Awesome pictures

Vatican (date unknown)

St. Mary of the Lake, interior

First Holy Communion, St. Mary of the Lake

Kathy Recicar, a wonderful lady who prays for our priests
sent me these awesome pictures. I will post some today and
some again in a couple of days.

Thank you, Kathy!

Dominican Vocation Video

This is about 10 minutes long, but how I enjoyed watching it! I know bloggers like Jackie and Marilena will enjoy it, especially the part when the priests are saying Holy Mass facing the altar and the Blessed Sacrament.


This video is made of excerpts from a Dominican vocation video from 1964. It has a very different feel from anything you would make today, and a strong contemplative mood. - Fr. Benjamin of Holy Priesthood

Pray for the Soul of Father Nobincio Fernandez

The picture and article are from the Hawaii Catholic Herald


Father Nobincio Fernandez had special Kalaupapa link
By Valerie Monson, Special to the Herald

Sacred Hearts Father Nobincio “Nobby” Fernandez, who spent more than a decade at the helm of St. Philomena and St. Francis churches on the Kalaupapa peninsula, died Jan. 31 at St. Francis Hospice-West. He was 78 and a priest for 43 years.

Read more here.

Pray for Fr. Raul

Please pray for Fr. Raul as God awakens sleepy souls through words he speaks. Thank you!



METANOIA: A RESPONSE TO THE DIVINE RESTLESSNESS

Fr. Raul Dael is a diocesan priest from the archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro, Philippines. He entered the College seminary in 1983 at the age of 16. After a decade of indomitable spirit, determination, dedication and generosity to seminary formation, he finished his theology as the 4th batch of graduates of St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in 1993. He was ordained priest on June 7 on that same year at St. Augustine’s Cathedral, Cagayan de Oro City, Phil. In 1997, after more than 4 years of pastoral ministry to three different parishes, he was sent for his licentiate studies in theology at Loyola School of Theology, Ateneo de Manila University, Phil. with spirituality as his field of concentration. After earning the degree, he was assigned at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary as one of the first batch of alumni to serve as professor and formator. He taught courses on systematic and pastoral theology. In 2003, he was sent to Rome to pursue his doctoral studies in spirituality at the Pontifical Gregorian University. At this point, he is now on the challenging stage of writing his dissertation.


Fr. Raul Dael just completed a successful Lenten mission at St. John. He'll be going to St. Catherine Church in Kapaa, Kauai Feb. 18 - 21 and then he said he'll go to the Co-Cathedral. If you would like to attend his mission, I would suggest that you contact the Co-Cathedral for the schedule.


From my friend, Melissa C.

Inspiration from Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, CPP.S.

Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, CPP.S.


It was a joy to hear from Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, CPP.S. I am usually the one to go looking for blogs that are maintained my priests, but he found me, and how wonderful that is :-). Many of you probably know him because he has been blogging for many years now. I will find out for you exactly how many. I am a neophyte blogger compared to him!

Anyway, Fr. Keyes was interviewed by another blogger in October of 2003. I was really impressed. I will be highlighting some of his answers. His response to the first question reminded me of Esther's post. In reality, most of our priests were once approached and invited by another priest, or by someone, to consider the priestly vocation or a certain order. Here it is:



1) What originally attracted you to the Spirituality of the Precious Blood and St. Gaspar’s mission?

I was hired as the music director of St. Edward Church in Newark, CA in 1984. The parish was staffed by the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. I had the opportunity to provide the music for several parish missions preached there and elsewhere with one of their missionaries. When I mentioned to him my thoughts of returning to the seminary, he took me aside and told me he wanted to share with me the power of Jesus’ blood. It remains to this day a memory of a significant encounter. Through his teaching and through reading several books on the topic I have come to believe, along with St. Gaspar that the spirituality of the Precious Blood is the basis for all other spiritualities and reaches to the very foundations of most of the writings of the saints. Another significant event was the preaching of Fr. Marvin Steffes, CPPS on Holy Thursday in 1987. Hearing of the sign of contradiction, of a lamb seated on a throne, and of the desire of Jesus to reach to the smallest and the least, was a moment of inspiration. I joined the CPPS community in 1988. I was ordained to the priesthood in 1991.


I invite everyone to pray that the Lord will show us who to approach and ask if they would be interested in considering a priestly life. Be ready with information though: name of the Vocation Priest in your own diocese and more importantly, his phone number. If you can get pamphlets or fliers with complete information, the better. What a way to encourage young men to consider a vocation that we are so in need of these days!

The rest of this interview will be found on his old blog: The New Gaparian.

More on Fr. Keyes in the future...

More prayers please for victims of storm

We thank you Mary for interceding for our needs!

Laudetur Jesus Christus,

Thank you for your prayers and kindness. Thanks be to God, our parishionners are all safe. But many others people are in need now. We try to help as much as we can.

Please continue to pray for them.

In Christo Rege

Father Laurent Demets, FSSP
1921 Maple Street
North Little Rock, AR 72114
501-812-9155
www.defidecatholica.blogspot.com




Thank you Esther for this beautiful picture of Mary!

What Went Right by Michael F. Flach

Feast Day of St. Peter Julian Eymard

Thank you, Micki!

Kathy Ricacar sent me this wonderful article What Went Right by Michael F. Flach. It talks about why the Diocese of Arlington has been successful in gaining priests for Christ's beloved church.

