Internet Porn: The Crack Cocaine of Sexual Addiction

Posted for Sherry Weddell

A powerful piece from Catholic Exchange on the pervasive lure of on-line pornography addiction. Read the whole thing by clicking on the title, but here's an excerpt.

"What Andy didn't realize was the highly addictive nature of his porn activity. Even at this entry-level porn use, he was already caught in the web of a chemical-like dependency called the "crack cocaine of sexual addiction."

Pornography or cybersex addiction can progress much more rapidly than any other chemical or behavioral addiction — the individual can become addicted in only a matter of weeks or months. The internet has an extraordinary capacity to introduce a trance-like state. Hours may pass while the individual is completely preoccupied with chatting online or gazing at pornographic images on the computer screen. This trance-like state is the first key element in the addiction cycle, which intensifies with each repetition. "

Snip

"Patrick Carnes, Ph.D., pioneer in the field of sexual addiction, maintains that all sexual addicts have certain faulty, core beliefs that make them vulnerable to addiction. They experience a fundamental lack of self-worth and a mistrust of others that come from early childhood experiences (whether through some traumatic incident or through impaired early attachment experiences) and are reinforced by our culture. The four dysfunctional core beliefs are:

1. I am a bad, unworthy person

2. Nobody would love me if they really knew me

3. My needs are never going to be met, if I have to depend on others

4. Sex is my most important need

Viewing pornography is accompanied by self-gratification and triggers arousal, satiation and an increase in fantasy, which induce powerful neurochemical responses in the brain similar to those induced by addictive drugs and alcohol. When these neurochemical changes happen repeatedly, the responses to sexual behaviors become habituated, and these behaviors are now "hard-wired" in the brain.

Yet this cycle repeats itself, often escalating as the user compulsively seeks increasingly deviant websites, or even tries to live out some of his sexual fantasies. The user may try to stop, but discovers that he experiences anxiety, restlessness, and unease (symptoms of withdrawal). Often the secret sin is never disclosed — until a loved one stumbles upon his addiction, or until he loses a job, or gets caught engaging in an illegal sexual act.

Once discovered, it is difficult, but not impossible, to treat. The treatment requires an integrated model of individual therapy, a self-help twelve-step group such as Sexaholics Anonymous, and a strong spiritual program with frequent reception of the sacraments. Our Catholic faith can combat the faulty core beliefs of the addict, but often therapy is needed to face the issues of the past that gave rise to the feelings of worthlessness, fear, and mistrust. Oftentimes, there is a childhood trauma or abuse that needs to be addressed.

There is a growing movement to address the problem of pornography and to offer hope to those afflicted. In his pastoral letter, "Bought with a Price," Bishop Paul S. Loverde outlines the nature of the offense and counters many of the false arguments that attempt to justify pornography. Just last week, the second largest Canadian wireless phone company pulled their plans to sell pornography on mobile phones, after the Archbishop of Vancouver, Raymond Roussin, urged Canadian Catholics to boycott.

If anyone is suffering from pornography addiction, a first step is to take a look at the website www.unityrestored.com which was developed by Catholic mental health professionals and especially designed to help Catholics (and their families) who are afflicted by the scourge of pornography.

PBS on "The Mormons"

A strikingly positive review of the PBS show "The Mormons" in today's New York Times which will broadcast tonight and tomorrow.

If you watch it, come back and share your impressions with the rest of us.

Orthodox Politics?

As I was reflecting on the issue of Global Warming on my blog, I started thinking about the ways in which American politics seem to intertwine with orthodox Catholicism. If one were to take the whole of Catholic doctrine and "map" where it might fall on the American Political Spectrum, it would become quite apparent that it extends well into both Conservative and Liberal camps.
This has ever been the problem for many Catholics who wish to apply Catholic teaching in the current political landscape--for whom should I vote, seeing as no single political party stands for everything that I do? The Truth of Revelation can not simply be fit neatly into either increasingly polarized political view.

Over the course of the last year or so, I have been increasingly impressed with the folks over at Evangelical Catholicism. They consistently undertake a rather rigorous and nuanced application of Catholic Teaching to the issues at hand. And, at the end of the day, that is exactly what we, as lay members of Christ's Church, are called to do: apply the Truths of the faith to the world in which we live.

Regarding the relationship of Catholic Teaching to , Evangelical Catholicism has this penetrating analysis:

In my experience, it seems that in recent times, some Catholics in this country understand orthodoxy as a synonym for conservative ideals. However, these ideals are not necessarily concerned with the traditional moral values that many cultures still refer to. For instance, when I was growing up, my mom would always talk about how I had to uphold the conservative values she taught me: dress modestly, save myself for marriage, respect your elders, etc. These are not the ones I am referring to on this post. In contrast, the conservative ideals I am referring to seem to extend to the political and social spheres that are based on the principles of the Republican party. The problem is that when you go outside of the U.S., you will not find such marked differences between one party and another, so to evaluate orthodoxy in terms of one country’s political ideologies is not universally applicable, other than just being completely erroneous.

Orthodoxy means “right belief” and because as Christians we believe that belief is not isolated from actions, orthodoxy is always coupled with orthopraxis or “right action.” Some Catholics seem to use the term orthodoxy quite loosely even forgetting that one cannot judge someone else’s belief without looking at how their actions correspond to that belief. As a result, just because I prefer Gregorian chant to be sung in the liturgy and I enjoy the Tridentine Mass over the Novus Ordo, does not make me an orthodox Catholic if I ignore the homeless mother waiting outside of the church asking for help.

To be sure, faithful and orthodox Catholics can disagree on the best way to actually apply the Church's Teaching to particular issues--but we must all begin from the same set of Principles. As Katerina over at EC writes:

Catholic teaching is simply true. It is not conservative, nor liberal, nor socialist. Let us not reduce true Christian teaching to mere political ideals. Rather, let us see the problems we face in society in light of Catholic teaching, because if we take our political ideologies as our starting point, we will ignore the fullness of truth contained in the entire corpus of Catholic doctrine.

This is the classic Catholic both/and--a fullness and integrity of Truth with which we have been gifted. As men and women who have received this great gift, it is our responsibility to reflect carefully on how to bring this Teaching in to every area of human endeavor--this is the lay apostolate in action.

Coming to a Youtube near You: That Catholic Show

Fr. Broderick and his gang over at SQPN have just launched That Catholic Show - a popular 5 minute video on the Catholic faith. Take a look at the initial episode: Sit, Stand or Kneel?

Comments?

Catherine of Siena mega-site

Do pay a visit to this wonderful site dedicated entirely to the life, work, writings, and spirituality of St. Catherine of Siena.

