The fullness of Truth…

July 6, 2015 techdecisions

-“The Incredulity of St Thomas”, 1602, Caravaggio, 107x146cm, oil on canvas, Sanssouci, Potsdam, Germany

“I recently read an article which sought to reveal similarities in the thought of two famous philosophers, one of whom was Catholic, the other a Deist (someone who denies that God continues to act upon the created world). The author’s stated goal was to show adherents of the Deist philosopher that they could come to see how Catholic thought was, in some sense, not dissimilar from their own. Curiously, the article presented itself purely as a philosophical exercise. However, it was really an exercise in apologetics, or the practice of demonstrating the reasonableness of certain beliefs. This specific kind of apologetics seeks to allow persons to come to acknowledge the beliefs of Catholics without having to radically change their own.

Since St. Paul at the Acropolis, the Church has sought to use non-Christian thought as a starting point or instrument to preach the truth. Possibly the greatest example of this is St. Thomas’s utilization of Aristotelian thought to teach theology. However, the above-described apologetics seems to be a fundamentally different project. St. Thomas used Aristotle because he believed that Aristotle taught true things. But what about the practice of adopting a system of thought not because one considers it true, but because it can be useful? Can one rightly adopt certain philosophical tenets in order to better reach a certain audience?

In one sense, yes. We do this all the time. We discuss the Faith differently with different audiences. We try and become all things to all people. One does not begin to teach the Faith to children (unlike seminarians) by opening with a discussion of epistemology. Instead, we seek to teach in a way that people will understand, assuming the level of our audience. Beginning with truths that our audiences agree on, we can move forward in understanding and knowledge.

However, there is also a mode of apologetics that does not seem to be acceptable. This would be to accept certain things that are false and gravely harmful in order to preach the Gospel. One should not assume the tenets of a materialist (someone who denies the existence of spiritual things) in order to preach the Gospel. It would be impossible to preach the fullness of Truth while failing to affirm the existence of such fundamental things as the immateriality of God, the angels, and the soul. It is similarly difficult to hold the doctrine of the Real Presence of the Eucharist by transubstantiation without a belief in the existences of substances or the reality of the physical world outside ourselves.

In our time, many philosophical truths that the Catholic Church holds to be rationally evident, such as the ability to recognize objective moral values, are no longer held by many individuals. There can be a temptation to try and tailor the Faith to fit these understandings. After all, it seems like we could be much more popular with the culture at large if we adapted the Faith entirely to their system of thinking. However, I doubt that the end product would much resemble the Catholic Faith. While we should seek to communicate effectively, this does not mean that the content of the Faith should be sacrificed in the process.

Apologetics should be moderated by a commitment to the fullness of the Gospel, practiced with the understanding that one is trying to convert the other via arguments based upon shared principles, without sacrificing anything fundamental. We cannot sacrifice truth and still preach the fullness of Truth. Instead, we should seek to communicate, person-by-person, the person of Jesus Christ and all that this entails. Although this takes on different modes, the goal remains the same. While we may wish to find common ground with all different sorts of groups in order to maintain a certain standing in society, certain truths cannot be abandoned for the sake of popularity. After all, the Faith is not even ours to begin with. So, is comparing systems of thought a true mode of preaching? Possibly (leaving aside questions of its limited effectiveness), but only under specific constraints and with the recognition that this form of apologetics must be guided by a special concern to maintain the Faith that has been handed on to us.

Love,
Matthew

Clericalism

Woe to you scribes and you Pharisees!!! -Mt 23

July 4, 2015 techdecisions

“The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility.” -St. Vincent de Paul

We must feel pity for the ordained. Their burden of justification is higher and greater. (CCC 1987-2029) They have had the authority. Thus, the greater need for humility. God, Whom, I understand, the ordained work for, or even seek to imitate, was brutalized, tortured, and executed, shamefully. Aspire to impress the Boss?

I must say, even before I entered novitiate, friends of my parents and neighbors began sending me money and treating me differently. I did not like this. It was uncomfortable and felt strange. I have not changed my opinion one iota since, thirty years hence, quite the contrary.

As a recovering egomaniac, this I knew even then, is not healthy for me or anyone. It is bad. It is evil. It feeds a deadly sin: pride. The sexual abuse scandal, and others not so widely publicized, there are many/plenty, priests are human, they do EVERYTHING all other men do, and some do lead, God bless them, marginally holier lives, moment by moment, as do laity, and some of us, the exception, become saints; but, the sexual abuse scandal, was and is a sin of pride and of culture – a true, profound disconnect, denial, dysfunction of EVERY kind, stunning, absolutely-ly mind-numbing, faith-destroying/shattering, despicable, detestable, damnable treason against Jesus Christ and His Bride, the Church.

Until we change the culture of the hierarchy of the Church, the hierarchy will always face this grave temptation, and sin, and be a scandal, again, a danger?, to the Body of Christ. Saints struggled, feared, cowered, resisted, denied, equivocated, and were tempted, just like the rest of us. Just like. However, I believe in His Grace and the awesome power thereof, too; my ONLY hope! My ONLY trust!!!!! My ONLY need!!!!!

-by Robert McClory, National Catholic Register, 4/4/13

“I’m beginning to think the many amazing choices Pope Francis has been making in these early days of his pontificate will have an important, long-lasting effect on the church of the 21st century. He is preaching almost daily a powerful, silent sermon denouncing the scourge of clericalism that is at the root of most of the problems bedeviling Catholicism.

It’s the simple way he lives; his decision to move into the visitors’ quarters and eat his meals with them; his lack of interest in pomp and pageantry; his decision to wash the feet of prison inmates (including women) on Holy Thursday; his insistent concern for the poor and the state of planet Earth.

He hasn’t yet addressed any of the hot button items, including birth control, the aspirations of women, the collegiality of bishops or the Vatican’s failure to address the priest abuse scandal in a meaningful way. And I suspect he will not, at least for some time.

Instead, he may be building by example a case against the arrogance and self-satisfaction that provides the foundation for a multi-tiered, class-conscious society of those who make the decisions and those who don’t, those who have given up earthly rewards in favor of honorific titles, fancy liturgical attire and, above all, power.

Francis seems to be harkening back to an earlier age of the church when the equality of believers was at center stage and a feudal structure of society had not yet become the norm for both state and church.

For many generations earnest, young male seminarians have been taught that they are aspiring to a higher level not available to the laity, a level at which they will have the authority to teach, sanctify and govern those below. They will carry with them sacred powers that will accompany them even into eternity. For such privileges they promise to become eunuchs for the kingdom, and they pledge to defer their own judgments without reservation to the authoritative pronouncements of those on still higher levels, be it pastor, bishop or pope.

