The Good Catholic Life

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O'Connor **Today's guest(s):** Chris Carmody, Religion Teacher at St. Mary High School, Lynn, and Youth Minister Coordinator at Immaculate Conception Church, Salem * [Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium](http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html) **Today's topics:** Vatican II document Lumen Gentium **Summary of today's show:** Chris Carmody joins Scot and Fr. Chris to discuss the 2nd Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, and its groundbreaking look inward that helped the Church address the modern world in new ways and opened up a new understanding of the laity's role in the Church. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Chris back to the show and said they've been planning to discuss the various documents of the Second Vatican Council and today they will be discussing Lumen Gentium, the dogmatic constitution on the Church in the World. Fr. Chris said this is the constitution for the Church and Pope John Paul and OPope Benedict have always referred to this document on a regular basis. Unlike all the other councils in the Church, this was the first that wasn't called to address a heresy or combat a schism. It was called to take a look at where the Church has been and where it is heading. Pope John XXIII said, "Let's open the windows and let in the fresh air." There was no other agenda. Scot said there were 21 coun cils in the history of the Church and the previous one was Vatican I in the 1870s. Fr. Chris said the Vatican Council was a continuity and a renewal. It was designed to capture who we are and what we are about. He also noted that Pope John Paul and Pope Benedict were young scholars at the Second Vatican Council and had key roles in shaping the council. Fr. Chris said the Church has occasionally called all the bishops of the world together in ecumenical council. He said some scholars said this may have been the first truly ecumenical council with bishops from all over the world contributing for the first time. More than 2,600 bishops were at the council, as well as other experts and observers from other Christian denominations. Scot noted that most of the meetings took place inside St. Peter's Square with all the thousands of attendees during all these meetings. **2nd segment:** Scot welcomed Chris back to the show. Before Easter, he was on the show to talk about the Hunger for Justice pilgrimage for youth on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. He's been studying in the Masters of Arts in Ministry and will be transferring to the Masters of Arts in Theological Studies at the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization. He has always loved studying theology from his days as an undergrad at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He found the course on Vatican II to be valuable because he'd never had a chance to read through the documents themselves. Scot asked about the context of Vatican II. Fr. Chris said Pope John XXIII was originally seen as a bridge between popes and a quiet keeper of the Vatican. But he said he felt moved by the Holy Spirit to call this council. He sent out to all of the bishops of the world a blank slate and asked what they should be talking about. From that came all of these documents which began discussions at the Vatican lasting many years addressing important issues. Scot said 16 documents were the product of Vatican II. It opened in 1962 and closed in 1965 with four separate sessions. Four documents were constitutions: divine revelation, on the Church, on the Church in the modern world, and on the sacred liturgy. There were 9 decrees and three declarations on various topics. Fr. Chris said the constitution is the backbone that sets the scope for how we're going to proceed. The declaration makes a statement on a topic, what it is and why it's important. Lumen Gentium (Light of the World), on the Church, was the Church looking inward. Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope), the Church in the World, looks at the Church's interaction with the world. The former is dogmatic, t he latter is pastoral. Chris said before we can talk to anyone else, we need to look at who we are and that's why the Church looked internally before addressing our interaction externally. Fr. Chris said Lumen Gentium is the key document of Vatican II because it defines the Church. The other documents are in some way leading back to the Church, and so their root is in Lumen Gentium. Lumen Gentium is broken up into eight sections: the mystery of the Church, the People of God, on the hierarchical structure of the Church and in particular on the Episcopate, the Laity, the universal call to holiness, religious, the nature of the pilgrim church, and the Blessed Mother. **3rd segment:** Scot said Cardinal Cushing represented the Archdiocese of Boston at Vatican II. Fr. Chris said he was instrumental in the piece on ecumenism and interreligious dialogue. Scot said one of the key themes is that of unity. Chris said it comes from the creed that we are one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Within our unity, we show the unity of Christ to the world: bishops in union together and with the pope and the people in unity with their bishop. Fr. Chris said we are made in the image of God and Pope Benedict emphasizes that a key term of Vatican II is communion. God is three persons in one nature and we need to image that unity among each other. Scot recalls the image of Christianity as a team sport. We're not called to be individuals in the Church nor is the Church to be isolated from the world. We're called to be in relation, but we should be a sign of unity with each other in the kingdom of God on earth. Fr. Chris said the Mass is where we find God's Word, God's sacrament among us, and God's marching orders to us. Scot said Lumen Gentium tried to answer what is the Catholic Church in relation to the church that Jesus founded: Is it entirely the Church he founded? Chris said they concluded that we are the Church that Christ founded, but we're still working toward that goal in our unity. The document says the true Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church. Fr. Chris said because Christ has promised to never abandon the Church, we believe that the fullness of the Church as founded by Christ, resides in the Catholic Church, and that's where we will find holiness. Before Vatican II, some said there was no way to be saved without being a baptized and active Catholic. Fr. Chris said there are possibilities for people outside of the Church to be saved, but if you know the Church to be the fullness of salvation, then you have an obligation to give yourself to the Church and be part of the Church. Scot said the document tried to broaden the description of the Church beyond the visible and institutional. Vatican II said it also invisible. Chris said the Church is also the People of God and the Mystical Body of Christ. When we are out in the world, we are the Church, even when we are not inside the building. There is no one description that encompasses the fullness of the Church. Fr. Chris said when you look through a diamond, you see it through different prisms or angles. How do you describe a mountain to someone who's never seen one? The idea of the People of God shows that the Church is a pilgrim Church on the way to salvation. All of the members of the Church are sanctified and made holy. Scot said the document seems to endorse that there are many descriptions of the Church; that people can approach the Church with different ideas. Chris said Lumen Gentium talks about the Church as being pilgrim. The Church on earth is in communion with the Church in heaven. We are always with each other; we are not alone on the journey to heaven. **4th segment:** One of the goals of the document was to define the roles within the Church. One of those definitions looked at the relationship between the Pope and the bishops and the tension of the pope's authority versus the bishop's collegiality. Fr. Chris said the document reminds us that we're a hierarchical church. It starts with the the great reverence and respect for the Pope. He stands in the person of Christ in a primary way. He shares the teaching authority of the Church with the bishops. Vatican II recognized that each bishop has the fullness of the priesthood. A priest preaches because he shares in his bishop's ministry. Vatican II affirmed very carefully that if you're looking for the Church, look to the unity in the local diocese between bishop, priests, and laity. The parish is just a microcosm of the diocese. The bishops share a collegiality with the Pope. They are not the Pope's lieutenants. They have a primacy in their dioceses as the unifier and governor and teacher. Scot said the permanent diaconate was re-established after Vatican II and articulated in Lumen Gentium. Chris said he was surprised when he learned that there was a long period in Church history when the permanent diaconate was not part of the Church. The deacons are a great resource for the Church. Scot said Vatican II envisioned that it would be mission countries with priest shortages that would embrace this ministry, but it was Western nations that now have the most deacons. Their roles in the Church were outlined including preaching and administering certain sacraments. > It is the duty of the deacon, according as it shall have been assigned to him by competent authority, to administer baptism solemnly, to be custodian and dispenser of the Eucharist, to assist at and bless marriages in the name of the Church, to bring Viaticum to the dying, to read the Sacred Scripture to the faithful, to instruct and exhort the people, to preside over the worship and prayer of the faithful, to administer sacramentals, to officiate at funeral and burial services. Chris said one of his favorite parts is when the Church addresses the youth. The Church is ever-young despite being one of the oldest institutions in the world. >By the power of the Gospel He makes the Church keep the freshness of youth. Fr. Chris said the Church is often defined by oppositions: old and young, holy and sinful, priests and laity. No one term ever describes the Church, but must always encompass "both/and". Too many of us get into the mindset that the building is the church, but the Church is the People of God, from the Pope to the newest baptized person. Not just the laity or just the clergy, but all of us. Chris said Lumen Gentium says the "laity is here understood to mean all the faithful except those in holy orders and those in the state of religious life specially approved by the Church." They are those who live out the Christian life in the world. >[B]y their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God. They live in the world, that is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations. They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their existence is woven. They are called there by God that by exercising their proper function and led by the spirit of the Gospel they may work for the sanctification of the world from within as a leaven. In this way they may make Christ known to others, especially by the testimony of a life resplendent in faith, hope and charity. Therefore, since they are tightly bound up in all types of temporal affairs it is their special task to order and to throw light upon these affairs in such a way that they may come into being and then continually increase according to Christ to the praise of the Creator and the Redeemer. It is through baptism that all Christians share in the priesthood of Christ, in his role of prophet, and in his kingship. Scot said this priesthood means anyone who sacrifices on behalf of God. We are all called to preach, to teach, and to sanctify, in a certain way. The laity teach by witnessing in the world, they are sanctified by their prayers for one another. It's not just religious and clergy who are called to holiness, but all are. Scot said this section of Lumen Gentium was innovative and is what St. Josemaria Escriva preached. Chris said we are called to be "perfect as your Father is perfect." He finds it the hardest teaching. People believe that perfection is impossible. >In order that the faithful may reach this perfection, they must use their strength accordingly as they have received it, as a gift from Christ. They must follow in His footsteps and conform themselves to His image seeking the will of the Father in all things. They must devote themselves with all their being to the glory of God and the service of their neighbor. Fr. Chris said the Church is not a museum for saints, but a hospital for sinners. We're all on the road to holiness. But it is right that we're called to holiness because it is friendship with God and ultimate friendship with God is heaven where we gaze on the face of the Father. We say the Church is holy because Christ promised that he would never abandon the Church to make sure that what the Church teaches is true. If what the Church teaches isn't true, then Christ would be a liar. Fr. Chris emphasized the role of the Holy Spirit in the Church, animating the Church and convicting us in both our faith and in our sinfulness. The council fathers emphasized the Holy Spirit in each of our lives. **5th segment:** In this segment, we'll talk about the Blessed Mother. There was some discussion at the council about whether there should be a separate document on the Blessed Mother. Fr. Chris said we have to emphasize the role of Mary's life in each Catholic's life, but we can't overemphasize her above the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And since there was n't a document on the Persons of the Trinity, they didn't think there should be a separate one for her. Chris said the document says Mary is the perfection and model of the Church. She is what we are working toward and she is a sure source of our hope. Scot said the role of Mary was key in the discussions in ecumenism. Fr. Chris said the Church tells us we cannot compromise the truth to please someone else and Mary is an essential element of our faith. Mary is at the two moments of the institution of the Church: At the foot of the cross where the blood and water from Christ's side and Jesus gives Mary to John, representing us; and at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descends on the apostles. Scot said the document clarifies that Mary is our intercessor who goes to her Son to mediate our prayers. Chris said when we honor Mary, she is making known the Son to us. Her mediation doesn't remove Christ's mediation on our behalf. Fr. Chris said she is a powerful intercessor. The mother goes to her Son and begs for us. We can count on our supernatural mother being with us and to guide us through life. Next year will be the 50th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II and we will continue to revisit the documents of Vatican II between now and then.