SUSAN BOYLE SINGS FOR THE POPE - PAPAL VISIT TO SCOTLAND

Scottish Roman Catholics sing along with Susan Boyle's performance for the Pope when he came on an official visit to Britain.

Thanks to my good friend, Ghee Se, for sharing this post.

Novena for Pope Benedict on Papal Visit to UK

This post below is from the Diocese of Honolulu Spiritual Mothers Apostolote blog which Esther G. and I run and maintain. The post below was posted by Esther yesterday, September 15. I apologize for not seeing it right away, but do jump in and join the many Catholics in praying for Pope Benedict XVI.



The Novena period which precedes the Feast begins on Wednesday
15th of September - Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.

As this Novena period surrounds the Papal Visit - (September
16th to 19th) it is suggested that people pray the Novena for
the following intentions:

"For God's mighty blessing and protection upon the Papal Visit
and for the Holy Father's intentions".

For overseas readers, perhaps the best way of joining in the Novena is to say the Rosary each day, or at least one decade, for this intention.

Here at this blog, we are asking that you offer your Holy Rosary prayers for the Holy Father's intentions for nine consecutive days, along with the following prayer from the Knights of Columbus' prayer card, for his intentions:

PRAYER FOR POPE BENEDICT XVI

Lord, source of eternal life and truth,
give to your shepherd, Benedict, a spirit
of courage and right judgment, a spirit
of knowledge and love. By governing
with fidelity those entrusted to his care,
may he, as successor to the Apostle Peter
and Vicar of Christ, build your Church
into a sacrament of unity, love and peace
for all the world. Amen.

V. Let us pray for Benedict, the pope.
R. May the Lord preserve him,
give him a long life,
make him blessed upon the earth,
and not hand him over
to the power of his enemies.
V. May your hand
be upon your holy servant.
R. And upon your son,
whom you have anointed.
Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory Be…

Virtual Tour of the Vatican - Part 2

Virtual Tour of the Vatican - Part 1

Keep our Priests in Mind

It was easy during the old times: families have given priests a special place in their homes. Now, however, as more and more marriages and families are breaking up, priests have not been given that same special place.

Here is a an article about a sad story that, perhaps, can help us to remember our priests. In our homes and in our hearts we welcome and treat them as a dear friend.

OPINION: It is hardly fair to sneer at a new association of Irish priests as a mere clerical trade union, writes DAVID RICE

THE ITALIAN alpine village of Villaretto was drowsing under its blanket of snow when, on January 26th, 1985, the parish priest hanged himself, just before the Saturday evening Mass. He left three farewell letters, one addressed to the altar servers. It read: “Be more friendly and generous with your next priest: do not leave him alone at the altar.”

Those words have haunted me for years, for we do leave our priests alone at the altar and the loneliness of many a priest is a crucifixion.

I know, for I once was one. I left and am no longer lonely, but many truly heroic men have stayed and live their crucifixion daily, a far worse one than I ever had to endure.

The loneliness of many priests today is infinitely crueller than anything I experienced 30 years ago. Just to give one example: last month a priest friend of mine in Dublin was talking to a boy after Sunday Mass, when the boy’s father came up to him and said: “Father, I’d rather you stayed away from my son.”

The rest of the article is found here.

Thanks to Esther G., who first shared this article with us.

Meet Fr. Francis Ferry

Saturday, September 4, 2010. Father Francis Ferry of Donegal, Ireland gave a homily in Medjugorje at St. James Church. Before Mass, he attended a talk given by the visionary Ivan and he spoke about the messages that Ivan had stressed in his testimony.

Father Ferry said, ‘We need to change ourselves first and experience peace through prayer. We need to witness this peace to our families, in our villages and cities, and then the world will change.’ He received his vocation to the priesthood here in Medjugorje while on pilgrimage to this Holy place. He had been away from the Sacraments of the Church for many years.

Father Ferry’s first pilgrimage to Medjugorje was not planned. He had become lost while traveling and ended up here. He knew Our Lady had planned it that way. He was ordained a priest three years ago. Father gave the pilgrims attending Holy Mass some good advice.

