Words We All Need to Hear

Did Paul VI ACTUALLY approve contraceptive use?

Thanks to Fr. Z for doing this legwork.  Click here to read his article.  Spoiler alert - the answer is no, he did not

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2016/02/its-not-an-urban-legend-its-a-lie-paul-vi-did-not-give-permission-to-nuns-to-use-contraceptives/

IU Basketball Attendance and Catholicism

A few days ago I was driving around and listening, as I usually do, to sports talk radio.  (I love Catholic radio, and listen to it as well, but there's only so many times you can listen to a priest explain purgatory to a non-Catholic)


Anyway, Don Fischer, the voice of the Indiana Hoosiers, made some very interesting and relevant comments about Indiana basketball and their attendance.

The Indiana Hoosiers are in the midst of a tremendous season and are at or near the top of the Big Ten standings.  The state of Indiana (if you hadn't heard) worships basketball.


All these factors SHOULD point to one thing - gigantic home basketball crowds.  But Fischer was lamenting that the opposite is happening.


Despite the:
1) tremendous team performance
2) a state that worships the sport and the IU team

LESS and LESS people are coming to the games.

IU, despite success, has seen a significant drop in attendance

Now, what does that have to do with Catholicism?  I submit that it has a TON of relevance for us.


To me it is quite simple why less and less people are coming.  It isn't the BEST and most stimulating thing people can do with their time anymore.  Netflix, Amazon Prime, computer and video games and the internet in general allow a person to customize and tailor ALL their entertainment to EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT.  With the opportunity to be entertained however I dang well please always being one click away whilst sitting on my couch for 9 dollars a month...why on God's green Earth would I:

1) Get in my car
2) Drive to IU
3) Pay to park
4) Pay to get in the game
5) Pay for concessions
6) Watch over the course of 2 hours for what may or may not be an exciting and climactic finish
7) Drive home

Cost: $150 or so
Cost in time: a large part of a day


I can get 90% of the experience of being at the game by watching on TV, and I'm not wasting my time or money getting there.



My brother Matt took me to a Colts game about 10 years ago.  We went back to the rectory downtown to watch the 2nd half of the game.  We both agreed it was WAY MORE enjoyable watching the game from our couch!



When everything is about the emotional pleasure that I get out of something, when all I concern myself with is entertainment, then the first thing to fall off my radar is prayer/religion/Mass etc.

Mass is boring in that it is nearly the opposite of Netflix.  Mass is other people, it is driving there, it is making time for it, it is doing a bunch of things I wouldn't do on my own, it is music that I don't normally sing, it is silence which I don't normally prefer...


So this is why Don Fischer's comments made me smile: other cultural communal experiences, which were until very recently the best way for people to experience all the pleasurable emotions and feelings that they desired...communal sporting events are now falling off the map and taking a back seat as well, and so it is good, in my mind, to watch the "attend a sports game" crash and burn as well.

Why?

Because it puts more sharply into contrast the two approaches - in a few years either I am going to sit in a bubble of entertainment and pleasure and stimulation on my couch or I am going to try God's way and go outside myself and not make my own pleasure the only reason I exist.  I will choose the cocoon of "pleasure" or I will choose to be a human being.


The sooner the middle ground between these two alternatives melts away and vanishes, the better!

Hyperactively Slothful?

Today, some are hyperactively slothful

Sloth does not imply sitting still.  In fact, sitting still in prayer can be one of the most difficult and arduous activities we can undertake.

A person can never truly rest a moment of their lives and yet still be guilty of sloth.  Sloth is not a lack of activity, it is a lack of the right KIND of activity

Is this slothful?  No.  If you've ever tried contemplative prayer, you know better

Fighting Bishops, Heresies, Today's Solemnity, and YOU!

Notes from my homily today that I preached off of:

Some brief history

Ecumenical council – a council working on the unity of the entire Church throughout the world

325 we had our first ecumenical council – the council of Nicea.  A priest named Arius had a teaching that had spread far and wide –

Christ was NOT God in the fullest sense – Christ was CREATED…a DEIFIED human being

OVER HALF the bishops of the world are believed to have been following Arius teaching in 325

St. Nicolas, at the council, after Arius presented his side, walked over and slapped Arius

Arius is eventually condemned and exiled.  It took many years for the people following Arius to return to the Church.  Some still hold to his teaching.  Hardly anyone has heard of his Church today.  It is insignificant.