Hat tip: Amy Welborn

The Seuss is Loose

This weekend I helped out a bit with a LifeTeen retreat sponsored by Holy Apostles Catholic Church in Colorado Springs, CO. The title of the retreat was "The Seuss is Loose," and the presentations offered by various members of the core team were reflections based on a few beloved Dr. Seuss stories, and focused on the need for perseverance in the faith in the face of opposition, growth in virtue, overcoming peer pressure, and the unique love that God has for each person.

I had the privilege of listening to some of the kids share about what's going on in their life, and I was blown away. Their adolescence is so different from my own. The pressures they encounter at school, the difficulties they face when they go home, sometimes, are incredible. I don't know how well I would handle them at age 47, much less age 17! In some cases, the children's parents are divorced, or working hard to maintain a standard of living and providing what their kids ask for. But of course, what the kids ask for and what they really need - parental time and individual attention - are two different things.

Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the importance of parents in the lives of their children:
"The joyful love with which our parents welcomed us and accompanied our first steps in this world is like a sacramental sign and prolongation of the benevolent love of God from which we have come. The experience of being welcomed and loved by God and by our parents is always the firm foundation for authentic human growth and authentic development, helping us to mature on the way towards truth and love, and to move beyond ourselves in order to enter into communion with others and with God."
Pope Benedict XVI. Sermon at the Fifth World Meeting of Families, Valencia 2006

George Barna, in a reflection on the Virginia Tech shooting linked in the title of this post, cites a number of chilling facts about parenting and the state of parenthood today, including:

-By the time an American child is 23 years old, as was the killer in Virginia, he will have seen countless murders among the more than 30,000 acts of violence to which he is exposed through television, movies and video games.

-By the age of 23, the average American will have viewed thousands of hours of pornographic images, which diminish the dignity and value of human life.

-After nearly a quarter century on earth, the typical American will have listened to hundreds of hours of music that fosters anger, hatred, disrespect for authority, selfishness, and radical independence.

-The typical worldview of a person in their early twenties promotes self-centeredness, the right to happiness and fulfillment, the importance of personal expression in all forms, the necessity of tolerating aberrant or immoral points of views, allows for disrespect of other people and use of profanity, and advances forms of generic spirituality that dismiss the validity of the Judeo-Christian faith. Largely propelled by postmodern thought, the typical worldview of young people does not facilitate respect for life, acceptance of the rule of law, or the necessity of hard work, personal sacrifice, paying the dues or contributing to the common good.

-The average adolescent spends more than 40 hours each week digesting media, and the typical teenager in America absorbs almost 60 hours of media content each week. For better or worse, the messages received from the media represent a series of unfiltered, unchaperoned worldview lessons.

-It appears that as many as one out of every five young people is or has been under the influence of mood-altering medications, some of whose long-term side effects are not fully understood by the medical community. Drugging children has become one of the ways in which we have coped with other issues.

-Stress levels have been steadily rising among young children over the past couple of decades. A variety of factors have contributed to such stress, including parental acrimony and divorce, household financial troubles, media-fed expectations regarding materialism, overscheduling of children, bullying, physical abuse within the home, and excessive peer pressure.

-One-third of the nation’s teenagers report having been in a physical fight at least once in the last year. Nearly one out of every five 9th through 12th grade students has carried a gun, knife or club in the past month.

-Education, both in the home and outside of it, provides diminishing emphasis upon the development of character, and increasing emphasis upon meeting academic performance standards, especially through standardized testing.

-Growing numbers of children seek to make their way through an increasingly complex life without the traditional safety net comprised of a loving and supportive family, a stable circle of supportive peers, teachers who know and help nurture the child, and a community of faith that assists in giving meaning to life and a sense of belonging.

-Most young people admit that they feel as if they do not receive sufficient attention from their parents; do not have enough good friends whom they can count on; are unsettled about their own future; have personal spiritual perspectives but not much of a sense of spiritual community; lack role models; and do not feel that they have intrinsic value."

The stress parents face is also outlined in the article.

In spite of this, the retreat demonstrated that adolescents can and do respond positively to positive role models, can support one another, are willing - even craving - a relationship with Jesus (witnessed by their attentiveness to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament). They can sing songs of praise with great enthusiasm, are able to be achingly honest in the sacrament of reconciliation, and will even forego an extra hour of sleep to attend a non-required early-morning Mass.

My hat's off to all those who work with our youth, and to parents who are struggling to remain in a healthy, positive, Christ-centered relationship with their children!

How can we support each other in this vital task?

In Honor of St. Catherine

Some Fruits of My Labor

I know I haven't been around the blog much. I've been quite busy at work and, in what free time I have had, I've been busily organizing my videos, pictures, etc., from my Rome trip onto a DVD. My, oh my, did I not realize how tedious that would be. Still working on it, but I thought I would share the fruits of some of my labor. Here's the intro to the DVD. The pictures are all mine. The music is a sample from Claudio Chieffo's work and is a beloved song within CL and was the one sung when the Pope arrived at the audience. (I know it has been over a month, but I will post on the trip soon, I promise!)

Let me take a stab at this...

I’ve been following the dust-up regarding the word “evangelical” – the conflict between Protestant converts’ varied understandings and experiences of it and the negative images the word conjures in cradle Catholics’ minds, and the concerns about elitism and condescension on the part of those involved in such lay groups.

In my opinion, the best posts framing the issues and answering the questions are here (by Sherry W), here (also by Sherry), and here (Fr. Jim Tucker of Dappled Things), as well as Fr. Mike's post (below) from today.

From my perspective as a participant in the Institute's programs and an avid supporter for many years, I have to say this first regarding the charge of an elitist attitude: No one is trying to turn introverted, shy, prayerfully devoted contemplative cradle Catholics into happy-clappy extroverts who shout “Amen!” back at the priest during his homily and chatter incessantly about their “personal relationship with Jesus” to the person who sits next to them on the bus. No one is trying to turn faithful Catholics into something they’re not. The programs and resources of the Catherine of Siena Institute are not geared toward changing your personality; rather, they are designed to treat your personality, your personal conception and experience of God, and your specific charisms with the greatest of respect and care. Discerning one’s charisms in response to God’s call is a deeply and uniquely personal process, and the Institute’s goal is to equip you intellectually and emotionally to grow into the best you that God designed for you to be.

Though the standards of holiness are the same for us all, because of our unique personalities, holiness looks different on everyone – and this is what we recognize and encourage. Our vision is the diametric opposite of elitism – for how could we measure such a thing? Could we say that St. Thomas Aquinas was a more “intentional” disciple than St. Francis of Assisi, or vice versa? That Mother Theresa was more “evangelical” than St. Teresa of Avila? Taking the analogy of the human body for the Body of Christ, for a moment: Is the eye less important to the function of the body than the spleen? Is your right hand more important than the hormones secreted by your pancreas? Please – anyone who’s ever actually encountered the programs or materials of the Institute can vouch for the fact that charges of spiritual arrogance or elitism are unfounded (except for the unfortunate fact that we all sin personally now and again).