In effect, they become members of a kind of boys club that is warm, supportive and exclusive — and never breaks ranks. For what they give up, they can expect a relatively high standard of living and the respect, even adulation (at least until the abuse scandal hit), of their grateful congregations.

Of course, priests have always been urged to develop an active spiritual life, to nourish virtues like humility and self-sacrifice. And a great number of the clergy do manage to live holy, creative lives and inspire their people with their integrity. Their membership in the boys club is loose.

But not everyone succeeds. Clericalism is contagious, breeding a kind of mentality that revels in ecclesiastical ambition, status and power. For some, especially those attracted to the episcopacy, it often leads to indifference toward the experiences and needs of ordinary Catholics. It encourages the creation (or repetition) of teachings and regulations worked out in ivory-tower isolation from the real world.

And now comes Francis.

It will not take him long to recognize the extent of clericalism rampant in the Curia and to realize how it corrupts the church and strangles the Holy Spirit. Even before he arrived for the election, he was undoubtedly aware of clericalism and its effects in other countries. I want to believe he is laying down a kind of platform to reconnect the church of this era to the Spirit that inspired the early Christians and authentic leaders, like Francis of Assisi, to both proclaim the gospel and live it.

When that happens on a wide scale, the hot buttons will surely be addressed but in a different way. No longer will they be so front and center. The church, possibly the larger Catholic church, could be involved in finding solutions to these nagging, peripheral issues, which deafen us from hearing the radical gospel message.”

Love,
Matthew

Liturgy

Come, My Way

July 4, 2015 techdecisions

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
such a way as gives us breath,
such a Truth as ends all strife,
such a life as killeth death.

Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:
such a light as shows a feast,
such a feast as mends in length,
such a strength as makes his guest.

Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
such a joy as none can move,
such a love as none can part,
such a heart as joys in love.

Love,
Matthew

Liturgy

Extemporaneous Prayer & The Joy of Ritual

July 3, 2015 techdecisions

Ritual, contrary to naive impressions, is not oppressive. It is freeing. Praying the rosary, responding at Mass, I used to know the words, and I liked them more. The current language, more literal to the Latin, as if that were good translation technique, or, why not just put it back in Latin instead of bastardize it? Beautiful North American English, or beautiful Ecclesial Latin, pick one! The pomp and bluster we have now IS oppressive. I can barely stand to listen. The simplicity of the original English translations were moving and beautiful. I knew it by heart, and as a technologist whose world was constantly changing and in motion, it was the one weekly constant I deeply counted on. It steadied me.

Ritual, for those versed in its blessings, is not oppressive. It frees one, one’s mind, one’s tongue, one’s body, one’s prayerful soul from having to fret, “OK!!! Now what do we do next? How do we top that one! How do we continue to escalate this never ending spiritual arms race!”, as if breathtaking or moving were the ultimate or only good measures of devotion.

I find extemporaneous prayer exceedingly well intentioned and heartfelt, but perhaps not as brilliant or as articulate as could be hoped for. Sigh. I know. Sigh. But, fear not!!! Ritual comes to the rescue when we know not what to say!!! Are too mad to say it, or can only say it poorly, either when emotion is too painful or nonexistent, or the person leading is not the best. Either way, on any end, ritual saves the day!!! Let’s hear it for ritual!!!! Ancient quality control & ego saver!!! 🙂 My parents, when visiting Paris & Rome, could still participate in Mass said in Latin. They always appreciated that, and mentioned it to their children.

-by Michael, blogger @WhiskeyCatholic, a Pittsburgh attorney with a lovely wife and newborn daughter.

“Perhaps more than any other religion, Catholicism is a belief system based on informed ritual. This is particularly prevalent with younger Catholics, many of whom have a desire to rediscover the rituals that have been lost in the past 100 years. While others deride these rituals as “antiquated” or “relics of a more ignorant age,” the Catholic Gentleman seeks to understand the importance of ritual and helps recapture its former beauty and grace.

Ritual is an action or actions, performed in a prescribed order, which give greater reverence to worship. Some rituals, such as kneeling at communion rails, reverencing a bishop’s ring, or wearing mantillas, have generally fallen into disuse in the United States while others, such as genuflecting, making the sign of the cross, and lighting candles to remember the dead are still strong in today’s Catholic culture.

Not all rituals are created equal. Some rituals, like Lebron James’ chalk throw before every game are designed to excite a crowd, and others, like the rally-cap in baseball, are just plain silly. The Catholic Church’s rituals, evolving over a period of two thousand years, are designed to augment and improve worship. Some simply add to the atmosphere of reverence, while others are a form of worship in and of themselves. The Catholic Gentleman should gravitate to those rituals which aid in creating a certain sense of gravity, reverence, and wonderment befitting the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

The Sacrifice of the Mass, it might be said, is the ultimate ritual. In the Mass, the words of Christ are recited as He gave them to the apostles in order to replicate the perfect prayer of the Last Supper. A loving God instructs His people how to worship and please Him, and Christ instructed His Church not on the basis of abstract principles but on the concrete example of the first Mass. We have been saved, in a manner of speaking, through a divine ritual.

Ritual often gives the laity an opportunity to participate in an authentic way in worship. Ritual gives the Catholic Gentleman an opportunity to self-express reverence for the divine while uniting him with the larger Sacrifice. For example, a simple genuflection is an authentic participation because it expresses reverence for the real presence of Christ in the tabernacle while uniting the Catholic to the sacrifice on the altar.

The laity can also seek out ritual as a common cultural thread through time and space. There is something inherently unifying in the fact that a Mass said in South Carolina is conducted through the identical rituals of a Mass said in Tokyo. Similarly, there is something unquestionably comforting in knowing that the rosary we pray today is nearly identical to the rosary prayed by our ancestors in faith nearly one thousand years ago. Ritual forms a common culture which connects Catholics from all parts of the world and gives identity to successive generations of Catholics throughout the history of the Church. In a single instant the ritual allows us to draw a cultural connection to fellow believers separated by time or space.

Ritual is also part of what makes Catholicism unique. Whereas others might decry ritual as nothing more than an attempt to muddle a clear understanding of the divine, the Catholic Gentleman knows that ritual informs Catholics of the divine; it is an acknowledgement that something spectacular and extraordinary is taking place.

Of course, ritual is dead and meaningless if it is not an expression of love for Christ. Love is the essence of what drives and perfects rituals. Love is the very thing that gives them reason for existing in the first place. The root of all Catholic ritual should be the authentic love of Christ. The Catholic Gentleman embraces the opportunity ritual provides to show Christ reverence and in doing so provides an example to others.”

Love,
Matthew

Spirituality, Theology of the Body

MEN!! YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!!! be a Dad.

