Thursday, March 31, 2011


Come To Me David Haas

Fourth Sunday of Lent

Amusing Signs In a Paris hotel elevator:Please leave your values at the front desk. On the walls of a Baltimore estate:Trespassers will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.-- Sisters of Mercy In front of a church:Don't give up. Moses was once a basket case. In a Bucharest hotel lobby:The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret that you will be unbearable. On a long established New Mexico dry cleaning store:Thirty-eight years on the same spot. In a hotel in Athens:Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours of 9 and 11 A.M. daily. In a New York medical building:Mental Health Prevention Center
Cardinal to Senate: Respect Religious Freedom of All WASHINGTON (March 29, 2011)—“We remain firmly committed to the defense of religious liberty for all—not just for Catholics—because our commitment is to the dignity of each and every human person,” said Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the retired archbishop of Washington, testifying on behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights hearing on “Protecting the Civil Rights of American Muslims.” “As a community that has been the target of religious discrimination, we understand the need today to bring attention to protecting the civil rights of our Muslim brothers and sisters,” Cardinal McCarrick said. “We see religious freedom as an essential foundation for our life together in our own nation and across the globe.” Cardinal McCarrick spoke of current threats to religious freedom, noting, “When the very right of conscience is attacked, the ability to exercise religious beliefs is subverted. There are well known contemporary examples where the state would force religious groups and individuals to choose between following their religious beliefs and practices and following the dictates of law.” He concluded, “As other countries wrestle with how to treat religious minorities, let them look to our nation where we work to ensure that their Muslim sisters and brothers are treated with dignity and their religious identity and beliefs are treated with respect. Let them see a people blessed with hard won religious freedom living out our commitment to the rights of all by demonstrating full respect for the identity, integrity and freedom of all religions.” Cardinal McCarrick’s written testimony can be found online: www.usccb.org/sdwp/Cardinal_McCarrick_Testimony_March_29_hearing.pdf ---Keywords: United States Senate, Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, hearing on Protecting the Civil Rights of American Muslims, religious liberty, freedom of conscience, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, USCCB, U.S. bishops, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Muslims, human dignity # # # # # For inquiries, e-mail us at Media-Relations@usccb.org Department of Communications 3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington DC 20017-1194 (202) 541-3000 © USCCB. All rights reserved.
THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT Thou shalt not kill   Violence is such a part of the world in which we live. TV, movies newspapaers are filled with it. It is in the light of so much violence that I asked God what this commandment might mean. His answer: When I gave this commandment what I had in mind was really quite simple, to protect the dignity of human person and in extension of all creation. That may sound like a stretch. It is really logical. All of my creation is endowned with a dignity. What I mean by that is I love what I have made. It is that love which keeps everything going. Now since they are the focus of my love that makes them very valuable. That is the dignity of which I speak, all things are valuable in my sight. They are worth something not because of what they can do, but simply because they are. Violence is any act which deliberately denies that dignity. Violence is saying that someone or something is not worth too much. We see the blatant violence, war, murder, abortion. The more subtle types of violence often are cloked in garments of respectability. For example, budegtary violence. Whenever there is a cut it is the poor who suffer. They are looked at as just an economic function. Greed is another great motivator towards violence. The "how much can I sell this for" instead of asking "what is a fare price." Not giving to those in need is also a kind of killing. Someone once said: if you do not give the needy a piece of bread you have already killed him. That should be a real wake up call. Ignoring people, the nasty talk, using people for our own purposes with no respect are all denying the dignity which I have given them. Therefore we can say that you have killed them. this applies to all of creation. You kill creation when you do not use it for the purpose which I intended. You see I made things for the common good not just for profit. When the resources of my creation are used solely for profit someone is going to go without them. Thou shall not kill is a command which extends into our daily lives. How do we view other people? What are the acts of violence I perpetrate? Do I give to the needy?

Monday, March 28, 2011

Read about the Franciscans

I am excited to share with you the Spring 2011 Be A Franciscan newsletter. The current issue from the Holy Name Province Franciscan Vocation Ministry includes a Lenten reflection by Fr. Brian Smail as well as articles about our Chapter, student friars and HNP's commitment to Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation. I hope you will read it! Please click the image of the newsletter to visit the Be A Franciscan newsletter page, where you can download the current and past issues. Read Be A Franciscan!

Read about the

Friday, March 25, 2011



Close your eyes and relax, deeply (This really works!) music by Paul Co...