To me, “intentional discipleship” means “things I think about and plan on doing for/with Jesus, and then I do them”. There are no prescribed practices, no celices, no special society prayerbooks. Nothing but the “me” I’ve dedicated to the service of God and my fellow man on planet Earth; the equipment He’s given me in terms of my talents, experiences, and intellect; the resources of the Church and the power infused into my soul by the Sacraments; and my willingness to do the tasks and love the people He sets before me each day. That’s it.

I’ve been reading a book by Fr. Luigi Giussani, the founder of Communion & Liberation, entitled The Journey to Truth Is an Experience. Here’s a quote from his exegesis of Acts 1:12-14 that describes what happens when someone encounters Christ in a personal way, i.e. responds to the kerygma with faith, i.e. has an experience of Jesus Christ that radically alters their view of themselves and their place in the universe:

One who truly discovers and lives the experience of powerlessness and solitude does not remain alone. Only one who has experienced powerlessness to its depths, and hence personal solitude, feels close to others and is easily drawn to them. Like someone lost, without shelter in a storm, he or she feels his or her cry at one with the cries of others, her or her anxiety and expectation at one with the anxieties and expectations of all others.

Only one who truly experiences helplessness and solitude stays with other people without self-interest, calculation, or imposition, yet at the same time without “following the crowd” passively, submitting, or becoming a slave of society.

You can claim to be seriously committed to your own human experience only when you sense this community with others, with anyone and everyone, without frontiers or discrimination, for we live our commitment to what is most deeply within us and therefore common to all. You are truly committed to your own human experience when, saying “I”, you live this “I” so simply and profoundly that you feel fraternally bonded to any other person’s “I”. God’s answer will reach only the person committed in such a way. (Giussani, Fr. L. The Journey to Truth Is an Experience. Quebec City: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2006, p. 55-56)

Fr. Giussani’s words take some pondering and unpacking, but what I get from the above passage is this: It’s only through our experience of Jesus Christ, the One Reality, that we can have any sort of healthy bond to our fellow creatures at all. The recognition of our own powerlessness, sinfulness, emptiness, and aloneness without God is what we truly have in common with every other human being, and it’s on this basis that we bond, with the goal of helping one another succeed in apprehending the grace that God offers us and becoming what God intends for us to be. It’s only through the personal recognition of the truth of who God is, and therefore who we are and what our experience means, that we can be knit together in a diverse, complex, yet unified entity that can be a powerful force for good on our planet.

Every Protestant I know would agree with the following statement: The experience of Christ always leads a person to the Christian community. Though some Christians don’t make it into the Catholic Church, they still respond the best they can to Christ’s directives in the Scriptures, not the least of which is “We should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another, and this all the more as you see the day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25) Yes, Protestant ecclesiology is different; though they don’t believe in The Church, nearly all believe in a church. If they didn’t, there wouldn’t be anything we call a “Protestant denomination”; we would simply encounter individual Christian believers outside the Catholic Church, floating like tiny atoms of light in the midst of the darkness that surrounds us.

I hope this helps to allay the concerns of those who fear a “Protestantization” of the Church, but I don’t know if it will… Comments? Clarifications? Questions? (Coffee?)

Reader Bleg

From an ID Reader:

I am a big fan and daily reader of the Intentional Disciples blog and I have what I think they call a "bleg" for you and the other readers... I have just been hired at a parish to join their faith
formation team. They are a Generations of Faith parish, and really are ahead of their time in terms of thinking ahead, wanting to involve the whole parish in catechesis and evangelization. The idea is I'm supposed to work with the pastor and the faith formation team to get the parish all on one page, catechetically- I'll be working with RCIA and Marriage prep and Baptism prep and sort of filling in the nooks and crannies which aren't traditionally considered to be
included in faith formation.

The reason I'm having trouble describing it is actually the nature of my bleg... we are inventing this position as we go along! So I'd love to hear from your readers; What would your readers call a position like this? What could my title be? What would you include in the job
description? Does anyone have a position like this in existence in your parish? Any helpful hints or ideas?

I won't use my real name because I haven't made the move yet... but I appreciate your help and look forward to reading on your blog if there are any answers forthcoming!

Siena, The Palio

The Palio di Siena (known locally simply as the Palio), the most famous palio in Italy, is a horse race held twice each year on July 2 and August 16 in Siena, in which the horse and rider represent one of the seventeen Contrade, or city wards. A magnificent pageant precedes the race, which attracts visitors and spectators from around the world. Public races organized by the Contrade were popular from the 14th century on; called palii alla lunga, they were run across the whole city. Perhaps St. Catherine herself saw something like this in her own day.

Warning, this is not like the Kentucky Derby. Horses and riders go down hard in this video.

Siena City Walk

You might not be able to travel to Siena for St. Catherine's feastday, but here's a little something to whet your appetite.



Hope you enjoy this!

MORE on Evangelization

I made a long comment on Amy Welborn's blog, Open Book, where another discussion rages about intentional discipleship, evangelization, and the personal relationship to Jesus. A lot of Catholics in the blogosphere are passionate about the Church, Jesus, the Sacraments, evangelization, RCIA, which is a hopeful sign. Too often, though, we end up sniping at one another in a most unchristian manner. Sometimes, it's because we can't agree on what to do first. I spent too much time on this to not post it here, too. I include a picture of St. Dominic Here goes...

I hope this comment allows all of us who are passionate about Christ and His Church to make some important distinctions which can be forgotten when we talk about evangelization, sacramental preparation, and discussions about the disposition of an individual with regard to the reception of sacraments.

There seems to be some disagreement about the nature and interrelationship between evangelization, proclamation and catechesis. Some argue the importance of catechetical content, others emphasize the importance of personal conversion to Christ, and so on.

All of these are important, but each has a particular role and place in the process of bringing someone into the fullness of relationship with Christ and His Church as it can be experienced in our earhtly life.

The National Directory for Catechesis recognizes that individuals fall into different categories with regard to what they need from the Christian community or the individual Catholic Christian.

Some people are in need of Pre-evangelization, i.e., preparation for the first proclamation of the Gospel. These include “non-believers, the indifferent.” The indifferent, I believe, can sometimes include people in our parishes. Pre-evangelization indicates that there are some obstacles that may need to be overcome before someone is capable of hearing and receiving the gospel. Sometimes that can be as simple as needing to trust a particular Catholic person who seems to genuinely care about me.

