May 2010
From the Pastor
May/31/2010
Today, we celebrate the sacred mystery of the Holy Trinity. As we ponder the union of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, we start to realize, little by little, that God is always reaching out to us, never ceasing to try to draw us into a relationship with Him, by creating us, redeeming us, and making us holy. The goodness of God’s love, a selfless love, fills us with wonder.
God tries to touch our hearts so that we will respond to His merciful love and pass it on to others. That is our main mission in life in conjunction with praising God for all that He does for us. As we continue our journey toward a fuller conversion of our heart and mind, we can be assured of God’s loving support. After all, it is our common belief that God wishes the salvation of every human being. That’s why Jesus, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, was sent to our world—to save us. That’s why God sends the Holy Spirit upon us, to encourage us in our faith mission.
This weekend, we graduate 31 eighth-graders to their new place in high schools across our area. Many of them will continue their Catholic education in Catholic school settings. Next year, they will also continue their spiritual preparation for the sacrament of Confirmation. None of this will assure them or us of their advancement in their faith mission. Much like the seed in Sacred Scripture, some will fall on good soil and develop and produce good (spiritual) fruit; others, sad to say, will not.
What our school and its staff have given them is a solid foundation to advance in this life and prepare for the next. Though we are a major support system for their parents, it is the parents who have the ultimate responsibility of raising them in the practice of the Faith by giving good example. If the parents and family are well-rooted in its Catholic faith, then good fruit should follow. But, if parental responsibility should fall short in its obligations, then the results, unfortunately, will be similarly predictable.
That’s why we try to encourage our children AND their parents to participate in Mass each weekend, so that they may grow together in their belief in God and the Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. So, I ask you to pray for these young graduates and their parents, that the light of Faith that was given to each one in Baptism, will not be snuffed out, and that each of these youngsters will not fall victim to the seductions of this world or its wily prince (Satan). The more often they receive the Eucharist worthily, the more likely they will grow in their knowledge and love of God and His
teachings in Scripture and through the Church. If they omit Mass through their own fault, they’ve already been alerted to the need of reconciliation with God before a worthy Eucharist.
The school has started the process by planting the seed; let’s pray that the parents and the rest of our parish family
will work to nurture the plant! Now that the summer has begun for many of the youngsters with the usual closing of school, there will be summertime opportunities to continue the learning in more delightful and less formal settings. In our parish, we will again host the popular Vacation Bible School program, begun a few short years ago for the youngest of our children. Beginning June 7th to 11th on our grounds, for three hours each morning, several wonderful volunteer parents, assisted by some of our teens, will lead the children a little closer to the Lord by teaching them about His love for His Church, the People of God.
And for the rest of us, may we not forget that we are God’s children and, as children, we owe our God the proper love, respect and gratitude due Him. Our primary duty is to give Him praise and worship each Sunday, whether “in season or out of season,” and to show our love for all His creation, including the earth, and all living things upon it, especially His children. May we never lose our sense of rendering to God the things that are God’s, especially by keeping His day holy.
Very Rev. Canon Tom
God tries to touch our hearts so that we will respond to His merciful love and pass it on to others. That is our main mission in life in conjunction with praising God for all that He does for us. As we continue our journey toward a fuller conversion of our heart and mind, we can be assured of God’s loving support. After all, it is our common belief that God wishes the salvation of every human being. That’s why Jesus, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, was sent to our world—to save us. That’s why God sends the Holy Spirit upon us, to encourage us in our faith mission.
This weekend, we graduate 31 eighth-graders to their new place in high schools across our area. Many of them will continue their Catholic education in Catholic school settings. Next year, they will also continue their spiritual preparation for the sacrament of Confirmation. None of this will assure them or us of their advancement in their faith mission. Much like the seed in Sacred Scripture, some will fall on good soil and develop and produce good (spiritual) fruit; others, sad to say, will not.
What our school and its staff have given them is a solid foundation to advance in this life and prepare for the next. Though we are a major support system for their parents, it is the parents who have the ultimate responsibility of raising them in the practice of the Faith by giving good example. If the parents and family are well-rooted in its Catholic faith, then good fruit should follow. But, if parental responsibility should fall short in its obligations, then the results, unfortunately, will be similarly predictable.