July 1, 2015 techdecisions

This may sound strange, I understand. But, for some reason, my ENTIRE LIFE, I have been asking myself the question every moment of every day, since I can remember, back into the single digits, “Am I ready?” I don’t know why I have asked myself this question. Even if it’s all not true, that is the definition of faith, it helped me lead a better life.

larryrichards

-by Rev Larry Richards

“YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!

It doesn’t matter how rich we are, or how popular we are, or how powerful we are: we are all going to “kick the bucket” one day. Isn’t that a nice thought?

What we have to do is take some time to sit and meditate about taking our last breath. What do you want your wife to say about you? What do you want your kids to say about you? Once you’ve decided, “Okay, when I am taking my last breath this is what I want”, you can start living your life with your end goal in mind. You will start living in such a way that when the day of your death happens, the people who know you will say what you want them to say.

Death is the ultimate thing that takes control out of our hands. Even if we commit suicide, we cannot control what happens after we die. Not one of us had control over our own birth and not one of us has control of what happens after we die.

I have been to a lot of deathbeds throughout my priesthood, so I know what it is going to be like when you are dying. While you are lying there, the thing that is going to be most important to you is your relationships—the people that you loved and the people that in return loved you.

Then why don’t we live every day with that in mind? Make the decision to never let your wife or your kids go to bed or walk out the door without telling them first that you love them—life is just too short! It will change your family. It will change the world.

You should underline John 15:12 in your Bible, where Jesus commands us, “Love one another as I have loved you.” This is not an option. He also said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you” (Jn 15:9). Jesus told the people He loved that He loved them.

Why is it that men do not do that? Men are embarrassed. They are afraid. It makes them vulnerable. They think to be a man, you don’t go around telling the people you love that you love them; but Jesus told twelve men that He loved them. Then He told us to love others in the same way.

Let me give you a hint: you will never in your life regret that you told your wife and your kids and the people you love that you love them—never. You won’t be lying on your deathbed one day saying, “I can’t believe that I daily told my loved ones that I loved them. What is the matter with me?”

Now, how do you fall in love with someone? You know that you did not get to know your future wife by meeting her once and giving her forty five minutes to an hour once a week. You spent time with her. You got to know her. The same is true with our relationship with God. It might take you months—it might take you years—but you have to do it. You have to keep spending time with God until the answer to the question of whether or not you know God is unequivocally yes.

We need to know who our true Father is. There’s only one Father for everybody: God the Father! That guy you call your dad, he’s the instrument of fatherhood, but he’s not your true Father.

When we talk about our fathers—whether we had a good father, a bad father, a close and supportive father, or a distant and unsupportive father whom we did not know at all—it doesn’t matter as much because the reality is, we all have the same Father in heaven. It’s that Father Who will bring healing to us.

Husbands are called to love God primarily through their wives. Your wife is the sacrament of Christ to you. You are the sacrament of Christ to your wife. When she looks at you, she is supposed to see Jesus Christ. That is why Ephesians 5:22–24 is such a wonderful passage. It says, “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church, his body, and is himself its Savior. As the Church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands.” Many of us remember the translation that said that wives were to be “submissive to their husbands”. The problem is that many men just stop with their wives being “submissive”. The men love that part, which is why so many women go crazy.

I make this very explicit when I am preaching at a marriage ceremony. I start with the bride and I say, “Sweetheart, you read the Bible every day, don’t you?” At first I usually get a “Yes, Father”, and then I say kiddingly, “If you lie to a priest, you know, you go to hell.” Then she will usually quickly say, “Okay, no, Father.” Then I continue, “Well, there is a verse in Ephesians that says, ‘Wives, be submissive to your husbands, as to the Lord.’ ” And then I ask, “Do you think it means what it says?” And I always get an emphatic “No, Father!” Then I literally jump up and down and scream, “Yes, it means what it says!” When I say this, all the feminists in the crowd become very upset and say things like, “This is another reason I hate the Catholic Church.” And the bride thinks, “Why did we ever get this priest to marry us?” I love this!

Then, as anyone who knows me knows, I am an equal opportunity offender, so I turn to the groom, who usually likes all of this. Now it is time for the other shoe to fall. I then ask the groom, “You read the Bible every day, right?” He always responds, “No, Father.” Then I ask, “Well, do you know what it says in Ephesians after ‘Wives, be submissive to your husbands’?” The groom always shakes his head and says, “No.” Then I continue, “It says, ‘Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her.’ ” Then I ask, “Do you know what that means?” I then continue kiddingly, “Your life is over!” Then I tell them that every day they need to be more concerned about each other than they are about themselves! That is what marriage is about!

So you need to start to do at least one unselfish act for your wife every day. Surprise her. When was the last time you treated her the same way you did when you were still trying to get her to marry you?

Next, let us focus on your children, which I think is easier because they are a part of you. Do we allow our children to be themselves? Some people think that the best father you can be is a strong disciplinarian. Absolutely, I agree. But just as much as you discipline your children, you must also build them up.

Sometimes we are just harsh and we think this is what God wants, but that isn’t the way God is. God loves us. He gives away His life for us. And then He always tells us He loves us. Correct?

One of the roles that men have, given to them by God (see Gen 3:16; 1 Cor 11:3; Eph 5:23), is to be the spiritual leaders of their families. Now this is where I have called men “spiritual wimps” for many years. Many men have let their wives be the spiritual leaders of their families, but this is not the way God created it to be. Now this does not mean that you are the master of your wife and family; it means, like Jesus Christ, you are the servant leader of your family.

First off, this means that you lead by example. You must be a man of prayer. For it is only as a son who listens to his heavenly Father that you can bring the will of the Father to your family. You cannot be a good and true leader unless you are a true and good follower. You must daily spend committed time in prayer with God, then lead your family in prayer. Do you have daily committed time with your family in prayer? And no, grace before meals is not enough!

You need to be the spiritual leader by being a man of sacrifice. You exist to give your life away for others, like Jesus did. That means you give your life for your family first and foremost.

My good friend Danny Abramowicz loves to tell men at men’s conferences: “Men, your kids will always love their mother, but they want to become just like you!” If we are not holy ourselves, then our families will not be holy. It is that simple. God is going to speak to men, women, and children, but He is speaking especially to men to help us be His very image.

You are the sacrament of Fatherhood to your children just like St. Joseph was the sacrament of Fatherhood to Jesus. Just as God used St. Joseph to form Jesus Christ in His humanity, so too does He want to use you to form your children. So I would encourage you before you read any further to stop and ask St. Joseph for his intercession for you so you can grow in holiness.

The Lord God of the universe is calling all of us to be great men, men that are examples of Him and who use Him as our example. We are called to become another Christ in this world. Our goal is to bring others to Him.

Do it and you will live forever.”

Love,
Matthew

Men are rediscovering the importance of the spiritual life. And Father Larry Richards is helping them do it. While some writers apply a one-size-fits-all approach to the Christian life, Father Richards draws on his many years of ministry and his own experience as a man to inspire other men as men.

