Bishop Daniel Jenky invokes St. Michael for USA Catholic Churches

Bishop Daniel Jenky: Is Scandalized By “Catholic” Politicians Who Collaborate With Evil

Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, Ill. has asked parishes, schools, hospitals and religious houses to insert the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel into the intercessions at Sunday Mass to pray for Catholics’ freedom.

St. Michael the Archangel and Bishop Daniel Jenky

The move comes in response to a new federal requirement that will force many Catholic organizations to provide insurance coverage for sterilizations and contraceptives.
“It is God’s invincible Archangel who commands the heavenly host, and it is the enemies of God who will ultimately be defeated,” the bishop said in a Jan. 24 letter to the Catholics of his diocese.
The prayer should take place in the general intercessions before the concluding prayer, Bishop Jenky said. He asked that the intention of the prayer be announced as “for the freedom of the Catholic Church in America.”
The St. Michael prayer was authored by Pope Leo XIII, and was once commonly said in U.S. Catholic parishes as part of a petition for the freedom of Soviet Russia.
He said it is his duty to summon the local Church into “spiritual and temporal combat in defense of Catholic Christianity.”
“If these regulations are put into effect, they could close down every Catholic school, hospital and the other public ministries of our Church, which is perhaps their underlying intention,” Bishop Jenky said. “What is perfectly clear is that this is a bigoted and blanket attack on the First Amendment rights of every Catholic believer.”
Bishop Jenky’s comments add to the continued reaction to the Department of Health and Human Services ruling that requires insurance coverage of procedures which Catholic teaching recognizes as sinful. The rule’s narrow religious exemptions only include institutions which hire or serve their fellow believers and have the inculcation of religious values as a primary purpose.
The requirement will make it impossible for Catholic institutions to continue to offer health care coverage for their employees, the Diocese of Peoria said. The institutions could be forced to drop healthcare coverage for employees because of their moral and religious objections.
Bishop Jenky stated that the president does not have the authority under the U.S. Constitution to “require our cooperation with what we consider to be intrinsic evil and mortal sin.”
“I am honestly horrified that the nation I have always loved has come to this hateful and radical step in religious intolerance.”
The bishop pledged that the Church will never abandon its commitment to the Gospel of Life and called on the faithful to “vigorously” oppose what he called an “unprecedented governmental assault upon the moral convictions of our faith.”
Bishop Jenky also struck an encouraging note.
“Have faith! Have courage! Fight boldly for what you believe!” he said. “I strongly urge you not to be intimidated by extremist politicians or the malice of the cultural secularists arrayed against us.”
Invoking the First Letter of John, he said Catholics should always remember that “the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

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• LA archbishop calls on Catholics to oppose HHS mandate

By Kevin J. Jones
EWTN News

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“Loyal believers are called upon not only to defend the Faith but even to defend the very concept of faith in the face of aggressive secularism and increasingly intolerant atheism,” Bishop Jenky concluded. “It now seems to be the unbelievers who apparently hope to initiate some new kind of inquisition designed to entirely exclude God from the public forum. In the face of growing hostility, practicing Catholics need to recognize that the choices we make and the witness we either offer or withhold will have both temporal and eternal consequences for each one of us. Christ the Lord has promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church he founded on the rock of Peter’s faith (Matthew 16:1), but he also warned that at the end of time he will deny those who deny him (cf. Matthew 10:33).”

“The Catholic Diocese of Peoria now exists in a political reality that is increasingly secular in outlook and today is often specifically hostile to the convictions of our Faith,” the bishop wrote. “Atheists and secularists have long realized that the Church of Rome is perhaps the largest single institution that still stands in the way of a completely secularized society. In Illinois where politics are notoriously corrupt and whose governmental agenda is so singularly ineffective, intrenched political power happens to be concentrated in a single region that for generations has been immune to reform. This situation has given determined special interest groups a unique opportunity to impose their views on everyone else as they endeavor to exclude faith from any role in the public forum.”