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Brandon Vogt, author of the book "The Church and New Media" * ["The Church and New Media"](http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=pilo0e-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=1592760333) * [The Church and New Media website and blog](http://www.churchandnewmedia.com) * [Brandon's blog, The Thin Veil](http://www.thinveil.net) * [Computers for Kids in Kenya](http://donate.crs.org/computerskenya) **Today's topics:** The new book "The Church and New Media" **Summary of today's show:** Brandon Vogt joins Scot to discuss his new book, "The Church and New Media," which features 12 contributors who write about how the Church can best take advantage of the new communications technologies and the culture of the Internet to spread the Gospel of Christ on the "digital continent" **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Brandon to the show. He asked how the idea for the book came about. There are 12 different chapter authors. Scot is impressed that he's only 25 years old. Brandon said his whole 24th year of life was devoted to considering the lives of Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Therese of Lisieux and how much they accomplished in their short lives. So he felt free to reach for this book. He's also considering how much of a revolution in communication we're having in society and he found that the Church is stuck in the middle of this huge tidal shift. He also noticed a lot of individual Catholics as well as apostolates and ministries using modern technologies very effectively and faithfully. Finally, he noticed that the majority of the Church is doing a poor job, especially compared to Protestants and other religions. We're about a half decade behind the secular world too. A lot of people are becoming interested but don't know where to start. As a 25 year old, he didn't think he could write expertly on these topics, so he set out to target a number of experts in their fields to write, including Scot Landry, who wrote on new media in the diocese. Scot said the Church is sometimes accused of being a couple years behind, and so Scot was overjoyed to see someone doing a project like this and [Our Sunday Visitor](http://www.osv.com/) to being involved. Brandon said OSV was enthusiastically supportive of the idea. The thought it would reach many people. Each of the contributors to the book have a huge social media platform that they can use to promote the book to their readers and followers. He also wanted the book to affect official Church communications structures in parishes and dioceses, and OSV is very well-connected in that realm. Brandon is a convert to Catholicism and Scot has a theory that the Holy Spirit is working to encourage converts to our faith to help lead us and contribute their passion that led them to the Church. Brandon has noticed a lot of the most passionate and excited Catholics tend to be converts because every single one of them chose it. They sought it out and wrestled with the reasons not to be Catholic and ultimately chose the Church. Brandon was born and raised Presbyterian and received all the basic instruction, but it never really hit home for him. He never really committed to him. When he went to college in 2004, on the first Sunday at University of Florida in Tallahassee, he decided to choose whatever church was closest to his dorm in order to satisfy his obligation. That one was Methodist and it changed him in a very deep way and discovered the presence of Jesus, a love of Scripture, the presence of the Holy Spirit. At the same time, his girlfriend since high school was Catholic and when they started to discuss marriage after college, they started to talk about what church they should attend. So he started to research Catholicism and discovered the campus ministry called [Brotherhood of Hope](http://www.brotherhoodofhope.org/), based in Somerville, but with a ministry at the University of Florida. He met with a brother from the order every week for a year to discuss Catholicism. He found Brother Jason was eerily like him: raised Protestant; studying science; joining the same Methodist campus ministry; and exploring Catholicism his senior year in college. He had walked the same path before him. Brandon went through RCIA and entered the Church at Easter 2008. He even had 30-40 people from the Methodist campus ministry come to the Easter vigil to celebrate his journey. He's only been Catholic for three years. Back in May 2011, he was invited as part of a group of 150 bloggers from around the world to go to a special meeting at the Vatican. He was also able to attend the beatification of Pope John Paul II. He found himself wondering how in the world he got to the point of sitting literally on the roof of the Vatican and writing this book. Jennifer Fulwiler wrote the second chapter of the book in the book on how blogging and the community of Catholic blogs led her from atheism to Catholicism. Cardinal Seán said about her: >It was especially uplifting to read Jennifer Fulwiler's account in Chapter 2 of how Catholic blogs helped lead her from atheism to the Truth of the Catholic faith through the information and friendships she found as a young mother online. Let us pray that many other "Jennifer Fulwilers" will be led to experience the saving love of Jesus Christ through the Church's embracing and living on this digital continent. * [Jen Fulwiler's blog, "Conversion Diary"](http://www.conversiondiary.com) Scot is inspired how new media allowed Jennifer to encounter a community of Catholics who she would never have encountered otherwise in her daily life. She had started a blog as an atheist challenging Christianity and people came to her blog's comment boxes and started conversations with her. Those commenters pointed her to good resources countering the arguments made by her atheist friends. Brandon said the anonymity of the Internet can be a huge boon for someone learning about the faith because they can do so with a stigma or being ostracized. People can explore Catholicism through the safety of anonymous commenting on blogs. He added that the Internet enables you to find a true representation of what a religion presents itself as. He said it's common for Protestants to build Catholic straw-men which claim Catholics believe things they don't really, such as worshipping Mary. Now it's all available online. **2nd segment:** Scot said it was common a few years ago for some people to say that new media and the Internet are a fad, but that's been proven false. Brandon said the statistics are overwhelming. [Facebook](http://www.facebook.com) has over 750 million users around the world. Pew Research Center just released a study that [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com) sees 350 billion tweets every day. (Twitter is a 140-character messaging service and a tweet is one message from a user, maybe a quote, a link to an article, a comment on a piece of news.) Brandon said Pope Benedict XVI is one of the most perceptive on new media in the Church, calling it a new digital continent. If Facebook were a country, it would be the third-largest in the world after China and India. Brandon said on [YouTube.com](http://www.youtube.com), 2 billions of videos are watched every day and every minute 24 hours of new video is uploaded. Scot said in the first chapter, Fr. Bob Barron writes that posting his videos on YouTube allow him to interact with secularists. * [Fr. Robert Barron, Word on Fire](http://wordonfire.org/) Fr. Barron has posted more than 200 videos on YouTube and received more than 1 million views. His organization has done some research and found the most likely viewer is a 20-something male who has no religious background. Fr Barron asks where else he could have an audience of such young men. Fr. Barron writes about the YouTube heresies, cataloging what he encounters in comments on his videos: A skewed understanding of who God is; a mythical being; all religions are the same; and Religion's relationships on science and on violence Fr. Barron said we need to understand the environment in which we're participating. Marcel Lejeune is one of the campus ministers at Texas A&M, one of the largest Catholic campus ministries. He writes in the third chapter about connecting to young adults. New media turns out to be the ideal way to connect with the missing demographic in the Church. * [Texas A&M Catholic campus ministry](http://aggiecatholic.org/) He also writes about their innovative method of connecting with a very transient group of people, college students, using [Flocknote](http://www.flocknote.com). * [An innovative way to register parishioners](http://marysaggies.blogspot.com/2010/09/why-we-asked-our-parishioners-to-bring.html) Flocknote allows people only to receive information that they want in the forms they want: email, Facebook, text messaging. Flocknote is a product created by another book contributor, Matthew Warner, who writes about new media in the parish. Texas A&M's Catholic campus ministry average eight students entering the priesthood and religious life as well as the thousands who return to parishes as laypeople who have strong formation. **3rd segment:**The second section of the book talks about how new media is used in formation. [Mark Shea](http://markshea.blogspot.com/) writes about the dangers and benefits of blogs. [Fr. Dwight Longenecker](http://www.dwightlongenecker.com/) writes about what's really important and the danger of online apologetics: >...I am not convinced that many souls are won by argument. It is famously said about apologetics that you can win an argument and lose a soul. The apologetics on my blog are woven into a much bigger picture of Catholicism. I want the reader to glimpse the power and the glory of the Catholic Church, but I also want them to glimpse the humanity and humor of being Catholic. In other words, I want them to glimpse the art of being Catholic — not just the argument for being Catholic. * [Jonathan Sullivan's review of the book](http://catholictechtalk.com/blog/2011/07/16/book-review-the-church-and-new-media-by-brandon-vogt/) Scot said it's true of all ministry, not just new media. Brandon would nuance it by saying that there are some people are indeed looking for arguments *for* the Catholic Church. But it is true that arguing for the sake being right never wins anyone into the loving, accepting, inclusive world of the Church. When you're vitriolic and angry, it doesn't convey the love of Christ. Fr. Longenecker writes with humor and reverence, charity and truth. Brandon said blogging is a medium made for current events and commenting on what's going on the world. He notes that blogging is egalitarian so that everyone online can have the same voice as, no matter where they are or their economic background. It allows people who to break news and for people to gather around and talk about it. What bloggers like Mark Shea and Fr. Longenecker do is bring the Church into the story, to bring the Church's teaching to bear and allow a conversation to take place. Scot writes in Chapter 7 about new media in the diocese, especially what we do in the Archdiocese of Boston. He believes that what we have in Boston is as great as anywhere. He said [CatholicTV.com](http://www.catholictv.com) is the best place anywhere to view Catholic video content. The [Pilot's website](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) has won awards. Our diocesan website, [BostonCatholic.org](http://www.bostoncatholic.org), is widely recognized for being a great website, especially in its faith formation content. Brandon said it's obvious to him that the Archdiocese of Boston is a model for dioceses across the world in new media, including smartphone apps and other initiatives. In the next chapter, Matt Warner shared what parishes can do in new media. He has his hands on the pulse of online Catholicism and he's very practical. He's the founder of Flocknote. He's also looked at what's working and not working in parish websites. For example, a parish looking to use these social media tools, start a blog, revamp a website and want to connect with people not attending church, this chapter provides many answers. New media builds community and these chapters, including Lisa Hendey's chapter, recognize this. Scot said Matthew encourages parishes to form a qualified digital communications council and that's also a way for young people to get involved in the parish. These are the people who know how to reach the people aren't in the parish right now. The ideal member of the council would be college graduates looking to get involved in the Church and these people would also be the future leaders of the parish. Brandon said this is his generation and he sees the problems and tensions on both sides. The young adult demographic is the most difficult to reach and yet the most engaged in new media. New media is a movement of God to give us these tools at a specific time in Church history. Both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict have said the same. By inviting young people to participate in the structure of the church, you're connecting them to the structure of the Church. Also, many young men and women who come to religious vocations say that their vocations began with being involved with the parish in a way like this. Brandon ends his introduction by saying the Church is not just the institutional Church, but is every Catholic. Will the Church remain silent in the digital sphere? >The world is waiting and listening in the virtual sphere. Will the Church remain silent, or will her voice be proclaimed from the rooftops (and the laptops)? Will she plunge the message of Christ into Facebook feeds, blog posts, podcasts, and text messages, or will she be digitally impotent? Brandon said new media is already being harnessed for all kinds of purposes, some of it inimical to the Church and her message. The Church needs to begin to use this tool. The printing press was used to undermine the Church because the Church did not at first see the utility of the press to spread her message. Scot mentioned Lisa Hendey's chapter on her website at [CatholicMom.com](http://www.catholicmom.com), a community of Catholic moms sharing their lives with one another. Tom Peters of [American Papist](http://catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php?show=papist), writing about how new media can encourage Catholic activism. Brandon said CatholicMom.com is a digital front porch for moms around the world to discuss what it means to be a Catholic mom today for moms who might not otherwise have a way to connect with other Catholic moms they can relate to. Many of the moms find themselves feel isolated without other Catholic moms with the same values and outlook. Tom Peters writes about how new media can be used to promote the Catholic social teaching of the Church. In his blog, he rallies his readers to take action on political or social issues in the news. They call representatives and other leaders, send letters, and make a real impact. In the final chapter, Sean Carney, founder of [40 Days for Life](http://www.40daysforlife.com/blog/), the world's largest pro-life movement, where thousands of people pray for an end to abortion. They were able to organize this movement globally using new media.