How to get involved in the Church in the parish, area, and diocese
Saturday, September 19th, 2009, the Office of Black Catholics will be sponsoring a free workshop in evangelizing in the African American community. Saint Thomas More Parish is hoping to have a committee of parishioners attending this, please contact the Rectory at (773) 436-4444 if you are interested.
Friday, October 16th through Saturday, October 17th, the Archdiocese of Chicago will be hosting its Catholic Festival of Faith, a once in three year event. The Festival will be held at the Donald Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. For price info, general info, and to register visit www.catholicfest.org.
Sunday, September 13th, Charis Ministries will be hosting a Catholic Open House at The Ark Café from 4 to 7 p.m, This ministry is geared towards Catholics in their 20’s and 30’s. Bring a friend interested in the Catholic faith to this free session on how YOU can get involved in the Church! www.charisministries.org
...for God, Church, and Country!
This summer national leaders have been drafting a long awaited public healthcare plan. While in itself this is a noble task, the bill the House of Representatives is drafting leaves open the opportunity for taxpayer funded abortions. In addition, an amendment was added by Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) that further opens the possibility for abortion funding in the future and mandates that each region of the U.S. have at least one private health plan that covers abortion.
While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and President Obama have been dodging direct questions about abortion funding in the taxpayer funded health plan, NARAL (an abortion advocacy group) and Catholics United (a social justice advocacy group) have teamed up against the Family Research Council and its allies who have run ads against the “abortion mandate” in the Obama healthcare legislation. More info at www.lifesitenews.com.
(By Devin Jones)
The Nativity Of The Blessed Virgin Mary
September 8th is the celebration of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast, while not a Holy Day of Obligation, is one of the most important feasts of the liturgical calendar, so great in fact that it is one of only three births celebrated in the Church calendar (the others being the bith of Christ and the birth of John the Baptist).
Why is this feast so important? Because it is a precursor to the Incarnation of our own Salvation (Jesus). In Mary’s Conception she was spared from Original Sin and with her birth she became the new Eve, mother of all living, and since we have eternal life in Christ we are the living.
Mary was spared form sin, by the grace of God, retroactively . While the rest of Creation had to wait for the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, Mary, in preparation for the birth of our Lord, was credited with the merits of Jesus’ earthly ministry before He entered her womb and the world. This is possible because God works not in our time limitations (2 Peter 3:8”...that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.”).
On this Feast of Mary’s Nativity, let us pray in thanksgiving, through the intercession of Mary, for the gift of salvation, the hope of resurrection in Christ, and restraint from the near occasion of sin.
(By Devin Jones)
Last month, the Italian government authorized the use of the drug Mifepriston. Mifepriston, more commonly known as RU-486 or the “abortion pill,” is used as an abortifacient in the first two months of pregnancy and for emergency contraception.
The authorization of RU-486 in Italy has brought about a frenzy of condemnation from the Vatican, which has fought against international acceptance of the abortion pill at the United Nations. The President of the Pontifical Academy for Life (the bioethics research arm of the Vatican), Archbishop Rino Fisichella, stated that though taking the abortion pill is less traumatic and less invasive than surgical abortion, “it is still abortion.”
Archbishop Fisichella told Corriere della Sera (an Italian newspaper in Milan), “it is obvious that the canonical consequences” of the pill are the same as in surgical or invasive abortion, which according to the Code of Canon Law is automatic excommunication (CC 1398). He also went on to state “do not take it, first of all, because it is evil...do not do it because the collateral effects are not known. Do not do it because science should serve life, not death.”
The Archbishop said that RU-486 “is a direct and deliberate” abortion.
(By Devin Jones)
"With Confession, I do not feel totally absolved. I have things from the past fill my head that I forget to confess. How particular do I have to be? I feel it's useless at times and I feel nervous on going."
Excellent question. First of all, if you are in the confessional and you make as honest and open confession as possible, upon walking out, you remember something you did not mention, that sin has been absolved with the ones that you actually confessed. If a person walks into a confessional with the intention of confessing all their sins and holding nothing back (as one should) and (because we're only human) accidentally forgets to mention something, the intention covers the memory lapse. If you can, when you go back to confession, you can state the ones that you had forgotten. A good practice for preparing for Confession is to make an examination of conscience before receiving the sacrament. "The passages best suited to this can be found in the Ten Commandments, the moral catechesis of the Gospels and the apostolic letters, such as the Sermon on the Mount and the apostolic teachings." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1454) An online source for a good examination can be found here. The examination should be in a quite place, preferably in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. While meditating on the examination, you can write down what you would like to confess and take it with you into the confessional. But most importantly, confession is not something that God intended us to fear. Another name for the sacrament is Reconciliation. In the story of the Prodigal Son, the Father rejoices and runs out to meet the son who had strayed. Our Heavenly Father is the same way, He wants, more than anything, for His children to be reconciled to Himself and His love. Our sins tear us from Him and Reconciliation is the way in which we can look squarely at the sins [we're] guilty of, take responsibility got them, and thereby open ourselves again to God and to the communion of the Church in order to make a new future possible. (CCC 1455) So always remember that our God is merciful and overflowing with love for us. Also, the priest is bound to never speak of what he hears in confession. The priest is just the ear and mouth piece of God, you're really confessing to a merciful and loving God, not the to the priest.