“The Catholic Diocese of Peoria now exists in a political reality that is increasingly secular in outlook and today is often specifically hostile to the convictions of our Faith,” he said. “Atheists and secularists have long realized that the Church of Rome is perhaps the largest single institution that still stands in the way of a completely secularized society. In Illinois where politics are notoriously corrupt and whose governmental agenda is so singularly ineffective, intrenched political power happens to be concentrated in a single region that for generations has been immune to reform. This situation has given determined special interest groups a unique opportunity to impose their views on everyone else as they endeavor to exclude faith from any role in the public forum.”

Bishop Jenky continued:

As your Bishop, I now believe it is critically necessary to raise an alarm among the faithful regarding growing threats to our religious freedom due to the increasing steps toward radical secularization taking place in Illinois. Beside the abrupt exclusion of Catholic Charities from childcare and adoption services and increasing attempts to intimidate Catholic healthcare, I am also concerned about possible future moves that could be made against the independence of our Catholic schools and other public ministries of our Diocese. Eventually it may come to pass that our fidelity to the Gospel of Christ and to Catholic tradition may place us in direct conflict with recent legal definitions of the State of Illinois. There are certainly some in our state whose commitment to [atheistic] secularism is so intense that they may well try to restrict the Church’s role only to the sacristy and sanctuary.

I am especially scandalized by some “Catholic” politicians who willingly collaborate with efforts to restrict the civil liberty of the faith tradition from which they were originally sprung. Many of those in office who were taught to read and write in Catholic schools, now seem entirely indifferent to the consciences of those Catholics who live their faith. On Ash Wednesday, they like to be conspicuous with crosses on their foreheads, but the true Cross of Christ seems far from their hearts and minds. They enjoy parties on March the 17th and wearing green sweaters but in effect are ashamed of Saint Patrick’s unwavering zeal for the Catholic Christianity. They like photo opportunities with the hierarchy, but break their word to them without a moment’s hesitation. They may still use the rituals of Catholicism to mark their happy and sad occasions, but apparently would sell their soul for a vote or a dollar. What does it benefit a person to gain the whole world but lose their soul (Mark 8:36), but eternal loss for the sake of public office in Illinois is an extraordinarily foolish deal with the devil. Such people certainly need our prayers, but they should no longer be able to take our friendship or our support for granted …

Even when our institutions are attacked and our most sacred beliefs held up for scorn, many Catholics sadly remain silent. As your Bishop, it is therefore my duty before God to call faithful Catholics into more assertive action in defense of our religion and those public ministries which we hold to be the work of Christ.

“Catholicism is filled with enormous spiritual richness, a cohesive intellectual tradition, and a remarkable commitment to charity and service. It is the Faith for which we should be ready and willing to give our hearts and even to offer up our lives. It is also the Faith by which we all certainly will be judged before the throne of Almighty God.”

Read Entire Article Here: http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=13127

Bishop Jenky has also ask that all Parishes, Schools, Hospitals, and Religious Houses to Institute the St. Michael Prayer into there intentions at Sunday Mass, to defend and pray for Catholic Freedom in America.

The move comes in response to a new federal requirement that will force many Catholic organizations to provide insurance coverage for sterilizations and contraceptives.

“It is God’s invincible Archangel who commands the heavenly host, and it is the enemies of God who will ultimately be defeated,” the bishop said in a Jan. 24 letter to the Catholics of his diocese.

The prayer should take place in the general intercessions before the concluding prayer, Bishop Jenky said. He asked that the intention of the prayer be announced as “for the freedom of the Catholic Church in America.”

from: Catholic Culture.org

Pope emphasizes need for silence in digital world

Pope Benedict XVI

Vatican City, Jan 24, 2012 / 02:44 pm .- Pope Benedict XVI believes that in a noisy world of constant communication people need silence more than ever.
He outlined his thoughts in his message for World Communications Day 2012, which is entitled “Silence and Word: Path of Evangelization.” The Pope’s letter was released Jan. 24 at the Vatican press office by Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

“When messages and information are plentiful, silence becomes essential if we are to distinguish what is important from what is insignificant or secondary,” the Pope says in a statement that will be read in Catholic churches around the world on May 20, 2012.