So, there was debate, violent at times, but eventually, the Church came out and said on this question – “You are either in bounds or out of bounds, that there are things you can think and believe that are OUTSIDE the realm of the Church, things that can NOT be believed by Catholics”

Third ecumenical council involved today’s Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God

431 in Ephesus

Nestorius vs. Cyril of Alexandria

Again there was fighting

Nestorius – we can’t really say Mary is the Mother of God…we can say she’s the Mother of CHRIST, but not the Mother of God

Cyril – If Mary is the Mother of Christ, she’s the Mother of God

Fracture again as some held to Nestorius view.   It took a long time, decades, for unity to return to the Church.  Today, some people still follow Nestorius’ teaching, but no one has hardly heard of them

Takeaways

1)      We can laugh at the violence – but do we care that much?

2)      Do we think there is an “in bounds” and an “out of bounds”? 

Do we know all the teachings of our Faith, particularly those things that the Church has definitively said “These are in bounds, and these things over here are distinctly out of bounds and not up for discussion?

The Church does allow for debate, discussion, collaboration, etc.  That’s what all the Ecumenical Councils have been – but when the Church rules definitively, are we on board?  Do we know what all those teachings are? 

3)      May 2016 be a year where we learn about those teachings, and learn the “why’s” – Formed, RCIA, etc.

A Catechetical Homily on the Year of Mercy

I have combed through "Year of Mercy" info, web pages, resources etc. and here's a condensed version of the best

1) This past Sunday was the "Jubilee of Families" - an invitation for families to get involved more directly with the Year of Mercy. Our bishops are asking families to: 1 - go to confession as a family 2 - pray a Psalm together as a family 3 - learn the spiritual and corporal works of mercy and then pick one of each to do AS A FAMILY 4 - Have a time where the family sits down and asks for forgiveness of one another for things done to each other in the past that have not been explicitly apologized for 5 - Travel to the Holy door in your diocese and engage in the prayers and so forth that are part of that pilgrimage. Here's a link to the USCCB guide for families:http://www.foryourmarriage.org/jubilee-of-families-2015/

Here's a GREAT short document that families can use when making a pilgrimage to the Holy Door: http://www.familiam.org/…/RESOURCE-FOR-THE-PASSAGE-OF-THE-H…

Our Archdiocese of Indianapolis has absolutely HIT IT OUT OF THE PARK with a booklet they put together for the Year of Mercy. I'm printing it up for all of my parishioners. It is something I hope EVERY diocese and Catholic is able to use. BRAVO to our Archdiocesan team that created this. PLEASE print this off for yourself and consider printing off some copies for others and handing them out as well. I hope every priest is able to utilize this booklet for their parishes because it is VERY well done: http://www.archindy.org/…/Archdiocese%20of%20Indianapolis%2…

Our Archdiocese also has a website with a lot of useful links all in one place:http://www.archindy.org/holyyearofmercy/

Finally, here is a set of 8 books for 40 dollars that I am ordering from OSV. "Mercy in the Fathers of the Church" "Mercy in the Saints" "Mercy from the Popes" and 5 other great titles. I think this will be a tremendous help for preaching mercy throughout the year. Lay people would also find these books VERY helpful and informative and enlightening: https://www.osv.com/Shop/Product?ProductCode=T1743

Rejoicing in Simplicity

A Reflection on Crucifixes

As Catholics, we know Christ has risen from the dead.

We have crucifixes because WE haven't risen from the dead.

So while we suffer in this valley of tears it helps a great deal to be reminded that Christ CHOSE suffering when he walked this earth, even though He could have saved us without being crucified and tortured.

The ancient prophecies could have said "The Christ will die in child birth" and we'd still be saved. He CHOSE the cross. If that doesn't help you in the midst of suffering, then don't have crucifixes around.

But what I want to know when I'm suffering is not "hey, just think about Easter"...I want to hear God say "I'm with you in the midst of this. I bled too. Your suffering has meaning in this moment, not just a future reward."

Drunkenness vs. Advent

5 Quick Points Made by "The Mockingjay Part 2"

1) War sucks.

The first Hunger Games book (and the movie) are written in such a way that some people might secretly think about it all in a sugary way..."Sure the games are a terrible idea...but it all is kind of romantic"

However, the final installment is the whole point - look at what war does - so many people die - it's horrible - there's nothing romantic at all about war.  Collins delivers an intentionally violent and deadly punch in the gut with the final book because war is a violent and deadly punch in the gut




2) We are the capital

Gale has a line in the film when they spend a night hiding in a capital home.  He eats some of the food, which is way better than anything he's ever tasted, and says something to the effect of "I'm starting to understand why the people who live in the capital are the way they are.  If I had food like this, I'd go along with whatever else was happening too."

