The Good Catholic Life

Listen to the show: Subscribe for free in iTunes Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): Dr. Karen Bohlin, Head of the Montrose School and author of the book “Building Character in Schools” Montrose School “Building Character in Schools”, by Kevin Ryan and Karen F. Bohlin Dr. Bohlin’s other books Today’s topics: Raising children of virtue Summary of today’s show: Dr. Karen Bohlin talks with Scot and Fr. Chris about raising children of virtue, strong character, and great intellectual vigor, including the girls who attend the independent Catholic school she leads, Montrose School in Medfield, Mass. 1st segment: Scot asked Fr. Chris what he did on his 3-day weekend. He went to Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, to catch up with priest-friends in the area. Scot said he loves to visit DC, especially the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. Fr. Chris said they went to Mass at the basilica and Bishop Loverde of Arlington, VA, happened to be leading a pilgrimage to the basilica on Sunday. He said he also visited the new Martin Luther King monument in DC. He found some of the quotes by MLK were indicative of the virtues they will be discussing today. Scot said his family went to Maine for a soccer tournament and they went to Mass in a parish up there. There happened to be an elderly woman entering the Church at that Mass and so his kids could see the woman receive First Communion and Confirmation and they had many questions afterward. Fr. Chris said it’s wonderful to welcome someone new to our faith community. He was speaking to someone today who’s running an RCIA program in a parish and so it’s a good time to ask a parish if you’re interested because now is the time that such programs begin. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Dr. Bohlin back to the show. She was on previously talking about the movie “There Be Dragons”. Scot asked about her background before coming to the Montrose School. Karen said she started as an English teacher and drama coach at the Montrose School. She found herself involved in Boston Public Schools and teacher education. She received her doctorate at Boston University and worked at the Center for the Advancement of Ethics and Character, working with school departments around the country and even advising the White House. Scot said ethics and character education were not a big component of higher education before the big financial scandals of the beginning of the century. BU’s Center was among the first to bring it into teacher education and curricula. They form teachers to prepare them for their moral responsibilities. Karen said she also taught undergraduates at BU and was quite happy there, but was asked to consider the position of the Head of School at Montrose. She knew if she moved from a research institute to a school, she would be working directly with students and parents and alumnae. She would be able to work with families and educators over time to go more deeply into transforming young lives. Scot said while both jobs are in education, they’re very different roles in research versus running a school. She has been able to see several generations of students come through the school. They just celebrated their 30th anniversary at Montrose. It was founded by a group of parents and educators, including several Harvard Business School grads looking for a school for their daughters with good liberal arts education that didn’t compromise either the faith or the intellectual tradition of the Church. They wanted a strong mentoring program in character and leadership formation, especially for girls at the critical age of middle school years. They wanted to prepare girls to go to any size school or college and enter any professional field. They have many accomplished alumnae, including authors like Suzanne La Fleur, an author of young adult books. Karen noted that in the seventies there was a lot of educational experimentation and so the founders wanted to restore the traditional core of excellent college preparation and a solid religious education program. Scot said the school is in Medfield now. The school opened in Brookline in the old Cardinal Cushing College, then to Westwood, then to Natick and the old St. Patrick’s elementary school for 10 years. Just 5 years ago they moved to the old Bayer Pharmaceuticals building in Medfield. They have 190 students today. Scot said there’s still a demand for single-sex education, particularly for girls. He asked how many parents choose Montrose because they want their daughters to be formed by strong women leaders in a good peer environment. Karen said it’s also that research shows that girl learn differently from boys. Particularly in middle schools, girls have a capacity to move at a faster pace, especially in math and science. Boys also learn better in a single-sex environment. It allows students to be unafraid to speak up in class and to be confident. Studies show that girls tend to be timid and stand behind boys in science classes, for example. Fr. Chris said modeling virtue is important and asked how they form the staff. Karen said virtue is caught, more than taught. The faculty is committed to the forming the whole person. In professional development workshops, they spend a lot of time studying adolescent character development and asking themselves are they walking the talk. When she meets with graduating seniors, she asks them if they think the school is walking the talk, are they living up their mission and values. Fr. Chris asked what some of the routines and rituals of the school are. Karen said there are many traditions that form the core of life at the school. They have a speakers series to bring in someone whose story inspires the girls. This year with the faculty they read Victor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning” of his experience in the Nazi concentration camps, and Mitch Albom’s “Tuesday’s with Morrie” to consider how one approaches the end of life. They are developing vision and a long-distance perspective, to overcome the day-to-day fears and worries and stresses. The Mass helps them disconnect from those daily stresses. There is a daily period called “Enrichment” and the girls are allowed to choose to attend Mass or go to a quiet reading room (no magazines, no homework). The time out allows them to re-focus on what matters most. Karen said graduates always say they feel more shored up in their faith because of the environment in which they’re learning. They can articulate not just the reasons and philosophical underpinnings of the Church’s teachings, but they live it as well. She said they teach college level philosophy to juniors and seniors and she hears from graduates how they use what they’ve learned in college and even in graduate school. Philosophy opens their minds especially since the faculties engage them using the Socratic method. 3rd segment: Scot asked what the faculty of Montrose School hope their graduates are going to be at age 18. Karen said they first consider that everyone is a work in progress. They’re not aiming for perfectionism. The goal is to learn how to pick themselves up and move forward. They have a document on their website called “the Portrait of a Graduate”: Well-Cultivated Faith Strength Of Character Far-Reaching Vision Scot said they are all appealing to him as a dad of a young girl. He asked what differentiates Montrose from other strong academic, Catholic schools for girls. Karen said they have a commitment to integrity and constantly knitting these three elements together through mentoring and a rapport between the faculty and the girls that last well past graduation. One of the alumn worked for a large architectural firm after college and was confronted with an ethical debate. She was able to re-direct the discussion at the meeting and a senior employee asked her where she graduated from college. She said it wasn’t college, but high school. Scot said in talking with other parents, they ask where savings for future education be deployed: junior high and high school or college? Karen said she has been in both higher education and now grade schools. When she taught in college she could tell the difference between those students who had the foundation to adjust to college and those who were lost, not just academically but also in campus life. They need to know why it matters to have virtues, why the decisions they make with their time are important. Fr. Chris wondered if the girls are evangelizing their parents as well. Karen said many parents have told her that they’ve begun to take their faith seriously because of the education their daughter was receiving. The faculty offer a faith enrichment program to the parents. Scot said the school notes that education is the primary responsibility of the parents and the school is there to support. How do the parents get involved? Karen said the parents meet with faculty twice per year, to meet their adviser twice per year and to be in touch whenever they have questions or concerns. The school offers seminars and lectures to the parents on adolescence as well. The upper school students have a character leadership discussion series with a series of virtues that are discussed: Virtue: Topic: Accountability: Big picture, Looking outside yourself Modesty: Facebook, Between guys & girls Perseverance: Goal Setting Courage: Master of the universe, Do it now! Leadership: Communicating & Listening Skills; Making Choices Diligence: Leading to maturity, Helping others Hope: Life Portrait Speaker Bernice Lerner Hospitality: Interpersonal Skills, Persuasive speaking Understanding: Stress management, Thinking of others Reflection: Beginning again Respect: Body image, Self-respect Friendship: Avoiding destructive decisions Patience: With self, With others Perseverance: Purposeful action, planning Generosity: With family (service deed) Simplicity: Pop Culture Humility: Using God-given talents for good of others Justice: Obeying authority, Making decisions Loyalty: Values systems in friendships Karen said the students talk with their advisers about how they can grow in these virtues. They bring older students to talk to the middle school girls to discuss how to make them living. Karen said it’s important that they don’t look at them as behaviors, but as parts of our character. Fr. Chris said the virtuous person responds to virtue with virtue. The person full of vice sees virtue as not living up to themselves. Chastity is seen as prudery for example. Karen said they try to make it attractive, not hit them over the head. The teens don’t want to feel like they’re on a behavior modification program. they want to know that respect makes them a more attractive friend. When they see it lived, it comes more compelling. Virtue comes from a Greek word meaning strength. It’s a good disposition of mind, heart, and action. It’s an internal strength. Measures of success are external accomplishments. They can be short-lived and may not satisfy. A person of virtue can be poor or wealthy, but they have dispositions that allow them to live in the happiest way possible. Karen said it’s the little things that form the foundation of bigger change. Rudy Guiliani cleaned up New York first by fixing broken windows and then crime rates followed. Scot noted that Karen co-authored a book called “Building Character in Schools”. We hear a lot of schools say they teach good values, while Montrose educates and forms for good virtues. Karen said values can be good or bad. Virtues are good. Psychologists tell us that we need good habits and dispositions. Virtues are more objective and part of who we are. Values are more external. People can resist values because whose values are they. Scot asked how you make good character a priority in your home? Karen said you have to choose your battles and determine what matters most. The children also need to feel needed and vital. Stake a claim so that children can say that in their house they can say the three things that matter most. Scot asked how people can find more about Montrose. The school will have an open house this Sunday, Oct 16, from 2-4pm and there will be another open house on Sunday, Nov 3, 7-9 pm.

Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Collin Raye, multi-platinum country music star and spokesman for for the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network Collin Raye “Meet Collin Raye, Terri’s Network National Spokesperson” “New Voice for Life: Collin Raye”, National Catholic Register, 10/03/11 Today’s topics: Collin Raye, national spokesman for Terri Schiavo’s Life Summary of today’s show: Multi-platinum country music star Collin Raye talks with Scot about his conversion to Catholicism as a young, musician seeking truth as well as his experiences as a husband and then a grandfather seeing loved ones on life support that led to his decision to become a spokesman for the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network. 1st segment: Scot said issues concerning human life are coming to the forefront in Massachusetts, especially with a new ballot initiative on assisted suicide. As Christians, we need to be clear and informed on these issues. Our guest, Collin Raye, is a multi-platinum country music artist who recently joined the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network as National Spokesman. 2nd segment: Scot said he’s been a fan since the early 1990s when he was living in Cincinnati. Collin said he never really fit in with the country music scene because he didn’t wear a cowboy hat and his style was more pop and ballads. But he has tried to put out songs that have some meaning to it. He thanked God for his ability to make hits of songs that have something positive to say about life. Scot said the song “What if Jesus Came Back Like That” made his look at every person he met on the street in a new way, because Christ comes to us in distressing disguise sometimes. Collin said even for songs he didn’t write himself, his mission was to find songs that he could sing from the heart. His first hit came out when he was 30, but he was working in music since he was 15 in many rough places. He made a commitment to the Lord in those years that he would always strive to build up the Kingdom of God and give him glory. While he would sometimes stray from the path and get caught up in pride, he would catch himself and recognize that the Enemy was at work in him. Collin said music is one of the most powerful tools given by God to worship Him (which was the original purpose of God) and to bring healing and clarity, sometimes clarity for things which Christians already know. When “What is Jesus Came Back” came out, some people criticized him for saying Jesus could come back as anything other than the Lord in glory. Scot said one of Cardinal Sean’s favorite stories is of how a demented person entered New York Cardinal Spellman’s office years ago and the cardinal got a call from his secretary saying a man claiming to be Jesus was there and asked what to do. The cardinal said, “Look busy.” Scot asked Collin if other country music stars would find it odd for him to step out on a controversial issue like those represented by the Life & Hope Network, including euthanasia and assisted suicide. Collin said publicists and others would tell him to not speak out or be controversial, but he was always a square peg in a round hole, speaking out on things. They always wanted him to go out there for “safe” charities, like cancer research. He was always sure that he wasn’t trying to milk his celebrity for publicity. People in the industry are probably saying that his current position is understandable. Collin said he doesn’t understand why euthanasia and assisted suicide are controversial because it seems so apparent what is right. He’s had family members who were on life-sustaining equipment and their situation turned out differently because they didn’t have a Michael Schindler trying to unplug. Collin said he never expected God to use him, but that’s pretty much what the apostles said about themselves. 3rd segment: Scot asked Collin to share his own story of how his wife in 1985 when she was 6th months pregnant, she had a cardiac arrest and simultaneous stroke. She was dead for 20 minutes. She ended up in a coma for 9 weeks. He reminded us that Terri was never in a coma, but was awake the whole time. His wife, however, was in a full-blown coma. Doctors said she wouldn’t make and the boy wasn’t going to make. But Connie, his wife, and his son, Jacob, are both alive and well today. But that first week, he was already hearing from social workers and doctors about the need to institutionalize her. Then a few weeks later, they started hearing that as the husband he could pull the plug. “Do you want to keep her like this” and “What are you doing to her?” He realized that as a husband of three years, her parents had absolutely no say so in any decision. Obviously, he refused all those offers. She woke up eight weeks later and had to re-learn everything, including walk and talk and eat. He noted that Terri Schiavo was awake the whole time over the course of years. He doesn’t understand people say he had a right. Michael Schiavo didn’t have a right to state-sanctioned murder. He said the case is still relevant because it’s a microcosm of something that’s occurring every single day in America. Scot said he’s sure it’s getting worse because of the pressures of health care costs and with the new Obama health care regulations putting even more pressure to ration health care. He said people couch it in terms like, “Are you sure you want to keep her suffering?” This must be happening even more considering the state of society today. Collin said over 1,000 families have contacted the Life & Hope Network for help. The network is attorneys and doctors committed to life and fighting for life. Those in the situation similar to Terri’s family now have help and guidance in 47 out of the 50 states so far. Collin said Obamacare is so much more than health care. Members of Congress themselves said they didn’t even read it. Government now has control over who gets healthcare. Now it won’t even be family members making these decisions, but bureaucrats. This isn’t about extraordinary care, keeping heart and lungs pumping. Terri and Connie and Jacob were all on feeding tubes. Collin had a granddaughter who died in 2010 from neurological condition who was on a feeding tube. That’s just food and water. Terri was starved and dehydrated to death over the course of 14 days. We would never tolerate a murderer on death row being starved to death. Scot said Terri was even able to speak. It should have been obvious to everyone. Collin recommended that everyone read the Schindler family’s book A Life That Matters: Making the Greatest Possible Difference with the Rest of Your Life that show how everyone in St. Petersburg, including government officials mistreated the family. It reminds him of the Third Reich and how it slowly started to dispose of people that it saw as flawed and a burden on society, including the sick and Down syndrome children. They even did it under the guise of compassion, saying they were taking them off the hospitals, but instead gassing them. Scot said it makes assumptions on the value of people based on how productive they are. He pointed out that the organizations pushing assisted suicide in Massachusetts are called “Call to Compassion” and “Death with Dignity” which are euphemisms. They claim that the right to life comes from the state, not from God. We can’t give that right to anyone but God, including families. Once you place that right anywhere else, you open to the door to insurance companies, doctors, governments, and anyone else. Collin said some would say comparing it to the Nazis is too much, but he is saying that the principles behind it is the same. It is wrong to hand over that control to anyone else. Even if he didn’t believe in God, he would still see it as wrong, because it’s just logical. Call a spade, a spade. If the other side is so sure of themselves that what they’re doing is right, then call it what it is, like Planned Parenthood and abortion. Scot said if we went back to the early 1960s and told them that more than 55 million babies had been aborted in this country since 1973 and we allowed husbands to put their wives to death and that doctors were participating in people’s early deaths, most people would think we were crazy. Collin noted that John F. Kennedy would be rolling in his grave if he knew our country had devolved to this point. JFK wasn’t about government control of life and as a Catholic he would reject all of this. Scot added that in his inaugural address he emphasized that our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness came from God, not the state. Collin said we can’t let someone else decide whether we can live or die. It’s easy to say it’s okay for someone else when we’re walking around healthy, but if we have an ailment or accident and are cognitively impaired, it is very different. It’s easy to say we’d be okay with it when we’re healthy, but when we’re laying there sick, it can different. Collin said Terri’s mom asked her to say she wanted to live and even though she made sounds that sounded like it, the government didn’t give it credence. Shouldn’t any reasonable doubt have been enough. He said it wasn’t government-assisted suicide, it was government-sanctioned murder. No one knows when that person wants to die. His own granddaughter could do nothing for herself, but she did smile at them. And he’s known other children with similar neurological ailments who could smile, yet some people say that their lives aren’t worth living. Scot said regardless of her condition, she was a gift to her family, the presence of JEsus in their lives, opening their hearts to God. Collin said what would Mother Teresa have done. She would have cared for that person until her natural death. God allows suffering and there is a value in suffering. How do we know that Terri laying there isn’t paying a spiritual bill for someone else who needs spiritual help? God hears our prayers every time we ask, but He doesn’t always heal every ailment because He has a plan. Collin said his own granddaughter was so precious and perfect, she wasn’t made for this world. When she had done everything God had called her to do in this life, He called her home. Collin rejects those who say that ailments can be cured only if you prayed enough. God can answer prayer. He has a new inspirational CD coming out in a few weeks with a song called “I Don’t Always Get What I want, I Get What I Need”. 4th segment: The reason that song, “I Think About You”, appealed to Collin was that he’s an over-the-top dad when it comes to his kids. (They’re 28 and 25 now.) That song is about how men look at women, even in an innocent way. We all quietly, privately notice a pretty girl and check her out. He’d never heard someone in a song remind everyone that this is someone’s baby girl. It wasn’t a big statement, just that we all do this and when he sees it happen, it makes him think of his baby daughter. He was shocked it was as popular as it was, he thought people would be offended. It affirms his belief that the majority of people in this country are good people who want to do the right thing. Scot noted that Collin was a convert to Catholicism in his early 20s. He was raised in northeast Texas, Texarkana. It was very much in the Bible Belt with 20 Baptist churches for every Catholic parish. He grew up Southern Baptist and knows his Bible and is grateful for that upbringing. He always felt there was something more though. He felt like something was wrong with the common Protestant doctrine of “Once saved, always saved.” He felt like conversion should be something that happens every day. Being Christian was a tough proposition but the doctrine made it seem kind of easy. In his early 20s he was looking for a church to fit him better, but none of the Protestant churches were enough. But there was a couple who kept coming to his shows and he saw their crucifixes. He finally asked them if he could go to Mass with them and he went. He walked into the church and felt an overwhelming blessed heaviness in the air that he’d never experienced before. Other churches of his experience were nice pleasant meeting halls, but this had a peace that he found out later was the Presence of Jesus Christ in the tabernacle. That’s all it took for him to want to learn more and took instruction over the next few months. Every time he was presented with a Catholic doctrine, he would ask “Where is it in the Bible” and he would be shown where, much to his surprise. He is very grateful for finding his Catholic faith. He has a new album coming out at the end of October called “Through It All His Love Remains”, and will be available at Catholic bookstores and on Amazon and iTunes. Find out more about Collin Raye at his website

Subscribe for free in iTunes Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr Mark O'Connell Today’s guest(s): Fr John Sassani, Pastor of Our Lady Help of Christians Parish in Newton Today’s topics: Priest Profile: Fr John Sassani; the importance of a healthy prayer life, this Sunday's Mass readings Summary of today’s show: Fr John discusses his vocation story and past assignments with Scot Fr Mark, as well as the new high school forming next year in Newtown. The group also discusses the readings for this Sunday, the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Father Mark to the show, and said it felt like they had been together all day. They discussed that the Cardinal's Cabinet had met today, as is the custom on the first Friday of every month. Scot said they covered many important topics, especially a discussion of how to follow up on the Catholics Come Home campaign and continue to increase Mass attendance. Fr Mark added that with the wide variety of people that make up the cabinet, it adds a great wealth of opinion to the discussions. Scot mentioned that the Cardinal could not be present at the meeting but will get a full report - Cardinal Sean was at the funeral Mass for Msgr Stanlislaus Sypek this morning. Fr Mark pointed out that Msgr Sypek was still a pastor at 96 years of age - showing his legendary dedication. Scot said that people of the Archdiocese may remember Msgr Sypek from his work at St Adalbert parish and as a professor at Emmanuel College and Boston College. Members of the Cardinal's Cabinet Msgr. Sypek's Obituary 2nd segment: Fr John Sassani joined Fr Mark and Scot on the show. Scot asked Fr John to describe how he heard the calling to the priesthood. Fr John explained that when he was in the 2nd grade, Fr Dick Little came to Swampscott as a new priest, and caught Fr John's attention and had great influence on his life. Fr John also said that the Sisters of St Joseph, who taught at his school, gave him a sense of what was important in their lives and how their vocations affected it. He attended St John's Prep in Danvers, and entered St John Seminary College Division when he was done with high school. He would speak with his dad, who had been a seminarian for several years in New York, and supported him greatly through his seminary years. Scot asked Fr John what things his parents did to create a culture of vocation and openness to a priestly vocation. Fr John said that his parents were people of great faith - even if they didn't say prayers before dinner every night, their faith came into play every day of their lives. Scot asked Fr John to speak about his early priestly assignments, the first of which was at Sacred Heart in Roslindale. Fr John said that while he had requested a parish north of Boston, as a second or third priest and without a school, he was sent south of Boston to Roslindale as the sixth priest and a large, thriving school. He said that being in Roslindale gave him a wide variety of experiences with different people over the three years he was there, until he was asked to do graduate studies in liturgy in Rome. Fr John said that he spent a year there, but it wasn't a good match, so he came home and served at St John's in Winthrop. Fr John continued that St John's was a great place to be and had a solid history and active parishioners. After Winthrop, Fr John was assigned to the Office of Spiritual Development along with Msgr Dennis Sheehan. They also managed St Jean's, a small parish in Newton. Fr John explained that the Office of Spiritual Development was founded by Bishop D'Arcy to help parishes renew themselves in a spiritual way. He worked during the academic year, and spent his summers at Creighton University studying spirituality. It was at this time that he and Maryann McLaughlin created the "Meeting Christ in Prayer" program, which eventually was published by Loyola Press. Scot asked Fr John what was involved with spiritual renewal at the parishes. Fr John said all of it was rooted in prayer - the sessions were about helping people experience personal prayer in a communal setting. Small group and large group sessions would follow in the parishes. Fr John explained that Meeting Christ in Prayer was an opportunity provided by the Cardinal to encourage small-group spiritual renewal leading into the year 2000. Fr John said that the goal of the program was to deepen the faith in the parish, but to instill the desire to continue growth in prayer and faith lives instead of a momentary renewal. Sometimes, Fr John said, we think other people pray better than we do, but are still willing to learn to pray better. Prayer should come to be second nature to us - we are made for God, so having a connection with Him is something everyone can do, not just monks and nuns. Fr Mark said he was struck by the thought that people think other people pray better - he said we need to remember that we are all called to our own personal relationship with God. Fr John agreed that the personal relationship is a major theme in Christian spiritual life. We are invited to work with God's grace to become the person he wants us to be through prayer, moral decisions, and our everyday relationships. Mostly though, Fr John continued, it's through knowing that God desires a relationship for us and knows who He wants us to be. Scot asked Fr John for a few thoughts about how people can pray better. Fr John said people don't take enough time to be relaxed in order to pray - most of us are used to prayers that we learned or memorized. Those are fine, Fr John said, but we need to take a few silent seconds to prepare for them. Scot and Fr John discussed that a good second step is to say what you want to say to God, and then listen for God's response. Sometimes, Fr John said, it may be a deliberate thought that comes into his head that wasn't there a moment before, other times it is being challenged by someone or something in our lives. Fr John also said that we need to develop confidence in our faith lives about our tangible experiences with God. Fr John said the last thing was to stay for a specific period of time every day in prayer, even if you think you're finished - whether it be an hour or just five minutes, having time set aside for God is important. 