That’s why we try to encourage our children AND their parents to participate in Mass each weekend, so that they may grow together in their belief in God and the Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. So, I ask you to pray for these young graduates and their parents, that the light of Faith that was given to each one in Baptism, will not be snuffed out, and that each of these youngsters will not fall victim to the seductions of this world or its wily prince (Satan). The more often they receive the Eucharist worthily, the more likely they will grow in their knowledge and love of God and His
teachings in Scripture and through the Church. If they omit Mass through their own fault, they’ve already been alerted to the need of reconciliation with God before a worthy Eucharist.
The school has started the process by planting the seed; let’s pray that the parents and the rest of our parish family
will work to nurture the plant! Now that the summer has begun for many of the youngsters with the usual closing of school, there will be summertime opportunities to continue the learning in more delightful and less formal settings. In our parish, we will again host the popular Vacation Bible School program, begun a few short years ago for the youngest of our children. Beginning June 7th to 11th on our grounds, for three hours each morning, several wonderful volunteer parents, assisted by some of our teens, will lead the children a little closer to the Lord by teaching them about His love for His Church, the People of God.
And for the rest of us, may we not forget that we are God’s children and, as children, we owe our God the proper love, respect and gratitude due Him. Our primary duty is to give Him praise and worship each Sunday, whether “in season or out of season,” and to show our love for all His creation, including the earth, and all living things upon it, especially His children. May we never lose our sense of rendering to God the things that are God’s, especially by keeping His day holy.
Very Rev. Canon Tom
From the Pastor
May/20/2010
This weekend, as we celebrate Pentecost, the fiftieth day of Easter, we come to the conclusion of the fifty-day celebration of Easter. Throughout the history of salvation, God’s Spirit continues to breathe upon all creation, bringing life and renewal. We rejoice in the continued presence of the Holy Spirit among us, bringing us abundant new life, first, through Baptism, and renewed again, through the Sacrament of Confirmation. The first Pentecost was the renewal of the covenant God made with man on Mt. Sinai, when the Spirit of the Lord descended upon the Apostles, with sevenfold gifts of wisdom, understanding, right judgment, courage, knowledge, reverence and wonder.
With joy, we renew the covenant made in the waters of Baptism, and ask the Lord to grant us a renewal of His gifts each day of our life, for we live in a funny world that daily challenges our spirit, our moral fiber, and our way of thinking. We need that constant help!
What a tremendous day we had last Saturday at the annual parish golf-outing at Quail Ridge Country Club! The weather was perfect, and the tourney was a success, thanks to the untiring efforts of Mimi Meister, her husband, Dan, and the committee and numerous volunteers who dedicated themselves to making this our best outing yet, for the benefit of the children of our St. Vincent Ferrer School. We had a lot of fun, with many laughs, and managed to enjoy ourselves throughout the afternoon and evening. May God bless Charlie Bowie and the leadership of the club that offered us such a wonderful venue.We thank all of these people for their fine efforts, and may all of us who participated relish the thought that next year’s event will be even greater!
Next weekend, we will take up that special 2nd collection for the missionary work of the same religious order of Sisters that now staffs our school, viz., the Little Servant Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. In your appreciation for having a community of devoted religious sisters that staff our parish school, and are ever present in our parish to minister to the sick and homebound, a generous response in the envelopes that have been provided will help that same community to reach out to many people in the third world. There they are engaged in bringing Christ to those who otherwise wouldn’t know Him, and of ministering to the spiritual and physical needs of these people at the same time. Our Sister Maria and Sister Dorothy and their superiors are most grateful for your support of their community’s efforts, and will ask the many Sisters of their Order to pray for you along with their other benefactors.
At this time, I would like to thank Mr. Lou Finelli of our school faculty for the many years of service he has given to our school and parish, too. He is retiring this year after fifteen years here of teaching math, computer science and doing the upgrades of our technology programs: data processing information, website structuring, etc., in the school. We will miss his daily presence here, but hope to see him on his visits in the future.
