Bishop Jenky Urges Faithful To Turn To Mary!

Invoke Our Most Holy Mother In These Dark And Dangerous Times!

 

My Dear Brothers and Sisters:

I hope that over my 10 years as your bishop, my love for Our Lady, as has yours, has been abundantly clear: I have convoked a number of Rosary Congresses, declared a Year of the Rosary, dedicated a Festival Letter to our Lady as well as countless homilies and talks, I asked that her image as our Mother of Perpetual Help be enshrined in our parishes and schools, even as I re-consecrated our entire diocese to her patronage when I solemnly enthroned her icon in our Cathedral.

I again turn to her and I ask you to do the same.

It has never been easy to be a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. In fact, our Savior warns that the world will hate us if we love Him. The attacks of this world, the flesh and devil seem particularly ferocious in this current moment. Several months ago, I asked that we not lose sight of the spiritual nature of this battle when I directed that the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel should be invoked at every Sunday Mass for the protection of the Catholic Church in America. I now ask us to re-double our spiritual efforts through devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

The traditional 30-day consecration could very appropriately begin in our schools and families in early September in order to culminate on the Feast of the Holy Rosary on Oct. 5.

The Immaculate Mother of God is the Patroness of the United States and our own Local Church. The Pope has personally consecrated the world to her protection, and that invocation has been renewed by the bishops of our country, as I have done as well for our diocese following the example of Archbishop Schlarman. I encourage each of our parishes, schools, and families to consider a similar devotion to Our Lady. We turn to her to protect our country, to guide our leaders, and to turn our hearts to her Son.There are many ways to grow in devotion to our Lady. The scriptural meditation of the Rosary is perhaps the finest. Likewise, there are many methods of Marian Consecration. Through a generous donor, I am happy to make available copies of “33 Days to Morning Glory” by Father Michael Gaitly, MIC, to our parishes, schools, CCD and adult education programs. These books are free but supplies are limited and are available “first come.” I have asked the sisters in the diocesan museum and the Sheen Foundation to coordinate distribution. You may pick up the books anytime during office hours after Aug. 16.

by: The Catholic Post

my note: Please visit http://www.myconsecration.org for FREE materials to make the St. Louis deMontfort Consecration that is renewed each year. These folks work tirelessly spreading devotion to our blessed compassionate Mother ... She IS our recourse and hope ... pleading with her beloved Son always for her children on earth. That all be saved and none be lost. Jesus honored His mother, do we dare do less?
 

Baltimore Archbishop: Catholic Voters Can’t Vote for a Candidate Who Stands for an Intrinsic Evil

From the Knights of Columbus annual convention in Anaheim, California, Baltimore archbishop William E. Lori says that “this is a big moment for Catholic voters to step back from their party affiliation.”

For Catholic voters in November, Lori advises, “The question to ask is this: Are any of the candidates of either party, or independents, standing for something that is intrinsically evil, evil no matter what the circumstances? If that’s the case, a Catholic, regardless of his party affiliation, shouldn’t be voting for such a person.”

At the convention this week, the message wasn’t just coming from Lori, the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ new committee on religious liberty, but also from a letter conveying greetings from Pope Benedict XVI, commending the Knights and their work, specifically in defense of religious liberty. The Knights have been known to get papal encouragement, but this implicit comment on a contentious political issue is not part of the routine, reflecting what the letter calls the “unprecedented gravity” of the current situation.

“At a time when concerted efforts are being made to redefine and restrict the exercise of the right to religious freedom, the Knights of Columbus have worked tirelessly to help the Catholic community recognize and respond to the unprecedented gravity of these new threats to the Church’s liberty and public moral witness,” Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone wrote in the letter to the Knights, the largest lay Catholic organization in the United States, no doubt referring to the fight over the HHS contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing-drug mandate that has Catholic diocese, universities, and even businessmen suing the federal government to protect their religious-liberty rights. Cardinal Bertone continued: “By defending the right of all religious believers, as individual citizens and in their institutions, to work responsibly in shaping a democratic society inspired by their deepest beliefs, values and aspirations, your Order has proudly lived up to the high religious and patriotic principles which inspired its founding.”

“The challenges of the present moment are in fact yet another reminder of the decisive importance of the Catholic laity for the advancement of the Church’s mission in today’s rapidly changing social context,” the letter continues.