"Sharing the Light of Faith" (the old National Catechetical Directory) expresses this beautifully:

"Catechesis presupposes prior pre-evangelization and evangelization. These are likely to be most successful when they build on basic human needs - for security, affection, acceptance, growth, and intellectual development - showing how these include a need, a hunger, for God and His Word.

Often, however, catechesis is directed to individuals and communities who, in fact, have not experienced pre-evangelization and evangelization, and have not made acts of faith corresponding to those stages. Taking people as they are, catechesis attempts to dispose them to respond to the message of revelation in an authentic, personal way.

There is a great need in the United States today (1978!!) to prepare the ground for the gospel message. Many people have no religious affiliation. Many others have not committed their lives to Christ and His Church, even though they are church members. Radical questioning of values, rapid social change, pluralism, cultural influences, and population mobility - these and other factors underline the need for pre-evangelization." (Nat'l Catechetical Directory for the U.S., 1978, #34)

Once we have established some kind of relationship and have dealt with issues that might prevent the acceptance of the Gospel (which might be personal or philosophical), and individual is prepared for the initial announcement of the Gospel. This can include a wide variety of people: “Non-believers, those who have chosen not to believe, those who follow other religions, children of Christians, those who may have been baptized but have little or no awareness of their Baptism and . . . live on the margins of Christian life.” (Nat'l Directory for Catechesis, 2005, #49

Notice that proclamation is of the Gospel, which is about Christ! The intent is to foster the individual's relationship with Jesus as Lord and Savior, which necessarily calls for personal conversion that is indicated by a change in one's life. This is the focus of the inquiry and precatechumenate stages of RCIA. If the RCIA process is to be a model for adult faith formation in this country, as the U.S. bishops suggested in Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us, we cannot afford to ignore the question of whether or not an individual has committed their life to Christ. A judgment has to be made by each one of us whether or not this is true.

AFTER initial faith and conversion, one is ready for initiatory catechesis that introduces the life of faith, the Liturgy, and charity. According to the National Catechetical Directory, this is appropriate for “Catechumens, those who are coming to the Catholic faith from another Christian tradition, Catholics who need to complete their initiation, children and the young.” (49) But always, personal conversion is presumed in these individuals. If it has not happened, they are not ready to receive the fullness of the truth the Church has to offer because they have not received Him Who is the Truth.

The teaching of the Church regarding evangelization, catechesis and proclamation is beautiful, scriptural, practical, recognizes the essential role for grace - and remains to be put into effective practice in many of our parishes and in most of our lives. It requires patience, prayer, good people skills, grace, a lived relationship with Christ and His Church, time, attentiveness to others, selfless love. It wouldn't hurt if the fruits of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control (attributes that sometimes are lacking in Catholic blogs) were clearly to be found in us who would bring others to Christ and His Church.

St. Catherine of Siena

In honor of our patroness's feast day, Sherry thought she'd post a brief article she wrote several years ago about Catherine's life and impact

Life in 14th-century Siena seemed to offer 16-year-old Catherine Benincasa only two alternatives, an arranged marriage or life as an enclosed nun. What else could an illiterate, teen-aged daughter of a middle-class Italian merchant do? Astonishingly, Catherine refused to accept either option, fighting hard and successfully for a third way of life.

Catherine’s family, horrified at her refusal to do the conventional thing, forced her to endure months of mistreatment before she won the right to join the Dominican Third Order and live a devout life at home. For three years, Catherine lived a life of prayer, silence, and austerity in her tiny 9-by-12-foot room. During the Carnival of 1366, she experienced a mystical betrothal to Christ. A few days later, she realized that God was asking her to leave her contemplative isolation and re-enter the world. Catherine of Siena was only 19 when her public ministry began.

It was just as well that she got such an early start. Over six hundred years later, her life still strikes us as astonishing. In the next fourteen years Catherine lived the life of a dozen women. She was an ambassador and peace-maker, a nurse and a healer and a powerful evangelist whose very presence triggered innumerable conversions. She served as a counselor to Popes, queens, priests, housewives, and condemned prisoners, while composing one of the great works of Christian mysticism. Importantly, it was her status as a single laywoman that set Catherine of Siena free to answer a call from God that would alter the course of Western history and result in her becoming the first lay Doctor of the Church (as a Third Order Dominican, Catherine was not considered a nun).

Like her spiritual father, Saint Dominic, Catherine had remarkable charisms. While making peace between two branches of the Salembeni family, she sparked a religious revival. Thousands of local people would make their way through the mountains to the castle where Catherine was staying. The mere sight of her would set them clamoring for the sacraments. Seven priests worked all day and half the night hearing their confessions and could not keep up with the demand from penitents, some of whom hadn’t been to confession in forty years. Numerous healings were also attributed to Catherine. Her spiritual director, Blessed Raymond of Capua, once fell ill of the plague and had all the symptoms of impending death. She knelt by his side and prayed for an hour and a half until he wondered if she had forgotten about him altogether. But after eating food that she had prepared, he fell asleep, and upon waking, found himself completely well.

Catherine’s life was so remarkable that we are tempted to feel as if she has nothing to say to those of us whose faith and gifts seem all too ordinary by comparison. Remarkable as her gifts were, more remarkable was her sense of personal responsibility and authority to tackle the urgent issues of her day. She had no credentials of note in medieval society except that she was a disciple of Jesus Christ, a faithful daughter of the Church, and a woman of great spiritual depth and giftedness. Few lay Christians have had a clearer sense of standing in Jesus’ place than Catherine. Her influence was based upon her personal holiness and charisms, not her position. The most staggering thing about Catherine of Siena is that she did it all as a laywoman. Precisely on this account, there is much about Catherine’s ministry common to all of us who are called to live out our faith as lay Christians.

Like us, she cared deeply about the people and the world about her. One of my favorite stories about Catherine is of her experience in Pisa, where crowds thronged about her, kissing her hands. When accused of enjoying this attention, she protested that she hadn’t even noticed how people saluted her because she had been so interested in them! Catherine cared about the good of her hometown, of Italy, and of the whole of Christendom, which included the spiritual and institutional well-being of the Church itself. Like Saint Dominic, she constantly asked "What about the others?" But Catherine did more than care, she took action. When Siena was ravaged by recurring bouts of the plague, Catherine and her disciples risked their own lives to care for the sick and bury the dead. When the Pope needed to be strengthened in his resolve to leave Avignon and return to Rome, Catherine’s counsel gave him the courage he needed.

She plunged into the murky, chaotic world of Italian religious and political life without thinking that, because she was only an uneducated woman, she had no right to be there. There were no handy self-help guides to tell her How to Reconcile Warring City States in Five Easy Steps or How to Deal With Difficult Popes. The problems before her were every bit as complex and hard to grasp as are the problems facing us in our world. And, just as achievements in the our modern world can be difficult to measure, partial, and ambiguous in impact, so were Catherine’s.

