Feast of Satoko Kitahara (The Mary of the Ants Town)

January 23, 2012, Volume VI, Number 4

Feast of Satoko Kitahara (The Mary of the Ants Town)

Monday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

January 24 – St. Francis de Sales

January 25 – Conversion of Saint Paul

January 28 – Saint Thomas Aquinas

Question of the Week

For the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“…he taught them as one having authority…” This sense of authority seems to set Jesus apart from the scribes, what does that mean to you? Have you ever been fooled by someone who you felt spoke with authority and whose “fame spread everywhere”? If you knew the author of life as intimately as Jesus, might that make a difference? As part of God’s family with Jesus as your brother, what might you need to do in order to speak with authority? What would you ask someone whom you felt “spoke with authority” in order to be convinced that (s)he really did?

NCCL News

National Prayer Vigil For Life

Over 10,000 worshippers including Associate Director Gina Garroway gathered in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to pray for an end to abortion at the Opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life, Sunday, January 22, the eve of the 2012 March for Life. January 22 marks the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston andchairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, was the principal celebrant and homilist at the Vigil Mass,concelebrated by fellow cardinals and many of the nation's bishops and priests. Following the Opening Mass, the Vigil continued in the Crypt Church of the Basilica with confessions, a National Rosary for Life, Night Prayer according to the Byzantine Rite, and holy hours led by seminarians from across the country from midnight until 6:00 a.m.

On Monday, January 23, the Basilica will host Morning Prayer at 6:30 a.m. in the Crypt Church and the Closing Mass at 7:30 a.m. in the Great Upper Church. Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of New York will be the principal celebrant and homilist. At the conclusion of the National Prayer Vigil for Life, participants will join in the national March for Life.

A great prayer for life is urgently needed, a prayer which will rise up throughout the world. Through special initiatives and in daily prayer, may an impassioned plea rise to God, the Creator and lover of life, from every Christian community, from every group and association, from every family and from the heart of every believer.

- Blessed Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, no. 100

The Campaign is Officially Over – THANK YOU

The campaign closes with $2895 toward our goal of $3315. We are most appreciative.

Here are the members who donated $2895 to our annual campaign. We are extremely grateful for their generosity. Bold letters designate new names from last week.

Susan Abbott Pam Fischer Mary Ann Ronan

Leisa Anslinger Nancy Groves St. Ann Church Religious Ed.

Dr. Gerard Baumbach Michele Harris Parsippany, NJ

Diane Baumann Rosemary Jablonski Jeanne Schrempf

Patricia Burbage James and Barbara Kemna Catherine Snyder

Jim and Barbara Campbell Sr. Marilyn Kerber, SNDdeN in memory of Mary Alice O’Reilly

Mary Fran Cassidy Don Kurre Daniel Thomas

Catherine Cornue Joanie McKeown Jim Tucker

Peggy and Jim DeBoy Lee Nagel James Uppena

Karen Dey Neil Parent Mary Von Koss

Nancy Ferrari Bryan S. Reising Frank Zolvinski

NCCL invites you to submit your best practices to its YouTube Channel

In the spirit of our national conference roundtables, we invite membership to submit its best practices in evangelization and catechesis. Please submit your entries to Bryan Reising () and Juliann Donlon-Stanz () for review and they may be a part of the NCCL YouTube Channel. Practitioners in parishes, Diocesan level personnel, scholars, publishers, and other resource people can submit their videos. Thank you for sharing your gifts!

Cardinal-Designate Dolan Speaks Out Against HHS Rule

Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), sharply criticized the decision by the Obama administration in which it “ordered almost every employer and insurer in the country to provide sterilization and contraceptives, including some abortion-inducing drugs, in their health plans.” He made the statement in a web video posted at Dolan Speaks Out Against HHS Rule (http://tiny.cc/tkla7).

“Never before has the federal government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience. This shouldn’t happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the Bill of Rights,” Cardinal-designate Dolan said.

On January 20, Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Health and Human Services, announced that non-profit employers will have one year to comply with the new rule. Cardinal-designate Dolan urged Catholics and the public at large to speak out in protest. “Let your elected leaders know that you want religious liberty and rights of conscience restored and that you want the administration’s contraceptive mandate rescinded,” he said.

Christian Unity Will Take More Than Kindness

The path to Christian unity requires more than being nice to each other and cooperating, says Benedict XVI. Full and visible unity will require transformation and being conformed to the image of Christ. The Pope said this as he dedicated his weekly general audience to the theme of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (http://tiny.cc/jqecm) , which ends on the feast of the conversion of St. Paul (Jan. 25). The theme for this year's Week of Prayer is "We Will All Be Changed By the Victory of Our Lord Jesus Christ," and the texts for reflection and meditation were prepared by ecumenical groups in Poland.

"The full and visible unity of Christians for which we long demands that we allow ourselves to be ever more perfectly transformed and conformed to the image of Christ," the Holy Father stated. "The unity for which we pray requires interior conversion, both communal and personal. It is not simply a matter of kindness and cooperation; above all, we must strengthen our faith in God, in the God of Jesus Christ, who has spoken to us and who made himself one of us; we must enter into new life in Christ, which is our true and definitive victory; we must open ourselves to one another, cultivating all the elements of that unity that God has preserved for us and gives to us ever anew; we must feel the urgency of bearing witness before the men of our times to the living God, who made himself known in Christ.'