We ARE the capital.  The money we spend on hair and makeup and fashion would literally feed the rest of the world

this add from cover girl makes the point perfectly

3) The ends do not justify the means

The only place that says this is ALWAYS the case is the Catholic Church.  The Hunger Games reinforce that.  There is a scene where lots of innocent civilians are killed, and it is done, by the rebels, under the pretense that it will save lives in the long run.  The beautiful and Catholic point is made in the book and the film - that under that type of logic anyone could kill anyone else whenever they wanted if they just came up with a good explanation for what MIGHT happen in the future




4)  There are evil people on both sides of any war

So often people forget this.  The Hunger Games reminds us of this very perfectly.




5) We humans have VERY short memories

Toward the end of the film, as peace is being established, the following dialogue says it nicely


“Are you preparing for another war, Plutarch?" I ask.

"Oh, not now. Now we're in a sweet period where everyone agrees that our recent horrors should never be repeated," he says. "But collective thinking is usually short-lived. We're fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self-destruction. Although who knows? Maybe this will be it.”

St Meinrad and the Paris Attacks

St. Meinrad was a hermit who lived and prayed in the woods.

He had a vision that some men were going to come and visit him and then kill him.

When they came, he still welcomed them, fed them, and treated them as Christ would have.

The men killed St. Meinrad.

St. Meinrad is considered a martyr of hospitality.

We talk all the time as the "pro-life" movement that we're not running out of room in our country and that the whole world would fit inside Texas...and rightly so...but some stop short of saying that when people are trying to flee war? 

Women who have abortions are scared about what MIGHT happen?

And we shut our doors because we're scared of what MIGHT happen?

I get it...we have to bring people in responsibly...and that's something to continue to work at... be vigilant about it and hash out how to do it.  Get a lot of smart people in the same room and figure out how to make it happen in the right way.

But ..but what are the radical Muslims REALLY afraid of? I think the radicals are afraid that moderate Muslims will see who we really are...what Christianity really is...I think that's what they're afraid of.

Why else would they send people to attack Paris through France's refugee program...it isn't because its the only way into France...come on...let's be honest...as it stands right now if radicals want into France they're going to get in.

If you're the radicals, you send attackers in through the refugee program because you want it to stop...you want America to stop taking in the tired, the poor, the immigrant...because then your prophecy about America as the Devil looks true.

Here's my point - the only thing more RADICAL than radical Islam is LOVE. And I think LOVE welcomes the stranger, the poor, and the dying.  We can do it in a prudent way...we don't have to simply tear down our borders, but the only way to out radical the radicals is through love

...and if I die because of it...if someone kills me because I was too loving, too welcoming, too hospitable...then, well, there's not many better ways to go than being a martyr for being too hospitable.

I'd rather error on the side of hospitality and love then on the side of not letting Christ in the door

A Simple Fix to the Annulment Issue

I'm not a canon lawyer, so I just want to throw this out and see if I'm missing something




I recently had someone come to me who is totally on fire for the Catholic Faith, wants to join the Church, is devouring Catholic videos and homilies and cd's etc.

And she's been married four times.  None of those marriages was in the Church.  I recently got word that it looks like three different annulment cases.


You know what would fix all this?  If we, as a Church, said "If you aren't married in a Catholic Church, it wasn't a marriage in the first place."


That might upset the ecumenical movement a little bit, but we already talk about some of their other 'sacraments' being invalid, and, in all honesty, most protestant aren't going to care one bit if the Catholic Church says that the Catholic Church doesn't recognize their marriages as valid.



If we said the only time you need an annulment is if you were actually married in the Catholic Church, that would free up about (I'm guessing) 75% of our marriage cases.


And let's think about it - what protestant denomination does marriage preparation like we do?  If two people get married at a Baptist Church, do we really think they were taught and had, going into the marriage, the Catholic Church's understanding of what they were doing when they made their vows?



If you were married in the Catholic Church, you need an annulment.
If you weren't married in the Catholic Church, but now want to join, welcome to the Catholic Church!

High School Religious Ed class 2 - virtues

I try to do a pushup, we watch a little bit of "Gladiator"...

Happiness. Class 1

This is class one of an online course I've been teaching to our high school students.  It's been great, as we've seen a 600% increase in participation vs. when we used to ask them to come to class in person.

If you'd like more information about the text book we use, let me know.


The process is pretty simple.  They watch the class.  Answer a few questions.  Email me the answers or hand them in at Mass.  I record that they did it.


If they don't participate, that's fine - the Church says the primary catechist of a child is their parents, so I assume the parents are doing something else to teach them the Faith.



