Msgr. Deeley to come serve as vicar general in April. He met with the Cardinal’s cabinet this morning, then sent an email to all employees of the Archdiocese throughout eastern Massachusetts, celebrated noon Mass with the Pastoral Center community, and then had this afternoon’s ceremony. Scot read the following quote from Msgr. Deeley’s email: These past years of work in Rome have given me a unique opportunity to be near His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI. I could not help but note that, whatever the difficulty he encounters, or the problem that arises, he is always confident in the grace of Christ. The word that most captures the spirit of Benedict XVI is “joy”. He teaches us to place our hope in Jesus Christ, who is our joy, as well as the truth of our lives. Accepting this call is fundamental to our mission as Church. We need to come to know that grace ourselves and then, in accord with the call of our Baptism, to share it with others. As I begin this new assignment I ask for your prayers, and promise a remembrance in mine. Together may we bring the joy of Christ’s love to our corner of the world here in the Church in Boston. May Mary, Mother of the Church, Our Lady of Hope, intercede for God’s abundant blessings on our Archdiocese. Scot said it was very clear how closely Msgr. Deeley has worked with Pope Benedict and how well he knows him. Susan said joy is not just a silly feeling, but it is a gift of God. 2nd segment: In both the Anchor and Pilot there is an article called “Fierce response to Beacon Hill leadership’s deal on Casino bill.” Scot ran down the details of the new bill put up on August 23. While they project $400 million in tax revenue, the Mass. Catholic Conference says that won’t outweigh the social costs. Greg said people often ask how the Church can oppose casino gambling while allowing parish bingo. He points out that the Church says small-stakes gambling can be a legitimate form of recreation, while casino gambling often preys on the poor and those most unable to afford. In order for there to be $400 million in tax revenue, people have to lose more than $1 billion. These won’t be high-roller casinos like those in Monte Carlo and Las Vegas. This will attract those least able to afford to lose. Slot machines are particularly pernicious because while each individual play is only a quarter or a dollar, they can become addictive. Scot quotes the story which says that studies show how five years after a casino opens, the neighborhood sees a radical increase in crime and addition to gambling doubles within a 50-mile radius. With the three new proposed casinos, nearly every part of the state would be within 50 miles of the casino. Susan pointed out that even if we poured every dime in tax revenue into schools and the like, the ends don’t justify the means. She noted that casinos aren’t built in wealthy suburbs, but in our poorer areas. Scot said you don’t have to be Catholic to know that this isn’t a good idea. Who’s going to be paying for the societal ills? How much would we pay to decrease crimes by the same amounts they are going to rise? Fr. Roger wrote on this issue a year ago. He said he thinks along the same lines. This gamble on casinos is a terrible bet. You can’t make a living off going to a place where the house always wins. The state is gambling its future on the backs of slot parlors and casinos. We have to stand up in our Commonwealth and say that this is a bad bet in which we’ll lose more than we win over the long term. Stop Predatory Gambling, the Mass. Family Institute and United to Stop the Slots are other organizations involved in opposing this bill.They encourage people to call the Governor’s office and elected representatives and tell them that this is a reckless gamble for Massachusetts. 3rd segment: Scot noted that we’ve talked about the coming launch of the new Roman Missal on the first Sunday of Advent, but starting this weekend at the the option of the pastor, parishes can start singing certain parts of the Mass in the new translation. Fr. Roger said the parts of the Mass we typically sing have new translations, including the Gloria; the Holy, Holy, Holy; and the Creed. The US Bishops said bishops could authorize their pastors to introduce the sung Mass parts in the beginning of September to help people get ready for the changes coming in Advent. They realize that in Advent we don’t sing many of these parts so they wanted to give three months of practice so that on Christmas morning the Gloria will be done in the most beautiful way possible. Susan said she loves the title of the editorial: “Singing the Mass.” We sing the Mass, not just sing at Mass. Scot said Fr. Jonathan Gaspar will be with us on Tuesday to talk about the new Mass translations. He said in Fr. Roger’s editorial he refers to the Vatican II document Musicam Sacram which differentiates three different levels of music in the Mass and we’ve inverted the priority of the different kinds of music at Mass. The first priority for singing are the dialogue parts between the priest and the people: the Sign of the Cross, for example. The other Mass parts of the second priority: the Kyrie, Gloria, Lamb of God, the Creed, and Prayer of the Faithful. Of lowest priority are the entrance, offertory, and communion hymns as well as the Psalm, the Alleulia, and the readings. 4th segment: Scot said Cardinal Sean in recent months has been working to help form three diocesan religious orders. This week the Pilot profiles the Ambassadors of Peace. It was founded by Fr. Michael Sevigny, a Capuchin Franciscan for over 40 years. It will be a contemplative and active community helping member in a quest for inner peace and to bring peace to the world. The community will be based in Weymouth at a former convent at Immaculate Conception in Weymouth. the other two order are the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth led by Sister Olga Yaqob and the Franciscan Tertiary Handmaids of the Immaculate. He said the Lord raises up new orders when the Church particularly needs them and they have specific charisms for the needs of the day. On September 16-18, the Apostles will be holding a discernment weekend for women, and seven of the eight spots are filled already. Fr. Roger often leads retreats for new religious communities. They often succeed with God giving a particular charism to the founder or foundress, but there’s also a real sense of communal love among the members. They also need very good formation with a very clear path to holiness that involves fraternal correction and real education in the faith. Moving to a new story, the rector of the Cathedral in Phoenix has changed his policy on altar servers so that only boys would be altar servers, while the girls would be trained as sacristans. The story has received a lot of coverage in the Catholic blogosphere. The rector said the issue can’t be approached from just and emotional standpoint, but serving at the altar is not a right. He wants both boys and girls to be involved in service, but he’s found that when there are altar girls, there’s often not any altar boys. Greg said he agrees with his assessment that when young girls are involved in something, the young boys choose not to be involved. He’s also seen that girls of that age are more comfortable being in front of people, while boys are not. It’s also valuable to have the boys brought closer to the liturgy because it does engender more vocations to the priesthood. It’s not about power or whether girls are valuable. It’s just a matter of formation. Susan says she’s a traditionalist in such things, but she’s not sure whether it’s true that having girls as servers is itself a reason for more boys not being servers. She’s also not sure whether being a server ultimately makes a difference for whether boys become priests. Fr. Roger’s parish has both boys and girls. To preserve a balance, he actively recruits boys and about two-thirds of his servers are boys, which makes it easier for boys to come. When there’s a super-majority are girls, it becomes a girl thing to do. If the real urgency in the Church is for priestly vocations, then we need to have a small seminary within the parish. 70% of priests today were altar servers when they were younger.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Thomas Foley, Episcopal Vicar and Secretary for Pastoral Life and Leadership of the Archdiocese of Boston Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Fr. Thomas Foley Summary of today’s show: Scot chats with Fr. Thomas Foley who oversees the largest part of the Central Ministries of the Archdiocese as the secretary for pastoral life and leadership. They dicuss the various ways the Archdiocese provides support to clergy and laity and assists parishes in their day-to-day efforts and planning for the future. 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show. He said today the archdiocese says goodbye to our current vicar general, Fr. Rich Erikson, and tomorrow say hello to Msgr. Robert Deeley, who will become vicar general and moderator of the curia. He will be on the show on September 9. Scot explained that moderator of the curia helps organize the rest of Cardinal Sean’s cabinet secretaries and coordinate their efforts. The cabinets include administration, education, faith formation, communications, health services, social services, institutional advancement, Catholic media, and the parish life and leadership. Fr. Foley is an episcopal vicar and he is the only vicar in the cabinet apart from the vicar general. A vicar represents or stands-in for the ministry of the bishop. Some dioceses have more than one vicar general. There is a judicial vicar, who is Fr. Mark O’Connell in Boston. Episcopal vicars are less common and he is the bishop’s delegate over a certain area of church life or people. Fr. Foley is the vicar for clergy and parishes. The other episcopal vicar in Boston is Fr. Arthur Coyle who is the Cardinal’s representative to the Merrimac region. A vicar has ordinary power, as canon law puts it. The bishop is the ordinary and the vicar can sign certain documents and take certain actions on the Cardinal’s behalf. 2nd segment: Scot met Fr. Foley in 2006 at the consistory in Rome at which Cardinal Seán was made a cardinal. At the time he was pastor of St. Ann in Neponset. Fr. Foley was born in Woburn, like many priests of the archdiocese. Cardinal Medeiros called Woburn the land of priests. He was baptized at St. Mary, Winchester, and celebrated his first Mass at Immaculate Conception, Winchester. His first assignment as priest in 1986 was St. Mary and Martha in Lakeville. When he was ordained, he got his assignment and said he’d never heard of Lakeville, which is on the far southern edge of the archdiocese. He was only there for three years. His next assignment was St. Eulalia in Winchester in his hometown where he stayed for five years. It was very busy with 1,500 kids in CCD. Four priests lived in the rectory. In a very unusual move, he was moved to St. Mary in Winchester for four years. He was then offered Immaculate Conception in Winchester, his home parish. He was there for 6-1/2 years until it closed in 2004. Scot asked how they dealt with the closing of the parish. They knew they were very small and that their finances wouldn’t work to keep them open. He told the people that the closing affected him as much as them; he had celebrated his first Mass at that altar. From there, he moved to St. Ann in the Neponset section of Dorchester as pastor. He was there only four years before Cardinal Sean asked him to come to the new assignment. Scot said Cardinal Sean might have looked to Fr. Foley because of his role in the formation of Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy, which gathered together 7 Catholics into one. Fr. Foley said in Dorchester, people even today identify themselves by what parish they come from, so merging the schools was very difficult. At the time, St. Ann was the largest school, but the budget was twice revenue very year and he and the other pastors recognized that it was impossible to make it on their own. Scot said it wasn’t easy but in the end it achieved what they hoped, which was the preservation of Catholic education in Dorchester. Fr. Foley said he wasn’t at first convinced about the merger of schools, but he was invited to a meeting in Brighton with the people behind the 2010 Initiative for Catholic education which gave him a lot to think about. After thinking long and hard, praying about it, and talking to his people, he became convinced. He stayed on the board of JPII academy for about a year after he moved to the Pastoral Center. He began his new assignment in June 2008 right as construction began on the new school and went back at the beginning of the school year for the opening. He missed St. Ann and not being a part of the new academy, but he was impressed by the excitement of the kids and parents in their new school. 3rd segment: Fr. Foley actually worked for a month in Brighton before the move to the Pastoral Center in Braintree. His position in the secretariate was created new by Cardinal Sean as part of a reorganization of the Archdiocese to strengthen services provided to clergy and parishes and focus on evangelization and faith formation. Among the offices are Clergy Personnel, which gives priests and deacons their assignments. Fr. Tom said it’s a strategic and important part of their service. They have a personnel board that meets to look at parishes that need a priest, look at available priest, and look at the surrounding parishes to make recommendations. They have regular meetings with Cardinal Sean to update him on the latest information and changes. Fr. Michael Medas is the head of that office. Scot said Clergy Personnel also provides pastoral care for priests. It includes direct support for priests who have immediate needs, one-on-one care they provide. The Cardinal often wants to get personally involved as well when there is a priest in need, such as with a death in the family. The same with the vicar general’s office. His secretariate helps with the ongoing formation of priests, including preparing parochial vicars to be pastors, ongoing education and formation, and more. Fr. Tom recently added Sr. Lucille to his staff to work with Fr. Medas in planning ongoing formation programs, workshops, conferences, the annual convocation, and retreats. There are also three or four priests per year who go on sabbatical, such as at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Officially, a priest takes a sabbatical every 10 years, but in practice few of them ask for sabbatical. They don’t leave their parishes. The Vocations Office sponsors vocations to the priesthood as well as promoting the other vocations in the Church. They are bringing in many seminarians to study for the Archdiocese. There are about 60 seminarians for the Archdiocese right now. There’s another class of permanent deacons about to be ordained in September. The Office of Permanent Deacons is concerned with their formation and ongoing care. The Office of Pastoral Planning works with many in the parishes including pastoral associates in the parishes as part of the planning effort to strengthen parishes. Scot said the most important initiative in the Archdiocese over the next 5 years is pastoral planning for a stronger archdiocese given changing resources in the future. There is a lot of coordination among different departments and offices on a variety of committees that involve pastoral planning to get a wide perspective on the whole. 4th segment: It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is the Let’s Talk Series of books for teens by Ken Ogorek and Once Upon a Time Rosary Activity Set for children by Holy Cross Family Ministries This week’s winner is Anna Malinauskas from Waltham, MA. Congratulations Anna! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: Fr. Foley also oversees the the care and support of senior priests. Fr. FOley serves on the board of Regina Cleri, which he says is the finest home for senior priests in the country and many dioceses don’t even have a residence for senior priests. It was founded by Cardinal Cushing who had the foresight of building Regina Cleri when the West End was demolished for urban renewal. About 50 priests live at Regina Cleri, mostly those who are older and need more care, for whom living in a rectory is not practical. They have a good dignified life and a close community. Some senior priests also live in their own homes as well. The last office is Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. Ecumenical is among other Christian churches and interreligious is relations with Jewish and Muslim groups. It was founded by Cardinal Cushing and the office is overseen by two priests who are also pastors.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Rev. Mr. Eric Bennett, transitional deacon and seminarian at the Pontifical North American College Today’s topics: Deacon Eric Bennett Summary of today’s show: Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Deacon Eric Bennett to talk about his recent ordination to the transitional diaconate, his experiences as a seminarian at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, being one of two siblings among his eight to be studying for the priesthood, and the five places in Rome every visitor should see. 1st segment: Scot asked Fr. Chris how St. John Seminary fared in Hurricane Irene. It did well and it was their first day welcoming back seminarians and the new men. All of them did show up. No one had cold feet at the last minute. He told them as he welcomed them that there are two major days for the seminary: welcoming new men and the ordinations. Scot asked what the first week is like at the seminary. On Sunday afternoon, Bishop Kennedy celebrated a Mass of welcome and then there was a dinner. They explained how they do what they do and they follow Pope John Paul’s (“I will give you shepherds”), which is a program for seminary formation. The first week does have a spiritual component, but they include recreation and prayer and Scot will come to give some presentations on virtues that any Catholic man should have. Priestly virtue builds on human virtue. What are the virtues and vices that are presented to Catholic men and how can seminarians grow in human virtue? Simplicity of life, getting priorities in order, building strong relationships with people. Fr. Chris said Pope John Paul II said the intellectual and pastoral must be formed on the human virtues. Priests have to be aware of the rough edges that get in the way of proclaiming Christ. He’s also thrilled to have Scot at the seminary to see excited, intelligent, articulate young men getting ready to go out into the vineyards to proclaim the Gospel. Scot said seminarians of Boston study at St. John Seminary, Blessed John XXIII Seminary in Weston, MA, and the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Both Fr. Chris and Scot have spent one year at the NAC. Deacon Eric is studying there now. Fr. Chris said there are joys to serving in Rome. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Deacon Eric Bennet, ordained one month ago to the diaconate. He was ordained on July 16 at St. Patrick, Natick. That was his parish before entering the seminary. He was living there when he was working as a physical therapist when he applied for the seminary. Scot said it’s been a long time since an ordination took place outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, but with just one man being ordained a smaller church was good even though it was filled with friends and family. He went to high school in Rhode Island and attended Boston University. At BU, he got a sense of knowing Jesus Christ through the ministry of the at the university. After graduation, he moved to Maryland and thought he was called to marriage, but once in Maryland he found the call back to Boston and to the priesthood. It was through his work as a physical therapist, mainly in the cancer ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital. He saw it as a grace and blessing to be with the people and helping them physically and spiritually as they wished. People kept asking him if he ever thought of being a priest and over time he came to see that he was being called to that. He is one of eight children in his family. His family didn’t necessarily see him as headed for the priesthood. He was a bit of a terror as a child and his mom told a friend of his that if she’d had him first, she wouldn’t have had any more. In the Pilot, she was quoted at the ordination: For Bennett’s mother, Kathleen, seeing her son lying prostrate reminded her of when he was two years old and would lie on the floor in fits of anger. “Well he used to get upset and lie on the floor and I’m thinking ‘Look at him at now’ it’s just like, a miracle,” said Kathleen. Many of Eric’s classmates will be ordained together in Rome, but Eric chose to be ordained here in the summer so his friends and family could attend, including friends from other states and even from Ireland. He was able to share Boston as his home with them. Eric has a brother entering seminary in Providence this fall. Fr. Chris asked if they are a religious family. His mother raised them in the faith although his father had been Baptist. He eventually converted to Catholicism. Ever since he’s entered seminary his family has become very zealous and on fire for the faith. Fr. Chris said at Eric’s ordination, his two young nephews brought up the gifts to the cardinal and gave a very solemn bow in a very moving moment. Scot asked what it’s like for his brother to enter seminary. For Eric, it’s a sense of newness and a sense of hope to see another man answering the call of God to the priesthood. A pivotal person in his discernment was Fr. Paul Helfrich of the Brotherhood of Hope at BU. Scot asked what was it about him? Eric said it was the way he gave his entire life over to showing Jesus Christ to every student, being there every morning until late at night. He made many sacrifices for people to know Jesus Christ. He also showed a lot of patience. He may have seen Eric’s vocation, but didn’t force it. Eric saw him as a spiritual father. Scot said many young Catholics from BU are very inspiring in their faith. It’s not a Catholic university, but there are many Catholics within the larger community. Eric said the students see that their community is because of Jesus Christ. Seeing the truth lived out in a loving manner, it’s very attractive and that’s the way the Brotherhood of Hope has done ministry. 3rd segment: Eric will be going back to Rome for two more years in preparation for ordination. He will be studying for a Licentiate in Ministry. Scot asked him what his reaction was to finding out he would be studying in Rome. He said he never expected it. There was a sense of it being a mistake. He was excited and a little hesitant. When the Cardinal asked him formally, he was able to embrace the idea. He feels a great sense of responsibility but also a sense of joy to experience a world he’s never encountered before. Many of the states in the US are represented, with 250 men studying there, including some Australians and Canadians. One of the blessings in being Rome is seeing the Church in different countries throughout Europe, to see how universal the Church is, but also how different. Fr. Chris said he’s had an apostolate in Rome. Eric said every seminarian has an apostolate and his was to go to St. Peter’s Square and evangelize people visiting the church, to help them make a pilgrimage, not just a tourist visit. His group of seminarians would answer questions and bring them to a spiritual level. On St. Joseph’s Day of his first year at seminary, he met a young couple from Oklahoma who were asking questions and had misconceptions about the Church. By the end of their conversation, they were floored by the faith they encountered in room. The five places in Rome any visitor should go: 1. St. Peter’s 2. St. John Lateran 3. St. Mary Major 4. An Italian restaurant, 5. The neighborhood of Trastevere He’s met Pope Benedict last January when the seminary was celebrating its 150th anniversary. He was surprised to see how small in stature he was, but he was also surprised by how he shook the hand of every person in the hall. He goes to the Sunday Angelus messages a couple of times per month, but he doesn’t get to go to the Wednesday audiences because he’s in classes. Fr. Chris noticed all his classes are in Italian. He asked what the most interesting class was. He said it was his moral theology class on bioethics and sexual morality last summer. But he would also say his class on the doctrine of grace, how the Church fathers saw it, and how it’s centrality to our understanding of Christ. Fr. Chris asked him to define grace: It’s the overflowing of God in our lives and his divine assistance to bring us to be fully human and to one day be with him in eternal life. NAC seminarians can study at either the Gregorian University or the Angelicum (where classes are in English) or Santa Croce. The cardinal had asked him to go to the Gregorian so he could learn Italian which would benefit him. Fr. Chris said the NAC is where the men reside and receive some formation, but they study at universities where they are side by side with men and women from all over the world. Eric said the stereotypes of cultures are often true and to see the cultures of religious and laity as well as from different nations. He said the US is very blessed to have priests and bishops who are very knowledgeable and with great understanding. Seeing places in Rome where the saints have been and praying at their tombs is a great blessing to studying there. Going throughout different parts of Europe to see the ancient Church there as well. He also loves the fraternity of the NAC, especially with guys from all over the country. Scot asked him how he stays in touch with his family. Older priests tell him that most communication was mail or a phone call every few months. But now all the guys have their own cell phones, email, and Skype to have videoconferences with family. In his studies, he has the equivalent of a bachelor’s, an STB. Now he’s studying for the STL, Licentiate of sacred theology, which is about halfway between a Master’s and a doctorate. The topic is moral theology, which was a choice made by Cardinal Sean from Eric’s own list of preferences. Fr. Chris asked Eric where in Rome he loves to go to pray. has a beautiful Caravaggio painting of the Call of St. Matthew and where he loves to pray. His favorite tradition is on Holy Thursday to go to all the churches where people pray before the Blessed Sacrament in repose using all their local customs. The hardest part of being in Rome is being away from the Archdiocese, especially priests and friends here, as well as being away from family and all the family occasions. He looks forward to coming back full-time after he’s ordained. The other men from Boston include Tom McDonald, a third-year seminarian; Msgr. Connie McCrae; Msgr. Bob Deeley has just come back from Rome to be vicar general; Fr. Richard Erikson, outgoing vicar general will be going to Rome. A few other priests will be going for three-month sabbaticals for the fall and spring. Msgr. Paul McInerney is at St. Mary Major. 4th segment: This summer Eric was at St. Rose of Lima in Chelsea for pastoral ministry. It’s not usual for seminarians at the NAC to be able to go to work in a parish in the summer. He’s done a lot of work in the parish, following the pastor, and learning about ministering to Hispanic immigrants and newcomers. He’s also seeing the challenge of bringing together three communities of Spanish, Vietnamese, and English. Fr. Chris asked Eric what his one homily he is preaching is about: Jesus Christ wants us to be saints and the call to holiness that Pope John Paul was so energetic about preaching. He has not yet preached in Spanish, but he will do so this weekend, his last weekend. The people of St. Rose show how much they love seminarians and recognize his limitations, but are willing to show him his strengths and how he has helped them. Scot asked him what he plans to do in his ministry as deacon in Rome. Eric said every deacon gets to preach at least once during the year on a weekday Mass. Outside of that they assist at the altar, do Holy Hours once or twice a month. They also have an apostolate. His is at St. John’s University in New York’s Rome campus. He will be doing campus ministry with the students, Holy Hours, and preaching on Sundays. Fr. Chris asked him what from the Brotherhood of Hope he has learned for campus ministry. Eric said the key trick is offering food. He also notes that the students are only there for a short period of time, so giving them a spiritual perspective on Rome, rather than a touristy. His favorite church in Rome is . It is one of the oldest churches in Rome, built on the ruins of churches dating back to the first century. Cardinal O’Connell was the priest of San Clemente. Fr. Chris explained that Cardinals become priests of the churches of Rome to become part of the clergy of Rome so that the Bishop of Rome is elected by the clergy of Rome. Fr. Chris’ favorite church in Rome is . It is one of the oldest churches dedicated to Mary. The mosaics are especially beautiful. Scot’s favorite church is St. Peter’s at 7am, where it is really a house of prayer. There aren’t tourists there at the time. He also loves , especially the statues of all the apostles. St. Peter’s can be overwhelming, but St. John is not. What Eric will bring back from Chelsea to the rest of his formation is encountering the poor and the broken, to help them and speak with them, to show that God loves them and get them the human help they need. He encounters the poor in Rome every day, but it’s a different experience in the US. His ordination date is set for June 23, 2012 along with five others. For those thinking of priesthood, go on a discernment retreat in February at St. John’s Seminary. Also continually to pray before the Blessed Sacrament and trust that God will call you and he find you.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Doug and Joanie Kingsley, Msgr. George Carlson, Joe D’Arrigo Today’s topics: Celebration of the Priesthood Dinner Summary of today’s show: Scot welcomed Doug and Joanie Kingsley, co-chairs of the Celebration of the Priesthood dinner coming up in September to benefit senior and ill priests; Msgr. George Carlson who is working with the Clergy Funds on the care of priests; and Joe D’Arrigo, executive director of the Clergy Funds to discuss the priests of Boston, the new initiative for the laity to show their appreciation for their priests, and efforts to close the previous operating deficits for the funds without cutting benefits. 1st segment: Scot said five years ago Cardinal Sean launched an initiative to continue care for our senior and ill priests. This year, the 3rd annual celebration of the priesthood dinner will continue to raise funds for their care ad well as to celebrate their lives. Scot welcomed the co-chairs, Doug and Joanie Kingsley, Msgr. Carlson from the board that oversees the funds, and Joe D’Arrigo executive director of the fund. Scot asked Doug why he was excited to say yes to the cardinal. They helped on the dinner last year and learned what a great event it is. The dinner is so important because the money goes to the clergy funds which provide for the healthcare and retirement of our priests. Scot said to Joanie that she and Doug are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. Joanie said they have four boys, two in college and two in high school. They have made it a point for them all to have a Catholic education. Our priests are God’s boots on the ground and it’s an honor to be part of this event. Scot asked them about priests who’ve mad an impact in their lives. Joanie said she’s one of 9 children and her family was active in their parish. She had two uncles who were priests. They had priests at their house almost every Sunday. They had a dear family priest friend, Fr. Howard at St. James the Great in Wellesley, one of the three priests at their wedding. He became part of the family. Doug said they carried on the tradition with their boys and so many priests are part of their lives. In their parish of St. Patrick, Natick, they’ve had so many great priests over the past 10 years, including Fr. Stephen Donohoe, now in Chelmsford, who has a real military bearing about him. Fr. Tom Rafferty is now at St. John the Evangelist in Swampscott. The pastor, Fr. Brian Kiely, is a good and holy priest, who gives you your Catholic marching orders at Mass. A few years ago, he vested himself at the beginning of Mass and taught the congregation what each piece is about, what is symbolizes, and so on. Doug said in just this last year, Joanie’s 89-year-old aunt came from the hospital to die in their house and she spent two weeks next to the Christmas tree in their living room, and there was a constant stream of priest-friends coming through the house to say prayers with her and anoint her. It was a wonderful example for the young people who are friends with their sons to see the priests. Scot said priests have been through so much in the past 10 years because of the crimes of a few of their brother priests. Scot said the dinner is important for the money it raises, but it’s also important because it celebrates our good, holy, and happy priests. Doug said the first dinner in September 2009 started to honor the work of our priests in the archdiocese and to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the ordination of Cardinal Sean as a bishop. About 1,600 people attended. The first event raised over $400,000 and the Cardinal decided to make it an annual event for the support of the clergy funds. The event will be on September 22 at the Seaport World Trade Center. Reception at 5:30, dinner at 7pm. It will run like clockwork and end early. It’s a $500 per person event. Some people are getting together in their parish to sponsor a table to honor their pastor. Even if you can’t attend, they’re accepting donations of all amounts. It’s an opportunity to thank your priests, write him a note or go see him and tell him how much he means in your life. See the website for details or call 617-779-3733, ask for Claudia. Scot asked why the dinner was renamed from Priest Appreciation Dinner to Celebration of the Priesthood this year. Many priests thought the old name didn’t quite capture the meaning and the purpose of the event: It’s in honor of the dignity and service of our priests. Doug said priests are important to Catholics because it is through them that we receive the sacraments. Priests don’t really retire. It’s not a job, like a doctor or lawyer. It’s a vocation like fatherhood and just like parents don’t retire from their parenthood, so priests don’t retire from the priesthood. Many senior priests still celebrate Mass in parishes on Sunday or help with other needs in parishes. Scot said priests give up everything to be priests for us and it’s important for us to take care of them in their need. Joanie said the following passage distills the need for the dinner like this: MArk 6:8 “And Jesus commanded them that they should take nothing for the way, but a staff only.” Our priests are commanded to go out into the world to preach and heal, but to take nothing with them; to rely on the generosity of those they meet. What a responsibility for us to take care of them. Doug noted that one of the precepts of the Church is to contribute to the support of our pastors. Scot asked about the program at the dinner. Doug said it will be emceed by Fr. Bob Reed of CatholicTV. A lay witness to the faith will be given by Chris Boyle. Cardinal Sean will speak. There will also be a video tribute to priests, showing the daily work of our priests, including senior priests. Many of them are doing things they were never trained for. 2nd segment: Scot welcomes Msgr. George Carlson from Holy Name, West Roxbury and Joe D’Arrigo, executive director of the Clergy Funds. Today is the 41st anniversary of Cardinal Sean’s ordination to the priesthood. Msgr. Carlson has been ordained 45 years. His first assignment was at St. Theresa, Reading, then St. Theresa, Watertown. He went into team ministry with Fr. Gerry Ostermann at St. Boniface, Quincy. Then to Sacred Heart, Roslindale, and then the Pastoral Institute at the Seminary for priests and the pastoral support of priests. They started a program for newly ordained priests as well. He got to know all the priests of the archdiocese. Then he went to St. Patrick, Lawrence, which he describes as a jewel of the Archdiocese. From there he went to Holy Name in West Roxbury about 11 years ago. Scot said we have a vocation shortage in the relative sense, not in the absolute sense, which means we ordained record numbers in the 1950s and and 1960s and now they are all elderly and retiring and needing care from the Church. Msgr. Carlson said when he was ordained there was no retirement policy and it was introduced in 1968. Before that priests just lived and worked in their parishes well after 75. Msgr. Carlson said what was normal in the 1950s and 60s was a blip in the history of the Church to have so many priests and religious. He said he’s never worried about the numbers. He’s only worried about being trusting enough to respond to the needs of the Church. One of the blessings of the priesthood is that people share their most intimate lives with their priests and trust them so much. That is a blessing. Scot welcomed Joe D’Arrigo back to the show. Cardinal Sean had asked Joe to come on in a consulting role originally to help with the Clergy Fund’s deficits and losses. The Cardinal had called Joe to ask him to help and Joe initially said No because of how overwhelming it was. He later changed his mind after talking with friends who said he should do it. He felt God calling him to use his talents to help the Fund. Three years ago, they had a $10 million operating deficit due to a lack of forethought and projection and many economic factors, one of which was the rampant increase of medical costs and housing costs. It had nothing to do with Reconfiguration or the clergy sex-abuse scandal. Joe said one of the strengths of Cardinal Sean was bringing in experts on particular subjects, businessmen who understand the particular problem and leave the priests in their ministry. Joe said they have not cut benefits to priests, and increased it in some areas. Joe was able to build trust with people by sharing the facts and speaking bluntly of the economic realities and the need for the people to support our priests. Joe said working collaboratively is important. Having a dialogue starts with data and you have to share it with those who need to solve the problem. He shared the data with the priests and answered all their questions, dispelling rumors. The problem was solved by Joe and the priests working together. Part of the solution was cutting expenses without cutting benefits and finding new sources of revenue, including a new collection in June and strengthening of Christmas and Easter collections. This dinner was also key because it also raised awareness. They cut expenses by cutting 7.5 Million dollars, part of which included getting priests on Medicare and Medicaid which they qualified for. They increased revenue by $6 million, by getting the priests to understand this was their fund and so they delivered this message to their people. They are projecting a break-even budget for this coming fiscal year. Joe said the first dinner in 2009 was a celebration. There was a phenomenal feeling in the room. He was stunned to see 1,600 people there. He remembers the feeling that the priests in the room had that so many people had come out to appreciate them. In 2009, they raised $400,00. Last year, it was a little over $1million. But even greater was seeing the smiles on the faces of the priests to see the people of the Archdiocese of Boston come out and support them. Msgr. Carlson remembers a priest-friend who was so happy to be at the dinner, but has now gone to God. Another experience he did not expect to have was all the priests singing Salve Regina at the end of the dinner. They sing the Salve Regina in Night Prayer and all the priests at a priest’s funeral sing it together as well. He was surprised how all the lay people were touched by that. He remembers Fr. John MacInness giving a powerful reflection on the priesthood. 3rd segment: Doug talked about the priest committee for the Celebration of the Priesthood. Fr. Higgins in Newton, Fr. Kiely in Natick, Fr. Ed Riley of St. John Seminary, Fr. Fitzgerald in Wellesley, Fr. Palardi at Bl. John XXII Seminary, Fr. Tom Rafferty in Swampscott, Fr. Evans in Weston, Bishop Boles, Fr. Armano in Methuen. They’ve worked hard reaching out to brother priests to let them know they’re invited guests to this event and spreading the word. Doug said all priests are invited guests at the dinner and are welcome to come to be appreciate and thanked. Scot asked Joe about the Clergy Fund board. He said it’s been a big help in getting the priests behind them. It is an independent board of trustees. Their objective is to make sure the benefits to the priests is there when they need them. The independence of the trustees is important for the credibility of the fund for the priests.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s guest(s): Father Richard Erikson, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia of the Archdiocese of Boston Today’s topics: Fr. Richard Erikson reflects on his five years as Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Boston Summary of today’s show: Scot and Fr. Chip sit down with Fr. Rich Erikson to reflect on his five-year tenure as vicar general and moderator of the curia of the Archdiocese of Boston, which ends on September 1. Highlights include the move from crisis to a mission-oriented agenda, the move from Brighton to Braintree, Improved Financial Relationship with parishes, the Archdiocese’s bicentennial, and more. 1st segment: Scot welcomes Fr. Chip back to the show, substituting for Fr. Mark who will be back next week. Scot said Fr. Rich Erikson began his service as vicar general on June 16, 2006. Next Wednesday, he completes his service and will be replaced by Msgr. Robert Deeley. Scot welcomes him to the show. Scot said he’s astonished by how many things have been accomplished during his tenure as vicar general. In 2006, he said one of his priorities is to continue the healing that had begun under Cardinal Sean’s leadership. Fr. Erikson said we’ve come far, but there is a lifetime of effort to go. Scot mentioned the announcement yesterday of the consolidation of a lot of material related to clergy accused of sexual abuse on the archdiocese’s website. Fr. Rich said they’ve been working on this for many years. He believes the most eloquent part of the Cardinal’s letter is the final paragraph, but it does revisit painful and difficult times of our life together. Cardinal Sean wants to bring light to darkness and acknowledge with great contrition and sorrow what has been done. It’s a heavy and difficult decision. Fr. Rich said it’s the decision the cardinal has grappled with the most in the past five years. Fr. Chip asked if Fr. Rich has thought maybe he should pass this responsibility on to Msgr. Deeley. He does admit that it crossed his mind that it might end up on MSgr. Deeley’s plate, but alas here it is. Scot said we’re still in an era of crisis management since 2002. Together, Cardinal And Fr. Rich have led the archdiocese from crisis to a more mission-oriented agenda. He asked Fr. Rich what he sees as key moments in moving from crisis to mission. Fr. Rich said in 2006 coming back to Boston he said the care of survivors and care for children need to be first and foremost in his mission. Financial realities and painful reconfiguration are in a much better place now than we were in. We have dedicated ourselves to the care of survivors, especially through the Office of Support. Before Fr. Rich came, Cardinal Sean wrote a letter that said everyone is aware of the abuse crisis, but not everyone was aware of the financial realities from the settlements and the need for reconfiguration. When he came, there was a $15 million annual deficit, including $2 million in annual interest payments to Knights of Columbus. This year, they’ve completed their second annual balanced budget. He hopes Msgr. Deeley has a solid foundation to build on to go from maintenance to mission, including initiatives like the Light is On For You, Arise, Why Catholic? Scot has seen how Fr. Rich tries to restore trust in Church authority. He focuses not just on his own team in his office, but on everyone who works in the Pastoral Center, focusing on collaboration and communication and the respect of others. Fr. Rich said we’ve come a long way but we have a long way to go. The Cardinal is a prayerful who strives for holiness in his own life, which has to be the mark of a bishop and that’s what we need in someone who rebuilds trust. Fr. Rich remembers his first public appearance as vicar general-to-be, attending the Archdiocesan Pastoral COuncil meeting for the transparency initiative of 2006. The cardinal was about opening the windows within the Church and being open. He said he remembers being interviewed by Antonio Enrique in the first week on the job and being asked how it feels working in the “evil chancery”, referring to how many people referred to the church’s leadership during the scandal. Fr. Rich’s mother used to work in the chancery in accounts payable and she used to have walk to work through protesters and critics. He said the perception of the chancery as evil and inept is not true, but that’s the perception, so he tried to fix that perception by upholding that what we are about it is service and what happens in the 144 cities and towns of the Archdiocese. 2nd segment: Scot said in 2008 the Archdiocese moved the chancery from the City of Boston, where it had been since 1808 to Braintree. It wasn’t universally applauded by those who were affected. Fr. Rich said the decision to move to Braintree came after a great deal of deliberation, but Tom Flatley gave us the gift of this building. If he hadn’t given the gift , there wouldn’t have been a move because it would have been too expensive. There was also Cardinal Sean’s vision that this building would become a spiritual and pastoral center for the Archdiocese of Boston. Some people scoffed that it would be in an office park. Even Fr. Rich saw it before the old tenant moved out, it looked Stalinesque with cubicle after cubicle, but the transformation has exceeded everyone’s dreams. Even the color scheme is bright and warm, plus the beautiful photos by George Martell throughout the building of all our parishes and schools, and the jewel of the Pastoral Center of the Bethany Chapel. It is such a prayerful place and has exploded into a daily Mass community of well over 100 people with standing-room only on many occasions. Plus there’s Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament each day and Sacrament of Reconciliation is available regularly. There have also been many people coming for pastoral workshops and other events. We save more than $500,000 in overhead each year by being consolidated in one place instead of being scattered among many buildings throughout the Boston area. One of the best experiences of the past five years was being asked by Msgr. Carlson to be in residence at Holy Name in West Roxbury. The chancery was three miles from the rectory and 15 miles away now. But he chose to stay in West Roxbury because of the great community it is. Fr. Chip said he thinks there’s been great success in this building over the past three years. He thinks part of the loss of the Brighton property is a loss of some retreat space. Are there any plans afoot to have retreat space run by the Archdiocese? It’s nice to have the building for workshops, but there’s no space for retreats. Fr. Rich said there are already wonderful retreat houses in the Boston area that are having trouble filling all their available slots. Scot said when they left Brighton, there was no retreat space left anyway after the first sales of properties. There were no downsides to the move other than the change in the commute. Scot said the cafeteria is great not just for food, but also to be a gathering place. Also a number of high-tech meeting rooms. He said it was extremely tough to leave someplace that had been our home for so long. If they had polled staff when it had been announced, they might have been 90% opposed. When they got to tour it, people were more 50-50%. And then when the chapel opened, people came to learn that it was not just an office building and we now had a beautiful and large chapel at the center of our building. Fr. Rich said the people who know him best at the Pastoral Center are the daily communicants, which is odd given how present he is in the building. They know his heart the best because that half hour is the most important moment of the day and where his faith and who he is is most visible. He is a priest first and vicar general second. Scot said on the first full day workday in the pastoral center, Fr. Rich began the tradition of a monthly all-staff meeting, profiling one of the various ministries in the building and also take any question, including anonymous questions, and answer them forthrightly. Fr. Rich mentioned that in Brighton most people ate at their desks because there was nowhere to eat and so nowhere for everyone to gather so the monthly meeting is a way to be together. Fr. Rich did a survey about 2 years ago about the meetings. The overwhelming response was positive. In 2008, the Archdiocese celebrated the bicentennial, and among the activities was going to New York City for Mass with Pope Benedict. Fr. Rich got to concelebrate with the Holy Father. Fr. Rich said he’s only done three trips on behalf of the archdiocese in five years and he had originally signed up to distribute communion. He would have been in the stands. But because Boston was a bicentennial diocese, the Holy Father invited them to concelebrate at the altar. Scot said at the end of 2008 and entering 2009 they launched an initiative to streamline the financial relationship between parishes and central ministries, called the Improved Financial Relationship Model. Working with parishes to help them with their finances and how they support the central ministries has helped stabilize the archdiocese. Fr. Rich described Scot as one of the architects of the IFRM and said it is one of the best initiatives the last five years mainly because it improves the relationship between parishes and the archbishop. If parishes do well financially, then the archdiocese does well financially. The model is one of mutual responsibility and respect. In 2010, a significant decision by Cardinal Sean was the sale of Caritas Christi to Cerberus. He wanted to preserve Catholic healthcare in the region and preserve the pensions of so many who had provided great Catholic healthcare. Fr. Rich said when he became vicar general, the hospital system was in dire straits. They brought together these hospitals that were not succeeding into one system in order to continue providing care to those who needed it. But the financial distress continued and they were concerned they would lose Catholic healthcare in Massachusetts completely. When every non-profit refused involvement, they turned to for-profits to come in and infuse the system with the resources they needed to survive. Cardinal is deeply committed to continue Catholic healthcare in the Archdiocese and is committed to those who have pensions in the systems. They also have a commitment from Cerberus to continue the Catholic identity through funding of Catholic chaplaincy and that ethical and religious directives of the Catholic Church would be followed and promoted. This week he just met the new ethicist hired to make sure that those directives are followed. Fr. Chip asked Fr. Rich how he internalizes the criticism he and the Cardinal have received, especially that which seems so unfair. Fr. Rich said God knows his heart and God knows that every decision has been made intending the good. People who receive the decisions may disagree with the process,m rationale and t he outcome but they don’t know his heart which is for the Lord and the people. In yesterday’s Office of Readings, the image was of the wounds of love. In Boston, you are bounded to be wounded but for Fr. Rich they are wounds of love. He can also understand the criticism they receive in two regards. Very often the criticism is from one point of view and in decision-making you get every point of view. He’s been criticized for decisions but people don’t know what he knows, including sensitive information and other privileged data. He’s a better person because of the criticism he’s received. 3rd segment: On September 1, Fr. Rich will be assigned for three months to the Pontifical North American College in Rome for sabbatical. He’s only spent three days in Rome in his lifetime. They were in the city for just three days in 1999. To be in Rome and at the Vatican as well as the Institute for Continuing Theological Education is a privilege. Many priests rave about it. Cleaning out his office, he has taken a ton of continuing education courses in sociology and military courses (he’s an Air Force chaplain). He will be taking a week of retreat in Assisi as well. He’s been a reserve and active-duty chaplain in the Air Force chaplain since 1982. He will be allowed to continue as a reserve chaplain. Service to military troops is part of who Fr. Rich is. His father is World War II Navy veteran and his nephew is an Ensign in the Navy. There is a great need of care for our troops. He has served in Iraq, bringing sacraments to the soldiers. He also works in leadership at the Pentagon bringing the needs of the Catholic community to the military leadership. Scot wished Fr. Rich well on behalf of everyone who works in the Pastoral Center.…
Listen to the show: Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, Executive Editor of The Anchor, newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River, and Domenico Bettinelli of Pilot New Media Today’s topics: Archdiocese of Boston’s release of names of clergy accused of sexual abuse Summary of today’s show: Scot was joined by Fr. Roger Landry and Domenico Bettinelli to discuss Cardinal Sean’s statement today regarding the Archdiocese’s release of the names of clergy publicly accused of abuse of a minor over the past 60 years, both living and deceased, the names of clergy whose public accusations against them were deemed unsubstantiated, and the website that makes all the information available to the public. 1st segment: Because our usual transcriptionist was a guest on the show today, we do not have a transcript. However, we do have the text of Cardinal Seán’s open letter to the Catholic community. Cardinal’s Decision Regarding the Archdiocese of Boston’s Publication With Respect To Its Clergy Accused of Sexual Abuse of a Child August 25, 2011 My Dear Friends in Christ, The Archdiocese of Boston’s commitment and responsibility is to protect children and to ensure that the tragedy of sexual abuse is never repeated in the Church. Since the crisis erupted in 2002, we have endeavored to regain trust by addressing the needs of survivors and those who have suffered as a result of clergy sexual abuse, investigating and responding to all allegations of misconduct involving minors, removing abusive priests from active ministry consistent with our zero tolerance policy, and creating and maintaining safe environments for children in our churches and schools. Much has been accomplished in Boston since 2002, but our work in this area is continuing, and we will remain ever vigilant. The Archdiocese is continually evaluating its policies and practices to ensure that our child protection and abuse prevention efforts are further strengthened. Consistent with that effort, I have studied suggestions that we enhance the present Archdiocesan policy with respect to sharing information about clergy accused of sexually abusing minors. This is a complex issue involving several competing considerations. On the one hand, there is the critically important need to assure the protection of children and also important considerations related to transparency and healing; on the other, there are interests related to the due process rights and reputations of those accused clergy whose cases have not been fully adjudicated, including deceased priests who were not alive to respond to the allegations. After a careful study of our present policy in light of these considerations, as well as after a chance to consult with my advisors and advisory bodies, including the Presbyteral Council and Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, I am announcing today revisions to the policy of the Boston Archdiocese with respect to disclosing names of clergy accused of sexually abusing minors. This revision comes after serious and thoughtful consideration and prayer by myself and many others. I am acutely aware of the harm that the abuse of children by clergy has caused in the lives of so many. And while I know there will be some who believe our policy changes should go further, after careful consultation and consideration of views expressed by many people and groups, I believe that the changes we are making are appropriate and I would like to share my rationale for arriving at this decision. Since 2002, the Archdiocese has had in place a vigorous policy with respect to disclosing information about clergy accused of abusing minors. First and foremost, it is the policy of the Archdiocese to immediately report to law enforcement all allegations of clergy sexual abuse of children. These notifications are made to local District Attorneys’ offices, the Massachusetts Attorney General, and, when appropriate, federal law enforcement. These notifications are made whether or not the person reporting the abuse is still a minor, whether or not the accused cleric is still alive, and whether or not the allegations have been evaluated to have even the semblance of truth. Second, the Archdiocese publicly discloses when a member of its clergy is removed from active ministry pending an investigation into an allegation of child abuse. Finally, the Archdiocese publicly discloses when a member of its clergy is convicted of sexual abuse of a child as a result of a criminal process or when, after a canonical process, a member of the clergy is removed from the clerical state. In addition to these disclosures in individual cases, the Archdiocese has released extensive information about the abuse cases in Boston. The Archdiocese published, in February 2004, a comprehensive report on the number of accused priests in the Boston Archdiocese, as well as the number of victims of those priests, in the period 1950-2003.[1] This report compiled various key statistics regarding the allegations of abuse made against clergy in the Boston Archdiocese, as well as information on settlements that had been reached historically by the Boston Archdiocese. In addition to this report, the Archdiocese has published annual financial reports starting in 2006, including, among other financial information, information about the abuse settlements reached each year, the financial sources for those payments, and the related costs for Archdiocesan pastoral and child protection efforts.[2] Additionally, the Archdiocese has produced extensive documentation with respect to past allegations of clergy sexual abuse both in response to requests from law enforcement and in civil litigation. Information from those files has been summarized in a report published in 2003 by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office.[3] The policy which I am announcing today will retain our present practices and also supplement them in key respects. First, the Archdiocese has created for its website (www.bostoncatholic.org) a compiled list of names of accused clergy in the following categories: The names of all Boston Archdiocese clergy who have been found guilty of sexually abusing a child, either by the Church (canon law), the State (criminal law), or both. In the case of criminal convictions, the cleric either has been convicted after a criminal trial or has pled guilty to a crime involving the sexual abuse of a child. In the case of canonical processes, the clerics whose names are included either have been dismissed from the clerical state at the end of the canonical process, or have been assigned to a life of prayer and penance, with no ministry possible. The names of all Boston Archdiocese clergy who have been laicized after having been accused of sexually abusing a minor. Laicization under Church law is a process whereby the priest voluntarily requests that he be separated from the clerical state. The names of all clergy of the Archdiocese who have been publicly accused of sexually abusing a child where canonical proceedings remain to be completed. In each case, the cleric involved has been removed from public ministry and remains on administrative leave. The names of Boston Archdiocese clergy who have been publicly accused of sexually abusing a child, but who had already been laicized and therefore were no longer in active ministry by the time the accusations were received. The names of those deceased clergy of the Archdiocese who have been publicly accused of sexually abusing a child, but where criminal or canonical proceedings were not completed. In most of these cases, the accused priest had died before the allegations were received. This represents the first time that names of accused clerics have been compiled by the Archdiocese in a central location and a readily accessible format. Second, as to each member of the clergy whose name is listed in these categories, the Archdiocese has included in this website the following pertinent information: the cleric’s year of birth and year of ordination; whether the cleric is alive or deceased, and if deceased, the year of death; for members of the clergy who are alive, their status as well as the date of any laicization, dismissal, or conviction of the accused cleric; and a link to the cleric’s assignment history. This list, which is searchable, will be regularly updated as additional announcements are made in the future. Third, I have decided to publish a separate listing of the names of those clergy who have been publicly accused of sexually abusing a child where the allegations have been found unsubstantiated by the Review Board after a preliminary investigation or where the priest has been acquitted after a canonical process. In a number of cases, these priests have been returned to active ministry. The revised policy being announced today attempts to balance appropriately several considerations which bear on this matter: The Church needs to be open about clergy accused of crimes against children in order to help foster the process of healing and restoration of trust. Accused priests or deacons who have been laicized or dismissed are no longer in the clerical state and consequently no longer under the authority of the Archdiocese; to the extent they pose any ongoing risk to children, a comprehensive disclosure of their names may assist in addressing that risk. Not only must the Archdiocese honor its commitment to protect children, it must also be mindful of the due process concerns of those whose guilt has not been established. In the present environment, a priest who is accused of sexually abusing a minor may never be able to fully restore his reputation, even if cleared after civil or canonical proceedings. Reputational concerns also become acute in cases concerning deceased priests, who are often accused years after their death with no opportunity to address the accusations against them. In arriving at our revised policy in this area, I have carefully weighed these considerations. I also have considered what a number of other dioceses have done. I believe that, to the extent possible, our revised policy addresses the concerns and views that have been expressed, is consistent with if not more expansive than civil law, and best balances the considerations mentioned above. In arriving at this revised policy, there were a few issues that were particularly difficult and I would like to comment briefly on them. The first issue has to do with the listing of the names of deceased priests who have been accused of abusing a child. More concern was expressed as to this category than any other. As to deceased priests, there is, by definition, no consideration relating to child protection, and the countervailing considerations related to due process and protecting reputations become more substantial. In the vast majority of these cases, the priest was accused after he had already passed away and accordingly had no chance to address the allegations being brought against him. In a very large percentage of these particular cases, there has been a single allegation of abuse; that is not said by way of minimizing the allegations of misconduct, but rather to point out that there is little evidence on which to base a decision of guilt or innocence. It is extremely difficult to determine the credibility of these accusations, given that they involve matters that typically occurred decades ago. After consideration of all perspectives, I have decided to include in our compiled list the names of deceased priests if the criminal or canonical proceedings against that priest were completed before his death or if the priest has already been accused publicly. I emphasize that our decision not to list the names of deceased priests who have not been publicly accused and as to whom there were no canonical proceedings conducted or completed (most were accused well after their death) does not in any way mean that the Archdiocese did not find that the claims of particular survivors who accused those deceased priests to be credible or compelling. Indeed, in many of those cases, the Archdiocese already has proceeded to compensate the survivor and provides counseling and pastoral care to those individuals. Another issue which drew substantial commentary was whether a standard of “credibility” should be used to determine the listing of an accused priest. After consideration, I have decided not to rely on that term in making decisions about those accused clergy that should be listed on our website. The term “credibility” can have a variety of meanings, and, in this context, can mean anything from “plausible” but not proven, to “more likely than not” (the standard used in civil cases), to the high standard used for convictions in criminal and canonical cases (“beyond a reasonable doubt”/subject to “moral certitude”). I have decided instead to proceed by listing the names of clergy in the categories described above. Another issue to which I have given substantial consideration has to do with listing names of accused priests who are not priests of the Boston Archdiocese, but are religious order priests or priests from other dioceses. After careful consideration, I have decided to limit the names that are being published on our website to clergy of the Boston Archdiocese. I have decided not to include names of religious order priests or priests from other dioceses on our list because the Boston Archdiocese does not determine the outcome in such cases; that is the responsibility of the priest’s order or diocese. I recognize that, over the years, many religious order priests and priests of other dioceses have served within the territory of the Boston Archdiocese, including in assignments at our parishes. In its 2004 report, the Archdiocese published information with respect to the number of religious order priests and priests from other dioceses who had been accused of abusing minors while serving within the Archdiocese. Archdiocesan policy is that, as soon as an accusation of misconduct is received against a religious order priest or a priest from a different diocese, we immediately notify law enforcement, as well as the superior of that order or the bishop of that diocese, and revoke the accused priest’s faculties to minister within our Archdiocese. Under canon law, it falls to the superior or to the bishop to investigate and evaluate the accusation, taking appropriate canonical action. I urge the religious orders and other dioceses to consider their own policies with regard to publishing the names of accused clergy. I hope that other dioceses and religious orders will review our new policy and consider making similar information available to the public to the extent they have not already done so. Lastly, I have considered what should be done with the names of priests as to whom allegations were found unsubstantiated. I have decided to include in a separate list the names of accused clergy where the accusations have been found not substantiated after an investigation by civil authorities or by the Church if the names of those priests are already in the public domain. The Archdiocese already makes an announcement when a priest who previously has been publicly removed from ministry is allowed to return to active ministry following an investigation. However, I have decided not to include the names of accused clergy against whom allegations have been found unsubstantiated where their names have not been previously publicized. I believe it would be unfair to these clerics to release their previously unpublicized names on a list of accused priests after civil or Church processes have already found the allegations against them to be unsubstantiated. In total, 159 names of accused clerics of the Boston Archdiocese are included on the lists being published today. Of these, 22 represent cases that are still in process canonically, with the priest on administrative leave and having no public ministry. It is my wish and goal that these remaining cases be processed as expeditiously as possible. At the conclusion of those cases, additional announcements and amendments to the list will be made accordingly. To put this information in context, there have been to date a total of 250 clerics of the Boston Archdiocese accused of sexually abusing a minor. There are 91 names that are not being included on the lists published today, which can be summarized as follows: 62 names of deceased clergy as to whom canonical proceedings were never conducted or completed and who have not been publicly accused; 22 priests of the Boston Archdiocese as to whom the accusations of misconduct with a minor could not be substantiated;[4] 4 priests or former priests of the Archdiocese who are not in active ministry and are the subject of a preliminary investigation; and 3 priests who were already laicized or dismissed by the time they were accused, and who have not been publicly accused. It is important to note that the allegations of sexual abuse by Archdiocesan priests generally do not involve claims about current misconduct, but rather involve abuse occurring decades ago and before the Church adopted its current child protection policies. As described in detail in the report published by the Archdiocese in February 2004, the vast majority of the complaints received by the Archdiocese before 2004 involved incidents alleged to have occurred from 1965 to 1982, with a substantial decline in the number of incidents thereafter. More recent data, collected through 2010, confirm that same historical pattern. Only 4% of the 198 allegations received by the Archdiocese in the past six years involve child abuse alleged to have occurred more recently than 1990; over 90% of the incidents are alleged to have occurred before 1985. I do not say this in any way to minimize the abuse of minors by Boston priests, which is heinous, or the serious mistakes made by the Church hierarchy in responding to it. Nor do I seek to ignore the harm caused to survivors by these historical incidents, harm which is both current and the subject of our ongoing pastoral response. Rather I simply seek to place the problem in context and to give the faithful some confidence that the policies adopted by the Church to protect its children starting in the early 1990s have been effective. These policies include equipping children to report abuse; training our clergy, volunteers, and staff to identify and report suspected abuse; conducting annual background checks for all clergy, volunteers, and staff; and upholding the norm of zero tolerance by ensuring that no priest who has sexually abused a child will be permitted to exercise any ministry. Since 2003, approximately 300,000 children have received safe environment training through their parish schools or religious education programs. Approximately 175,000 adults – including diocesan and religious order priests, deacons, candidates for ordination at Archdiocesan seminaries and in diaconate formation, educators, employees, parents, and volunteers – have been trained to recognize and report suspected abuse. More than 300,000 CORI checks have been conducted for Archdiocesan and religious priests, deacons, educators, volunteers, and other personnel working with children. Almost 400 reports of child abuse or neglect (51A reports) have been filed with the Department of Children and Families (formerly the Department of Social Services) by our parishes and schools since these safety programs began. The majority of reports were made as a result of a child self-disclosing abuse to someone in the parish. In almost all cases, the abuse involved someone in the child’s family, a neighbor, other children, or an adult known to the child. The Archdiocese will supplement the lists being published today on its website on a regular basis and will continue to make announcements at key stages of individual cases, consistent with prior policy. In addition, nothing that is being announced today undercuts the continued willingness of the Archdiocese to discuss with individual survivors of abuse information with respect to the accused priest. Despite our every effort to provide accurate and current information, in this first effort to provide a listing there will be errors and omissions. I would ask that anyone with additional information or corrections to the lists being published to contact our Delegate for Investigations at (617) 746-5639. It is my belief that in amending our policy and organizing this information on our website so that it is readily accessible, we take one more step forward in our efforts to assume responsibility for our past failures and reaffirm our commitment to assure that our present day standards protect the children of our community. We recognize that this announcement may serve as a painful reminder of the wounds many survivors carry and we invite any individual who has been harmed by clergy sexual abuse to contact our Office of Pastoral Support and Outreach at (781) 794-2581 or (866) 244-9603. Having met with hundreds of survivors, I know firsthand the scars you carry. And I carry with me every day the pain of the Church’s failures. I express once again my sorrow for your pain and my apology for any way the Church and its clergy have failed you. My deepest hope and prayer is that the efforts I am announcing today will provide some additional comfort and healing for those who have suffered from sexual abuse by clergy and will continue to strengthen our efforts to protect God’s children. Sincerely Yours in Christ, Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap. Archbishop of Boston [1] Statement of Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley Regarding Clergy Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston from 1950-2003, available at a href="http://www.bostoncatholic.org/uploadedFiles/News_releases_2004_statement040226.pdf">http://www.bostoncatholic.org/uploadedFiles/News_releases_2004_statement040226.pdf. [2] Available at . [3] Available at [4] Of these 22 priests, 4 are deceased, 8 are retired or on health leave, 1 has been restricted by the Archdiocese from engaging in active ministry for other reasons, and 9 are in active ministry without restriction.…
**Listen to the show:** [Subscribe for free in iTunes](http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-good-catholic-life/id425362545) **Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, Domenico Bettinelli, and George Martell * [WYDMadridBoston.com](http://www.wydmadridboston.com) * [Flickr.com/BostonCatholic](http://www.flickr.com/bostoncatholic) * [Pope Benedict's Address to Young People during Saturday night vigil](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2011/august/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20110820_veglia-madrid_en.html) * [Welcoming Words and Homily from World Youth Day Mass on Sunday](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20110821_xxvi-gmg-madrid_en.html) * [Sunday Angelus Message](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/angelus/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_ang_20110821_xxvi-gmg-madrid_en.html) **Today's topics:** World Youth Day wrap-up **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Roger Landry, Dom Bettinelli, and George Martell wrap up coverage of World Youth Day with reflections on their experience of the dramatic Saturday night vigil, including the wild weather, and Mass with Pope Benedict XVI and 1.5 million people on Sunday. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed everyone to the show. Last week, we spent a lot of time talking about World Youth Day, but the most important activities happened on Saturday and Sunday during the Vigil and Mass with Pope Benedict. Dom and George are in studio and Fr. Roger Landry, who took more than 30 people from his parish to Portugal and Spain. Scot asked Fr. Roger about his pilgrimage's route. They started in Lisbon, because so many in his parish have Portuguese ancestry, they had Mass at the birthplace of St. Anthony of Padua, the patron of their saint. They then went to Fatima where they spent parts of three days. He had his young people prepare talks of 10 minutes each because they were missing the catecheses of World Youth Day. The youths were blown away by how poor Francisco, Lucia, and Jacinta were. The kids said they came to know how much the Blessed Mother intercedes for them. Participating in a candlelight procession of the Stations of the Cross was very moving for them. They then went to Santiago de Compestela, where St. James the Greater, the apostle, is buried. Most of the kids said the best part of the pilgrimage was visiting the tomb of an apostle and celebrate Mass there. Fr. Roger made an analogy between the thickness of the pillars of Santiago the church with how sturdy and deeply rooted their faith should be. * [Santiago de Compestela](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_de_Compostela) Fr. Roger explained why Santiago de Compestela became a big pilgrimage spot in the Middle Ages, and why people still walk the way of the pilgrimage for up to 500 miles. It's still a place of enormous graces for the pilgrims. Afterward, they saw the Cathedral of Leon, Spain and stayed in the city of Vallodalid. They visited Segovia and the tomb of St. John of the Cross. He's had a big impact on Fr. Roger. He considers St. John to be the greatest teacher in the Church after Christ. He charted the interior life, how God takes on a journey of prayer. Three stages of prayer are the purgative, the illuminative, and the unitive. * [The Three Ways of the Interior Life](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14254a.htm) They then went to [Valles en los caidos](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valle_de_los_Ca%C3%ADdos), the Valley of the Fallen. Francisco Franco, the Spanish leader during the Spanish Civil War, built a church inside a mountain that is the longest in the world. They went to El Escorial, where Pope Benedict spoke to young religious. They visited Avila, where St. Theresa of Avila is from. They visited to Toledo and the last three days they spent in Madrid. **2nd segment:** *A complete transcript of today's show will be available on Thursday morning*…
**Listen to the show:** [Subscribe for free in iTunes](http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-good-catholic-life/id425362545) **Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Kevin Winn and Jim Leo * [Permanent Diaconate Office](http://bostondiaconate.org/) * [What is a deacon?](http://bostondiaconate.org/Resources/what_is_a_deacon.html) **Today's topics:** Candidates for ordination to the permanent diaconate **Summary of today's show:** Kevin Winn and Jim, two of the 13 candidates for the permanent diaconate in the Archdiocese of Boston due to be ordained next month discuss with Scot and Fr. Chris their vocational journeys, how they discerned the call, how important their wives were to their decisions and their formation, and what they expect from their future ministries. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Chris O'Connor back to the show. He recalled that in May they had seminarians on the show just before their priestly ordinaiton and today are two men just a few weeks before their ordination to the permanent diaconate. Fr. Chris said it will let them draw distinctions between the transitional diaconate for the road to priesthood and the permanent diaconate. Scot and Fr. Chris commented on the earthquake that was felt along the East Coast. Some people outside the building felt it. They saw that news says that there have been no casualties. Scot also noted that there have been problems with the WQOM signal over the past day or so, but those problems have been repaired. Scot outlined the five ways to listen to the show live or recorded: streaming live at WQOM.org, on the radio at 1060AM, through the iPhone or Android app iCatholicRadio, through The Good Catholic Life podcast at the iTunes Store, or on our website at TheGoodCatholicLife.com Scot was also guest blogger on Cardinal Sean's Blog last Friday describing the work of the Archdiocese of Boston's Catholic Media Secretariate, including The Good Catholic Life. * [Evangelization through the media, Cardinal Sean's Blog](http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/2011/08/19/evangelization-through-the-media/) Fr. Chris is preparing for the academic year at St. John's Seminary. On Sunday night, 26 new men will arrive at the seminary, one of the largest classes he's seen in the 8 years he's been at the seminary. Bishop Kennedy will celebrate Mass for them and friends and family, then orientation will begin. They will look at the four pillars of the seminary life: the academic, pastoral, human, and spiritual. A new diocese is joining the seminary: Hartford, Connecticut. There Redemptorist religious order is also sending its seminarians to St. John's. Two men from another Vietnamese diocese will also train at St. John's. After these messages, we will meet two of the 13 men to be ordained in September for the Permanent Diaconate. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Kevin Winn and Jim Leo. They are within 3 weeks of ordination. Kevin said it's an exciting time for him. He's going through the gamut of emotions. He's preparing to serve God in a different way, in a vocation he's felt called to. Jim said he's nervously excited. With Christ at the center of his life, he's grounded in prayer and knows that this is the right thing. He can't wait for September 17. Fr. Chris asked Kevin about the signs that God was calling him to the diaconate, especially for those who might be wondering if they are called. Kevin said he doesn't think there's a single moment. As he grew as a Catholic, he was welcomed to St. Joseph Parish in Kingston and they became involved in parish life. One day at Mass, he asked the pastor why there were no altar servers. He said there was no one to train them and "thank you very much." That was the beginning of his involvement in parish life, religious education which turned into youth ministry and retreat work. All the while God was converting and transforming Kevin, unbeknownst to him.God has healed Kevin in so many ways as a person and shown him who's he's been created to be. Kevin said he also grew in his prayer life. Eucharistic adoration as well as Our Lady and the Rosary were important for him, helping to realize what God has done for us. A deacon and other priests he'd worked with had asked him if he was interested in the diaconate. He felt a gnawing that turned out to be a calling and throught prayer it became a sense to look into it. Fr. Chris said wives are an important part of the formation, including the classes. How did they break the news? Kevin said his wife is his best friend and she's the one who has taught him about God's love in her patience and kindness and willingness to do for others. She's been the quiet steady rock and confidant. When the idea of diaconate came, they talked about and she thought it would be a great idea for him because of his love for the Lord and his heart and passion. The wives are irreplaceable part of the formation. They are present in all the classes, some more than others, depending on what's going on in the family life. When the candidates talk about formation, it's not just the candidates, but it's also as much about the wives. When they begin formation, they are told their first vocation is to their marriage. Jim said he's been married 36 years and his wife Vivian is his best friend. He grew up in East Boston, Our Lady of the Assumption Parish, he felt Christ calling him then. He went to Catholic school and met Vivian and she wanted him to go on a Cursillo retreat. ALthough he balked at first, it was a great experience and he wanted more. He then went deeper in his faith and the low fire grew higher and higher in him. A deacon of his acquaintance encouraged him to explore becoming a deacon and his spiritual director reinforced the idea. The minute Jim mentioned it to Vivian, she said go for it. Scot said the diaconate program is a rigorous 4-year program that studies the faith both broadly and richly. Jim said his wife went to every single class. For the first year, the wives need to go to every single class, but after that they don't need to go to every class, as Kevin said. Jim said he would ask his wife how they could get through this, but Vivian encouraged him and was his strength every step of the way. Jim said Fr. Bill Palardy taught a class on Patristics, the study of the Church Fathers, and it was truly eye-opening with a tremendous amount of learning. Kevin concurred and said it was one of the hardest classes he took. He loved it very much. He agrees with Jim that he used to think he had a fair handle on his faith, but learned how much more he had to learn and has to learn. This relationship with Christ is ongoing and ever-deepening. Fr. Chris asked what sort of skills from being an air traffic controller he brings to the diaconate. He said communication will be a gift. He loves people and to communicate with them. The reality of the job is that they communicate with people and provide a service to the pilots and passengers. He noted St. Josemaria Escriva's philosophy of finding holiness in what we do. Jim is a civil engineer by trade. He worked for the City of Boston for 41 years and dealt with the public every day. How he dealt with the public, he will deal with the people of his parish: a sincere heart, listening to people. Listening is the number one skill to help people and settle problems. In his job, he had to settle people down when they had problems and reassure them. That skill will help in his ministry. **3rd segment:** Scot said there are 213 permanent deacons in Boston and 13 more will be added in September. Kevin said the difference between transitional and permanent is t hat the transitional diaconate is a step on the way for men called to the priesthood, and the permanent deacon is a man called to service in the Church as a secondary vocation. Sometimes the primary vocation is a vocation to the single life and sometimes to marriage. They are called to the threefold ministry of sacrament, Word, and charity. They have a unique place in the Church in that they have a secular job as well as an office within the Church and it's a blessing to the Church to be able to be that bridge. Fr. Chris asked what ministries the deacon does. Jim said he and his wife are on the baptismal coordinating team at his parish and in one month he will be baptizing children with his wife as part of that ministry. Deacons also proclaim and preach the Gospel at Mass. Scot said earlier this week at the Pastoral Center where all the deacon candidates professed the faith and took the oath of fidelity in a ceremony with Fr. Tom Foley. Kevin said every step closer to ordination brings with it more joy and emotion and excitement. They represented their letters of request to Cardinal Sean through his representatives that were present. The letters were handwritten and their wives wrote letters as well. While their formation was four years, their discernment was even five more years than that. Then they took an Oath of Fidelity on the Book of Gospels which was was held by their wives. Jim said that having his wife alongside him at the moment made him feel so lucky to have her by his side in this very emotional and spectacular moment. The Oath of Fidelity: > I, N., on assuming the office __________ promise that I shall always preserve communion with the Catholic Church whether in the words I speak or in the way I act. > With great care and fidelity I shall carry out the responsibilities by which I am bound in relation both to the universal church and to the particular church in which I am called to exercise my service according to the requirements of the law. > In carrying out my charge, which is committed to me in the name of the church, I shall preserve the deposit of faith in its entirety, hand it on faithfully and make it shine forth. As a result, whatsoever teachings are contrary I shall shun. > I shall follow and foster the common discipline of the whole church and shall look after the observance of all ecclesiastical laws, especially those which are contained in the Code of Canon Law. > With Christian obedience I shall associate myself with what is expressed by the holy shepherds as authentic doctors and teachers of the faith or established by them as the church's rulers. And I shall faithfully assist diocesan bishops so that apostolic activity, to be exercised by the mandate and in the name of the church, is carried out in the communion of the same church. > May God help me in this way and the holy Gospels of God which I touch with my hands. > I shall foster the common discipline of the whole church and urge the observance of all ecclesiastical laws, especially those which are contained in the Code of Canon Law. > With Christian obedience I shall associate myself with what is expressed by the holy shepherds as authentic doctors and teachers of the faith or established by them as rulers of the church. And with diocesan bishops I shall gladly devote my energy so that apostolic activity, to be exercised by the mandate and in the name of the church, is -- with provision made for the character and goal of my institute -- carried out in the communion of the church. Kevin said being a deacon is not something you do, not something you put on on Sunday. It's who they are, who God calls them to be as his servant. God reveals to them in their lives the people he's forming them into. You are a deacon 24/7. Fr. Chris said it's the life of every Christian. It's not just something you do on Sunday. The Christian receives the Word of God and the Eucharist and then is sent back into the world to live the Eucharist that was celebrated. Jim said on the day of ordination, they will make a Profession of Obedience. They also make a promise of prayer. They pledge to pray the Divine Office every day at morning and evening. Kevin said it's been awesome for him. While it's required, he loves it. Like we are required to attend Eucharist on Sunday, but it's something we should love and desire. The Liturgy of the Hours has been feeding him every day already. The Word of God is alive in the Divine Office. Scot said you don't have to be ordained or a religious to pray the Divine Office. Some people also pray a form of the Office in the [Magnificat](http://www.magnificat.net). Kevin said the Liturgy of the Hours is the prayer of the Church. It is a reminder that God is the center of our lives and everything we extends from that center. Fr. Chris said it's a reminder to us never to wander too far from the Lord, called back every few hours to contemplate the Lord. **4th segment:** Scot said Deacons are ordained to a ministry of Word, sacrament, and charity. They serve at the altar, baptize, witness marriages. They serve the poor and marginalized, sick and dying, the imprisoned. Jim has been helping at Mass. General Hospital as part of his service. He started five years ago as a Eucharistic minister. They saw the hospital chaplain was looking for Eucharistic ministers for the patients. Then he served his internship as a deacon at the hospital as a pastoral visitor to the sick. He was bale to talk about Christ to people in their lowest moments. He saw how deep the faith of people were. Kevin said his primary assignment will be at his parish, St. Joseph's, and his secondary assignment will be in the office of marriage ministry at the Pastoral Center. Jim said his first homily at his first Mass will be on the Gospel of the laborers in the vineyard, which is wonderful. Christ is there even at the 11th hour. Kevin said he is intrigued by God's persistence in that Gospel, how he doesn't give up on his, to continue to heal us and restore us, continuing the work he began in us at baptism. To a man who might be thinking about the permanent diaconate, Jim said he should ask for the application and pray on it. If it's the right thing, you will feel the burning in your heart. Kevin said his other 11 classmates including all sizes, shapes, and colors, a great snapshot of the diversity of God's people. You could clearly see the growth of their faith over the past year, especially in the homilies they gave in their homiletics class. Jim said the other men include doctors, a professor, an academic doctor, teachers, retired men, and more. It's a cross-section.…
1 Program #0118 for Monday, August 22, 2011: Fr Patrick Byrne, Fr Rodney Copp, and Maureen Heil 56:28
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today's guest(s): Father Patrick Byrne, former International Secretary General of the Holy Childhood Association; Father Rodney J. Copp, JCL, Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Boston; Maureen Heil, Director of Programs and Development for the Pontifical Mission Societies in Boston. Today’s topics: The four Pontifical Mission Societies, the international work of the Holy Childhood Association, how Holy Childhood Association programs impact Boston children, and Fr Pat's mission work in Ecuador. Summary of today’s show:Scot, Fr. Patrick Byrne, Fr. Rodney Copp and Maureen Heil discuss the work of the Holy Childhood Association both nationally and internationally, and Fr. Byrne discusses his work in the missions. 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone and welcomed Fr. Patrick Byrne, the Provincial for Ireland and Great Britain for the Divine Word Missionaries, who served previously in Rome as the Secretary General for the Holy Childhood Association. Fr Pat said that he was at St. Dennis in Westwood and St John in Hopkinton the last two weekends, and will be speaking at St John in Wellseley this coming weekend. Fr Pat thanked Scot for having him on the show. Fr. Pat explained that the Divine Word Missionaries were founded in Germany by Fr. Arnold Janssen in 1875. Fr. Janssen was a diocesan priest, Fr. Pat said, who thought that Germany should have it's own missionary order. Today, the order is about 6,000 priests and brothers strong all over the world, along with 4,000 Holy Spirit Sisters. Fr Pat said the whole outlook of the Divine Word Missionaries is ad gentes - "to the nations." Scot asked Fr. Pat why he wanted to be a priest, and specifically why he wanted to be a missionary priest. Fr. Pat said he grew up in Ireland in the 1950s as the oldest of 6 children, and a lot of boys thought about the priesthood - especially in that time as a young boy, there was a sense of adventure and romanticism attached to the missions still. After a high school presentation from a Divine Word Missionaries and attending a vocations retreat, he joined them in 1967. Fr. Pat said that while the majority of his class went to a local seminary, he got the opportunity to go to London and do his theology studies there. He was ordained two months before his 24th birthday, and was sent to Ghana for 6 months right out of seminary. After those 6 months, he returned and did 6 years of vocations work in Ireland and Great Britain. Scot asked Fr. Copp to speak about the Missionary Co-operative program in the Archdiocese and how many missionaries it brings into the Archdiocese. Fr. Copp said that each parish gets a missionary, but some have several parishes so it is hard to give a quick count. The visits serve a dual purpose, he continued, in that the missionaries can receive not only financial support but prayerful support, and the people in the parishes receive formation and education about the missions. Scot asked Fr. Copp to talk about the Pontifical Mission Societies - people in Boston may know them as the Propagation of the Faith, but there are actually four societies all over the world. Fr. Copp explained that the Society for the Propagation of the Faith is the biggest society; the Society of St Peter Apostle supports the formation of priests and religious, the Holy Childhood Association facilitates children helping children through prayer and sacrifice, and the Missionary Union of Priests and Religious is a spiritual support group for the other three societies. Scot and Fr. Copp also discussed that while the Pontifical Mission Societies have offices here in the Archdiocese and that Fr. Copp serves at the pleasure of the Cardinal, much of the policy, fiscal decision-making, and reporting structure is to the National Office and, through that office, to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in Rome. Scot asked Maureen to describe how Boston fares on the national scale with support of the Missions. Maureen answered that Boston has a huge history of supporting the Missions - both Maryknoll and the St James Society were founded in Boston, leaving the area with a rich history of sending missionaries that many other places don't have. About $60 million is sent from the United States each year to Rome for the Holy Father and the Congregation to give to projects internationally, she said - and most of that is from the average person in the pew giving a small donation. Scot asked Fr Copp why the average parishioner should be aware of the missions. Fr Copp said that, as is read at many baptisms from Matthew's Gospel, Jesus told us to go forth and baptize all nations - and that call belongs to all Catholics by reason of baptism. To not have that part of one's faith, he said, is to be missing a big chunk. Every Catholic is called to spread the faith however they can. Fr Copp said he explains to people at parishes he visits that "some people give by going, and some people go by giving." People who go to far away lands and leave family and familiar language behind are one type of missionary, Fr Copp said, but the vast majority of people will be missionaries because they support with prayer and sacrifice, even though they may not see directly everything they are supporting. Scot asked Fr Copp what has been the biggest surprise for him working as Director for only just over a year now. Fr Copp said he enjoys the daily geography lessons and the support from his staff, but truly loves meeting all the people who come to the office. Scot asked Fr Pat what it was like to go into a parish for just one weekend to preach for the missions. Fr Pat said that he knows some of his fellow priests who would be scared to do the job - to walk into a place in a strange country. He explained that he's always excited when he gets assignments, even when he's not positive specifically where he'll be preaching. Fr Pat said that the biggest support is knowing he has a message to convey to the people he'll meet when he's preaching and when he greets parishioners after Mass. 2nd segment: Scot started the segment by asking Fr Pat about the founding of the Holy Childhood Association. Fr Pat said that some older listeners may be asked to help with "African" or "pagan babies" - the language of the time. In 1843, Fr Pat continued, Bishop Charles Forbin-Janson was very distressed by reports coming out of China about the number of babies that were dying, young girls especially, because they were abandoned by their parents. The Bishop asked children to pray for the children in China and give up pennies to support the work of the sisters who were caring for these orphans. From that humble beginnings, Fr Pat said, the Holy Childhood sends $25 million to over 3,000 projects worldwide each year. Most of those projects involve young children infected with HIV/AIDS, helping child soldiers return to normal lives, and assisting orphans and street children. Scot asked how many countries contributed versus how many countries receive money - Fr Pat said the amazing thing about the Holy Childhood Association model of children helping children is that all countries contribute, even the poorest. He told a story of receiving $50 from Liberia for the world fund, even during the middle of their brutal civil war. While the recipients are many of the poorer countries you would think of, Fr Pat concluded, all countries are involved in supporting each other through prayer and sacrifice. The aim is not charity, as with many other organizations, but to raise money and prayers in solidarity with children all over the world. Scot asked Fr Pat about a project that sticks in his mind. Fr Pat said he always likes to see progress being made as a result of the projects. One of his first trips, he said, was to a hospital for babies with AIDS in South Africa in 1999. Many of the children looked healthy, but all of them were dying by the time they were 5 years old. In Zambia in 2008, he visited another care center, and the children are now living until 15 or 16 years old due to the care that Holy Childhood Association projects are providing. Scot asked Maureen what we do here in Boston to raise money for the Holy Childhood Association. Maureen replied that there are many programs that vary between parishes and schools - programs can follow the liturgical year, be integrated as part of Geography or English programs in a Catholic school, and be activities tied into holidays. Maureen explained one program during Thanksgiving has many handcrafts that the children can make that feature the colors of the World Mission Rosary. Then, when they are at the Thanksgiving meal, they see the colors and remember to give thanks for all that they have that another child poorer than them may not have. Maureen said that Holy Childhood has two important pillars - prayer and sacrifice. Those pillars, she continued, cannot exist without each other. Asking children to reach into their pockets alone doesn't convey the message of stewardship. Maureen said one thing she teaches in all the schools is that "found money is mission money" - if you found it and it wasn't yours to begin with, someone else probably needs it more than you. Maureen also said that an important part of the sacrifice is that it is the child's sacrifice, not a handout from their parents - the child makes a pact with God about what they'll sacrifice and offer up in prayer. Scot asked Maureen what people could do to find out more about the Holy Childhood Association programs if there was not already an active program in their parish. Maureen said they should speak to their school's Principal, Director of Religious Education, or Pastor - she and Fr Copp both stressed that these programs are not only approved of but highly recommended by Cardinal Seán for implementation in all grade schools and religious education programs. Scot said that it must be important that the children feel they are not just doing it for God, but also for people who really need it, and that as a parenting vehicle it helps everyone involved be less materialistic and consumeristic. Maureen said it also teaches stewardship from a very early age, giving the next generation of Catholics a good foundation of thinking of others in the ministries of the Church. Scot asked Fr Pat what surprised him the most when he took over as Secretary General of the Holy Childhood Association in Rome. Fr Pat said he had some exposure to the society as a National Director in Ecuador, but didn't appreciate the extent to which the Association exists all over the world. When he started traveling, Fr Pat said he would go to a school in the middle of nowhere late at night and there would be a thousand children eager to sing songs, recite poetry, and say prayers in their own language. Fr Pat continued and said he was very conscious as well of the people on the ground working. The people living the message of Jesus in dangerous conditions were inspiring to him, especially the native sisters. Scot, Fr Pat, and Maureen discussed the differences in the level of poverty - $5, Fr Pat said, is a small fortune even for an adult in some places in Africa and other poor areas. Maureen said that something many kids don't understand is just how far those $5 can go. That amount of money may feed fifty children in Haiti for a day, or give ten children bags of IV fluids to save them from dehydration and malnutrition. Maureen highlighted that in Africa, malaria is still almost as much a problem as HIV/AIDS. She said sacrifices work almost like the loaves and fishes miracle Jesus takes what we think of as small sacrifices and makes them have massive impact. 3rd segment: Scot started the final segment of the show by asking Fr Pat about his experience in Ecuador. Fr Pat said that while he was working as a vocations director in England, he had the opportunity to visit Mexico during Blessed Pope John Paul II's first trip there as Pope. Fr Pat said before he went to Mexico, he always thought of mission as somewhere like Papua New Guinea, as far away as possible. But when he was in Mexico, Fr Pat said he realized how much he enjoyed the area and the people there and later returned to learn Spanish. He explained that Ecuador has a diverse population, made up of many native Indians, black Ecuadorians who trace their roots back to the time of the slave trade, with a large group of Caucasian and mixed-race people. He said that even though the atmosphere was generally Catholic, there were many different ethnic perceptions of religion, faith, and God. Fr Pat continued his story, saying that his first six years in Ecuador were spent in education as a chaplain and then later as headmaster of a small city four hours south of Quito. He said even though he originally didn't want to work in schools, he was dedicated to it because his job was to do what was needed. He looked back on it later and said it was a good thing because it helped him sharpen his language skills. After that assignment, he went into mission animation - creating a mission awareness among people. Ecuador was a country that needed help to look outward from itself, he said, and people were very focused on their own problems and nowhere else. Fr Pat said his greatest experience was learning to listen to the people around him. Fr Pat said the overall role of the Missionaries of the Divine Word was to be an advocate for mission and encourage the role of the universal Church in local areas - local people becoming missionaries and going to witness to the worldwide needs of people. Scot wrapped up the show by asking Maureen how people can find out more about the Pontifical Mission Societies. Maureen said that people can learn more by going to their website, calling them at (617) 542-1776, or emailing them at info@propfaithboston.org. Maureen said they are happy to send information on any of the four societies or how people can get involved in mission support programs. Fr Copp concluded the segment by asking listeners to pray for the work in the missions and to speak to their pastors about supporting the Pontifical Mission Societies through Mass cards and enrollments.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines Today’s topics: Pope Benedict's messages to young women religious, university professors, and the World Youth Day Pilgrims; Gospel reading for August 21st, 2011. Summary of today’s show:Scot and Father Chip analyze Pope Benedict's addresses in Madrid during World Youth Day and discuss this Sunday's Gospel reading. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chip back to the show, as he hadn't been co-hosting in a while. Fr. Chip said the best thing to catch up on this week is football - he and Scot both agreed that the Patriots looked very strong in their pre-season game last night. Scot said that even though January 1st is the start of the calendar year, so many things start right around Labor Day. Fr Chip agreed, saying that at his parish the Director of Religious education and Confirmation class teachers are gearing up getting ready - very similar to how the teams are gearing up for the season, everyone at St Mary's in Wrenthem is preparing for students to come back and programs to start up for the Fall. 2nd segment: Scot said that pilgrims at World Youth Day woke up early this morning in Madrid to attend a catechesis session with Archbishop Timothy Dolan from New York at a center sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. Scot also mentioned that the pilgrims very much enjoyed their time at the center - it is one of the few air-conditioned venues in Madrid! Scot noted that Pope Benedict's first address this morning was to women religious from Spain and all over the world. Scot read a short excerpt from the speech: In the consecrated life, this means going to the very root of the love of Jesus Christ with an undivided heart, putting nothing ahead of this love and being completely devoted to him, the Bridegroom, as were the Saints, like Rose of Lima and Rafael Arnáiz, the young patrons of this World Youth Day. Your lives must testify to the personal encounter with Christ which has nourished your consecration, and to all the transforming power of that encounter. This is all the more important today when “we see a certain ‘eclipse of God’ taking place, a kind of amnesia which, albeit not an outright rejection of Christianity, is nonetheless a denial of the treasure of our faith, a denial that could lead to the loss of our deepest identity." In a world of relativism and mediocrity, we need that radicalism to which your consecration, as a way of belonging to the God who is loved above all things, bears witness. This Gospel radicalism proper to the consecrated life finds expression in filial communion with the Church, the home of the children of God, built by Christ: communion with her Pastors who set forth in the Lord’s name the deposit of faith received from the apostles, the ecclesial Magisterium and the Christian tradition... Fr. Chip said that he loved the idea of a "Gospel radicalism" - he said since the Gospel is the Truth, there is no mediocrity in it. The Gospel is both the central teaching of the Church and what we are supposed to live, and these women religious are living out the Gospel through their charisms and vows. Fr Chip said that the young women religious are a special witness to the faith. He continued, relating a story about an internet discussion about his hometown of Reading, Massachusetts. One poster said she remembered nuns walking in their habits back and forth from the parish at the center of town. A discussion ensued about the Church - even from that witness long ago. When the Pope brings up this witness up, Fr. Chip continued, it shows that the Pope knows this kind of witness needs to be more common in the world today. Scot noted that the word radical comes from "root" - and that a Gospel radical must be rooted well in the faith, the motto of this World Youth Day. Scot said what he found very compelling about Pope Benedict's words is how he calls out exactly what he sees happening in culture - saying "we see an eclipse of God," something that the Pope in the past has referred to as a practical atheism. Scot said that there are many forces trying to encourage that eclipse of God, even in the United States - organizations like the ACLU claim that any mention of God or religion in the public square or a public school is forcing Catholicism on them, but at the same time they deny forcing their atheism on the general public. The Pope also talked about a general amnesia, Scot said, which seems to be making us forget our Christian roots in both the United States and Europe. Scot then moved to the Pope's message that relativism and and mediocrity have taken over in some areas of society. He said that relativism means that there is no objective truth - just our own subjective opinions. In a relativist society, there is no way to know what is really true. Fr. Chip said that we need to step back and realize that culture has compartmentalized truth as well - for example, he said, euthanasia or abortion aren't murder, but if someone were to kill a pregnant woman they would be charged with two murders. Scot said that the secular trend towards doing the minimum or being mediocre has also infected our Church. Many people attend Mass every Sunday, but forget about their faith for the other 167 hours of the week, Scot said. We are all called to do well beyond the minimum in following Christ. Scot ended the segment by reading the end of Pope Benedict's message thanking the young women religious for their dedication and witness, and asking them to challenge, nourish and illuminate young people with their lives. 3rd segment: Scot reminded the listeners that the words of Pope Benedict at World Youth Day aren't meant just for the young - they're also meant for all Catholics all over the world of all ages. Scot said that the Pope also met today in Madrid with university professors today, the first time such an event has been part of a World Youth Day. Scot read excerpts from Pope Benedict's message: I have looked forward to this meeting with you, young professors in the universities of Spain. You provide a splendid service in the spread of truth, in circumstances that are not always easy... t where will young people encounter those reference points in a society which is increasingly confused and unstable? At times one has the idea that the mission of a university professor nowadays is exclusively that of forming competent and efficient professionals capable of satisfying the demand for labor at any given time. One also hears it said that the only thing that matters at the present moment is pure technical ability. This sort of utilitarian approach to education is in fact becoming more widespread, even at the university level, promoted especially by sectors outside the University. All the same, you who, like myself, have had an experience of the University, and now are members of the teaching staff, surely are looking for something more lofty and capable of embracing the full measure of what it is to be human. We know that when mere utility and pure pragmatism become the principal criteria, much is lost and the results can be tragic: from the abuses associated with a science which acknowledges no limits beyond itself, to the political totalitarianism which easily arises when one eliminates any higher reference than the mere calculus of power. The authentic idea of the University, on the other hand, is precisely what saves us from this reductionist and curtailed vision of humanity. In truth, the University has always been, and is always called to be, the “house” where one seeks the truth proper to the human person. Consequently it was not by accident that the Church promoted the universities, for Christian faith speaks to us of Christ as the Word through whom all things were made and of men and women as made in the image and likeness of God. The Gospel message perceives a rationality inherent in creation and considers man as a creature participating in, and capable of attaining to, an understanding of this rationality. The University thus embodies an ideal which must not be attenuated or compromised, whether by ideologies closed to reasoned dialogue or by truckling to a purely utilitarian and economic conception which would view man solely as a consumer. Scot said that before Pope Benedict went to Rome, he was a university professor in Germany, and probably still would be had Pope John Paul II not called him to lead the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In many ways, Scot said, the Holy Father was trying to help these professors to go beyond mediocrity in their profession. Fr. Chip said he went to a liberal arts school, and that he thinks there's something important to understanding literature and politics, and not just being taught to be an accountant or a scientist. A broad, well-rounded education helps students be better citizens and better Catholics. Fr Chip said that students need to understand that going to college is not just about getting a professional degree, it's about the process of learning and education. Scot said that the Holy Father wants the professors to view themselves as forming the whole person, not just passing on facts and allowing a relativistic perspective - no matter what discipline is being taught. Fr. Chip said he finds it ironic that many of the secular humanists who populate universities these days tend to forget that the university system was a Catholic idea - they forget that some of the great theorists were Catholic priests. Scot read another segment from the Pope's message that emphasized that professors need to "be a source of encouragement and strength... on the path to fullness and truth... a path of understanding and love, of reason and faith." Fr Chip agreed, saying that the best professors he had throughout college and the seminary were the ones who took time to sit down and care about his learning progress and understanding of the material. Scot related that one of his favorite professors from business school always said there was a difference between being a professor and a teacher - a teacher conveys not only course lessons, but life lessons too. One lesson Scot remembered was having breakfast with the professor and some classmates, and the professor explaining that men at work are always competitive, and to avoid bringing that need for a "score card" back home. Scot said that he agreed strongly - one can have little victories or achievements during the day at work, but home life or a relationship with a wife or children just can't be measured the same way. Fr. Chip agreed, adding that a pastor's work can't be measured in the same score system either. The number of baptisms or confirmations is all well and good, but he said if all the pastor is worried about is numbers he's missing part of the point. Fr. Chip said he'd rather just one person have a closer and better relationship with God than have the highest numbers any day. 4th segment: Scot started the segment by reading a short passage from Pope Benedict's message to youth at World Youth Day after the Way of the Cross in Madrid: As we were making our way with Jesus towards the place of his sacrifice on Mount Calvary, the words of Saint Paul came to mind: “Christ loved me and gave himself for me." In the face of such disinterested love, we find ourselves asking, filled with wonder and gratitude: What can we do for him? What response shall we give him? Saint John puts it succinctly: “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." Christ’s passion urges us to take upon our own shoulders the sufferings of the world, in the certainty that God is not distant or far removed from man and his troubles. On the contrary, he became one of us “in order to suffer with man in an utterly real way — in flesh and blood ... hence in all human suffering we are joined by one who experiences and carries that suffering with us; hence con-solatio is present in all suffering, the consolation of God's compassionate love — and so the star of hope rises." Dear young friends, may Christ’s love for us increase your joy and encourage you to go in search of those less fortunate. You are open to the idea of sharing your lives with others, so be sure not to pass by on the other side in the face of human suffering, for it is here that God expects you to give of your very best: your capacity for love and compassion. The different forms of suffering that have unfolded before our eyes in the course of this Way of the Cross are the Lord’s way of summoning us to spend our lives following in his footsteps and becoming signs of his consolation and salvation. “To suffer with the other and for others; to suffer for the sake of truth and justice; to suffer out of love and in order to become a person who truly loves — these are fundamental elements of humanity, and to abandon them would destroy man himself." Scot said that this was one of the most moving homilies he has heard about human suffering. Fr. Chip agreed, and said that one of his favorite parts of Lent is Friday night Stations of the Cross with his parishioners. He said it shows in a visual way what walking the path of suffering is like, but also can relate their own suffering to Christ's - where he falls, but gets back up. Fr. Chip said that Pope Benedict's message reminds us that we walk the Way of the Cross with Jesus - but that we don't walk it alone. Scot highlighted the Holy Father's question of what we give back to Jesus, and said that the only true response is to give ourselves back to Him. 5th segment: Thus says the LORD to Shebna, master of the palace: "I will thrust you from your office and pull you down from your station. On that day I will summon my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah; I will clothe him with your robe, and gird him with your sash, and give over to him your authority. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim's shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut when he shuts, no one shall open. I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot, to be a place of honor for his family." Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor? Or who has given the Lord anything that he may be repaid? For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. Scot said that he views the Gospel for this Sunday as four parts: the first as "who do you say I am," the second as St Peter's response to that question and Jesus changing his name, the third as the powers that Jesus gives St Peter, and the fourth as Jesus' request for the disciples not to tell anyone he was the Christ. In the first section, Scot said, we answer that question every day as Catholics with how we live our faith. If we truly say that Jesus is God who sacrificed himself on the cross for us, Scot continued, then do we show others by our actions that we believe it? Or do we only say it for an hour on Sunday morning? Fr Chip said that the key to believing is living out our faith in both our words and actions, even though it is difficult and requires effort on our part. Scot moved to the second part of the Gospel reading, where Jesus tells Simon/Peter that he is the rock the Church will be founded on. Jesus then gives Simon a new name - Scot said that in religious congregations then and now, when someone gets a new name it means they have a new mission or vocation. Simon was a friend or follower of Christ, Peter was at that moment the first pope. Fr Chip agreed, and said that even though Peter fails a bit by denying Jesus later on and being afraid, Jesus already knows that Peter has what it takes to shepherd the new Church. Fr Chip also reminded the listeners that this Gospel is also important in that it shows us the importance of sacramental confession. As successors of St Peter, the bishops and the men they ordain have the power handed down from Jesus to forgive in both Heaven and Earth. Scot joked that the last segment of the Gospel is the one time where we can forget what Jesus says in the Gospel - at the time, Fr Chip explained, Jesus was not quite ready to be too public and hence asked his disciples not to start spreading the news far and wide yet. Today though, Scot said, we need to tell everyone about the Good News that is Jesus Christ.…
