Archives for June 2013

With his Apostolic Letter of October 11, 2011, Porta Fidei, Pope Benedict XVI declared that a "Year of Faith" will begin on October 11, 2012 and conclude on November 24, 2013.  One simple way to celebrate the Year of Faith is available on this website:  www.flocknote.com/catechism.  If you put in your email address, you will automatically receive a daily email for each day of the Year of Faith with a brief selection from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  By the end of the Year of Faith, you will have read the entire Catechism!! … [Read more...]

It appears that a number of people believe that the Center of Jesus the Lord is closed. The Center of Jesus the Lord Charismatic Renewal Center continues to operate at 1236 N. Rampart St. in the old Carmelite Monastery. Fr. Lance Campo is the Director; Fr. Denzil Perara is in residence; and Deacon Rodrigo Fonseca are our clergy staff.  In the future the Center will be moving to Our Lady of Good Counsel. The date of the move will be publicized when all of the details are finalized. For information about the upcoming events or ministry of the “Center,” please call Helen/Sheila at 529-1636. … [Read more...]

[What follows is a clarification from the Holy Father that you might consider handing along to any of your Catholic friends who are divorced and remarried] During the World Meeting of Families held from May 30 – June 3, 2012 in Milan, Italy a Brazilian family raised the issue of divorced couples who have remarried and cannot avail themselves of the Sacraments. Pope Benedict XVI affirmed that “this is one of the great causes of suffering for the Church today, and we do not have simple solutions. Naturally, one very important factor is prevention. This means ensuring that, from the beginning, the act of falling love is transformed in a more profound and mature decision. Another factor is that of accompanying people during marriage, to ensure that families are never alone but find authentic … [Read more...]

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During the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, Americans shone the light of the Gospel on a dark history of slavery, segregation, and racial bigotry. The civil rights movement was an essentially religious movement, a call to awaken consciences. In his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in 1963, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. boldly said, “The goal of America is freedom.” As a Christian pastor, he argued that to call America to the full measure of that freedom was the specific contribution Christians are obliged to make. He rooted his legal and constitutional arguments about justice in the long Christian tradition: “I would agree with Saint Augustine that ”˜An unjust law is no law at all.'”¦ A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An … [Read more...]

I am rarely prouder of our parish as a whole than when I witness its generosity to the poor. I see it in our volunteers who come to daily to help with our ministry to the poor. I see it in our parish St. Vincent de Paul Society, who cooks for the poor at the Rebuild Center. I see it in our parish staff, who is so patient with the many people who come to our door or call for assistance. But last week I received a letter than made my day. You might remember that Cross Catholic Outreach came to parish while I was on retreat in January of this year. And they did a mission appeal. They let me know last week that our parish had donated over $6000 to their ministry that helps the world's needy and poor.  Wow.  That's so wonderful. And it makes me happier that 97% of Cross's money goes directly … [Read more...]

Religious liberty is not only about our ability to go to Mass on Sunday or pray the Rosary at home. It is about whether we can make our contribution to the common good of all Americans. Can we do the good works our faith calls us to do, without having to compromise that very same faith? Without religious liberty properly understood, all Americans suffer, deprived of the essential contribution in education, health care, feeding the hungry, civil rights, and social services that religious Americans make every day, both here at home and overseas. What is at stake is whether America will continue to have a free, creative, and robust civil society-or whether the state alone will determine who gets to contribute to the common good, and how they get to do it. Religious believers are part of … [Read more...]