It's been great. Hope these help.  I will post them here occasionally.  Here's class 1

A Homily I Wish Everyone Could Hear

I think every priest, once or twice a year, gives a homily that they wish the world could hear...not because the priest thinks he's awesome but because he thinks it would help a lot of people.  This weekend's homily falls into that category for me personally

The text:

I mentioned one surprising thing about the priesthood a few weeks ago – how often people want particular questions answered that the Church says are actually left up to them using the gift of prudence to analyze the circumstances

Another shocking thing, perhaps the saddest surprise of the priesthood thus far – I’ve done a number of funerals at LOTS of parishes.  A lot of times it is for a big Catholic family, and in a lot of these situations, the vast majority of the kids, if not all of them, have stopped practicing their Catholic Faith.  And here’s what happens

    
At the funeral home or in conversation with the children or listening to them at the funeral meal I hear most of the kids say something like “Mom always sacrificed everything for us…or Dad gave everything he had of himself and worked two jobs so we could eat…and they laid down their lives for us…

And in these situations a part of me wants to say something but I don’t, and what I’d like to say to them, in a gentle way, is “do you know why they did this for you?  it’s because of their catholic faith.  because they believed that jesus christ was/is real, that he was/is present in the eucharist, and that he said we should lay down our lives for our friends.”

For many of the children in these situations, there is a complete failure to connect the dots of the love they received from their parents, and the Faith that nurtured their parents.  I get the sense that a lot of the kids in these situations see these heroic sacrifices from their parents, but then they think of their parents’ Catholic Faith as some sort of superstitious thing that mom and/or dad did on the side, but which didn’t really lead to the beautiful results that the kids speak so highly of.

I want to say – “What if your mom was an amazing mom BECAUSE she went to Mass EVERY Sunday and prayed a rosary and read Scripture daily, went to confession regularly, etc.?”

Some will offer objections at this point.

1)      There are bad Catholic parents.  Correct.  But perhaps the Catholic Faith kept a person from worse.

2)     There are good parents who aren’t Catholic.  Of course.  We’re talking specifically about YOUR family.  Did the Faith of your parents help them become the saints that you are mentioning as you talk about them?

3)     Sacrificing for one’s children is simply biological.  FALSE.  I can walk out my door at the rectory and within 30 seconds I can be at the door of people who buy heroine for themselves instead of food for their children.  I assure you, laying down your life for your children is NOT simply biological

Let’s take it out another level beyond the home.  A lot of times people praise their Catholic schooling.  “Those nuns gave everything to teach me.  Father worked really hard, year round, to keep the lights on at our Catholic school.”  And yet, how many people, after receiving that Catholic education, put it to use, become highly successful and leave the Catholic Faith behind?  I want to say to those people

            Do you think those priests, those nuns, those lay people who gave their lives to give you the best education in theworld, do you think they did that JUST so that you would make partner at the firm?  JUST so that you would become the CEO or a pharmacist or a well-paid engineer?

Do you think the nuns at Annunciation slept in closets their entire adult life, without air conditioning, giving up having a family of their own, a husband, wealth, vacations, etc. simply to teach you ALGEBRA?

            
NO!  They did all of that because they were motivated by the Eucharist, by the real presence of Christ in the Catholic Church, and if they can see what some have done with their sacrifice, they are surely rolling over in their graves. 

They didn’t do it to teach you algebra, they did it to teach you algebra AND that Jesus is real, that the Church is real, and that living your Catholic Faith and laying down your life are HARD but WORTH IT!!!

The same thing happens with regard to Blessed Mother Teresa, St. John Paul II, Pope Francis, etc.  “Oh wow, they’re so awesome, look what they did for the poor, look how they laid their lives down for others!”  THE reason these people did that is because of their Catholic Faith.  Mother Teresa did two holy hours before the Blessed Sacrament EVERY day, and went to Mass every day, and prayed a Rosary every day.  That’s WHY she became the person who did the things you are praising.   Her Catholic Faith was not some superstitious hocus pocus she happened to do before she went off to work each morning.

We can chalk all this up to them being “religious” but let’s look at the larger historical context here for a moment.  

What religious tradition gives more aid and charity than any other?  The Catholic Church.

What religious tradition married education and the Faith and invented the University system, and, particularly in our own country, the system of educating its young people in all things – the Catholic Church

What religious tradition invented the hospital and continues to provide health care to the poorest of the poor in our own country and indeed in countries throughout the world?  The Catholic Church.

This can’t all be coincidence.  The Catholic Faith must have something to do with all of this.