3rd segment: Scot asked Fr John about his transition from one of the smaller parishes of the Archdiocese (St Theresa's in Sherburn) to one of the larger parishes, Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton where he is the parish. Fr John said it was a big difference, but the neighborhood nature of the parish, active outreach, and great location made the transition great. Fr Mark noted that the parish was also beautifully renovated - Fr John agreed, and said that the open sanctuary and the Baptismal pool make it a very hospitable and welcoming environment. Scot said that Our Lady's has one of the most involved parish communities in the Archdiocese. Fr John said that one of the things the ministries offer is not just service to the larger community, but an opportunity for people to feel connected to the parish community as well. He explained that new parishioners are encouraged to find a ministry that they want to contribute to and become excited by, because it will not only be ministry being done by more people, but people in the parish getting to know one another in a deeper way. Fr John described the Bereavement Ministry that met just last night - a group of 40 people who volunteer to help families of deceased parish members plan funeral liturgies and provide support in prayer. Scot mentioned that the parish roster holds over 20 zip codes at Our Lady's, a real testament to how connected the parishioners feel they are. Some parishes seem to be very good at building a community, Scot noted, and asked Fr John what things Our Lady's does to promote this feeling. Fr John said the core of the parish being a neighborhood parish and the family nature and closeness of fellow parishioners has carried through to a hospitable community. He also said that the location of the Church and Fr Walter's reputation for welcoming people helped as well. Fr Mark noted that some people are shocked by the community - he said that at times it seems some Catholics want to go to Mass but not be talked to! Fr John said that while the welcome is appropriate and heartfelt, it's never coercive. Scot said that last week there was an announcement that Mount Saint Joseph Academy and Trinity High School will be merging, a significant moment for Our Lady's and the Catholic Community in Newton. Fr John said it was a pastoral challenge to help people along with the transition, but ultimately will allow both schools to continue providing a financially stable and academically rigorous education to the communities. Fr John said that when the announcement was made to the students, some of the young people started asking for a retreat with the students from the other school so they could start the process of integration and get to know people. Fr John said that he felt it was a clear sign that the new enterprise, while not pain-free, is full of hope and desire in the new purpose. 4th segment: Scot read the first reading from Isaiah, and Fr. Mark read the Gospel, from Matthew. Readings for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time. First Reading: Isaiah 25:6-10a On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever. The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face; the reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken. On that day it will be said: "Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! This is the LORD for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!" For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain. Second Reading: Philipians 4:12-14, 19-20 Brothers and sisters: I know how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I can do all things in him who strengthens me. Still, it was kind of you to share in my distress. My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father, glory forever and ever. Amen. Gospel Reading: Matthew 22:1-14 Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. A second time he sent other servants, saying, "Tell those invited: "Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast."' Some ignored the invitation and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. The rest laid hold of his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.' The servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests, he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment. The king said to him, 'My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?' But he was reduced to silence. Then the king said to his attendants, 'Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.' Many are invited, but few are chosen." Scot noted that Jesus often described Heaven as a banquet in parables, as in this Gospel reading. We all get an invite to Heaven, but we don't always receive it, and sometimes might even put to death the people sent to invite us. Fr John agreed, saying that Jesus is giving us a glimpse into the goal of Salvation History with this parable - there is the eternal feast in Heaven, but also many feasts on Earth that we are invited to as well. Fr John also noted that the king in the parable invites people a second time - very much like how we are inviting our brothers and sisters to come back to the faith. Fr Mark pointed out that there are people, like the man who wore the wrong garment, that are present at the feast but not totally into it. There are people who think they are going to Heaven, Fr Mark said, because they are walking a certain line, but there are parts of their life that are completely inconsistent. God is constantly inviting us in this life, he continued, to come back to Him. Scot said the end of the Gospel might be misunderstood as fashion advice - it may point to the lesson that we cannot just show up at the Heavenly banquet unprepared and have God accept us anyways. One of the ways we can prepare, Scot concluded, is to take part in the sacraments and receive those graces.

Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Antonio Enrique, editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot The Anchor The Pilot Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot’s and The Anchor’s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today’s topics: Life issues; Capital punishment; New Roman Missal; Faithful Citizenship Summary of today’s show: Scot and Susan consider the news of the day with Fr. Roger Landry and Gregory Tracy, including Respect Life Sunday; federal efforts to undermine New Hampshire’s defunding of Planned Parenthood; renewed emphasis on Catholic teaching on the death penalty; an explanation of why the words of the Mass are changing from one of the chief architects of the change; the adopt-a-priest prayer apostolate; the US bishops’ guidance on faithful citizenship; and the death of the archbishop who wore combat boots. 1st segment: Scot said the Catholic Media Secretariat gathered with Cardinal Seán this morning to pray for the success of media evangelization. Susan said the Cardinal spoke beautifully of All Souls Day marking the first anniversary of WQOM. This past Sunday was Respect Life Sunday. Also Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth, leader of the international committee on English in the Liturgy that provides the new translations of the Roman Missal was in Boston last week. Plus other local and national news stories. 2nd segment: Scot said Respect Life Sunday was marked by a Mass at the Cathedral with Bishop Hennessey this past Sunday. He said the protection of life was not first among equals of issues; it is first. He also called for consistency on this issue. Susan said he emphasized how God is merciful. Scot said Bishop Henessey is an apostle of the confessional. After the Mass was a 5-kilometer walk from Boston Common as a fundraiser for pro-life causes. Greg said he noticed this year that pro-life expanded beyond abortion to many new threats to life on many fronts, including assisted suicide. Fr. Roger said his parishioners who went to the walk were buoyed by seeing that they are not alone in the pro-life witness. They noted the push for assisted suicide in the Commonwealth. With abortion, we’re trying to push back a law legalizing abortion, but with assisted suicide we’re trying to prevent it in the first place, which is always easier. Scot said there were 4 speakers on Boston Common, including 18-year-old Sean Harrington. Scot said another story concerns New Hampshire’s attempt to end government funding of PLanned Parenthood in the state. In return, the Obama administration is undermining the authority of the local executive council to parcel out federal funding by mandating it directly to Planned Parenthood. Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary for health and human services, and President Obama are trampling on the rights of taxpayers and states. Fr. Roger said they are not championing choice, but are championing abortion. In the Pilot this week is a second column in the Project Rachel series of anonymous testimonials from women who’ve had abortion and received assistance in post-abortion healing. Scot said it’s some of the most powerful writing he’s seen in the Pilot. Susan said this woman’s statement that as an 18-year-old rape victim, she didn’t think she had a choice or didn’t deserve to have a baby was very chilling. 3rd segment: Scot said one of the many aspects of being pro-life is our stance on capital punishment. While the Catechism is not unilaterally opposed to capital punishment, do we need to be putting people to death in this day and age. “Moral theologians issue call to abolish death penalty”, CNS, 9/28/11 “A Catholic Call to Abolish the Death Penalty”, CatholicMoralTheology.com “Dead wrong: Catholics must no longer support capital punishment”, CNS, 9/28/11 Greg said it deals with this issue of capital punishment because while the Church has historically supported capital punishment, that thinking has evolved over the years so that the death penalty is not the best option. Our methods of incarceration have changed so that the case that we need to put someone to death to protect society has been mostly defused. Scot read the Church’s teaching that is in the Catechism: 2258 “Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being.”56 2267 The traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude, presupposing full ascertainment of the identity and responsibility of the offender, recourse to the death penalty, when this is the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor. “If, instead, bloodless means are sufficient to defend against the aggressor and to protect the safety of persons, public authority should limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person. “Today, in fact, given the means at the State’s disposal to effectively repress crime by rendering inoffensive the one who has committed it, without depriving him definitively of the possibility of redeeming himself, cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender ‘today … are very rare, if not practically non-existent.’[John Paul II, Evangelium vitae 56.] Fr. Roger said what drives support for death penalty in the US, even among Catholics, is a sense that the justice system doesn’t result in justice all the time. For example, stories of criminals getting off on a technicality or being released after light sentences. He said if we’re able to have a life sentence really mean a life sentence, then support for the death penalty will go down. He said there is a frustration among pro-lifers of a conflation of abortion, euthanasia, and death penalty. Abortion and euthanasia are always wrong, while the death penalty has even been used by the Church. In the First World, the need for the death penalty has been reduced almost to nihility. But there are cases, such as perhaps in cases of men like Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein, where having them living even with a life sentence would allow them to continue their depredations through others. Scot said it does seem that while it’s a different issue from abortion, too often people who are anti-abortion but are pro-death penalty—with language that is based on revenge—that it opens up pro-lifers to accusations of hypocrisy. 4th segment: Scot said Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth, executive director of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, which oversaw the 10-year effort to re-translate the Roman Missal, was in Boston last week. He said 75% of Catholics still don’t know that we will be changing the words of Mass as of November 27. Susan said in her parish they’ve been practicing some of the new responses in Mass. Msgr. Wadsworth anticipated some who would say the translation is now more formal by saying that the English-language missal will be used in 11 countries where the formal form of English is more common while causal English is very different. therefore, perhaps we use the more elevated language to make it more uniform and approachable. Greg said there are moments in life where there should be more ceremony and more solemnity in order to have greater gravity and reverence. Msgr. said the Mass will be richer and more beautiful as we adjust to these changes. Fr. Roger said it will help us to appreciate God’s majesty more through the poetic structure of the language. When we read Shakespeare, there is an awe of what it says. The same way we will have a sense of awe. People will also be able to see the clarity between what we hear in the prayers of the Mass and the words of sacred Scripture. The words of the Mass will now more accurately reflect the biblical verses from which they come. Scot also noted that the Serra Club announced its third annual adopt-a-priest Mass. The Serra Club lets people volunteer to pray for a particular Boston priest for a whole year. The Mass will be celebrated at the Cathedral on October 22 at 10am with Cardinal Seán. The Mass will be for the Feast Day Mass for Blessed John Paul II and papal biographer George Weigel will also speak. Serra Boston Scot said another article in the Pilot is a profile of the 13 men who recently were ordained permanent deacons. The article lists their varied occupations and family situations. For the first time, Cardinal Seán has given the deacons both a primary parish assignment and a secondary assignment with one of the central ministries. On another story about “youth across the world armed with Mary’s Rosary this October” in the Anchor, Fr. Roger noted that October is traditionally the month of the Rosary. This based on the historic Battle of Lepanto centuries ago in which the Rosary prayer was a key to victory over the Turks who were attempting to invade Europe. 5th segment: Fr. Roger said the new CatholicVote app lets citizens contact their representative and senators and where the stand on issues. It comes from the same programmers who created the “Confession” app. CatholicVote CatholicVote app for iOS Scot said the US bishops have re-issued the document “Faithful Citizenship,” which they issued in 2007, but with a new introduction by Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York. Susan said the new introduction re-emphasizes that there is a hierarchy of issues that Catholics must consider. “Bishops Reaffirm Forming Consciences For Faithful Citizenship As Guiding Teaching In Political Life” “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” FaithfulCitizenship.org Fr. Roger said re-issuing the document helps Catholics study this document anew instead of getting the message that somehow the Church’s teachings have changed. It’s an opportunity to really educate our consciences so we do everything in the name of the Lord. “Pushing the Reset Button”, Fr. Roger Landry, The Anchor, 10/7/11 Scot noted that Archbishop Hannan, the nation’s third-oldest living bishop, died in New Orleans last week. He was the eulogist at John F. Kennedy’s funeral. Greg recalled meeting the Archbishop a couple of years ago. He noted that the archbishop was a paratrooper in World War II and did a lot to help New Orleans rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.

Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Martin Doman, Assistant Director of Campus Ministry at Ave Maria University Martin Doman’s website Ave Maria University Today’s topics: Martin Doman, Catholic praise and worship music leader Summary of today’s show: On our 150th show, Martin Doman talks with Scot and Fr. Matt about his ministry as a Eucharistic praise and worship leader, his experience of writing and performing Catholic music, including “St. Patrick’s Breastplate”, the theme song for The Good Catholic Life; and his advice as a campus minister for parents looking at Catholic colleges for their children. 1st segment: Scot said we celebrated our 150th show since we started on Ash Wednesday. Scot said he’s learned so much about his faith and its tough to believe it’s been that many. We’ve profiled more than 75 priests and had about 200 guests. Scot said he’s not sick of his own voice yet. Just today Scot received a card from a listener who sent his condolences after Scot mentioned his uncle who had passed away. Fr. Matt said last Thursday he spoke to the first-year men discerning the diaconate. He spoke on living out your baptismal call. His cousin Brian was married on Saturday and it was a joy to be able to celebrate the sacrament with them. Scot said our guest today has had perfect attendance on the show. Martin Doman wrote the music we use as the theme for our show. It’s called St. Patrick’s Breastplate. Fr. Matt said he’s known Martin when he was worship leader for the Steubenville East youth conference. 2nd segment: Scot asked Martin what it was like to move from his native Pennsylvania to FLorida at Ave Maria. He said it was a big change for someone so used to winter. He said the university is surrounded by a brand-new town that is inhabited mostly by Catholics and it’s a great environment for his kids to grow up in. On their block alone, there are 40 or 50 kids their ages. Martin has been involved in leading Eucharistic worship for at least a decade. Scot asked him how he got started in this life. Martin said in high school he was exposed to the charismatic renewal and heard someone lead prayer in music. In his college years at Franciscan University of Steubenville, he decided that playing music at Mass was the path was God calling him to. Fr. Matt said he encountered Martin at Steubenville East in Attleboro. Martin was involved there for nine years starting in 1998. He got involved in conferences when he was in school in Steubenville when the music leader Jim Cowan asked him to be part of his band. He did well and so they asked him to lead the music himself at the Boston-area youth conference. Scot asked him to explain Eucharistic praise and worship and place it in context. He said praise and worship means just praying with music and that has it roots in Hebrew worship. So it’s praying with music, participating in song. St. Augustine mentions praise music very clearly in his writings. Eucharistic praise and worship means to worship the Lord with music in His presence during Adoration or during Mass. Scot said he used to think that Adoration just had the opening and closing hymns with silence in between, until he heard Martin play during Adoration at the Men’s and Women’s Conferences where he would sometimes pick quietly during prayer. Martin said the rite for adoration allows for music during adoration. He plays quiet and meditative music. The words of the music he uses draw out our personal relationship with God. There is emotion in that relationship, not unlike the emotion found in the Psalms. It’s the same kind of communication. The words of the song and music life the spirit. St. Augustine said he who sings, prays twice. Fr. Matt said upbeat praise music can lead to more solemn worship as the Holy Spirit fills the place and you experience the deeper presence of God. The twofold action of liturgy is the people of God participating in worship are offering blessings to God and God in turn sanctifies his people. When you enter into worship, including the words of music, the Holy Spirit starts pouring out on people in a way that leads to a silence where you just want to be. Martin said the goal of praise and worship is silence where nothing more needs to be said. At the end of the conversation where you feel like God is ministering to you and you enter silence. It’s not awkward silence, it’s a pregnant silence. In our media-saturated culture, we need that silence and that music helps our brains to slow down to focus on the Eucharist and enter silence. Fr. Matt said he often sees Martin “calls an audible” while on his knees and playing the guitar during Adoration. Martin likened it to surfing where you have to adapt to the wave. He is very open to what God is saying to him, where He is leading. All of us are called to follow the promptings of the Spirit. We’re not all called to be prophets like John the Baptist or Elijah, but we are called to be priest, prophet, and king in a sense. For Martin he feels an external prompting. For example, if he plans to start with O Salutaris, the traditional hymn for adoration, then O Come Let Us Adore Him, and then enter into silence. Perhaps he’s planning on playing a particular song and suddenly a different song comes into his head and he may feel like he needs to play that one now. If he’s looking for another song to play and he feels no prompting, he may take that to mean he’s supposed to be silent. Martin said he’s learned from the Charismatic renewal that you need to always be listening to the Lord in your prayer or daily life and when you do it can have powerful effects. 3rd segment: Scot noted the song we just heard is called “Legacy”. Martin wrote it to help us celebrated the bicentennial of the Archdiocese of Boston in 2008. Scot said 7 years ago he was encouraged to ask Martin Doman to lead worship for the Boston Men’s and Women’s Conferences, but all he’d heard was that he’d been a music leader for youth. But he later learned that Eucharistic praise and worship can help many people. Martin said singing praises to God is universal. It’s not tied to a particular age group. But the style of music is contemporary so it naturally appeals to a younger audience. Yet as prayer it is universal. In terms of the style, a lot of the songs he plays break the mold of one genre. He worked a t a Pennsylvania parish for several years and there was one coarse, crusty and blunt elderly man who once came up to him to tell him to play a hymn in the book. It turned out to be a beautiful song although it was older. A lot of these old hymns that were lost after Vatican II were simple intimate prayer songs between God and people. These hymns were so important and personal to another generation so he likes to blend these older hymns in among the newer ones. They bring out that universal thirst for God. Scot said there has been a rich patrimony of hymns built up over 2,000 years, but Martin also writes new hymns. He asked Martin what it’s like to put prayers in music. Martin said there’s a rich tradition in our Church and he mines the prayers. He suggested the Manual of Prayers as a good resource because it contains many of the great prayers of our Church. Fr. Matt asked Martin what song he wants to be remembered for? Martin said after awhile everything you do is just an attempt to capture the beauty of God, but fail to do so completely. He loves St. Patrick’s Breastplate. He said if someone asked him to play the one song he wants to play, it would be “My Desire” from his new CD. 4th segment: It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly WQOM Benefactor Raffle. In honor of St. Therese, whose feast was this past week, our prize this week is “The Story of a Family: The Home of St. Therese of Lisieux”, by Fr. Stephane Joseph Piat, OFM. This week’s benefactor card raffle winner is Anne Magnus from Reading, MA. Congratulation, Anne! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit WQOM.org. For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: Scot asked Martin to give listeners his advice for parents choosing a good Catholic college for their kids. Martin said people typically think Notre Dame or Georgetown, but some colleges have come under fire for not being as Catholic as they used to be. He attended Franciscan University of Steubenville and works now at Ave Maria University. Parents should look for a good education that prepares the student for life, not just for a job. College is pivotal for the life of a person in terms of life-changing decisions and so you need to given them a good foundation. The academic has to be good, with a curriculum that forms the whole person. They should also look at the student life on campus. The best measure of catholicity is whether the students are living the faith on campus. The peer pressure is positive toward living authentically. They don’t have to be weird religious nuts, just cool kids who love God. He said at Ave Maria, he’s come to know the faculty well and they really look at the foundations of the classics and where the Church’s gifts come from. There’s also a powerful sense of faith that’s not in your faith. Scot asked what the faith life is like there and what makes it distinctive. Martin said it’s not so much distinct from Steubenville. There’s definitely a sense of deep reverence there. The location creates a different lifestyle. It’s a relatively new college, but they have a student population that comes from all over. They are attracted by being in Florida, but also by the academics and faith environment. Fr. Matt said he’s seen so many kids leave solid Catholic high school youth ministry to come back from college deflated by the hedonism they encountered at college, even at the best Catholic colleges and by the anti-Catholicism they encounter in the classroom. Then the campus ministry is often not strong in countering the tsunami of challenges to their faith. He said he tells students considering a particular school to check out the campus ministry as a way to gauge how they feel about the school and see how it will help them in school. At Ave Maria, they’d find opportunities to grow deeper in faith and to be converted. Scot said to consider whether students graduating from the school have a concept of a personal vocation. Martin said at Ave Maria they have a weekly program to talk about vocations, all of them, not just marriage. We have to look at our vocation as a call to holiness.

Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O’Connor Today’s guest(s): James Driscoll, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference Massachusetts Catholic Conference Today’s topics: The Massachusetts Catholic Conference Summary of today’s show: Jim Driscoll, who became executive director of the Mass. Catholic Conference just a few months ago, appears on the show for the first time to talk with Scot and Fr. Chris about his background, the work of the body that represents the 4 Mass. dioceses on Beacon Hill, and the hot button issues of assisted suicide and casino gambling that he’s had to address right out of the gate. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Fr. Chris back to the show. He was at Boston University this past weekend with the college students and Fr. John McLaughlin, the new campus chaplain. They went on retreat in Wells, Maine, at the Franciscan retreat center. Several of the faculty went up to hear confessions of the students. Scot said Fr. McLaughlin most recently served as vocations director for the Military Archdiocese. He’s filling the big shoes of Sr. Olga Yaqob and the Brotherhood of Hope at BU. Fr. Chris said he’s building on a great legacy with young people who are on fire for their faith. Fr. Chris always asks him how many vocations he’s got for St. John Seminary. They are the source of many vocations to the priesthood. Scot said the seminary is planning a big alumni gathering on October 21 with the seminarians. The seminarians serve the meals and give some of the entertainment. It’s a great day for the alumni to see the future Church and for the seminarians to see those who are serving in the parishes they will serve some day. 2nd segment: Scot and Fr. Chris welcome James Driscoll to the show. Scot asked Jim about his family and background. His family attends St. Mary of the Nativity in Scituate and have been there since 1985. He has four children, all girls. Three of them have graduated college, all of them at Boston College. The last is a junior in high school. Jim went to Providence College and got a law degree at Suffolk. Jim is the black sheep in his family, being the one who didn’t go to Boston College. He was a probation officer in the district court while attending law school at night. Jim used to work for state government in several roles. He worked for the state Lottery Commission as the assistant general counsel and then the general counsel. After that he was general counsel at the state auditor’s office until this past spring when he came to the Mass. Catholic Conference. Jim said he loves his faith and take a lot of pride in working with the Knights of Columbus council he belongs to. For many years, he oversaw the community pool that the Knights ran. All the profits went to the good works of the Knights of Columbus. Jim took the job because it was time to make a change in his career; he’d been working in state government since law school. He’d been acquaintances with Ed Saunders, the previous executive director of the conference, and he found Ed’s job to be fascinating. Then Ed passed away suddenly last year. After getting past the shock of his death, Jim decided to see if it was the right fit for him. Gerry D’Avolio was Ed’s predecessor and he was interim director after Ed’s passing. Gerry’s assistance was invaluable. Jim’s first day of work was when the mariatalks.com website controversy broke and Gerry helped him with that. Gerry also introduced him around to the various representatives and senators on Beacon Hill. The Mass. Catholic Conference represents all the dioceses in the state: Boston, Fall River, Worcester, and Springfield. Jim said most states have Catholic conferences, about 37 or 38 of them. He went to the first meeting of all the directors back in July. They discuss national issues facing all of them as well as some local matters. Jim said four people work for the Mass. Catholic Conference, including himself: Peter McNulty, who just came in as the associate director of planning and research; Kathy Davis, who handles many of the social justice and education issue; and Kathy Magno, the jack of all trades who runs the office. 3rd segment: The Mass. Catholic Conference was established in 1969 to represent the Church and the 4 bishops primarily at the State house, so that the Church can keep informed in what is going on in the Legislature and weigh in on the particular bills and petitions when appropriate. They work closely with the bishops and their staff on what issues to focus on. Scot said it’s being the voice for the Massachusetts bishops among the legislators, helping them understand what we believe as Catholics. Jim said he has decided to do is to make the rounds at the State House to meet as many senators and reps as he can. Fr. Chris pointed out that the Church is concerned with the common good of all, not just Catholics. He asked how Jim responds to those who say the Church shouldn’t be involved in politics? Jim said as an attorney he understand the separation of church and state. But many of the issues affect your faith and you have to speak up regardless of your particular faith and the separation of church and state. Scot said his understanding of the clause about separation of church and state was not to favor a particular religion, but it’s been pushed to exclude all faith from the public square. Jim’s response is to disagree and say that the people in the pews need someone to speak on their behalf at the legislature. Scot asked the climate among legislators in terms of wanting to hear from the Catholic Church. Jim said as you get to know the legislators, you know which ones to approach on different issues, who is receptive to social issues and who is receptive on life issues. Fr. Chris said our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values and he is proud of our tradition in the stances we’ve taken on proclaiming the dignity of the human person and that the media comes to the Church to be the voice of those who stand for life. They want to hear what the Church has to say because the Church is serving not just Catholic beliefs, but also the common good. It’s a great day to go up to the Legislature and even get a meeting with a staff aide, who gets excited about a position and want to pass the information on to their boss. The Church has a lot of relevance on Beacon Hill. Jim spends most of his time interacting with the Legislative branch, but on occasion they do include the Executive branch, the governor’s office, in letters they write. Scot asked if they do any local work or if it’s primarily on the state level. Jim said they do sometimes get calls on local issues, but they are usually passed along to the various dioceses. Scot asked how they get the word out about Catholic teaching on relevant issues. He said they want to educate both legislators and Catholics on the issues. Jim said they post as much information as they can on their website. (Jim wanted to let everyone know that they’re designing a new user-friendly website. Should be ready about late November.) They also communicate through the Catholic newspapers in the four dioceses. He met with the Pilot recently on how to get more information to the Pilot more expeditiously. They are also constantly writing to the various legislators and the governor. Scot said sometimes the Mass. Catholic Conference will publish bulletin inserts and parish announcements on various big issues. Jim said it will happen with the assisted suicide petition. 4th segment: Scot said a frequent topic on the show over the past month is the assisted suicide ballot initiative proposed by various groups. The Church’s position is that every suicide is a tragedy. The Mass. bishops want to be very aggressive on educating the people and legislators on this issue. Jim said the bishops have spoken out against assisted suicide in a press release issued on the day of the ballot initiative. The bishops have appointed a steering committee to come up with a plan to get the word out and bring together those who agree with us and let people know what it means and how it affects families. Fr. Chris asked what is being pushed here. Jim said the bishops want to say that very life is precious from conception to natural death. The proponents call this choice and compassion, to have the choice to end lives under certain circumstances. They claim that there are safeguards to prevent the vulnerable from being taken advantage of. Scot said it sounds like the language of the pro-abortion industry: Don’t let anyone else have a say in how you live your life, not religion or anyone else. Almost any objection we would have, they’ve tried to address it by saying that people won’t be pressured, they have to have all kinds of signatures, there’s a waiting period. But as we’ve seen in other states that have passed this kind of legislation, suicide goes up after passage of the law. In Oregon, it’s the second leading cause of death of young people now, and suicide is 35% higher than the national average. Passing this legislation brings suicide to the forefront. Your 5-year-old today or 8-year-old today, when they have the worst day of their life when their 20 years old, this kind of bill that devalues life makes it more likely that they’ll consider suicide. Fr. Chris said God is viewed as threat to our freedom and autonomy, but it really comes down to who is the author of life, us or God? We are given a great gift by God. Fr. Chris said he’s shocked that we are even discussing this issue. How cheap life has become. A kay part is the down the stream consequences when you pass something like this and you devalue human life. The pro-assisted suicide forces make it all about the individual and don’t think of the common good. Scot said the initiative needs 69,000 signatures before early December. They passed the first stage in the first week of September. The Attorney General is not taking a position by certifying the petition. It’s just her constitutional duty to certify whether the initiative has followed the rules. The next stage is that petitions are printed and the proponents have to get 69,911 certified signatures, which is 3% of the voters who voted in the last governor’s race. They will attempt to get far more than that in case some come back as not valid. Scot said bulletin announcements will start appearing in parish bulletins this weekend making people aware that they may be approached to sign the petitions. Hopefully Catholics won’t sign the petition even if approached by a friend or neighbor. People need to be aware of what they are signing when approached. Other petitions have also been certified so other signatures may be requested. After they get the signatures, the petition is filed with the Legislature the first week in January. T he Legislature has until the middle of May to act or not act on the petition. They could enact it into law, but Jim doesn’t think they will do so. If not, then the proponents have to get 100,000 more signatures and if they do, it will appear on the November 2012 ballot. Scot said we can expect to see television ads from proponents and could be one of the larger issues discussed in Massachusetts over the next year. The proponents are well-funded. Fr. Chris asked if many legislators are behind this. Jim said it’s tough to say because it’s still early. He said there’s a separate piece of legislation that gets filed every year that mirrors this petition and that hasn’t moved out of committee. He doesn’t think legislators have focused on this yet. Jim said he hopes to send a message to proponents loud and clear that Massachusetts residents will have a resounding No to assisted suicide no matter when this is brought forward. It will take a good education effort from not just the Church but also disability groups and senior citizens’ groups. Fr. Chris asked the strategy to say this isn’t really about “compassion” and “dignity” as proponents claim. Jim said you have to expose what the definition of “compassion” really is, which in this case is ending someone’s life. It’s going to be a long-term plan that they develop. Scot said the best way t combat the euphemisms is to call them what they are. Cardinal Seán said at the Red Mass that we can’t let our citizens be seduced and that these words disguise the sheer brutality of helping people kill themselves. It’s blunt but honest and shows how proponents are being manipulative. Jim suggested those who want to read the Cardinal’s homily can read it at their website. 5th segment: Scot said Jim has recently testified on Beacon Hill about gambling bills before the Legislature. Jim’s background at the Lottery commission gives him a unique perspective and authority on the issue. Jim said he joined a large coalition at the State House after the House voted and before the Senate took up the bill. When it comes to expand gambling beyond the Lottery and bingo, he got a chance firsthand over the years to see the downside what gambling can do to people. The Lottery has about 7,000 agents in local stores. They paid the Lottery their take of the sales, minus their 5% profit and if that didn’t happen, they would be called into the Lottery commission for a hearing. Jim was one of the hearing officers. He heard on a consistent basis that one of the major reasons people couldn’t pay their bills was because either employees of the stores were getting hooked on buying tickets or family members in family-run stores were. He saw families torn apart by gambling. Fr. Chris said the Church has no problem with an occasional ticket, but when you’re gambling above and beyond your means, then it because a justice issue because you can no longer care for your family, which tugs at the fabric of society. Scot said he lies what the bishops said in their statement: While the Catholic Church views gambling as a legitimate form of entertainment when done in moderation, the gaming legislation opens the door to a new form of predatory gaming which threatens the moral fabric of our society. We are concerned that the Commonwealth’s reliance on gambling revenue continues to escalate. This reliance upon an unstable form of revenue, which has been shrinking in other states, would depend upon those who are addicted to gambling, many of whom are already among the ranks of the poorest in the community. We’re desperate for new forms of revenue in the commonwealth, but the $1.5 billion in tax revenues will come from taxpayers losing billions of dollars in these predatory casinos. Jim said the people who can least afford to play are those who will be playing. Looking at the casinos in Connecticut shows drug use is up, people are losing money. Scot said studies show that crime goes up around casinos when they open, not just the obvious ones related to needing more money, but also crimes like rape. Scot asked hypothetically how much would people pay to decrease rape by 21% or other violent crimes by similar amounts. But if these casinos open, these crime rates are likely to go up by these amounts while also sucking up billions of dollars from people in the community. Jim goes back to what it will do the family and remembers stories of people stealing from their family because they can’t get away from the addiction. Scot said it appears there’s a deal on this between the governor, the speaker of the House, and senate president. Is there anything we can do at this point? Jim said it looks like there is a deal although no one has said so publicly. The House passed this bill in one day, which is unbelievable given its complexity. The Senate version has more than 180 amendments, mostly filed by opponents. In last year’s bill, there was a breakdown between the governor and the speak on slot machines, but this year it seems like there’s an agreement. Scot said it’s shameful that no one in the key leadership positions sees that expanding predatory gambling is the wrong thing to do. Jim said it will create construction jobs in the short time. Scot said legalized prostitution would create jobs, but are these the right types of jobs? It’s the same in this case.

