St. Josephine Bakhita

Today is the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita who I think makes a good patron for those in prison. Originally from Sudan she was bought and sold as a slave and kept in captivity six times before finally joining a family that treated her with respect. There is a wonderful story that appeared last year in the bulletin of the Archdiocese of Atlanta - Office for Black Catholic Ministry detailing her life. There is also an inspiring story of a prisoner on death row who learned of her story and as a result turned his life around and now gives support to the Order that St. Josephine belonged to. That story can be read at Catholic News Service.

The inmate, Jeff Tiner, in an Oregon state prison, is a former white supremacist who wore swastika and ‘White pride’ tattoos. A Lay Canossian sent a letter to him. The inmate’s response to the encounter was his decision to become Catholic. He received the sacrament of Baptism in prison. He is currently providing great financial support to abused women and children in Sudan, the homeland of St. Bakhita. Mr. Tiner now works to relieve the suffering of Black Africans in his efforts to do God’s will.

Pope Benedict also remarked on her life in his encyclical Spe Salvi,

"Bakhita came to know that this Lord even knew her, that he had created her—that he actually loved her. She too was loved, and by none other than the supreme [Master], before whom all other masters are themselves no more than lowly servants. She was known and loved and she was awaited. What is more, this master had himself accepted the destiny of being flogged and now he was waiting for her “at the Father’s right hand.” Now she had “hope”—no longer simply the modest hope of finding masters who would be less cruel, but the great hope: “I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me—I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good.” Through the knowledge of this hope she was “redeemed,” no longer a slave, but a free child of God."

Pope Benedict XVI
from paragraph 3 of SPE SALVI (Saved by Hope),
His Holiness’ Encyclical Letter on Christian Hope
30 November 2007

Here are some thought of St. Bakhita in her own words.

I have given everything to my Master: He will take care of me… The best thing for us is not what we consider best, but what the Lord wants of us!

I received the Sacrament of Baptism with such joy that only angels could describe…

O Lord, if I could fly to my people and tell them of your Goodness at the top of my voice: oh, how many souls would be won!

If I were to meet the slave-traders who kidnapped me and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands, for if that did not happen, I would not be a Christian and Religious today…

The Lord has loved me so much: we must love everyone…we must be compassionate

I can truly say that it was a miracle I did not die, because the Lord has destined me for greater things…

Mary protected me even before I knew her!

When a person loves another dearly, he desires strongly to be close to the other: therefore, why be afraid to die? Death brings us to God!

Support Pope Benedict

One of the messages of Our Lady at Fatima was that the Holy Father would have much to suffer, indeed a recurring fact throughout the 20th and now 21st centuries. No doubt Pope Benedict has come under assault recently for his decision to lift the excommunications of the 4 SSPX Bishops. Like other decisions or statements from the Pope his enemies have come out in full force to criticize him while never allowing facts or truth to temper their vitriol. We must pray for the Pope and show him our support. There is an online petition to voice your support for him by clicking on this link, Support Pope Benedict XVI.

The Crisis of Civilization

Hilaire Belloc gave a series of lectures at Fordham University in 1937 dealing with what would become a thesis titled, The Crisis of Civilization, which later became the title of his book containing these lectures. He believed that the civilization of Christendom had arrived at a crisis placing it in peril of death and sought to describe how Christian civilization arose, how it developed, the institutions it produced and depended upon, and when it was at its height. Next he attributes its decline with the destruction of the moral tradition by which it had existed and was maintained and unless we return to that principle of life this culture may ultimately dissolve. The last part of the book gives us the outline for restoration of our civilization. Here are a few paragraphs from the book.

"It was the Faith which gradually and indirectly transformed the slave into the serf, and the serf into the free peasant. It was the Faith which took the guild, inherited from the Pagan Empire, and set it up for the foundational thing it was during all the great medieval period: the guarantee of freedom. it was the Faith which by its moral atmosphere checked and curbed usury---that usury whereby Pagan Society, before the triumph of the Church, had been thoroughly sapped and which today is sapping us again. It was the Faith which put competition within its bounds and made its limited practice subservient to general well-divided property, where its excess would have divided Society into very many destitute and few possessors. It was the disruption of Catholic unity in Europe which let in all the evils from the extreme of which we now suffer and are in peril of dissolution."