“This makes it possible to share thoughtful and relevant opinions, giving rise to an authentic body of shared knowledge,” he writes.
Pope Benedict recommends making this interchange possible by developing “an appropriate environment, a kind of ‘eco-system’ that maintains a just equilibrium between silence, words, images and sounds.”

He suggests that silence is required to make sense of the constant stream of information that people now receive via television, radio, the Internet and various forms of social media.
“In silence, we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves; ideas come to birth and acquire depth; we understand with greater clarity what it is we want to say and what we expect from others; and we choose how to express ourselves,” he says.
He also observes that silence can allow other people to express their thoughts. In this way “we avoid being tied simply to our own words and ideas without them being adequately tested,” and therefore, “space is created for mutual listening, and deeper human relationships become possible.”

Pope Benedict believes that this use of silence is “often more eloquent than a hasty answer,” because it “permits seekers to reach into the depths of their being and open themselves to the path towards knowledge that God has inscribed in human hearts.”

The Pope sees this need for silence as a part of Christian life from the earliest times. He points to the “eloquence of God’s love, lived to the point of the supreme gift,” which is seen “in the silence of the Cross,” when, after Christ’s death “there is a great silence over the earth.”

Silent contemplation also “immerses us in the source of that Love who directs us towards our neighbors so that we may feel their suffering and offer them the light of Christ, his message of life and his saving gift of the fullness of love,” he writes.

Archbishop Celli summed up the Pope’s message as reminding everyone that real communication involves pairing “words and silence” so that people are not “overwhelmed by the sheer volume of communication itself.”

Monsignor Paul Tighe, Secretary of the social communications council, explained to CNA that the Pope’s message “reminds us that the relevance of silence is equally important within the context of a digital environment.”

“Especially when we now find ourselves continually bombarded by messages, by ideas, by opinions, by news.

“And so the Pope is saying we need silence if we’re going to judge that, integrate it, make it our own and not simply be caught up in a flow of information.”

 By David Kerr
 (CNA/EWTN News)

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo: We Are Walking Through Ninevah!

“Don’t Be Compromised In The Dedication To The Protection Of Human Life!” 

Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston told over a thousand young people at a prayer vigil in D.C. that the pro-life movement depends on their loving witness in the face of a hostile culture.
“You are a good infection,” the cardinal told the youth gathered at the opening Mass for the National Prayer Vigil for Life. “Do not underestimate your presence.”
More than 10,000 people gathered on the evening of Jan. 22 for Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, including many young people from across the country.

The date marked the 39th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in America.
Cardinal DiNardo, who serves as chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, was the principal celebrant and homilist at the opening Mass, which was followed by confessions, a rosary, Night Prayer and holy hours throughout the night.
The Catholic University of America hosted almost 1,300 pilgrims overnight.
The vigil concluded on the morning of Jan. 23 with Morning Prayer and a closing Mass, at which Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of New York was the principal celebrant and homilist.

Participants were then able to attend the March for Life in downtown D.C., along Constitution Avenue to the Supreme Court building.
In his homily, Cardinal DiNardo spoke about the call of Jonah. Although he first ran away, Jonah eventually realized “that the call of the Lord is serious.” When he finally responded to that call, his preaching converted the people of Ninevah.

“We are walking through Ninevah,” the cardinal said, emphasizing the need for “personal conversion.”

With millions of lives destroyed by abortion in the last 39 years, he noted the need for ministries of conversion, as well as compassion and mercy.
Through the work of such ministries, he said, “we witness the miracle of Christ’s mercy and healing grace” as broken hearts are “made whole” and “filled with new peace and hope.”
The cardinal also expressed grave concerns that the pro-life movement is threatened by recent attacks on religious freedom in America.