1 Program #0116 for Thursday, August 18, 2011: World Youth Day messages from Cardinal Seán and Pope Benedict, Euthanasia petitions, and reflections from the outgoing Vicar General 56:28
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, Managing Editor of the Pilot Newspaper. Today’s topics:Cardinal Seán and Pope Benedict deliver messages to the pilgrims in Madrid for World Youth Day, a petition in support of euthanasia is submitted to the Massachusetts Attorney General, and Fr. Rich Erikson reflects on closing his term as the Vicar General. Summary of today’s show: Scot, Susan, and Greg discuss messages at World Youth Day and local and international Catholic news. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Susan back to the studio, as it's been a while since they co-hosted a show together. Susan explained that, contrary to what we said on the show two weeks ago, she was not on vacation - she was at a conference in Springfield with other catechists. Reporter John Allen was the keynote speaker for the event. Susan said she was also at CatholicTV last week talking about Catechetical Sunday, which is coming up on September 18th. Susan explained that John Allen spoke about his most recent book, The Future Church, about ten trends he sees, and said the book is hopeful work from an objective writer. She said one of the biggest trends Allen identifies is that the Church is no longer a Church of East and West but of North and South. Scot recalled a column where Allen shared his themes, and said he agreed with Allen's analysis of a shift in our Church to South America and Africa. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Greg Tracy from the Pilot newspaper to the program, and talked about the Pilot's front page story this week - a picture of the massive crowds gathered in Madrid. Greg lamented that the Pilot is only a weekly newspaper and couldn't get pictures of the Pope's arrival today in time for printing, but promised a full issue next week dedicated to coverage of the Pope's time spent in Madrid over the next few days. Scot said that even though Pope Benedict has only been on the ground for a few hours, he's already had the chance to give three significant addresses - the first almost as a head of state to diplomats and the King and Queen of Spain, the second when he first greeted the pilgrims, and the third after a reading from Scripture in a homily to the youth. Scot read an excerpt from the homily: Dear young people, listen closely to the words of the Lord, that they may be for you “spirit and life” (Jn 6:63), roots which nourish your being, a rule of life which likens us – poor in spirit, thirsting for justice, merciful, pure in heart, lovers of peace – to the person of Christ. Listen regularly every day as if he were the one friend who does not deceive, the one with whom we wish to share the path of life. Of course, you know that when we do not walk beside Christ our guide, we get lost on other paths, like the path of our blind and selfish impulses, or the path of flattering but self-serving suggestions, deceiving and fickle, which leave emptiness and frustration in their wake. Scot highlighted that Pope Benedict is addressing a common theme - that youth have pressure from many sources to conform to values that aren't of the Catholic faith. Susan said she was struck by the sometimes poetic language that the Pope used. Susan said she also enjoyed a piece of the previous paragraph talking about words, where the Holy Father said that "...there are words which serve only to amuse, as fleeting as an empty breeze; others, to an extent, inform us; those of Jesus, on the other hand, must reach our hearts, take root and bloom there all our lives." Scot said that the Holy Father used the theme of World Youth Day and themes from last month's Gospel readings about fertile soil to encourage the youth to "grow in divine grace." Greg said it was interesting to hear that he was reaching out to the youth in a more cerebral way, approaching the youth with great ideas and asking them to think about their reality more carefully. Greg continued to say that Pope Benedict seems to be also speaking out against the individualistic society - we should build communion among each other, not being alone. Greg said it was interesting to hear the Pope mention the word "friend" in respect to online activities - many people on their Facebook pages may have a thousand friends. The Holy Father was asking the youth to be careful not to dilute the meaning of the word. Susan said it's important for all of us to follow along with World Youth Day, and how amazing it is that the technology can help us do so, and how that can help make all feel connected to the events in Madrid even from this side of the Atlantic. Scot mentioned that a few websites are doing excellent coverage of World Youth Day Activities: 3rd segment: Scot introduced a segment from Cardinal Seán's catechesis session to English-speakers at World Youth Day on Thursday morning in Spain. Scot highlighted the Cardinal's words that the Eucharist is an extreme expression of God's love for us, and recalled that the founder of World Youth Day, Blessed John Paul II, often talked about love as self-gift or self-donation. Greg commented that he very much agreed with Cardinal Seán - this is only the second World Youth Day that Greg hasn't been to. He said that it is difficult to sit at home and watch the coverage and wishing he was there to experience it, especially with three of his kids there - but came to the conclusion that even though he'd sell an organ to get a plane ticket to Madrid, he should be driven with the same exact zeal to go to church every single Sunday, not just to go to a large mass in Madrid. He emphasized that we need to remember that we can be part of the worldwide community of the Church every single weekend in our own parishes - no need to spend a thousand dollars on a plane ticket or travel to somewhere halfway across the world. Scot said that many of the pilgrims have shared that they're excited to see the Pope - but that the Pope said he doesn't want to be the star of the show, the star of the show should be Jesus Christ. Scot continued that it can be tough to bring the same excitement about a more routine Mass to a once-in-a-lifetime trip like World Youth Day, but that it is what we are all called to do. Susan said she was tickled to see that Cardinal Seán started his catechesis by drawing comparisons to Don Quixote - Scot commented that it isn't surprising knowing that he has a doctorate in Spanish and Portuguese literature. Susan said another favorite part was when Cardinal Seán asked why, if so many youth can read Harry Potter books, could they not read the Bible as well? Cardinal Seán continued and said that many people do not get what they should from the Eucharist because they don't ponder what they hear in the Gospel before receiving Jesus. Susan also said that one of Cardinal Seán's common themes is that we live in an age of entertainment - everyone wants to be entertained all the time. We need to come to Mass to hear the Word of God, give Him glory, and receive the Eucharist, and Cardinal Seán did a great job reminding us that the Mass is not entertainment but growth. Scot said that the Cardinal sometimes preaches at Confirmations and asks the confirmands to know and have an appreciation for what is happening at the Mass so that they might keep coming back. Greg said the Cardinal's answer to a question about the role of scripture in the Church stuck out to him as a former Protestant. Greg said he grew up being very connected to the Bible, and Cardinal Seán's words were important because of how difficult it was to come to grips with the idea that the Church had curated and organized the Bible as we know it. Greg compared it to giving someone a photo album of your life - a viewer of the album would know that you were at a beach, or in a forest, but not if you were having a good time. They wouldn't know if that was the vacation where you broke your toe or that it rained the whole time or that it was beautiful. In the same way, Greg continued, the Church's tradition fills in the context to the scriptures - a very important part of our faith. 3rd segment: Scot introduced an article in both the Pilot and the Anchor this week about a petition submitted to the Massachusetts Attorney General in support of euthanasia - so that elderly and sick people could legally take their own lives. Scot recalled that from what they have discussed on past shows, this is already legal in two states in the Northwest, and many pro-euthanasia activists consider Massachusetts "low hanging fruit." Greg said that the petition wasn't really a surprise, as there was a "Final Exit Network" billboard on I-93 weeks ago (now taken down) promoting support for euthanasia. The petition proposes a "death with dignity" ballot initiative, which must collect about 69,000 signatures to be accepted for a vote. If the signatures are collected, the petition goes to the Legislature who can either let it go, amend it, or offer an alternative to it. Greg listed the criteria for euthanasia according to the petition: the person must be given 6 months or less to live, the request must be made twice in writing, 15 days apart, the requests must be signed by two witnesses who can attest the person is not under duress, and the witnesses may not stand to gain anything from the death of the person. Greg said he thinks the important thing is that the Legislature avoid what we spoke about in the Netherlands several weeks ago - requirements started as stringent as the ones proposed here, and have slowly relaxed and become almost meaningless and are not enforced. Susan said the concept of euthanasia makes her crazy, and the possibility of people being given "death with dignity" without their permission is frightening. She continued, saying that the oversight board in one state is made up of doctors who perform these procedures - that kind of oversight isn't effective or safe for the public in the first place. Scot said that we all need to be speaking up against this, as there's a very well-funded lobby on the other side of the issue. Scot cautioned that if we don't form ourselves, neighbors, kids, and friends, we'll lose on this valuable issue like we have on many in the past. On a related note, Scot highlighted a short piece from the Pilot about Peter J. Cataldo, who was named this week as the first Chief Healthcare Ethicist for the Archdiocese of Boston. Scot said that Dr. Cataldo comes from a similar role in New Hampshire and spent 18 years at the Catholic Bio-Ethics Center as a policy lead as well. Scot explained that Dr. Cataldo will be helping oversee Catholic identity at the former Caritas Christi hospital now owned by Steward Health Care System. Scot quickly mentioned an opinion piece by Monsignor Francis Kelley on the IFRC from a Pastor's Viewpoint. Scot explained that the IFRC, or Improved Financial Relationship Committee and Model, is a better way for parishes to financially support each other and the whole Archdiocese. Msgr. Kelley was one of the first to implement and test the new model, and shares key lessons about what he has learned from the model. First, that stewardship must be tied to a parish's mission; secondly, that some people only buy into the mission of a parish when they feel an "ownership" of their place in the parish; and thirdly that "a rising tide floats all boats." Greg talked about a final column from the outgoing Vicar General, Father Rich Erikson, entitled "A great privilege from every point of view." In the column, Fr. Rich gives a farewell before going to Rome to study next month. Fr. Rich wrote about coming to know Cardinal Seán and respect his leadership, and how much he appreciates working with the Pastoral Center staff. Susan expressed that she had mixed feelings about Fr. Rich's departure - while she is happy that Fr. Rich has the opportunity to go to Rome to study, she will miss his leadership, intelligence, and personality in the building every day. Scot said that Fr Rich will join us on The Good Catholic Life for a show on Friday, August 26th, and encouraged listeners to tune in to hear from Fr Rich directly. Scot quickly mentioned Dr. E Joanne Angelo, a Tufts University assistant professor of psychiatry and medical doctor who was named one of three recipients of the 2011 People of Life Award. Susan added that she lives in Cambridge and is a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Scot also brought up that two parishes will be getting new pastors - Father Thomas Keyes will move from St. Francis of Assisi parish in Medford to be the new pastor of Our Lady of Hope parish in Ipswitch, and Father Albert Faretra will be moving from his current position as pastor at St Joseph parish in Belmont to be the new pastor of St Blaise parish in Bellingham. Scot and Greg closed by discussing a gathering the annual Vianney Cookout that the priests of the Archdiocese have every year to fraternize and hear a speaker. This year's speaker was Monsignor Peter Conley, a former Pilot editor. Greg said he wasn't personally present, but that he was told Msgr Conley's comparison of rectory life of the past and now as well as stories about Cardinal Kushing were well received by his fellow priests.…
Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Dom Bettinelli, Sister Olga Yaqob, Danny Menardi and Allison Daley. Today’s topics: Continuing coverage of World Youth Day 2011 live from Madrid. Summary of today’s show: 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone back to the show to hear more coverage of World Youth Day 2011 directly from Boston pilgrims in Madrid. Scot welcomed Fr. Matt Williams and Dom back to the program. Fr. Matt said the most impressive thing to him about the pilgrims so far is the reality of the young people's witness to not only each other but to random people from all over the world. He said that even in the airports, the joy of the pilgrims was infectious and made people around them ask about it. They were able to discuss their faith, and one person even asked about how he might be baptized. Fr. Matt continued saying that their group got to Madrid before many pilgrims, so it was good to have some extra time to gather just as Boston pilgrims and watch the city fill up. On Sunday night, the Cardinal consecrated the young people on the trip to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Fr. Matt continued, saying it was incredible to see almost 500,000 people fill up the streets and squares for Mass on Tuesday night - and that the organizers were still getting new registrations for more pilgrimages. Scot asked Fr. Matt about what goals the Office of the New Evangelization had for the pilgrims. Fr. Matt replied that the first goal is for the youth to rediscover the life of Christ within them, and to hear the invitation to vocation - that God has a special plan for their lives, whether it be religious life or a lay vocation. Scot asked Fr. Matt to describe the opening Mass - Fr. Matt said his Spanish is a bit rusty so it is sometimes difficult to follow along, but said it was amazing to concelebrate a votive Mass of Blessed Pope John Paul II and feel his spirit and witness still alive in the event that he started. Scot brought up a quote from Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela of Madrid at the Mass on Tuesday saying that the current youth are "the Benedict XVI generation" - many of the youth attending World Youth Day now might not even have much memory of who Blessed John Paul II was. Fr. Matt said the youth understood their call to be living witnesses and bring the Good News to everyone. 2nd segment: Sister Olga of the Eucharist joined Scot and discussed the group from Boston University that she is leading in Madrid. She said she is thankful for the opportunity to work with them again, even though she completed her work at Boston University last month. There are 34 young men and women in the group, she said, and it was awesome to see the excitement of the youth yesterday at the opening Mass. She said for some people, it was deepening existing faith, but for some it was a new reconversion to the faith. Scot asked Sister Olga to describe her message at a Theology on Tap event held just before the show for the group members over 21. Sister Olga said she spoke about devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary - "how to be a man or woman after His own heart." She chose this theme because the Holy Father will consecrate all the youth of the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and wanted the youth to be prepared for that event. Sister Olga said Pope Benedict is calling young people to be firm and strong in their faith, and that the best way to do that is to return to the Heart of Jesus. Sister Olga said she is also encouraging the youth to take every opportunity to be with Jesus through Adoration of the Eucharist. She said that many of the young adults are taking time out to visit the many side chapels and local churches that have perpetual Adoration for the next week. Scot highlighted a picture from George Martell that showed the massive crowds at the catechesis session with Cardinal George Francis of Chicago: Scot asked Sister Olga if it was difficult to find time away to pray quietly or reflect on the day's events. Sister Olga replied that many of the youth were using the time spent in Adoration to do exactly that - even in that crowded church during the catechesis session, there was a side chapel where pilgrims could go to spend time with the Lord quietly. She said even during the question and answer session, many youth took advantage of the time for quiet meditation. Sister Olga described her two favorite moments of the pilgrimage so far. Her first was the private pilgrimage to Avila with 110 of the youth from Boston, setting the prayerful tone for the rest of the week before the massive crowds came to Madrid. Her second favorite moment was the pilgrimage to Toledo with Cardinal Seán, especially that he traveled on the tour bus with the youth and joined them for walks and lunch. Sister Olga said it was beautiful to see the Cardinal shepherding part of his flock. 3rd segment: Scot was joined by Allison Daley, one of the pilgrims from the Boston University group. She is going into her senior year and has been active with the Catholic Center at Boston University since she was a freshman. After some technical difficulties, Allison said she has always wanted to be on a World Youth Day pilgrimage. That desire was sparked by World Youth Day being in her home town, Denver, when she was a child. Scot asked Allison to describe some of the highlights of being present at World Youth Day so far. She described that her favorite part so far was visiting the Carmelite monastery in Avila. Allison said that even though the sisters were cloistered and the group couldn't physically see the sisters, the group felt blessed and empowered. She said the witness of the sisters showering the group with gifts and prayers, even though they didn't meet them, was indicative of the best of being brothers and sisters in Christ. Allison said her sister asked her to take a picture of the crowd "so she could see what 2 million people looks like." Allison said that even the Mass last night with only 500,000 people was incredible - it is almost impossible to imagine what it looks like to see people as far as you can look. She said the camaraderie between the country groups was always cheerful, and that countries cheered back and forth for each other as they passed by. She said Cardinal George focused in his catechesis about the name of Jesus - how God gave us His name so that we could know Him, trust Him, and call on Him by name. She also said the questions asked by the crowd very very deep. She finished by saying that the event she was most excited for on the trip is the upcoming consecration on Saturday night. 4th segment: It's time to announce the winner of the weekly WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prizes this week are a copy of and a copy of . This week's winner is Francis Bane from Watertown, Massachusetts. Congratulations Francis! If you would like to be eligible to win in upcoming weeks, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you'll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM's weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We'll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during The Good Catholic Life program. 5th segment: Scot welcomed Danny Menardi, another Boston University student traveling with Sister Olga on the pilgrimage. Scot asked Danny about a cheer for Cardinal Seán that Sister Olga had referenced earlier in the show - Danny said that their group was very lively and sometimes noisy. Danny and Allison sang their chant for Cardinal Seán - he said that at first, he wasn't sure if the Cardinal would be ok with it, but when the Cardinal smiled they all laughed. Danny said the experience of praising the Lord through music in public was one of the most unbelievable experiences so far, even singing and playing with groups from other countries. Danny described a day in Toledo where they were playing and singing in front of a Cathedral, and other groups came up and started singing in Italian and other languages, and even the deaf apostolate pilgrims were signing. He said the unity was a beautiful experience. 6th segment: After some technical difficulties, Scot started the final segment by reading a quote from the homily at the World Youth Day opening Mass: John Paul II conceived World Youth Day as a valuable instrument of the new evangelization. Our Holy Father Benedict XVI as well. Dear young people: you need to live this Eucharistic Celebration of the World Youth Day, saying thanks to the Lord, for being called from this moment to become his disciples and witnesses! Do not doubt it! Jesus Christ shows you the way and the aim of the real happiness. Not only to you; but also to your fellows and friends who moved away from religious practice and, even, from their faith or who do not have any knowledge about it. Jesus is searching you to put down roots in the heart of young people of the Third Millennium. Live the celebration as the great Prayer of the Church, which offers the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ Crucified and Resurrected to the Father as your own, for the salvation of all people ; and in the Eucharistic Communion of his Body and Blood do not reject that he will make you as part of himself. Keep in mind during these days that the Lord, through the Pope, is going to ask you: Do you accept the wonderful and beautiful challenge of “the new evangelization” of your young peers? Answer him yes, remembering that vibrant and brave call of John Paul II in the Homily on Monte del Gozo on the 20th of August, 1989: “Do not be afraid to be saints”! “Let Christ reign in your hearts”! Answer him yes with a complete hope and a generous opening to the big life’s goals, as it is typical to young people. Answer the renewed call of Benedict XVI with a clear and coherent engagement of life! You can evangelize with words and works, today more then ever. Scot said one of the most powerful things to him for this World Youth Day was the message that the young people attending are not just the future of the Church, they are also the present - youthful witness can help renew the faith of people of all ages. Scot was then rejoined by Danny Menardi, who said that while he doesn't know what to expect from the Vigil on Saturday he is excited that there will young people excited about Jesus, Cardinal Seán who is excited about Jesus, and Jesus himself through the Eucharist. He said it doesn't really matter where they camp out - the prayer and worship is the most important thing to the group. 7th segment: Scot was joined again by Fr. Matt Williams to wrap up the day's coverage of World Youth Day. Fr. Matt said that the faith alive in both Allison and Danny is inspiring to all around them. He said that this encounter with witnesses is really at the heart of World Youth Day, inspiring all and teach the way to holiness and live for Heaven. Fr. Matt finished by saying that the events for tomorrow include a catechesis and Mass with Cardinal Seán, welcoming Pope Benedict XVI to Madrid, and receiving his apostolic blessing in their first experience with him.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Robert Reed, president of the CatholicTV network * [CatholicTV](http://www.catholictv.com) * [CatholicTVjr](http://www.catholictvjr.com) * [iCatholic](http://icatholic.catholictv.com) * [Catholic TV Everywhere](http://www.catholictveverywhere.com) * [Carry Your Faith: CatholicTV iPhone app](http://www.carryyourfaith.com) * [CatholicTV Magazine](http://www.catholictv.com/catholic-magazine.aspx) * [VisitThePope.com](http://www.VisitThePope.com) **Today's topics:** CatholicTV, America's Catholic Broadband Network, and Fr. Robert Reed **A summary of today's show:** Fr. Robert Reed shares with Scot and Fr. Chris the roots of his call to the priesthood and how he came to be President of the CatholicTV network. Also, the history of CatholicTV, its dynamic and far-reaching present, and the bright future ahead. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chris O'Connor to the show. The Ordination Mass this past weekend was the high point of the year. Six men from St. John Seminary were ordained at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross by Cardinal Sean. Fr. Chris was at a diaconate ordination for one of his seminarians down in the Diocese of Providence. Scot was able to watch the Mass on CatholicTV, because he couldn't be present himself. Scot's 7-year-old daughter commented on how many hugs the new priests receive. All the priests in attendance give a holy embrace to each of the ordinandi during the ceremony and many of the priests in the Archdiocese were in attendance. When Cardinal Seán celebrates an ordination, you know an ordination has taken place after 3 hours! Cardinal Seán charges a "fee" to the new priests by requesting their first priestly blessing at the end of the Mass. Then he kissed their hands to show that these are priestly hands consecrated to the work of Christ. You can watch the ordination at CatholicTV.com. Click on "cathedral events." Fr. Chris said the only thing as special as the ordination Mass are the first Masses celebrated by the priests on Sunday. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Fr. Bob Reed. Fr. Bob notes that Scot is prepared for heading out to coach his kids' baseball and soccer team this afternoon, and Scot said he thinks it's good for kids to see him and his wife outside the house helping them in other activities. Scot asked Fr. Reed how his vocation came about and what his influences led him to respond to the call. He was born in Boston and grew up in Swampscott. His parish was St. John the Evangelist, right there on the ocean. His vocation began in tragedy. He lost his dad in a tragic car accident when he was 7, just months before his First Communion. It caused him to think deeply about his Catholic faith and discover there was a lot there in his faith. His mother re-married a number of years later to a friend of his father. He also has 3 brothers and a sister. He also had marvelous priests in his parish and the Sisters of St. Joseph in the parochial school. It all developed this call that came from God. Scot asked when he knew he wanted to enter the seminary. Fr. Bob said he was always thinking of the priesthood. Even though he was encouraged to look at other options, he remained sure. He was accepted to other colleges, but he decided to go to St. John's and never regretted it. Fr. Chris asked which priests were most role models. Fr. John Carroll and Fr. Dick Little were in his parish and the greatest influences. Fr. Little was once the chancellor for the Archdiocese. Fr. Little brought a crucifix to Fr. Reed's home after his father's funeral and Fr. Bob thought to himself, "Those are the hands of a priest!" In 1985, at his ordination, as he emerged from the cathedral, a man fell to his knees in front of Fr. Bob and kissed his hands too. Fr. Reed studied at St. John's Seminary College and then at the North American College in Rome. Studying at the NAC gives a man a great experience of situating him at the center of the Church to experience the universality of the Church and meet men from the Church throughout the United States. Fr. Chris asked if he had a pivotal moment in Rome. Fr. Bob said the first few months were difficult because he'd never been away from home, realizing he couldn't come home for two years. On Pentecost Sunday in 1985, he was the deacon for Pope Bl. John Paul II and chant the Gospel in Latin at the Mass in St. Peter's Square. After ordination, he served in parishes in Malden, Norwood, Haverhill, and Whitman. At the time, Immaculate Conception, Malden, was the largest parish in the archdiocese and it was an experience of the Church in a bygone era. In Norwood at St. Catherine's was similar. In Boston at St. Matthew's was a different experience. All along the way, there have been great people he's met and he remains in contact with them to this day and they have taught him a wonderful lesson about what the priesthood is. Priests give, but they also receive so much. Scot said that he hears good things about Holy Ghost in Whitman and it all seems to stem from the Perpetual Adoration launched by Fr. Bob there and that continues to this day. Fr. Bob said he'd never been to Whitman before he was named pastor and he said the people there love that it's a small town off the beaten path. When he came to the parish, he wanted to find a way to keep the church open at all times to allow people a place to come and pray, to bring their struggles and fears before Jesus in the Eucharist. And that happened thanks to the generosity of some 200 people. * [Holy Ghost, Whitman](http://www.holyghostwhitman.org/) Fr. Chris said that many parishes that have Perpetual Adoration are those that are producing vocations and it's both the prayers and the Eucharistic mindset of the parish. **3rd segment:** CatholicTV is the oldest Catholic network in the country founded on January 1, 1955 with a New Year's Day Mass with Cardinal Cushing. From that time, Sunday Mass has been celebrated on television. It started on Granby Street in Boston, right next to Boston University's Catholic center. After a fire, it moved to Newton and then Watertown. The Granby Street studio was on the second floor of a building originally owned by Cardinal O'Connell. While the technology was different, it was remarkably similar to today's setup. The then-Boston Catholic Television moved to a former Raytheon building in Newton. The vision had always been for CatholicTV to have its own home and not be constantly renting. So they purchased a former convent from St. Patrick, Watertown, and built the building out with all the new studios. He gives credit to General Manager Jay Fadden and Chief Engineer Mark Quella for converting a convent to a television studio. They managed to keep the convent chapel and it is now used to celebrate the daily Mass on Boston's channel 68 and on cable. Fr. Bob said it's also great to have a place to pray during the day with the Blessed Sacrament reserved there. Fr. Chris said it's a great place to celebrate Mass even with the cameras on you. Fr. Bob said St. Therese of Lisieux has always been a personal favorite of his and when he came to CatholicTV he promoted her as their patron. She is the patron saint of missionaries and he considers what they do to be missionary. Scot asked him how it's different to be a priest on television rather than in a parish. Fr. Bob said that Msgr. Frank McFarland called it the Parish of the Airwaves. Fr. Bob said he misses the intimacy with people in a community you come to live and come to know people's lives. He still helps out in a couple of parishes on the weekends. But the intimacy he experiences now is unique because when you're in front of a camera it's you and one other person, multiplied by thousands. For the person on the other end of the TV, they are listening to you. Fr. Chris asked about CatholicTV's reach. Fr. Bob said it reaches beyond the Archdiocese of Boston to most of New England, on Comcast, Verizon, Charter, Sky Angel, RCN and a number of smaller cable outlets. Norwood Light and Braintree Light have cable systems for just those towns, for example. They also have unlimited video on demand on Verizon FIOS. They reach 10 million households. It's a responsibility to be creative and faithful. Scot said there's also lots of content available beyond the television, including CatholicTV.com, an iPhone app, and CatholicTVjr. CatholicTVjr is a widget that anyone can place on their own website or blog so that all of CatholicTV's videos and shows can be watched on those sites. Not only does it help people to learn about their faith, it also drives traffic to their own sites. Fr. Bob said Sean Ward is the guy at CatholicTV responsible for the website and CatholicTV magazine. **4th segment:** Scot said the Daily Mass and the Daily Rosary at the signature programs for CatholicTV because it appeals to many shut-ins and homebound. Fr. Bob said many priests and Eucharistic ministers tell him that the homebound they visit are watching the Daily Mass every day and they leave CatholicTV on all day as a constant companion. Scot asked how it works to schedule priests for every day for the Mass and they bring parishioners with them. Fr. Bob said it's becoming more and more difficult to get priests who are often alone in a parish and have funerals and the like, so he always says how grateful he is for the priests who come in. The Sunday Mass is celebrated at the studios of Channel 7 at 7 am. The more people the priests can bring with them, the more it seems like a real parish experience, which is important to Fr. Bob. Fr. Bob said he likes that the studios are at a parish in a neighborhood and wants to bring that feeling to their broadcast. Fr. Chris said Fr. Reed follows three great priests who led CatholicTV. Msgr. Walter Flaherty started it all after attending a symposium on the new technology of television. From the beginning, CatholicTV has been completely supported by its viewers, which was Msgr. Flaherty's vision. Msgr. Frank McFarland was beloved by staff and viewers alike and gave 27 years of his priesthood to Catholic television. He had a way, a gift to stand in front of a camera and make a connection one-on-one with people, particularly his deep love for the Blessed Mother and the Rosary. The Daily Rosary was the brainchild of Msgr. MacFarland. This summer will mark the 10th anniversary of his death. Msgr. Paul McInerny came in during a difficult time in the history of the Archdiocese and left the network in a good way when Fr. Reed came in six years ago. Fr. Reed said he's always had a fascination with media in general. They've just completed an incredible upgrade to high definition at CatholicTV, which isn't just new cameras, but every bit of technology, which sets them up to bring their media to every platform and every device available and yet to be built. He hopes to leave the place set for the future so they can continue to bring the Gospel message of Jesus Christ in a difficult time in our society when the Gospel is not always welcome. Scot said other programs on CatholicTV include the Daily Rosary, which is recorded in many different places in the US and the world. Fr. Bob said whenever they go anywhere they take the occasion to record one or two rosaries. This past week they were in Washington DC with the St. Paul's Choir from Cambridge and they prayed the rosary with the boys singing some beautiful motets. Fr. Reed said when he prays the rosary, either personally or for the TV, he thinks of how blessed we are to have the Blessed Mother. He has a beautiful pair of rosary beads that he brought back from Medjugorje in 1990 and gave to his mother. They were used every day by his mother until she went into a surgery from which she didn't recover. Before the surgery she gave him the rosary beads and told him to pray them every day until she got better and as she did not, he is still praying them to this day. **5th segment:** Scot said there are 110 different programs at CatholicTV. Fr. Bob said Catholic Destinations premiered a new episode. Kevin Nelson takes us to various sacred places and shrines and churches all over the US, Canada, and Europe. This latest edition focused on [Bl. John XXIII National Seminary](http://www.blessedjohnxxiii.edu/). He's been to many pilgrimage sites. One of Scot's favorite kinds of episodes is when Kevin visits new cathedrals that are built and he liked the episode on the new cathedral in Los Angeles. Scot asked him about Wow, a Catholic quiz show for kids, mainly 3rd graders. Fr. Bob said our photographer George Martell took some great pictures of the shows recently and they are on our Flickr page. He said the kids are prepared ahead of time with the questions and answers. He tells the kids that they are teaching the audience about whatever the theme of the show is for the day. There is a large audience of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. There are other programs that highlight archdiocesan priests. Fr. Bill Kelly and Fr. Chip Hines review movies from a Catholic perspective on the show Spotlight. Going My Way with Fr. Chris Hickey and Fr. Paul Rouse sing songs and are interviewed by Fr. Hickey. Fr. Reed hosts House + Home, going into the homes of local Catholic families to see how they make their houses into homes. Fr. Bob said it comes out of his deep respect for families as the domestic church and put the focus on great Catholic families living out the challenge of making a home; to show the beauty and power of family life. They had a special episode about the Pope's home in the Apostolic Palace in Rome. The episode is at [VisitThePope.com](http://www.VisitThePope.com). Scot said people often ask what it's like to work with Cardinal Seán and how he lives and he thinks people are similarly curious about the Pope. Fr. Reed said for the future, CatholicTV is going to all high definition on July 1.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Andreas Widmer, CEO of the Seven Fund, and Michael Miller, Director of Action Media at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty * [The Seven Fund](http://www.sevenfund.org/) * [The Acton Institute](http://www.acton.org/) * [Faith and Prosperity blog by Andreas Widmer](http://www.faithandprosperity.com/) * [Encyclical "Centissumus Annus" by John Paul II](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_01051991_centesimus-annus_en.html) * [Encyclical "Rerum Novarum" by Leo XIII](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum_en.html) * ["The Birth of Freedom"](http://www.thebirthoffreedom.com/) * ["The Call of the Entrepreneur"](http://www.calloftheentrepreneur.com/) **Today's topics:** The roots of free markets and entrepreneurship in Catholic culture and teaching **A summary of today's show:** Michael Miller of the Acton Institute and Andreas Widmer of the Seven Fund tell Scot that it is a myth that entrepreneurship and free markets are opposed to Catholic social teaching, but in fact are rooted in Christian tradition and are the most effective tools for approaching poverty. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Andreas Widmer back to the show. Andreas has been on The Good Catholic Life several times talking about his experiences as a Swiss Guard for Pope John Paul II and then his experience at the beatification of Bl. John Paul earlier this month. He also welcomed Michael Miller. Scot said he has know as Acton as an organization that talks about the role of free markets in the creation of a virtuous society. Michael said Acton was founded 20 years ago to look at the intersection of theology and moral philosophy on the one hand and business and economics and entrepreneurship on the other. Most people make their living in business and there's a rich tradition of the Church thinking about these matters. It is an ecumenical organization. Fr. Robert Sirico is a co-founder of the Institute 20 years ago. Father had left the faith as a young man and was very influenced by leftist causes and socialism. He once met a man with whom he had debates about economics and the man at one point remarked, "You know, you're delightfully dumb. You need to read something." And so he gave Fr. Sirico all these books that he began to read and slowly began to have a conversion away from left-wing radicalism to a sense that a free-market that allows people to live out their freedom and responsibility actually helps the poor better than his previous ideas. Then he had a re-conversion to the Catholic faith and entered the seminary where he found a lot of the radical ideas he'd left behind from when he was a leftist. When he was ordained he co-founded an institute to consider these questions. They made the decision to make it broad-based and engage it from a whole Christian perspective. The Institute does many things, including academic articles, books, and films. They are a research and educational institute. They do three main things: 1. Research, including a scholarly journal called "The Journal of Markets and Morality." They have a lot of serious scholarly books, lots of op-eds. 2. Education, including a summer conference of 600 people in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they talk about the moral, economic, and theological foundations of a free society, called Acton University. They also have conferences around the world. 3. Media, including two documentaries, "Call of the Entrepreneur" and "the Birth of Freedom", both of which have been on PBS. They are working on a third documentary now on entrepreneurial solutions to poverty. Andreas said the beauty of the Acton Institute engages reason in such a way as to attract secular groups. Andreas is both a research fellow at Acton and the CEO of Seven Fund. Seven Fund approaches the challenge of dealing with poverty through entrepreneurial solutions primarily from a secular perspective, even though its work is informed by its principals' religious faith. Acton and Seven Fund have collaborated for about five years now. Seven approaches it from a cultural aspect, which includes religion. Before Scot worked for the Church, in his 20s, he thought he might have a call to the priesthood. A number of his colleagues at a consumer goods company told him that he was going from the devil to God. Scot said both Catholics in ministry and businesspeople think the two areas are opposed to one another, but what Scot has always liked about Acton is that it says we should be integrated people, not compartmentalizing work life from family life, and Acton provides help for this project. Michael said business is a moral enterprise, because it produces goods and services people need. People need consumer goods, like cleaning supplies, which is good. Peter Drucker said the purpose of business is to create a customer. To create and sustain a customer you need to provide a value to them. (Setting aside things that are objectively morally evil) Bl. John Paul said, a business is a community of persons who gather to make a livelihood and provide something people need. It provides opportunities for collaboration, for people to work together. Jobs help you grow up, to mature, to fulfill commitments. These virtues can transfer to your family life and social life. In a job you have to deal with other people and learn to control yourself. Business brings a common good. There is a movement now called corporate social responsibility, which currently includes this idea that corporations have to give back to society as if they took something in the first place. But corporations have given back by creating lots of value already. Just by the fact of being a corporation doesn't make them evil. Business can be an opportunity for moral evil, but it's also an opportunity for moral good. Andreas said there is a subconscious attitude that we seem to talk about business as if it were zero-sum, if I make money, you lose it. This isn't true. We "make" money, because we create new value. But the language of "giving back" implies that companies take something without creating something. That's the point of this movie, which Andreas recommends, called "The Call of the Entrepreneur," whose basic premise is that when you make something from nothing, God is present, because only God can create something good from nothing. So if we make a new business and create a new product, we know that God is with us, which makes us co-creators with God. Michael said the zero-sum fallacy--if I have a piece of the pie, you have less of the pie--is a really bad fallacy and leads to some very bad conclusions, including the myth of overpopulation. It misunderstands that everyone used to be poor 500 years ago, so how do you explain growth? Everyone asks the question, "How do you solve poverty?" but that's not the right question. They should ask, "Ask do you create wealth?" If you have a zero-sum game, it makes you defensive, you don't take risks. This is not the Health and Wealth Gospel. We are called to work. Theologically speaking, work does not come from after the Fall of Adam. We are called to be fruitful and multiply and make dominion. The Fall creates the toil of work. But work is a good thing, which John Paul II wrote about often: The dignity of work. All productive enterprise. **2nd segment:** Michael described some of the principles of a free market society and how they are undergirded by Christian principles. We sometime thinks of markets as guys on Wall Street exploiting the poor. While they do exist, markets are really networks of human relationships. They are people getting together and making exchanges for things that are beneficial for each other. In a competitive free market, people make an exchange if it's mutually beneficial. If it's not, then we trade with someone else or seek a better price. This is why a government can't control a market, because there are billions of transactions with all these individual preferences. To have a market economy, you need private property, to be able to have title to property in order to live out your freedom and to exchange it freely for goods and services. In Nicaragua, 70% of the land has no title, they don't know who owns it. If you don't have title, you can't use it as a collateral for a loan, people don't have addresses, you can't get credit. You also don't have incentive to improve it. Private property is not a given in most of the world. In the book, "The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else" , Hernando de Soto makes this point. We think private property is normal, like fish don't realize they're in water. Private property is fundamental. Another condition is rule of law. You know your contracts will be enforced. Opportunities can take place because you know there will be fairness. Free association is the right to join together, whether business or unions or charities. There needs to be a culture of trust, a robust civil society, and human beings raised in families looking out for the long term, not just the short term. These ideas come directly out of the Judeo-Christian tradition. It's in the Ten Commandments, it's in the early Church fathers. In 1256, the first argument for free association was by St. Thomas Aquinas. Pope Leo XIII used this as the basis of his defense of unions. The Spanish scholastics in the 15th century wrote that it is wrong for governments to prevent the free exchange of goods if it benefits the common good. Adam Smith, the founder of modern free-market economics, said almost nothing original because it had all been said by the theological traditions of the middle ages. He just said it in a new way. The reason people don't know this is because most of this was in Confession manuals, guides for priests helping penitents make moral choices. The market economy did not come from the Enlightenment, but from the Christian medieval period. Serious scholars know there were no "dark ages". If those were the "dark ages," explain how the Cathedral of Chartres was so beautiful and so many modern buildings are so ugly. This is why good Christians can be free marketers. The Church doesn't have an economic policy, but it does have a moral orientation. People who support markets can be comfortable this a moral legitimate position to hold. Andreas said as a businessperson, it means he doesn't have to re-invent the wheel. The teaching of the Church is a compass he can use in business dealings. He has a compass with a direction, which is good for business. This is a great way to run a company because it makes you live a centered life, so you are the same person on the weekend as you are during the week. It also helps you to run a profitable company. Scot said free markets provide people with the most freedom, which corresponds with Catholic teaching on the dignity of the human person. A free market allows us to exercise our free will in a moral way. With the rule of law, the good actions are positively reinforced and bad actions are negatively reinforced. The Church is primarily concerned with the salvation of souls. She is also concerned with creating the conditions for human flourishing so that people live according to the Gospel. These conditions of human flourishing happen to be the same as that for wealth creation: private property, rule of law, etc. They respect human freedom. One of the problems with Communism was it took away the space for families to live out their responsibility and their freedom. Modern concepts of freedom are very broken and dangerous. The modern concept is that I will do whatever I want. But freedom separated from reason and truth is not freedom. Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict) said it's a diabolical "freedom." The free market is not just about doing whatever I want and consumerism and getting stuff. It must be oriented to reason and truth, so it must be in a framework that recognizes who the human person is. Those countries that allow for human freedom are the wealthiest because God made us free. Andreas quoted Bl. John Paul who said, True freedom allows me to do what I ought to do, not just what I feel like doing. Michael said that this is a famous quote by Lord Acton--"Liberty is not the ability to do what you want, but the right to do what you ought," one of the two quotes most people know. The other is "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." He was a Catholic historian in England concerned with the history of liberty. **3rd segment:** "The Birth of Freedom" tells the story of the Judeo-Christian roots of political and economic liberty. It is a myth that it came out of the Enlightenment to free people from the "shackles" or religion and superstition. They told the history of the importance that religion has played in human liberty. Featured in the movie was Rodney Stark, who wrote a book called " The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success ", and he makes this case from a sociological pint of view. In the Middle Ages, you begin to see the development of representative government, markets, and capitalism. (Michael doesn't like to use "capitalism" because it's a Marxist term; he prefers "free market".) There was international banking and capitalism in the Eighth Century and in fact the "Dark Ages" were a time of great development for human liberty. It destroys the myth of the "Dark Ages," which unfortunately is perpetuated by some Protestants. The sources of human liberty come from Christian tradition. Scot said the movie answers the question "How is freedom born"? The marketing material for the movie poses the question: >But humans are separated by enormous differences in talent and circumstance. Why would anyone believe that all men are created equal? That all should be free? That all deserve a voice in choosing their leaders? Why would any nation consider this a self-evident truth? In a world that never lived with this maximization of freedom that the United States has over the past 200 years, it seems self-evident, but for most people throughout history it has not been. The Founding Fathers knew they were living off of a deep tradition; it's not a modern invention. Andreas said that while the Founding Fathers may have been Deists, not Christians or Catholic, they were products of their culture. They draw off the cultural wealth at their disposal. Michael said even Nietszche acknowledged that the way we understand a lot of things is influenced by Christianity. But cultural capital doesn't last forever. It needs to be renewed and that's what "Birth of Freedom" is about; to encourage people and teach people to renew these sources of human liberty. It is in the concept of the human person, created in the image of God, with freedom and rights and responsibilities that has been the transforming force in history. "The Call of the Entrepreneur" is based on Fr. Robert Sirico's book " The Entrepreneurial Vocation ". Entrepreneurship is a secondary vocation--after primary vocations like marriage or priesthood--and we are called to respond to our gifts. Our entrepreneurship brings benefits to society. Where societies will go depends on how they view the entrepreneur. They look at three entrepreneurs: a farmer, a banker from New York, and Jimmy Lai, a refugee from Communist China when he was 11 years old. He started working in a factory and learned English and he said for the first time he knew freedom. He came from a land of no opportunity and no freedom to a land of freedom and opportunity and now he's worth $4 billion. He's also a convert to Catholicism. He built not only wealth for himself, but all kinds of jobs and opportunities and better families. A person invests his money in a small enterprise, works hard, sacrifices year after year, struggling to get the business of the ground, hires people along the way, gives them good incomes so they can buy homes and educate their children. After decades of working to build this business, the person is now financially independent and living comfortably and suddenly--to many people-- he's a dirty capitalist exploiter. But what about all the value he's created, all the jobs? Not everyone is an entrepreneur, so we need them to create jobs for others. Andreas said of course there are people in business who have bad intentions. This is why religion is so important in the marketplace. This is why a public moral culture is important. If you are an entrepreneur, you can be an exploiter or a creator, depending on your mindset. What is your goal? To end life with the most money possible? Or to recognize that you are a steward and there is dignity in work and there is virtue in work. Scot said if you view the people you work with as real human people created by God and not just producers and consumers, then you find a lot more people want to work with you. When you have people who love the environment they're in and they like the people they work with and the sum is greater than the parts, then wealth is created. Michael said in order to have self-governance, you need self-governors. For a free market to be sustainable requires free oral people. Liberty is the delicate fruit of a mature civilization (Lord Acton). Immature people are not fit for self-governance. If we live in a dictatorship of relativism we will lose freedom. **4th segment:** Michael said he and Fr. Sirico have been part of a project called "Doing the Right Thing," organized by Chuck Colson and Prof. Robert George. It is an ethics curriculum that deals with many of these questions of business and ethics. * [Doing the Right Thing](http://www.colsoncenter.org/ethics) Another initiative approaches the problem of poverty through entrepreneurship and is called PovertyCure. Scot reads from the website: "We all are called to a loving and generous concern for the poor. Yet while many of us have a heart for the poor, more than 1 billion people--one sixth of the world population--live on about $1 per day. Every year millions of men, women, and children die from AIDS, malaria, and other preventable diseases. Tens of millions lack clean water and go to bed hungry." * [PovertyCure](http://www.povertycure.org/) The typical way that developed economies have responded to the challenge haven't produced results over the past decades. Andreas said the questions is now why there is poverty, because we are all born people and we all started out poor. The question is how to create wealth. To approach poverty as a problem is the wrong approach. John Paul said we should stop looking at the poor as a problem, by start looking at them as an opportunity, people with a latent potential. Scot said it's not about creating big bank accounts, but creating wealth in the form of drinking water and food, clothing. Andreas said we should call it prosperity. It is a complex issue with many aspects to it. We can look at the aspect of the culture, both our own and that of the poor. We as Christians often have a false sense of charity. We see someone who's poor and we say, "I'm going to take care of you," but that's not how it ought to work. In a crisis, you can take care of someone in the short term, but in the long term, if we're creating prosperity, we can't run their lives. We can create prosperity by doing business with each other, by taking our responsibility, exercising our freedom responsibly. Michael said PovertyCure doesn't look at what we what they don't have (water, food, etc.), but what we don't see that they don't have that is preventing them from getting what they need (rule of law, private property, etc.) There isn't a single way to solve this, but it's time to change the discussion from looking at people as "consumers" or "burdens" to seeing them as "producers" and "entrepreneurs." Going from the idea as aid as the model to enterprise as the model. Population does not cause poverty. People are wealth creators when given the right conditions. PovertyCure is doing a video curriculum and a documentary. They have over 50 partners and are looking for more. Join them on the website or on their Facebook page. That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. For recordings and photos of today’s show and all previous shows, please visit our website: TheGoodCatholicLife.com. You can also download the app for your iPhone or Android device at WQOM.org to listen to the show wherever you may be. We thank our guests, Michael Miller and Andreas Widmer. For our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli, and George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a wonderful evening!…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Kevin Sepe, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi parish in Braintree * [St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Braintree](http://www.sfab.org/) * [Roman Catholic Diocese of Hamilton in Bermuda](http://www.catholicbermuda.org/) **Today's topics:** Fr. Kevin Sepe shares his path to the priesthood, the wonderful community at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Braintree, how the clergy personnel board assigns priests, and what does a vicar forane do? **1st segment:** Scot welcome Fr. Mark back to the show and Fr. Mark says he was in Bermuda this past week. Boston has been appointed by the Vatican for many years as the tribunal for the Catholic Church in Bermuda and Fr. Mark made a pastoral visit with the priests on the island. He also spoke to laypeople on the topic of annulments. He said Bermuda is at the same latitude as North Carolina and only two hours by plane. Scot was at St. Michael's in Andover, the largest parish in the Archdiocese, for a vicariate meeting on the work of Catholic media. Also tomorrow is the priestly ordination for six men in the Archdiocese of Boston, at the Holy Cross Cathedral at 9am. Fr. Mark taught them canon law in the seminary and said they are a very fine group. They will receive their assignments tonight from Cardinal Sean. Fr. Mark resides at St. Francis of Assisi parish in Braintree, where the pastor is today's guest, Fr. Kevin Sepe. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark welcome Fr. Sepe to the show. He is also pastor of the geographic region in which the Pastoral Center resides. The first day the Pastoral Center was open, Fr. Sepe brought collection envelopes to the Chancellor. Fr. Sepe grew up in St. Michael's in Lowell and attended high school. In 1977 there was a graduating class of 17 men, 3 of whom are now pastors in the archdiocese. They never discussed the seminary in high school, but they all came to the seminary later. He believes its the foundations they received from the priests in the parish. Scot said he was stunned to learn that Fr. Kevin grew up in the same parish Scot grew up in. When Fr. Kevin was in high school, he admired the headmaster of St. Michael's school, who was also his Latin teacher. One day at the end of school, the priest asked him, "Sepe, did you ever think of the priesthood?" He said, "No", and the priest replied, "Start." Fr. Kevin said that seed developed and grew and he couldn't escape it. It wasn't in his brain, so much as his heart. After that, he talked to a parish priest who recommended he talked to someone at the seminary who offered a weekend retreat for college-age men. While he was a little rambunctious on the weekend, it was a foundation. Fr. Kevin's father was a classic WWII vet and while he had a profound faith, he was no theologian. To have a son as a priest was an honor. His mother was a registered nurse and had worked in a psychiatric hospital and seen many difficulties in people's lives so she wanted to make sure he would be happy. Scot said Fr. Kevin is celebrating 25 years in the priesthood this year. His experience is far different from the day of his ordination. At the time, you couldn't expect to be pastor for 25 years, but that quickly changed. His first assignment was St. Joseph, Quincy, where had a wonderful five years with the pastor and a parish school in a city. He stayed friends with the pastor afterward. After that assignment he went to Middleboro and learned how large the archdiocese is. The parish itself is 75 square mile and is the southernmost part of the archdiocese. On a communion call one time he got lost on the back roads and it took him all day to get back home. After that assignment, he was at St. Mary in Randolph with Fr. Richard Harrington. Fr. Kevin has been a pastor for 14 years this coming August. He remembers being on a board that investigated making rectories separate from the church's offices, which has turned out to be a good respite for many priests to enable them to have a place of prayer apart from the work place. It's a relief to leave the office, come home, and rest and have a prayerful place. At St. Francis, the rectory has the parish offices in the building, but there's a clear separation. It's a former convent and it had a cloistered area built into the architecture. **3rd segment:** Scot said St. Francis is known as a busy parish. He said they have a parochial school with 360 students and they provide them with a Mass once per month and he's in the school regularly. Their religious education program has 700 students. They have an active sacramental life, they have about 100 funerals per year and about 120 baptisms. With the school, there is an access to a percentage of parents you would not normally connect with during the week. About 50% of the students live within Braintree and the rest are commuters from other parishes or other towns. Fr. Mark said there is a lot of charitable activity in the parish. There is an active St. Vincent de Paul Society. On Thursdays, there is a food pantry day serving a number of people in the parish. They have a monthly canned food drive to stock the pantry. There is also an agreement with [Panera Bread](http://www.panerabread.com/) where they receive the day-old bread that would normally be thrown away. It allows them to give baked goods to families who not have access to them. They help on the average of about 60 to 120 families and that number has increased in recent years, as well as requests for assistance with rent, fuel, and clothing. The parish has an annual giving tree at Christmas where parishioners supply gifts for specific children. Fr. Mark said they also help parishes overseas. Each week 10% of the parish's offertory is sent to organizations locally and globally. The parish is involved with the [SMA Fathers](http://www.smafathers.org/), where they host a priest for 2 months from Africa, giving them a respite from the missionary labors. At the end of their stay, there is a collection from parishioners. Last year, the provided a roof and a generator for a parish in Northern Nigeria and even a motorcycle for the catechists to reach remote parishioners. After Hurricane Katrina, the parish collected $60,000 for relief efforts to the people of the Gulf region. The parishioners are very aware of their need to give of their time, talent, and treasure. Fr. MArk said this comes from the leadership of a priest like Fr. Sepe who models the behavior and encourages. Scot said the numbers of kids involved in religious ed and the school makes it sound like it's a very young parish. What works to bring them to the parish? Fr. Kevin said they have a weekly family Mass on Sunday at 9am and encourage families to bring them. The kids come up to sit near the altar during the homily and the homily is geared to the children. At baptisms, they make them prayerful liturgies and they encourage parents to bring the kids even if they make noise. It's how the kids become comfortable in the church. They also have religious education meeting on a Sunday in order to invite them to the 9am Mass and the 10:30 Mass. They do their First Communions at their Sunday Masses, small groups at every Mass over two weekends. It reminds them of the importance of coming to Mass as a family. He wants to draw them back to the Church on Sundays. They have a unique ministry called the prayer shawl ministry. Fr. Kevin said there are many women who gather to pray as they crochet or knit. They do it in silence as they listen to meditative music and pray for people. They then give the shawls to the homebound or people in hospice or to expectant mothers who know they are connected to a parish that cares for them. **4th segment:** Fr. Kevin is also a vicar forane and serves on the clergy personnel board and is a fire and police chaplain. Scot asked Fr. Kevin how Cardinal Sean assigns a priest. For the newly ordained, they are interviewed by the board. They are asked questions and the board gets to know them, their talents, and more mundane matters like allergies to pets or the like. Whether they'd like to be near a school or in a city or if they need to be assigned near a relative who needs their care. Also, their language abilities. Meanwhile, the board has prepared a list of parishes that would be suitable assignments for new priests. Their first assignment is only 3 years. They might become pastors in only 8 years, but recently one priest was made a pastor after his first assignment. They want the priest to be able to learn quickly how to become a pastor. They're thinking of making them only two year assignments. When a pastorate opens, a priest can submit his name for a particular parish. Or one of his friends can nominate him. Or his name can be generated by members of the clergy personnel board. They look at the statistics of the parish: demographics, financials, and the ministerial staffing. They then look at the list of the priests of the archdiocese, their current assignments, and when they were ordained and maybe find a name of a parochial vicar who might be a good fit. They come up with a slate of three names recommended to the Cardinal. they put them in order of who they believe would best fit. Fr. Kevin has been on the board for 6 or 7 years. Today, they consider assignments with pastoral planning in mind and they consider not just the parish, but the whole region and the whole archdiocese. They now use GPS and mapping technology to show the locations of parishes around the open pastorate and see, for example, priests who are close to retirement in nearby parishes and thus affect who they will assign in the currently open assignment. The slate of candidates goes to the cardinal and he can choose one of the names or he can choose anyone he wants. The cardinal usually runs the list by several other priests as well. But he typically goes with the recommendation even if he changes the order of the priests on the list. Fr. Michael Medas of the Clergy Personnel Office calls the priest and meets with him to talk about the parish and to encourage him to accept the assignment. A new wrinkle is that pastors are now being asked to be pastors of more than one parish at a time. They've asked pastors of nearby parishes to take on neighboring parishes as well. Scot said the Archdiocese is divided in 5 regions and each region is divided in vicariates, sub-regions. The vicar forane helps the Cardinal in administering the vicariate. He hosts meetings of the pastors and allows for an avenue of communication from the archbishop to the priests and back. As vicar forane he coordinates that communication. At a vicariate meeting today they had the vicariate's representative the presbyteral council give a report on the recent meeting of the council. The priests give their feedback to the representative and then he brings it back to the cardinal and the council. The vicariate meets about every 4-6 weeks. Fr. Kevin tries to schedule them for just after the presbyteral council meetings. Fr. Mark said the Church works with principle of subsidiarity, pushing all activity to the lowest level applicable. **5th segment:** We look at this coming Sunday's Gospel as we do every Friday. * [Gospel for Sunday, May 22 (John 14:1-12)](http://usccb.org/nab/052211.shtml#gospel) >Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? > >And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way.” Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” > >Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? > >Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.” Fr. Kevin said many priests would select this Gospel for a funeral Mass. He dwells on the Lord saying, "In my Father's house there are many dwelling places." What does he mean? Is this like a giant house at the beach. Scot said his kids are at the stage of asking him what heaven will be like and he tells them we cannot know, but that it will be greater than we can imagine. Fr. Kevin tells them to dream and imagine what they would like to be there. He recalled the graveside ceremony prayer: "Inflame in our hearts a desire for heaven." What does it mean for heaven to be like a banquet? It's a giant feast that we never have t o get up from, we're never full and we move from table to table to be with one another. Scot notes Jesus's response to Philip, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip?" He imagines what Jesus might say to himself: Have I been with you in prayer and in Mass and in the people you love, do you still not know Me? We have to make sure to be aware of the ways in which Jesus is present to us every day. Fr. Mark notes that in John's Gospel that Philip is often portrayed as not having a clue and always needs a little reassurance and yet does great things in his life later on. Scot said to imagine being Philip, and how confused Philip must have been to hear these teachings for the first time without the benefit of two thousand years of trinitarian theology to help him. Fr. Mark likes to have a role model in Philip who needs some help and may not be the best student. That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. On Monday, Michael Miller from the Acton Institute and Andreas Widmer from the Seven Fund will talk about entrepreneurial solutions to poverty and on Tuesday, Fr. Robert Reed of CatholicTV will be on the show to tell us about all their great programming. For recordings and photos of today’s show and all previous shows, please visit our website: TheGoodCatholicLife.com. You can also download the app for your iPhone or Android device at WQOM.org to listen to the show wherever you may be. We thank our guest, Father Kevin Sepe. For our co-host, Father Mark O’Connell, our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli, and George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a wonderful evening!…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Gregory Tracy, Managing Editor of The Pilot newspaper, and Father Roger Landry, Executive Editor of The Anchor newspaper. * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) * Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. **Today's topics:** Ordination of 6 men for Boston on Saturday; new protocols for Extraordinary Rite of the Mass; Vatican, US bishops update on sex abuse crisis; Apostolic Nuncio's remarks in Boston **A summary of today's show:** Scot and Susan take a look at the news of the week with Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy, including the Apostolic Nuncio's talk in Boston; a report to the US bishops on the causes of the sex abuse crisis; Vatican guidelines to bishops worldwide on the issue; the Vatican's clarification of an instruction encouraging generous allowance of the Extraordinary Rite of the Mass; and Boston's ordination this Saturday of six men for the priesthood. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Susan back to the show and asked her about her week. She had a meeting with Archdiocese of Boston catechetical leaders in Duxbury yesterday and one in Gloucester today. It's the annual retreat day for catechical leaders in parishes. It's a busy news week including Saturday's ordination, new protocols from the Vatican for the Extraordinary Rite, the Vatican and US bishops continuing to work on the sex abuse crisis, and the Apostolic Nuncio's remarks this Sunday at the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary gala dinner. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Roger and Gregory back to the show. Starting with Archbishop Sambi's remarks at the gala dinner. Gregory said the nuncio was in town the dinner to receive an honor from the seminary. He spoke about vocations, prayer for vocations, Good Shepherd Sunday. He commended Cardinal Sean for his leadership and the Holy Father's regard for the cardinal. He urged Boston to take its place as a preeminent leader in the United States: May Boston recover that position that it had in the Church in the United States, to be the mother, to be the light, to be the Church indicating the future through its engagement to have many vocations." Fr. Roger said the archbishop very sincerely appreciated the support the people in the room were giving to the seminary. Fr. Roger was very inspired as were the people who came with him to the dinner, who are entering the Church on Pentecost. Scot quoted the Archbishop who said that Redemptoris Mater is "at the center of diocesan values and missionary values." He told the seminarians that their house is small, but the hope in this house is great. Then he encouraged the people at the dinner to "help please to enlarge the house and, by doing so, the hope." Gregory said during the reception before the dinner, the Archbishop made the rounds through the room, meeting people, and was very engaged in taking the time to hear their stories. * [Archbishop Pietro Sambi's biography](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Sambi) * [Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/redemptorismater.aspx) Also recognized at the dinner was local businessman Jack Shaughnessy. He said at the dinner that the future well-being of the Catholic Church depends on thriving seminaries. He said the dinner was an opportunity not to honor himself but to support, promote, and advance the works of the archdiocesan seminaries. * [Jack Shaughnessy](http://www.jackshaughnessy.net) **3rd segment:** The John Jay College of Criminal Justice report tries to help understand what happened in the Church to cause the sexual abuse of minors. Gregory said the study began in 2006. An earlier study looked at the extent of the crisis, but this study tried to determine why it happened and thus figure out how to prevent it from happening again. Fr. Roger said the report argued that there is no single cause for the spike in sexual abuse of minors that began to rise in the late 60s, reached its apex in the 70s and began a dramatic decline in 1985. The secular media picked up on the point that when the sexual revolution hit men who were poorly prepared affectively and emotionally and were caught off-guard by sexual libertinism, that removed certain obstacles for men who were disposed to acting out in this manner. The report ruled out the most commonly advanced explanations, including that this is the direct result of celibacy, that this is caused by priests with same-sex attractions (although Fr. Roger didn't find this part of the report very convincingly). It said that like in society as a whole and in other institutions, there is a series of factors, not just one explanation. Scot said that while some people might not like the methodology or some of the conclusions, it's clear that the bishops are trying here. It's 5 year effort and 150+ page document. Susan said with all due respect to the secular press, you don't get the whole picture when they are your only source for news on this issue. She also pointed out that John Jay is not a Catholic institution, which gives them some credibility. Also, we need to be clear that an explanation is not excuse for what happened. Scot quoted Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York who pointed out that this is a report *to* the bishops, not *from* the bishops to the community at large. Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore said the report does not mitigate the damage of the abuse to the people who were abused. The US, because of the scandal breaking in 2001, is far ahead of many episcopal conferences around the world so the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a letter to all bishops' conference telling that they must submit to the Vatican within the next year a series of protocols that the bishops in those countries will follow to prevent happening in their country what has come to light in places like the United States. The US bishops have already done this. There should be a real care and concern for victims, not looked at as antagonists, but a wounded loved one. There needs to be programs of education and prevention, helping priests to understand victims' suffering and helping people who work in the Church to see the signs of abuse. Priests and religious need training in celibacy and affective sexual maturity. Bishops need to give attention to priests as father and brother; sometimes priests feel like they now need to bring a lawyer when called in by the bishop. In most circumstances, there needs to be cooperation with civil authority; the only exception is in places where the State is already hostile to the Church and trying to injure the Church. The CDF also said review boards and all of that is good, but the buck stops with the diocesan bishop and it's his responsibility to ensure that children are protected and embraced by God's love. Scot said it's hard to think about the right action to take when a priest is accused of sexual abuse, especially since 2002 when the Dallas Charter guidelines encourage remove a priest upon accusation. However, the Vatican's guidelines also emphasize the presumption of innocence. Susan said that unfortunately when a priest is accused unjustly his reputation is ruined and if the priest waits many years to be cleared of wrongdoing it's made worse. Scot said there's no perfect solution here. Scot said to Gregory that it's remarkable that the CDF gave bishops' conferences only one year to get this done. Gregory said one year for a bishops' conference to enact a major policy is lightning speed in the Church. Obviously the Vatican putting a definitive emphasis on this and is perhaps working against the perception that the this is a problem only in other dioceses or other countries, instead of being a universal human problem. Fr. Roger said bishops weren't callous about these matters in the past, but did not act strongly enough. Yet parents know how they would react to hear if one of their own children is being victimized. So the Vatican says that bishops need help from all kinds of experts, but they also need to be the leader on whom the responsibility falls. Only 19 countries' bishops conferences have these guidelines so far. * [The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010](http://usccb.org/mr/causes-and-context.shtml) * ["Vatican orders bishops to draft guidelines to handle sex abuse cases," Catholic News Service, 5/16/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1101921.htm) **4th segment:** The Vatican this week also released norm calling for bishops to respond generously to Catholics who seek celebration of the Mass according the Extraordinary or Tridentine rite. Gregory said the Vatican urged dioceses to be generous even for a small group within a parish. Also to help priests be formed so they can celebrate the Mass in that rite and to seek reconciliation for those groups who are divided from the Church over the rites. Scot said the Vatican made it clear that it should be more available and that seminarians should be trained to celebrate the rite. They also clarified some of the original instructions from the document four years ago, including what constitutes a sufficient number, what makes a priest qualified (every priest in good standing with the Church), and that this is not for those who reject the authority of the Holy See. Fr. Roger four years ago made the Tridentine rite available in his parish in Fall River. There was a small group of people and every first Saturday there about 40 people who attend. He wanted to be lovingly obedient to the Holy Father. Fr. Roger said practicing Catholics who love the Tridentine Mass often felt persecuted. He wanted them to recognize that they are loved and embraced in the Church. At his parish, it's a sung Mass. It's been a great experience for him as a priest. In the simplification of the Mass to the New Order, many private prayers of the priest were eliminated and he finds that they keep him focused and he even keeps them in his heart still when celebrating the Novus Ordo because they keep him properly focused. It's impossible for a priest celebrating the old Mass not to know that the consecration is the greatest act ever, in which he is entering Communion with the Trinity and he's bring this gift to the people. Every valid Mass does this, but this is very clear in the old rite. It helps Fr. Roger to enter far more into what he's doing. Fr. Roger thought what was very interesting was that there had been resistance to what the Holy Father had said four years ago. There has been some claim that priests won't know the Latin for the Mass. In some places, priests were tested on their knowledge of Latin, but are never tested on their knowledge of other languages before celebrating Mass in those languages. Susan lived through some of these changes in the Mass. She still has her old St. Joseph Missal with Latin and English and she remembers being appalled at the change. It crumbled her sense of the universality of the Church and the idea that you could go anywhere in the world and hear the same Mass. She grew to love Mass in the vernacular. But she does get offended when she hears that the Latin Mass is more reverent on behalf of all the priests who celebrate Mass in the vernacular every day with reverence. What she connected with was the call to offer the old Mass as a precious treasure to be given to all. Gregory said people often equate the more Catholic culture of society in the 1950s with the Mass itself, but it's not necessarily true that has to do with the Latin Mass. * ["Vatican norms insist on 'generous' approval for use of Tridentine rite," Catholic News Service, 5/13/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1101897.htm) * ["Pope's 'reform of the reform' in liturgy to continue, cardinal says," Catholic News Service, 5/16/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1101922.htm) * [Universae Ecclesiae](http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_commissions/ecclsdei/documents/rc_com_ecclsdei_doc_20110430_istr-universae-ecclesiae_en.html) * [Vatican Press Office note on "Universae Ecclesiae"](http://press.catholica.va/news_services/bulletin/news/27408.php?index=27408&po_date=13.05.2011&lang=en#TRADUZIONE IN LINGUA INGLESE) * [Summorum Pontificum](http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/b16summorumpontificum.htm) Now moving on to talk about the Mass of Ordination at Holy Cross Cathedral this weekend. Six men will be ordained on Saturday at 9am. John D'Arpino will celebrate his first Mass on Sunday at St. Patrick's in Natick at 2pm; Michael Farrell will celebrate his first Mass at St. Charles in Woburn at 2pm; Br. Sean Patrick Hurly, FPO, will celebrate his first Mass at St. Catherine in Little Compton, RI, at noon; Andrew Taegon Kwang Lee will celebrate his first Mass at St. Joseph, Somerville, on Sunday at 11am; Mark Murphy will celebrate his first Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas in Bridgewater on Sunday at 2:30pm; and Carlos Suares will celebrate his first Mass at St. Joseph-St. Lazarus in East Boston at 2pm. The Pilot this weekend will have a special edition on vocations and the ordination with many great articles as well as a list of all of Boston seminarians and their home parishes. Gregory also spoke about the editorial in The Pilot about the MariaTalks.com website discussed several weeks ago. The taxpayer-funded site is controversial for its promotion of immoral sexual behavior by adolescents and despite the opposition it remains essentially unchanged. Fr. Roger said The Anchor this week includes an article on the Alpha course which is just beginning in the Fall River diocese, including an organizational meeting at Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich on May 25. It's a 10-week Christian course on the basics of the faith. Susan said the Archdiocese of Boston has been involved with Alpha since 2001. It's a wonderful lead-in to RCIA and its good for cradle Catholics who want to learn more about their faith. Another article in the Pilot, there is a profile of the late Fr. William Haley who just died this past week. That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. For recordings and photos of today’s show and all previous shows, please visit our website: TheGoodCatholicLife.com. You can also download the app for your iPhone or Android device at WQOM.org to listen to the show wherever you may be. We thank our guests Gregory Tracy and Father Roger Landry. For our co-host, Susan Abbott, our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli & George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a wonderful evening!…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Martin Hyatt, bso, and Paul Blanchette * [National Cursillo Center](http://www.cursillo.org/) * [Boston Cursillo](http://www.bostoncursillo.org/index.html) * [St. Basil Salvatorian Center](http://saintbasils.org/html/salvatorian_center.html) **Today's topics:** The Cursillo ministry **A summary of today's show:** Fr. Martin Hyatt and Paul Blanchette talk with Scot and Fr. Chip about Cursillo, its origins, its aims, its wonderful fruits and just what a Cursillo weekend is all about. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chip back to show as a substitute co-host for Fr. Matt Williams who is still traveling. The radio studio for The Good Catholic Life is dedicated to Bl. John Paul and today would have been his 91st birthday. Today is also the 50th broadcast of The Good Catholic Life. On today's show, we will discuss Cursillo. Many people of faith throughout the archdiocese that Scot admires have the common background of having lived a Cursillo, including Cardinal Seán. Fr. Chip said he's seen how the Cursillo brings people closer to Christ. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chip welcome Fr. Martin Hyatt and Paul Blanchette to The Good Catholic Life. Paul said he has been involved with Cursillo for about 20 years and that's where he met Fr. Martin on his own weekend. It takes place in Framingham and Methuen. Fr. Martin has been general spiritual director since 1994 and has been helping with Cursillo since he was ordained in 1984. Fr. Martin said Cursillo comes from the Spanish word meaning course and it means literally "little course" or "a short course." The full name is a "short course in Christianity." It was born in Majorca, Spain, where the bishop was meeting regularly with a group of men and they were planning a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compestela. First it was delayed by the Spanish Civil War and then by the World War, and all this time the men grew tighter and tighter together. So this weekend experience took place and caught on like wildfire. It traveled to mainland Spain to Portugal to France and Italy and all over Europe. It came to the US through the US Air Force. During an exchange with the Spanish Air Force at the Air Force base in Waco, TX, the American airmen noticed their enthusiasm and made their Cursillo. The Cursillo came to Boston in 1963 and the first one at the St. Basil center in 1969. Fr. Martin said Cursillo is not a retreat. It's a method. It's how we develop a deep and intimate relationship with Jesus and how we live to serve him. The tripod of Cursillo is piety, study, and action, or holiness, formation, and evangelization. This is the foundation. Holiness begins the relationship with Christ, formation feeds the relationship, and evangelization brings it out to others. Scot said many people might have gone through religious education to learn facts about their faith. What makes Cursillo so much more powerful and different and so impactful in 4 days? Fr. Martin said the short answer is the Holy Spirit. The long answer is three full days of time and no distractions: no watches, no cellphones, nothing like that. They take off the masks: cool and macho. Instead they talk in a simple, non-threatening way about things that really matter. Like on the road to Emmaus, the disciples comment that their hearts were burning when Jesus taught them. Fr. Chip said he often saw parishioners, especially men, who would go on Cursillo would come back without the tough veneer and demeanor they left with. Fr. Martin said God breaks through if we are open and receptive. The deepest desire of our heart is our salvation. God created us to love and to be loved. So when Cursillo talks about things that really matter, it touches the hearts' deepest longing. He hears many stories on the reunions that take place one month later about people who have begun to reach out to God in their lives and that they have changed their lives in simple but profound ways. We have to tap into the Holy Spirit living within us. Because faith is something living, it must be nurtured and fed through prayer. Scot said a cursillista once told him that before Cursillo they knew a lot about Jesus, but didn't know Jesus. Paul said knowledge in the head and the journey to what you know in the heart is an amazing experience. **3rd segment:** The program begins on Day One with getting to know yourself. Paul said before his Cursillo, he hadn't really looked at himself before his weekend apart from his job and being a father and husband. Cursillo's tripod model teaches balance and he looked at himself and realized he was not in balance. Fr. Martin said Cursillo is not a secret, but you can't describe certain things without trying them. "Taste and see the goodness of the Lord." The gift of Cursillo is the Holy Spirit and men and women sharing their personal experience of Jesus Christ. People can identify with others who are like them and then imagine how their lives can end up in a positive way. The longest 18-inches in the world is the distance from the head to the heart, and while you can know Jesus in the head, it is not the same as knowing Him in your heart. Fr. Chip asked Paul to clarify what a personal inventory means. Paul said one of the first talks on the weekend calls the person to take a look at what and where you spend your time and resources to show where your priorities and then to determine what your goals are in life. He found that he didn't know what his goals were and has since found that most people are like that. He'd found that was very me-focused, feeling that if he went to work and earned money, then he could leave the rest up to his wife and spend a lot of "me-time". On his weekend, he got rid of his masks and was able to empty himself of what he had done. Scot asked how many people show up on the weekend not sure they really want to be there? Paul said a large percentage are like that, although there are many who have been developing a spiritual life already. Fr. Martin said each of the three days has a theme: Know Yourself, Know Christ, and Have Courage. There are talks followed by table discussion which is more sharing than discussing. It's not about right answers, but about sharing feelings and experiences. It is rooted in sacraments. All day Friday looks toward confession on Friday night.They start hearing confessions at quarter to ten at night and end at midnight. There is also the Mass and time for prayer, time with the Blessed Sacrament. There is plenty of time for self-examination. Everyone wants to be a better person and better at what they are doing in life. Fr. Martin said they have separate weekends for men and women. Part of the reason is the masks that can be worn in the presence of the opposite sex. Paul has led Cursillo weekends since his own. He said typically the weekends at St. Basil's have 40 or 50 candidates on them. They also do them at prisons and he recently had about 40 men at Norfolk prison. Each of the people on the team, which numbers about 20, has a specific role. Fr. Martin said there have been about 13,000 people who have made Cursillos in Methuen, not counting all the others in Framingham and in the Worcester diocese and Fall River and Springfield. **4th segment:** When Paul came to make his longest journey of 18 inches on the first couple of days of his retreat. When he made his retreat 20 years ago, he'd already been married 20 years. His wife Christine was the rock of faith in his family and he said he'd put her through a lot as an independent man as she stood by him. The Jesus he sees in Christine has helped him find Christ in himself. In those days, they went through financial difficulties, even bankruptcy, but after Cursillo he was able to put the material possessions in their proper place. He was a golf nut before Cursillo, but just after his weekend, he seriously injured his shoulder in a golf cart accident and was unable to play for two years, helping him to put things in the proper order in his life. Paul said not every story from every speaker affects every candidate on the weekend. But there is always something that touches everyone that they can identify with. Fr. Chip asked if he's ever seen someone leave the weekend who wasn't affected. Paul said no two people are ever affected in the same way at the same time. Wherever you are in the moment, Jesus is with you in the moment. Fr. Chip said everyone always worry about numbers, but if someone is brought closer to Christ, whether one or 13,000, it's worth it. Fr. Martin said Jesus said to feed My sheep, not count My sheep. He said the witness talks are critical to Cursillo because they put flesh on the bones of facts about the faith. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, "If you love Me keep My commandments." We need to know that obedience is the fruit of relationship and rules without relationship equals rebellion. Once we love Jesus, we want to please Him and serve Him. The preaching of the early Church was always "Jesus is Lord. Jesus is risen." It wasn't the 10 commandments or social justice. Those aren't unimportant, but they come after the relationship with Christ. **5th segment:** It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week an [8-CD set of Mother Angelica’s program “Living the Scriptures.”](http://www.ewtnreligiouscatalogue.com/LIVING+THE+SCRIPTURES+WITH+MOTHER+ANGELICA+-+CD/cid=274/page_no=1/edp_no=20458/shop.axd/ProductDetails) This series brings you vintage Mother Angelica episodes that will profit your soul and cheer your spirit with her insights, wisdom, and humor. This week’s winner is **Nicholas Russo from Winchester, Massachusetts**. Congratulations Nicholas! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit [WQOM.org](http://www.wqom.org). For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for our weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. **6th segment:** Paul said he has been on four different Cursillo teams that go into prisons. This brings the team into an uncomfortable place, but he learned that the souls inside are like the souls on the outside of the walls. Fr. Martin said the St. Basil's community has been bringing Cursillo into prisons since 1989, starting at the women's correctional center in Framingham. They have run 20 at Old Colony in Bridgewater, 20 at Norfolk, 16 at Framingham, and 1 in Plymouth. There is a huge need to bring Cursillo everywhere. About 1 in 100 Americans are in prison. 1 in 38 kids have a parent in prison. Fr. Martin said the problems of society won't be solved by more prisons, but only by bringing Jesus Christ to them. Scot said that while it's politically convenient to say we need to throw them in prison and throw away the key, these are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Fr. Martin said some of the best people he's met are behind the walls. Part of what's different is that in prison it's barebones. In Methuen, they have a beautiful snack table available from morning to night, but in prison there is no frills, yet the men and women are hungering for Jesus. It helps them to experience what Jesus meant when He said if the Son has set you free, you are free indeed. Some of the candidates will say suddenly in the middle of the weekend that they'd forgotten they were in prison. Fr. Martin tells the story of a young woman who realized that she had come to like herself for the first time. They give them the opportunity to serve each other. It's all about being a servant. On Cursillo, the clergy and the laity work together as equals. The weekend's leader gives a talk on how a Christian leader is called to serve. If someone is interested in Cursillo, they can connect with an Ultreya, a parish community of those who have gone on Cursillo, to get an idea of making a Cursillo. They can also go to the websites listed above for more information. That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. For recordings and photos of today’s show and all previous shows, please visit our website: TheGoodCatholicLife.com. You can also download the app for your iPhone or Android device at WQOM.org to listen to the show wherever you may be. We thank our guests, Father Martin Hyatt and Paul Blanchette. For our co-host, Father Chip Hines, our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli, and George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a wonderful evening!…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Wayne Belschner, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish, East Boston * [Sacred Heart Parish, East Boston](http://www.rc.net/boston/sacredhearteast/) * [East Boston Central Catholic High School](http://www.ebccs.org/) **Today's topics:** Fr. Wayne Belschner's vocation story and the unique pastoral situation of Sacred Heart Parish, East Boston **A summary of today's show:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Fr. Wayne Belschner to discuss his journey to the priesthood, his seminary years in Rome, his first assignment in Woburn, and his present parish of Sacred Heart in East Boston, where he serves an ethnically diverse parish that comes together as one Catholic family. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chris O'Connor back to the show. This Saturday 5 men are preparing for ordination to the priesthood as well as a brother with the Franciscans of the Primitive Observance. This week they are on retreat at the retreat house in Milton run by the Oblate Fathers. The ordination on Saturday is at 9am. It's a busy time for the men and the Mass itself is 3 hours long. After, they will have a reception with family and friends where they offer their first priestly blessings. On Sunday, they have their first Mass celebrated throughout the diocese, typically in their home parishes. They will have a week off, but will typically return to the parishes they served as seminarians and celebrate Mass there. Usually during the month of July, Cardinal Sean's blog includes the new priests writing their stories. At their first Mass, the new priests typically ask another priest to preach the homily. It's usually a spiritual director or another priest who was instrumental in their vocation. This week's [Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) will have profiles of each of the men and [CatholicTV](http://www.catholictv.com) will show the Mass live. Everyone is welcome to the cathedral for the Mass. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Fr. Wayne Belschner to the show. Fr. Wayne was the youngest of 11 children in his family. He one sister and 9 brothers. They lived in a small house with just 4 bedrooms for everyone. They all ate dinner at one table and this was family time where everyone shared their day. His whole family remains extremely close. Having nine brothers prepared him well for the fraternity of the priesthood. His parish growing up was St. Mary of the Assumption in Revere. His parish priest was an example and a mentor that had a tremendous impact on his vocation. He first had thoughts about a priestly vocation as a sophomore in high school. His pastor, Fr. Mahoney, took ill and he spent a lot of time helping him and saw how remarkable he was in how he worked in his ministry. He was a gentle person, but his example affected his life deeply. Fr. Mahoney's recommendation for his entrance into seminary was received on the day that Fr. Mahoney's funeral was celebrated. When Fr. Wayne first asked him for a letter of recommendation, Fr. Mahoney tore it up and said he would only sign it if he knew Fr. Wayne was not being pressured to enter the seminary. He studied for a time in Rome at the North American College. During the four years of college seminary, there 70-80 men there in the late 80's and early 90's. And as he was finishing, he was asked to go to Rome for the NAC. He made some close relationships with friends in Italy that he remains in touch with. His mother was Italian and she was very proud that her son was becoming a priest. His father was like Fr. Mahoney who wanted to be sure he was doing this not to prove something, but because it was what he really wanted. His parents came over to Rome to visit, which was their first trip overseas. His parents were very supportive. A highlight of studying in Rome was meeting Bl. John Paul II. They had many opportunities to go over for Mass with him and he served Mass with him in his private chapel. The classes, as well, showed him the universality of the Church. There were religious and lay people in the college. He studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University. Some of the professors were in fact many of the experts at Vatican II, who wrote some of the documents of the council. Fr. Wayne was ordained 16 years this week. His class of priests was 21 men, 18 from St. John's. The cathedral was completely silent as their names were called and as they approached the altar. It's an awesome feeling. They got an understanding of being part of something bigger. The priest who was supposed to preach at his Mass became ill and he had someone come in at the last minute. Like Fr. Chris, he remembers being so nervous. His mother said her favorite part of the Mass was the end when the deacon gave the dismissal because it was the first time in public they'd ever seen anyone get the last word over Fr. Wayne. **3rd segment:** In the past 16 years, he's had two assignments. His first assignment was at St. Charles Borromeo in Woburn, where he had two different pastors. After his first term of five years was up, he got two one-year extensions. He was going to go to work with the Military Archdiocese, but that fell through and he stayed for an eighth year. The parish was thriving and it seemed the lives of the people were centered on the church. The community allowed the church to be very active in the community and they valued the input of the church. Leaving after his eighth year was the most difficult transition for him. Then he went to Sacred Heart Parish in East Boston. He went to check out the parish ahead of time in street clothes and he tried to go into the church during First Communion practice and was literally pushed out the door by the religious education director. That was his introduction to his new parish. St. Charles in Woburn is known for producing many vocations, to the priesthood and religious life. Fr. Hank Garrity was a pastor there and was very strong working with the youth in the city and promoted vocations. The city is a very close-knit community that values faith and the input of the church. All of that is a recipe for vocations. It is a vocations factory. He learned by example also from a pastor, Fr. Paul Sughrue, on how to be a pastor. When the abuse scandal broke, Fr. Sughrue was proactive and provided good leadership. Fr. Timothy Shea came in and continued the momentum of the parish looking forward. He was very good at shoring up the finances of the parish, paying all of the parish's debts and the school was operating in the black as well with a full enrollment. His favorite part of being a priest is the opportunity to say Mass every day. It is at the table that families and friends exchange the intimate moments of our life and at God's table we share our moments, but also God's intimate moments. The Mass fuels everything that takes place. At his deacon assignment there was a sign over the chapel door: "This is the most important thing you will do all day." One of his favorite saints is St. Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei. His spirituality was that you find God in the ordinary moments of the day, being with ordinary people. And then you come to the Mass you see that this is the most extraordinary thing that you'll be doing. He likes the movie "There Be Dragons" and it presents both the man and the message in a positive way. **4th segment:** Fr. Wayne describes Sacred Heart as unique and very diverse. Their weekend Masses are celebrated in English, Italian, and Vietnamese. When the parishes closing around them, they started to absorb different ethnic groups and they were intent on being one parish, not three different parishes. All holy day Masses are celebrated trilingually and they incorporate all the groups into the liturgies. This was done with very little effort. The people were very accommodating. In East Boston, they are characterized by their understanding of family. When someone comes to the door, they are brought right in to the table and they are the same way at church. When Fr. Wayne was in Woburn, he found it too quiet, but when he got to East Boston, he found the planes flying so low over the house, he heard the stewardesses telling *him* to sit down. But what he finds the most difficult part of being pastor is the language barrier with the Vietnamese community. He feels he could be doing more to minister to the elderly Vietnamese community. They have priests who come in on the weekend for Masses, but they have difficulty ministering and reaching out during the weekend. He has been learning Vietnamese from the young people in the parish, and he's trying to learn the prayers of the Mass in that language. He finds the community to be quite stable. Even though people may move out of the city, they come back to the parish for Mass on Sunday with their parents or grandparents. They may live in Saugus or Lynn or Randolph, but they come back for Mass. This is true for both the Italian and Vietnamese communities. The Vietnamese community has many activities for the whole group from about 1pm until 8pm at night. Fr. Chris notes that the communities all have their own special traditions that continue to live on, whether Italian or Portuguese or Vietnamese. Fr. Chris celebrates Masses on the weekends and the community has embraced him. It is very welcoming. In their diversity, there is a unity. Scot asked what lessons Fr. Wayne has learned about bringing together merging parish communities. Fr. Wayne said East Boston at one time had 9 parishes, 11 worship sites (including the Madonna shrine and the airport chapel) and 7 schools. But the demographics changed and some of the churches could not be maintained. People were tied to and identified with their parish. But the people of Sacred Heart were ready to welcome others from outside. Out of the 7 schools, four pastors closed their schools and opened East Boston Central Catholic School in 1972, one of the first regional consolidated schools in the archdiocese. When Star of the Sea school closed, the parents from that school were invited over the next day. They didn't join the school. They became part of the family as one group together. They also recognize that they don't have all the answers. They are open to having a dialogue. The spiritual life of Sacred Heart took off when they welcomed these other communities in. **5th segment:** In his spare time, Fr. Wayne is studying for a doctorate in church history, as if he doesn't have enough to do. He's studying at Boston College School of Ministry. He received a Licentiate degree (STL) (which is the ecclesiastical academic degree equivalent of being halfway between a Master's and Doctorate). He has now moved on to the doctoral thesis stage. Scot said the history of the Church in East Boston must be amazing. So many of the ethnic parishes in the archdiocese have been closed because they were no longer needed for the original purpose of ministering to people of a particular language because people now spoke English or have moved out to the suburbs. In East Boston, there were two parishes across the street from each other. Fr. Wayne said ethnic parishes were established with an eye toward the own closure when they had helped the immigrant assimilate into the wider Catholic community. Instead, the national parishes become closely identified with the people. In East Boston, there were Spanish, French, Italian, Irish parishes. Over time, those groups moved on and other parishes moved in who didn't need the Mass in those languages. That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. For recordings and photos of today’s show and all previous shows, please visit our website: TheGoodCatholicLife.com. You can also download the app for your iPhone or Android device at WQOM.org to listen to the show wherever you may be. We thank our guest, Father Wayne Belschner. For our co-host, Father Chris O’Connor, our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli, and George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a wonderful evening!