In Be a Man!, he recounts his struggles to learn true manhood, as well as the inspiring stories of others he has served in his decades as a priest. He tells men how to focus on the right goal, how to live as a beloved son of God, of the need to acknowledge one’s faults and to live according to the Holy Spirit, to be a man of true love and of wisdom, to appreciate properly the differences between men and women, to pursue holiness, and to make a difference in the world. Not preachy but direct, Father Richards challenges men to be strong, without putting on a mask of false strength or machismo. He calls men to admit their weaknesses and limitations, while urging them to find strength in faith and genuine love to overcome their sins and faults.

Although a celibate priest, he minces no words when it comes to the place of sexuality–for the unmarried man as well as for the married man. He shows that true manliness is not opposed to love but thrives on it. Father Richards stresses that a relationship with Christ reveals the meaning of a man’s life and his identity as a man. He inspires men to become the true heroes they long to be–men of authentic courage, compassion and integrity. This is a highly readable book for men by a man who knows how to talk to men about the things that matter most.

“Father Larry talks straight to men in his own manly style. He pulls no spiritual punches–I don’t think he knows how to! He pokes, pushes, sometimes verbally slaps men into being God’s men, all with an obvious love for them and faith in their ability to persevere to heaven.” — Dr. Ray Guarendi, radio host and author

“Be a Man is a must-read for all men who are serious about strengthening their relationship with God. This exceptional book speaks clearly and directly, challenging men to live their faith with courage and conviction. Be a Man is a spiritual wake-up call that offers a refreshingly honest presentation of what it means to be a man of God. With a unique blend of humor, passion, and frankness that has become his trademark style, Fr. Larry Richards explores how a Christ-centered male spirituality fosters growth in holiness, and inspires men to become loving servants of their wives, families, and the Church.” — Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, Aurem Cordis apostolate

Ecclesiology, Spirituality

eMANgelize!!!!!! – Male Catholic Spirituality

July 1, 2015 techdecisions

In You, Lord my God,
I put my trust.
I trust in You;
do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.
No one who hopes in You
will ever be put to shame,
but shame will come on those
who are treacherous without cause.
Show me Your ways, Lord,
teach me Your paths.
Guide me in Your truth and teach me,
for You are God my Savior,
and my hope is in You all day long.
Remember, Lord, Your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth
and my rebellious ways;
according to Your love remember me,
for you, Lord, are good.
-Psalm 25: 1-7

-by Tim Drake

“Is it true that men generally don’t like to attend religious services and don’t get involved in church? Consider the evidence:

— Citing dismal statistics, researcher David Morrow’s book Why Men Hate Going to Church (Thomas Nelson, 2005) concludes that men “are the world’s largest unreached people group.”

— A 2011 Christian Century article, “Why Do Men Stay Away?” notes how men are “famously outnumbered” by women at worship and “often are not particularly happy about it” when they do attend.

— A Barna study published that same year found that over the preceding two decades church attendance had declined by six percentage points among men, that the percentage of men who had volunteered at church had suffered a similar statistical drop over the same period, and that an estimated 39 percent of all men could be considered “unchurched” — meaning that they haven’t attended a church event (outside of an event such as a wedding or funeral) in the previous six months.

— A December Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article on men’s participation at church cited a statistic that 64 percent of parish life is comprised of women. The perception — or misperception rather — is that men are less involved in church than women.

The reality, however, is that there also is evidence of a resurgence in male involvement in church, at least as far as Catholic men in the United States are concerned. For the past two decades, a Catholic men’s movement has been steadily expanding in size and strength to the point where it is having a huge impact on male spirituality and involvement in Catholic communities. On both a national and local level, the Catholic men’s movement has come of age, as an increasing number of Catholic men are seriously embracing the faith and their roles as husbands and fathers in leading their families to Christ.

Many may recall the multi-denominational Promise Keepers movement of the mid-1990s that held large stadium events across the country. The Catholic men’s movement is not like that: It’s less flashy, more consistent, and growing.

“Promise Keepers conferences were designed to be spectacles,” writes John P. Bartkowski, sociology professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio in his book about the movement. “And the problem with a spectacle is it needs to be outdone by something more spectacular and more stimulating the next time around.”

My own diocese hosted its annual Catholic men’s conference during the second weekend of Lent. The first of these conferences, held 17 years ago, was attended by approximately 300 men. Over the past five years, the event has consistently drawn more than 500.

Chris Codden, director of the Office of Marriage and Family for the Diocese of St. Cloud, said that she’s seen a growth in the younger base among attendees.

“From the evaluations from the men, they want good solid Catholic speakers that challenge them and give them ‘meat and potatoes,’ not ‘fluff,’ ” said Codden.

Many other dioceses also sponsor annual Catholic men’s conferences. In 2002, there were just 16 Catholic men’s conferences. According to Dan Spencer, executive director for the National Fellowship of Catholic Men, there are now approximately 75 diocesan-sponsored Catholic men’s conferences each year.

“There have been six or seven new conferences just within the last eighteen months, in places such as Omaha and Des Moines,” said Spencer. New York is currently organizing a conference, he added.

Typically, men’s conferences feature a prominent priest or Catholic leader who provides one or two inspiring talks, the opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, prayer, and the celebration of Mass. They also often feature workshop or breakout sessions focused on topics of particular interest to men, or small-group sessions where men spend time with one another talking about issues that face them and their families.

What’s more startling, however, is what comes out of such conferences. Men often are inspired to meet more regularly to hold each other accountable and for support in living out their faith in daily life. As a result, thousands of men across the country remain active in local men’s groups that meet quite regularly.

Here I can speak from experience. Nearly 10 years ago, three other men and I began a morning men’s prayer and book-discussion group. Once a week, we gathered for prayer, support, dialogue, and accountability. I told the men at our first meeting that I had no intention of the group lasting forever. I said that we would work through a couple of books, and that would be it.

Yet here we are, 10 years later, having read and discussed countless books. We have expanded our group, and about a dozen of us continue to gather every Tuesday morning at a local restaurant. Over the years, more than 100 different men, including priests and seminarians, have participated. Some have driven more than 90 miles to see what we’re doing.

Not only that, but God has multiplied the effort. Some men who originally were part of our group have moved and started men’s groups elsewhere. At least four men have established separate weekly men’s groups within their own local parishes. We’ve also been told stories about the impact our gatherings have had on other restaurant patrons who have seen our group joined in prayer.

This phenomenon is being replicated across the country. Spencer said that parish-based groups have “exploded.” He cites that Milwaukee has approximately 130 men’s groups, Cincinnati has 75, and Kansas City has 60.