Third Sunday of Lent

THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT
Thou shalt not kill
 
Violence is such a part of the world in which we live. TV, movies newspapaers are filled with it. It is in the light of so much violence that I asked God what this commandment might mean. His answer: When I gave this commandment what I had in mind was really quite simple, to protect the dignity of human person and in extension of all creation. That may sound like a stretch. It is really logical.
All of my creation is endowned with a dignity. What I mean by that is I love what I have made. It is that love which keeps everything going. Now since they are the focus of my love that makes them very valuable. That is the dignity of which I speak, all things are valuable in my sight. They are worth something not because of what they can do, but simply because they are.
Violence is any act which deliberately denies that dignity. Violence is saying that someone or something is not worth too much. We see the blatant violence, war, murder, abortion. The more subtle types of violence often are cloked in garments of respectability. For example, budegtary violence. Whenever there is a cut it is the poor who suffer. They are looked at as just an economic function. Greed is another great motivator towards violence. The "how much can I sell this for" instead of asking "what is a fare price."
Not giving to those in need is also a kind of killing. Someone once said: if you do not give the needy a piece of bread you have already killed him. That should be a real wake up call.
Ignoring people, the nasty talk, using people for our own purposes with no respect are all denying the dignity which I have given them. Therefore we can say that you have killed them.
this applies to all of creation. You kill creation when you do not use it for the purpose which I intended. You see I made things for the common good not just for profit. When the resources of my creation are used solely for profit someone is going to go without them.
Thou shall not kill is a command which extends into our daily lives. How do we view other people? What are the acts of violence I perpetrate? Do I give to the needy?

