Top 50 Saints' Quotes

The top 50 Saints' quotes, in an arbitrary ranking. There are many others that I didn't put on the list that are great. Feel free to leave them in the comments.

1. "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ."
   -St. Jerome
   
   
2. "Since Christ Himself has said, "This is My Body" who shall dare to doubt that It is His Body?"
   -St. Cyril of Jerusalem
   
   
3. "Teach us to give and not count the cost."
   -St. Ignatius de Loyola
   
   
4. "Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you."
   -St. Augustine
   
   
5. "Don't you long to shout to those youths who are bustling around you: Fools! Leave those worldly things that shackle the heart - and very often degrade it - leave all that and come with us in search of Love!"
   -St. Josemaria Escriva
   
   
6. "For me prayer is a surge of the heart, it is a simple look towards Heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy."
   -St. Therese of Lisieux
   
   
7. "To convert somebody go and take them by the hand and guide them."
   -St. Thomas Aquinas
   
   
8. "On the question of relating to our fellowman – our neighbor’s spiritual need transcends every commandment. Everything else we do is a means to an end. But love is an end already, since God is love."
   -St. Teresia Benedicta (Edith Stein)
   
   
9. "If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze!"
   -St. Catherine of Sienna
   
   
10. "Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy."
    -St. Francis
    
    
11. "Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you."
    -St. Augustine of Hippo
    
    
12. "Charity is certainly greater than any rule. Moreover, all rules must lead to charity."
    -St. Vincent de Paul
    
    
13. "Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you!"
    -St. Augustine
    
    
14. "O Master, make me chaste, but not yet!"
    -St. Augustine
    
    
15. "’Eat my flesh,’ [Jesus] says, ‘and drink my blood.’ The Lord supplies us with these intimate nutrients, he delivers over his flesh and pours out his blood, and nothing is lacking for the growth of his children"
    -St. Clement of Alexandria
    
    
16. "Priests have received a power which God has given neither to angels nor to archangels. It was said to them: ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose, shall be loosed.’ Temporal rulers have indeed the power of binding; but they can only bind the body. Priests, in contrast, can bind with a bond which pertains to the soul itself and transcends the very heavens. Did [God] not give them all the powers of heaven?...What greater power is there than this? The Father has given all judgment to the Son. And now I see the Son placing all this power in the hands of men. They are raised to this dignity as if they were already gathered up to heaven"
    -St. John Chrysostom
    
    
17. "The nation doesn’t simply need what we have. It needs what we are."
    -St. Teresia Benedicta (Edith Stein)
    
    
18. "We are to love God for Himself, because of a twofold reason; nothing is more reasonable, nothing more profitable."
    -St. Bernard of Clairvaux
    
    
19. "We always find that those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to bear the greatest trials."
    -St. Teresa of Avila
    
    
20. "Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."
    -St. Ignatius of Antioch
    
    
21. "If this is the way You treat Your friends, no wonder You have so few!"
    -St. Teresa of Avila
    
    
22. "Give something, however small, to the one in need. For it is not small to one who has nothing. Neither is it small to God, if we have given what we could."
    -St. Gregory Nazianzen
    
    
23. "Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort me and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger."
    -St. Patrick
    
    
24. "Christ said, “I am the Truth”; he did not say “I am the custom."
    -St. Toribio
    
    
25. "All the efforts of the human mind cannot exhaust the essence of a single fly."
    -St. Thomas Aquinas
    
    
26. "There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers."
    -St. Teresa of Avila
    
    
27. "I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible"
    -St. Ignatius of Antioch
    
    
28. "You cannot be half a saint; you must be a whole saint or no saint at all."
    -St. Therese of Lisieux
    
    
29. "You must ask God to give you power to fight against the sin of pride which is your greatest enemy – the root of all that is evil, and the failure of all that is good. For God resists the proud."
    -St. Vincent de Paul
    
    
30. "Let us go forward in peace, our eyes upon heaven, the only one goal of our labors."
    -St. Therese of Lisieux
    
    
31. "When you approach the tabernacle remember that he has been waiting for you for twenty centuries."
    - St. Josemaria Escriva
    
    
32. "From silly devotions and sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us!"
    -St. Teresa of Avila
    
    
33. "Love God, serve God; everything is in that."
    -St. Clare of Assisi
    
    
34. "Pray with great confidence, with confidence based upon the goodness and infinite generosity of God and upon the promises of Jesus Christ. God is a spring of living water which flows unceasingly into the hearts of those who pray."
    -St. Louis de Montfort
    
    
35. "Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven."
    -St. Rose of Lima
    
    
36. "The creator of the heavens obeys a carpenter; the God of eternal glory listens to a poor virgin. Has anyone ever witnessed anything comparable to this? Let the philosopher no longer disdain from listening to the common laborer; the wise, to the simple; the educated, to the illiterate; a child of a prince, to a peasant."
    -St. Anthony of Padua
    
    
37. "Charity is that with which no man is lost, and without which no man is saved."
    -St. Robert Bellarmine
    
    
38. "Whether, therefore, we receive what we ask for, or do not receive it, let us still continue steadfast in prayer. For to fail in obtaining the desires of our heart, when God so wills it, is not worse than to receive it; for we know not as He does, what is profitable to us."
    -St. John Chrysostom
    
    
39. "What does the poor man do at the rich man’s door, the sick man in the presence of his physician, the thirsty man at a limpid stream? What they do, I do before the Eucharistic God. I pray. I adore. I love." -St. Francis
    
    
40. "Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to heaven."
    -Pope St. Pius X
    
    
41. "We will either accuse ourselves or excuse ourselves."
    -St. John Vianney
    
    
42. "If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark."
    -St. John of the Cross
    
    
43. "He loves, He hopes, He waits. If He came down on our altars on certain days only, some sinner, on being moved to repentance, might have to look for Him, and not finding Him, might have to wait. Our Lord prefers to wait Himself for the sinner for years rather than keep him waiting one instant."
    -St. Julian Peter Eymard
    
    
44. "Love is the most necessary of all virtues. Love in the person who preaches the word of God is like fire in a musket. If a person were to throw a bullet with his hands, he would hardly make a dent in anything; but if the person takes the same bullet and ignites some gunpowder behind it, it can kill. It is much the same with the word of God. If it is spoken by someone who is filled with the fire of charity- the fire of love of God and neighbor- it will work wonders."
    -St. Anthony Mary Claret
    
    
45. "Our Lord loves you and loves you tenderly; and if He does not let you feel the sweetness of His love, it is to make you more humble and abject in your own eyes."
    -St. Pio of Pietrelcino
    
    
46. "You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working, and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves."
    -St. Francis de Sales
    
    
47. "Pray, Hope, and Don't Worry"
    -St. Pio of Pietrelcino
    
    
48. "All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle."
    -St. Francis
    
    
49. "Tribulation is a gift from God - one that he especially gives His special friends."
    -St. Thomas More
    
    
50. "If I speak to thee in friendship's name, thou think'st I speak too coldly, if I mention love's devoted flame, thou say'st I speak too boldly"
    - St. Thomas More

From the "he never said it" file:

• "Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words." -St. Francis

From the "not quite yet canonized" file:

• "There are not over a 100 people in the U.S. that hate the Catholic Church, there are millions however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church. Which is, of course, quite a different thing."
  -Servant of God Fulton J. Sheen
  
• "Jealousy is the tribute mediocrity pays to genius."
  -Servant of God Fulton J. Sheen
  
• "Hearing nuns’ confessions is like being stoned to death with popcorn."
  -Servant of God Fulton J. Sheen
  
• "We can do no great things; only small things with great love."
  -Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
  
• "Joy is a net of love by which we catch souls."
  -Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
  
• "It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
  -Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
  
• "As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live."
  -Venerable John Paul II
  
• "Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors to Christ."
  -Venerable John Paul II
  
• "The human person is a good towards which the only proper attitude is love."
  -Venerable John Paul II
  
• "Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought."
  -Venerable John Paul II

In my opinion, the most quotable Catholic of all time is G.K. Chesterton - so I have not included any of his here, there are too many.