"We cannot build up a society synthetically, for it is an organic thing; we must see to it first that the vital principle is there from which the characters of the organism will develop. You will not be able to set up in a pagan or an heretical or a wholly indifferent society the institutions characteristic of economic freedom; you will not be able to curb competition which alone would be sufficient to destroy such freedom, nor pursue permanently and consecutively any one part of the program. The thing must be done as a whole, and it can be done as a whole only by the ambient influence of Catholicism."

"There only remains as an alternative to apply the fruits which the Catholic culture had produced when it was in full vigor, the restriction of monopoly, the curbing of the money power, the establishment of cooperative work, and the wide distribution of private property, the main principle of the guild and the jealous restriction of usury and competition, which between them have come so near to destroying us. But these better conditions are themselves the fruit of the Catholic Church, they can neither be created nor maintained in an atmosphere deprived of Catholic philosophy. The conclusion of the series is therefore that in the reconversion of our world to the Catholic standpoint lies the only hope for the future.

If your interested in purchasing this book please follow my link to Amazon.com and if you order from there you will help support the works of the Order of Malta.

The Jerosolimitan Nuns of The Order of St. John of Jerusalem

In the earlier days of the Order of St. John there were numerous convents of nuns affiliated with the Order. Today there is only one that I am aware of and it is located on the island of Malta. In fact it is the only part of the Order to have maintained a continuous existence there although they were separated from the Order itself from the time of Napolean until a few years ago when they were officially absorbed back into the Order. They are officially known as the Jerosolimitan Nuns of The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta. Here is a little bit about them from their web page.

Who are we? We are a small community of only 15 nuns, the only Jerosolimitan contemplative community in the world!

Our charisma is intercessory prayer for our families, friends, benefactors, the Maltese archipelago and the world. Our Monastery is located in the heart of Valletta in St Ursula’s Street.

We were founded by Grand Master Hughes de Loubenx Verdalle towards the end of the sixteenth century. Ever since then it has seen vast changes both inside and outside. Now we are currently restoring our façade which was literally falling to pieces. So far two-thirds only of the project have been completed due to lack of funds. This historic monastery has been in existence for over 420 years. Its history has been published just three years ago. The first publication in Maltese, the second being in Italian. Now we are waiting for the third translation in English. Our work varies: our primary 'work' is prayer, however we have to do kitchen, cleaning, sacristan and portress duties and take care of the sick nuns. We also do various sorts of crafts, such as embroidery and devotional objects amongst others. Staff organisation changes once every 3 months.

Today the monastery is sui juris, that is to say it recognizes none other than the Holy See and the Archbishop of the Diocese as its immediate Superiors.
During his visits, the Archbishop oversees regulatory discipline in accordance with the laws of the Church [CJC, can. 615; 628, § 2, n.1; 630, § 3; 630; 667, §§ 2, 3]. Presented by the nuns and chosen by the Archbishop, the monastery chaplain also holds the post of Rector of the Church annexed to the monastery. In accordance with Church law [can.561], none can celebrate the Eucharist, administer the Sacraments or carry out any other functions without his permission.

Contact between the Order and the monastery was officially terminated upon the Order’s departure from Malta. When the numbers of Maltese Chaplain Priests serving the Order dwindled and eventually finished, the monastery became dependant on the services of priests of the Diocese and other Maltese religious. Even after recovering its lost recognition, the Order of St John in Rome failed to re-establish solid contact with the monastery “that always held dear its Johanniter identity and charisma”, and the members of which unconditionally declared themselves living heritage “of the Knights” in Malta.

In June 1960, the Group of Maltese members of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta was founded. The Maltese National Association of the Order, made up of ad honorem members of different degrees, and of whom some showed interest in the monastery, was founded in 1965.