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Mark O'Connell **Today's topics:** A look back at our first 100 shows; Scot's and Fr. Mark's stories; Sunday's Gospel readings **Summary of today's show:** Fr. Mark shared with Scot his own vocation story, which called the most boring we've heard, as well as the reasons why he pronounces "out" funny and how he came to be a canon lawyer. Scot and Fr. Mark then reflected on the first 100 episodes of the show, how Scot came to be host, and his own time as a seminarian before becoming a husband and father. Finally, a reflection on thisSunday's Mass readings. **1st segment:** Scot told Fr. Mark that today is his last week on theshow for the next two weeks while he's on vacation. We have taped shows for the next 10 shows, including Artie Boyle talking about Medjurgorje; Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR, on Fatima; Fr. Roger Landry on Catholic Marian beliefs; Fr. Peter Loro from South Sudan; Jim and Terry Orcutt from My Brother's Keeper; and some more. There will be a live news show next Thursday. Scot wished a happy birthday to Sr. Olga Yaqob, who is founding a new religious order in the Archdiocese at the request of Cardinal Seán. Fr. Mark said this Monday he will be participating in the golf tournament at St. John's Seminary. He wasn't going to go, but Kathleen Heck at the seminary sent him a personalized top-10 list of reasons why he should go. Look for more information on the tournament at [St. John's Seminary's website](http://www.sjs.edu). Scot said it's inspiring to see prioests out and having fun in an event that really provides good support to the seminary. **2nd segment:** Scot asked Fr. Mark about growing up in Toronto, Canada, until he was 12. His father is from St. Mark's Parish in Dorchester and his mother is from St. Theresa's parish in Watertown. His father was a university librarian and he was head of research at Widener Library at Harvard, the second-largest library in the US. That's where his father met his mother when she was working for a professor and he sent her to the library to get a book. There was a brand-new university in Toronto called York University. His father was offered a job and went to create a brand-new library from scratch. That library now has more than 1 million books. Fr. Mark was born there and grew up playing hockey. He moved to the US on July 4, 1976. They moved to Dover where he attended high school and then he attended Boston College, where his father had become the college's librarian. His father created the Thomas P. O'Neill Library and then the Burns Special Collection library at Boston College. On his eighteenth birthday, he was sitting on the porch in the back yard of his parents' house and thinking that he had no idea what to do with his life. He had a thought that if he could do anything, he'd like to be a priest. Fr. Mark's uncle was a priest and his father's uncle was a priest too, and they were happy priests and a good example of the priesthood. He had the thought that he'd like to be a priest and wanted to God call him, then thought that maybe this is the call. So he decided to live his life as if he was called. In his years at St. John Seminary, he had no doubts that he was going to be a priest and has never doubted since then. An altar boy once asked him, if he could be something other than a priest what would he be. Fr. Mark said that he couldn't be anything else because being a priest is his identity. It is who he was created to be. After ordination 21 years ago, he was first assigned to St. Barbara's in Woburn for five years with Fr. Vin Malone who is still pastor there. He served at St. Mary in Danvers and Salem State College. Bishop William Murphy, then the vicar general, asked him to make an appointment to see him and Fr. Mark thought he was in trouble. It turned out that the the bishop wanted him to attend school to become a canon lawyer. He was asked to attend Santa Croce Seminary in Rome. Scot asked him why he thought he was chosen, and he thought it was because he was loyal and open and willing to work for the Church. The hardest part was that all the classes were in Italian with a Spanish accent and grammar because all the teachers were from Spain. Despite studying Italian for the summer, his first class he understood only two words: *Molto importante*. Very important. There was another student in the class named Jim Snow, who took his notes in English. So for the first month that's how he got by in class. Suddenly in one class, he understood. He eventually defended his doctoral dissertation in Italian. The dissertation was written on one paragraph of one canon out of 1752 canons. He'd been advised to make the subject as narrow as possible. After coming back to Rome, he spent 7 years as the assistant to the moderator of the curia for canonical affairs. He worked in the old chancery in Brighton and Bishop Murphy was his boss. He served under Bishop Edyvean, Bishop Lennon, and then Father Erickson before moving to the tribunal. He spent a lot of his time on the abuse crisis and closing parishes in addition to the usual tasks of dispensations and reviewing books for imprimaturs. Those 7 years were perhaps the most difficult 7 years in the history of the Archdiocese. He always tried to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. He and Fr. Robert Kickham are the only two left in the pastoral center who were here throughout those events and they provide the institutional memory. In 2007, he became judicial vicar running the metropolitan tribunal. He also teaches canon law at the seminary and is vice-chancellor. He's also chaplain of the Catholic lawyers' guild and liturgical master of ceremonies for Bishop Walter Edyvean. * [Catholic Lawyers Guild of Boston](http://www.clgb.org/) The Catholic Lawyers Guild goes back 800 years in Catholic history and they sponsor the annual Red Mass for the opening of the judicial year every year. They are Catholic judges and lawyers who network together and try to nourish their faith in the midst of this very interesting Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He's served Bishop Edyvean as master of ceremonies for 10 years and counts him as a close friend. **3rd segment:** The idea for The Good Catholic Life came from Cardinal Seán after the inaugural Mass for WQOM on November 1, 2010. He said it would be great to have a local show. Scot started talking with Jim Wright, owner of The Station of the Cross network. At first, Jim wasn't so sure about it because so often local shows are the equivalent of local cable access, but he remained open to the idea. Over the next several weeks, they continued to talk about it. Scot had a background in college working on sports radio. Fr. Mark said Scot has an ability to talk about anything. He recalled one show where Fr. Phelan of Holy Cross Family Ministries and when the remote feed dropped, Scot picked up from there, but Fr. Mark was paying attention to what producer Rick Heil was doing and when Scot threw it to Fr. Mark, he had to admit he wasn't listening. Scot said live radio is exhilarating. He's also learned so much about our faith in the 115 hours of radio that we've recorded. Scot spends several hours before each show preparing and that's helped him to learn so much more about the local Church. There have been 135 guests including 45 priests and bishops and a handful of religious sisters. He noted inspiring stories of My Brother's Keeper in Brockton and Easton or Cor Unum Meal Center in Lawrence or the dozens of inspiring vocation stories of priests and religious. He realizes that God has called each of us in unique ways. He's learned so much more about many ministries, now knowing more than just their name. Fr. Mark said going over the Sunday reading is appreciated by the listeners to go over the readings before the Sunday Mass. He noted that Scot was a seminarian once and he has a gift of preaching. Scot said he entered the seminary acknowledging a 50/50 chance of having an authentic call to the priesthood and being generous to God with his life. Fr. Mark noted that Scot and his brother Fr. Roger were featured in a book about seminarians at the Pontifical North American College. An Associated Press reporter who had worked in Rome for many years but wasn't Catholic wanted to find out more about so many "normal" guys giving up careers and entering the priesthood. It included profiles of six men in their first year at the seminary. Scot said it made them somewhat one-dimensional, but it's still a good read. Fr. Mark said he read the book before he went to Rome and Scot said many of the seminarians there have read the book before going to the college. Scot said living in Rome is phenomenal experience of the Church. Fr. Mark said it is interesting how God called Scot instead to marriage and family and ultimately to serving the Church. **4th segment:** * [First Reading for July 31, 2011, Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Isaiah 55:1-3)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/073111.shtml#reading1) >Thus says the LORD: All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David. * [Second Reading for July 31, 2011, Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Romans 8:35, 37-39)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/073111.shtml#reading2) >Brothers and sisters: What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. * [Gospel for July 31, 2011, Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 14:13-21)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/073111.shtml#gospel) >When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” Then he said, “Bring them here to me, ” and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over— twelve wicker baskets full. Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children. Scot said for the first time in several weeks we don't have a parable, but instead Jesus performing one of his most powerful miracles for perhaps 12,000 to 15,000 people. How phenomenal it must have been for them to be there. But it starts with Jesus hearing of the death of his cousin John the Baptist. How sad he must have been, but how caring he must have been to see those who hungered not just for food but for him. Fr. Mark said to notice that Jesus is disturbed in that deserted place, so he heals them and cares for them./ Afterward, Jesus goes back to the deserted place. That's a lesson for all the busy people who have a hard time to find that deserted place to pray. For mothers and fathers, it can be difficult to find a quiet place to pray uninterrupted or for busy working people. Jesus shows us how not to let the distraction that is good to prevent us from going back to prayer every time. Scot notes that Jesus could have created food from nothing. But he used the meager gifts of the multitude to create abundance to feed them all. It's easy to feel inadequate to say that it's all on me, but we turn to God and say all things are possible in Him. We bring what we have and God makes it happen. St. Peter doesn't meet the job description for the best possible pope, but God uses what we have and multiplies it. Fr. Mark noted that Fr. Paul O'Brien saw a huge need in Lawrence and created the Cor Unum program that feeds huge numbers of people every day. Fr. Paul didn't do it himself, but he offered what little they had and God multiplied it. Not only have they served 600,000 meals, but other dioceses have come to see it as a model for what they could do in their dioceses. Think of the five people who only had a loaf of bread for themselves to eat, but they gave it up in faith to Jesus for their friends and neighbors. Fr. Mark in all 102 shows, we have so many people who did the same thing, saying I can offer this and let God make something beautiful with it. From the first reading, an ancient symbol of God's love is the fountain and God's love is like the water that is everlasting and always flowing.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * 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:** Archbishop Sambi dies; Cardinal O'Connell moves; the Orange Crystal Cathedral **Summary of today's show:** Our usual Thursday panel discussed the news of the week, including the unexpected death of Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the apostolic nuncio to the United States; the reinterment of the remains of Cardinal William O'Connell on the grounds of St. John Seminary; the Dicoese of Orange's bid to buy the famed Crystal Cathedral; and more. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Susan to show and she related her work week. On Monday she took the day off and went to see the Chihuly exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts. Next week Susan joins with her counterparts in diocesan religious education in Springfield next week. Scot said we'll talk about the death of Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Pope's representative to the United States, who was in Boston a couple of months ago at the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary. **2nd segment:** The apostolic nuncio has two essential roles: To be the pope's diplomatic representative to the US government and to be the Pope's voice on world affairs in Washington, DC; and to be part of the selection of new bishops of the United States. He surveys dioceses' for their needs and polls bishops for lists of capable priests. He then prepares a ranked list of candidates to the Congregation for the Bishops in Rome. Fr. Roger said Archbishop Sambi has been known in the US for cutting down the wait down for a new bishop to be appointed. Previously it would take two years or more for a new bishop. Archbishop Sambi cut that down in manby cases to less than a half year. * ["Archbishop Sambi, US nuncio since early 2006, dies at age 73", Catholic News Service (7/28/11)](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102991.htm) * ["Dolan: US church had 'highest respect, deepest affection' for nuncio", CNS (7/28/11)](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102989.htm) Fr. Roger said he was a man of great joy whose joy came from knowing Jesus personally. Scot then introduced Archbishop Sambi's words to the Redemptoris Mater fundraising dinner about Cardinal Seán. Susan read Cardinal Seán's statement on the death of Archbishop Sambi: >“Archbishop Pietro Sambi represented the Holy Father with distinction and great skill through his service as the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States. He was an engaging and dedicated leader who had great love for a deep commitment to the Catholic faithful of our country. The Archbishop was a good and holy man and he will be greatly missed. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother we pray for Archbishop Sambi, that he be welcomed to eternal life with our Heavenly Father." Scot said Greg had time to spend with the Archbishop at the Redemptoris Mater dinner. His impressions of the archbishop were that he possessed a lot of diplomatic skills; he immediately made a connection with people he met. He was greatly loved and there are so many people issuing statements about how beloved he was. The Archbishop had lung surgery several weeks ago. It had also been rumored that he was going to be getting a new assignment in Italy, but on July 26, his office put out a request for prayers and then he died last evening. Fr. Roger said the Archbishop set a new standard for the interaction of a nuncio with the bishops of a country. Normally, the address of the nuncio at a bishops' conference meeting are pro forma and somewhat vaguely worded, but when Archbishop Sambi spoke at the bishops' conference or at installations of bishop, he had something to say that deserved to be heard and that made bishops pay attention. His ongoing legacy will be in the bishops he helped elevate in the episcopacy, especially among the young priests they cultivated for higher office in the Church. His model for new bishops was to select pastors for dioceses other than their own. In the past, the new bishops were often priests who worked in chanceries or were bishops' secretaries. But his most lasting legacy will be all the Masses he celebrated and sacraments he performed. **3rd segment:** Yesterday, the archdiocese announced that the remains of William Cardinal O'Connell had been moved and reinterred from the grounds of the former chancery to the grounds of the seminary. His will when he died was that he hoped to be close to the seminary. As part of the sale of the chancery property to Boston College, the college had asked the archdiocese to work with the Cardinal's family to have the remains moved to a suitable place. Over the last week, his remains were moved from a hill to the courtyard at St. John's Seminary close to the entrance to the chapel in the seminary. Cardinal O'Connell built that seminary and the cardinal's residence as a way of showing that Irish Catholics had really arrived in Boston. * ["For cardinal, a new final resting place", Boston Globe (7/28/11)](http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/07/28/a_new_final_resting_place_for_bostons_first_cardinal/) Greg said it's been a contentious process over quite a long time. the property that the mausoleum was on wasn't obviously a final resting place of a cardinal. But when Cardinal Seán sold his own residence and the grounds of the chancery to Boston College, the college stipulated that the body should be moved. At first it was proposed to move him to the grounds of St. Sebastian's school, which he helped found in Needham. But the family wanted to stay true to his wishes to stay close to the seminary. Public ceremonies surrounding the interment are planned for later. Scot noted that mausoleum wasn't well visited and it wasn't in good shape near the end. The cardinal has got his wish to be near the seminary. During the cardinal's tenure, the Archdiocese experienced massive expansion of religious, priests, and parishes. The Catholic Church came into its own in Boston. Fr. Roger said his legacy is that he fought hard for Catholics to receive their civil rights in Boston and was one of the most consequential Catholic statesman in the 20th century. He was also a the rector of the Pontifical North American College and returning to the US helped fight the unique heresy of Americanism which held that we didn't need God's help. Fr. Roger said he often prayed for Cardinal O'Connell when he was the seminary, because of stories that the cardinal also had some scandal surrounding his governance of the Church in Boston. Another story in the Pilot this week is a story about Sr. Alice Gagne, 92 years old, who was among 13 siblings, five of whom were in the same religious order, the Gray Nun order. Greg said the sisters have a tradition of a wake that is a time of remembrance and reflection on her life. At the wake, a copy of the order's constitution, a crucifix, and red rose were placed on the casket, in keeping with the Grey Nun traditions. The constitutions signifies their way of life, the cross reflects the reality of life's burdens, and the rose represents service performed with love. Greg said the French Canadian family emigrated to Woonsocket, RI and raised the children with joy and with a love for Christ. Fr. Roger said the story makes him think of St. Therese of Lisieux, whose own family gave five daughters to religious life. The inheritance of the Gagne family must be great in heaven. **4th segment:** Scot said it was announced this week that the Diocese of Orange in Southern California, the seventh-largest in the United States, made a $50 million bid for the Crystal Cathedral complex that had been built by television preacher Dr. Robert Schuller. Scot he recalls from his youth seeing it on TV occasionally and thinking of what a beautiful building it is. * ["Orange Diocese bids $50 million to buy Crystal Cathedral complex", CNS (7/26/11)](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13596) Scot said some folks are asking why we're building a Protestant church. Others don't like the look of it, that it isn't traditional. The reality is that the diocese needs a new cathedral in a fast-growing Church. A new cathedral in the US costs upwards of $100 million or more so this would not be a bad deal at $50 million. Susan said the story fascinates her , but she tends to be a bit more traditional when it comes to worship spaces. She said the story of Crystal Cathedral Ministries is interesting and the story of how the church was built on the location of a drive-in theatre. The building has 10,000 pieces of glass, can seat 2,700 and can accommodate up to 1,000 musicians. Greg thinks it does make for a grand and open space that allows one to see all of nature surrounding, even though it may not be his own cup of tea. Fr. Roger said the renovations to make it suitable for Catholic worship would be important. He noted that the early Church often took the pagan buildings of Rome and converted them for Catholic worship. The Church has always converted buildings for use in celebrating the sacraments. He said the Crystal Cathedral is already a destination for people to see and now they would be able to visit with Jesus inside. It is a munificent building, which means it's a spectacular work for the glory of God. Finally, it is a symbol of the transparency which is a virtue that people wish for the Church these days. Scot also noted that it comes with a lot of land that could be developed for a lot of good purposes for the Church in Orange. **5th segment:** Scot introduced the "lightning round" by asking Greg about which article he wanted to point out. He likes the article on how Pope Benedict has advocated the benefit of silence and solemnity at World Youth Day. In the past it has often become like a rock concert, based on an idea that young people always want high energy. Yet young people often want a time of prayer and adoration of Christ. * ["US Bishops named to lead WYD English-language catechetical sessions", CNS (7/26/11)](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com/article.asp?ID=13597) Susan liked the story about the eight US bishops named to lead World Youth Day catechetical sessions, including Cardinal Seán. She said it ties in with what Greg said about silence, and how Cardinal Seán often says we live in an age addicted to entertainment. Cardinal Seán has a sense of the busyness of the world. He will speak on the gift of our Catholic faith, how to build a relationship with Christ, and how each of us is called to a mission. Fr. Roger pointed out the Pope's words on the terrible violence in Norway this past week. The Pope said we have to build a world which abandons the path of violence in order to score some political points. Scot noted a story a new uniform payroll and pension system for the whole archdiocese, including parishes, saves nearly every parish money and provides a real 401k for employees in the archdiocese.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Matt Williams **Today's guest(s):** Joe Melendrez, Catholic rap musician * [RosaryRap.com](http://www.rosaryrap.com) **Today's topics:** Ministry of Catholic rapper Joe Melendrez and the Rosary Rap **Summary of today's show:** Joe Melendrez joined Scot and Fr. Matt to talk about how he came to develop the Rosary Rap, the prayer set to a hip hop beat; and the unique way in which Joe used 1,000 burritos to bring Christ to his community and engage in a ministry of presence and a Eucharistic experience in a meal. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Matt back to the show. Youth ministry heats up in the summer and this past weekend Franciscan Unviersity hosted Steubenville East youth conference at the University of Rhode Island. Three thousands teens were there for speakers, music, Mass, Adoration, and Confession. They hear a strong emphasis on Jesus' love for them and there is a strong promotion of the sacraments. Every 5 minutes 20 kids went through the confessionals. On Monday night, they hosted the annual high school harbor cruise in Boston Harbor with 300+ high school students. It's meant to be an outreach event with lots of social interaction and a message from a high school teen who talked about the priesthood and the importance of living the faith. They had Eucharistic Adoration on the boat. On the top deck they had music and dancing and on the bottom deck they had adoration. Fr. Matt thinks about one-third went through the chapel for a prayer. Last night they went to the Red Sox game, which was a beautiful evening and a great game. All of the World Youth Day organizers were able to attend and see the game from the rooftop terrace seats. Scot said Kate Zabriskie who works in the chancellor's office suggested that he get Joe Melendrez, the rosary rapper, on the show. Scot also noted that this is The Good Catholic Life's 100th show. **2nd segment:** The segment began with a decade of the Rosary being rapped by Joe. Scot asked Joe about his background. He grew up in San Antonio and went to the University of Dayton. Joe said his parents have always been supportive of his dreams. When he was 15 he went on a retreat that he had an experience of God that he believed to be a calling of some kind. He looked for ways to bring God to others in service and helping on retreats. Scot asked him when he first thought about praying through rap. Joe said he loves all kinds of music. A lot of people stop at the bad word, but Joe sees beyond the profanity in which the big-time rappers express themselves. He started by writing poems to girls he liked, then to writing about the way his days were going, and suddenly it occurred to him to start freestyle raps as prayer, while in his car, for example. Scot noted that it is an axiom in the Church that singing is praying twice. Joe said that Tupac Shakur wrote once that he was aware that his gift was from God. So Joe knows that he is gifted from God and he wants to express himself. He wants to be in tune with the Holy Spirit in order to glorify God with that creative act. On one retreat when he was about 16, he was asked to teach the other kids how to pray the Rosary and he decided to try it through rap. One of the retreat leaders encouraged him to record a rosary rap CD. Fr. Matt said rapping prayerm ust count for 2.5 times praying. He asked Joe how old he is and Joe said he is 25. Fr. Matt asked him what music he grew up listening to and he said he's loved all kind of music. He recalls the first rap CD he had was by Sean Coombs (P. Diddy) and the CD opened with a prayer and in another CD he made a song about Jesus being his best friend. That made Joe ask why Jesus couldn't be his best friend. Fr. Matt said it's a powerful witness when you have these superstars pointing to Christ. It's powerful when he can elevate the culture with the Gospel. For a leadership retreat they did soon, they made a song parody of the popular song, The Dougy, called The Jesus Dougy. Joe said it's essential to connect culture to the Gospel. They have to constantly adapt. Songs on the radio are changing each month; are we doing that ourselves? We maintain our traditions and teachings, but do we adapt to the changing culture? Make good music first and after they like the music, they notice it's about Jesus. * \"Get Live\" by Joe Melendrez * \"Resurrection\" by Joe Melendrez * [The album "Fully Alive" by Joe Melendrez on iTunes](http://itunes.apple.com/album/fully-alive/id432427756?ign-mpt=uo%3D2) **3rd segment:** Scot said he was inspired by reading about how Joe won the Chipotle burrito contest and what he wrote to win the contest and how he used the thousands of burritos he won to have conversations about God. Joe had a chance to study at Chamanade University in Hawaii and while there a friend told him how sharing a meal with a someone can be a Eucharistic experience. Chipotle is a Mexican burrito chain. They had an essay contest about what they did over their summer vacation and connect it to Chipotle. He wrote that he was trying to write raps and had writer's block and after he ate a Chipotle burrito and was inspired to write a song called "Gotta Get It Now." He won the contest and won 3 burritos a day for a year and four 20-burrito parties. "With great power comes great responsibility" so he saw this as a sign of God providing food so he could have these Eucharistic experiences with people. Joe said his first meal was with a friend where they came up with a format: talk about their university, with a relationship, with something in their faith now, and their future aspirations and dreams. They would cover all these topics in one-hour's time at A Chipotle, like a mini-retreat. He started inviting random people on campus. People thought they were on Candid Camera, but out of that year he missed only about 30 days of Chipotle because he was either in a city without a Chipotle or it was a holiday. Fr. Matt asked him how he came out of a comfort zone to bear witness to Christ in this way. Joe said he spent a lot of his faith journey searching on his own so he combined it with his enjoyment of being with people. He didn't get a lot of rejections, mainly because it was a college, the students were often hungry, and the kids enjoyed Chipotle. They also threw a homeless burrito party during Lent. He put flyers up around town and Chipotle gave them an extra 20 burritos. The homeless people would come in and Joe and his friends would sit down with them and talk with them too. Fr. Matt said he loves how Joe combines evangelization with service. He feeds them physical food and feeds them Jesus. Scot asked him how the people at Chipotle responded to Joe's decision to use his prize this way. The company gave him a special metal card that he was to show at any Chipotle. He had Chipotle burritos at many places around the country. He thinks they probably didn't expect him to really come every day. **4th segment:** It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly **WQOM Benefactor Raffle**. Our prize this week is ["Rediscover Catholicism"](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0984131892/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=pilo0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=0984131892) by Matthew Kelly. This week's winner is **Ann Marise Jaboin from Salem, MA**. Congratulations Ann Marise! If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit [WQOM.org](http://www.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 Joe is known nationwide for this rap and asked him how he got the idea to go national. Joe said like anything else he prayed about it and he knew that it would be known by its fruit. If the fruit is good, then it will succeed. In the rap, he raps an introduction, he raps the mystery, and then raps the prayer. He started with a demo version that he played for friends. He was encouraged to make a professional recording, but he experienced many obstacles. He prayed that if it is God's will that it succeed. That night he received a call from a friend who said his youth group loved it and he took that as a sign from God. After that everything came together. Scot asked him about resistance to rap as a form of music for prayer. Joe said it is merely a means of expressing words and those words can be good or bad. The rosary is a universal prayer and it is for all generations. Joe said it's not difficult for people to learn how to rap the Rosary. It's not difficult to pray the Rosary, but when you think about it, it blows your mind to realize that you are praying with the Mother of God. How many people are praying t he Rosary through rap now? Joe said that he gets Facebook messages and emails from all over, including from soldiers in Iraq who said it was helping them get through. He knows that God only knows how far and wide it will spread. He's heard from elderly people who are praying the Rosary rap. His primary audience is the younger generation ,especially college students. Fr. Matt guess that it really touches the teenage boys and young adult men. Joe thinks back to when he was in high school, if there was someone like him out there doing this then, he would have been inspired sooner to go out and put his faith in action like this. He hopes people will pray the Rosary in other forms as well. Joe said he heard about families praying the Rosary rap together; kids asking their mom to pray the Rosary rap in the car on the way to school; grandparents praying it with their kids. Fr. Matt said he would love to be a fly on the wall when the Landry family is praying the Rosary rap. Joe spoke to the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress' Youth Day. Last year he had 500 people show up for his session. This year 5,000 people showed up to hear his talk: "Hip Hop Prayer: The Revolution." He had a number of Christian hip hop artists came out and performed with him. He also talked about how focusing on one main idea in prayer helps the prayer life. He also talked about focusing on phrase that encapsulates who you are and who you are called to be. For Joe, it is "God's son". Scot said Joe will be performing in Madrid at World Youth Day next month. He will be connecting with a Spanish rapper who is also a Marianist brother and rapping with him at the apostolic nunciature on August 19, the home of the Pope's ambassador to Spain.