Hollywood's Vision of Biblical Storytelling

After the amazing success of The Passion of the Christ, Hollywood couldn't help itself. It wanted a cut of the money Gibson revealed was mostly untouched in the family-oriented, faith and values crowd. But, Hollywood (for the most part) just can't get it right, if Pixar isn't involved.

They pander. They misjudge. Therefore, we (mostly) get either the overly sappy movies without any creativity / story-telling or something which perverts the story all together.

We should expect a bit of creative license, which happened even in the Passion of The Christ. But, when they write the nature of God and/or the basis of a Biblical story right out of the script, the movie better be targeting non-church goers or it is doomed to failure.

This might be the case, sadly enough, with the new Noah film scheduled to be released in 2014. Apparently Noah is a radical environmentalist who is called to rid the world of the scourge of humans, who have messed up the environment. Ug.

Here is a snip from a screenwriter who questions the film's script:

Having gotten a chance to read an undated version of the film's script (the final film may be based on a revised script with scenes added or deleted) I want to warn you. If you were expecting a Biblically-faithful retelling of the story of the greatest mariner in history, and a tale of redemption and obedience to God, you’ll be sorely disappointed.

(Spoilers Ahead)
"Noah" paints the primeval world of Genesis 6 as scorched arid desert, dry cracked earth and a gray gloomy sky that gives no rain – and all this, caused by man’s “disrespect” for the environment. In short, an anachronistic doomsday scenario of ancient global warming. How Neolithic man was able to cause such anthropogenic catastrophic climate change without the “evil” carbon emissions of modern industrial revolution is not explained. Nevertheless, humanity wanders the land in nomadic warrior tribes killing animals for food or wasteful trophies.

In this oppressive world, Noah (Russell Crowe) and his family seek to avoid the crowds and live off the land. Noah is a kind of rural shaman and vegan hippie-like gatherer of herbs. Noah explains that his family tries to study and heal the world whenever possible, like a kind of environmentalist scientist. But he also mysteriously has the fighting skills of an ancient Near Eastern Ninja.

Hey, it’s a movie. Give it a break.

Noah maintains an animal hospital to take care of wounded creatures or those who survive the evil “poachers,” of the land. Just whose animal rights laws they are violating, I am not sure, since there are only fiefdoms of warlords and tribes. Be that as it may, Noah is the Mother Teresa of animals.

Though God has not spoken to men or angels for a long time, Noah is haunted by recurring dreams of a rainstorm and flood that he surmises is God’s judgment on man.

All of God's creations are dying because of mankind, Noah says, a point with which his grandfather, Methuselah, concurs.

People are being killed, too, but it’s not really as important. The notion of human evil is more of an after thought or symptom of the bigger environmental concern of the great tree hugger in the sky.

Noah seeks advice from Methuselah, the oldest man alive, who lives in a cave. Unfortunately for fighting pacifist Noah, he has to go through the Watcher’s Land to get there. The Watchers are angels who came down from heaven to help fallen humanity by granting them wonders of knowledge from magic to science to stars, metal and fire. But when mankind turned that knowledge into weapons of war and tools of environmental devastation, God banished the Watchers to earth and turned his back on them.

Now, they reside as 18-feet tall, six-armed grumpy angelic complainers who resent mankind.

Through tricky movie dialogue, Noah convinces the Watchers to help him, and he receives a magic seed from Methuselah that blooms a magical forest in the desert. It’s really a quite imaginative and powerful scene that shows God’s miraculous provision.

Noah uses this timber to build his boat (Wait a second. Wouldn’t that make him an evil clear cutting lumberjack?). So the Watchers help him build the craft. Followed by another beautiful sequence of a magical thread of water that spreads out from the forest into all the world that calls the animals two by two to come to the ark.

Like a magical Mesopotamian Dr. Doolittle, Noah has the ability to “lead” the animals peacefully into the ark as they come from every corner of the earth. And yes, even the insects. Well, they finish building the ark, the rains start, the evil mobs try to get on the ark, but the Watchers fight them off, blah, blah, blah, movie action and we are at the midpoint of the movie, with Noah and his family on the ark, weathering out the flood.

What Noah doesn’t know is that evil warlord Akkad snuck onto the boat and plans to kill all the men and rape all the wives to start civilization as his own brood of evil minions.

Meanwhile, Noah has himself become a bit psychotic, like an environmentalist or animal rights activist who concludes that people do not deserve to survive because of what they’ve done to the environment and to animals. Noah deduces that God’s only reason for his family on the boat is to shepherd the animals to safety.

The world would be better off without humans, he concludes.
CONTINUE READING.

Let us hope the story isn't as bad as it sounds.

UPDATE - in an interesting twist of fate, the Hollywood version of the ark might be blown away by a big storm called Sandy...

Pray for the safety of all still affected by the storm.

Why Do We Bow During the Creed?

Q - I was talking to my sister the other day and she asked me why we bow our heads during the Nicene Creed when we say, "and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man." I know we honor the nativity and Mary...but isn't the whole creed talking about important things that we believe? I was just wondering why this line stood out above all the rest.

A - Thanks for the question. We are honoring that which is greater than Mary - Jesus and His Incarnation. There are several times in Mass that we are asked to bow as well as make other signs of honoring our Lord. In fact, there are two kinds of bows we make during Mass. A simple bow of the head and a more profound bow of the body, then there is the act of adoration of our God - genuflection.

We bow our heads during any mentioning of the name of Jesus, when the Trinity is invoked, the name of Mary, and at the name of any Saing if we are celebrating their feast day. We also bow our head before receiving Communion.

We make a more profound bow of the body during the Creed, as you pointed out, in order to honor the most important act in human history - God becoming man. Also, this is the kind of bow we make toward the altar, when passing in front of it or entering the sanctuary. If the tabernacle is not in the main sanctuary of a Church, then the priests and servers will bow before and after entering the Sanctuary. There are other times you might notice profound bows being made by priests and deacons during Mass.

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (which helps explain the prayers and actions during Mass) says:

275. A bow signifies reverence and honor shown to the persons themselves or to the signs that represent them. There are two kinds of bow: a bow of the head and a bow of the body.

a) A bow of the head is made when the three Divine Persons are named together and at the names of Jesus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Saint in whose honor Mass is being celebrated.

b) A bow of the body, that is to say, a profound bow, is made to the altar; during the prayers Munda cor meum (Cleanse my heart) and In spiritu humilitatis (With humble spirit); in the Creed at the words et incarnatus est (and by the Holy Spirit . . . and became man); in the Roman Canon at the Supplices te rogamus (In humble prayer we ask you, almighty God). The same kind of bow is made by the Deacon when he asks for a blessing before the proclamation of the Gospel. In addition, the Priest bows slightly as he pronounces the words of the Lord at the Consecration.