A circular issued by the Curia [n.183] dated 29th September 1987, prohibited ‘Knighthood conferments’ by a ‘number of Chivalric Orders existing on the Island’ in churches. The time had come to define the proper affinity with the Order that rightly called itself ‘The Order of St John, of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta’. Our efforts and those of the then President of the Maltese Association Architect Roger Degiorgio resulted in the issuing of a Magisterial Decree [n. 2247/31805] by Grandmaster Fra Angelo de Mojana, through which the historical affinity between the Order and the monastery was re-established and recognised by the Holy See. This step also helped accredit the Order with Ambassadorial links with the Government of Malta.

For more information on these nuns and there work you can visit their website.

The Church of Our Lady Under the Chain - Prague

The church of Our Lady Under the Chain in Prague belonging to the Grand Priory of Bohemia of the Order of Malta.

Prison Ministry - Suggestions for Action

The following is taken from the USCCB document, Responsibility, Rehabilitation, and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice published in 2000. The appendix offers some suggestions on how to get active in prison ministry. The full document can be read at the USCCB website.

Appendix
Suggestions for Action

The Catholic community has a tremendous history and capacity to help shape the issues of crime and criminal justice in the United States. Few organizations do more to prevent crime or heal its effects than the Catholic Church. Through many committed individual Catholics, prison ministry programs, parish outreach efforts, Catholic schools, diocesan peace and justice offices, community organizing projects, ex-offender reintegration programs, family counseling, drug and alcohol recovery programs, and charitable services to low-income people, the Catholic community responds to criminal justice concerns in a wide variety of ways. But we can do more.

This list of suggestions and resources is by no means exhaustive. Rather, it is intended to give individual Catholics, parishes, and dioceses some directions about programs and policies that reflect Catholic principles and values as we work together to implement this statement.

Teach Right from Wrong, Respect for Life, Forgiveness and Mercy
Parish priests, Catholic educators, and a wide variety of other efforts assist parents in teaching children right from wrong, respect for life, and forgiveness and mercy. Catholics also can have an impact in their own families and communities, when they teach by example and demonstrate these values by their actions.

Respect for human life—the cornerstone of Catholic social teaching—is a key to our work in criminal justice because we believe that the current culture of violence contributes to crime. We bishops urge Catholics to work against the violence of abortion, euthanasia, and assisted suicide. We call for renewed efforts to abolish the death penalty. In addition, Catholics must work to ensure that everyone has access to those things that enhance life and dignity: decent housing, a job with a living wage, and health care. Catholics can

• Promote a culture of life, alternatives to abortion by supporting adoption, foster care, and homes for unwed mothers
• Read the U.S. Catholic Bishops statement, Renewing the Mind of the Media: A Statement on Overcoming Exploitation of Sex and Violence in Communications, which offers ways for Catholics to help curtail the use of violent and sexual content on radio and television and in print media and movies.
  
• Support local programs that offer young people character-building opportunities and divert their energy to positive endeavors: athletics, Scouting, Church-sponsored after-school and evening social programs, and tutoring and literacy programs.
  
• Encourage schools, churches, and neighborhood centers to teach conflict resolution, especially to children, as a way to reduce tension and violence.
  
• Work to ensure that jobs, affordable housing, and accessibility to health services are available in your community.
  
• Oppose attempts to impose or expand the death penalty in your state. In states that sanction the death penalty, join organizations that work to curtail its use (e.g., prohibit the execution of teenagers or the mentally ill) and those that call for its abolition.
  
• Invite parish discussions for collaborative responses to the death penalty—such as public prayer vigils, tolling of church bells, penitential practices—when an execution is scheduled.

Stand With Victims and Their Families

The Church's witness to victims and their families must be more focused and comprehensive. We must see victims as people with many needs, not just those satisfied by the criminal justice system. The government's role is to ensure that the offender is punished, that reparations are made and that the community feels safe, but victims have spiritual, physical and emotional needs that are often best met by family, friends, neighbors and the community of faith. The Church should pursue policies and programs that respond to all the needs of victims of crime, just as we do to victims of natural disasters. To support victims, Catholics can

• Learn more about the types of programs that are available for victims at the local level. For example, many states offer reparations for victims of violence, and some local churches have developed effective victim ministry programs.
• Catholic parishes can work to discover the gaps in meeting victims' needs and explore ways to fill those gaps.
  