Citing papal comments to the bishops from the United States in Rome in January, the letter went on: “As he stated to the Bishops of the United States earlier this year, the demands of the new evangelization and the defense of the Church’s freedom in our day call for ‘an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-a-vis the dominant culture and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the future of American society’ (Ad Limina Address, 19 January 2012).”

“Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion,” the pope also said in that January address. “Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.”

“Is it consistent to profess our beliefs in church on Sunday, and then during the week to promote business practices or medical procedures contrary to those beliefs?” the pope, perhaps prophetically, asked during his 2008 visit to Washington, D.C.

That this papal message would be sent this month to a lay organization, in particular, is “very significant,” Archbishop Lori emphasizes. “If we are going to transform the culture from within, which we are called to do, and defend our basic freedoms,” it will be primarily the role of the laity, Lori tells me.

“The bishops are teachers,” he said, but political leadership “really needs to come from the laity as citizens and mothers and fathers and voters.”

When it comes to election advice for Catholics: “The reality is we are defending something that transcends party. The defense of religious liberty,” he said, “should not be a Democratic or Republican issue.” For a Catholic voter, this should be “fundamental, as people of faith.”

And not just for Catholics: “Many in the media have portrayed the HHS-mandate fight as a fight about contraception—as well as sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs … but this really is a fight about religious liberty,” Archbishop Lori says. “And you can see that as Evangelicals, Mormons, and Orthodox Jews have joined us in defense. They realize if the government can do this to the Catholic Church, they could be forced to violate their consciences too. The Evangelicals include those at Wheaton College, which recently joined a lawsuit that the Catholic University of America had filed in opposition to the mandate, over [its] abortion-inducing drug aspect.”

In an interview last month, Philip Ryken, the president of Wheaton College, told me that “even if the HHS mandate had no effect on Evangelical institutions, it would still be important to me to be supportive of Roman Catholic institutions if there were invitations and opportunities to be supportive.” He echoed the immediate reaction of New York’s archbishop and president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, to the so-called accommodation that the president misleadingly touted this Wednesday afternoon in Denver, after being introduced by feminist superstar Sandra Fluke.

“The most disturbing thing to me,” explains Ryken, who was a Presbyterian pastor in Philadelphia before becoming president of Wheaton, “was the government’s provision of a ‘safe harbor’ that would defer for one year the implementation of the mandate—and presenting that as somehow being a reasonable accommodation of religious liberty. I found that offensive—the hope that we would change our religious convictions over the course of the intervening year, or that religious convictions had somehow been honored if you violated them later rather than sooner.” “It was clear to me,” Ryken adds, “that there was no understanding of the true nature of religious liberty in the administration.”

“Never before has the federal government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience. This shouldn’t happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the Bill of Rights,” now Cardinal Dolan said.

Cardinal Dolan joined the papal greeting in Anaheim, encouraging the continued witness of laity in the defense of religious liberty. Alongside him was the president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Richard Smith of Edmonton, who said: “Our call at this moment is to affirm the right of religion to be active in the public square … to defend the freedom of people of faith and of religious institutions to act in accordance with their beliefs and nature; to maintain healthy church state relations; to understand conscience correctly and to form it according to objective truth; and to protect the right to conscientious objection. Believers are summoned now to stand up for their faith, even if they must suffer for doing so.”

Asked about the controversy brewing over an invitation extended by Cardinal Dolan to President Obama to speak, alongside Governor Mitt Romney, at the annual Alfred E. Smith Foundation dinner, a fundraiser for charities in New York, Archbishop Lori urged Catholics and other concerned citizens to “keep our eyes on the ball.” The invitation, and his presence, “do not constitute an endorsement,” Archbishop Lori tells me. But he was ready to make an endorsement himself: “I don’t think there is a clearer voice in the United States about the sanctity of life and religious liberty than Cardinal Dolan … [he's] a very clear, clarion voice…. Don’t get distracted.”