We will also bid fond farewells to two other staff members whom we will miss: Mrs. Molly Karpenko and Mrs. Patricia Sperry. May God bless them in their new setting, and know that our prayers will follow them. Next weekend we will celebrate our 8th grade graduates from St. Vincent School with a special Mass and blessing of the graduates during the regular Saturday 5:30 P.M. Parish Mass. With gratitude for the many sacrifices made by parents to provide a quality Catholic education at our school, and thanks to the efforts of a wonderful teaching staff and leadership in our school, we will send forth thirty-one young men and women to a new level of preparing to deal with life’s situations.
Hopefully, they will remember the most important values of what they have learned in these past eight to ten years in Catholic education and continue to worship the Lord each week, thanking Him for the abundance of gifts poured out upon His people. I thank our good Principal, Mrs. Delgado, her staff and all the teachers and parents who have brought our students to this point in their lives. May our graduates never forget they are God’s children, and may they always remember to give Him the worship and honor due Him each week at Mass.
Congratulations to our Mrs. Delgado for getting our school to be accepted into a special scholarship program. St. Vincent Ferrer is a participating school in the Florida Tax Scholarship plan called “Step Up For Students.” What is the Step Up For Students Program? Well, students who are entering kindergarten or first grade, or who attended public school the previous year are eligible, providing they match the criteria. The scholarships cover up to $3,950 for private school tuition and books. This should help a number of our students and their families to cut tuition costs. For more information regarding scholarship qualification, please go to www.stepupforstudents.org.
Very Rev. Canon Tom
With joy, we renew the covenant made in the waters of Baptism, and ask the Lord to grant us a renewal of His gifts each day of our life, for we live in a funny world that daily challenges our spirit, our moral fiber, and our way of thinking. We need that constant help!
What a tremendous day we had last Saturday at the annual parish golf-outing at Quail Ridge Country Club! The weather was perfect, and the tourney was a success, thanks to the untiring efforts of Mimi Meister, her husband, Dan, and the committee and numerous volunteers who dedicated themselves to making this our best outing yet, for the benefit of the children of our St. Vincent Ferrer School. We had a lot of fun, with many laughs, and managed to enjoy ourselves throughout the afternoon and evening. May God bless Charlie Bowie and the leadership of the club that offered us such a wonderful venue.We thank all of these people for their fine efforts, and may all of us who participated relish the thought that next year’s event will be even greater!
Next weekend, we will take up that special 2nd collection for the missionary work of the same religious order of Sisters that now staffs our school, viz., the Little Servant Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. In your appreciation for having a community of devoted religious sisters that staff our parish school, and are ever present in our parish to minister to the sick and homebound, a generous response in the envelopes that have been provided will help that same community to reach out to many people in the third world. There they are engaged in bringing Christ to those who otherwise wouldn’t know Him, and of ministering to the spiritual and physical needs of these people at the same time. Our Sister Maria and Sister Dorothy and their superiors are most grateful for your support of their community’s efforts, and will ask the many Sisters of their Order to pray for you along with their other benefactors.
At this time, I would like to thank Mr. Lou Finelli of our school faculty for the many years of service he has given to our school and parish, too. He is retiring this year after fifteen years here of teaching math, computer science and doing the upgrades of our technology programs: data processing information, website structuring, etc., in the school. We will miss his daily presence here, but hope to see him on his visits in the future.
We will also bid fond farewells to two other staff members whom we will miss: Mrs. Molly Karpenko and Mrs. Patricia Sperry. May God bless them in their new setting, and know that our prayers will follow them. Next weekend we will celebrate our 8th grade graduates from St. Vincent School with a special Mass and blessing of the graduates during the regular Saturday 5:30 P.M. Parish Mass. With gratitude for the many sacrifices made by parents to provide a quality Catholic education at our school, and thanks to the efforts of a wonderful teaching staff and leadership in our school, we will send forth thirty-one young men and women to a new level of preparing to deal with life’s situations.
Hopefully, they will remember the most important values of what they have learned in these past eight to ten years in Catholic education and continue to worship the Lord each week, thanking Him for the abundance of gifts poured out upon His people. I thank our good Principal, Mrs. Delgado, her staff and all the teachers and parents who have brought our students to this point in their lives. May our graduates never forget they are God’s children, and may they always remember to give Him the worship and honor due Him each week at Mass.
