Fr. Bob’s Corner

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I captured a few pictures from the EWTN Broadcast of the Youth Rally with The Pope. It was a glorious meeting filled with African Music, Welcoming Messages, Youth Testimonies, and a short speech by Pope Benedict encouraging the youth to be faithful to their Christian Identity. He challenged the youth to make life long decisions and commitments - the true test of real maturity in every age: Dare to make definite decisions - life long commitments, and don’t give in to doubt, corruption, and hedonism. You are the seed - the seed of the new City, the New Jerusalem, he said, and the only way to grow the seed is to die to love. Bring to life the Holy City, the Pope challenged, as the crowds applauded enthusiastically. Towards the end of the event a young man in a wheel chair came on to the stage with the Pope and sang a moving song to Jesus My Friend. The young man appeared to have been crippled during the recent civil war, and as he sang I’m sure many a tear of thanksgiving and hope were shed as he made God’s love strong and visible.

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Think back to the good old days when most Catholics and Protestants went to church each Sunday? These are often touted as the ‘golden days’ when few doubted God’s existence, and our churches were filled with generous contributors, and everyone, or almost everyone, professed to be Christian. Now think, was the world any more loving, honest, merciful, forgiving, than it is today. Maybe, but in my humble experience, I remember little evidence. When all were Christian, most felt quite satisfied with the status quo, and felt little challenge to explore and deepen faith.

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Chief Fontaine insisted a number of times on the need for rebuilding the relationship between the Catholic Church in Canada with Native Peoples. He was addressing Canada’s Bishops.

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Religion is a bad word in certain quarters of our society, and the world at large. Some people say: “Religion causes too much pain and tragedy. I’ll have nothing to do with it. It should be eradicated.” Here’s a response from a religious sister to this very question. I think it proves helpful in forming our own personal response to those that write religion off. How do you respond to those that believe that religion is a bad thing for the world?

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This weekend I am preaching on two very significant, if not the most significant Christians responsible for the spread of Christianity after the Ascension of Jesus. This weekend we celebrate the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul.

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One of the more popular videos on the Internet from the Eucharistic Congress in Quebec, City was from June 19th - Catechesis by the most Reverend Luis Antonio G. Tagle, Bishop of Imus, Philippines.

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HMWN (online radio) hosts a weekly broadcast entitled ‘Bread for the Journey’ to help Catholics prepare for the upcoming International Eucharistic Congress. In her April 3rd broadcast, online host Sharon DiCecco, included 22 minutes from Bishop Paul André’s November 2007 Cornwall Conference on the Eucharistic Congress. The segment was entitled, ‘Walking with Jesus’. (Press ‘Ctrl key’ while hovering mouse over picture and left click to go to website) The program is archived, so you can hear it when ever you want. Of course, you can also listen live to this broadcast and many others.

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The National Catholic Register did a story on video as a means of evangelization:

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Catholicism in Quebec

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Pretty hard to be hopeful when there is so much dis-trust, fear, and and narrow mindedness on our small little planet. Can we not let our light shine in this world, and let the power of God’s Spirit do the rest. It appears that many would say NO-No-No!

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Christianity is exploding in China with about 10,000 new Christian converts a day (according to some estimates). At this pace China is on the road to becoming one of the largest Christian nations in the world. Who would have thought? Yet, for Catholicism the road still seems to be difficut and laborious, and forught with persecution. If this Christianization trend continues, it sure to have global consequences in the near future. For a more indepth perspective on a people’s search for God read Fr. John Allen’s report on China and Christianity at the following link:

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According to the poll released July 3, 26 percent of Canadians believe “that God created human beings……..

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When I was growing up in the 40’s and 50’s, I had a strong Catholic Identity. I considered my self, as a Roman Catholic, a true Christian, and a member of the true church. Catholics, in my mind, were the real Christians and all others who called themselves Christian were heretics. We were a people that did what God wanted: attended a Latin Mass every Sunday and other Holy Days of Obligation, abstained from meat on Fridays, and confessed our sins to a priest on a regualar basis, (at least once a year, as our Easter Duty.)
In the 60’s the Vatican Council inspired a new Catholic Identity. One that recognized with a new respect the faith and baptism of other Christians, and the revelatory presence of God in othe religions. Mass was celebrated in English, abstinence from meat on Fridays was no longer compulsory, and confession became more communal. Today, the great excitement of the years of the Vatican Council is long forgotten, and most who call themselves Catholic know little of their faith, and attend Mass a few times a year, particularly at Christmas. Do we still have a Catholic Identity? Should we have a Catholic Identity? Many would say no, or who cares, to the first question. The second question is a little harder to comment on, but few would want the relgious bigotry of the 40’s, and 50’s. John Allen in this article comments on recent vatican decisions from the point of view of present day Roman Catholicism and its identity in the secular west. (Read his article)