On Jan. 20, the Department of Health and Human Services finalized a rule that will require virtually all health insurance plans to include sterilization and contraception – including drugs that cause abortion – free of charge.

Cardinal DiNardo explained that this mandate violates the religious liberty and rights of conscience of Catholics and other religious employers by forcing citizens “to directly purchase what violates our beliefs.”

He called for “timely and unwavering actions” to defend religious freedom.
At the same time, the cardinal expressed hope for the future, observing signs of good news, such as the “record numbers” of pro-life laws passed on the state level in recent years.
In many ways, the youth are “weaving Christ into our culture,” he said, urging them to show the loving face of Christ to those who are hostile.

“Don’t be compromised in your dedication to the protection of life.”

 By:  Michelle Bauman-CNA/EWTN news

Bishop Conley: Redefining Marriage Will Mean That Government Will Try And Redefine Truth!

The Long Term Consequences Of Creating A Parallel For Marriage Will Be Severe!

A Colorado proposal to recognize same-sex civil unions is a “dangerous and unjust” effort to redefine marriage warns Bishop James D. Conley, the apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Denver.
He said that a renewed legislative push for civil unions in the state threatens to erode the “unique status” of marriage as between one man and one woman.
This upcoming weekend, the Colorado Catholic Conference will ask Catholics to sign postcards to legislators in opposition to the move.
Bishop Conley urged people to participate in the campaign because “it allows each of us to speak the truth – to ask the government to respect the plan for marriage God has given us.”

“Doing so protects children, protects marriage and, ultimately, protects the common good of all of us.”
He warned that recognizing civil unions for same-sex couples would allow them to adopt children and infringe on religious liberties for many groups. Some also view civil unions as “a stepping stone” to endorsing polygamous relationships.

“Redefining marriage means that government will try to redefine truth,” he said.
He then cited Bishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of Oakland, who chairs the U.S. bishops’ conference subcommittee on marriage.
Bishop Cordileone recently said that civil unions can “in no way” be considered a permissible compromise or an advance for the common good.
“(I)nstead, they directly violate principles of justice and accelerate the push to redefine marriage itself.”

Marriage is “among the oldest human institutions,” Bishop Conley emphasized, saying that “the communion of husband and wife is a unique reality that has no true parallel.”
The Denver bishop observed that throughout history, political thinkers have believed that protecting families is at the heart of government’s responsibility.

He said that laws which protect marriage ensure that families can provide children “the right to two parents, a mother and a father, who can love them and care for them.”
Marriage laws also require men to treat women with dignity, he noted, adding that the “exclusive and permanent bond” of a married man and woman cannot be redesigned by “legal dictate.”

Bishop Conley pointed to Church teaching that Catholics must treat individuals with same-sex attraction with “dignity and love.” Those who have homosexual inclinations are not evil, though the inclination is a “tragic distortion of the great gift of sexuality God has given us.”

The essentials problem with civil union laws, he explained, is that they “endorse and sanction that distortion by suggesting that homosexual relationships are equivalent to marriage.”
The Catholic bishops of Colorado have also stressed that opposition to civil unions is not voiced out of desire to deny fundamental civil rights and is not a condemnation of homosexual people.

“We affirm what our Church teaches – namely, that we must treat our homosexual sisters and brothers with dignity and love, as we would all God’s children,” they said in a joint statement.

By:  Kevin Jones Catholic News Agency


NOTE:  Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter (Isa 5:20) ... woe unto the USA and the whole world. Pray people .. pray like you never have before!!!!!!!!!!

Pope warns of 'grave threat' to religious freedom in US

Pope Benedict XVI warned today (1/19/12) of a “grave threat” to religious liberty in the United States that requires American Catholics to respond with intelligence and courage.