We genuflect toward the Eucharist. We should genuflect upon entering and leaving Church toward the Tabernacle - if the Eucharist is present. The priests and servers will also do this upon entering and leaving, but not during Mass. On Annunciation and Christmas we also genuflect during the creed instead of bowing.

The purpose is to show with our bodies what ought to happen in our hearts. Our bodies reflect the amazing nature of God and the fact that He loves us and showers us with His grace in Mass.

I hope this helps.

"Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." - Phil 2: 9-11

The Average Catholic Does Not Know Christ and What We Can Do About It

If you didn't know, the Vatican recently ended a large and important Synod of Bishops covering the topic of the New Evangelization. Why does the Pope think this issue is important? I think Paul VI put it brilliantly when he wrote - the Church "exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ's sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection." 

How many of our family, friends, and neighbors do not know the Good News of Jesus Christ? Simply put, we have created a culture of apathy within Catholicism and failed to evangelize (the process of spreading the Good News about Christ). This is why the average Catholic does not know Jesus Christ in a deep way. Thus, the average Catholic is not a disciple of Christ. I know many might disagree, but the data bears this out.

I too am guilty of moments of apathy when I do not help others - by witnessing to others about Christ through my life and/or words. We need a re-awakening of grace to spur us into the next phase of renewal in our Church. This can happen, but to understand where we currently are, we have to understand the scope of the problem is bigger than what most of us believe it is.

The vast majority of readers of this blog will be engaged Catholics. You go to Church, you are involved, and most are disciples of Christ. But, the vast majority of your neighbors are not.

As recent studies have shown, the "unaffiliated", atheists, agnostics, etc. are growing rapidly. But, when we dig deeper, the problem is bigger than the surface numbers.

A recent story highlights this issue. Here is a snip (emphasis added):

SHANKAR VEDANTAM, BYLINE: I wanted to know if it held up, Steve. You know, by any measure, as you point out, the United States is a significant outlier when it comes to how religious people say they are. You know, virtually alone in the developed world, large numbers of Americans report that they are indentified with a religious faith. Nearly half of all Americans report that they attend church every week - that's every single week, compared to Western Europe, for example, where maybe about 20 percent of people say they attend church.

Now, it's a little bit more in Catholic countries, a little bit less in Protestant countries. But that's the big picture, which is that the United States really is very different from most other countries. But there's a problem with all these numbers, which is they're all based on what people say.

INSKEEP: Meaning that you're not sure that people do the same things that they say?

VEDANTAM: Well, leaders of several religious denominations for many years in the United States have said if 45 percent of Americans are attending church every Sunday, the pews should be packed. And in many churches, in many denominations...

INSKEEP: They're not.

VEDANTAM: ...that's simply not the case. Now, I spoke with a sociologist who studies church attendance. His name is Philip Brenner. He's at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. And he told me that he suspected that when you ask people whether they attend church, they actually end up answering a somewhat different question. Here he is.

PHILIP BRENNER: The question that asks how often do you attend becomes a question like: Are the sort of person who attends? The respondent hears the question how often do you attend and interprets the question to be: Are you the sort of person who attends?

INSKEEP: What you're really finding out here is I think I'm the sort of person who should attend church and I don't want to admit otherwise, so I might tell you I go, whether I do or not.

VEDANTAM: Exactly. So the question is about your behavior. What is it you're doing? The answer might be about people's identity. Am I the kind of person who attends church?

INSKEEP: OK. So, you can't necessarily rely on people's own testimony as to whether they attend church. So is there is a better way to measure this?

VEDANTAM: Yeah. So Brenner has been playing with this idea called the Time Diary Method, and he's been following studies that have used this Time Diary Method. And let me tell you what that is.

So, rather than tell people you're asking about their church attendance, what you do is you march people through their week and have them describe to you exactly what they're doing at any given moment. So you say: What were you doing at four o'clock in the morning on Sunday? And most people will say: I was asleep. And then you ask them: What did you do next? Who were you with? Where did you go?

And when you march people through the week in this manner, it turns out only about 24 percent of Americans actually report attending religious services in the past week. And Brenner told me there's two things that's very interesting about this. What this suggests is that in actual religious practice, Americans might not be that different from people in Western Europe when it comes to what they do, but they might be very different for people in Western Europe when it comes to reporting what they do.

BRENNER: Americans significantly over-report their church attendance, and have consistently done that since the 1970s. But we don't see substantive over-reporting in Western Europe.

INSKEEP: So, basically, what we're finding out is that Europeans are more comfortable saying they don't show up on Sunday.

VEDANTAM: Well, sometimes they say they show up. I think what we're finding is that when people in Europe say they show up in church, they actually show up in church. So a variety of studies, Steve, have shown that when 45 percent of the Irish say they attend church every week, when you look at it using the Time Diary Method, 45 percent of the Irish actually are in church every week.

When 10 percent of Scandinavians tell pollsters that they're in church every week, the Time Diary Method shows 10 percent of them actually are in church every week. By contrast, 45 percent of Americans say they attend church every week. In reality, only about half as many do.

LESS THAN 1 IN 4 ATTEND CHURCH! We are just as bad as Western Europe! This is very troubling and tells us that the job of evangelization is much bigger than we might have previously thought. We need a New Evangelization - one that goes to the formerly Christian cultures and peoples to re-propose the Gospel with renewed fervor and using new means of transmitting the Gospel.

JPII first called for the New Evangelization and Benedict XVI has taken it to a new level by calling for a Synod of Bishops.

But, we cannot wait for the Church leaders to come up with programs. We must evangelize today. We must not wait! The answer to the problems in our culture are found through holiness and evangelization. It must be done in our homes, our workplaces, and where no Bishop ever trods. The laity must lead in this area.

Too often we settle as Catholics.
We settle for the "way it has always been done" or "it is good enough". Well, it isn't good enough and the way it has always been done is failing us miserably.

We need vision. We need leaders. We need risk-takers!

If we are true disciples we cannot fail to make more disciples. This can only be done in real relationships between friends. To help raise up disciples we must be on the look out for times to make the initial proclamation of the Good News. Then we must continue the relationship to help guide a person into a deep relationship with Christ through prayer and conversion.

Knowledge of Christ is not enough. Transformation of lives is the goal. We cannot wait for a program. We cannot wait for the Bishops to issue a document. We cannot wait for our parish to form a committee.

If you want to know more about the process of forming Disciples, then I cannot recommend Sherry Weddell's new book any more highly - Forming Intentional Disciples: The Path to Knowing and Following Jesus. It was built from the many years Sherry has had of charting the problems and then working on a solution through the Siena Institute. The following quote gets to the heart of the problem and the resulting solution (which points out the mountain we must climb):

"As we listened to the spiritual experiences of tens of thousands of Catholics, we began to grasp that many, if not a majority of, Catholics don't know what 'normal' Christianity looks like. I believe that one reason for this is the selective silence about the call to discipleship that pervades many parishes. Catholics have come to regard it as normal and deeply Catholic to not talk about the first journey - their relationship with God - except in confession or spiritual direction. This attitude is so pervasive in Catholic communities that we have started to call it the culture of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'"

She then goes on to discuss how we must break out of this culture in order to capitalize on the potential that is now latent in our Church, in the U.S.