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Fr. David Couturier and Joshua Phelps from the Archdiocese of Boston's Office for Pastoral Planning * [Office of Pastoral Planning, Archdiocese of Boston](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Offices-And-Services/Office-Detail.aspx?id=1448) **Today's topics:** The changing face of parishes **Summary of today's show:** Fr. David Couturier and Joshua Phelps discuss with Scot a national study on the changing face of parishes and how those numbers compare to the situation of the Archdiocese of Boston. **1st segment:** Scot said while the truth of the Catholic faith remains the same, the structures of the Church continue to evolve as it has over the past 2,000 years. Last week, the Center for Applied research in the Apostolate published a study on the changing face of Catholic parishes in the US. Today, we'll look at the study and at how it compares to the Archdiocese of Boston., * ["Report finds fewer priests celebrating more Masses at fewer parishes", CNS, 7/18/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102844.htm) * [The CARA study's website](http://emergingmodels.org/) * [CARA study press release and summary](http://cara.georgetown.edu/NewsandPress/PressReleases/PR071511.pdf) * ["The Changing Face of US Catholic Parishes"](http://www.emergingmodels.org/article.cfm?id=75) Scot welcomed Fr. David Couturier to show. Fr. David said it's an excellent look at a very important question/: where are parishes today, how did they get there, and where will they be in the future? Scot it's great to see hard data about the changes we've been seeing in our own parishes over time. Joshua said the report gives a set of benchmarks by which we can gauge what's going on in the Archdiocese. He thinks there's a big opportunity to talk to people about mission and evangelization. Scot said the study said the number of parishes in the US have declined by 7.1 percent over the past 10 years. Fr. David said in the Archdiocese it's been 22.04% in Boston. Scot said the areas most affected by closures are where there were large numbers of immigrants in places which are highly populated and densely populated at a time when industry demanded large numbers of workers and those industries have decreased. Now the large numbers of immigrants growing the Church are in different places. Scot said the Catholic population has realigned itself, but the parishes and schools have not. Fr. David said the Church in those areas with declines gave the people the ability to move out of the places where they first came by giving them better education and better economic opportunities. Now we can look at the institutions that have been left behind. Scot said most Catholics moved outside the city of Boston and into the suburbs. Fr. David said Boston has a unique relationship to its parishes compared to any other place he's seen. He related a story of a Jewish man who said he lived in St. Brendan's parish. Because people in Boston identify with the local parish, even if they're not Catholic. Scot said the study found that the average parish grew in the number of households and people. The number of people grew by 45% over the past 10 years. The average number of households in Boston parishes are higher, about 43.8% larger. Scot said there is a dense concentration of Catholics in the Northeast, with higher density and more parishes. We have a long history of the Catholic Church in the area. Fr David said this is one of the silver linings of the report. Scot said the study talks about seating capacity utilization (the percentage of spaces in the pews used by parishioners at Mass). In Boston, it's 33%, which means at the average Mass in Boston, about 33% of the seats will be filled. Scot said this is partly because we offer a lot of Masses at our parishes and it's extremely convenient for people on a Sunday morning. Fr. David said we offer more Masses per parish than other other diocese in the country. He said they have just completed a study that shows how many Masses are needed to serve the people of God, and they've found that there is about double the Masses that the Archdiocese needs right now. He said it shows that there's a lot of room to move for parishes to ask what kind of community do we want to be, what kind of liturgies we want to have. Do we want to continue to have liturgies that are 33% full or do we want to have a full Mass with a cross-section of the people of the parish. That will affect how we plan for priests and parishes. Scot said in the past that we have focused on the number of Masses when looking at how to allocate priests, but now as parishioners we can ask whether we want to have fewer Masses that offer a richer experience of the liturgy. A priest who celebrates one or two Masses on Sunday will likely have more energy than a priest who has to celebrate two Masses on Saturday and 3 or 4 on Sunday. Fr. David said we have gotten used to a downsized mentality, and have forgotten the wonderful truth of abundance. once we get back to a notion that we want to see our churches full again, we will receive a blessing. Josh mentioned Good Shepherd Parish in Wayland, where two parishes became one. they had to cut down their Mass schedule and now their experience of Mass has shot through the roof. Going to Mass on Christmas and Easter, by virtue of being packed in the pews, tells us that something special is going on. Scot said there are many benefits when we are worshipping with many people. For example, someone new to the parish will find that it is alive and it is much more likely they'll want to come back. If two-thirds of the pews are empty, it leads to the question about whether it really is a great place. **2nd segment:** The number of worship sites of a typical parish across the country averages 1.3, but this is expected to rise over the 10 years. Fr. David said as dioceses face a chronic vocation shortage, they are deciding how to best use their priests. In Boston we want to keep our churches open as much as possible and so the future will include new arrangements for how to use these worship sites. There are already situations across the Archdiocese where priests are pastoring more than one parish and where parishes have more than one church. It's not about property, it's about evangelization. Scot said our Catholic community transcends parish lines and town lines. Ten percent of parishes in the US have one Sunday Mass, 13% have two, 26% have three, 50% have four or more. 12% have five, 9% have six. The average parish has 3.8 Masses. In the Archdiocese our parishes beat those numbers by a large amount where more than 50% have five or more. Scot said the average number of weekday Masses at parishes across the US is 5.3, but there are 11% have 11 or more weekday Masses. Scot said in Boston we're beginning to see parishes offer schedules of weekday Masses for nearby parishes. Fr. David said they're encouraging parishes to work together to schedule their Masses in cooperation with other parishes in order to offer the Mass to as many people as possible. Fr. David said they are also working with a certain set of parishes to think beyond their own parish boundaries, but to look at the Church in their whole town or city. People are beginning to see that Church is about this two or city, not just their parish. In Boston, all politics is local and all Church is parochial. Joshua said this is where the pragmatic needs of parish boundaries meet with mission. People go to Church to come together in communion to worship Christ. When people begin thinking this way, there become new opportunities for evangelization. Fr. David said if we keep our communities of parochial with the added value of regionalism, then we can share assets and resources across parish boundaries, particularly gifts and talents. Thus parishes can work together to have a youth minister and a business manager and a director of faith formation and all of those ministries for all of God's people in those towns. Many parishes aren't large enough to do it alone, while the parishes working together can do it. In 29% of parishes across the country, Mass is celebrated in a language other than English. In many of them, English is the language of at least one Mass. In the Archdiocese of Boston, this is about the same. Fr. David said we have Mass celebrated in 20 different languages. We are not just one ethnic church with add-ons, but we are very diverse. Scot said people sometimes use the ratio of infant baptism to funerals as a measure of vitality and growth. Nationally, the average ratio is 2 baptisms to every funeral. That's the minimum for growth. In Boston, it's 1.2 to 1. But we have 89% more funerals than the national average, which means that the Church here is more established and it's a lot grayer population. The average infant baptisms: 64 and First Communions: 65. Scot said that tells him that the kids remain in the Church from baptism to First Communion, but the number drops to 51 in confirmations. It gets even worse for marriages (dividing the number of confirmations by two, it would be 25.5) with only 11 per parish. Scot said an Australian study found that many Catholics believe you don't need to go to Sunday Mass to be a good Catholic, but Scot added that many people also believe it doesn't matter if you get married outside of a church, perhaps on a beach or something. Fr. David said we're seeing a long decline in the number of weddings since the late 80s. New York has declined by 70% or more. That has an effect on other vocations as well. Cardinal Seán has focused on the need for evangelization and marriage. Joshua said parishes that have a focus on marriage ministry have higher rates of all the sacraments. **3rd segment:** In terms of parish finances, the national study say the average operating revenue is $609,000. Josh said the Archdiocese is about 6% less than that. Scot was surprised by that because the average offertory is in the mid-300,000s so they must be having other sources of revenue like rent and grand annuals. About half of a parish's income is from sources other than weekly offertory, while nationally about two-thirds of income come from the offertory. Fr. Dvid said fewer Catholics are going to church in Boston than the national average, but Boston is maintaining the same amount of income. That shows that fewer people are bearing the burden and we need to look at that. It's a huge sacrifice. Across the country, it's $9,091. In Boston, it's closer to about $6,000. The average operating expenses nationally are $620,000. Thirty percent are below break-even. In Boston about 57% are above break-even and the rest are below. The typical parish across the country is saving about $70,000 per year. The average parish in Boston is saving about $1,000 per year. A major weekend snowstorm can put a parish in the red. Scot said the average family across the archdiocese gives about $20 while in Boston it's less than that. The smaller the parish, the more people contribute, and the bigger, the less they give. Fr. David said it's a sense of ownership. The smaller the parish, the more that people feel like they have a say in how the money is used, which leads to more giving. Scot said it's much easier in a large group to say that if you don't give, everyone else will give a little more. In a small church, it's easier to say that they're really needed. Fr. David said a big part of the solution would be to move people from seeing themselves as member to seeing themselves as disciples. Joshua said the most successful offertory enhancement programs ask people to get more involved, not for more money. People who are more involved give more. Across the US, 24% have a school and 25% are affiliated with a non-parish school. About 100 of the 291 parishes in Boston are affiliated with a school. Nationally, the number of lay ecclesial ministers is estimated at 38,000, trained and certified performing many of the same duties priests and religious used to. Total parish staff is about 160,000, which includes priests, religious, lay ecclesial leaders, and others. Fr. David said there are 3,500 staff members: deacons, business managers, pastoral associates, youth ministers, and DREs. Some of them are paid and many are not. There are about 100 Master's-level pastoral associates. Joshua said the vision of the future of lay staffing in parishes is someone who coordinates and invites the people of the parish to take ownership of the ministries. Nationally, 93% of parishes have a pastoral council and 97% have a finance council. It's a little lower in Boston. Fr. David said our pastors need to be encouraged to have these groups, especially to help the parish plan for the future. 31% of parishes in the US are in some sort of clustering arrangement. Fr. David said cooperation and collaboration are not dirty words, but are the ways for parishes to work together to evangelize and spread the Word of Christ. Joshua said the culture of pastoral planning is a culture of hope. It's an opportunity. The people they are working with now have an entrepreneurial spirit. We're called to give our best to the Church.