Today’s host(s): Scot Landry Today’s guest(s): Fr. Andrew Small, OMI, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States; and Fr. Rodney Copp, Archdiocesan Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Boston Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States Pontifical Mission Societies in Boston Make a donation Today’s topics: Pontifical Mission Societies and World Mission Sunday Summary of today’s show: Fr. Andrew Small, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, and Fr. Rodney Kopp, Boston director, talk to Scot about World Mission Sunday and how the societies provide support for the Church in 1,100 mission dioceses worldwide; how the US went from being a major recipient of aid to being the largest donor in two centuries; and how the “pagan babies” served by the societies years ago still need our generous assistance today. 1st segment: Scot welcomed everyone to the show. In three weeks, we will celebrate World Mission Sunday. Scot welcomed Fr. Rodney Kopp and Fr. Andrew Small. Scot said Cardinal Richard Cushing once served as Pontifical Missions director in Boston. Fr. Small’s predecessor was Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Fr. Small said it is awesome. Fr. Small has served in many roles in the US. Scot asked him what he has learned new about the missions since being appointed last spring. Fr. Small said this country was a recipient of great gifts supporting the missions in the US back the 18th century. When faith is planted and watered and grown is bound to spread. It never stops surprising him how generous people are to the missions. Fr. Kopp has been in his role since June, 2010. He’s been surprised by the incredible complexity of the the work with regards to the numbers of diocese they serve and how many dioceses are represented by missionaries coming to ask for support. He also had not known of how much support the archdiocese has provided to the missions over the years, being one of the leading dioceses in the US. Boston is the birthplace of Maryknoll, 100 years ago this year, and the the Missionary Society of St. James the Apostle, founded by Cardinal Cushing. Scot said the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) have a long history of service in the missions. He asked Fr. Small if that was why he entered the missions. Fr. Small said he was born in Liverpool, England, to Irish parents. He came to the US in 1988 to study and got to know many Oblates in Lowell. The second-to-last Sunday in October was always World Missions Sunday. This is the mission of the whole Church and in his boyhood parish where there were OMI priests, on that Sunday they would build igloos to represent their work among the Eskimos/Inuit people. They serve the people who live beyond the end of the asphalt roads. Fr. Small served for a year in Brazil. The OMI in Brazil were asked to serve in a time when they were still mission dependent, i.e. dependent on missionaries. The Church in Brazil is strong in faith, but still having a hard time providing catechists and the sacraments to the people. He served outside Rio de Janeiro near some of the infamous favelas, but among very generous and joyful people. What he learned was that in the drive for progress, the little people are being left behind, especially in faith. The OMIs go to these little people so they are not left unserved, including immigrant communities. There is great hope in the missions, but these people are getting left behind economically, both in our country and around the world. The OMI have as many seminarians as they did in the 60s, but they are in new places like Africa and Asia. If we are missionary, we are energized as a Church. If we lose that global focus, we turn in on ourselves. Fr. Kopp said when we heard vocation years ago, we thought of priests and religious, but every baptized Catholic has a vocation which is intimately bound up with the command in Matthew to serve all nations, whether through prayer, contributions, or actually going there. Scott asked what we can do to stay connected to Catholics across the world. Fr. Kopp said people should be aware of what’s going on in the media, including Catholic media. Become members of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith and receive the member magazine. He encourages everyone to join them at the cathedral at 11:30 on World Mission Sunday for Mass with Cardinal Seán. Why is World Mission Sunday the second-to-last Sunday of October? It’s always been that Sunday. 2nd segment: In addition to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, he three other mission societies are Society of St. Peter the Apostle (raises funds for priests and religious), Holy Childhood Association (for children), and Missionary Union of Priests & Religious (provides theological support). As pontifical societies they are tied to the Holy Father. They are in the diocese, they are apart from the diocese. They approach people in the name of the holy Father to ask for support. The local societies report to the national office and from there to the Vatican congregation for the propagation of the faith. In 2010, 27% of the entire support that goes to the 1,100 mission dioceses comes from the United States. We do have a history and a culture of giving and supporting one another. In the beginning of the mission societies, the United States was an equivalent beneficiary of missionary funds. On World Mission Sunday in the US, it raises about $18 million. Scot said in addition to the World Mission Sunday, there are also missionaries who go into parishes to ask for support. Fr. Kopp said they provide even more funds to missions, as well as provide specific information on particular missionary activity. Fr. Small said when you have a missionary from India tell you about her work and the people she serves, it tends to elicit more donations. They also receive tremendous donations from those who want to leave a lasting legacy through a donation in their last will & testament. He pointed out that overhead is just 3 or 4% and the rest goes right into the pockets of missionaries who need it. The Holy Childhood Association is working in Africa where there is a massive drought and famine. The Church is always at the sharp end of human crisis in the world and people ‘s gifts recognize. Donations can be made to givetothemissions.org. Fr. Small said the difference between charity and Catholic charity is that you are making a difference for the whole person with eternal consequences. For someone who is provided with AIDS drugs, you can also help them understand the ultimate meaning of their lives. You have to give people the whole package. 3rd segment: Scot asked how the money from the collection gets to the missionaries. Fr. Kopp said the parish writes a check to the local Propagation of the Faith and all those 291 checks are collected. They hope that it can all be gathered within a couple of weeks. Last year, it was about $300,000 or $400,000. The national office collects all the checks from the 175+ dioceses in the United States. They total it all up and notify the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. They put it together with what they get from all the other major giving countries. The staff in Rome look at the needs in the 1,100 mission dioceses around the world as well as the request from the 190+ national mission society directors, and put together a proposal for each project. Then all of the national mission societies come together and go through each proposed project, see the special circumstances involved, and then vote on them. Then they disburse the funds. The money doesn’t go out from Rome, but they get a letter to tell them where to send the money in order to maintain accountability. Recipient dioceses send a letter to explain how the funds were spent. Fr. Small said the democratic process is amazing. Even though the US gives so much, it gets one vote among many. The US doesn’t get to tell other people who to run their own Church. Sometimes there is haggling and frustration in the debate, but it’s because the need is so great. Fr. Small said the bishop is the father of the diocese and so when he makes a request it gets special consideration. One request from each diocese must come from a religious community. Fr. Kopp said he can see what can be accomplished by looking around at the archdiocese to see how it has grown from a mission diocese. 4th segment: World Mission Sunday will be celebrated at the cathedral as well by Cardinal Seán and missionary priests and bishops in the Archdiocese. The Mass is offered for the repose of the souls of missionaries who died in the field over the past year. They also bless and distribute mission rosaries, asking people to pray for the missions. This was created by Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Many missionary groups are invited to join in the Mass. In the intercessions and readings, they use different languages to represent the Church’s diversity. Cardinal Seán was in the Diocese of Fall River for 12 years before being in Boston. When he was in Capuchin formation, he had planned to go to the missions, but instead he was asked to go to Washington, DC. Yet he still has missionary DNA. Fr. Small said he worked with Cardinal Seán at the bishops’ conference on Latin America and traveled with him to Haiti after the earthquake last year. They recalled together how children used to be asked to save pennies for “pagan babies”, as a way to help them. Fr. Small points out that some of them grew up to be priests, nuns, and lay catechists and still need our help today as the pillars of Catholic communities in mission lands. Scot said it wasn’t just about conversion but about helping them because they were in need. Fr. Kopp said today they still do this work in the Holy Childhood Association, educating children about kids like themselves in need around the world. Fr. Small said we can’t take for granted that Jesus will be proclaimed in every age. We have to do our part, like our parents and grandparents did. We should claim our heritage in the good will caring for others, person to person, a world away. Fr. Kopp said he hopes on World Mission Sunday to equal or exceed the $450,00 collected last year in Boston.

Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O’Connell Today’s guest(s): Greg Willits, host of The Catholics Next Door radio show The Catholics Next Door Catholic New Media Conference Star Quest Production Network Rosary Army CatholicTV Today’s topics: Catholic new media from The Catholics Next Door Summary of today’s show: Greg Willits, a pioneer in Catholic new media, talks with Scot about hosting a nationally broadcast Catholic radio show, The Catholics Next Door, with his wife, Jennifer, revealing the real life of a normal Catholic family each day on the air; the gathering of Catholic new media fans and professionals alike in Kansas City this weekend for the Catholic New Media Conference; how the Church, in its lay and ordained members, need to be patrons of the new media, supporting this work of evangelization that is vital to our future; and the new Catholic sitcom Greg and Jennifer filmed in their home for CatholicTV. 1st segment: Scot welcomed Greg Willits. Scot said Greg was one of the founders of the Star Quest Production Network and three years ago they started the Catholic New Media Celebration. Last year, the CNMC was in Boston and this weekend it’s in Kansas City. Greg said the Holy Spirit has been leading many people from around the world into Catholic new media. It’s been appropriate to gather people in all aspects of new media: blogging, podcasting, social networking. People are so spread out, and when they bring everyone together there is a synergy and excitement and inspiration to see first hand the clarion call to go out and evangelize the world, using whatever technology have. Greg and Jennifer used to podcast from a studio they built in their closet. Fr. Roderick Vonhogen was podcasting from his rectory in the Netherlands, but they were working in isolation. SQPN and the CNMC bring people together to check in and support each other and help one another. Every year, they see it become more professional, while there also remains room for those who just want to get started. Scot said he experienced hope during last year’s CNMC, meeting the pioneers in Catholic new medias and seeing how it’s all working. Scot asked Greg where he thinks we’re at by the Church. Greg said there’s been a study that shows a low percentage of Catholics consuming new media, but Greg thinks they may have looked at the wrong study group. Greg said we have a long way to go anyway compared to the other Protestant churches and the Mormons and their online presence. Greg said the big sore spot is where the money to do this is coming from. The talent is there and the desire is there, as evidenced by the people coming from all over for the CNMC. People are very interested, but there’s no funding to help people to continue to do this and the funding is going to the people who have the right connections. Greg said he and his wife Jennifer were working full-time on SQPN, but there wasn’t a full-time salary there. He has a family to feed. He doesn’t like to talk about money, but it has to be talked about. People may not be using new media because they don’t know it’s there. For them to know it’s there, there needs to be money. People need to be told where to go for the content and how to get it. If we want Catholic new media to succeed in the next 5 to 10 years, we need to identify realistic ways of funding this. The Church has been known for centuries as a patron of the arts. Michelangelo was a full-time artist being supported by the Church. Today’s podcasters are artists who should be supported by the Church, not just the institution, but also laypeople. Someone could set up a foundation to support new media. Find a way to support people so they can make it their full-time jobs. When Greg and Jennifer left SQPN to go to the Catholic Channel for their radio show, part of the reason was because of the need for job with benefits. Scot said before he started working in Catholic media at the Archdiocese, he didn’t know much about new media. Greg said he’s been a fan of the Archdiocese’s new media work. Scot said there are people looking to the Archdiocese, but they’re looking for ways to identify funding. Benefactors can come to the Church and say they want to fund new media whether inside the diocese or individually. In he past year, the Church has really started to forcefully embrace new media. In the US, last November, Bishop Ron Herzog gave a compelling address to the US bishops to tell them that this isn’t a fad that should be a normal part of diocesan communications. Greg said he also said that if the Church does not exist online, then in 10 years the Church will not exist for teens today. That should shake us to our core. Scot said many US bishops said it’s very important based on that talk. But it didn’t create a sense of urgency such that it needs to be included in a diocesan budget. Bishops needs to be committed to expanding new media presence, but that takes one or two budget cycles. We need to 3 to 5 years to really measure whether dioceses worked to change things. The more that dioceses try things and lay Catholics live their vocation through new media. Greg said the speakers at the CNMC this weekend will include Sr. Anne Flanagan of the Daughters of St. Paul, known as the “nunblogger”, talking about evangelization online. Also Sean Patrick Lovett, director of the Vatican’s FM radio station. On Friday, there is a separate day of workshops beneficial to people and dioceses that are curious about how to get started in new media. One talk will address whether gadgets and gizmos to help people conduct ministry. But they will address the overall message that technology is great, but more importantly we need to be better catechized and share the Gospel with ever more people and bring them closer to God. A goal will be to create community and opportunity for networking. Greg said so much of new media has been like playing darts with a blindfold on. So much is happening so quickly, but if he has found that if they hadn’t been experimenting with new media services they would have missed it. There will be a next Twitter and a next Facebook and we have to ready to embrace them. For so many years there was one type of Catholic media: constant catechesis. People can turn on EWTN and learn something about their faith. But they discovered in Catholic new media a huge desire for a social component to feel like a companion on a spiritual journey. One of the most frequent things Greg hears is that listening to them is like sitting down and getting to know someone in the next pew. They are laos told it’s edifying to hear someone express both the joys and struggles of living the Catholic faith. People often feel a sense of isolation in trying to live out their faith. Through podcasts and blogs, people now feel that connection. Scot said with the expansion of Catholic new media and Catholic radio, people can now hear the voices of others living their faith. Through blogs and social media, people can read about those struggles. Those struggles aren’t new, but they can feel like they’re the only ones. Interested people can watch many of the events live streaming online at SQPN.com. On Twitter, they will use hashtag #cnmc11. Last year, everyone was using Twitter with the hashtag to send out key passages and bits of information and staying connected even when they weren’t in a particular session. 