Father Francis Ferry, one of many vocations received through a pilgrimage to Medjugorje. “It is good being in Medjugorje again. This is my twenty-eighth time. My first trip was in 1995. You that have been here fifty times, it means nothing, if you do not listen and put into action Our Lady’s words. It would be better to come once and hear Her message and respond to Her call. Remember, She thanks us for responding to Her call.”

Father was asking the pilgrims to respond concretely to Our Lady. Father Ferry is one of many vocations birthed through Medjugorje. We believe one of thousands; the actual number of vocations that began in Medjugorje may never be known.

Cardinal Schönborn, from Austria once stated, ‘If I was an opponent of Medjugorje, I’d have to close down my seminary, since almost all the candidates have received their call to the priesthood through Medjugorje.’ Yet another testament of the power of what God is doing through Our Lady, here in Medjugorje. Source-Medjugorje Com
Posted by Ed Sousa, Sr. at 2:23 PM

Thank you to my good friend, Ed Sousa of In God's Company 2! He is the father of Fr. Ed Sousa, Jr.

The Cooking Priest: Fr. Leo Patalinghug

My family has had the opportunity to listen to the talks Fr. Patalinghug gave at a mini retreat at St. Augustine Church in Waikiki. He is a great speaker!

What he is most remembered as many of us know is winning a cooking challenge against Grill Master Bobby Flay of the Food Network.

Watch the video below to see a simple way of making those scrumptious fajitas. Fr. Leo cooks with his brother and sister-in-law who homeschool their children.

Here's Fr. Leo sharing with us the joy of cooking:

Priest Teaches Kids How to Skateboard!

I have totally enjoyed this video. So very cool! Please, please don't miss it.

Thank you to my friend, Dann E., for sending me the link.



Source: Deacon's Bench

Archbishop Chaput Speaks Up

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput @Catholic Online

Proud to be a Catholic? If it means having to boast because Christ is one who establihed the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church then so be it.

He warned of the rise of 'inhuman humanism' and called for a Catholicism of Resistance

"We live in a time when the Church is called to be a believing community of resistance. We need to call things by their true names. We need to fight the evils we see. And most importantly, we must not delude ourselves into thinking that by going along with the voices of secularism and de-Christianization we can somehow mitigate or change things." -Archbishop Charles J. Chaput.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - I have long believed that Archbishop Charles J. Chaput is one of the preeminent Churchmen of our age. He calls all Catholics to live with what Pope Benedict XVI refers to as "moral coherence". This is not easy under the oppressive boot of what the same Pope called "the Dictatorship of Relativism." He challenges us to avoid what the Second Vatican Council called the "greatest error of our age...the separation between faith and life". His book "Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by living our Catholic beliefs in Political Life" is already a classic. It succinctly addresses the vital obligation of integrating our Catholic faith into our obligations of citizenship.

-Article written by Deacon Keith Fournier.

Read more on Catholic Online.

Looking Back: End of Year for Priests - III

The liturgy interprets for us the language of Jesus’ heart, which tells us above all that God is the shepherd of mankind, and so it reveals to us Jesus’ priesthood, which is rooted deep within his heart; so too it shows us the perennial foundation and the effective criterion of all priestly ministry, which must always be anchored in the heart of Jesus and lived out from that starting-point.

The most important of those texts in today’s liturgy is Psalm 23(22) – "The Lord is my shepherd" – in which Israel at prayer received God’s self-revelation as shepherd, and made this the guide of its own life. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want": this first verse expresses joy and gratitude for the fact that God is present to and concerned for humanity. The reading from the Book of Ezechiel begins with the same theme: "I myself will look after and tend my sheep" (Ez 34:11). God personally looks after me, after us, after all mankind. I am not abandoned, adrift in the universe and in a society which leaves me ever more lost and bewildered. God looks after me. He is not a distant God, for whom my life is worthless.

-Pope Benedict XVI