…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Deacon Dan Burns, director of Permanent Diaconate Formation for the Archdiocese of Boston * [Archdiocese of Boston's Permanent Diaconate office](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/deacon) * [BostonDiaconate.org](http://www.bostondiaconate.org) * [Holy Family Parish, Duxbury](http://holyfamilyduxbury.org/) * [Lumen Gentium, Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church #29](http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html) * [What is a deacon?](http://bostondiaconate.org/Resources/what_is_a_deacon.html) * [Pope Paul VI's motu proprio Sacrum Diaconatus Ordinem](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19670618_sacrum-diaconatus_en.html) * ["Diocese suspends diaconate for new candidates," Worcester Catholic Free Press, 3/26/11](http://www.catholicfreepress.org/_Pages/_This%20Week/0318Diocese.html) **Today's topics:** The permanent diaconate **A summary of today's show:** Scot talks with Deacon Dan Burns about the permanent diaconate in the Archdiocese of Boston, his own calling to holy orders, the process of discernment and formation involving the men *and* their wives, and the future of the diaconate in the Church. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes all to the show. Yesterday was the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, and while we should pray for vocations to the priesthood we should also pray for all forms of service to the Church, including the permanent diaconate. The ministry of the permanent deacon was restored at Vatican II. There are about 36,000 deacons in the world, with about half in the US. Boston has 247 permanent deacons, which ranks the archdiocese 12th in the US. How are deacons formed for ministry? How does their family take part in the discernment process? **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Deacon Dan Burns to the show. He was ordained to the diaconate in September 1998. He was 42 when he was ordained and started formation when he was 38. He was active in his parish with marriage prep, choir, confirmation retreats. The vocation sprung from that service and a mid-life crisis, in a sense. There was another man int he parish in formation for the diaconate who suggested to Deacon Dan he might have a vocation. His wife initially thought he was crazy, which is a fairly common reaction. She said he was already very busy and how would it fit into the family. Healthy skepticism is good for discernment. But she saw he had a call and one of the parish priests reinforced the call. It's very important to realize that this is a vocational call, not just a promotion for someone who helps out in the parish. There are already many ways to serve the Church. The discernment must come fro ma very deep prayer life, to feel the Spirit drawing you in this direction. There were a number of hurdles and he didn't get over all of them until his ordination. But the basic hurdles are considering how it would fit into family life, how he would fit it into his working life. He asked why would God be calling me? You tend to look at your own flaws and weaknesses and try to put it off because God "couldn't be calling me into this." The Church speaks of the deacon's ministry in three areas: Deacon of the Word, Deacon of the liturgy, and Deacon of charity. Deacon Dan felt his call was broad-based, but many feel called to a particular more than the others. All three of those are important parts of being a deacon. What is an average week in the life of a permanent deacon like? He's involved in Sunday Mass, to proclaim the Gospel in any Mass he's at, maybe one or more times in the week. He might have to do baptisms on Saturday or Sunday. Might be connected to religious education program in some way. For service, he's found himself ministering in hospice settings for the terminally ill. One part of formation was a summer internship in a hospital and he had been deathly afraid of hospitals, but his work has shown that it is a gift of grace to be invited to minister to the ill and their families. Scot asked how he balanced his various responsibilities? It was very difficult. He was wife was a great help to him to tell him he needed to say no to certain requests. Men called to the diaconate have a servant's heart and have a tendency to say yes to all requests. While the Spirit gives us gifts to do many things well, it doesn't mean we can do them all. What are the things priests do that deacons can do and not do? In formation, they focus on who the deacon is, not on what he does. The Church did fine without deacons for 1,500 years. The diaconate was restored to be a symbol to the Church and the world that we are all called to serve one another in Christ's name. That said, Deacons can perform baptisms, marriages, graveside services. They cannot celebrate Mass or hear confessions or the sacrament of the sick. Which one does he find himself enjoying more than others? Without question, it's baptisms, welcoming babies into the family of Christ. As a parent, he flashes back to when his own kids were baptized and the recognition of the beauty of life in these children. You find ways to bring all of the family into a celebration of that sacrament. **3rd segment:** There are 247 deacons in Boston, but that includes senior deacons who are over 75 and taking care of some ministry. In Boston, about 94% of deacons are married and there are some who have annulments. * [A Portrait of the Permanent Diaconate 2010, Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate](http://www.usccb.org/cclv/diaconate-post-ordination-report2009-2010.pdf) Discernment takes place in the whole family. The wife is involved in the first year which is called aspirancy. The wives are closely involved and hear and see everything so they can both determine if it fits within the family structure. The average of those entering formation are in late 40s or early 50s so in many families the kids are older, maybe in college, and the couples are empty-nesters. Deacon Dan is hopeful that they can invite men with younger families as well. They see in the Latino communities men who are younger and they need to find ways to involve the children in the process as well. If the wife doesn't consent, then the husband will not be allowed to enter the program. After aspirancy there is a formal process called candidacy during which the husband and wife have to sign a handwritten letter. They both have to sign before ordination as well. Married men have a primary vocation to their marriage and families. Deacons are called to bring the presence of Christ to the world and the wives are involved in that. There are sacrifices involved. That includes the husband serving in the Church for a number of hours. There is grace involved as well. There is a sacrifice of realizing that the husband is now in the public sphere, you are now very public people in a public role. 81% of permanent deacons in the US are white, 14% Hispanic, 2% African American, and 2% Asian. Deacon Dan said it's almost the same in Boston. The current aspirancy class is multicultural: 16 Latino, 7 white, 1 Brazilian, and 1 Vietnamese. The multicultural experience is very enriching. The Church in the US in the future will have a much larger Latino presence and this is true for the Archdiocese as well. **4th segment:** What are the attributes the Church looks for in a candidate for the diaconate? Deacon Dan said we're looking for is men who already deacons, in a sense. Looking to hone the men who are living a diaconal life, men who are supported by the parish through the priests and parishioners; who are serving their parishes. In Scripture, the deacons are chosen from among the community. Deacon Dan looks for the depth of their spiritual life. If they are deeply rooted in prayer with Christ as their foundation, then everything will go smoothly in formation. Of course, they will grow during formation. How do you assess how they can live the public aspects of the diaconate? Deacon Dan said it can be hard to project those things. There are men who don't show the attribute right away and can grow into them. A deacon is called to these three works of Word, sacrament, and charity, but you don't have to be experts in all of those. For those who are not outstanding in one area, they can take part, but concentrate in a different area. The minimum age for ordination is 35, so they would start the program in their early 30s. The maximum at ordination would be 65 because they enter senior status at 75. They also determine whether he can handle graduate level studies. It doesn't mean you have to have a college degree, but you have to have the ability to handle it. There is no limit on the number of aspirants per formation class size. In the last three years: 18 in 2009, 34 in 2010, 19 in 2011. Class sizes tend to be between 12 and 16. In general, there a few men each year who withdraw, whether they discern for themselves or the Church decides. If you know someone who might have these gifts, invite them to consider it. The Holy Spirit often speaks through other people to plant the seed. For men considering it, do some reading on the [USCCB web site](http://www.usccb.org/deacon/) or the book The Emerging Diaconate: Servant Leaders in a Servant Church . Talk to deacons you know. The office has a program each fall for men and women to hear about what's involved and then there a discernment retreat to help them take the next step. **5th segment:** The first year of the program is aspirancy. In years 2 through 4, they get into a lot of the work of study and formation. There are pillars of formation: pastoral, intellectual, human, and vocational. In the first year, they take 2 courses in Scripture and a series of seminars on the issue of discernment. The first semester is discerning from a spiritual perspective, how to pray to learn God's will. The second is focused on discernment of the diaconate life in particular. In the three years of candidacy, they take four courses each year. It parallels the Master of Arts in Ministry program and this fall men could use their courses toward an academic degree. There are also pastoral experiences, including in the second year working with the poor in an immersion program at Stonehill College, living there for 3 days serving people in the Brockton area. There's a summer internship between years 3 and 4 in a hospital chaplaincy, about 100 hours. They meet two evenings per week, 7-9pm, and one Saturday per month, 6-7 hours, mostly spiritual formation. Fall retreat for the men only and a spring retreat for couples. They recently added a second location in addition to the Pastoral Center in Braintree, at Merrimac College in North Andover. This September, the incoming college will be at the Pastoral Center for 4 years and in 2012, that class will meet at Merrimac. After ordination, they receive a pastoral assignment. Historically, men would be assigned to their home parish or a local parish, near their homes. In the future, with the demographics in the priesthood, we have to break through the idea of parochial view and have a more diocesan and global view of the Church. Future deacons could find a diocesan-based assignment, such as hospital chaplaincy. As deacons, they serve the needs of the bishop and so they work where the Cardinal sees the need. As a deacon, they are part of the clergy in the Archdiocese of Boston. Does it limit their ability to move out of the diocese as needs arise? There is an expectation that they are ordained for the Archdiocese, but the reality is that they have to make a living. Or someone retires and wants to spend part of their year in another place. In a new diocese, they could ask the local bishop to serve there. At age 75 they become senior deacons. They can continue to serve as their health allows, but they are not officially assigned to a particular parish. Deacons don't retire, they are ordained for life, just like priests. The neighboring diocese of Worcester has put their diaconate program on hiatus to update their program and to pray about whether the pastoral planning underway in Worcester will affect the number of deacons they'll need down the road. We've already gone through a similar process in Boston. The program went on hiatus for a year after a new set of guidelines came out from the US Bishops' Conference, to ensure that they're still working according to the highest standards. Deacon Dan says there would ideally be one deacon per parish to effectively show the servant nature of the Church. To those who are thinking about, listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in your heart. Do not be afraid, as Bl. John Paul told us. We all will think we're not worthy, but God uses us anyway. That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. For recordings and photos of today’s show and all previous shows, please visit our website: TheGoodCatholicLife.com. You can also download the app for your iPhone or Android device at WQOM.org to listen to the show wherever you may be. We thank our guest, Deacon Dan Burns. For our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli, and George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a wonderful evening!…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** Jennifer Schiller and Najat Whalen from Women in God's Spirit (WINGS) ministry * [WINGS](http://catholicwings.com/) **Today's topics:** Women in God's Spirit (WINGS), Sunday Mass readings **A summary of today's show:** Scot and Fr. Mark talk to Jen Schiller and Najat Whalen about Women in God's Spirit (WINGS), a parish-based ministry for Catholic women of all ages that helps them deepen their faith and become more connected to their community. Also, considering the Gospel for Good Shepherd Sunday. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Mark to the program. Scot said he was the lector at the noon Mass at the Pastoral Center. Today is also the 30th anniversary of the assassination attempt on Bl. John Paul II, on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Twenty-nine years ago today, Pope John Paul went to Fatima to have the bullets removed from his chest placed in the crown of the statue of our Lady of Fatima because he credited her with saving his life. Cardinal Seán has been celebrating the Mass and leading the international pilgrimage in Fatima at the request of the Holy Father. Back at the Pastoral Center, after Mass, there was the May crowning of the statue of Mary. Also, today is the last day for a colleague of Scot's, Patrick Gispon, the Catholic Appeal manager, who is returning to Chicago, where his family is from. Fr. Mark said he was impressed to see the number of people who turned out to say goodbye to Patrick and the spirit of the people Scot affected. The "Why Catholic?" program, discussed on The Good Catholic Life earlier this week, also had one of its informational sessions. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark welcome Jennifer Schiller and Najat Whalen. Scot asked Jen about WINGS. She said she participated in WINGS when she lived in Southern California as a young mom. She'd been invited to attend in her parish and found about 75 to 100 women who gathered weekly to learn about and grown in their faith. It was a ministry for all ages. They had childcare. It was an opportunity to learn more about her faith. When they relocated to Massachusetts, she was looking for something like WINGS so she approached her pastor who encouraged her to start it, about 11 years ago. There are now 11 groups in the Archdiocese. She started at her parish of St. Mary in Holliston. The other groups grew organically from women who came to their group and then wanted to do the same at their parish. Fr. Mark said he sees a pattern of people who have a great idea or experience and who don't wait for others to do something, but take initiative. Jen said she had lots of help. She had good encouragement from the pastor and after a couple of months they had about 8 to 10 women who were committed. They are all volunteers who want to help other women and grow in their faith. Najat said she became involed in 2005 when she was a CCD teacher and had a 5-year-old son entering school. She saw bulletin announcements and was attracted to the idea of deepening her faith and learning more. Eventually she became more involved because she was asked to become childcare coordinator and then program coordinator. Scot asked Jen if it's truly women of all ages or is it primarily one age group. She said it's truly all of them. When she started in 1995, she found herself in small groups with grandmothers and others. She found that meeting with women of all different perspectives helps them all in whatever place in their faith journey they find themselves. Jen said WINGS is not a national organization, but it is growing as women move from Southern California to other places. Each group is independent. They are made up women from the parish, but they have a spiritual adviser in the parish that helps them keep the ministry focused and on track. The suggested program is three seasons of six weeks each during the school year. They focus on areas of spiritual growth. In the fall, they focus on some area of the Catholic they want to learn about. In the winter, they focus on learning more about Scripture. In the spring, they have a series of speakers who come in to tell them how they are living out their faith. The whole year falls under a theme that the coordinating group puts together with the spiritual adviser. Najat said they begin the fall season in September and go through November. They have 7 speakers. The winter season starts after the holidays and the spring season ends in May. The typical meeting starts with a social time and coffee, followed by opening prayer and a song, then a speaker. After that they break into small groups to discuss three questions provided by the speaker. They end about 11:15 with a closing prayer. Fr. Mark said every parish has a core group of women who do everything in the parish. Does this attract those women or does it bring in women who aren't involved in many things? Jen said she does find it brings in both kinds of women. Consistency is the key. Women are welcome to attend one or all sessions. They are inviting women whenever they are ready and once they come, they come back because they find something that fulfills them. Women who are very involved in the church and always giving find in WINGS that they are receiving a lot from it. **3rd segment:** Scot asked Jen how WINGS has helped her to grow in her faith. She said it helped her to appreciate the gift of her faith. Many of the talks and presentations in the years since 1995 have opened her eyes and heart. Especially receiving a fuller understanding of the Real PResence and the gift that is Adoration. She didn't really understand that prior to experiencing it one of the WINGS talks. Also, the great saints of the church, stories of whom she now shares with her children. Scot asked the same of Najat. She said that she knows she's not alone in her faith. Being with a community of 60 women on a weekly basis helps her to know they are together, as they share their joys and sufferings. It's a safe, warm, and welcoming environment where you feel surrounded by friends. Being asked to speak at an event helped her to learn how to bring her faith out to the world. Fr. Mark asked what is the benefit in being only women. Jen said as a community of women, it is women coming together with different life experiences where you can feel you can share and grown and be who you are. There are good things that come from women gathering as women. He asked if other women have inspired Najat in her journey. She said everyone has inspired her, including the older women who are so wise while younger women share the same struggles and joys. Scot said the Gallup organization has surveyed religious groups and they have found that the most engaged people in religious communities are those who can say they have a best friend in the same group. Jen said she thinks WINGS has strengthened her parish. It nourishes women in their faith and builds them up. When the women leave those meetings, they bring that back to their families, other friends, to their work. And many find after participating in WINGS that they are inspired to get more involved in the parishes. Parish life is built up because women come together in their faith. Fr. Mark asked the experience of a new woman coming to an established group. Jen said it is absolutely not a clique. WINGS is a group that is constantly changing as women come and go, depending on their life situations. There is no prerequisite to joining. They can be a woman who is confident in her faith or someone who has many questions. Najat said that a big component of the ministry os the prayerful atmosphere so someone who is looking to experience prayer and to hear an inspiring prayer, then WINGS would fit them. Najat said they recently had three wonderful speakers on three saints. They had a series of speakers on the women doctors of the Church. In the winter Bible study, they looked at relating to others as Jesus would: relating to families, to seekers, to sinners, to people he met along the way, to people who rejected Him, to his friends. They had outside speakers as well as women-members who spoke on their own reflections on the Scripture. **4th segment:** Scot asked how many groups are in the Archdiocese. Najat said there are 11: * Amesbury MA, Holy Family Parish (meets Sunday evenings at 7:15 pm in lower hall of Sacred Heart Church) [www.hfamesbury.com](http://www.hfamesbury.com) * Holliston MA, St. Mary’s Parish (meets Wednesday mornings at 9:30 am in the church hall) [www.stmarysholliston.com](http://www.stmarysholliston.com) * Hopkinton MA, St. John the Evangelist Parish (meets Tuesday mornings in the parish hall) [stjohntheevangelisthopkinton.parishesonline.com](http://stjohntheevangelisthopkinton.parishesonline.com) * Lexington MA, St. Brigid Parish (meets Thursday mornings at 9:30 am) [www.lexingtoncatholic.org](http://www.lexingtoncatholic.org) * Marshfield MA, Our Lady of the Assumption Parish (meets Tuesday mornings at 9:15 am) * Middleborough MA, Sacred Heart Parish Rochester MA, St. Rose of Lima Lakeville MA, Saint Martha and Mary (meets Tuesday mornings at Fr. Shea Center, Sacred Heart Parish) [www.sacredheart-middleboro.org](http://www.sacredheart-middleboro.org) * Milton/Quincy MA, St. Agatha Parish (meets Wednesday evenings at 7:00 pm in the school hall) * Natick MA, St. Patrick Parish (meets Wednesday mornings at 9:30 am) [www.stpatsnatick.org](http://www.stpatsnatick.org) * Needham MA, St. Joseph Parish (meets Wednesday mornings at 9:45 am in the Linse room , lower church) [www.saintjoesparish.com](http://www.saintjoesparish.com) * North Andover MA, St. Michael Parish (meets Sunday evenings at 7 pm in church hall) [www.saint-michael.org](http://www.saint-michael.org) * Wellesley MA, St.Paul Parish (meets Monday evenings in the church hall) [www.stpaulwellesley.com](http://www.stpaulwellesley.com) Scot asked Jen what's involved in starting a WINGS ministry. She said the first step is prayer, to pray about whether you are called to start. Then talk to friends who might also be interested in starting the group. Then get in touch ([info@catholicwings.com](mailto:info@catholicwings.com)) with the main group at CatholicWings.com to help plan and put a proposal together for the pastor. Ideally it should be 8-10 women who start it and then planning for 6 months up to 1 year. They will also come out to the parish to provide training as well as resources for finding speakers that have spoken at other groups. She said they have an archive of 10 years of seasons and speakers that new groups can use to build on. The women will want to choose a time that works for the parish, whether a day or evening. Ideally they would have a parish hall available, plus another room for childcare. At night, it's usually the same minus the babysitting. Most evening groups don't use babysitting, but that's not a rule. Fr. Mark asked about expenses. Jen said there are suggested annual membership dues, about $40. Those dues pay for the speakers who come in from outside the parish community. Jen said the relationship with the parish is getting the pastor's approval obviously and then a staff member who would be a spiritual adviser, like a DRE or pastoral associate who could meet with them a couple of times per year to give advice on topics, resources, and speakers. **5th segment:** As we do every week, Scot and Fr. Mark will consider this Sunday's Mass readings along with our guests to prepare for Sunday. * Gospel ([John 10:1-10](http://www.usccb.org/nab/051511.shtml#gospel)) >Jesus said: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” Although Jesus used this figure of speech, the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them. > >So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” Jen said she found herself drawn to the line where it says a shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them. Many of us might not know that God is calling us in our lives and we have to take time to listen in our busy lives to hear Him. Where it says "they will not follow a stranger," it says to her that we have to build a relationship with Jesus to know Him and recognize His voice when He calls us. We need to find time every day to listen to His voice. Najat said she is reminded that the door is always open and Jesus is always there. Jesus always walks before us and we always know who to follow. Fr. Mark said it brings back an image from his first assignment. A previous pastor came back for the 40th anniversary of the parish. When he began to speak during the Eucharistic Prayer, the people started to smile because they recognized his voice from so many Masses said in that parish. Scot said at the end of the Gospel, Jesus says, "*I* came..." Jesus wants us to be happy in this life and the next which comes by following Him through that gate into heaven. He's always calling us. He doesn't call just once, but every day. We need to hear Him despite the noise of our everyday life. Jen said the thieves and robbers are the obstacles and false promises that come to us every day and the distractions that can lead us away from Christ. Don't get discouraged. When life gets difficult, Christ is even closer to us. Fr. Mark said we know the authentic voice in our heart of Christ despite all the other voices in the world. The voice of our conscience is the voice of Christ with us. This Sunday is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which is tied to this Sunday as Good Shepherd Sunday. Scot encourages all to thank their priests this Sunday for being a shepherd. That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. For recordings and photos of today’s show and all previous shows, please visit our website: TheGoodCatholicLife.com. You can also download the app for your iPhone or Android device at WQOM.org to listen to the show wherever you may be. We thank our guests, Jennifer Schiller and Najat Whalen. For our co-host, Father Mark O’Connell, our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli, and George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a wonderful weekend!…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Gregory Tracy, Managing Editor of The Pilot newspaper, and Father Roger Landry, Executive Editor of The Anchor newspaper. * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) **Today's topics:** Immigration reform, World Day of Prayer for Vocations, Pope Benedict on prayer, and more **A summary of today's show:** Scot and Susan talk with Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy about a Catholic response to the political question of immigration reform; Pope Benedict's advice on how dioceses should approach praying and preparing for vocations; the Holy Father's ongoing catechesis on prayer; and more in the news from The Pilot and The Anchor. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Susan back to the show. Susan said she enjoyed yesterday's show on adult faith formation and would like to re-visit the topic of the US bishops' document on the subject again on the show some day. She's also getting involved in budget process for her office of Religious Education. The Archdiocese's fiscal year begins on June 1 and all the ministries are preparing plans and budgets for next year. **2nd segment:** Scot and Susan welcome Gregory and Fr. Roger back to the show. President Obama made a speech on May 10 in El Paso, Texas, and released a 34-page blueprint for immigration reform. He emphasized federal responsibility for immigration; to hold employers responsible for hiring illegals, create a system that provides for the demands of employment and family unification, and to hold people in the US illegally accountable for their action before enabling to get them on the right side of the law. * ["Obama launches new push for immigration reform," Catholic News Service, 5/11/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20110511.htm) * ["The Catholic voice in the immigration debate," Fr. Roger Landry, The Anchor, 6/25/10](http://www.anchornews.org/editorial/2010/june_25_2010.php) Gregory said the Church has always had a great interest in immigration reform, ensuring that whatever reforms are made respect human dignity. Scot said the President accused Republicans of moving the goal posts so that whatever Democrats offer, the Republicans always want more. Republicans shot back that the mission of securing the border has never been accomplished. Susan said we are all descendants of immigrants and need to welcome people, but we also need to be responsible. Sometimes when immigration is discussed, an elitist mindset comes out and that's not who we are as Catholics. The chairman of the US bishops' committee on immigration is Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, who is himself an immigrant. Fr. Roger said Gomez says we are talking here about brothers and sisters in Christ and we need keep that in mind in any conversation about immigration reform. He also says the Church is not a political party and we're not advocating any particular policy, but we're promoting an attitude of respect and welcoming. Archbishop Gomez also said that anti-Hispanic bias is a factor in some of the conversation about reform. Scot said Archbishop Gomez's letter last year said 10 million illegals are in the country, so what we do we do with them. While we have to uphold our laws, we have to ask what is proper and just. From a moral standpoint, he concludes that deporting immigrants is too severe a penalty. He suggests intensive long-term community service. Gregory thinks it's a reasonable suggestion and it's important to remember that this is a question of civil law, not criminal law. Susan quoted a priest from Fall River who said, "If you are baptized, you are home." Fr. Landry said we have to treat them like human beings rather than treat then like they're doing something horrible by trying to work and feed their kids. This is their experience in New Bedford after the big immigration raid on a Defense Dept. contractor in 2007 that resulted in the arrests of dozens of undocumented aliens. **3rd segment:** Fr. Roger's editorial this week in the Anchor is on the World Day of Vocations, which is this Sunday. This year, the Holy Father's message speaks of the work of dioceses in forming and recruiting vocations. * [Pope Benedict's message of the 48th World Day of Prayer for Vocations](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/vocations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20101115_xlviii-vocations_en.html) Fr. Roger said the day normally occurs on Good Shepherd Sunday, which is now the fourth Sunday of Easter. Jesus knew there would always be a vocations crisis, which is why He told us that the harvest is great and the laborers are few. Pope Benedict describes the vitality of a local Church as being seen in the ability to foster vocations. He notes that in certain places vocations are thriving and in others they are sterile. Pope Benedict said: 1. Pray 2. Train young people a total commitment to Christ and in love 3. Help young people to hear the voice of God in the cacophony of the world 4. Take advantage of every opportunity to promote vocations: in families, in parishes, and in our communities. Fostering vocations starts with forming your children from a young age. Scot said Cardinal Seán always says that vocations are everyone's business, not just priests or bishops. Susan said our religious education programs promote the call to vocation at all ages. We have to ask the question of the young people we meet because God's voice is being drowned out and so they need to hear from us. One of the best advertisements for vocations is seeing a priest so in love with his ministry. But we have to raise the topic with the young men in our lives. Gregory said vocations don't come from a vacuum. It's particularly important to understand the connectedness to the vocation of marriage. When a couple truly lives the vocation of marriage, their children will see the importance of vocation, whether it be marriage or religious life or priesthood and it's not a foreign concept to them. **4th segment:** In his general audience on Wednesday, Pope Benedict gave the second installment in what will be a long series of catechetical talks on prayer in the Christian life. * [Pope Benedict's message to the General Audience on 5/11/11](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20110511_en.html) * ["Prayer reveals Man's need for God, says Pope," Zenit, 5/11/11](http://www.zenit.org/article-32548?l=english) >In our catechesis on Christian prayer, we have seen how prayer is part of the universal human experience. Our own age, marked by secularism, rationalism and an apparent eclipse of God, is showing signs of a renewed religious sense and a recognition of the inadequacy of a purely horizontal, material vision of life. Man is made in the image of God; a desire for God is present in every heart and man in some way knows that he is capable of speaking to God in prayer. Saint Thomas Aquinas tells us that prayer is the expression of our desire for God, a desire which is itself God’s gift. Prayer is first and foremost a matter of the heart, where we experience God’s call and our dependence on his help to transcend our limitations and sinfulness. The posture of kneeling at prayer expresses this acknowledgment of our need and our openness to God’s gift of himself in a mysterious encounter of friendship. Let us resolve to pray more frequently, to listen in the silence of our hearts to God’s voice, and to grow in union with the God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ, with the One who is infinite Love. Susan recalled St. Augustine's quote: "You have made us for yourself O Lord and our hearts will not rest until they rest in you" and thinks it echoes with Pope Benedict's quote of St. Thomas Aquinas. Gregory was struck by the statement that to really pray is hard work. We have to consciously listen to God. It's hard to set aside prayer time in our busy lives and it's easy to say, "I prayed" with a quick tossed off prayer, but it's hard to set aside time for serious prayer. Fr. Roger said Pope Benedict also said in his audience that man is religious by nature. He is as much homo religiosus (religious man) as he is homo sapiens. To Pray is to feel that meaning in the world is outside the world. The school exists as a school of prayer to teach them to prayer. Prayer is faith in action and sometimes it comes in the least likely of circumstances. An anecdote of a man who said: "Lord, help me I don't know how to pray." The Lord replied, "You are already doing it." Scot highlighted the Pope's further words from the audience: >Man bears within himself a thirst for the infinite," he continued, "a nostalgia for eternity, a search for beauty, a desire for love, a need for light and truth, which drive him toward the Absolute; man bears within himself the desire for God. And man knows, in some way, that he can address himself to God, that he can pray to him." >The Pontiff said that the attraction toward God "is the soul of prayer, which is cloaked in many forms and modalities according to the history, time, moment, grace and finally the sin of each one of those who pray." >He added that prayer is a mindset, and not a "series of practices and formulas." Prayer, he said, is "a way of being before God, rather than carrying out acts of worship or pronouncing words." Other great stores in the Pilot and the Anchor this week: * In the Pilot, Fr. Thomas Morgan passed to the Lord. He had been pastor in Salisbury since the mid-1970s. * In the Anchor, 75 years after "the Little Rose" died, many people are still working for her canonization. * In the Pilot, Fr. Dick Rieman, priest of Opus Dei, reflects on his personal experience of St. Josemaria Escriva. * Also in the Pilot, more info on [Why Catholic?: Journey Through the Catechism](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/whycatholic.aspx?pid=464)…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines, pastor of St. Mary Parish, Wrentham **Today's guest(s):** Sister Terry Rickard, President of Renew International, Janet Benestad, Secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization for the Archdiocese of Boston, and Mary Ann McLaughlin, Co-Director of the Office of Worship and Spiritual Life and Director of Arise: Together in Christ * [Renew International](http://www.renewintl.org/) * ["Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us": A Pastoral Plan for Adult Faith Formation in the United States](http://www.nccbuscc.org/education/ourhearts.htm) * [Arise: Together in Christ](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/ARISE.aspx?pid=464) * [Why Catholic?: Journey Through the Catechism](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/whycatholic.aspx?pid=464) **Today's topics:** Adult faith formation and the new program called Why Catholic? **A summary of today's show:** Scot and Fr. Chip talk with Sr. Terry Rickard, Janet Benestad, and Mary Ann McLaughlin about adult faith formation and the new program in the Archdiocese of Boston called "Why Catholic?" that will take parishioners through the Catechism. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chip as a substitute co-host for Fr. Matt Williams who is traveling. He has been pastor at St. Mary's for three years as of May 1. He's working hard to try some new things, bringing people closer together and bring people back to God. He also co-hosts the movie review show Spotlight with Fr. Bill Kelly on CatholicTV. He's been a big fan of movies as long as he can remember. They've completed their second season of the show. Scot said they'll be speaking today about the centrality of adult faith formation in the Archdiocese of Boston and specifically about the new program following on Arise and Catholics Come Home called Why Catholic? Fr. Chip said he's excited to hear about these programs coming from the archdiocese because not every parish has the resources to do it all on their own and re-inventing the wheel. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Sr. Terry and Janet to the show. Scot said most of what Renew does is helping dioceses and parishes with adult faith formation. Renew came out of the renewal of the Second Vatican Council and focuses on the methodology of small groups. They have worked in 24 countries and 160 dioceses in the US over the past 30 years. Currently they are working in 51 dioceses. Scot said there are about 176 dioceses in the US. Scot said to Janet that the US bishops wrote in a document about 10 years ago that adult faith formation is central to the mission of the Church. Janet said Bl. John Paul wrote in [Catechesi Tradendae](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_16101979_catechesi-tradendae_en.html) about this centrality for the first time. Our parishes do a good job educating and forming children, but we haven't done as well at ongoing formation for adults. Scot said he was surprised to read in the US bishops' document: >The Church wisely and repeatedly insists that adult faith formation is "essential to who we are and what we do as Church" and must be "situated not at the periphery of the Church's educational mission but at its center." While most Catholic parishes place a high priority on the faith formation of children and youth, far fewer [Catholic parishes] treat adult faith formation as a priority. Fr. Chip said it's important that we do it, but we're not doing it. We're so focused with our limited resources on forming children that we let parents and other adults slip through the cracks. He did a formation series last fall on Church history and it was sporadically attended. But that can't be discouraging because people do tell him they want such formation. We just have to find what works for them. The US bishops said well-formed adults are our next generation of catechists and other volunteers within the parish. Sr. Terry said such programs are not just informational transferral, but information for transformation of the person. At Renew they start where people are at and as people gather in the small groups, they start with prayer, then read the Word of God, and then apply it to their lives. Fr. Chip asked Sr. Terry how do you involve young parents, with everything that they have going on in their lives? She said you can't do adult faith formation without evangelization and you need evangelization strategies. The strategies of inviting are important. Part of Renew's success is that the groups can meet at any time, any day. You can have many groups with a variety of times. Scot said the US bishops' document talks about the characteristics of a spiritually mature faith: frequent reading of the word of God, sacred writings of our tradition, and the official documents of the Church; involvement in the community life and mission of the Church; personal prayer; participation in the works of justice and service to the poor; and the fulfillment of our human obligations in family and society through the active practice of love for God and neighbor. It goes on: >A living faith is a searching faith-—it "seeks understanding." Adults need to question, probe, and critically reflect on the meaning of God's revelation in their unique lives in order to grow closer to God. A searching faith leads to deepening conversion. Janet said so much of the confusion about the faith is that when people hear what the Church says about a controversial issue, they just shut down rather than to study and learn and understand. Taking seriously the practice of faith within the community and taking seriously the formation of conscience are fundamental to faith. Adult faith formation takes seriously the obligation to give answers or help people seek answers. The Church wants you to question what she says, but not to just stop there. Find the truth and be open to the truth wherever it is found. Doing this in a group is a way to help each other find their way.Sr. Terry said the methodology of the small groups is to see, judge (based on the truth of Scripture and Tradition, applying it to our lives), and then turn it into action. Scot said research tells us that those who are most engaged in the parish are those who have one of their best friends in the parish and so faith-sharing groups can nurture acquaintances into friendships and deepen friendships even more. **3rd segment:** Scot said the Bishops' document talked about six dimensions that good adult faith formations programs would include: knowledge of the faith, liturgical life, moral formation, prayer, communal life, and missionary spirit. The idea is to pick one or two at a time and grow a little bit in the different seasons of our lives. Fr. Chip said missionary spirit and communal life often get left behind. People pretty much know how to pray and people come to Mass, but when he talks about going out and proclaiming faith in what they say and what they do, they balk at that. People like to keep their faith in a box on a shelf and take it out for a time on Sundays. The Church tells us you can't do that. He talks about community all the time to stress that Church is a place to come any time. Scot said there are 5 different places for learning: in families, large groups, individual and self-study, and individual activities. Scot would add programs of the various Catholic media. Scot asked Sr. Terry why small group faith formation has proven to be so successful. Sr. Terry said when Renew was founded in New Jersey, the two priests who began it had been active in the Catholic family movement and the RCIA and both of those had been successful with small groups. If we're bringing in people through RCIA, then we want the parishes to have that same experience of small group faith-sharing. Scot said that in his professional experience as a manager, he's found that people have different learning styles and he's had to adapt to other learning styles. Sr. Terry said small-group learning is so good because our faith is communal and is essentially lived together. Renew is also exploring new media, just starting podcasts and webinars and creating a [Facebook page](http://www.facebook.com/RENEWIntl). Scot asked Janet about her hopes for Why Catholic? This will be the opportunity to get the Catechism into the hands of thousands of Catholics in the Archdiocese and the small faith-sharing groups will help people overcome their discomfort at approaching a new document. Why Catholic? begins with the last section of the Catechism on Prayer because they've found it to be most effective. Fr. Chip said the new [YouCat](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1586175165/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=1586175165) youth catechism would be effective for adults as well as youth. Janet agreed because it gives a beautiful treatment of the topics covered by the universal Catechism. She said the new [US Catechism for Adults](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1574554506/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=1574554506) would be suitable as well. YouCat is in a question and answer format that works well for some people. Janet said Pope Benedict wrote the introduction for YouCat and it's an explicit invitation to those who may have been away from the Church. **4th segment:** Scot welcomes Mary Ann McLaughlin to the show. Mary Ann led ARise and now leads the Why Catholic? program. Why is it a good followup to Arise. She said small groups has proven to be an essential experience to the life of the Church. She said Cardinal Sean confirms that one needs to be immersed in the community when learning the language of faith, just like immersion helps one learn a foreign language. The small community in faith-sharing gives us a place to learn that language of faith. Of course, the Church has always had small groups: Cursillo, prayer groups, Bible studies. Gathering in community is the nature of the Church. Scot asked Sr. Terry for an overview of Why Catholic? They are starting this week with informational sessions on the program for pastors and parish leaders. Similar to Arise, parishes will have teams of 8-12 people to prepare and get the word out. In October, there will be a training on implementing Why Catholic? In January, there will be a small community leader training on the first book, Prayer, which is actually the fourth pillar of the Catechism. They've found that people are open to learning about prayer and an deepening the relationship with God opens them to more. They will do six weeks in the spring and then another six weeks in the fall. In the second year, they will study the Creed. The third year, the sacramental life of the Church. The fourth year, the moral life of the Church. Scot said each of the semesters is structured as six lessons. Mary Ann said the lessons start with an opening prayer, then a reflection of a human experience, then a Scripture, then questions to jumpstart faith-sharing, then an invitation to act. The invitation to act has worked to cause people to think about what has just been prayed and taught and to ask how it works in their life. What starts individually often ends up becoming the groups asking what they can do together. Sr. Terry said each small group has about 8-12 people meeting in someone's home. There is a one trained leader. The sessions are 90 minutes. Some people do a lectionary-based prayer in between the six-week sessions. **5th segment:** Welcome back. It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is a copy of the book “[Synergy: Science Reasons with Atheists](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601040342/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=1601040342),” from BrideGroomPress.com. Historian and theologian Steven Kellmeyer has assembled over 50 of the most common questions about science and faith in order to lay out the clear, concise answers you have been looking for. This week’s winner is **Ann Bouchard of Nashua, New Hampshire**. Congratulations Ann! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit WQOM.org. For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for our weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. **6th segment:** Scot said Cardinal Sean has sent a letter to all pastors about Why Catholic? and encouraging them to take part. Scot said that Renew working with an archdiocese is able to take a good program and make it available to every parish and in many different languages for many different cultures. In Boston, for the first time they'll make the materials available in Chinese for Why Catholic? Scot asked her what the group leaders do and how they can let their pastors know they're interested. The pastor works with the pastoral council to come up with the names of people who would be willing to be leaders. The parish leader then goes to training sessions where they receive tools and support from the archdiocesan office and Renew directly. The small group leaders also go to regional training sessions. Fr. Chip asked if it's beneficial for a parish to have a professional staff be the local leader? Sr. Terry said most of the time the leaders are volunteers, but if a parish has a staff member like that, then they should be at least on the team. They don't want to overburden religious ed directors. Mary Ann said people can learn about Why Catholic by calling 617-779-3640 or by going to the website of BostonCatholic or Renew International (see above). That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. For recordings and photos of today’s show and all previous shows, please visit our website: TheGoodCatholicLife.com. You can also download the app for your iPhone or Android device at WQOM.org to listen to the show wherever you may be. We thank our guests, Sister Terry Rickard, Mary Ann McLaughlin, and Janet Benestad. For our co-host, Father Chip Hines, our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli, and George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a wonderful evening!…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines, pastor of St. Mary Parish, Wrentham **Today's guest(s):** Sister Terry Rickard, President of Renew International, Janet Benestad, Secretary for Faith Formation and Evangelization for the Archdiocese of Boston, and Mary Ann McLaughlin, Co-Director of the Office of Worship and Spiritual Life and Director of Arise: Together in Christ * [Renew International](http://www.renewintl.org/) * ["Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us": A Pastoral Plan for Adult Faith Formation in the United States](http://www.nccbuscc.org/education/ourhearts.htm) * [Arise: Together in Christ](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/ARISE.aspx?pid=464) * [Why Catholic?: Journey Through the Catechism](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/whycatholic.aspx?pid=464) **Today's topics:** Adult faith formation and the new program called Why Catholic? **A summary of today's show:** Scot and Fr. Chip talk with Sr. Terry Rickard, Janet Benestad, and Mary Ann McLaughlin about adult faith formation and the new program in the Archdiocese of Boston called "Why Catholic?" that will take parishioners through the Catechism. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chip as a substitute co-host for Fr. Matt Williams who is traveling. He has been pastor at St. Mary's for three years as of May 1. He's working hard to try some new things, bringing people closer together and bring people back to God. He also co-hosts the movie review show Spotlight with Fr. Bill Kelly on CatholicTV. He's been a big fan of movies as long as he can remember. They've completed their second season of the show. Scot said they'll be speaking today about the centrality of adult faith formation in the Archdiocese of Boston and specifically about the new program following on Arise and Catholics Come Home called Why Catholic? Fr. Chip said he's excited to hear about these programs coming from the archdiocese because not every parish has the resources to do it all on their own and re-inventing the wheel. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Sr. Terry and Janet to the show. Scot said most of what Renew does is helping dioceses and parishes with adult faith formation. Renew came out of the renewal of the Second Vatican Council and focuses on the methodology of small groups. They have worked in 24 countries and 160 dioceses in the US over the past 30 years. Currently they are working in 51 dioceses. Scot said there are about 176 dioceses in the US. Scot said to Janet that the US bishops wrote in a document about 10 years ago that adult faith formation is central to the mission of the Church. Janet said Bl. John Paul wrote in [Catechesi Tradendae](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_16101979_catechesi-tradendae_en.html) about this centrality for the first time. Our parishes do a good job educating and forming children, but we haven't done as well at ongoing formation for adults. Scot said he was surprised to read in the US bishops' document: >The Church wisely and repeatedly insists that adult faith formation is "essential to who we are and what we do as Church" and must be "situated not at the periphery of the Church's educational mission but at its center." While most Catholic parishes place a high priority on the faith formation of children and youth, far fewer [Catholic parishes] treat adult faith formation as a priority. Fr. Chip said it's important that we do it, but we're not doing it. We're so focused with our limited resources on forming children that we let parents and other adults slip through the cracks. He did a formation series last fall on Church history and it was sporadically attended. But that can't be discouraging because people do tell him they want such formation. We just have to find what works for them. The US bishops said well-formed adults are our next generation of catechists and other volunteers within the parish. Sr. Terry said such programs are not just informational transferral, but information for transformation of the person. At Renew they start where people are at and as people gather in the small groups, they start with prayer, then read the Word of God, and then apply it to their lives. Fr. Chip asked Sr. Terry how do you involve young parents, with everything that they have going on in their lives? She said you can't do adult faith formation without evangelization and you need evangelization strategies. The strategies of inviting are important. Part of Renew's success is that the groups can meet at any time, any day. You can have many groups with a variety of times. Scot said the US bishops' document talks about the characteristics of a spiritually mature faith: frequent reading of the word of God, sacred writings of our tradition, and the official documents of the Church; involvement in the community life and mission of the Church; personal prayer; participation in the works of justice and service to the poor; and the fulfillment of our human obligations in family and society through the active practice of love for God and neighbor. It goes on: >A living faith is a searching faith-—it "seeks understanding." Adults need to question, probe, and critically reflect on the meaning of God's revelation in their unique lives in order to grow closer to God. A searching faith leads to deepening conversion. Janet said so much of the confusion about the faith is that when people hear what the Church says about a controversial issue, they just shut down rather than to study and learn and understand. Taking seriously the practice of faith within the community and taking seriously the formation of conscience are fundamental to faith. Adult faith formation takes seriously the obligation to give answers or help people seek answers. The Church wants you to question what she says, but not to just stop there. Find the truth and be open to the truth wherever it is found. Doing this in a group is a way to help each other find their way.Sr. Terry said the methodology of the small groups is to see, judge (based on the truth of Scripture and Tradition, applying it to our lives), and then turn it into action. Scot said research tells us that those who are most engaged in the parish are those who have one of their best friends in the parish and so faith-sharing groups can nurture acquaintances into friendships and deepen friendships even more. **3rd segment:** Scot said the Bishops' document talked about six dimensions that good adult faith formations programs would include: knowledge of the faith, liturgical life, moral formation, prayer, communal life, and missionary spirit. The idea is to pick one or two at a time and grow a little bit in the different seasons of our lives. Fr. Chip said missionary spirit and communal life often get left behind. People pretty much know how to pray and people come to Mass, but when he talks about going out and proclaiming faith in what they say and what they do, they balk at that. People like to keep their faith in a box on a shelf and take it out for a time on Sundays. The Church tells us you can't do that. He talks about community all the time to stress that Church is a place to come any time. Scot said there are 5 different places for learning: in families, large groups, individual and self-study, and individual activities. Scot would add programs of the various Catholic media. Scot asked Sr. Terry why small group faith formation has proven to be so successful. Sr. Terry said when Renew was founded in New Jersey, the two priests who began it had been active in the Catholic family movement and the RCIA and both of those had been successful with small groups. If we're bringing in people through RCIA, then we want the parishes to have that same experience of small group faith-sharing. Scot said that in his professional experience as a manager, he's found that people have different learning styles and he's had to adapt to other learning styles. Sr. Terry said small-group learning is so good because our faith is communal and is essentially lived together. Renew is also exploring new media, just starting podcasts and webinars and creating a [Facebook page](http://www.facebook.com/RENEWIntl). Scot asked Janet about her hopes for Why Catholic? This will be the opportunity to get the Catechism into the hands of thousands of Catholics in the Archdiocese and the small faith-sharing groups will help people overcome their discomfort at approaching a new document. Why Catholic? begins with the last section of the Catechism on Prayer because they've found it to be most effective. Fr. Chip said the new [YouCat](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1586175165/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=1586175165) youth catechism would be effective for adults as well as youth. Janet agreed because it gives a beautiful treatment of the topics covered by the universal Catechism. She said the new [US Catechism for Adults](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1574554506/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=1574554506) would be suitable as well. YouCat is in a question and answer format that works well for some people. Janet said Pope Benedict wrote the introduction for YouCat and it's an explicit invitation to those who may have been away from the Church. **4th segment:** Scot welcomes Mary Ann McLaughlin to the show. Mary Ann led ARise and now leads the Why Catholic? program. Why is it a good followup to Arise. She said small groups has proven to be an essential experience to the life of the Church. She said Cardinal Sean confirms that one needs to be immersed in the community when learning the language of faith, just like immersion helps one learn a foreign language. The small community in faith-sharing gives us a place to learn that language of faith. Of course, the Church has always had small groups: Cursillo, prayer groups, Bible studies. Gathering in community is the nature of the Church. Scot asked Sr. Terry for an overview of Why Catholic? They are starting this week with informational sessions on the program for pastors and parish leaders. Similar to Arise, parishes will have teams of 8-12 people to prepare and get the word out. In October, there will be a training on implementing Why Catholic? In January, there will be a small community leader training on the first book, Prayer, which is actually the fourth pillar of the Catechism. They've found that people are open to learning about prayer and an deepening the relationship with God opens them to more. They will do six weeks in the spring and then another six weeks in the fall. In the second year, they will study the Creed. The third year, the sacramental life of the Church. The fourth year, the moral life of the Church. Scot said each of the semesters is structured as six lessons. Mary Ann said the lessons start with an opening prayer, then a reflection of a human experience, then a Scripture, then questions to jumpstart faith-sharing, then an invitation to act. The invitation to act has worked to cause people to think about what has just been prayed and taught and to ask how it works in their life. What starts individually often ends up becoming the groups asking what they can do together. Sr. Terry said each small group has about 8-12 people meeting in someone's home. There is a one trained leader. The sessions are 90 minutes. Some people do a lectionary-based prayer in between the six-week sessions. **5th segment:** Welcome back. It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is a copy of the book “[Synergy: Science Reasons with Atheists](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601040342/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=1601040342),” from BrideGroomPress.com. Historian and theologian Steven Kellmeyer has assembled over 50 of the most common questions about science and faith in order to lay out the clear, concise answers you have been looking for. This week’s winner is **Ann Bouchard of Nashua, New Hampshire**. Congratulations Ann! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit WQOM.org. For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for our weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. **6th segment:** Scot said Cardinal Sean has sent a letter to all pastors about Why Catholic? and encouraging them to take part. Scot said that Renew working with an archdiocese is able to take a good program and make it available to every parish and in many different languages for many different cultures. In Boston, for the first time they'll make the materials available in Chinese for Why Catholic? Scot asked her what the group leaders do and how they can let their pastors know they're interested. The pastor works with the pastoral council to come up with the names of people who would be willing to be leaders. The parish leader then goes to training sessions where they receive tools and support from the archdiocesan office and Renew directly. The small group leaders also go to regional training sessions. Fr. Chip asked if it's beneficial for a parish to have a professional staff be the local leader? Sr. Terry said most of the time the leaders are volunteers, but if a parish has a staff member like that, then they should be at least on the team. They don't want to overburden religious ed directors. Mary Ann said people can learn about Why Catholic by calling 617-779-3640 or by going to the website of BostonCatholic or Renew International (see above). That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. For recordings and photos of today’s show and all previous shows, please visit our website: TheGoodCatholicLife.com. You can also download the app for your iPhone or Android device at WQOM.org to listen to the show wherever you may be. We thank our guests, Sister Terry Rickard, Mary Ann McLaughlin, and Janet Benestad. For our co-host, Father Chip Hines, our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli, and George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a wonderful evening!…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Jack Ahern, pastor of Mother Teresa Parish, St. Peter Parish, and Holy Family Parish in Dorchester * ["3 parishes to share 1 pastor," The Boston Globe, 3/24/09](http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/24/3_parishes_to_share_1_pastor/) * [Mother Teresa Parish, Dorchester](http://www.motherteresadorchester.org/) * [Friends of St. Peter's Church, Dorchester, MA, Facebook group](https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_62654437298) **Today's topics:** Profile of Fr. Jack Ahern, the first priest in Boston in recent years to lead three parishes at once **A summary of today's show:** Scot and Fr. Chris talk with Fr. Jack Ahern, pastor of three parishes in Dorchester, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Boston, where he's already celebrated 20 funerals for murder victims this year. But there's also much hope in the three parishes with 5 churches, 17 buildings, 6 languages, and a long Catholic history. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes back Fr. Chris and asked what he's up to. They've been working to end the seminary year and get the seminarians out to the parishes they will work in this summer. Also, ordinandi are preparing for the ordination on May 21 by going on a 5-day retreat. Cardinal Sean is also looking for the right assignment for the new priests, by getting a sense of the gifts of each man from the seminary by aligning them with the right openings. The men have an hour meeting each with the clergy personnel board. The men will have a dinner the night before and each have an individual meeting with the cardinal that night when their assignment is given. Today's program is an interesting look at the priesthood in the Archdiocese of Boston with Fr. Jack Ahern who is the first pastor of 3 parishes in Boston. He has had two years working in these parishes. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Jack. Recounting his background, his first parish was in St. Albert's in Weymouth. His last assignment was St. Mary's in Brookline for 18 years. Now he is in Dorchester with three parishes that were five parishes until recently when two of them merged into the other three. He has been a priest for 31 years. On the day of his ordination, he received a chalice and they said, "All this and more for the priesthood," and the "and more" was so much more. He has spent a lot of time in Dorchester working on the streets, serving many people who are suffering, including recently celebrating the 20th funeral for a murder victim in his parishes this year. Fr. Chris asked what are the ways Fr. Jack is responding to the violence in the city. He said they often work with the police in the street or go with street teams from the teen center to go into the homes of gangbangers to meet with parents and see how they can help the younger kids into other activities so they don't get involved in gangs. Fr. Conway at St. Peter's has been very active as well, learning Portuguese at 71 to work with Cape Verdeans. Fr. Jack moved the parish's offices from the rectory to the teen center at St. Peter's so that the kids can see them coming and going and interact. If there's a funeral, there's the wake, the Mass, and then a counseling program after for the kids. In the summer, they run a program for the kids because the kids wouldn't be safe to leave their homes during the day. They are also helping them to become better citizens. At Mother Teresa, they are fortunate to have the [Cristo Rey High School](http://www.cristoreyboston.org/) move into a vacant school building. The students spent time during the school day working in businesses to give them experience and to help provide support for their tuition. The corporations mentor the students. Scot asked him what it's like to be pastor in the inner city and dealing with violence, crime, and fear for the safety of their kids. Fr. Jack said it's exciting to be working there as a priest because every day is different. He knows that he is where God wants him to be. He knows he's making a difference in the day to day lives of these people and the Catholic Church is the anchor of these neighborhoods. It's one of the few institutions able to gather people from the other neighborhoods of the city and from other sectors, such as police and politicians. Last summer, there was substantial programming that contributed to a summer without the violence many expected. When kids come to the teen center after school, they have a snack and they spend 2-3 hours doing homework with college student volunteers and staff. Then there are a number of fun activities until between 7:30 and 9pm, depending on age. Fr. Jack said a couple weeks ago when a teen was murdered, several of the kids at the center said they were friends with him and that if they had entered the gangs instead of joining the teen center, they would be dead too. **3rd segment:** Fr. Chris asked Fr. Jack what it's like to be pastor of 3 parishes. In some ways, the parishes are similar with the need for the sacraments, but in some ways they're different. When he came it was three parishes, five churches, 17 buildings, 6 languages, and a running $500,000 deficit. It's a challenge. The parishes have a great mix of people who have been in the neighborhood for years, but also newcomers. Many Vietnamese and Polish at Mother Theresa, Cape Verdean at St. Peter, and Spanish at Holy Family. Fr. Nguyen spends much of his time with the Vietnamese community, Fr. Conway with the Cape Verdeans, and a Capuchin who comes in to work with the Spanish. Mass is celebrated in three languages, but Fr. Jack smiles in all six. Scot asked what it's like to try to bring people together as a single community in the universal Church. Fr. Jack said on Holy Thursday all three parishes came together for one celebration at one of the churches. This year it was in four languages. This year the Cape Verdeans did the music, last year it was the Spanish community. Three priests all live together and are as different as night and day, but they all get together very well and work so well. Scot said the parishes are historic with long stories. St. Peter's is the second-oldest parish in Dorchester, founded in 1870. The only church founded in the Americas where the stone for the church was quarried from the site. First it was Irish immigrants, then Haitian, then Spanish, then Vietnamese, and now Cape Verdeans. In its heyday, 24,000 people would worship in the church each weekend. The pastor in the 1950s had a chair suitable for use by the Pope built as the presider's chair and in fact it was used for the papal Mass on Boston Common in 1979. The parishes of Dorchester have been very generous with vocations. At one time, there were three streets where every house had a vocation. St. Margaret's gave more than 250 women to the Sisters of Charity. Mother Teresa Parish is also the site of one campus of [Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy](http://popejp2catholicacademy.org/). It was founded from St. Peter's and was founded as St. Margaret's Parish. They also have a food pantry on site that feeds many families. Holy Family Parish used to have a shelter, but it was closed due to budget cuts. **4th segment:** Scot said the Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy set an ambitious goal to revitalize Catholic education in the inner city, consolidating eight Catholic schools into four campuses. The Columbia campus at Blessed Mother Teresa consolidated the three school of Fr. Jack's three parishes. He said it was an ambitious goal, but the goal has been met. There's a commitment to providing a solid Catholic education. While the schools have lost parish identities, they retain the Catholic identity. Fr. Jack said it's critical for Dorchester to have a Catholic school. It provides a great educational setting for any and all children. Educating all children serves all of society. Fr. Chris said building a more just and humane society serves the mission of the Catholic Church. Scot said Fr. Jack was honored at the Chrism Mass by his fellow priests along with Fr. Jim McCune. Fr. Jack said it was humbling, but he got it he thinks because he was "the only one fool enough to take on three parishes." the priests of Boston are a great cast of characters who serve the people day in and day out. To those who would say priests are going to be stretched to thin in the future, Fr. Jack would say that you have to be as present as possible while also allowing others who minister with you to be a stabilizing presence. While Fr. Jack moves between the parishes, there is one parochial vicar or pastoral associate dedicated to each parish, available day and night. Sharing other staff like business manager, frees up resources. There are three parish pastoral councils and three finance councils, but they do meet as a group several times a year to take stock of each other's priorities. Fr. Jack also spoke at the seminary recently. He told them that the most important part of being a priest is to be kind. People come into the church to pray and they have enough burdens so be kind and be welcoming. He learned this lesson from his first pastor who was incredibly kind. He remembers a parishioner being taken to a hospital after an accident, and after visiting the man in the hospital he went back to the home to clean up the blood of the accident so the wife wouldn't have to. **5th segment:** Fr. Jack Ahern has the distinction of being the only Right Reverend among the clergy of the Archdiocese of Boston. He wears a pectoral cross and has a special hat that he can wear that is an Eastern-rite miter. In Brookline, the Melkite-rite Catholic diocese was headquartered at this parish and the Melkite-rite leader requested permission to give him the honorific. He has the title of archimandrite. Fr. Chris said Cardinal Sean says every priest has one basic homily. What it is Fr. Jack's basic homily? He said, "God is love." Scot asked him what are his hopes for the Church in Dorchester? If the Word is preached, if the mysteries are celebrated well, if you're reaching out to the poor, the Church will grow. St. Mary's in Brookline attracted many young families and young adults. He said he was very welcoming and he offered strong homilies.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** From the College of St. Mary Magdalen in Warner, NH: Dr George Harne, president; Dr. Mark Discher, academic dean; and Tim VanDamm, vice president of advancement and admissions. * [The College of St. Mary Magdalen](http://www.magdalen.edu/) **Today's topics:** Getting a great Catholic college education **A summary of today's show:** Scot talks with Dr. George Harne, Dr. Mark Discher & Tim Van Damm of the College of St. Mary Magdalen about what it takes to find an authentically Catholic college and get a good Catholic education. Drs. Harne and Discher also discuss their individual journeys into the Catholic Church and the role that beauty and intellectual pursuit played for them. **1st segment:** Many Catholic parents and high school seniors are finalizing decisions now about where to study in college. They seek to find a place where they can learn, make lifelong friends, prepare themselves for a good career and see their virtues grow and their Catholic faith strengthened. There are so many factors involved that it can often be a difficult decision. We’ll focus on many of these questions of getting a great Catholic education in college with 3 leaders of the College of St. Mary Magdalen which is located about an hour north of Boston in the state of New Hampshire. This college is reinventing itself in many ways to meet the needs of Catholic college students today. Now I’d like to welcome Dr. George Harne, Dr. Mark Discher and Tim VanDamm. George said one thing that many do not consider when attending a college is how it will affect my soul? Catholic parents and their children should consider where they can go to get both the intellectual and spiritual formation. Scot asked what a liberal arts education means. Mark said that classically, liberal learning is for a free man, one who has the leisure for study t come to a deeper understanding of themselves, of humanity, and of God. Scot asked why someone who wants a business degree would want to study a liberal arts education. Mark said most of the presidents and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies hold liberal arts degree. Those degrees should help one to carry through an argument, to look at general perspectives, and have a general grasp of existence. It should lead to a lot of trainability and adaptability. George said the classical liberal arts are seven: four verbal and three mathematical. He has a friend in New York City who his is doing very well in the corporate world who studied rhetoric. The subjects are ordered to help one to think clearly and speak well. Most modern liberal arts education is like a salad bar where you aren't sure what you're going to get. In terms of student like on a college campus, Tim said a parent should ask whether the culture on campus will build up their children's faith that they worked so hard to bring to that point. Look at what maintains and continues what I've already started as a parent. At Magdalen, there are students who get up early in the morning to pray in adoration or at daily Mass or to pray before an abortion clinic. What are warning signs at other schools? Tim said if you see aspects against the Catholic faith: for example, gay/lesbian/transgender clubs; plays that are anti-Catholic or immoral. When parents are paying student and academic fees that support activity inimical to their faith, that's a warning sign. George said parents can start with the [Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978650212/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0978650212) by the [Cardinal Newman Society](http://cardinalnewmansociety.org/). The Society's website also keeps up with current news about what's going on at Catholic colleges. Parents should get the most current information on the colleges from the college's own websites as well. Also, call the college and talk to those working in student life. Do the faculty take the oath of fidelity? Are the dorms co-ed? Mark said the Oath of Fidelity is extended to faculty members so they can state in writing that they will not teach anything contrary to the Church's teachings. It is voluntary at Magdalen but all of the faculty at their school sign it. This is somewhat rare to get 100% voluntary compliance. Tim said at Magdalen that the staff signs it as well, so that it's not just what is being taught, but also how they live their lives. Young people are searching for truth and there is an authenticity that they are living the Catholic faith they profess to hold. Scot asked why some colleges do not encourage the Oath of fidelity. George said in some cases Catholics in the US have an inferiority complex and a desire to belong to the wider society, which inclines them to make compromises, like when some Catholic colleges might hire a superstar faculty member who dissents from some aspect of Catholic teaching. This began with the [Land O Lakes Conference](http://www.catholichistory.net/Events/LandOLakesStatement.htm) in the 1970s where leaders of Catholic colleges asserted that the bishops do not have a right to tell the schools what they can teach. Pope John Paul's ["Ex Corde Ecclesiae"](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_15081990_ex-corde-ecclesiae_en.html) was a response to that conference. At the same time, some small Catholic colleges began arising with specific identity of charism. Scot said he sees that some Catholic colleges put their academic college ahead of their Catholic college. He asked Mark if this is a function of the size of the college, whether they remain faithful. Mark said it seems to be a matter of mission and vision and intentionality of hiring. He does see that as a college grows larger, it might be tempting to want to hire more well-known, widely recognized names to impress those who give money to the college. George agreed that central to the vision should be maintaining an inherent vision of the world that comes from the source of Truth, which is God. * ["New College of St. Mary Magdalen president pledges renewal, service to Church," Catholic News Agency, 2/9/11](http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/new-college-of-st.-mary-magdalen-president-pledges-renewal-service-to-church/) * [Oath of Fidelity](http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19880701_professio-fidei_en.html) **2nd segment:** Scot asked what happens at a Catholic college to help form 18- to 22-year-olds to graduate at 22 and go out to help strengthen the faith of others. Tim said Magdalen's goal is to give not only the best of the academic world, but also to be able to engage the culture both intellectually and spiritually. Many people can cite facts about the faith, but what they want is for the students to have a love for the Lord and want to bring it out to the culture and engage it. Scot asked how one invites students to an experience of deepening their faith? George said it must be a multi-pronged approach. At the basic level, they make the sacraments available and they model the Catholic faith for them. They are available as mentors and also pray for them. It's also important to have students who have a vibrant faith. If a student comes without a strong faith life, they want to help in a transformation through living a sacramental life and to see the faith life lived by other students and faculty and staff. They also want to motivate them to take action through the various campus activities. Scot asked George how a strong Catholic college forms the wills intellectually. George said in the medieval tradition, there was a sense that we can approach the divine through beauty, in liturgy, but also other ways. The Good, the True, and the Beautiful. For people who might balk at the Truths of the Faith, they can be brought a long distance toward the Faith through the Good of the saints and the Beauty in the Church. The vocation of the students is to be a student and so their work of study happens in a close alignment with a life of prayer. He said after Land O Lakes, there was a tendency by smaller, faithful Catholic colleges. to discard the old classical Catholic learning inherited from the Jesuits. Magdalen is trying to integrate it with the newer, 20th Century Great Books tradition, to take the best of both. Mark said at Magdalen, they're not afraid of ideas, including those in the secular culture and the wider academic sphere. They will be exposed to Marx and Freud and the like, and the students will learn how to assess them in terms of the entirety of Catholic thought. George said their students get four years of theology and catechesis and the program has been validated by the Vatican in the 1980s. The classes are built around discussion and the students are called to engage the content. Philosophy courses are integrated into other humanities for four years. They take a 5 hour philosophy and humanities class each semester. There also classes in logic, music, and grammar and others that are historically seen as supporting philosophical inquiry. Tim said spoke of where Magdalen's graduates end up. They are in all walks of life: military service, lawyers, corporate leadership. They can go into any area because they are being taught fundamentally how to think. Many are going for advanced graduate degrees as well. Scot asked where the students are coming from. Tim said a large part is homeschooled and Catholic schools. Students come from all over, including China, Nepal, and Jamaica. There are students from Alaska, Arizona, and Michigan. They are trying to grow in the Boston regional area. There are now a number of new students from New England. Tim drives from his house in Boston to the college in Warner in about 1-1/2 hours each day. **3rd segment:** Scot noted that beauty helped George's conversion experience into the Catholic Church. Growing up, he was an evangelical Protestant, but started attending an Episcopalian church in college and fell in love with the liturgy. He started to see parallels with the Catholic liturgy and asking why there were distinctions between the Episcopalian and Catholic liturgy. At a Corpus Christi celebration in Philadelphia, he experienced a Eucharistic procession and was struck by the beauty and came to believe in the Real Presence that night. That set off a Domino effect in his own mind that toppled all of the Protestant objections to Catholicism and within a year he started reading the Catechism. He discovered that most of his issues with Catholicism, he was either wrong in what he thought the Church believed or was wrong in what he believed. In the face of the Church's 2,000-year continuity, he was drawn in. Scot asked Mark about his conversion to Catholicism. He said it was a slow process from low-church Protestantism that valued Scripture alone. His conversion was more intellectual and began to realize in his graduate work, as he tried to make moral arguments, that "Bible alone (sola Scriptura)" was inadequate for that. As he was trying to develop arguments for human equality through a religious tradition and metaphysics, he found that Scripture by itself did not have a single verse espousing human equality. So if the Christian tradition supports the idea of human equality, Christianity must have an interpretative authority, i.e. the Church. He was helped in his journey by a growing relationship with the Dominicans that he knew. Tim is a cradle Catholic, but working with converts has helped him deepen his faith. Being around converts, including these very well-educated men, helps him to appreciate his faith more. There is something profound about being with these men who counter the world's claims that religion is for the uneducated. When you go looking for the truth, you can find it. What advice would George and Mark have for someone who would be wrestling with questions about God? Mark said they shouldn't give up no matter what and to be relentlessly honest in their search. George said no matter what your pace in your journey, keep going. Whatever problems the Church faces, being in full communion with the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church is a great joy. College of St. Mary Magdalen is taking rolling admissions, which means they are continually admitting new students. For those who are interested, check out their website. Everything that the school teaches is on the website. They are very transparent. They also welcome school visits. * ["Converted by Beauty," National Catholic Register, 4/1/11](http://www.ncregister.com/site/article%20/converted-by-beauty/) That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. For recordings and photos of today’s show and all previous shows, please visit our website: TheGoodCatholicLife.com. You can also download the app for your iPhone or Android device at WQOM.org to listen to the show wherever you may be. We thank our guests Dr. George Harne, Dr. Mark Discher and Tim Vandamm. For our our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli, and George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a wonderful weekend!…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** Fr. John Phalen, CSC, President of Holy Cross Family Ministries * [Holy Cross Family Ministries](http://hcfm.org/) * [Congregation of Holy Cross](http://www.holycrosscongregation.org/) * [Brothers of Holy Cross](http://www.holycrossbrothers.org/) * [Family Rosary](http://familyrosary.org/) * [Family Theater Productions](http://www.familytheater.org/) * [The Story of Fr. Patrick Peyton, CSC](http://www.hcfm.org/FatherPeyton.aspx) **Today's topics:** Father John Phalen of Holy Cross Family Ministries, the Family Rosary, Family Theater, God's Children Now retreat **A summary of today's show:** Scot and Fr. Mark talk with Fr. John Phalen about praying the rosary as a family including practical tips for praying with children. They also discussed the upcoming Family Rosary day for families on June 4 at BC High and the status of the cause for canonization of Fr. Patrick Peyton, the famed Rosary Priest. Also, this Sunday's Gospel reading on the road to Emmaus. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes back Fr. Mark. Fr. Mark says in the past week he's been doing end of the academic year duties, including his last class with seminarians at St. John's for the year and last with the permanent deacon class. He teaches marriage & family and a class on the temporal goods of the Church and is just starting an introduction to canon law class. Scot said May is one of the two months of the year the Church dedicates to the Blessed Mother. (October is the other.) One of the ways we live the devotion to the Blessed Mother is the rosary. In Easton, Mass., is headquartered Holy Cross Family Ministries, founded by Fr. Patrick Peyton, known as the Rosary Priest. Fr. John Phalen, the current president of the ministry, will join us to discuss praying the rosary as a family. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Phalen to the show. Fr. Phalen is a past president of the Mariological Society. Scot asked Fr. Phalen why Catholics need to turn to Mary for a robust faith life. He said Mary was the first Christian and the first among the saints. If we want to conform our lives to Christ, we should go to the one who knew Him the best. She is the one who contemplated His face the most, who spent the most time with Him in her life. Here in the Northeast, we connect May with flowers, but this month we also celebrate Mother's Day, so it is appropriate. Fr. Mark asked about her role as intercessor. Fr. Phalen said Mary is a special intercessor. He said that on a trip to Uganda, he found a parish called "I Saw You" Parish. The pastor said the ground was the king's property at one time and it was forbidden trespass. When trespassers were brought before the king, the accusation was "I Saw You" and they would be condemned to death. The only person who could intercede with the king was the Queen Mother and she would sometimes intercede, asking for him to comply as a favor to her. People in the parish understood the role of Mary as intercessor by this Queen Mother role. Mary helps us by going to her Son an interceding for us with her prayer. She is like us completely, being a human being who gave birth to her savior. Scot said he recalls Fr. Peyton's saying "The Family that prays together, stays together." Why is it great for families to pray the rosary together? Fr. Phalen said the rosary's prayers are very simple: Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be. If they need the mysteries, there is simple guides available. Saying the Hail Mary over and over helps us to contemplate the mysteries. The Rosary is simple so everyone can do it. Grown adults can participate on their own level, but in the presence of other members of their family. Fr. Mark said there are many families that try and give up because of how the kids squirm. Fr. Phalen says keep trying, but do it in small bites, like just one decade at a time. Keep coming back to it. Model it as a something you want to do it and then hold it out as something they can do when they're grown up enough to do it. It's been proven that the Rosary lowers blood pressure and calms you down. But sometimes we make the perfect the enemy of the good and we expect a complete rosary right then and there. Gradually, they will become accustomed to it. Fr. Mark asked about the balance between listening to the words of the Hail Mary and reflecting on the mystery. We don't want to just whip through the words. Fr. Phalen says he's usually trying to get people to slow down and enunciate the words. As for repetition, Bishop Sheen used to say that if you love someone, you will say you love them over and over again. We're different people from moment to moment and so we're not repeating ourselves because we're saying it as a new person to a new person. I love who you are now as I am now. We also have repetition in the Mass: Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy, Lord have mercy. Holy, Holy, Holy. It's not enough just to say it once. Scot asked when are the best times for families to pray the Rosary together. Fr. Phalen says dinnertime is great because the family is all together, so pray before or after the meal, relating it to the meal and the unity achieved around the dinner table. Ask the children for their special intentions. Besides the spiritual benefit, the children and parents learn more about what is going on in their hearts and minds and lives. **3rd segment:** Scot asked the best way to offer intentions for family rosaries. Fr. Phalen said it will help to break up the whole rosary by punctuating each decade with specific intentions, while offering general intentions for the whole rosary. Should each family member have their own or share one rosary? Fr. Phalen said some families keep a bowl of rosaries. Others have a set of hooks with a rosary for each person. Then there's the orsary our mothers gave us: Our ten fingers. Fr. Mark asked about good sources of mysteries: Fr. Phalen said there is the book of "[Father Peyton's Rosary Prayer Book](1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=pilo0e-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=0898709822)". There's also his own book "[Living the Rosary: Finding Your Life in the Mysteries](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594712646/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=1594712646)." When he was in seminary, he would return home to visit his parents. He would spend time at night on the dock on the lake, and he would find the Glory of God in the world and receive a sense of God's presence. This moment stays with him now, especially every time he contemplates the mystery of the Transfiguration. His aim in the book is helping people connect the moments in their lives to the moments in the mysteries that will helps us in our prayer. Scot asked about the Luminous Mysteries that Bl. John Paul II offered to the Church. Fr. Phalen said one of his most profound remarks was that the Rosary marks the rhythm of life. This was from his [Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_20021016_rosarium-virginis-mariae_en.html). He said that the rosary was the prayer of the laypeople. It was created in the Middle Ages in imitation of the monks' prayer the 150 Psalms of the Liturgy of the Hours. Because they couldn't read, the people needed the assistance of an image of a mystery to help them pray. In the churches and cathedrals the artwork taught the people of the moments of the lives of Christ and Mary and the saints, just like the mysteries of the rosary. So the [Luminous mysteries](http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/prayers/rosary/luminous.htm) pick up the time from the ending of the Joyful Mysteries to the beginning of the Sorrowful Mysteries. But Pope John Paul did it in a humble way by proposing it and not imposing it so the people could take it up or leave it. But Fr. Phalen's experience is that the people do love it and are praying it. In his letter, Bl. John Paul said: >The Rosary is by its nature a prayer for peace, since it consists in the contemplation of Christ, the Prince of Peace, the one who is “our peace” (Eph 2:14). Anyone who assimilates the mystery of Christ – and this is clearly the goal of the Rosary – learns the secret of peace and makes it his life's project. Moreover, by virtue of its meditative character, with the tranquil succession of Hail Marys, the Rosary has a peaceful effect on those who pray it, disposing them to receive and experience in their innermost depths, and to spread around them, that true peace which is the special gift of the Risen Lord (cf. Jn 14:27; 20.21). **4th segment:** One of Holy Cross Family Ministries most important works is supporting the spiritual life of families. They have coming up on June 4 at Boston College High School an event from 8am to 5pm. Register at familyrosary.org. Bring family members of all ages, from the youngest on up. There are workshops planned just for the small children. There will be a track for teens led by Fr. Bob Reed of CatholicTV. There will be a Spanish-language track for the whole family. Greg and Lisa Popcak will speak to families as well. The theme is God's Children Now -- Living and Learning Together. There will also be workshops on topics such as bullying, using the Internet and more. The day will end with the Rosary and a Mass celebrated by Bishop Daniel Reilly of Worcester. * [Gregory and Lisa Popcak's ministry: Pastoral Solutions Institute](http://www.exceptionalmarriages.com/index.htm) For the last few years have taken place at Stonehill College in Easton, but they wanted to move closer to Boston to be more central. Some day they want to hold it in Fenway Park with 30,000 people praying on the field. The cost is $7 per person and $40 max per family, if registered before May 15. Price goes up to $10 each and $50 per family after May 15. Lunch is included. Fr. Phalen gave an update on the cause for canonization of Fr. Peyton. The paperwork was sent to Rome last July, the closing of the major local work. Now the Vatican is reviewing all the materials and once that is done, then possible miracles will be considered for beatification. Right now, they are looking at possible miracle, but can't say too much about it right now. Fr. Mark said the amount of work that goes into such investigations is amazing. It is very meticulous work. **5th segment:** Looking at this Sunday's readings for Mass. * [Gospel reading for Sunday, May 8: Luke 24:13-35](http://www.usccb.org/nab/050811.shtml#gospel) >That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?” They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” And he replied to them, “What sort of things?” They said to him, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see.” And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the Scriptures. As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!” Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread. What strikes Scot is how sad the disciples are in the death of Jesus and how they didn't understand all that happened. Fr. Phalen said they are so down, it reminded him of Red Sox fans. They are down every year, even when their team is doing well for now. The disciples' hopes had been dashed. Then Jesus Himself criticizes them for being foolish and explains everything to them. Fr. Mark says he's truck by how an extraordinary day it was. Jesus just rose from the dead and chose to spend the day walking with two guys on the road to Emmaus. And the He explains all of Scriptures in the greatest lesson ever given. And now we don't even know both of their names. Scot said God's grace had an effect on them as Jesus spoke because their heart burned. And they didn't want it to end and invited Christ in because Christ does not force himself on us. Fr. Phalen said there is a great Eucharistic reference here as they recognize Jesus in the Eucharist, the breaking of the bread. For ourselves, after a crisis, sometimes we can say, wasn't it necessary for it happen because God knew better than I. Scot noted that going back to Jerusalem from Emmaus is 7 miles uphill and they ran it away after a long day's walk. They must have been so excited. Fr. Phalen said we can recognize Christ in our accompaniment of one another, especially gathered around the Table of the Lord, and it gives us great hope. That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. For recordings and photos of today’s show and all previous shows, please visit our website: TheGoodCatholicLife.com. You can also download the app for your iPhone or Android device at WQOM.org to listen to the show wherever you may be. We thank our guest Fr. John Phalen. For our co-host, Father Mark O’Connell, our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli, and George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a wonderful weekend!…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Gregory Tracy, Managing Editor of The Pilot newspaper, and Father Roger Landry, Executive Editor of The Anchor newspaper. * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) **Today's topics:** Catholic reaction to Osama bin Laden's death; wrap-up of Bl. John Paul's beatification; followup on MariaTalks.com; Apostolic Nuncio coming to Boston; Pope Benedict teaching us to pray **A summary of today's show:** Scot, Susan, Gregory, and Fr. Roger consider how Catholics should react to Osama bin Laden's death, then switch gears to give a last look at the beatification of Bl. John Paul. In local news, the Mass. bishops spoke out on a controversial website, but the Governor refuses to act; the Pope's representative the US is coming to Boston; and Pope Benedict begins a new teaching series on prayer. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Susan. She said last said Sunday a grandson received First Communion and this Saturday a granddaughter will receive First Communion at another parish. Bringing a child to the table of the Lord is best thing a parent can do for a child. For Mother's Day, Scot asked her about her children and grandchildren: She has three daughters and 5 grandchildren locally and a son and another grandchild on the West Coast. **2nd segment:** * [Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2302-2317: On Just War and Safeguarding Peace](http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P81.HTM) * ["What is Just War?," Colin B. Donovan, STL, EWTN.com](http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/just_war.htm) * ["Vatican says bin Laden's death cause for reflection, not rejoicing," John Thavis, Catholic News Service](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1101730.htm) Scot welcomes Gregory and Fr. Roger to the show. First thing Monday morning, Scot saw the news about Osama bin Laden and it became clear to him that he wasn't sure how we're supposed to respond as American Catholics. On the one hand, we're happy he was no longer able to hurt innocents, but some of the celebrations seemed out of hand. Fr. Roger said that as a Catholic we're called to love even our enemies. In the case of a mass murderer, it's very hard. In terms of those who want to harm the innocent, all those who have a duty to protect others need to do what's possible to carry out that mission. If bloodless means are insufficient, then legitimate authority may use lethal force. If he had been imprisoned by the US, could he have been able to carry out harm just by his existence. Scot asked Gregory what he thought of the Vatican's statement that "in the face of a man's death, a Christian never rejoices"? Gregory said it's a question of rejoicing in his death. We can rejoice because the world is safer, but we cross a line when we celebrate the fact that someone had to die. If it's necessary to sue deadly force then so be it, but it's always a regrettable choice. Even Blessed John Paul II used to say that only if there's another reasonable way to make society safe, then death is a possibility. Susan said there was a lot to process in the news. She heard the news on Sunday night after having watched videos on the beatification and it was an odd juxtaposition. She had a sense of relief at the world being safer, but she goes back to Matthew 5:43 in which Christ calls us to love our enemy. Scot reviewed the three conditions for an act within war to be morally justified: >First, the act must be good in itself. The use of force to obtain justice is morally licit in itself. Second, it must be done with a good intention, which as noted earlier must be to correct vice, to restore justice or to restrain evil, and not to inflict evil for its own sake. Thirdly, it must be appropriate in the circumstances. An act which may otherwise be good and well motivated can be sinful by reason of imprudent judgment and execution. > >In this regard Just War doctrine gives certain conditions for the legitimate exercise of force, all of which must be met: > >"1. the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain; > >2. all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective; > >3. there must be serious prospects of success; > >4. the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition" [CCC 2309]. The other big question of debate on this news has been whether the White House should release the photos of Osama's body. Fr. Roger said an important component of leadership is the virtue of prudence and making good judgment. Some people want photos for absolute proof of Osama's death, but had Obama released the photos it could have poured fire on Muslim sentiments and created violence. On the other hand, if someone wants to think conspiratorially, there's no proof that will ever be sufficient. So it's not clear any good would be done by releasing them and it's very clear that there would be harm. Scot said when we thinks of places where Christians are a persecuted minority, their prayers were answered when the president didn't release the photo. Susan said there would be no good result by releasing the photo. Gregory said he could see where the ground could laid for conspiracy theories and just because you can release a photo doesn't mean you should. He uses that same judgment as a newspaper editor. There's even still people who don't think men have walked on the moon, so it would do nothing useful. Scot said as a Catholic Christian, if we're rejoicing at the world being a safer place, that's good, but if we're rejoicing at our revenge being completed on Osama, that's too much, even though that's a natural human response. Susan said that section in the Gospel of Matthew says we must be perfect as our Father is perfect and we're called to be better than our human inclinations. **3rd segment:** * ["Crowds pack Vatican for Pope John Paul II's beatification ceremony," The Pilot/CNS, 5/6/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1101725.htm) * [Pope Benedict's homily for the beatification Mass](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20110501_beatificazione-gpii_en.html) * ["Cardinal Dziwisz: I must rediscover John Paul II," The Pilot/Zenit, 5/4/11](http://www.zenit.org/article-32439?l=english) Scot said we've talked a lot about the beatification, but it was a magnificent day starting with Saturday night's vigil. Susan said in the Pope's comments, you could the tremendous affection he had for his predecessor. The Pope also talked about Bl. John Paul's prayer life, which seems to be a recurrent theme in all the talk about him. Susan said Bl. John Paul was also a real mensch, a skier, a playwright, someone who worked as a miner, was theologically brilliant, someone we can all emulate. Scot said the cover photo in the Pilot this week of the immense crowd around St. Peter's is one of his favorite photos in the Pilot ever. Gregory said it shows the 1.5 million to 2 million people present. He said the ceremony brought him back to John Paul's funeral in 2005, at which he was present. It brought him back to see Pope Benedict XVI, who celebrated the funeral, to be there celebrating the beatification. The image of the casket inside St. Peter's brought back thoughts of the casket on the steps of the basilica in 2005. He was also moved by Pope Benedict talking about the way that Pope John Paul let suffering into his life. Gregory had been at many of the World Youth Days and remembers chronicling his decline over the years. Pope Benedict said John Paul became more eloquent as he become more ill. Fr. Roger said he woke at 4am on Sunday to watch the beatification and he was struck that he was watching his spiritual father receiving the greatest honor anyone ever can from God Himself. It was one of the most moving moments in his entire life and he rejoiced like he had never rejoiced before. Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz told reporters that Pope John Paul's entire life was prayer: >I am asked how many hours the Pope prayed. How many rosaries he said every day. I answer that he prayed with all his life. He always had the rosary with him, but above all he was united to God, a man of God, immersed in God. > >Though people didn't realize it, he always prayed for those who came to him, after conversations he prayed for the persons with whom he had spoken. The whole day began with prayer, meditation, and ended always with the blessing of his city, Rome. Always, when he could still walk, he went to the window; at the end, when he was very weak, he would ask "lift me" to see Rome again and to bless her. This was always the last gesture of every day to bless the people of Rome, his diocese. Fr. Roger said the cardinal was always a welcoming man as the pope's secretary, who called himself the moon to the Pope's sun. He was clearly someone who loved and admired John Paul very much. Gregory said he was also struck by this interview which spoke to his interior life. In this article, the interviewer asks about a personal memory of John Paul. The cardinal responds: >I must say that I must discover him again. Discover him and perhaps still love him more. He was a man of great spiritual wealth, all that was within him. He rarely opened himself but people felt that something was within him. And today I see the need to discover this spiritual and also intellectual profundity. I esteemed him as a father and now I esteem him as a father and as a blessed. **4th segment:** * [Massachusetts Bishops's statement about state funding of MariaTalks.com](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Utility/News-And-Press/Content.aspx?id=20354) * [Fr. Medieros and Fr. de Nigris on The Good Catholic Life, 4/4/11](http://www.thegoodcatholiclife.com/2011/04/04/program-0019-for-monday-april-4-2011/) * [A brief biography of Archbishop Pietro Sambi](http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2005/05-287.shtml) * [Regis College](http://www.regiscollege.edu/) * [Announcement of the appointment of Dr. Antoinette Hays as president of Regis](http://www.regiscollege.edu/about_regis/news.cfm?nid=Antoinette%20Hays%2C%20PhD%2C%20to%20become%20the%2010th%20President%20of%20Regis%20College) Now following up to last week's topic on the MariaTalks.com website. Last Friday, the bishops of Massachusetts issued a statement about the website and outlined five problems with the site: >[...] it promotes an overall message that sexual conduct for unmarried minors is acceptable whenever it “feels right.” Additionally, the website describes abortion in misleadingly opaque terms, touting the procedure as “easier than you think,” and emphasizes ways to obtain an abortion without parental knowledge. The website fails to acknowledge that many women, especially those undergoing an abortion in their teenage years, suffer long-term negative consequences. Furthermore, the website limits the list of available resources to organizations that advocate for or provide abortion and contraception. Then end with a powerful comment: >We do not agree that the only choices available are limited to keeping the website running with tax dollars or doing nothing at all to address the problem of teen pregnancy. The state should work together with all sectors of the community, not just those with a vested interest in offering teens contraception and abortion, to find solutions that respect the dignity of young people and their capacity to make good and wholesome choices. Susan said that as a taxpayer point-of-view spending $100,000 of scarce tax dollars is insane. As a commonwealth, we should be working together for the common good and this website does not. Susan quoted one of the legislators who pointed out that the site doesn't even deal with girls who are victims of abuse, incest, or rape. She said the site sells our kids short. Gregory said Gov. Deval Patrick has said the website will stay up, allowing only modification of content. He referred the Pilot to the Department of Health for comment, which said they were interested in offering medically accurate information, which many critics dispute it offers. Scot said it's clear that they're not interested in hearing any criticism of the website. Fr. Roger wrote in his editorial this week about why they seemed to call this site "Maria" talks. Maria is now the 71st most popular name for girls in America, but when we hear it we think of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the many Hispanic girls from strong Christian families. The choice of "Maria" seems to show they are targeting a specific demographic and some of the content seems to put the girls at odds with the theoretically strongly Catholic parents. It's quite clear that this site is written so that young girls looking at it are persuaded to think like the Aids Action Committee of Massachusetts, not with the values of their parents. Also in The Pilot this week is news that the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States is coming next Sunday to a fundraiser for the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary. Archbishop Pietro Sambi is being honored and is expected to make some remarks. Gregory said the archbishop keeps a fairly low profile, but he's very inspiring and we are graced to have him. Scot said the seminary is one of the three seminaries in Boston, including St. John and Bl. John XXIII (which is for late vocations). Redemptoris Mater has 18 seminarians, which equal roughly 1.3 of Boston's seminarians. Fr. Roger said the nuncio has a dual role when he's sent to a country by the Pope. Firs,t he is essentially the pope's ambassador. Second, within the Church he is the pope's representative to the local Catholic church. One of his duties is to provide the names of potential candidates for becoming bishops. He has a huge impact by prioritizing particular qualities in the priests who are promoted for eventually becoming bishops. Fr. Roger got to know him as a deacon in the Holy Land where Archbishop Sambi was the Apostolic Nuncio to the Holy Land. He is a real mensch with a great sense of humor and is always very inspiring. The gala dinner is also honoring Jack Shaughnessy, who is a wonderful local businessman who has done so much for the Church in Boston and has been a big supporter of the seminaries. The dinner will be on May 15, 5pm at Lantana's in Randolph. For details email [seminary@rmsboston.org](mailto:seminary@rmsboston.org) In more news, Regis College has a new president. The local Catholic college in Weston, Mass., has appointed Dr. Antoinette Hays, who received her bachelor's degree in nursing from Boston College and received her doctorate from Brandeis. She also has a background in fine arts. Susan, who graduated from Regis, said the school's nursing program is relatively new and has taken off. Hays is the second lay leader of the college after her predecessor Dr. Mary Jane England. **5th segment:** * [We Must Learn How to Pray, says Pope](http://www.zenit.org/article-32485?l=english) * [Pope Benedict's remarks at his general audience of May 4, 2011](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20110504_en.html) On Wednesday, Pope Benedict launched a new series of catecheses for his weekly general audiences. The topic is on prayer. Fr. Roger thinks this will be one of the more significant teaching plans of the Pope's papacy. Pope Benedict has said that the principal job of the Church in leading people to salvation is to be a school of prayer. One of the greatest privileges in life is to be able to converse with God. We don't know how long this series will go on, but it follows a five-year series he has done on the saints. Now he is embarking on teaching us a pathway to sainthood. Fr. Roger said Pope Benedict will offer the fruit of his 40-years of teaching and study, building on and amplifying what has been written before, plus new raw materials that he will synthesize and present to us. Pope Benedict said yesterday prayer is part of the human experience, not just the Christian experience and that he still hopes to learn more about prayer. Susan said he's modeling for us. Also prayer cannot be taken for granted. Gregory said the Holy Father is saying that in many ways we need to be taught how to pray. Every civilization has prayed, from cavemen on, but in Christ we have been taught to call God our Father. "That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. For recordings and photos of today’s show and all previous shows, please visit our website: TheGoodCatholicLife.com. You can also download the app for your iPhone or Android device at WQOM.org to listen to the show wherever you may be. We thank our guests Gregory Tracy and Father Roger Landry. For our co-host, Father Susan Abbott, our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli & George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a great evening!"