“Some are Bible-study groups, others are accountability groups, some study the weekly Sunday Scripture readings,” explained Spencer. “Some involve the Knights of Columbus. Others begin with a study or a book, while others create their own materials. Approximately 105 dioceses participate in the three-year ‘That Man is You’ program.”

The local efforts bear fruit for parishes and beyond. Some parish-based men’s groups have mentorship programs for boys in high schools. Others have started parish retreat-based programs like Christ Renews His Parish or Cursillo, weekend experiences of spiritual renewal that lead directly to the formation of ongoing small faith-sharing groups. The fruit of many of these efforts is that it motivates men to be more involved at all levels within the parish — in liturgical ministries, in religious education, in volunteerism, in charitable works, and much more. As examples, Spencer noted that men in Kansas City have been working on an anti-pornography initiative, and a group in Columbus, Ohio, recently participated in promoting Home Enthronement to the Sacred Heart.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that men’s participation in such groups strengthens their families and marriages, deepens their faith, and leads them to a greater participation in the sacraments. According to a Gallup Poll study of “That Man is You,” men entering the program tended to place in the bottom 25 percent of Gallup’s Spiritual Commitment Index, but finished the program in the top 25 percent.

Jesus Christ continues to call men — as he did the Twelve — to follow Him, and they are responding.

If we are to be conformed to Christ, then we need to conform ourselves “to the Gospel precept of fraternal love,” as the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us (#2488). Christ and the apostles demonstrate properly ordered fraternal love among men. It stands in stark contrast to the disordered love that our contemporary culture tends to celebrate and model.

Just as men on the battlefield band together under the leadership of their general to protect freedom, so evangelical Catholic men are being arrayed in a spiritual formation as a band of spiritual brothers centered around Christ to do battle against the cultural forces set on destroying our families.

Make no mistake. We are on a battlefield, and the choice is stark. Either we are for Christ or we are against Him. There is no middle ground.

“There is a hunger,” Kevin O’Brien, former professional football player and co-founder of the Catholic men’s conference Men of Christ, told me. “Men feel an emptiness inside and want to see faith presented in a masculine modality. They want to be challenged. When faith is presented in its proper form, men are attracted to it.”

Many of our brethren have been seriously wounded through the bullets and the shrapnel that the culture is hurling at us. Men’s groups offer a tremendous opportunity to strengthen men in virtue. Iron sharpens iron, the saying goes. As men, we must avail ourselves frequently of the life-giving and grace-giving Sacraments the Church offers us. We must find ways to strengthen and embolden one another for the task ahead. The time is now. Are you spiritually ready?”

Love,
Matthew

Ecclesiology

Back to the Catholic ghetto we go…

July 1, 2015 techdecisions

It was nice to be thought of as “mainstream”, if only for fifty years. An Irish-Catholic President, etc., no, really, it was nice, for a while.

http://www.uscatholic.org/blog/201506/catholic-culture-30152

-by Stephen Schneck, PhD

“I’m grateful to the editors of US Catholic for inviting me to contribute to a weekly blog. As a professor at The Catholic University of America and head of an institute that considers public policy from a Catholic perspective, my engagement in public life takes place at the intersection of religion, policy, and politics. Since this is my first blog, I thought I’d use it to introduce myself a bit by offering my take on the big topic of Catholic culture.

I grew up in a Catholic cultural bubble. It was the 1950s and ‘60s in Clinton, Iowa, a smallish town of what was then about 25,000 that lies along the Mississippi River south of Dubuque. The culture I grew up in—the culture of millions of other American Catholics—is now gone for good. This has both welcome and worrisome implications; for the future of the Church in America, the question of Catholic culture may be more important than ever.

Clinton, in my boyhood, had five parishes, each with its own grade school, all pretty neatly divided between Catholics of German and Irish heritage—St. Boniface, St. Patrick’s, and so on. The Germans had come in the 19th century to farm and the Irish a bit later for the railroads and to work in a milling industry that had closed shop before I was born. There were three Catholic high schools; two were girls’ schools and the other coed.

The town was split between Catholics and mainline Protestants (mostly Lutherans and Presbyterians) and we tended to stay with our own. As kids we played with other Catholics, had our own Catholic scouting troops, CYO athletics and mixers, and even our own 4-H groups. Our parishes forbade us from joining the YMCA and the like so as not to mingle too much with the Protestants. We were encouraged to avoid the public schools. Our parents, likewise, tended to socialize within the faith. One of the VFW posts was Catholic and the other Protestant. A “mixed marriage” was one between German and Irish parishes. We marched around the block for the feast of Christ the King and for May crowning, surrounded by a thick and comforting Catholic culture that offered us identity and place.

Over the course of my growing up, much of that changed. Clinton’s five parishes were merged into one (much drama ensued). The high schools closed and only a single, much smaller, Catholic high school remains. The grade schools all merged, too. Our white Catholic ethnicities pretty much melted away with the march of assimilation. The little things that once mattered—probably way too much—about being Catholic and distinct from other Americans seemed over time not to matter so much. The Catholic cultural bubble of my boyhood gradually faded into the American societal landscape.

Clinton’s experience was pretty typical. Similar changes occurred in other Catholic communities of the Northeast, the upper Midwest, and the northern Plains. In big cities like Chicago, New York, and so on it was a little different, with waves of new Catholic immigrants arriving. Likewise, it was a little different in West Coast Catholic communities that also experienced new immigration. But for white Catholics nationwide, the changes seemed profound. There was a feeling that our cultural identity had disappeared. Catholicism that was for us a way of life and a culture faded—leaving only Catholicism, the religion. Arguably, that shift is a very important one for understanding Catholicism in America today and its future.

Many studies of the state of the Catholic Church in the United States seem to overlook this fact. Consider the studies of the many who have left or are leaving the church. The Pew Research Center recently reported that 13% of Americans are former Catholics and that for every new convert, there are six Catholics leaving the faith. Those are sobering numbers. No denomination in America is losing more adherents than Catholics.

Pundits tend to approach such issues by focusing on the religion side, talking about doctrine and liturgy. So some blame the post-Vatican II changes in religious practice that, to their mind, compromised orthodoxy (Rod Dreher, for example). Some, on the other hand, blame our religion for not adapting to mainstream norms of American society regarding things like abortion, same-sex marriage, and so forth (Damon Linker, for example). These approaches miss something. Despite what former and lapsed Catholics often rationalize to pollsters, there’s much to suspect that the erosion has less to do with doctrine or liturgy and more to do with what’s happened to Catholic culture.

Even when culture does get mentioned, the focus is usually wrong. The talk too often is about Catholicism versus American culture—with some wanting to change American culture to accommodate religion and some wanting to change religion to accommodate American culture. But both groups overlook the problem of our own Catholic culture, as distinct from Catholic religion.