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry **Today's guest(s):** Melissa Squarcia, Senior Communications for the Catholic Leadership Institute * [Catholic Leadership Institute](http://www.catholicleaders.org/) **Today's topics:** Catholic Leadership Institute **Summary of today's show:** Melissa Squarcia joins Scot to talk about the ministry of the Catholic Leadership Institute, which prepares clergy and lay leaders for leadership in the Church as well as assists dioceses in creating a strategic vision and priorities. As priests become pastors sooner after ordination and as they are spread more thin, CLI's programs help them work more efficiently in order to accomplish the ministry goals at the heart of their vocations. **1st segment:** Scot began by asking how we prepare our priests, deacons, and lay leaders for the Church of the 21st century. Parishes keep getting fewer and bigger and priests have more and more asked of them. And they didn't always get the tools to lead in the seminary. The Catholic Leadership Institute is trying to help prepare priests and laity for more effective leadership in the Church and working with bishops and dioceses with strategic planning. Scot welcomed Melissa Squarcia to the show. He asked how she came to CLI. She started about 4 years ago and before that worked for the local NBC affiliate in Philadelphia. They were looking for a communications coordinator to help share the good news about their ministry. CLI is 20 years old this year. Scot said it's amazing what one person inspired in prayer can accomplish. The founder is Tim Flanagan and the co-founder as the late Fr. Charles Pfeffer. Originally they worked with youth and young adults, but as they started looking at where else they could work to assist the Church, they heard priests saying to the young people that they didn't have the time to implement the good ideas. So they started Good Leaders, Good Shepherds, developing a curriculum that meshes the best of corporate leadership training with the teachings of the Church. They started in 2006 and are now in 60 dioceses nationwide, about 1 in every 3 in the US. Scot was impressed that Flanagan, who had a background that included in corporate leadership training, saw the need in the Church and committed to doing something about it. Melissa said the current president Matt Manion left a very lucrative and powerful position to come to CLI to serve the Church. Manion's arrival allowed Flanagan to develop a board of directors, which aids in getting CLI out to a wider audience, including those who can provide support. Flanagan made a 10-year commitment to CLI in the beginning to see where it went. He made a plan and put it into action. If it was meant to be and God would bless it, then 10 years was a good time frame. Now 20 years later, CLI is helping so many leaders in the Church. Melissa said it was also a commitment by an all-volunteer staff that came onboard with Flanagan's vision. There are 26 full-time staff in their main office outside Philadelphia, plus about 30 full- and part-time trainers who travel around the country running leadership training. The full-time trainers travel three out of four weeks per month. The priest-trainers are able to give 3 or 4 days per month. Scot asked how many of the staff are Villanova grads: Melissa said she is, as is Flanagan. Manion has a Master's and there are three or four others who also have some affiliation with the university. Fr. Bill Dickinson joined CLI in 2006 as the organization's National Director for Leadership Development. He's been approved by his bishop to stay with CLI for another 5 years. Flanagan needed a priest to sell the nation's bishops on CLI's offerings and show them how it can be effective for their dioceses. **2nd segment:** Good Leaders, Good Shepherds is the flagship program of CLI and Boston was one of the pilot programs. MElissa said it's meant to help priests find more time and better ways to be a better leader and a good shepherd. Often their time is taken up with administration instead of bringing people the Word and sacraments. CLI says there are more effective ways to manage parishes and their workloads to free them to do what they became priests to do. Priests are called to teach, to sanctify, and to govern, and often governance training is neglected in the seminary. Scot said it's his experience that the seminary tries to teach so much in theology and spiritual life, that there's only so much they can teach in 4-6 years. Plus leadership training is better when they've got a few years of experience already. When they come to GLGS they can have specific issues they want to deal with or specific areas they know they need help with. MElissa said a priest can have a wonderful group of parishioners who are just waiting to be asked to help and GLGS helps him form teams and alliances within the local community to enhance the mission of the parish/ Both GLGS and Tending the Talents have the same six contexts for leadership. The first is self-preparation for leadership, helping the person become more aware of their own leadership tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses are. Melissa said you have to be able to lead yourself first. The DISC profile they use help you increase your strengths and address your weaknesses. * [What is DISC?](http://www.discprofile.com/whatisdisc.htm) Scot said on the GLGS side, they integrate where the priest wants to be in six months, 1 year, and longer and what kind of priest they want to be. MElissa said they often have an idea of who they want to be when they leave seminary and all the pressures overwhelm them and obscure that idea. This helps them get back to the central idea of their priesthood. Scot said the central idea is becoming a priestly leader, not just a regular kind of leader. What makes Catholic leadership for priests and lay leaders different from leadership for corporate leaders? Melissa said the difference is shepherding after the heart of Jesus. The second module or context is leadership of self. Melissa said it includes creating your own vision and purpose statement, and formulating goals to help them accomplish that. It includes health and wellness, greater personal formation, and then more administrative and governance goals. They use the SMART goals concept: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely goals. * [Creating SMART goals](http://www.topachievement.com/smart.html) Melissa said it gives them focus and it puts time frames and parameters around their goals. The next leadership context is Leading in the one to one context. It includes helping a specific staff member get the most out of themselves. Melissa said it is one of the most frequently used contexts in leadership. It looks at their gifts and talents, helping them take the DISC profile, and establishing key responsibility areas and SMART goals. It helps them become more effective, freeing the pastor to serve the parish in a greater capacity because the staff members are able to carry out his vision for the parish in that specific role. Scot said there's often fear around giving constructive criticism and there's a science about this that's passed on by Good Leaders, Good Shepherds. Melissa said that a lot of it is listening. She related a story from one priest who said his director of religious ed noticed the difference that GLGS was making in him, specifically that he now listens to her better when she speaks to him. **3rd segment:** The next context is leadership of teams. A pastor's life often includes staffs and committees. Melissa said it teaches the pastor how to charter, sponsor and give a vision to a team such that he doesn't need to be present for them all the time. Thus they don't have to be at meeting after meeting, but be assured that the team will accomplish the goals and purpose that has been created for them. It includes effective meeting management, recruiting of team/committee members. The idea is that people on the team itself don't feel that the team is pointless. Another aspect of leadership of the team is keeping the teams on track, giving them a timeframe in which to get their job done (and not someone else's job) as well as to prioritize. The priest-leader sets specific goals and time limits for every meeting with an agenda that has specific times to talk about each agenda item. The next context is leadership in the organization or the parish. Scot said a parish is a complex $1-1.5 million organization with a staff of employees, but also thousands of souls who need to be shepherded. Meanwhile many of our pastors are even younger than before, some becoming pastors just five years after ordination. Melissa said they have the priests set a vision for the parish, what this particular parish in this place and time is called to do. Then they whittle it down to all the bits and pieces that can bring the vision to reality. It gives them a context to proclaim to their people so they all know who the parish is serving and what they are called to do and be. Scot said some would ask why would Parish A's vision be difference from Parish B's vision. He would say every parish is different with different cultures, different places, and so on. In one parish, they might prioritize youth ministry. Another might prioritize a period of healing after a merger of two previous parishes. Melissa said every parish is called to lead people to Christ and manifest the Kingdom of God on earth, but every parish will do that in a different way, partly because the gifts and talents in the pews are different from one place to another. The next context is strategic relationships, i.e those organizations that function outside the parish, including soup kitchens or other parishes. For example, a priest asked his parishioners what they dream about to enhance their community and faith life. Many wanted to serve the community with non-Catholics in the area that serve the poor. So they work with nonCatholic churches to serve the poor and partnered with a Catholic parish in Haiti. Scot said the universal Church does not end at the borders of this parish. MElissa said this context helps the parish share the Gospel outside the parish community. Scot said about 40 or 50 priests ion the Archdiocese of Boston have gone through Good Leaders, Good Shepherds. Melissa said there have been about 1,600 priests who are enrolled or graduated including some from Trinidad and Vancouver. How does Tending the Talents differ? Melissa said it's supposed to be complimentary to GLGS. A priest comes back with new leadership tools and the parish staff then goes to Tending the Talents to help them understand the new vision for leadership. They have a lot of the same leadership training, but do it knowing their pastor has already gone through it, which allows it to be anchored with deeper roots and reinforced. They can then also set their own goals and key responsibility areas instead of relying solely on the pastor to do it. **4th segment:** Catholic Leadership Institute also works with bishops to help them with the same types of skills that pastors have received. Melissa said they are talking to the dioceses of Kalamazoo and Laredo to create visions and priorities which will help parishes align themselves with that vision. Scot said his experience is that most leaders have a vision, but they haven't articulated it in a way that helps to align everyone to the direction they need to go. Melissa said it's often about communicating the vision after putting it on paper. Just last week Bishop Bradley in Kalamazoo communicated that vision, which is to serve every person in their region, not just the Catholics. The vision is to be the Catholic voice there and all of the priorities are oriented to that vision. CLI is awarding four recipients an award for Catholic leadership on November 11 in Philadelphia. Cardinal Seán is one of the recipients. Also, Tom Monaghan, founder of Ave Maria University and Domino's Pizza. Previous recipients have included Immaculee Ilibagiza, Matthew Kelly, Raymond Arroyo, Sr. Briege McKenna, Mother Mary Assmumpta, and many others. Much of CLI's revenue comes from tuition for their programs, but any new initiatives or expansion of their work comes from donations. * [Founder's 20/20 Challenge](https://www.catholicleaders.org/donate.aspx)

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Fr. Chip Hines **Today's guest(s):** Fr. George Evans, Pastor of St. Julia Parish, Weston * [St. Julia Parish, Weston](http://www.stjulia.org/) **Today's topics:** Pastor Profile: Fr. George Evans **Summary of today's show:** Fr. George Evans joins Scot and guest co-host Fr. Chip Hines to discuss his journey to the priesthood and his assignments within the archdiocese with specific focus on his time at St. Julia, Weston, working with a parish merger, and on a pastoral planning commission for the archdiocese. Also, a discussion of this Sunday's first reading and Gospel from Mass. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Fr. Chip back to show. He is coming in on the tail end of his vacation. He was able to take in a Cape Cod League baseball game and spend time with family. It's a high level of baseball from Division 1 college players. It's also a wonderful family experience. Many of the players will end up in the Major Leagues. Fr. George Evans is today's guest. He's been involved in archdiocesan pastoral planning efforts in recent years and looks forward to where the archdiocese is going in the next 10 to 15 years. **2nd segment:** Scot and Fr. Chip welcome Fr. George Evans to the show.He's been pastor at St. Julia's since 2003. Before that he worked for many years at the seminary. He was ordained in 1977 and was assigned to St. James in Wellesley for 4 years, which was a foundation for his priesthood. After that he went to Catholic University of America for 4 years to earn a Doctorate in Sacred Theology. He returned to St. John Seminary as a spiritual director. He helped seminarians to integrate the spiritual life with all areas of their life, but also to be a confidante for the men. He spent 18 years at the seminary and served as interim rector at the seminary for a brief time after Bishop Richard Lennon was reassigned. It was at the time that the college seminary was closed and he worked in 2003 to streamline the seminary's programs. It readied him to be a pastor. He spent 22 years of his priesthood in academia of one sort or another. His own parish growing up was a key part of his desire to be a priest and he tried to always keep parish ministry at the forefront of his mind. He was also very eager to return to parish ministry after the seminary. Fr. Chip said he thinks he would have gleaned a lot of practical experience at the seminary. He came from St. Catherine of Somerville. Scot said it's one of the most beautiful parishes we have. Fr. George went to the grammar school there and Matignon High School. He went to Boston College after that. While there he saw the parish adapt to the call of the Church to advance into the modern age. He took the best aspects of that attitude with him to the seminary and then to his own parish. There was a real sense of planning and reflecting among the faculty of the seminary. There was also a lot of newness as new seminarians came in; as they heard many great homilies from other priests; and as he adapted his seminars and courses on a regular basis to keep them new. Fr. Chip said Fr. George's great strength is the ability to see both sides of an issue, which is why the Cardinal trusts him so and why so many priests go to him as a spiritual director still. Some of his favorite spiritual writers are St. Theresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, Jean-pierre de Cassaude, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Benedict, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Francis de Sales. The latter has a special appeal as a diocesan priest who was working in the Counter-Reformation. He has a love of Church history. It started in grammar school with the Land of Our Lady series, and he became a history major at Boston College. HE taught a history of the Church in Boston at the seminary. It helps him as he works in pastoral planning. A good history of Boston is by Thomas H. O'Connor. More in-depth is the three-volume series by Robert Lord, John Sexton, and Edward Harrington, which goes up to 1944. This gives a good grounding for anyone who wants to talk about the challenges facing the Archdiocese, including discussions of territorial parishes and ethnic parishes. **3rd segment:** There are two churches that make up St. Julia's in Weston. In 2004, during Reconfiguration, St. Joseph Parish in Lincoln would cease to be a parish, but its church building and its territory and parishioners would become part of St. Julia's Parish. They are one community of people in two church buildings. St. julia was founded in 1919 and the church was built in 1921. St. Joseph was founded in 1900 and the church was built in 1904. It was a mission of St. Bernard in Concord until 1944. Merging parishes is a sacrifice across the board, but it results in a greater good for all. Scot said this is going to become more common across the country, where one priest serves one or more parishes with multiple church buildings. Fr. George said the priest and the parish need to keep their eyes on the parish mission: Word, worship, pastoral care, community