• Support local programs that work to train people for victim ministry. Where these programs don't exist, join with other churches, civic, and community groups to form networks of people ready to respond to the material, emotional, and spiritual needs of victims.
  
• Promote victim ministry programs at the parish level with the goal of having a consistent and comprehensive presence to those affected by crime. Parishioners can bring meals, secure broken windows and doors, and offer emotional support to victims of break-ins or violent encounters. Pastoral ministers should become familiar with services available through Catholic Charities and other counseling agencies and victims' programs and help connect victims with these services.

Reach Out to Offenders and Their Families

Just as victims of crime have a variety of needs, so do offenders and their families, especially the children of offenders. The Church should not only have a strong presence in prisons and jails—where we Catholics work to meet the spiritual and emotional needs of inmates—but should make special efforts to assist children left without the support of their incarcerated parent. Catholics can

• Promote prison ministry programs at the diocesan and parish levels. We affirm the dedicated deacons and priests who carry forward this mission. We welcome lay ministers—both volunteer and professional—who are indispensable to this ministry.
  
• Reach out to the families of inmates. Parishes can mentor families caught up in the cycle of crime, assist with transportation for prison visitations, offer material assistance when income is lost because of the incarceration, and provide counseling (often through Catholic Charities agencies).
  
• Promote prisoner re-entry programs. Often the most difficult time for a former inmate is trying to reintegrate into his or her community. Some parishes have made available church property for transition houses while others assist in providing the spiritual, material, and emotional assistance that the probation and parole system rarely provides.

Build Community

Catholics believe that life in community enables all people to be fully human. We value strong, intact families and healthy neighborhoods. Crime, especially violent crime, often destroys families and communities and can make everyone feel less safe or secure. Catholics are encouraged to promote all of those things that support family life and lift up the community. Catholics can

• Promote the variety of efforts in our neighborhoods that encourage active participation in the life of the community. Neighborhood watch groups, community-oriented policing, and partnerships between law enforcement and the local faith community are all part of the web of relationships that create safe and secure communities.
  
• Promote the work of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development in your local diocese by giving generously to the annual collection. Grants from the collection are given back to communities to support organizing projects which bring people together to work on community needs, including crime and criminal justice.
  
• Support programs in your community that engage youth and build their self-esteem. Become a Big Brother or Big Sister, mentor children at risk, and support school or community center programs that offer diversions for children between the hours of 3:00 and 8:00 p.m. when parental supervision is often inadequate.
  Discover new ways of dealing with offenders. Models such as Boston's "Ten-Point Coalition" can be replicated in many communities. These programs encourage partnerships between local churches and police and divert troubled teens from a life of crime to becoming productive citizens.

Advocate Policies That Offer Real Alternatives to Crime

Charitable works go a long way toward solving some of the problems of crime and victimization. Yet efforts to change policies and enhance programs that affect the treatment of victims and offenders, and those that help restore communities affected by crime are also essential to a new approach to crime and criminal justice. We Catholics must bring our beliefs and values to the attention of those in positions to influence policy. State Catholic conferences, diocesan offices (e.g., pro-life, education, and social concerns), and parish legislative advocacy networks can help individual Catholics to support public policies that reflect our values. Catholics can

• Learn about federal, state, and local policies that affect how criminal justice is administered.
  
• Join diocesan legislative networks to ensure that the Catholic voice is heard on crime and criminal justice issues. If your diocese does not have a legislative network, call your state Catholic conference or visit the website for the U.S. bishops' Office of Domestic Policy at www.usccb.org/sdwp for actions you can take at the national level.
  
• Talk to prosecutors, judges, chiefs of police, and others involved in the criminal justice system and seek their views on how the system can better reflect our values and priorities.

Organize Diocesan Consultations

A primary role for the Church is to gather people of different viewpoints and help them to reach common ground. Out of this dialogue can come greater appreciation for diverse perspectives, credibility for the Church's involvement in the issues, and ultimately a change of heart and mind by those who can impact the criminal justice system so that it more fully reflects gospel values.