Congratulations to our Mrs. Delgado for getting our school to be accepted into a special scholarship program. St. Vincent Ferrer is a participating school in the Florida Tax Scholarship plan called “Step Up For Students.” What is the Step Up For Students Program? Well, students who are entering kindergarten or first grade, or who attended public school the previous year are eligible, providing they match the criteria. The scholarships cover up to $3,950 for private school tuition and books. This should help a number of our students and their families to cut tuition costs. For more information regarding scholarship qualification, please go to www.stepupforstudents.org.
Very Rev. Canon Tom
From the Pastor
May/14/2010
Throughout the fifty days of Easter, we have rejoiced in the resurrection of Christ. Today we listen to the story of His glorious Ascension into heaven, where He intercedes for us to His Father. Just before ascending into heaven, Jesus instructed His disciples to return to Jerusalem, and there they should fast and pray while they await the coming of the Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost. We are reminded that as members of the Body of Christ, we have become His hands and feet to work in this world. In various dioceses and countries, some observed Ascension last Thursday, but the bishops in most of the United States (except the northeast and Nebraska) use their prerogative to transfer the celebration to Sunday. In this way, the serious obligation of attending
Mass on a Holy Day of Obligation now has been combined with a Sunday, when many more people are able to get to church for the celebration.
On Saturday, May 29th, at the 5:30 p.m. Mass, our 8th grade will mark their graduation from our parish school. We certainly will miss this spirited group when they leave our school, and I invite you to pray for them, that they may stay close to Jesus when they are in high school and fulfill their role of worshipping Him each weekend, not only when they feel like coming. I invite all of our graduates to attend that Mass, too, as we pray for them and their future, so that they may realize that it is God who brought them to this point in their lives, and it is God who will sustain them when others will have abandoned them.
On the same weekend of May 29-30, our parish will take up a special 2nd collection for the Little Servant Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, of whom we have our Sister Maria and Sister Dorothy from our school. They will be speaking at most of our Masses that weekend about their community, and this will be our chance to help sustain their Order. Special envelopes have been printed for you to fill out and drop in the collection basket for that occasion. So, I hope you will be generous to their call for help, for, as in some of the poorer areas of the world, their work cannot be sustained except through the generous response given by people in first-world countries, especially in the parishes in which they work, such as ours. Among their many missions throughout the world, some of these Sisters work in Poland, Rome and the U.S., and have additional places to maintain, such as those situated in Africa, the Philippines, Ukraine and Belarus. There they run schools, hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, orphanages, and catechetical centers. They are noted for their faithful witness to Christ and His people, their wearing of the traditional full-length garment of religious women, their love and devotion to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and their prayerful witness through their good example.
May they also draw young women to their style of community life, ready to give up the worldly things this life offers to take on the challenges we all must overcome to enter into God’s Kingdom. Congratulations to the new officers for our parish Home and School Association: President, Tom & Elizabeth Brinkman; Vice President Noreen Kelly; Treasurer Chris & Susan Grant; Recording Secretary John & Begona Krane; Financial Secretary Bill & Greta Gillis; and Parliamentarian Jason & Vicki Chung.
They are very active and participating parishioners, not only in our school programs, but also in the total life of our parish. I welcome them into their new roles for the next 2 years, and pray that their good efforts will be met with the assistance of many other parents, who also will volunteer to assist them for the good of our school and parish.
In the first part of June, I will be returning to Rome for the closing of the Year of the Priest. It was my good fortune last June to be there for its opening. With gratitude to the 47,000 Knights of Columbus in the state of Florida for being chosen as their representative chaplain, I will join the state chaplains of each of our 50 states and several national chaplains of the countries in which our Knights are present, to meet with our
Holy Father and partake of the closing events.
Very Rev. Canon Tom
Mass on a Holy Day of Obligation now has been combined with a Sunday, when many more people are able to get to church for the celebration.
On Saturday, May 29th, at the 5:30 p.m. Mass, our 8th grade will mark their graduation from our parish school. We certainly will miss this spirited group when they leave our school, and I invite you to pray for them, that they may stay close to Jesus when they are in high school and fulfill their role of worshipping Him each weekend, not only when they feel like coming. I invite all of our graduates to attend that Mass, too, as we pray for them and their future, so that they may realize that it is God who brought them to this point in their lives, and it is God who will sustain them when others will have abandoned them.