(By Ashley Collins)
Changes in the way we celebrate the Mass
The Mass is celebrated all over the world in various languages and rites. The Latin rite is the version of the Mass with which we are most familiar. Although it is no longer in Latin, the Mass that we attend here at St. Thomas More is in the Latin Rite because it is the rite (or version) of the Mass that the Pope in Rome celebrates. In order to keep the Latin Mass the same throughout the world, a guide as to how it is supposed to be celebrated has to be used. This guide is called a “missal.” The missal is the text which lays out how the Mass is supposed to be said and includes all the prayers, movements, and responses for the Celebrant as well as those in the assembly.
A universal missal was not present throughout Church history, but rather eventually came about by taking different parts from different missals that were used during the middle ages. In 1970, Pope Paul VI made the Missale Romanum (Roman Missal) the definitive text for the reformed liturgy of the Second Vatican Council. This meant that the Latin language had to be translated into the languages of the people who were going to hear the Mass. The International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) was asked to translate all the liturgical text on behalf of the conferences of bishops for English-speaking countries. The translations have gone through various revisions throughout the years trying to get as close to the original Latin text as possible. These translations have given us our General Instruction for the Roman Missal (GIRM).
Another new translation will soon enter the Church in the next year or so with many changes in the wording of the prayers and responses. Both the priests as well as the laity are in for some getting used to as we move closer to a better translation reflecting the true theology that lays within the words we speak at Mass.
Some examples of what are to change:
Today, as the priest begins the Mass, he says, “The Lord be with you.” And the everyone responds, “And also with you.” However, with the new translation that more closely reflects the original Latin, the assembly will respond with, “And with your Spirit.”
Perhaps the change that will be most difficult for some will be the new translation of the Creed that we recite at Mass. In the Latin, the creed begins with the word “Credo.” The ‘cred’ part signifies the verb “believe” while the ‘o’ at the end designates the pronoun “I.” This means that “Credo en unum Deum” is properly translated as “I believe in One God.” It becomes a more personal statement of faith so that the person can claim the creed as his own.
Some of these changes in the wording are made in order to more closely reflect their Biblical references. For example, when the we say, “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you,” will be changed to say, “ Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof,” in order to reference the centurion’s words in Matthew 8:8.
These changes are not an overhaul of the rite, but rather a refinement of the language used. It may be challenging to some people to accept these changes because they are slightly contrary to what we’re used to, but know that these changes are important and meaningful. For more information, visit http://www.usccb.org/romanmissal/faqs.shtml.
(By Ashley Collins)
The first reading, from the Book of Isaiah, is a prophetic reading about the what is to happen when Christ comes, but is also still relevant now that Christ has already come. The reading tells us to “be strong, fear not,” because our God is to come save us. The reading then goes on to say, the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf cleared.
In a real sense our Lord has come and healed us and as today's gospel proclaims, “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” But in another way there are some who are able to see, but are blind to the vision of hope the Church provides. There are also those who may have the ability to hear, but are deaf to the reception of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In our world today it seems that many are “afflicted” in these manners.
Holy Mother Church often lovingly admonishes and corrects our wrongdoing on the issues of life, such as abortion and the death penalty, and on social justice issues, such as our treatment of the poor, as talked about in the second reading, and war and oppression. The Church even speaks on issues such as the dignity of Marriage. It is at these times, when the Church speaks on truth and justice, that we stop looking and listening (today's gospel talks about the more Jesus ordered the people not so do, the more they did) like the novelty monkeys, “see no evil, hear not evil, speak no evil,” only it is not evil we become unreceptive to, but it is our Lord.
The first reading directs us to “fear not” and to be courageous. In Isaiah it says our God will come but we know He has come and is to come again. So, when we push forward with the truth and justice that the Church proclaims we know it is not in vain, because Christ gives us hope that one day He will speak into the hearts of man and say “Ephphatha!” (Be opened). When that day comes, those who listen not to the gospel will hear and those who see not the beacon of light that is the Church will have their eyes opened!
(By Devin Jones)