…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams**Today's guest(s):** Charlie Cox, star of the new film "There Be Dragons"; Fr. Chip Hines, Pastor of St. Mary, Wrentham, and co-host of CatholicTV's *Spotlight*; and Dr. Karen Bohlin, head of the Montrose School in Medfield, Massachusetts* ["There Be Dragons" official website](http://therebedragonsmovie.com/)* ["There Be Dragons" on IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1316616/)* [Roland Joffe, director](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0423646/)* [Charlie Cox as "Josemaria Escriva"](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0423646/)* ["There Be Dragons" website for resources to promote & discuss](http://dragonsresources.com/)* [St. Josemaria Escriva](http://www.josemariaescriva.info/)* [Opus Dei](http://www.opusdei.us/)* [*Spotlight,* the movie review show on CatholicTV](http://www.catholictv.com/catholic-movies.aspx)* Photos from the film: Courtesy of Mount Santa Fe**Today's topics:** The new film "There Be Dragons" and its depiction of moments from the life of St. Josemaria Escriva**A summary of today's show:** Scot interviews actor Charlie Cox, who portrays St. Josemaria Escriva in the new film "There Be Dragons" and then discusses with Fr. Matt Williams, Fr. Chip Hines, and Karen Bohlin the themes of the "dragons" in our lives: Unforgiveness, selfishness, doubt, isolation, as well as the example of consistent virtue and heroism by Josemaria.**1st segment:** Scot tells Fr. Matt Williams that this is the 40th broadcast of The Good Catholic Life. Today they discussed the new movie "There Be Dragons" which has strong Catholic themes. Fr. Matt said movies are important because they help us understand culture and life situations of different people. Scot said Cardinal Seán saw a screening of the movie a few months ago and asked the movie company to get in touch with Scot to do an episode of The Good Catholic Life on it. Fr. Matt said he had a sneak peek of the movie last July at a conference in Philadelphia.During today's show, Scot gave away tickets for the movie, general passes for any showing at any theatre as well as tickets to a special premiere in Framingham tomorrow night.**2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chip Hines, who co-hosts a move review show on CatholicTV. He also welcomed Karen Bohlin, who is hosting several showings of the movie so her students can see it. Montrose school's mission and vision are inspired by the life of St. Josemaria and the whole school community are excited by it. Karen said it will be relevant to young people because many of themes are applicable to today's culture and society. Also, because it focuses on the early lives of the protagonists and the life decisions they have to make.There Be Dragons is an epic action-adventure romance set during the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War. The story traces the lives of two young men, Josemaria Escriva (Charlie Cox) and Manolo Torres (Wes Bentley), childhood friends who are separated by the political upheaval of pre-war Spain to find themselves on opposite sides as war erupts. Choosing peace, Josemaria becomes a priest and struggles to spread reconciliation by founding the movement Opus Dei (work of God).Manolo chooses war and becomes a spy for the fascists. He becomes obsessed with a beautiful Hungarian revolutionary, Ildiko, who has joined the militia in pursuit of passion and purpose. But when Ildiko rejects him out of love for the courageous militia leader Oriol, Manolo's jealousy leads him down a path of betrayal.As personal and national battles rage, the characters' lives collide and their deepest struggles are illuminated through the fateful choices they make. Each will struggle to find the power of forgiveness over the forces tearing their lives and friendship apart.Scot played an interview with Charlie Cox that was taped earlier. Scot asked him what interested him in playing the role. He said he'd not heard of St. Josemaria before getting the script from his agent. What attracted him to the film the most was the director Roland Joffe, who directed The Mission and The Killing Fields. He was struck that Joffe was a kindhearted and generous man. Scot asked him what he did to prepare for the role as a priest who is now a saint in the Church. A few weeks before going to Buenos Aires where the movie was shot, he flew to Barcelona, Spain, where he met a historian and an Opus Dei priest to visit the places in his life, his birthplace, the seminary he attended, and then on a retreat where they talked about Josemaria and spent time living the life of a priest who would be on retreat. Walking in a cassock was one of the trickier things to learn. They spent a lot of time in meditation and prayer, praying the Rosary and doing the Way of the Cross. They helped him to become familiar with the man and his time in which he lived.Much of the film takes place during the Spanish Civil War. What does Charlie hope that people will see in his portrayal of Josemaria? He said there's no one moment in the film or even in Josemaria's life in general where you can say, "This man should be canonized." The power of the film and his life is that his life is filled with consistently selfless decisions. It's the way he faced the adversity and dealt with it that make Josemaria and extraordinary human being. What the film tries to show is that the time of the civil war was a time of confusion, anger, hatred and fear. It is a country torn apart. At one point the character of Manolo says, "I don't know who I'm fighting anymore." There was a time when the hatred was aimed at the Church and priests in particular, and to be known as a priest in Madrid would invite being shot. Charlie hopes people will see how Josemaria dealt with that time, not engaging in hatred and taking a side, but instead spread a message of love, forgiveness, and peace. Scot said there is a time for us today when we have to make "dragon" decisions. What message can we take away in the year 2011? Charlie said because it's so hard to tell a story about the Spanish Civil War, what you end up with is messy hate-fueled conflict, which is what war ends up being anyway. So the Spanish Civil War can be substituted for any conflict. In the movie, you see two characters: one makes consistently selfish, fear-based decisions for his life and the other who recognizes the temptation to make those decisions selfishly and angrily, but chooses to not do that. Scot said he takes away that there is a little bit of Josemaria in each of us and a little bit of Manolo in us. Charlie said that is exactly it: we should see a little bit of them in each of us and ask ourselves who we want to be.Scot said it is unlike typical saint movies, but it much more epic in scope. Charlie said his hope is that the film reaches everyone, who sees the story of a man who had an incredible journey and an incredible life who made a series of decisions that led to his canonization after his death. He expects the majority of the evidence to be Christians and Catholics, but there is a story and a message here for everyone regardless of religious beliefs. Even if you don't learn anything from the way he is portrayed, it is still a great story to be told and to be entertaining.Scot said there are many resources the production company built for good family conversations and good parish discussions. What are Charlie's hopes for what the movie will lead to for people? He said he thinks that Josemaria was asking for people to look inwards. Rather than look at the world and point out all the things that are wrong and all the things making you miserable, instead look inside and see if we're engaging in self-centered fear. Or are we looking to serve others and love God. Even in his life today, it's easy to feel like the victim and become miserable and depressed, but what Josemaria says is that in those moments, see what you're contributing to the world and to others and see what you might give to them.In the film, Josemaria says to his early followers: "Before trying to change the world, think about changing yourself." It's hard to do. Scot said it can lead to peace. Charlie added that if everyone lived like that, think about the kind of world we've be living in.**3rd segment:** Back live, Scot asks Karen and Chip about the interview. Karen said those who have seen the movie already, including the school's chaplain who knew St. Josemaria, say that Charlie's portrayal of him is very authentic. Fr. Chip said Charlie's face is very expressive in this performance and does a very good job. Much of acting is done through the face. Fr. Chip said one of the scenes that was well done was a birthday party and when Josemaria gets his new shoes, you see the authentic joy and the humanity of the saint comes through. Charlie Cox was able to convey the holiness and the humanity of the person.Scot said it's good to see holiness and sanctity as achievable by living in a very human way. Fr. Matt said right from the beginning when Manolo and Josemaria were just eight years old, you see how Josemaria was a boy just like us. The movie's tagline is that every saint has a past and future and you can see that in this portrayal of Josemaria. Fr. Matt said the great teaching is on the life of virtue. What we see is this life of selfless decisions.Karen said character is not just good behavior. It's about striving everyday to do everything with greater love and affection, not just to beef up a resume, but to serve others and God. They teach this in their school, that students should do everything they do with their utmost. Josemaria knows heartbreak from childhood and carries his demons with him through the movie and there's no sense that he meets God and all that goes away. She said in many ways the movie is more artistic than a traditional action drama.Fr. Matt said it's a great point that holiness and sanctity doers not remove us from the turmoil of daily life. Do the dragons of the past shape who we are or do we acknowledge them and name them and love God and move forward in holiness and sanctity.Fr. Chip said it's a key point that saints are regular people and Josemaria was certainly a regular guy. This search for holiness is everyone's quest and everyone's journey. He remarked how people often at funerals say that if they didn't have faith, they don't know how they would get through this. Some people are always looking for big giants signs, but their faith sometimes fades quickly. But the people who live a quiet solid faith often remain steadfast throughout life.Karen said she liked the way Josemaria was so loyal to Manolo throughout life. He stays in touch and reaches out to him in the most difficult moments in life. Even though Manolo rejects him, he is hurt, but says he will always be there for him. Josemaria is also a very real son and brother to his family. He evinces a love for freedom, but he also preaches forgiveness. He has an immense capacity to remain faithful to Christ's call to forgive your enemies. Joffe is taken by the those who can forgive and love under difficult circumstances.**4th segment:** It’s time to announce the winner of this week’s **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week is a set of passes to the movie "There Be Dragons." This week’s winner is **Frank Lawrence from Warwick, RI**. Congratulations to Frank! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit [WQOM.org](http://www.WQOM.org). For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for our weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program.**5th segment:** Scot asked Fr. Chip what he thought of the character of Manolo. He said it's someone you're rooting for to change himself. You can see the good Josemaria is striving for an achieving, while Manolo makes bad decisions at every turn. The actor portrayed it well. Seeing it on film, makes one think about his own life, the decisions we make, and whether we can change. Manolo never thought he could change. Scot said that everytime something bad happened to him, it just added on to the grimness he was showing.Karen said Manolo is wounded from childhood because he is never loved by his father. While he has wealth and material means, while Josemaria doesn't, he envies Josemaria's relationship with his father. He makes bad decisions as an adult, and while his conscience struggles, he doesn't see away back from the consequences. She thinks he's riddled with fear and the pursuit of happiness through power and conquest, but it doesn't satisfy.Scot said theme of the effect of fathers on sons is important here. Fr. Matt said he thinks of the scene where Josemaria's baby sister had died and he is angry at God. His father, who is in tears, embraces his son in love. There are no platitudes. It is symbolic of how Josemaria became a father to Manolo.Roland Joffe says the theme of the movie is reconciliation and how it sets us free before it sets free those we forgive. Karen said the producers have released testimonials from people who had seen the movie in Spain. One couple had been on the brink of divorce, and after the movie they sat in the theatre in tears and said the dragons were not in themselves. They agreed to not divorce after all. Another young woman had been unable to forgive her mother for a betrayal and after seeing the movie she was able to let go of the poison of the bitterness she had held against her mother. Even Joffe himself was able to reconcile with his mother as well.Scot said every character in the films deals with whether to forgive or keep themselves in their miserable state. Other dragons in the movie are selfishness, doubt, and isolation. Fr. Chip said another theme is every father in the movie through their relationships with their children helps or hinders the characters' ability to have a relationship with God our Father. Fr. Matt said forgiveness is a grace. To err is human but to forgive is divine. When people massacre your family or colleagues or priests, we cannot forgive in our humanness, but it must come from God. We must manifest faith in love to everyone, even if they're wrong. No one is free of human weakness.One of Scot's lines from the movie: "The only thing that is unforgivable is unforgiveness." The movie makes you think about the people in your life that you need to forgive, the dragons that hold you back from being the best person you can be.Scot said another theme is heroism and one of the reasons Josemaria is so inspiring in this movie. Karen said that before being heroic you must grapple with doubt. In the movie, characters wrestle with doubt about God or self or others, but what's heroic is to be reach out in faith to God. Josemaria risks his life to bring the sacraments to the people. While churches are being destroyed and priests being killed, he is hiding and celebrating underground Masses. Fr. Chip said that is one of the best scenes in the movie. Karen said Josemaria's call to his vocation is heroic.Fr. Chip said that while it's not a vocation story, it can inspire vocations because it shows the priesthood in a heroic life. Once can find the heroism of everyday life in how priests serve every day. Fr. Matt said it's doing little things with great love. Bl John Paul called Josemaria the saint of the ordinary. Josemaria shows us that that virtuous life is a happy life. Fr. Chip said the movie is re-energizing for the priestly life.That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. For recordings and photos of today’s show and all previous shows, please visit our website: TheGoodCatholicLife.com. You can also download the app for your iPhone or Android device at WQOM.org to listen to the show wherever you may be. We thank our guests Father Chip Hines and Dr. Karen Bohlin. For our co-host, Father Matt Williams, our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli, and George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a wonderful evening!…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor**Today's guest(s):** Rev. Mr. Ryan Rooney and Rev. Mr. Michael Wood, transitional deacons at St. John's Seminary* [Diocese of Springfield Vocations Office](http://www.myvocation.com/)* [Rev. Mr. Ryan Rooney's biography](http://www.myvocation.com/sems/rooney.html)* [Rev. Mr. Michael Wood's biography](http://www.myvocation.com/sems/wood.html)* [St. John's Seminary](http://www.sjs.edu)* [Survey of the Ordinands](http://www.usccb.org/vocations/classof2011/ordination-class-2011-report.pdf)**Today's topics:** Meeting deacons preparing the priesthood; Mary in seminarians' lives; statistics on 2011 ordinands**A summary of today's show:** Deacons Ryan Rooney and Michael Wood share their journeys to the priesthood, through challenges and triumphs. Ryan sings the Ave Maria and they discuss the importance of Mary in the lives of seminarians; finally, a look at the statistics of priests to be ordained throughout the US in 2011.**1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Chris and says it must be a joy to see the transitional deacons prepare for ordination. He said the two happiest days in the seminary are when new men arrive and when they ordain men for service in the Church. They are holding their annual deacons' night when they say farewell to men being ordained. They are also holding candidacy, for men entering their First Year of theology at the seminary. Thirteen men were honored at deacons' night and about 13 entering candidacy. About half are Vietnamese and being prepared at St. John's for priesthood in Vietnam. Fr. Chris said many men got up early to watch the beatification ceremonies and the rector played a video of John Paul praying the beatitudes. They also had a May crowning of the statue of the Blessed Mother.The two transitional deacons today are for the Diocese of Springfield and will be ordained at the beginning of June. St. John's has men from Providence, Springfield, Fall River, Worcester, Manchester, as well as a Boston. Scot said it will be great for men from all the different dioceses having relationships among one another. Fr. Chris said he always reminds the seminarians to make friends in the seminary in order to have priest friends down the road.**2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris are joined by transitional deacon Ryan Rooney. He got his call after his first year of high school. He'd taken a religious studies class and was shocked by the atheism of his peers. On a retreat that summer, he was prayed over and felt the power of the Holy Spirit. He felt a calling to evangelize his peers. He takes that as the moment he was called to the priesthood.His pastor and a mentor nurtured his call. They took him on other retreats, including trips to New York for Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Fr. Chris said he often sees Ryan being very involved in pro-life work, including praying in front of abortion clinics and going to the March for Life in DC every year. He thinks its an important witness for the seminarians to be visible there.In his junior year in high school, he went to the Dominican Republic for social service projects, so he worked at a reformatory for boys, teaching English, alongside about 12 priests from throughout Latin America. Scot said Ryan has had a lot of suffering in his life: a disabling injury to his knee and a diagnosis of Hodgkin's disease, all in his senior year in high school. He said to God that if He had been preparing Ryan for the priesthood that everything would be okay.For ordination, he looks forward to being called Father as a spiritual father, to grow in that vocation, to be able to administer the sacraments.Right now, he's working as a deacon at St. Mary Parish in Westfield. Along with the Mass duties, he's helped form the RCIA, preached in both Spanish and English, working with Spanish prayer groups. Then there's the other more mundane duties around the parish, like shoveling snow, etc. For his First Mass, he's invited his spiritual director, Fr. Bill Kelly from St. Mary, Dedham, to preach the homily. There will also be a lot of music because he's very musical. Later in the show, he will sing the Ave Maria for us.Fr. Chris asked Ryan if there's a saint that's been a significant influence in his life. He said St. Anthony of Padua is. Like St. Anthony, Ryan's mother was at first opposed to him becoming a priest. Anthony is also his father's middle name. And Ryan went to [Franciscan University of Steubenville](http://www.franciscan.edu). He was part of the priestly discernment program called the Pre-Theologate. It had the structure of seminary life on a co-ed campus. He found his fellow students to be very supportive of his discernment.* [St. Anthony of Padua](http://www.americancatholic.org/features/anthony/)From the seminary, he's most going to miss the immediate brotherhood they've had and now they will have to make it work over long distances. His moral theology professor, Fr. Romanus Cessario, grabs your attention through his teaching style and it's been very helpful for him.**3rd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Michael Wood. His first inkling of being a priest came about the age of 2 when he went to his cousin's confirmation. Seeing the bishop is his interesting clothes, but also his very engaging smile and demeanor, made an impression. He didn't know who he was but just that he seemed happy to be doing what he's doing. After Mass, the bishop talked to him and asked him if he wanted to be a priest. At two years old!At home, he would play act at the Mass, reading the Bible, giving his parents bread and wine, and bless them, which all these years later he realizes is the essentials of priesthood. While he later looked at other paths in his life, he came back to the priesthood in 7th grade. In the summer after sixth grade, he was diagnosed with a non-cancerous tumor in his leg. They had to take most of his hipbone to rebuild his ankle. After surgery, he was angry at God at first and spent a lot of time talking to Him. He eventually came to understand God's love. He learned to pray.Fr. Chris asked Ryan about his favorite saints. Ryan said Bl. John Paul has been a big influence, having read [George Weigel's biography](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060732032/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0060732032) and going to World Youth Days. He also has a devotion to St. Gianna Molla, a doctor who was diagnosed with cancer. She was told she should abort the child, but she refused in order to protect the child and eventually died from the cancer. What fascinates him most is that St. Gianna's day to day life embraced holiness leading up to that act of holy courage.* [St. Gianna](http://www.saintgianna.org/)Scot asked him about influences. His pastor at about 3rd grade asked him before Mass one day if he'd ever considered becoming a priest. Michael said No, because he wanted to have a family and kids. The priest told him that as a priest you can have many spiritual children.He looks forward after ordination to embracing the sacramental life, but also just entering into people's lives, from the joyous to the sad moments and bringing Christ into those moments, also seeing Christ working in those people.Right now, he's working in Blessed Sacrament Parish in Holyoke, Mass. What he'll miss most from St. John's is the community of seminarians, seeing the example of others, being together day in and day out to bounce ideas off one another.**4th segment:** Now discussing the role of the Blessed Mother in the life of seminarians, especially in May, the month of Mary. Deacon Ryan sang the Ave Maria.Scot said he hoped his pastor had him sing the Exsultet, and Ryan said he did. He said he's been in choirs since 2nd grade and he's kept it up through school.Scot asked him how his devotion to the Blessed Mother helped him discern. When he was in the Dominican Republic, he remembered a big mural of Our Lady of Sorrows, which affected him deeply. When he'd gone through his illnesses and got to Franciscan University, the chapel right next to his dorm room was Our Lady of Sorrows chapel. He also participated in the Total Consecration of St. Louis de Montfort like many Steubenville graduates.Fr. Chris said the seminary architecture attests to the importance of Mary to the seminarians. Someone pointed out that the Sulpicians who built the seminary placed [a statue of Mary just outside the chapel](http://sjs.edu/About/architecture.html), to show that it is through Mary we come to Christ. The image is of Mary, Regina Cleri, Queen of the Clergy. Mary was with the apostles in the upper room, with them as the Holy Spirit came upon them. Scot asked Michael how prayer to the Blessed Mother is part of the life of the seminary. Each man in the house expresses his devotion to Mary individually. Whether it's the communal Liturgy of the Hours, where Night Prayer ends with a Hymn to Our Lady, or an individual Rosary. Fr. Chris said when Pope John Paul II was shot in St. Peter's Square, he began to pray the Hail Mary and looked for an image of Mary in the square. Because h couldn't find one, he later had an image of Our Lady placed high on a wall of the apostolic palace.Scot said people will ask why we need to believe in the Blessed Mother if we believe in Jesus. Ryan said Jesus came to us through Mary. Everything of Jesus' human nature came through Mary. She was part of His life and should be part of our life. Fr. Chris said in the Sistine Chapel's Last Judgment, in the image of the Lord judging the living and the dead, Mary is right there with her hand in Jesus' hand, interceding for us at the hour of our death, like in the Hail Mary.Scot asked Michael how much the Rosary should be part of a prayer life, in addition to all the other kinds of prayer. He said the rosary leads us to Jesus, helps us to know Him better, to experience the mysteries of His life in the life of Our Lady. Everyone needs a mother, and where some may not have a biological mother they can turn, they have a spiritual mother in Mary.Scot said typically every Saturday is dedicated to Mary as are May and October. Why has the Church dedicated two months to Mary? Fr. Chris said the Church is teaching us what's essential and important. If you desire holiness, then you must desire a friendship with the Blessed Mother. He recalls being at St. Margaret's in Dorchester as a child with the nuns practicing the Rosary with them for weeks before the May crowning, honoring Mary. She is the perfect image for the Church, faithful, in prayer, in pilgrimage to heaven. She shows us how our lives should be.**5th segment:** The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate recently came out with a survey of priests about to be ordained to the priesthood. Some interesting statistics: 45% are ages 25-29, 27% are 30-34. In religious life, many more are in the older age bracket. Fr. Chris said this correlates with St. John's Seminary. He said Blessed John XXIII Seminary in Weston works primarily with men who are coming to the priesthood as a "second career" and later in life. The youngest priest to be ordained in the US this year is 25 and the oldest is 63.* [The Ordination Class of 2011](http://www.usccb.org/vocations/classof2011/)* [Survey of the Ordinands](http://www.usccb.org/vocations/classof2011/ordination-class-2011-report.pdf)Ryan said that at St. John's they have a seminarian in his 50s and he's a key part of the seminary life. Scot said he expects it will be helpful for vocations to have younger priests talking to young men.Scot said 70% of ordinands are born in the US and 30% outside. The biggest countries are Colombia, Mexico, Poland, Vietnam, and Philippines.Fr. Chris said there are seminarians at St. John's are from 5 continents, only Australia is missing. At the seminary every year they have an international food night to share their individual cultures. They have become amazingly ethnically diverse, even since Fr. Chris was ordained in 1998.96% of those to be ordained have at least one sibling. They are evenly distributed between oldest, middle, and youngest in birth order.The study also showed the lists of those who are most likely to encourage as well as discouragement from the priesthood. Michael said he was interested to find that non-Catholics were more supportive of the priesthood than fellow Catholics. Also 46% were discouraged from the priesthood by someone who was close to them; 51% by a parent of family member.Fr. Chris said the Cardinal says vocations is everyone's business and this is telling. Pope John Paul said it best: No priests, no Eucharist. That will conclude today’s presentation of The Good Catholic Life. For recordings and photos of today’s show and all previous shows, please visit our website: TheGoodCatholicLife.com. You can also download the app for your iPhone or Android device at WQOM.org to listen to the show wherever you may be. We thank our guests, Deacons Ryan Rooney and Michael Wood from St. John’s Seminary. For our co-host, Father Chris O’Connor, our Production team of Rick Heil, Anna Johnson, Justin Bell, Dom Bettinelli, and George Martell, this is Scot Landry saying thank YOU for listening, God bless you and have a wonderful evening!…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Cardinal Séan O'Malley, Andreas Widmer, Fr. Daniel Hennessey* [The Vatican's official tribute to Blessed John Paul II](http://www.johnpaulii.va/en/)* [The Diocese of Rome's Bl. John Paul II website](http://www.karol-wojtyla.org/En/Home%20Page.aspx)* **Today's topics:** Reflections on the Beatification of Pope John Paul II; Dedication of the radio studio to Bl. John Paul II**A summary of today's show:** Cardinal Sean, Fr. Dan Hennessey, and Andreas Widmer called in from Rome to give their own unique perspectives on the beatification ceremonies: as a cardinal, a priest, and a former Swiss Guard. They also imparted the flavor of the day, the peace and joy evident in the event even in a crowd numbering close to 2 million. Also, today, we dedicate our radio studio under the patronage of Bl. John Paul II.**1st segment:** Yesterday, on Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI beatified his predecessor, the now Blessed Pope John Paul II. This holy pope was a spiritual father to all of us and an inspiration. On today’s program, we’ll receive the reflections of 3 pilgrims who are familiar to listeners here on The Good Catholic Life. Later, we’ll hear from Father Dan Hennessey, the director of Vocations for the Archdiocese, and Andreas Widmer a former Swiss Guard who now lives in Boston. Cardinal Sean now joins Scot. The Cardinal said it was exciting to be there yesterday. The crowds were enormous, and luckily there were many opportunities for people to participate in different ways. With up to 2 million people in the city, it was very challenging to get up close to the ceremony itself. Last night, the Basilica was open until 3am and there was a column of people filing past the casket of Bl. John Paul. Today there was a Mass of Thanksgiving celebrated by Cardinal Bertone. There were pilgrims from all over the world, virtually every continent. Obviously, yhr Holy Father had touched so many people's lives. No one in history had ever been seen by so many people as John Paul. This ceremony gives testimony to the connectedness that people felt with him.Scot asked what it's like to know someone he knew so well become a blessed in the Church. Cardinal Sean never thought he would grow so old that he would know two people who were beatified: John Paul and Mother Theresa. He was with the Holy Father many times as both a priest and a bishop. He was extraordinarily gifted and real grace for the Church. It's wonderful in our lifetime to have the opportunity to celebrate his ministry and his life.Scot said Pope John Paul wasn't beatified for his papacy, but for his holiness and virtues. He asked Cardinal Sean for any reflections on his holiness. Cardinal Sean said he was impressed how, in the midst of a chaos of a papal visit, wherever it was, he had the ability to concentrate and pray and be recollected. He's sure that was the source of his strength. That was evidence of just how profound his spirituality was. Cardinal Sean said it looked like the entire College of Cardinals was present and he was pleased that Pope Benedict asked all the cardinals to concelebrate. Even a number of retired cardinals in poor health came to Rome to be part of it.Scot asked how Rome was different than all the Cardinal's many trips. There were many people from all over: lots of French and Spanish, also many from Africa. Many people slept in the St. Peter's Square and along the Via della Conciliazione. Scot said he followed many of the Catholic bloggers and Twitterers who were writing during the whole night from the vigil and through the Mass. When Cardinal Sean went by the Basilica last night about 11pm and there was still a huge column. Cardinal Sean also ran into some of those attending today's Vatican meeting of Catholic bloggers, including Anna Arco of the *Catholic Herald* in London.**2nd segment:** Now joined by Fr. Daniel Hennessey from the Basilica of St. Paul-Outside-the-Walls in Rome. He attended the Saturday night vigil at Circus Maximus. He thinks there were several hundred thousand people and it was very peaceful. There was a magnificent of Our Lady and Child. There were several witness interviews, including the religious sister who was cured of Parkinson's and whose miracle was the one that allowed Bl. John Paul to be beatified.On Sunday, he had to get up very early. It wasn't easy to get through the crowds and the security checkpoints, but eventually they got through to sit in the section reserved for priests. He got to sit in front of about 90 percent of the millions who were present. As vocation director, Fr. Dan has talked to a lot of seminarians about the affect John Paul may have had on their lives. To say it was beautiful was an understatement. He believes Bl. John Paul is interceding for us for vocations right now. As a priest himself, he had a total sense of gratitude for the gift of the priesthood. God uses each person, especially priests, as instruments. He was struck how God used John Paul as an instrument to touch so many people. It seemed every person there had a personal connection with John Paul.After the Mass, there was announcement that everyone was welcome to enter the Basilica and venerate the relics. Hundreds of thousands of people started filing in. They closed it at 3am to prepare for today's Thanksgiving Mass. Because of where he was seated, Fr. Dan was able to go in within about an hour. Inside he was struck by the numbers of the infirm who were being brought in and a wide variety of people of all different age groups: families, youth groups, elderly. It was a sign of the universality of his pontificate.Fr. Dan plans to visit the Gesu church, where St. Ignatius' remains are, to celebrate Mass and then go to St. Peter's Mass again before he leaves. He said he prayed for the missionary work of The Good Catholic Life at St. Paul Outside-the-walls.**3rd segment:** Joining Scot now from Rome is Andreas Widmer, former Swiss Guard now living in Boston. He wanted to go to Rome as a pilgrim. As a former Guard he had many privileges and many opportunities for something extra. But now he wanted to be at the beatification as himself, a pilgrim. He wanted to be with the people and a part of the whole event. He ended up standing in the square behind St. Peter's Square. Being tall, he had a good view. Even though there were 1.5 million people, the experience was one of peace and joy. Even though there was hardly space to put both feet on the crowd, there was a fraternity and peacefulness. No one pushed, no one raised their voice. It is a very deep experience of the universal Church.The weather forecast was for rain on Sunday, but it never rained all day. Instead it was blue sky and sun. In front of Andreas was a very young Franciscan who put up his hood to cover his head from the sun. There some people from Argentina, an elderly Italian couple, some Frenchmen, and of course many Poles.Andreas knew Pope John Paul very well in his life, what was it like to be there. He said that John Paul was present in the crowd. There was a jovial atmosphere. People who loved him came together and lived out his spirit.Pope Benedict has made some interesting and positive changes to the beatification ceremony. First, there was the reading of the proclamation and the Pope's approval. The picture of Bl. John Paul was unveiled and the crowd went wild. After that, they had an announcement in 10 languages asking for a prayerful atmosphere for Mass, no clapping and no banners or flags. There were several times in the Mass when it was so quiet and prayerful that he could hear the doves flying above the street.Scot asked what Communion was like. He was in a non-official section, even though there were no official tickets for the event. So he was afraid they wouldn't receive Communion. They did receive, but it took so long that the Mass was continuing on despite them. He believes there was enough for everyone.Andreas was able to venerate John Paul's casket. He said he admires the pilgrims who stood for the Mass and then stood for another 4 hours waiting to see the casket and they only get a few moments to see as they walked past. Andreas said he used his connections with the Swiss Guard to be able to pray next to the casket for a while. There were a lot of people praying, quietly. It was very reverent and quiet.Andreas is also in Rome for the annual swearing-in of the new Swiss Guards on May 6. His nephew is going to be sworn in for the Guard this year. It's also Andreas' 25th anniversary since he joined the Swiss Guard.**4th segment:** Last Tuesday on The Good Catholic Life, Dr. David Franks from St. John’s Seminary asked for our prayers as his wife Dr. Angela Franks was prepared to deliver their 5th child on Tuesday 5/3. Well, David texted me earlier today letting me know that Maximilian Joseph Franks didn’t want to wait until Tuesday. He was born at 2:27am this morning. 6 pounds, 9 ounces and 18 inches. Angela is doing well. Congratulations to David, Angela, Maximilian Joseph and his 4 older siblings in the Franks household. Pope Benedict is the first pope in 1,000 years to beatify his predecessor and it was a moving day for him yesterday.* [Pope Benedict's homily for the beatification Mass](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20110501_beatificazione-gpii_en.html)>Six years ago we gathered in this Square to celebrate the funeral of Pope John Paul II. Our grief at his loss was deep, but even greater was our sense of an immense grace which embraced Rome and the whole world: a grace which was in some way the fruit of my beloved predecessor’s entire life, and especially of his witness in suffering. Even then we perceived the fragrance of his sanctity, and in any number of ways God’s People showed their veneration for him. For this reason, with all due respect for the Church’s canonical norms, I wanted his cause of beatification to move forward with reasonable haste. And now the longed-for day has come; it came quickly because this is what was pleasing to the Lord: John Paul II is blessed!Later on he said:>Today is the Second Sunday of Easter, which Blessed John Paul II entitled Divine Mercy Sunday. The date was chosen for today’s celebration because, in God’s providence, my predecessor died on the vigil of this feast. Today is also the first day of May, Mary’s month, and the liturgical memorial of Saint Joseph the Worker. All these elements serve to enrich our prayer, they help us in our pilgrimage through time and space; but in heaven a very different celebration is taking place among the angels and saints! Then he said:>Dear brothers and sisters, today our eyes behold, in the full spiritual light of the risen Christ, the beloved and revered figure of John Paul II. Today his name is added to the host of those whom he proclaimed saints and blesseds during the almost twenty-seven years of his pontificate, thereby forcefully emphasizing the universal vocation to the heights of the Christian life, to holiness, taught by the conciliar Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium. All of us, as members of the people of God – bishops, priests, deacons, laity, men and women religious – are making our pilgrim way to the heavenly homeland where the Virgin Mary has preceded us, associated as she was in a unique and perfect way to the mystery of Christ and the Church. Karol Wojtyla took part in the Second Vatican Council, first as an auxiliary Bishop and then as Archbishop of Kraków. He was fully aware that the Council’s decision to devote the last chapter of its Constitution on the Church to Mary meant that the Mother of the Redeemer is held up as an image and model of holiness for every Christian and for the entire Church. This was the theological vision which Blessed John Paul II discovered as a young man and subsequently maintained and deepened throughout his life. A vision which is expressed in the scriptural image of the crucified Christ with Mary, his Mother, at his side. This icon from the Gospel of John (19:25-27) was taken up in the episcopal and later the papal coat-of-arms of Karol Wojtyla: a golden cross with the letter “M” on the lower right and the motto “Totus tuus”, drawn from the well-known words of Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort in which Karol Wojtyla found a guiding light for his life: “Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt. Accipio te in mea omnia. Praebe mihi cor tuum, Maria – I belong entirely to you, and all that I have is yours. I take you for my all. O Mary, give me your heart” (Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, 266).>>In his Testament, the new Blessed wrote: “When, on 16 October 1978, the Conclave of Cardinals chose John Paul II, the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, said to me: ‘The task of the new Pope will be to lead the Church into the Third Millennium’”. And the Pope added: “I would like once again to express my gratitude to the Holy Spirit for the great gift of the Second Vatican Council, to which, together with the whole Church – and especially with the whole episcopate – I feel indebted. I am convinced that it will long be granted to the new generations to draw from the treasures that this Council of the twentieth century has lavished upon us. As a Bishop who took part in the Council from the first to the last day, I desire to entrust this great patrimony to all who are and will be called in the future to put it into practice. For my part, I thank the Eternal Shepherd, who has enabled me to serve this very great cause in the course of all the years of my Pontificate”. And what is this “cause”? It is the same one that John Paul II presented during his first solemn Mass in Saint Peter’s Square in the unforgettable words: “Do not be afraid! Open, open wide the doors to Christ!” What the newly-elected Pope asked of everyone, he was himself the first to do: society, culture, political and economic systems he opened up to Christ, turning back with the strength of a titan – a strength which came to him from God – a tide which appeared irreversible. By his witness of faith, love and apostolic courage, accompanied by great human charisma, this exemplary son of Poland helped believers throughout the world not to be afraid to be called Christian, to belong to the Church, to speak of the Gospel. In a word: he helped us not to fear the truth, because truth is the guarantee of liberty. To put it even more succinctly: he gave us the strength to believe in Christ, because Christ is Redemptor hominis, the Redeemer of man. This was the theme of his first encyclical, and the thread which runs though all the others.And at the end of his homily:>Finally, on a more personal note, I would like to thank God for the gift of having worked for many years with Blessed Pope John Paul II. I had known him earlier and had esteemed him, but for twenty-three years, beginning in 1982 after he called me to Rome to be Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, I was at his side and came to revere him all the more. My own service was sustained by his spiritual depth and by the richness of his insights. His example of prayer continually impressed and edified me: he remained deeply united to God even amid the many demands of his ministry. Then too, there was his witness in suffering: the Lord gradually stripped him of everything, yet he remained ever a “rock”, as Christ desired. His profound humility, grounded in close union with Christ, enabled him to continue to lead the Church and to give to the world a message which became all the more eloquent as his physical strength declined. In this way he lived out in an extraordinary way the vocation of every priest and bishop to become completely one with Jesus, whom he daily receives and offers in the Eucharist.>>Blessed are you, beloved Pope John Paul II, because you believed! Continue, we implore you, to sustain from heaven the faith of God’s people. Amen.**5th segment:** Two weeks ago a benefactor, who wishes to remain anonymous, contacted me with the interest of helping to support the expansion and reach of The Good Catholic Life program. The gift was very generous and I asked if there was a favorite saint that the benefactor would want to suggest to dedicate the studio to and the response was “Pope John Paul II.” So how we are pleased to be able to dedicate this radio studio to Blessed John Paul II. Father Matt Williams is here to lead us in the prayer of blessing and dedication. >God our Father, in your wise and loving providence you raise up men and women, outstanding in holiness, to proclaim the Gospel of your Son, Jesus Christ.>>In our generation, you chose and anointed Blessed John Paul II to be shepherd and father of your pilgrim Church on earth. >>Ablaze with the radiance of your Son, John Paul traveled to the farthest corners of the earth to bear witness to Jesus Christ, the light of the nations; in season and out of season, whether convenient or inconvenient.>>His example teaches and inspires us to “be not afraid” to walk in justice, to proclaim the Truth that sets us free, and to experience the depths of your love and mercy.>>He encouraged the Church in his address for the 34th World Communications Day in 2000 to proclaim Christ through the Media in the new millennium. He said: >“The impact of the media in today's world can hardly be exaggerated. The advent of the information society is a real cultural revolution, making the media "the first Areopagus of the modern age" (Redemptoris Missio, 37), where facts and ideas and values are constantly being exchanged. Through the media, people come into contact with other people and events, and form their opinions about the world they live in - indeed, form their understanding of the meaning of life… The proclamation of Christ must be part of this experience.>>…Naturally, in proclaiming the Lord, the Church must make energetic and skilful use of her own means of communication - books, newspapers and periodicals, radio, television, and other means. And Catholic communicators must be bold and creative in developing new media and methods of proclamation.>>…May the media give voice to Jesus himself, clearly and joyously, with faith and hope and love. To proclaim Christ in the media at the dawn of the new millennium is not only a necessary part of the Church's evangelizing mission; it is also a vital, inspiring and hope-filled enrichment of the media's message. May God abundantly bless all those who honour and proclaim his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the vast world of the means of social communication.”>>Now that John Paul has crossed the threshold of hope into the heavenly kingdom, we ask you Father, through his intercession, to pour out your graces upon the Archdiocese’s efforts of evangelization, and in a particular way- this Radio Studio for The Good Catholic Life program. >>Instructed by John Paul’s teaching, we pray that we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ, the sole redeemer of humankind, and proclaim HIM with the power, the breath and the fire of the Holy Spirit. >>May all listeners come to know and discover the truth that they are a unique and unrepeatable gift from the heart of God. And may they discover in Jesus Christ and His Bride, the Church, the answer and remedy to their heart’s deepest questions and longings.>>Father, we ask you now to bless this Radio Studio, for your glory. United under the intercession and maternal care of our Heavenly Mother Mary, we say along with Blessed John Paul II, Totus Tuus Maria. >>We consecrate this Studio to you dear Father, through the powerful intercession of our Lady, and your servant Blessed John Paul II, and we give to you our “FIAT”-“let it be done unto me according to your Word.”>>And may almighty God bless this Radio Studio, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.>>Mary, Star of the New Evangelization – Pray for us!>Blessed John Paul II – Pray for us!Last night, Fr. Matt Williams preached a Mass on the occasion of the ending Sr. Olga Yaqob's long service in the chaplaincy at Boston University. He noted that several significant events this weekend point us to heaven: the royal wedding points us to the sacrament of marriage and the heavenly marriage banquet of the Lamb of God; the beatification of John Paul; and Sr. Olga's Mass on the feast of Divine Mercy and how that Mercy brings us to heaven.Sr. Olga spoke at the Boston Catholic Women's Conference several years ago, telling her story about coming from Iraq to now being asked by Cardinal Sean to found a new religious order.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell**Today's guest(s):** Msgr. Cornelius McRae, currently Pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Parish, Norwood* ["Norwood pastor going back to Rome" (The Pilot, 4/15/11)](http://pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13233)* [Casa Santa Maria](http://www.pnac.org/casa-santa-maria/about-casa-santa-maria/)* [St. Catherine of Siena Parish, Norwood](http://www.stcatherinenorwood.org/)**Today's topics:** Msgr. Connie McRae's reflections on 50 years in the priesthood, his current pastorate, and his impending return to ministry in Rome**1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Mark O'Connell back the program. Last Friday, Fr. Mark was at the cathedral with Cardinal Sean for Good Friday. Fr. Mark said he is looking forward to seeing the beatification of Pope John Paul II this weekend.Msgr. McRae, our guest, was a spiritual director for Scot when Scot was a seminarian for a year at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Fr. Mark said Msgr.McRae was a close friend of Fr. Mark's uncle, Fr. David Delaney. They owned a house together with two other priests many years ago. When Fr. Mark was in Rome for four years, he lived at Casa Santa Maria, where Msgr. McRae will be serving starting in June. Those four years coincided with Msgr. McRae's previous years in Rome.**2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark welcome Msgr. McRae. He recalls the wonderful days he shared in Rome with Scot and Fr. Mark and he's not unhappy with the idea of returning to Rome. Msgr. McRae remebers Fr. Mark as a toddler visiting his uncle's house at the beach. He also remembers Fr. Mark's first day in Rome. He just came off the plane and was very nervous, saying that he wasn't going to venture out the door into Rome.Scot said the Casa Santa Maria is in the heart of Rome, right near the Trevi Fountain. He asked Fr. Mark how much of an affect these four priests he knew as a child on his vocation. He remembers that they were happy in their lives and that their house was a joyful house and that had an influence this summer.This summer will mark 50 years as a priest for Msgr. McRae. The last 11 have been spent at St. Catherine of Siena in Norwood, one of the largest and busiest in the archdiocese. Msgr. said it is a parish that welcomes priests. They've had a number of priest gatherings throughout the year. He said the parish is unique and is about 120 years old. The church building celebrated its 100th anniversary this past Christmas. The people, even more than the building, are astonishing. They have two Masses during the day and they need four people distributing Communion at the morning Mass during Lent. He's trying to summarize in his own mind what it has been like. He believes there have been dramatic changes in his life as a priest. Fr. Mark said the past 10 years have been a time of great challenges in Boston and they correspond to his time in the parish. Msgr. said he recalls having to do a listening session in the parish at the beginning of the sex-abuse scandal. St. Catherine's was an island of peace where no abuse had occurred. They had a powerful experience of listening over the course of a night to the pain of the people who came to the session. He's learned that whatever shame or anger or frustration priests have felt is nothing to compared to that suffered by those who were abused.Fr. Mark said there's also been a decline in number of priests and closings of parishes in the past 10 years and he's had to guide the people in this time. Msgr. said he was aided by the people of the parish and the parishes that were closed.Scot asked what it's like to be pastor of such a large parish, where for example, there are so many first communions and so many weddings. Msgr. said once the parish had seven priests, but isn't that way now. He said it's important to have a clear vision of why they are there: They are there to assist in building and continuing to build a faith community. It's easy to create division. It's hard to build unity in the Lord. As pastor,m if you have a light schedule, you have a 12-14 hour day.One thing he will miss terribly is going out every day in the morning, meeting the schoolchildren and the parents in the yard and leading them into the school and leading them in morning prayer. This is the most important lesson: Forming a good habit of learning how to speak to God.Msgr. said the hardest part of leaving is leaving behind the people who he's come to love so much. Every Sunday, at every Mass he wasn't celebrating, he stood at the door of the church, greeting the people as they come into the church, rain or shine or snowstorm.He thinks it elementary and important to be greeting people, both enlisting their help, but also getting to know you and trust you, so they will talk to you. What kind of signal do parishes give when there is no welcome? We must be ambassadors, to be a welcoming faith community. It's not just the pastor, but everyone in the parish.He has a parishioner who runs hospitality for families after each morning Mass on Sundays. They invite families after Mass to welcome them. He also has a staff member to is working to encourage family Mass. Msgr. McRae also has a big staff to assist him in his parish.**3rd segment:** When Msgr. McRae first went to Rome in the late 90s, the rector of the seminary was then-Msgr. Timothy Dolan (now the Archbishop of New York). He was spiritual director at the North American College. It was a very lively time, but he wanted to come back to Boston to be a pastor. The last time he'd been in a parish was in 1969. From that time, he served on the faculty of St. John Seminary and as rector of Pope John XXIII Seminary in Weston and then as spiritual director in Rome.Scot asked what it's like to serve as priest in Rome, where so many saints and martyrs have walked and where one experiences the universality of the Church. Msgr. said all the online social networking with people all over the world that people do on Facebook today is just the modern version of the global village people have experienced in Rome for hundreds of years. He looks forward to working with priests doing graduate studies in Rome. In a parish, there hasn't been a lot of time to do much studying and engaging in the world of ideas. He's looking forward to engaging people in what they are studying. Fr. Mark said Msgr. has been thinking about the spirituality of diocesan priesthood. Among other things, he says that involves in the willingness to do administration. If you are the head of a household with a family, your vocation includes taking care of the home. A priest who doesn't take care of his parish's facility and other material matters, then people won't feel comfortable and welcome. Our vicar general, Fr. Richard Erikson, often speaks of the ministry of administration, which has the word "ministry" right in the middle of it. Good administration allows the parish to be healthier and reinforce the good things people bring to the parish ministry.Msgr. said that with fewer priests, the demands are getting more and more piled on fewer people. In Rome, he will try to convince the younger priests of the need to help each other bear the burdens and joys of being priests. He says people don't have a fair sense of the priest's needs. If they have a spiritual need, they expect you to be there.Fr. Mark said the priests who arrive at the Casa in Rome are often shell-shocked at being out of a parish and back in studies, while the men who have been in Rome for a while are somewhat out of touch with being a diocesan priest. Msgr.'s role will be to keep them in touch with what it means to be a priest and to understand that their present assignment of study is as much a priestly role as being a parish priest.Msgr. said the priests in Rome have a time to pray and to think, building up a spiritual reservoir which will be tapped when they come back to do whatever the bishop is going to ask of them. That time to pray and think is not a luxury. The Church needs priests who will continue to be students to serve the people well. Scot believes we may have the most educated laity in Boston, priests need to be well-educated in order to preach effectively. Msgr. said the people of St. Catherine's are very varied and alert to what is going on around them, but at his previous parish in Belmont, he had nine Nobel Prize winners in the parish.Scot asked Msgr. what a spiritual director does. Msgr. said that every day as Christians we have to discern the Lord's will for us. To know what God wants and to do it is the source and peace of our life. He will be working with the men to look at their past and their future to know and do God's will.At St. Catherine's, he doesn't have the luxury to meet with every person, so the preaching has to help them to be able to do God's will in whatever their state in life they have now.**4th segment:** Considering the [readings for Sunday Mass](http://www.usccb.org/nab/050111.shtml) for May 1, the Second Sunday of Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday* Gospel (John 20:19-31)>On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews,Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”>>When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”>>Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” >>Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”>>Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” >>Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.Scot said the Apostles were in the room, huddling in fear, but after this encounter with Christ they had the courage to proclaim the Gospel and eventually to be martyred.This was also mainly about Thomas who had a strong skepticism, despite the testimony of his 10 brothers in the Lord. Fr. Mark said to consider that Thomas was not in the community. Sometimes when we're not with the Church, not in the community, we can become more skeptical. But when we experience the Lord in the community, in the Church, then we no longer need that proof because we've already received all that we need.Scot said Thomas might have been thinking that Jesus had let him down, by not fulfilling Thomas' expectations. When we think of being let down by the Church at times, Christ comes to us and embraces us.Msgr. McRae said there is a lot of competition this weekend for people's attention. People will be thinking of the royal wedding and of the beatification of John Paul and other things. A homily must connect people's lives with what is revealed in the Readings. Msgr. McRae pointed out that today would normally be the feast of St. Catherine and the royal wedding was chosen on this date for that reason.Fr. Mark said he will never think of this Gospel in the same way after Cardinal Sean said in his first homily in Boston to the victims of abuse that they are the wounds in the Body of Christ. Msgr. said Thomas told the apostles he would not believe until he saw the wounds and now Fr. Mark has identified those wounds.Fr. Mark also said the Christ comes in His new glorified Body. Pope Benedict has said that the resurrected Body is a like a great leap forward in human evolution. Christ does not just pass through locked doors, but also through the locked door of Death. Msgr. said the children at his parish last week drew pictures for the Stations of the Cross and some wrote prayers for the Stations and he sees that they have seen the wounds of Christ and are prepared for this Gospel on the second Sunday of Easter.Scot said there's a certain amount of Thomas in all of us and a certain amount of the other apostles. While Thomas gets a bad rap, he is the one who responds to Christ with the Act of Faith, identifying Him as God.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott**Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the official newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the official newspaper of the Boston archdiocese* [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com)* [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.com)**Today's topics:** An offensive state-funded website; pro-euthanasia billboard; local and worldwide reaction to Pope John Paul's beatification**A summary of today's show:** Scot and Susan discuss the news of the week with Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry, including an offensive, state-funded website telling teens abortion is no big deal; a new billboard in Boston advertising euthanasia; and local and worldwide reaction to the beatification of Pope John Paul II, including our hosts' and guests' personal recollections of the Pope.**1st segment:** Scot catches up with Susan. She said her parish this week confirmed 70 teens and 2 adults, giving the whole parish a spiritual high. Bishop Allue celebrated the confirmation. Scot recalls that in 1979, Susan's pastor Msgr. Helmick was in charge of the papal visit of Pope John Paul II to Boston along with Fr. James McCune. Scot has been going through the archives of the archdiocese, looking for photos of the papal visit.**2nd segment:** Scot and Susan welcome Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry to the show. On Wednesday, April 20, there was a story in the Boston Herald profiling a website called "Maria Talks" and then a column the next by Michael Graham about the site. The Pilot this week has a story on legislators who want to pull state-funding from the site. The site is partly funded by the state of Massachusetts and run by the AIDS Action Committee and is aimed to be sex education of teens. It includes graphic content on sexual activity and downplays the reality of abortion, saying it's easier than it sounds and that it's not a big deal. It also describes in great detail how to avoid telling parents about an abortion.Susan said that as a mother and a grandmother she is outraged. Massachusetts Citizens for Life sounded the alarm on this site. She recalls that while you may need parental permission to have ears pierced, there is state-funded information on how to get an abortion without parents. Susan said the information they provide is itself factually flawed.Scot said there is a bipartisan group of lawmakers asking Gov. Deval Patrick to take down the website. Fr. Landry said that while people are always telling pro-lifers not to force their morality on them, here they are forcing their immorality on us. Mis- and partial information is being peddled to young people. It's another sign for us to awaken from our slumber, They aren't just trying to force this immorality on our young people and they're trying to make us pay the bill for it. He hopes that we'll keep our vigilance up because this is just scratching the surface of the larger effort to advance the anti-life cause.NARAL Pro-Choice America calls the site "terrific". Gregory said this is abortion distortion: The normal rules of life somehow don't seem to apply when abortion is involved. Children can't bring aspirin to school, but they can get abortions without parental involvement.* [MariaTalks.com](http://mariatalks.com/index.php) **Warning: Graphic Content*** ["Site: No stigma in abortion" (Boston Herald, 4/20/11)](http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1332044)* ["Mass. lawmakers say sex ed website 'disgusting'" (Boston Globe/AP, 4/26/11)](http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/04/26/mass_lawmakers_say_sex_ed_web_site_disgusting/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Local+news)* ["Defunding solves a problem like Maria", Michael Graham (Boston Herald, 4/21/11)](http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view/2011_0421defunding_solves_problem_like_maria/)Another local story is a Boston billboard outside the Callahan tunnel in East Boston advertising euthanasia. The billboard is paid for by the Final Exit Network. Kris Mineau of the Mass. Family Institute said that the group is looking for low-hanging fruit to drum up support for a pro-suicide bill. Fr. Landry said that when people get to the stage of suffering when they start to think they just want to die, that's when people need more help to live, not a message that they should die. They should be told that they still have much to offer, dying with real dignity. Fr. Tad Pacholczyk of National Catholic Bioethic Center said: "All of us will ourselves invariably die, with 100 percent certainty. Acknowledging the impending arrival of death, and seeking to pass from this life at home surrounded by loved ones can be a great grace."Susan said you often hear people claim that there needs to be a quality of life, but that's the beginning of the slippery slope, if history teaches us anything. Also, she said, the last days of Pope John Paul II taught us much about suffering with dignity, teaching us to live with suffering and to die with dignity.* ["Boston billboard promotes euthanasia" (The Pilot, 4/22/11)](http://pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13248)**3rd segment:** Fr. Landry wrote an editorial in this week's Anchor on exactly why John Paul is being beatified. He framed it in terms of a conversation the pope had in 1995 with George Weigel as Weigel was about to write a biography of the pope. He said the only way to understand him was to understand him as first and foremost a follower of Jesus Christ, that all the fruit he had borne as pope came from the source. A beatification is not an exaltation of a papacy, but an acknowledgement that John Paul lived as a virtuous disciple and that God worked a miracle through the intercession of the pope to show that John Paul can be a model we can follow to grow in the Christian life. Scot said George Weigel writes this week about the beatification and says he worries that we will lose sight of the Pope as a man. When a saint is made, he becomes removed from everyday life and untouchable, an ideal that we can't imagine being. But we are all called to holiness and sanctification. John Paul lived in a radical way, leaning on Christ for strength and guidance, and we're all capable of living this way.Fr. Landry said the Holy Father clarified the standard by which we are to live our lives. John Paul had encountered an attitude in the world that people approach life as a pass-fail course, where we just hope to just get by and into heaven through purgatory. Instead we should strive to get that A+ and doing all the best. The odds that someone striving to get an A will instead fail is much less than someone who sets his sights low and just hopes to get by. God wouldn't call us to anything unless He was willing to give us all that we need to achieve it. John Paul said we need to take prayer seriously, we need to take Mass as the source and summit of existence, we need to be cleansed through confession, to listen to the Word of God and let it take on our flesh, to share the gift of the Word with others, and we need to reach out for God's grace that is extended to us. This is the lesson he preached and lived in his example.* Fr. Roger Landry's editorial in The Anchor on the beatification (to be posted later)* George Weigel's column in The Pilot and The Anchor (to be posted later)* ["George Weigel slams critics of John Paul II's fast track to sainthood" (Catholic News Agency, 4/25/11)](http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/george-weigel-slams-critics-of-john-paul-iis-fast-track-to-sainthood/)**4th segment:** Both The Anchor and The Pilot have testimonies from local people on the life of Pope John Paul. Many people talk about meeting the Holy Father in Rome, sometimes encountering him in his private chapel for Mass. Fr. Roger had the privilege five times. He was always struck by the intensity of his prayer, how focused he was on Jesus when all other eyes were on him. He was a living sign that Jesus Christ is alive. The same Jesus who called Peter from fishing boat called Karol Wojtyla from his home in Wadowice, Poland. Fr. Landry had the experience of preaching the Gospel of Matthew 16:18 as he stood facing Pope John Paul in a private Mass from just four feet away.On his first trip to the United States, Pope John Paul came to Boston in 1979. Susan was a member of the papal choir at the Mass. The choir was directed by then-Fr. Strahan, who composed some settings for the Mass. On the day of the Mass, it poured rain and her red robes stained her clothes underneath. In The Pilot this week, former Boston mayor and former US Ambassador Ray Flynn to the Vatican first met John paul in 1969 when he was Cardinal Wojtyla. Flynn said the result of that meeting was a changing in his outlook on life and a desire to help the poorest and the voiceless. He said that in 1979, when he was a city councilman, he and his wife helped with people who were handicapped attending the papal Mass in the rain on Boston Common.The Pilot talked briefly with Cardinal Sean before he went to Rome for the beatification. He said, "His ministry has a huge impact on the Church and the world. He was always warm and gracious. He was interested in people and energized particularly by young people."Both [CatholicTV](http://www.catholictv.com) and EWTN will have extensive coverage, including the Vigil Mass on Saturday night at 8pm and then on Sunday morning. They will also have many other features on the life of Pope John Paul II. On Monday, the first memorial Mass using the prayers for John Paul led by the Vatican Secretariat of State, Cardinal Bertone.>On Saturday, April 30, at 8 pm, CatholicTV will air a special vigil from the Circus Maximus in Rome. Join pilgrims from around the world and see a video message from Pope Benedict XVI during this broadcast on the eve of the beatification.>>On Monday, May 2 at noon & 8 p.m., CatholicTV will broadcast a special Mass of Thanksgiving for Blessed John Paul from Saint Peter’s Square. This Mass will presided over by the Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone.The beatification Mass will air live at 2:30 a.m. Eastern time and will be re-broadcast at noon. Scot said anyone who plans to get up at 1am to watch the royal wedding tomorrow better get up early on Sunday for the beatification Mass.**5th segment:** The beatification will occur on Divine Mercy Sunday. He died six years ago on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday. The Divine Mercy devotion was very important to him. When John Paul was in the clandestine seminary in Krakow during World War II, he worked a day job in a chemical factory. That was located across the street from the convent where St. Faustina received the messages of Divine Mercy from Jesus. As a young priest he also had a great dedication to hearing confessions, reportedly hearing each confession for up to an hour. He always said that in confession the whole Church is present for that one penitent sinner. When he was a young archbishop, he promoted the cause in the face of criticism. And as Pope he wrote an encyclical on Divine Mercy and then made St. Faustina the first saint canonized in the new millennium. At that Mass he declared the first Sunday after Easter will be known as the feast of Divine Mercy.Fr. Roger told a story of being in St. Peter's Square on that day and being approached by a young man asking to hear his confession. More and more people lined up to the impromptu confessions and Fr. Roger heard confessions for more than 2 hours. From that time on, he has had a great devotion to the Divine Mercy.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams**Today's guest(s):** Andreas Widmer, former Swiss Guard to Pope John Paul II and CEO of Seven Fund* [The Swiss Guard](http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/swiss_guard/index.htm)* [Seven Fund](http://www.sevenfund.org/)**Today's topics:** Pope John Paul's lessons for how to elevate our work into a vocation.**1st segment:** Fr. Matt joins the program via phone. He's on a planning retreat for his office. He spent the Triduum on the Hunger for Justice retreat for teens. Holy Week is the Super Bowl for priests. About 200 teens from the northern part of the archdiocese came together for the retreat on which they fasted for 30 hours. Their fasting was sponsored, each one raising about $250. They raised about $15,000 total for Japan earthquake relief. They started on the beach in Nahant with a theme that sin leaves us homeless because sin alienates us from the Lord, from each other, and ourselves. We are outside the loving embrace of the Lord. But the cross of Jesus welcomes us home. They had Good Friday service at St. Thomas Aquinas in Nahant, then went back to St. Mary in Lynn where they had a final meal for the fast.On Saturday they served the homeless in Boston. One man in a wheelchair told one of the girls how he sometimes finds himself sleeping in a garage in a sleeping bag. He had only a thin shirt under his jacket and the girl gave him her own sweatshirt she was wearing. It was raining all day, but they didn't have a rain contingency. The homeless get rained on whenever it rains, so the kids took part in solidarity with them. It helped them appreciate the blessing they have and what the homeless go through.Toward the end of today’s show, we will answer listener questions about the Holy Father’s Beatification. If you have a question, please email [LIVE@TheGoodCatholicLife.com](mailto:LIVE@TheGoodCatholicLife.com), text or call us at 617-410-MASS.**2nd segment:** Andreas Widmer joins Scot and Fr. Matt. Andreas was on the show a few weeks ago and he shared how he became a Swiss Guard and his first encounter with Pope John Paul II. Andreas has since studied John Paul's life and has written a book, "The Pope & The CEO: Nine Lessons in Executive Leadership Learned by a Swiss Guard at the Feet John Paul II" (coming soon from Emmaus Road) on how to apply those lessons to his life. After the Swiss Guard, he entered the high-tech industry and went through the ups and downs of the tech boom. In the downs of life, you can sometimes find God more easily. In one of those downs, he started to think about those lessons of John Paul.Vocation is often talked about a religious vocation, but John Paul made sure to emphasize that vocation is whatever mission we are sent from God. 98% of Christians have a vocation outside of religious life. John Paul said you know that you're working well, you don't just make more, but you become more. Is my job helping me to become more? How do you approach your job? How do you see your job?How did John Paul teach someone to find their specific vocation? Andreas said John Paul would say that God is asking you what you are going to do with all the talents and opportunities He has given you? We present what we are going to do and then God will bless us and help us to excel in life and become a saint.Fr. Matt said Pope John Paul II wrote a letter to young people in 1985, [Dilecti Amici](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_31031985_dilecti-amici_en.html). John Paul saw young people as the hope of the future. In the letter, he identified adolescence as a time of intense discovery where we ask what is our life's project. God has created us in a particular time and place for a purpose that we have to discover. In our culture, we are constantly surrounded by noise and distraction and it keeps the heart and soul from listening. That's why Eucharistic adoration is so powerful. When Fr. Matt was first thinking of a priestly vocation, his dad went to an Oblate priest and asked him about it. The priest asked if Fr. Matt prayed and if not then he didn't have a vocation.Andreas said the second chapter is prayer after the first chapter on vocation. The Church gives us many ways to pray. It is our particular way to have a loving relationship with the Lord. Be careful not to fall into the trap of going before the Lord and "putting in your order." It needs to be a two-way street. It's okay sometimes to just go and sit and listen. Some prayers can help you to calm the mind and then have a period of silence at the feet of Christ.**3rd segment:** Andreas observed John Paul's prayer in his time as a Swiss Guard. One of the key experiences was once during a rosary on Vatican radio with the Pope and about 50 other people. The pope was kneeling and Andreas was standing in front of him looking out at all the people. Andreas suddenly felt different, he had a peace that he hadn't felt before. Andreas thought, "Whatever this guy has, this peace and humanity, that's what I want." Many people would tell Andreas how they would find the Holy Father in his private chapel late at night, sitting with the Lord, often writing in a notebook. Or they would find him prostrate in front of the Eucharist for hours on end. He had a comfort and a sense of being at home in front of the Lord. We can do a physical action that brings our heart along with the body. Fr. Matt said the translator of John Paul's "Theology of the Body" once said that the Holy Father wrote that masterpiece at a desk that was in his chapel. The Holy Father's tremendous love of the Blessed Mother is worthy of emulation. Before he entered the seminary, John Paul was introduced to St. Louis de Montfort and the total consecration to Mary, the prefect disciple and model for being the best disciple we can be. Almost everything he wrote, he turned at the end to the Blessed Mother for her intercession and mediation. The rosary was one of his favorite prayers. When he was praying he felt his prayers. He valued intercessory prayer. When the Holy Father visited the Philippines in 1995, he had an occasion to pray the rosary with a group. As the rosary ended, he took another 30 minutes to pray by name for specific bishops around the world and their intentions.Andreas pointed out that the bishops and priests he prayed for were part of his work. Likewise, we can take that opportunity to pray for those we work with. We are sent from Mass to carry Christ with us to the world. When we go about our daily work, wherever it is, we can take the opportunity for prayer, to offer up our work to God. This is why John Paul is so inspiring, because he left us many ideas and ways to do this.Fr. Matt said our suffering is a kind of prayer, whether it's diseases or difficulties in life and in our work. The Holy Father helped us rediscover the value of redemptive suffering. The Holy Father himself suffered in the years after being shot in the early 80s. The pope's base state in life is prayer. He prayed, went to do his work, and then returned to prayer. The infusion of prayer in his life was n't forced, but an attitude that came naturally. Being a saint is what we're here for. Becoming a saint is a decision we make and continue to make as we stick to the plan. Holiness is a part of life. It's not about being gloomy or pietistic.Andreas said there was always so much laughter in the papal apartments. As a 20-year-old he was drawn to Pope John Paul because he wanted to be just like him.**4th segment:** Discussing the extraordinary virtues of Pope John Paul II and the Church's sense of his holiness. Scot said flowing from Pope John Paul's prayer was how he treated people he encountered. Andreas told us during his last appearance on the show about how Pope John Paul saw how Andreas was hurting inside when others didn't. When you perceive the world as God sees it, then you can see the basic human dignity of the person you encounter and you are present to them. Whenever you met Pope John Paul, you felt like he got out of bed that day just to meet you. He did that with everyone from presidents to the homeless. How he treated others then changed how everyone around him treated those people as well.Fr. Matt said grace builds on nature and John Paul's human nature was so great. He was a healthy and vigorous man who loved so greatly. His humanity was a bridge by which people could encounter Christ. John Paul saw every person as a unique, unrepeatable soul, a masterpiece crafted by the hand of God. In our culture we get caught up with appearances, with what we do, with our education, etc. That didn't matter to John Paul. And this why so many flocked to him from all over the world.Andreas said the model of someone who is beatified shouldn't someone who is on a pedestal above, but that being like him is easy. That's why John Paul made so many saints. We are all called to be saints and it is attainable for us. John Paul was a like a coach who tells us that we are made for greatness and he can't wait to see how far we will go. The coach is tough on you--"You can do better than that". The coach doesn't bend the truth for you in some false Kumbaya sense, dumbing it down for us. No, he says we can do better because we are made in the image and likeness of God.**5th segment:** It’s time to announce the winner of this week’s **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week is the “Messengers of Faith Talking Jesus and Mary Doll Set – Donated by [BibleToys.com](http://www.BibleToys.com).” Children can learn more about Jesus and Mary as these dolls narrate their lives while children play with these 11" tall dolls. This week’s winner is **Jacqueline Bouzan from Abington, MA**. Congratulations to Jacqueline. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit [WQOM.org](http://www.WQOM.org). For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for our weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program.**6th segment:** Andreas is going to Rome this week for the beatification of Pope John Paul this Sunday. It's a dream come true for him. Andreas was in Europe when John Paul died and was able to go the funeral, which was one of the most spiritually charged events of his life. It was an experience of the universality of the Church, with people from all over the world praying together in communion and receiving Communion. In other beatifications, people often had a devotion to the beati, but didn't personally know them. But in this case, no other person in the world may have been as exposed to the person of John Paul. Andreas said John Paul's spirit will be present as they celebrate John Paul as the vicar of Christ. It's going to be just as much about being with the people around him at the event as it is about the beatification itself.Fr. Matt said for those who can't be in Rome, keep in mind that it's Divine Mercy Sunday, also May 1 which is usually the Feast of St. Joseph and the beginning of the month of Mary. We can imitate the Holy Father by entering into the Divine Mercy mystery, which was a powerful message promoted by John Paul. St. Faustina was the first saint canonized in the new millennium. Enter into the spirit of the day by embracing Divine Mercy.Andreas said in Europe, May is also Labor Day, and John Paul was himself a laborer. He was a stonecutter in a quarry in his youth. So on Sunday, we can contemplate our work and see how we can elevate our work into a prayer and find a spiritual meaning in it.* [Divine Mercy](http://thedivinemercy.org/)Fr. Matt explained a little about the Divine Mercy devotion and St. Faustina. Jesus wanted us to embrace more deeply the mercy brought to us by the power of the cross. Even the worst sins can be blotted out by the mercy of God. God's mercy is infinite and anyone who turns to Jesus can experience this great mercy. The Divine Mercy chaplet is prayed on the rosary beads. It was the wish if Jesus in those Divine Mercy messages to St. Faustina that the Sunday after Easter would be the feast of Divine Mercy. Andreas pointed out that John Paul died right after celebrating the Divine Mercy Mass in 2005.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor**Today's guest(s):** Dr. David Franks, vice-president of mission for the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization at the [Theological Institute for the New Evangelization](http://www.tine.org) at St. John's Seminary* [Pope Benedict's Homily for the Easter Vigil, April 23, 2011](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20110423_veglia-pasquale_en.html)* [Pope Benedict's "Urbi et Orbi" (the City and the World) message for Easter 2011](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/urbi/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20110424_urbi-easter_en.html)* ["Pope contrasts Easter joy with suffering humanity," (Zenit)](http://www.zenit.org/article-32410?l=english)**Today's topics:** Pope Benedict's messages to the world on Easter; Pope John Paul II's influence**1st segment:** Scot welcomes back Fr. Chris. Recalling the celebration of the Triduum, Fr. Chris said many different people come to the liturgies of the Triduum from outside the seminary. Scot was on the Dan Rea show on WBZ Radio last Friday to talk about Catholics Come Home and answer caller questions about the Church.At the seminary on Holy Thursday, they traditionally select the men in their 3rd year for the foot washing. On Saturday night, they had transitional deacon Quang Lee sing the Exsultet. Scot said they hope to have the transitional deacons on the shows leading up to the ordination next week.Scot said in this show, they plan to talk about the Holy Father's messages on Easter, the major ideas and themes. The messages are for everyone, not just those gathered in St. Peter's Square.**2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Dr. David Franks back to the show. Last Saturday, the Holy Father's homily follows--as in every Easter Vigil Mass in the world--the service of light, the Exsultet, and the readings of Salvation History. He begins:>The liturgical celebration of the Easter Vigil makes use of two eloquent signs. First there is the fire that becomes light. As the procession makes its way through the church, shrouded in the darkness of the night, the light of the Paschal Candle becomes a wave of lights, and it speaks to us of Christ as the true morning star that never sets – the Risen Lord in whom light has conquered darkness. The second sign is water. On the one hand, it recalls the waters of the Red Sea, decline and death, the mystery of the Cross. But now it is presented to us as spring water, a life-giving element amid the dryness. Thus it becomes the image of the sacrament of baptism, through which we become sharers in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.Fr. Chris said it is a beautiful opening and it captures this image of light. "Lumen Christi, Deo gratias", "The Light of Christ, thanks be to God." You see not just the Paschal candle, but the lights of hundreds of followers. And then the image of water to welcome into the faith, new believers, to have it happen because Christ's side was pierced for them and us. It's also an image of the Church being born. The Church is more than just stone and mortar, it's living human souls.David said fire and water is also a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Fire and water can be lifegiving, but they can also be dangerous in the natural world. But in Jesus Christ, what can be destructive toward human good are lifted up and used for the good of humanity. Scot said they are basic elements of creation and capture our imagination.Scot said his 9- and 7-year-olds were struck by the third reading of Pharaoh's chariots being drowned in the Red Sea and asked if God was being mean. David said St. Paul points out to the Romans, we aren't talking about the eternal destination of the Egyptians, but the plan of liberation God has set in place. If we work with God then it is to our benefit, but if we array ourself against God, we should realize that no force of darkness can overcome the power of God's love.Fr. Chris said that as soon as the Paschal candle is illuminated, it shatters all darkness. It reminds us that the smallest candle can overcome all darkness. All Christians are called to be salt and light in the world. The light of Christ shatters sin and darkness once and for all.>The Church wishes to offer us a panoramic view of the whole trajectory of salvation history, starting with creation, passing through the election and the liberation of Israel to the testimony of the prophets by which this entire history is directed ever more clearly towards Jesus Christ. In the liturgical tradition all these readings were called prophecies. Even when they are not directly foretelling future events, they have a prophetic character, they show us the inner foundation and orientation of history. They cause creation and history to become transparent to what is essential. In this way they take us by the hand and lead us towards Christ, they show us the true Light.Fr. Chris said God is afoot, He is present in our world now. He is still calling us and unveiling His mystery to us. This past week, the Holy Father said there are three things if we want to be holy: the 10 commandments, the Sunday Mass, and daily prayer. Those 3 things coupled with God's grace can lead us to the path to sanctity. This unfolding of God's love for us continues for us today.David said God is on the move. This is what gives our lives a sense of mysterious promise. There is something powerful and good that is coming. Anytime we pray, God is on the move transforming our lives.Scot said he loves that he said the Church offers us in this reading a panoramic view of salvation history. Jesus was the fulfillment of promises made over a period of thousands of years. Fr. Chris said we are all on a trajectory toward heaven. We need to remind ourselves what our final end is. Fr. Corapi said in a homily that if we had a natural end, then it would be enough to be good enough. But we have a supernatural end and we must be more.The Holy Father then says the Creation account is included because "The sweep of history established by God reaches back to the origins, back to creation." David said the other world views in our culture would have us believe we don't come from a loving God, but a result of randomness. Is it a matter of God's loving directed plan for our lives? That's the claim of the Church.Fr. Chris said in Christoph Schoenborn's book ["Loving the Church"](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0898706769/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=catholicnetrevie&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=0898706769) where he refers to us as "creatures" which reminds us that we are God's creation. Ultimately, God does not need us, but He desires to share His love with us. There is one God who is worthy to be praised for the gift of life and creation. When you see a newborn child, you know there is nothing random about that at all.**3rd segment:** Continuing the Holy Father's homily. >The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week. After six days in which man in some sense participates in God’s work of creation, the Sabbath is the day of rest. But something quite unprecedented happened in the nascent Church: the place of the Sabbath, the seventh day, was taken by the first day. As the day of the liturgical assembly, it is the day for encounter with God through Jesus Christ who as the Risen Lord encountered his followers on the first day, Sunday, after they had found the tomb empty. The structure of the week is overturned. No longer does it point towards the seventh day, as the time to participate in God’s rest. It sets out from the first day as the day of encounter with the Risen Lord. This encounter happens afresh at every celebration of the Eucharist, when the Lord enters anew into the midst of his disciples and gives himself to them, allows himself, so to speak, to be touched by them, sits down at table with them. This change is utterly extraordinary, considering that the Sabbath, the seventh day seen as the day of encounter with God, is so profoundly rooted in the Old TestamentThe Holy Father is reminding us that because of what happened on Easter that Sunday becomes the central moment in our life as Christians. Every Sunday is a little Easter and we should be reminding ourselves that the centrality of our faith is rooted in Christ's death and resurrection.David said Pope Benedict is saying a radical shift should be noted here. There is nothing to account for such a radical change unless the resurrection is true. He's also saying that Christians don't exist on the same rhythm as the rest of the world. On the day of Christian rest, we don't lie down, but we get up to serve and love on another on a new level. Scot said we should be starting each week and each day in the presence of God. The wisdom of our Church is that we start the week this way and we should model our lives this way.Fr. Chris asked how we get out of bed in the morning and establish the rhythm of our day. And Sunday is the anchor for each person that establishes how we will live each week. When Pope Benedict talks about the centrality of the Sabbath becoming the first day, it shows the need to order our lives so that Sunday takes a priority for us. >We celebrate the definitive victory of the Creator and of his creation. We celebrate this day as the origin and the goal of our existence. We celebrate it because now, thanks to the risen Lord, it is definitively established that reason is stronger than unreason, truth stronger than lies, love stronger than death. We celebrate the first day because we know that the black line drawn across creation does not last for ever. We celebrate it because we know that those words from the end of the creation account have now been definitively fulfilled: “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31). Amen.Fr. Chris said Pope Benedict is reminding us that we have a lot to give and thanks and praise to the Lord for. We are sharing in the newness of life that only Easter can bring. If we die with Christ and live with Christ, we shall rise with Christ (St. Paul). David said the emphasis is on human suffering, that we remember that it is the Cross that Jesus has overcome. That "black line" has caused immense suffering the world. Pope Benedict said the suffering is real, but Jesus Christ has risen to today and everything is different. Scot said see how much good is brought out of love today because of Easter.**4th segment:** Now considering Pope Benedict's Urbi et Orbi message, delivered from the central window of St. Peter's Basilica overlooking St. Peter's Square. He does this once per year. Fr. Chris said it means "City and the World". It's a reminder that he is both Bishop of Rome, but also leader of the Catholic Church and speaking to every person of good will in the world. It's a powerful message. As soon as he finishes the Easter mass, he proclaims this message from the place where he was proclaimed as pope upon his election. He traditionally highlights his concerns and requests for prayer for the world. This location is only used for this purpose and for papal elections.>Right down to our own time – even in these days of advanced communications technology – the faith of Christians is based on that same news, on the testimony of those sisters and brothers who saw firstly the stone that had been rolled away from the empty tomb and then the mysterious messengers who testified that Jesus, the Crucified, was risen. And then Jesus himself, the Lord and Master, living and tangible, appeared to Mary Magdalene, to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and finally to all eleven, gathered in the Upper Room (cf. Mk 16:9-14).Fr. Chris said we do rely on the testimony of others that Christ has died and rise, but just as important is the witness of the martyrdom of those who died for preaching the Risen Christ. David said it is important that the Good News is passed on from one witness to another so that we are all taking part in God's plan of salvation. It is part of the plan of salvation that Christians testify to it and that it passed on from person to another.Scot said he loves that the Holy Father brought in modern communications, that witnessing can take place using all technologies and methods both old and new. We share the Good News in every way we communicate with others. Fr. Chris said that bringing children to Church, living the faith and sharing it with children, is part of that. All the technology doesn't matter if people aren't willing to tell others about the message of Christ.>The resurrection of Christ is not the fruit of speculation or mystical experience: it is an event which, while it surpasses history, nevertheless happens at a precise moment in history and leaves an indelible mark upon it. The light which dazzled the guards keeping watch over Jesus’ tomb has traversed time and space. It is a different kind of light, a divine light, that has rent asunder the darkness of death and has brought to the world the splendour of God, the splendour of Truth and Goodness.David said that every time in our lives that something beautiful happens that is the light of Christ erupting into creation. That's what we want to communicate in a life of holiness. The more we love well, the more the light will enter the world.Fr. Chris said that because it is supernatural light, it permeates all darkness.Scot takes away from this the emphasis that this is a real historical event. Christ entered history, He really died, and He really rose from the dead.>“In your resurrection, O Christ, let heaven and earth rejoice.” To this summons to praise, which arises today from the heart of the Church, the “heavens” respond fully: the hosts of angels, saints and blessed souls join with one voice in our exultant song. In heaven all is peace and gladness. But alas, it is not so on earth! Here, in this world of ours, the Easter alleluia still contrasts with the cries and laments that arise from so many painful situations: deprivation, hunger, disease, war, violence. Yet it was for this that Christ died and rose again! He died on account of sin, including ours today, he rose for the redemption of history, including our own. So my message today is intended for everyone, and, as a prophetic proclamation, it is intended especially for peoples and communities who are undergoing a time of suffering, that the Risen Christ may open up for them the path of freedom, justice and peace.Fr. Chris said here you see the contrast of the pilgrim Church, that one day we will arrive at eternal life, but before we get there we still encounter suffering in the world. This is why Christ redeemed us, so that we could trust in the fact that one day all would be well.David said Christ explodes the depths of suffering from the inside. We think of the horrific victims today and in history when we consider the Victim on the Cross. It is the light of God and true love that will convert all things to life.Scot said the Holy Father mentions specific peoples in the Middle East and in Japan and others who are struggling. Regardless of what they're battling, Christi is their answer too, because he will lighten the load and carry the burden.Fr. Chris said faith takes on a context lived in the lives of people who are suffering. It's in our times of suffering and sadness that we go right to the Lord that He is our only hope in the midst of the human condition.>Dear brothers and sisters! The risen Christ is journeying ahead of us towards the new heavens and the new earth (cf. Rev 21:1), in which we shall all finally live as one family, as sons of the same Father. He is with us until the end of time. Let us walk behind him, in this wounded world, singing Alleluia. In our hearts there is joy and sorrow, on our faces there are smiles and tears. Such is our earthly reality. But Christ is risen, he is alive and he walks with us. For this reason we sing and we walk, faithfully carrying out our task in this world with our gaze fixed on heaven. Happy Easter to all of you!David said this is so moving because Pope Benedict is reaching into all of our lives to say that there isn't a pain there that Christ hasn't touched and hasn't given a new purchase on a life of Divine Love. This is why we need to tell everyone we meet that Jesus Christ is alive and that changes everything.Fr. Chris said there is also the idea of finishing the race and running it well. Christ is the trailblazer before us and we follow behind him on this path to the Father. The Cross is the ladder to the heavens. We can't get there on our own. We need the gift of Jesus' cross.Scot said he loves what it says that we carry out our lives, walk behind Jesus with our gazes fixed on heaven. It gives us something to think about at our next hour of adoration.**5th segment:** Now considering the influence of Pope John Paul on the lives of the hosts and guest.Scot said he's never met someone who would become Blessed. He met him twice up front. Scot pointed out that Pope John Paul is being beatified for his virtues and holiness, not his papacy.David said he was raised a Baptist in Arkansas, and it was the presence of John Paul in the world that partly drew him to the Church eventually. There was an intense holiness that drew him in. His first-born son is John Paul and his second son is Benedict. He asks for prayers for his wife and their third son who is to be born next week.Fr. Chris said he has Polish heritage and growing up in a Polish section of Dorchester, he saw the excitement and joy of the Polish people at his election. He met Pope John Paul along with his Aunt Judy and it was an awesome experience of being in the presence of someone holy and who believed and drew close to Christ Jesus. He was also struck by his love for the Blessed Mother. John Paul lost his own mother at an early age and she became a real mother for him. John Paul was responsible for the image of Mary that was put up on the wall of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter's Square.John Paul's press spokesman said his great virtue was being truly present for each person who came before him. Scot and his brother were privileged to go to Mass in the pope's chapel in the apostolic palace. They were able to ask him to pray for their great aunt who was dying and he stopped them to pray for her right at that moment. He was able to tell her that Holy Father had prayed for her by name.Fr. Chris said he was often struck at World Youth Days by the young people who felt like the Holy Father had looked at them personally. He drew people in to himself and pointed them to Christ.David's favorite works of John Paul is the Theology of Body because it was so revolutionary to the way we talk about the faith in the modern world in the context of the sexual revolution especially. Scot said the way the Theology of the Body was taught in the weekly audiences was a way to teach this because some officials did not want him to write a book about sex. Thus it was "written into the record" as it was.Fr. Chris said the seminarians today are generally those who were inspired by Pope John Paul II, especially from World Youth Days. He also helped to revolutionize how seminary formation takes place.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Rocco Palmo of the [Whispers in the Loggia](http://whispersintheloggia.blogpost.com) blog.* [Vatican Blog Meeting on Twitter](http://twitter.com/#!/vbm_11)* [Rocco Palmo on Twitter](http://twitter.com/#!/roccopalmo)* [Pontifical Council for Social Communications](http://www.pccs.va)* [Pontifical Council for Culture](http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/cultr/)* [Information on the Vatican meeting for bloggers](http://www.pccs.va/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=381%3Ainformation-on-vatican-meeting-for-bloggers&catid=1%3Aultime&Itemid=50&lang=en)**Today's topics:** Catholic blogger and journalist Rocco Palmo on his blog, an upcoming Vatican meeting of bloggers, and his memories of Pope John Paul II.**1st segment:** Scot said he hopes everyone had a wonderful celebration of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. It was a truly wonderful Triduum and a wonderfully bright Easter Day yesterday. One personal moment meant a lot to him. His 9-year old son and 7-year old daughter heard The Good Catholic Life last Wednesday when we discussed the beauty of the Easter Vigil. They asked him to go, saying they would take a nap if necessary to stay up late so they could see it for the first time. It was wonderful to share it with them!The Blog “Whispers in the Loggia” first was published in December of 2004 by Rocco Palmo, a then-recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Political Science. Whispers was partly a response to the aftermath of the Clergy Abuse Crisis as one way to shed light on the true nature of the Church, instead of what Catholics and non-Catholics were reading in the secular press. Soon it was picking up thousands, then tens-of-thousands of readers. Now millions of people have read this blog about the life of the Catholic Church. On today’s show, we’ll discuss this Blog, the upcoming Vatican conference for Bloggers, which happens a week from today, and as he prepares to travel to Rome for the Beatification of Pope John Paul II, we’ll discuss with Rocco the impact Pope John Paul II had on him and his views on his lasting impact in the Church and the world. Scot welcomes Rocco Palmo. Scot asked him about the number of readers on the blog. He's had a total of about 17 million readers over the past 7 years. He gets 5 to 6 million per year now.Who reads the blog? There are a lot of laypeople, priests, and even some bishops. He gets emails from secular journalists as well. He runs on a shoestring budget, but he won't go to subscription because he doesn't want to put up barriers to people just coming to the site. He also doesn't take ads. He said the Church in the US is polarized and any advertiser would be difficult to reach all. He prefer the purity of the content. He also likes that donations give readers the opportunity to contribute and show their appreciation.That bishops and priests read his blog is significant. Growing up in Philadelphia, he had a reverence for bishops, priests, and religious, for the wrk of lifelong commitment they made. That he can give something back to them is very humbling.Scot first began a fan in late 2005. He felt that it was a good aggregation of all current news about the Church. Scot knows many pastors who feel the same way. Rocco said he's had a great formation in the Church and he's also had a great formation in the media from his father who's worked for a Philadelphia newspaper for 30 years. He wants to cover the news that isn't just the most sensational.In 2004, after graduation, he started the blog. Scot asked Rocco why he decided to start this. Rocco said he studied Vatican politics in college and found people were fascinated by the Church. He found people were responsive when he explained how the Church really works behind the scenes. The blog started as a catharsis for himself and friends. At the time, he saw little creativity in Church communications at the time. It started with 3 friends and it grew by word of mouth.The first time he knew it was getting bigger was about six months later, after the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict. When he published a rumor that Cardinal Levada was going to be named Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, people saw he got it right and he got lots of attention from it.He's known for speculating on the appointment of bishops, but there's not a lot of appointments out there right now. So he spends his time on more "fun" stuff.Scot asked why insiders share information with Rocco. First, he said it's important to figure out why someone is sharing that information, especially if they are having an axe to grind against someone else. Early on, he heard from people who were in a minority in Church leadership, were frustrated that the Church was too conservative with its communications. Now he's seeing more people who are more tech-savvy and he's seeing the Church becoming more media savvy.He's found that where he used to be able to sit on a story for eight or ten hours in the past, now the turnaround has to be quicker and quicker.**2nd segment:** When Rocco was 8 years old he had a significant encounter with Cardinal Bevilacqua in Philadelphia. He was fascinated when the Cardinal was elevated to the office in a consistory and he had many questions about the Church that no one could answer. So he went to a Mass with the cardinal and got to meet him. For over a decade, the cardinal became a mentor and a second father in his life. He always said yes to Rocco and to anybody he met. He would maintain relationships with people he would encounter randomly in life.Scot said people must ask Rocco all the time about whether he has a vocation to the priesthood, but he has discerned he does not now. Rocco said there is something unique that laypeople can bring to speaking publicly about the Church. 10 years after he met Cardinal Bevilacqua, he got to meet Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver. It was an ecclesial culture shock in Denver, so different from his experience in Philadelphia. He saw thousands of kids at a youth event on fire for their faith, and he'd never seen anything like it. He'd spent most of his formative time around people much older than him. He realized that he couldn't be who he is as a priest.Scot asked Rocco how the blog has helped him grow. Rocco said it's shown him how much growth he still needs. He came to it as a cocky college kid and now knows how much has to learn. He realizes he doesn't have all the answers. He feels God's presence in many of the stories that come his way and the people he encounters. He's got a sense of horizontal communion in the Church, which hasn't always been the case everywhere in the Church.What are his favorite blog posts? None of them have anything to do with the appointments of bishops. In August 2007, he wrote about a Philadelphia man named [Danny Parrillo](http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2007/08/story-of-soul.html), a Catholic school teacher and a friend of his. At the age of 55, he told Rocco that he felt a calling to the priesthood. He entered seminary in the Diocese of Camden, and in his second year at the seminary he died in a car accident. Rocco felt that if there was a story he was born to write, this was it. He got 5,000 responses to that post. There were 5 bishops at the funeral and 2,000 total people.**3rd segment:** The Vatican is gathering 150 Catholic bloggers from around the world next Monday, May 2, the day after the beatification of Pope John Paul II. Rocco said as much as the Catholic blogosphere reflects the totality of the Church's life, Rome wants to have a long view of the Church, but also to bring everyone together. It is also a listening exercise and they are coming at it with very good faith. It's an acknowledgement that they need to listen and learn how this works, and to work with those who are doing it.Pope Benedict on each World Communication Day has talked about the power of new media and has reached out to young people to use it to evangelize the "digital continent." One of the primary means going forward for evangelization will be people sharing their faith through their networks. Rocco said the rise of the Internet has changed everything and traditional media in general is struggling. We have a much more segmented audience: reaching out to the wider, but also energizing the base of the Church. It's not just blogs, but also Facebook and Twitter and smartphone apps. It reaches out to connect to people where they are. For an institution used to speaking with one message, this is a pioneering step. Rocco said that while 150 slots were available, the Holy See got 800 requests to attend. These are people who had a shot at being in Rome for the beatification. He was impressed that there are people representing six language groups going to be present. Everyone will learn a lot from each other; the bloggers from the Holy See; and the Holy See from the bloggers. There are now 20 blogging bishops in the US. He hopes to say to the two councils putting on the conference, "Let us help you." Much Church communications today works as if they have all the answers. But they often don't understand the digital continent. **4th segment:** Rocco will be present at the beatification of Pope John Paul II on Sunday. It will be beyond emotional for him to be present for the event. For so many young people, he was a father to us and a great model of fearlessness and of following Christ. He's seen John Paul II four times. The first time was at Giant Stadium in 1995. There were 90,000 people getting soaked in a torrential downpour and no one wanted to be anywhere else. Threats had been made on the Pope's life, but he refused to be carried in an armored car to the altar.Another favorite story, in 1985, in Los Angeles, when Tony Melendez, who was born without legs, played guitar for him at a public event, the Pope jumped from the stage and ran to embrace him. One of his great gifts to the Church in the US was an evangelical boldness, a fearlessness and confidence. He showed the way to bring everyone to the heart of Christ by going out to them.From Rome, he will be blogging whatever happens and in Rome with two million pilgrims, anything can happen.