2nd segment: Scot told Greg he was pleased to see that The Catholiocs Next Door runs 1-4pm Monday-Friday on Sirius XM and doesn’t conflict with The Good Catholic Life. Greg said it’s been a blessing for him and Jennifer to be on Sirius XM over the past three years. It’s been an unexpected benefit is just how much married couples appreciate hearing another married couple. They don’t candy-coat it. Some days on the air, they even have arguments. They’ve even been able share great news with people, including the announcement of their next child last week. But that also allowed them to talk on the air about the real concerns it brings up, like how they best take care of their children and rearrange their lives to accommodate the next one. They are showing how they are treating their marriage as seriously as God wants them to and being a witness to the openness to life. He feels like he’s constantly falling down as a Catholic, but also showing how God lifts him up time and again. Scot said it’s a gift to the Church to be able to be open about their lives. He asked how he makes sure it doesn’t weaken their family by being on the air five times a week. Greg and Jennifer said they were realistic from the beginning about the need to put their families first even as they share so much of their lives and families. There is much that they keep to themselves. They commit to making time just for each other. They place the sacramental life of their family first. They will even “call an audible” and take a day off when they need it. They have a new book coming out in the Spring called “The Catholics Next Door: Adventures in Imperfect Living”. They write about the aspects of their Catholic faith that are the most important things to them, what they have the most interest in. One chapter is on how they came to a deeper understanding of the Eucharist. Another chapter is about TV watching and entertainment and how they find good entertainment. Should be out last week of March or first week of April from Servant Publications. Greg and Jennifer started Rosary Army in 2003. It was the Year of the Rosary declared by Pope John Paul II. He started making all-twine rosaries and giving them away. He’s not exactly a crafty guy and people don’t think of him as a crafter. He found over that year that there were a lot of people affected by the rosary. They started the website RosaryArmy.com to encourage other people to begin making them, creating kits and instructions. They also offered to give away rosaries to anyone who wanted them. People make the rosaries and send them to Greg and Jennifer who send them back out. Greg said from the beginning that they would trust Jesus they would everything they need to have them and for eight years they have. Rosary Army will have big exciting news at the beginning of 2012. It was also the genesis of the Willitses’ first podcast. Scot asked the significance of using twine and not other expensive materials. In 2002, he went to confession and saw the priest holding a single-decade knotted rosary. About two months later, at work, suddenly he remembered the rosary. He found instructions on how to make one and it was very difficult to find them and the materials. The great thing about the knotted rosaries (which have a metal crucifix at the recommendation of Pope John Paul II), is that they’re inexpensive and can be made anymore. It’s also a great evangelistic tool to start a conversation with someone about it. Their motto is Make them, Pray them, Give them away. They estimated a few years ago that Rosary Army has given away several million rosaries. Greg and his mom have a competition. His record is 13 minutes. But he can make one now in about 20-30 minutes. Scot said he has a lot of relatives who love to knit and this could be an activity people like that can do to reintroduce people to the power of prayer. Scot said there’s a new CatholicTV sitcom that the Willitses have created along with CatholicTV called “Mass Confusion.” Greg had the idea for the show last year before the CNMC and he ambushed Fr. Bob Reed at the CNMC with it. They created along with their friends Mac and Katharine Barron who do the Catholic in a Small Town podcast. Fr. Reed loved the idea and so the Willitses and Barrons put together a pilot script. He noted that it goes back to the funding issue. There’s no way to do this series without funding. They filmed it last June in their own home with a crew from CatholicTV. They wanted to make a show for families that wasn’t cheesy, but wasn’t inappropriate. It was shot in a style similar to The Office of Modern Family. It’s like a scripted reality show, but completely fictional. The storyline is that it’s somebody’s birthday, the guys go to the beer store with the babies, and the wives stay home and someone might be pregnant. It premieres on Thanksgiving on CatholicTV at 8pm. Greg estimated it would cost $1 million to do a full season of the show with a full-time cast and crew. If it doesn’t happen, maybe it will motivate someone else to take chances and risks and to have fun. Catholicism is fun. 3rd segment: Now, as we do every week, we look forward to this coming Sunday’s Mass readings to help us prepare to celebrate together. First Reading for October 2, 2011, 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Isaiah 5:1-7) Let me now sing of my friend, my friend’s song concerning his vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside; he spaded it, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest vines; within it he built a watchtower, and hewed out a wine press. Then he looked for the crop of grapes, but what it yielded was wild grapes. Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard: What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done? Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? Now, I will let you know what I mean to do with my vineyard: take away its hedge, give it to grazing, break through its wall, let it be trampled! Yes, I will make it a ruin: it shall not be pruned or hoed, but overgrown with thorns and briers; I will command the clouds not to send rain upon it. The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his cherished plant; he looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed! for justice, but hark, the outcry! Gospel for October 2, 2011, 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 21:33-43) Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” They answered him, “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.” Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes? Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” Scot said it’s not the most optimistic Sunday readings. Fr. Mark said it’s an interesting pairing. Clearly Jesus was hearkening back to Isaiah. Scot said the people weren’t producing any fruit and not seeing themselves as stewards of the land, but owners of the land. In a historical perspective, this is Israel in the Old Covenant and the New Covenant in God’s Church. Jesus’ death and resurrection restored our relationship with God. We should reflect on how we are stewards of God’s gifts to us. Few of us work in vineyards, but we all working the vineyard of the Lord with our God-given gifts. Do we look at them as gifts or do we look at everything I am and that I have as something that is mine and because of me? If we act as stewards of all those things, it gets us closer to being the type of person God’s wants us to be. Fr. Mark said there are many levels of audiences being addressed. The first level is the Pharisees and Sadduccees who will have Jesus crucified. Then Matthew is speaking to the early Church community which is dealing with the incorporation of Gentiles into what had previously been a mainly Jewish movement; is the Church for the Jews or the Gentiles or both? There’s a new thing that is neither Jew nor Gentile in Christ. In today’s age, so many people want to kill the voice of Jesus in society and our lives. They want to eliminate this voice is fouling up our plans to live life as we please. We have to keep the voice of JEsus alive by planting seeds of vocations and bear fruit. Scot said we have to consider how our society has embraced or rejected the cornerstone, which is Jesus, and how have we embraced or rejected Jesus? If we’ve rejected our entire lives until, we can make a decision to chart a new path from this day forward, possibly through the graces of the sacrament of confession. We begin a new relationship with Jesus to last a lifetime, in this life and the next. We can think about time as God’s gift to us and spend more of it in his presence all day; our talents and gifts as gifts of God and putting them at the service of others and the Church; and our money and possessions and asking how God wants me to spend my wealth, how he wants us to be generous. The answers can be different at different phases of our lives, but we need to be consider the questions. God always answers that request for direction and discernment. Fr. Mark said we all use our talents and plant the seeds, but the other message is that we will still be rejected y others. Sometimes we’re called to preach or work, but even so we will fall flat on our face or be rejected. God knows that, but still he keeps sending workers. Scot said we’re not the first or the last that it will happen to. Jesus himself was rejected as were 10 of the original 12 apostles. Our job isn’t to measure the results of trying to bring the faith to others. Our job is to try and then try again in faith, believing God wants us to bring the faith to others. Fr. Mark said when he was in seminary, he was sent to visit a patient, who kicked him out and didn’t want to see him, but the guy in the next bed said, hey I’ll see you.

Subscribe for free in iTunes Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today’s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, Managing Editor of the Pilot; Father Roger Landry, Executive Editor of The Anchor. Summary of Today's Show: Scot is joined by the Thursday roundtable and discusses a new Catholic-themed movie, a fundraiser for teens by teens in Weston, Respect Life Sunday, and more. 1st Segment: Scot and Susan lamented the Red Sox collapse last night - but moved on quickly in order to not be too depressing! Susan asked Scot what's been going on with him. Scot said it was a busy week in the Pastoral Center, with a visit from Msgr. Andrew Wadsworth from the International Commission on English in the Liturgy and presentations. Scot said he is also headed to Kansas City tomorrow for the Catholic New Media Conference organized by the Star Quest Production Network. He continued and said he was disappointed that he signed up for the conference before he knew this weekend was also the CatholicTV telethon - it is the first time in a long time that he hasn't been able to participate. Susan agreed that CatholicTV was an important part of evangelization in the Archdiocese. The International Commission on English in the Liturgy website Catholic New Media Conference 2011 Star Quest Production Network CatholicTV Scot said he participated in the launch of a new Catholic radio station - 1230AM, WNEB in Worcester this past Sunday - a station called Emmanuel Radio. WNEB / Emmanuel Radio 2nd Segment: Scot started out by discussing a new movie from Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen called The Way - a story about an ancient Catholic pilgrimage called the Camino de Santiago (or "Camino" for short). Scot commented that he hadn't know until the premier screening that Martin Sheen took his last name after Bishop Fulton Sheen. Greg said everyone asks him what he thought of the film - overall, Greg said, he thought it was a good movie. Many movies have a religious theme, he continued, but start with the end and fill in the gaps. He said The Way, on it's own merits and with a secular point of view, was still a good character-driven music. Scot agreed it was a good movie for both Catholic and secular audiences. The Way on IMDB Scot took a minute to congratulate the occasional fill-in cohost on The Good Catholic Life, Father Chip Hines, on his recent appointment to St Martha parish in Plainville. He had been serving as the administrator at that parish. Scot brought up a story in the Pilot about students in Weston are using social media to help fundraise for the Cor Unum meal center in Lawrence. Greg said that the fundraiser, entitled "Feeding Frenzy," is special because it is particularly geared towards teens and students to help feed other teens and youth. Greg highlighted that the Cor Unum meal center is different from a standard soup kitchen because it not only serves 3 meals a day, but serves them sit-down style - not in a cafeteria line. Greg said the goal is to raise about $25,000 to help fund the meal center. Interview with Fr Paul O'Brien from Cor Unum on The Good Catholic Life from June 27th Cor Unum Meal Center Labels are for Jars "Feeding Frenzy Campaign" Facebook Page Scot highlighted two great stories in the Pilot with pictures this week - one about the Celebration of the Priesthood dinner last Thursday, and one about the Blessed John XXIII Lawn Party. Both events were very successful, Scot continued, and raised money for senior priests and the seminary respectively. The last piece of local news Scot brought up was the combination of two Catholic high schools - Trinity Catholic Academy in Newtown and Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Brighton - to form a new high school named Saint Joseph's Preparatory High School. The new school will be located on the current campus of Mount Saint Joseph Academy and serve a co-ed student body of approximately 400 students. 3rd Segment: Scot reminded everyone that it is Respect Life Sunday this coming Sunday. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, chair of the USCCB committee on Pro-Life activities spoke persuasively about threats to life, Scot said. “The unborn child, the aging parent who some call a ‘burden’ on our medical system, the allegedly ‘excess’ embryo in the fertility clinic, the person with a disability, the cognitively impaired accident victim who needs assistance in receiving food and water to live—each today is at risk of being dismissed as a ‘life unworthy of life’,” Cardinal DiNardo said. Scot said he thought it was good that the Cardinal was so specific about the precarious life situations that need help from all people of good will, not just Catholics. Susan said that the focus on Respect Life Sunday is sometimes just on the abortion issue, but she agreed that Cardinal DiNardo reminded us we need to consider the "womb to tomb" fight for life. Scot said that Bishop Robert Hennessey will celebrate a Respect Life Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross at 11:30am on Sunday, followed by the Mass Citizens for Life Respect Life Walk at 1:30pm. Fr Roger said that the walk is an important way to energize the community to think about pro-life issues, especially because of all the protestors who remind us that our views aren't always held by others. Mass Citizens for Life Respect Life Walk Scot highlighted another testimonial from a participant in Project Rachel, a ministry in the Archdiocese of Boston that helps women who have had abortions seek healing. Greg said that it is sad that more people haven't heard about Project Rachel and the wonderful work they do, and that the Pilot will be publishing a series of letters from participants every week throughout the month of October. Susan said that the retreats are a one day event, but the work that goes on is a blessing to the Church and to the women who participate. Project Rachel Boston Scot brought up that Fr Roger's editorial in the Anchor this week is entitled "A Commonwealth of Kevorkians, or Good Samaritans?" Fr Roger said he was trying to give an echo for the readers in Fall River of Cardinal Sean's comments at the Red Mass in Boston last weekend about the attempted legalization of assisted suicide in Massachusetts. Cardinal Sean's Homily from the Red Mass Fr Roger continued, saying that the editorial is a herald call for people to make them aware that the issue is again on it's way. He said we need to have a campaign to educate citizens to prepare them for the possibility that the initiative may make it to the ballot next November; a campaign that will inform citizens to talk to their coworkers and family about the value of life. Fr Roger said that we need to acknowledge that we can never help someone commit suicide - Scot added that if someone is on a bridge thinking about jumping, we would never consider pushing them off - we'd always try to talk them down. Scot reminded everyone that all suicide is a tragedy. 