by Kathryn Jean Lopez

St. Lawrence MARTYR AND DEACON

Since the fourth century St. Lawrence has been one of the most honoured martyrs of the Roman Church. Constantine the Great was the first to erect a little oratory over his burial-place, which was enlarged and beautified by Pope Pelagius II (579-90). Pope Sixtus III (432-40) built a large basilica with three naves, the apse leaning against the older church, on the summit of the hill where he was buried. In the thirteenth century Honorius III made the two buildings into one, and so the basilica of San Lorenzo remains to this day. Pope St. Damasus (366-84) wrote a panegyric in verse, which was engraved in marble and placed over his tomb. Two contemporaries of the last-named pope, St. Ambrose of Milan and the poet Prudentius, give particular details about St. Lawrence's death. Ambrose relates (De officiis min. xxviii) that when St. Lawrence was asked for the treasures of the Church he brought forward the poor, among whom he had divided the treasure, in place of alms; also that when Pope Sixtus II was led away to his death he comforted Lawrence, who wished to share his martyrdom, by saying that he would follow him in three days. The saintly Bishop of Milan also states that St. Lawrence was burned to death on a grid-iron (De offic., xli). In like manner, but with more poetical detail, Prudentius describes the martyrdom of the Roman deacon in his hymn on St. Lawrence ("Peristephanon", Hymnus II).

The meeting between St. Lawrence and Pope Sixtus II, when the latter was being led to execution, related by St. Ambrose, is not compatible with the contemporaneous reports about the persecution of Velarian. The manner of his execution—burning on a red-hot gridiron—also gives rise to grave doubts. The narrations of Ambrose and Prudentius are founded rather on oral tradition than on written accounts. It is quite possible that between the year 258 and the end of the fourth century popular legends may have grown up about this highly venerated Roman deacon, and some of these legends have been preserved by these two authors. We have, in any case, no means of verifying from earlier sources the details derived from St. Ambrose and Prudentius, or of ascertaining to what extent such details are supported by earlier historical tradition. Fuller accounts of the martyrdom of St. Lawrence were composed, probably, early in the sixth century, and in these narratives a number of the martyrs of the Via Tiburtina and of the two Catacombs of St. Cyriaca in agro Verano and St. Hippolytius were connected in a romantic and wholly legendary fashion. The details given in these Acts concerning the martyrdom of St. Lawrence and his activity before his death cannot claim any credibility. However, in spite of this criticism of the later accounts of the martyrdom, there can be no question that St. Lawrence was a real historical personage, nor any doubt as to the martyrdom of that venerated Roman deacon, the place of its occurrence, and the date of his burial. Pope Damasus built a basilica in Rome which he dedicated to St. Lawrence; this is the church now known as that of San Lorenzo in Damaso. The church of San Lorenzo in Lucina, also dedicated to this saint, still exists. The feast day of St. Lawrence is kept on 10 August. He is pictured in art with the gridiron on which he is supposed to have been roasted to death.

Feast Day: August 10 

Born: 225, Osca, Hispania (now modern-day Spain) 

Died: August 10, 258, Rome 

Major Shrine: Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura in Rome 

Patron of: Rome, comedians, librarians, students, tanners, chefs

Prayers again please

I have taken the site down for a bit cuz I'm likely on the way to the hospital later on (It's Saturday morning now, 8/4/12). I don't have anything pending and I don't want anyone to order anything if I'm not going to be able to complete it in a timely fashion. I believe my thyroid has caused a heart arrhythmia, which I'm hoping can be treated with medication, though I may be in the hospital for a couple days, not sure. So ... site will be back up when I'm back home. Your kind prayers appreciated ... The Perfect & Holy Divine Will be done in all things! I trust and rely on Jesus :)
Blessings!
~Mary

Peru: Vatican removes titles “Pontifical” and “Catholic” from university name

The Holy See’s decision to remove the titles have caused an uproar and will have repercussions that stretch further than Peru’s academic environment.

 

The Pontifical Catholic University of
Peru in Lima (© PUCP)

The moment of truth has come. The Holy See is to remove the titles “Pontifical” and “Catholic” from the name of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP). The controversial and unprecedented decision should be communicated Saturday 21 July if no last minute surprises. The Vatican had no other choice after years of disobedience from an institution which no longer seems to answer to the Holy See.

 

The affair is very delicate and this is why the two parties are trying to protect their own interests before the official announcement is made tomorrow. The decision has been made and will be communicated by means of a decree, accompanied by a letter addressed to the university rector Marcial Rubio. In these two texts the Holy See will declare that it no longer recognises the university’s current structure because it is failing to engage in the original mission. One thing will not change however: the Apostolic See will state that the university will retain its rights in relation to the structure.

 

This situation is the result of a 40 year old feud. Many years have passed since the former rector and Jesuit priest Felipe Max Gregor guaranteed, in 1968, that the university would never stop being Catholic. The following decades were decisive in turning it into the exact opposite: an institution that is independent from the Church and whose teachings go against the Magisterium of the Catholic Church for the sake of the university’s freedom.