On the same weekend of May 29-30, our parish will take up a special 2nd collection for the Little Servant Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, of whom we have our Sister Maria and Sister Dorothy from our school. They will be speaking at most of our Masses that weekend about their community, and this will be our chance to help sustain their Order. Special envelopes have been printed for you to fill out and drop in the collection basket for that occasion. So, I hope you will be generous to their call for help, for, as in some of the poorer areas of the world, their work cannot be sustained except through the generous response given by people in first-world countries, especially in the parishes in which they work, such as ours. Among their many missions throughout the world, some of these Sisters work in Poland, Rome and the U.S., and have additional places to maintain, such as those situated in Africa, the Philippines, Ukraine and Belarus. There they run schools, hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, orphanages, and catechetical centers. They are noted for their faithful witness to Christ and His people, their wearing of the traditional full-length garment of religious women, their love and devotion to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and their prayerful witness through their good example.
May they also draw young women to their style of community life, ready to give up the worldly things this life offers to take on the challenges we all must overcome to enter into God’s Kingdom. Congratulations to the new officers for our parish Home and School Association: President, Tom & Elizabeth Brinkman; Vice President Noreen Kelly; Treasurer Chris & Susan Grant; Recording Secretary John & Begona Krane; Financial Secretary Bill & Greta Gillis; and Parliamentarian Jason & Vicki Chung.
They are very active and participating parishioners, not only in our school programs, but also in the total life of our parish. I welcome them into their new roles for the next 2 years, and pray that their good efforts will be met with the assistance of many other parents, who also will volunteer to assist them for the good of our school and parish.
In the first part of June, I will be returning to Rome for the closing of the Year of the Priest. It was my good fortune last June to be there for its opening. With gratitude to the 47,000 Knights of Columbus in the state of Florida for being chosen as their representative chaplain, I will join the state chaplains of each of our 50 states and several national chaplains of the countries in which our Knights are present, to meet with our
Holy Father and partake of the closing events.
Very Rev. Canon Tom
From the Pastor
May/08/2010
During this month of May, set aside in the Catholic Church to honor Mary, Mother of God and of the
Church, we take time on this second Sunday of the month to honor our earthly mothers, too, as we celebrate their love on Mother's Day.
Many flowers, spiritual bouquets, beautiful gifts, special meals and additional signs of affection will be shown to our Moms, whether living or not, to tell them how much we love them and how much we appreciate all that they mean to us and have done for us to nurture our life and faith. How wonderful, too, if we were to take some time to extend that gratitude to our spiritual Mother, Mary, and pray her rosary during this month as a sign of our love and affection for her.
Even if we set aside one decade of the Rosary each day and meditate upon the mysteries contained therein, we express our deepest sentiments in appreciation for all that she has done for us, including saying “Yes” to the Father for bringing forth the life of His Son, our Savior, on earth. Our school children will honor the Blessed Virgin this coming week (May 11th) with a traditional, annual crowning of the statue of the Blessed Virgin in church at the 8:30 A.M. Mass. I welcome you to join us on this occasion.
We're delighted that our little children of the second grade of our school and our Parish Religious Education Program (PREP) have just received their First Holy Communion this past Saturday. My hope and prayer is that it will not just be a single passing occasion in their lives, but that it will be repeated at least weekly at Sunday Mass, when their joy will be renewed at receiving Jesus regularly into their hearts, and that the love He has for them may be returned as often as humanly possible to Him by their worthy reception of Holy Communion.
May they always stay close to Jesus, and may they grow in wisdom and grace that comes from the worthy reception of this Sacrament. Sadly, we know that there are many people who approach this Sacrament casually, and, unfortunately, some of them in a most unworthy state, without the proper disposition necessary to receive His grace. May our little ones never be given the bad example of unworthy reception of the Holy Eucharist. If they have somehow neglected the Lord in their obligatory weekly worship in a Catholic church, or have offended God in a serious other way, may they learn to be first reconciled with Him through a good Confession in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, and then benefit from His graces through a worthy reception of Holy Communion. In that way may their reception of the Eucharist benefit their lives and keep them close to the Lord.