4th Segment: Scot and Father Roger opened the segment by discussing Pope Benedict's addresses to the German people this past week. Scot said he imagined it was an important trip for the Pope, who is trying to fight against secularization in his home country. Fr Roger said the first and most important thing Pope Benedict did was help German Catholics remember that the Church is not just a society of individual people, but a real communion of inter-related people giving witness to God's own love for us. Fr Roger said that the Pope seemed to be speaking out against institutionalism, something we need to hear in the United States as well. Fr Roger continued and said that Pope Benedict was also emphasizing an ecumenical spirit with a visit to Martin Luther's birthplace and talking about Luther's search for God - Fr Roger said that every one of us as Catholic Christians need to continually have the same hunger for God within our Church. Lastly, Fr Roger said the Pope wanted secular Germans to remember they always need to be grounded in truth. Susan said that a message she took from the Pope's visit was that "where there is God, there is a future." Susan also said she was surprised at a comment from CNS that the Pope was connecting on a high level - she said it isn't a surprise to her as the Pope is a renowned academic. Scot said his favorite quote from the Pope's addresses was emphasizing that a new strategy was not needed to re-evangelize people, but rather seeking total transparency. Scot concluded the show by discussing a blunt letter from Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York to President Obama about the administration's positions on gay marriage. Scot read a short passage from the letter: That is why it is particularly upsetting, Mr. President, when your Administration, through the various court documents, pronouncements and policies identified in the attached analysis, attributes to those who support DOMA a motivation rooted in prejudice and bias. It is especially wrong and unfair to equate opposition to redefining marriage with either intentional or willfully ignorant racial discrimination, as your Administration insists on doing. Scot emphasized that the Archbishop is trying to call the President out about failure to follow campaign promises about the meaning and value of marriage and the family. Father Roger concluded the show by saying that Archbishop Dolan has "taken the gloves off" - in the past, the bishops have been very courteous, but that the President's distancing from promises should make citizens reflect whether or not he represents their views on the issue. Archbishop Dolan's Letter to President Obama (PDF)

Today’s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams Today’s guest(s): Andreas Widmer, CEO of the Seven Fund and author of “The Pope and the CEO” The Pope and The CEO website The Seven Fund The Pope and The CEO at Amazon.com Today’s topics: The new book “The Pope & The CEO: John Paul II’s Leadership Lessons to a Young Swiss Guard” Summary of today’s show: Andreas Widmer returns to talk with Scot and Fr. Matt about his new book, “The Pope & The CEO: John Paul II’s Leadership Lessons to a Young Swiss Guard,” and its goal of helping people find their three levels of vocation in life and live them with success in a truly integrated way. The book offers practical exercises for discernment as well as anecdotes from John Paul’s life that act as a guide to living a life balanced among work, play, prayer, exercise, and all that is good. 1st segment: Scot said Fr. Matt has been participating in a pre-cana workshop and class, including leading the couples in a teaching Mass. Fr. Matt said the program is called Transformed in Love and was created by Kari Colella of the Marriage Office. Last night, there were about 25 couples and they broke open to the Mass to help them appreciate what goes on. The Mass has so many signs and symbols that many people don’t know exactly what is going on. He gave the why behind the what. Everything we do in the Mass comes from Scripture and from the Tradition of the Church. So, what’s the significance of incense and stained glass and other parts of the Mass. He gave an analogy of going to the Patriots game. People show 3 hours early and they get filled with the “spirits” in preparation. If you go to Mass 15 minutes early, you’re guaranteed to get a parking spot and you prepare by getting filed with the Spirit. At the football game, you smell hot dogs and other food. At the Mass, you smell incense. In the stadium, you have retired jerseys of great players of the past. In the Mass, you see pictures and statues of the saints. At Gillette Stadium you see the Lombardi trophies. At Mass, you see the ultimate trophy of the Cross of Jesus Christ. The 50-yard line is the central focus of the stadium and the altar is the central focus of the Church. In football, the fans are the 12th player and actively participating without playing the game. In the Mass, the congregation joins in united with the priest in active participation of the prayer of the Mass. And so on. Scot said the difference is that no one says going to the football game is boring because they understand what’s happening, while people say Mass is boring partly because they don’t know why we do what we do. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Andreas back to the show. He said Andreas is a two-time CEO, first for a consulting company and now as CEO of the Seven Fund, which seeks to find entrepreneurial solutions to poverty. Andreas said he credits his return to seriously practicing his faith to Pope John Paul II when he was a 20-year-old Swiss Guard. It came about through meeting him as an individual. Andreas said John Paul was the most fully human person he’d ever met in his life. Often people think that Popes or saints are something unachievable. In fact, he was a real down-to-earth human person. He could be joyful, angry, laughing, pensive and he could pray. John Paul had a very manly handshake. Scot said Andreas didn’t realize all the lessons of John Paul when he was 20, but only came to realize them as he reflected on them through his life. Andreas said he found his faith as a Swiss Guard, but faith is something that never is, but is always becoming. It’s a dynamic process of two steps forward and one step back. As a Swiss Guard he had a lot of time to pray, and then when he went into business and got married, his faith waned a bit and became a sort of Sunday Catholic. His business ethics were separate from his Catholic beliefs. Andreas said if you go through life without being integrated, without being the same person in every situation, it becomes very complicated and it’s a downward spiral. Andreas said he’s lived a blessed life with a lot of privilege. He grew up in a wonderful family in Switzerland and then became a Swiss Guard, came to the United States, went to school here, and was part of so many great companies. When John Paul died, he was on a business trip to London. He changed his flight and flew to Rome. The next day, he saw John Paul’s body in the papal palace with special access to the hall as a former Swiss Guard. As he stood there and prayed for him, Andreas asked the Lord “who am I that I have such privilege.” He sensed the Lord telling him, “Yes, you have this privilege. Now what are you going to do with it?” The Lord gives a gift and then asks what we’re going to do with it. So he decided to witness to it. Scot said before writing the book, Andreas has given many speeches on the topic. Andreas said many of the talks were among friends and friendly audiences and people always asked him if he had the talk in writing. He’d always pushed writing away, but after John Paul died he resolved to proclaim it to a wide audience. Fr. Matt asked what contributes to the compartmentalization of faith? Andreas said it’s easy to say, “It’s just business.” And the lessons of Scripture can be hard for most people to apply them today. This is why Pope John Paul canonized and beatified so many people, to give us examples. Can you be a Christian and run a profitable company? Most of the world says No. But living according to God’s law and truth naturally results in fruitfulness and profit in some form. Scot said he spent some time after graduating from Harvard writing case studies and one of them was about Harvard Business School itself. In an interview with Ken Case, he asked him how he could balance being Dean of the Business School with being a father and husband. He said it’s much easier if you say you have lines that you draw, that you make particularly important aspects of life top priority. If you’re clear on that, people respect you as a person with principles and values in life. Andreas said in our culture there is a latent dualism, which comes from the distinction between physical and spiritual. There shouldn’t be a distinction because we are enfleshed spirits. We are as much a body as a spirit. Likewise, there is a dualism about business and charity or that everything is a zero-sum game in which you have to lose in order for me to win. But business can be a win-win situation. 3rd segment: Scot said Andreas’ book has been endorsed by Cardinal Peter Turkson and Cardinal Raymond Burke and the foreword has been written by George Weigel. He asked Andreas how a Catholic businessman should understand their three levels of vocation. Andreas said the three levels include the universal vocation of every person to glorify God, do his will, and go to heaven; to become saints. The primary vocation is the rough framework in which you pursue this, such as priesthood, marriage, religious life, the single life, and so on. The there’s the secondary vocation, which is what the first half of the book is about, to help you find your secondary vocation. In order to be happy, you must pursue all of these vocations. A hammer can be a doorstop, but it’s never going to be what it was made to be. God has created each person to be unique among all other people ever created with opportunities, challenges, skills and talents. Then God asks that person what he will do for God in response. Andreas said the book offers exercises in the book and on his website that will help you both find or fine-tune your vocation. Once you find that out on those three levels, it gives you priorities in your life. One of the difficulties of life is that we are bombarded with other people’s priorities, which distracts you from living out your vocation and doing what you were meant to do. Andreas said we are made for holiness, but we are called to do this in our own unique fashion. This comes to you through prayer and by reviewing your life. He guides you through how God is talking to you, sometimes through reading Scripture. In the book there is a whole section on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius that helps fine tune. He clarifies that God is not an authoritarian dictator. He’s like the coach who chose you for the team because he knows you have all the talents and skills to perform. But he then trains you through difficult practices. Fr. Matt said he borrowed from Andreas’ book in his homily last night in telling the couples that they are each a unique unrepeatable gift and their fiancés are the most profound way that God was telling them that He loves them.He encouraged them to see in their vocation to marriage that they have a unique unrepeatable project in that other person in their marriage to journey together. We are meant to make a gift of ourselves to our spouse. Our primary vocation is our path to sainthood. If we want to be as happy as we have been designed to be it will be through your spouse. Andreas in the book proposes some provocative questions, and sometimes the pace of life is such that we don’t reflect on those important questions. Andreas said one of the sections encourages writing down an articulated plan for life. Pope John Paul, at every one of his birthdays, he went through his last will and testament by meditating on it. It was a spiritual testament about himself, how he wanted to affect the world, and what he wanted to leave behind. Andreas often says to start by exploring your strengths. For many people it’s easier to love their neighbor than themselves and the exercises of the book help you to discover yourself through Truth. Truth doesn’t lie to you. A lie is whatever doesn’t lead you to heaven. By writing all these things down, he hopes the book will be a small contribution to finding that Truth that leads to heaven. Scot said when people examine themselves, they think the list of flaws would outnumber their strengths. But for everyone listening to the show, the gifts and blessings section would be so much longer than the list of flaws. Fr. Matt said Aristotle said the unexamined life is not worth living. Andreas said people are sometimes wary of finding that truth. Many people’s first experience of authority is through flawed parents. But we need to get rid of the shackles of such memory in order to discover the love of God. We have to tease out which of our images of God comes from the examples of our earthly leaders. We sometimes think of God like we remember our parents making us do things we didn’t want to do. But God made us for bliss and happiness by living in his truth. 4th segment: It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prize this week is the “Let’s Talk” series of books for teens by Ken Ogorek and “Once Upon a Time - Rosary Activity Set” for children by Holy Cross Family Ministries. This week’s winner is Kelly McCormack. Congratulations, Kelly! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit WQOM.org. For a one-time $30 donation, you’ll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM’s weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We’ll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 5th segment: Scot said Andreas modeled all these lessons on the life and leadership of John Paul II. The second half of the book could be titled, being a servant-leader, especially in business. Andreas said he covers servant-leadership because when you find your vocation, you become a leader. You lead other people to God and living their lives to the fullest. When you know your goals, you become a leader by fully living who you’re meant to be. Being a servant-leader has a lot to do with living a balanced life. You can’t give if you haven’t received. You can’t work if you haven’t relaxed. A key aspect is moderation in all things. Andreas said John Paul lived a balance life, like when he would sneak out to go skiing in the mountains in order to relax from work. John Paul would plan his entire day to include work, prayer, exercise, sleep, and pleasure. For example, John Paul loved the circus and heard that a Russian circus was in Rome. He asked them to come to a Wednesday general audience, which was politically problematic because relations with the USSR were poor. He embraced the performers and enjoyed it so much and relations with the USSR were never the same after that. It was his joy and desire for a balanced life that led to this outcome. One day, he received an invitation as a friendly gesture from his primary school class to a class reunion. They received a letter back from him personally, saying he was sorry he couldn’t come, so he invited them to have their reunion in his dining room. Some would say it’s not important, but it’s important to plan your personal life and entertainment with as much earnestness and diligence with goals as with your public life and prayer life. Andreas challenged people to take the time to reach out to God, even if you’re angry with God. Make contact with him. That’s the first step. Then examine your vocation and within your vocation, your priorities, goals, and achievements. John Paul famously said when you work, you shouldn’t just make more, you should become more. How does your work help you become more?