In other words, we have to reinvigorate the Church with a hunger for Christ by the initial proclamation of the Gospel. Then we need to form intentional disciples.  Then we send them out to the world and repeat this cycle. The multiplication of disciples can and will change our culture and individual lives.

The age-old questions which ask how are we to turn the culture around are found in the age-old answers of getting into the hard work of evangelization and forming disciples who are equipped to take on the culture with vigor and determination. Now is the time to proclaim the Good News! Now is the time to form intentional disciples. Now is the time for a renewal of our culture!

What will you do today to bring the Good News to others?

MORE ON THE NEW EVANGELIZATION:



FURTHER READING:
**Intro to Evangelization
**Evangelization is Hard and Scary
**Ask A Catholic A Question: evangelization program
**The Do's and Don'ts of Evangelization and Apologetics
**How Not to Evangelize
**Evangelization of Tenderness
**Friendship Evangelization
**Fr. Barron on Evangelizing the Culture
**How to Evangelize Without Being Triumphant
**Top 10 Ways To Not Evangelize

Why The New Evangelization Is Needed

Why Can't Non-Catholics Receive Communion?

Q - Why can't non-Catholics receive Holy Communion? What if they say that they believe that it is the Body and Blood of Jesus like we do? What should we say to them?

A - Thanks for the question.  There are several reasons that non-Catholics cannot receive Communion in the Catholic Church.  But, first we must deal with some myths about this topic.  It isn't a judgment about anyone's salvation nor is it about how sincere someone may believe in Christ.


Here is what the Catholic Church teaches about The Eucharist and why it is so important. From John 6:53-56.

"So Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him."

This is the first teaching of Christ on the Eucharist. He clearly states (again and again in John 6) that the Eucharist is not just a symbol of his Body and Blood, but truly becomes his body and blood. Otherwise it would make no sense for his followers to understand him literally (John 6:41 & 6:52) and then walk away from him (John 6:66) without Jesus clearly explaining that he was speaking figuratively.

Then we have the last supper accounts in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Here Christ clearly teaches that the bread and wine are transformed into his body and blood ("this IS my body" & "this IS my blood"). Taken along with Paul's admonition in 1 Corinthians 11:27-30:

"Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died."

It all adds up.  The Catholic Church has consistently taught, through 2,000 years, that Christ is truly present - body, blood, soul, and divinity - in the Eucharist.  For more on the Church's teaching on the Eucharist, read a previous post here.

Therefore, to receive him in Communion is an outward statement of our unity of faith.  It says, in the action of the congregation, that we are united (communing together) to one another in believing in all the Catholic church believes, teaches, and confesses.  Those who are not Catholic cannot make such a statement, because they are not fully in communion with us.  So, for a non-Catholic to receive Communion is a counter-sign to the truth.  It says outwardly "we are one", when we are not.  It would be a lie, spoken through actions.

To receive the Eucharist does not only mean we believe in it, but in all that the Catholic Church holds to be true.  It says with the body "I am Catholic and hold all that the Church teaches to be true as truth and I therefore unite myself to Jesus and all his Catholic Church, through the bonds made in the Eucharist."

A non-Catholic should be told exactly what we believe.  Most do not share our belief in the Eucharist.  If they don't, then they probably won't want to receive if explained as I did above.  But, what if a non-Catholic says they share a belief in the Eucharist?  I suggest you invite them to join us at Communion - but only after they enter the Church through Confirmation (and baptism if necessary).  If one truly believes in the Eucharist, then the only place to receive it is in the Catholic Church or the Eastern Orthodox Churches.  Why wouldn't you join if you truly believe we have the Eucharist?

Furthermore, the Church limits communion to Catholics out of concern for their spiritual well-being.  Paul tells us why in the 1 Cor. verse quoted above.  To receive without discerning the body and blood, is to receive condemnation. This would put someone in spiritual danger and we do not want that for another!

The ancient Christians held to the same belief we do now. Here are a few examples:

"Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God....They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes" - Ignatius of Antioch, circa 110 AD.

"We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration and is thereby living as Christ enjoined. For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus" Justin Martyr, circa 151 AD

Lastly, the Church has no right to change the clear teaching of Christ.  We must always be faithful to his teaching, even when others are offended (even when we are not trying to offend, sometimes it happens).  We are not trying to be exclusive, but honest and faithful to Christ.

Remember this, not all Catholics can receive Communion, but only those in full communion with the Church and those in the state of grace (no un-confessed mortal sins).

Here is the US Bishops statement on the issue that you can find on the back of most missalettes.

For Catholics
As Catholics, we fully participate in the celebration of the Eucharist when we receive Holy Communion. We are encouraged to receive Communion devoutly and frequently. In order to be properly disposed to receive Communion, participants should not be conscious of grave sin and normally should have fasted for one hour. A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to receive the Body and Blood of the Lord without prior sacramental confession except for a grave reason where there is no opportunity for confession. In this case, the person is to be mindful of the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition, including the intention of confessing as soon as possible (canon 916). A frequent reception of the Sacrament of Penance is encouraged for all.

For our fellow Christians
We welcome our fellow Christians to this celebration of the Eucharist as our brothers and sisters. We pray that our common baptism and the action of the Holy Spirit in this Eucharist will draw us closer to one another and begin to dispel the sad divisions which separate us. We pray that these will lessen and finally disappear, in keeping with Christ's prayer for us "that they may all be one" (Jn 17:21).

Because Catholics believe that the celebration of the Eucharist is a sign of the reality of the oneness of faith, life, and worship, members of those churches with whom we are not yet fully united are ordinarily not admitted to Holy Communion. Eucharistic sharing in exceptional circumstances by other Christians requires permission according to the directives of the diocesan bishop and the provisions of canon law (canon 844 § 4). Members of the Orthodox Churches, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Polish National Catholic Church are urged to respect the discipline of their own Churches. According to Roman Catholic discipline, the Code of Canon Law does not object to the reception of communion by Christians of these Churches (canon 844 § 3).

For those not receiving Holy Communion
All who are not receiving Holy Communion are encouraged to express in their hearts a prayerful desire for unity with the Lord Jesus and with one another.

For non-Christians
We also welcome to this celebration those who do not share our faith in Jesus Christ. While we cannot admit them to Holy Communion, we ask them to offer their prayers for the peace and the unity of the human family.

I hope this helps.

How Little Boys Show Affection For Little Girls

Bonus Video:

The Role Of The Government According To Catholic Doctrine

Subsidiarity is the Catholic social justice principle which may be the least understood and taught and is one of the most important. Subsidiarity means that every issue should be handled by the lowest-level or least centrally-organized group whenever possible. The Catechism puts it this way:

Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal freedom and initiative. The teaching of the Church has elaborated the principle of subsidiarity, according to which 'a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to coordinate its activity with the rest of society, always with a view to the common good.'

"God...entrusts to every creature the functions it is capable of performing, according to the capacities of its own nature. This mode of government ought to be followed in social life.

