January 31, 2008
The Catholic Campaign for Human Development, a program sponsored by the US bishops, designates every January as Poverty Awareness Month in the US.
The statistics can be jarring. “Today, 36.5 million Americans — and 1 in 6 children – are living below the poverty line.” The rate of poverty has declined a bit this past year, from 12.6% of the population in 2005 to 12.3% in 2006. More troubling, though, is that “In 2006, the number of people living in extreme poverty (with incomes below half the poverty line) remained the same at 15.6 million people.”
The website offers further statistics, identifying poverty by region, by age, and by race. A special section of the website is dedicated to the difficulties of the working poor.
It is easy to get discouraged and think that nothing we can do can have an impact. This is not the case, however. We can make a difference, little by little.
The website recommends a three-step approach: 1) Learn, 2) Act, and 2) Give. Although giving is always good, some of us tend to jump to that step without ever going through the learning step. What are the causes of poverty? What makes it difficult for people to break out of the cycle of poverty? How can we tackle these problems? The website offers much helpful information in these areas.
Although the month of January is ending, poverty awareness should not end, but rather begin this month. Make an effort to better educate yourself about poverty and about how you can help to make a difference.
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January 29, 2008
The Catholic Health Association is offering a weekly podcast of Lenten reflections. These short meditations are based on Scripture readings and help the listener apply the readings to one’s daily life.
The podcasts can be downloaded to an MP3 player. A text version for each week is also available.
Although developed for people in the healthcare industry, the reflections can be utilized by anyone.
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January 28, 2008
From January 27 to February 2, 2008, the US is celebrating Catholic Schools Week. This year’s theme is “Catholic Schools Light the Way.”
It seems that not only dioceses but also cities are making the headlines these days when they close schools. This becomes a very emotional topic for the neighborhoods affected. We often take for granted the incredible impact that good schools have on our society. It is only when they are threatened that we stop to look at them more closely and then rise up to support them.
Catholic Schools Week gives us the chance to step back, look at our Catholic Schools, and celebrate them now. There are approximately 7.6 million students attending Catholic schools (all levels) in the US today. With sound academic practice and an emphasis on moral values, this has an amazing, positive impact on our society.
Does your parish have a Catholic school? Is there a Catholic school in your neighborhood or near your office? Think about what you can do to help them thrive. Develop a relationship with the school. You will be investing, not only in the lives of individual students, but also in our future world.
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January 24, 2008
During the month of February 2008, the following Catholic organizations are hosting national conferences:
- ACCU (Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities) Annual Meeting, titled Shared Responsibility for the Future of Catholic Higher Education, in Washington, DC
- AGPIM (Association of Graduate Programs in Ministry) Annual Conference in San Antonio, TX
- The Roundtable Association of Catholic Social Action Directors in Washington, DC
- USCCB (US Conference of Catholic Bishops) Catholic Social Ministry Gathering in Washington, DC
Details for these and future conferences can be found in the ActiveParishioner.com Calendar.
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January 22, 2008
Monday was a national holiday and many of us got a day off in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. King is often remembered as a political figure — a champion of civil rights, a leader of coalitions, an inspiring orator. But King, above all else, was a Christian minister, a preacher of the Gospel, and a man of deep and abiding faith. He was an ordained pastor, with a doctoral degree in Systematic Theology. His tireless efforts to bring justice and dignity to those suffering from the evils of segregation and racial hatred grew directly out of his unshakable faith in the Christian conviction that all people are sisters and brothers, and that “love is humankind’s most potent weapon for personal and social transformation.”
A few months ago, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art and Portraiture accepted a new photograph for display in their gallery honoring those who searched for justice in the 20th century. The photograph, taken in 1964, captures a poignant moment during a rally in Chicago when the Rev. Martin Luther King linked hands with University of Notre Dame’s president, Father Theodore Hesburgh. Together, the two brothers in discipleship joined in singing “We Shall Overcome,” the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement.