• We bishops encourage dioceses to invite jail and prison chaplains, victims of crime, corrections officers, judges, wardens, former inmates, police, parole and probation officers, substance abuse and family counselors, community leaders and others to listening sessions. The purpose of these sessions would be to gain a better appreciation of all the parties affected by crime and involved in the criminal justice system, to seek common ground on local approaches to crime, to collaborate more easily in areas of mutual concern, and to build community among all these people of goodwill who are trying to make society safer and life more complete.
  
• State Catholic conferences may convene policy makers, ministers, and other interested parties at the state level and engage in a similar process of listening, learning, and planning in an effort to make the criminal justice system more reflective of justice and mercy, responsibility and rehabilitation, restoration and wholeness.

One Heart, One Mind

The following is excerpted from an essay by Fr. James Schall S.J. at Georgetown. The full article can be read at The Catholic Thing.

Someone recently remarked that, in fact, this land is going in the opposite direction from its motto, E Pluribus Unum. We are going rather from one nation to an enforced diversity of nations, languages, lifestyles, and religions. Our theories are not those of unity but those of diversity.


The “one heart and one mind” thesis now seems rather to mean that we accept everything without asking about what is compatible with what. In the name of unity, we overlook differences that constitute the integrity of what we are.


Theories of diversity precisely cannot answer the question of “Who made this land for you and me?” Moreover, to have “one heart” we need to have “one mind.” We need to agree on first principles of what we are, of what makes us human.


Though it may sound shocking, we cannot have one heart and one mind if we do not have one truth about the essential things. As I suggested, there is a theory of “democracy” that is based on the idea that there is no truth. The enemies in this form of rule (and it does rule) are those supposedly “fanatical” ones who maintain that there is a truth about the fundamental things.

Marriage Therefore Love, Not Love Therefore Marriage

I found this interesting post on the blog, Unam Sanctam Catholicam, on the topic of courtship and dating. In our age filled with romance novels and "date movies" and so on, too many people have an unrealistic expectation of the Sacrament of Matrimony and confuse infatuation and "being in love" with what love truly means as the foundation for building a relationship.

I reject (my opinion) this modern fascination with “discerning who God wants you to marry.” Obviously we want to discern God’s will in all things to the best of our ability, but what exactly are we discerning and how precise can we be with our discernment? In my extensive reading of history, here is how it has always been done:

The discernment process has always been whether or not to get married, not to whom one gets married.

That is, in the Middle Ages and beyond there is a great focus in spiritual writings on discerning whether you are called to celibacy or the married state. But once one discerns they are called to the married life, there is almost nothing like we see nowadays about “figuring out who God wants you to marry.” There is a lot written, however, about how to best “pick” your spouse. That is to say, the choice of a spouse was not seen as a matter of God’s will but as a matter of human prudence, much like picking a good house or picking a good piece of fruit from the market. Love was never seen to be the basis for a marriage, though it was sought after to arise after the fact by mutual affection and sharing of a common life. The woman (or man) who married simply out of love was considered a fool, and there are no records that I know of any person being taught to ask who God wanted them to marry. It was seen as something that a person was supposed to use their human judgment (common sense) on and not try to be all vocationally oriented with. A man chose a wife based on several factors, and once the marriage was consummated, love was seen to be a worthy thing that could grow on the basis of that union, but it was not deemed essential. My RCIA classes always marvel when we get to the class on the Sacrament of Matrimony and they see that “love” is not required for either the form or matter of the sacrament.

But I want to stress this: the “discernment” came when you decided whether or not to be married at all. That is because, of course, there used to be a great emphasis on the superiority of the celibate state. However, nowadays, pop-Catholic culture would
have everybody spend as much time discerning their spouse as they would the question of whether or not to remain celibate.This is because in the past 40 years, marriage has been stressed more and more as a “vocation,” or a calling. This has always been admitted, but the emphasis was different before. In the past, there was those called to virginity, and then there was everybody else. Nobody spoke of being “called” to marriage – marriage was referred to, with virginity, as a “state in life”; i.e., a state that you may find yourself in, not necessarily some heavenly calling. Obviously God has a will for everybody, and you are fulfilling that will to the extent that you conform to God’s design for your life. Therefore, God has a will or a call as to what career I should pursue in life, for example. But people don’t usually refer to their jobs as “callings” in the religious sense. God has a will for everything we do, but we don’t always apply the words “calling” and “vocation” to them. I think in the modern Church, because of the drastic decline in consecrated virginity, people are over-anxious to apply the terms “vocation,” “discernment” and “calling” to other endeavors besides consecrated virginity, in an attempt to make it seem like everybody is still seeking God’s will even though there are a drastic reduction in vocations. God, however, has not stopped calling people – but people have stopped listening.