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott**Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the official newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the official newspaper of the Boston archdiocese* [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com)* [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.com)* ["Entering the Kingdom," Fr. Roger Landry, Editorial in The Anchor (April 22, 2011)](http://catholicpreaching.com/index.php?content=articles&articles=20110422anchor)* ["Following Jesus' Example," Fr. Roger Landry, Homily for Holy Thursday (March 28, 2002)](http://catholicpreaching.com/index.php?content=homilies&homilies=20020328)* ["Our Crucifed, Eucharistic Lord," Fr. Roger Landry, Homily for Good Friday (March 25, 2005)](http://catholicpreaching.com/index.php?content=homilies&homilies=20050325)* ["Meditation Notes for the Seven Last Words," Fr. Roger Landry, Priestly Day of Recollection (April 14, 2003)](http://catholicpreaching.com/index.php?content=homilies&homilies=20030414)**Today's topics:** The Liturgies of Holy Thursday and Good Friday**A summary of today's show:** The Mass of the Lord's Supper and Celebration of the Passion provide Scot, Susan, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy with fodder for a spiritually fruitful discussion of Holy Thursday and Good Friday.**1st segment:** We are at Holy Thursday. On today’s show, since we are in the height of our liturgical year, we won’t discuss the news as we do on most Thursdays, but we will discuss the great liturgies of the “Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper” tonight and also the “Celebration of the Lord’s Passion” tomorrow on Good Friday. We are discussing both liturgies today since tomorrow WQOM will cover the Good Friday liturgy directly from Hanceville, AL during this hour.Scot asked Susan what experiencing the Triduum means to her? She said Holy Thursday is her favorite day of the year because of the Eucharist. She has been blessed this Lent with the [Magnificat](http://www.magnificat.com/) and the Holy Father's book, ["Jesus of Nazareth: Holy WeeK"](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1586175009/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=catholicnetrevie&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=158617500) and the [Stations of the Cross](http://www.penitents.org/Ratzstations.html) that he wrote as Cardinal Ratzinger. She shared a haiku sent to her by a friend: "He knew He must leave/So he found a way to stay/The Holy Eucharist".**2nd segment:** Scot said on Holy Thursday that there is no daily Mass today on the Church's calendar, but there is only the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper. Fr. Roger said while every Mass brings us to the upper room, on Holy Thursday it brings us in a significant way to that time and place. The liturgy tonight also doesn't end tonight, but continues through the Good Friday liturgy and finally ends with the Easter Vigil. As a priest, it is the anniversary of all priests because Christ instituted the priesthood at the Last Supper. The Mass brings him back to the reasons he became a priest.* [Instructions from the Roman Missal on Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper](http://www.catholicliturgy.com/index.cfm/FuseAction/documentText/Index/2/SubIndex/38/ContentIndex/324/Start/319)*[Gospel (John 13:1-5)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/042111a.shtml#gospel)* Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had cometo pass from this world to the Father.He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over.So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments.He took a towel and tied it around his waist.Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist.He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?”Jesus answered and said to him,“What I am doing, you do not understand now,but you will understand later.”Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.”Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.”Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.”For he knew who would betray him;for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.” So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you?You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” Scot said during the Mass, the celebrant washes the feet of people who are present imitating Christ washing the feet of the apostles. Gregory said to him it signifies the priest taking the role of a servant. As Cardinal Sean said inthe Chrism Mass, we sometimes forget this role of the priest as the servant. They are taking the last place as Jesus took the last place.Scot said the Holy Father talked about the washing of the feet in his book. He said Jesus washes the feet because baptism cleanses the rest of the person in preparation for the wedding feast of the Lamb. Susan said Jesus frequently says that we must love one another, but here He is emphasizing that we must match love with our actions. We must love not just as an emotion, but to love one another as He loves us.In the Pope's book, he focuses on how, unlike Adam who grasped at divinity, Christ did not grasp at His divinity, taking the form of a servant. The Lord came down from heaven precisely to die on the cross. This act symbolizes His whole ministry, to cleanse us and to serve us. He takes a pssage from a passage from the Book of Revelations in which the redeemed have their robes washed and made white by the blood of the Lamb. Fr. Roger said he hadn't seen it as a sacrament of the whole of Christ's life, as the Pope says. We ourselves are cleansed through the full depth of his love. It helps us to understand just how Christ loved us all the way to the end.Scot said this begins Christ's hour, his time. Why is this the beginning? Fr. Roger said that St. John uses two notions of time. One is seconds and minutes, but the other is a description of a significant moment or occasion. When this is his time, it is the occasion of the highlight of Christ's life. This hour starts here and ends at the Cross. Christ's hour is our hour too to enter into and live in our whole lifetime.Gregory said that when Jesus talks about being the master who was the feet, it shows him that he doesn't have the ability to love one another as Christ loves us on his own ability and merit, but only through the love of Christ can he have the strength to take this last place.Susan said in her parish,whose church can hold 700 people, will be filled to capacity. She said it is very touching to her to see her own pastor wash the feet of the people.How does Fr. Roger choose the people to wash their feet and what's the experience of doing it? He said pastors have a lot of latitude for how they do it. He said the most experiencing is washing the feet of prisoners in jail on retreats. The ceremony is supposed to be the commemoration of Christ calling the apostles, not just any disciples, so he always choose male altar servers so that it might be an occasion for them to hear a potential call to the priesthood. The Church says that it should be men to symbolize the apostles and the priesthood.At first a lot of people reject the request to take part, but the Gospel itself talks about how Peter resisted. When he brings it up, people often reconsider in the example of St. Peter. People are often embarrassed and shy and don't think they're worthy to be called out in front of other, but it's the example of how we are not worthy, but made worthy by Christ.This Mass doesn't end with a final blessing, but the Eucharist is processed to a chapel or other place of reservation where people can stay and pray with Christ as if accompanying Him into the Garden of the Agony. Gregory said it's a beautiful opportunity to continue the Triduum in a moment to be with the Lord, before He is taken from us on Good Friday.Susan said in her parish they sing Night Prayer at 10pm and the church stays open until Midnight. Fr. Roger encourages his parishioners to stay in some prayer with the Lord. He usually has about 30 people who stay with him through midnight and groups from about 30 parishes visit while taking part in the devotion of the seven altars. Fr. Roger said Pope Benedict this focused on the importance of the adoration after the liturgy. In His prayer in the garden, Christ teaches us not to be afraid of death or suffering, but to say yes to the will of God.Scot said what stands out for him is how the apostles fell asleep despite being asked by Christ to pray with him. Fr. Roger said that while there's a physical sleepiness--although it's hard to fall asleep while on your knees--but there's also a spiritual sleepiness, an insensitivity to evil in the world as well as the good the Lord calls us to. We push it aside, but Lent is meant to help us wake up to the full reality of God's love.**3rd segment:** Now moving to talk about the Good Friday liturgy, the Celebration of the Lord's Passion, a continuation of the Triduum. The Mass readings come from the Gospel of John. Fr Roger said the Church uses John every Good Friday and rotates among the other three Gospels on Palm Sunday. Matthew, Mark, and Luke share many of the same details, but John also strikes deeper into the mystery. It includes that dialogue with Pontius Pilate, which includes Pilate's skeptical "What is truth?" On Good Friday, we discover anew that Truth has a name, Jesus Christ.* [Instructions from the Roman Missal on Good Friday Celebration of the Lord's Passion](http://www.catholicliturgy.com/index.cfm/FuseAction/documentText/Index/2/SubIndex/38/ContentIndex/325/Start/319)Susan said the dialogue between Pilate and Jesus is startling. She said Pope Benedict in his stations of the cross says that Pilate is not entirely evil, because he looks for a way to release the innocent man, but lets his concern for his station and what others think steer his ultimate action. We can ask ourselves what we would do if we were there as a fruitful meditation.Gregory said as a parent that it's important to explain to the children the significance of the event and break down the story for them and help them understand the meaning of Jesus' death and the ultimate victory over death. It's not a sad ending, it's just the middle of the story, so they can look forward to Easter.He said that he's struck by on Palm Sunday, we as the congregation are the ones who shout out "Crucify him!" Where would we be in that crowd if we were there?Jesus gives His last homily from the cross. Fr. Roger said we are told to put on the mind of Christ and in this hour, these 7 last words show us how He really enters into our humanity. He prays for us, asking the Father to forgive us because we don't really know who Jesus is.Then He prayed for a sinner in particular, the Good Thief. He was the one lost sheep Christ went to find.His 3rd word was to give Mary to John and through him to all of us.His 4th word shows his anguish, with the Psalm in which He calls out to God as he is forsaken, but the Psalm ends hopeful.His 5th word shows how He thirst for us.His 6th word says it is finished, His mission is accomplished. His 7th word, He prays to the Father in heaven. He entrusted everything to the Father.They help us enter into His mind and His heart.*[Gospel (John 18:1-19:42)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/042211.shtml#gospel)* Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to where there was a garden, into which he and his disciples entered.Judas his betrayer also knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples.So Judas got a band of soldiers and guards from the chief priests and the Pharisees and went there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to him, went out and said to them, “Whom are you looking for?”They answered him, “Jesus the Nazorean.”He said to them, “I AM.”Judas his betrayer was also with them.When he said to them, “I AM, “ they turned away and fell to the ground.So he again asked them,“Whom are you looking for?”They said, “Jesus the Nazorean.”Jesus answered,“I told you that I AM.So if you are looking for me, let these men go.”This was to fulfill what he had said, “I have not lost any of those you gave me.”Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear.The slave’s name was Malchus.Jesus said to Peter,“Put your sword into its scabbard.Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me?” So the band of soldiers, the tribune, and the Jewish guards seized Jesus,bound him, and brought him to Annas first.He was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.It was Caiaphas who had counseled the Jews that it was better that one man should die rather than the people. Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus.Now the other disciple was known to the high priest, and he entered the courtyard of the high priest with Jesus.But Peter stood at the gate outside.So the other disciple, the acquaintance of the high priest, went out and spoke to the gatekeeper and brought Peter in.Then the maid who was the gatekeeper said to Peter, “You are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?”He said, “I am not.”Now the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal firethat they had made, because it was cold,and were warming themselves.Peter was also standing there keeping warm. The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his doctrine.Jesus answered him,“I have spoken publicly to the world.I have always taught in a synagogue or in the temple area where all the Jews gather, and in secret I have said nothing. Why ask me?Ask those who heard me what I said to them.They know what I said.”When he had said this, one of the temple guards standing there struck Jesus and said, “Is this the way you answer the high priest?”Jesus answered him,“If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong; but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?”Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. Now Simon Peter was standing there keeping warm.And they said to him,“You are not one of his disciples, are you?”He denied it and said,“I am not.”One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?”Again Peter denied it.And immediately the cock crowed. Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium.It was morning.And they themselves did not enter the praetorium, in order not to be defiled so that they could eat the Passover.So Pilate came out to them and said, “What charge do you bring against this man?”They answered and said to him,“If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.”At this, Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.”The Jews answered him, “We do not have the right to execute anyone, “ in order that the word of Jesus might be fulfilledthat he said indicating the kind of death he would die.So Pilate went back into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”Jesus answered,“Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?”Pilate answered,“I am not a Jew, am I?Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me.What have you done?”Jesus answered,“My kingdom does not belong to this world.If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.But as it is, my kingdom is not here.”So Pilate said to him,“Then you are a king?”Jesus answered,“You say I am a king.For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” When he had said this,he again went out to the Jews and said to them,“I find no guilt in him.But you have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at Passover.Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”They cried out again,“Not this one but Barabbas!”Now Barabbas was a revolutionary. Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged.And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it on his head, and clothed him in a purple cloak, and they came to him and said,“Hail, King of the Jews!”And they struck him repeatedly.Once more Pilate went out and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no guilt in him.”So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak.And he said to them, “Behold, the man!”When the chief priests and the guards saw him they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!”Pilate said to them,“Take him yourselves and crucify him.I find no guilt in him.”The Jews answered, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”Now when Pilate heard this statement,he became even more afraid, and went back into the praetorium and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?”Jesus did not answer him.So Pilate said to him,“Do you not speak to me?Do you not know that I have power to release you and I have power to crucify you?”Jesus answered him,“You would have no power over me if it had not been given to you from above.For this reason the one who handed me over to youhas the greater sin.”Consequently, Pilate tried to release him; but the Jews cried out, “If you release him, you are not a Friend of Caesar.Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” When Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus out and seated him on the judge’s bench in the place called Stone Pavement, in Hebrew, Gabbatha.It was preparation day for Passover, and it was about noon.And he said to the Jews,“Behold, your king!”They cried out,“Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!”Pilate said to them,“Shall I crucify your king?”The chief priests answered,“We have no king but Caesar.”Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and, carrying the cross himself, he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha.There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross.It read,“Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews.”Now many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’but that he said, ‘I am the King of the Jews’.”Pilate answered,“What I have written, I have written.” When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares, a share for each soldier.They also took his tunic, but the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top down.So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it will be, “ in order that the passage of Scripture might be fulfilled that says: They divided my garments among them,and for my vesture they cast lots. This is what the soldiers did.Standing by the cross of Jesus were his motherand his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,and Mary of Magdala.When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he lovedhe said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”Then he said to the disciple,“Behold, your mother.”And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.”There was a vessel filled with common wine.So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth.When Jesus had taken the wine, he said,“It is finished.”And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit. Here all kneel and pause for a short time. Now since it was preparation day,in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath,for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and that they be taken down.So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may come to believe.For this happened so that the Scripture passage might be fulfilled: Not a bone of it will be broken. And again another passage says: They will look upon him whom they have pierced. After this, Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus.And Pilate permitted it.So he came and took his body.Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds.They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom.Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried.So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day; for the tomb was close by. **4th segment:** One of the powerful elements of the Good Friday liturgy is the veneration of the cross. When Scot attended at St. Paul in Cambridge, he remembers waiting in line, singing, "This is the wood of the cross on which hung the Savior of the world. Come let us worship" Susan said as the celebrant processes forward with the cross, singing with response. She notes that it is not just a piece of wood. It is a crucifix, wood on which hangs the corpus of Christ. Scot said it makes it personal to go forward and kiss the cross.Gregory said as he waits his turn to venerate, he considers what are his crosses in life and how he could love the way he should. Scot said he thinks about his sins that added to the burden of Christ's cross.Fr. Roger said the Church recommends we genuflect before the crucifix. We usually only genuflect before the Eucharist, except on Good Friday. Many people take off their shoes, like Moses took off his sandals before the burning bush. On a spiritual level, he encourages people to think of the unbelievable pain Christ would have endured on that weapon. But the cross is not so much a sign of pain, but is a sign of love. It is the greatest sign of love, more than Cupid or a wedding ring. The cross is the sign by which we first receive the Lord's love for us in baptism. He encourages people to come slowly, not in a rush. To venerate with love, with the same devotion Mary would have had when she received her Son's body from the cross.Scot said the intercessory prayers are quite powerful. At St. Paul's, Cambridge, they sang these prayers that ask for special grace for the Church, the Pope, the Clergy and Laity, those preparing for Baptism, for Unity of Christians, for the Jewish People, for those that don’t believe in Christ, for those that don’t believe in God, for those in public office, and for those in special need. Especially the prayer for Jewish people is poignant because we recognize they are our elder brothers in faith and that Jesus and Mary and apostles were themselves Jewish. Susan recalled that the prayer for the Jews changed in recent years to make clear that the Church is not anti-Semitic. As in John's Gospel, it is not just the Jews who crucified Christ, but as we all cry out, Crucify Him!, it is we who crucify Him.In the prayer for unbelievers, the prayer says that sometimes people don't believe because of the way that believers act.* [The Good Friday Celebration of the Passion, including the intercessory prayers](http://www.oremus.org/liturgy/lhwe/gf.html)…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams**Today's guest(s):** Father Jonathan Gaspar, the Co-Director of the Office of Worship & Spiritual Life and the Priest Secretary to Cardinal Seán O’Malley**Today's topics:** The Liturgy of the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night Of Easter**A summary of today's show:** Scot, Fr. Matt, and Fr. Jonathan Gaspar go through the prayers and readings of the Easter Vigil to see how the entire Christian faith and salvation history is encapsulated in this liturgy, the high point of the whole liturgical year.**1st segment:** We are now several days into Holy Week. Today is the last day of Lent. We begin the Sacred Triduum tomorrow of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Tomorrow on The Good Catholic Life we will discuss the liturgies of Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Today we will discuss the most powerful liturgy in the Church’s calendar, in Scot's opinion, the Easter Vigil.Fr. Matt said he is excited about the week. Thursday he will be concelebrating at St. Joseph, Holbrook. On Friday and Saturday, he will be at the Hunger for Justice retreat as discussed last week on The Good Catholic Life.Scot welcomes Fr. Jonathan. Both of his jobs are very busy this week. What's it like to be Cardinal Sean's priest-secretary during Holy Week? He said it's not unlike the parish priests who labor from morning to night during Holy Week with the extra liturgies. He invites everyone to come to the cathedral to celebrate with Cardinal Sean. All of the broadcasts can be watched this week on CatholicTV or at CatholicTV.com.Fr. Jonathan said Easter Vigil is the basis of the Church's liturgical year. It is the most exalted of liturgies. It goes back to the earliest centuries of the Church. 4th century Christian writers wrote about gathering in the evening to prepare for the Resurrection and it would last all night long until sunrise. Scot said you can learn most of the essentials of our Catholic faith during the Easter vigil.* [The Easter Vigil liturgy](http://www.liturgy.co.nz/churchyear/vigil.html)The liturgy starts after nightfall and starts in a way unlike any other. Fr. Matt said it starts at dusk outdoors with the lighting of the holy fire, blessing and consecrating it. The significance is that Jesus Christ is the light of the world. The church inside is dark as well. It shows us that without Jesus, everything is dark, and the Light of the world scatters the darkness of sin. The Easter candle is lit from that candle and all the candles held by the parishioners are it from that candle. The priest recites a prayer of Christ as the Alpha and Omega and then the Easter candle is blessed. Traditionally it was the celebrant who decorated the candle. At the cathedral, the cardinal still traces the year in four quadrants of a cross and the Greek letters for Alpha and Omega into the candle with a stylus and then five stakes of incense are placed into the candle to symbolize the wounds of Christ. The candle symbolizes the Risen Christ. When Christ is raised from the dead, He still carries within His body the wounds of the sacrifice. >Christ yesterday and today (tracing the vertical arm of the cross) the beginning and the end (the horizontal arm) Alpha and Omega (these letters, above and below the cross) All time (the first numeral, in the upper left corner of the cross) and all ages belong to Christ (the second numeral in the upper right corner) to whom be glory and sovereignty (the third numeral in the lower left corner) through every age for ever. Amen. (the last numeral in the lower right corner).Fr. Matt said the incense shows that the Lord's self-sacrifice is a fragrant offering to the Father.Fr. Jonathan said the one candle lights all the tapers to fill the church with a holy glow, from darkness into the Light of Christ. We receive the light of cross and pass it on. Then there is the singing of the Easter proclamation.* [The Exsultet: A detailed look by Dom Jerome Gassner, OSB](http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=6341)>Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing choirs of angels! Exult, all creation around God's throne! Jesus Christ, our King is risen! Sound the trumpet of salvation! >Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor, radiant in the brightness of your King! Christ has conquered! Glory fills you! Darkness vanishes for ever! >Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory! The risen Savior shines upon you! Let this place resound with joy, echoing the mighty song of all God's people! In the first part of the Easter proclamation is a call for everyone to rejoice, all the earth and all of heaven to join in this hymn of joy at the Resurrection of Christ. Scot said it connects us with heaven. This is an order in which it is sung.Fr. Matt said the backdrop is that it comes just after Good Friday. After the devastation of Good Friday and emptiness of Holy Saturday, it is very dramatic and powerful. Fr. Jonathan said in the Extraordinary Form of the older liturgy, all the priests were still in the purple of Lent although the deacon singing this would be in white to symbolize Easter.Scot recalls the line that Christ has conquered in a new way, unlike any other conqueror.>My dearest friends, standing with me in this holy light, join me in asking God for mercy, that he may give his unworthy minister grace to sing his Easter praises.>>The Lord be with you.>And also with you.>Lift up your hearts.>We lift them up to the Lord.>Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.>It is right to give him thanks and praise.>>It is truly right that with full hearts and minds and voices we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father, and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. For Christ has ransomed us with his blood, and paid for us the price of Adam's sin to our eternal Father! >This is our passover feast, When Christ, the true Lamb, is slain, whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers. >This is the night, when first you saved our fathers: you freed the people of Israel from their slav'ry, and led them dry-shod through the sea. >This is the night, when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin. >This is the night, when Christians ev'rywhere, washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement, are restored to grace and grow together in holiness. >This is the night, when Jesus broke the chains of death and rose triumphant from the grave. >What good would life have been to us, had Christ not come as our Redeemer?Scot said never until he had heard the Exulstet did Scot believe that God had brought good even out of the evil of Original Sin. Fr. Jonathan noted the beautiful images of Christ as the Passover lamb, connecting us to the Jewish roots of our Christianity, and in Passover they offer an unblemished lamb in sacrifice to the Lord. Pontius Pilate finds no blemish, no wrong in Christ and yet Christ is led to the sacrifice. Fr. Matt said it was the sprinkled blood of the unblemished lamb that saved the Israelites from slavery and death, so too the Christian is washed in the blood of Christ.Scot said five times the Exulstet proclaims that "this is the night!" We celebrate this in a profound way in the darkness. Fr. Jonathan said everything we believe as Christians depends on on our real belief in the empty tomb and the Resurrection of Christ. The music takes on a bit more exuberance and is more melodic. It's because it emphasizes the biblical types, the connections between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Scot said, just as Christ rose triumphant from the grace, he gives us the opportunity to rise triumphant with Him.>Father, how wonderful your care for us! How boundless your merciful love! To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.>O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!>Most blessed of all nights, chosen by God to see Christ rising from the dead!>Of this night scripture says: "The night will be as clear as day: it will become my light, my joy.">The power of this holy night dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy; it casts out hatred, brings us peace, and humbles earthly pride.>Night truly blessed, when heaven is wedded to earth and Man is reconciled with God!Scot said this will be the most powerful night in the history of the world. Fr. Matt notes that this section is addresses to the Father. How much the Father in heaven loves us that He would give us His Son who would liberate us from sin.Fr. Jonathan said his favorite line is "when heaven is wedded to earth." The Bible begins the wedding of Adam and Eve and ends with the wedding feast of the Lamb in Revelations. Man is reconciled to God, not by our initiative, but by God's.Fr. Matt says it shows how sin alienates us from God, our community, even ourselves. We see how God takes sin seriously, but also how the love of God conquers that sin.>Therefore, heavenly Father, in the joy of this night, receive our evening sacrifice of praise, your Church's solemn offering. >Accept this Easter candle, a flame divided but undimmed, a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God. >Let it mingle with the lights of heaven and continue bravely burning to dispel the darkness of this night! >May the Morning Star which never sets find this flame still burning: Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead, and shed his peaceful light on all mankind, your Son, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.Scot said this ties the prayer in with the Mass that is celebrated after this. It is a sacrifice of praise where we echo and make present the sacrifice of Christ for us on the Cross. Fr. Jonathan said we are talking to the Father as the ransomed and adopted sons and daughters He has created. The whole point of the vigil is to be a sacrifice of praise. By the end of the vigil you will be exhausted, but for all the right reasons. We talk to the Easter candle because it is the sign of the Risen Christ. In the Book of Revelations (22:16), Jesus says, "I am the Morning Star." It is the first star of the morning, that remains visible even in the dawn. Christ remains, He is yesterday, today, and forever. Fr. Matt said we hope that our candles may be found burning when He comes again.Fr. Jonathan explained the Easter candle. It is the largest candle in the sanctuary. During Easter season it is placed near the lectern and is always lit. During baptism, a candle is lit from the Easter candle, a sign that the life of Easter is passed on through the sacraments of the Church ,especially baptism, which is the gateway of life. The candle is placed at the head of the casket at a funeral to symbolize that Christ is the beginning and end and so we light that candle as a sign that the deceased kept the flame burning throughout their lives.Now we have the 7 Old Testament readings, the most important readings in the OT that help us to understand Christ's coming and the significance.The first is the story of God's creation of the universe.*1st Reading: [Genesis 1:1-2:2](http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/genesis/genesis1.htm#v1)* In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters. Then God said,“Let there be light,” and there was light.God saw how good the light was.God then separated the light from the darkness.God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”Thus evening came, and morning followed—the first day. Then God said,“Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters, to separate one body of water from the other.”And so it happened:God made the dome, and it separated the water above the dome from the water below it.God called the dome “the sky.”Evening came, and morning followed—the second day. Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land may appear.”And so it happened:the water under the sky was gathered into its basin, and the dry land appeared.God called the dry land “the earth, “ and the basin of the water he called “the sea.”God saw how good it was.Then God said,“Let the earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seedand every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it.”And so it happened: the earth brought forth every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it.God saw how good it was.Evening came, and morning followed—the third day. Then God said:“Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to separate day from night.Let them mark the fixed times, the days and the years, and serve as luminaries in the dome of the sky, to shed light upon the earth.”And so it happened:God made the two great lights, the greater one to govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night; and he made the stars. God set them in the dome of the sky, to shed light upon the earth,to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness.God saw how good it was.Evening came, and morning followed—the fourth day. Then God said, “Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky.”And so it happened:God created the great sea monsters and all kinds of swimming creatures with which the water teems, and all kinds of winged birds.God saw how good it was, and God blessed them, saying, “Be fertile, multiply, and fill the water of the seas; and let the birds multiply on the earth.”Evening came, and morning followed—the fifth day. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth all kinds of living creatures: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals of all kinds.”And so it happened:God made all kinds of wild animals, all kinds of cattle,and all kinds of creeping things of the earth.God saw how good it was.Then God said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground.”God created man in his image;in the image of God he created him;male and female he created them.God blessed them, saying:“Be fertile and multiply;fill the earth and subdue it.Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth.”God also said: “See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food; and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground, I give all the green plants for food.”And so it happened.God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.Evening came, and morning followed—the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth and all their array were completed.Since on the seventh day God was finishedwith the work he had been doing, he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken. The second reading is the story of Abraham and Isaac. God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son and much of the story reflects the crucifixion. Isaac carries the wood of his own sacrifice to the top of the mountain. Abraham says God Himself will provide the sacrifice, prefiguring Christ.*2nd Reading: [Genesis 22:1-18](http://www.usccb.org/nab/042311.shtml#reading2)* God put Abraham to the test.He called to him, “Abraham!”“Here I am,” he replied.Then God said:“Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah.There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.”Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey, took with him his son Isaac and two of his servants as well, and with the wood that he had cut for the holocaust, set out for the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham got sight of the place from afar.Then he said to his servants:“Both of you stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I go on over yonder.We will worship and then come back to you.”Thereupon Abraham took the wood for the holocaust and laid it on his son Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife.As the two walked on together, Isaac spoke to his father Abraham: “Father!” Isaac said.“Yes, son, “ he replied.Isaac continued, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the holocaust?”“Son,” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the sheep for the holocaust.”Then the two continued going forward. When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.Next he tied up his son Isaac, and put him on top of the wood on the altar.Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.But the LORD’s messenger called to him from heaven,“Abraham, Abraham!”“Here I am!” he answered.“Do not lay your hand on the boy,” said the messenger.“Do not do the least thing to him.I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.”As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket.So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.Abraham named the site Yahweh-yireh; hence people now say, AOn the mountain the LORD will see.” Again the LORD’s messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said: “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantlyand make your descendants as countlessas the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessingC all this because you obeyed my command.” The 3rd reading is the freeing of the people from Egypt under Moses and this reading is followed by the Psalm called the Canticle of Moses.*3rd Reading: [Exodus 14:15--15:1](http://www.usccb.org/nab/042311.shtml#reading3)* The LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me?Tell the Israelites to go forward.And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea,split the sea in two,that the Israelites may pass through it on dry land.But I will make the Egyptians so obstinatethat they will go in after them.Then I will receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots and charioteers.The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I receive glory through Pharaoh and his chariots and charioteers.” The angel of God, who had been leading Israel’s camp, now moved and went around behind them.The column of cloud also, leaving the front,took up its place behind them,so that it came between the camp of the Egyptiansand that of Israel.But the cloud now became dark, and thus the night passed without the rival camps coming any closer togetherall night long.Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD swept the seawith a strong east wind throughout the nightand so turned it into dry land.When the water was thus divided, the Israelites marched into the midst of the sea on dry land, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left. The Egyptians followed in pursuit; all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and charioteers went after them right into the midst of the sea.In the night watch just before dawn the LORD cast through the column of the fiery cloudupon the Egyptian force a glance that threw it into a panic; and he so clogged their chariot wheelsthat they could hardly drive.With that the Egyptians sounded the retreat before Israel, because the LORD was fighting for them against the Egyptians. Then the LORD told Moses, AStretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may flow back upon the Egyptians,upon their chariots and their charioteers.”So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea flowed back to its normal depth.The Egyptians were fleeing head on toward the sea, when the LORD hurled them into its midst.As the water flowed back, it covered the chariots and the charioteers of Pharaoh’s whole armywhich had followed the Israelites into the sea.Not a single one of them escaped.But the Israelites had marched on dry landthrough the midst of the sea, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.Thus the LORD saved Israel on that dayfrom the power of the Egyptians.When Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore and beheld the great power that the LORDhad shown against the Egyptians, they feared the LORD and believed in him and in his servant Moses. Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD:I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant;horse and chariot he has cast into the sea. The 4th reading recounts Israel's abandonment of God at times, but God taking them back. God's love will never leave us, even though our faith may be shaken. God comes back to His people, regardless of what we've done. There is no sin we can commit that God's love won't compensate for.*4th Reading: [Isaiah 54:5-14](http://www.usccb.org/nab/042311.shtml#reading4)* The One who has become your husband is your Maker;his name is the LORD of hosts;your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,called God of all the earth.The LORD calls you back,like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,a wife married in youth and then cast off,says your God.For a brief moment I abandoned you,but with great tenderness I will take you back. In an outburst of wrath, for a momentI hid my face from you;but with enduring love I take pity on you,says the LORD, your redeemer.This is for me like the days of Noah,when I swore that the waters of Noahshould never again deluge the earth;so I have sworn not to be angry with you,or to rebuke you.Though the mountains leave their placeand the hills be shaken,my love shall never leave younor my covenant of peace be shaken,says the LORD, who has mercy on you.O afflicted one, storm-battered and unconsoled,I lay your pavements in carnelians,and your foundations in sapphires;I will make your battlements of rubies,your gates of carbuncles,and all your walls of precious stones.All your children shall be taught by the LORD,and great shall be the peace of your children.In justice shall you be established,far from the fear of oppression,where destruction cannot come near you. In the 5th reading, we are called to come to the water to receive nourishment from the Lord. We are to seek the Lord as our source of life-giving satisfaction for our souls. "My Word will not return to me void." The Word is Christ and He brings great fruits through His incarnation.*5th Reading: [Isaiah 55:1-11](http://www.usccb.org/nab/042311.shtml#reading5)* Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life:listen, and know prudence!How is it, Israel,that you are in the land of your foes,grown old in a foreign land,defiled with the dead,accounted with those destined for the netherworld?You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom!Had you walked in the way of God,you would have dwelt in enduring peace.Learn where prudence is,where strength, where understanding;that you may know alsowhere are length of days, and life,where light of the eyes, and peace.Who has found the place of wisdom,who has entered into her treasuries? The One who knows all things knows her;he has probed her by his knowledgeC The One who established the earth for all time,and filled it with four-footed beasts;he who dismisses the light, and it departs,calls it, and it obeys him trembling;before whom the stars at their postsshine and rejoice;when he calls them, they answer, “Here we are!”shining with joy for their Maker.Such is our God;no other is to be compared to him:He has traced out the whole way of understanding,and has given her to Jacob, his servant,to Israel, his beloved son. Since then she has appeared on earth,and moved among people.She is the book of the precepts of God,the law that endures forever;all who cling to her will live,but those will die who forsake her.Turn, O Jacob, and receive her:walk by her light toward splendor.Give not your glory to another,your privileges to an alien race.Blessed are we, O Israel;for what pleases God is known to us! In the 6th reading, we hear what we need to know where the answers are found. We know the things of God because Jesus has revealed them to us.*6th Reading: [Baruch 3:9-15,32-4:48](http://www.usccb.org/nab/042311.shtml#reading6)* Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life:listen, and know prudence!How is it, Israel,that you are in the land of your foes,grown old in a foreign land,defiled with the dead,accounted with those destined for the netherworld?You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom!Had you walked in the way of God,you would have dwelt in enduring peace.Learn where prudence is,where strength, where understanding;that you may know alsowhere are length of days, and life,where light of the eyes, and peace.Who has found the place of wisdom,who has entered into her treasuries? The One who knows all things knows her;he has probed her by his knowledge The One who established the earth for all time,and filled it with four-footed beasts;he who dismisses the light, and it departs,calls it, and it obeys him trembling;before whom the stars at their postsshine and rejoice;when he calls them, they answer, “Here we are!”shining with joy for their Maker.Such is our God;no other is to be compared to him:He has traced out the whole way of understanding,and has given her to Jacob, his servant,to Israel, his beloved son. Since then she has appeared on earth,and moved among people.She is the book of the precepts of God,the law that endures forever;all who cling to her will live,but those will die who forsake her.Turn, O Jacob, and receive her:walk by her light toward splendor.Give not your glory to another,your privileges to an alien race.Blessed are we, O Israel;for what pleases God is known to us! The 7th reading, the Lord tells us He will make us new. It prefigures baptism with the sprinkling of water that will gives us a new heart and a new spirit. It is a new life of grace through baptism. *7th Reading: [Ezekiel 36:16-17a, 18-28](http://www.usccb.org/nab/042311.shtml#reading7)*The word of the LORD came to me, saying: Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their land, they defiled it by their conduct and deeds.Therefore I poured out my fury upon them because of the blood that they poured out on the ground, and because they defiled it with idols.I scattered them among the nations, dispersing them over foreign lands; according to their conduct and deeds I judged them.But when they came among the nations wherever they came, they served to profane my holy name, because it was said of them: “These are the people of the LORD,yet they had to leave their land.”So I have relented because of my holy name which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they came.Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord GOD: Not for your sakes do I act, house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy name, which you profaned among the nations to which you came.I will prove the holiness of my great name, profaned among the nations, in whose midst you have profaned it.Thus the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD, when in their sight I prove my holiness through you.For I will take you away from among the nations, gather you from all the foreign lands, and bring you back to your own land.I will sprinkle clean water upon youto cleanse you from all your impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony heartsand giving you natural hearts.I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees.You shall live in the land I gave your fathers; you shall be my people, and I will be your God.**2nd segment:** It’s time to announce the winner of this week’s WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is a copy of the book “[Priest: Portraits of Ten Good Men Serving the Church Today](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1928832717/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=catholicnetrevie&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=1928832717),” by Michael Rose. The book communicates the virtuous institution of the priesthood by telling the stories of ten faithful priests who are living examples of holiness, sacrifice, and love of God. This week’s winner is **Bob Ricci from Tewksbury, MA**. Congratulations to Bob. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit [WQOM.org](http://www.WQOM.org). For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for our weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program.**3rd segment:**Once the readings are completed, the bells of the church are rung, the lights come on and then the Gloria is sung. Fr. Jonathan said we keep the lights off until this point to let loose all the joy we've been holding in by singing the Gloria. On Holy Thursday is the last time we will sing the Gloria until the Easter Vigil. In the Vigil we've listened to the stories that lead us to Christ and the Church again sings the song of the praise of angels.Now the Epistle is read. Saint Paul writes to the Romans that we become buried with Christ in death so that we can rise with him by the glory of the Father and have newness of life!*Epistle: [Romans 6:3-11](http://www.usccb.org/nab/042311.shtml#readinge)* Brothers and sisters:Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life. For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.For a dead person has been absolved from sin.If, then, we have died with Christ,we believe that we shall also live with him.We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more;death no longer has power over him.As to his death, he died to sin once and for all;as to his life, he lives for God.Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sinand living for God in Christ Jesus. In the Gospel, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary discover the empty tomb, meet the angel who instructs them to tell the disciples that Jesus has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee and you will see him there. Jesus met them on the way and told them to don’t be afraid and to tell the other disciples. Fr. Matt said Christ shows that the Old Testament is revealed in the New.*Gospel: [Matthew 28:1-10](http://www.usccb.org/nab/042311.shtml#gospel)*>After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning,>Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.>And behold, there was a great earthquake; >for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, >approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it.>His appearance was like lightning>and his clothing was white as snow.>The guards were shaken with fear of him>and became like dead men.>Then the angel said to the women in reply,>“Do not be afraid!>I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified.>He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said.>Come and see the place where he lay.>Then go quickly and tell his disciples,>‘He has been raised from the dead, >and he is going before you to Galilee;>there you will see him.’>Behold, I have told you.”>Then they went away quickly from the tomb, >fearful yet overjoyed,>and ran to announce this to his disciples.>And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them.>They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.>Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.>Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee,>and there they will see me.”Unique to the Easter Vigil is the Liturgy of Baptism for those entering the Church. Fr. Jonathan said it begins at the beginning of Lent. In Boston over 600 people have been preparing to enter the Church at Easter. Lent is a time to prepare. In this moment, when we look back at the events of Good Friday and the soldier pierces the Body of Christ and water and blood flows forth. In the same way, the Body of Christ gives us baptism (water) and the Eucharist (blood). We celebrate the events of history by witnessing the power of Christ's grace breaking into the souls of those about to be baptized. Everyone present is asked to renew their baptismal vows.Fr. Matt said most of us had our baptismal vows said by our parents, but here we can do this for ourselves. We start by rejecting Satan and sin and then professing our faith in God.Fr. Jonathan said those who were just baptized and were baptized before now receive the sacrament of confirmation. Scot said 150,000 people across the country will be entering the Church this Easter. The Church wants us all to remember our baptism and our First Communion and our confirmation.Scot said the Easter vigil can take couple of hours, but it's well worth it and it can change you. It's like a retreat.Fr. Matt said the Divine Mercy novena starts on Good Friday. St. Faustina was canonized by Pope John Paul II. She received private revelations of Christ and His Divine Mercy. It's an opportunity to intercede on behalf of the Church and the world, culminating on Divine Mercy Sunday, May 1, the second Sunday of Easter and the day Pope John Paul II will be beatified.All parishes of the archdiocese will be open tonight from 6:30-8pm for the last Wednesday of the [Light is On For You](http://www.thelightisonforyou.org).…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Michael Barber, SJ, director of spiritual formation at St. John's Seminary **Today's topics:** The Chrism Mass of Holy Week and Cardinal Seán's homily **A summary of today's show:** Cardinal Seán's homily for the Chrism Mass on Tuesday of Holy Week calls on priests to humility and courage and greater immersion in the Word of God in order to be strengthened in their vocations and to be united in Christ for their mission. **1st segment:** Scot said we began Holy Week this past Palm Sunday. There are so many powerful opportunities for learning more about our Faith and getting closer to Christ this week. Today we are going to discuss the Chrism Mass, which occurred earlier today, and then look ahead to all the liturgies of this Holy Week. At 11am this morning at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Cardinal Sean and hundreds of concelebrating priests celebrated the Chrism Mass, which is a tradition for Tuesday of Holy Week in the Archdiocese of Boston and many dioceses. There are 2 unique aspects of the annual Chrism Mass: (a) The consecration of the Holy Chrism oil: (b) the celebration of the priesthood and renewal of priestly vows. Here is what today’s Mass program said about both: >All Christians are anointed because all are filled with the Spirit's gifts for the building up of the church and the church's service to the world. In every local church one Christian presides in love and orchestrates the church's ministry: this is the bishop, or chief pastor. It is not surprising, therefore, that the most ancient liturgical witnesses designate the bishop as the consecrator of the sacramental oils. Although priests once blessed the oils of the catechumens and the sick and may do so in some circumstances, only the bishop may consecrate the chrism with which the baptized are sealed at confirmation and ordination. This rite is one of the last rites of preparation before the Triduum begins. Before the local church baptizes, it prepares the chrism which will be used in the Vigil. > >This celebration has always retained a special character of priestly collegiality. Even in the centuries when eucharistic concelebration had disappeared from the church's life, the ritual for the blessing and consecration of oils retained strong elements which reminded all that ministry in the church is never the work of an individual but of a community of ministers of different gifts and responsibilities. The present celebration of the rite has been restored as a full concelebration of the bishop with his clergy and with the full participation of the laity. Scot welcomes Father Chris O’Connor our Tuesday co-host. What does the Chrism Mass mean for him as a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston? Fr. Chris said it is a reaffirmation of the priests to the Lord in a special way and it's powerful to do that with your brother priests. It's a beautiful celebration of the priesthood with the bishop. It is a priestly fraternity. It is wonderful to look around the cathedral to see so many priests who have rendered service to God's family. Scot said it is amazing to see all the priests that are there and the diversity of ages, ethnicity, and national original. Fr. Chris said what unites us is faith in Jesus Christ. He said there is also the practical reason for them to come together, which is to get the oils that they will use in their parishes throughout the year: the oils for baptism and anointing of the sick and confirmation. Scot said Cardinal Seán gives one of his best and one of his longest homilies each year at the Chrism Mass. In many ways it is a message directly to priests and indirectly to all of us who support our priests and minister with them in the Church. We’re going to discuss many elements of his homily today. Fr. Chris said it was a great and rousing homily. Father Chris and Scot are joined by Father Michael Barber, the new director of spiritual formation at St. John’s Seminary as of last Fall. Fr. Barber's first connection to Boston was when he was on the apostolic visitation team implemented the Vatican and he was sent to Boston. He had a very positive impression. He also got to know many Boston priests during his time as a military chaplain. Fr. Barber's background: * Saint John’s new Director of Spiritual Formation, Father Michael Barber, SJ grew up in San Francisco and Sacramento, California. He followed the normal 12 year course of Jesuit studies, with philosophy at Gonzaga University, Spokane, and Theology at Regis College, University of Toronto. * Ordained in 1985, he was sent for two years of missionary work in Western Samoa, Polynesia. He was then sent to the Gregorian University in Rome to study and teach Dogmatic Theology. Father Barber’s research centered on the unpublished sermon manuscripts of Blessed John Henry (Cardinal) Newman. From Rome, he was sent to Oxford University as a research fellow at Campion Hall, the Jesuit college at Oxford. He subsequently was elected Bursar and tutor in theology there. * He later was appointed by Archbishop (now Cardinal) William Levada as Director of the School of Pastoral Leadership in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, followed by eight years as Director of Spiritual Formation and assistant professor of theology at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California. Father Barber was commissioned in 1991 as an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, and currently holds the rank of Commander. He was called up for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 as Catholic chaplain to the 6,000 Marines in the 4th Marine Air Wing. He is currently assistant division chaplain to the 4th Marine Division, USMC. Fr. Barber recalls attending the Chrism Mass in the Archdiocese of Verona, Italy, and how every single space in the cathedral being filled by priests. They also had the custom of presenting new seminarians to the bishop at that Mass. Triduum means three, referring to the three days of Holy Thursday through Easter Sunday. These days represent the summit of all we believe as Christians. Scot said that if you wanted to start to take your faith seriously, this is the week to do it by focusing on the liturgies of this week. **2nd segment:** Clips from Cardinal Sean's homily will now be played and discussed. *Costly Grace*: >At times the demands of one's vocation can seem overwhelming. It is truly a costly grace. And so it is with the priestly vocation. There are always more and more demands, more instructions from headquarters, new programs to be implemented, the bishop's latest brainchild. Today, at the Chrism Mass, I am happy for the opportunity to be able to say how much the whole Catholic community appreciates the tireless work of our priests and as your Bishop, I am particularly grateful for your generous dedication to ministry. These are very challenging times for the church. Business as usual is not enough if we are going to be able to fulfill our mission. We have to go the extra mile, turn the other cheek, give our tunic along with the cloak. Yes, our vocation is a costly grace, but at the same time it's a bargain. It is a beautiful life. And together, we can make it more beautiful. Our Chrism Mass gives us an opportunity to reflect on how precious our priesthood is and to rededicate ourselves to our vocation. As always, we look to Christ, the High Priest and Good Shepherd, to gain insight into our calling. Scot said he talks of the challenges to the priesthood and the Church and that it's time to go the extra mile. Fr. Chris said the cardinal is reminding us that priests have given their life to, and they will only be authentic when they are filled with joy and giving up themselves generously. That's when they will discover their happiness as priests. Fr. Barber said it reflects [St. Ignatius of Loyola's prayer](http://www.catholicdoors.com/prayers/english3/p02709.htm): "To give and not to count the cost..." Business as usual is not good enough for the Church. Fr. Chris said we can't be complacent. People aren't coming to us, we have to go find them. *Humility*: >Today, I would like to reflect on the Catholic Priest as prophet leader, called to continue the prophetic role of Jesus. And in particular, I wish to explore three aspects of our vocation to be prophetic leaders of Christ's people: Humility, Courage, and Involvement with the Word of God. The first characteristic of the Prophet is humility. "Learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart." The priest must imitate Jesus' humility and self-emptying, Jesus, who has taken on the form of a slave. John the Baptist, the great prophetic figure at the opening of the Gospel says, "He must increase. I must decrease." Fr. Barber said humility and courage are tied together because only a humble man will have the courage to get up in the pulpit and preach the Word of God even when he knows some people will not like what he has to say. He has to have the humility to know he answers to a higher authority. Priests could say sometimes, "He must increase and I must increase with Him," but that doesn't work. Fr. Chris said this is a particular and new tack that the cardinal is taking from the usual image. If priests are going to proclaim the truth, they will have to expect pushback. *Resist self-importance*: >Narcissism and an exaggerated sense of self importance, preclude a real conversion and prevent one from functioning as a prophet leader. Fr. Eugene Hemrick in his [Habits of a Priestly Heart](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158459442X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=158459442X) speaks of the need to resist the most serious foes that can take the heart out of our priesthood: resentment, careerism and clericalism. Priestly humility is the antidote to these cancers. Some day the Pope should get all the bishops and priests together in St. Peter's Square and say to us: "Repeat after me, in the words of John the Baptist: 'I am not the Messiah.'" It may come as a shocking revelation to many bishops and priest who enjoy a messianic complex. But it is very liberating to cast off this fiction. It is rooted in the same pride that makes us so competitive. Fr. Chris said it made him reflect like this was a mini-retreat, to be challenged to examine how he had to work on these things himself. The Cardinal challenged the priests to reflect during Holy Week on how they can become better priests. Scot said there often expectations of priests to function like messiahs. Fr. Barber said some priests feel like they have to be at the center of things at Mass, to entertain. But he sees more and more churches being renovated where the presider's chair is moved from the highest and most central place. *A priest who is humble...*: >A priest who is humble knows that he needs others. In the face of his own limitations, he accepts his role as a prophet leader. He knows that he is gifted in some areas and not in others. The humble priest realizes that we are interdependent, and together we can do what we cannot do alone. The humble man believes in this togetherness, being part of a team and seeking this support from his brother priests and offering it to them. The proud man aspires to be a star, a lone ranger, a messiah. Fr. Chris said it's very scriptural. The apostles were sent out by Christ, two by two, never alone. The priests work as a body for the good of others. The lone star will burn out without a connection to others. Fr. Barber said no one priest has all the qualities of Christ, but all the priests of the Church together will reflect in some way or another the necessary qualities of Christ. *Challenges of modern priesthood*: >Priests are sometimes uneasy with accepting and exercising leadership in a world that is often suspect of its leaders. The uneasiness also comes from our own personal insecurities, fear of conflict, problems of self-esteem, fear of rejection, worries about taking responsibility for difficult decisions. I always say that in Boston every decision is a dilemma. Today, the priests face new challenges: ministering in a time when the number of priests has declined and the average age has risen. Often people have high, even unrealistic expectations of priests. The consumer mentality by which priests are to provide quick, efficient and friendly service like people expect from salespersons or hotel clerks. Scot said it identifies the reasons why it's tough for priests to lead their parishes today. Fr. Barber tells seminarians their security is rooted in their call by Christ and prayer life, not by polls and popularity. That is the source of their joy and contentment. If their source is in other people, they won't be secure. Priests are often overwhelmed by their inadequacies and will sometimes have an off-day, but they are only human and have God's grace to help them. "God chose you and the people will see and love in them something they see and love in Christ." Fr. Chris said there would be no problems if people understood that God loved them. Do you know that you are loved by Christ, because if you don't know that how will you help other people discover Christ's love for themselves? Scot said the consumer mentality causes laypeople to expect priests to be service providers. That is not the identity of priests. Fr. Chris said that is exactly right. We need to rid ourselves of a country club mentality in the Church where we come and go as we feel like it. Scot said as a parent, he has to remind his children that he is not there to simply respond to their wishes, but to lead them and raise them as strong adults. Fr. Barber has known priests who couldn't preach a homily, but where great one on one and others who were vice-versa. He sees seminarians come in from the world with all its distractions, but the men who struggle with their own temptations will make great confessors. *Courage*: >Living faithfully and ministering effectively demand courage of the priest. This virtue is built up by continuous acts of courage: facing obstacles, resisting temptation, not walking away from difficult situations, making decisions, teaching the hard words of the gospel. Luckily it does not depend entirely on us. We are not [Pelagianists](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11604a.htm). Our prayer life, our priestly friendships, the spirit who anointed us in our ordination, all help us to acquire the courage we need to be priests and prophet-leaders to God's people. Fr. Barber recalled Archbishop Vigneron facing an impossible situation in a former diocese that he was confident that if the Lord wants success, He will make it happen. Fr. Chris said priestly friendships are a great help. No priest desires conflict so when it happens, it is great to have the support of brother priests to give feedback. The Holy Spirit is with us and stays with us. Scot's favorite part of the homily is the Cardinal saying that courage is a virtue and that is built up by acts of courage. *Being a messenger of God*: >Our task is not to impart information, but to be messengers of God whose word is a two edged sword, whose Gospel brings life and meaning to people. To do that, we must learn to love the Word of God that will nurture the contemplative aspect of our vocation. Moses, the Prophet, climbs the mountain and there basks in God's presence, receives His Word, and then comes down. His face is glowing from being in God's presence. We must spend time each day with God and His Word if we are going to be God's messengers with fire in our belly and God's glow on our face. Fr. Barber said God's Word is a two-edged sword because it always has a bite to it. The role of the preacher is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Also he likes that Cardinal Sean says that your homilies must be prepared on your knees. The priest is a conduit between the Holy Spirit and people's hearts. Fr. Chris said people can be so busy in other people's lives that they forget their own call to holiness. Scot said his dad taught him that the more you work for something, the more you receive. The work of the priest to receive more and give more is the work of prayer. *Skills of holiness*: >It is not enough for a parish priest to be personally holy. He also needs to have the skills to lead others to holiness. Fr. Ronald Knott has a good definition of Spiritual Leadership: "The ability to influence another through invitation, persuasion and example to move from where they are, to where God wants them to be, especially through the skillful use of the pulpit." He calls Catholic pulpits buried treasures waiting to be claimed. The prophet leader has a special challenging task of reaching out to the segment of God's people who seldom frequent the sacraments or attend Mass. Fr. Knott refers to them as: "The mad and the sad; the ignored and the bored." Our motivation to accept this challenge must be our love for God and for His People. Fr. Barber said a good preacher has the ability to interpret the events and actions in people's lives through the Word of God. Don't give up, keep on striving, keep faith, and know that they are planting seeds. The priest never knows where the seed goes or when it will ever come to fruition. Fr. Chris said the priest makes a return gift of his life when he knows how much God loves him. With fewer priests and higher demands, the priest needs to know where he is being fed and that is through the Word of God. If the priest doesn't have the Word of God how will he share it with others? Scot said Cardinal Sean said in his Ash Wednesday that if we're standing still in the spiritual life, then we're falling behind. *Renewal of promises*: >At the Ordination ceremony--all the priests come forward to lay on hands, and again--all come forward to give the kiss of peace. The new priests' hands are anointed with the very chrism that this same presbyterate blessed, together with the Bishop, a few months before. All of this to indicate our unity, our oneness with Christ and with each other. And today in this Chrism Mass, we renew our priestly promises together. And it is together that we must live out this call to be the presbyterate of Boston, united to Christ, the Good Shepherd, and to our brother priests in the service of God's people. Together, in our role as priests, prophet leaders, with humility, with courage, and immersed in the Word of God. Let us make our renewal of promises, a new beginning, an opportunity to say yes again to Christ. Fr. Chris said the Cardinal is reminding the priests what they committed to on their ordination and calling them to unity within Christ. If there isn't unity, how can priests ask others to be a people of reconciliation. The priests need to be united in Christ around the Bishop around the Eucharist, then they are fraudulent. Fr. Barber said priests live that togetherness by calling each other late at night, for example, where their brother priests live alone. They give each other encouragement and hope. The bishop is the chaplain of his priests. Fr. Chris said priestly fraternity begins in the seminary. It is 10 times harder to gather priest friends in the parish when all the demands of the parish are on them. A central characteristic of St. John's is the camaraderie shared among the men. **3rd segment:** The sacred Triduum is the three days in the Church's calendar when the normal business of the Church shuts down. Fr. Chris said we are all united around the events of Christ's suffering, death and resurrection. For those three days, our parish church becomes the Holy Land where we walk with Christ. We are in the upper room on Holy Thursday and we come together in the garden as we pray before the tabernacle. On Good Friday is Calvary. At the Easter Vigil we start in the darkness of the tomb and lead to the light of Easter. By celebrating these events we too rise with Christ. Fr. Barber said no one can say that God doesn't love me when we experience the events of the Triduum. We hear the Lord's last words and his love letter to the Church in his preaching at the Last Supper. If we wear a crucifix we wear a reminder of how much He loves us. All the beautiful symbolism of the Triduum remind us of the inner mysteries of Christ. Scot said that on Good Friday the veneration of the cross brings us face to face with what Christ did for me. On Holy Saturday, the tangible act of lighting a candle and passing it on and what it means to us as faithful Catholics. Fr. Chris said he ended his homily with John 3:16 and it's the greatest love story in all the world. His vocation came to him in eighth grade as an altar server serving at all the Triduum liturgies. Fr. Barber said the veneration of the crucifix on Good Friday is a high point for him. He highly recommends the new movie ["Of Gods and Men"](http://www.sonyclassics.com/ofgodsandmen/) in which an old monk knows he's about to die for his faith and he's praying before an image of Christ. Knowing he's alone, he goes up to lay his head on Christ's side and kiss the wound in his side.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor**Today's guest(s):** Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ, founder and publisher at Ignatius Press* [Jesus of Nazareth 2](http://www.ignatius.com/promotions/jesus-of-nazareth/)* [Ignatius Press](http://www.ignatius.com)**Today's topics:** Pope Benedict's new book, "Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection"**A summary of today's show:** Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ, of Ignatius Press and a friend and student of Pope Benedict, recounts his own journey with the Holy Father, reflects on his papacy and future legacy, and delves this new book which is apropos for this Holy Week as we enter into it.**1st segment:** Happy Patriots' Day. Scot said today is much more than a day off or Marathon Day or a day when the Red Sox play with an early start. It is the start of Holy Week. We celebrated Palm Sunday yesterday and today is officially known in the Church calendar as Monday of Holy Week. Pope Benedict XVI published a book last month entitled "Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection" to help us to get to know our Lord in a special way. On today's broadcast we talked with the English-language publisher of that book, Fr. Joseph Fessio of Ignatius Press. But Fr. Fessio is much more than just the publisher. He has known Pope Benedict since Father was a graduate student and the Pope was known as Fr. Joseph Ratzinger.**2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Fr. Fessio. Fr. Fessio first met Fr. Ratzinger in 1972. Prior to that he was doing his theology as a young Jesuit scholastic in Lyons, France. He met there [Fr. Henri de Lubac, SJ](http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/authors/henridelubac.asp), who was a wonderful priest, a great Jesuit, and tremendous scholar. When it came for Fr. Fessio to do hiw own doctoral studies, and Fr. de Lubac suggested he do his studies on [Hans Urs von Balthasar](http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/authors/vonbalthasar.asp), the Swiss theologian that de Lubac thought was the great theologian of the Church. He said Fr. Fessio should go to Regensburg to study with the great young theologian Fr. Ratzinger and it was Fr. de Lubac who wrote Fr. Ratzinger on his behalf. Fr. Ratzinger made an exception to accept Fr. Fessio among his graduate students even though he'd been trying to reduce the number of students he was accepting. He was a wonderful teacher as the world now knows.After that, his former doctoral students would gather with him every year, especially after 1977, when he became Archbishop of Munich-Friesing. This was called the Schulerkreis or "student circle". They would go to a monastery, select a theme, bring in a speaker, have discussions, have meals together, Mass together. It was a wonderful opportunity to spend time with their revered mentor. They thought they would end when he became Pope in 2005, but he informed the students that he wanted to continue so they keep going every August. That he continues this, tells Fr. Fessio that he values his friendships he's made, that he values academic discussion and inquiry in o themes of theological interest, and what a warm human person he is that he enjoys this recreation.Fr. Chris asked what qualities Pope Benedict has a professor and teacher that he would admire. He has a brilliant mind and grasps what he reads and remenbers them forever. Is widely read in many subjects, not just theology and philosophy, but also literature and history and others. HE loves art and music and plays piano. He's exceptional for the depth of his knowledge and the sharpness of his intellect. He's also very tranquil and listens well. Most memorable for Fr. Fessio were not Fr. Ratzinger's lectures, which were excellent, but his seminars. In a group of students, he would lead discussion and make sure everyone got a chance to speak and guide it. At the end, he would summarize the whole session into two very beautiful and long German sentences. They would be astounded at his ability to synthesize and grasp the important themes and put them together. He sees it again and again now that he's Pope. At the Synod of the Eucharist, where bishops discuss a theme, then put together a synopsis of themes they'd like the Pope to address, and if you read the document Pope Benedict produced, it's beautiful. When the synod fathers give the Pope their document, they number each item. If you look at the footnotes of the Pope's post-synodal exhortation, [Sacramentum Caritatis](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_exh_20070222_sacramentum-caritatis_en.html), he took all the little fragments that they'd put into their list and he made them into a mosaic; he put them into order; he synthesized them. The synod was one big seminar where Professor Ratzinger listened and synthesized. Pope John Paul II had put Cardinal Ratzinger in charge of the creation of the Universal Catechism and he did the same with that document.Fr. Fessio once made a retreat and meditated on the table of contents of the Catechism. He didn't read the document, just the table of contents. It is so beautifully organized. It's not just individual statements of our faith; they are put together as an organic whole.Scot said his reaction when he read Pope Benedict's first encyclical, [Deus Caritas Est](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est_en.html), was that the Pope was such a clear writer and to be a clear writer, you need to be a clear thinker. Back when he was Fr. Ratzinger, what was the general thinking of where the brilliant professor Fr. Ratzinger was headed in his life? Fr. Fessio said they didn't think he would become part of the ecclesiastical structure of the Church. He was a brilliant professor and in Germany that's a highly revered position and they assumed he would continue a career in theology. In Germany, theologians become bishops. (In the US, it's canon lawyers.) When he became prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the hostile media gave him the image as the Panzercardinal, the great Enforcer, the disciplinarian, harsh and unyielding. When he became Pope, his students rejoiced because as Pope now this wonderful man would be known for who he truly is. Sure enough, in 2005, the journalists all asked what caused the change for him to become so warm and kind and caring. Fr. Fessio said that's the way he's always been. They only just finally got to know him.Scot asked him what it was like to have someone he knew so well to be elected Pope. He was very happy and he sort of predicted it. When he looked at all the candidates, he decided that no one else had the name recognition or great talents. And John Paul II had increased the College of Cardinals and made it more international which means there are cardinals from all over the world. If you are good enough to become a cardinal, you know you can't elect someone on hearsay or a nice impression. You need someone you rely upon or trust or that someone you know relies upon and trusts. Who do all these cardinals know? A cardinal serving in Rome gets to know all the other curial cardinals as well as the worldwide cardinals and because he is such a good person and so fair--even his enemies admire and respect him--it just seemd to Fr. Fessio it was unlikely anyone else would be elected. He was happy for the whole Church.The 20th century was a great century for Popes in his view: from Pius X all the way to Pope John Paul II. We are fortunate to have been alive during two of the greatest pontificates, maybe, of all time. Scot asked Fr. Fessio if he had concern for the Pope upon him being elected Pope in his late 70s as he was preparing for retirement. On the one hand, he knew he would prefer to work in his later years in theology. But on the other hand, he is a person of great serenity. He knew he would live the papacy from within and be quite content within. He didn't want it and wasn't looking for it. In the interview book ["Light of the World"](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1586176064/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=catholicnetrevie&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1586176064), he said, "I saw the guillotine coming." He also said about following John Paul II, he said, "I am who I am. The cardinals elected me. I'll just do the best I can."**3rd segment:** Fr. Chris said it's great to discover that the Pope's new book is #5 on the New York Times' bestseller list. To what does Fr. Fessio attribute this great success? He said we have the best known teacher on the planet writing a book about the most important figure in human history and that should be of interest to even the readers of the New York Times. Even in these secularized times, there are still people who value a book like this by a man like this.Scot asked the significance of the book in the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI. Scott Hahn says that the "Jesus of Nazareth" project will be the Pope's great legacy, just as the Theology of the Body was Pope John Paul's. Fr. Fessio said the project is a work of Pope Benedict's mature years, is close to his heart, he's worked on it at great length with great devotion, and it's on Jesus. He also does something in this book that's not been done in any major book about Jesus. We've had lives of Jesus, but this is not a life of Jesus. We've had Christologies, books on the theology of the divinity and humanity of Christ and the function of his being a savior, but Pope Benedict said in the introduction that it's not his goal to do that.His goal is to present the figure and the message of Jesus in a way that will inspire a personal commitment and give people a certitude about their faith. In the last century, there has been an historical scholarship to find the "real" Jesus, but it always ends up with someone how is wispy and amorphous or someone who represents the pet project of the scholar, i.e. Jesus the revolutionary or social worker. But in this book, he says that that the results of historical scholarship are in now and there's not much more to say there. What we need to do now is expand it into theological exegesis that recognizes faith as a way of seeing the Gospel. And it stays historical because it's about a real person who lived.He integrates the results of historical scholarship and the vision of faith and that, Fr. Fessio said, will be a landmark for a long time to come.On the other hand, he believes Pope Benedict's legacy will be larger than this and it will be marked by two things. First, his greatest love is the liturgy and after he was named archbishop in 1977 he didn't write any more books. He gave talks and wrote articles that were collected into books and wrote an autobiography, but he in 1990 said he would work on a book on the liturgy. Fr. Fessio believes the book, "The Spirit of the Liturgy", is the masterpiece on the Catholic Mass. It is the best of any that has been written and he doesn't see how it can be surpassed in the future. That, along with his motu proprio in 2007 [Summorum Pontificum](http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/b16summorumpontificum.htm) which made the Extraordinary For of the Mass more available, mark a turning point in liturgical renewal which will have a longstanding effect on the Church.Third, you can't have a healthy Catholic Church without priests. You can't have a large number of priests without strong bishops who have good solid seminaries. Fr. Fessio said he lived through a dark age of seminaries after the 2nd Vatican Council, which is changing now. For the last three or four years, bishops' appointments have been men who've been willing to stand up for the faith, to take a stand for it, have great talents, and are quite loyal to the Church. This isn't by chance. Last July he appointed Cardinal Mac Ouellet as prefect for the Congregation for Bishops, the congregation that oversees the appointment of bishops. Fr. Fessio has know him for many years and both were close to Fr. Ratzinger. He's extraordinary, intelligent, and a man of faith, and he's in charge of the appointment of bishops worldwide. For the US, Cardinal Burke is a member of that Congregation and he knows the situation in the US and knows priests and bishops and here.Scot asked Fr. Fessio to describe what in Pope Benedict's and Cardinal Ouellet's mind makes a good bishop for the 2010s. Of course, they want men of prayer deeply committed to Jesus and his Church. They want bishops with intellectual foundation to defend the faith and be prophetic in proclaiming the Word of God. They also want bishops who can recognize the importance of hermeneutics of continuity, an understanding that the Second Vatican Council is not a break with the past, of everything that went before it. Fr. Fessio has heard a lot of people say, "Oh, that's pre-Vatican II. We don't do that any more." This Pope's view is that the Vatican council was a moment in the Church's long living tradition in which there was organic development that was called for, a renewal that was rooted in Tradition. After the council , there were many bishops who thought the council was a complete transformation of the Church.Fr. Chris said that it seems that with the current Jesus of Nazareth book ending with the Resurrection that it wraps up the series. Or is there another volume coming? Fr. Fessio said the Holy Father has promised that he would write a short book (in Italian "fascicolo") on the infancy of Christ. So there's the public life of Christ to the Transfiguration and then the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ in two volumes and then a small half-book being worked on now that he hopes to finish it by the summer. Scot asked if Ignatius Press will publish that book. Fr. Fessio said they don't have the contract yet, but the Pope has been very loyal to Ignatius as Ignatius has been to him. He knows of a New York publisher who went to Rome personally to offer a $2.1 million advance for the book, which Ignatius wasn't required to pay, but the Holy Father's publisher said No, that Ignatius Press was going to do it.After he was elected Pope, Ignatius had 23 of his books in print. Other publishers wanted to get on the bandwagon and one American publisher who knows the Pope and his secretary who asked him, "Holy Father, why is that only Ignatius Press is allowed to publish your books?" He said, "Before anyone cared about me, they published my books."Scot asked Fr. Fessio why does it have both Joseph Ratzinger and Pope Benedict XVI on the cover? At what level of magisterial authority does he write this book? Fr. Fessio said it is not at all magisterial, in the technical sense of being an authoritative statement for the Church. It is really a book by Joseph Ratzinger as a private theologian, but this man happens to be Pope. So in order to help sell the books and to let people understand, they book both the name and the title. It doesn't have the Church's authority behind, but neither does the phone book and that's full of true statements. So it's full of truth in that sense even while you can disagree with his conclusions. He has also become what his office is. Joseph Ratzinger doesn't put on a costume as Pope Benedict XVI. He really is the successor of Peter and he is what his office is. **4th segment:** Fr. Chris asked Fr. Fessio what his favorite part of the book is. Fr. Fessio said he couldn't pick a favorite part. It's not a book that's easily divided into parts. It's sequential as it goes through Holy Week and it's a story. The whole story is what is powerful for him. In every part he sees wonderful insights and clarity of thought. What he likes most are certain constant features that everywhere throughout the book. Pope Benedict uses the Old Testament in a certain way. He'll talks about saying and acts of Jesus that may be hard to understand by going back to Old Testament texts in which Jesus' acts are the fulfillment. But he goes deeper an deeper into the historical context. It's also so Christ-centered because he shows how the sayings of Christ, his words to us, are actually expressions of the way Christ lived his life. Pope Benedict's character as a teacher is seen throughout the book. He enumerates many things, he begins with questions and then answer them. He has a teaching style.Fr. Fessio said he's working on adapting the books into an online college course, working with the [College of St. Thomas More](http://www.cstmo.org/) in Fort Worth, a fully online Catholic university. Every time he re-reads the books in preparation for these classes, he gets something new. They discuss Scot's favorite passage of the book on Christ washing the feet of the Apostles. Pope Benedict says it's an encapsulation of the ministry of Christ, that God stoops down to serve man, that "God did not grasp at divinity, but rather emptied himself and took on the form of a slave." The bathing of the whole body is also a reference to baptism and feet-washing is a reference to the need for continual cleansing necessary through confession. When Christ washes our feet, it is an expression of an inner reality of service to others, not just to show us who He is, but to gives us an example of who were to be. Now, the Pope goes deeper. Christ knows we can't do that as an act of our own moral strength. Noting that this takes place at the Last Supper, he says we need to be united to Christ in the Eucharist, then we can let that life flower in us as a moral life. We don't do it on our own.Fr. Chris said in the foreword of the book, Pope Benedict says he has the task as communicating the figure and message of Christ. Fr. Fessio said that his is against the background of the historical scholarship. Pope Benedict wants to show us that having read the scholarship, there can still be a full concrete attractive image of Jesus, the man who was God, not a shriveled and shrunken image made by questioning everything we know about Christ. He wants to give the fullness of Christ as we receive Him in the Gospels. The message is similar. Some scholars say we can't be sure of what Christ said because earlier editors could have inserted anything into the texts of the Gospels we have today. But Pope Benedict says we can have a genuine figure of Jesus, filled out and fleshed out and we can have have real teachings of Jesus from the Gospels; we can rely on them. Otherwise who will follow Jesus? No one will follow a stick figure Jesus.About the Resurrection, Fr. Fessio notes that Pope Benedict says with St. Paul that if Jesus isn't risen our faith is in vain. He also addresses whether the tomb was empty. Some scholars say that Jesus could have died and his spirit rose to heaven and his body decomposed and it would not alter our belief in the resurrection of Jesus. But the Pope says while there could be a resurrection of the crucified Christ without the body leaving the tomb, because it's a transhistorical, beyond empirical event, but there would have been no belief in it, the Jews at the time knew where he was buried. If they'd gone to the tomb and found a body, it would have been a dis-proof of the resurrection and there wouldn't have been a belief in Jesus in the early Church.Fr. Fessio said there is a [study guide](http://www.ignatius.com/IProducts/56149/jesus-of-nazareth-study-guide-volume-ii.aspx?src=ipjon) available for the book and Holy Week is a good time to study and pray with this book.He suggests that Holy Week is a good time to get away from the world--Facebook, Twitter, TV, and magazines--and be with the Lord in this special time.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell**Today's guest(s):** Fr. Richard Erikson, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia for the Archdiocese of Boston, and Colbe Mazzarella, founder and organizer of the Way of the Cross for Life on Good Friday. * [Archdiocese of Boston's Annual Report for 2010](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/annualreport)* [Life Matters TV show](http://www.lifematterstv.org/)* ["Way of the Cross for Life tradition continues" (The Pilot, 4/2/2004)](http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=1603)* [Way of the Cross for Life - Meetup](http://www.meetup.com/Way-of-the-Cross-for-Life/)**Today's topics:** Fr. Richard Erikson's role as vicar general and moderator of the curia; the Archdiocese's balanced budget; and the Way of the Cross for Life**A summary of today's show:** Fr. Erikson tells Scot and Fr. Mark what the vicar general and moderator of the curia does and then talks about the milestone of the Archdiocese's balanced budget, which is a foundation for the future of the church in Boston. Colbe Mazzarella discusses her founding of the Way of the Cross for Life as a spiritual component of the pro-life movement. Then a discussion of the first Gospel for Palm Sunday.**1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Mark back to the show. Fr. Mark was in Washington DC with the Canon Law Society of America. He is a member of the board of governors. There are thousands of members. Tomorrow, as the judicial vicar, he is the chaplain of the Catholic Lawyers Guild, and on the Saturday before Palm Sunday they have a day of recollection. Fr. Ed Riley will lead the day. All Catholic Lawyers and judges are welcome at the Pastoral Center tomorrow. Scot asked why the annual Mass for lawyers is called the Red Mass. Fr. Mark said it has medieval origins. It connects with the robes that the priests wore during that Mass, which were red.**2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark welcome Fr. Richard Erikson to The Good Catholic Life. Scot asks what Fr. Richard's job entails. He was asked by Cardinal Sean to take on the job five years ago and even then he didn't have a full understanding. Vicar comes from the word vicarious. So his job is to take Cardinal Sean's vision and make it reality. His job is to reflect the mind and the heart of the bishop. He said Cardinal Sean has an enormous mind and an enormous heart. He has the heart of a shepherd. There are a number of vicars general in the Archdiocese. The auxiliary bishops are also vicars general and Fr. Mark says that Fr. Rich's role is unique because of his job as moderator of the curia. The curia are all those who work in the Archdiocese, those who work in the Pastoral Center and all the priests. He is the pastor for them.Fr. Mark asked what are the privileges of his role. Fr. Rich said he has the privilege of working in Christ's name to bring Christ to others, to build the kingdom of God in the Archdiocese. It is also a responsibility of leadership as well.Scot said that on his first day of work, Fr. Rich talked with him about the ministry of development, and Fr. Rich talks about the ministry of administration. Fr. Rich is also an Air Force chaplain. What does it mean to have a ministry of administration? He says it's difficult not to be a parish priest. He had imagined he would spend his life in parishes. Everything we do in the Pastoral Center i service to others, to parishes, to hospitals, to others in carrying out the mission of Christ. Even though he spends a lot of time in meetings and writing memos and looking at budgets, all of it is service to Christ and the Catholic community. Scot noted that he was astounded when he learned how big the Archdiocese is, how many ministries there are, how many organizations. Fr. Rich said what even more impressive than the scope of the operations is the dedication of the people on the staff and the hours people spend and the devotion and commitment. He didn't know before he became vicar general that there were 144 communities in the archdiocese. His parish encompasses 1.8 million people. He's learned that there are wonderful people who devote their lives to Christ and the Church with great sacrifice, day in and day out. It includes people who also work in administrative positions.Fr. Rich had enumerated four pillars he hoped that all ministries would embrace: Service, outreach, communication, and coordination. The most important person in the archdiocese today is the person who will ring a doorbell looking for a priest, a prisoner seeking ministry, a child receiving First Communion. In outreach, we are about what happens outside this building in the parishes of the archdiocese. Communication: To get the message of Christ, we make the best use, particularly through the Catholic Media secretariat using modern means. Coordination: The Archdiocese is very complex with a need for many different departments, like benefits, payroll, legal, etc., plus coordinating with the five regions of the archdiocese and all the vicariates and parishes within them.**3rd segment:** For the first time in Cardinal Sean's tenure, the Archdiocese has achieved a balanced budget for central ministries. Fr. Rich said its extraordinary given the challenges Cardinal Sean had. He began with a $15 million deficit. The Knights of Columbus had given loans to help, but the loans had up to $3 million in interest payments. To get here has required a great deal of sacrifice. First, there is the generosity of the people of the Archdiocese of Boston, sticking with the Church through the darkest hour of our history. Second, there is the great work of the staff in the Annual Catholic Appeal, which is to the archdiocese what the weekly offertory is to parishes. Third, the work of Jim McDonough, the chancellor, and his staff, bringing the best practices of finances and administration to the archdiocese. The sacrifices have included most painfully reductions in staff. The people in the Pastoral Center are doing more with less. Fr. Mark asked about future signs of hope. Fr. Rich said he sees the balanced budget is something to be built on. We have made remarkable strides in evangelization over the past few years through the [Arise](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/ARISE.aspx?pid=464) program and [Catholics Come Home](http://www.catholicscomehomeboston.org) and the [The Light Is On For You](http://www.thelightisonforyou.org). These wouldn't happen if we didn't have our financial house in order and didn't have t he generosity of our people.Scot said one of the headlines for him that he didn't see in the secular coverage is the amount of information that's there and how transparent there is. No other diocese comes close. Fr. Rich said trust is so important in a diocese so devastated by the abuse of minors and what the Church did not do in relation to those crimes. Transparency is one more indication of the Cardinal's desire to earn the trust of the people of the Archdiocese.Fr. Mark said both the cardinal and the chancellor speak with optimism of the Improved Financial Relationship Model. Fr. Rich said Scot had the vision of a new relationship in terms of finances and stewardship between central ministries and the parishes of the archdiocese. Scot saw that the model for fundraising in the archdiocese needed improvement. The model is to increase offertory giving at the parish level--which has already seen great success--and then to have a fair share by each parish in its contributions to the central ministries. It's not about increasing what central ministries receives. It's about dividing the pie more fairly. It's not about money, but it's about relationships. The 30 parishes in the first phase have a far greater connection to central ministries and far greater sense of the Universal Church.Fr. Rich has [written about Holy Week](http://pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13236) in the Pilot this week. It's about Palm Sunday. As a priest he looks forward to next week for the opportunity to focus on our journey with Christ. The article looks at the Passion of the Lord and the fact that the Lord is with us. He encourages everyone to make the time to be with Christ next week.**4th segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark are joined by Colbe Mazzarella. She started the Way of the Cross for Life. Back in the 80s she heard about a Walk for Life on the West Coast and 24 years later it continues. There are three processions: one in Boston with Cardinal Sean; another in East Boston; and the original that used to start in Brookline. they used to walk between three different abortion clinics, but they've all since closed. That procession is now in Allston in front of Planned Parenthood. They all start at 9am.The Boston route starts at Government Center and all the stops are at churches. The Paulist Center is next to the State House, St. Anthony Shrine, St. James in Chinatown, and Holy Cross Cathedral. They saw two stations per stop and do readings.This is not a protest. There are no signs or anything. They carry a cross and a statue of Our Lady.Fr. Mark said when he did this in Rome, there is something invigorating about crossing the street with a big crowd of people witnessing to Christ. Colbe said it's about making reparation, like Jesus walking through the streets of Jerusalem, getting mixed reactions, being a witness. East Boston starts at Most Holy Redeemer. The Allston way stays in front of Planned Parenthood. The East Boston procession ends at the Madonna shrine in Orient Heights.At the cathedral, Cardinal Sean leads the last two stations and leads a consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The procession at the cathedral ends at noon and people usually stay for Good Friday services.Scot asked about the pro-life movement not being just about politics, but is about prayer and sacrifice as well. Colbe said politics is a means to an end. They're trying to help mothers and fathers and babies live a good life and end up in heaven. They're concentrating on the spiritual side of things. On Good Friday, Christ is pierced for what we do wrong. It's not just about women who've had abortions, but for all of us who may have failed to help someone in a crisis pregnancy or otherwise were silent. It has the spiritual goal to be in union with God. Christ asked us to take up His cross and follow Him.Fr. Mark noted that Colbe has eight children. This is a family friendly event. They take two hours to walk what would normally take 20 minutes. There are people with strollers and others walking with a cane.Scot asked how people could do something like this in their town? She said they've had others who've done Ways of the Cross for Life as far as India. She has a booklet that she can send or email anyone. Email her at [ccmaz@aol.com](mailto:ccmazz@aol.com).Colbe said that after 24 of these Ways of the Cross for Life, she knows that she has served Christ. It's not a great burden to organize it. Pick a time or place and invite others. Emphasis is on prayer, not on confrontation.**5th segment:** Scot, Fr. Mark, and Colbe consider the Gospel for Sunday. Because the Palm Sunday includes all of the Passion which is very long, they will consider the first Gospel that is read at the beginning of Mass.April 17, 2011 Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion, Gospel of the Procession of the Palms (Matthew 21:1-11)>When Jesus and the disciples drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tethered, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them here to me. And if anyone should say anything to you, reply, ‘The master has need of them.’ Then he will send them at once.”>>This happened so that what had been spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: Say to daughter Zion, “Behold, your king comes to you, meek and riding on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.” >>The disciples went and did as Jesus had ordered them. They brought the ass and the colt and laid their cloaks over them, and he sat upon them. The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road. The crowds preceding him and those following kept crying out and saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.” >>And when he entered Jerusalem the whole city was shaken and asked, “Who is this?” And the crowds replied, “This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.”Holy Week begins an understanding of Jesus as king, connecting to the Old Testament. Fr. Mark said he connected it with Colbe feeling sent to do something. Likewise, the disciples are sent and the result is the glory of Jesus. We do our part for the Lord and and Christ does the rest. We lead people to ask the question, "Who is this Jesus?"Colbe says she loves that we are in different roles within the crowd of different roles at different times in our lives. Scot said that in the Holy Father's new book, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection , he dictates it to the entrance to Jerusalem. He says hosanna is understood that it is connected to the coming of the king. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord would fulfill the messianic promises. Kings of the day controlled the means of transportation. The people understand that Christ at least believes he is the new king, but he is a king unlike what they were expecting, a king of peace, of simplicity, of the poor. Fr. Mark said they were ready to cheer the king they thought he was, but they abandoned him when he wasn't what they thought.The Holy Father also says the Palm Sunday is an anticipation of what the Church does each day in her liturgy. The Church sees the coming of Christ again and again in the bread and wine. The Church greets Him as one who continues to come. As a pilgrim, He comes to us and take us in His ascent to the cross and resurrection to the New Jerusalem.Fr. Mark said it is a perfect time to come home to the Church, to walk with Christ into the glories of Jerusalem. Don't wait for Easter. Come Palm Sunday with us on the journey.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott**Today's guest(s):** Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Domenico Bettinelli, creative director of Pilot New Media and former editor of Catholic World Report magazine* [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com)* [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.com) **Today's topics:** Pope John Paul's upcoming beatification and his feast day is set; Supreme Knight Carl Anderson's JFK talk; a great pro-life essay from a pre-teen; two new pastors in the Archdiocese and one going to Rome; closing of a school in Lawrence; the Archdiocese's annual financial report**1st segment:** * [Glastonbury Abbey](http://www.glastonburyabbey.org/)**2nd segment:** * [Vatican announces Masses, Oct. 22 feast day for Blessed John Paul (CNS)](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1101438.htm)* [Pawtucket Roman Catholic parishes to merge (Boston Globe)](http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2011/04/12/pawtucket_roman_catholic_parishes_to_merge/)* [Supreme Knight Carl Anderson's talk on April 7](https://www.kofc.org/un/en/news/releases/detail/jfk_speech04082011.html)* [Supreme Knight Carl Anderson on The Good Catholic Life, April 5, 2011](http://www.thegoodcatholiclife.com/2011/04/05/program-0020-for-tuesday-april-5-2011/)**3rd segment:** * [St. Catherine of Siena, Norwood](http://www.stcatherinenorwood.org/)* [St. Margaret Mary, Westwood](http://www.saintmmparish.org/)* [St. Thomas Aquinas, Bridgewater](http://www.stthomasaquinas.com/)**4th segment:*** [St. Mary of the Assumption School](http://www.stmaryassumption-lawrence.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=4)* [Archdiocese of Boston Annual Report](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/annualreport.aspx)**5th segment:*** [USCCB document: "Co-workers in the Vineyard of the Lord"](http://www.usccb.org/laity/laymin/co-workers.pdf)…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams**Today's guest(s):** Andrea Alberti, youth minister at St. Thomas Parish in Nahant and St. Mary High School, Lynn; and Chris Carmody, youth minister at Immaculate Conception in Salem and religion teacher at St. Mary High School, Lynn.* [Hunger for Justice on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_134715953259931)* [St. Mary High School, Lynn](http://www.smhlynn.org/)* [St. Thomas Parish, Nahant](http://www.stthomasnahant.com/)* [Immaculate Conception Parish, Salem](http://icsalem.org/)* [The Light Is On For You](http://www.thelightisonforyou.org)**Today's topics:** The Hunger for Justice retreat for 350 youths on Good Friday and Holy Saturday; and a special message from Bishop Robert Hennessey about the Sacrament of Confession**A summary of today's show:** Andrea Alberti and Chris Carmody share the amazing story of 350 youths on the Hunger for Justice Retreat fasting from Good Friday to the Easter Vigil, while serving the poor of their community, experiencing God's love and mercy in the sacraments, and raising tens of thousands of dollars for charity. Thousands of youths have experienced one of the 27 retreats and have borne much fruit in the Church.**1st segment:** Scot said that one of the things he hears so often working for the Church is the concern that we are not doing enough to engage young people in our Catholic faith. Behind this concern is the hope that we can figure out fresh ways to present our faith so that it connects with young people and sparks their interest to make a commitment to it as teenagers and adults.Today’s broadcast of The Good Catholic Life will give us all hope. What Andrea Alberti and Chris Carmody are doing up on the North Shore really works. The [Hunger for Justice](http://www.smhlynn.org/page.cfm?p=1083) retreat they organize on Good Friday and Holy Saturday attracts 350 students, who participate in carrying a cross through the town of Nahant, serving the homeless in Boston, and then experiencing together the joy of the Easter Vigil. Also today, we will hear a special message from Bishop Robert Hennessey about the Sacrament of Confession and its availability each Wednesday evening during The Light Is On For You campaign. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Matt welcome Andrea Alberti and Chris Carmody to the program. This is the 27th time that Andrea and Chris have run the Hunger for Justice retreat. Andrea said it is now celebrated during the Triduum, but it started just as a service project with 6 confirmation students at Immaculate Conception Parish, Newburyport, who wanted to do something about the fact that children are denying every day. Chris was one of those students. They made a difference by fasting from food and any other kind of luxuries and got sponsors for each hour they did this, raising $7,000. Last Good Friday, they had 350 students who raised $25,000 that went to a hospital in Haiti.Scot asked Chris about what attracted him to do this as young person and who are the young people who take part in the Hunger for Justice retreat on Good Friday. Chris said it started when he was a freshman in high school and he remembers the adults in his parish who were so on fire with Christ and invited the kids to understand poverty, especially since they didn't see it growing up in Newburyport. As part of the retreat they walked miles for whatever water they needed because they had seen videos of poor women and children who walked for miles every morning and night for their water. The kids who come now see a need and feel a call from God in their hearts, knowing that they can make a difference, they can do something about it. They are God's hands and feet.What is the experience for the kids on the retreat? Andrea said they always try to begin everything around the sacraments, in an intimate relationship with Jesus. Their axiom is "Rules with Relationship = Rebellion." They could get students who have been in Catholic school for 11 years but can't relate what it means that Christ died on the cross on Good Friday and don't understand the basics of their faith. So on Good Friday, they get to carry the cross literally. They hear the Gospel message that Christ loves them so much He died for them. Fr. Matt last year preached for the kids on the beach during a prayer experience. There are sometimes kids who come because their parents make them because they got in trouble. One part of the experience is that they go into Boston to serve the homeless. Last year, they brought 2,500 pairs of socks into Boston and 2,000 sandwiches and the students were sent out to interact with the homeless. At one point they ran out of socks. This one boy who had been forced to go by his mother because he had got into trouble came up to Andrea to ask for more socks for a homeless man and when she said they didn't--on this freezing, cold Saturday--he gave away his own socks to the man who needed them. It is conversion on every level. Kids who are already in a relationship with Christ can go deeper on this retreat. Kids who have never met Christ can have an encounter with Him.Scot noted that the students fast from food for 35 hours and in the midst of the fast they hand out sandwiches. He remarked that it must be very difficult for them when they're hungry. Andrea noted that this is usually the first fasting experience for most of these students. She thinks that the retreat has grown so successful because the fuel that power it is prayer, fasting, and sacrifice. The kids are amazed that they can do this. When Chris did this, the kids worked in a soup kitchen cooking hot food and serving it. One year, the kids baked cookies and said, "Are you kidding me?" but the youth ministers encouraged them that they could do it. They see the power of fasting and the power of prayer.Scot asked Fr. Matt what it's like to see kids experience this retreat during the Triduum. Fr. Matt said he prays every day that God would raise up men and women who would not be afraid to mentor young men and women in the faith. What makes the Hunger for Justice experience powerful is that there is a core group of people who make young people a priority in their life and they are willing to pour out their lives for them. Kids respond to that. He remembers being on that beach on that Good Friday, just before noon, before the Way of the Cross to the Church for the Good Friday service, seeing those 350 kids and to have the opportunity to preach the Gospel to them.Fr. Matt asked how Chris and Andrea started off the retreat last year in a way that got the kids' attention. Andrea said they look for a way to make it interactive and dynamic, just like the sacraments. There were 400 people all together milling around on the beach. They had coordinated with the Nahant police to come down to the beach, to pull Fr. Matt aside to talk to him, and then the school principal, and then they had one of the dads start calling for his son. The son came out of the crowd and the police "arrested" him, put him in cuffs and in the police car. Another one of the students students stood on the giant cross they have and called out, "No, it wasn't him. It was me. Take me."All of the people present thought this whole drama was real. And then student's dad explained that this is what happened to Christ, that He was falsely accused and crucified on Good Friday. There was a beautiful moment of openness where they were receptive to hearing what Jesus Christ did for them. That's why they are able to fast. When the reality of Christ's sacrifice becomes real to them, they can then endure the 35 hours of fasting.