Even her greatest political accomplishment, convincing Gregory VI to return to Rome, quickly lost its luster when two years later the Church found itself with two competing claimants for the office of Pope. Thus began the "Great Schism" that lasted thirty-six years and during which three men claimed to be Pope at the same time. Just as the results of our love and work are often obscured by the pressure of the problems and personalities about us, so the long-term effects of Catherine’s courageous struggle were not visible when she died at the young age of 33. At the end of her life, almost all of Catherine’s efforts in peace-making and church reform seemed to have ended in failure.

The key to Catherine’s lasting impact lay in her collaboration with others. A group of friends and disciples had gathered around her in Siena. It was a eclectic group made up of men and women, lay, religious, and priests, members of her family (including her mother, who repented of her opposition to Catherine’s vocation) and members of the nobility. A number of the "caterinati," as skeptics referred to her friends, went on to have an enormous impact for good. One of Catherine’s lay followers eventually became Prior General of the Carthusian Order. Raymond of Capua, who was Catherine’s confessor and biographer, became Master of the Dominican Order after her death and helped lead a major reform. John Dominic, the other great leader of the Dominican Reform, was only able to join the order because Catherine healed him of a speech impediment. He played a critical role in healing the Great Schism. He also founded the famous convent of San Marco in Florence and encouraged the work of Fra Angelico, the great Dominican painter. Catherine’s influence on all these men was profound.

Saint Catherine continues to touch the lives of men and women today. In the past six months, three different women have told me how traveling to Siena to visit Catherine’s home (which is carefully preserved) and shrine has powerfully changed their lives. We get phone calls and e-mail from people all over the country looking for information about our patroness. Others show up at our workshops simply because our organization is associated with Catherine of Siena.

We have much in common with the people of Rome who, upon hearing of Catherine’s death, poured into the chapel where her body lay, bringing their sick to ask for her intercession (miraculous cures did occur that heightened the crowd’s fervor). One of her Dominican friends mounted the pulpit to speak words of praise about her life, but he could not make himself heard over the voices of the vast throng praying around him. His response seems prophetic of her continued significance for us today as a saint and Doctor of the Church. "Catherine," he said, "speaks better for herself."

Come To Making Disciples

Posted For Sherry W:

The discussion about "is evangelism and intentional discipleship Catholic or Protestant?" has finally spilled over to Amy's.

I admit, I'm still a bit staggered at the seemingly endless controversy on a topic that has been the subject of endless magisterial teaching over the past 40+ years. But if any ID readers or visitors are interested in actually doing something about evangelization, consider attending Making Disciples this summer in Colorado Springs or this fall in West Virginia.

As we say on our website: The non-negotiable foundation for Christian maturity and vocation today, as it has always been, is discipleship. And the key to intentional discipleship is a critical part of catechesis and formation that seldom happens in the Catholic pastoral practice: thoughtful pre-evangelization and an initial proclamation of Christ that asks for a deliberate personal response.

Making Disciples is a four day seminar that will help participants

· Understand intentional discipleship and that it is the normative source of spiritual life, and thus the ultimate end of all pastoral ministry.

· Understand why initial discipleship precedes catechesis and how life-changing catechesis and formation builds on discipleship.

· Learn how to listen for and recognize pre-discipleship stages of spiritual growth.

· Learn how to facilitate the spiritual growth of those - whether baptized and “active” or not - who are not yet disciples.

· Learn how to articulate the basic kerygma that awakens initial faith in a gentle and non-threatening way.

· Learn how to use these skills in a wide variety of pastoral and personal settings: RCIA/inquiry, adult faith formation, sacramental prep, spiritual direction, pastoral counseling, gifts and vocational discernment,and personal relationships of all kinds.

· Have an opportunity to prayerfully reflect on their own journey toward discipleship.

Although the focus of Making Disciples is primarily pastoral and practical, Church teaching on evangelization and catechesis, grace, faith, disposition, the Holy Spirit, baptism and confirmation, and the charisms will be integrated throughout the seminar.

Check it out.

More On Evangelical Catholics

John Armstrong has a fascinating analysis regarding "evangelical" Catholics from an evangelical perspective:

The word evangelical has been variously misunderstood and disowned by Roman Catholics. The reason for this is not hard to understand. Catholics remember the reactions of fundamentalists and they watch evangelical Christian television and find it most unattractive and, at times, anti-Catholic. But the word originates from the Greek word for gospel in the New Testament (euangelion). It has always been a word that described those whose lives were transformed by the good news. This is why the Protestant revivals produced new "evangelicals." (By the way, there have been real Catholic revivals as well, as scholar Jay P. Dolan has made abundantly clear!)

I believe Catholics should help us reclaim the right use of the term evangelical. This word can be reclaimed, in a new time and with new meaning, if we both recognize it as a way to express the transformation that is brought about by believing the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if we are committed to proclaiming this message, in word and deed, then we have a common basis for a true ecumenism in a world that needs a strong Christian witness from all churches.

I found the entire article to be fascinating. Check it out here!

Hat Tip: Deep Furrows

The Political St. Catherine of Siena

St. Catherine of Siena's feastday is April 29. Because if falls on a Sunday this year, we won't be celebrating her in the normal way, but it is good to reflect on her life just a bit, especially as an example of someone who responded to her vocation! Catherine was a lay woman. She's often called a nun, and is pictured in a Dominican habit because she was a Dominican tertiary, but make no mistake, she was lay. She was also a woman of deep, contemplative prayer who was also immersed in the travails of her age, which included religious schism, incredible political machinations, devastating plagues, incessant wars between nations and among Italian city-states. The clergy of her day were ill-formed and often corrupt, and the moral state of most of her contemporaries was, well, a matter of constant prayer for Catherine.

What I find fascinating about Catherine is how her powerful contemplative life compelled her into the major frays of her day. She was a prolific letter-writer, and also traveled extensively during her life - most unusual for men, unheard of for women who weren't royalty. She fearlessly addressed the corruption of her day, whether it was within the Church, or in the secular realm. Here's just a sample, from a letter to Charles V, king of France, who was supporting an anti-pope at the time.

"Be, ah! be a lover of virtue, founded in true and holy justice, and despise vice. I beg you, by love of Christ crucified, to do in your state three especial things. The first is, to despise the world and yourself and all its joys, possessing your kingdom as a thing lent to you, and not your own. ...I beg you that, as The Wise, you should act like a good steward, made His steward by God; possessing all things as merely lent to you.

The other matter is, that you maintain holy and true justice; let it not be ruined, either for self-love or for flatteries, or for any pleasing of men. And do not connive at your officials doing injustice for money, and denying right to the poor: but be to the poor a father, a distributer of what God has given you. And seek to have the faults that are found in your kingdom punished and virtue exalted. For all this appertains to the divine justice to do.

