July 1, 2013, Volume VII, Number 26
FEAST OF BLESSED JUNIPERO SERRA
Monday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Feast of Saint Thomas - Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Saint Anthony Zaccaria and Saint Elizabeth of Portugal – July 5
Feast of Saint Maria Goretti – Saturday, July 6, 2013
YEAR OF FAITH - Oct. 11, 2012, through Nov. 24, 2013
Question of the Week
For Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 7, 2013
“’If only I can…I shall be cured.’ …’Your faith has saved you.’” How often have you begun your prayer with “If only you…”? Know that the “woman suffering hemorrhages” began with “If only I”. Do you recognize the difference? Do you start your prayers with the depth of your faith or are you trying to strike a bargain with God? How deep is your faith? When you pray for rain do you carry an umbrella?
NCCL News
Happy Fourth of July– Independence Day (USA)
LEADER: God of our ancestors in this land, God of all nations and peoples, God who still calls us to be agents of liberty and justice for all, we thank you for this service of all our people who have died defending the ideals of this nation. With gratefulness, we pray:
ALL: God bless America, land that I love.
LEADER: Jesus Christ, who invited all who were heavily burdened to come to you, bless all the people in this land whose lives say with Lady Liberty “Bring me your tired and your poor.” Withe gratefulness for these witnesses of care, we give you thanks and we pray:
ALL: God bless America, land that I love.
LEADER: Spirit of Wisdom, whose insight is freely given, guide our leaders and our nation’s people to discern and remove oppression of our own people and of all peoples. We ask that true liberty and justice for all come soon in our land as we pray:
ALL: God bless America, land that I love.
from Blessing Rites for Christian LivesBlessing Rites for Christian Livesby Shawn Madigan, CSJ
Catechetical Sunday – September 15, 2013
This year, the Church will celebrate Catechetical Sunday on September 15, 2013, and will focus on the theme Open the Door of Faith. Those whom the community has designated to serve as catechists will be called forth to be commissioned for their ministry. Catechetical Sunday is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the role that each person plays, by virtue of Baptism, in handing on the faith and being a witness to the Gospel. Catechetical Sunday is an opportunity for all to rededicate themselves to this mission as a community of faith.
As in past years, NCCL will sell printed copies of prayer cards, family commitment cards, posters, and certificates in English and Spanish. Check the NCCL website for ddmore information on ordering your Catechetical Sunday materials. This year’s reflection journal was edited by Michele Harris and the reflections were written by nine different NCCL members. The reflection book is entitled WELCOME! Open the Door – Pass through the gate – Seek the Christ. Sample pages from each of the writers are available on the NCCL Homepage ().
The 2013NCCL pin represents the theme for Catechetical Sunday "Open the Door of Faith" with a beautiful 3 dimensional effect. The all metal pin is outlined in the same gold as the cross. The Alpha and Omega from the Catechetical Sunday logo are imprinted on the shiny copper doors that open to our Redeemer, Jesus Christ hanging on a gold cross in a brushed copper room. The doors break through the gold outline to enhance the theme, Open the Door of Faith. The Spirit of God in each of us is the agent of the new evangelization and inspires each of us to open our heats and to go forth as catechist and teacher.Help your organization and order your materials from NCCL. Actual pin size is 7/8 inch.
CL Weeklyfeatures several pieces each week from June 3 – September 16.
This week we feature a:
Teaching Aid by Brian Garcia-Luense, Mdiv, Associate Director, Office of Evangelization and Catechesis, Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. His work is entitled The Church: A Sacrament of Salvation and can be downloaded from
Parish Resourceby Jem Sullivan, PhD, Adjunct Faculty, Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies. Her piece, Renewing the Dialogue Between Faith and Reason: Engaging Academics and Artists, would make an excellent parish bulletin insert and can be downloaded at
Family Resourceby Jeannine Marino, JCL, Assistant Director, Secretariat of Evangelization and Catechesis, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Her resource is entitledWhat Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?and can be downloaded at
Reprintable Promotion Tool (For the Pastor) and written by Sr. Angela Erevia, MCDP (Missionary Catechist of Divine Providence), Director of Hispanic Ministry, Diocese of Dodge City, Kansas. Simply titled For the Pastor, this piece can also be downloaded from and should be shared with your pastor.