**3rd segment:** Fr. Matt said that last week, they had [Bob Rice on the program](http://www.thegoodcatholiclife.com/2011/04/06/program-0021-for-wednesday-april-6-2011/) and he spoke of the importance of evangelizing young people in the classroom, that when we're catechizing them, we're not giving them dry facts, but we're witnessing to them and they experience Christ through us. He asked what makes Hunger for Justice so effective? What is it about their experience of the way the Gospel is presented that sets young people on fire? Andrea said it comes down to the sacraments of the Church. We often have such low expectations of young people, but really they want the truth. Their hearts are restless, until they rest in the Lord. They want to know about the One True Church and we shy away. This retreat is bold. The leaders of the retreat are challenged to daily Mass in preparation and say a daily Rosary. The kids are challenged to take their faith seriously and when they do their lives are changed. Amazing things happen.Fr. Matt reflects that so often when he celebrates Mass, he sees so few young people and those he sees look bored. But Andrea is saying something different, that when they are challenged and are exposed to the beauty of the Church something powerful happens. If we know of a teen who has an apathy toward the faith, what can a parent do to help them to know Jesus Christ? Andrea said you need to build a relationship with them, but first let your own faith grow. You can't give what you don't have. Your own life has to be rooted in Christ. You have to be a witness. We die to ourselves and Christ lives in us. All of our conversations on whatever topic, all our interactions, will have Christ at their heart. And when they say No to our first overtures, we should say Why not? The world pressures them to fall away from Christ, so we should persevere to give them what they are truly hungering for.Chris said Hunger for Justice makes Christ alive for them. They hear about Christ and they know facts about Him. But the retreat makes Christ a person to them. Like Mother Teresa would say she saw Jesus in the people she served, so too the kids see Jesus in the poor people they encounter on this retreat, as well as the adult leaders, during the Easter Vigil Mass, in the confessional where hundreds of kids all go to confession with 15 different priests.Scot brought the discussion back to the retreat itself. We know it starts on the beach with a moving and attention-grabbing beginning, followed by a procession of the cross to St. Thomas Parish in Nahant. Andrea said it takes 7 students at a time to carry the cross and they rotate in to help carry. Andrea grew up in the parish and last year she said she'd never seen the church more full and had never seen a more reverent congregation. They knew what was happening because they'd just heard the Gospel preached. They are an inspiration to the older people in the pews. They sat quietly for hour after hour.After that service, they head to St. Mary High School for a final meal and fast until Saturday after the Easter Vigil Mass. At the school, Chris said they eat the meal together and then get into small groups for group-building activities. They are not just serving the poor, but also serving one another. The kids come from many different parishes and this helps the teens to overcome shyness and awkwardness to relax and enjoy.Then they watch the movie "The Passion of the Christ". When they survey kids after the retreat on their favorite parts of the weekend they consistently say it is "The Passion of the Christ" and the Easter Vigil Mass. They take time to process what they saw and there is a time of prayer and healing. Taking up the retreat theme of "From Darkness into Light," they have a "glowstick" party and a time of fun. Then students sleep in cardboard "homes" where they sleep for the night. No pillows or anything. The girls are in the school cafeteria, the boys are in the gym.Chris said that on Saturday, they get up early and get on buses to go to Boston. They are broken up into three groups and they split up for three different locations: Boston Common, [St. Anthony's Shrine](http://www.stanthonyshrine.org/), and [Pine Street Inn](http://www.pinestreetinn.org/). They hand out whatever they have to the homeless. But the point is to stop and talk with the people they serve. The kids are amazed to have their preconceptions shaken up. Many of the homeless are educated or from good backgrounds who have fallen on hard times or just struggling. The kids are rotated by group through St. Anthony's Shrine where they hear a talk on God's mercy and confession. They have the opportunity for confession. Chris and Andrea said about 99% of the kids go to confession when given the opportunity, which Scot said it was positive peer pressure. Chris said about 10 or 12 priests available, including many of the Franciscans as well as pastors from the kids' parishes. The kids encourage each other to go to confession and talk about what it means for them.**4th segment:** Their work of service doesn't end here. They return to St. Mary's in Lynn and the leaders explain that after receiving absolution, they can now be filled with Christ to go out and evangelize and serve. They serve locally within Lynn in their small groups of 8 to 10 to homeless shelters, an orphanage, the local YMCA, the St. Vincent de Paul store. They do spring cleaning in every parish church available. Having fasted since the previous day, they continue to work hard with passion. It is rooted in what they see Christ did for them on Good Friday and now they serve others.Then they prepare to go the Easter Vigil Mass. Scot asked for how many is it their first Easter Vigil experience? Chris knows that is the first time for most of them because you can see it on their faces when they encounter the darkened church. They start on the Lynn common outside of St. Mary church for the candle-lighting ceremony and then process into the church singing. They get the kids as involved as possible, so they act as readers and servers. Last year, one of the youths was confirmed at the Vigil. While they're nervous at first at the unfamiliar Mass, they enjoy it immensely.Scot said it is the longest Mass of the year, but so moving. The [Exultet](http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=6341) that is sung in the darkness, with just the one candle, is a tremendously moving experience and song. Then it is followed by the 7 Old Testament readings that take us through salvation history, and the New Testament, and the Gospel and any rites of initiation. It's a catechesis of our whole faith in the one Mass. Fr. Matt said that over the previous 35 hours they've heard the Gospel, they've seen the suffering of the poor, they've been invited to give of themselves. There's something about the power of fasting that enables us to empty ourselves and make us think of others and the essentials of others. There's something about everything they experience that tills the heart so that they can experience the Mass anew. Without the relationship with Christ, Mass would be a boring routine, but after this weekend they have a new appreciation for the Mass.Andrea said she knows of three priests who heard their call to their vocation at an Easter Vigil Mass. They hear from some kids every year how shocking it is to realize that having fasted for so long that the first meal they receive is the Eucharist, that they understand that is truly Jesus. they are empty and they receive Jesus, and they say that this is how they came to the retreat: Empty, but now filled with Christ. when that epiphany happens, it is a beautiful moment and they pray for their openness in that moment so that the Easter Vigil is the pinnacle event.Fr. Matt notes that in their normal lives they are so full--full schedules, they get pretty much anything they want--yet the seem so spiritually empty as well. Andrea said that they see that so many of them "have it all" and it doesn't bring happiness. All these things of the world do not bring contentment and teens will admit that quicker than many adults will. That emptiness that they feel is the heart's longing for God's love. When this is revealed, that hunger for love is obvious on their faces. This is the message that works.This is the 15th year of doing the Hunger for Justice retreat during the Triduum and the 27th overall. Fr. Matt said that he knows that there is a ton of work that goes into making it happen. Andrea said it takes a year of planning. They start meetings with adult leaders 2 months out. They train youth leaders. They start bulletin announcements 3 months early. They put a cross in the back of churches that are participating with requests for supplies such as cases of Gatorade or water or other goods for the poor. The whole parish participates in the evangelization efforts of the youth.Chris said there are many adults who are involved in all the details. For example, there's the cardboard needed for the kids to make their cardboard houses. They need huge piles of cardboard for all 350 kids. They also have to provide lots of juices and other drinks for the kids while they fast. They have a leadership track of 70 high school students who have been on the retreat before. They meet every Wednesday night to help plan the retreat. Last weekend, the peer leaders spent another weekend on retreat to prepare for the Triduum weekend. And as much work as the logistics is, prayer is even bigger need. They get all the adults and all the kids to stay in prayer.One of the many fruits is the 70 high school leaders. Andrea said 21 of the young men among them went to a St. Andrew's Dinner, which is an event held at St. John's Seminary for young men who might be discerning a vocation to the priesthood. These are kids who are going to go deeper in their faith, building on the experience of the retreat. They go out to evangelize their world. 75 of the kids went to the March for Life in Boston. Every Tuesday at 7:15 am, before school, at St. Mary's, they 50 or more kids who come to pray in their chapel. Anytime they have a reconciliation opportunity at the school, they have 99% who show up. Andrea said Chris himself is one of the fruits of the retreats and there are others like him who went on the retreats and who are now students at Franciscan University of Steubenville, and planning to become youth ministers themselves.The retreat is open to all high school-age students. First, check to see if your parish is one of the 12 currently participating as a group, but the St. Mary High School website also has registration information (see link above). There is also a Hunger for Justice group on Facebook (see link above).Chris said that in the week's before the retreat the kids ask family, friends, neighbors, and parishioners to pledge donations. They emphasize that they need to give everyone an opportunity to be generous of whatever amount they can afford. Last year, they sent the funds to [Hospital Albert Schweitzer](http://www.hashaiti.org/), just outside of the capital. It was one of the few hospitals still functioning months after the earthquake. A family from Nahant knew of the hospital and its need for basic medical supplies. This year they will be sending the money to Japan. Anyone who wants to donate can send a check to Andrea Alberti, St. Mary's High School, 35 Tremont Street, Lynn, MA 01905 and make the check payable to "St Mary High School" with "Hunger for Justice" in the memo line.**5th segment:** It’s time to announce the winner of this week’s **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week is a copy of the book [“Seven Pillars of Catholic Spirituality,”](http://www.dynamiccatholic.org/index.php?page=seven_pillars) a great book by Catholic writer Matthew Kelly. Kelly describes the pillars of Confession, Daily Prayer, The Mass, The Bible, Fasting, Spiritual Reading and the Rosary in a compelling way. This week’s winner is **Theresa Rose Verhault from Stoneham, MA**. Congratulations to Theresa. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit [WQOM.org](http://www.wqom.org). For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for our weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program.And now a special message from Bishop Robert Hennessey on the Sacrament of Confession:…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor**Today's guest(s):** Joseph D'Arrigo, executive director of Clergy Funds, and Transitional Deacons Mark Murphy and Kyle Stanton of St. John's Seminary.* [CareForSeniorPriests.org](http://www.careforseniorpriests.org)* [BostonPriests.org](http://www.bostonpriests.org)* [St. John Seminary](http://www.sjs.edu)* [The Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA](https://milarch.org/)* [Diocese of Manchester, NH](http://www.catholicchurchng.org)**Today's topics:** The Clergy Benefit Trust Funds and care for senior priests; transitional deacons preparing for ordination in May**A summary of today's show:** Joe D'Arrigo, executive director of the Clergy Funds, recounted his journey from a successful business career to answering the call to help shore up the Clergy Benefit Trust Funds, bringing it from $10 million deficits a few years ago to break even today. Also, the need for continued generosity from parishioners to care for their priests as retirement costs increase. Later, Transitional Deacons Mark Murphy and Kyle Stanton related their own paths to their vocation as priests and how they hope to put their life experiences at the service of the Church.**1st segment:** Fr. Chris reports that the men of Norfolk prison are listening to the program regularly and are grateful for The Good Catholic Life and WQOM. Next Monday, we will have an interview with Fr. Joseph Fessio, a friend of Pope Benedict XVI, about the Holy Father's new book, "Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection"". When he was Fr. Joseph Ratzinger, the Holy Father was Fr. Fessio's dissertation director.Fr. Chris said next week is an exciting week to be Catholic during Holy Week.Later in the program, they will have an interview with transitional deacons who are due to be ordained in May, God willing. But first, Joe D'Arrigo on how we as a Church care for our senior priests in their later years.**2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Joe D'Arrigo to the program. Joe has had a successful business career but a few years ago chose to get involved in an effort to shore up our clergy benefits funds. He got a call from Chancellor Jim McDonough to ask him to help with the challenge that the Clergy funds were underfunded on an annual basis in the amount of $10 million. It was a challenge and Joe was preparing to wind down his career, not embark on a new direction. He was inclined to say No, but in a conversation with one of his business partners, the partner said it would be perfect for Joe. Then later, during dinner with a friend, she said the same thing because they saw something that Joe had not seen.Joe had been involved very heavily in the works of the Church. He's been involved with the [Shrine of St. Anthony](http://www.stanthonyshrine.org/) in downtown Boston. The new guardian of the shrine at the time, Fr. David, asked for his help. He's worked with Catholic Charities Boston and in 2000-2003, he helped develop a strategic plan to re-organize Catholic charities. It is the largest non-profit organization in the state of Massachusetts. The plan laid out parameters for making decisions when issues came up and new challenges emerged. Their top priority is always the poor.Joe has always been in the benefit business, specializing in medical insurance. Over the years, he started a consulting company and sold it to a major insurance company and worked with them for a while. He left and started more consulting work, again in the benefit business.Fr. Chris asked Joe what is the state of the clergy funds is now. He said it is stabilized. He is projecting that this year there will be less than $500,000 operating deficit. If they can run a break-even budget for the next couple of years, it will be sustainable. There is an obligation on behalf of the Cardinal Archbishop to care for all of the 750 priests, including 260 senior priests, to care for all of their medical needs and provide for their retirement. Joe points out that priests don't actually "retire" in the same way that parents don't retire from being parents. Many senior priests are active in parishes. 150 senior priests live on their own and 50 or 60 live at parishes. Joe's experience is that if they can walk, they are celebrating Mass. They are not as active in administration, but are very active in pastoral aspects.Fr. Chris said many pastors and parochial vicars speak of how important the senior priests' ministry is.Scot asked Joe what it's like to work with the senior priests. Joe said they're all characters, all unique individuals. He was at [Regina Cleri](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/ReginaCleriResidence.aspx) today, which is the home for senior priests. (The average age for Regina Cleri priests is 81. The challenge is that priests are living longer, which is good news, but also raises challenges of paying for their care.) They have introduced changes and any change, especially in advanced age, is difficult to manage. And during this visit, he received praise for the changes that have been made at Regina Cleri. Appreciation from the senior priests is very rewarding. While you have to make difficult business decisions, the decisions are made for the benefit of senior and active priests.On Joe's staff are four people. Maria Sullivan is the operations manager; she makes everything go. She is the go-to resource for the priests. Scot said everyone she works with in the Pastoral Center loves working with her. Joe said she does an amazing job and is totally dedicated. Joan Smith manages all of the enrollment and questions from the priests about their insurance and medical needs. The healthcare system is confusing and she helps them through that. Maria Hanlon is a nurse and she's the healthcare coordinator. She's out visiting priests all the time helping them make healthcare and end-of-life issues. She meets with senior priests to evaluate their needs. Joe said priests are very independent and like our parents, some may have cognitive issues and they don't realize it. Mary will go out and do an evaluation and maybe work with their doctors.**3rd segment:** Scot asked Joe why they had such a $10 million deficit. There was $15 million coming in and $25 million go out. About 10 years ago, medical and housing costs had not yet started to increase at a rapid pace and we thought we were flush with money. The archdiocese had not been using all the government programs available, like Medicaid and Medicare, to pay for the needs of the priests, even though they had been paying for them through their taxes. Many priests didn't even know they qualified for Medicare. Last year, they moved 60 priests to Medicare. That saved about $1.2 million alone. They brought costs down from $25 million to $17 million and increased revenue from $15 million up to about $17 million.The revenue comes from the generosity of the laity in Boston. There are three collections for the Clergy funds: Christmas, Easter, and a collection in June. They also have a Priest Appreciation Dinner (this year it is September 14.) Last year it raise $800,000 and this year they hope to raise $1 million. The first they held it in 2009, it was the largest such dinner in Boston with about 1,600 attending.The clergy funds depend on the Easter collection and the generosity of parishioners. About 18 months ago, Joe [wrote a column](http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11037) for The Pilot in which he proposed that people would want to buy dinner for their priest for Christmas with the collection. Joe had been reflecting on the role of priests in his life: the priests who baptized his children or gave them other sacraments or, most movingly, who anointed his wife in the hospital. Would he buy that priest dinner? Of course! Dinner for two in Boston would be about $100. You have to make it personal because what that priest does is personal. When it came time to call a priest to her hospital room, she asked for that specific priest who dropped everything and came to her bedside.Even though the gift goes for all the priests, he visualizes that gift benefiting that one particular priest.Scot said Catholics in the Archdiocese are so generous. In the three collections, they bring in about $7.5 million, but they really need to go up to $10 million because more priests are reaching retirement age and the costs are continuing to rise. The costs just for retired priests right now are $8.5 million.**4th segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Transitional Deacon Mark Murphy to The Good Catholic Life. He is making the final preparations for ordination in May. Right now he is at [St. Thomas Aquinas in Bridgewater](http://www.stthomasaquinas.com/home.php) for his deacon assignment. He's enjoyed his time there preaching and baptizing.Fr. Chris said he was intrigued by Mark saying that confirmation was special in preparing him for his vocation. Then-auxiliary Bishop William Murphy said to the young men being confirmed that they should consider the priesthood and that they would never be more fulfilled than if they were called to that life. It touched Mark's heart and the thoughts stayed in his mind and heart. He told his parents he was thinking about the call within a few weeks of confirmation and in his junior year in high school he told his friends. It was a particular grace that his family and friends were supportive.Fr. Chris asked if it was difficult to answer the call. In 2002, when the abuse scandal came out, was when he was intensely discerning entering the seminary, but it wasn't a deterrent. He felt it didn't have anything to do with him because he still felt he was being called by the Lord. Some told him to go to a regular college first, but his parents and priest were supportive. Scot asked him to share exactly how his parents helped and what advice he would give to other parents. They let him know it was okay to be thinking about going into seminary and that they would very happy if he chose that path. His pastor, Fr. Leonard O'Malley, was very supportive and seeing his ministry and his joy strengthened and encouraged him.Fr. Chris noted that Mark was commissioned as a [chaplain in the National Guard](http://www.nationalguard.com/careers/chaplain-corps) and a 2nd Lieutenant in 2008. Cardinal Sean had told him that it was a good idea. Mark's father was in the Army National Guard for 30 years along with other other members of his family. Knowing that this was an option was something he'd thought about and was happy the Cardinal supported him in this ministry. For two different summers, he was at the chaplain school in South Carolina in 2008 and 2009. It was interesting to be there with non-Catholics, including Jewish rabbis and Muslim imams. He hadn't been exposed to that many different faiths in his upbringing and that experience let him know he'd be comfortable ministering to non-Catholic soldiers.He's had experience doing military death notifications. He learned that it was a ministry of presence, being Christ to them, being present with them, praying with them. Scot asked what Mark can say to those who might have to give such bad news. Mark said it's most important to have that ministry of presence. He told the mother he met with that all the chaplains would be praying for her and her family and that he would be available for her if she needed him.For his priesthood, Mark is most excited to be able to celebrate Mass for the community.Scot asked Mark what it was like to go through the ordination ceremony to the transitional diaconate. It was a beautiful gift to experience that he said. He's been in seminary for 8 years so it was somewhat surreal to finally reach the ordination rite. He thought during the ceremony about his long journey to that moment and it was very moving. He focused on the ministry of the diaconate which is one of service.**5th segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Transitional Deacon Kyle Stanton to The Good Catholic Life. Kyle grew up in New Hampshire and is studying for the Diocese of Manchester. He was an atheist in his high school years and in that he felt God calling him because atheism offers no answers. It had no satisfying answer to the big questions of life. He was raised Catholic, but had rejected it. The culture of death had been trying to convince him that there was no God. Fr. Chris asked how he came to be a seminarian. Kyle said at 8 years old, he felt the call to the priesthood, and that call doesn't leave you. Even in his atheism he remembered that call and remembered being happy. He began to desire that happiness and reconsidered the call. After high school he returned to Mass. There was a newly ordained priest at his parish who befriended him and began a dialogue of faith.Kyle has been Master of Ceremonies at St. John Seminary helping to facilitate and plan all the Masses and celebrations throughout the year. He works with all the visiting bishops and priests preparing liturgies and prayer. It's a lot of work, but it's a blessing.Fr. Chris noted that transitional deacons take four or five classes and are in parishes on the weekends preaching. Kyle said he prepares for his homilies starting on Monday for the next week. He prays about the Word of God and only then goes to commentaries and the writing of Popes. He recalled that as a boy one reason he went to atheism because he didn't hear preaching on the hard questions and so he tries to address the hard questions.He knows that truth is universal and we all desire truth. He tries to bring the great education of St. John's to his preaching. People love to hear the Gospel in simple ways, even those who are very well-educated.Kyle is close to the Blessed Mother and he knows that seminarians still have a need for the feminine aspect in their lives.Kyle attended Franciscan University of Steubenville for his undergraduate years. As a young seminarian, he was exposed to young men and women, some discerning marriage, others discerning religious life, and he formed great relationships and friendships.For fun, Kyle loves to enjoy hiking and fishing back home in New Hampshire. What he looks forward to the most in his priesthood is the Mass. As a boy he knew that the only way to have Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is to have priests and he looks forward to being that priest.As Bishop McCormack approaches retirement, Kyle doesn't know who his bishop will be, he is prepared to promise his obedience and to work with whomever will be his bishop.After seminary, he will miss the close relationships with his brother seminarians and the ability to live under one roof with them all.**6th segment**: Scot and Fr. Chris talk about the men preparing to be ordained and how the seminary prepares. Today, the men are at the Pastoral Center, learning how the central ministries work and how they will fit into that structure. Scot asked when they know where they will be assigned. Fr. Chris said Cardinal Sean tells them individually at a dinner before the ordination. The seminary rector, Bishop Kennedy, provides some guidance to the clergy personnel board on the strengths of each individual.The ordination will be on Saturday, May 21, 2011 at Holy Cross Cathedral.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Tom Peterson, founder and president of CatholicsComeHome.org and Janet Benestad, Cabinet Secretary for Faith Formation & Evangelization* [Catholics Come Home](http://www.catholicscomehome.org)* [Catholics Come Home Boston](http://www.catholicscomehomeboston.org)* [Boston Herald, "Prodigal parishioners return to church"](http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2011_0410prodigal_parishioners_return_to_church_boston_archdiocese_reaches_out_to_halt_plummeting_mass_attendance/srvc=home&position=0) (April 10, 2011)**Today's topics:** The genesis of the Catholics Come Home initiative, its implementation in Boston, and ways Catholics can participate**A summary of today's show:** Tom Peterson, founder of Catholics Come Home, and Janet Benestad, secretary for faith formation & evangelization, tell Scot about the origins of the Catholics Come Home campaign, where Tom's inspiration came from, how the acclaimed commercials came about, and the best ways that local Catholics can share their faith with others to invite them back to the Catholic Church.**1st segment:** This CatholicsComeHome.org initiative is the largest outreach effort of the Archdiocese of Boston in more than a generation. It took 2 years of planning, fundraising and coordination. Many of you have seen the commercials on television and heard them on WQOM. They are outstanding presentations of our faith. Hopefully you also saw the front page story in yesterday’s Boston Herald, which featured an interview with Cardinal Sean and several Catholics that have returned home to the Catholic Faith. Catholics Come Home features several commercials. The most frequent one you’ll see on TV is called EPIC. Let’s listen to that now.**2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Tom Peterson and Janet Benestad to The Good Catholic Life. We just listened to the “Epic” commercial from CatholicsComeHome.org. Scot said he can say that he's never heard a more powerful 300-word description of the Catholic Church. It still gives him chills when he hears it and watches the commercial on TV. There are so many powerful lines.Scot asked Tom to talk about the development of that commercial and some of the scenes. He said it was a byproduct of a retreat experience he had on a Marian men's retreat where he asked God how to serve him. Tom felt God calling him to use his advertising talents to spread the Good News. The first diocese he worked with was Phoenix. Epic puts the 2,000-year history and accomplishments of the Catholic Church in a an easy-to-grasp and attractive format. Our Catholic story isn't being told properly by the secular media and it's about time that we take the Good News and bring it to the ends of the earth in a positive, enriching and beautiful way.Scot asked how challenging it was to boil the 2 millennia of history down to 120-seconds and then 30-seconds? Tom said that with God all things are possible. He said there were many attempts that ended up in the wastebasket, but these successful ones are inspired by the Holy Spirit. He had a lot of good people who contributed to the development. A lot of it is based on the book "[How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0895260387/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=catholicnetrevie&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0895260387)" and to boil it down wasn't easy,. but it hits on the high points of the major accomplishments and most beautiful things about our Catholic faith. When you hear the commercial, it's great, but when you see it, there's something special that happens in the soul.Scot asked how many locations it was shot in. Tom said it was shot all around the world. Rome was the central point, with the Holy Father and [St. Paul-outside-the-walls]; other locations around the United States as well. Some locations were real with people indigenous to that area and others were created or re-created to help save costs, such as the Tongan baptism or the Mexican fiesta or the African Mass. Brought together the wide diversity of the Church. They did lots of focus group testing to ensure that people liked the ads and that Protestants wouldn't be offended by the message, that former Catholics would feel invited, that current Catholics would feel proud, and people of no faith would feel invited. They heard over and over that it was authentic, that the images were beautiful, that they taught people things they didn't know before, such as that Jesus founded the Church and that the Church through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit brought forth the Bible.Scot said he loves the scene from Rio de Janeiro of the statue of Christ the Redeemer as well as the unbroken succession of Popes. What are Tom's favorite scenes? He loves the scene of the aid worker wearing a crucifix working in the Vietnamese jungles, helping a young child. Also when the Holy Father is smiling and waving at the crowds. The Blessed Mother, to show she is the mother of our Church, the picture in St. Peter's Square. There are many stories related to the filming as well, things that happened that shouldn't have happened. For instance, they were able to get permission to film with a 40-foot robotic crane in St. Peter's Square, even as an unknown production at the time. Now Catholics Come Home is so well-known in the Church, but at the time to be laypeople apart from the hierarchy of the Church trying to put together TV commercials advertising the Catholic faith, must have seemed crazy to some. Tom said it is his God-given gift of tenacity and he never doubts God. He always seems to come through. God chooses the unlikeliest people to accomplish so much. Many people in important positions came to believe in what they were doing.The words of the commercials are very moving as well. Scot asked Janet what her favorites are. His is "For centuries, we have prayed for you and our world, every hour of every day, whenever we celebrate the mass. " Janet's favorite is "We are Catholic. Welcome home." Every day here in the Pastoral Center and in our parishes we pray for those who strayed from the Church so that people who are away from the Church can find their way back.Scot said it is amazing to consider that the Church prays for the world every minute of every day for two millennia. Tom said the words come from a lot of uncredited heroes who have given him little nuggets of inspiration over the years he's been developing the commercials.Tom and his team at CatholicsComeHome.org customized the “Epic” commercial with some Boston scenes for our campaign here. Janet said there was a scene of real Portuguese fishermen on the Boston Fish Pier. They saw the priest walking by and asked him for a blessing and that's the scene in the commercials. Another favorite is the scene recorded in front of St. Bernard Parish. The director of Catholics Come Home in Boston, David Thorp, died very suddenly in January and he happened upon the idea of showing the priest sharing a donut and coffee with a homeless person in front of the church and David stood in as the homeless person.Scot said David's best description of the work of evangelization came from Henri Nouwen: "Evangelization is one beggar leading another beggar to the bread." David did not come across as an expert, but just as someone sharing the faith in his heart.There's also a scene in front of Fenway Park with a sister and children. Localizing the commercials brings the experience of the faith home to Bostonians. The fourth local scene is the Charles River with Harvard in the background. There are many students in Boston and Catholic students have been taking Catholics come home to heart. Also, we see the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Mission Church, in Roxbury.Scot asked Tom how the commercials also restores the morale of Catholics who are still in the pews, but who have been hanging their heads after the events of the past decade. Tom said he hears over and over again that it makes them proud to be Catholic and they want to be more involved in the Church. In the season of Lent, during the Mass, as the priest raises the chalice, recall the names of those who have strayed from the Church and give them over to the Precious Blood of Jesus.Scot said that when people see the commercials they get excited about it and they want to share it with others. That's why the commercials are online at CatholicsComeHome.org and CatholicsComeHomeBoston.org. Tom said their website has three sections: for practicing Catholics, for lapsed Catholics, and for non-Catholics with resources for each of those groups of people. He remembers priests telling him that their confessionals were full after the commercials aired in their dioceses, some people who were away for as many as 30 years.The second most-frequently aired commercial from CatholicsComeHome.org is called Movie, which is a story of conversion. Let’s listen to the Movie spot now. **3rd segment:** – Scot noted that this “Movie” spot is quite different from the “Epic” spot. It seems like it is intended to reach a different audience than Epic. No matter what you've done in your life, there is good news because Jesus came not to condemn the world, but to save it. His favorite line, the best line of invitation he's heard in the Catholic Church: "If you’ve been waiting for a sign, this is your chance to begin an adventure with God that will last forever." Tom said we serve a God of do-overs. But we do have to accept His mercy. We have know we can be forgiven.It's an upbeat commercial, but it could have been very somber and a real downer. The setting is like Purgatory where people are reviewing their life, which is right out of the Book of Revelations. But halfway through the commercials is all kinds of Divine Mercy theology. The Sisters of the Reparation gave an Advent mission at Tom's parish and spoke at his parish of Divine Mercy. The next day they were supposed to complete the commercial and he changed the second half of the script. It reminds us that it is Jesus' mercy that saves us all.Scot said the Movie spot is visually different. It opens with scenes of sin, but halfway through it turns. At first it was a much different emotional experience from Epic. Tom said Movie has a different audience than Epic. Epic is for people who were once practicing Catholic and it connects with their memories of the faith. Movie is for non-Catholics who say a personal relationship with Jesus is paramount, which we agree with especially through Communion in the Mass. It's also for agnostics or atheists, telling them that there is a God who loves them and wants to have a relationship with. He wrote the line: "If you're looking for a sign, this is it" for them because we have a generation that is looking for signs.Janet said this commercial is about conversion, which is timely during Lent. We all have faults and failings, and Movie evokes a sense of responsibility and the great solace that it is all put right through Christ.For the Movie ad, they had a group of actors and actresses. There was a scene of a wife cowering as her husband belittled her and then later another scene of them celebrating an anniversary. This mirrors our own lives of high points and low points. The actress who played the wife called Tom later to admit that she had been a lapsed Catholic, but the experience brought her back to the Church. So many people have come back to confession in other dioceses, one of the primary ways people can help those coming back is through [The Light Is On For You](http://www.thelightisonforyou.org), helping people reengage through sacramental confession that brings them the redemptive work of Christ. Priests like to tell people that they will not be shocked or upset at any sins they hear, but that they are thrilled to see people lifted of the spiritual weight and burden. The people hear the audible voice that tells them that they are forgiven. In our human nature, we need to hear that out loud.Tom said not only inactive Catholics are coming back, there are also many Catholics who go to Mass every week who are coming back to confession.**4th segment:** Catholics Come Home is a lay apostolate, created by lay people. That is significant. Tom said Pope John Paul encouraged people in a document called [Christifideles Laici](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_30121988_christifideles-laici_en.html) to go out into our workplaces and neighborhoods to bring Christ to others where bishops and priests don't go. We're supposed to go out and spread the Good News of Jesus. As laypeople we can say, "I know how you feel. This is how I came back." Others in our communities know we can relate to them. The secular media also sees this as not just the bishops trying to fill their pews, but is the work of all Catholics.They started in Phoenix in 2008 and have gone coast to coast. More than 200,000 people in the first dozen dioceses came back to the practice of the faith. The largest increase in Mass attendance has been 18% and the average is 10%. By the end of this Lent, they will have reached 40 million people. In Boston, the commercials will air 2,500 times. But Jesus would do this for one person. It's not about the numbers.Janet said that participating in the ministry of welcoming can do as much for the people welcoming others home as it does for those who do come home. People say it's strengthening their faith. It's an opportunity to open a conversation to talk about why we go to Church.The culture tells us that faith is a private matter and should remain private, which discourages people from sharing their faith. Tom said a pastor told him to pray every day and ask Him to lead us to a person every day that he can share his faith with. It's not walking up to strangers. It's about being open to the conversation when the natural opportunity comes up. Sharing the joy and peace that comes from being part of the Church and worshipping Christ as part of the Catholic community.For a person who just has a hard time getting the right words, Janet said we can just invite someone to come to a talk or program or social occasion at the parish or to come to Mass on Sunday. People are less apt to say No because they're responding to your personal invitation.Scot said people in this archdiocese should take responsibility for asking just one person to come to Mass and then to pray that this person will be receptive to the Holy Spirit. Tom suggested inviting someone to breakfast and going to Mass first. Put a bumper sticker on your card or give someone a Catholics Come Home business card that is available.Be willing to respond to someone who asks on Monday morning, "How was your weekend?" to say, "I went to Mass with my family and it was great." Janet said we are walking advertisements for our Church.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell**Today's guest(s):** John Monahan, host of CatholicTV's ClearVoice, recounts his journey from Dorchester to local TV news to the new Catholic newsmagazine show; talks about it's like to chase breaking news stories; and he gives tips for being a more effective communicator in business, job interviews, and even for priests giving homilies. Also, the Mass readings for the Fifth Sunday of Lent. * [John Monahan's biography](http://monahan-communications.com/#/bio/4541336885)* [ClearVoice on CatholicTV](http://www.catholictv.com/ClearVoice.aspx)* [ClearVoice in iCatholic magazine](http://www.catholictv.com/magazine/magazine.aspx?magazineID=65116)**Today's topics:** Former Fox25-Boston TV news reporter John Monahan's journey to CatholicTV's new magazine show, "ClearVoice". Also, this coming Sunday's readings for Mass.**A summary of today's show:** John Monahan, host of CatholicTV's ClearVoice **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Mark. Scot notes today is Red Sox opening day at home. He suggests listeners turn up WQOM, turn on the TV and turn down the volume there. Fr. Mark went to the funeral of Msgr. Daly, who had served 36 years at the seminary. He was the rector of the seminary when Fr. Mark was there in 1986-1990. He said Cardinal Seán was there as well as 60 priests. Fr. Mark said it was a beautiful turnout.Scot notes that homilist at priests' funerals is a friend of the priest. At this funeral, Msgr. James McCune was the homilist. At the end of priest's funeral, all the priests gather around the casket and sing the Salve Regina as they accompany the casket to the hearse.**2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark welcome John Monahan to the program. Scot notes that John's voice is familiar to CatholicTV and Fox25 viewers. John grew up in Dorchester in St. Brendan's parish and went to BC High School. Studied communications at UMass Amherst. After graduation he worked at Boston University on a half-hour news show for a cable-access news show.He wanted to move to California to pursue his career in broadcast journalism. He brought resume tapes to about 10 stations in California and Oregon. He got a call from a station in Monterey, California. Fr. Mark asked how much John's natural voice opens doors? He said the voice has never been a big part of his success. TV news is so subjective that you can't guess what will grab a station manager's attention. His first job in Monterey was doing the farm report because he looked like he grew up on the farm and a Midwesterner.He never intended to move back to Boston. He had wanted to move up to a larger market than Monterey and had been focusing on Los Angeles and San Francisco. His agent sent out tapes and he happened to get a call from the station manager at WB56. When the manager found out he went to BC High across the street, he had the job. He was there for 3 years, starting out on a morning show. He moved to Fox 25 and was there for 4-1/2 years.Scot asked what his favorite stories were. John said he liked the feature stories, digging down deep and getting to know a person and telling their story. He also loved covering breaking news, the heat of the moment. He covered the infamous "shoe bomber" story, the terrorist on the plane who had tried to blow up the plane and the plane was diverted to Boston. Scot asked what it's like to cover breaking news? Is it competitive or collaborative?He said they want to get the story, but there is collaboration. You help someone else so they're not completely left behind, but you don't put your own story in jeopardy. He loved working in spontaneous situations.Fr. Mark said sometimes when he knows the story, often a reporter will blow up a small kernel into something awful. John said the reporter is always trying to find the conflict in the story, the juxtaposition, to entice the viewer and draw them in. Some stations do this to a greater degree than others. The news used to be more objective, but the competition is so fierce today.You prepare yourself for horrendous situations by preparing yourself and eventually learning to stay somewhat detached. Often there is black humor to help themselves deal with it. Scot asked if there's any kind of post-traumatic stress. John recalls a story about a Christmas tree that caught fire and killed the babysitter and three kids. He can't forget the screams of the mother on hearing what happened.Fr. Mark asked if its hard as a Catholic to cover some of the news that relate to his faith. John said he tries to put the story in its most objective light. You can't control what the anchors say, but he can control the content of the report.**3rd segment:** How did ClearVoice start? John had been talking with Fr. Robert Reed, director of CatholicTV, about the show for a while. ClearVoice is a newsmagazine show. The difference from a news show is that a news show is events of the day. A newsmagazine is more in-depth, more lighthearted, not so much about the current events. They had the CBS Sunday Morning show in mind, in-depth profiles of people and lighthearted segments.They've had 19 shows so far. He was particularly happy with the shows about Christmas time. The March for Life was a big story for them as well. They interviewed former Sen. Rick Santorum recently as well as chastity speaker Jason Evert last week.John is impressed by CatholicTV and its high quality. The environment is much nicer than when he worked in news. They have amazing technology. Their set is a wall of 24 high-definition televisions. You don't see sets like this even in secular stations. It can be one big screen or 24 individual screens or any combination.ClearVoice is aiming at a national market, not just the Boston area. Catholic TV now serves 25% of the United States and 75 cities. It's the second-largest Catholic TV network after EWTN.They get reports from Rome each from [Rome Reports](http://www.romereports.com), [H2O](http://www.h2onews.org) and [Catholic News Service](http://www.catholicnews.com), which CatholicTV has an arrangement with. Kevin NElson, the executive producer of the show, goes through all the content to choose the right stories. They broadcast on Thursday nights.John's co-host is Christine Caswell, who is also a veteran of Boston TV news. They'd known each other as acquaintances in their previous careers. Her day job manages the interns at [Boston University's school of communications](http://www.bu.edu/com/), which is how Fr. Reed got to know her.John hopes that ClearVoice becomes even more relevant to the news that is going on the week of broadcast. He's also looking for more in-depth features. He'd love to have Cardinal Seán on the show. He has a lot of admiration for Archbishop Dolan in New York. But he'd also like to interview regular local people, like the guy who plays the flute at noon Mass at Mission Church.This is the first newsmagazine on any Catholic network in North America. John said it says a lot about CatholicTV and where Fr. Reed wants to take it. It indicates the future growth of the network nationally and internationally.All the recorded shows are available at CatholicTV.com.**4th segment:** John now has his own communications consulting firm where he advises corporations on communications skills. Scot asked what are some of the ways to overcome the fear of public speaking?John said preparation is important. He was in Chicago early in his career and he still nervous about being on-air. He met this anchor who was cool as cucumber on air. When he asked the man how this guy wasn't nervous, and he told John that of course he's nervous. In fact, everyone is nervous, but many people turn that around and turn it into energy and excitement. If you've prepared enough, including practice what you're going to say, you own the words. You write it out by hand to help you remember it.Scot asked what high-level businessmen are asking for help with? John's biggest skill is taking a lot of information and boiling it down to the essential nuggets. He also helps them translate written speeches into a conversational tone and make them into a good narrative. Give it a beginning and an end that reach the same point to bring everything full circle.Fr. Mark asked what makes a good homily as a communicator? John said it's about intertwining a story with the message. Facts alone are difficult to digest, but people remember a story. Fr. Mark said some priests can't land the plane; you think they're ending the homily and then go off again. John said sometimes they don't even know they're doing it. But then keep a phrase or idea in mind so that when you get to that, you know to wrap up and end.Scot said that you have to prepare the close as much as you prepare the open and the content. John said the speaker should finish in a way that people remember what you said.Fr. Mark said he's never begun a homily with "In today's Gospel..." because by the time he says Gospel they're asleep. John agreed that you have to have something memorable to grab their attention.John mostly works with mid- to upper-level management, also sales groups. He also helps train with media management. He recently worked with Stonehill College.He also has tips for communicating during job interviews. Have a beginning, middle, and end. Who are you? What's your background, your skills, your traits? Then offer a summary. And finally anticipate what kind of questions you'll get from the interviewer and practice your answers. Scot noted that many people are humble and shy about talking about themselves so they aren't used to it. John said to find a friend or family member to act out the interview.**5th segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark will look at the Gospel for the Fifth Sunday of Lent. This the story of Lazarus from the Gospel of John* [Sunday's Mass readings](http://www.usccb.org/nab/041011.shtml): Ez 37:12-14, Ps 130:1-8, Rom 8:8-11, Jn 11:1-45 or 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45>The sisters of Lazarus sent word to Jesus, saying, “Master, the one you love is ill.” When Jesus heard this he said, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was.Then after this he said to his disciples, +Let us go back to Judea.”>>When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Martha said, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”>>He became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Sir, come and see.”And Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.” But some of them said, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?”>>So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” And when he had said this, He cried out in a loud voice, >“Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth.>>So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.” Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him.Scot said the Church wants us to reflect on this just before we attend to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus during Holy Week. John is struck by the faith of Mary and Martha.Fr. Mark said Jesus is weeping because He understands the human experience and pain and suffering. He knows that death hurts those who are left. Scot said he didn't realize before that Jesus was risking His own life going to Bethany. Fr. Mark said we remember Thomas as the doubter, but here he is the one who stands up and says, "Let's go with him to die with Him."The four days in the tomb is significant because of an ancient belief that the soul stayed with the body for three days, so St. John is conveying that Lazarus is really and truly dead.St. John is also recalling the Book of Genesis. God speaks and creation happens. Here the Word of God speaks and He conquers death. His Word is so powerful that something so impossible can happen.It's easy for us to know Jesus is divine, but when Jesus weeps for Lazarus and for the mourners, it reinforces His humanity.Jesus delays and Lazarus dies. So Lazarus' suffering glorifies God and that is a lesson for those who suffer and believes God is delaying.Jesus also challenges Martha if she believes that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. This is a question presented to all of us.…
**Listen to the show:** *The online streaming and downloadable versions of The Good Catholic Life will be available later this evening.*[Subscribe for free in iTunes](http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-good-catholic-life/id425362545)**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott**Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of *The Anchor*, the newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of *The Pilot*, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston* [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org)* [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com)**Today's topics:** The Courtyard of the Gentiles; A new director for the Mass. Catholic Conference; Pope John Paul II is being beatified for his personal virtue, not his historic pontificate; and two stories of simple but heroic courage and virtue**A summary of today's show:** Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy look at the news of the week with Scot Landry and Susan Abbott, including the Courtyard of the Gentiles, a Vatican initiative to engage with atheists, agnostics, and non-believers on an intellectual level; the new director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference and one of the issues he'll be tackling: the Church's response to casino gambling in the state; why the beatification of Pope John Paul II won't be because of his historic pontificate, but instead about his personal virtue; and the heroic virtue of a young man performing a simple act of charity that captured a nation's attention and the heroic courage of an unemployed father to sacrifice a job rather than cooperate with evil.**1st segment:** Susan was at the symposium on adolescent catechesis this morning and it was wonderful. She said Bob Rice's talks were inspiring for the catechists and priests and DREs who were present. She said she was also at the New Roman Missal workshop for laity at the Pastoral Center yesterday where there were hundreds of participants. Scot said the Knights of Malta also had a gathering at the Pastoral Center for their annual pilgrimage to Lourdes.Tonight is both [Carl Anderson](http://www.thegoodcatholiclife.com/2011/04/05/program-0020-for-tuesday-april-5-2011/)'s talk at Fanueil Hall and [Bob Rice](http://www.thegoodcatholiclife.com/2011/04/06/program-0021-for-wednesday-april-6-2011/)'s talk at Theology on Tap. Tomorrow is Bob Rice's mini-retreat day for youth ministers and on Saturday is the [Co-Workers in the Vineyard](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Events-Calendar/Event-Detail.aspx?id=19836) conference.**2nd segment:** Scot and Susan welcome Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy. Fr. Landry wrote this week in his editorial about the Courtyard of the Gentiles, the Pope's outreach to atheists, agnostics, and non-believers. A couple of years ago, Pope Benedict spoke about the well-meaning atheists he'd met on a trip to the Czech Republic. Pope Benedict said we needed to recover the sense of the courtyard of the Gentiles from the ancient Jewish temple where Gentiles could come and ask questions and find out what the Jewish faith was about. There have been many outreaches since Vatican II to Jews, to other Christians, and to other non-Judeo/Christian religions, but we haven't had anything for non-believers. So on March 21 in Paris, they held this first Courtyard of the Gentiles, culminating with a live video address by Pope Benedict XVI. The next gathering will be in Chicago.Believers can have more than a little to do with the birth of atheism when we teach error or are deficient in showing the authentic face of God. Gregory said it points to the need for ongoing faith development for ourselves. He recalls meeting someone from Europe who was truly un-churched and literally knew nothing about Christianity. He and his wife took some time to explain the basics. We can never fail to reach out to those who are curious. The first step in conversion is engaging in a dialogue.Just as non-believers have nothing to fear from God, believers should have no fear of those who live in accord with their consciences, Pope Benedict said. It addresses the fear of believers sharing a conversation with those who don't share in the same belief. Susan was impressed by the Pope calling believers to task: "Non-believers challenge believers to live in a way consistent with the faith they profess."Fr. Landry said the Vatican doesn't intend for this to remain a series of itinerant intellectual events sponsored by the Vatican, but hopes that it would become a “fixture of the pastoral activity of every diocese.” It should be a place where non-believers could feel free to come and ask questions. We do a good job caring for the hungry, for those who are seeking faith, who want to enter the Church, but there are so many in our universities, so many immigrants from non-Christian--even Communist-- countries, who could be vigorously engaged.* ["Reconstructing the Courtyard of the Gentiles," Fr. Landry's editorial in the Anchor](http://www.catholicpreaching.com/index.php?content=articles&articles=20110408anchor)* [Pope Benedict's remarks to the Courtyard of the Gentiles](http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=473261)**3rd segment:** On April 5, the bishops of the four dioceses in Massachusetts appointed a new executive director for the Mass. Catholic Conference, James F. Driscoll, a resident of Scituate and parishioner at St. Mary of the Nativity in Scituate. Gregory met Jim Driscoll yesterday when he stopped by the Pilot's office. Gregory had a good impression of him and believes he will serve well as head of the conference, which is the Mass. bishops' voice before the legislators on Beacon Hill. It is the Church's major way to engage in the public square on major issues.Fr. Landry said the MCC spends a lot of time lobbying on Beacon Hill, but it also supports other initiatives such as when parishioners were being mobilized to contact their legislators on the issue of marriage in this state. So their two focuses are on lobbying--offering the Church's wisdom when it would be helpful--but also helping churches to educate and mobilize people. Driscoll has a lot of experience in state government, having worked in the state auditor's office and, before that, in the Lottery Commission.He replaces Gerry D'Avolio, who was interim director after the sudden death of Ed Saunders last year.One of the issues the MCC is advocating is for the state to do a cost-benefit analysis on the proposed legalization of casino gambling. Susan said the Church has always been an advocate for the poor and studies have consistently showed that legalized gambling always affects the poor disproportionately. Cathy Davis at the MCC said there has already been an acknowledgement that there will be a societal cost, but it has not been quantified yet, while proponents have been advancing predictions of the windfalls the casinos will produce. Studies show that 70-90 percent of profits in casinos come from 10 percents of gamblers. They also show that when casinos open, the community sees massive increases in violent crime.There have been several attempts to build casinos in the Fall River area. Fr. Landry said that unfortunately lawmakers approach the subject like gamblers: that even though everyone else loses, the luck will turn this time and they will hit the jackpot. It's often touted as a job creation initiative, but they bring the lowest-level jobs and kill jobs when customers move away from local businesses to the casinos. Casinos are seen as a panacea for what ails us, but they present us with an expensive bill.Gregory said casinos seem to be proposed every few years, and readers of the Pilot often question why the Church is opposed to casinos when many Catholic parishes offer Bingo games. But the Church says that recreational gambling can be legitimate. The difference is that casinos bring about the misery that has been talked about and are much more likely to bring about addiction.* [Executive Director of Massachusetts Catholic Conference named](http://pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13195)* [Mass. Catholic Conference](http://macathconf.org/)* The Anchor will have an article available on Friday about the casino question**4th segment:** The head of the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes said Pope John Paul II is being beatified not for his impact on history or on the Catholic Church, but because of the way he lived the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love. Susan said Pope John Paul II is being beatified, not for his pontificate, but for his personal holiness. When we die, we will stand before God without titles, but only as a child of God.Joaquin Navarro-Valls, JP2's spokesman, said the Pope lived and acted and related to everyone he met with the firm belief that each person was created in the image and likeness of God.Gregory said the Pope radiated holiness and even in his final days, the people saw and felt his love for them each. This was one of the reasons the people cried out for his canonization.Three steps for the cause of a saint are the consideration of the vox populi, the voice of the people, declaring his holiness; then the vox Dei, the voice of God, seen in miracles through his intercession; and the vox ecclesiae, the voice of the Church, declaring his Christian virtues and whether he lived a life of heroic faith and love. The Church looks at all his public acts and his public faith and all of his writings. At the end of the process, a report is produced and if they can say this person lived heroic faith, it is passed to the Congregation for Saints. They would send it to the Pope. If he agrees, they then look at miracles that can be attributed to the intercession of the person. There have been 250 miracles submitted for the beatification of John Paul II, but only one is accepted as representing God's certification of his being in heaven. After that, there must be a new miracle that occurs after beatification to declare a canonization.There was a miracle in Fr. Landry's own parish, Joe Amaral, who hadn't walked in decades. His story was shown on ABC's 20/20. He had prayed one day for the grace to accept the will of God for his own condition like John Paul had accepted his own Parkinson's disease. He immediately was cured and was able to walk. He had been previously on able to move about only with great difficulty and now walks with ease. He now walks door to door in New Bedford to tell people that Jesus Christ has the power to heal sins and heal ailments.* ["John Paul II being beatified for holiness, not his papacy, speakers say" (The Pilot)](http://pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13188)* [Joe Amaral's miraculous healing](http://www.saintanthonynewbedford.com/index.php?content=Miracle)**5th segment:** Heartwarming story from the Inner-City Scholarship Fund dinner at the end of March, which raised $2.4 million for scholarships for students from families that couldn't afford tuition at Catholic schools. The keynote was by Rudy Favard, a senior at Malden Catholic, who was profiled in the Boston Globe just before Christmas for his volunteer work helping a local family care for a disabled young boy. He goes to the family's home four days per week. He said at the dinner that through his mother's hard work and generosity of the donors at the ICSF dinner, that God has given him an education and opportunity like he has had.Susan said she likes to think that there are many Rudy's out there. She was struck in the original story by his request to the reporter that story should be more about the young boy he serves than about himself. Susan was also gratified that it seems that all the attention has not gone to his head.Fr. Landry said that what struck him was the nurse at Malden Catholic who had taken the responsibility to ask and Rudy happened to be the first she met and asked. It was the asking and knowing that young people have a lot to give. Pope John Paul II had always said that we should challenge and ask young people to give of themselves. Fr. Landry said he has often seen young people respond to being asked and you see many beautiful stories like Rudy Favard's and we are reinvigorated by the beauty of the youth who serve.This past weekend, the same Globe reporter gave an update this past weekend on Rudy and the Parker family. Rudy is very concerned at what will happen to the Parkers when he leaves. He said he would prefer that rather than receive the $5,000 scholarship he was given, that the Parkers should receive the money to help them get a handicapped-accessible house.* ["A Simple Act Elevates All" (The Boston Globe)](http://www.boston.com/community/stories_to_inspire/articles/2010/12/23/a_teenagers_simple_act_elevates_all/)* ["Families Face Next Hurdles" (The Boston Globe)](http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/04/03/families_face_next_hurdles/)In the Anchor this week will be a column by Fr. Tad Paholczyk in which he tells the story of Tim Roach, an unemployed father of two in the Minneapolis area who was finally offered a very good job. But he learned that he was going to be the electrical supervisor on the work being done for a new Planned Parenthood facility being built. He refused to cooperate with the evil that would have happened there. He would have been facilitating that evil. He made a heroic decision not to sell his soul for a $70,000 salary, even with all the difficulties that would result for his family. Susan said the act of courage turning down a job is not just admirable, but is virtuous and heroic.* The Anchor will have Fr. Tad's column on its website on FridayFr. Landry finished the show by relating that his parish now has a new bulletin through [Parish Bulletins](http://www.pilotbulletins.net), part of the Catholic Media Secretariat of the Archdiocese of Boston.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams **Today's guest(s):** Bob Rice, professor of catechetics at Franciscan University of Steubenville, author, musician, youth minister, worship leader * [Bob Rice's website](http://www.bob-rice.com) * [Franciscan University of Steubenville](http://www.franciscan.edu) * [Bob's music on iTunes](http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=152205628) * To learn about any of the events discussed here and to register, go to the website of the Office for the [New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults](http://www.one4boston.org) **Today's topics:** Bob Rice is coming to Boston for training in adolescent catechesis, young adult ministry, and to lead a retreat for youth ministers. **A summary of today's show:** Bob Rice--professor, speaker, youth leader, musician, and author--talks with Scot and Fr. Matt about the challenge of reaching out to youth, not just to fill them with information, but to form them in a transformation and a life-giving relationship with Jesus Christ. Bob has also written a new novel that lets us walk with St. Peter through the Gospels. **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Fr. Matt and noted that Fr Matt and his team at Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults have been working very hard. They had the Eucharistic Congress last weekend, the Youth Ministry Awards Dinner last night, and three more events this week. The Congress was fantastic, he said. They had more than 500 participants and they had a huge turnout from colleges. The powerful aspect of this weekend was the focus on Pope John Paul II. All of the talks drew on his teachings. See the photos on [Flickr.com/BostonCatholic](http://www.flickr.com/BostonCatholic). They had the vocation monstrance blessed by Pope John Paul II, and the College of St. Mary Magdalene Choir sung during the procession through the streets of the North End. Some people who saw this were moved to tears, some were mocking, but most were awed by what they saw. Some participants were assigned to go up to the people watching and introduce them to what was going on. Last night was the Awards Dinner for Youth. They are trying to tell the story of the good news that is going on among youth in the Archdiocese. The dinner has been going on for more than 50 years, but it was reinvigorated over the past few years. Last night they gave out more than 100 awards to youth and adults. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Matt welcome Bob Rice to the show. Bob will be in Boston this week for three different events. On Thursday, 9am-3:30, a catechesis on adolescent catechesis; on Thursday night, 7 pm, City Side Bar in Brighton, Theology on Tap; and on Friday, a mini-retreat day for anyone who ministers to youth. The symposium will be for those involved in passing on the faith to young teenagers and talk about the keys to catechizing young people today. The goal of catechesis is intimacy with Jesus Christ. Many times we have a classroom stereotype of religious education, but while it can be done in the classroom, the goal of catechesis is transform lives. The heart of catechesis and how we can bring young people to conversion in any setting. He travels around the country about once or twice per month bringing this message of catechesis to people working with youth, as well as doing this as his full-time job at Franciscan University, teaching catechesis to college students who will go out and do the same. On Thursday, he will be giving three talks: Forming a Catholic worldview; dynamic and effective catechesis; and "God doesn't care about your ministry." The first talk will jump off from St. Paul in Romans where he said that the goal is that we need to transform our mind to God's will so we know what it is. So often in catechesis we train them in what to think, not how to think. We often fill them with information but we don't give them formation. Effective catechesis asks how we can gear catechesis that isn't just informational, but transformational and lead to deeper intimacy with Jesus Christ. The last talk is a wake-up call. It isn't all about us. God doesn't care what we do for Him. He cares about what we *are* for Him. Many times, as catechists, we can get caught up in replacing our own spirituality with the ministry we do and we miss the very intimacy that we're trying to lead young people to. The Theology on Tap's theme is "You're going to die and other good news." Bob said that we live in a society that tries to avoid death. We are shocked by it, even though it is the most natural thing in the world. In our faith it is not something to be afraid. God has revealed some pretty good news about it. We should be prepared for it. The everlasting life we should want to live and the everlasting damnation we should want to avoid; what is heaven, what is hell; purgatory: This is what will be covered. Bob and Scot joked that you need one or two beers to understand eschatology. Fr. Matt said the Eucharistic Congress this past weekend promoted the Theology on Tap as a great followup for participants. He said we often hear people say that they are "spiritual, but not religious." He asked Bob how you begin to address that with young adults. The big question is what they mean by "religious"? What he thinks they often mean is a focus on rituals and an experience of God that doesn't speak to their heart, and sadly every major Christian denomination, including Catholics, can be guilty of falling into a ritualism that doesn't invite people into greater intimacy. Of course, what the Church teaches is far from that. Receiving the Eucharist should be one of the most intimate things we can do. Sometimes that not the perception because we haven't reached out to young adults very well. They would rather have the unstructured one-on-one relationship with God. What we need to show, as catechists, is that God dwells among His community. The sacraments are a way to deeper intimacy with God. Theology on Tap is right in line with John Paul II's message that we need to engage the culture where it's at. He will be only speaking about what the Church actually teaches, not his speculation on what heaven is like, and it is amazing. The distinction between spiritual and religious can fade and you can become someone who is spiritually religious. Fr. Matt said he has had good conversations with both a Hindu and a Muslim and when you talk to them about the practice of their faith an how their parents practiced their faith, they have the same line as many of the Catholic young adults: "I'm spiritual, not religious. I don't need to go to a temple to worship God." It's something epidemic in Western culture. Scot asked whether it's becaue of the hyper-individualism in our culture, where people don't want to be part of a larger organization that has rules and tough requirements, as any rigorous religion would ask. Bob said another part of the equation is rampant consumerism. A lot of young people treat community like consumers. Especially with social media, we can block out people we don't like and connect with people we do like to create a false sense of community and become illiterate about communicating with each other. So we walk into a church and if we don't like the priest or we don't like the person sitting next to us, then everything in society would tells us to find a new priest, find a new person to sit next to; You can better on your own; you can customize things to yourself. This is a whole consumer market driven at young people. So it makes sense they see religion that way. They don't want to sit through a homily that's too long or listen to a homily they don't agree with. We've taught them have zero tolerance for anything that doesn't satisfy them, in any kind of relationship. (This is why we have problems getting them to marry each other.) This affects relationships in community and a relationship with God, as in the real God, not God as they would hope Him to be. Scot asked Bob if talking about the End Things helps people to put things into proper focus since our society avoids thinking about death. Bob said the more society avoids talking about death, the more of an unreal life we live. He's had opportunity to do mission work both in Mexico and Haiti, and death is very prevalent. In Haiti, you are confronted with the reality of the shortness of your life. If you think you're immortal, then you have really weird thoughts about heaven and hell. Death is final. You can have an opinion about heaven, but the only opinion that counts is the one from the only Person who died and rose from the dead. Whether you like it or not and no matter what you believe in, there is going to be a reality to heaven, hell, and purgatory. God revealed all these things in His love so we can be prepared for it. Fr. Matt thinks of his parents how were catechists for many years and he was a catechist himself and he struggled with the apathy among the young people he encountered. How does a catechist break through the religious apathy? Bob recalled that Pope Paul VI said in [Evangelii nuntiandi](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19751208_evangelii-nuntiandi_en.html) that "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses." Young people need to first encounter someone who has a transformed life because they have encountered Jesus Christ. Sometimes we have people in our parishes who don't feel equipped to share their witness, so they just go by the book and don't open up about what God means in their life. If the young person doesn't see incarnate what it means to follow Jesus Christ, then everything else is just academic. We also need to inculturate the language, to speak in ways that young people understand, to not be afraid of culture. We need to engage and find where God is present in it and build a Church within it. We often speak a churchy language, and don't use the elements of their own culture that points to God's love for us. **3rd segment:** Scot asked about someone who wants to be the best catechist they can be, but aren't sure how to relate to young people because they're 50 or 60 or 70. How do you equip yourself? Bob said that to start with you should go to the Adolescent Catechesis Symposia sponsored by Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults. There is a bit of training involved though. You can't approach it lightly. The [General Directory for Catechesis](http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cclergy/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_17041998_directory-for-catechesis_en.html) says, in terms of working with young people, that we need to have more of a missionary attitude toward young people than a strictly academic one. Sometimes we jump right into catechesis but we never approach them as a missionary. A missionary learns about the culture, lives among the people, speaks their language. That can be difficult, but it needs to be done first. There is no shortcut. Otherwise we read from a book and the teens are bored to tears. You need to be part of the culture: Listen to the music young people listen to, watch TV shows they watch, read the books they're reading. It is part of your homework. You don't need to watch an entire season of a show, but you can watch one episode. If you work with young people, but haven't read "Twilight" or seen the movies, you're missing out on a cultural opportunity to shgow where God can be found in that. Some people want to say that everything in youth culture is evil or wrong, but culture is made by men and women who are made in the image and likeness of God. In the Second Vatican Council document [Ad Gentes](http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651207_ad-gentes_en.html), which was about missionary work, it said we need to live among people so we can "lay bare the seeds of the Word which lie hidden among their fellows." Those seeds are in the culture and we need to help them see that. Fr. Matt said we often look at culture or the world and we say "bad". But a Catholic viewpoint looks at culture and the world and see the things that are good, beautiful and true. Working with young people to be able to see those things, how can we see instead how to use those things for good? Bob said that certainly there are things that are bad in culture, but when we critique culture, we critique the young people because they are intimately connected to it. When we can find what is good in the culture then we can say what it is good *and* bad. We can help them be more literate in understanding the messages that the media is giving them. A young person spends on average about 8.5 hours per day with media. We have to help them understand what kind of messages they're digesting. Rome itself shows how the Church didn't run away from culture, but transformed it, right down to churches that used to be places of pagan sacrifice. Pope John Paul II used to say that we need to impregnate the culture with the Word of God. Scot said he's been amazed while reading Pope Benedict XVI's comments on new media and Bishop Ron Herzog of the US bishops' conference Committee on Communication, who [said](http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2010/11/as-great-challenge-as-reformation.html), Facebook has changed not only the way people receive and share information, but how they communicate. He asked how much of getting to understand young people involve using these new media tools? Bob said it's absolutely essential. When you have media, you have a new language which is limited. Communicating the Gospel through Facebook isn't easy. It's almost easier to communicate Shakespeare with smoke signals. There's a depth to the message that the medium doesn't allow us to connect. So we can use social media in a way that preaches the Word of God through actual relationships. We need to pull them into a place where they can experience real community and authentic teaching. But that's another stage of evangelization. We need to go where they're at first. Pope John Paul II said in [Redemptoris Missio](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_07121990_redemptoris-missio_en.html) that we need to have the media communicate Gospel values, not just merely as a preaching of the Gospel message. We need EWTN, but we also need to find a way to get Catholic values on NBC and Fox and TV shows and novels and music. Not just praise music, but we need to be thinking bigger. **4th segment:** Bob has many talents. He has released 8 albums. He said he has been blessed with music. Currently he leads all the worship music for the Steubenville summer conferences, both adult and youth. It's been a passion of his. He's planning to sing a little at Theology on Tap. Fr. Matt recalls when he was a seminarian and serving an internship at Immaculate Conception in Newburyport that Bob and Bob Lefnesky came in during the youth group's 30 Hour Famine to do a show and some comedy skits. Fr. Matt is always struck by how deeply theological and biblically based his music is, how it gives glory to God, and teaches the listener some aspect of a relationship with God. Bob said that is his aim. He loves the ancient hymns. They were just doctrine put to music and stirred the soul, because doctrine is just something about who Jesus is. Scot asked how he goes about writing songs? Bob said songs usually come to him when he's supposed to be doing something else. They just hit him. They usually start with a phrase or thought that connects to an emotion or a thought about God. He writes a lot of bad songs that no one ever hears. He doesn't sit down to write songs. Recently, Bob took on a project to write a novel about St. Peter's relationship with Jesus, "Between the Savior and the Sea". It's the Gospel story from Peter's point of view. All of the Evangelists spend a lot of time letting us get to know Peter and question is why the Gospels say so much about Peter. In all of Scripture gives us the most detailed version of what it means to follow Christ. Bob did a lot of research and even went to the Holy Land to get everything accurate, right down to the food and buildings. Scot asked how Bob integrated the words of Jesus from the Scriptures into the book? Bob anchors the book on all the Gospel stories. He would write narrative bridges between those Gospel stories. For example, when the disciples were sent out two-by-two, we don't know where they went or did, but in Bob's novel we follow Peter on his journey and see what it was like for him to preach the Gospel and heal someone and cast out a demon. But then they go back to the feeding of the five thousand. The book weaves in and out of what we see in Scripture and the narrative bridges that the Gospels don't care. He did it in a way that's faithful to Catholic doctrine and who Peter was. Ideally, it gives an accurate depiction of the Gospel stories and will inspire someone to read the Gospels themselves. The novel ends at John, Chapter 21, where Jesus calls Peter the second time: "Peter, do you love me?" Fr. Matt asked what inspired Bob to write this novel and who his intended audience is. Bob said he hopes it appeals to all ages. When Bob goes out to speak and preach, he tries to use his theatrical background to bring the Gospel stories to life. These stories tell us who God is. After doing this for a long time, he decided to try his hand at writing the Gospel stories, but in his first attempts he was stunned at how many stories he had to put in between the Gospel stories to make the narrative cohesive because the Gospel was not written in a narrative style. It took about 3 years and he's never worked harder on anything. Scot asked Bob how his devotion to St. Peter was affected by these 3 years of spending so time reflecting on his life. Bob said he was so sad as he wrote the last page because he had been walking the streets of Galilee and Jerusalem with Peter and Jesus and all the apostles. It brought him closer to all the apostles. He tried to flesh out each of the 12 apostles as individuals with all their strengths and flaws of character. It became a community which he got know and walk with. As he walked away from the book, he also had to recognize that these characters were not really the apostles. He couldn't fall in love with his own fictitious version of who he thought they were. It could have been who they were, but there's a greater depth to a person than can be found in a novel. So in his relationship with Jesus he wants Him to be bigger than the book and the words on a page. Bob didn't invent any new flaws for St. Peter beyond what is found in the Gospels. If anything he tried to show what kind of heroic virtue St. Peter had. Sometimes we think of him failing, of sinking in the water as his faith wavered, but we don't reflect on, hey here's a guy who walked on water in the first place. Here's a guy willing to fight to for Jesus in the garden and followed Jesus into the courtyard when everyone else ran away. He's an exceptional man of God who had an exceptional call, but like any of us he struggled between his divine call and his human will. Bob said he always wondered why Jesus told Peter that he would deny him three times and Peter said he would not, then turns around and denies him almost right away. As he was reflecting on the story, Bob realized that when Simon Peter was in the garden and he was swinging his sword at the high priest's servant, he was willing to give his life. It was probably ringing in his mind that he would not deny Jesus, that he would give his life for Him. And he dove in there alone. Maybe he was stunned that Jesus told him to stop and perhaps he considered that he'd already proven himself against the denial. Then in the courtyard, the encounter with the slave girl and others came as surprise: "Wait, this was the test?" We can often be geared up for the big battles in our life, but it's the small things where we fall and fail and where we end up denying Christ. We can be great Christians on retreat or in youth group, but what we do when we're alone on the computer or among friends and things go in the wrong direction? But like Peter, Christ always calls us back with love. On the mini-retreat day on Friday for people who work with youth, it is important know that it is a retreat, not training. It is a time for youth ministers to be refreshed in their own faith, to be with others in similar ministry to encourage each other and strengthen each other. It's not too late to sign up at the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults website. **5th segment:** It’s time to announce the winner of this week’s **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week is a copy of [“Time for Mercy,”](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0944203841/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=catholicnetrevie&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0944203841) a film narrated by Joseph Campanella. This award-winning video explores signs of God's mercy in our time, and takes an unflinching look at the biblical witness of God's judgement and mercy, the offer of God's mercy in Christ, and the troubles of today's world. This week’s winner is **Mary Boudreau from Norwood, MA**. Congratulations Mary! **6th segment:** Tonight is the fourth Wednesday of [The Light Is On For You](http://www.thelightisonforyou.org). Every Church in the Archdiocese is open from 6:30-8:00pm tonight for Confessions. If you need to locate a church along your commute, please visit [PilotParishFinder.com](http://www.pilotparishfinder.com) or download the PilotParishFinder app for your iPhone or Android device. Since Wednesday evenings during Lent are big Confession evenings, we’ll take questions submitted by listeners on the Sacrament of Reconciliation. If you have a question, please email LIVE@TheGoodCatholicLife.com, text or call us at 617-410-MASS (6277). * What happens if you forget to confess a mortal sin at confession? First, you have to ask if you just forgot (you were nervous or forgot to make a list) or if it was intentional. If you just forgot, God's mercy covers that sin and you have received absolution. It's still good to talk to the priest next time in confession about it to get advice and direction. If you hold back intentionally, that sin is not forgiven. You have to be ready to let go or be sorry for that sin. You walk away with that sin still on you. You have not experienced a full reconciliation with God. You have not been restored. You still have the stain of mortal sin and you're not supposed to go to confession. The lesson of the Blessed Mother shows us how she was preserved from the stain of Original Sin to prepare her to be an immaculate tabernacle receiving the Lord. In the same way, we need to be purified from mortal sin in order to receive the Lord. Mortal sin kills us and wounds us in our relationship with the Lord. Scot said that embarassment shouldn't hold you back from confessing a sin. You will not shock the priest with anything he hasn't heard before. And then burden of a sin that you don't confess deliberately grows even greater the longer you hold on to it. God wants to relieve that burden of you and He can through the power he has given to his priests. Tonight the Light Is On For You and it's on because there is a priest waiting to help you be relieved of that burden.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Carl A. Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, Karen Walters from the Catholic Leadership Institute, and Linda DeCristoforo, Pastoral Associate at Our Lady of Grace Parish in Chelsea * [The Knights of Columbus](http://www.kofc.org) * [Boston Leadership Forum](http://www.bostonleadershipforum.com) * [John F. Kennedy's inaugural address](http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkinaugural.htm) * [Catholic Leadership Institute](http://www.catholicleaders.org/) * [Tending the Talents](http://www.catholicleaders.org/programs_pdld.aspx) * [Good Leaders, Good Shepherds](http://www.catholicleaders.org/programs_GLGS.aspx) * [James F. Driscoll named Executive Director of the Mass. Catholic Conference](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Utility/News-And-Press/Content.aspx?id=19944) * [Massachusetts Catholic Conference](http://www.macathconf.org/) **Today's topics:** Catholic Leadership Institute's Tending the Talents program launched nationally in the Archdiocese of Boston 18 months ago; Carl Anderson's speech this Thursday at Fanueil Hall on John F. Kennedy's inaugural address **A summary of today's show:** On today's show, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson calls John F. Kennedy's inaugural address is one of the most eloquent expressions of human rights and dignity in history and reconciles it with his famous "Houston" speech on his Catholic faith. Also, the Catholic Leadership Institute is preparing a generation of laity to assist their pastors in leadership in the Church and the Massachusetts Catholic Conference has a new executive director. **1st segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcome Carl A. Anderson via phone. On Thursday, 5:30pm at Fanueil Hall, he will be delivering an address called “Making God’s Work our Own: The Continued Importance of President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address 50 Years Later.” Carl said the address was so inspiring for so many Americans, that "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country," became a byword. The Knights have always been proud that JFK was a 4th degree Knight of Columbus. They were surprised that so little was being done in general to mark the 50th anniversary of the speech and so they set out to properly mark the event. (To RSVP for the address on Thursday please email [jfk@kofc.org](mailto:jfk@kofc.org) or call 203-752-4483. The event is co-sponsored by the Boston Leadership Forum, which brings speakers to downtown Boston.) Scot said one of the more powerful lines is "the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God." Carl said this is the main statement he will address in the speech he will deliver on Thursday. The Knights led the movement to have the words "under God" added to the Pledge of Allegiance because they hold to the truth that the rights and human dignity we possess is a gift not from the State, with discretion to give and take, but is ingrained in the human person by God, that it is intrinsic to us. These rights are superior and precede the State. There is a standard which government must measure itself by, not political power, but a moral standard. This is key to Kennedy's thinking, to his address, and to America. Fr. Chris said much of the inaugural address sounds so much like [Gaudium et Spes](http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_cons_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html), the pastoral constitution on the modern world from Vatican II. You can see the relationship between the speech and Vatican II. Carl said it's not a coincidence that the speech opens with a recognition of God's authority and closes with a recognition of the duty of to provide for our fellow man under the authority of God. It's known that then-Cardinal Montini, who later became Pope Paul VI, heard and then studied the address and it may have informed his encyclicals on social justice including [Populurum Progressio](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_26031967_populorum_en.html). In the address, Kennedy said: >We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans -- born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world. Carl said that while JFK famously said he would not let his Catholic faith impose itself on the government of the US, his inaugural also shows that he would let his Catholic faith and its fundamental principles about the nature of Man inform how he governed. A nation is a living organism, an expression of a people with a culture and history and roots. Kennedy's address is one of the most eloquent addresses in history because of the kind of human rights it articulated. Carl feels strongly that heritage is important to pass on to our children because the lesson of the last century is that freedom is only one generation from passing away. Fr. Chris was struck by the hopefulness of the speech: "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." He sees a masterful use of words to display optimism and hope. Carl said this is the fourth pillar of his own speech this Thursday. Catholics reading JFK's speech can see a resonance with their own worldview. Scot asked how Catholics can reconcile this speech with the speech JFK gave weeks earlier in Houston in which some, including Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, say he privatized the religious faith of public officials. Carl said in the context of the vicious anti-Catholic presidential campaign, JFK was addressing a different kind of audience before his election than those he was addressing after his election when he'd broken through that barrier. He also said both speeches should be read together to see JFK was not abandoning these fundamental issues. After all in Houston, JFK said he would not impose his religious belief on the country, but if there comes a time when his religious faith comes in conflict with the duties of his office, he would resign his office, not his Catholicism. Too many Catholics in public office today opt to resign their Catholicism. On the subject of the Knights of Columbus, in 1981 they had 1.3 million members, and now Carl noted that today they have 1.8 million members with 40 years of consecutive annual membership growth and $80 billion of life insurance in force for KofC families. Last year, local councils gave $150 million to charity. The growth continues to produce more works of charity to make our parishes and communities better. Fr. Chris said as a priest and as a seminary vice-rector he knows of the works of the Knights to support both parishes and seminarians. Carl said they are proud to support seminarians in so many countries. He said they are also proud that a fellow Knight, Sargent Shriver, started [Special Olympics](http://www.specialolympics.org/) and they continue that support. They support the [Wheelchair Foundation](http://www.wheelchairfoundation.org/) to provide wheelchairs to the poor worldwide. After the Haiti earthquake, they decided that every amputee child in Haiti would receive a prosthetic arm or leg. They are partnering with [Project MediShare](http://www.projectmedishare.org/) in Haiti. They provide food and flood assistance in Mexico and the Philippines. At the local level, they are doing what people need. If a family is struck with tragedy they are there to help. They provided $11 million after Katrina to help the Gulf Coast. There are also 70 million volunteer-hours of Knights of Columbus in parishes and communities. Men who aren't Knights already will become a better Catholic man, husband, father, citizen, and parishioner as Knights. It's a place they can increase their own spiritual life and devotional life, but also help their family and their community. Get involved and do yourself and your family a world of good. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris discuss their interview with Carl Anderson. Scot noted that the Kennedy family in recent years have been criticized for not putting Catholic teaching into practice in their public service, but the JFK inaugural speech is obviously Catholic faith being put into action. Fr. Chris said it shows that faith is not something we hide or keep in a back room, but use to bring us closer to the Lord and to our neighbor. Carl Anderson's book ["A Civilization of Love"](http://www.acivilizationoflove.com/cl/index.html) ([Link to purchase on Amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003GAN3GE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=catholicnetrevie&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003GAN3GE)) articulated a lot of Catholic social teaching as a very easy read. He was clear in stressing that human dignity is a gift from God, not a gift of the State. Fr. Chris was happy to see that he wasn't afraid to take on politicians today who would compartmentalize their faith. Carl is often called the leading Catholic layman today. He has been appointed to many Vatican and Church organizations as a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life (1998) and the Pontifical Council for the Laity (2002), and as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (2003). Pope Benedict XVI has appointed him as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications (2007) and as a member of the Pontifical Council for the Family (2008). He is a member of the Board of Superintendence of the (I.O.R.) (Institute for the Works of Religion - Vatican Bank) (2009) and has served as a consultant to the Pro-Life Committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) since 2002. Fr. Chris recalled how one local Knights council in one of his parishes built a handicapped ramp at the home of a young man in a wheelchair. Scot also noted that the Knights of Columbus also gives to the Church on the macro level, giving a loan to the Archdiocese of Boston when Cardinal Seán first came to Boston to help the archdiocese stay on a steady financial footing. They also paid to restore the Bernini colonnade around St. Peter's Square. (Actually it was the façade of St. Peter's Basilica that the Knights [funded the restoration](http://www.kofc.org/un/en/news/releases/detail/60212.html).) The Knights offer monetary support to seminarians so the seminarians can stay focused on their formation and studies. Fr. Chris said we often see the Knights outside supermarkets selling Tootsie Rolls to raise funds to help the vulnerable, poor, and marginalized. They are also very active in pro-life work. Scot said he plans to be at the speech on Thursday and Fr. Chris said St. John seminary is bringing its seminarians as well, not just to show support for the Knights, but also to educate and inform them on the intersection of faith and politics in the public square. **3rd segment:** Fr. Chris and Scot welcome Karen Walters from the Catholic Leadership Institute and Linda DeCristoforo, Pastoral Associate at Our Lady of Grace Parish in Chelsea. Linda and her 16 classmates are graduating today from the Tending the Talents program. Karen said the group has been learning to lead how to lead in five contexts: self, one-to-one, team, organization, and the overall Church. Growing in self-knowledge is the first step. Linda said they used a [DISC profile inventory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DISC_assessment) to look at their own personality types and to see the variety of personality types of the people they work with, and to learn the tools to improve relationships with others. Karen said the curriculum is based on the leadership in context model. We use certain practices when we lead and we use them differently depending on the context. We need to be aware of how we're leading and what context we're in. Fr. Chris asked about conflict resolution in the training. Linda said they learned how to look at conflict pastorally, to be compassionate, and to be able to speak on what the Church teaches on whatever the conflict is about. Sometimes it means to move on. Fr. Chris asked about the time commitment. Linda said they had two full days every other month and online homework in between those gatherings. Leadership in the Church context is different from corporate leadership. The main difference is that CLI follows the model of Jesus' leadership of the apostles and that of the apostles leading the Church, plus they incorporate the teachings of saints. But they also include best practices from the corporate world. It's also not just about the outcome, but the process for how they get there, including caring for the dignity of all those involved. Linda said her favorite topic was studying her key responsibility areas for her personal life and then within her ministry. From that they were able to set goals, which gave her a better sense of her ministry and in the context of leadership. She said it was helpful for her own self to be self-reflective and then to articulate to her co-workers so that everyone is on the same page. Fr Chris said many of his brother priests rave about the Good Leaders Good Shepherds program for priests. Karen said it is the same model of leadership in context. The key difference is that in Tending the Talents there is more that takes place away from the classroom and instead takes place online. In the GLGS program there is more content about building fraternity among the priests. Tending the Talents is now in 8 dioceses with about 200 people participating. This program in Boston was the first in the country. Boston is also the first diocese to take part in all the programs of the Catholic Leadership Institute. Linda's pastor went through Good Leaders Good Shepherds and hearing him talk about it made her curious, and now that they've both been through the same process they are on the same page with the same vision for their parish. Karen said they found it important for priests and lay leaders to have this sort of formation because the unfortunate reality in the Church is we're losing more priests than we're gaining every year. The average pastor becomes pastor with less experience and has a larger parish than ever. He also needs to rely more often on the laity to help him lead. Scot said his sense is that in the old days, the seminary formation assumed many years of apprenticeship with experienced pastors. Karen said priests are formed to teach, sanctify, and govern. The first two happen very well in seminaries, but governing was often neglected. They work to cover that gap for priests and to give the skills to lay people to help them. **4th segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris discuss the appointment of James F. Driscoll as executive director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference. He succeeds Gerry D'Avolio, who came back as interim director after the sudden passing of Ed Saunders last year. From the press release announcing his appointment, the Massachusetts bishops said: >"We are pleased to welcome Jim Driscoll as Executive Director. He is an experienced professional and dedicated Catholic who shares our common belief regarding the important role and mission of the Church. The Catholic Church in Massachusetts plays a pivotal role across a wide landscape that intersects secular society and the ministry of the Church. We seek to reach common ground on many issues, while working to advance the important positions of the Church in the areas of life, human dignity and social justice.” Scot said the Mass. Catholic Conference is the organized voice of the Catholic Church in Massachusetts on Beacon Hill. It applies Church teaching to the common good in public policy and speaks with one voice on behalf of all Catholics in the public square. Catholics look to the bishops for leadership on these social issues, including life issues, family issues, and more. They provide moral leadership and a definition of complex issues from a Catholic point of view. The four dioceses of Massachusetts are Boston, Worcester, Fall River, and Springfield. The Conference has existed since 1969. Each state has a conference of its own. Fr. Chris said Catholic social teaching is not just for Catholics but serves the common human good and respects human dignity. It challenges the State and us as Catholics to recognize the common good. Scot also wanted to mention Dan Avila, the associate director for policy and research, and Catherine Davis and Kathy Magno who also work at the Mass. Catholic Conference. They have continued all of the work of the conference during the change in leadership in the past year. Fr. Chris said they have a strong moral theology program at St. John's to help the seminarians articulate the Church's teaching. They also bring in bioethics experts from around the country to help them articulate these very complex matters. The field changes so quickly that it's a constant work of learning.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Antonio Medeiros and Fr. Emanuele De Nigris, the Rector and Vice-Rector of the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary in Brookline. * [Redemptoris Mater Seminary](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/redemptorismater.aspx) * [Cardinal Seán's 2011 trip to the Holy Land with the NeoCatechumenal Way](http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/2011/02/04/visiting-the-holy-land/) * [Cardinal Seán meets with the seminarians in 2009](http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/2009/09/25/gathering-with-the-seminarians-of-the-neocatechumenal-way/) * [Cardinal Seán's Mass of the Holy Spirit at Redemptoris Mater, 2009](http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/2010/09/10/taking-a-boston-duck-tour/) * [Redemptoris Mater Seminary gala dinner, 2010](http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/2010/05/21/marking-the-year-for-priests-with-the-sisters-of-st-joseph/) * [The Neocatechumenal Way](http://www.camminoneocatecumenale.it/new/default.asp?lang=en) **Today's topics:** The Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary in Boston, forming men from around the world to be missionaries right here in Massachusetts **A summary of today's show:** The Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary is the least-known and newest of Boston's three archdiocesan seminaries, but it is currently forming one-third of the archdiocese's seminarians. The 18 men come from around the world to become archdiocesan priests with missionary hearts, who will serve in Boston or in the missions at the local ordinary's discretion. Also, on May 15, the RM Seminary will honor the Pope's apostolic nuncio to the US at a gala dinner. **1st segment:** Cardinal Seán often says that "vocations are everyone's business." We need to pray for vocations and to encourage young people to consider where God is calling them. We have three archdiocesan seminaries: St. John Seminary in Brighton and Blessed John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, and then Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary, which has 1/3 of all Boston seminarians. Redemptoris Mater Seminary is both “Archdiocesan” and “Missionary” and one of its goals is to prepare priests for the New Evangelization, both within our Archdiocese and then also in the missions. The Redemptoris Mater Seminary is preparing priests to do just that. Our Archdiocese of Boston has had a tremendous tradition of supporting the missions and the people around the world, sending many priests to the Saint James Society and to serve as chaplains in the Military. The Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary is continuing that tradition and also introducing many new things to the life of our Archdiocese. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Medeiros and Fr. De Nigris to the program. Scot said he found all the priests and seminarians at RMSB to have very varied backgrounds. He noted that Fr. Tony was born in the Azores and then moved to Fall River in 1980 with his family when he was 16, not speaking any English at the time. (He now speaks 7 languages.) He came to know a priest who moved him and who inspired Fr. Tony to want to become a priest. He started the path through seminary education in 1982 and entered St. John's in 1986. He struggled during those years in the seminary to determine that this was indeed the vocation God was calling him to. He left the seminary and spent time in Rome in discernment. He attended [World Youth Day in 1989](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/messages/youth/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_27111988_iv-world-youth-day_en.html) in Santiago de Compostela in Spain. He heard John Paul II's call to young men to be holy and to follow God's call. Fr. Tony talked with his friends in the Neocatechumenal Way, which he had joined by then, who helped him to see his vocation. In 1993 he was ordained for the Diocese of Rome after attending the first Redemptoris Mater Seminary, which had been opened by Pope John Paul II. He was ordained by the Holy Father. Fr. Tony said JP2 did the greatest service to the Church by offering intense personal witness of his life, his spirit, and his courage. Later, Fr. Tony was sent to China where he was to lead a new Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Hong Kong. Fr. Tony said he learned to follow the footsteps of Christ, where Jesus walked before Fr. Tony followed. A lot of the first work involved learning the language and the culture, establishing contacts. He had to learn the Cantonese language only after he arrived. Then, moving to Taiwan, he learned Mandarin. Cardinal Seán asked Fr. Tony to come and found a new Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Boston in 2005. Cardinal Seán learned about the RM seminaries when he was an apostolic visitator to seminaries as appointed by the Vatican. He became a big fan of RMS after meeting the priests and seminarians. Fr. Emanuele was born in Italy near Turin. His parents were part of the Neocatechumenal Way and that's how he began his journey. When he was young, he used to say that he wanted to be a priest one day, but stopped saying it by the time he was 12 and thought he wanted to have a family. But later, the Neocatehumenal Way helped him discern his priestly vocation as his Christian faith matured. He was able to consider the vocation without fear that it would be something he would not like. He came to know that God wanted his happiness in his true vocation. His mother's illness after giving birth to Fr. Tony's twin sisters was also a time of discernment as he considered the meaning of his mother's suffering. Through considering the questions of the meaning of life, he began, first, to rebel against his upbringing, and then to realize how wrong he was, that God took good from the evil of suffering. Thanks to the support of his community, his catechist, and his parish priest, he stopped resisting God's will. For him it was [World Youth Day 1993 in Denver](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/messages/youth/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_15081992_viii-world-youth-day_en.html) that was his turning point, when he emerged from his "underground" Christianity to open himself to the possibility of the priesthood. He found the strength to leave his girlfriend and his university studies in law to follow the path God had laid out. He chose the Redemptoris Mater Seminary, in which the seminarians are sent to dioceses not of their own choice, to be ordained for those dioceses. He was to be formed to be a missionary priest to the world. All Redemptoris Mater seminarians are selected by lottery to any of the 87 seminaries in the world and they will be ordained for that diocese. Fr. Emanuele was sent to the first RM seminary in the US in Newark. He didn't stay in Newark, but was reassigned to Washington, DC, because Cardinal McCarrick, who had been archbishop in Newark, decided he wanted the same RM seminary in DC. So he asked the archbishop of Newark to send 7 men to help found an RM seminary in DC. Fr. Emanuele was assigned to DC, was ordained there, he worked in a parish in Silver Spring, Md., became the cardinal's secretary, and then worked in a parish in Germantown, Md. He was sent last August to Boston to help form the 18 men at RMS-Boston, who are about a third of the seminarians for Boston. **3rd segment:** The 18 men at RMSB come from nine countries in Europe and Latin America. They use English in the formation house to help them learn the language. The name Redemptoris Mater means "Mother of the Redeemer," referring to the 30 years Jesus lived in formation in his family. It also refers to [John Paul II's 1987 encyclical](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031987_redemptoris-mater_en.html). The big difference in the formation of the RM seminaries is that the seminarians continue the formation of the Neocatechumenal Way. The Way is a missionary movement to help the lost sheep of the parishes to find their way back to the Shepherd. Most of the seminarians have experienced the missionaries at their own doors, inviting them to come experience adult catechesis at their parishes. The other elements of priestly formation are the same as other seminaries. The RMSB seminarians receive their academic formation primarily at St. John Seminary, but their pastoral, spiritual, and human formation at RMSB. Living in the house with men from all over the world that they did not know before leads them to learn how to live with a person, to reconcile and overcome differences, which brings a richness. They are also assigned to one of the Neocatechumenal Way communities in various parishes throughout the Archdiocese, going there several times a week, including the Eucharist on Saturday nights. It also helps them to become familiar with the Archdiocese which has become their new home. They are welcomed into the homes of Bostonians. The seminarians will be archdiocesan priests, but are open to being sent out for missionary service at the discretion of the local bishop. The men ordained through RMSB are hoping that they will be assigned to work in the missions. Fr. Emanuele said the greatest expectation, of course, is to become a priest, but they are learning that it is possible to be a missionary priest in Boston to go out and evangelize those who don't come to the Church any more. They also have the openness and desire to live the missionary vocation somewhere other than the Archdiocese as well. This isn't a sure thing, but they are to be ready to be sent at any time. They should be open to the Lord sending them out. As part of formation, the seminarians have a couple of years of itinerant evangelization experience. They learn to rely on God alone to sustain their lives and vocations. Fr. Tony said it is an essential aspect of formation. They are taken from their schooling for 2-3 years to live with a priest in a parish, working beside the priest. It introduces them to a God attuning them to the rhythm and the mission that belongs to God. During this assignment, they live in poverty and learn to lean daily on the providence of God. The seminarians are not allowed any money, and they always go two by two, as Jesus sent his disciples two by two to announce the kingdom, without any security. They have three men on this assignment right now: the Holy Land, Washington DC, and the Carolinas. At this point these seminarians are no longer in parish work, but working with Neocatechumenal Way communities as well as visiting with pastors proposing the creation of these communities in their parishes. One seminarian in his 3rd year of seminary right now had previously spent 3 years in itinerant ministry in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. The history of the Church in Boston has immigrant roots. The experience of being foreigners here helps them to better understand the experience of the families of the people they will serve. The seminary is currently in a rectory of a former parish in Brookline, which was originally built for 7 or 8 people to live in. Fr. Emanuele called the experience of living in such close quarters very "formative". The amazing thing is that no complains about their living space. While there may be disagreements, there is also reconciliation. But because they hope to welcome even more seminarians, they hope to one day find a bigger space or even build a new seminary to hold more seminarians and give them a life and space more conducive to their formation and spiritual growth. He said it's very difficult to find a place of silence in the current seminary. Fr. Tony said when RM seminaries are built, they incorporate the fruit of the Second Vatican Council, and find it very important to respect the importance of beauty, as an element especially in which the environment affects a formative dimension on a person. The place itself tells him that God loves him. Paintings and artwork are very important as a dimension of objective beauty. **4th segment:** On May 15, the 2nd annual gala dinner to benefit RMSB will be held. It was hosted at the Pastoral Center last year, one of the biggest events as yet in the building. They honored John and Margarete McNeice for their support of the seminary and Cardinal Seán for his support of the New Evangelization. This year, the dinner will be held at Lantana's in Randolph. They will be honoring [Archbishop Pietro Sambi](http://www.nccbuscc.org/comm/archives/2005/05-287.shtml), the apostolic nuncio to the United States, and local businessman [Jack Shaughnessy](http://catholicboston.com/index.php?content=jackshaughnessy). Fr. Tony said Archbishop Sambi is coming to show his love and respect for Cardinal Seán and the people of Boston. He is in a position of great importance for the Church in the US because of his role in helping the selection of bishops. It is an honor for the seminary and for Boston. This is his first speaking engagement in Boston since being appointed to the US in 2005. Scot said because of his responsibilities in the US, he is worth hearing live and he is a wonderful speaker. Fr. Emanuele said the apostolic nuncio has a first responsibility as ambassador of the Pope to the United States in a diplomatic role. But he also has a great role in the Church in the United States as a point of reference for the bishops of the US, being a point of contact for them. And he has a responsibility to gather the names of potential candidates for bishops to forward to Rome for the eventual selection by the Holy Father. As one of the largest bishops' conferences in the world, it is a very large responsibility. Fr. Tony said he hopes that many people can come to show their support for the seminary and for the priests of the archdiocese through both the fundraiser aspect, but also to allow many of the priests to hear Archbishop Sambi. Boston can show the archbishop that the Church in Boston is one and whole. It is open to families, left to the judgment of parents. For information and tickets, contact Mrs. Christine Ohman: 617-959-3956 or seminary@rmsboston.org…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** Erika Bachiochi, Joanie Kingsley, and Kathleen Sotell * [Erika Bachiochi's website](http://erika.bachiochi.com/) * [Erika's book "Women, Sex, and the Church: A Case for Catholic Teaching"](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0819883204/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0819883204) * [The book at Pauline.org](http://www.pauline.org/WomanSexandtheChurch/tabid/418/Default.aspx) **Today's topics:** A discussion of the new book "Women, Sex, and the Church: A Case for Catholic Teaching" as well as a general roundtable on women in the Church. Also, our regular Friday feature looking at the upcoming Sunday's Mass readings. **A summary of today's show:** Erika Bachiochi talks with Scot and Fr. Mark about her new book and her own journey from pro-choice radical feminism to an embrace of the authentic feminism of the Catholic Church, which isn't anti-woman and misogynist after all. Also a look at the Gospel for the 4th Sunday of Lent. **1st segment:** Happy April Fool's Day! Scot asked Fr. Mark if he's had any pranks pulled on him and he said if there have been, he hasn't noticed. He also said his parents are celebrating their birthdays this week. It's also opening day for the Red Sox who are traveling to Texas. Put it on the TV, turn down the volume and turn up the radio with WQOM! This weekend are two events we've been talking about lately including the Eucharistic Congress in the North End tonight and tomorrow and the Faith and Family Mom's Day Away in Stoneham tomorrow and the weather isn't going to hold them back. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark welcome Erika Bachiochi, Joanie Kingsley and Katherine Sotell. Scot said Erika's book is a great service to the Church and anyone that wants to understand Church teaching and why it makes sense. The book discusses Church teaching on abortion, premarital sex, marriage, contraception, infertility treatments and the priesthood. Erika first points out that the book was co-written by many women who each took a chapter said her motivation for the book was a widespread assumption, even in the pews of the Catholic Church, is that the Church's teachings are misogynist and that no serious, self-respecting woman would embrace them. She saw this played out in the media during the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI, in which nearly every pundit was a dissident Catholic disputing the Church's teachings. It was very frustrating for her, having come to see these teachings as found in authentic feminism. She knew that lots of data from secular academics was corroborating the Church's teachings. Even many of the Church's theologians believe the Church's teachings are against women. One of the most difficult teachings for women to swallow is the all-male priesthood. She did a lot of research on her own to make pro-woman arguments for Catholic teaching that doesn't necessarily rely on theological arguments because there are many people who aren't interested in theological arguments. She found scientific, biological, psychological data that shows that straying from the Church's teachings actually hurts women. Erika said that while the book is often placed among books on the Theology of the Body, Pope John Paul's exploration of theology of how God created man and woman, this book is very different because it takes a step back, almost as a prerequisite for TOB. Many people need to embrace the Church's teachings before approaching TOB and this book is for them. The target of the audience is people who are estranged from the teachings of the Church. It's philosophically an apologia for the Church's teachings. She wants to be clear that when she says the book is filled with data, it is not dry and full of statistics. It is a readable book. It's for both the average reader and academics. Scot said it's important for Catholics who are looking to return to the Church, they need to know that the Church is not against them. Erika said Pope John Paul has gone to great lengths to promote an authentic feminism, but many still don't believe it. As an example of something that seems impossible, but does help women to flourish is the chapter in her book on premarital sex. It not only talks about the pitfalls for women, but lays out a beautiful alternative in chastity that isn't just pro-woman, but is an articulation of what self-mastery--for both women and men--can look like. Women have allowed themselves to be purchased at very little cost. Women today don't require much of men before premarital sex. Now there can be a new sexual revolution of self-respect. They also know now that premarital sex harms women more than men because of the hormone [oxytocin](http://www.oxytocin.org/oxytoc/). Women need to take their bodies back and their emotions back to prepare for lifelong marriage without all the baggage of premarital sex. Joanie was powerfully affected by the book and by hearing Erika speak. She was inspired to host another event for her to have a new audience hear her message after hearing Erika's witness about her life and growing up. It's nice to see and hear how powerful and wonderful our great Catholic faith is as a story of redemption and forgiveness. This isn't just a story for Catholic women, but non-Catholics and men and everyone. As a mother of college-age kids, she sees this as pressing issues, because the culture out there wants to take their souls away from God and from what is true. If her words can help one person, it's a success. Kathleen said she realized as she heard Erika for the first time that Erika is the person who needs to get the message out that the Church is not anti-woman. Scot quoted Archbishop Fulton Sheen: "There aren't 10 people in the world who hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they think the Church is." This applies equally to people's perceptions about the Church's teachings. Many see the Church as the Church of No, but the Church is a Church of Yes to life, beauty, and truth. Fr. Mark said getting the facts into people's hands is key. He said it took him 19 years of priesthood to get the facts on Natural Family Planning, for example, and that changed everything. **3rd segment:** Scot and Erika talked about her journey as a teen and college student. Her background is that her mother was married and divorced three times in her childhood. In her teen years, she dabbled in alcohol and drugs and acting out in other ways as well. They brought them to her knees at a young age, which she's grateful for now, but was very difficult then. As a college athlete she had difficulty just performing in the midst of the life turmoil. While she was never actively suicidal, she had two close friends who did take their lives. At college, her despair and depression turned her outward toward radical feminist causes at Middlebury College in Vermont. She thought, as many did, that changing external environments, like politics, would bring her internal peace. She found herself taken by secular feminism, because of its sophisticated construction of their worldview, especially since she never even knew any serious Christians at that point. One bright spot was that she had left behind drinking and casual physical encounters, but believed being strongly pro-choice was important for her. She had serious beliefs that it would help poor women and ethnic minorities. But when she started to work with poor women and their children, she started to question her pro-abortion assumptions. What she had been hearing from pro-abortion women's organizations that abortion was necessary to help poor women out of poverty and it seemed absurd that this rich nation's only answer to poor women was for them to rid themselves of their children. That epiphany along with intense prayer brought about an intellectual conversion. She started distancing herself from her feminist friends because of her changing views and because of her own need to pray just to make it through the day. At one point she went to a Catholic lecture intending to debate the Church as being sexist, but was awestruck by what he said and ended up at a Newman Center on campus. Although much of what they were saying was foreign to her, she was very moved. She was so scared that she went back to her dorm room and prayed to God seriously and over the next month she entered into the Catholic community on campus. Erika had been jumping from one Protestant church to another and asked God to guide to the right church, but not the Catholic Church. She encountered a Catholic priest and asked him why he was Catholic. "Because it's the easiest road to heaven," he said. She thought this was preposterous because she always thought the road to heaven was difficult, but she found herself in Mass week after week. She began to drill over months and years on every question about becoming Catholic and Christian. Scot said it's important to be ready to offer an answer for why we are Catholic ("Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope." 1st Letter of Peter 3:15) The important answer will be unique to us, but it can be a profound moment for the person who hears it. Later, she went to graduate school for theology and then law school; she got married and had a baby while in law school. These were also difficult times, but she was steeped in prayer and kept responding to God, to be His instrument. We are all called to be quiet and ask Him what he wants to do. Fr. Mark asked if a college student comes up to Erika and asks her why be Catholic how would she respond. She would ask them about the emptiness they might feel in their life. Most people feel like there's a sense we can't live up to our ideals and potential. We all feel that way, but God gives us the strength and peace to live up to that through the help of grace. Scot asked her how difficult is to be out there of talking about the decisions she made in her past, especially as a mom. Her children aren't old enough to read what she writes, but she is more opaque about it when writing. When she's speaking live, she's more open about it because they won't be there to hear it. She hopes that as they grow she will be able to explain to them in terms they understand. Being prayerful allows her and her husband to be prudent. Joanie said she hopes at the gathering in Wellesley next week at which Erika will speak that people will be able to take away hope that their lives can change and the great value we have in the Catholic Church and our faith. Scot said it's important that as a Church we take the great work that Erika and the other authors of the book and get the word out. Kathleen said Erika will speak April 7 at the Wellesley Country Club from 9am-12. It is free. They request that people RSVP at [paxtibi123@yahoo.com](mailto:paxtibi123@yahoo.com) and tell them how many people will be coming in your party to ensure that there will be enough seats for everyone. Continental breakfast will be provided free of charge. Both men and women are welcome. 75 people have responded and they can accommodate up to 200. They encourage even people are who are questioning or who are on the fence or are truly seeking. Scot said most adult Catholics in their life have had a time in which they didn't understand why the Church teaches what she teaches on a particular issue. While the book is great, it's also different to hear the information live. It's one thing to know what the Church teaches, but also the why of Church teaching, and not just the theology of why. Pauline books also have a study guide for parishes and small groups. **4th segment:** * [Sunday's Mass readings](http://usccb.org/nab/040311.shtml): 1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41 Scot said he's often felt that to get the most out of Mass, we need to be prepared. That’s true of all meetings we might have at work or big presentations. “The more you put in, the more you’ll receive.” The better the preparation, the better the experience.So on Fridays, Father Mark and Scot and their guests will look to the upcoming Sunday readings and help us all prepare for the messages we will hear on Sunday. Fr. Mark read the optional short version of the following Gospel reading: >As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, and said to him, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” —which means Sent—. So he went and washed, and came back able to see. >His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is, “ but others said, “No, he just looks like him.” He said, “I am.” So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?” He replied, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see.” And they said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.” >They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees. Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath. So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.” So some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a sinful man do such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said to the blind man again, “What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” >Now the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and gained his sight until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight. They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How does he now see?” His parents answered and said, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. We do not know how he sees now, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is of age; he can speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; question him.” >So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner.” He replied, “If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.” So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” They ridiculed him and said, “You are that man’s disciple; we are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from.” The man answered and said to them, “This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.” They answered and said to him, “You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?” Then they threw him out. >When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him and said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He answered and said, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him. Then Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.” >Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains. A powerful reading for the fourth Sunday of Lent. Scot said we all have blind spots in our lives, including biases and prejudices, even to how we are formed not to see the world as God sees it. Fr. Mark said the Gospel and last week's Gospel about the woman at the well is perfect for both Catholics Come Home and what Erika is talking about. The woman and the blind man both come to a gradual understanding of Jesus and a gradual coming to faith. Meanwhile the Pharisees who see the exact same evidence are stubborn and refuse to believe. They are the real blind men. This goes along with what Erika was saying. Erika said what jumped out at her was the Pharisees' reaction to the blind man's former sin. Our own culture doesn't forget people's sin either. In our society we hold up the bare minimum as if it is the ultimate in holiness. We don't see our own sins--even venial sins--as any kind of fault that needs to be confessed and dealt with. Joanie said she found it impressive that a religious leader would affect sinlessness in the face of the sinner, when in fact we all struggle with the help of grace. Kathleen was struck by the concept of both physical blindness and spiritual blindness. She thinks of the Gospel of John as a book of light and that Jesus is always portrayed as the Light. She hopes that Erika's talk will spread the Light for people to see the Church truly. Scot said his favorite line is where they shoot the messenger and then throw him up. This is a summation of how people often treat those who bring the truth when it's unwanted and unlooked-for.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of *The Anchor*, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of *The Pilot*, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese. * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * [Statement of the Archdiocese on the lay pension plan](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Utility/News-And-Press/Content.aspx?id=19854) * [CNS: "Pope appeals for suspension of fighting in Libya"](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1101210.htm) * [Mass. Catholic Conference brochure on Mass. Health Curriculum Frameworks](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/mcc.aspx) * [Centers for Disease Control statistics on sexual behavior](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr036.pdf) **Today's topics:** The Archdiocese of Boston's lay pension plan; the Pope's message for suspension of fighting in Libya; teens and abstinence and the new Mass. Health Curriculum Frameworks **A summary of today's show:** Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy discuss with Scot and Susan Cardinal Sean's strong statement of support for lay archdiocesan retirees and employees and their pension plan; Pope's Benedict's plea for the cessation of fighting in Libya for the sake of the innocent; new statistics showing teens are taking up abstinence because of federal funding that started in the early 2000s; the Church's challenge to serve immigrants to the US; and then tributes to two men whose professional careers are undergoing a big change. **1st segment:** Susan has been working on her budget for the past week for her Office for Religious Education, causing her to pull her hair out. But she's also excited for Red Sox Opening Day tomorrow and they've picked a good year to start the season out of town. She also noticed a slight resemblance between our own Justin Bell and Red Sox shortstop Dustin Pedroia. Scot said many national experts are picking the Red Sox to go to the World Series. He doesn't know whether that's encouraging or whether we should be afraid of jinxing the Red Sox. Another exciting event was the blessing of a new statue of St. Patrick at the Pastoral Center, which was a gift of St. Mary parish in Brookline. If you have questions, email LIVE@thegoodcatholiclife.com or call or text 617-410-MASS. **2nd segment:** Gregory Tracy relates a very exciting event in his family's life. His oldest daughter, Carmen, received her acceptance letter to Harvard yesterday and more importantly found out that they would receive the aid so she could go. Scot reflected on his own acceptance to Harvard and how he and his brother Fr. Roger were accepted to the school and received enough financial aid to go. Susan's son also went to Harvard as well. Scot noted that St. Paul in Cambridge is an excellent Catholic community for Catholic students at Harvard. Fr. Roger remembered a Mass for their deceased grandfather in which a relative who had gone to Boston College remarked by joking that it was good he had died before seeing his grandsons go to Harvard and lose their faith. But seriously, Fr. Roger said his experience at Harvard helped prepare him to be a herald of the Good News. Scot also extended congratulations to Greg and his wife, Donis, for all their own hard work supporting their daughter. Today's front page story in the Pilot is Cardinal Sean's commitment to the Archdiocesan lay pension plan. The Pilot received a strong personal statement from the Cardinal. Scot said the archdiocesan pension plan is transitioning from a defined-benefit to a defined-contribution. The defined-benefit is a promissory note that after retirement you will get X dollars every month until you die. A defined-contribution is a promise to put X dollars into the plan every month while you're working and what you receive at retirement depends on the fluctuations in the market. Defined-benefit plans have become a huge burden on organizations as markets have suffered and people have been living longer and health costs have risen. The Archdiocese has offered to transition plan participants or to offer them a lump sum payout. A former chancellor of the Archdiocese accused the archdiocese of strong-arming retirees and pension participants into accepting lump sums. * [Archdiocesan Benefits website and pension information](http://catholicbenefits.org/pension/index.htm) Scot said it is very sad for him to see this plastered on the front page of newspapers locally and nationally. Gregory said it has echoes of the pain of the sex-abuse scandal. He said David Smith said at his press conference that he had heard from many retirees about their concerns for their pensions. As a church plan, it is exempt from many legal requirements and is not guaranteed by the federal government's regulations. The Cardinal said that they never intended to give the impression that the archdiocese wanted to push people out of the plan. Scot said the Cardinal's statement points out that the pension plan has been struggling in recent years. The Cardinal said, "As long as I have breath in me, I will do everything in my power to care for the people who have given themselves in service for the Church." Fr. Roger said the statement indicates how deeply involved the cardinal is in the outcome and how wounded he is by the inference that the Church is merely trying to cut corners to achieve an economic bottom line. Instead the Church is a family and it lives by both the rule of charity and of justice. Fr. Roger thinks the Church loses every time we focus too much on the institution and not on the reality that the Church is a family and a body that Christ came to found. Susan said she has many friends who have been to these meetings concerning these pension plans. It's a very technical subject and people are uncertain. At a meeting she attended, the plan administrators said that for those who don't take the lump sum, will they be guaranteed what they were promised and they were told they could not be guaranteed. Scot said he hopes that the tension caused by this pension plan change comes off the front pages of the newspapers and people can make these important decisions in peace and with full knowledge of the factors involved. **3rd segment:** The Holy Father this week appealed for the suspension of fighting in Libya. Fr. Roger said the Pope expressed his fear that the longer that armed conflict goes on the more innocent people will suffer. In his appeal he said that even the weakest signal of an openness to diplomacy should be responded to positively to end the violence. Even if there is no intention on the part of the NATO coalition to injure civilians, innocent people are inevitably hurt in any armed conflict of this size. Scot asked why the Holy Father's statement is news, since everyone expects him to say this. Gregory said it's because the Holy Father is a moral voice for the world. There's a related statement by the US bishops weighing in on the moral issues, without telling civil leaders what to do, allowing for their prudential judgments. They speak out on behalf of the innocent, to make the moral voice heard. Vatican officials said they were confused by the haste at which these military operations were undertaken. **4th segment:** The Centers for Disease Control report that 43% of teenagers 15-19 are remaining abstinent, up from 35% in the early 2000s. Fr. Roger said we need to proclaim this news from the rooftops to encourage teens who feel like they are alone in making this choice. The CDC stats show that this is led by a disproportionately large change among teen girls. These figures correspond with Bush-era abstinence education programs promoted by his administration. Unfortunately, abstinence-only education has been cut by the Obama administration, which could lead to a rollback of these advances. Planned Parenthood programs in schools used to get 4 times the funding of abstinence education programs, but now they get several hundred percent more than that. The Office of Religious Education works with the Pro-Life Office on chastity education programs for children in religious education programs and Catholic schools. There are many well-trained educators now as well. While the federal government provides abstinence education funds, Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick refuses to take it. Scot said it's offensive to him as a parent and taxpayer. Gregory agrees with Scot's outrage. He said failure to fund abstinence education fails to take into account the psychological effects of early sexual activity, but only looks at the physical and economic consequences. Scot said one of the reasons it offends him is that nationally twice as many parents support abstinence-only education in schools over Planned Parenthood programs. The Massachusetts bishops have produced information for parents on the Massachusetts Health Curriculum, letting them know that the parents can opt out their children from sex ed classes. Susan said some of the issues in the proposed frameworks for health curriculum in Massachusetts include information on how to procure an abortion and acceptance of homosexuality, among other issues that are morally troublesome. Susan said her office is distributing 35,000 of the brochures through parish religious education programs. Scot said that parents are the primary educators of their children and without these information they might not know what their children are being taught. Susan said taxpayers should also be upset that their money is going to fund these frameworks that undermine parental responsibility. Fr. Roger said his own parish either handed the brochures directly to parents or mailed them to their homes. He said most parents were very surprised what was being taught to very young children in these state curricula. Many parents are getting involved. Right now the frameworks are just recommendations for school districts, but there are attempts to make them mandatory. For anyone who wants a copy of the frameworks, they can be downloaded from our website or at the [Mass. Catholic Conference](http://www.macathconf.org) website. * [Mass. Catholic Conference brochure on the Mass. Health Curriculum Frameworks (English)](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/uploadedFiles/BostonCatholicorg/Offices_And_Services/Offices/Sub_Pages/frameworksbrochureenglish.pdf) * [Mass. Catholic Conference brochure on the Mass. Health Curriculum Frameworks (Spanish)](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/uploadedFiles/BostonCatholicorg/Offices_And_Services/Offices/Sub_Pages/frameworksbrochuresspanish.pdf) * [Mass. Catholic Conference brochure on the Mass. Health Curriculum Frameworks (Portuguese)](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/uploadedFiles/BostonCatholicorg/Offices_And_Services/Offices/Sub_Pages/MCC/frameworksbrochureportuguese.pdf) The Pilot also has an article this week on the changing demographics in America due to immigration and a discussion recently in Washington DC on the change it presages for the Church. Hispanics in general are 16% of the population in the country, but 25% of people under 25 are Hispanic. So the Church has to embrace these young people now or they will drift away to secularism or to any number of Pentecostal churches. Scot recalled that when the Archdiocese closed many parishes in 2004, many were originally built in the 19th and 20th century to serve particular immigrant groups and, in a way, it shows the Church did a good job of assimilating them such that the different ethnic parishes were not needed any more, at least for their original purpose of providing a faith community in exclusive to their original languages and cultures. Fr. Roger said New Bedford is 23% Hispanic, up from 15% a decade ago. That's only those who were officially counted. There are many illegals. He said his food pantry at his parish, St. Anthony, feeds many poor people from Central and South America. The Church needs to help not just their physical needs, but also their spiritual needs. In their home countries, they often only had Masses once or twice per year in their small villages, and so they are not in the habit of going to Mass regularly. It affects Mass attendance, but also all the sacraments. He said this is an indicator of the need for the Church to get its act together to help them become strong Catholics now and for the next generation. At the diocesan level, Scot said, we're trying to be responsive to growing immigrant populations as well. Susan said she has someone in her office just serving Hispanic Catholics. They have a program to train leaders in parishes in ministry and catechesis. When they offer a workshop they will get many, many people signing up. They are also very concerned about the prevalence of storefront churches taking away many Catholics. And they are working with other communities, including Brazilians, Haitians, Vietnamese and others. **5th segment:** Scot notes that today is the 66th birthday of his father, Roger Sr. After 50 years of work, he is retiring today. He is a great father who taught his children a tremendous work ethic. Congratulations to his father. Fr. Roger remembers when he was ordained a priest and in his thanks at the time, he said his father has St. Joseph's face. He learned more about being a priest from his father than from anyone else, because the priesthood is a vocation of love and hard work and he's never seen anyone work harder or love more. Now joining Scot and Susan in the studio is John Irwin. Four years ago, Scot hired him to work with the Catholic Appeal and later he moved to work to raise financial support for the health and retirement needs of priests of the archdiocese. John had a love for the Church and wanted to serve the Church. Because of a reorganization, John's job has been eliminated and tomorrow is his last day. Scot said John is one of the finest people he's worked with in the Pastoral Center. John said his work with the priests of the archdiocese has been rewarding and encourages people to visit the retired priests at Regina Cleri. * [Care For Senior Priests](http://www.careforseniorpriests.org) Scot asked John to reflect on working in the Pastoral Center. He said it's a tremendous place to work, to go to Mass every day, to say the rosary every day, in the place where you work. There's a tremendous amount of joy and positive energy from the people who work here. Scot said John holds the record of giving the most tours of the Pastoral Center. Scot thanks him for his four years of service and said we will pray for him as he looks for the next phase of his professional life.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams**Today's guest(s):** Andreas Widmer, former Swiss Guard to Pope John Paul II and CEO of Seven Fund* [4th annual Eucharistic Congress](http://www.eucharisticcongress.com)* [The Swiss Guard](http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/swiss_guard/index.htm)* [Seven Fund](http://www.sevenfund.org/)**Today's topics:** On today's show, Scot and Fr. Matt welcome Andreas Widmer, who will talk about his experiences as a Swiss Guard during the reign of Pope John Paul II, his reflections as a Catholic businessman, and the witness he will give at this weekend's 4th annual Eucharistic Congress for Young Adults in Boston's North End.**A summary of today's show:** Andreas Widmer told Scot and Fr. Matt of his first encounters with Pope John Paul II as a Swiss Guard and how the Pope's holiness and attention to each person he met changed Andreas' life. Scot and Fr. Matt also shared stories of their encounters with the soon-to-be beatified pope. Also, the Eucharistic Congress this weekend is dedicated to John Paul II.**1st segment:** Fr. Matt discussed the awards banquet coming up next Tuesday for the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults that honors both youth and the adults who serve them. There is a selection process in which people are nominated for awarding. There is a high quality of people involved in youth ministry in the archdiocese. He said there will be 120 awards. Cardinal Sean will be there. Our photographer, George Martell, will be receiving an award for the many times he's recorded youth ministry events for our archdiocesan sites, including our [Flickr page](http://www.flickr.com/bostoncatholic). Fr. Matt said he's used many of George's photos advertising youth ministry events.**2nd segment:** Scot andFr. Matt welcome Andreas Widmer. He is the CEO of Seven Fund. It promotes enterprise solutions to opvoerty. Using entrpeneurship and business to help people escape poverty instead of government aid. They work mainly in Africa and Asia. The intersecition of his faith and the work of Seven Fund is encapsulated by John Paul II's statement that with work we don't just make more, we become more. True dignity comes through the pursuit of excellence in whatever we do. All the great saints have said work should be prayer.He will be one of four speakers at the Eucharistic Congress this weekend. Fr. Matt said they more than 200 registrants, which makes them ahead of last year. They encourage pre-registration, but they will still accept people at the door. It will be rain, snow, or shine. On Friday, at Sacred Heart Church in the North End, they will open with prayer and music by [Jon Niven](http://www.jonniven.com/), music minister at Life Teen at St. Mary, Dedham.The theme is "John Paul II: Be Not Afraid, His Life, His Witness, His Challenge." Fr. Roger Landry will speak on Pope John Paul II and the new evangelization. Fr. Matt is a fan of his website [CatholicPreaching.com](http://www.catholicpreaching.com). He did his graduate work in Rome on Pope John Paul's writings.Then Fr. Dan Hennessey will speak about the vocation monstrance, one of several monstrances blessed by Pope John Paul II to be sent around the world for prayer for vocations. April 2 will be the sixth anniversary of Pope John Paul II's death. There will be confessions during Eucharistic Adoration. Then there will be a procession to the downstairs chapel and then adoration all night.On Saturday morning, at 10:15, Andreas will speak on "Be Not Afraid: " and then they will go into service projects all over the city of Boston. Anything from writing letts to confirmation students to visiting with the elderly priests at Regina Cleri to cleaning up a park. After that will be Mass with Cardinal Sean and then dinner provided by the restaurants of the North End. Fr. Matt expects Cardinal Sean's homily will combine Pope John Paul's preaching with the topics of the 4th Sunday of Lent.Scot said he knows Cardinal Sean enjoys meeting with young people especially, as can be seen by his creation of the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults. When he meets with the young people he appears transformed. Saturday evening, Sr. May Ann Toomey of the Sisters of Life will speak on the culture of life as defined by Pope John Paul II. The [Sisters of Life](http://www.sistersoflife.org) were found by Cardinal John O'Connor of New York to be a witness to life and to work for life.At the end of the Eucharistic Congress on Saturday is the very moving Eucharistic procession through the North End after a time of prayer music before the Blessed Sacrament. All the seminarians are there in cassock, priests and deacons and religious in their religious garb. They have bells and candles and a canopy and they're followed by 400 people. They stop at several makeshift altars through the North End and pray. It is moving to see 500 people all kneeling in prayer. People look out from apartments and restaurants to see. Fr,. Matt remembers a woman coming out of a restaurant to see and crying because she is so moved. They have street evangelizers to speak with them, not to convert, but to just invite them to be a part.**3rd segment:** Andreas grew up in Lucerne, Switzerland in a very small German-speaking village. Scot asked him how he came to join the Swiss Guard. Andreas said that from a young age he was very interested in the outdoors, scouting, the military. He heard about the Swiss Guard and decided he would join. He wasn't very religious, but thought it would be cool to become a bodyguard. Looking back, joinging was a symptom of his restlessness, feeling like he wanted an identity, feeling inadequate. He came to Rome as a 20-year-old in 1986. He went through recruit school and one of his first assignments, on Christmas Eve at the apostolic palace. From his background, Christmas Eve was the biggest day of the year and he was devastated that he would have to work. Before his assignment, he stood in line for the one phone for all 115 guardsmen to talk to his family. His father asked him how he was celebrating and he said he had to work. His mom came on the phone and started to cry, which made him cry as well. He said he loved her and hung up. He went to his assignment which was to stand in a small anteroom between the outer door and inner door to the papal apartments. He was all alone and cried for himself for about an hour. Finally he heard from his commander that Pope John Paul II would be coming out his exit to celebrate midnight Mass. He quickly composed himself and opened the door. Pope John Paul was standing there, looked at him and said, "You're new. What's your name?" He held out his hand and as their hands clasped, John Paul looked into his eyes. He knew from his red eyes that he had been upset and noted that he was away from home for the first time. That set Andreas crying again. He pulled Andreas close, thanked him for what he was doing for John Paul that night, and told him that the Pope would pray for him that night. On one of the biggest nights of the year, with one billion Catholics looking to the Pope, he became the focus of his ministry. Pope John Paul was his ultimate boss and right there in his work environment, Andreas was ministered to by his boss.In an indirect sense, John Paul helped Andreas ultimately to find his vocation. During his talk on Saturday, Andreas will get into what that means.Scot mentioned that so many people in this generation can point to John Paul II's example and witness as an inspiration for their own vocations and lives.Andreas says he has met many people over the years who met JPII, even if they were a person in the back of the crowd, that he made them feel as if they were the reason he got out of bed in the morning. This is an example for us, to make the people in our lives feel as if they are the reason we get up in the morning, especially those who are closest to us.Scot recalls going to a Mass with the Pope in 1998 on the Pope's birthday in his private chapel. He remembers asking the Holy Father to pray his aunt who was in the hospital. The Pope said, "Let's pray for her now." He pulled Scot and his brother close and prayed for her right then.Fr. Matt went with a few brother seminarians in 1999 to Rome. They were able to go to the private Mass with the Holy Father. Fr. Matt was asked to do the responsorial psalm. As they entered the chapel, he saw John Paul II on his knees in contemplative prayer preparing for Mass. Fr. Matt experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit and knew he was in the presence of a man whose holiness and love for Christ radiated from his being. The papacy itself awes us as Catholics, but when a bishop is a saint, their presence transcends the normal awe.Scot asked Andreas what he observed of the interactions of John Paul II that most people would not know. Andreas said he treated everyone the same. He would spend time with every single person who he met. Andreas started to realize that he was privileged to be part of that ministry, to experience that same ministry he experienced on Christmas Eve, to see the Pope touch the souls of so many people just like Andreas.Scot said that as a phenomenologist philosopher, John Paul believed that an encounter could change your life and this perhaps motivated his desire to travel everywhere in the world and meet everyone. He kept an intense schedule with long days. Andreas said the Pope's schedule never let up, even towards the end. Many of the very fit and young Swiss Guards said they couldn't keep up with the Pope.As an example of his treating everyone the same, John Paul instituted an audience just for the gypsies (the roma) who were treated with suspicion and disdain by everyone else.Andreas has spoken often on his experiences and has written a book called "The Pope and the CEO" to be published in September by Emmaus Road Publishing. Within a framework of his stories of Pope John Paul are nine lessons on how to order life in business as a Christian.Scot asked what it is like to speak about Pope John Paul II from a perspective that most others have not had. Andreas said it is a responsibility and privilege. Andreas said it was Scot who set him on this path in the first place. But when John Paul died, Andreas providentially in Rome the next day and was able to visit his body in the apostolic palace. He made a vow at that time to never tire of speaking of Pope John Paul II and of Jesus Christ and the message he has been given. Andreas is so excited to perhaps inspire even one person with the example of Pope John Paul II.**4th segment:** Every Wednesday we are happy to announce the winner of the **1060 WQOM Benefactor raffle.** This week the recipient will earn a copy of the [The 2011 Calendar of Indulgences](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601040415/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1601040415) from Bridgegroom Press, which is entitled this year “The Beauty of Grace”. It has great photos of beautiful churches and a lot of helpful information from the Church’s liturgical calendar. This week’s winner of the Benefactor Card raffle is **Carmel & John Philippakis from Quincy**. Congratulations to Carmel and John! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit WQOM.org. For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for our weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program.**5th segment:** Tonight is the 3rd Wednesday of The Light Is On For You in the Archdiocese, where every parish and chapel is open for confessions from 6:30-8pm. We are taking listener questions.1. Has Andreas ever been to confession with Pope John Paul II.No, but JP2 wanted to stress that every priest is a priest, on Good Fridays he used to go to the confessionals in St. Peter icognito and he hear confessions. Scot said many cardinals and curial officials do the same thing.2. Scot said last week his son asked if he needs to memorize the act of contrition or if he could make it up on his own. Scot told him that if he doesn't use the written prayer, but could say something heartfelt expressing his contrition. So what is necessary for an act of contrition?Fr. Matt said there are numerous formulas for expressing sorrow in the rite of confession. The words should express the sorrow in the heart, asking God for mercy and the grace to go forward and sin no more.3. Has the increase of psychology and therapy led to the drop in the use of confession?Andreas said you see in popular culture--TV shows and movies-- that therapists do occupy that role, as a confessor. whether we go to confession or not, we have an innate need to reconcile with God. So if we don't go to the sacrament, we still seek some way of finding forgiveness. Without downplaying the importance of therapy, when it comes to coming clean with the Lord is confession.Two weeks ago, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York said in his blog that "we have a confessional culture in our country."* [Saint Patrick’s Day Pastoral Letter to the clergy, religious, and lay faithful of the Archdiocese of New York](http://blog.archny.org/?p=1109)>Our culture has an almost perverse delight in detailing the sins and scandals of those in the public eye. And ordinary people are eager to get in on the action! We produce an entire genre of “reality shows” which put on public display much sinful behaviour that people should be embarrassed about, not celebrated for. Seems as if everybody’s “going to confession” except in the sacrament! There are a parade of talk shows in which the troubled and afflicted share their intimate secrets with a vast television audience. People use social networks to make available to all on the internet what should be treated with utmost discretion.>We have a “confessional culture.” It seems at every moment someone, somewhere is shouting for our attention, eager to confess from the rooftops what Catholics have the opportunity to whisper in the confessional. The “confessional culture” around us shouts itself hoarse for it can confess, but there is no absolution. Sin confessed but unredeemed either leads to despair or is trivialized. We see the despair in the vast anguish that fuels an enormous therapeutic industry. We see the trivialization in the celebrity scandals that become not occasions for averted eyes, but fodder for jokes.>Our culture does not need to be taught how to confess; it needs to discover where forgiveness can be found. Our culture does not need to further expose the stain of its sinfulness; it needs to discover the only One who can wash it away. We Catholics have the blessing of teaching our “confessional culture” about true mercy, but we cannot give what we do not have! I challenge the Catholics of the Archdiocese to make a good confession this Lent and then to tell one other person – perhaps a friend or relative or colleague who has been away from the sacraments for a long time – about the liberating joy of God’s mercy!Fr. Matt said that we forget that sin does not make us happy. We go to therapists sometimes to convince ourselves that our sin does not make us unhappy.* [The Light Is On For You](http://www.thelightisonforyou.org)* [Pilot Parish Finder](http://www.pilotparishfinder.com)…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor**Today's guest(s):** Maureen Heil, Director of Programs and Development for the Pontifical Mission Societies in Boston, and Sister Lisa Valentini of the Missionary Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.* [Pontifical Mission Societies in Boston](http://www.propfaithboston.org/Boston/index.html)* [Pontifical Mission Societies/Boston on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001954394979)* [Pontifical Mission Societies/Boston on Twitter](http://twitter.com/#!/BostonMissions)* [Pontifical Mission Societies/National](http://www.onefamilyinmission.org/)* [Maryknoll Missionaries](http://www.maryknoll.org/)* [Society for the Propagation of the Faith](http://www.onefamilyinmission.org/society-propfaith.html)* [Holy Childhood Association](http://www.onefamilyinmission.org/hca.html)* [Missionary Union of Priest & Religious](http://www.onefamilyinmission.org/missionary.html)* [Society of St. Peter the Apostle](http://www.onefamilyinmission.org/apostle.html)* [Missionary Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, USA Province](http://www.mscreading.org/)**Today's topics:** The work of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the Archdiocese, nationally, and internationally and the universal call to all Christians to support the missions.**A summary of today's show:** Maureen Heil and Sr. Lisa Valentini tell us about the Pontifical Mission Societies and the essential missionary nature of the Church. Sr. Lisa and Maureen also related some of their eye-opening, heart-wrenching, and heart-warming experiences serving on the missions in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and more. Also, the missionary history of the Archdiocese of Boston as both recipient and giver.**1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Chris back as co-host. Fr. Chris said the seminary had its annual seminary workday, doing a spring cleaning of the seminary and preparing for the Triduum.If people are having problems hearing the over-the-air signal, they can listen on TheGoodCatholicLife.com either streaming or for download. WQOM's engineers are hard at work fixing the issues related to the powerful signal of our radio dial neighbor, WBZ 1030.Fr. Chris said he's hearing a lot of excitement for the radio show and for the radio station.Introducing today's topic, Scot said it's a common misunderstanding that there is just one mission society in the archdiocese, but in fact there are four. An explanation after the break.**2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcomed Maureen and Sr. Lisa to the show. Scot said he always thought the Propagation of the Faith was *the* pontifical mission society. Maureen said as a legal corporation in Boston they do business as the Propagation of the Faith, Inc., but there are four related societies. The Propagation of the Faith is responsible for mission education in developed countries, to help them be aware of the need to pray for the missions around the world and to support them. The Holy Childhood Association is for children from Kindergarten to Confirmation. The motto is children helping children. All the support goes to help children 14 and under. The children are asked to pray a Hail Mary every day for kids in the missions who don't know God loves them, who need an education, food to eat, a place to sleep, medicine when they're sick, etc. And they're asked to remember to do this on their own, without prompting from parents or teachers.There is also the St. Peter Apostle Society, which raises up a local clergy in the missions. Helps men in the missions who want to become priests but can't because of poverty. The Missionary Union is non-fundraising and asks people to pray for the spread of the Gospel around the world. They publish brochures and books.The name "pontifical" connects to the Pope's title as Supreme Pontiff. The mission societies report through the [Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples](http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cevang/index.htm) to the Pope. They serve at the behest of the local ordinary, but their ties are to the Holy Father.Fr. Chris noted that Maureen travels around the diocese to foster mission awareness. When she talks to young people, he asked what captivates them most? Maureen said it's most important to convey that the gifts the kids have--talents, goods, spiritual gifts--are gifts from God. Prayer is the most important thing you can do for anyone, she tells them. She also helps them understand the concept of sacrifice and the children are fascinated to find out that the US was mission-dependent only about 100 years ago.Sr. Lisa said her religious order was invited to the US in 1908 as a mission to the immigrant people in the US. The order was founded in Germany. The order might have folded when some of its sisters were martyred in Papua New Guinea, but many woman joined the order because of the witness so the order went to their bishop to be given a new mission for all of the new sisters and they were sent to Pennsylvania.Maureen said American children are so used to their material possessions that she shows them children around the developing world who are happy, but who still lack the basic necessities.Scot said the most common way people in the archdiocese hear about the missions is through a missionary speaking to the parish. Sr. Lisa said the experience is amazing because there is an openness and desire of people to hear the mission message and to help. She believes that it is because missions is of the essence of our faith. Sr. Lisa said in her two years coming to the archdiocese she has often heard people tell her of their desire to help the missions and sometimes how they themselves once wanted to be missionaries.Scot noted that Sister said the missionary character is in the DNA of the Church. Sister said this comes from Jesus' last words: "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." ([Matthew 28:19](http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/matthew/matthew28.htm)) Sister said she once had the opportunity to baptize a baby in Peru. On an early morning, she had a woman come to her and ask her to baptize the baby. Sister said the priest would do it later in the day, but the woman said her baby was very sick. Sister invited her into the convent chapel and led the woman through the questions committing her to raising the baby as a Catholic. She baptized the baby. Although she never saw the baby again, Sister knew that he had received the spark of God's life.Maureen said God uses us according to the talents He gave us and determining those talents is essential to our living the mission we have been given. We need to listen to God to learn where He wants us to go. He wants us to go because the Church is missionary by nature. Sometimes we need to *go* to the person at the desk next to us at work. For others, we need to *go* to a third world nation. But we can only do this if we listen.Sister pointed out that Maureen is living it as well, having sent her kids on teen mission trips with Sr. Lisa.Sister has three rules for the teens: 1. If you don't like nuns, don't come because you'll be with Sister all day, every day ; 2. If you don't like to pray, don't come because you'll get up early every morning to pray; 3. If you don't like to sing don't come, because Sister likes to sing a lot.* [Missionary Sisters of the Most Heart of Jesus' mission in the Dominican Republic](http://www.mscreading.org/domincanrepublic.html)**3rd segment:** Scot said he's the only one in the room who hasn't been on a mission trip, but Sr. Lisa and Maureen said they will get him on one. He asked Sr. Lisa about her trip to Haiti last November and earlier in the year.Sr. Lisa said she started her missionary work with a time in Haiti 20 years ago with the group [Hands Together](http://www.handstogether.org/). So after the earthquake, she really wanted to go back. Ten weeks after the earthquake she was in the country. They started a feeding program for the children. The sisters called Fr. Tom Hagan from Hands Together to celebrate Mass for the children on Easter. Even though he had been in Haiti for 14 years he was still shocked by the conditions for the people Sister was working with. Hands Together then came back to the locale and built a school for the kids. Maureen said Fr. Hagan is well known in Boston and she often uses his work as an example of what the societies are doing in Haiti. Sr. Lisa returned for November and part of December. She went to a cholera treatment center. It was terrible. But there were many people willing to help out. She said next to the school they had also built a clinic. The situation is still very bad. When cholera arrives in a place, it said to stay for 100 years.Scot asked her to describe the experience of the youth mission trips. She has done 34 of them with hundreds and hundreds of young people. About 10 days ago at a retreat at the University of Penn, she encountered a young woman who went on a mission trip with her to Mexico in 1994. The young woman is now a campus minister. Another young man went on five mission trips to the Dominican Republic and then after college went back there for a year to teach art in all the schools in his area.On teen mission trips, they mostly work with children in the parishes. They do catechesis in what she called a catechesis blitz. The children always pay close attention to her songs and prayers and teaching. Then they break up the group of kids into four groups and do arts and crafts, games, and other activities. At the end, the pray together and sing again and leave them with a rosary and candy. All of the supplies are donated and raised by the teens going on the trip, including all the school supplies. They also brought supplies for the older kids, including backpacks and school supplies for upper grades and even college.Fr. Chris asked about the *mite box* for the Holy Childhood Association. The mite box has been around for a very long time. It is named after the biblical story of the widow's mite. They are cardboard boxes and kids use them all year long to make sacrifices. Besides just giving up candy bars, they also do extra chores around the house, do odd jobs, give found money, and any other kind of sacrifice. It's important to note that in Jesus' time, the widow didn't have any real means of support and would have been the poorest of the poor and so for her to give, it would have been from her extreme need.Sr. Lisa notes that pontifical mission societies exist in every country. Even in the Dominican Republic, the kids collect for the missions. Maureen recalled a time in Ecuador, going up a jungle river in a dugout canoe to a remote village. The people they were visiting put on a pageant for the dignitaries and at the end of the pageant, the kids--some of whom had no shoes or a second set of clothes--stepped up and put in their own coins. It was just $5 total. Maureen said one child told her: "We know that there are children who are poorer than we are, because they don't know Jesus." They told her to tell the children in the US that they need to pray for them.**4th segment:** Fr. Chris brought a group of seminarians on a mission trip last year. He said the most important idea is a quote from Cardinal Cushing, "We are all missionaries." We are all called to share the Good News. The future priests, when they eventually meet missionaries who come to the parish like Sr. Lisa, will know something of the need. The seminarians could not believe the poverty they encountered. He believes that if more Americans could see the need in the developing world first hand, we would do even more than we do.Scot notes that even our poorest parishes in the US are better off than most mission parishes. Even though we have a shortage of priests in the archdiocese, we have the blessing of hundreds of active priests, whereas in many mission countries, they have a shortage of priests that results in one priest per hundreds of square miles in some cases.Sr. Lisa said it seems we've lost the passion for our faith compared to the time of the apostles. We see miracles around us every day, but we forget that God has given us many gifts and that our calling is to go out. Mission comes from a Greek word meaning "to be sent." We have a responsibility to one another. One way of being missionary is to give by going, but the other is to go by giving. We must give love most of all. Maureen calls it being a stationary missionary. Sr. Lisa was called to leave her home and family, but we are no less called to be missionaries. For us, being stationary does not take away our responsibility to share the Gospel with everyone we encounter.Scot said our first bishop in Boston, Bishop Cheverus, was a missionary himself. A very important part of Bishop Cheverus' mission, his desk, adorns the entrance to the Pontifical Mission Societies in the pastoral center. Maureen said it reminds us of where we came from. In his time, there were 300 Catholics in the Boston region. He brought the desk from France and used it to write letters to the French-speaking people in Canada and in France asking them to support his mission with both prayers and financial support. When missionaries come to Boston and see the desk and realize that we have gone from that desk and two priests on horseback to the Archdiocese today and all the dioceses of New England, they see that they are the same sort of seed wherever they are serving.* [Cardinal Sean's Blog, "Visiting with the Propagation of the Faith"](http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/2011/01/21/visiting-with-the-propagation-of-the-faith/)![Bishop Cheverus' desk](http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Prop_IMG_9631.jpg "Bishop Cheverus' desk") Fr. Chris said every diocese has once been the recipient of missionary activity and eventually sends out missionaries. "To whom much is given, much is expected." It's in our DNA to want to give back to others.* [Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter for the Advent of the Third Millennium](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_20010106_novo-millennio-ineunte_en.html)* [Pope Benedict XVI, Message for World Mission Sunday 2011](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/missions/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20110106_world-mission-day-2011_en.html)…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Dr. Mary Grassa O'Neill, archdiocesan secretary for education and superintendent of schools, and Dr. William McKersie, archdiocesan associate superintendent for academic excellence. * [Catholics School Office on BostonCatholic.org](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/CatholicSchoolsOffice.aspx) * [Boston Catholic Schools Office](http://www.catholicschoolsboston.org/) * [Pioneer Institute](http://www.pioneerinstitute.org/) * [Pioneer Institute white paper: "Be Not Afraid: A History of Schooling in Massachusetts"](http://www.pioneerinstitute.org/pdf/110315_Be_Not_Afraid.pdf) * [Pioneer Institute statement on the white paper](http://www.pioneerinstitute.org/pdf/110315_Be_Not_Afraid_PR.pdf) * [The Know Nothings](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_Nothing) * [Pioneer Institute white paper: "The Know Nothing Amendments: Barriers to School Choice in Massachusetts"](http://www.pioneerinstitute.org/pdf/090401_chapman_know_nothing.pdf) * [Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, "The Catholic Schools We Need," America magazine (Sept 13, 10)](http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=12448) **Today's topics:** Catholic schools in Boston and Massachusetts; their successes, vision, and challenges; recent efforts to address laws that are obstacles for parents choosing Catholic education **A summary of today's show:** Catholic schools in the archdiocese and nationally are providing a superior education for their students, but also provide benefits to our communities and society as a whole. Dr. Mary Grassa O'Neill and Dr. Bill McKersie share the good news about Catholic education in Boston, Cardinal Sean's vision for its future, and the obstacles for parents who want to send their children to Catholic schools presented by 19th-century anti-Catholic laws **1st segment:** Catholic schools are vital to the overall health of the Catholic church. They have experienced several challenges in recent years and so many have responded to this challenge and are working to rebuild Catholic schools that have strong Catholic identity, academic excellence and financial vitality. One of the challenges of Catholic schools now is the inability for many families to afford the tuition. A group of leaders in Boston is trying to do something about that, to eliminate anti-Catholic discriminatory statutes in the Massachusetts constitution and to lobby for educational tax credits that parents could apply to a Catholic School education. Catholics are challenged in many of the Northeast cities. Archbishop Timothy Dolan wrote a piece in "America" magazine last fall on this topic. He said, "The most crippling reason, [for the decline in Catholic schools], may rest in an enormous shift in the thinking of many American Catholics, namely, that the responsibility for Catholic schools belongs only to the parents of the students who attend them, not to the entire church. Nowadays, Catholics often see a Catholic education as a consumer product, reserved to those who can afford it. The result is predictable: Catholics as a whole in the United States have for some time disowned their school system, excusing themselves as individuals, parishes or dioceses from any further involvement with a Catholic school simply because their own children are not enrolled there, or their parish does not have its own school." He also said, "“As long as we Catholics refuse to acknowledge that the overall health of the church in the United States is vitally linked not only to the survival but the revival of the Catholic school, we are likely to miss the enormous opportunity this present moment extends" to all of us as a Church. We look forward to discussing the state of Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Boston, the many initiatives underway to revitalize them, and this effort to repeal the Know Nothing amendments and enable educational tax credits during this entire hour on this special broadcast of The Good Catholic Life. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Mary Grassa O'Neill, superintendent of Catholic schools in the archdiocese, and Bill McKersie, associate superintendent for academic excellence. Scot asked Mary what led her to come to the Archdiocese to take on the challenge to transform Catholic schools. The defining moment was when she was talking with Cardinal Sean about the benefits of her 12 years of Catholic education and he asked her if she didn't want to see other children to receive the same opportunity. The big difference from her time as public school superintendent in Milton is that the Catholic schools are mission driven, to form the students as whole persons in character and integrity. Also, Catholic education is synonymous with excellence. So the area we struggle is financial viability. Bill also came from the [Harvard Graduate School of Education](http://www.gse.harvard.edu/) and was asked by Mary to join her in helping to improve Catholic education. His whole career has had many opportunities to work with Catholic schools, especially in Chicago and Cleveland. He had a deep respect for the mission of Catholic schools, having seen what a difference high quality Catholic education makes in urban areas, like Chicago, Cleveland, and now Boston. Part of their drive has been to change the Archdiocese's schools from a system of schools to a Catholic school system. Mary said we're the second largest school district in Massachusetts, in number of students. It covers from Plymouth to New Hampshire. They work with very strong independent Catholic schools as well as parish schools and regional schools. There is a wide variety of charism, admission requirements, and more. One aspect of the mission is the make it affordable. Scot said staffing Catholics schools with faculty and staff is a national challenge. In 1960, religious made of 64% of faculty and staff, but now it's just 4%, which presents a financial challenge because lay workers need higher pay and benefits. Bill said religious and clergy built what we have today, but what's exciting now is that the laity is in the schools continuing what they have received. Our people are still taking a lower wage than they could get in public schools, but they are willing to take it for the sake of the schools. Hiring and pay decisions are made at the local level, but centrally they assist the schools where asked. Scot asked Mary how we're forming the Catholic identity in schools. Mary said they're building Catholic education for the future, for families, for localities, and for the nation. Catholic students are good citizens and members of society. Catholic schools are not merely for nostalgia. We are focusing professional development this year on spiritual leadership. They've done a lot of work with the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults. They're doing a lot with technology and has received a matching grant from the Lynch Foundation to get SmartBoards into schools. They're looking at curriculum, keeping up with the state and national standards, and they have a track record of exceeding what's expected, especially in the urban schools. * [Lynch Foundation](http://thelynchfoundation.com/) * [SMART Boards](http://smarttech.com/us/Solutions/Education+Solutions/Products+for+education/Interactive+whiteboards+and+displays/SMART+Board+interactive+whiteboards) **3rd segment:** Three principles: Catholic identity, academic excellence, and financial vitality in the schools. Scot said he was surprised at hearing the level of success in our Catholic schools. It's been a well-kept secret. Bill said we're in an era of data, numbers, statistics, but we go beyond basic assessment results. Massachusetts is top performing state in education and Catholic school exceed the public schools on all the assessment tests. What's important to success is faculty committed to excellence. Clear strong leaders are focused on mission. To be a high quality school, you have to be excellent in morals, behavior, and academics. They push for results, but they also provide support. What's key to Catholic education is both the standards and the push. The standards come from the faith and the push comes from the academics. A distinguishing characteristic of Catholic schools is formation of the whole student. Scot asked why that results in a better student and a better citizen. Bill gave an example of a school community where they helped the students deal with the death of a classmate, from a perspective rooted in the Catholic faith. Mary said they're teaching youngsters how to be successful in life, and part of being successful in life is having a relationship with Jesus. It's part of why the cardinal is so clear on his desire for the kids to be involved in the March for Life. While you will get the same science lessons as you will in public schools, in Catholic schools you will have an understanding of the moral and spiritual implications. Bill said that Catholic schools office is supportive of charter schools, but the cardinal has been clear that they are not Catholic. For Catholic charter schools, the Catholic element only takes place before and after school. It separates out Catholicism, but it's not in the core of all classes and the environment. In Xaverian Brothers High School, for example, when you walk in the front door you see the chapel and then you see top-notch science labs. They go hand in hand. * [Xaverian Brothers High School](http://www.xbhs.com/s/141/index_alumni.aspx) Mary said they have exceptionally high attendance rates (90% attendance); very high graduation rates, even in inner-city schools, well over 90% graduating within 4 years; and the vast majority go on to 4-year colleges. In nationally recognized assessment tests, our elementary school children regularly rate among the highest in the country. Catholic school students in Boston archdiocese have the best rate of attending college. Scot said Catholic schools benefit the common good of the state as well. Scot related a statistic that Catholic schools save the taxpayer $500 million per year in Massachusetts. Our school system is excellent and does it at half the cost of public schools. Average tuition is about $4,000 and the cost per pupil is about $6000. The average per pupil for public and charter schools is $12,000. Mary said nationally Catholic education saves the taxpayer about $20 billion with outstanding results in the students. Even atheists understand the benefit of Catholic education to our economy and to the well-being of the country and the future endeavors of the country. **4th segment:** One of Mary's initiatives has been the formation of Catholic academies versus parish schools. We have 5 Catholic academies. Mary said the academies were started by the Campaign for Catholic Schools, which thought merging small schools that were failing financially could help them survive. In Brockton, three schools merged on two campuses. In Dorchester, 7 schools have merged to 4 campuses with 1,300 students. After an academy forms, generally the total enrollment increases because greater resources and higher standards attract more students. * [Trinity Catholic Academy](http://www.trinitycatholicacademybrockton.org/) * [John Paul II Catholic Academy](http://www.popejp2catholicacademy.org/) * [South Boston Catholic Academy](http://www.sbcatholicacademy.org/) * [Lawrence Catholic Academy](http://www.lawrencecatholicacademy.org/) * [Quincy Catholic Academy](http://www.quincycatholicacademy.org/) They have established 12 standards of excellence for the academies. Students in South Boston are being accepted in exam schools at very high rates. Lawrence has seen Catholic school enrollment rise from 400 to 450 in just the first year. The Catholic School Foundation has given each of the new academies a gift of $150,000 to help the academies in their merger efforts. * [Catholic Schools Foundation](http://www.csfboston.org/) * [Campaign for Catholic Schools](http://www.campaignforcatholicschools.org/site/PageServer) Mary said that while some people are sad to see their parish schools close, they often say how excited they are to see the opportunities that the new academies provide and the more assured futures they have. Bill noted that the Archdiocesan Catholic Schools office is a very lean administrative team compared to similar size school systems. He mentioned the area superintendents who provide leadership in the regions of the archdiocese. They are all lay individuals who care deeply about their faith and draw from across the Pastoral Center in various specialities, like real estate or legal. And in the boards of these schools, you also have expertise from laity in like manner, giving the religious who've run these schools for so long the expertise in areas they may not have had. The Cardinal commissioned a Catholic schools "x-ray" of all the elementary school finances. They came up with a tool that schools could use to monitor their own financial health and where they need to fix their own financial picture. They visited every school and produced a report that gives the Cardinal a clear idea of how the schools are doing, but also gave the schools' leaders a business vocabulary and transformational information. Another initiative is to get the story of Catholic successes out to the wider world. Mary said when she first came, she told the Cardinal that there was an overabundance of humility that prevented us from talking about our successes. They just started a Facebook page and have just started into social networking on an organized level, especially in order to reach out to technologically savvy parents. * [Catholic schools Facebook page](http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boston-Catholic-Schools/111806515545758) Mary said they are working on technology advancement. Boston College is giving Catholic Schools the gift of a BC IT person to work with them part-time to help improve technology in schools. Other Catholic colleges are also working to help advance the mission of Catholic schools. * [Catholic colleges in the Archdiocese](http://abcso.org/colleges.html) **5th segment:** Discussing a recent press conference and report given by the Pioneer Institute on a history of Catholic schooling in Massachusetts. It made two recommendations: that Mass. lawmakers should repeal the two Know Nothing or anti-aid amendments which are anti-Catholic and discriminatory and the second was that they should enact tax credit legislation to give parents great choice on where to send their children for school. Bill said Massachusetts is the only state with such strident anti-Catholic laws on the books. It goes back to the 1850s when the Know Nothing party, a nativist anti-immigrant group, put them on the books. Today, it affects anyone outside the public sector trying to have excellent schools, including Jewish schools and others. The Blaine amendments from the early 1900s make it very difficult to repeal the original Know Nothing amendments. The amendments prevent any public support for any non-public schools. Scot asked why legislators don't want to touch this when it is so blatantly discriminatory. His sense is that there needs to be a groundswell of support from grassroots Catholics that say this should change because we would all suffer if Catholic schools can't thrive. Bill said the way to deal with this effectively is as other states have done is to establish educational tax credits, to create a marketplace of schools that benefits all parents and students. Parents and Catholic schools are not asking for charity, but justice. It is a way of allowing Catholic schools to thrive without asking for public funding.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** LeAnn Thieman, author of "Chicken Soup for the Soul: Living Catholic Faith", Fr. Bill Schmidt, pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Stoneham, and Mike Alex, founder of MyCatholicFaithDelivered.com, the Catholic online learning platform. * [MyCatholicFaithDelivered.com](http://www.mycatholicfaithdelivered.com) * [LeAnn Thieman's website](http://www.leannthieman.com/) * ["Chicken Soup for the Soul: Living Catholic Faith"](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1935096230/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=catholicnetrevie&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1935096230) * [St. Patrick Parish, Stoneham](http://www.catholic-church.org/st-patricks/) **Today's topics:** Lenten mission at St. Patrick Parish in Stoneham; MyCatholicFaithDelivered.com; A look at this Sunday's readings for Mass **A summary of today's show:** LeAnn Thieman, author of "Chicken Soup for Soul: Living Catholic Faith", and Fr. Bill Schmidt of St. Patrick Parish, Stoneham, discuss "the most unusual parish mission" you'll attend coming up next week at Fr. Schmidt's parish. Mike Alex tells Scot and Fr. Mark about MyCatholicFaithDelivered.com, the most advanced online learning platform for Catholics. Finally, Scot, Fr. Mark, and Mike discuss this coming Sunday's Gospel reading for Mass on the woman at the well and the Living Water that Christ promises her. **1st segment:** Fr. Mark's week included a talk in Stoneham at Fr. Schmidt's parish on annulments. Also a cabinet meeting today at which Cardinal Sean announced that Chancellor Jim McDonough's term was renewed for another five years. Fr. Mark said the chancellor is also the finance officer for the archdiocese. The term that was renewed was actually for finance officer. Only two diocesan roles have terms that cannot be abridged except for grave reasons. The other is Fr. Mark's job as Judicial Vicar. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark welcome LeAnn Thieman by phone from Colorado and Fr. Bill Schmidt by phone from Stoneham. LeAnn gave an overview of the sessions she'll be giving at the mission next week. She'll start by sharing her story, starting in 1975 with Operation Babylift, to bring 300 Vietnamese orphans out of the midst of the war in Vietnam with the approval of President Ford. On Tuesday, she'll speak on caring for ourselves as well as we care for others, caring for our bodies and our minds. She shares stories from her 12 Chicken Soup books she's written. One of the tools is the tool of forgiveness. On Wednesday, she'll talk about living the Catholic faith as the spiritual balance to the topic of the night before: What we can do to stand up for our faith and to take pride in it. She promises that attendees will march out proud of being Catholic and excited about sharing it. Fr. Schmidt said Lent is a privileged time during which busy people who don't often have time for prayer want to do something special. It's not easy to carve out three nights in a row, so it's a special opportunity. This is the sixth year they've had a parish mission in his 10 years as pastor. 800 people come at least once over the 3 nights. Fr. Mark asked what the Chicken Soup for the Soul books are. LeAnn explained that each has 101 true stories all on a particular topic, such as adoption, fathers and daughters, nurses. Part of LeAnn's own story during Operation Babylift is that she found a little boy who she then adopted as her own. It's amazing, she said, how she still gets emotional as she tells the story, even though she has told it so many times. * [Operation Babylift](http://www.adoptvietnam.org/adoption/babylift-index.htm) Fr. Schmidt said after the last mission, where they heard Fr. Tom Nestor, Bishop Hennessey, and Fr. Jonathan Morris, someone on the parish council asked if a woman could give the mission. Father had a friend in Colorado who had heard of LeAnn and her captivating and motivating story and his experience of her talk at a diocesan dinner in Pueblo, Colorado. Fr. Mark noted that St. Patrick's has undergone renovations and expansions. Six years ago, Cardinal Sean dedicated the renovated and enlarged church, which includes many elements from parishes that have closed. **3rd segment:** Continuing the discussion of the upcoming Lenten mission at St. Patrick's. Scot asked LeAnn for highlights of her talk on Wednesday, which will talk about all the good the Church does. LeAnn said the Church is at the forefront of medical care, helping the poor, educating children and she is awe of all the church does. At the end of her talk on Tuesday night addressing the need to care for ourselves, there is a call to the sacrament of reconciliation. Even when she talks to secular audiences, people thank her for giving them permission to forgive others and to forgive themselves. Fr. Mark asked how parish missions today differ from the fire-and-brimstone missions of old. Fr. Schmidt recalled the missions of his youth which include a confession talk describing hell in stark terms. Now the talks speak of God's love and mercy and forgiveness. He added that they are looking for more priest-confessors to accommodate everyone. LeAnn said it should be the most unusual mission people will have attended, because she intends to have lots of fun and to share how much she loves Christ and His Church and her faith. She hopes that anyone who comes will invite someone else. Fr. Mark said this sounds like it fits perfectly with the Catholics Come Home initiative. Fr. Schmidt said anyone who is interested is very welcome even if they're not members of the parish. LeAnn's books will be on sale at the mission and she will be autographing them. The parish is right at the intersection of Route 128 and 93 and is convenient to many people who will be commuting home from Boston. **4th segment:** Mike Alex joins the show, visiting from the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas. He hopes to catch his Kansas University Jayhawks in the NCAA tournament if they win tonight in San Antonio and go on to the Elite 8. It is an act of providence that MyCatholicFaithDelivered.com came together. In 2002 he had been asked by his bishop to help build a new Catholic high school. As part of the mission he was given, then-Archbishop Keleher told Mike, "If we fail to pass on the faith from this generation to the next, we're failing in one of our most important missions as Church." To ensure the quality of instruction at the school, Mike created a relationship with a program called [School of Faith](http://www.schooloffaith.com/) to help train and form the faculty of the new high school. Many other schools in the region were interested in taking part but there wasn't enough space for them in the training classes. Meanwhile, he had a friend who was converting to Catholicism, and it turned out that this friend had an online platform and company that teaches 275,000 nurses across the country to pass their boards. He'd just sold the company and was looking for a new challenge. Mike proposed to take some of the Catholic content and create a new platform with a new way to catechize folks. At first, it was supposed to be local, but it was so robust that people sought out Mike's company to provide their content. National publishers started to see the innovation and interactivity of the program and now they have Ascension Press, Midwest Theological, Ignatius Press as partners, and many more who would like to get their content on the system. Catholic learning is moving online because of the convenience today. Scot notes that our own [CatholicTV](http://www.catholictv.com) has the best online on-demand Catholic TV programming in the world. MyCatholicFaithDelivered is so far ahead of everyone else with online learning, it's as if there isn't a second place. An advisory board of bishops oversee the content to ensure its fidelity to Church teaching. Every class has an imprimatur. All the publishers are considered orthodox. The Faith Foundations program received the first online imprimatur. An imprimatur is a statement, authorized by the bishop of a diocese, that a work is free of doctrinal error. Fr. Mark asked who the target audience is. Mike said the initial thrust is adult formation, catechist certification, and teacher certification. There are many adults, catechists, and teachers who may not be well-grounded in the faith and are in need of assistance. They also have a first through eighth grade series and a high school series for children, but the main thrust is in teaching adults. Scot said we've heard several times over the past week on The Good Catholic Life about the new Theological Institute for the New Evangelization at St. John's seminary and their very flexible classes and programs. But there are those who might not have the time even for the certificate program that is one Saturday per month for six months. Mike said his website offers learning that is available at any time and locations and includes a lot of interactivity. It offers the flexibility they might need. Mike said there are different costs for each course. Mike's friend paid the millions of dollars to create the system, so the current prices are just to keep the website self-sustaining. There are also free lessons available to try out the platform. The mission is to spread the teaching of the Church worldwide--they are in the middle of Spanish translations for their biggest programs. Mike met today with people from around the Archdiocese of Boston who have teaching that would make good content, as well as meeting with our own Catholic Media group who can help create the materials in partnership with MyCatholicFaithDelivered.com Mike said Boston has technical capabilities that other dioceses don't have, and he's excited to bring Boston's content to more people across the country. Scot points out that this is a well-crafted, high-quality video with quizzes and links that bring students to even more resources on the Internet. The programs are interactive and not static. People have responded that they find it meaningful and worthwhile. They've have 3 to 4,000 who have registered to date and another 3 to 4,000 from various dioceses that they are planning to bring online through next September. **5th segment:** As we do each Friday, we look at this coming Sunday's readings to help us prepare for Mass. * [This Sunday's readings for Mass](http://www.usccb.org/nab/032711.shtml) >*Gospel* (John 4:5-42) >Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon. >A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” —For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.— Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” >Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come back.” The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus answered her, “You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’ For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ; when he comes, he will tell us everything.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one speaking with you.” >At that moment his disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, but still no one said, “What are you looking for?” or “Why are you talking with her?” The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?” They went out of the town and came to him. Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” So the disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest. The reaper is already receiving payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together. For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work.” >Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me everything I have done.” When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.” Scot said it's a long reading but so worthwhile to read the long one. Living water is a theme and Christ calling people is another theme. Fr. Mark said at this time when we're asking people to look at the faith again in Catholics Come Home, it resonates with us. Fr. Mark sees a whole journey in there that goes hand in hand with Catholics Come Home. Scot noted that the woman went to the well at noon because she was ashamed to be around the others who went in the morning. Jesus knew why she was at the well at that time and chose her purposefully. People often doubt that Christ would choose them because they were so unworthy, but he chooses those the world would not choose. Mike noted how the woman's perception of Jesus as she interacted with him became clearer. At first, He was just another Jewish man, then she saw him as a prophet, and finally she asked him if He is the Messiah. We can go through this same progression in our Lenten journey to continue to deepen out perception. Also, where the water in Jacob's well is so difficult to find and the Living Water of Jesus is easy at hand because He gives it to us freely. But, Scot said, we should thirst for the water. During Lent we ask ourselves if we thirst for everything God is waiting to give us? Do we ask for more than God has already given me? Fr. Mark said we need to remember who Christ is asking to bring his message, the most unlikely messenger: A woman, a Samaritan, an adulteress. But she was called to be an evangelist to the city. Scot said it was her notoriety that might have made her the best messenger to a particular people, that God would work through her. Fr. Mark noted that we should follow the bucket. She comes with the bucket, notes that Jesus doesn't have a bucket and leaves without it. She comes as a laborer and leaves as an evangelist. Mike noted that conversion comes through a process of interacting with Jesus, but it involves a longing and a desire to have a relationship with him. Often in Lent we think of Lent as a Good Friday experience, but the readings of the past two Sundays have been so hopeful and uplifting as a precursor sign of the hope of Easter. Scot noted that because today is the Solemnity of the Annunciation, people are not bound to Friday meatless abstinence although Scot and Fr. Mark recommend the abstinence as a way to remain penitential.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston. * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * [St. Thomas More College](http://www.thomasmorecollege.edu/) * [CNS, "Dancing with the saints: Retreat master says that's the key to Lent"](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1101089.htm) * [The Boston Herald, "Nuns sue Archdiocese of Boston over retirement funds""](http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20110321nuns_sue_boston_archdiocese_over_retirement_funds/) * [Raymond L. Flynn, "Halting bigotry against Mass. Catholic schools"](http://www.lowellsun.com/editorials/ci_17633890) * [Pioneer Institute](http://www.pioneerinstitute.org/) **Today's topics:** Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York interviewed on CBS News' *60 Minutes*, the Pope's Lenten retreat, school choice, the Daughters of St. Paul dispute with Archdiocese of Boston over pension funds, St. Thomas More College relocation **A summary of today's show:** In a brisk review of the week's news, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York on being a "conservative" Catholic and then the ongoing response to the sexual abuse crisis; the Pope's Lenten retreat focusing on Pope John Paul II; an effort to repeal anti-Catholic laws in Massachusetts; the dispute between the Daughters of St. Paul and the Archdiocese of Boston does not undermine the mutual love and respect; and a relocation of a Catholic college to the archdiocese. **1st segment:** Susan reflected on the past week since her last appearance and how she and friends and colleagues have been reflecting on Lent and the joy in Lent. Scot said it's always a trial to keep up with Lenten disciplines and also there appears to be many more people showing up for Mass each day at the Pastoral Center. **2nd segment:** Scot and Susan welcomed Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry. First item up for consideration was an interview by *60 Minutes'* Morley Safer with Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York. Fr. Roger recalled knowing then-Msgr. Dolan when Fr. Roger was a seminarian at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Archbishop Dolan was as warm, friendly, and jovial as he remembered him and seemed to win over Morley Safer with his personality. Archbishop Dolan leads the US Catholic Church in several ways, both holding the biggest pulpit in the US at St. Patrick's Cathedral and as president of the USCCB. *A clip from the show includes Safer's comments calling Archbishop Dolan a right-wing conservative. Archbishop Dolan bristles at being called right-wing, but he is enthusiastically grateful and committed to the timeless traditions and history of the Church.* Scot notes that many people like to label the Church, especially calling people who take their faith seriously as right-wing. Greg noted that there's a tendency to put everything under political labels, like "left" and "right". But that doesn't really apply to the Church, which is what Archbishop Dolan was saying. Fr. Roger noted that Christ's word is eternal and those who follow don't put their finger in the wind to see which it's blowing. People try to make the Church a political messiah, like people tried to make Christ a political messiah back in the day. We are supposed to be conservative if we define it as supporting life issues and the Church's teaching on morality, but liberal if we define it as supporting the Church's teachings on the poor, for example. As Catholics we must defy those easy labels because we are called to be both. Susan said what came to mind was the paradox people saw in Pope John Paul II, being both orthodox on the Church's teachings and so politically "liberal" on issues related to war and peace. *A clip from the interview on the Archbishop's experience meeting with abuse victims and the Church's response to the scandals. in some ways, Archbishop Dolan said, he doesn't want the crisis to be over. It needs to haunt the Church.* Fr. Roger said he heard those words, having worked with so many victims who've been wounded in the Church, and it struck him because of the awful experience of the victims, not just from the original injury but also from the lack of compassion from the Church in so many cases. All of this needs to haunt the Church, and Fr. Roger is thrilled that Archbishop Dolan gets this at a visceral level. We don't just institute a policy and move on, but take it to heart and make reparation. And then use this as something that drives us to go on in a way that serves everyone into the future. Scot mentioned to Greg that so many want to just move on from the crisis, but there are others who say we always have to remember it because those who have been hurt will be with for a long time. Gregory sees a persistent theme in all coverage of the Church that the abuse scandal is always coming up. The Pilot has often received comments from readers asking them to stop covering the crisis because if something good can come out of the revelations of the abuse, it;s that it forced the Church to confront this evil, but also to bring awareness to the problem in general to society as a whole. The Church can provide a model to society on how to deal with this. Fr. Roger noted in this week's editorial that Archbishop Dolan has been using his blog to speak frankly and plainly about the issue of abuse as well as the response to the Church, the part of the story being missed which is that the bishops have begun to get things right and create the circumstances by which young children are perhaps safer in Catholic churches than in any other institution. We shouldn't be so ashamed at what has occurred that we become a punching bag for those who want to use the evil that occurred as a way to silence the Church. * [Archbishop Dolan's blog about his airport encounter with an angry man](http://blog.archny.org/?p=1127) **3rd segment:** Pope Benedict has an annual retreat for Lent along with the Roman curia. The theme this year was on Pope John Paul II. They also heard profiles of other courageous saints under a concept he called, "Dancing with the saints". Susan said she was pleased at the reference by the retreat master's reference to the upcoming beatification of Pope John Paul II: "This beatification, which will be an event of immense importance for the church and the entire world, requires deep spiritual preparation involving the entire people of God and, in a particular way, the Holy Father and his closest collaborators.' She also is pleased that the Pope recalls for us the importance of Lenten retreats. Fr. Roger noted that Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, the chaplain to the papal household, has preached the Advent retreats for the papal household for the past 32 years. He recently came to Boston to preach a night of reflection. * [Fr. Cantalamessa's website](http://www.cantalamessa.org/) Greg found it interesting that the theme was intended to help people prepare for the beatification of Pope John Paul II, especially since he only recently died. Pope John Paul II was a great believer in the potential of all people to become saints and he canonized and beatified more people than all other pope's combined and so his beatification and reflection on that now helps us to recall that vision. **4th segment:** Last week, there was a news conference featuring former US Ambassador to the Vatican and former Boston mayor Ray FLynn in which he highlighted the existence of anti-Catholic amendments to the Massachusetts constitution that hurt parents who wish to send their children to Catholic schools. It is called the Know Nothing amendment, referring to a nativist movement of the 19th century that resisted the influx of immigrants, especially Irish Catholics, and a great fear that the upstart Irish would gain power. The name comes from the fact it was a semi-secret organization. There was an 1854 amendment putting the original anti-Catholic laws in place and then another amendment in 1917 that blocked the ability to repeal the amendment by citizen referendum. * [The Know Nothing party](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_Nothing) The law prevents government aid from going to Catholic schools. Fr. Roger said there is immense economic pressure on Catholic schools, especially in the inner-city. People can't afford even the $3000 tuition, which is below cost, while paying thousands of dollars in property taxes for public schools. Archbishop Dolan has pointed out that studies show Catholic schools do a better job of educating inner-city students and do it at about half the cost of public schools. He said we don't address the issue because there is still an anti-Catholic bias. When this came up in Massachusetts in the 1980s, it failed despite the fact that many of the legislators were themselves Catholics and had experienced the benefits of Catholic education, because they had bought into the secularist arguments. Susan said every Catholic should have an interest in the benefits of Catholic schools. Inside every classroom in Boston is a sign that says "Christ is the reason for this school." Also, every society benefits from a populace that is well-educated. And on a practical level, if Catholic schools didn't exist, the burden on the public schools would be enormous. They would have all those Catholic school students without any additional property tax funds. We hope to have Ambassador Flynn and Catholic schools superintendent Mary Grassa-O'Neill on next week to discuss this issue in depth. **5th segment:** On the front page of the *Boston Globe* this past Monday, we saw an article on the Daughters of St. Paul, as the paper put it, suing Cardinal Sean. At essence of the story, the Daughters want to manage their pension fund on their own and the trustees of the Archdiocesan pension plan asked for proof that they had a management plan in place as required by their fiduciary duty to those who have contributed to the pension plans. Greg noted that the issue is not a new one, but has been going on for a long time and precedes any current changes to the pension plan that are being put in place for current employees. Scot wanted to make sure that everyone understood that there remains a lot of affection between the Daughters of St. Paul and the Archdiocese of Boston. Susan said she is personally close to the Daughters. It's important to realize that there are good people on both sides, she said. Her office is planning several projects with them over this summer and in the fall. They are a cutting edge religious order, involved in the communications and the media. Susan felt that Romans 8:28 is a good verse for this situation: "We know that all things work for good for those who love God." Scot said it is tough to see a religious order you love and the Church you love being put at odds on the front page of the newspaper. Moving on exciting news that St. Thomas More College is moving from its current location in Merrimac, NH, to Groton, Mass. It will become the 7th Catholic college in the archdiocese. Greg said the better news is that their move is motivated by plans to grow. He also notes that they're not abandoning the location in New Hampshire, which will become a graduate school. Scot said more good news is that the beautiful Sacred Heart Church in Groton was sitting unused because of parish mergers and that Groton was planning to build a fire station on the property. The college is purchasing the church as its chapel. An interesting side note is that the school's main property that it's purchasing is the former estate of the J. Geils band. The town wins by getting the property for its fire station, but also preserving a large open area. The college plans to move by 2013. The school said they will be able to revive their adult faith formation programs at the new location as well. * [The life of St. Thomas More](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14689c.htm) * [A Man for All Seasons](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060665/) St. Thomas More is the patron saint of lawyers and was the chancellor for King Henry VIII and gave up his life rather than capitulate to Henry VIII on his dispute with the Catholic Church over divorce. His letters to his daughter Margaret are very enlightening. * ["A Daughter's Love: Thomas More and His Dearest Meg" by J.A. Guy](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618499156/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=catholicnetrevie&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0618499156)…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams **Today's guest(s):** Tim Van Damm, vice-president of advancement and admissions, College of St. Mary Magdalen, and coordinator of AdorationBoston.org; and Kathy Reda, coordinator of the Eucharistic Congress for Youth and Young Adults * [College of St. Mary Magdalen](http://www.magdalen.edu/) * [AdorationBoston.org](http://www.adorationboston.org) * [4th annual Eucharistic Congress for Youth and Young Adults](http://www.eucharisticcongress.org) * [St. Clement Eucharistic Shrine]() * [The Light Is On For You](http://www.thelightisonforyou.org) * [Pilot Parish Finder](http://www.pilotparishfinder.com) * [Pilot Parish Finder iPhone/iPad/iPod touch app](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pilot-parish-finder/id406816873?mt=8) * [PilotParishFinder Android app](http://www.appbrain.com/app/pilot-parish-finder/com.thebostonpilot.parishfinder)) **Today's topics:** The College of St. Mary Magdalen's new name and new vision for itself; Perpetual adoration in the city of Boston at St. Clement's Eucharistic Shrine; the 4th annual Eucharistic Congress for Youth and Young Adults; and questions about confession…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Drs. David and Angela Franks and Dr. Aldona Lingertat of the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization at St. John's Seminary/ * [TINE](http://www.tineboston.org) * [St. John's Seminary](http://www.sjs.edu) * [TINE on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/pages/Theological-Institute-for-the-New-Evangelization/173683042661394) * [Photos from press conference launching TINE on March 17](http://www.flickr.com/photos/bostoncatholic/sets/72157626161918993/) * [Co-Workers in the Vineyard Conference](http://sjs.edu/News/2011CWITV.html) **Today's topics:** The new Theological Institute for the New Evangelization at St. John's Seminary and a new degree and certificates for laity, deacons, and religious that join the existing Master of Arts in Ministry program. **A summary of today's show:** The Theological Institute for the New Evangelization at St. John's Seminary is preparing laypeople, deacons and religious to become energetic and knowledgable evangelists and missionaries within their own parishes and out in their homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces to bring about the new evangelization envisioned by Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Seán. **1st segment:** Is God calling you to serve the Church as a professional lay minister or catechist? Or is God calling you to receive strong adult faith formation to know, share and defend the faith? If so, than today’s program is meant for you as we’ll be discussing the exciting new Institute at St. John’s Seminary for Adult Faith Formation. Fr. Chris said last week that they had the annual St. Patrick's Day dinner at St. John's Seminary, including Irish song, Irish cheer, and limericks that poked fun of the faculty. On St. Joseph Day, he had Mass with the Missionaries of Charity and lots of zeppoli throughout the day. It's an Italian pastry. Scot said his wife had her birthday this weekend, so he was able to break his Lenten diet as planned. He also wished a happy birthday today to Maria Bain, station manager for WQOM. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chris welcomed Aldona Lingertat and David and Angela Franks from TINE. David explained that St. John's has gathered immense resources to train men for the diocesan priesthood, so St. John's has made available these resources to laypeople who want to serve the Church. For the past decade that has been available through the Master's in Ministry and now the institute further expands the offerings of those resources. St. John's feels it's crucial to make these resources available to support the new evangelization. Angela said St. Patrick's feast day was chosen to launch because he was an evangelist and missionary to a hostile culture and we live in a society and culture that is hostile to our faith. Scot also pointed out that as St. Patrick is the patron of the archdiocese it ties the work to the archdiocese. Fr. Chris concurred and added that they hope it also offers resources for other dioceses in the region as well. A seminary is the heart of the diocese, he said. Aldona said the program students are all active in their parishes. The program makes sure the students are already active or asks them to become so first. They also offer a course in the basics of the Catholic faith as well. Scot noted that many Catholics, through no fault of their own, sometimes have not studied the faith as adults because formal religious instruction ended at confirmation. Angela said they found many people who come to their programs haven't read the Catechism. Scot said being part of a community while learning the faith is more fun and rewarding than studying alone. Aldona said there's an excitement in finding other people who care as much about the faith as you do. It helps grow and deepen your faith. Scot finds two significant aspects to the name. First, that it is an institute at the seminary and, second, that it is for the new evangelization. Fr. Chris said it responds to Pope John Paul II's call for a new evangelization marked by a newness in ardor, method and means. Pope Benedict has picked up on that theme and created a curial office dedicated to this work. It focuses not just on the missions abroad, but also on places where the Gospel has been proclaimed but the faith has been dimmed. Re-presenting the Gospel in ways accessible to today's culture. David said that calling it an institute means that the intention is to grow it larger. It is important that it is a theological institute, because a failure in theological work in recent years has led to a breakdown in communicating a straightforward belief in the divinity and resurrection of Christ and his mission in the world. The theological institute makes the riches of the faith available and says the seminary is here to empower the people to take hold of the means of theological communication, that you don't have to wait for some theologian to speak, but you can make the Gospel known in the world. Aldona said it is beneficial to have laypeople and religious study side-by-side in many cases with seminarians because when the students go out in to parishes the priests know that they have received solid instruction and a foundation for ministry. **3rd segment:** Discussing the Master of Theological Studies for the New Evangelization program. Angela said it is different from the Master of Arts in Ministry, which is is a ministerial degree. Many students were asking for an academic degree. The whole-person formation of MTS is toward evangelizing the world, as opposed to parishes and the church sphere in MAM. She said it is an innovative degree, one of only a few programs of its type in the country. David said that Vatican II said it was up to laypeople to evangelize and transform the world. The MTS degree takes theological, human, and apostolic formation and empowers the students to go out into their homes, workplaces, the political arena, and the marketplace. The MAM program is better for those looking to work in the Church, while MTS is about going out into other professions. Angela said the whole-person formation goes beyond simply providing books and syllabi and instruction in the classroom. It acknowledges the need to nourish the vocation through spiritual formation and social formation and other ways that lead the person to the kind of depths they need to have the rich vocational role to play. Fr. Chris made the distinction between education and formation. A typical university is concerned with the mind, but the institute is concerned with the mind and soul. Aldona added that they are teaching for belief. In most schools, people learn things, but not so they can believe. But TINE is educating for a believing community. David spoke of the Friday colloquia for the MTS. They get together once per month on a Friday night to discuss great works of literature, art, music, philosophy and more. There's a dynamism of ideas as the substance of the evening. They will engage these cultural treasures at a personal level. It's more relaxed than a classroom setting. Angela said the tasks of evangelization require practical experience in working with others and so literature can help one to gain life experience through understanding the insights that people before us have had. The MTS classes will meet evenings on Tues, Wed, Thurs, 5pm-9:30pm. Taking classes full-time, the program should take 2 years. It is intended to allow people who have regular jobs to take part. **4th segment:** Now discussing the Master of Arts in Ministry program, which has been in place in the archdiocese for more than 10 years. Fr. Chris said the people who enroll in MAM are moms, dads, people with full-time jobs committing to this additional work in order to serve the Church. Right now, in one class, he has a mechanic, a court stenographer, and a pastoral associate in a parish. Aldona said they are approaching their 100th graduate. After they graduate, students often go into professional positions in parishes that are open to laity, including director of religious education, Catholic school teacher, high school and college campus minister, pastoral associate, health care ministry and chaplaincy. Some continue in their regular jobs outside the ministry, but become involved part-time or volunteer in their parishes. Scot said pastoral planning surveys show there is a trend that parishes are going to need even more lay ministers in the future. Aldona said there's a new trend as well that shows a number of adults who are ready to retire, who are still young and healthy and energetic, who want to still study and serve their parishes. There are MAM students who go full-time, but most students take 3 or 4 years. There is no pressure on students to complete on a particular schedule. Scot said he has noticed a spirit in the MAM program and that the students are very close. Aldona said the classes have been built into a schedule that allows a lot of interaction. Classes take breaks at the same time, they have breaks for evening prayer. There are required monthly evenings where they have dinners and prayer together. Students stay in touch after graduation. She said the typical workload requires 4-6 hours per week of study outside of the 1-2 classes per semester. They also have scholarship money available for tuition. She encourages interested people not to let money be an obstacle. Fr. Chris said they are seeing pastors supporting pastoral ministers in the parishes by paying for tuition. There also audit options available for those who aren't interested in the degree. Aldona said she sees the auditors even doing all the papers. She believes auditing is mostly due to finances, not time commitment. This Thursday, March 24, at 149 Washington Street, Brighton, will be an open house, starting with evening prayer at 7pm and then a presentation afterward, a time for questions, and then meeting faculty and students. **5th segment:** In addition to the degree programs, there are 4 catechetical certificate programs, some meeting on evenings and some on Saturdays. This is the main avenue for reaching large numbers of laypeople. They are geared to those who want to get a formation in the faith, grounded in the Catechism, so that they are able to communicate the love of Jesus Christ to the world. They have had the program for about 2 years. One track has been for catechesis, teaching the faith, and apologetics, knowing and defending the faith. This fall, one Saturday per month for eight months, there will be two programs on catechetics and the basics of the Catholic faith. On the Saturdays they will have classes, small group sessions and the rest of the whole-person formation. They want Catholics to feel they can go out and talk about the truths of Jesus Christ and the Church without being defensive or nervous. Before and after the programs, they survey students about their comfort levels sharing their faith and afterward they always see students agree that they look forward to opportunities to evangelize in the world. Scot said these programs meet a real need to learn the faith at a low cost, $300 or less, and without a large time commitment. Fr. Chris said the seminary's goal is to help people to know the love of Christ and this helps people to come to know what the faith is all about. It acknowledges that the faith is attractive and the truth is attractive. The catechetical certificate is aimed at DREs and catechists by providing practical skills in addition to theological instruction. The Catholicism certificate is for people who just want to learn more about their faith with the same sort of theological content, but aimed at helping them share their faith with friends and family. Parents are encouraged to attend the catechetical certificate to educate their own children. As Cardinal Sean advances initiatives like Catholics Come Home, he needs an army of Catholics who know their faith and are energized to evangelize. There will be a free Biblical study seminar on the Mondays of June, 7-9pm this year with Prof. Cecilia Sirois. This year the topic will be on the women of the Old and New Testament. They are planning a graduate certificate for teaching Scripture in parishes. Next spring, they will offer certificate on the New Evangelization. It is a more advanced level after the basic certificates. It will focus on explaining the tough issues that come up, including the hard teachings on sexuality, reservation of priesthood to men, and other controversial and misunderstood issues in the Church. Fr. Chris said the wonderful thing is that TINE will be going out to parishes around the archdiocese to bring the good news of TINE to the people in the pews. On April 8, TINE is holding the Co-workers in the Vineyard conference, whose topic is the parish of the future. It will include several keynote talks, breakout talks, and Mass with Cardinal Seán. On April 9, from 1-3pm, St. John's Medieros Classroom, chaplains from prison ministry will speak on the ministry and how one can support the ministry even for those who don't feel called to go into prisons. Fr. Chris said it is part of the corporal works of mercy.