The third matter is, to observe the doctrine which that Master upon the Cross gives you; which is the thing that my soul most desires to see in you: that is, love and affection with your neighbour, with whom you have for so long a time been at war. For you know well that without this root of love, the tree of your soul would not bear fruit, but would dry up, abiding in hate and unable to draw up into itself the moisture of grace. Alas, dearest father, the Sweet Primal Truth teaches it to you, and leaves you for a commandment, to love God above everything, and one's neighbour as one's self."

Sometimes Catherine's words and presence had an effect, sometimes not. She grieved for the division within the Church, lamented the corruption in the politics of her day, and, in spite of these realities, always encouraged her followers to look for the best in others.


We need Catherines today. We need women and men who are imbued with the message and values of the Gospel. Where is the outcry over Abu Ghraib in our country? Over the perhaps lawful, yet unjust detaining of prisoners in Guantanamo? Can we have loving concern, like St. Catherine, for the souls of politicians who promote profit over justice and stewardship; private concerns over common good; personal choice (with respect to abortion) and revenge (with respect to capital punishment) over life?

Some of us have vocations that may lead us to pursue a life in politics. Others may be called to pray for changes in our country. Still others may be called by Christ to dive in to problems that we find compelling, without waiting for the government, business, or non-profits to address the issue.

All of us are called in some way, like Catherine, to apply our faith to the problems and opportunities that surround us.

Vocation Sunday

Sunday's Gospel shows us Christ, the Good Shepherd who calls his sheep by name. For this reason, it's celebrated as a World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Many of us will hear homilies about answering the call to priesthood and religious life, and certainly there is a need for generous responses to those vocations.

I will preach about the unique call or vocation given to each one of us. It is more than just a call to a particular state of life, like marriage, priesthood, religious life, single life. Every call from God is an invitation to service, and to love. Most of us receive a multi-faceted call. Having discerned a call to priesthood and religious life (which did not end when I received the Dominican habit, but continued throughout my formation) did not mean that I was finished discerning my call!

The call is continuous, throughout our life. The Lord calls us to lead us ever deeper into Life, into relationship with Him, and into new adventures of service of our brothers and sisters. As you may have read on an earlier post, people in business have a call to operate not in accord with the world, which often uses devious practices, but to be transparent and honest, and work towards goals that benefit as many as possible without doing injustice to anyone. A physician may have a call to bring healing not only through his or her skill, but also through the love and heartfelt compassion offered to the patient, along with prayers to God for their healing.

Sometimes we hear of a seemingly hopeless situation in our own city, and wonder what we can do to respond. Barbara Elliott, one of our splendid Called & Gifted teachers, is the president of the Center for Renewal (http://www.centerforrenewal.org/), a resource center she founded in 1997 for faith-based organizations working to renew the inner cities of America. She is the author of Street Saints: Renewing America’s Cities (Templeton Foundation Press, 2004) based on more than three hundred interviews across the country of people. These are often ordinary folks who saw unremitting poverty, high rates of felon rescidivism, drug and alcohol addiction and said, "Jesus does not want this," and did something about it.

The people highlighted in Street Saints are ordinary folks who responded to a call that came to them in the form of a sense that *something* needed to be done about a certain situation, and no one else seemed to be doing anything, so...
They use their experience, their savvy, their education, but most of all their prayer and the Lord's guidance to achieve what many thought would be impossible. They gather collaborators, often one by one, who bring their own competence and experience to the table. And in the answering of their call, they come to be who God has intended from all eternity they should be. They experience the "fullness of life" promised by Jesus.

Because that is part of what is implied in being called "by name." In Jesus' society, a name was more than a moniker designating you from someone else. It said something about who you were to be. So Jesus, we are told, means, "Yahweh saves," and indeed He does through Jesus. The Lord calls each of us by name. Responding to our vocations means that we have the opportunity to fulfill the Lord's dream for us, which often is a dream beyond our feeble imagination.

Hispanics Changing the Style of the Church

There is an interesting article here on how the presence of Hispanics is changing the style of the Catholic Church. Here are a few tidbits:

Hispanics are changing the nation's religious landscape, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church, according to the study released Wednesday by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Spirit-filled or renewalist movements, including divine healing and direct revelations from God, are a style of worship favored more by Hispanics than by their non-Hispanic counterparts in the national survey.

Also, many of the Hispanics joining evangelical churches are Catholic converts who say they want a more direct, personal experience with God, said the survey, titled "Changing Faiths: Latinos and the Transformation of American Religion."

Hispanics make up about 32 percent of Pima County's population and about 28.5 percent of Arizona's population, U.S. Census data show. Pinpointing Hispanic percentages in the local Catholic Church is difficult because of the number of illegal immigrants who live here, said Ruben Davalos, director of evangelization and Hispanic ministry for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson.

But it's clear that the Hispanic presence is growing among local Catholic churches. Five years ago, 30 percent to 40 percent of the diocese's 74 parishes had Spanish services. Now it's closer to 90 percent, Davalos said.

"There are parishes that used to have four or five Masses in English and one in Spanish, and now those parishes have four Masses in Spanish and one in English," he said.

About 22 million of the nation's 66 million Catholics are Hispanic. They have accounted for 71 percent of the U.S. Catholic Church's growth since 1960. The study projects that the Hispanic share will continue climbing for decades. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops says that if current growth continues, Hispanics will make up a majority of American Catholics by 2020.

But one of the study's most significant findings is that more than half of Hispanic Catholics identify themselves as charismatics, compared with only one-eighth of non-Hispanic Catholics. Charismatic typically means showing an emotional response to the Holy Spirit.

"Spirit-filled religiosity does pose a contrast to what have been the dominant characteristics of the Catholic Church in the United States at least for the last generation," said Suro, of the Pew Hispanic Center. "There will be a process of change."

While I do quibble with the reporters characterization of charismatic spirituality (which I'm sure will confirm the worst fears of those Catholics with a phobia for all things emotional) as an "emotional response to the Holy Spirit (it is far more than that--a yielding of the whole person to the Spirit of God, not just emotions), it is an interesting article.

I'm most troubled by the sheer number of Hispanics who are leaving the Church for evangelical and pentecostal communities. This, again, is something that we need to address in the life of the Church.

In any event, take a peek at the whole article!

Proclamation and the Church

Posted for Sherry W:

One of the issues that has arisen during the kafuffle over “Evangelical Catholicism” here at ID and over at Standing on My Head and several other blogs during the past week is exactly what is the content of initial proclamation of the gospel . If we proclaim Christ to the unchurched and unbelievers without simultaneously proclaiming the Church, are we somehow proclaiming a Protestant gospel of “me and Jesus” Christianity?

