Dr. Scott Hahn & Fr. Barron Bible & Liturgy

Journalists abandon standards to attack the Pope

We're off and running once again, with another completely phony story that purports to implicate Pope Benedict XVI in the protection of abusive priests.
The "exclusive" story released by AP yesterday, which has been dutifully passed along now by scores of major media outlets, would never have seen the light of day if normal journalistic standards had been in place. Careful editors should have asked a series of probing questions, and in every case the answer to those questions would have shown that the story had no "legs."
First to repeat the bare-bones version of the story: in November 1985, then-Cardinal Ratzinger signed a letter deferring a decision on the laicization of Father Stephen Kiesle, a California priest who had been accused of molesting boys.

Read more hear: http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/otn.cfm?id=632

Scripture and Tradition

Protestants claim the Bible is the only rule of faith, meaning that it contains all of the material one needs for theology and that this material is sufficiently clear that one does not need apostolic tradition or the Church’s magisterium (teaching authority) to help one understand it. In the Protestant view, the whole of Christian truth is found within the Bible’s pages. Anything extraneous to the Bible is simply non-authoritative, unnecessary, or wrong—and may well hinder one in coming to God. Catholics, on the other hand, recognize that the Bible does not endorse this view and that, in fact, it is repudiated in Scripture. The true "rule of faith"—as expressed in the Bible itself—is Scripture plus apostolic tradition, as manifested in the living teaching authority of the Catholic Church, to which were entrusted the oral teachings of Jesus and the apostles, along with the authority to interpret Scripture correctly.

http://www.catholic.com/library/Scripture_and_Tradition.asp

Support The Pope

This website is a humble gesture of reassurance for Pope Benedict XVI. This site provides individuals with a way to pledge their love, prayers, and support for Pope Benedict XVI, as well as our bishops and priests, in the hopes that if it gains enough momentum, he will hear of our sentiments.
http://www.supportthepope.com/

Economics and Fertility Rates

A 2.1% fertility rate is what a society needs to maintain to support the economy. So essentially this means that we need two working productive children to replace two retired parents who do not contribute to the work force anymore. The US has been able to maintain this rate because of immigration and other factors. Legal and illegal immigrants bring a lot to the table when it comes to supporting our economy. In my opinion, if they were to all of the sudden disappear our economy would be in shambles. If the US continues its policy of deporting illegal immigrants at these rates they should encourage Americans to have larger families so that their children can help support our economy in the future. How many are in your family?

For the first time in 35 years, the U.S. fertility rate has climbed high enough to sustain a stable population, solidifying the nation's unique status among industrialized countries.

The overall fertility rate increased 2 percent between 2005 and 2006, nudging the average number of babies being born to each woman to 2.1, according to the latest federal statistics. That marks the first time since 1971 that the rate has reached a crucial benchmark of population growth: the ability of each generation to replace itself.

"It's been quite a long time since we've had a rate this high," said Stephanie J. Ventura of the National Center for Health Statistics. "It's a milestone."

I hope this trend continues for the sake of families and our economy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/20/AR2007122002725.html

The Godless Delusion

I was very impressed by Patrick Madrid's book called Pope Fiction that I am ecstatic that his new book called "The Godless Delusion" is coming soon. This is a refutation of the arguments of modern "atheists".

This will be the next book I buy, along with Peter Kreeft's "Handbook of Christian Apologetics" and "Without Roots" by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger & Marcello Pera. So if anyone is feeling generous....

(I love the cover).

Why be Catholic?

This is a DVD for sale from Tim Staples. I meet Tim a while back when he came to speak at our parish, St. Mary's about "The Five Non-negotiables". Anything put out from Tim Staples is worth every cent.

He explains everything in great detail without losing the audience.

Fr. Robert Barron's Catholicism project.

Can we really trust the secular media for "fair and balanced" reporting?

In a harsh indictment of The New York Times, the former Judicial Vicar for the archdiocese of Milwaukee has accused the newspaper of using “sloppy and inaccurate reporting” to wrongly link Pope Benedict XVI to the scandal of priest abuser Fr. Lawrence Murphy.

Fr. Thomas Brundage, who presided over the canonical proceeding against Murphy in the 1990s, released a letter March 29 in which he states The Times never contacted him for comment and that documents allegedly authored by him and quoted in newspaper articles were not his.

“The documents were not written by me and do not resemble my handwriting,” wrote Brundage. “The syntax is similar to what I might have said but I have no idea who wrote these statements, yet I am credited as stating them. http://www.catholicregister.org/content/view/4031/849/

Every Catholic Church should have this sign.

I am going to talk to my parish priest to see if we could have one posted in the narthex.

Lent & Suffering

When I began preparing myself for Lent this year I spent some time reflecting what my sacrifices were going to be, what charitable acts I was going to do, and what I hope to gain spiritually in 40 days. Some of those sacrifices by some standards are petty but nevertheless when confronted with temptation it can really be a challenge. In addition to giving support to the Church as a part of my acts of charity, I would fast and pray for my Christian and non-Christian brothers. But in the end I had to benefit spiritually in my journey. If I did not resemble Christ at the end, Lent would have been a waste of time.

So I started Lent by finishing a book I started back in October and I figured it would be great Lenten reading. This book was called “Come Be My Light, The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta”. As you might have guessed by the title, these were letters by Mother Teresa to various correspondences. I always remember seeing the public image of Mother Teresa as a joyful little woman. But what was revealed in her writings was different. Mother Teresa suffered spiritually for the majority of her life and her suffering only intensified as she grew older. But it is what she did with her suffering that really surprised me.

The issue of suffering has plagued me for quite some time. I have come to grasp why and how suffering had entered into this world via the original sin of Adam and Eve. But suffering must have a meaning I told myself. There is meaning to life and since suffering is a part of life it must have meaning. But what perplexed me the most is, what are we to do with our suffering? St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Colossians (Col 1:24), “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church…”

What really through me for a loop was what could possibly be lacking in the suffering of Christ that St. Paul can somehow fill up? In reading Mothers letters I saw that she too was filling up what was lacking in Christ suffering.

Then it dawned on me. Our participation is what is lacking in the suffering of Christ.

In Matthews Gospel (Matt 27:32) we read about a prime example of sharing in Christ suffering. It was by a Cyrenian named Simon whom the Romans pressed into service to help carry His cross. What Simon did was help Jesus to Golgotha so Christ can save the world. In essence Simon assisted in the salvation of the world and even helped save himself by participating in Christ suffering. Simon’s experience is at the very essence of redeeming souls by his participation in our Lord’s suffering. This is our mission too. We must deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him (Mark 8:34-35) for own sake and the sake of our brothers.

But suffering is hard. No one wants to suffer. And in fact in seems that once we do follow Christ, our suffering intensifies 10 fold. I am again reminded of another passage in scripture, Matt 8:24-26. Jesus and His disciples clamber into a boat and set sail in the Sea of Galilee and… “Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he (Jesus) was asleep. They came and woke him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ He said to them, ‘Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?’ Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm.”

It seems that in this passage and among others that Jesus even attracts trouble. But there is a very important message here for us and it is that although perhaps we can’t pay the bills, or we lost our job, the kids are sick or what have you, it is for a greater purpose and that God is in control even though all seems lost. We need not fear and we must have faith. Trust in God for he is good and if he wasn’t good, we wouldn’t be here.

Understanding suffering and all its intents and purposes this Lent was hard enough. But putting this understanding into action is going to take a lifetime.

Aaron.
St. Joseph - Ora Pro Nobis