…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Pat Gohn and Rachel Balducci for Faith and Family magazine's "Mom's Day Away" and Tom Shields, Peter Carpentier, and Dick Kiernan from Alpha for Catholics * [Faith and Family Live](http://www.faithandfamilylive.com/) * [Faith and Family's Mom's Day Away](http://faithandfamily.eventbrite.com/) * [Rachel Balducci's blog, "Testosterhome"](http://www.testosterhome.net/) * [Rachel's book, "How Do You Tuck in a Superhero?"](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080073372X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=catholicnetrevie&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=080073372X) * [Pat Gohn's website](http://www.patgohn.com/) * [Pat Gohn's podcast "Amazing Women"](http://www.patgohn.com/patgohn/AmongWomenPodcast.com.html) * [Pat Gohn's podcast "Catholic GPS"](http://www.patgohn.com/patgohn/Catholic_GPS.html) * [Pat Gohn at CatholicMom.com](http://catholicmom.com/author/pgohn/) * [Pat Gohn at Patheos](http://www.patheos.com/About-Patheos/Pat-Gohn.html) * [Pat Gohn at Catholic Exchange](http://catholicexchange.com/tag/pat-gohn/) **Today's topics:** Mom's Day Away for Catholic moms, Catholic moms in new media, and Alpha for Catholics **A summary of today's show:** Pat Gohn and Rachel Balducci talk with Scot about Faith and Family's Mom's Day Away for Catholic moms coming up on April 2 as well as their personal projects including blogs, books, podcasts, and online columns. Then Scot welcomes Tom Shields, Peter Carpentier, and Rick Kiernan to discuss the Alpha for Catholics program in the Boston archdiocese. Finally, Scot and George Martell talk about George's photographs and the unique ways the Internet allows him to share them. **1st segment:** Scot read a statement from Jim Wright, president of The Station of the Cross, on Fr. John Corapi's administrative leave and then read a statement from Fr. Corapi from his website. The Station of the Cross has suspended ticket sales for the August 6 conference with Fr. Corapi pending consultation with advisors and resolution of the situation. * [Fr. John Corapi's statement on his website](http://www.fathercorapi.com/default.aspx) **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Pat Gohn and Rachel Balducci of Faith and Family magazine. Pat said Faith and Family magazine and their website is a ministry of high quality for Catholic families and especially with Catholic moms in mind. Faith and Family Live is a great resource that brings together bloggers and has built a close-knit online community. Mom's Day Away is a day to bring the community of Faith and Family together. Rachel talked about the experience of meeting so many of the women who've been reading her blogs and book. It's an opportunity to give these Internet relationships a soul. There is a challenge to forming relationships online. It can be easy to forget there's a person on the other end of the computer. She was at the Catholic New Media Celebration in Boston last summer and had a great time meeting so many real life connections with people she'd already met online. You need the real-life connections to go along with the online interactions. One of the three keynotes is Jennifer Fulwiler. She grew up never believing in God, raised as an atheist. After getting married, she and her husband starting exploring the lack they felt in their lives. The Internet became a resource for her and through the Catholics she met online she discovered God and joined the Catholic Church. * [Jennifer Fulwiler's "Conversion Diary" blog](http://www.conversiondiary.com) Danielle Bean is the editor of Faith and Family magazine and one of the other speakers. Pat said it is her vision and leadership that has brought the magazine and website to where it is today. She's an author as well as wife and mother of 8. She brings a lot of exuberance and energy to everything she does including this day. * [Danielle Bean's books on Amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26redirect%3Dtrue%26ref_%3Dsr_tc_2_0%26keywords%3DDanielle%2520Bean%26field-contributor_id%3DB001KHVGS2%26qid%3D1300738838%26sr%3D1-2-ent%26rh%3Di%253Astripbooks%252Ck%253ADanielle%2520Bean&tag=catholicnetrevie&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957) * [Danielle Bean's blog](http://daniellebean.com/) Stoneham was chosen as the location for this first day because it was close to the publisher's home base in Connecticut and in a larger metropolitan area. Fr. Bill Schmidt of St. Patrick, Stoneham, generously offered the use of his very beautiful parish, which is conveniently located on a major roadways. They are keeping it small with just 200 tickets available. Rachel said although it's called Mom's Day Away, it's for all women. The three speakers all have big families and know what it takes to extricate themselves from the home. It's an opportunity to get together with other women, but also to get spiritual refreshment. It can be as intense or as laid back as they want it to be. She hopes women will go home refreshed and energized and able to be the best women they can be. Pat said her hope for the day is that there is a lot of laughter and time to talk over a great luncheon. There will be moments of prayer, adoration, silence, confession and the celebration of the Mass. They are joining together to build community between the women who come. There is a desire to celebrate the vocation of motherhood. Rachel said they're not forgetting about Lent with this celebration, but they're putting aside the sackcloth and ashes for just one day. Scot asked whether men should buy tickets for their wives to go? Pat said it would be a great Lenten service to the family if the husband could say to his wife that he will take over with the kids for a day so she can have this day away. Of course for moms with husbands who work on the weekends or are single moms, it would be great for others to step forward for them so they can get away. She also asked for prayers for the day. It will be 8am-5pm, April 2 at St. Patrick's Parish hall, Stoneham. Less than half of the available tickets are left. Tickets must be purchased online in advance, not at the door. * [Faith and Family Live's Mom's Day Away page](http://www.faithandfamilylive.com/blog/register_today_for_moms_day_away/) **3rd segment:** Rachel is the mother of 5 boys (and 1 baby girl) and she chronicles her experiences raising them on her blog. She started blogging 5 years ago when she had 4 boys under the age of 8. When the fourth boy became 3, life became overwhelming with a pack of boys roaming her home. Girls provide a tempering influence on their brothers. As a former newspaper reporter, writing is therapeutic for her and the blog helped her take a step back and look objectively at her life with her kids. Sharing funny stories helped her deal with the difficulties. Other moms write to her about how it helps them deal with raising boys. She has readers from all over the world. She recalls within the first couple of months getting a link from The National Review magazine's "The Corner" blog and she started to see readers from Australia and Europe and elsewhere. She felt good that her writing was reaching all over the world and encouraging the readers. One reader thanked her for reminding her to find the humor in her life's struggles and stresses. * [National Review's The Corner](http://www.nationalreview.com/corner) Her new book is "How Do You Tuck in a Superhero". Her aim is to help other moms become excited that God sent them boys too. Having boys helps her recognize that her job is to raise the boys to know, love, and serve Jesus, but boys are challenging because boys aren't particularly and innately religious. She wants to raise them to love Jesus and to be civilized human beings too. Scot asked whether Rachel always had a sense of humor or did she get it from raising boys. She said she comes from a very funny family that gave her a great sense of humor. **4th segment:** Pat agreed with Scot that Rachel has a great sense of humor and a great perspective. Scot said it's striking to him how close the pioneers in Catholic new media have become just through online relationships. Pat said using the Internet to make connections is part of the new evangelization. It's a new way of reaching out and touching the world in an evangelistic and missionary way. One of Pat's first new media initiatives was the Among Women podcast. Pat had already been writing online and as she got to know more and more writers, she found many of them starting podcasts. She explained what a podcast is: It is like a radio show that downloads to your computer and you can put it on your iPod or other digital media players to play anywhere. You can find them on individual websites or in iTunes. "Among Women" is a phrase from the Hail Mary and she chose it because when she's with other Christian women, she's happy to find community in Christ in the unique ways they relate. The podcast is part faith-sharing, part teaching, and part cup of coffee together. An episode could be about how to use the Bible as a devotional aid in prayer or recovery from abuse or women's issues. It looks at spiritual issues in women's lives and gives them expression. The first segment of each program is a profile of a saint or mystic and the second is a conversation with a woman sharing something from her own life. It could be an author or speaker or just a woman in the pew. It celebrates the faith and beauty and grace in a well-lived Catholic life. She's reached 100 episodes with her show. She and her husband Bob are very active at St. Michael's in Andover. They've been involved in faith-sharing groups, like Renew and Arise; prayer groups; Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; and music ministry. Their involvement evolved as their family has grown and evolved. St. Michael's is the largest parish in the Archdiocese and has a very long list of ministries and programs available. Pat has worked on the ministry team at the parish and saw how much work is involved. The downside of such a large parish could be the need to find a ministry to become involved with so one can feel a part of a very large community. That can happen in any parish. It's important to make familiar connections with that parish, to find opportunities for one-to-one sharing and relationships. * [St. Michael Parish, Andover](http://www.saint-michael.org/) **5th segment:** Scot welcomes Tom Shields, Peter Carpentier, and Dick Kiernan. Alpha for Catholics is a 10-week practical introduction to the Christian faith, primarily for non-church goers but also for Catholics refreshing their understanding of the faith. It includes a dinner followed by a 45-minute video and a 45-minute discussion. There's also a weekend away mid-course. It was first designed for non-Catholic Christians, but Catholics asked for it as well. Many bishops around the world have recommended Alpha for Catholics as well as papal preacher Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa. Some of the fruits of Alpha included the story of a Springfield diocese priest who was preparing to retire, but when he saw the effects of Alpha in enlivening his parish, he asked the bishop to delay his retirement. There is also Alpha for Youth, which uses youth presenters and talks and videos intended for them. Many agnostic and atheist-leaning kids come in and are completely turned around. There have been 16 million globally who have gone through Alpha. In New England, there have been more than 5,000. Why should Catholics do Alpha? More than 80% of Catholics don't attend Mass and many of those who do go, go out of obligation. Alpha helps engender a personal relationship with Christ. Alpha attendees routinely come to full sacramental participation in their parishes. It provides an important point of entry back into the Church for lapsed Catholics as well. It works best with the blessings of the pastor. There is a regional team of Catholic advisors to help train the parish's Alpha team. There are five upcoming luncheons and evening gatherings for pastors, parish staff, and lay volunteers to introduce them to Alpha leading up to training in June, which will equip them to lead Alpha in their parishes. * March 28, St. Mary, Rowley * April 4, St. Malachy, Burlington * April 5, Sacred Heart, Bradford * April 11, St. Joseph, Needham * April 14, St. Joseph, Holbrook One of the good ways to start Alpha is to attend a course at a nearby parish with other key leaders from your parish. A list of Alpha courses is available on the Alpha USA website. * [Alpha USA: New England](http://alphausa.org/Groups/1000045884/New_England.aspx) * [Alpha New England](http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=35964711541) * [Alpha for Catholics Boston](http://www.northshorecm.org/AlphaForCatholics.html) **6th segment:** Scot welcomes George Martell, the archdiocesan photographer, to talk about the Boston Catholic Flickr.com photography site. As he shoots photos at live events, the photos are automatically uploaded so they are available within minutes of being shot. It's especially good for people to follow along with friends and family who are on pilgrimages. George and Dom Bettinelli will be with the World Youth Day pilgrimage to Madrid this summer. George said that working with the Boston Herald for almost 20 years he never had that immediacy of contact with viewers. * [The BostonCatholic Flickr page](http://www.flickr.com/BostonCatholic) * [George's photos of the devastation of Haiti after the earthquake](http://www.flickr.com/photos/bostoncatholic/collections/72157623543912342/)…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's guest(s):** Marianne Luthin, director of the Archdiocesan Pro-Life Office * [Archdiocesan Pro-Life Office](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Pro-LifeOffice.aspx) * [Pregnancy Help Boston](http://www.pregnancyhelpboston.org/) * [Project Rachel](http://www.projectrachelboston.com/) * [Respect Life Education Office](http://www.respectlifeeducation.com/) * [Holy Hour for Life](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/HolyHourForLife.aspx) **Today's topics:** Archdiocesan Pro-Life Office, Pregnancy Help, Project Rachel, Respect Life Education, Mass readings for Sunday, March 20, 2011 **A summary of today's show:** Marianne Luthin shared the breadth of the Pro-Life Office's work, including Project Rachel retreats for post-abortion women; the Archdiocesan Pregnancy Help Center, which provides counseling and assistance for women in crisis pregnancies; and Respect Life Education, which creates curricula and trains teachers for school-age children and sponsors chastity speakers. Fr. Mark O'Connell and Scot Landry also previewed this coming Sunday's Mass readings on the Transfiguration of Jesus. **1st segment:** Fr. Mark reflects on his week: worked on 16 marriages cases, said Masses in four different places. Scot said that he met today with priests who work in the Central Region of the Archdiocese to talk about the work he's doing in Catholic Media. He found them very receptive to what they're doing in media. The Church is very active in pro-life efforts. The March for Life is one activity, as well as the Way of the Cross for Life on Good Friday. Many priests, deacons, seminarians, religious and laity all participate. But there is much more, which Marianne Luthin will share after the break. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark welcome Marianne Luthin. Project Rachel retreat is coming up on March 26. It is an outreach ministry across the US and the world designed to offer hope and healing and reconciliation to women and men who've participated in past abortions. It takes its name from Rachel in the Old Testament, and in the Holy Land there is a shrine to her where women come to pray for safe childbirth. It recalls [Jeremiah 31:15-17](http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/jeremiah/jeremiah31.htm) where Rachel weeps inconsolably and the Lord comes to her to tell her to cease her cries of mourning, there is hope for the future. Marianne knows many women cry tears of desolation for years and it is the mercy of God that can heal those tears. There are countless millions of women who suffer the effects of abortion. There are 1.2 million abortions in the US every year and with every abortion there is both a father and a mother, and sometimes their parents and medical workers and friends and family who participate. It is estimated that nearly 1 in 3 women of childbearing age in the US have had abortions and Catholics abort at about the same rate as non-Catholics. Fr. Mark asked if the women on these retreats are those who have recently had abortions or if it's those for whom it's been a long time. Marianne said that they often find its women coming to them after years living with abortion. She had one woman who was in her 90s who'd had an abortion 69 years ago. The most common reaction of a woman having an abortion is a sense of relief right after it happens. But it's after that fact, maybe after getting pregnant again or on the anniversary of the abortion, that all these issues come to the fore. Scot asked whether she encounters many women who believe incorrectly that they can't be forgiven for the abortions. There are probably many who do who never call or contact her office. She estimated that close to 80 percent of the women who call them say something like, I understand God forgives, but I can't forgive myself. Many woman go to confession after confession, but can't experience the healing love of Christ. On the "Healing Waters" retreats, they begin by helping them understand it's a totally confidential process. They don't even list the location of the retreat publicly. They also ask the participants not to repeat any stories they hear and that raises the comfort level of the women attending. Ideally, no more than 10 women are on any retreat because the team needs to be able to offer each woman exactly what she needs to experience the healing love of Christ. Fr. Mark asked how common it is for men to come forward to ask for help. Marianne said it is very rare. The schedule of the day includes Scripture reading; personal witness; a social worker who speaks to the women; a Penance service; quiet time for personal prayer; Eucharistic adoration; information about monthly support groups; and ends with Mass. Scot said he's seen the information about the retreats primarily in bulletins. How would Marianne recommend people spread the news about it to women who've had an abortion? She said that it is very tricky and the person would have to know the woman very well; that each situation is different. This is why the bulletin ads are so important, because they offer a confidential, low pressure means of spreading the word. But someone could also say something like, "I've heard about Project Rachel, they have retreats, a website, and there's a video on the website." There's also a section on the website of testimonies of women who've been through Project Rachel and the difference its made in their lives. Those 30-40 women represent a cross-section of every kind of woman. Every woman will find something to match her experience. Other retreats will be May 21 and June 25, all on Saturdays, 9am-5pm. The phone number is 508.651.3100. If someone wants to support Project Rachel financially, they can write a check made out to "Project Rachel" and send it to the Pro-Life Office, 5 Wilson Street, Natick, MA 01760. **3rd segment:** There was an article in the Pilot last week about the new ultrasound machine that is just part of what the Pregnancy Help Center of the Archdiocese does. The center was founded by lay volunteers in 1973. The Archdiocese took it over as a full-time ministry in 1985. They offer services in 3 languages. They have two trained nurses who offer help in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Women struggling to make a decision about abortion can find counseling, information, and now an ultrasound. Ultrasound can make a tremendous difference, particularly with this new machine because you can see the baby's heartbeat at 6-1/2 weeks, which is about when most women find out they're pregnant. Having spoken to hundreds of women who've had abortions, she knows many women regret having made the decision to have an abortion too quickly. They never had the time to reflect on the full-range of what they were doing. Fr. Mark said the ultrasound sounds wonderful, but it may sound scary to some people. Marianne said it's the women herself who makes the decision to have an ultrasound. The ultrasound is housed at the ob-gyn offices at St. Elizabeth Medical Center. So when a woman comes to the Pregnancy Help center, she meets with a counselor first to talk about where she is in her pregnancy and what her concerns might be. The ultrasound enables her to understand more fully where she is in her pregnancy. Often when she sees a picture of her child, she forms a bond with him. Ironically, in an abortion the abortionists use an ultrasound, but won't let the mother see it. Not every woman needs or wants an ultrasound. Some women have already made the decision not to have an abortion, but now have been abandoned by others in their lives or need a lot of help to continue. The Pregnancy Help center is not just about telling women not to have an abortion, but provides positive assistance right through the time of birth, even up to several years after. Each counselor develops a personal relationship with each client and knows what she needs: financial assistance, housing assistance, referrals to services, help with employment issues, assistance with maternity and newborn needs. Marianne said that thanks to parishes in the Archdiocese, they are able to offer the practical assistance to these women in need. Fr. Mark asked about lack of insurance, and Marianne said the women are signed up on the spot. * [Pilot story on ultrasound machine](http://pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13088) * [Cardinal Seán's blog on visiting the Pregnancy Help office](http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/2011/03/11/catholics-come-home-2/) **4th segment:** A lot of the material goods used in the pregnancy help centers are gathered by parish-based baby shower programs. The program was founded by one woman 26 years ago at Holy Ghost Parish in Whitman who wanted a way to participate in a pro-life work and so she invited friends to bring an item for an expectant mother and it grew from there to become the pregnancy help parish baby shower program. Many parishes will set up a place in the back of the church for people to drop off items for expectant mothers and children. There are practical ways for everyone to help. Fr. Mark encouraged parishioners in parishes where the baby showers aren't held to talk to their pastor about setting one up. Marianne said groups like the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Daughters of America are also active in providing assistance. Many young people are getting involved, engaging the whole parish and working to explain the program to others. Once you make that one-to-one human connection of providing a specific gift, like a child's snowsuit, to a specific child, even if you don't meet them yourself, it makes a lasting impact. Other ministries include the Spiritual Adoption program: take as an intention in your prayer life one particular mother and child and at the end of the 9 months hold a baby shower. March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation is a good time to begin because that it is when Christ came to us as an unborn child. Respect Life Education's main program is the curricula for middle schools, including "Created for Love", written specifically for parish-based religious education in the Archdiocese of Boston. They also sponsor talks by nationally known chastity speaker Jason Evert in the archdiocese. Lenten Pro-life retreat on April 16, 9am-2pm at the Daughters of St. Paul convent in Jamaica Plain. Everyone is encouraged to attend, including those who've been involved in pro-life ministries. They will have a reflection by Bl. John XXIII Seminary seminarian Edward Rama, who before seminary was very involved in pro-life ministry in his parish. * [Lenten Retreat - Come Away With Me For Awhile](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Events-Calendar/Event-Detail.aspx?id=19738) **5th segment:** To get the most out of Mass, we have to prepare. The more you put in to it, the more you get out of it. Each Friday, Scot and Fr. Mark will talk about the readings coming up for that Sunday's Mass. First reading is from Genesis 12:1-4 and the Gospel is Matthew 17:1-9. The two readings are interrelated. This is the Transfiguration Gospel. There aren't many times in the Gospel that we hear the voice of God the Father. He doesn't just identify Jesus as His Son, but tells the disciples to listen to Him. Scot believes this is significant. How many times do we just hear the Scriptures, but not really listen to them and internalize them? Fr. Mark said the first reading and the Gospel build up to that line, "Listen to Him." In the first reading, the covenant with Abram has three promises. The great nation is fulfilled in Moses, with the exodus from Egypt; the great name is fulfilled in David, who became the kingdom, and the great blessing is in Jesus, ultimately in the cross, but starting with the Transfiguration of Jesus. Scot said another connection between these readings is the idea of going forth: Abram goes forth from his home. The disciples and Jesus went up the mountain to pray, but came down to minister. And now the disciples were not the same anymore. Fr. Mark noted that Peter wanted to stay in the moment, but Jesus leads them down the mountain to where the work is. Every now and then we have glorious "mountaintop" experiences, but faith is lived in the real world "down the mountain." Scot also noted that the disciples were afraid, but Jesus tells them, "Do not be afraid." He also asked Fr. Mark what we should make of Jesus telling them not to tell anyone about the vision. Fr. Mark said he thinks it's too much for them to understand in the context, that this is a glimpse of Jesus' glorification, but that the fullness of glorification would come in the cross and that people could not understand the full extent of glorification except in light of the cross and Resurrection. Lent is a calling to us to change, to be transfigured. * [Readings for March 20, Second Sunday of Lent](http://www.usccb.org/nab/032011.shtml)…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese; and Justin Bell of the Catholic Media Secretariat * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org/) * [The Boston Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) **Today's topics:** Crisis in Japan and the Church's response; the Rite of Election; Massachusetts bishops on low-income energy heating policy; the real St. Patrick **A summary of today's show:** Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy join Scot and Susan to discuss how the tragedy in Japan as a reminder for prayer and to consider God's mercy; they discuss the significance of the Rite of Election and the preparation to receive new members of the Church; the Massachusetts bishops ask Congress not to cut home heating oil assistance and how that affects the dignity of the person; and who is the real St. Patrick? **1st segment:** Scot welcomes Susan to the show and they discuss St. Patrick's Day. Susan shared what she heard in the homily at Mass this morning at the Pastoral Center. Fr. Bob Oliver talked about the Breastplate of St. Patrick, and that if St. Patrick felt the need for armor in his ministry to protect him, then perhaps we shouldn't domesticate him too much. Scot said that the theme song for The Good Catholic Life is "St. Patrick's Breastplate" by Martin Doman. He wrote it as the theme song for the 2007 Boston Catholic Men's Conference. * [Martin Doman](http://www.martindoman.com/) * [St. Patrick's Breastplate](http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/legacy/id323621256) * [Boston Catholic Men's and Women's Conferences](http://catholicboston.com/) **2nd segment:** Gregory Tracy and Fr. Landry join Susan and Scot. The situation in Japan is one of most significant tragedies and calamities of our lifetime. Greg reflected that so many are overwhelmed by the scenes, the videos of the tsunami devastating everything in their path. It recalls for him how powerless we are in the face of the forces of nature. It takes these disasters to remind us that man is not the ultimate force in the world. One of the Japanese bishops said that life is a gift of God and is in the hands of God. Fr. Landry said it is difficult to watch every night to see so much suffering. It is hard to see other people like us to suffer so much. As a pastor, he tries to convert that sorrow into prayer. We know that this life isn't all that there is and even though we might die tragically, it doesn't mean that life is over. We pray for those who died and their loved ones. That is how we respond as Catholics. He is pleased that Cardinal Sean and Bishop Coleman in Fall River have authorized collections to provide for the physical and monetary needs in Japan. We can let them know that in the midst of charity they are not alone and that the love of people from across the world is stronger than a tsunami, that the radiation of Christian faith is stronger than nuclear radiation. Most parishes will take up the collection either this Sunday or the next. Scot had no doubt that Catholics in the region will be as generous as they always are when such collections come up. Fr. Roger is always pleased that in his inner-city parish so much is raised for these collections. Scot said that he's always felt that it is better to donate to a Catholic organization to show how we as a Church respond. Susan said that she remembers reading an assessment of relief organizations and Catholic Relief Services was highest rated as the one in which the most pennies per dollar reach the people on the ground. People often ask, "How could God let this happen?" Fr. Landry said that such disasters are never positively willed by God, but the best explanation was *Salvifici Doloris*, in which John Paul II said suffering causes us to become Good Samaritans, it unleashes love. We can't stand on the sidelines. It forces us to become who we really are in sacrificing for others. If we believe in an afterlife with God, we can't absolutely say death is a tragedy. The Caritas director in Japan said there is now an opportunity to witness to the truths of Catholic faith and Catholic love. Greg said in a country that's not necessarily a Catholic country, it shows that the Church is there witnessing to the value of all human life, that we're concerned for everyone, not just Catholics. Susan said it also answers the question, "Lord, who is my neighbor?" In a global community, it is a person half a world away. * [The Holy Father's calls for prayer for victims of disaster in Japan](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13096) * [Cardinal Seán's announcement of a collection for Japan](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Utility/News-And-Press/Content.aspx?id=19780) * [Catholic Relief Services](http://www.crs.org/japan/) * [Salvifici Doloris](http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_11021984_salvifici-doloris_en.html) **3rd segment:** On the front page of tomorrow's *Pilot* is last Sunday's Rite of Election at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, in which those preparing to be received into the Church at Easter are welcomed by the Cardinal. On this past Sunday, there were two ceremonies in order to accommodate them all and their families. In Boston, there were 600 catechumens, nationally there are 150,000. Susan said this is the evidence of the universal Church. At the Rite of Election, you see people from every continent, of all ages. Greg was there and shared what he saw as a photographer. He said it was beautiful to see the catechumens, those who are unbaptized, and the candidates, baptized Christians who are going to be received into full communion with the Church. The front-page photo of the *Pilot* is of a 10-year-old boy who signed his own name into the book of Election. There is a catechumen or a candidate and behind them always comes a family or someone else who is guiding them into the faith. Fr. Roger described the preparation of the catechumens and candidates leading up to the Easter vigil. At the liturgies, they will receive scrutinies to help them determine their intentions and to stoke their desire to become not just Catholic, but good Catholics. Fr. Roger said at his parish that he's interviewing each person and continuing with their education in the faith. He pointed out that we don't give 25 years of instruction in 3 months time, but give them the basic foundation to understand that we trust in Christ and trust in what Christ did and in His Church and what it confesses. These are intense times for them as they examine their own intent and bring up any questions for discussion with those helping them on their journey. Susan said the renewal of baptismal vows on the Easter vigil by the whole Christian community is a very important participation in the ceremony of reception of catechumens and candidates into the Church. Of course, we reject Satan and his evil works, but the renewal asks us to reflect on what form those evils take in our lives. We ought not answer too glibly, but deliberately. Scot quoted one of the candidates, Kelly Elpers, who attends St. Elizabeth of Hungary parish in Acton: >"This is a 20-year journey for me -- something I've always wanted do." Elpers was raised in a non-religious household and never baptized. ... The only times Elpers attended Mass was if she went with friends, and before having a family of her own, the only time she attended was on Christmas and Easter. She said attending Mass without being able to fully participate was difficult for her, but she wanted to learn more abou the Mass. "I didn't understand what I was missing and what they were a part of," Elpers said. >Elpers said she even attended other Christian churches at times, but she was most drawn to the Catholic Church's history, tradition and Mass. "There was something so special about the Catholic Mass for me," she said. >Through raising her children Catholic she became more involved in the Church, ultimately deciding to be received into full communion. "Now that I'm part of something so big and so beautiful, words cannot describe the feeling." We pray for all those preparing to come into full communion with the Church and those helping them to prepare. **4th segment:** Discussing a letter sent this week by the bishops of the 4 dioceses in Massachusetts to congressional leaders on proposed cuts to the Low Income Energy Heating policy. It would cut heating assistance from $5.1 billion to $2.7 billion and would hurt the Northeast disproportionately. Scot said the four Mass. bishops rarely put out a common letter and this shows this to be a significant issue for them. Greg said that the cuts are a drop in the bucket for the deficit. Meanwhile, heating oil is mainly used in the Northeast, while virtually everywhere else only natural gas is used for heating. Ten years ago, heating oil was 78 cents per gallon and this year it's up to $4 per gallon. The Church is always on the side of the most disadvantaged, the poor. Fr. Landry said it difficult to balance fiscal responsibility with the need of the poor. The Church says we're supposed to love everyone and to have a real solicitude for the needy. This is the moral nucleus of what they wrote: >Our plea is that, when considering how to navigate through this difficult budgeting process, Congress preserve a special place and regard for the most vulnerable of our citizens, particularly those whose precarious economic circumstances force them to choose between shelter and clothing or between heat and food. There can be a vibrant debate over what form that care can take, whether it's through federal government or local government or a non-governmental solution, but there must always be a conscious regard for how those people will be taken care off. It is callous to say we're going to cut the budget by 50% without considering how the vulnerable are being left even more vulnerable. Susan said the bishops remind the government how much the Church does in social services, but also say the Church can't do it alone. Also, twice in the letter they talk about the dignity of the human person. * [Massachusetts bishops' letter on proposed cuts to Low Income Energy Heating policy](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Utility/News-And-Press/Content.aspx?id=19736) **5th segment:** Welcoming Justin Bell to have a conversation about St. Patrick. Justin has been speaking in various venues on "who is the real St. Patrick," after having produced a documentary on Ireland that included a look at St. Patrick's life in the life of the Irish people. St. Patrick was a real person born about 373, his father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest. He lived a comfortable life, was well-educated, and a Roman citizen. He was kidnapped by pirates at 16 years old and sold into slavery in Ireland. He was a captive for 6 years and had a huge conversion experience. At 21 he escaped and went to Europe where he studied and prayed. At the age of 30 he received a vision in which he received a letter entitled "the voice of the Irish" and he heard the people of Ireland asking him to return to walk among them. This became his sacred calling, to become an apostle to Ireland. He didn't go back right away, but spent 30 more years preparing for his mission. Scot noted that even St. Patrick hadn't even done much by the age of 30 and this can be a lesson for young adults. Justin agreed that God prepares us in the present moment and young adults are too often looking ahead to something else rather than living in this moment. Scot said devotion to St. Patrick can be intense, but is often missing from St. Patrick's Day celebration. St. Patrick is not about binge drinking and carousing. The way we should celebrate him is to learn more about his life and his mission for us. Justin's idea for his documentary was to profile different Irish people's lives as an expression of Irish life and culture, but interwoven with the life of St. Patrick. The name of the documentary is "Seven Shades of Green." One of the people he interviewed is a Nigerian immigrant who had been elected as the first black mayor in Ireland. The saints are alive today and they are interested in our lives and we can pray to them, Justin said of the lessons he's learned in his study of Patrick. Susan said she marked St. Patrick's Day growing up, but it was very home-centered. Always starting with Mass, then a corned beef and cabbage meal, and wearing green, but her grandfather had come over in the famine and they were very much aware of the sacrifices of the Irish. Justin recalled the term the Green martyrdom, referring to so many Irish missionaries and priests who went out from Ireland, bringing Christ around the world, but never to return home. Scot said one way to model oneself after St. Patrick is to be a missionary and even in the Boston area where so many are nominally Catholic, this is a place ripe for missionary activity. Scot said it was the Irish priests who came to Boston in the early years of the Church in this area that grew the Church so large and the Irish immigrants who laid the foundation. We can only claim St. Patrick as a patron to the extent that we are missionaries. The documentary is showing at the Watertown Public Library next Tuesday. Justin said the reception to it has been very good because it engages the audience in real people's lives. Scot then mentioned that Cardinal Sean and Bishop Arthur Kennedy announced the launch of the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization at St. John Seminary. They will be discussing the new institute next Tuesday on The Good Catholic Life when Fr. Chris O'Connor, who has been named president of the institute, will be co-hosting. * [St. Patrick](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11554a.htm) * [Seven Shades of Green](http://www.sevenshadesofgreen.net/) * [The Theological Institute for the New Evangelization](http://www,tineboston.org) * [Subscribe to The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org/subscribe.php) * [Subscribe to The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/subscribe.asp)…
**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams, director of the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults **Today's guest(s):** Stephen Colella, assistant director of the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults, and Seth DeMoor, founder of the website OneBillionStories.com. * [Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults](http://www.one4boston.org) * [OneBillionStories.com](http://www.onebillionstories.com) * [Seth's appearance on CatholicTV's "This Is The Day"](http://www.catholictv.com/shows/default.aspx?seriesID=72&videoID=89) * [World Youth Day Madrid official website](http://www.madrid11.com/en) * [Eucharistic Congress](http://www.eucharisticcongress.org) * [The Light Is On For You](http://www.thelightisonforyou.org) **Today's topics:** World Youth Day Madrid 2011 and the Boston pilgrimage; OneBillionStories.com telling the faith stories of one billion Catholics; Listener questions about the sacrament of confession **A summary of today's show:** Stephen Colella of the Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults talks about World Youth Day pilgrimages, including this summer's WYD in Madrid, and their value to young people on a faith journey. Seth DeMoor tells us about his plan to collect the personal witnesses of all one billion Catholics on their lifetime journeys of faith. And Stephen, Scot, and Fr. Matt answer listener questions about the sacrament of confession. **1st segment:** How is Lent going for Fr. Matt? Sometimes it's hard to remain true to Lenten disciplines, and those failings remind us of how much we need a savior. So for him it's been wonderful and humbling. Scot has said a new diet regime has given him new appreciation for "praying with your whole body." Today was very active at the Pastoral Center. There were 120 people at noon Mass with the Sisters of Life from New York and all the pro-life directors from around New England. Cardinal Sean gave a great homily as well. Fr. Matt said you see Catholics embracing the wonderful practice of daily Mass for Lent. Many people don't realize that we can go every day, that there is Mass every day of the year, except Good Friday. It's a good habit to form. Tonight is the first of the six Wednesdays during Lent in which we will have the Light Is On For You. Every parish throughout the archdiocese will be open for confessions from 6:30 to 8pm. Questions about confession may be emailed to [LIVE@thegoodcatholiclife.com](LIVE@thegoodcatholiclife.com), texted or called into 617-410-MASS. * [PilotParishFinder.com](http://www.pilotparishfinder.com) * [PilotParishFinder iPhone app](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pilot-parish-finder/id406816873?mt=8) * [PilotParishFinder Android app](http://www.appbrain.com/app/pilot-parish-finder/com.thebostonpilot.parishfinder) **2nd segment:** Stephen Colella joins Scot and Fr. Matt. World Youth Day 2011 is in Madrid. Every 3 years it's a celebration of young people gathering from around the world. Steve said Madrid is a classic European city, lots of plazas for gatherings, lots of historic churches and relics. His team has been planning since the last one, in Sydney, Australia, in 2008. Each WYD has its own flair, culturally, and the marks of the universal Church in that place. You also experience the culture, food, and music that makes that place unique. For example, on Wednesday of that week, the WYD organizers have rented every theater in Madrid and will be showing Catholic films submitted in every language. Fr. Matt said pilgrims should expect it to be hot, hot, hot. Some forecasts say it can be 110 degrees. They prepare the pilgrims by drilling into them, "This is a pilgrimage, not a vacation. On a pilgrimage, we never complain about anything." With that said, in Spain, you have the oldest marian shrine in the history of the Church, Santiago de Compostela. Spain has some of the greatest saints in history. In Spain, you're always encountering churches, still in good condition, that are older than our country. * [Santiago de Compostela](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_de_Compostela) Scot said he would love someday to visit the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Fr. Matt said that the pilgrimage will be making a stop there. Stephen said his favorite church in Madrid, St. Gines, a smaller church and absolutely beautiful with side shrines dedicated to almost every saint you can imagine. The other is in Valencia, a church that traditionally is said to house the relic of the holy Grail. * [Sagrada Familia](http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/) * [San Gines](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Gin%C3%A9s,_Madrid) Stephen said that the schedule of the week of pilgrimage reflects the paschal mystery, as Pope John Paul designed it. When the Boston pilgrims arrive they will land on Sunday; have Mass at the cathedral and a tour on Monday; the opening Mass by the local bishop on Tuesday night; then catechetical festivals by language group through the week. The Pope arrives during the week, and on Friday there is the Stations of the Cross. On Saturday morning, the pilgrims rise early and have Mass with Cardinal Seán (many pilgrims from other places will seek out the cardinal's Mass, knowing him from his blog.) Then the pilgrims will walk 3-4 miles from St. Francis Basilica to the overnight site, where the pilgrims camp out and have celebrations throughout the evening with Holy Father. In the morning, the Holy Father celebrates Mass and announces the next World Youth Day. The pilgrimage ends with a dinner for the whole Boston group, and then they return to the US. * [San Francisco el Grande Basilica, Madrid](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_el_Grande_Basilica,_Madrid) **3rd segment:** Continuing the conversation about World Youth Day. Pope John Paul II made WYD a centerpiece of his papacy and he believed that moments in time can be a huge part of the faith journey. He had a theology for young people that was powerful and inviting. Stephen said Pope John Paul had in mind with WYD to restore the concept of pilgrimage. Pilgrimage is not a program or itinerary, it's an experience that is coached or directed. The subjective person, with whatever they bring with them, can go through the experience as a member of a community and still receive the universal objective truth. People on pilgrimage can have profound moments. You can train adults to have a model of leading an experience. You coach pilgrim in a system that is successful and you make them successful, which is the Bill Belichick model. The leaders can help a young person process what they've experienced as perhaps a life-changing adult reversion or conversion experience. Fr. Matt said he's been to 4 World Youth Days, the first one in Rome when he was a seminarian staying at St. Joseph, Quincy. In 2002, Toronto; 2005, Cologne, Germany; and 2008 in Sydney. In Rome, his powerful memories are of the heat, the crowds, and the incredible history of the Church, and the love of the Pope. A constant throughout this is the young people's encounter with the love of the Holy Father. The "Catholic sense" kicks in when the pilgrim encounters "Peter." The pilgrimage triggers the heart to be more receptive to the Gospel. His first two times, he went as a pilgrim, not a leader; but the second two he went as a leader, helping to direct young persons to grow in the areas they need. In Australia, what blew him away was when the young people started hearing the theology of the body teachings. At the end of the week in Australia, he and Stephen hosted a gathering of young people to help them be able to articulate what they had experienced to their friends and family, to be able share what they learned. Three young women on that trip used the contents of a girl's purse to illustrate the pressure that the world puts on them to be attractive to boys, and they said they learned that their relationship with Christ was more powerful and what gave them real value. When asked where they learned it on the trip, they said it was in the sacrament of confession. * [Office for the New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults](http://www.one4boston.com) * [World Youth Day Madrid 2011 site for the Boston pilgrimage (under construction)](http://www.wydmadridboston.com) **4th segment:** Scot and Fr. Matt welcome Seth DeMoor. He said he was raised Catholic, but was pretty lukewarm growing up. He learned the faith in his mind, but it never traveled to his heart. He attended the University of Colorado, where he encountered two excellent priests who helped him discover his faith. One Billion Stories refers to the one billion Catholics and he believes that all Catholics have a story to share. Jesus taught through parables and stories. Fr. Matt asked what sharing one's story does for the faith. Seth said that it's difficult to connect with people just through the teachings of the Church or even Scripture, but they may listen to a personal testimony from someone if it's authentic and real. In November 2009, he was about to graduate from university and didn't have a job, so he decided to start a bike ride from Florida back to Denver, Colorado over 2,400 miles, collecting stories. This was the start of the website. It took 90 days. Before he left he had only 4 contacts for places to stay during his trip. He brought camping gear, but over the 90 days he only had to camp out 7 nights. Every other night people would take him in, usually folks he would encounter at daily Mass. They would hear his story and soon he would be eating dinner at their house. Fr. Matt is reminded of Christ sending out the 72 disciples who he told not to bring extra supplies, but to depend on providence. Seth said that story of the 72 was poignant because Christ sent the disciples in pairs, and he went alone and it was very difficult. One of the surprising stories was interviewing a gentleman who popped out a glass eye in the middle of the interview. But more inspiring was a young man in Gainesville, Florida, who had fallen away from the faith, got into Buddhism and New Age then fundamentalist Christianity, hating the Church. But by the time Seth interviewed him, he was in RCIA. Fr. Matt asked him what audience he was drawing to the website. Seth said as a 25-year-old he spends a lot of time with similar age people and that's the biggest part of his audience and those who are contributing their stories, but his most devout audience are mothers who are really engaged with the stories. He is asking people to record and submit their stories on video. He's asking for 3-5 minute videos recorded in high def that share people's own stories of what they love about the faith. Email them to [seth@onebillionstories.com](seth@onebillionstories.com) He's working on a new series for CatholicTV in 13 parts that's the back story to his pilgrimage and the stories he encountered. It will air in September. For OneBillionStories, he's also looking for people to help him take the mission to the next level, recording and compiling stories from around the globe. It's not his full-time job, but he's hoping to turn it into a non-profit. * [CatholicTV](http://www.catholictv.com) **5th segment:** Every Wednesday, we announce the winner of the 1060 WQOM Benefactor Raffle. This week the recipient will win a copy of the "2011 Calendar of Indulgences" from Bridegroom Press. This week's winner of the Benefactor Card raffle is **Rose Dacorta from Dorchester Center, Mass.**. Congratulations to Rose. * [2011 Beauty of Grace Calendar of Indulgences](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601040415/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=catholicnetrevie&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1601040415) If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit [WQOM.org](http://www.wqom.org). For a one-time $30 donation, you'll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for our weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs, and religious items. We'll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during The Good Catholic Life. **6th segment:** Stephen rejoins Scot and Fr. Matt. They will answer questions submitted by listeners about confession. 1. Over the past few decades, many parishes have added reconciliation rooms to allow face-to-face confession. Is the Church suggesting that face-to-face confession is better than in a traditional confessional? Fr. Matt said that allowing for face-to-face, an interpersonal communication becomes possible, but both forms are valid. The most important thing is to just go. Stephen said he prefers face-to-face, because it holds him accountable to the priests he frequents. Scot is strong for the anonymity of the confessional booth. He typically goes to St. Anthony shrine, where they start at 6:30 am every day. 2. I saw a story on the new iPhone app for confession. Some stories have suggested it’s a way to go to confession rather than seeing a priest. Please tell me that it isn’t true. Scot said it is definitely not true. The app is a tool to prepare for confession, allowing you to examine your conscience. It's not unlike printing out an examination of conscience; it's just a digital version of that. It was the first app to receive a bishop's imprimatur. Fr. Matt said that the examination of conscience helps the penitent to have the courage to go to confession and to make it more fruitful by preparing before confession. Jumping into confession without reflecting ahead of time doesn't give the opportunity to make sure every part of life has been looked at before confession. Stephen says he does an examen and he likes the idea of the app. Technology is neutral, can be used for good or ill. * [Confession: A Roman Catholic App](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/confession-a-roman-catholic/id416019676?mt=8) 3. I know I need to confess my sins to a priest, but it's difficult to explain to others why sins need to be confessed to a priest when God is all-knowing and can see our contrition. Fr. Matt said it goes back to Christ telling the apostles that they have the authority to bind and loose, a power and authority that was handed on in the life of the Church. Grace comes to us through the sacraments. When we confess, we encounter Christ through his ordained representatives. In confession the person articulates the sin aloud, and the priest is able to receive that confession and articulate the mercy and absolution. * [The Light Is On For You](http://www.thelightisonforyou.org)…
**Today's hosts:** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor, vice-rector of St. John's Seminary **Today's guests:** Bishop Robery Hennessey, auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Boston, and Sinisa Ubiparipovic, a seminarian studying at St./ John's Seminary. **Today's topics:** The Light Is On For You, Lenten confessions, a seminarian from Yugoslavia, the St. James Society and South America * [St. John's Seminary](http://www.sjs.edu) * [The Light Is On For You](http://www.thelightisonforyou.org) * [St. James Society](http://www.socstjames.com/) **A summary of today's show:** Bishop Robert Hennessey reflects on the beauty of the Sacrament of Confession and the message of God's forgiveness it contains. He also notes the wonderful success of The Light Is On For You, a confession initiative during Lent and Advent. Seminarian Sinisa Ubiparipovic talked of his journey to seminary and his recent travels to South America with the St. James Society, while Bishop Hennessey recalled his years with the Society, the important work they do, and the important fruit it continues to bear for the Archdiocese. **1st segment:** Fr. Chris O'Connor joined Scot on the show for the first time. He shared some of his background that brought him to the seminary. He grew up in Dorchester and Quincy, went to BC High, attended St. John's Seminary College, went to Rome for a year, returned to finish his studies, spent some time in St. Mary, Chelmsford, received a doctorate in Philosophy from Catholic U in DC. St. John's has had a renewal in recent years. It has almost reached capacity with seminarians and continues to grow. Many of the men entering were inspired by the example of Pope John Paul II. Bishop Arthur Kennedy, the rector, has provided great leadership and expanded their mission to become a regional seminary. It also offers a series of lay leadership and ministry formation courses. There is a master of arts in ministry program to form parish ministers. They also offer catechetical certificates. On Thursday at 11am, Cardinal Seán and Bishop Kennedy will announce a new lay formation program during a press conference at the cathedral, followed by the St. Patrick's Day Mass. **2nd segment:** Bishop Robert Hennessey joined the program. He was ordained a bishop on December 12, 2006. Prior to that, he served the Church in various ways, including the St. James Society. He grew up in South Boston at St. Augustine's parish. He attended St. John Seminary and then served in several parishes and then went to Bolivia for several years with the St. James Society. He then served Most Holy Redeemer in East Boston, the largest Spanish-speaking parish in the archdiocese, as pastor for 12 years. Then he was appointed as bishop. Two years ago he was appointed to lead The Light Is On For You, a Confession initiative for Lent and Advent. Confession is not just for Lent, Bishop Hennessey said, but frequent confession is good for us. It is a great place to find out, not that we're bad, but that we're loved by God. Even if we disappoint God or anger Him through our sins, we are still beloved of Him. Fr. Chris asked the bishop which Scripture passage he would say is the best to talk about Confession. The bishop loves the Prodigal Son, mainly because the young man was able to admit his faults, but also before he could tell his father that he was no longer worthy to be his son, the father cut him off with his loving forgiveness. We cannot say we are not worthy to be loved by the Father, because His love is a free gift of His grace and His very nature. Scot said that it is not just the story of the Prodigal Son, but also the story of the Loving Father. Bishop Hennessey said that the father was keeping watch for his son, because we know he saw the son coming back from a distance. In Pope Benedict's book, "Jesus of Nazareth", he says it's not just the Prodigal Son, but the Prodigal Son*s*, because it is both sons who disappoint their father and who need forgiveness. * [Jesus of Nazareth](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1586171984/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=catholicnetrevie&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1586171984) Bishop Hennessey said that the adage is true: Confession is good for the soul. He is always amazed in hearing confessions that people are willing to share with him those intense moments of their lives and feels great being an instrument of that forgiveness of God. Scot observed that the Sacrament of Penance is not used as frequently as it used to be, citing a recent study: 14% of Catholics go several times a year or more, 12% once per year, 30% less than once per year and 45% can't remember their last confession. * [Sacraments Today: Belief and Practice among US Catholics, CARA study](http://cara.georgetown.edu/sacraments.html) Bishop Hennessey said he thinks people just got out of the habit. In his childhood, he remembers that everyone went to confession on Saturdays. That was the only thing going on in the Church on Saturdays. But now, the vigil Mass puts a limit on how long the priest can be in the confessional. A part of the reason is we're not providing as many opportunities for confession. This is why they chose Wednesday for The Light Is On For You because Saturday from 3-4pm is so busy in our modern lives. Fr. Chris agreed that part of the lack of use of the sacrament is because so many people no longer have a sense of sin. But there is something very powerful about hearing the words of absolution. Oscar Wilde once said, "Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future." Scot recalls a powerful analogy by the author and speaker Matthew Kelly in his book "Rediscovering Catholicism" comparing confession to getting your car washed and detailed. * [Rediscovering Catholicism: Journeying Toward Our Spiritual North Star](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1929266081/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=catholicnetrevie&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1929266081) Kelly's analogy is that after a car wash and detailing, you avoid every mud puddle and try to keep the interior spotless, but over time, the dirt inevitably comes and trash accumulates and you stop trying as hard to keep it clean. Likewise after confession, we are careful to avoid sin, but then we begin to allow venial sin into our life and as those venial sins pile up, we become desensitized even to mortal sin. So frequent confession keeps us sensitized to sin. Bishop Hennessey likes the analogy because the spiritual cleansing of confession is for our interior life, like the detailing of the car. Fr. Chris noted that Cardinal O'Connor had said that no sin can be more powerful than the power of the Cross. **3rd segment:** Discussing now The Light Is On For You. It began in some other dioceses, and Cardinal Seán brought it up in a meeting of Boston's bishops several years ago, asking Bishop Hennessey to lead it. TLIOFY started in Lent 2010 and it has been received well by priests and parishioners. He had assured them that this was not something that would require meetings. They just had to be in their churches on Wednesdays. A key is that it is every parish at the same time so that the people know they can go anywhere, wherever they are, Wednesdays 6:30-8pm. The best estimates (because the seal of confession forbids taking counts) is that more than 30,000 people went during the Wednesdays in Lent last year. Fr. Chris said that having a regular scheduled time of confession is helpful because of our very busy scheduled lives. Bishop Hennessey said some worried whether priests would support this, because it would not work without their support, but his experience is of almost universal support. He got two complaints from priests last year, and one of them called him back after Easter to apologize because of how wonderful it was. The other turned out not the be angry at all, but reported that he was in the confessional until after 10pm hearing confessions. Scot noted that there was a concern that we were asking priests to add yet another duty to their already stretched lives. They were also concerned whether anyone would show. Fr. Chris said he was meeting a priest for dinner at a Wednesday last year, but while the priest was waiting outside the chapel for Fr. Chris to finish, he started to hear even more confessions from so many people who were waiting. Scot said some people call it the forgotten sacrament, which may indicate that as a Church we don't embrace it as frequently as we should. Bishop Hennessey said that in his 12 years as a pastor, he learned firsthand the difficult schedules that pastors have, but also that administering the sacrament of confession was a beautiful part of his vocation appreciated by all priests. For people who think their sins are just too big or too complex for some young priest to hear them, Bishop Hennessey said it's not about the priest's experience, but it's about receiving God's mercy and encountering His infinite loving forgiveness, which is medicine for the soul. Scot said we wouldn't be reluctant to tell our doctor what our symptoms are if we really want to be healed of whatever ails us. Plus, a priest of almost any experience will have heard just about everything. Bishop Hennessey said it was a joy to hear people bare their souls so he could offer them the words of forgiveness they were seeking and the penitent often thanked him for lifting their burden. Fr. Chris noted that the sacraments offers both forgiveness and grace and the grace gives assistance to avoid that sin again in life. If someone has not been to confession in a long time and feels unsure of what to do or say, that's okay because the priest is there to help them and wants to help them. Scot said that in the story of the Prodigal Son the father throws a celebration for his son who has returned, and God rejoices whenever we return to Him in the sacrament of confession. The website of The Light Is On For You has tremendous resources for examination of conscience and to learn more about the sacrament of confession and God's loving forgiveness. All the prayers are there, print them out from the website and bring them with you to the confessional. * [The Light Is On For You](http://www.thelightisonforyou.org) * [Pilot Parish Finder](http://www.pilotparishfinder.com) * [Pilot Parish Finder (iPhone app)](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pilot-parish-finder/id406816873?mt=8) * [Confession (iPhone app)](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/confession-a-roman-catholic/id416019676?mt=8) **4th segment:** Sinisa Ubiparipovic was born in Yugoslavia, in Bosnia in 1987, his family moved to Germany temporarily, and in 1999 came to the United States. They lived in Lynn, which was a culture shock because he grew up in a small village. He worked at St. Joseph's church as a youth and the pastor there encouraged him to become a priest, but he refused to consider it. He studied accounting at Bentley College, lived a typical college lifestyle, and traveled throughout Europe encountering all kinds of people. But no matter who he talked to, he noticed that everyone was looking for happiness, which led him to wonder where that desire comes from. He concluded that there must be an answer to the desire for true and eternal happiness. When he went to see Pope Benedict in New York City, he saw all around him the incredible diversity of the Church, like the incredibly rich diversity of peoples he had encountered in his travels. That's when he applied to the seminary. As part of his studies last year for spring break, he went with a group from St. John's to Peru to work with the St. James Society. Sinisa had never been to South America. The first day they arrived, they were sent to parishes and he ended up at the parish furthest from the mother house for the society. This parish had 40,000-50,000 parishioners and all were extremely poor in a dirty, dusty shantytown. Nevertheless, the people had a sense of faith and a sense of hope for life beyond this life. Fr. Chris said the experience made him aware of how blessed we are as Americans, even to have clean water from a tap. The sheer poverty you encounter, yet also people filled with life and joy. People had very little, but were extremely happy because they had the Lord. It made him aware of where our focus should truly be. Bishop Hennessey was pastor of a parish in Bolivia for many years as a member of the St. James Society. He recalled that when the people prayed, "Give us this day our daily bread," they meant it in a literal way. The people wanted more out of life, but there was also a contentment in daily life. He was led to the missions because as a young priest he was blessed with a great pastor in Plymouth, Fr. Dan Lynch, who had served in the society. Fr. Lynch spoke about the fraternity among the St. James priests, who become closer in their bond of priesthood because they are serving in an alien culture with a different language, even though they may be physically distant from one another. When Bishop Hennessey was in Bolivia, the nearest priest was sometimes stationed several hours away. The St. James Society was founded by Cardinal Richard Cushing in the 1960s responding to a call by the Pope for dioceses to be generous with their priests to the missions. And now as we struggle to have enough priests for our people, we are receiving many priests from the places to which we had sent our priests in those years past. Fr. Chris asked Bishop Hennessey what sort of Lenten practices he saw in South America that we could adopt here. He saw an emphasis on confessions. There are also penitential groups that get together regularly for corporal works of mercy, but also literally to carry the image of Our Crucified Lord through the streets of the city for hours at a time. Bishop Hennessey said the Archdiocese of Boston is stronger for all the immigrants that have come to us in recent years and we are reaping the rewards as a Church. Fasting and almsgiving are disciplines for Lent that help us to remember the needs of others. What should we be doing to support the missions through our Lenten disciplines? The Lenten almsgiving boxes ("rice bowls") are still quite effective. Even little bits of money, gathered together, go a long way. As a young man studying for the priesthood, Sinisa takes to heart the admonition that every priest is called to be a missionary, whether at home or abroad. He hopes that as a priest he can be a bridge to salvation through the sacrament of confession, even if he can be that conduit just once for one dying penitent soul. Cardinal Seán is asking every Catholic to be a missionary by praying for and inviting home Catholics who are away from the Church. Bishop Hennessey sees that The Light Is On For You as the best way for Catholics to come home, by getting a complete fresh start.…
**Today's host:** Scot Landry **Today's guests:** Bishop Daniel Reilly, bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Worcester, Mass.; Angelo Guadagno, organizer of the Worcester Catholic Men's Conference; Deacon Jack Sullivan of St. Thecla Parish, Pembroke; and Fr. Dan Hennessey, director of the Office for Vocations of the Archdiocese of Boston. * [Office for Vocations](http://www.vocationsboston.org) * [Diocese of Worcester](http://www.worcesterdiocese.org/) * [Worcester Catholic Men's Conference](http://www.firstmensconf.org/www.firstmensconf.org/Welcome.html) * [Pilot article from August 2010 on Deacon Sullivan's miracle](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=12190) * [Archdiocesan Eucharistic Congress](http://www.eucharisticcongress.org) **Today's topics:** Lenten retreats, the annual Archdiocesan Eucharistic Congress, the Worcester Catholic Men's Conference, and the miraculous intercession of Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman. **A summary of today's show:** The Worcester Men's Conference was the seed of the nationwide Catholic men's conference movement over the past decade, and that tradition continues at this year's conference later this month. The keynote speaker will be Deacon Jack Sullivan of St. Thecla Parish in Pembroke, whose miraculous healing from a spinal ailment led to the beatification of Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman. And on April 1 and 2, the fourth annual Eucharistic Congress for Youth and Young Adults will take place in the North End of Boston as hundreds of youth witness to the power of Christ in their lives. **1st segment:** Welcoming Fr. Dan Hennessey. He reports that there are many men interviewing and considering applying for the seminary this spring. He talked about the St. Andrew's Dinner for young men in high school. The most recent dinner welcomed 75 young men. There also retreats for men 18-40 held at St. John Seminary and for men older than 40 at Blessed John Seminary. There are currently 59 men studying for the archdiocese at St. John Seminary, Blessed John XXIII Seminary, Our Lady of Providence Seminary, and the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Interested men should call Fr. Dan at 617-746-5949 or through the [Vocations Office website](http://www.vocationsboston.org). **2nd segment:** Scot welcomes Bishop Daniel Reilly and Angelo Guadagno. Bishop Reilly was bishop of Worcester for 17 years and one of his passions was working with men. He doesn't like to consider himself as retired, just emeritus, and so as long as he has the capacity to minister he will be there with the people and be a witness to faith. Bishop Reilly and Angelo and others launched the Worcester Men's Conference 11 years ago and it was the first men's conference in the country. At the time, PromiseKeepers was a large Evangelical movement for men, and Catholic men were coming to Bishop Reilly and wanted something similar. Shortly after that, a pastor called the bishop about a man who wanted to serve the Church. That was Angelo. They met and talked about ministry for men. At first they worked with other dioceses in New England, but in 2001 they decided to go forward on their own in Worcester and it has been very successful and uplifting. It gives the men who attend something to direct their Lenten journey toward. The talks of the conference carry them throughout the year and give men's groups a foundation to build upon. Angelo said men usually come to the conference because they were invited by someone and thus the conference is an environment of fellowship. Men come to the conference because it's easy in these days for a man to feel isolated and alone, but when he comes to the conference and sees 1,000 men who are like him, have his values, his point of view, then he no longer feels alone. The second reason is that it's easy to plateau in our faith, to think that because we go to church every Sunday that's enough, but the conference gives a challenge and the tools and incentive to take another step in faith, to move up one notch, to keep doing one more thing. The men also come to learn, to laugh, and to leverage, to leverage what they learn in order to be a better husband, dad, and man and it stays with them for the rest of the year. About 70 other dioceses have copied what has happened in Worcester and it must be fulfilling to see how their work has taken fruit. Bishop Reilly said it was just reading the signs of the times, that there was a natural desire for this type of ministry. It was providential for Angelo to come along and it just took off. It seemed to be all a part of God's time. Angelo spoke about the speakers at this year's conference. Kicking off will be Deacon Jack, who we will hear from in a few minutes; then Mark Shea, author and speaker, on the 101 reasons to not be Catholic and the *one* reason to be one; Fr. Dave Cavanaugh on rediscovering confession as part of the path of the Prodigal Son and preparing men for the work of the new evangelization (Typically, the confession time is a highlight for the men; last year the conference organizers received hundreds of positive comments from men who experienced the sacrament); Kellen Clemens, a quarterback for the NY Jets on living as a Catholic within the pressure cooker of the NFL and the high profile life of a professional athlete in New York City; and Michael Franzese, a former Mafia don with a bounty on his head who has had a major conversion experience. The conference is March 26, 2011, starting at 8:30am and ending with Mass at 4pm. Bishop Reilly talked about the experience of hearing the confessions of so many men at the conference. First, there's the atmosphere of the whole conference with so many powerful talks to inspire the men. Then at 11am, about 50 priests come in and hear confessions for two hours. And the men line up to give their confessions, each to a randomly selected priest, face to face. And the quality of the confessions is very high, the bishop said. Fr. Dan said that seeing so many come to confession is a grace for the whole diocese, but also for the priests. Scot said that it's a way that men in mass numbers can meet the mercy of Christ. When you see men leave, they're standing taller. And when the priests leave, they're energized at what they have seen. **3rd segment:** Deacon Jack Sullivan joins the panel. He will be one of the speakers at the Worcester men's conference and it is the first men's conference he will speak at. In 2001, he had just concluded his second year of his diaconal formation for the Archdiocese of Boston when he awoke one day with horrendous pain in his back and legs. Five or six of his vertebrae had turned inward and began squeezing his spinal cord. There had been no accident or trauma; it just happened. A surgeon specialist told Deacon Jack that he likely would be paralyzed and he was scheduled for surgery about the same time he was to return to his third year of classes. He consented to the surgery for the sake of his work and family, even though he would have to drop his diaconal program. Even so, recovery would take months. He returned home and turned on EWTN, only to hear priests speaking about Cardinal Newman and about the difficulties Newman experienced throughout his life. At the height of his fame as an Anglican preacher in England, he converted to Catholicism. At the end of the program, Deacon Jack saw a notice that anyone who experienced favors due to Newman's intercession should contact the cause for Newman's canonization, so Deacon Jack prayed with all his heart to be able to continue his classes. The next morning he awoke without any pain. He was examined by his doctor, one of the foremost spinal surgeons in the country. His spine was still deformed, but he had no pain, and so the surgery was canceled, although the doctor fully expected the pain to return. Nine months later, the day after the last class of his second semester, the pain returned. Deacon Jack thanked Cardinal Newman for interceding so he could finish his classes. He had the surgery and there were unforeseen difficulties that resulted in further problems and a bleak prognosis. After the surgery, he was told he wouldn't be able to enter his fourth year of classes in two weeks. They didn't know whether he would ever walk again and if he did it would take months of rehab. After four days of thinking about it, Deacon Jack decided to try to walk and in excruciating pain, he prayed again: "Please, Cardinal Newman, help me to walk so I can return to classes and be ordained." Suddenly he felt tremendous heat and a tingling sensation all over his body. He also felt a strong sense of peace and love. He was totally consumed by the experience; like experiencing a piece of heaven. When he started to come out of this state, he had a strong feeling he could walk. So he said to the nurse, "I have no more pain." At this point, he was standing, rather than being hunched over in agony. He had no need for a walker and began walking all around normally. Deacon Jack submitted the miracle to the postulator for the cause, and it was investigated by the Church, which determined that there was no medical or scientific explanation for the cure. The experience of receiving the miracle starts with asking, "Why me?" But he also thinks God wanted to honor the life of service of Cardinal Newman to the Church and how he has affected so many thousands during and after his life. Somebody had to experience it, and Deacon Jack said he guessed that the Lord needed someone lowly. God is active in performing miracles today and this miracle is not just for Deacon Jack, but for all of us. Bishop Reilly said that in Jesus' public ministry, he did not heal everyone. He healed some, while others learned that they just have to put their faith and trust in God. Fr. Dan asked how people have reacted to the story. Do people question it or do they just say Wow? Deacon Jack said he's learned some lessons. For one thing, he now knows that Cardinal Newman is alive in heaven and it shows that the kingdom of heaven is real. Also, it makes him face his trials and sorrows and those of others with a different attitude. These situations are opportunities to exercise our faith. Newman believed in divine providence, that God loves us intensely, and wills us to receive some greater good out of our experiences if we just have faith and trust in Him. It's a good lesson for Lent: If we have faith, it will be okay. Pray to the Lord, Our Lady, Blessed John Henry Newman and the other saints for intercession. While Deacon Jack only prayed to continue his studies, God healed him because God knew what Deacon Jack really needed. Bishop Reilly said it tells us that we should be people of faith who ask God to see our need, and to ask Him specifically for what we need to serve God's will. It has to be within the context of faith, not for show. Last year, Deacon Jack was the deacon at the Mass of beatification for Cardinal Newman in England celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI. He said it was an incredible privilege. The previous summer, the master of ceremonies for the beatification Mass came to Massachusetts to ask Deacon Jack personally if he would proclaim the Gospel at the pontifical Mass as deacon and if his wife Carol would be willing to carry up the relic of Bl. Newman. He said it was amazing to meet the Pope and speak with him. When Deacon Jack thanked the Pope for coming to England, the Pontiff leaned over and said to him, "Thank you for all this." Bishop Reilly hoped that the men at the Worcester conference who hear the talk will see that we're here in the world to live our faith and to let people see it. Chesterton said, "We don't need a church that moves *with* the world, we need a Church that moves the world." That's what happened here with Deacon Jack, he said. * [A brief bio of Cardinal Newman](http://saints.sqpn.com/blessed-john-henry-newman/) **4th segment:** The week after the men's conference, on April 1 and 2, will be the Eucharistic Congress. Fr. Dan said that a Eucharistic congress is focused very much on a real encounter with Christ. This congress is mainly aimed at college students in the region to come into the North End in the heart of the city for a time of worship and service. This year's theme is "Pope John Paul II: Be Not Afraid." Bishop Reilly shared how Pope John Paul really attracted young people. You also knew he had the love of Eucharist in him. Before celebrating Mass, he would often pray before the Eucharist for long periods. One time, Bishop Reilly was with the Pope after he had returned from World Youth Day in the Philippines, where he spoke before 6 million people, the largest gathering of humanity in history. Bishop Reilly remarked that the Pope had been seen and heard by more people in history than any other person. He replied, "Well, thank God." At the Eucharistic Congress, one of the major features is a procession through the North End with the Eucharist. It's on a Saturday night in the North End, so there's usually a lot of people who see. There's a Mass with Cardinal Sean on Saturday night. There's also a time of confession and Eucharistic adoration. The young adult organizers also plan service projects as part of the weekend. One of the projects is to go to the Boston Common with the Little Brothers of St. Francis to hand out supplies to the homeless. Another is to go to a park in the North End to clean up. Fr. Dan expects 500-600 to attend this year. * [The Eucharistic Congress](http://www.eucharisticcongress.org) * To find out more about the Worcester Men's Conference, call 508-929-4345 or go to [www.firstconf.org](http://www.firstconf.org)…
*Due to technical difficulties, the first 15 minutes of today's program are not available in the stream and podcast. Much of the content is available in the show notes below. We apologize for the error.* **Today's hosts:** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell, Judicial Vicar for the Metropolitan Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Boston. **Today's guest(s):** Bishop John D'Arcy, bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend, Indiana and a former auxiliary bishop of Boston;,and Fr. Michael Harrington, director of the Office for Cultural Diversity and Outreach and assistant director of the Office for Vocations of the Archdiocese of Boston. * [Tribunal](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Tribunal.aspx) * [Office of Vocations](http://www.vocationsboston.org) * [Office of Cultural Diversity and Outreach](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/OutreachandCulturalDiversity.aspx) * [Cardinal Seán's Blog](http://www.cardinalseansblog.org) * [Diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend](http://www.diocesefwsb.org/) * [St. Mary, Star of the Sea, Beverly](http://www.stmarystar.org) **Today's topic(s):** The importance of Lenten retreats and missions; Cardinal Seán's Lenten message to Catholics in the Archdiocese of Boston; Listener questions about Lent and Lenten practices. **A summary of today's show:** Today's hosts and guest discuss Cardinal Seán's Lenten homily on Ash Wednesday and its call for Catholic to use this time to take stock, to "update our obituary," and to make sure that we're always moving forward in the spiritual life. Lent is also a perfect time for the work of evangelization that is Catholics Come Home. This initiative is one of the spiritual works of mercy to which we are commended during Lent. Bishop John D'Arcy also recalled his years as a priest and then bishop in Boston and then talked about how Lenten missions and retreats are a spiritual aid to Lent, as well as a work of evangelization and a renewal of the parish. Finally, Scot, Fr. Mark, and Fr. Michael answered some common questions about Lent, especially those surrounding the practice of fasting. **1st segment:** Scot and Fr. Mark recalled their experience of Lent as children, giving up meat on Fridays. Fr. Mark then gave a brief summary of his life and vocation as a priest. As judicial vicar, he is "the canon law guy." The Metropolitan Tribunal's main focus are marriage cases and annulments. They also do some criminal cases, financial cases, and even cases related to saints. In future broadcasts, they will delve into those subjects more. One day he came back from lunch and said he'd had a great lunch of chicken noodle soup. His secretary reminded him that it was a Friday in Lent. Another worker in the office, who happened to be Jewish, came in then and called out, "Look, I've got my tune sandwich. It's Friday in Lent." So, the Jewish woman remembered Lent, but the priest did not. **2nd segment:** Scot asked Fr. Michael Harrington what his hopes are for Catholic radio. He said St. Paul would be doing the same thing if he were here today, using every means to reach out to people. Scot, Fr. Mark, and Fr. Michael considered the following clip from Cardinal Seán's homily for Ash Wednesday: > Lent is such a special time in our year. It is a time of new beginnings, of reviewing our lives in the light of the Gospel, to deepen our conversion and to draw closer to God and to one another. > The ashes on our forehead are to remind us that we are pilgrims in this world. One day death will end that pilgrimage and we will have to render an account of our stewardship. How did we use our talents, our treasure, our time? Did we make this a better world by our love and generosity? If we have been living selfish and self-absorbed lives, Lent is an opportunity to clean up our obituary, to change the direction of our life. Change is never easy. We need a lot of help and we need a plan. Lent first of all, must be a renewal in the life of prayer. There can be no growth in faith and holiness without prayer. Each day we need time and space for God. > Hence, our first Lenten resolution should be about our prayer life. Daily reading from the Gospels and the Scriptures can be a very important way to deepen our prayer life, to find direction and encouragement in the Word of God. Jesus wants us to know His voice and to ponder His words in our heart. Scot highlighted the Cardinal's admonition that "Lent is a time to clean up your obituary." It received a laugh from the congregation, but it is very true. Fr. Michael said what he heard was that we all need a plan of life. We can't just spontaneously enter into the spiritual life, because we won't grow. The plan of life leads to spontaneity. Fr. Mark said what he heard was that the Cardinal wants us to come out of Lent as better people than how we entered. We need to make a conscious effort to pray every day of Lent. Scot said the Cardinal was basically saying that if you do only one thing during Lent, you need to grow in prayer: "Jesus wants us to know His voice and to ponder His words in our heart." Fr. Michael: "By our prayer, it all becomes God's work, not our work." What suggestions would Fr. Michael have for people to enter into Lent. He said, the most important thing is to just do something. To start something. Fr. Mark said, that if busyness in prayer gets in the way, we need to focus. We need to quiet the brain and quiet all the stuff going on around us, so we can hear God speak to us. We have a very busy life, Scot said. But we need to make an appointment with God, even if it just for 10 or 15 minutes. He asked the Fathers what they think are the best times to pray. Fr. Michael said early mornings are best because it's before everything gets hectic and it also sets the tone for the day, placing his time before God. Fr. Mark said he recognizes how the morning is best for others, but for him the end of the day is best because his examination of conscience is where he meets God the most. In his homily, the Cardinal said Jesus is just as concerned with the "how" as much as the "what" of our faith practice. Fr. Michael tied it in with the Cardinal's words that we should not settle for mediocrity in our life. We should strive to be great. The Cardinal also said, Standing still is going backwards in life. Either we go forward or we fall back. Scot said that just showing up is not enough. Lent can help us establish new habits to grow in faith and to break old habits that are not helping us move forward in prayer. Fr. Michael: "Lent is a matter of the heart." The voice of Christ speaks in our heart. When we seek Him, we find He's been seeking us. **3rd segment:** This Lent, Cardinal Sean has launched the largest outreach initiative in more than a generation for us in the Archdiocese of Boston. It is called Catholics Come Home. Let’s listen now to the conclusion of his Lenten message where he asks us all to incorporate Catholics Come Home into our practices this Lent. > In the past, we have often asked our Catholics to practice the corporal works of mercy…to feed the hungry, provide clothes and shelter, visit the sick and prisoners. This is part of who we are as the Catholic Church…why we are involved in Catholic Charities, Saint Vincent de Paul, Catholic Relief Services, Health Care, Orphanages and soup kitchens and shelters and cemeteries. But we sometimes forget that these are also spiritual works of mercy; to instruct the uninformed, counsel the doubtful, admonish sinners, bear wrongs patiently, forgive offenses willingly, comfort the afflicted and to pray for the living and the dead. > I consider the Catholics Come Home initiative as a Spiritual Work of Mercy. It expresses our concern about people’s interior life, their relationship with God, their spiritual hunger. We want people to know Christ and His love, because we believe that in Christ we find the answers to life questions and come to eternal happiness. > The Church exists to evangelize and this Holy Season of Lent is a special time of opportunity. And so as the Prophet tells us, “Sound the trumpet, proclaim a fast, gather the people and invite the Family to come home”. Fr. Mark said evangelization is Cardinal Sean's passion and we've had so many distractions since he's come here and this is finally a time for him to focus us on this, his passion. Scot said, Boston is often an example around the country for our works of charity, but we haven't yet distinguished ourselves for our evangelization. Fr. Michael said the Cardinal tied together the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. As Catholics, they are not optional. Fr. Michael recalled a new pastor telling him that his goals for his new parish were to find out of the parish was living the works of mercy. The corporal works of mercy are to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, visit the sick, visit the imprisoned, and bury the dead. The spiritual works of mercy are to correct sinners, instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, comfort the sorrowful, bear wrongs patiently, forgive injuries, and pray for the living and the dead. Basically to care for people's physical needs and the needs of their soul. The Church exists to bring Christ to the world around us, not just in our actions, but to be deliberate in speaking the Gospel. Fr. Mark said that what strikes him about Catholics Come Home is that we are reaching out to our own people; it's a new focus for evangelization. The Cardinal has asked us to pray for those who will receive an invitation and those of us who will invite, then to do the inviting, and then to be welcoming in our parishes. If we see someone new at Mass this Sunday, reach out to them, introduce yourself, and welcome them. **4th segment:** Scot welcomes Bishop John D'Arcy to The Good Catholic Life. Bishop D'Arcy has been a priest for 54 years and next Monday he will return to his first assignment as a priest at St. Mary Star of the Sea in Beverly for a parish mission. He spent 8-1/2 years and it's where the people taught him what it means to be a priest. It was an extraordinary experience. When he moved onto his next assignment in Rome, he left with a deep appreciation of what it means to be a parish priest. A parish mission and Lenten retreat is a good practice for Lent. Why should Catholics seek to attend the mission at their own parish or, if your parish isn’t having one, at a nearby parish like St. Mary’s in Beverly? Bishop D'Arcy said that the missions are about faith, prayer, sacrament of penance, but the real strength of them is strengthening the faith of the devout, and also reaching out to those whose faith has become weak. The key is the work of the laity in the parish to prepare for the mission, to reach out to everyone in the parish, to provide services like babysitting or transportation for the elderly. Parish missions should also tie themselves into Catholics Come Home. These large group gatherings in parishes help people to approach church in anonymity because it might make them feel more comfortable than making an appointment with a priest or even coming to Sunday Mass, at first. Likewise, if they don't go to confession that week, then maybe they will be inspired to go sometime later and return to the practice. What is the central message of this mission, which is entitled "Christ, Yesterday, Today and Forever"? During the mission, the bishop will speak of the challenges of modern life to a life of prayer; the call to repentance and penance; Eucharistic spirituality, bringing Christ to others; and what the parish will do after the mission, where the parish needs to do more work. In February, Bishop D'Arcy was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and he said he is doing fine. He made sure with the doctors that he would not have any radiation treatments before the mission so that he would be strong for the people of Beverly. His outlook is good and he's more than halfway through treatment. He has received many, many letters promising prayer, both from people in Boston and those in Fort Wayne. A week on the North Shore near the ocean will be just the thing for him. His retirement has kept him busy, giving quite a few retreats for priests, bishops, and religious in various places. After the St. Mary mission on Tuesday night, he will give three talks at Blessed John Seminary on Wednesday and then return to Beverly. Then on St. Patrick's Day, he *must* celebrate a Mass while in Boston. The rest of the week's schedule is also full. He does miss shepherding the diocese, because you hold the diocese in your heart, but now there's more time for prayer and reading. He is adjusting very well. **5th segment:** Now we answer listener-submitted questions about Lent: 1. What do we have against meat and can we substitute lobster for meat? Back in the day when the practice started, meat was for the privileged and fish was for the poor, so it was an attempt to connect everyone to the poor. Technically, lobster would be in the letter of the law, but it's not in the spirit of sacrificing for the poor. 2. Why aren't Sundays part of Lent and does this mean we can "cheat" on Sundays? Fr. Mark says this is a disputed question. He's of the opinion that Lent includes Sunday as far as sacrifice goes, but Sundays are mini-Easters and a time of feasting; we do not fast. Scot says he's always been taught we don't need to fast on Sundays. Fr. Michael agreed with Fr. Mark. 3. Why does the Church use Lent and Easter as the time to prepare those entering the Church through RCIA? Lent is a baptismal retreat, according to Pope Benedict and Cardinal Sean. While we may be used to focusing on Good Friday throughout Lent, but the Church's liturgies have always been about Lent being a time of rebirth and purification. Fr. Michael said Lent is a time of detaching ourselves from the world and clinging to the things of God. 4. Do any drinks violate the fast? Certainly a bunch of chocolate milkshakes or half of refrigerator of fruit in a smoothie would violate the spirit of the law. Fr. Michael said we need to look at what we're trying to accomplish. Scot noted that the purpose of the fast is to notice the effects of the fast, so if we're drinking so much that we don't feel the effects that might not be in the spirit of the fast. 5. Are the stations of the cross experiencing a renewal in popularity? Fr. Michael sees more parishes bringing back regular stations of the cross throughout Lent as well as regular Eucharistic adoration, prayer the Rosary before Mass, and other devotions that bring vibrancy to the Church. Scot noted that many devotions went away as the Church adjusted post-Vatican II and now we're bringing those back, especially among the young. Fr. Michael noted all the young people who will come to the Eucharistic Congress. [The Archdiocese of Boston's 4th annual Eucharistic Congress for Youth and Young Adults](http://eucharisticcongress.org/), April 1 & 2, North End of Boston…
Today's hosts: Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today's topic(s): Pope's message for Lent, a Pakistani martyr, the Pope's new book, Bishop Chris Coyne from Boston, ultrasounds for life, the Church using the media to spread the message, and WQOM, Boston's new Catholic radio station.Today's guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese, and pastor of St. Anthony of Padua parish, New Bedford; Greg Tracy, managing editor The Boston Pilot; and Maria Bain, station manager for WQOM 1060 Boston. A summary of today's show:Pope Benedict's message for Lent 2011 dominates talk of world news, while the example of a martyr for the faith in Pakistan gives us cause to reflect. We celebrate one of our own being ordained an auxiliary bishop for Indianapolis, as well as the donation of an ultrasound machine to promote the cause of life. 1st segment: Scot introduces Susan Abbott as his co-host. She is the director of the Archdiocese of Boston's Office for Religious Education. She reflected on the launch of Catholics Come Home on Ash Wednesday. "It was an amazing experience. When I saw [the TV commercial] on the big TV at the press conference, it took my breath away," she said. "You want people to know the beauty and goodness of the Church." She found the whole day to be emotional and uplifting with a sense of hope despite the difficulties that surround us. 2nd segment: Greg Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry join the program to discuss news from around the world. First up for discussion is Pope Benedict's message for Lent 2011. Pope Benedict is emphasizing our baptism in his Lenten message. Fr. Landry says the ashes of Lent remind, marked as a cross on our foreheads, recalls our baptism when a cross is marked on our foreheads with holy water and holy oil. The more we can enter into our rebirth through baptism, the more we can enter into Christ's death and resurrection. As a father of 10, the experience of baptism is familiar for Greg Tracy. Baptism is the door through which all other graces flow. The other children get excited as well, seeing the beauty of an experience we don't begin to fully understand until much later in life. It is unfortunate that baptism is often the forgotten sacrament. The rite of Election for those being prepared to be received into the Church at Easter will happen this weeked at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Susan Abbott says she loves the pope's words that in baptism, we are claimed for Christ. Baptism is not a date, but a way of life. The RCIA is a school for baptism. Fr. Landry says Lent is like baseball spring training. The multimillionaire ballplayers are getting back to the fundamentals of baseball. We do the same thing in Lent by getting back to the basics: taking the time to pray, learning how to deny ourselves in order to say no to temptation and say yes to God, learning how to love one another as Christ has loved us. We put God first in prayer, put others second through almsgiving, and ourselves third through fasting. The Holy Father this week commented on the murder of Pakistani government minister Shahbaz Bhatti, the only Catholic in Pakistan's government. The Pakistani Catholic bishops are moving to have him recognized as a martyr for the faith. Greg says that this is just the latest of numerous incidents of anti-Christian violence that seems to be escalating throughout the world. Fr. Landry says we are, first, called to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters. Second, we are called to work with our own government to work for the right to religious freedom everywhere. Third, we should elevate the example of the great martyred heroes of the faith. Bhatti had said beforehand that he would probably die for his work for his Christian brothers and sisters. A Pakistani bishop of Greg's acquaintance once remarked at how empty he found American Catholic churches. In Pakistan, people are literally dying to get to Mass, yet with our freedom to worship so many do not. The Boston Pilot: 3rd segment: Continuing the discussion with Greg Tracy and Fr. Landry, we turn our attention to national news. Last week, Bishop Chris Coyne was ordained an auxiliary bishop in Indianapolis. He is a former spokesman for the Archdiocese of Boston and was Greg's boss. Greg recalls the difficult times of the abuse scandals and how then-Fr. Coyne was always a straight shooter, who always said what he knew and if he didn't know, he would say that. Bishop Coyne said at his ordination that bishops are called to be no-nonsense and to "be who we are called to be." It is unusual for an auxiliary bishop to come from outside the diocese in which he is ordained (except for certain Spanish-speaking bishops). Fr. Landry says there are two schools of thought: Some say it's great to promote from within because they know the place and the needs, but others say an outside bring a fresh perspective. We're starting to see more bishops being appointed from outside the diocese for that fresh perspective and a cross-fertilization of best practices from other places in the Church. Bishop Coyne also said that we can never lose sight of the fact that the Church is about the work of evangelization. All that we do as Christians must be performed in light of this truth. 4th segment:Turning their attention to local news, Scot, Susan, Greg, and Fr. Landry, The Pilot has a story about the donation of a new ultrasound machine to a pregnancy help center in Brighton. A private donor and the Knights of Columbus donated a machine that will be housed at St. Elizabeth Medical Center for the use of the nearby archdiocesan pregnancy help center. Seeing the baby on the ultrasound machine can really have an impact on people saying, "I'm not just aborting a fetus, but that's my child in there." Fr. Landry says it has an enormous impact on those who participate in abortion. The late Bernard Nathanson was an abortionist until he saw an unborn child on an ultrasound and began his rejection of abortion. He recorded an ultrasound of an abortion to make his powerful documentary "The Silent Scream." Susan said her involvement with the pro-life movement goes back many years, and the Knights of Columbus have always been big supporters of life. "Bravo to the Knights for all you do." With all the local media outlets present at the launch of Catholics Come Home, as a journalist, Greg said it was a joyous moment. It is great to have all the media turn out for something positive for a change, as opposed to covering a negative development. There were tough questions to be sure, but they were appropriately handled and Cardinal Seán shined. Scot reflected that to have all the media there for the biggest evangelization effort in a generation is awesome to understand that the Church believes the media is a huge tool for evangelization. Fr. Landry said the Pope has been calling us as a Church to join in the new Aeropagus, the place in the city of Athens where the Gospel was preached to the Gentiles. He called the entire Church to take advantage of this gift of the Internet, the new media, and the digital continent. The message is the same, but the means we use is constantly changing. 5th segment: Scot talks with Maria Bain, station manager of WQOM. She's been making parish presentations throughout the archdiocese and has been invited to over 80 parishes. The goal of Catholic radio in Boston is not just evangelize, but also to help parishioners become more involved in their parish and to reconnect lapsed Catholics. The Good Catholic Life, as a locally based radio program, helps WQOM to connect with the local market in a significant way. The Station of the Cross network is also preparing for a listener conference at the TD Garden in Boston on August 6 with Fr. John Corapi. Tickets are available online and through Ticketmaster. There are even opportunities for some to have dinner with Fr. Corapi. All proceeds will benefit WQOM. Discounts are also available for groups. One of the priorities for WQOM right now is to find a benefactor who will donate office space of at least 1,000 square feet within 20 miles of the transmitter in Natick. Ideally, it will have room for offices, a studio, some conference rooms, and even a chapel. Interested parties should contact Maria at 617-939-5207 or email .…
1 The Good Catholic Life #0001: Ash Wednesday, March 9, 2011 1:00:20
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1:00:20www.TheGoodCatholicLife.com Date: March 9, 2011 Today's hosts: Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today's topic(s): Catholics Come Home Boston, the debut of The Good Catholic Life, Ash Wednesday Today's guest(s): Cardinal Seán O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston; Tom Peterson, founder and president of Catholics Come Home; Janet Benestad, Secretary of Faith Formation & Evangelization for the Archdiocese of Boston; and Jim Wright, founder & president of The Station of the Cross. A summary of today's show:The Archdiocese of Boston marks Ash Wednesday with the launch of the Catholics Come Home initiative. Cardinal Seán and Tom Peterson talk to Scot and Fr. Matt about their hopes for the initiative and discuss the TV commercials that will be airing on every major channel in the Boston area throughout Lent. 1st segment: Two of the commercials, "Epic" and "Movie", were aired and each participant gave his impression of the ads and their favorite images and messages. Tom Peterson shared that in other diocese where the initiative has launched and the commercials have aired have seen hundreds and thousands of people return to church and even for those who were in the pews every Sunday, many returned to the regular practice of the Sacrament of Confession. Even some of the actors who worked on the commercials had experiences that brought them back to the Church. Fr. Matt described what it is like to hear the confession of someone who has returned to sacrament after a long absence. He quoted the Scripture which says that heaven rejoices when one lost sheep returns. We give them a message of hope, where Jesus does not come to condemn, but to receive. "This is the big fish we're looking for," he said, referring to a Catholic who comes home. "We are so happy to see them." Cardinal Seán said he launched campaign as a complement to Catholics Come Home. He said Lent is a baptismal retreat for Catholics, a time to renew our baptism. "Jesus invited us to clean the inside of the cup, too," he said. It is a time to learn how to be loving and forgiving to others, as the Lord is to us. Where better to learn forgiveness than in that sacrament. The cardinal gave his advice on Lenten resolutions. The Gospel speaks of prayer, almsgiving, and fasting. Some people today speak of giving up smoking or going on a diet, which isn't bad, but Lent should have a spiritual meaning. We should set aside time for prayer and reflect on the Word of God. The discipline of Lent and giving things up, like sweets or television, is useful in itself. It's an opportunity for us in our society, who often live a very soft life, to identify with the sufferings of others. Segment 2: Janet Benestad talked about the scenes in the "Epic" commercial that were localized for Boston. She knew that it would have an affect on people in Boston who see it. Our late colleague David Thorp, who was director of the CCH effort in Boston and who died tragically in January, was himself in one of the scenes, playing a homeless man helped by a priest. Other scenes include students near Harvard walking along the Charles; a sister and children in front of Fenway Park; Mission Church in Boston; and fishermen by Fish Pier in South Boston receiving a blessing from a priest. Cardinal Seán has asked all Catholics to share their faith and offer an invitation. Tom Peterson gave tips for how people should feel comfortable in sharing their own stories, where they have found hope and answers in their faith. "I know how you feel. I felt the same way too, but I found in my life that the faith has..." Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care. We will win hearts and minds with love, not debates. He asked all to pray everyday for the Holy Spirit to give us opportunities wherever we may be to share the Gospel, to recognize the moment, and to have the courage. Every Wednesday we will announced the winners of the week's WQOM Benefactor Raffle. The winners this week are Paul & Elaine Mongeon of Woonsocket, RI. They will receive a copy of the "Diary of St. Marie Faustina Kowalska" (Divine Mercy In My Soul). To enroll in the raffle, go to and click on the link to "Benefactor Card". Segment 3: Jim Wright, founder & president of network, which includes WQOM. The new radio station, which began on November 1, 2010, has been very successful in Boston, including a very successful fund drive in December. The Station of the Cross is sponsoring a conference with Fr. John Corapi in Boston next August at the TD Garden. If it sells, it could be the biggest gathering of Catholics in several decades. Jim is confident that the event could sell out. He encourages both individual and group sales. The Station of the Cross is looking for a benefactor who can donate about 1,000 square feet of office space for WQOM, ideally within 25 miles of Framingham where the transmitter is located. Contact WQOM via their .…
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