Seeing that photograph reminded me that we can be proud, as Catholics, that not only Hesburgh, but hundreds of other priests, nuns, and lay women and men from parishes around the country had the courage to march alongside Dr. King and his followers and to speak out boldly for an end to racial discrimination in our nation. Their legacy is ours to uphold, to continue, and to better. One of King’s most cherished dreams was that we would one day manage to construct a “Beloved Community” where human differences would be a source of celebration, not suspicion. As a committed Christian, his most ardent hope was that we would find a way to build a peace-filled, just, and loving society where our connections to each other — our responsibilities toward each other — as sisters and brothers in Christ would be taken seriously. Father Bryan Massingale, a professor of Ethics/Systematic Theology at Marquette University, reminds Catholic Christians everywhere that, if we have bothered to become familiar with our Church’s impressive body of social teaching, then King’s “Beloved Community” should sound pretty familiar to us. It should also nudge us into action.
Perhaps the best thing I can do this week to honor that passionate preacher whose life was cut short 40 years ago, is to reread the many documents my own Church has produced which resonate with his courageous preaching. Brothers and Sisters to Us (the U.S. Bishop’s 1979 Pastoral Letter on Racism) is but one; there are numerous others which speak impressively of the threat that not only racism, but also poverty, war, consumerism and privatization can pose to creation of the kind of community for which we are called to work by God.
Excellent books on justice from a Catholic perspective are available from ActiveParishioner.com.
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January 20, 2008
The 2008 National Prayer Vigil for Life and related pro-life activities will take place in Washington, DC on Monday and Tuesday, January 21 and 22, 2008. A schedule and important information are available at the US Bishops’ Conference website. The event is scheduled yearly. January 22, 1974 marks the date of Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the US.
Events begin at 7 pm with an opening Mass at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Cardinal Justin Rigali will be the principal celebrant and homilist. The vigil will continue through the night and conclude with Mass at 7:30 am, with Cardinal Daniel DiNardo serving as the principal celebrant and homilist.
Additional activities include a Rally for Life and Youth Mass, sponsored by the Archdiocese of Washington, to be held on Tuesday from 8:45 am to 11:30 am at the Verizon Center in DC.
The culminating event is the March for Life on Tuesday. It begins at 12 noon with a Rally on the Mall in DC, near the Capitol, and continues to the US Supreme Court building. Approximately 200,000 marchers, including people of all faiths, are expected.
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January 17, 2008
With the war in Iraq and other instabilities flooding the news, one wonders if we as Catholics have anything to contribute towards efforts to seek peace worldwide. Certainly, individual Catholic organizations such as Catholic Relief Services and the Sant’ Egidio Community have done much to promote peace over the years. Is there any peace-building effort that’s more comprehensive and also Catholic?
In 2002, the Catholic Peace Network (CPN) was founded. Based at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, collaborating organizers included Catholic Relief Services, the Sant’ Egidio Community in the US, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Maryknolls, and Catholic University.
The network consists of practitioners, academics, clergy and laity from around the world. They seek to “enhance the study and practice of Catholic peacebuilding, especially at the local level.” The organization also seeks to “deepen bonds of solidarity among Catholic peacebuilders, share and analyze ‘best practices’, expand the peacebuilding capacity of the Church in areas of conflict, and encourage the further development of a theology of a just peace.”
Membership is open to anyone who would like to contribute to a better understanding and a more effective practice of Catholic peacebuilding.
Annual conferences have been held in places as far as Colombia, Burundi and the Philippines. The next conference on April 13-15, 2008, titled “Conference on the Future of Catholic Peacebuilding” will come back to the Notre Dame campus.
Books on the topic of Peace from a Catholic perspective are available on the ActiveParishioner website.
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January 16, 2008
The Arizona bishops have just issued an op-ed piece on Immigration Reform. Titled “Comprehensive immigration reform, not punitive state laws, the right approach to the immigration crisis,“ the article is certainly thought-provoking. It again affirms that the Catholic Church does not support illegal immigration. It then goes on to talk about the effects of the current immigration system which is clearly not working.