building. The parish has to consider its own giftedness or lack of gifts that specify how they need to be right now. In his own parish, people are asked to join commissions in the parish to keep alive various areas like evangelization, religious education, liturgy, communications and others. It's hard to get all of those commissions strong, but he tries to bring people in from both towns to keep everyone unified. He does his best to make it inclusive. Fr. Chip said when he was in the seminary and remembers visiting St. Julia's at Christmas time to collect gifts for inner-city kids and the parishes have a long history of charitable works. Both parishes had a long list of charities they contributed to and bringing them all together was sometimes difficult. Scot is struck by how many commissions that St. Julia's has, more than a dozen, and each one has a unique group of people in it, which is different from many other parishes where the same people are involved in everything. Fr. George said people are very busy and when he gathers people together, they're gathering busy people. The challenge is to reach out to young families. Back in 2005, Cardinal Seán formed three big commissions: Youth and young adult formation, pastoral planning, and marriage. Fr. George was chair of the pastoral planning commission, whose mission was to understand all the models bishops across the country use to staff parishes. Fr. George said he was not called to consult very much within the archdiocese, but to look outside at the whole United States. They looked at the situation of many dioceses facing demographic shifts, fewer priests, decaying infrastructure, and falling revenues. They looked at all the people in the parish who are so committed to the Church and making parishes strong. Their report to cardinal suggested what we need to be aware of and what needs to be done, including looking at the data and determining how to proceed. Now there is a fuller commission that is looking at more details and consulting more widely about what we need to do here. They are learning from our own experiences in 2004, what was learned in the 2007 report, and what other dioceses have learned. Scot said the first commission put facts into the normal way we think about things in the Archdiocese: How many priests, deacons, religious, etc. will we have in 2020? They introduced the idea of a culture of planning in the archdiocese. Fr. George said the Church as to be a planning Church. We have to be very reflective, not just in the sense of logistical planning, but planning in the sense that the call that we've received has to take very definite root amidst resources and lack of them and the realities, including the needs of people and the talents that need to be engendered. The culture of plan has to fill the whole Church from the parish level to the inter-parish level, which is somewhat new, to the diocesan level to the universal level. Fr. Chip said the church isn't IBM or UPS. We're dealing with people and their emotions, so when we're planning we have to account for the emotions, and people's attachments to particular places. Fr. George said it can't be just statistics. It has to be about what will help people know, love, and serve God and to do that in a way that will be mission-oriented, in the sense of carrying out Christ's mission. Scot said parishes need to lead us to heaven and it's not the buildings that do that. It's the community of people we sit with in the church or work together with on commissions. It's much easier when you're not sitting in an empty church alone. It takes time to plan, which is why we're looking five to ten years ahead. The title of the 2007 study was "A Church Continually Being Reborn," in the sense that the Holy Spirit is always creating the Church anew. Christ's message touches us in ways that help us deal with a changing world. People tend to get interested in the structural side, but the real heart of it is the mission of Christ. **4th 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 Sunday, July 24, 2011, Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time(1 Kings 3:5, 7-12)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/072411.shtml#reading1) >The LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.” Solomon answered: “O LORD, my God, you have made me, your servant, king to succeed my father David; but I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act. I serve you in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a people so vast that it cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong. For who is able to govern this vast people of yours?” >The LORD was pleased that Solomon made this request. So God said to him: “Because you have asked for this— not for a long life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of your enemies, but for understanding so that you may know what is right— I do as you requested. I give you a heart so wise and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now, and after you there will come no one to equal you.” * [Gospel for Sunday, July 24, 2011, Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Matthew 13:44-52)](http://www.usccb.org/nab/072411.shtml#gospel) >Jesus said to his disciples: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. >“Do you understand all these things?” They answered, “Yes.” And he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.” Scot said this is the third week in a row that Jesus speaks of the kingdom of God in parables. Fr. George said the kingdom of God is our truest treasure. Sometimes it's a buried treasure, because we overlook it since we set up other kingdoms. The kingdom is where God's will for justice, love, peace, morality, commitment, and kindness flow. If we set up the kingdom at the center, then it leads to other decisions that lead to righteousness. Scot loves the questions that are asked by God. He poses a question to Solomon and tells him to ask for something. What would we ask for? Would it be the pearl of great price which is the kingdom or Jesus himself, or would we ask for something more material and limited? Fr. Chip said it's a good question to pray about. If we ask for what is good from God, which is to be more conformed to his will, then all these other good things flow from that. We have the opportunity to be like Solomon who was able to deal with enemies, with being wealthy or not, and all the rest. Scot said God does ask us to make a choice every day: whether to put his will first in our lives. Fr. George said the contemplative is the one who sees as God sees and loves as God loves. Being holy is seeing with God's own vision and loving with God's own heart. The kingdom is a way of approaching life that doesn't just take like the way it seems to roll along, but lives life differently. Because of Jesus I see this a little bit differently from how I would see or act if I went with my own instinct or went with the crowd. In the parables we see someone who finds a treasure, who sells their possessions to get what they're looking for. It says to Scot that sometimes we have to give something up in order to get what we really desire, Christ. Maybe it's to pray more, to give up time or leisure, or shed other parts of ourselves along the way. Fr. Chip said sometimes following Christ means giving up a good thing like marriage for priests. Families make sacrifices all the time for children or spouse. The Christian life mirrors that and following Christ means giving up a good thing and taking on something that might be more of a struggle. Yet Christ is there with us through that struggle. Scot said this Gospel tells him that this is an unfair trade where these people think they're getting the bargain of the century even giving up everything. You can't outdo God's generosity. God gave to Solomon more than Solomon asked. Scot said it also tells him that we also have to understand the road map to bring Jesus into our heart. That's probably more prayer and receiving Sacraments more frequently and reading the Scriptures more frequently. We need to place our trust in Christ. Fr. Chip said it's a risk and a leap of faith to trust that Jesus is leading us in the right direction. That's when we better understand what Christ is calling us to do and be. Fr. George said when we pray we need to make sure our prayer is not just a gift of ourselves to God, but also God being seen as who he is: the one who says I love you or console you or challenge you. When we pray we see Jesus who travels with us.

**Today's host(s):** Scot Landry and Susan Abbott **Today's guest(s):** Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese * [The Anchor](http://www.anchornews.org) * [The Pilot](http://www.pilotcatholicnews.com) * 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:** Archbishop Charles Chaput; Transitional deacon ordained; Chinese cardinal in Boston; study of Catholic parishes **Summary of today's show:** Our usual Thursday panel discussed the appointment of Archbishop Charles Chaput to Philadelphia, with Fr. Roger Landry's personal recollection of time spent with the archbishop recently; the unusual timing of the ordination of a transitional deacon for Boston; the visit of a Chinese cardinal to Boston as tensions between the Vatican and China reach an all-time high; and a study of parish life in the United States with some surprising results. **1st segment:** Scot welcomed Susan back to the show. The Pilot is back from summer hiatus and The Anchor is now on hiatus this week. The big non-Church news is the weather and specifically the heat. **2nd segment:** Scot and Susan welcome Gregory and Fr. Roger back to the show. The appointment of Archbishop Charles Chaput to Philadelphia is significant. Scot said it is traditionally seen as a cardinalatial see and one of the largest in the US. It's also significant because the archdiocese is in the midst of a major scandal due to revelations concerning clergy priest abuse. Audio excerpt from the press conference: >"Press conferences like this have a formula of humility and gratitude that can sometimes seem like theater. I'm a poor actor. What you see is pretty much what you get. Philadelphia is one of America's truly great cities, rich in history and achievement, with an extraordinary community of Catholic faith that goes back to saints like John Neumann and Katharine Drexel. Many of you will ask me this question, so I will answer it in advance. I don't know why the Holy Father sent me here. But I do trust his heart, and I do believe in his judgment. I know other bishops would have been smarter than I am, or more talented, or more connected to Philadelphia's past. I know that Cardinal Rigali is one of the great churchmen of my lifetime. He has served the Church in Rome, in St. Louis, and here with enormous dedication and in ways I will never be able to duplicate. > >"But I do promise that no bishop will love the people and priests of this local Church more than I will. No bishop will give more of himself than I will. And no bishop will try harder to help persons who have been hurt by the sins of the past, or work harder to strengthen and encourage our priests and renew the hearts of our people. > >There's a lot I *don't* know how to do. But over the years, a great many good people have shown me how to love and how to lead by the generosity of their witness. And everything I've learned, everything I know and have, I will give to this ministry, because all of you -- the people of God -- deserve at least that much." * ["Archbishop Chaput succeeds Cardinal Rigali; Savannah bishop retires", CNS, 7/19/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102854.htm) * [Cardinal Seán's statement on Archbishop Chaput's appointment](http://www.bostoncatholic.org/Utility/News-And-Press/Content.aspx?id=21004) * [Archdiocese of Philadelphia](http://archphila.org/home.php) * [Archdiocese of Denver](http://www.archden.org) Susan said his words were very moving. He reinforces his honesty and sincerity and passion with his words about how he will love and work for the people. If she were in Philadelphia, she would be thrilled. Scot said there's no hyperbole in this man, he is what he is. Gregory said the Archbishop is know for being a straight shooter. He was formed in the West: South Dakota and Colorado. So he's got that Western straight-talking manner. Fr. Roger spent some time in Denver recently when Archbishop Chaput invited him to lead a retreat for the priests of Denver. Fr. Roger said he's always been impressed by the archbishop publishing his email address and giving quick responses to people who would email him. Of the past 10 years, Fr. Roger has continued to receive emails from the Archbishop commenting on articles he'd written and encouraging him. At this retreat, he experienced a camaraderie he'd never seen before. Some of the priests told him that every priest knows where he stands with the archbishop. The archbishop is very responsive to requests by his priests, which is hugely important for priestly morale. He does that for anyone who emails him. He spends 10 minutes of every hour answering email. One of Archbishop Chaput's fears in going to Philadelphia is that he won't have the same amount of time for responding to people. Fr. Roger said the priests of Philadelphia are very excited, having heard him preach a clergy day in 2005 and having taught at the seminary in Philadelphia before becoming a bishop. * ["Rise of the Evangelical Catholic Bishops", George Weigel, National Review, 7/20/11](http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/272258/rise-evangelical-catholic-bishops-george-weigel) Scot said George Weigel called the appointment is extremely significant for examining the Holy Father's heart for appointments in the US. Weigel said it is rumored that the Holy Father picked Archbishop Chaput himself rather than relying on the Congregation for Bishops' recommendations and sent the best bishop available to the very troubled Philadelphia archdiocese. Gregory said Chaput has a reputation as a great communicator with very strong leadership skills and who formulates the teachings of the Church in an accessible way. He has a similar charisma to that of Pope John Paul II. That charisma comes from speaking the truth in love. Weigel said: >With the appointment of Charles J. Chaput as archbishop of Philadelphia, the deep reform of the Catholic Church in the United States — the reform that is giving birth to Evangelical Catholicism even as it leaves the old post–Vatican II arguments fading into the rear-view mirror — has been accelerated. Susan said she is in favor of bishops standing up to preach the Gospel, which it seems is what Weigel means. Fr. Roger said John Paul II recognized that every part of the truth is part of the Good News and that the answer to every question is Jesus Christ. Chaput has a similar outlook. That type of boldness comes from a deep prayer life. During that retreat, he got together with Archbishop Chaput for breakfast and he asked him how his usual workday would go. Chaput gets up at 4:30 and prays, then works on various talks he needs to give. About 10am, he goes to his office and starts his meetings and other work for the archdiocese. He begins with prayer and that fuels all his other work. * [Archbishop Chaput talks to the "Denver Catholic Register" about his new appointment](http://www.archden.org/index.cfm/ID/6469) **3rd segment:** This week, the Pilot has a story on the ordination of transitional deacon Eric Bennett at his home parish, St. Patrick, Natick. He is planning to be ordained to the priesthood next summer. Gregory said traditionally transitional deacons are traditionally ordained in January, about 4 months before