Catholic World News : New Vatican document will reaffirm Church role (updated): “Vatican, Jul. 7, 2007 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican will soon release a new doctrinal document, addressing the unique role of the Catholic Church in God’s plan for salvation, according to informed sources in Rome. “

Sociologist can study and give us insight, but unfortunately they have to leave it up to those that read their investigations and studies to decide what to do. This winter two sociologists released a report that concluded that, “Young adult Catholics have a strong Catholic identity but do not feel much of a commitment to the institutional church or its moral teachings….” Read full article at this link:

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APARECIDA, Brazil (National Catholic Reporter) – Rumors of the death of liberation theology, it would appear, have been a bit exaggerated, at least judging by the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean in Aparecida, Brazil, May 13-31 – though it didn’t exactly emerge with a clean bill of health. Read more:

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President of Brazil and Pope greet one another at airport.

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The pope is well aware that many Latin American bishops believe the church stands at a turning point after losing ground in recent decades. Read more:

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On Friday, April 20, 2007, the International Theological Commission (ITC), an advisory body comprised of 30 theologians from around the world chosen by the Pope, released its long-awaited document, The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized — the issue of original sin, baptism, salvation, and limbo. In essence the commission states that we have a right to hope that God will find a way to offer the grace of Christ to infants who have not been baptized.
If you would like to read more I suggest an interview with Sr. Sarah Butler. She is one of two women appointed to the International Theological Commission by John Paul II in 2004, and presently teaches dogmatic theology at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie, New York. The interview is rather long, and in my humble opinion, reflects the need for all of us to walk humbly with God - clinging to the Good Shepherd’s love.
http://www.insidethevatican.com/newsflash/2007/newsflash-apr27-07.htm

“Forcing religious belief makes no sense in this culture,” states, Archbishop Philip Wilson, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference. We live in “difficult times for the church.” The Catholic faith community’s role is to lead others to “the discovery that the gospel makes sense of their being.” Read full report: <http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=23855&wf=rsscol>

On May 1st, 2007, International Workers’ Day, the Social Affairs Committee of the Assembly of Québec Catholic Bishops (AQCB)proposes a reflection on finding a balance between the value of our work and the demands of new technologies. Read Article:
AECQ : Life-Work Balance in a Digital Era

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I just finished reading John Allen’s sequel to his first article on Jon Sobrino. I’m not sure what to make of all the fuss about Jesus (human and divine). Throughout the centuries we have always stressed one over the other (teetering back and forth depending on the spirituality and needs of the era), finding it difficult to fully appreciate and vocalize the divine mystery of the incarnation. As church, we live in very threatening times, and it is difficult to watch over and protect God’s revelation. Maybe the church needs to verbalize this fact more clearly, and enlist everyone’s support and prayers (even a little sympathy and appreciation would be welcomed).
How we protect the faith, seems to be one of the most relevant questions for our times.
Edicts, disciplinary tactics, punishments, excommunication are an obvious response option. But in our times, this option just seems to tear the church apart and undermine the church’s credibility in the eyes of the world; inside the church, disciplinary control seems to cultivate a climate of fear within the hearts and minds of God’s people, undermining the very spirit which transforms and gives life. We live in very challenging and diffcult times, and there are no easy answers.

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CNS STORY: Sociologists see strong identity, less commitment in young Catholics

ZENIT News Agency–The World Seen from RomeVATICAN CITY, DEC. 7, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The answer to the crisis the Church is facing, especially in the West, consists in proclaiming and rediscovering the grandeur of God’s love, experienced in prayer, says Benedict XVI.

When I was a child religious education consisted of Question and Answers in the Baltimore Catechism. During my third or fourth year in the Seminary in the early 60’s(Resurrection College in Kitchener), I was asked to teach catechism at a local praish to a group of public school children. Much to my surprise there was no more Baltimore Catechism, but a set texts based on salvation history. The texts were based on the Bible, and explored God’s creative and salvific acts throughout history; beginning with creation, as portrayed in the Old testament Book of Genesis to the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus in the Gospels.
At the time this change was accepted with a naive enthusiasm. The focus of faith shifted from a rather doctinaire approach (black and white - question and answer) to a more biblically focused faith that eventually called forth God’s involvement and action in one’s personal faith life. Eventually, it was hoped, one would come to the realization that the Spirit that Jesus had sent into the world was expected to be active in one’s own life, and in the hearts and minds of others. We were now the new chosen people, the people of God, the body of Christ, which is the church.

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