“It is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres,” he said Jan. 19 in an address to a group of American bishops visiting the Vatican.
The Pope said he was particularly concerned with “certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion.”
Pope Benedict’s address was delivered to the bishops from the Mid-Atlantic states region, which includes the Archdioceses of Washington and Baltimore. They are in Rome this week on their regular “ad limina” visit to discuss the health of the U.S. Church with the Pope and Vatican officials. The two bishops from the Archdiocese for the U.S. Military Services are also participating in the meetings.
Pope Benedict said that over the past few days many of the bishops have expressed concern over attempts in the U.S. to “deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices.”
Meanwhile, other bishops raised the “worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship” without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.
At present, the Obama administration is considering imposing a contraception and sterilization mandate that would require all insurance companies to provide those services free of charge. The regulation has a religious exemption clause, but it provides very few exceptions for Church organizations.
Some states are also pushing Catholic adoption agencies out of business or severely limiting their work because they refuse to compromise the Church’s beliefs on same-sex “marriage.”
Pope Benedict said these issues highlight the need for an “engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-à-vis the dominant culture.” The American laity must have the “courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate,” he said.
The preparation of such “committed lay leaders,” he told the bishops, should be the “primary task of the Church in your country.”
He noted that his visit to the United States in 2008 afforded him an opportunity to reflect on America’s historical experience of religious freedom, “specifically the relationship between religion and culture.”
“At the heart of every culture, whether perceived or not,” he said, “is a consensus about the nature of reality and the moral good, and thus about the conditions for human flourishing.”
In the United States this consensus is “enshrined in your nation’s founding documents,” which are grounded in a worldview shaped by faith and a commitment to ethical principles, he observed.
Today, however, that consensus has been eroded “in the face of powerful new cultural currents” which are “not only directly opposed to core moral teachings of the Judeo-Christian tradition, but increasingly hostile to Christianity.”
Despite such hostility, American Catholics are still called to proclaim “a Gospel which not only proposes unchanging moral truths but proposes them precisely as the key to human happiness and social prospering,” Pope Benedict stated.
He also responded to those who attempt to restrict Christians’ voice in the public square or argue that their contribution should be ignored because of “majority rule.” This is a threat not just to Christianity but “to humanity itself and to the deepest truth about our being and ultimate vocation, our relationship to God.”
Pope Benedict said that the Catholic Church’s tradition of respect for both faith and reason means that it can play a critical role in opposing current trends which are based on “extreme individualism” and promote “notions of freedom detached from moral truth.”
The pontiff also touched on what he called the “legitimate” idea of separation of Church and State. This does not mean, however, that the Church must be silent on certain issues or that the state can choose to ignore “the voices of committed believers in determining the values which will shape the future of the nation.”
Pope Benedict said he appreciated the efforts of the U.S. bishops to maintain contacts with Catholics involved in political life and help them “understand their personal responsibility to offer public witness to their faith.”
This is especially true when it comes to key ethical issues of today, which he identified as “the respect for God’s gift of life, the protection of human dignity and the promotion of authentic human rights.”
He concluded on an optimistic note by observing the rise of “a new generation of Catholics” in the United States whose “experience and convictions will have a decisive role in renewing the Church’s presence and witness in American society.”
The hope promised by this younger generation should be reason enough “to renew our efforts to mobilize the intellectual and moral resources of the entire Catholic community in the service of the evangelization of American culture and the building of the civilization of love.”

By David Kerr
To read Pope Benedict's full address, please visit: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/document.php?n=1059

Pope Benedict: What are “the Springs of Salvation?”

Raise Your Children to “Listen to the Voice of Truth Speaking to His Heart and Follow it on a Personal Journey

HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

Dear Brothers and Sisters, It is always a joy to celebrate this Holy Mass with the baptism of children on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. I greet you all with affection, dear parents, godparents and all of you, relatives and friends! You have come here ? you said so aloud ? so that yourour newborn babies may receive the gift of God’s grace, the seed of eternal life. You, parents, have desired this. You thought of Baptism even before your child was born. Your duty as Christian parents made you think immediately of the sacrament that marks entry into divine life and into the community of the Church. We can say that this was your first educational decision as witnesses of the faith to your children: it is a fundamental decision! The parents’ task, helped by the godfather and godmother, is to raise their son or daughter. Raising children is very demanding and at times taxes our human capability, which is always limited. However, educating becomes a marvellous mission if it is carried out in collaboration with God who is the first and true educator of every human being. In the First Reading, we heard from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, God addresses his people precisely as a teacher. He puts the Israelites on their guard against the danger of quenching their thirst and appeasing their hunger at the wrong sources: “Why”, he says, “do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy?” (Is 55:2). God wants to give us good things to drink and to eat, things that do us good; whereas at times we use our resources mistakenly, we use them for things that are useless, indeed, even harmful. Above all, God wants to give us himself and his Word. He knows that in distancing ourselves from him we will soon run into difficulty ? like the Prodigal Son of the parable ?— and, especially, that we will lose our human dignity. And for this reason he assures us that he is infinite mercy, that his thoughts and ways are unlike ours ? fortunately! ? and that we can always retueturn to him, to the Father’s house. Thereafter he assures us that if we receive his Word it will bear good fruits in our life, like the rain that waters the earth (cf. Is 55:10-11). We responded to these words which the Lord has addressed to us through the Prophet Isaiah with the refrain of the Psalm: We will “draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation”. As adults, we have striven to draw from the good springs for our own good and for the good of those entrusted to our responsibility, and you in particular, dear parents and godparents, for the good of these children. And what are “the springs of salvation?” They are the Word of God and the sacraments. Adults are the first who should nourish themselves at these sources, so as to be able to guide those who are younger in their development. Parents must give much, but in order to give they need in turn to receive, otherwise they are drained, they dry up. Parents are not the spring, just as we priests are not the spring. Rather, we are like channels through which the life-giving sap of God’s love must flow. If we cut ourselves off from his spring, we ourselves are the first to feel the negative effects and are no longer able to educate others. For this reason we have committed ourselves by saying: We will “draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation”. And we now come to the Second Reading and to the Gospel. They say that the first and principal education takes place through witness. The Gospel speaks of John the Baptist. John was a great educator of his disciples, because he led them to the encounter with Jesus to whom he bore witness. He did not exalt himself, he did not wish to keep his disciples bound to him. Yet John was a great prophet, his fame was very great. When Jesus arrived John drew back and pointed to him: “After me comes he who is mightier than I?. I have baptized you with water; but he will bbaptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mk 1:7-8). The true teacher does not bind people to himself, he is not possessive. He wants his son or daughter, or disciple, to learn to know the truth and to establish a personal relationship with it. The educator does his duty fully, he assures his attentive and faithful presence because his objective is that the person being educated listen to the voice of truth speaking to his heart and follow it on a personal journey. Let us return once again to the witness. In the Second Reading, the Apostle John writes: “And the Spirit is the witness” (1 Jn 5:7). He is referring to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, who bears witness to Jesus, testifying that he is the Christ, the Son of God. This is also apparent in the scene of the Baptism in the River Jordan: the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus as a dove to reveal that he is the Only-Begotten Son of the eternal Father (cf. Mk 1:10). In his Gospel too, John underlines this aspect where Jesus says to the disciples: “When the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning” (Jn 15:26-27). This is a great comfort to us in the work of educating in faith, because we know that we are not alone and that our witness is sustained by the Holy Spirit. It is very important for you parents, and also for the godparents, to believe strongly in the presence and in the action of the Holy Spirit, to invoke him and to welcome him within you, through prayer and through the sacraments. It is he, in fact, who illumines the mind and warms the heart of the educator so that he or she can pass on the knowledge and love of Jesus. Prayer is the first condition for teaching because by praying we prepare ourselves to leave the initiative to God, to entrust children to him, who knows them before and better than we, and who knows perfectly what their true good is. And at the same time, when we pray we listen to God’s inspiration in order to do our part well, which in any case is our duty and which we are bound to do. The sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Penance, enable us to carry out our educational action in union with Christ, in communion with him and continuously renewed by his forgiveness. Prayer and the sacraments obtain for us that light of truth thanks to which we are able to be at once tender and strong, gentle and firm, silent and communicative at the right time, admonishing and correcting in the right way. Dear friends, let us therefore all invoke the Holy Spirit together so that he may come down upon these children in abundance, consecrate them in the image of Jesus Christ and always go with them on their journey through life. Let us entrust them to the motherly guidance of Mary Most Holy, so that they may grow in age, wisdom and grace and become true Christians, faithful and joyful witnesses of God’s love. Amen.