 

This process led to a number of civil trials being held between the university and Archdiocese of Lima, the legitimate executor, because its heads had taken the liberty to act in areas they were not authorised to act in. A notable example is the case of the assets inherited by the scholar José de la Riva Agüero y Osma in the 1940’s. The PUCP suffered a number of defeats in this case. 

 

The directors never agreed to answer to the Archbishop of Lima Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, who according to the statute is the great chancellor. Not only did they rebel against the cardinal but ignored all warnings sent from Rome.

The Vatican asked, in all the ways it could, for the university’s internal statutes to be modified and brought in line with the Apostolic Constitution “Ex Corde Ecclesiae” written by John Paul II in 1990 and binding for all Catholic academic institutions in the world. But the response was always negative.

This is why the Roman Curia had to intervene through the Congregation for Catholic Education, which in 2011 sent a letter to rector Rubio, outlining all the modifications that needed to be made to the statutes. But the University Assembly refused to act on the Vatican exhortation. And so the Vatican Secretariat of State got involved in the affair via its office for internal and external policies. It ordered an apostolic visit, an audit and an effort to try to reach an agreement between all parties, with all actions carried forward by the Hungarian cardinal Peter Erdö. But without success.

The result was that the Holy See lost its patience and set a deadline for last 8 April. The university was required to hand over its new statutes by this date, but failed to do so. This act of rebellion will now end in the worst way possible: with the Holy See’s drastic but inevitable decision to cancel the university’s titles for the first time in history. 

 

The Apostolic See has the complete authority to do so because the Church has always considered the educational structure to be its property. Both canonical and Peruvian law recognises this fact. In order to ensure its decision is respected, Rome can appeal to the agreement in place between the Vatican and Peru. If it were to do so a never-ending conflict would break out. If the government does not recognise the prerogatives of this agreement, it could cause a serious diplomatic incident.

 

The situation has reached breaking point and students could bear the consequences. Because amongst other things, the Church hierarchy would ask the National Assembly of Rectors to forbid the PUCP from giving out degree titles in its name. In the meantime, the Archdiocese of Lima will have to found another university that really is Catholic.

Daily Sufferings and Trials are truly but a Momentary Affliction!

2 Corinthians 4: 6 - 11, 16, 17 
For it is God Who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," Who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the Face of Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.  
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.  
For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day.
For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison

---

Who of us today has a care free life? Even if you are a billionaire, are there not still problems? Whether emotional, physical, spiritual matters not. Truly today's troubles are enough for the day ... worry not for tomorrow and belabor not over those that were and cannot be changed. No matter what we're going through now, no matter what we're facing; medical issues, persecution, financial problems including jobs, housing, daily needs; we must remember that all this is TRULY a drop of water in all the oceans of the world compared to eternity. If we hold fast to Jesus & Mary, receive the graces and strengths of the Sacraments to sustain us, there's really nothing we can't face. And when troubles DO come our way, it's an opportunity to unite them to the sufferings of our dear Lord's Passion for the good of souls everywhere! What a noble joy! By themselves, our meager offerings do little if anything, but united to the Passion of Jesus and His True Presence in the Holy Eucharist, even the smallest effort of ours is MIGHTY! :)

We are one in the Body of Christ by virtue of our Baptism ... so this means ALL Christians, not just Catholics. True, by the grace of God, we Catholics count ourselves privileged (for lack of a better word) to have the fullness of Faith in all SEVEN Sacraments that Jesus instituted.  It boggles my mind why any Catholic wouldn't avail themselves of the graces of Confession and especially Holy Communion as frequently as possible. The strengths are truly supernatural and much needed in this world today! So, is the servant any better than the Master? Did Jesus suffer indignities? lies? slander? beatings? calumny? tortures? indifference? Yes, the Church (and its members) will follow the Master in His Passion and Crucifixion .. but oh the glorious Resurrection to come!

The ole boy likes to keep us preoccupied with events of daily living. The father of lies loves to have us entertain him by our worries, anguish, pain and justifications for our sins. He delights with much glee when he sees us vexed over our problems. Why? Because when we're upset and worried, confused and depressed ... it takes away our peace and we're likely not "in the mood" to PRAY. Prayer too gives us strength. The lifeline to the Trinity and our Lady. In today's world, every Christian needs to make time for a DAILY PRAYER ROUTINE that is WRITTEN IN STONE. Many folks go to the gym RELIGIOUSLY .... why not do the same thing for your prayer life? The gym will help keep your body healthy for as long as you have it ... but a real relationship with the Trinity and our Lady will keep your soul healthy for an ETERNITY!