In the course of working on previous incarnations of Making Disciples, I set out to closely read and take meticulous notes on every significant mention of proclamation and evangelization in Church teaching in the Second Vatican Council and since. It took me ten - 12 hour days but I did it. I ended up with 59 pages of nothing but magisterial quotes on the topic, organized by subject. This I used to produce a one hour presentation on the subject for Making Disciples. (For those who are wondering, this is typically how we go about preparing our presentations. We are not at all casual about trying to teach with the Church.)

So this morning, I returned to this hard won document and simply bolded every mention of “proclamation”, “Christ”, and “Church” to highlight exactly how the magisterial teaching understands the content of the kerygma and its relationship to the Church.

First of all, we need to grasp that in the Church’s understanding, initial proclamation of the gospel is not catechesis. There are two critical stages that occur before “initiatory catechesis” but which Catholics hardly ever address in our pastoral practice: “pre-evangelization” and “initial announcement of the Gospel.”

We leap right into catechesis which is why we 1) tend to confuse catechesis and kerygma; 2) are not very successful in fostering intentional discipleship.

As Catechesis in Our Time, 19 puts it, many Catholics are “still without any explicit personal attachment to Jesus Christ; they only have the capacity to believe placed within them by Baptism and the presence of the Holy Spirit.”

According to the National Directory for Catechesis, p. 49, the stages are:

1. Pre-evangelization: Preparation for first proclamation of the Gospel - “non-believers, the indifferent”
2. Initial announcement of the Gospel

– “Non-believers, those who have chosen not to believe, those who follow other religions, children of Christians. those who may have been baptized but have little or no awareness of their Baptism and . . . live on the margins of Christian life.”

3. Initiatory Catechesis: introduce the life of faith, the Liturgy, and the charity

– “Catechumens, those who are coming to the Catholic faith from another Christian tradition, Catholics who needs to complete their initiation, children and the young.”

The question before us right now is not “What is the fullness of the teaching of the Church” but “what is the content of #2: “Initial announcement of the Gospel” which is directed to both the unbaptized and the baptized who are unchurched, unbelieving, lapsed, or weak and marginalized in the practice of the faith.

The short answer: Initial proclamation is always about Christ, not the Church.

Proclamation of Christ is the
*Permanent priority
*Foundation
*Center
*Summit

of evangelization. (Mission of the Redeemer, 44)

Proclamation of Christ is the primary mission of the Church
Proclamation of Christ births the Church
Proclamation of Christ is the doorway into the Church
(Mission of the Redeemer, 44, Evangelization in Our Time, 27)

The Church does not proclaim herself, she proclaims her Lord which naturally leads the new believer to baptism and membership in the Church.

The universal catechism puts it this way: Salvation comes from God alone: but because we receive the life of faith through the Church, she is our mother; “We believe the Church as the mother of our new birth and not in the Church as if she were the author of our salvation.” (Faustus of Riez, De Spiritu Sancto, 1,2: PL 62,11.)

To whom do we proclaim Christ?

*Catholics with weak faith or who are badly catechized (including the “practicing”).
*Catholics who “need to know Jesus Christ in a light different from the instruction they received as children.”
*The baptized but non-practicing

. . .there is a very large number of baptized people who for the most part have not formally renounced their Baptism but who are entirely indifferent to it . . . The resistance . . . takes the form of inertia and the slightly hostile attitude of the person who feels that he is one of the family, who claims to know it all and to have tried it all and who no longer believes it.

– Evangelization in the Modern World 56

*All humanity (not just Catholics)

“invite all people in the United States . . .to hear the message of salvation in Jesus Christ so they may come to join us in the fullness of the Catholic faith.”
US Bishops, Go and Make Disciples:

We have got to stop confusing our internal culture wars with the mission of evangelization. Our situation is that many, many baptized adult Catholics, practicing or not, have never heard and personally embraced the proclamation of the kerygma about Christ. They were baptized as infants and that baptism was never followed up by the necessary, clear, initial proclamation of the gospel (which is different from catechesis, remember) when they reached the age of reason and responsibility.

Baptism without the response of personal faith in Christ is salvific for an infant because personal response is impossible at that age; it is not salvific for an adult.

Proclaiming Christ is not about "me and Jesus". It is taking seriously the Church's teaching that the preaching of the kerygma awakens initial faith and that without the response of personal faith and hope in Christ, of incipient love, and repentance for sin, adult membership in the Church alone does not save. Even a merely intellectual faith in the Church’s teaching alone does not save. (The Council of Trent called mere intellectual or dogmatic faith “fides informis” and clearly taught that it does not save.)

Business as a Means of Evangelization

There is an interesting article in this month's issue of Christianity Today that features an interview wit Ram Gidoomal, a businessman and convert to Christianity to Hinduism. One of the things that struck me about the article is not only how working as a Christian businessman internationally helps build a more just world (Ram, for example, chairs two investment groups that seek to invest in socially responsible and sustainable businesses), but also how business offers opportunities for direct evangelization:

Business gives you access , geographic access as well as access to relational networks . . .the goal is to do business in a way that is not conforming to the world's patterns. In global business, there is often corruption. There's no accountability, no transparency. As a Christian, if you're willing to be transparent and accountable, then you're demonstrating a different way of doing things . . . .

If we do the work of discerning what transformational business looks like, that is worship . . .Business is a uniquely global endeavor . . .There is no other field that so closely matches the global nature of God's mission.

I thought that was a wonderful way of viewing business--as a medium for building the kingdom and as a direct, hands-on way of evangelizing. When I work as a manager in business--whether it is of a team or a whole Strategic Business Unit, God has given me a responsibility to serve both the company as a whole and all of the individuals whom I manage. We need to be Christians not just at Church, but in every facet of our lives.

Letter From Jesus

I posted this over at my other blog, but thought I'd share it here with the folks at ID.

One year, when I was the Director of the Retreat Team for my last parish's Life Teen youth ministry program, we did a retreat that focused on the Bible as a Love Letter from God. We often used affirmation notes, which we wrote to our small group members and placed in decorated bags with their names on it so they could read them after the retreat. That year, we decided to put up an affirmation bag for God so that the teens could write God a note of affirmation.

Well, God's bag was full of the most powerful and beautiful prayers and affirmations to God. So much so, that when we had our retreat debrief, we passed God's affirmations among the adults and we were all moved to tears. Don't let anyone tell you that teens do not have an appreciation for, or an ability to pay attention to, the spiritual life.