But that is a digression. So, what criterion does one use to pick a good spouse? Traditionally, the pick of a spouse was foremost an economic decision, and I don’t think this was an entirely bad idea. Economics are very important in marriage, and a home is more likely to be happy if it was financially stable. Therefore, a bachelor might look for qualities in a woman that would lead him to believe she could help him establish a financially secure home. Did she have good work habits? How did she bear up under trials? Was she patient? In some cases, did she have strong arms and a sturdy back? Because a husband wanted his wife to be respectable as well, she had to be of solid moral character: Was she devout? Was she loyal? Would she make a good mother? Therefore,the husband did not so much choose a wife because of an intense love or a desire to do God’s will, but of practical considerations based on what the
addition of the wife to the husband’s household would bring to the family collectively children, financial security, a pious atmosphere and respectability. Of course, all men wanted their wives to be attractive. Attraction is the basis for all of these things, and it was the most fundamental type of desire from which true love could grow. After a man secured a wife who would fulfill all of these requirements, he was considered happy and blessed if, in time, he came to truly love her and she him. But love was seen as secondary and in the end non-essential. It was an ideal to be strived for, not a building block that everybody felt like they had to have to get started.

To some sense, I applied these principles in my own life when I was dating my wife, though I was only 19 and still pretty ignorant. When I was dating my own wife, I looked at her and admired certain qualities about her: her fidelity, joy, industriousness, beauty and virtue. Therefore, based on these factors, I approached her and informed her that I thought we ought to get married. It is kind of amusing: I never asked her to marry me, nor did she ask me, nor did I ever ask permission from her father. If I could do it over, I would no doubt do so. But at the same time, there is a simple logic in the way I went about it: I simply approached her like it was a mathematical formula and said, “Based on X, Y, and Z factors I think we are a good match and ought to get married.” And she agreed (she was young and ignorant, too: only about 18 – that’s the only reason she agreed to marry me!).

That brings up another point: if you are trying to discern whom you should marry, the worst time to do that is while you are already dating them. How can a person make an objective judgment about this when they are already emotionally involved with another person? Just like in college, guys who joined the pre-Theologate program were forbidden from having girlfriends. The reason was obvious – one has a hard time hearing a call to the priesthood if you have a girlfriend distracting you. In the same way, you can’t figure out if you should marry a person after you are already involved with them. This is why so many people get married while they are infatuated, fail to see their partner’s flaws and then accuse them bitterly of changing” after the marriage is complete. (Or worse yet, see these flaws but overlook or discount them believing instead that "he/she will change.)

Here’s how I think it should work: a man ought to observe a woman from afar, from a vantage point of friendship only, and a remote friendship at that. He should look at her objectively, asking himself questions about her virtue, modesty, industriousness, etc. Only if she fulfills all of these requirements ought he to go ahead and pursue a romantic relationship – and even then I don’t think he has to say for sure “yes, this is the person I think God wants me to marry,” but she should at least be a potential. By the way, you will never know if the person you marry is the one you should have until you are old and ready to die. Only then can you look back on your life and really reflect on it. J.R.R. Tolkien said that all marriages were, in a sense, a gamble, and that most were probably mistakes. Here’s what he wrote to his son on the issue:

"Nearly all marriages, even happy ones, are mistakes: in the sense that almost certainly (in a more perfect world, or even with a little more care in this very imperfect one) both partners might be found more suitable mates. But the real soul-mate is the one you are actually married to.