Next Saturday, May 15th, we will have our annual Parish Golf Tourney, and this one is set to be one of the
largest and best ever because of the hard work done by the preparatory team of Mimi Meister and her friends (mentioned previously in the bulletin). Sponsorships, underwriting and the signing up of many foursome teams have given us an indication that we're in for a very special day. Let's pray that the weather will be great and that we'll have a glorious and fun-filled time on the course. More information appears elsewhere in this bulletin.
Graduations of our parishioners from different levels of schooling is already taking place, and we congratulate all of them on their accomplishments, from pre-K through graduate school in several universities! May God's blessings be poured on them in abundance, and may all those who have led them to this graduation be rewarded with a sense of their own accomplishment.
As we draw closer to the end of this Year For Priests, and witness the ceaseless and continuous groundless
attacks on our Church and the Priesthood, we recall the words of Pope Benedict XVI, in his letter that proclaimed this year in our honor: “ I think of all those priests who quietly present Christ's words and actions each day to the faithful and to the whole world, striving to be one with the Lord in their thoughts and their will, their sentiments and their style of life. How can I not pay tribute to their apostolic labors, their tireless and hidden service, their universal charity?” Pray for your priests, and pray for more priests to be sent to labor in the field of harvest.
Very Rev. Canon Tom
Church, we take time on this second Sunday of the month to honor our earthly mothers, too, as we celebrate their love on Mother's Day.
Many flowers, spiritual bouquets, beautiful gifts, special meals and additional signs of affection will be shown to our Moms, whether living or not, to tell them how much we love them and how much we appreciate all that they mean to us and have done for us to nurture our life and faith. How wonderful, too, if we were to take some time to extend that gratitude to our spiritual Mother, Mary, and pray her rosary during this month as a sign of our love and affection for her.
Even if we set aside one decade of the Rosary each day and meditate upon the mysteries contained therein, we express our deepest sentiments in appreciation for all that she has done for us, including saying “Yes” to the Father for bringing forth the life of His Son, our Savior, on earth. Our school children will honor the Blessed Virgin this coming week (May 11th) with a traditional, annual crowning of the statue of the Blessed Virgin in church at the 8:30 A.M. Mass. I welcome you to join us on this occasion.
We're delighted that our little children of the second grade of our school and our Parish Religious Education Program (PREP) have just received their First Holy Communion this past Saturday. My hope and prayer is that it will not just be a single passing occasion in their lives, but that it will be repeated at least weekly at Sunday Mass, when their joy will be renewed at receiving Jesus regularly into their hearts, and that the love He has for them may be returned as often as humanly possible to Him by their worthy reception of Holy Communion.
May they always stay close to Jesus, and may they grow in wisdom and grace that comes from the worthy reception of this Sacrament. Sadly, we know that there are many people who approach this Sacrament casually, and, unfortunately, some of them in a most unworthy state, without the proper disposition necessary to receive His grace. May our little ones never be given the bad example of unworthy reception of the Holy Eucharist. If they have somehow neglected the Lord in their obligatory weekly worship in a Catholic church, or have offended God in a serious other way, may they learn to be first reconciled with Him through a good Confession in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, and then benefit from His graces through a worthy reception of Holy Communion. In that way may their reception of the Eucharist benefit their lives and keep them close to the Lord.
Next Saturday, May 15th, we will have our annual Parish Golf Tourney, and this one is set to be one of the
largest and best ever because of the hard work done by the preparatory team of Mimi Meister and her friends (mentioned previously in the bulletin). Sponsorships, underwriting and the signing up of many foursome teams have given us an indication that we're in for a very special day. Let's pray that the weather will be great and that we'll have a glorious and fun-filled time on the course. More information appears elsewhere in this bulletin.
Graduations of our parishioners from different levels of schooling is already taking place, and we congratulate all of them on their accomplishments, from pre-K through graduate school in several universities! May God's blessings be poured on them in abundance, and may all those who have led them to this graduation be rewarded with a sense of their own accomplishment.