Anyway, that's not even the point of this post (though it's a good point). We also decided to include a Letter from Jesus and place it in each teen's affirmation bag. While cleaning out some old files, I stumbled upon that letter and thought it would be interesting to post it here. So, without further ado, here's a letter from Jesus:

My Precious Friend,
I know that sometimes life can be difficult and depressing. There is still much darkness in the world because My people have not come to Me as I have asked—yet I love them (and you) with a love that is without end. Every stinging bite of the soldiers’ whips, every jagged cut from my crown of thorns, each terrible kiss of the nails driven hard into My body—all of it was for you. I endured every second upon the Cross for your sake, because I love you.

Do you think, then, that I don’t hear you when you cry out to Me in your time of need? Truly, I do hear you. If I hear the final cry of every sparrow that falls in death, would I not hear you?
Do you wonder if I listen when you pray to Me for an answer to the troubles that weigh you down? Indeed, I listen. If I listen intently for the very heartbeat of every baby conceived in the womb, would I not listen when that child prays? I listen, and I remember precisely the instant that your heart took its first beat; the moment that you took your first gasping breath upon leaving the security of your mother's womb; the contented sigh of relief at your first belly full of warm milk. And, though you've grown up, I still listen with My whole Heart for every word you whisper to me.

I am with you always, through whatever storms and struggles that you face. Trust in me, and I will guide you through the darkness. If you take one faltering step toward me, I shall run ten thousand steps toward you. My love for you is so deep, that I once traveled the distance between Heaven and Earth to find you. I will not abandon you now.

My friend, I know that you are discovering yourself—your own gifts and talents—and the world that I created for you. I know that you are beginning to make plans for your life. Will you not let Me help you? The Father and I have a very special plan for you, one that we created before you were even born. Let us discover this plan together, you and I. For there are others in the world who do not know Me, who hurt and cry out, but who have no one to help them. I want to send you in My place, to go to them and do the work I have created you for.

My love, I desire nothing more than that you would come to Me, not just when you are sorrowful or struggling, but also when you are satisfied and happy. I would have you share your life with Me, as I share My life with you. I especially desire that you come to Me in the Eucharist—you dwelling with Me and Me dwelling with you—for that is My greatest gift to you.

This day, and every day, I stand at your heart's door, knocking and asking entrance. Will you not let me in?

You are my Beloved, always.

Jesus

Russell Shaw on Evangelizing

Posted for Sherry W:

Carl Olsen over at Ignatius Insight has a really interesting interview with Russell Shaw about his new book (with Fr. C. John McCloskey, III) Good New, Bad News: Evangelization, Conversion, and the Crisis of Faith.

In light of the continual hubbub around here over things "evangelical," I appreciate Shaw's comments:

IgnatiusInsight.com: It's fair to say, I think, that most people do not usually put the words "Catholics" and "evangelization" together. Why is that so?

Russell Shaw: The conventional answer is that it's a problem of language. Protestants talk about evangelization. Some Protestants are evangelicals. Until recently, these have been Protestant words. They didn't seem to have much to do with Catholics.

That explanation is correct, I think, but the problem also goes deeper than that. It's clericalism at work. By that, I mean the assumption--on the part of lay people, mind you--that if any evangelizing was going to be done by Catholics, it was the job of priests and religious. It wasn't something that the Catholic laity needed to be concerned about.

IgnatiusInsight.com: You're written much about the role of the laity over the years. Where do you think evangelizing ranks, so to speak, in the work that laity are called to do in the greater context of the Church?

Russell Shaw: It ranks right up at the top. It's often been said--for example, by recent popes like Paul VI and John Paul II--that the mission of the Church is synonymous with evangelization. In other words, announcing the Good News, telling the world about Jesus Christ and how he has redeemed us, and encouraging people to have a living relationship with him.

Now, as a result of baptism and confirmation, all members of the Church--including the laity--have roles to play in the Church's mission. All of us--including us laity--are called to participate in the work of evangelization. It isn't optional. It's a central part of the Christian vocation."

Russell Shaw is one of the best popular writers on the whole subject of the theology of the laity and the lay apostolate around. We strongly recommend reading Catholic Laity in the Mission of the Church. if you'd like to understand the Church 's teaching on that subject.

Iraqi Dominicans attacked

Dear readers - This note came in through the Dominican Leadership Conference e-mail system, and I thought I'd share it with you. It is a short message from a community of Dominican sisters working in Iraq. It brings the war in Iraq closer to home for me. Sadly, given the number of American men and women killed and wounded in that troubled nation, the war's getting a lot closer for many of us.

"On Monday at 9.30 a.m. a booby-trapped GMC car exploded next door our convent in Telskouf and very close to our kindergarten. The target was the Kurdistan center. Two Christian women, a man were killed, two kids from a primary school which is in the area were torn into pieces and their flesh scattered in the street they could not be distinguished. Three of our sisters: Sr. Mary Dominic, Sr. Mary Alfons were wounded in the head and Sr. Nour was injured in her leg. Many of our kindergarten kids were wounded, some of them are in awkward condition. The convent was turned into a mess: no doors, no windows and no fence. This event means a lot for Christian population. It means that even our Christian villages are no longer safe. As a result everybody's life is in danger. Dear sisters, kindly increase your prayers which will help us to persevere these hardships.”

I do not have the competence or information to know what the solution to the problems in Iraq are. I do know we need all need to be more aware of the fear, heartache, and day-to-day suffering that many ordinary Iraqis are enduring. That has to be a part of the discussion when we talk about what is to be done there.

Please pray for peace in Iraq, for the safety of innocents there, and for a safe return for our military personnel who are risking their lives each day. Let's not forget the families and friends who mourn the tragic loss of life Monday morning.

An Ecumenical Response to a Secular Problem

Christianity Today has an article on a joint venture of mostly lay Protestant and Catholic Christians to address the horrific poisoning of the environment in the town of La Oroya, Peru, by a large ore smelter run by the American company Doe Run. Not only is it a good example of Christians being galvanized by their faith to exercise influence in the secular world using a variety of competencies, it shows the positive ecumenical effects of seeing Christians of other faiths moved by their faith in Christ to works of charity. It's a story worth reading. Just click on the title, and you'll be taken to the original story.

President Candidates Reaction to Supreme Court Ruling on Partial Birth Abortion

Peter Nixon, who occasionally graces ID with his comments, has gathered a thought-provoking collection of reactions by major candidates in the 2008 Presidential election to the recent ruling of the Supremes on partial birth abortion:

From the Commonweal blog:

Clinton

This decision marks a dramatic departure from four decades of Supreme Court rulings that upheld a woman's right to choose and recognized the importance of women's health. Today's decision blatantly defies the Court's recent decision in 2000 striking down a state partial-birth abortion law because of its failure to provide an exception for the health of the mother. As the Supreme Court recognized in Roe v. Wade in 1