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Gather Us In

Second Sunday of Lent

THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT
HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER
This commandment is nuanced by the years. When we are young it comes down to doing what we are told to do and not giving any backtalk. When we get older it means taking care of our parents in some way. When they die it is keeping their memory alive inside the family. I wondered if there was perhaps a different way of looking at this commandment lest it get neglected. I let the Lord speak
When I gave this commandment to the Hebrews what I had in mind was simple, they should take care of their parents in their old age. They did not have all the nice facilities to take care of the aged. When they became feeble, sick and all those burdens of becoming old I wanted to remind their children that it was their obligation to care for them. I hoped that this commandment would light the spark of seeing the needs of their parents and responding to them.
At the same time I had something else in mind . You see there is the human family. I am sure that you have all heard that expression, Radically this human family is based on my Fatherhood for all people. It goes beyond blood, nationality race. My Son, Jesus, gave a very good teaching about this family when He told the parable of the Good Samaritan. The boundaries of what neighbor means were widened and therefore what family means.
You may be asking yourself the question: so what? Well, inside of this human family there are the weak, the feeble, those who need you. There are the poor, the homeless, the immigrants, the lonely and forgotten. In short there are people who need others in order to live. The sickness may be self inflicted .e.g. chemical addiction, it may come from society e.g. economic stress or it may come from some sort of weakness inside of one…this list is not meant to be exhaustive just some examples of the needy.
The next step is a big one and one which is easy to miss. In the context of why I gave this commandment in the first place, to take care of those who are in need (parents) broadening the concept of family beyond blood, inside of this wider family there are the needy. I would like it very much that one way to keep this commandment is to look at the needy you see as your fathers and mothers. In short, in honoring the needy among you you honor your father and mother.
REACTION-ABUSE Mar-15-2011 (960 words) With photo posted March 14. xxxnReport 'puts cloud over' church efforts to prevent abuse, says officialBy Carol ZimmermannCatholic News ServiceWASHINGTON (CNS) -- A recent grand jury report alleging past sexual abuse by clergy and other church personnel in the Philadelphia Archdiocese "puts a cloud over everything" the church is doing to prevent abuse, said Teresa Kettelkamp, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection.In the wake of the archdiocese placing 21 priests on administrative leave March 7 in its ongoing response to the grand jury inquiry, Kettelkamp said people want to know what happened, how it happened and what can be learned from it."Every bishop wants to hear how this could happen" to assure Catholics it won't happen in their diocese, Kettelkamp told Catholic Service March 11.She does not attribute any failure in responding to claims of abuse to the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," adopted by the U.S. bishops in 2002 at their Dallas meeting and revised three years later. The charter and its norms are meant to put a comprehensive system in place to address and stop abuse.What needs to be examined, said Kettelkamp, is the extent to which dioceses are following the "spirit and the letter" of the charter.When the Philadelphia grand jury released its report, it called for the archdiocese to "review all of the old allegations against currently active priests and to remove from ministry all of the priests with credible allegations against them." Among other initiatives the archdiocese pledged a re-examination of the cases of 37 priests.The grand jury also handed down five criminal indictments against a former priest, three current priests and a former parochial school teacher. The five were in court March 14 for a preliminary hearing.As the Philadelphia cases of alleged abuse are re-examined, Kettelkamp said it should become clear if unreported cases of abuse were the result of human failure or a weakness in the process itself."We have a good charter and a good audit, but we'd be foolish and irresponsible not to take a fresh look at everything we do," she told CNS.For starters, she noted that every diocese should be asking if it has sent every reported allegation of abuse to the local diocesan review board, and if not, why not.Philadelphia's grand jury report cites instances where archdiocesan review board members, who examined reported cases of abuse, found some allegations lacked sufficient evidence to justify a priest's permanent removal. In some instances when these priests were not removed from active duty, the report showed, further allegations of abuse were made against them.The charter's "zero tolerance" policy calls for the permanent removal from ministry of any priest or deacon found to have abused a minor in any way -- even if only once.The policy has strong support among victims' groups as a sign that the church is serious about protecting children, but critics say there should be different levels of penalties for different types of child sex abuse, that a cleric who only touches a child should not be given the same penalty as a cleric who has raped numerous children.Kettelkamp stands by the "zero tolerance" policy, especially given the current scandal.She is confident that answers will come to light as the Philadelphia abuse cases are carefully scrutinized.Currently, Gina Maisto Smith, the veteran child abuse prosecutor hired by the archdiocese, is leading the intensive re-examination of the cases. After her initial review, she recommended that Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali place 21 priests on administrative leave.The cases concerned allegations ranging from sexual abuse of a minor to other incidents of what the archdiocese termed "boundary issues" -- discussions or behavior by a clergyman that might indicate a pattern leading to later abuse.The priests' placement on leave is not a final determination, according to a press release issued by the archdiocesan communications office. The action follows "an initial examination of files looking at both the substance of allegations and the process by which those allegations were reviewed."In one of a number of statements he has issued in response to the report, Cardinal Rigali called sexual abuse a crime and "always wrong and always evil.""Many people of faith and in the community at large think that the archdiocese does not understand the gravity of child sexual abuse," he said Feb. 16. "We do. The task before us now is to recognize where we have fallen short and to let our actions speak to our resolve."Kettelkamp said she hoped that during the archdiocese's review, "all the good work the church has done" to combat abuse will not be completely overshadowed. She also hopes the "armies of people" involved in rooting out abuse in the church will not give up their fight."On any given day there are at least 1,000 people (across the country) working on the charter," she said, adding that the Philadelphia scandal "demoralizes so many people who have worked so hard.""I don't want them to get discouraged and give up," she added. "They should keep on doing what they do."Both the charter and norms the U.S. bishops approved for dioceses to adhere to the charter's mandates have Vatican approval. The charter was updated in 2005, the norms in 2006.The charter mandates that safe environment programs be set up in dioceses and parishes. It also requires an annual audit on how dioceses and religious orders are complying with provisions in the charter. Under canon law, dioceses cannot be required to participate in the audit, but it is strongly recommended.In 2009, as in previous years, a few dioceses and eparchies declined to be audited for various reasons, but the Philadelphia Archdiocese has always participated in the audit. Results of the 2010 audit have not yet been released.END
Copyright (c) 2011 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.CNS · 3211 Fourth

Friday, March 11, 2011



Hosea (Come Back to Me)