"Arlington Bishop John R. Keating will ordain 10 men to the priesthood on May 20, a record number for the 20 year-old diocese, and an unusually high number for a diocese with only 275,000 total Catholics. The diocese currently has 42 seminarians in formation. Following the May ordination, nearly 60 percent of the 126 active diocesan clergy will have been ordained by Bishop Keating since he was installed as Arlington's second bishop in August 1983. 'You get a chance to see the future,' he said. 'These guys who are getting ordained in 1995 will retire in 2045. When they retire, they will be the examples for the priests of the 22nd century.' "

More on the article here L'Oeuvre des Vocations.

Pray for Fr. Dan Kennedy

Tragically, a Boston priest who was ordained last May died suddenly of a heart attack. He was only 34 years old. I didn't know him personally, but I knew him because I sometimes went to Mass at a parish where he helped while a deacon. He was very enthusiastic about being a priest and loved his vocation. He will be greatly missed here!
-Sr. Lorraine of Open wide the doors to Christ

Pray for the victims of tornados in Arkansas

From: frdemets@aol.com
Date: February 6, 2008 11:12:16 AM EST
To: frdemets@aol.com
Subject: tornados in Arkansas

Dear friends,we had a severe storm yesterday evening at Cherokee Village. I think the tornados have killed 27 persons in Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee. Our church and the rectory are OK but many houses and the Baptist church near our church have been damaged. It seems that our parishionners are all saved. IT was very impressive and I was driving when the storm arrived. I could not see the road but I found my way to the rectory. Thanks to our guardian angels. Your prayers for those who have been affected are welcome.

In Christo Rege
Father Laurent Demets,

FSSP1921 Maple Street North

Little Rock, AR 72114

501-812-9155 http://www.defidecatholica.blogspot.com/

Thank you Kathy Recicar for this info!

Almsgiving this Lent

Picture found here

MESSAGE OF HIS

HOLINESS BENEDICT XVIFOR LENT 2008
"Christ made Himself poor for you" (2 Cor 8,9)

Almsgiving helps us to overcome this constant temptation,
teaching us to respond to our neighbor's needs and to share
with others whatever we possess through divine goodness.
This is the aim of the special collections in favor of the poor,
which are promoted during Lent in many parts of the world.
In this way, inward cleansing is accompanied by a gesture
of ecclesial communion, mirroring what already took place
in the early Church. In his Letters, Saint Paul speaks
of this in regard to the collection for the Jerusalem
community (cf. 2 Cor 8-9; Rm 15, 25-27).
- Pope Benedict XVl

A letter from one of our newer seminarians

Aloha,

Hope all of you are having a Blessed Sunday! It's been a month since I reached here at Mount Angel Seminary, I can't believe how time flies here. Classes are going great and assignments are coming up quick. But I think I'll be ok.

I experienced my first snowfall last Sunday, we had a good five inches of snow! I had a blast making a snowman and playing in the snow. (cheap thrills for a boy from Hawaii). I am getting adjusted to the weather, it has been raining a lot the last few days. Today it cleared up a little.

On Friday Feb. 1, 2007 the College I class did a "Personal Poverty" retreat at the Downtown Chapel of St. Vincent De Paul in Portland. The chapel is an outreach center for the poor, homeless, and needy of the area. We were split into groups and were assigned to do certain tasks like distribute clothes, personal hygiene products, bus passes, laundry vouchers etc. My job was the host. I got to meet and greet all the needy and bring them down to get what they needed.

We served them Coffee, Cocoa, and Bread as they waited. It was a time for us to sit down and chat one on one with our guests. It was such a great feeling to see them so happy as they got their products and it made me realize how much I have and how much I need to be thankful for to God. I couldn't believe that "Corporate America" is developing so much in that area, with no concern for the homeless. I was upset too, by hearing that many of their families doesn't want anything to do with them because of a mental illness, addiction or sexual orientation and that is how they ended up in this situation. This brought up a question to me "What then is family?".

After Mass and Lunch, we took a walking tour of the Downtown Portland area and visited many of the agencies which help the poor and needy. We also got to see how and where these people were living. It is not pretty. That night we got to work at the soup kitchen put on the the Chapel, and again got to mingle and eat with the homeless. It was rainy and cold on Friday and you could see that the soup (for many, their only meal that day) just hit the spot. They were all so thankful for something so simple.

I am glad that we got the opportunity to do this because it has not only made me realize how fortunate I am but also the awareness of this growing problem. In this upcoming season of Lent, let's not give up something, but rather "GIVE" something in return and remember those less fortunate than us in these cold winter days. We have so much to be thankful for.

Thanks again for all your love, support and prayers. You remain in mines. Have a Holy and Blessed Lenten Season.

God Bless You,

EJ

Dedicated to our priests

Thank you to my dear friend, Esther

.

This is given and dedicated to all

blogger priests!

The Offertory of the Holy Mass

Once a month we have a "Teaching Mass", where the children from Religious Education participate and some part of the Mass is explained. Here is a clip of me explaining the Offertory (it's not really a homily, but a reflection). The Offertory is meant as a moment to offer our lives and our hearts to God on the altar.
- Fr. Joel from Holy Priesthood.

What a way to get ready for Lent! I encourage you to listen to the recording on offertory by Fr. Joel himself. It is so uplifting and it brings us to greater understanding of what offertory is all about. You might be surprised to know that there is so much more to us being offered to the Father through Jesus and with Jesus during consecration. It starts with Offertory.