Pater's for Peace!!!

In prayer this afternoon, it came to me that we will REALLY need a lot of prayer in this new year. Jesus gave us the perfect prayer and it's one that ALL Christians can relate to, which will increase unity.

Let us go out into the world and ask others to pray the Lord's Prayer with us for Peace in the World. Waiting in a line somewhere or in an elevator, waiting room or on the street ... turn to someone and ask them if they would like to join you for a few seconds to recite the Lord's Prayer for World Peace.

Where 2 or more are gathered in His Name, there He is in the midst of them ;)

This may be uncomfortable at first .. but it WILL get easier and it will do a WORLD OF GOOD! If someone says they don't know the prayer, tell them they can follow in their minds as you say it :) You could also just make a statement in a crowded place, like a mall or something, just announce: "I'm going to say the Lord's Prayer for Peace in the World; please feel free to join me!" And just pray it aloud. It will take SECONDS and do IMMEASURABLE GOOD! When you're done, smile and walk away praising God in your heart!

Posts can be made here of where it's being done, how it's being received, others that have been influenced by it. Imagine if this spread over the world what GOOD it would do!?!?!? Surely God in His Mercy would look down kindly on our efforts! Isn't that worth doing? :)

I am housebound, but I will post this where ever I can ... I will rely on you good folks to carry this through where ever you are ... all over the world ... FOR THE WORLD, but ultimately for God's Divine Will to be done on earth as it is in heaven!!!

May God bless this endeavor and all involved with peace, courage and the strength to carry it out, as together, we unite to call down mercy on the World and unite all peoples everywhere in God's Love & Mercy!

Please click the link and join the FaceBook page .. 

post your interactions, videos, comments or support!

Please JOIN US!

There's been several videos of 'flash evangelization' posted on FB .. was just thinking ... anyone with a cam could also use it for this and we can post the videos ... in fact, perhaps we can make it a CONTEST!?!??! .. the best FLASH PATER'S FOR PEACE Video at the end of the 1st 4 months here, will get a free Battlebeads Rosary! :)

Fighting Abortion With The Eucharist!

 “Darkness Cannot Exist In The Light; The Presence Of God’s Goodness Will Change Hearts And Minds!”

The Eucharist is moving into enemy territory as a powerful weapon against abortion. Across the country, adoration chapels are being set up next to abortion businesses. It’s a growing movement that Father Steve Imbarrato, chaplain of Holy Innocents Chapel in Albuquerque, N.M., says he hopes will increase.

“I want to promote Eucharistic adoration to fight abortion,” Father Imbarrato said. As the director for Project Life, he said everything he does to promote life involves the Eucharist. “The chapel is the spiritual center of all our pro-life work,” he stated.

By setting up a Eucharistic chapel, Jesus has a close, permanent presence right next to the enemy. “Our Lord has been across the street from the Planned Parenthood clinic here for almost 12 years,” Father Imbarrato said. “It began when our bishop gave permission for the Eucharist to be kept in a tabernacle in an office cubicle across the street.” When the priest was asked to oversee the chapel in 2004, he formed a 501(c)(3) for Project Defending Life. The landlord, not happy with the makeshift chapel, was threatening to throw them out.

That’s when another 3,000 square-foot office space became vacant just 50 feet from the facility. The group moved there and renamed it Holy Innocents Chapel. Mass is celebrated there three days a week.