First Sunday of Lent

THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT
HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER
This commandment is nuanced by the years. When we are young it comes down to doing what we are told to do and not giving any backtalk. When we get older it means taking care of our parents in some way. When they die it is keeping their memory alive inside the family. I wondered if there was perhaps a different way of looking at this commandment lest it get neglected. I let the Lord speak
When I gave this commandment to the Hebrews what I had in mind was simple, they should take care of their parents in their old age. They did not have all the nice facilities to take care of the aged. When they became feeble, sick and all those burdens of becoming old I wanted to remind their children that it was their obligation to care for them. I hoped that this commandment would light the spark of seeing the needs of their parents and responding to them.
At the same time I had something else in mind . You see there is the human family. I am sure that you have all heard that expression, Radically this human family is based on my Fatherhood for all people. It goes beyond blood, nationality race. My Son, Jesus, gave a very good teaching about this family when He told the parable of the Good Samaritan. The boundaries of what neighbor means were widened and therefore what family means.
You may be asking yourself the question: so what? Well, inside of this human family there are the weak, the feeble, those who need you. There are the poor, the homeless, the immigrants, the lonely and forgotten. In short there are people who need others in order to live. The sickness may be self inflicted .e.g. chemical addiction, it may come from society e.g. economic stress or it may come from some sort of weakness inside of one…this list is not meant to be exhaustive just some examples of the needy.
The next step is a big one and one which is easy to miss. In the context of why I gave this commandment in the first place, to take care of those who are in need (parents) broadening the concept of family beyond blood, inside of this wider family there are the needy. I would like it very much that one way to keep this commandment is to look at the needy you see as your fathers and mothers. In short, in honoring the needy among you you honor your father and mother.
JAPAN-DISASTER Mar-11-2011 (310 words) With photos. xxxi
Damage keeps Japanese church officials from assessing needs
By Catholic News Service
TOKYO (CNS) -- Damage from a magnitude 8.9 earthquake and ensuing tsunamis were preventing church officials in Japan from assessing needs as tsunami warnings were issued for 50 other countries.
Yasufumi Matsukuma, a staffer at the Japanese bishops' conference, told the Asian church news agency UCA News that most staffers would remain in the offices overnight because of suspended rail service and continuous aftershocks.
"In Tokyo, telephone lines are so busy that I cannot contact diocesan chancellor offices in Japan. Aftershocks have followed. The tsunamis are terrible and we cannot get any information concerning the church yet," he said.
Disruption of telecommunications has made it impossible for the conference's general secretariat to contact Sendai, near the quake's epicenter, and neighboring dioceses, he added.
Television and web video showed cars, ships and even buildings being swept away by a wall of water hitting Sendai, and CNN reported police discovered at least 200-300 bodies in the city.
Daisuke Narui, executive director of Caritas Japan, said in a statement: "We are still collecting information at this point, but currently we are not able to communicate on the phone. Cell phones are also out of service."
A spokeswoman for Catholic Relief Services said the agency was on high alert in many countries in Asia, including the Philippines and Caritas Oceania, which is active in many islands in the Pacific.
This earthquake is the strongest since a magnitude 9.1 quake struck off Indonesia in December 2004. The quake and the tsunamis that followed left about 220,000 people dead or missing in more than a dozen countries around the Indian Ocean.
"We know from 2004 the devastating impact that these tsunamis can have," said Sean Callahan, CRS executive vice president for overseas operations. "As with all such disasters, CRS will help people recover from the emergency and stand with them as they recover."
END
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Wednesday, March 2, 2011