Why do I mention this?  We hear in the readings today:

“Behold, I will bring them back, I will gather them from the ends of the world, they shall return as an immense throng.  I will lead them to brooks of water, on a level road, so that none shall stumble.”

We know that the numbers say ex-Catholics are the second largest denomination in the US.  And yet, although the numbers don’t show it yet because polling data is always a few years behind, I get the sense that, like in the reading this weekend, people are starting to awaken to God’s call and are returning home to the Church. 

They are recognizing their blindness and want to see again.

God always calls us home, every moment of every day, but it seems, anecdotally at the moment, that people are starting to awaken.  In my lifetime, I would say it began with John Paul II showing the world that we don’t have to be ashamed of our Faith and that it is instead quite beautiful and is a source of strength, beauty, and light for us if we let it be that in our hearts.

Certainly our Holy Father Pope Francis has continued this thawing of hearts as he continues to call us to go out, to call people home, to open the doors of our church, to invite people in, to walk with them, etc.

What do we need to do? 

Do your children, even the ones who have fallen away, know that the reason you sacrificed for them and raised them the way you did was because of your Catholic Faith?  Perhaps consider writing them a letter informing them of that in your own words. Sometimes we take the approach of nagging “Are you going to Church?”  “You need to go to Church!”  “Why aren’t you going to Church?”  Maybe instead just write and say, in your own words, “Hey, David, I know I wasn’t a perfect parent, but I wanted to just let you know that whatever strength I did have as a parent, it was because of my Catholic Faith and I wanted you to know that.”

Do the people we help, the people we teach, the poor we reach out to, the people that visit our hospitals, do they know WHY we are helping them?  

We often choose to NOT talk about ourselves and our good works, as individuals, as parishes, and as a Church.  “Do not let your left hand know what your right is doing” but we do a disservice if we help someone but don’t say anything about why we’re doing it.  

This weekend I bring Communion to our sick and shutins.  I’ve realized that I don’t ever really share with them why I’m there.  I’m not saying I’m going to start walking in and shouting “I’M HERE BECAUSE OF JESUS AND I’M AWESOME!” but there might be an opportunity to work in my motivation for being there as we have a conversation. 

“Behold, I will bring them back, I will gather them from the ends of the world, they shall return as an immense throng.  I will lead them to brooks of water, on a level road, so that none shall stumble.”

Give us the strength to help get the word out that God is calling the world home to the Catholic Church

A Ridiculous Marriage Flow Chart Graphic

This has been around for a while, but I thought we'd take a look at it.


It is wrong on so many levels.  I'm not even going to get into anything in the chart because the question at the top is wrong on so many levels, the rest of the graphic doesn't even merit our time


Here's the graphic:

If someone shows you this and asks you want to think of it as a Catholic you can say the following:

1) No, I don't think homosexuality is sinful, if by homosexuality you mean a person that is attracted to people of the same sex.  

2) Even if you mean by "homosexuality" you mean people having same sex sex, which I do think is sinful, the sinfulness of same sex sex is NOT WHY I'M OPPOSED TO GAY MARRIAGE.  I'm opposed to gay marriage simply on secular grounds - I believe that marriage between a man and a woman is a first principle that any society has to be founded on.  I believe that children have a right to a mother and a father.  Lots of atheists are against same sex marriage - so no, my opposition to gay marriage is NOT based on my Christianity, but thanks for asking.

Rarely can one statement get as much wrong as the statement used at the beginning of this chart.

"I wish the Church would change its teaching on __________________"

“We do not want, as the newspapers say, a church that will move with the world. We want a church that will move the world.”  -G.K. Chesterton


There is a GIGANTIC difference between saying
"I struggle with the Church's teaching on ____________"

and 

"I've DECIDED the Church IS WRONG on ____________"



And before you say "the Church changed on usury or slavery" please look those issues up yourself and do some studying first.

Wow do we need more of this!

Bishop Olmsted of the Diocese of Phoenix just did something crazy.   Here's the trailer:




Bishop Olmsted didn't just write a letter, he put a trailer together for it (#Blackstone Films!), but he created a website for men to visit as well.  You can visit the website by clicking here: http://www.intothebreach.net/into-the-breach/


Also, what a timely topic!  Masculinity and Catholicism are viewed by some as being polar opposite - and here is a bishop standing up and saying "NO!"  Christ and the Church show us how to be masculine, how to use our masculinity for good, and that one need not be neutered to become a Christian.

Spread the good news.  Thank you Bishop Olmsted!

Sneaking into prisons

Homily for the 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B

Do Catholics Work Their Way Into Heaven?

No...but through our works, and through the Sacraments, Heaven works its way into us