“We’ve been taking Our Lord in procession after Mass, two days a week, and we just added a third day,” Father Imbarrato said. An average of 30 or more participants join in a Rosary and other prayers before processing back.

When Father Price Oswalt, a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, heard Father Imbarrato’s story on Catholic radio, he said he knew he wanted to get the Eucharist as close to the local abortion facility as he could. “If we can get people praying with Our Lord on the front lines, we can change everything,” he said. “Darkness cannot exist in light; the presence of God’s goodness will change hearts and minds.”
‘Everything Has a Price’

When the question of financing came up, Father Oswalt said Father Imbarrato told him not to worry. “Father said, ‘Just let people know about your plan, and God will provide the money.” That is exactly what happened. “People started donating, including a $25,000 and a $35,000 check,” Father Oswalt said. “I was going to rent a building, but people said, ‘Why don’t you buy one?’”

A building is in the process of being purchased. Father Oswalt said the Holy Innocents Chapel will be operational as soon as possible. His goal is perpetual adoration to pray without ceasing against the evil taking place next door. “The clinic doctor murders scores of babies six days a week,” he said.

Initially, a building nearby was not even for sale, but a pro-life businessman assured Father Oswalt, “Father, everything is for sale for a price.” Sure enough, the owner of a building 21 feet from the abortion business was looking to pay off a debt, so he accepted an offer. Ironically, he warned the future buyers, “The only thing wrong with this building is that there’s a doctor next door who does women things, so sometimes there are protesters.” The buyers did not reveal that they were the protesters.

Although money readily came forward, many details had to be addressed. The bishop needed to give permission to reserve the Blessed Sacrament, which he did as long as the chapel can be properly staffed with volunteers for perpetual adoration. There need to be at least 168 people — two per hour — to commit to an hour a day, seven days a week, before the Blessed Sacrament. Attorneys volunteered to file the legal papers for Holy Innocents Foundation of Oklahoma’s nonprofit status. They also made sure the chapel would be in compliance of city rules for setting up churches and holding processions.

After all this work, what if the abortionist moves to some quieter location? “If he moves, we move,” Father Oswalt said. “We will follow him wherever he goes.”
‘The Lord Is There’

In Robbinsdale, Minn., right next to an abortion facility, there is a renovated home that has served as a Eucharistic chapel for three years. The Eucharist is reserved in a back bedroom, and a 10-foot crucifix and five-foot statue of Mary sits in the front yard. Father Thomas Duffner meets with a group on the property every Saturday, rain or shine, where they pray 15 decades of the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.

“The Lord is there,” Father Duffner said. “There’s no question that there is power in this. I have no doubt whatsoever.” He said that just as the whole Church is being renewed through perpetual adoration, so too the fight against abortion is being renewed through the Eucharist. “We go to the abortion clinic, to the foot of the cross, where Jesus is suffering; and through the Eucharist, he is there with us.”

In North Dakota, there are no abortionists and only one business. Practitioners come from out of state, usually on Wednesdays, to perform abortions. Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo said that the Visitation Chapel opened on the third floor of an office building directly across from the abortion facility this past June. “I opened it with the first Mass,” the bishop said. “There is Mass every Wednesday at 8am and adoration from 8:30 until 4pm, the time abortions are done.”

The Fargo Respect Life Office directs the chapel, but it relies completely on donations from the laity. “The response has been very positive,” said Bishop Aquila. “People come from all over to pray here. They see the chapel as a real witness to the dignity of the unborn.”

Bishop Aquila, who presides over an annual Eucharistic procession on Respect Life Sunday, cautions that it is important to involve the local bishop and study the rules for establishing a chapel and holding processions.

“Certainly, with our belief in the Eucharist as the body, blood and divinity of Jesus Christ, we are putting our trust in the second Person of the Trinity to assist in the battle against the culture of death,” he said. “Jesus is the one who gives life. We know that Our Lord is with us in this battle.”

By: Patti Maguire Armstrong  NCRegister.com