As we draw closer to the end of this Year For Priests, and witness the ceaseless and continuous groundless
attacks on our Church and the Priesthood, we recall the words of Pope Benedict XVI, in his letter that proclaimed this year in our honor: “ I think of all those priests who quietly present Christ's words and actions each day to the faithful and to the whole world, striving to be one with the Lord in their thoughts and their will, their sentiments and their style of life. How can I not pay tribute to their apostolic labors, their tireless and hidden service, their universal charity?” Pray for your priests, and pray for more priests to be sent to labor in the field of harvest.
Very Rev. Canon Tom
From the Pastor
May/04/2010
Irish journalist, David Quinn, recently came out with an article on why he views the current and ongoing attacks on Pope Benedict as attacks on the Catholic Church itself. Acknowledging his better journalistic abilities, I present some of his thoughts, edited and co-mingled with mine.
Although Pope Benedict XVI was elected as the successor to Pope John Paul II just five years ago, he already has become a controversial figure. He has gone on to become the “hate figure” in certain media and other circles -- a sort of replacement “target man” for George W Bush. Those circles include aggressive secularists, angry ex- Catholics, and even some within the Catholic fold itself, who live in denial, and still suffer from the delusion that the purpose of the 2ndVatican Council was to turn the Catholic Church into another form of failed liberal Protestantism.
Pope Benedict is obviously in the news more than ever now because of the scandals and the ongoing and ratherunfair attempts to implicate him in the mismanagement of those scandals. But, even without the scandals, Benedict XVI was and is a ‘hate figure’ for some. He’s been attacked often without any proper justification. For example, in December 2008, he was widely condemned for allegedly comparing homosexuality with the destruction of the rainforests - except that he did no such thing. In that given speech, he never even mentioned homosexuality.
A few weeks later, on his way to Africa, he defended the Church's opposition to condom promotion in fighting the spread of HIV/Aids. He was excoriated for this and blamed for helping to cause the deaths of millions. But none of his critics paid any attention to the actual scientific evidence, which shows that no condom promotion campaign aimed at general populations has ever succeeded in reducing the spread of HIV/Aids. What does work, according to the evidence, are fidelity campaigns!
The attacks on Pope Benedict are, actually, a more subtle attack on the Catholic Church, and they come from many directions. The Church is attacked over its supposed attitude towards Jews, Protestants, Muslims and thevother religions, generally; and Pope Benedict and the Church are attacked for their attitude towards homosexuality and human sexuality. They are attacked over their defense of the right to life of the unborn, the elderly and the sick.
They are attacked over their defense of marriage. But in a way, all these attacks are an attack on the same thing, namely the Pope’s and the Church's defense of objective truth and morality --the belief that certain things are right or wrong in and of themselves, regardless of opinion or circumstance. In an age of moral relativism, nothing is more offensive than the person who says, however calmly, that morality is simply a matter of opinion, that religions are all equally true or equally false, and that all lifestyle choices are
equal.
With regard to sex, for example, the Church says that sex has an objective meaning and purpose, and that one such purpose is procreation, intrinsically linked to heterosexuality. This is connected to the defense of marriage. One reason the Church says men and women should marry before they have sex is because it believes children have a right to be raised by their two married parents. But many people, especially cohabiting couples, single parents and homosexuals, find this offensive, and it leads them into a denial that children have any need for, or right to, a married mother and father. But, the Church cannot go down that road! Nor can the Church say all religions are equal, because then it would have to deny that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Yet, it doesn't mean the Church
wouldn’t treat other religions with due respect. So, why is all this so difficult to grasp?
Presumably we're all able to treat most of the people with whom we disagree with respect. And the Church does the same thing, contrary to popular prejudicial opinion. The paradoxical problem of relativism is that it claims to treat all points of view equally but, in fact, it condemns those who deny relativism. In other words, relativists defend their point of view as trenchantly and aggressively as the worst fundamentalists and will allow no opposition.