The Holy Father reflected on the Church's commitment to ecumenism, "The Second Vatican Council put the ecumenical pursuit at the center of the Church's life and work," he said.He cited John Paul II, who referred to unity, not as "something added on, but [which] stands at the very heart of Christ's mission. ... [I]t belongs to the very essence of this community."

The Pontiff noted the "clear recognition" that the lack of unity jeopardizes Christians' credibility and "prevents the Gospel from being proclaimed more effectively. How can we give a convincing witness if we are divided? Certainly, as regards the fundamental truths of the faith, much more unites us than divides us. But divisions remain, and they concern even various practical and ethical questions -- causing confusion and distrust, and weakening our ability to hand on Christ's saving Word." The full text of the Pope’s comments can be found at www.zenit.org/article-34139?l=english

Cardinal Wuerl: Education is a Key to the New Evangelization

A day after Pope Benedict XVI warned visiting U.S. bishops about the threat of "radical secularism" to American moral values, Washington Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl reflected on the implications of the pope's remarks, giving special emphasis to the role of Catholic education.
"It's so important in our country right now that we not allow faith to be brushed aside," the cardinal told Catholic News Service. "And the only way that's not going to happen ... is a renewal of our own faith."
Cardinal Wuerl, whose recent book, "Seek First the Kingdom," encourages Catholic laypeople to affirm their faith in various dimensions of secular life, said that Catholic schools are "one of the most tried and proven ways of passing on the faith." Efforts to renew Catholic religious education were proving an "enormous success" at the elementary and secondary levels, he said. "Where we need to concentrate now is on the level of higher education."
Reaffirming Pope Benedict's hopeful words about a "new generation" of American Catholics working to renew the "church's presence and witness in American society," Cardinal Wuerl said that "many of the younger students and some of the faculty" at Catholic colleges and universities have shown themselves willing "to bring the Catholic perspective into the discussion at the level of academia."

Death Penalty on Decline in United States

For the first time since capital punishment was reintroduced in the United States in 1976 the annual number of new death sentences fell below 100 last year. Shortly before the end of the year the Death Penalty Information Center released The Death Penalty in 2011: Year End Report (http://tiny.cc/ue4av).

New death sentences dropped to 78 in 2011. This compares with the high point in 1996, which saw 315 capital punishment sentences. The decline started in the late 90s, which had seen an average of about 300 annual sentences. Since then the number has steadily dropped. The number of executions also declined, down to 43, three fewer than the previous year.

Only 13 states carried out executions in 2011. Since 1976 out of the overall number of 1,277 executions Texas has accounted for no less than 477, which is 37% of the total. In 2011, nevertheless, there were only eight new death sentences. The number of states that have the death penalty is down to 34.

Support for the death penalty also continued to decline. According to the report an annual Gallup Poll on the death penalty revealed that last year only 61% of people were in favor of the death penalty, the lowest level recorded in recent decades.

The report also observed that the application of death penalty sentences continues to be very arbitrary. Racial factors also heavily influence the likelihood of receiving a death sentence. Defendants who belong to a racial minority that commit death-eligible murders of white victims are six times more likely to receive a death sentence as minority defendants who commit murders of minorities.

President Invites Members to Join Committees

As a member-driven organization, President Anne Roat understands the importance of member participation on committees. They are the backbone of the organization. If you are interested in sharing your talents on a committee or if you would care to nominate an individual, either a member or a friend of NCCL with the gifts or skills to meet the committee’s objectives, please contact NCCL President Anne Roat personally at .

A complete list of committees and their charges can be found at the NCCL website under Committees. In addition, if you sign in you can see the current list of persons belonging to each of those committees.

Living with the Moral Burdens of War

This 4 ½ segment is an interview with Nancy Sherman, a University Professor at Georgetown University in Washington. Her specialty is the ethics of war, including what she has called “moral wounding.” Her most recent book is The Untold War: Inside the Hearts, Minds, and Souls of Our Soldiers. She reminds us that the troops “come home carrying heavy, invisible wounds, of a sense of betrayal and PTSD”. She also states that “We have to reach out through community organizations, creation of jobs, and simply talking to the vet who comes home.” I would include our parishes as one of those community organizations that have to reach out. You can listen/read this program at Moral Wounding (http://tiny.cc/o0rw8).

Pope Stresses Role of Spiritual Guides in Discernment

Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the role of spiritual guides in vocational discernment and said that both parents and priests have a key role in helping youth discover their vocation. "In the biblical readings of this Sunday -- the second in Ordinary Time -- the theme of vocation emerges: in the Gospel it is the call of the first disciples by Jesus; in the first reading it is the call of the Prophet Samuel," he noted. "In both accounts there comes to the forefront the importance of the figure who plays the role of mediator, helping the persons called to recognize the voice of God and follow it."

He went on to mention Eli, the priest awakened by young Samuel three times, who realized that it was the Lord calling the boy; and John the Baptist, who pointed out the Messiah to the first apostles. "In the light of these two texts," the Holy Father said, "I would like to underscore the decisive role of the spiritual guide in the journey of faith and, in particular, in the response to the vocation of special consecration for the service of God and his people."

The Pontiff observed that the "call to follow Jesus closely, renouncing a family of one's own to dedicate oneself to the great family of the Church, normally passes through the witness and the suggestion of an 'older brother,' usually a priest. But this is not to forget the fundamental role of parents, who with their genuine and joyful faith and their marital love show their children that it is beautiful and possible to build a whole life on the love of God." The full text of his remarks can be found at www.zenit.org/article-34123?l=english.