You can download the complete list of FREE Resources which can also be found at Be sure to order your Catechetical Sunday materials from NCCL (
NCCL and the Catechesis in Preaching Research Initiative – NCCL Exclusive
How’s the preaching in your parish? What difference does the Sunday homily make in the discipleship of your people? The bishops’ new document on preaching, Preaching the Mystery of Faith: the Sunday Homily, recommends a turn toward catechetical preaching. At this juncture, we are looking for you, as catechetical leaders, to lend your voice to the direction that homiletics will take. At the NCCL conference in Cleveland, many folks offered their insights and experience through four focus groups and a preliminary paper survey.
NOW:The final survey, adapted and furthered by the input from the conference, is now available online to all of the NCCL membership. Please participate fully so that the voice of catechetical leaders is heard, by following this link:
Today is the last day the survey will be open, so please respond before midnight (PDT) tonight. Please do not share the weblink with those outside of the catechetical community. This is an NCCL exclusive survey.
N.B. If you participated in the preliminary paper survey at the conference, please also now contribute online – some of the questions have been strengthened and altered as a result of your input. Thanks! We would also like for your data to be included with the overall responses.
Thank you for willingness to give your voice to this valuable project.
Echo the Promise – Challenge $2650! – Today is the Last Day!
After an appeal at the Awards Luncheon by Treasurer Joanie McKeown, those present contributed $2650 to the Echo the Promise campaign. This campaign is solely for the professional development of NCCL members. Half of what is collected goes into a restricted endowment account and once it reaches $100,000, proceeds from the money can distributed. In the meantime, the other half of the money is available for use by the Constituency Forums.
Your challenge is to meet or beat the $2650 that was raised at the annual conference Echo the Promise kick-off and to do it by June 30, 2013. That gives us less than a month. To make it easier, you can donate online by going to the homepage of our website ( and click on the Echo the Promise logo. Thank you to Al Weilbaecher, Catherine Snyder, Carole Eipers, Pat Burbage, Linda Buckley, Dr. Gerard F. Baumbach, and Rhonda Parenton for their generous donations this week.
Papal Intentions for July
General Intention:That World Youth Day in Brazil may encourage all young Christians to become disciples and missionaries of the Gospel.
Mission Intention:That throughout Asia doors may open to messengers of the Gospel.
Catechism Made Into Video
The Catechism of the Catholic Church has been made into a video production in an effort to explain and share the teachings of the Christian faith in a modern-day format.The project is comprised of 2,500 minutes of UltraHigh Definition Qualityvideo. It is divided into 70 episodes, each 30 minutes long, for the Catechism itself, and 70 ten-minute segments for the Compendium : Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The entire work will be published in four volumes following the structure of the Catechism and Compendium, accompanied by text and images with a video.Every episode will feature a globally renowned figure from areas ranging from culture, science, the arts, sports, movies and music, to economy and finance, who "act out" the text of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church video, because of the universal nature of its message, was shot in the five continents to document the many expressions of man’s faith.The entire work can be booked online starting September 2013 onwards. CrossinMedia Group and the Vatican Publishing House will present the multilingual edition of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church video in November 2013, at the end of the Year of Faith, and will publish the precious edition (4 books + video).
Be 'Living Stones' of the Church: Pope Francis’ Continuing Catechesis on the Creed
Continuing his catechesis on the Creed, Pope Francis spoke on the Church as the temple of the Holy Spirit. The image of the temple, he said, conjured images of the great Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem which enshrined the Ark of the Covenant.
“Within the Temple was the Ark of the Covenant, a sign of God's presence among the people, and inside the Ark were the Tablets of the Law, the manna and the rod of Aaron, a reminder that God had always been in the history of his people, had always been with them on their journey, always directed their stride – and the Temple recalls this story,” the Holy Father said.“We, too, when we go to the temple, must remember this story – my story – the story of each one of us – of how Jesus encountered me, of how he walked with me, how Jesus loves and blesses me.”
“…We are the living stones of God,” the Holy Father continued, “profoundly united to Christ, who is the rock of support, and among ourselves. What then, does this mean? It means that we are the Temple – the Church, but, us, living – we are Church, we are [the] living temple, and within us, when we are together, there is the Holy Spirit, who helps us grow as Church. We are not isolated, we are People of God – and this is the Church: People of God.”
The Holy Father went onto say that the gifts of the Holy Spirit contributes a variety and a richness to everyone that makes the Church not a “weave of things and interests” but rather a collection of “living stones” in the Temple of the Holy Spirit. This, he exclaimed “tells us that no one is useless in the Church – no one is useless in the Church! – and should anyone chance to say, some one of you, ‘Get home with you, you’re useless!’ that is not true.” Upon saying this, the Holy Father’s words were met with thunderous applause from the faithful gathered in the Square.