"The last line emphasizes my thought exactly. Instead of worrying about who God wants you to pick (because you’ll never be able to be sure, and even if you are, you’ll second guess yourself as soon as things get hard and then start blaming God for your poor judgment), use the same common human prudence, enlightened by grace, that you would use if you were making any other long-term commitment. Date and marry based on this, and realize you are not marrying to make yourself happy but to make another happy and to establish a home – and in that your happiness will arise, and with it love.

There's more of the post here.

Abortion- Whose Future Has It Destroyed?

The following video was produced by CatholicVote.com. Here is a a little about them from their website. The video will be aired tomorrow on BET throughout the day. Here is proof that the characterization of the Pro-Life movement as simply interested in overturning Roe v. Wade is false.

CatholicVote.org is a faith based educational program dedicated to informing all Americans about the critical issues in the public policy arena.

A project of the Fidelis Center for Law and Policy, CatholicVote.org is committed to producing powerful programs designed to help a new generation visualize and therefore create a Culture of Life.

The late Pope John Paul wrote that our times require such bold action. "This vital field of action for the Church requires a radical change of mentality, an authentic new awakening of conscience in everyone. New methods are needed, as are new expressions and new courage."

Life: Imagine the Potential™ is our newest campaign designed for sharing on the Internet, and for use on broadcast TV. The campaign is focused on reaching more than people who are already pro-life. Instead, we hope to reach Americans who are either indifferent, or who have not yet thought about the great potential of every human life.

In the weeks and months ahead, we will debut more commercials in our Life: Imagine the Potential™ campaign. We will be launching a larger and more interactive website for our subscribers and visitors in the next month. Stay tuned for more great features.

CatholicVote.org supports Pope Benedict XVI and the full teachings of the Catholic Church. We are a lay association of the faithful with over 100,000 members.

Stewardship and Closing of Parishes

Yesterday at Mass the Pastor gave a familiar talk on the struggling finances at the Parish where one of the Masses is in the Extraordinary Form. There are three parishes within a few minutes of each other and one wonders how long they can continue to struggle and keep all three open. Having travelled with my family for nearly 20 years to attend an Indult Mass or at least an orthodox New Mass I do not have the same loyalty to my parish as my ancestors did. Coincidentally then I found this article over at The Catholic Thing related to this issue. Here is an excerpt.

It is hard not to sympathize with people who are getting tossed out of the church where they were married and their children baptized and maybe someone dear was buried. But is it true that they paid, prayed, and obeyed? Does the blame lay only with a power-and-money-hungry archbishop?

Do they pay? Many folks still pitch a dollar into the collection basket each week. That is likely the same dollar they saw their dad toss in forty years ago and that their grandfather tossed in sixty years ago. That 1948 dollar is now worth about 11 cents. To match granddad’s buck someone today would have to give almost $9. And what about the tithing that our Protestant brothers are so good at? Catholics don’t even talk about that.

Do they pray? Mass attendance in the United States is higher than in Europe, but it sure isn’t anything to be proud about. According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University, on any given Sunday fully 70 percent of Catholics are not going to Mass.

Do they obey? One of the protesters mentioned by the Times is “Karen Virginia Shockely, 43, who participates in the vigil with her two teenage sons.” I am not going to point fingers at Ms. Shockley, who very well might have ten children at home. But if she does, she is in a distinct minority, even among Catholics. Likely as not, Catholics have chosen not to obey their Church when it comes to matters of human sexuality. Most Catholics are indistinguishable from their highly secular neighbors. They have two children and in that common and artless phrase that signals their turn from the Church on sexual ethics, they “are done.”

These same Catholics will complain about a lack of priests but where do they think priests come from – mid-air? They think they can keep their schools and churches open with tiny families and almost universal contraception? They are shocked when their schools and parishes close. They stand outside and weep. They take over buildings. Above all they complain about the bishops. But they rarely look toward themselves.

Other smelly little heterodoxies peeked out in that New York Times article and they explain a lot. Some parishioners propose buying the church from the archdiocese. To what end – to become Congregationalists? One lady said, “I cannot go back to the priest and the vestments and that, I always felt, prince-of-the-church approach. I’ll always be Catholic, but I may not be able to worship in the mainstream Catholic Church.”

And these folks are surprised their church is closed?