"Subsidiarity is opposed to all forms of collectivism. It sets limits for state intervention" (nn. 1883-1885).

Here is a great explanation:

Studies, Science, and The Media - How A Pro-Abortion Agenda Is Pushed On The American People

A study released earlier this month was hailed in the media as an answer to the question of "do abortions go down if contraception is free?" The answer given was a resounding "yes".

This is how the study was hailed at NBC:

A dramatic new study with implications for next month’s presidential election finds that offering women free birth control can reduce unplanned pregnancies -- and send the abortion rate spiraling downward.

When more than 9,000 women ages 14 to 45 in the St. Louis area were given no-cost contraception for three years, abortion rates dropped from two-thirds to three-quarters lower than the national rate, according to a new report by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis researchers.

But, is this true?

I smelled something fishy about it all. I knew there have been other studies which have showed the opposite.

So, I sent the study to a friend, who is a non-medical Doctor who specializes in examining such data (the friend asked not to be cited, but gave permission to post information about the study). I asked him a simple question - "what do you think about this?"

This is what he sent back to me.

The fact that the study deals with contraception and unintended pregnancy is somewhat irrelevant. The main premise is subsidized behavior. If you generalize the thesis to “I am more likely to do what I intend to do if someone else pays for it,” then the particular subject matter could be virtually anything. You could study an ethically benign practice. Even better, imagine if there was a study funded that gave free money to self-identified thieves. Would you then be surprised to see an article that claimed “Crime rates drop with free money”?

What are the main impediments to contraception and elective abortions used to prevent or end unwanted pregnancies? They would be:

• moral reservations,
• health concerns,
• financial concerns.

Now consider the key elements of the study (emphasis added):

1. “The Contraceptive Choice Project enrolled 9,256 women and adolescents in the St. Louis area between 2007 and 2011. Participants were 14-45 years of age, at risk for unintended pregnancy, and willing to start a new contraceptive method.”
2. At no cost, “[p] articipants had their choice of birth control methods, ranging from long-acting forms like IUDs and implants to shorter-acting methods such as birth control pills, patches and rings.”
3. “The women were counseled about the different methods, including their effectiveness, risks and benefits.”

So, we have a study where a group of medical professionals offer and administer free contraception to women who have no reservations about using it and have no desire to get pregnant. Do we really need a study involving over 9,000 women to tell us what is going to happen?

The author of the study makes the intent clear: "[u]nintended pregnancy remains a major health problem in the United States.” It is unhealthy—bad—for women to have unintended pregnancies. What is the best way to prevent “unintended” health problems? If possible, vaccinate against them. What is the best way to get people to take the vaccine? Give it to them for free.

The conclusion is: well, since people are sensitive about abortion, this study shows that we can pay women to not have the babies they didn’t want to have anyway, and thus we can reduce the abortion rate. I’ll actually add a bonus conclusion to the study (at no charge): if you pay women not to have kids, all of a sudden, there will be a lot more women who don’t want to have kids, and thus we can further reduce the birth rate as well. Oh, wait a minute, if more women are using contraception since we are paying for it, and since there were still abortions resulting from the study even though the study participants were using contraception, doesn’t that mean that abortion rate might possibly go up? Looks like we might need another funded study.

The project web site can be found here.

So, to answer your question: it’s is crud.

Some researchers aren't looking for the truth. Some researchers are looking to establish a "truth" they made up already. Even if it is a lie.

Moral of the story - Don't believe every press release the media prints.

This isn't the first study like this that we have uncovered. Check out the first one from several years ago. I am sure there are many more we haven't been able to vet.

The Politics of Abortion

Archbishop Chaput has some thoughts for us. The problem is with the Catholics who accommodated abortion within politics.

We are called to be Catholics first!

Failure = Life

All you have to offer God and others are your limitations and gifts.

Premarital Sex - What Is The Big Deal?

It seems like a simple enough question - is pre-marital sex always a sin? Most know what the Catholic Church's answer is. But, what about how individual Catholics answered the question?

The results might shock you.
In 1972:

• 39% of adult Catholics said premarital sex was “always wrong.” 
• Among Catholics attending Mass at least once a week, 54% said it is. 

In 2008:

• 14% of Catholics said premarital sex is “always wrong.” 
• Among Catholics attending Mass at least once a week, 30% responded it is. 

The results are sad, because more than 70% of Catholics who go to Mass think premarital sex can be OK, despite what the Bible and all of Christianity have always taught.

This means the Catholic Church has a mountain to climb. But, I am not shocked by the numbers. I see the results of such numbers all the time. Yes, it is always a sin. Why? Because premarital sex is a selfish, unloving, use of another human being and a misuse of our sexuality.

Pre-marital sex is selfish:
It is never about the other person. If it was, then we wouldn't be risking the other person's health, spreading disease, their emotional welfare, spiritual state-of-being, and future relationships and marriages. It is all about me and only me, whenever pre-marital sex happens.

Pre-marital sex is unloving: 
Love = "choosing what is best for the other, despite the cost to myself" and could be summed up as = "gift of self". We are called to love others by handing ourselves over to them as a gift. Thus, when we choose something that is about me and is not good for the other, then it is not love. Pre-marital sex, by definition, can NEVER be a loving act.

Pre-marital sex is use of another human being: 
John Paul II said using another person as a means to an end (in this case your pleasure) and not as an end unto themselves is the opposite of love. It is reducing a human being to an object. Not treating them as a child of God.

Pre-marital sex is a misuse of our sexuality: 
Why do we have these desires in the first place? It isn't just to bring us pleasure. It is to be open to new life (procreation) and to bring a married man and woman together (unitive). These two ends are the purpose of marriage. Pleasure is a by-product of sex. Pleasure is a good by-product, but when it replaces one or both of the real purposes - it degrades the act and we are back at selfishness.

-----
Sex is a gift from God and like any gift can be used for good or bad. It is also a beautiful act between a man and wife - in the context of marriage. Sex is something intimate and wonderful. Just like anything good, it can be twisted to be bad. This is what happens in pre-marital sexuality. While it may "feel" like love, we would never risk another person's future, virginity, disease, soul, relationships, broken heart, etc. if we loved them.

Another way to re-phrase the question might be to ask “where is the line between sin and not sinning?” Well, it depends on each individual. While all sexual activity (not just intercourse) outside of marriage is sinful, lust is also. This is the deeper issue. Lust isn't just a passing sexual thought about another person. It is when we grab hold of that thought and use it for our own pleasure.

When we have a control of what is going on in our hearts and minds, then we will easily see where the line is drawn and will do all we can to avoid even approaching it. We want to try and change our hearts, not just our actions.

I know there are many Catholics who struggle with their sexuality and controlling their desires, but it is worth it. Here is the reason - you can't give what isn't your own. If you don't have self-control, you can't give yourself away fully. This means you can't really love another person by being a gift to them. We can either be in control of our desires or allow them to control us.

Chastity is the virtue that allows us to give ourselves to another…remember the definition of love as “gift”. To give everything means we are free of selfishness in our love and chastity frees us of selfishness in our sexual desires. Therefore chastity = sexual freedom! Unfortunately this understanding of chastity is not known well. Most people think that it means just not having sex. It is not a negative thing - it is a positive thing.