City of God 2

Ninth Sunday of the Year

Bible Lesson
A Sunday School teacher asked her class why Joseph and Mary took Jesus with them to Jerusalem.
A small child replied: "They couldn't get a baby sitter."
THE THIRD COMMANDMENT
Keep holy the Sabbath Day
The Lord speaks:
The Sabbath, Sunday, has always been special for the community. From the beginning the faithful would gather to celebrate the memorial of the Lord’s death and resurrection. The great gift which I have given you in the Mass makes you present, in faith, at Calvary and Easter Sunday. Mass is brining into your world this great act of reconciliation. My apostle Paul reminds you that when he writes: he reconciled all things through the blood of His cross. Reconcile means to make things the way they should be.
So at Mass my mercy is given to you. It is there, you may not feel it, but it is working within you. I guess a simple way of defining my mercy is: I fix things. I fix the mistakes of people, I work inside of terrible situation trying to bring good out of them, My mercy, or rather I the merciful one do an awful lot that people will probably never know. This is what Mass does.
Now since you have all been touched by this mercy you should share it. You see I do not give gifts just for the individual but I give to the individual to he may use it to make my kingdom present in the world. My gifts, in this case mercy, are for the world.
Having said all that the next part is the tough one. You see I like to use people to do this. Look at the world and see all the things that are not right with it. Poverty, selfishness, greed, pride man’s inhumanity to man all these need fixing. You can not do everything. But you can do something to make my kingdom better. Maybe volunteering to work at the parish food pantry? The point that I am trying to make is that Sunday Mass is not just one hour you spend in Church. To keep it holy means to live what has happened to you…touched by God’s mercy. The words of my prophet Isaiah come to mind: Come let us set things aright, says the Lord
Questions for reflection:
Have you ever felt during Mass a weight being taken off your shoulders?
Do you see yourself as a “fixer” in God’s Kingdom?
Any ideas of what you could do to be the hands of God?
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The concept and practice of religious freedom is "one of America's greatest qualities" but it cannot be appreciated or passed along to other nations without an understanding of its roots in Christian thought, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver told a symposium at Georgetown University March 1.
"It is impossible to talk honestly about the American model of religious freedom without acknowledging that it is, to a significant degree, the product of Christian-influenced thought," the archbishop said in his keynote address to a daylong symposium on "Religion in American Politics and Society: A Model for Other Countries?"
Archbishop Chaput emphasized that he was not saying America is a "Christian nation" or that everything about our nation's Protestant heritage is "uniformly good." He cited "radical individualism, revivalist politics, a Calvinist hunger for material success as proof of salvation" and "an ugly nativist and anti-Catholic streak" as among the "less happy" effects of that heritage.
"None of these sins, however -- and yes, some of our nation's sins have led to very bitter suffering both here and abroad -- takes away from the genius of the American model," he said. "This model has given us a free, open and nonsectarian society marked by an astonishing variety of cultural and religious expressions."
But that does not mean the American notion of religious liberty can be dropped into another culture that does not share Christian roots, as evidenced by the "bitter experience in Iraq," the archbishop said.
"One of the gravest mistakes of American policy in Iraq was to overestimate the appeal of Washington-style secularity, and to underestimate the power of religious faith in shaping culture and politics," he added.
The "democracy movements now sweeping the Middle East and North Africa" demonstrate, however, that "the values enshrined in the American model touch the human heart universally," the archbishop said.
"The desires for freedom and human dignity ... are not culturally conditioned, or the result of imposed American or Western ideals," he added. "They're inherent in all of us."
He called for "an honest discussion of the relationship between Islam and the assumptions of the modern democratic state."
"In diplomacy and in interreligious dialogue we need to encourage an Islamic public theology that is both faithful to Muslim traditions and also open to liberal norms," the archbishop said. "Shariah law is not a solution. Christians living under Shariah uniformly experience it as offensive, discriminatory and a grave violation of their human dignity."
Archbishop Chaput, who served on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom from 2003 to 2006 under President George W. Bush, criticized "the current administration's ambivalence toward the widespread violations of religious liberty across the globe," as well as "the inadequacy or disinterest of many of our news media in reporting on religious freedom issues."
But he acknowledged that those are matched by "the indifference of many ordinary American citizens."
"In government, media, academia, in the business community and in the wider culture, many of our leaders no longer seem to regard religious faith as a healthy or a positive social factor," he said.
But free societies need "a healthy distinction between the sacred and the secular, between religious law and civil law," he added.
"Christians, and especially Catholics, have learned the hard way that the marriage of church and state rarely works," Archbishop Chaput said. "For one thing, religion usually ends up the loser, an ornament or house chaplain for Caesar. For another, all theocracies are utopian -- and every utopia ends up persecuting or murdering the dissenters who can't or won't pay allegiance to its claims of universal bliss."
Quoting James Madison, who said America was born as "an asylum to the persecuted and oppressed of every nation and religion," Archbishop Chaput concluded his talk by saying, "Right now in America, we're not acting like we revere that legacy, or want to share it, or even really understand it.
"And I think we may awake one day to see that as a tragedy for ourselves, and too many others to count," he added.
The symposium at which the archbishop spoke, sponsored by Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs and Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, also featured three separate panel discussions with Jewish, Muslim and Christian scholars and leaders.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, a key proponent of the proposed Islamic community center near ground zero in New York, said separation of church and state "does not mean a firewall" between the two, but requires a "structured formula" similar to the system of checks and balances among the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the U.S. government.
The imam founded and chairs the Cordoba Initiative, described as "a multinational, multifaith organization dedicated to improving understanding and building trust among people of all cultures and faith traditions."
"The ethics and principles that come from our faiths do inform and must inform our political life," he told the Georgetown audience. "The coercive powers of the state should not be used to oppress one religion."
END
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Copyright (c) 2011 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.CNS · 3211 Fourth St NE · Washington DC 20017 · 202.541.3250