“No one is useless in the Church. We are all needed in order to build this temple. No one is secondary: “Ah, I am the most important one in the Church!” No! We are all equal in the eyes of God. But, one of you might say, “Mr. Pope, sir, you are not equal to us.” But I am just like each of you. We are all equal. We are all brothers and sisters. No one is anonymous: all form and build the Church. Nevertheless, it also invites us to reflect on the fact that the Temple wants the brick of our Christian life that something is wanting in the beauty of the Church.”
Concluding his address, Pope Francis called on the faithful to be joyful, lively Christians so as to be united with Christ, who is “the cornerstone, the stone of support for all of our lives and the life of the Church.”
Federation of Catechesis with Hispanics
In April 2013,the NCCL Board of Directors approved the application of the Forum of Catechesis with Hispanics to become the Federation of Catechesis with Hispanics (FCH). Their first official meeting as a federation took place at the NCCL Annual Conference and Exposition in Cleveland. A draft of those minutes, including the election results can be found on the NCCL website ( under About NCCL and Federations or you can simply click on
Living Wage Essential to Society, Foundational Part of Catholic Teaching
A discussion of workers' wages is a good starting point for fixing the U.S. economy, said the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development in testimony, June 25, before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. "We can begin the process of fixing our economy by returning the worker to the center of economic life," said Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, California, in his testimony. "One of the best ways to do that is with decent jobs that pay just wages, thereby honoring human dignity and restoring hope to workers and families. Increasing the minimum wage to a level that reflects the real economic reality faced by families today would go far in building an economy worthy of the humans that operate in it."
Bishop Blaire said the Working Poor Families Project recently reported that there were 10.4 million low-income working families in 2011, including 23.5 million children. "Work should be a ladder out of poverty for families, it should not trap them in poverty," said Bishop Blaire. "Yet this is where we find ourselves – a growing number of families are working but do not make enough to live in dignity. It is a scandal that the richest country world has allowed over 23 million children in working poor families to become the norm."
Bishop Blaire cited statistics from the Congressional Budget Office, which reported last year that the average income of the wealthiest one percent of Americans has increased 275 percent over the last 30 years. The income of the poorest 20 percent, on average, increased by less than 20 percent, despite an increase in worker productivity over the same time.
Bishop Blaire quoted Catholic teaching from Popes Leo XIII, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis, on the rights and dignity of workers. "A just wage confirms the dignity of the worker," said Bishop Blaire. "And conversely, a wage that does not even allow a worker to support a family or meet basic human needs tears her down and demeans her dignity. The worker becomes just another commodity."
More information on the hearing and Bishop Blaire's testimony is available online: . . .
35 Archbishops to Get Pallium
Pope Francis will impose the pallium upon 35 metropolitan archbishops in this year's ceremony on 29 June, the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul. Four of the archbishops are from the United States. To read all the names, please go to They are:
- Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone of San Francisco, California
- Archbishop Joseph William Tobin, C.Ss.R., of Indianapolis, Indiana
- Archbishop Alexander King Sample of Portland in Oregon
- Archbishop Michael Owen Jackels of Dubuque, Iowa
Pope Francis: Don't Be Afraid to Go Against the Current
Pope Francis said the faithful are called to follow the example of the martyrs in losing their lives for Christ, even if they do not suffer violence for their faith.“Both in the past and today, in many parts of the world there are martyrs, both men and women, who are imprisoned or killed for the sole reason of being Christian,” he said, noting that there are more martyrs dying violent deaths in modern times than in the early centuries of the Church.
“But there is also the daily martyrdom, which does not result in death but is also a loss of life for Christ.”This “daily martyrdom” consists of people “doing their duty with love, according to the logic of Jesus,” said the pontiff from the window of the Apostolic Palace to those gathered in St. Peter’s Square.Pope Francis stressed that there are fathers and mothers who put their faith into practice concretely by devoting their lives to the good of their families each day.Pope Francis entreated everyone, particularly young people, to “have the courage to go against the tide of current values that do not conform to the path of Jesus.”
The Problem with Being Nice and Judging Not
This is an interesting piece byFather James V. Schall, S.J. that could lead to a great discussion. It also could play a role when helping someone understand what it means to have an informed conscience. Here are his opening four paragraphs. If you care to read more, please go to