Sex should be saved for marriage, where intimacy (of all kinds) is supposed to be. Unfortunately in today's world, we give our sexuality, our emotions, our bodies, and our lives to people we our not married to. We have lost the depth to what a intimacy really means. We end up deadening our sensitivity to it and putting present and future relationships at risk. To put it another way, I have never met a person who saved sex (of any kind) for marriage and regretted it, but I have met thousands who didn't keep themselves pure and now do. You will never regret purity. Never. But, you will always regret impurity, eventually.

Living a life that is empty of regrets is a full and good life.

What is So "Great" About John Paul II?

Q - I have heard a lot of people referring to Pope John Paul II as "John Paul the Great". I do not feel comfortable giving him this title although I think he is one of the greatest popes ever. What do you think about calling him John Paul the Great now, and how does a pope receive that designation?


A - Thanks for the questions. The first question is easy for me to answer, since JPII has had such a formative influence on my life - I have no problem with it at all.

The second question requires a bit more background.

There are three other popes who have been called "The Great":

• Pope St. Leo I
• Pope St. Gregory I
• Pope St. Nicholas I

Here is the interesting thing, none of the three have ever been officially recognized by the Church as "great". It is a popular title given, that rises up from the people and tradition surrounding the men. Since they received the popular title, the have been listed in Church documents with "The Great" appended to their name, but never has the Church given the title to them officially.

So, why would we list John Paul II as another "Great"? There are many reasons, so here is a short list:

• He was the third-longest reigning pope of all-time (26 years).
• His leadership helped bring down the Iron Curtain of Communism.
• He was one of the most prolific authors of papal documents and he was widely considered one of the best philosopher-theologians of modern times.
• He presided over the writing of the Catechism and the new Code of Canon Law.
• He traveled more than any other pope in history.
• His charismatic personality drew him to a wide range of people.
• He saw more progress in Ecumenical dialogue (especially with the Orthodox Churches and secondarily with Lutherans) than any other Pope.
• He helped continue the healing of wounds between Judaism and Christianity that has been simmering for centuries. This healing was started by previous Popes, but went to new levels with JPII.
• He advanced the teachings of the human person and sexuality to new levels in his Theology of the Body.
• His holiness and virtue have helped lift him to the level of a "Blessed" and will soon make him a "Saint".
• He was an orthodox Catholic leader who also had a very nice understanding of how to pastorally apply the teachings of the Church.
• His love for young people helped start World Youth Days.
• He continued to lead the Church while suffering greatly, thus showing us how to carry our crosses with dignity and love.
• He was a great defender of all human life. The poor, the baby, the elderly, etc.
• He helped lead the Church into a new millennium and prepare the Church for the changes that come with time, by challenging us to a "new evangelization" of fallen-away Catholic cultures and peoples.
• He recognized more Saints than any other Pope - much needed in a culture of death and injustice.
• Many more reasons are not in this list.

I expect history won't downgrade John Paul from being the next "Great" Pope.

How To Vote As A Catholic

It took authentic courage for this priest to say what he does in this video.
He took on the topic of politics and the Catholic Church and hits a home run. I have more about voting after the video.

Tip o' the hat to Patrick for pointing me to the video.

Here is the link to the USCCB document which is a guide the Bishops put out a few years ago. I  recommend you read it.

The point of the guidelines the Church gives us is never to tell us who to vote for. Rather, they want us to be informed and guided into a decision that is intelligent and in sync with Catholic teaching. As they write:

In this statement, we bishops do not intend to tell Catholics for whom or against whom to vote. Our purpose is to help Catholics form their consciences in accordance with God’s truth.

But, let me assure you that not all issues are the same. As the Bishops write later on:

There are some things we must never do, as individuals or as a society, because they are always incompatible with love of God and neighbor. Such actions are so deeply flawed that they are always opposed to the authentic good of persons. These are called “intrinsically evil” actions. They must always be rejected and opposed and must never be supported or condoned. A prime example is the intentional taking of innocent human life, as in abortion and euthanasia.

They continue on this same topic:

It is a mistake with grave moral consequences to treat the destruction of innocent human life merely as a matter of individual choice. A legal system that violates the basic right to life on the grounds of choice is fundamentally flawed. 

Similarly, direct threats to the sanctity and dignity of human life, such as human cloning and destructive research on human embryos, are also intrinsically evil. These must always be opposed. Other direct assaults on innocent human life and violations of human dignity, such as genocide, torture, racism, and the targeting of noncombatants in acts of terror or war, can never be justified.

With this in mind the focus of the document is rightly forming the conscience. That is, the interior guide God gives each of us. They want us to live an integrated life of Catholic teaching, prayer, discernment and charity.

The document does a very good job in pointing out two mistakes that many Catholics are prone to make.

1. The mistake of not making proper distinctions. Some issues are always intrinsically wrong and others are not. We cannot act as if all issues are the same.
2. The other mistake is making the distinction, but then ignoring the "less important" issues all-together. Even if they aren't intrinsically evil or if there are different answers in how to solve the problems, we can't just ignore them when voting (e.g., how to serve the poor, health care, etc).

Now, the Bishops do say something else very important which can help us:

A Catholic cannot vote for a candidate who takes a position in favor of an intrinsic evil, such as abortion or racism, if the voter’s intent is to support that position. There may be times when a Catholic who rejects a candidate’s unacceptable position may decide to vote for that candidate for other morally grave reasons. Voting in this way would be permissible only for truly grave moral reasons, not to advance narrow interests or partisan preferences or to ignore a fundamental moral evil.

An example might help. What if there are two candidates who are identical on the issues surrounding the intrinsic evils? How do we vote? Well, other issues would then have to be taken into account.

They don't cut any corners with this quote:

It is important to be clear that the political choices faced by citizens not only have an impact on general peace and prosperity but also may affect the individual’s salvation.

This isn't just about a vote. It is about salvation and human life. The Bishops know the gravity of it all. But, they also know it isn't a simple thing to do. Which is why they say:

As Catholics we are not single-issue voters. A candidate’s position on a single issue is not sufficient to guarantee a voter’s support. Yet a candidate’s position on a single issue that involves an intrinsic evil, such as support for legal abortion or the promotion of racism, may legitimately lead a voter to disqualify a candidate from receiving support.

So I don't write all day long. Let it suffice to say that a Catholic should do the following before entering the voting booth.

1. Inform yourself on the Church's teachings on different subjects. Not all carry the same gravity. Also, the Church generally gives moral principles, but it is our job to prudentially apply them in specific circumstances - even the voting booth.
2. Continue to form your conscience. This is a life-long process. Reading one voter's guide isn't enough. I highly recommend you read the Bishops' document I have linked.
3. Follow your conscience when you enter the voting booth.

We are obligated to exercise our right to vote, when we are able to. The Catechism says:

2239 It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. The love and service of one's country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity. Submission to legitimate authorities and service of the common good require citizens to fulfill their roles in the life of the political community. 

2240 Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one's country:

Pay to all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. [Christians] reside in their own nations, but as resident aliens. They participate in all things as citizens and endure all things as foreigners. . . . They obey the established laws and their way of life surpasses the laws. . . . So noble is the position to which God has assigned them that they are not allowed to desert it.

The Apostle exhorts us to offer prayers and thanksgiving for kings and all who exercise authority, "that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way."

If you want a Bishop's take on things to consider, then Archbishop Chaput has a great column on it.