So when troubles come your way, as they will more and more now because the devil's time is much shorter than it has ever been. If you cling to the TWO HEARTS in prayer .. the ROSARY, the DIVINE MERCY CHAPLET ... and the USA CHAPLET as well, perhaps satan will see that problems don't distract you from heaven, but rather make you RUN toward it in prayer and your offerings for souls will actually thwart his efforts while helping not just yourself, but souls everywhere. Never forget the souls in purgatory, especially those that have no one to pray for them!

So when troubles besiege you, take heart and know with confidence, that the TWO HEARTS are with you if you but cling to Them in thought, word and deed ... in season and out of season .... knowing that whatever hurts you here, united to Jesus and compassionated by Mary helps not only you, but the communion of saints for all eternity!

So BEG to stay in the Divine Will always ~ knowing that our glorious Triune God has everything in control, doesn't send you more than you can handle, bestows great graces to help sustain you, gives you opportunity after opportunity for you to do good for yourself and others, increasing all in sanctification as you near your final destination. 

Keep in mind always:

1 Corrinthians 2:9

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

Pope approves Archbishop Sheen's heroic virtues, step toward sainthood

FINALLY!! :)

Archbishop Sheen is pictured preaching in an undated photo. (CNS photo)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has approved the heroic virtues of U.S. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, the Vatican announced June 28, clearing the way for the advancement of his sainthood cause.

Among the others honored in decrees announced the same day were first prelate of Opus Dei, the Canadian and Irish-American founders of two orders of religious women, a priest murdered by the Sicilian Mafia, and 154 martyrs killed during the Spanish Civil War.

Archbishop Sheen heroically lived Christian virtues and should be considered "venerable," said a decree issued by the Congregation for Saints' Causes and signed by Pope Benedict. Before the archbishop can be beatified, the Vatican must recognize that a miracle has occurred through his intercession.

The decree came just more than 13 months after Bishop Daniel R. Jenky of Peoria, Ill., presented Pope Benedict with two thick volumes about the life of Archbishop Sheen, whose home diocese was Peoria.

Archbishop Sheen, who was born in Illinois in 1895 and died in New York in 1979, was an Emmy-winning televangelist. His program, "Life is Worth Living," aired in the United States from 1951 to 1957.

With evidence of her son's alleged miraculous healing boxed and sealed in front of a portrait of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, Bonnie Engstrom gives a reading at a Mass last December at St. Mary's Cathedral in Peoria, Ill. Pope Benedict XVI has approved the heroic virtues of Archbishop Sheen, whose home diocese was Peoria, clearing the way for the advancement of his sainthood cause. (CNS file/Tom Dermody, The Catholic Post)

Last September, a tribunal of inquiry was sworn in to investigate the allegedly miraculous healing of a newborn whose parents had prayed to the archbishop's intercession.

The Vatican also announced papal decrees approving the beatification of 158 men and women, including 156 martyrs, all but two of them Spaniards, killed during their country's 1936-39 Civil War.

Father Giuseppe Puglisi, a Sicilian priest and activist against organized crime who was killed by the Mafia in 1993, was another of the martyrs recognized.

Martyrs do not need a miracle attributed to their intercession in order to be beatified. However, miracles must be recognized by the Vatican in order for martyrs to be canonized.


 By Francis X. Rocca
Catholic News Service

Are We Insulting the Father by Not Dressing Properly?

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki Addresses Church Attire:

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

Summer is upon us, bringing vacations, picnics and beach parties. Actually we have been blessed with summer-like weather for several weeks. The warm weather has also brought out summer apparel earlier than usual. Unfortunately, skimpy garb more suitable for vacations, picnics and beach parties has also made its way into church as the clothing of choice for many people. In visiting many of our parishes this spring for confirmation as well as attending some commencement ceremonies, I have noticed more and more people wearing short shorts, tank-tops and flip-flops. Even the more formal wear with slit-leg dresses, bare midriffs and strapless tops looks more suited to a House of Blues than the House of God.