More and more states and cities across the country are beginning to enact their own laws in an attempt to “fix” what they see as their local immigration problems. As the article explains, what we need are not punitive, local laws that actually can make things much worse. Instead we need a comprehensive reform that can only occur at the federal level. The article recommends ”…creating visas for workers from other countries to work legally and … legalizing, through a fair and just process, the current undocumented workforce.” If immigration reform at the national level takes this approach, then “the problem of undocumented workers without legal status will dwindle.”
The article also refers to the pastoral letter that the Arizona Catholic Conference issued two years ago called You Welcomed Me. The Arizona Catholic Conference includes the Dioceses of Gallup, Phoenix and Tucson.
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January 14, 2008
April 20 -23, 2008 will mark an historic event for the Catholic Church in the US. The National Ministry Summit in Orlando will gather pastoral leaders from across the country to look at the future of Catholic ministry in this country.
Traditionally, most Catholic professional associations for ministers (eg., priests, deacons, pastoral planners, lay ministers, religious educators, young adult ministers, youth ministers, etc.) hold an annual conference for their members. What makes the Summit unique is that for the first time in history, six of these professional associations are planning one joint conference — the National Ministry Summit.
The sponsoring organizations are:
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National Association for Lay Ministry (NALM)
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Conference for Pastoral Planning and Council Development (CPPCD)
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National Association of Church Personnel Administrators (NACPA)
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National Association of Diaconate Directors (NADD)
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National Catholic Young Adult Ministry Association (NCYAMA)
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National Federation of Priests’ Councils (NFPC)
The National Ministry Summit will include information and discussion about the results of the Emerging Models project which has been ongoing for the past four years. The project has been identifying trends, challenges and growth edges of pastoral leadership. By sharing models and best practices, the group will be developing recommendations for the future.
At the Summit, participants will be able to select one of six action groups to explore an area in more depth. The action groups are:
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Pastoring Multiple Parishes
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Parish Life Coordinators and Sacramental Ministers (Canon 517.2)
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Young Adults: The Next Generation of Parish Leadership
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Implications of the Emerging Models Studies for Human Resources
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Implications of the Emerging Multicultural Diversity for Pastoral Leadership
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Best Practices of Parish Leadership
The individual professional associations will also hold their business meetings and related workshops immediately before or after the Summit.
The Summit will take place at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando Florida (near Disney World.) Any interested person may attend, on a space-available basis. If you are a member of one of the six sponsoring professional associations, you will also be eligible for a $200 scholarship applicable towards the registration fee. (Those who aren’t members may want to explore joining one of the associations.)
Over 500 participants have already registered to attend the National Ministry Summit. The Registration Brochure is available online. More information on the Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership Project is also available online.
In times when parishioners may be discouraged by various factors, whether it be the drop in the number of priests, the closing of parishes, or the changing attitudes among younger Catholics, the National Ministry Summit will be a beacon of hope and direction for our future Catholic Church in the US.
Leave a Comment » | Catholic, Catholic Associations, Catholic Conferences, Young Adults | Tagged: Catholic, conference for pastoral planning and council developmen, cppcd conference, emerging models of pastoral leadership, emerging models of pastoral leadership project, nacpa conference, nadd conference, nalm conference, national association for lay ministry, national association of church personnel administrators, national association of diaconate directors, national catholic young adult ministry association, national federation of priests' councils, national ministry summit, ncyama conference, nfpc conference | Permalink
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January 8, 2008
With the Supreme Court currently discussing issues related to the death penalty, some may wonder what the Catholic Church officially says about this topic.
In 2005, the US bishops issued a statement called, A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death. The booklet clearly explains the principles supporting the protection of all life. The statement also calls on Catholics to work towards the end of the death penalty in the US.
Certainly it is obvious to almost everyone that the Catholic Church is pro-life. Usually, however, people assume this focuses on the unborn, on those with disabilities, and on the elderly. Yet, this actually extends to all life, including those facing the death penalty.