Pure. Comedic. Genius.

The definition of funny.

7 Habits of Highly Effective Catholics

Borrowing an idea from Steven Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, I have compiled the following:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Catholics

Habit #1 - Participate in the Sacraments Regularly.
Sunday Mass is a given. To be effective you must also participate in a regular habit of Confession (once a month is a good start) and regular daily Mass, when possible. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament can be tagged on to this as well.

**"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." -Acts 2:42

Habit #2 - Dive Deep into Prayer.
Prayer is the link between God and man. We cannot expect to be good Catholics if we aren't in a personal relationship with God. The foundation of this relationship is a personal daily prayer life.

**"Pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thes 5:16-18

Habit #3 - Build Virtue and Root out Vice.
What virtues do we lack? These are what we need to focus on. Pick one virtue you need to improve and work on it. If we can improve in one virtue, then it generally helps raise up others. While doing this try to root out any vices you have, especially those that control you regularly.

**"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." -Phil 4: 8-9

Habit #4 - Know Scripture and Church Teachings.
The more we know about Christ and His Church, the more there is for us to love. The more we can apply to our lives concretely. But, it starts with educating ourselves and knowing what he really taught, not just what we think he taught. This is a life-long process.

**"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work." -2 Tim 3:16


Habit #5 - Practice Joy No Matter the Circumstance.
Easier said than done. Joy is a disposition, not a feeling. Don't confuse Joy with happiness, which comes and goes. We can practice joy through an act of the will and when strengthened by grace. How could Mother Teresa continue to serve the poorest of the poor even though she suffered in the depths of her soul? Joy.

**"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." - Phil 4:4-7

Habit #6 - Spiritual Direction.
We should live in a constant state of discernment, asking - what does God want from me now? This puts a high value on living in the moment with an eye on combining our will with God's. A good spiritual director is invaluable at helping accomplish this. They can be an objective observer of our lives and the movements of the Holy Spirit.

**"Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him." - Acts 8:30-31

Habit #7 - Share Your Faith.
To keep something as treasured as the truth, goodness, and beauty of Christ to yourself is a selfish attitude. Effective Catholics evangelize regularly through their words and deeds to all. Pope Paul VI said, the Church "exists in order to evangelize."

**"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." -Matt 28: 19-20


-There are certainly others that didn't make the list.
What did I miss?

Fr. Barron on Whether Science Can Disprove God's Existence

Why Young Catholics Leave the Church & What To Do About It

A 5-year research project from the Barna Group highlights 6 reasons why young Christians leave Christianity. I will comment below, between the quotes of the study.

The research project was comprised of eight national studies, including interviews with teenagers, young adults, parents, youth pastors, and senior pastors. The study of young adults focused on those who were regular churchgoers Christian church during their teen years and explored their reasons for disconnection from church life after age 15.

No single reason dominated the break-up between church and young adults. Instead, a variety of reasons emerged. Overall, the research uncovered six significant themes why nearly three out of every five young Christians (59%) disconnect either permanently or for an extended period of time from church life after age 15.

This first statistic is startling - right at 60% of all Christians are leaving the faith. A majority of young adults are falling away (or are fallen away completely) from their faith. We aren't losing a generation - they are lost. The question now is, what do we do about it?

Reason #1 – Churches seem overprotective. A few of the defining characteristics of today's teens and young adults are their unprecedented access to ideas and worldviews as well as their prodigious consumption of popular culture. As Christians, they express the desire for their faith in Christ to connect to the world they live in. However, much of their experience of Christianity feels stifling, fear-based and risk-averse. One-quarter of 18- to 29-year-olds said “Christians demonize everything outside of the church” (23% indicated this “completely” or “mostly” describes their experience). Other perceptions in this category include “church ignoring the problems of the real world” (22%) and “my church is too concerned that movies, music, and video games are harmful” (18%).

The problem here? Young Christians aren't responding to the harmful parts of culture and analyzing them. Rather, they absorb them, accept them as valuable, and then have their faith tell them something different. The Church, in response, isn't forming them into disciples of Christ first, and then releasing them into the culture. Rather, we allow the culture to form them first. This means the culture has the upper-hand in guiding them and teaching them where happiness is found.

Reason #2 – Teens’ and twentysomethings’ experience of Christianity is shallow. A second reason that young people depart church as young adults is that something is lacking in their experience of church. One-third said “church is boring” (31%). One-quarter of these young adults said that “faith is not relevant to my career or interests” (24%) or that “the Bible is not taught clearly or often enough” (23%). Sadly, one-fifth of these young adults who attended a church as a teenager said that “God seems missing from my experience of church” (20%).

This is nothing we haven't known for a while, the problem is we have done little about it. Too often we seek to "engage" teenagers instead of challenging them to live out their faith. I am not proposing that the two are mutually exclusive (in fact they can't be if we do both successfully), but we do seem to have a desire to entertain teens more than anything else. This is also indicative of modern parenting. We leave the formation of young people, in faith issues, to the churches and religious schools. Too often parents do not model or teach the faith in the home. Now, do we need to make church relevant? Certainly. But, never at the expense of the Gospel and the call to holiness.

Reason #3 – Churches come across as antagonistic to science. One of the reasons young adults feel disconnected from church or from faith is the tension they feel between Christianity and science. The most common of the perceptions in this arena is “Christians are too confident they know all the answers” (35%). Three out of ten young adults with a Christian background feel that “churches are out of step with the scientific world we live in” (29%). Another one-quarter embrace the perception that “Christianity is anti-science” (25%). And nearly the same proportion (23%) said they have “been turned off by the creation-versus-evolution debate.” Furthermore, the research shows that many science-minded young Christians are struggling to find ways of staying faithful to their beliefs and to their professional calling in science-related industries.

I don't think this is as big a problem in the Catholic Church as it is in fundamentalist, Pentecostal, and Evangelical Protestant denominations, but it is still an issue. Too many Catholics think of Galileo (as taught by anti-Catholics), contraception, and fetal stem cell research as anti-science issues. History shows that much of modern science has the Catholic Church to thank for the advancements we take for granted today. The Church believes science is a search for truth about the world God has given us, but is at the service of the good of humanity. We must not only ask "can we" but "ought we". Another formation issue here.

Reason #4 – Young Christians’ church experiences related to sexuality are often simplistic, judgmental. With unfettered access to digital pornography and immersed in a culture that values hyper-sexuality over wholeness, teen and twenty-something Christians are struggling with how to live meaningful lives in terms of sex and sexuality. One of the significant tensions for many young believers is how to live up to the church's expectations of chastity and sexual purity in this culture, especially as the age of first marriage is now commonly delayed to the late twenties. Research indicates that most young Christians are as sexually active as their non-Christian peers, even though they are more conservative in their attitudes about sexuality. One-sixth of young Christians (17%) said they “have made mistakes and feel judged in church because of them.” The issue of sexuality is particularly salient among 18- to 29-year-old Catholics, among whom two out of five (40%) said the church’s “teachings on sexuality and birth control are out of date.”