priestly ordination. But Bennett is studying at the North American College in Rome, and it's normal for them to be ordained when they're home for the summer. He will be ordained with the rest of his classmates in 2012. He was recently featured in the Knights of Columbus magazine, "Columbia". He comes from a large, Catholic family. Susan said Deacon Bennett received a personalized homily from Cardinal Seán. He called Eric to be a "master of prayer, sharing the fruits of your contemplation with those entrusted to your pastoral care." She also noted a quote from his mother, who recalled during the moment when he lay prostrate before the altar that he used to lay on the floor as a toddler in a temper tantrum and how far he has come. Fr. Roger was also a transitional deacon at the North American College in Rome. An advantage is that he could be a deacon for a papal Mass or other bishops in Rome. A disadvantage is that they don't get to serve in parishes every weekend like those in the seminary in the US. Fr. Roger knew Deacon Bennett his first few years in seminary. He admires his love for the priesthood and his docility. When Fr. Roger was at St. John's, he saw young men visiting the chapel in the mornings before their regular prayer time with everyone at the seminary and Bennett was among them. Scot noted that Fr. Kiely, Eric's pastor, said: "When I was watching the cardinal impose hands on Eric, I was thinking this is a great moment for him, but's also terrific moment for the future of the Church in Boston." Eric also said he's receive wonderful support while in seminary. **4th segment:** Scot said earlier this week, Cardinal Joseph Zen visited the Pastoral Center and celebrated Mass. Gregory said he is the retired archbishop of Hong Kong. He's been touring the United States to visit Chinese Catholic communities. He also spread the word about the Church in China. On Monday, he gave an interview to the Pilot as well. He spoke at length about the situation of the Church in China. Gregory talked about the situation of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong and Macau as he experienced it after World Youth Day in Australia. The cardinal spoke about the illicit ordination of three bishops. The Communist Chinese government requires Christians to worship only in state-controlled associations, including the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which eschews any connections to the Vatican or the Pope. Many Catholics worship in illegal, underground churches, following only bishops appointed by the Pope, although the divisions are not hard and fast. Many priests and laypeople, and even bishops, are members of the patriotic association in public, and of the underground Church, in secret. Recently, the association appointed three bishops without the Holy Father's approval. They were validly ordained by other bishops, but it was illicit because it was done without communion with the Pope. So the new bishops are successors of the apostles, but the Vatican said they are not leaders in the Catholic Church because of the illicit nature of the ordinations. * ["Vatican: Latest illicitly ordained Chinese bishop is excommunicated", CNS, 7/18/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102833.htm) It's almost unprecedented for the Chinese to take this step. In the past, the association would choose candidates for bishop and the Vatican would approve, but this time they did not ask the Vatican to approve. Fr. Roger said part of the Good Catholic Life is that every day is a day to pray for the Church in China. In other news, Scot said the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate did a study that found a decline of about 1,900 parishes in the past 15-20 years, resulting in larger parishes, more Masses, fewer priests, more languages at each parish, and more. Susan said the good news is that Catholic population is up, relying upon immigrants entering the Church in the US. * ["Report finds fewer priests celebrating more Masses at fewer parishes", CNS, 7/18/11](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1102844.htm) * [The CARA study's website](http://emergingmodels.org/) * [CARA study press release and summary](http://cara.georgetown.edu/NewsandPress/PressReleases/PR071511.pdf) * ["The Changing Face of US Catholic PArishes"](http://www.emergingmodels.org/article.cfm?id=75) In the Archdiocese of Boston, about 40 percent of parishes don't have enough revenue to meet expenses, but that number across the US is about 30 percent. Gregory said he was interested to see that as a general trend Mass attendance has been declining since the 1960s, over the past decade that percentage has held steady. And as the population increases in the next decade, they see the total number of Catholics grow. Also the number of parishes in the US now is about equal to how many there were in 1968. Fr. Roger said he was happy to see this report done to help us with our pastoral planning. He said we have to confront the reality in the northeast that we don't have as much of a priest shortage as a parish surplus. He said a century ago, we thought ethnicity was more important than catholicity. We built parishes for every language group. Now, because of fewer priestly numbers, we need to consolidate those buildings. In the 1960s we had a baby boom of priests as well and we could build parishes for them to serve in, but now we need to consolidate those resources. He's compared his parish of St. Anthony in New Bedford to these average numbers in the report and he finds northeastern parishes fall very far short of the national numbers on realities such as parish revenues, weekly offertory, and parish staffs.

Subscribe for free in iTunes Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Father Matt Williams Today's guest(s): Dr. Christian Smith, author and professor of Sociology at Notre Dame University; Stephen Colella, Assistant Director of New Evangelization for Youth and Young Adults Today's topics: Dr Smith's book "How to Go from Being a Good Evangelical to a Committed Catholic in Ninety-Five Difficult Steps", Dr Smith's research with the National Study of Youth and Religion. Summary of Today's Show: 1st segment: Scot asked Fr. Matt about the results of the Witness to Truth retreat last week. Fr. Matt said that the retreat sent 30 teens back into their parish communities on fire and ready to lead their fellow Catholics. He described that the retreat has a bit of leadership feel and some camp feel as well, and challenges youth to go deeper into their faith. Scot explained that the work of Dr. Christian Smith figured heavily in the recommendations of a faith formation committee formed by Cardinal Seán several years ago. Fr. Matt agreed that the research provided by Dr. Smith's books gave the committee many insights and helped them look at remedies to the problems they faced. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Dr. Christian Smith, a Professor of Sociology at Notre Dame University and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society, and Stephen Colella, Assistant Director of the office of New Evangelization for Youth and Young Adults. Dr. Smith described his work with the National Study of Youth and Religion, a research initiative to study the formation and religious beliefs of young people of various faiths. He said the study has been ongoing since 2000, starting with participants ages 13 to 17 and ending in 2020 with a final survey when they are ages 25 to 29. Dr. Smith described that the study, detailed in his book Soul Searching, found a commonality among teens across all religious beliefs and practices, something he calls "moralistic therapeutic deism" or MTD. He says that MTD is a watered-down version of Christianity where youth acknowledge the existence of God but do not have a strong relationship with Him. It is not faithful orthodox teaching, but rather an adaptation of faith to fit their lives. He said the key element of MTD is that the purpose of life is to be happy but that God can keep a distance from life until someone gets in trouble or needs a problem solved. Dr. Smith reiterated that regardless of their denomination or religion, most teenagers fit into the category of having a faith characterized by MTD - they see that their relationship with God is on their terms and not His. Fr. Matt asked Dr. Smith to outline the reasons for the development of MTD. Dr. Smith emphasized that young people tend to get along on religious terms because they share this "religion." He says his research shows that teens drift towards MTD because of a lack of effective catechesis, not having venues to share and discuss their faith, and influence from parents. Parents often get the message that they don't matter anymore once their children are teens, but Dr Smith maintains that they are even more important during teen years. Dr. Smith said that out of all the teenagers, Catholic teenagers were the most disengaged and apathetic; however, when data was normalized to account for the religious influence of parents, Catholic teenagers came out on the same level as other levels. He says this shows statistically that the reason Catholic teens are less involved in Mass and their faith is because their parents are. A combination of factors lead to the decline of parental influence in Catholicism, Dr Smith said, culminating in the fact that Catholics in the 1970s were culturally assimilated. He said that living in the suburbs away from a strongly Catholic community (in a physical way) and the reduction of the importance of the Church with neighbors made Catholics going to Mass on Sunday be just like every other religion in many ways. 3rd segment: Scot asked Dr. Smith to explain some of the follow-up research in his second book, Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults. Dr Smith explained that the youth they started studying were now 18 to 23 years old, and that it was fascinating to see them transitioning out of their teenage years and into a college life and beyond. He said that even though there is an impression that teens at this age are re-evaluating their lives and determining their identities for the future, the majority of teenagers transitioning to young adults are tracked by continuity - that once teens are on a trajectory towards a decline in faith, it takes a strong personal connection or other motivating event to nudge them on a path back to the Church. Dr. Smith went on to explain that parents are a "sticky" effect and continue to affect emerging adults, even after they've left the home. Father Matt asked Dr. Smith if his research showed differences between teens at secular colleges as compared to religious colleges - Dr. Smith said it was difficult to refine different types of universities across the spectrum of religious commitment, but that a college environment with pastoral resources create the conditions for the possibility of a more faithful life. Stephen asked Dr. Smith to explain events that could help emerging adults change their trajectory away from faith - he said people are formed by relationships, and that role models and mentors tend to be what can affect youth the most. A formative relationship with a college professor or someone they build a friendship with can easily knock them off of one trajectory into another. Father Matt asked Dr. Smith where he would invest his resources to create a new system if he had the chance - Dr. Smith said that if he had a chance to start improving this problem, he would start with the parents of young kids by trying to emphasize goal-setting for both their own and their children's faith lives. Scot said that many parents fear they are not knowledgable enough about their faith to teach their kids the faith, so they outsource it to religious education programs or other parents. He also commented that many parents don't explain to their kids why faith is important. Dr. Smith agreed that outsourcing was a problem - he says that many of the parents these days were the first generation not formed as well in the 1970s, so to a significant degree it is not their fault. He went on to say that if the Church wants to rebuild its strength, it needs to focus on parents as well as youth. Dr. Smith also said that many teenagers appreciate when parents share in a simple, down to earth way what faith means to them. Scot commented that when Dr. Smith wrote How to Go from Being a Good Evangelical to a Committed Catholic in Nintey-Five Difficult Steps, he had a chance to learn many things about the Catholic faith. Scot asked him if there was any connection between Dr. Smith's research and his conversion. Dr. Smith said that there was almost no connection - and that the data on Catholics should have pushed him away! He said that he felt it was a sign that he knew all this information about apathetic Catholic youth yet was still attracted to Catholicism. Dr. Smith and his wife were set on a course over many years that eventually led to the fact that the Catholic Church was the true Church, and that Protestantism was not. Scot and Dr. Smith both highlighted that the book was not just for Evangelicals, but is an educational read for Catholics as well and can help us learn more about our faith through a different lens. Step 12 in Dr. Smith's book asks about where the New Testament comes from - Dr. Smith explains in his book that without the Catholic Church, the New Testament would not exist. This forces a logical decision - "…either the Catholic Church's episcopate had a legitimate authority to define the content of New Testament scriptures or it did not have authority." Dr. Smith said that it is difficult to deny the authority of Catholic Bishops after they have provided the basis (the New Testament) of what most non-Catholic Christians believe in. 4th segment: It’s time to announce the winner of the weekly WQOM Benefactor Raffle. Our prizes this week are a copy of the book More Saints of the Bible by Theresa Doyle-Nelson, and a copy of Girls’ Night Out, a book by Michaelann Martin on how mothers can build relationships with their daughters. This week’s winner is Patricia Ponticelli from Amesbury. Congratulations Patricia! If you would like to be eligible to win in upcoming weeks, 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 Dr. Smith to talk about Step 59 - to decide "once and for all that there is something fundamentally and deeply wrong with denominationalism." Dr. Smith explains that splitting off so many denominations makes faith into a consumer commodity - worshipers church-shop and try to find a faith that reflects their existing beliefs. He says it directly violates Jesus' prayer in John 17 asking that his Church be one. Dr. Smith said that sociologists talk about religion in America as a market - each church has a market with a niche, turning believers into consumers. Steven commented that this division also feeds back into MTD, that youth can think of God in their own way and "pull Him off the shelf when they want him." Scot moved on to Step 63, that authority does not mean authoritativeness. Dr. Smith said that in reality, Protestants do have authority, but it varies - it can be the authority of seminary professor, a preacher, a book author, anyone. He said the important part is not the authority itself, but rather who the authority is and what legitimacy the authority has. The Catholic Church has a legitimate account for its authority through the Pope, he said. Stephen asked Dr. Smith what his plans for the future were. Dr. Smith said he sees a need for a book solely on Catholic emerging adults that he will release in a few years that he hopes contributes a lot to the good work of Catholic youth ministries around the country. .