Yes, of course Catholicism is a religion. Doctrine, liturgy, scripture—of course! Of course our religion should be something intentionally chosen, something open to our reason and knowledge. It ought not be reduced to a pastiche of folkways, social customs, lifestyles, and communal attitudes. But, what’s become clear to me is that however much religion must be intentional, it still depends on an underlying culture, and for many American Catholics that dimension is increasingly wanting.

What can be done? Well, don’t be misled by rosy memories to wallow in nostalgia. There was very much not to admire about that closed Catholic culture of my youth. Just ask those who didn’t fit in. And, cultures cannot be artificially recreated. Nothing is phonier than manufactured culture. Going back now to meatless Fridays, CYO mixers, and women with doilies over their hair would be about as authentic as sword-toting reenactors at a Renaissance Fair.

In fact, culture is authentic when it is not a task for itself. It grows only in fresh solidarity. It works when it speaks to its historical moment. It flourishes in communities that open outward rather than retreat inward. It is brightest when not defensive, when its mode is inclusion more than seclusion, bridges not walls, when its message is an exuberant “Yes” and not a parsimonious “No.”

Now for a spoiler alert…something that will be evident in many future posts. I’m a HUGE fan of Pope Francis. The culture issue is one reason why.

In part, I’m a huge fan of Pope Francis because of what I see for the possibilities of a new and authentic Catholic culture. It won’t be the one of my Iowa boyhood, nor should it be. But a fresh Catholic solidarity is growing in this age of Francis that addresses the faith’s need to be more than doctrine and liturgy. If I’m right that many of the problems dogging the church in the United States over the course of my lifetime have roots in a fading Catholic culture, and if I’m right—thanks to Pope Francis—that there is hope again for Catholicism being a way of life and a distinctive culture, then maybe the outlook is brighter for today’s Catholics than it has been over the course of much of my life.”

Love,
Matthew

Saints

Aren’t saints just Catholic celebrities?

June 30, 2015 techdecisions

-by Br Timothy Danaher, OP

“Are saints just Catholic celebrities? In some ways they seem similar. Hollywood and the Vatican each place certain people in the public eye, even though they promote different kinds of people and values. Also, like celebrities many saints were born with incredible talent, or into wealthy families. Thomas Aquinas fulfills both categories—he was both exceptionally intelligent and a cousin of the Holy Roman Emperor.

The one thing, however, which sets saints apart is this: celebrities are recognized for excellence in the world, whereas saints are recognized for something from a totally different world. Mt 6:19-21

Take, for instance, a stable and good-natured celebrity such as an athlete. One of the NBA’s biggest stars is Stephan Curry—humble, talented, Montessori-educated; he married his high school sweetheart, etc. On a natural level, he’s a great role model, and his motives seem pure, playing basketball “for the love of the game,” and not for the money or the applause or to prove himself to all his haters who doubted him. Still, he is recognized world-wide for something natural, i.e., his basketball skills. The same can be said for a great actor like Marlon Brando, a business mogul like Steve Jobs, or a musician like Billy Joel. They develop human skills far beyond the regular degree.

Saints are recognized for something different from natural abilities. They are named saints because they are holy. The word for holy in Latin, sanctus, literally means “other” or “different.” What is different with the saints is grace—a gift from God that far exceeds natural abilities. Curry may have a “better” shot than the rest, or a “higher” IQ for the game, but he doesn’t have something totally “different” than the rest of the league. Grace, however, is just that. It is by grace that God, Who is unlike anything else in this world, dwells in our hearts. It is God’s initiative to give grace, and though we freely cooperate with it, He freely chooses according to his providential plan how much to give. God is much more than a “coach” in this respect, not just helping us to develop some talent we have, but giving us the “talent” in the first place and taking it as far as He likes.

Celebrities are made celebrities by the public. They have developed their skill or beauty or genius, and they achieve fame once the world recognizes it. Saints are the opposite. They are made in secret, with God as their only spectator, Who alone sees directly into the soul, and Who first loves that soul and gives Himself to it. Even when this indwelling expresses itself in exterior acts, such as martyrdom, the Church doesn’t declare people saints only for what they did, but always for something in them—friendship with God and heroic virtue.

Take another example: Pier Giorgio Frassati. He grew up during the early 1900s in an upper class family from Northern Italy. He was charismatic among his university friends, one of the leading jokers, and always leading trips to the mountains for hiking and skiing. Aside from that, though, he had a bad singing voice, had bad luck with a girlfriend, used to sleep in during the summer, and got poor grades in his engineering classes. Yet when he died of polio at the age of twenty-four, three thousand poor people showed up to his funeral to the shock of his family. He had been secretly visiting the ghettos and giving away every penny in his pocket. The Church beatified Pier Giorgio before the world’s eyes, not because he was charismatic or athletic, but because he was a friend of Christ within and expressed this friendship in heroic generosity without.

The word sanctus also has a second meaning which fits in here. In Roman culture it meant something “stable” or set in law. Saints are the most stable people in the world, because God keeps them faithful as they trust in His grace. Celebrities are the opposite. Though some are responsible and generally content, the sad fact remains that many are miserable.

The remarkable comedian Robin Williams, who recently took his own life, was interviewed by Time Magazine in 2011. They asked about celebrity substance-abuse, with which he struggled himself. He replied:

“I think celebrity itself is a drug. There’s that whole thing—it comes and goes. And now with tweeting and Facebook, it’s like cybercrack. Withdrawal from celebrity is an interesting thing. You see people going, ‘I’m not as famous. Oh, man, what am I gonna do?’ . . . Most of the time with drugs, if you’re famous, they give them to you. It’s good for business to say that they get you high.”

Even sadder is that our generation grows up idolizing celebrities. Not only is it an impossible goal to reach, but underneath it’s also a deeply unhappy one. Sainthood, on the other hand, is both possible and happy!

True, some saints are also celebrities, recognized by the world. Most are not. Saints are not as rare as we might first think. All who receive the grace of Christ and persevere to the end are saints of God. Even while we’re still on the way, the grace we receive moves us to pray for more grace! Everyone living Christian life can truly say, “I have met saints.” They are our friends, our teachers, our parents and grandparents. And even if their example reaches the “world” of only a few people around them, they remind us all to keep going forward in grace. Their life says to the world, “Following Christ is worth it! It’s all really worth it!”

Pray for us! All you holy men & women!!

Love,
Matthew

Ecclesiology

Lay Preaching

June 30, 2015 techdecisions

All of God’s faithful people are called to preach!!! It is only during Mass, and technically a homily, that this office is restricted to the ordained.

http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/canon-law/complementary-norms/canon-766-lay-preaching.cfm

http://www.uscatholic.org/laypreachers

Maybe it is time we gave priests a break from giving homilies so we can hear what the rest of the church has to say.

-By Karen Dix, a religious educator and a retired director of faith formation from Addison, Illinois.