More recently, the US bishops have launched a campaign to end the death penalty. Supporting material and information is available at their website: www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/deathpenalty/index.shtml
It is easier to understand why the Church protects the life of unborn children who, when aborted, are always innocent victims. Yet, many find it harder to understand why the Church also protects the life of individuals who have chosen to commit horrible crimes against others. Catholic teaching values all life created by God.
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January 7, 2008
Perhaps this entry would be more appropriately titled, “Recognizing A Saint” instead of “Becoming” one. To become a saint, one follows Christ. And the more closely one follows, and the more one is able to continually say “yes” to God at each juncture, the closer one is to becoming a saint.
But how is a person officially recognized as a saint? Most of us have probably had the amazing opportunity of meeting someone who is truly holy. It could be an elderly neighbor, a teacher, or a self-less volunteer. We recognize God’s presence in their midst. We feel graced by having spent time with them. We know that others, too, benefit from time spent with them.
In order to help others learn about truly holy people, the Catholic Church has a process for recognizing saints. A background paper created by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Making Saints, gives a clear explanation of the process.
There are three levels of sainthood. First, the candidate is named Venerable, then Blessed, and then finally a Saint. “Venerable is the title given to a deceased person recognized formally by the pope as having lived heroic virtues. To be beatified and recognized as a Blessed, one miracle acquired through the candidate’s intercession is required in addition to recognition of heroic virtue or martyrdom. Canonization requires a second miracle after beatification, though a pope may waive these requirements.” The process is rigorous and involves a very detailed examination of the person’s life and also the effect of that person on others.
Why go through such a rigorous process? Why does the Catholic Church even bother to officially designate people as saints? What difference does it make to us to know who is officially a saint?
The answers have a lot to do with our own journey through life. Saints are fellow pilgrims. Although they may have a died a long time ago, they can be companions for us, showing us the way.
It’s easy to imagine that they all led perfect lives. But the truth is usually far from it. Most led very ordinary lives, with lots of ups and downs. They made mistakes and, like St. Paul before his conversion, sometimes purposely took the wrong path, going further away from God. Yet at some point, they truly opened their hearts to God and the rest is history. These are people to emulate, to understand, and even to commiserate with during challenging times on our faith journey.
Many fascinating books on individual saints are available. Some talk about the saints’ lives; others help us to pray with the saint. One new book that delightfully shows how saints can both guide us and challenge us is My Life With The Saints.
Any of these books will make great reading as the new year begins. Journey with a saint these next few weeks and then you’ll understand why the Catholic Church continues to recognize these holy people for our benefit.
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January 4, 2008
While the headlines talk about the mortgage lending debacle, another type of lending, microfinance, is quietly transforming the lives of many across the globe. Microfinance is the practice of providing small loans, often less than $100, to the working poor. These loans, whether used to buy a goat or a sewing machine, often enable the recipient to become a self-sustaining business owner.
Catholic Relief Services (CRS), well known for rushing in to provide emergency disaster assistance around the world, has become a major player in the microfinance world with a program that it began in 1988. The CRS Microfinance Program “serves the poorest clients; links loans to savings; uses solidarity guarantees; practices participatory management; invests up-front in scale and self-sufficiency; and plans for permanence.” By applying Catholic Social Teaching principles, CRS structures a support and training network around the recipients to further promote success for all.
Currently the program reaches over 850,000 clients in 30 countries, 74% of whom are women. It’s amazing how the same amount of money that we spend buying a cup of coffee each morning for a month can have such a profound impact on the life of someone barely able to make ends meet.
If you are looking for a good place to donate some funds this new year, whether spare change or a larger amount, consider the CRS Microfinance Program which will ensure that your donation becomes a valuable investment in another human being.
Leave a Comment » | Catholic, Financial Investments, Microfinance | Tagged: Catholic Relief Services Microfinance program, CRS, donating across the world, microfinance investing, small loans to the poor | Permalink
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