Now I’m sure some people will immediately object to my making these observations, rationalizing that it is better that these people come to church even if they’re not properly dressed rather than not have them there at all. They argue that we should just be happy that they’re in church, regardless of what they wear. I disagree.

St. Paul said “to dress modestly, with decency and propriety,” adorned “not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds” (1 Timothy 2:9-10). Similarly, St. Peter wrote, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight” (1 Peter 3:3-4).

In the parable of the wedding banquet, Jesus said that “when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are invited, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:11-14).

Of course, Jesus did not tell this parable to give a literal instruction on how to dress at a wedding, but to illustrate God’s righteousness as “garments of salvation” and “robes of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10), where the acquisition of these qualities is likened to clothing given us at a wedding. But Jesus could tell this parable because his listeners were familiar with the custom that refusal to wear a proper wedding garment was an insult to the father of the groom and could get a guest ejected from the festivities.

The church is the Bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-27) and the faithful, clothed in their wedding garments, are called to the “marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:8-9). Our revised translation of the Roman Missal now brings out that imagery more clearly when the priest presents the Body and Blood of Christ to us at Mass saying, “Behold the Lamb of God. Behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.” As we go up to receive Jesus in holy Communion, we should not insult the Father by not dressing properly for this foretaste of the heavenly banquet.

For now, one very practical area that we could work on would be for everyone to dress with proper dignity for Mass, whether it is celebrated in the ordinary or the extraordinary form.

May God give us this grace. Amen.

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki

New Curriculum In Cleveland Diocese Stresses Orthodoxy and Moral Clarity!

In response to concerns raised by teachers and clergy, the Diocese of Cleveland has revamped its high school religion curriculum for the upcoming year, with a focus on orthodoxy and moral clarity.

Bishop Lennon

Superintendent of Schools Margaret Lyons told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that the new program, developed under Bishop Richard G. Lennon, was “Gospel-centered” and “very orthodox.” The new teaching materials, she said, also corrected “a shyness about talking about moral issues.”

After his appointment in 2006, Bishop Lennon heard concerns raised about the quality of religious instruction in local Catholic schools. Several years of assessments and meetings resulted in changes to the elementary school materials, and a comprehensive overhaul of the high school curriculum.

Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church and guidelines from the U.S. bishops’ conference, the new program reintroduces elements of Catholic tradition that were “known to previous generations of Catholics but absent from more recent instruction,” Superintendent Lyons told CNA on June 5.

The curriculum, she said, “underscores Jesus Christ and the Paschal Mystery” as the source of salvation."

Under the new program, she explained, “students read and are guided through Church documents. They are taught the role and importance of the Magisterium in guarding and passing on the faith, as well as being a sure guide to positive thinking and behavior.”

“Additionally, students are instructed in ancient prayer practices used throughout the Church’s two thousand years of history, including the Rosary, Lectio Divina, meditation, the Liturgy of the Hours, the Psalms, litanies and readings in Sacred Scripture.”

In response to widespread confusion about the nature and importance of the Church, the program also stresses the Church’s unique standing as a divine and human institution, taught and governed by an apostolic authority with “its origin in Jesus Christ.”

Cleveland’s new curriculum also seeks to cultivate an enduring and lifelong faith, capable of standing up to cultural secularism and moral relativism. Students are challenged to learn about virtue and understand it as the source of true personal fulfillment, Lyons said.

“The life of virtue is presented as a life that flourishes with what satisfies their desire for happiness and freedom,” she noted. “Students are instructed in natural moral law, grace and virtue as founded in God.”

Although the program seeks to correct the weaknesses of some recent approaches to religious education, it does not do away with the goal of making catechesis relevant to the modern world and the concerns of youth.

“The instructional strategy,” Lyons said, “is to show to students how Christ has been present to his Church, not just now, but throughout all of human history, and so will remain, despite sin, war and internal turmoil. The Church is the Body of Christ on earth and will remain until Christ comes again.”

It is from this Christ-centered perspective, she explained, that students will be taught to “examine the issues found in history and in the modern era that can cloud the vision of Christ.”

In his letter authorizing the release of the new high school curriculum, Bishop Lennon praised the diocesan Office of Catholic Education’s program for offering “both sound doctrine and effective instructional practice and resources.”

“Save for the celebration of the sacraments,” the Bishop of Cleveland wrote, “there is no more important work than the formation of our young people in the faith.”

Catholic News Agency

By:  Benjamin Mann