[Sounding Boards are one person’s take on a many-sided subject and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of U.S. Catholic, its editors, or the Claretians.]

“Here I am once again, listening to a boring homily. “God is merciful. And, you know, you can seek God’s mercy whenever you need it. Because God always forgives you if you are really sorry. As I said, God is full of mercy…” (Ed. Fathers, forgive me. You only make it look easy, I realize. I am about to be snarky….My version is “Give us your money!”) 🙂 Still friends? 🙂 Please? 🙂 Pretty? 🙂

I want to stand up and ask: “Have you had any experience with God’s mercy? Do you know anyone who has? Do you at least know a story about it, or are you just going to read from the Catechism?”

The homilies I hear aren’t always boring. Some are just bizarre. One year during Advent I heard this at daily Mass: “Did you see the movie, The Nativity? Well, Hollywood is wrong. Mary did not have any pain when Jesus was born. We know she didn’t because the Bible says she wrapped him in swaddling clothes. Now if she had a regular delivery she couldn’t do that, she’d be too weak.”

I looked around and thought, “Are these other people really listening? Have billions of mothers been so weak after childbirth they could not wrap their baby in a blanket?” I didn’t see anyone rolling their eyes though, so I guess they were just thinking about what they needed to get at the store.

Yes, I have at times been frustrated with poor preaching. I have also been fortunate to hear hundreds of really good homilies in my home parish. But by limiting preaching only to those who are ordained, we’re missing an important ingredient that could make homilies much more relevant to the people in the pews.

Once I was invited to give a reflection at Sunday Mass on Pope John Paul II’s Gospel of Life. I spoke of the pope’s concern for women as he declared that they too were victims in cases of abortion, something I had never before heard anyone actually say in church. I echoed the unique role of mothers and women to build a world that values life in all its dimensions, and people later told me they were touched that I had spoken of the bond I had with my babies before they were born. They had never before heard someone speak from the pulpit who had actually been pregnant.

While it seems most Catholics are supportive of their priests, regardless of the quality of their preaching, if you get them talking many will say they wish the homilies they hear on Sundays would be better. The main comment I hear from Catholics is that the homily should relate to our real lives. Many say that the bar is set low, and the most they hope for is a short sermon. They would like to see one central message, inspired by the scriptures and illustrated by real life stories.

Of course, being a good homilist requires effort and talent. I don’t have to work too hard to make the case that not everyone is gifted with public speaking skills. Some speak too low, repeat pet phrases too often, or are just really uncomfortable in front of an audience. While most seminaries require classes in preaching, they do not guarantee success.

As a public speaker, I know that the shorter the time I have for the talk, the greater the challenge. It would be easy to just start talking, rambling at will, giving lots of information without filtering it. But to deliver an effective message in a limited time requires editing and proper organization of the material. Before I give a speech, I prepare it and give it aloud to myself beforehand.

That kind of preparation takes time. These days many parishes in the United States only have one priest, and being the pastor, he must attend and plan meetings, counsel people, prepare liturgies, meet with couples to be married, celebrate sacraments–all by himself. While I sympathize with these demands, they can lead to subpar preaching. Many priests just lack the time to plan a good homily.

That’s why it is time for the church to allow lay Catholics to preach. I propose that there be a program within dioceses to train non-ordained preachers. Candidates would need to be gifted in public speaking and have a solid background in scripture. They would be people well known to their pastors, who would assign them to speak on occasional weekends. They would be approved by the local bishop and have his stamp of approval: I can be trusted, I am trained, I will teach in the name of the bishop.

As was the case with my own “reflection” at Sunday Mass (technically, a layperson cannot give a “homily”), many pastors do currently allow people other than priests and deacons to speak at Mass. It may be directly about the readings for that Mass, or it could be on a different topic that is relevant to the parish community. Occasionally it is just a talk by a member of the parish finance committee.

When I served as director of faith formation at a parish, I spoke each year around Catechetical Sunday on the importance of lifelong learning and spiritual growth in the midst of raising kids. My friend Jill, who now attends my parish in St. Charles, Illinois, recalls that her former parish in New Jersey invited laypeople to speak on special occasions, including Mothers Day. She remembers the powerful witness the mothers would give of how God was present in their lives.

In such cases the celebrating priest often gives a short homily or just makes a few comments before turning it over to the layperson. Pastors have mentioned to me that they often have to fend off criticism from a few folks for allowing laypeople to speak at Mass, but they make these exceptions in cases where there is an important message best delivered by someone with an expertise.

In some parishes, a religious sister on the staff regularly preaches. Deacons, who can often add the perspective of people with wives, children, and careers outside the church, usually have the faculty for preaching but are still not often given this role. I know that many priests love the preaching part of their ministry. Others are less enthusiastic and may welcome occasional relief from this obligation.

Canon law does make clear that the person who should preach is the priest celebrating the Mass but there is a narrow opening for the necessity of others taking on this role. The General Instruction for the Roman Missal states that a priest celebrant “may entrust the homily to a concelebrating priest or occasionally to a deacon but never to a layperson.”

The U.S. bishops in 2001 addressed the role of lay preachers, saying “if necessity requires it in certain circumstances or it seems useful in particular cases, the diocesan bishop can admit lay faithful to preach… when he judges it to be to the spiritual advantage of the faithful.” The bishops clarified, however, that the homily is always reserved for ordained ministers and that no bishop can authorize a layperson to preach at this time during the Mass.

It is suggested that laypersons may speak at other types of events, outside of Mass. In certain circumstances, they can speak during Mass, but this should never be confused with a homily. In light of our current situation of priest shortages and the growing role of laypeople in parish life, the church should give serious attention to changing this thinking. If the bishops have already recognized the value of lay preaching, why not take the extra step of allowing laypeople to give the homily?

The Catholic faithful have a lot to gain from listening to non-ordained preachers. They can offer expertise in catechesis, medical ethics, social justice, or family life. They can bring a different perspective–one of being married, or a parent, or a woman, or someone in a workplace facing the challenges of living the gospel. Many lay people lead retreats, teach in diocesan programs, are theology professors, or write books. But their audiences would ordinarily be small compared to the Sunday assembly.

Why not give the folks in the pews a chance to hear some of these different voices? I have found that many Catholics are open to this idea. Imagine the insights that would be possible if preaching in the church were opened to the gifts so many laypeople have.

As St. Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians, “There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” He goes on to list the many different types of gifts that the believers may share. Surely, we as a church so many years later can still be open to hear the wisdom of those who have a different calling than the priesthood. After all, Paul himself was a great preacher, called by our Lord into service of the word—even if he wasn’t ordained.”