When you don't have anything to say "Yes" to about sexuality, then you will only here the Catholic message about sexuality as a big "NO". But, this isn't what the Church has ever taught. We teach that the NO to premarital sex, contraception, and other sexual sins is really a big "YES" to God, life, purity, chastity, healthy relationships, spiritual wholeness, bodily integrity, etc. But, if all a kid knows is NO, then the other stuff doesn't make sense. The solution to this one is age-appropriate teaching of sexuality by parents, backed up by the Church's teaching of Theology of the Body.

Reason #5 – They wrestle with the exclusive nature of Christianity. Younger Americans have been shaped by a culture that esteems open-mindedness, tolerance and acceptance. Today’s youth and young adults also are the most eclectic generation in American history in terms of race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, technological tools and sources of authority. Most young adults want to find areas of common ground with each other, sometimes even if that means glossing over real differences. Three out of ten young Christians (29%) said “churches are afraid of the beliefs of other faiths” and an identical proportion felt they are “forced to choose between my faith and my friends.” One-fifth of young adults with a Christian background said “church is like a country club, only for insiders” (22%).

This certainly isn't what the Catholic Church teaches, but it certainly is the message given to others by many believers. The Church is made up of sinners who can find common-ground with many other faiths. Certainly there are some exclusive claims in Catholic doctrine that are non-negotiable, but if we don't teach the basis of what those are, then they are easy to shoot holes through. In addition, most parishes are not very welcoming and are hard to get involved in. This is terrible. The people of God should always be looking outward, not inward. Now, the final problem here is found in a culture where open-mindedness is esteemed more than truth. Relativism is to blame and we need to continue to fight this false philosophy at every turn.

Reason #6 – The church feels unfriendly to those who doubt. Young adults with Christian experience say the church is not a place that allows them to express doubts. They do not feel safe admitting that sometimes Christianity does not make sense. In addition, many feel that the church’s response to doubt is trivial. Some of the perceptions in this regard include not being able “to ask my most pressing life questions in church” (36%) and having “significant intellectual doubts about my faith” (23%). In a related theme of how churches struggle to help young adults who feel marginalized, about one out of every six young adults with a Christian background said their faith “does not help with depression or other emotional problems” they experience (18%).

As someone who welcomes questions and doubted myself, I can agree this is a problem. Too often we sell Christianity to others as a package-deal - in other words, it seems we tell others they should accept every challenge Christianity has for them NOW or else. We have little patience for the free will of others to have doubts, fears, and different conclusions than our own. We need to be more open and patient when dealing with the struggles of others. Jesus didn't get the apostles completely on board even after three years with them!

WHAT TO DO?
We need a change in several areas of our Church to re-capture this generation of young people:

1. We need to evangelize more and more effectively. We can't wait for others to go and get young people, we need to do it ourselves. This is the purpose of the Church - to make disciples of all nations.
2. We need better Catholic parenting. Too often parents check their faith at the door. Formation of parents should be the focus of our parishes. Then they in turn can form their children. This is what the universal church has always taught - catechesis should focus on adults, not children. But, we have it backwards in our parishes.
3. We need better youth ministry that is more about forming disciples of Christ. When I say formation, I do not mean more class time. Students get enough of that. But, when teaching social justice, take them to a soup kitchen. When teaching sexuality, have young married couples come talk to them. When teaching why the Incarnation is so important, bring them to Adoration. Teach them to pray. Teach them to love Jesus. Preach the Gospel, again, again, and again. I commend the youth ministries that are already doing these things, but too many are not.
4. We need better campus ministries. Many campuses have nothing. Most have little. Only a few have good ministries and even these capture less than 50% of Catholics on-campus. 
5. We need more dynamic young adult ministries. We need something more than a singles' group or young married couples groups. These are fine, when done well, but we need amazingly attractive programs that think outside of the box.

I wish I had all the answers, and I sometimes act as if I do, but I don't. Rather, let this serve as a call to all of us - THE CHURCH - to do something about it personally, rather than wait for others to do it for us.

Pray.
Act.
Serve.
Love.
Evangelize.

Comments and thoughts are welcome. Please be kind.

Should Atheists Be Forced To Buy Bibles?

Short and sweet.

Cutest. Kid. Ever. + 1 Bald Man

During my trip to Canada last week, I spent about 15 minutes playing with Leo. He is the son of my friend, Josh. Josh filmed me making him laugh for a short time.

As the dad of 5 kids, I know how to make babies laugh. I also don't care if I look stupid while doing so.

Enjoy "The Baby Whisperer"...

Drop Kicked Into Becoming Catholic

Why Ignatius of Antioch (a disciple of the Apostle John) had led to such a profound change in Matthew Leonard's life:

A Choice To Make

Something everyone should see...

“Before you were born I only worried about how your disability reflected on me. Now there is no better mirror in the world. You’re my light in the dark, and it’s a privilege to be your dad. Love always, daddy.”

In 90% of cases, a prenatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome leads to an abortion.

Why Same-Sex Marriage Is NOT Good For Society

A great video that sums it all up nicely, in less than 5 minutes:

If I Were General Of A "War on Women" This Would Be My Battle Plan

If I were General of an army starting a war on women, here is what I would prepare as my battle plan:

• I would convince women that their fertility is a disease. To be able to create life and carry a baby in their wombs is a drain on a women's happiness and freedom. To truly be happy they must have "control" of their ability to procreate. Part of what makes a woman a woman (the natural function of fertility) would be considered a disease and I would make women think something is wrong with them by having these feminine abilities.
• I would then turn the purpose of sex into mere pleasure-seeking. Forget what may happen when 2 people have sex - bonding of 2 people + babies - and focus only on the by-product of sex, pleasure. If I can make pleasure the focus, then I distract from life. Of course men would be the big winners here, but I would hide that fact. To further change the meaning of sex, I would introduce sex-selective abortions and even later forced-abortions.
• Destroy true love. Tell women that the key to relationships is getting something out of it for themselves. If they have to capture a man by hooking up with him, then do it. If they have to dress provocatively or stop demanding respect from men, so be it. To change relationships we change the definition of love to less than what it really is. Make it a feeling, sex - anything but real sacrificial love that is chosen by someone for someone else.
• Convince women they need to act like men to be equal to men. Only in getting free from kids and husband can a woman be free. A career is the path to happiness. Therefore to be equal she has to be aggressive and competitive in working outside the home. But, in a world where women work less than men on average (because of babies), they will never gain equality and continue to seek happiness where they can never find it!
• Use modern culture to teach women they are not worthy of love. They need to earn love by running the rat race, changing their bodies to look like porn stars (or at least dress/act like one), and throwing off all the traits of motherhood and marriage. Their unique qualities should not be valued, but rather we should belittle them. 
• Let nature run it's course by allowing women to suffer the consequences of these choices. 

• the result of the hook-up culture where women are the losers to men who use them. 
• broken homes where in women take care of the kids in the majority of situations, which leads to increases in the cycles of violence, poverty, addiction, crime, etc. 
• increase in abortion, which wounds a women for life because of the reality of killing a baby.
• etc

• Impose on women the idea they are deprived of equal rights if others don't pay for their contraception, abortion, and sterilizations. Then try to force all others to pay for such things through government control.
• Convince women the true enemy is one who loves them most. If we can get them to believe that the source of the fullness of truth and grace - the Catholic Church - is the real enemy, then we have won their hearts and the war...

Of course, if I were the General of the army attacking women I would mask myself as an ally to do all of this under the rhetoric of "women's rights".