The Pope calls this ultra-aggressiveness the 'dictatorship of relativism.' And the main reason these liberal fundamentalists spend so much of their time and energy attacking the Pope and the Church is because these are the foremost defenders of objective truth and morality in the world today. Destroy Benedict, damage or co-opt the Church he leads, and you go a long way towards destroying opposition to liberal fundamentalism. This is a cataclysmic battle between those who believe in objective morality and those who think morality is relative. Pope Benedict is smack in the middle of the hottest part of this battle! In this Year for Priests, please remember to pray for our Chief Priest, Pope Benedict XVI. As leader of Christ’s Church on earth, he is in great need of our prayerful help.
Very Rev. Canon Tom
Although Pope Benedict XVI was elected as the successor to Pope John Paul II just five years ago, he already has become a controversial figure. He has gone on to become the “hate figure” in certain media and other circles -- a sort of replacement “target man” for George W Bush. Those circles include aggressive secularists, angry ex- Catholics, and even some within the Catholic fold itself, who live in denial, and still suffer from the delusion that the purpose of the 2ndVatican Council was to turn the Catholic Church into another form of failed liberal Protestantism.
Pope Benedict is obviously in the news more than ever now because of the scandals and the ongoing and ratherunfair attempts to implicate him in the mismanagement of those scandals. But, even without the scandals, Benedict XVI was and is a ‘hate figure’ for some. He’s been attacked often without any proper justification. For example, in December 2008, he was widely condemned for allegedly comparing homosexuality with the destruction of the rainforests - except that he did no such thing. In that given speech, he never even mentioned homosexuality.
A few weeks later, on his way to Africa, he defended the Church's opposition to condom promotion in fighting the spread of HIV/Aids. He was excoriated for this and blamed for helping to cause the deaths of millions. But none of his critics paid any attention to the actual scientific evidence, which shows that no condom promotion campaign aimed at general populations has ever succeeded in reducing the spread of HIV/Aids. What does work, according to the evidence, are fidelity campaigns!
The attacks on Pope Benedict are, actually, a more subtle attack on the Catholic Church, and they come from many directions. The Church is attacked over its supposed attitude towards Jews, Protestants, Muslims and thevother religions, generally; and Pope Benedict and the Church are attacked for their attitude towards homosexuality and human sexuality. They are attacked over their defense of the right to life of the unborn, the elderly and the sick.
They are attacked over their defense of marriage. But in a way, all these attacks are an attack on the same thing, namely the Pope’s and the Church's defense of objective truth and morality --the belief that certain things are right or wrong in and of themselves, regardless of opinion or circumstance. In an age of moral relativism, nothing is more offensive than the person who says, however calmly, that morality is simply a matter of opinion, that religions are all equally true or equally false, and that all lifestyle choices are
equal.
With regard to sex, for example, the Church says that sex has an objective meaning and purpose, and that one such purpose is procreation, intrinsically linked to heterosexuality. This is connected to the defense of marriage. One reason the Church says men and women should marry before they have sex is because it believes children have a right to be raised by their two married parents. But many people, especially cohabiting couples, single parents and homosexuals, find this offensive, and it leads them into a denial that children have any need for, or right to, a married mother and father. But, the Church cannot go down that road! Nor can the Church say all religions are equal, because then it would have to deny that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Yet, it doesn't mean the Church
wouldn’t treat other religions with due respect. So, why is all this so difficult to grasp?
Presumably we're all able to treat most of the people with whom we disagree with respect. And the Church does the same thing, contrary to popular prejudicial opinion. The paradoxical problem of relativism is that it claims to treat all points of view equally but, in fact, it condemns those who deny relativism. In other words, relativists defend their point of view as trenchantly and aggressively as the worst fundamentalists and will allow no opposition.
The Pope calls this ultra-aggressiveness the 'dictatorship of relativism.' And the main reason these liberal fundamentalists spend so much of their time and energy attacking the Pope and the Church is because these are the foremost defenders of objective truth and morality in the world today. Destroy Benedict, damage or co-opt the Church he leads, and you go a long way towards destroying opposition to liberal fundamentalism. This is a cataclysmic battle between those who believe in objective morality and those who think morality is relative. Pope Benedict is smack in the middle of the hottest part of this battle! In this Year for Priests, please remember to pray for our Chief Priest, Pope Benedict XVI. As leader of Christ’s Church on earth, he is in great need of our prayerful help.
Very Rev. Canon Tom