Love,
Matthew

Ecclesiology, New Evangelization

Self-Righteous Catholics: Jesus prefers sinners to hypocrites & “fake saints”

June 29, 2015 techdecisions

Have mercy on me, Lord. For I am a sinful man! Lk 5:8

-by THOMAS D. WILLIAMS, PH.D. 4 Mar 2015

“The Pope had strong words Tuesday for the self-righteous, calling them “fake saints.” Their heart does not belong to the Lord, he said. “It belongs to Satan, the father of all lies, and this is fake holiness.” (Ed. you can always detect Satan reliably. He may resemble the Lord in every way, except suffering.)

“All of us are clever enough to find a way to seem more righteous than we are.” The Pope said. “This is the path of hypocrisy.” These sort of people “say the right things, but do the opposite.” Hypocrisy, he said, is the great “snare” of Christians.

The Pope offered these reflections during his homily at morning Mass at the Saint Martha residence in the Vatican on Tuesday morning.

He said that Jesus preferred sinners “a thousand times” to hypocrites, because “sinners were telling the truth about themselves,” while hypocrites are liars. He recalled the meeting between Jesus and Peter, where Peter exclaimed: “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”

The Pope also said that Christians often have a mistaken idea of conversion, thinking that what they need is just to wash the stains off their conscience.

“The dirt of the heart is not removed as you remove a stain,” Francis said. “It is removed by ‘doing,’ by taking another path, a different road from that of evil. ‘Learn to do right!’ That is the way of doing good,” he said.

He recalled the words of the prophet Isaiah, which he called an “imperative” that comes directly from God: “Cease doing evil, learn to do good.” This, he said, is a change of life, a change of actions. And doing good, he said, means “defending orphans and widows,” and taking care of “those who no one remembers,” such as the abandoned, the elderly, children and those outside the faith. These are the “wounds of humanity,” said the Pope, where there is so much pain.

“By doing good,” Francis said, “you wash your heart.”

“The promise of a clean heart, one that is forgiven, comes from God Himself,” Francis said. “He does not keep an account of the sins of those who love their neighbor.”

“The words—‘though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow’—seem like an exaggeration,” Francis said, “but it is the truth!”

“The Lord gives us the gift of His forgiveness,” he said. “But if you want to be forgiven, you have to start on the path of doing good. This is the gift!”

Love,
Matthew

Summa Catechetica, "Neque enim quaero intelligere ut credam, sed credo ut intelligam." – St Anselm, "“Si comprehendus, non est Deus.” -St Augustine, "Let your religion be less of a theory, and more of a love affair." -G.K. Chesterton, “When we pray we speak to God; but when we read, God speaks to us.” -St Jerome, "As the reading of bad books fills the mind with worldly and poisonous sentiments; so, on the other hand, the reading of pious works fills the soul with holy thoughts and good desires." -St. Alphonsus Liguori, "And above all, be on your guard not to want to get anything done by force, because God has given free will to everyone and wants to force no one, but only proposes, invites and counsels." –St. Angela Merici, “Yet such are the pity and compassion of this Lord of ours, so desirous is He that we should seek Him and enjoy His company, that in one way or another He never ceases calling us to Him . . . God here speaks to souls through words uttered by pious people, by sermons or good books, and in many other such ways.” —St. Teresa of Avila, "I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men and women who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, and who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it. I want an intelligent, well-instructed laity… I wish you to enlarge your knowledge, to cultivate your reason, to get an insight into the relation of truth to truth, to learn to view things as they are, to understand how faith and reason stand to each other, what are the bases and principles of Catholicism, and where lie the main inconsistencies and absurdities of the Protestant theory.” -St. John Henry Newman, “Duties of Catholics Towards the Protestant View,” Lectures on the Present Position of Catholics in England, "We cannot always have access to a spiritual Father for counsel in our actions and in our doubts, but reading will abundantly supply his place by giving us directions to escape the illusions of the devil and of our own self-love, and at the same time to submit to the divine will.” —St. Alphonsus Ligouri, "The harm that comes to souls from the lack of reading holy books makes me shudder . . . What power spiritual reading has to lead to a change of course, and to make even worldly people enter into the way of perfection." –St. Padre Pio, "Screens may grab our attention, but books change our lives!" – Word on Fire, "Don't neglect your spiritual reading. Reading has made many saints!" -St Josemaría Escrivá, "Do you pray? You speak to the Bridegroom. Do you read? He speaks to you." —St. Jerome, from his Letter 22 to Eustochium, "Encounter, not confrontation; attraction, not promotion; dialogue, not debate." -cf Pope Francis, "God here speaks to souls through…good books“ – St Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, "You will not see anyone who is really striving after his advancement who is not given to spiritual reading. And as to him who neglects it, the fact will soon be observed by his progress.” -St Athanasius, "To convert someone, go and take them by the hand and guide them." -St Thomas Aquinas, OP. 1 saint ruins ALL the cynicism in Hell & on Earth. “When we pray we talk to God; when we read God talks to us…All spiritual growth comes from reading and reflection.” -St Isidore of Seville, “Also in some meditations today I earnestly asked our Lord to watch over my compositions that they might do me no harm through the enmity or imprudence of any man or my own; that He would have them as His own and employ or not employ them as He should see fit. And this I believe is heard.” -GM Hopkins, SJ, "Only God knows the good that can come about by reading one good Catholic book." — St. John Bosco, "Why don't you try explaining it to them?" – cf St Peter Canisius, SJ, Doctor of the Church, Doctor of the Catechism, "Already I was coming to appreciate that often apologetics consists of offering theological eye glasses of varying prescriptions to an inquirer. Only one prescription will give him clear sight; all the others will give him at best indistinct sight. What you want him to see—some particular truth of the Faith—will remain fuzzy to him until you come across theological eye glasses that precisely compensate for his particular defect of vision." -Karl Keating, "The more perfectly we know God, the more perfectly we love Him." -St Thomas Aquinas, OP, ST, I-II,67,6 ad 3, “But always when I was without a book, my soul would at once become disturbed, and my thoughts wandered." —St. Teresa of Avila, "Let those who think I have said too little and those who think I have said too much, forgive me; and let those who think I have said just enough thank God with me." –St. Augustine, "Without good books and spiritual reading, it will be morally impossible to save our souls." —St. Alphonsus Liguori "Never read books you aren't sure about. . . even supposing that these bad books are very well written from a literary point of view. Let me ask you this: Would you drink something you knew was poisoned just because it was offered to you in a golden cup?" -St. John Bosco " To teach in order to lead others to faith is the task of every preacher and of each believer." —St. Thomas Aquinas, OP. "Prayer purifies us, reading instructs us. Both are good when both are possible. Otherwise, prayer is better than reading." –St. Isidore of Seville “The aid of spiritual books is for you a necessity.… You, who are in the midst of battle, must protect yourself with the buckler of holy thoughts drawn from good books.” -St. John Chrysostom